Kimberly A. Cook

Military Romance Author

Writing Biz

Who Is Going To Report On The Squirrels?

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by Kimberly A. Cook           (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Girding myself for the big change coming to my life next month; the daily newspaper goes to Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. While this may not seem like a big deal to digital natives who popped out of the womb with a laptop, for us vintage folk it’s a major life change.

A furry friend in Camp Sherman, Oregon. Who knows what he might be plotting?
A furry friend in Camp Sherman, Oregon. Who knows what he might be plotting?

It is part of my morning routine to fetch the newspaper. One letter writer to the paper wanted to know how he was going to explain it to his dog who gets a treat when he brings in the newspaper. I’m thinking that guy is going to have to become Santa paperboy and place a dummy one outside on the porch each night.

Wondering how all this switch to the web was going to actually affect the reporters, the Sunday edition offered up this explanation of how the reporters would send in “Twitter-bits” of news, I’m going to call them, then the “curators” (formerly called editors) will try to muck all these bits together, grab a visual and throw it on the web. Okay, he said it better, but that’s what I’m thinking it sounds like.

Read the article here: http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2013/09/peter_bhatia_digital_focus_mea.html

SO, it seems speed wins in this new era of digital journalism, but I thought that traffic safety ad said speed kills. We shall see. But even more fun for me was the serendipity I will miss of the daily paper where I found a huge squirrel article on the flip side of the editorial article. Titled, “Zapped by Squirrel Power,” in our paper, it is a reprint written by Jon Mooallem with the New York Times News Service.

Fascinating article about why the power grid goes down when squirrel’s  fry themselves by making a “bad connection.” I love squirrels. But this writer has been tracking how many squirrels are causing power outage havoc. Talks about how the power grid folks are trying to prevent squirrels from coming to bad endings.

Which made we wonder if the squirrel scientists are talking to the power grid engineers or if we can’t get some behavior squirrel modification training programs going. Those thoughts confirm I need to get off knitting sabbatical and get back to writing because my muse is running rampant with scissors.

So when I went to find the link to the original squirrel article, imagine my surprise when it ranked as one of the top New York Times articles right now. Squirrels are big nationwide. Who knew?

So what do power squirrels and my daily newspaper going to a four-day publication schedule have in common? I’m hoping they both don’t toast themselves in the process. Because the feature articles I used to write for the newspaper and my blog posts now are both longer than a “twitter-bit,” and they take some time to write; and that’s not a bad thing.

(Squirrel article here. You know you want to read it.) http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/01/opinion/sunday/squirrel-power.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Are We Being Good Blog Buddies?

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by Kimberly A. Cook        (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

WordPress recently wished me a happy second anniversary.  September 2011 is when I started posting on a regular basis. First it was family and a few die-hard friends following my blog. Then other actual real people started reading and commenting. I find that amazing. Real people! Obviously they are all brilliant.

Sending roses out to all my blog readers. Thank you so much for your time and attention.
Sending roses out to all my blog readers. Thank you so much for your time and attention.

My goal is always to educate and entertain. A lifelong learner, sharing information is a passion of mine; works out really well-being a writer. There is so much fun and interesting stuff out in the world for my creative brain to chase. Squirrel!

Recently I came across some “blog rules” all bloggers should follow. (First red flag – I never do what everyone says I must do.) One rule is to reply to every comment you get. Egad. I have not done that. Shame on me. Between working full-time and other commitments like family, eating and sleeping, I’m doing good to get the blog out twice a week. Then there is that whole pesky trying to write books time challenge.

I do not mean to be rude to my fabulous readers. I would love to reply to all comments and likes, but the best I can do is a few snippets here and there. That has to be okay for me, since there are only so many hours in a week and I keep running out of clean spoons and underwear. (Why do those two go together, by the way?)

