Monday, February 28, 2011

21 Ebook sales so far!

OK, I am thrilled at my first venture into the ebook platform. Thank you Nook readers for giving me a chance to share my work with you, "Thrift Shopping..."

I must confess my nephew, Erik Williams inspired me to get back in the game. He is a prolific writer of ebooks, chapbooks, novellas and novels. See the link for his Drunken Monkeys and Angry Pengiuns blog. We have such a creative family, my sister Ellen Williams has 2 books in print "Radioface" and "Godopossum: Printed Words" and our youngest just finished shooting her first professional short film, see link to "Relative Eternity" and our eldest daughter is auditioning for several films right now.

More to come...

Monday, February 21, 2011

Remember when black nail polish was tacky?

Sorry, unless you are a middle school student, Elivra, Morticia Addams, a Dungeons and Dragons fanatic, a goth loner or a bored junkie (at least that's what I saw on Celebrity Rehab), black nail polish isn't fashionable.


Can I get an amen from Tim Gunn? Likely not.


A little black dress belongs in every woman's wardrobe, but a bottle of black nail polish should only be used to repair scuffed accessories, car dents, scratched appliances and the like. Chipped nail polish looks bad in any color, but black polish looks as bad as broken teeth. Well, that's extreme, but you get the point.

Ok, maybe you think I should have something better to do than obssess about nail polish and I would agree, but that's what happens when I get writer's block.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Thank you Survivor & American Idol !

I am not going to waste a lot of time discussing this, but I am happy to say American Idol is much better for having Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler. Finally, it's about the talent and not the judges!

The antics of Paula, Simon, and Ellen are done. Thank you Simon, best of luck on the X Factor, you've raked us all over the coals for too long. I really like seeing less of Ryan Seacrest, too. He's nice, but less is more. I stopped watching after Adam Lambert lost.

To Steven Tyler, you are sunshine, fun and I want to give you a hug.

As for Survivor: Mark Burnett, how did it take so long to figure out there is more to the game than puzzles? Redemption Island is going to mix it up and now you have professional Survivor's Boston Rob and Russell to stir the pot. Quite frankly, I would like to challenge the producers to a puzzle-less season! Every season could be called Survivor, Puzzle Island.

Make them knit, crochet or build something with some basic Craftsman Tools! Imbed or carve clues into some of the trees. Leave a sealed basket or cans of food (heck give them a can opener, talk about product placement, Spaghettios and Kitchenaid) instead of an immunity idol in the woods for someone to get fat. Give them walkie talkies to spy or record the other tribe. Make the contestants show their knowledge of basic survival skills like how to dress a wound without the medical crew, but stop the repetition!!

I haven't watch all the Survivor series as I just get puzzled-out, but you have me for awhile as for American Idol, keep me entertained!

Monday, February 14, 2011

Text To Self

So as hubby and I were walking around Westshore Mall Saturday after having lunch with family, I noticed the sets of chairs in middle isle where shoppee's sit while waiting for their shopper mates.

I wasn't in the mood to shop, I just wanted to walk and people watch, so I decided to take a seat while Tom shopped for new sneakers. I was fixated on an elderly woman who sat across from me. She appeared to be OCD. She took a pack of Newport cigarettes out of her bag and examined one cigarette and looked it over and then put it in her mouth and I was sure she was going to light it and then she put it back in the pack and started the process again. She did this about 5 times and then started combing her shoulder length thin straight hair. At one point she looked directly at me and I thought I was caught staring, but then she seemed to see past me. She had pale gray eyes, wore thick Aviator biofocals and her white athletic socks were slipped into broken sandals. Wearing a white tank top and shorts she eventually she got up and shuffled away. I thought she was gone and then a while later she circled back through. So I got inspired.

I wanted to write some ideas I have for the novel and I only had my cellphone with me so I thought, I can write a text to myself in the "drafts" section and get some work done.

I was amazed at the development of my plot. I've been struggling for weeks trying to work through some challenges and here I was typing on a cellphone that requires me to hit the key 3 to 4 times to get a single letter to spell each word and the ideas flowed. I felt such a sense of accomplishment and I couldn't wait to get to my computer and get to work.

Meat Meltdown

This weekend was interesting and odd. We started Friday night at my brother and sister-in-laws for some grilling and chilling. Chilling in a sense that we were huddled around a small fire and it was about 40+ degrees outside. I am getting colder as I get older and I'm not trying to rhyme, really.

