Kimberly A. Cook

Military Romance Author

fiction

How De We Really See Ourselves And Others?

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by Kimberly A. Cook                      (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Writers build worlds, fantasies and complicated stories with people, places and animals. We use details to bring a location or emotional event alive. One way we build our characters is by describing their physical characteristics and values through their actions.

This past week I watched a video done by Dove which illustrates how we see ourselves as individuals and how others see us differently. This is a fascinating video clip. The forensic artist does an amazing job. He mentioned in another video clip on the DoveUnitedStates YouTube channel that he could tell when women didn’t like part of their appearance, they lightly touched on it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpaOjMXyJGk&feature=share&list=PL0BRaXBPJ6iZMJoRM9TFRc2Mq4d0KmKqZ

Watch this wonderful piece of work and see what you think. How we describe our characters and ourselves may not be how the world sees either of us. Women have a particular challenge with this with the fashion and advertising industries. What’s important is each writer’s and character’s heart. What do you think?

Got Pets? Have A Current Computer Back Up?

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by Kimberly A. Cook             (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Sunday I walked into my home office to pay some bills and found Spec Ops Cat had gifted me with a hairball – on my finished taxes on the desk. Not a tragedy, my CPA filed my returns electronically two weeks ago so this was the paper copy, but point taken. The open laptop right next to it survived unscathed. One never knows when a hairball or computer crash might happen.

Spec Ops Cat helping out in the office - as a paperweight.
Spec Ops Cat helping out in the office – as a paperweight.

Having “worked for the government” I am paranoid about multiple backups. The rule of three backups with one being off-site is never far from my mind. I don’t even erase my photo memory cards after they are on my computer, I keep them as archives.

I use Carbonite online to backup my computer automatically and I put everything on thumb drives too, plus I have an external hard drive which backs up my computer. No, I’m not using the Cloud yet, but I’ve toyed with Dropbox, but I want my files with me so we shall see about the whole Cloud concept.

My paranoia goes back to my Army logistics training I think – if you don’t have it with you, you don’t have it – that applies to food, fuel, toilet paper and digital photos and documents. A burned CD copy of my book is in my fire safe and still riding around in my car.

Adding photos and videos into the backup equation besides my writing documents increases the memory needs. My first computer used 5 1/4 inch disks and had no hard drive. Now we are all overwhelmed with trying to preserve our digital memories and work to avoid a catastrophic digital disaster. Maybe using some old school ways of burying some DVDs or thumb drives in the backyard might be cool again.

With taxes over for this year, it’s a good time to consider keeping our writing, photos, videos, legal and financial documents safe. Protect yourself and your writing – backup now. Who knows what our pets are plotting for the rest of the year!

Got A Writer Pit Crew? Or Three?

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by Kimberly A. Cook                  (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

This past Friday I met with my author buddy and editor, Cindy Hiday, (www.cindyhiday.com) for one of our frequent staff meetings. We call them that because we write alone and need another carbon-based life form for creative support. These days I joke(?) it takes at least three NASCAR pit crews to keep me together, but one of those pit crews is full of writer and author buddies.

Bleeding Heart blooming in my garden today after surviving this weekend's thunder, rain and wind storms.
Bleeding Heart blooming in my garden today after surviving this weekend’s thunder, rain and wind storms.

Then on Saturday I met with my writer support group, a bunch of five authors and writers who talk about what is going on with our writing and our lives. We don’t critique each other’s writing, but we each get thirty minutes to tell what is happening with our life and art.

Turns out three of us had been through some pretty tough challenges in the last two months and the other two had been decompressing at the beach for seven months after moving to their dream location. We all support and help each other out. Writing is a craft we fit in around our pesky regular lives which keep intruding on our work. Personal and weather storms of all kinds don’t stop because we want to write our stories.

In these days of crazy news and even wackier odd things on tv, there is nothing like sitting with writer friends and really listening to each other. We unplug and open our ears to hear each others life stories. It always inspires and recharges me; like a camp fire without the smoke, flying embers and bats.

Writers need writer friends who support and encourage our work, plus hopefully bring snacks. If you don’t belong to a group like this, create one. That is how our group started, I needed one so I asked writers I was compatible with if they were interested. Now, several years later we are still at it meeting every other month for a couple hours.

No one understands a writer like a fellow writer. Let’s face facts, we can be an odd bunch at the best of times. Non-writers think we are in charge of our fiction characters and know what is going to happen. Ha! They also think we just whip out those non-fiction books and articles in no time flat. Nada.

One of my favorite sayings applies to writing, “If it was easy, anybody could do it.” True for both writers and Special Operations personnel; not everybody is cut out for the long gut grinding haul of these two professions. So whether you need a “staff meeting” or a “writer support group,” make sure you have writer friends and buddies to help you along the way.

It’s always a good idea to come out of our writer caves and interact with real people instead of screens and keyboards. Build your writer pit crew today!

How Do We Grow Fiction?

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by Kimberly A. Cook         (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Saturday I ventured out into the garden for the first time this year to weed, clean and organize. Going about my tasks it struck me this is a lot like what I do when it’s time to edit my fiction first drafts. As I plow through the pages there are things which are fine and then passages which must be weeded, transplanted and some put in the yard debris cart.

Wreath wire or fiction book structure?
Wreath wire or fiction book structure?

