Kimberly A. Cook

Military Romance Author

Writing

Why Are Many Creatives Monetarily Challenged?

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by Kimberly A. Cook         (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

It never ceases to amaze me how people can make money. That is, people except moi. When it comes to being an artist trying not to starve, other folks seem to figure out how to make it happen. Article on CNN.com yesterday talked about how some folks are making money off of YouTube – for themselves. Really.

Now, one entrepreneur said YouTube is more than cat videos. Well, I was thinking of going with cat videos, given Spec Ops Cat’s upkeep. SOC has two videos up on his YouTube channel from several years ago, but he has staff issues. But these new money making YouTube creative types get others to subscribe to their channels, then go viral and then make money. Wowsa.

Amazing how like writing this all sounds – creative arts are creative arts. The article also outlines how much work it is but they love it and they like being their own bosses. Sounds like my fantasy for retirement; write, eat snickerdoodle cookies and get paid on a regular basis.

When you write the ebook, market the ebook, then write more ebooks, it all takes time and dedication. While we try to build our author platforms doing what the experts “say,” sometimes we lose why we started writing in the first place.

Listening to a recent interview with Elizabeth Gilbert on YouTube about how she handled the huge success of “Eat, Pray, Love,” she said, “I stayed off of the Internet for a few years.” What? I about fell out of my chair. You can do that???

In the quest for a farthing, peso or a buck for our writing efforts, we need to remember we are still in charge and can write for many different reasons. Sometimes turning a passion into a job takes all the joy out of it. Only we can figure out why we write and adjust our goals, lives and expectations accordingly.

In the meantime, we can still watch cat videos. Like Maru from Japan above, one very famous cat with a box addiction. Seriously, more than 11 million hits on this one video!

Read CNN.com article here: http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/21/showbiz/youtube-famous-american-journey-irpt/index.html?hpt=hp_c3

Seen A Lost Pirate Or Super Hero?

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by Kimberly A. Cook               (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Back to writing. Last Friday I stocked up on school supplies again, it’s a disease, then headed out to the parking lot. Happened to see two pirates walking past my car and into the store. Oregon is a great place for creative minds.

http://youtu.be/8AwOKO8wPnU

An interview in The Oregonian with Brian Michael Bendis described why he up and moved here and brought a big part of the Marvel comic franchise with him. I loved one line in the article where he talked about going out and about and seeing fun folk here in the land of Oregon.

“As you get older, you don’t leave the house as much, but when you do leave the house, as a writer or artist, you want guaranteed inspiration,” Bendis said about Portland. Read the article here: http://www.oregonlive.com/movies/index.ssf/2013/09/brian_bendis_interview_top_sup.html#incart_river

Writers observe, record and imagine new and old worlds. What better place to do that than on our everyday errands? We must keep an open eye and mind to watch for unexpected surprises, like pirates in the parking lot.

I wanted to know when the official Portland Pirate Festival was this year, so I checked out the web site http://portlandpiratefestival.com/

It appears even our pirates are having trouble this year, so the next big festival is Labor Day weekend 2014. Perhaps those parking lot pirates were in search of another festival. One never knows. Need to mark it on my calendar.

Keep your eyes open matey and your notebook in hand. One never knows when pirates or super heroes may show up on your watch.

Creativity Or Knitting – Which Came First?

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by Kimberly A. Cook             (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Back at the desk. No sooner had I stuffed my second edition non-fiction book in a box and stuck it in the corner than my three other manuscripts in process started yelling from the cheap seats; “Pick me, pick me!” It’s enough to drive my creative muse around the bend and over the edge.

Deep inside my yarn drum. This is yarn drum 2, yarn drum 1 is at the day job. It's an addiction!
Deep inside my yarn drum. This is yarn drum 2, yarn drum 1 is at the day job. It’s an addiction!

Checking my options, I informed the three projects I am knitting now. Knitting! That worked for a while, but my romance fiction book is calling to me like a siren from the sea.

So, I may work on it when my hands cramp up from knitting so much. Of course, my subconscious brain and my muse are going full steam ahead with rewrites for the fiction book while I try to focus on knitting!

Now this seems a very healthy thing to me. Since my creative frontal brain part needs to be relaxed to create, obviously the knitting is just what it needed, a complete break. I must say it is also quite happy to be the cool kid in the pack now that I’ve kicked the non-fiction book to the curb. Manuscripts do get jealous that way, sibling rivalry.

While I am buying yarn on sale and stockpiling bamboo knitting needles, my muse is getting a bit too happy; this is the first book in a three book series and my muse is working on all of them! It’s like trying to direct a toddler away from sticky candy while trying to remember what brilliant prose fell out of my mind for book three.

Who knew knitting was creative crack for my exhausted muse brain? It seems the best thing to do is let it percolate and write down snatches of what I can grab and stuff those items in their correct book box. That is my goal. Stay tuned. Mama’s don’t let your writers grow up to be knitters….. or something like that.

