April Showers Bring Cloud Computing

April Showers bring  Cloud Computing.

Another week of  weird weather and a month change bring us into summer more and more.   Why is it that during winter I dream of summer, and during summer I  wish for winter?

This past winter was about like a new england fall.   We didn't even get down below 20 degrees.  Unfortunately that means we will be overrun with bugs  this summer.   One of the sad realities in life is  that winter  has to be below 20 degrees for at least 2 weeks to kill off a decent percentage of the bug eggs laid the end of fall.  We didn't get that so this summer will bug us big time...  

But now it's summer. Last week it was in the 50s.  A day ago, my car thermometer said 97.  I don't think it was really 97 outside.  I think it was closer to  80 or 85.  In the car, however, it was hotter.

The problem is, no matter what weather we get, it is not the weather we want.  It is sort of an extension of the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. If we want cliche' we can also say  'you always want what you can't have.'

The nature of man is to be dissatisfied with the present and strive for the future.  In many ways that's the main force behind man's achievements.  Look at it practically if no one cared about the weather, we wouldn't have clothing, houses, lights, fans heaters and air conditioning.

I remember years ago, watching the movie Oxford Blues, and the English gentleman went on about how Americans had an arrogance that they can do anything, and the other countries were tired of the attitude.  In the movie , the hero said something and was shot down quickly.  In my mind the retort was obvious... "If you don't like the attitude, then  stop using the innovations that these arrogant Americans invent,,, Like electricity, the airplane, the process of blood and organ transplantation and all the other impossible things  that have become possible because people were arrogant enough to not just sit and believe in the limits they were taught.

Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, once said man's technology doubles every 7 years.  When you think about the things that were normal and available just a decade ago, you realize how huge the difference is.  in 2002 we had the internet, but nowhere near what we have now.  Cell phones were clunky and huge, and the smartphone was not even a gleam in anyone's eye.  No one had any idea the uses of internet memory storage and cloud computing.  Now,  the technology is so far different from the last few decade's that it is hard to even envision life that way anymore.

Few may even remember, but there was a time when there was no internet.   Television had only 3 channels, and they were hard to get on the tv.  Telephones did nothing but  hang on a wall or sit on a desk and  let you talk to people  if they answered..  There was no voice mail or answer machines, and on call doctors had to pay people to answer the phone after hours.

It was a more harsh life life where no one had any of the conveniences we have today. So they  made things better.  Like the people who long ago hated to be rained on, so they invented houses; more modern man invented things they needed.  and here we are.

It is a great time to be alive.  But I wonder what life will be like in another 7 years?   Hmmm.  lets stay here and watch....

Faith in my writing

I posted my blogs religiously back in 2007.  At that time I was in Romance writers of America as a professional member, I was doing everything I could to get published.   I went to meetings with agents and I went to conventions of writers.  I changed my books at publishers request  and did everything a writer should do.   Still, after 6 years I did not get published.  

I had a lapse of faith.   The religion of being a writer seemed to have no more heavenly promise.  Books took a year or re to come back with form letters rejecting me. The gods of publishing did not want a male unknown writer  doing romance.  

I basically gave up.  I had 11 books written, and several more partials staarted.  but I lost my drive with my faith.  I stopped paying money for writers group memberships.  I stopped going to meetup groups  to promote my work.   I went back into the cubbyhole of real life,   dealing with animal rescue and nature education.   

But my writer side would not rest.  I began doing other writings.  I made up stories to do storytelling in my nature classes.   I started writing newspaper articles and doing other works.  Still it was not the same. then in 2011 I heard about something that brought me back to life.  I heard about epublishing.

I went to a seminar on epublishing and saw so much potential.  I learned a lot about it and  now I have 4 books out on the epublishing market.   I am putting up the 5th later this month.  I have a whole page on Amazon at >>>   http://www.amazon.com/S.-A.-Stone/e/B005DRI5JS/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1 

I also decided to stop dealing with teh traditional  publishers.   They are the old gods in a new world.  The religion of cowtowing to others idea of what will sell because they like it is over.   Now I can write what I want and how I want.  If it does not sell, then I am the only one at fault.  In the new religion of the word of writing, god helps those who help themselves.

