Kimberly A. Cook

Military Romance Author

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Time To Get In Shape?

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by Kimberly A. Cook       (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Remember those ropes that hung from the ceiling during phys ed in grade school? We were supposed to get up the damn things. With a growth spurt and weenie biceps, those ropes were my enemy. My technique was to jump as high as I could, try not to slip down the rope too quickly, then just hang there like a stuck monkey.

Army basic training years later taught me to do push ups and I found my biceps. However, if we don’t use them, they turn to mush. Was trolling on YouTube and happened to stumble upon this obstacle course double-cam video following a Naval Special Warfare Instructor through the SWCC obstacle course. The SWCC (“swick”), Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewman, are the guys who get the Navy SEALs in and out and they have the coolest toys, er boats. Check this out and try not to get exhausted watching. No more whining for the rest of us on the treadmill! Happy Quirky Friday!

http://youtu.be/soRbGNI3I2w

What Would Powell’s Do?

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by Kimberly A. Cook            (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

The publishing and epub industry is heaving like the Titanic, with publishers and agents trying to rearrange the band, the deck chairs and the captain’s table. Some writers have been caught in steerage, of course. A good thing to do in any storm is to check on what the independent bookstore ships are doing. One small business article this past Friday caught my eye.

Our beloved www.Powells.com Books here in Portland, Oregon, a mega-independent bookseller, is always worth watching. The article talked about how the former site of Powell’s Technical Bookstore is being proposed for demolition to become a “seven-story, 60-unit apartment building with ground-floor retail storefronts,” according to www.oregonlive.com

The article goes on to say the Technical Bookstore “vacated the site in 2010 and moved to a smaller location” across the street from the main Powell’s bookstore.  Notice the “smaller location” for technical books? See them moving into real estate and diversifying their revenue streams?

The Powell family presents their $7 million project proposal today to the city of Portland through their development firms.  The fun new project will come complete with a bicycle parking room and no on-site parking.  Who needs to park when you can walk to the bookstore?

Besides thinking book lovers might want to get in line to sign up for an apartment a short saunter from a block large book treasure, it brings to mind the changes in our industry. If one of the largest independent bookstores in the country is going into real estate development, what does that say to the writing community?

Me thinks we authors have slipped the bonds of steerage and escaped into the epub lifeboats. Grab an oar and let’s row!

Full Article Here: http://www.oregonlive.com/front-porch/index.ssf/2012/04/apartment_building_planned_at.html

Can A Bear Still Scratch In The Woods?

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by Kimberly A. Cook             (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Last I heard each of us are on video at least seven times a day.  When we are not Tweeting, texting,  chatting or being filmed, it seems no one gets away from paparazzi, even a bear in the woods. In Oregon we have our OR-7 wolf, alias Journey, out trying to find a girlfriend and a still motion sensor camera caught him too.

So if you feel you haven’t had your 15 minutes of fame, you might want to think twice about it. Even this bear couldn’t scratch in peace. And we all know how good it feels to scratch. No sound, by the way, just a bear and his or her tree. Happy Quirky Friday!

Are You A Gadget Geek?

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By Kimberly A. Cook             (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

One of the great things about being a writer is how few tools we really need to practice our craft. Having progressed from feathers and ink to computers, we can make up stories and novels with very few tools. Paper is everywhere.  But then along came the gadgets.

Having survived my recent computer upgrade, barely, we’ve gone from simple tools in the old days to a geek gadget space race. It’s getting complicated.  Smart phone or dumb phone? Tablet or iPad? Android, Apple or Blackberry? Flip video, camcorder or a digital camera that also records video? Nook, Kindle Fire or iPad?

It’s enough to make even a semi-sane writer cower under the bed. No matter how much research I do to make my life easier, it seems I always run aground on the gadget reef in the tech ocean. If I pick the product and then buy it, it’s going to tank and be upstaged by another upgrade or innovation. I’ve got bread older than some of my now past-their-prime gadgets. Palm PDA anyone?

Sometimes the good old days look pretty darn good. So after much soul-searching and trying to figure out how to consolidate my gadgets and reduce my costs for roaming and wandering, or whatever they charge us for, here is my next wish list.

I’m keeping the Flip video cameras and my Canon PowerShot cameras for photos and video. Get the new iPad to combine my Nook eReader and Kindle accounts, transfer my email to the iPad off my Blackberry, go back to a prepaid phone for talk and text only, have a screen large enough I can read and carry around with a wireless keyboard to replace my pink notebook and be able to use Squareup to sell books using credit cards at my talks.

Finally, a decision. Looks like I will buy in June. Expect Apple to tank in July. You heard it here first!

It’s The Beagle Bunny Dance!

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by Kimberly A. Cook        (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Spring is my favorite time of year and bunnies are everywhere in my house. Ceramic bunnies that is. Here is a favorite video with Snoopy and his bunny friends. On the eve of Easter weekend, it’s time to celebrate the change in season, be thankful for family and friends and especially chocolate.

Have a wonderful weekend and maybe learn the bunny dance yourself. Happy Quirky Friday!

Do We Allow Ourselves To Be Quiet?

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By Kimberly A. Cook             (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

When I worked on the newspaper, silence was impossible. Between the front door opening with visitors to place ads and fight over stories, the presses running in the next room, 20 phones ringing and the police and fire scanners going off all the time, quiet didn’t exist. I wrote in the middle of noise chaos on deadline.

Spec Ops Cat in a quiet moment on desk duty guarding the printer paper.

Writers must focus to create. While taking an online writing class about being a successful writer from Bob Mayer, he asked an interesting question. Where do you write? Which environment? I discovered I write and edit different types of writing in different locations with varying noise levels. It all depends how we have trained ourselves to create.

Writers attach ourselves to keyboards in quiet places to coffee shops and then as published authors have to go out and sell our wares. Different skill sets. Right now I am reading the book Quiet – The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain. She writes about how today’s’ society has made it a requirement to be an extrovert and more than one-third of us are introverts. She wonders what happened to it being okay to think, ponder and listen.

Very interesting book. When we age, we tend to become more of what our type is, not less. So perhaps this is why when we get away from the stress of our day jobs and want to write at home or on the road, us introverted writers seek quiet. Silence to let the muse run wild and catch up with our subconscious.

With all the beeps, tweets, cell phone jingles, cross walk chiming and general noise in everyday life, silence is truly golden.  Many times when I write music plays in the background. Then other times I want complete silence, until the cat can’t stand it anymore and knocks a pen off the desk. Have you given yourself the gift of quiet lately?