Kimberly A. Cook

Military Romance Author

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Prep And Landing Elves To Score Again!

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by Kimberly A. Cook                       (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

One of my favorite holiday television shows called Prep & Landing debuted in 2009. I loved it! With military precision this special group of elves go in and prepare the landing sites for Santa and his reindeer in order to complete the Christmas Mission Op. The Disney special on the ABC Channel was the highest watched debut for a new holiday program. 

The DVD went on sale Nov. 22 and I snapped it up. You can watch the launch sequence for Santa’s sleigh here and it looks a lot like an aircraft carrier launch. Hmmm.  

http://youtu.be/5fvCZ4_IVCo

Then I found out there is a sequel which will air on Monday, Dec. 5, at 8:30 p.m. on ABC. That is so tinsel! (You will understand that remark after you watch the show) One of my favorite parts of the new trailer for the Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice is Thrasher. 

http://www.matttrailer.com/prep_landing_naughty_vs_nice_2011

Everybody knows about Navy SEALs, well the great guys who get them in and out are called SWCC = Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewman.  Their web site is www.sealsswcc.com  AND? In Prep & Landing – both versions – Thrasher is so SWCC! Can’t wait to see what happens given how the coal elf calls him out in a scene in the video trailer. Check it out! Happy Quirky Friday.

Publishing Is Being Shown The Way By e-Money

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by Kimberly A. Cook                            (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Readers voted with their feet and wallets this past shopping weekend and ebooks rule. Two articles titled Apple, Amazon lead big tech Black Friday and a Big sales jump for ‘Cyber Monday’ by David Gross on CNN.com discuss the hot trends.

Perhaps the most interesting parts to me in both articles are the tidbits buried in the body copy. “Apple’s retail stores had their biggest sales day of all time, according to published reports,” plus “Friday was the biggest sales day ever for the line of Kindle e-readers and tablets, with customers buying four times as many of the devices as they did last year, Amazon said.”

This Sharp Shinned Hawk perching on the Goldfinch feeders in my backyard last week did not achieve his business goal. Businesses who are too big can still fail by not adapting.

No flash in the pan these ebooks, the future is now. Do the ebooks need to be written well? Priced competitively? Marketed? Tell a good story? Yes. But now every author can be their own publisher and cut out the middle folk by going straight to readers. Is it easy? No.  But publishing to a world-wide audience can be done on the Internet.

The CNN articles talked about the rise in the use of phones/mobile devices in shopping, they “accounted for 14.3% of all online retail traffic on Black Friday according to Coremetrics,” wrote Gross. In addition, “more than 7% of the purchases made were on mobile,” devices for Cyber Monday.

Readers are buying items with their phones and reading on their Kindles,  iPads and Nooks. This is not a time to debate paper books versus ebooks; consumers are deciding that conversation.

Authors can either adapt or get left behind. A favorite book I like about change is Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson, M.D. Authors can whine about the cheese changing (industry technology and process) or we can go embrace the new cheese, (anyone writing applications?). If the New York publishing world was slow to embrace the success of ebooks and still wants to use 1900s methods, even though the cheese has long since left the building, what do writers do now? 

Cheese waits for no writer, so let’s get busy hunting and creating our new cheese industry! Because no matter whether we’re etching on rock walls, setting cold type, or using touch pad screens to write, it’s still the magic of “Once Upon A Time” that makes writer’s and reader’s hearts soar. 

Being big does not mean you can’t still fail because reader dollars will decide. Those of us who are author/publishers have an advantage over the big guys who have old cheese stuffed in their warehouses. A small writing business can change course quickly depending on industry threats. Just ask the goldfinches in my backyard.

What Are Your Traditions?

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by Kimberly A. Cook                      (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Every Thanksgiving since the mid-1980s, my family has watched the Claymation Christmas tv special after we are stuffed with turkey. This wacky favorite explains something about my nutty family too: we love to laugh. So for today’s Quirky Friday I am giving you a clip of that fine tv show so you can enjoy it  too. And know, I watched it yesterday! Here’s hoping all have a safe and quirky Thanskgiving weekend!

What Is Your Pumpkin Pie Book?