A rare gorgeous 77 degree sunny day, I made sure to work my two hours and then save time to read in the lawn swing. First I had to assemble the lawn swing, always fun. One final chore before book break time involved recycling my Christmas wreath from the front door. Don’t judge. Wanted to make sure it was dry, okay?

The process of unwinding the florist wire from the small Douglas Fir branches and the pine cones took longer than I expected. In fact, I had to come up with a plan to corral all the wire. Started making a ball and away the unwinding process went.

As time wore on, it became apparent to me we should hire the folks who assemble these wreaths to rebuild our national infrastructure. With this type of workmanship, our roads and bridges would be good for eons. Thought about quitting at one point, but blast it all I needed to finish it.

When the last bit of wire was off the frame and I’d put the big circle in the metal recycling bin, the ball of wire was the size of a grapefruit. Kind of pretty, too. Took it over to the back porch step to take a couple photos; I never know what I might use in my blog or for a project.

After the wire ball’s Vogue fashion shoot, the above photo is my favorite, complete with wood knot holes on the steps to add character. Wandering over to the herb garden, I discovered the Apple Mint was sending up new shoots so I wouldn’t need to buy one this year. Another good garden surprise, like the life cycle of a writer; even if you try to stop writing, you can’t and you start composing again.

While I sat swinging on the lawn swing enjoying a Kate Carlisle mystery, it dawned on me. Not only does the garden mimic creating fiction, but so did the ball of wire. We fiction writers think we know where we’re going when we start a novel, but on the journey our fiction ball of wire takes a shape all its own.

Fiction becomes a collaboration of our imagination, muse, life history and divine guidance. Whether writing fiction or tending a garden, editing, weeding and keeping at it are skills needed to excel at both trades. Feeling stuck with your fiction writing? Get thee to the garden!

Are We Ready To Spring Clean Our Writing Minds?

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by Kimberly A. Cook             (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Last Friday I spent seven hours in my home office cleaning and organizing. Actually, my real goal was to find the floor. Seems simple, but after piling different boxes and baskets and rearranging things, it had become a mess. Like the bees working hard in my backyard, spring is a time for new starts and saying goodbye to old projects and failed dreams.

Busy honey bee in my backyard on March 25th doing his pollen collecting job for Spring.
Busy honey bee in my backyard on March 25th doing his pollen collecting job for Spring.

It amazes me how much paper this can all entail. Not only do I hoard office supplies in case a meteor hit leaves me without OfficeMax, but my writer tendencies to squirrel away pieces of paper, brochures, newspaper articles and notes can overwhelm me. When my pile management system is at the point I can’t find anything, including the cat, it’s time for the big spring purge.

As a former journalist, I hold on tightly to what is called “source material.” For the digital natives of the Internet age, this means it is the actual document where something was first said, as opposed to being copied and remade in 8,000 versions by everybody on YouTube.  In other words, in a court of law or an IRS audit, you can pull out the source document and live to litigate again.

That is why one file cabinet drawer is full of all the source documents from the first edition of my book; those files are not going anywhere soon. But, the “this is interesting” and the “I should read this” and the “this would make a great romance story if I ever write about singing vampire cupcake makers” need to move on.

Our writing goals, dreams and desires change over time. That’s okay. I’m looking forward to finally getting my non-fiction work squared away this summer so I can get back to my first love, romance fiction. Military romance fiction that is, where there are storylines with veterans in every book.

But before that happens, all of us have to clean out our old, don’t like and ain’t never gonna happen projects so both our brains and surroundings are ready for new adventures and stories. A favorite de-cluttering book of mine says, “storage is sorrow.” So true.

Let the stories, clutter and paper which no longer work for your writing life loose into the cosmos so they can find the correct writer. We might all be amazed with what we find on our floors and in our minds. Happy Spring Cleaning!

Is Boutique Book Printing The Future Of Publishing?

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by Kimberly A. Cook           (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

A few years ago I found out about the Espresso Book Machine. This fabulous piece of equipment prints a book in front of your eyes. What they’ve done is taken the print on demand machines kept in the warehouses which spit out books ordered online and made them into retail destination machines.

This is great for so many reasons. If you want to print one book, you can do it. If you are on vacation in Melbourne, Australia and you need a copy of your book, you can go to the one there and have it produced for you. Most of these machines are in university bookstores or independent bookstores, but they are spreading across the globe.

They can publish your book and put it in their program, but that is not the same as being with Ingram or a major distributor. But in these times of fiscal issues for all authors, I’ve been seriously considering using this as a way to have paperback books when I need them and focus on having my future ebooks in multiple formats.

Author Bob Mayer said he was seeing his fiction work sell 99 percent in ebooks and non-fiction 50 percent ebook and 50 percent paperback. There will always be a need and room for the paper books, but I want to cut my expenses. With locations around the world, it also makes any author available internationally without having to ship!

Our mega book store in Portland, Powell’s Books, put in an Espresso Book Machine last year. I chatted on the phone recently with the representative. Excellent customer service and I could actually go down and visit with them in person and then watch my first edition non-fiction book print if I wanted. How cool is that?

Check out the company at www.ondemandbooks.com and check out Powell’s page about it at www.powells.com/bookmachine/

Could this be the future of print on demand book publishing?