Can You Write A Fridge Magnet?

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by Kimberly A. Cook        (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Some of my favorite writing is on refrigerator magnets. On flight status with the Air Force Reserve, my fellow crew members warned me about ending up with a potential Military Airlift Command home decorating scheme due to shopping the world. I already had a jewelry and refrigerator magnet habit, so I stuck with those two items to collect. Mostly.

One of my favorite frig magnets. Also explains why I have so many shoes.......
One of my favorite frig magnets. Also explains why I have so many shoes…….

My collection of frig magnets is vast and I rotate them out. There is also a bunch decorating my home office file cabinets too. The number of characters on Twitter is a book compared to a frig magnet. One of my recent favorites is “Let go or be dragged.” Found out it is a Zen proverb.

A friend mentioned a favorite quote she saw on a client’s shirt; “Everything I’ve ever let go of has claw marks on it,” by David Foster Wallace. That is brilliant.

In these days of blogs by everybody and all the social media sites, it is so refreshing to enjoy the powerful and concise writing of a favorite quote or refrigerator magnet. When one is able to say a lot in a small space, it packs a punch.

There are several places I go on a regular basis to add to my frig magnet collection. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is one such site. A selection from my pink file cabinet proclaims, “We are such stuff as dreams are made on…” from The Tempest, IV, i.  And he wrote plays too!

What is your favorite refrigerator magnet saying? Could you write one of your own?

Are Reference Ebooks Cool Again In The Digital World?

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by Kimberly A. Cook                   (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Read a fascinating article in Publishers Weekly magazine about the changing world for reference writers and publishers. Seems the demise of the Oxford English Dictionary and Encyclopedia Britannica print editions did not spell the end of reference works, just the paper format.

Reference books are making gains online in the digital ebook revolution.
Reference books are making gains online in the digital ebook revolution.

The long and short of it is that non-fiction or reference writers need to cater their content delivery vehicle to the age and target market of their reader. Now this has always been true in publishing, but even more so now with the digital publishing revolution as it relates to reference works, which includes how to write books.

But some reference titles are still selling quite well in print, so as the saying goes, there is never just one answer to a publishing question. Some reference publishers are targeting parents of college students and the students themselves according to the article. So once again a niche market divides into smaller niches by need and age group.

For the non-fiction author this is another great source about markets to study and trends to watch when considering how to publish your how to or how not to book to readers. The article talks about the importance of libraries in the digital reference migration and how libraries have pushed the reference publishers to adapt to their needs as library users demand more online resources.

The only thing constant in publishing is change and right now we keep seeing the rise of the author and that readers are Queen. Take the time to consider the best way to have your non-fiction work meet your readers and do some research, you might be surprised!

Read the article here: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/new-titles/adult-announcements/article/56795-the-changing-world-of-reference-focus-on-reference-2012.html

Did You Get An Easy Bake Oven Or A Chatty Cathy Doll?

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by Kimberly A. Cook                    (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

A writer tells as much about themself by what they leave out of their writing as by what they include.  This point was driven home to me this past weekend while staffing a garage sale with my longtime buddy, Michelle. We’ve known each other since first grade so we remain friends because we have so much blackmail material on each other.

Christmas Moose Cookie Jar left over from the garage sale. Maybe I'll just bake cookies and keep him after all.
Christmas Moose Cookie Jar left over from the garage sale. Maybe I’ll just bake cookies and keep him after all.

The weather was great and we had a steady stream of customers Saturday morning until 12:55 p.m., then not one shopper for the rest of the day. When the weather gets above 80 degrees here in early May on a Oregon weekend,  people shop early and play in the sun in the afternoon. Standard operating procedure.

So Michelle and I had plenty of time to talk in between her family running in and out, the area kids checking out the sale, neighbors stopping by and the Slip and Slide water party going on across the street. “This reminds me of when we were kids during the summer,” she said. “Not a care in the world.”

We chatted about odd things we remembered. Michelle must have a 500 GB memory. She recalls the most embarrassing and odd facts about me, most I’ve forgotten on purpose. A retired teacher, she has an Android app in her head to categorize kids, people and memories.

I noted the Easy Bake Oven she’d had for sale for $5 when I dropped my items off Friday night to set up; it was gone when I arrived Saturday morning – neighbors getting in on the pre sale. I’d always wanted a pink Easy Bake Oven growing up and it must be why I prefer to bake instead of cook to this day. I did get my Chatty Cathy doll and I still have her, no garage sales in her future.

While we watched shoppers sift through our items for sale and talked about the details of our childhood, I knew there must be a million stories out there about gifts kids wished for and never got and the ones they wanted and received. Shades of “The Christmas Story” movie come to life. Got a gift never received Christmas, holiday or birthday memory? Write that story!

Then go find the toy on eBay and buy it for yourself. It’s never too late to fulfill childhood dreams, including becoming a writer.