I made a small business out of helping others.  I started an ePublishing help group on both facebook and on Meetup.com.  I started teaaching a bit of what I learned through the local college at Wake Tech, and I started a new business at www.vbooks.com, actually setting up books to publish.

So, I have found my faith in my writing again, and I have started back on my  path to publication.  It is good.  It has healed a hole in my life.

Besides, this is the only way I know I can actually get people to groan at my bad humor all over the world....

More later... or maybe sooner.

Getting things going on the web

I've been busy doing nothing. Well, at least that's what it feels like. I've done a lot, but nothing seems to ever get done. Especially on the computer. I spent all day yesterday cleaning up files, getting the computer sort of set up like it was before it got sick, and in the end, it's still mostly the same. I still didn;t get much else done, and I have a lot of other things to do. I have a cage to finish building (of course I really need a second person to help with that, so that's my excuse for not having done it) I have a Street Faire Saturday to get things done for, and I have my regular chores.

Why is it chores when you have to do it, but housework when someone else does it?

My father used to say "The hurrieder I go, the behinder I get." Yep. That's the feeling. Oh well, all I can do is what I can do.

Now, as far as the web stuff... (see title of this post) I've actually gotten some things done. Not much yet, but some. I haven't figured out how to make a membership area on my website yet. I hate to think I'll have to pay for it (EEK!) but I don't want people just coming onto my site and watching my videos unless they've signed in and left an email address. Yeah, I'm a control freak.

I did open a MySpace page. Its address is http://www.myspace.com/sastoneromance See, my every web page name is bursting with originality! No stale sense of sameness here.

I have some pictures of us on there and a really embarrassing profile. Okay, it's not really embarrassing, but something must be wrong with it, since I keep getting "Friend requests" from twenty-something girls that want to meet me and have me go to a party with them. Doesn't the word "married" mean anything anymore?

Anyway, I haven't gotten my FTP program up yet, so I can't really upload a video to the website. I have the Lockpicking one done (and I think it's much better than any of the ones I checked out on YouTube)
Future topics will be:
Bullet proof vests...(featuring my level 3 and possibly some help from a local PD officer
Guns...Okay, I have lots of guns, I'll show you the difference between a pistol and a revolver, and so on.
Under the hood of a car... I'll ID parts and what they do so you can actually write like you've been under the hood of a car before (and I mean on purpose)
Boating (non-gasoline boats)... Featuring my sailboat and possible a canoe.
Animals ... I do wildlife education full time, I'd be pretty stupid not to do this one
Basic handyman stuff for your fix-it characters... There's nothing sadder than reading about a fix-it character from an author that has never fixed anything
Blacksmithing... I'll fire up the forge and make something decorative (no, not a sword, It's only a five minute video!)
Tatting and lace making... Arts and crafts are nice additions to books, and tatting is a classic craft.
Rockcutting and jewelry making... Yeah, I do this too. The last name is Stone, I had to do something with rocks!
Carpentry and wood carving... Different but similar to the handyman one, just more artsy.

So, which ones should I do first? Any othre ideas of videos that I'm qualified for? Feel free to leave your comments.

Wonders on the Web

I've finally done it! I got my lockpicking video back off the damaged disk!

Ha! You didn't even know I made the video did you? Well, guess what? I did. I made it for authors so they could actually describe lockpicking correctly. I made it specifically after I spoke to Stephanie Bond. She was very interested.

So, I'm thinking that I'll make lots of little five minute videos and making a spot on my website where authors can visit and view helpful videos.

I think it will be a really neat idea.

Back up and Running

My limited online time with the Mac is over. She's safely hidden away again, and the PC is back up and running. So, now the Mac is back to being my movie making machine, and the PC is back to being my online machine. It works out pretty good that way, I never have to worry about my expensive software and machine getting infected or my data being taken off it.

But, back to my blog. I did the submission for the e-zine. It was a sort of a chick-lit / comedy story. I had to send in two different submissions since I couldn't decide one was batter. Hopefully I didn't blow it by doing that.

I think insecurity is one of the biggest flaws writers have. We write our stories, and re-read them with great satisfaction. We're proud of our accomplishments, and in love with the entire manuscript, every word and nuance of it.