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by Kimberly A. Cook       

What Is Your Pumpkin Pie Book? One of my favorite authors, Janet Evanovich, releases her new book today Explosive Eighteen. What better Thanksgiving treat! I enjoy her writing so much I always stay at least one book behind in the series so I know I’ll have one to fall back on. Drives my reader friends nuts. But just like keeping cookies in the freezer and M&Ms in the chocolate bowl; military training taught me to always have back up snacks. Same rule goes for books.

So after I snatch up my copy and add it to the pristine pile of her books in my office, that means I get to curl up with one of the series this weekend. Like Tom Turkey and my Mom’s fabulous stuffing, taking time to indulge in a favorite book is a great way to celebrate the holidays. The only better thing than reading her books was learning her first movie based on the series will be out in January.

 http://youtu.be/hQBD1olZe8U

What is your pumpkin pie book? Which book(s) have you waited in line for? Which ones are still on your keeper shelf or always on your iPhone, Nook or Kindle? Do you have a long lost book you’ve always wanted to find? I have several and tracking them down is a great pleasure. The thrill of the hunt.

 Have a wonderful safe and Happy Thanksgiving and remember, reading can take you to worlds away from where you are. Then when you come back from your travels, there will still be leftovers in the kitchen!

What Is Your Catnip?

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by Kimberly A. Cook                  (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday; fabulous food and no presents to buy or wrap.  My three favorite indulgences are turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie. Spices are involved in all three. I’m not the only one who purrs when these foods are around.

A recent study found two of the most attractive smells to men are pumpkin and vanilla. I’m thinking of making pumpkin perfume with a dash of vanilla to put behind my ears. It could work! So while I look forward to rolling in all the good smells of Thanksgiving, here are a few big kitties who also appreciate the allure of spices. Happy Quirky Friday Thanksgiving next week!

Why Do You Write?

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by Kimberly A. Cook                        (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Before first grade I wanted to read; very badly. I didn’t know the words so I made up stories about the pictures in the books. At the ripe old age of six, I earned a spot on the Reading Train engine because I read 100 books in first grade.

I’ve never stopped reading. Then at the ancient age of ten, I knew I was a writer. It just happened. Since that was the same year I had a six-inch growth spurt, my vision went to crap and my hormones took off, seems like it was a good anchor in turbulent times.

Stints on the school newspapers in junior and senior high, yearbook staff and a great English Department in my high school led me to study writing in college when I graduated early from high school. That lasted one semester.  College and I were not ready for each other yet and I joined the Army.  But I knew I would write about it so I had my folks keep all my letters.

College degrees and jobs followed after the Army with newspaper journalist, photographer, public affairs officer, trainer, writing instructor, video production coordinator, author and speaker added to my resume.  So a few decades since high school graduation, why do I still write?

 The easy answer is I write to educate and entertain, both with my non-fiction and fiction writing. Now I lean more towards entertainment and making folks laugh. It’s fun and it beats what’s in the news. I’ve used writing for catharsis and to heal, to communicate with family and friends and to say goodbye to dying former students.  Writing works for all kinds of situations, just like Silly Putty.

“You’re not happy when you’re not writing,” my Mom told me once. Mom’s do know best. I write because I have to, it’s a compulsion, a need. My name is Kim and I’m addicted to words. 

A quote I keep on my desk explains my brain. “You see, some of us have grasshopper minds. We want to be fascinated by a subject only for a certain time, and then move on,” said J.A. Maxtone Graham. A perfect description of a writer, especially a former journalist.

I’m also a big rabbit fan and my interests hop from subject to subject.  The rabbit agility course shown in Denmark on the Amazing Race Sunday night thrilled me no end; bunnies and obstacle courses. Now all I have to do is get them into Army fatigues. 

But perhaps the best thing about writing is the adventures I have read in a book which have enticed me to take trips to places around the world and in my own backyard. I am a writing adventuress. In a former life I’m sure I was a pirate.

 So when we get too wound up in the business side of writing – social media, agent getting, ebook formatting, and the career planning frenzy – let’s think about why we write. It’s different for each of us and one size does not fit all. Take the time to reflect on why you write while looking out the window with a cup of cocoa.  Unleash the grasshoppers!