But I would like to thank Steve at http://imagineerebooks.wordpress.com for all his likes – read he was not feeling well recently, but he appears to be better and back on deck at the keyboard. He, of course, is brilliant. Then there was my first actual real person comment from http://marlajayne.wordpress.com She must be fun and brilliant. Checked out her blog and she had chosen a “word of the year.” Liked the idea and decided I would choose “quality.”

So, you happy few, you happy band of blog readers – yes, I just edited Shakespeare from Henry V – thanks for reading my blog. I may not always get a chance to respond to comments and likes, but I appreciate you all and know – you are all amazing, beautiful and fabulous writers and/or artists! Wanted you all to know that. Thanks for being in my blog land!

Is Tech A Tool Or A Toy For Writers?

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by Kimberly A. Cook         (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Started reading Kristen Lamb’s new book, “Rise of The Machines: Human Authors In A Digital World,” this past weekend. Great read. Really enjoying her recap of all that has happened in the publishing biz in the last several years and where we are headed.

Old desktop box on the left, cute new screamer desktop box on the right. HEPA filter on top, in case you wondered.
Old desktop box on the left, cute new screamer desktop box on the right. HEPA filter on top, in case you wondered.

In order to buy her Kindle book I had to read it on my computer. I have a Classic Nook and a Nook Tablet, but they won’t talk to the Kindle unless I do engineering hijinks I am not qualified to do. Could get the App for my Android Phone, but don’t want to use the small screen.

This all got me to thinking about how do we keep up with tech from a hardware standpoint as writers? At the day job last Thursday I got a brand new desktop box to replace the old one which has been clunking along for six years. Like getting a new Corvette! Man the thing moves and going from 2 GB RAM to 8 GB RAM is divine.

Now I want one at home. Both my day job and home computers were top of the line when I got them six years ago, but time moves in light years in upgrade land. Now I am trying to guess which way to go for my future home computer.

Since I switched over to digital photos from film and started making videos too, computer memory and processing power are now a big deal. While I like portability, I prefer a larger screen and keyboard when dealing with photos and video instead of a laptop. Tablets are nice for viewing, but for actual work, I find them frustrating when working with any type of “transmedia.”

Basic portable writing can be done on my pink laptop which cannot have its .99 GB of RAM memory upgraded, never even knew there was a soldered daughter board, but it can still compose and play Wheel of Fortune and Scrabble, so I’m good.

So what is my first tip? Whatever I buy, purchase the exact opposite. I have the Palm, Blackberry, Nooks and non-upgradeable laptop to support my case; plus my six-year-old desktop. Then there is the whole Windows 8 thing where they didn’t give us a start button the first time out. Seriously?

Hoping to hobble along a little longer before having to shell out some major pesos and “gasp” shift computers. While we use them as tools, they are also toys at times, expensive toys. But still cheaper than a Harley or a bass boat! I think.

The Digital Shift – Blessing or Curse?

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by Kimberly A. Cook          (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

This past week came the news of the partial demise of an old friend – The Oregonian newspaper. Part of my regular morning ritual is to get the newspaper from the front porch and read the headlines, then scan to the comics and horoscope. That will change October 1 when the daily home delivery is cut to Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

My Classic Nook. Can't tell you how hard it is to get a picture of it without my reflection in it!
My Classic Nook. Can’t tell you how hard it is to get a picture of it without my reflection in it!

While ebooks are a boon to authors and indie publishing, the same shift is catching the print newspapers in the pocketbooks. The Oregonian is starting up another “media” company and moving the bulk of their resources to support their online digital presence with oregonlive.com

As an ex-newspaper journalist who has former co-workers and editors working at The Oregonian, it rips my reporter heart out. Knew it was coming one day, but still seems too soon. Now how they decided which reporters to keep and layoff is an entirely different story and the independent Willamette Week has a bead on that story. Read “Black and White and Red All Over” at www.willametteweek.com

Which all leads me to what this post had started out to be about; the demise of the Classic Nook. An early adopter, I bought the first Nook ereader. Works like a charm and still does. A friend’s Classic Nook croaked and they recommended she turn in the beauty to 1-800-BookNow for a $50 price because they want the lithium batteries. She can then pay only $29 to get the Nook Simple Touch, the new version you can read in the sunlight.