Then it comes time to submit it to someone else. Suddenly we start to notice flaws. Words seem to rearange themselves to make less sense than they did when it was just us reading it. So we edit it.

We work on it for days, weeks, or even months getting the newfound flaws out of our perfect baby. Once it is totally perfect, we send it in. Whether it's email or Postal service, we send the work out and chew on our fingernails and pull out or hair waiting.

Sometime, usually about a month later, we check out our copy of the manuscript we sent. And then we see it... On the first page... In the first paragraph... Ruining the entire submission... An error. Okay, it's not exactly an error, but it just sounds awkward. It might be the wording, or it might be just to bland a beginning. Whatever it is, it makes us worry.

The more we put out there, the more we worry about. By the time we've checked over all our submissions, we need to check into a mental hospital. Errors errors everywhere, and not a fix in sight!

All we can hope for it an editor or agent willing to ignore the tiny flaws for a good story and overall good writing.

In the mean time, we recognize fellow writers by their bitten or fake nails and thinning hair or judicious use of hats. (We won't mention the office chair spread or the ghostly pallor of never getting outside.)

Since I got back the rejection on the Green Haired Beauty Manuscript, I'm now waiting on an agent reviewing Dawn of Blood, one publisher reviewing Magick's Bounty, another publisher reviewing two erotic short stories, and a magazine reviewing an article.

Soon...

(Extra fun thing, I just saw a cute video cartoon at:
http://foamy.arthemys.net/Foamy/Form_Letter.html
Check it out, but be warned, it is a rant and profanity is involved.)

Premature Excitation

I'm guilty. I went off too soon. I crowed about how I was online again, and boom, my karma ran over my computer. We got an ugly virus.

Yep, the things been down since my last post. It's still down. I had to do what I didn't want to do, I had to put my Macintosh G4 onine. I love my Mac, but there are no real decent antiviral or protection programs for it, so I don't want it consorting with other computers. You never know what sort of things it can catch; let alone what might happen. (If I'm not careful I might end up with little iPods running around!)

Yeah, My PC is down with a virus, but heck, it's a PC it can take it. I know, It's old fashioned to treat one computer differently than another simply by it's gender, but I've raised my little Mac from a Mac plus, and she's my little desktop diva. She makes better photos and better videos than anyone else (even if I am a proud parent, I know it's true!)

Meanwhile, my PC is getting better, so he'll be online in a day or two. I had to erase the hard drive and go to my back up system files. It's going to take a while to get all the kinks out of it, but he's a tough guy, he'll make it.

Oh, and I've finished the draft of that magazine assignment. Now to let it stew for a day then check it again. I'm never sure with Chick Lit...

Confusion, meet frustration...

As a writer, I try to do my best to submit my work to people in a way that will get me noticed, but not annoy the person I'm submitting it to. That's why it is so important to check out the submission guidelines before I send ot a query letter. I don't want to have the possible agent or editor remember me as the writer who can't follow directions.

My problems arose when I started using the internet to find agent and publishers to submit work to. I subscribed to "The Writers Market Online," and I looked at pages like "agentquery.com" for possible leads.

In doing so I discovered you can really P.O. an agent by looking at these sites, and not double checking their own personal web site. Once I sent a query to an agent via email, and got back an email saying they only take hardcopy submissions. Another time I met an agent at a convention, and when I mentioned reading about her on one of the online writer's pages, she was surprised. She had no idea there was anything about her on the site, and said she had no part in it being there.

It makes me worry. I have enough angst about sending out my manuscript at all. The thought that I could be sending it off just to anger an agent or publisher gives me the heebee jeebees.

I figure between my impatience and the errors from submitting things wrong, I'll soon end up with my face on warning posters in the agent and editors offices with a caption like:
"Beware of S. A. Stone, AKA: Stalking Author Stone. Subject is considered odd and annoying. If seen, go to the opposite side of the convention and hide or seek high ground. Do not approach unless you are wearing a business card proof outfit, have lots of time to waste, and want a reputation for a total lack of taste."

Of course, if and when I get to be a famous writer one day, I probably won't have to worry about those darn posters anymore...Right?