Anyway, we all brought lots of meat and you'd think we were all cave people the way we chowed on ribs, chicken, steak and sausage. It felt like a "Man vs. Food" episode and I was definitely protein intoxicated by the time we headed home with a Tupperware full of more grilled leftovers. I did make cauliflower soup and my sister-in-law made some rice, mac and cheese, asparagus and spaghetti squash, but it was hardly touched.

It sounds like I ate a side of beef, but in fact I ate a half rack of babyback ribs, a half chicken breast and several slices of sausage. Saturday I woke with a familair dizziness and started to think that maybe my Meniere's Disease is aggravated by too much protein. I had 2 glasses of white wine Friday, and that hasn't been a problem prior, so I am making a mental note of this.

I figured I could balance my inner ear crystals with a procedure the doctors at Tampa Bay Hearing and Balance taught me. When I reclined and turned on my side, it was obvious that the crystals were the issue, but how did they get out of balance? When I looked up reasons for ear crystals to dislodge the reasons mostly described jarring physical movement of which I hadn't any.

So in my own estimation, the dietary stress seemed to have been the only thing that made sense? When I first was diagnosed this past Summer I had just lost about 10 pounds on a high protein diet. It was a dramatic physical change, as I hadn't been able to lose weight any other way and I also used fat burners. The result was 10 pounds off and the complications of Meniere's Disease.

I have also discovered that when I eat lots of fruits, salads, high fiber cereals, Greek yogurts and plenty of no-sodium water, I have few problems.

So I am definitely curbing the protein for a while and continuing to track what makes me experience the loud inner ear ringing and occasional dizziness.

And by the way, when you balance your crystals several times over a few days, everything gets back to normal. It's not a long term problem. Thank God!

Monday, February 7, 2011

Super Bowl Tweets

Ok, I am in the middle of paperwork, helping the daughters with writing projects, writing some on the novel and I need to review final ad copy for my clients so I am just going to write a brief blog entry.

Being that yesterday was Super Bowl weekend, hubby and I went to the neighbor's house as we have done almost every year since we moved in to our current home. Jim and his sons are great guys and they host a potluck byob with pool table in the garage and big screen in the small living room and people gathered inside and outside pregame and post. Watching the Super Bowl this year, I had the Blackberry on and I just had to watch the tweets fly from all the advertising people I follow. I decided to join in and it really made the game more enjoyable. I can't say the halftime show or commercials were as exciting as some years, but the fact that I could talk and watch live comments during the game was a twreat. I tweet these days on advertising and small business trends, but I think I am going to tune in for the Oscars with the Blackberry this year and see what the red carpet has to say!!

My favorite Superbowl commercials were the VW Darth/Passat and Bettle, plus the Audi blueblood prison escape! Loved these! Nothing else stood out for me. Lots of good products but way too many themes were rehashed for the beer and chips brands.

Well, gotta run.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Working through the script process

This is a brief post. It's very late. Went to help my mother with her groceries and such today and then we went to dinner with friends. Got home afterward to read a new edit of Blair's short film script, "Relative Eternity."

Anyway, my husband and I both read it in different rooms, made notes and did a Skype session to go over recommendations individually and then all 3 of us got on to go over the changes. It was a 3 hour session and now I need to call it a night. We feel very privileged to be included in the process. If you would like to support this indie project check out: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1675256120/relative-eternity-would-you-risk-your-afterlife/posts

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Nook Readers, Here I Come!

Well, I uploaded my first mini Nook ebook, "Thrift shopping, couponing, and other techniques your mother shared with you, but you chose to ignore." This is was originally published in 2004 when our oldest daughter went to college. Anyone who reads it will get enough tips to make back more than the .99 cent purchase price.
I had to get started somewhere and this was one of the vendors http://www.pubit.com/ I met at the Writer's Digest Conference. Now I don't want this to divert from my novel sales with non-fiction, but I am happy to be putting my work out there.
Hubby and I just got back from Bible study this evening and I'm loving the book of Genesis. It's my favorite book of the Bible. Most would say they prefer the New Testament, but I find the stories of Abraham, Issac, Jacob and Joseph fascinating. I also like the Book of Ruth and Tobit, too. Anyway, tomorrow is Friday and I'm looking forward to working on my novel this weekend!