I have a Nook Tablet too, but I’m reading my Nook Classic until it dies a digital death. Being able to read without a backlit screen is an eye saver for those of us who are plugged in all the time.

If ereaders are already being recycled, what does that say for the rest of the print magazine and newspaper business? Upgrade happens. The new buzzword is transmedia – storytelling across all platforms. So get on the change train – it’s at the station!

Can We Stop Change And Chaos?

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by Kimberly A. Cook             (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Nope. Change is constant and chaos is its walking buddy. If we don’t change or move we can become stagnant; not a good idea for people or water with mosquito larvae. Do we have to like change all the time? Nope.

Took a webinar this past weekend about using Google+ for authors; yet another social media platform. I only deal with the top four or five social media sites and I can’t keep up. Checked it out because being a lifelong learner I’m always seduced by the next new thing, but then it requires the same old thing – work.

Even hay gets changed to stuff duvet covers. Or are those giant marshmallows? Two semis of chocolate bars and graham crackers stat!
Even hay gets changed to stuff duvet covers. Or are those giant marshmallows? Two semis of chocolate bars and graham crackers stat!

Not sure if it’s summertime, age or the call of the wild, but I don’t want to work all the time these days. Playing seems a much better way to go. Writing and publishing can drive us nuts on a good day, so how do we cope with all the challenges? We go to our experts and pick their brains.

One of my favorite authors with a killer blog is Kristen Lamb; myself and 23,000 plus other folks think so. She lives to educate authors and has a wicked keen sense of humor, which I adore. I have all her books and have taken her online blogging class which saved my sanity and at least a ten pound weight gain.

Her post on Friday, June 14, was another fabulous one. Long story short, she has a new book coming out July 4, Rise of the Machines – Human Authors in a Digital World. The title alone makes we want to buy it, especially when my eyes glazed over during the Google+ webinar. Are we all beginning to feel like C3PO with a USB port with the escalating digital deluge? My kingdom for a quill and bottle of ink! (Not really, but it sounds good.)

How do we get through change and chaos if we can’t stop it? Teamwork! I’m so glad to have Kristen Lamb as one of my go to coaches for publishing and author intell(igence.) We all need buddies in life, for work and play, so take a look at her post and see what you think. The mind you save may be your own!

Read Kristen Lamb’s post here: http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2013/06/14/change-resistance-is-futile/

How Do We Help Fellow Writers Sell Their Books?

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by Kimberly A. Cook        (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Marketing is such a big part of a writer’s job, sometime we forget we can help out our fellow scribes with a tiny bit of effort. Last week my writer buddy and favorite editor, Cindy Hiday, published her third romance novel, Iditarod Nights.

Cindy Hiday's new romance novel!
Cindy Hiday’s new romance novel!

This is fabulous for me in so many ways. First, it gives me a great blog post and I can help support Cindy’s work. Second, I placed my first Amazon.com review on her book since I had the fun of being a final reader. Three, it inspires me to get my butt in gear on my books, always a positive.

Four, it reinforces the power of persistence and with digital publishing we can control our careers; Cindy is a former Silhouette Romance author. Five, I took several pictures of Cindy at our last “staff meeting” and she used one for her new head shot; makes me feel good about my photo skills. Six, when we help out others in our profession, it comes back to us again and again; we honor the teachers and mentors who helped us learn our craft when we were beginning writers.

If you like a well written story with emotional depth, one researched right down to the sled dog booties and includes a lawyer and ex-cop falling in love, this book is for you! Right now the ebook is available on Kindle at Amazon, Smashwords, Kobo ebook  and soon will be up for the Nook at Barnes and Noble.

Cindy is a former military spouse who followed her hubby to Germany, so she knows a thing or two about adventure. Check out the book page on her web site www.cindyhiday.com/iditarodnights.htm for a fun Iditarod video and get reading!