Because I’m finding it very difficult to come up with original content for this blog, in addition to the other two blogs, I’m going to put a sticky at the top for now, letting anyone who ventures over here know where they can find me when it seems I’m not blogging at all. I’m hoping to be back to this blog more than once a week, but in the meantime…

First, I’m blogging about three times a week at the Carina Press blog, talking about the job, the authors, the books and other things Carina Press.

You can also find me three or four times a week at Whipped Out, where I’m talking food, recipes, crafts, cookbooks, and menus.

And, of course, you can always find me on Twitter. Or Facebook, if you prefer (same content, one feeds the other).

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Hi all! Jane from Dear Author here. I’m privileged to be able to give a presentation at this month’s Tools of Change conference along with Sarah Wendell from Smart Bitches Trashy Books and Editor Angela James from Carina Press. Our presentation is what readers want and it is based on conversations we’ve had with ebook readers for over four years on our blogs, in email and on message boards. But folks like hard numbers along with anecdotes so we’ve put together a survey and would love for you to fill it out. If you do fill it out, you’ll be entered to win $250.00 toward books or an ebook reader of your choice.

Survey Link Here

It’s an opportunity for your voice to be heard.

THANK YOU!

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So once again, if you don’t follow me on Twitter, you probably have no idea that I had LASIK surgery two weeks ago. I very bravely sandwiched the surgery in between two trips. I went to Toronto and came back (late) Wednesday night. My surgery was Thursday. The following Monday I flew to New York City for Digital Book World, where I appeared on a panel on Monday. I don’t recommend that kind of schedule to anyone, but lucky for me it worked out beautifully.

But quite a few people asked me to share my experiences with the surgery, because they’ve been thinking about it for themselves. I wish I’d had someone with recent experience to really hear the details from, because I like to know what I’m facing, so I’m sharing them here for anyone thinking about LASIK. I’ll get the important stuff out of the way. Am I glad I did it? Not only yes, but hell yes. Do I think others should think about it? Yes, definitely. My caveat is to make sure you research your doctor. My doctor has worked on everyone from professional football players to Air Force pilots. He was the perfect mix of arrogance and knowledge, he and his team answered every question I had, anticipated any problems that could occur and were bluntly honest about possible complications. They were very, very thorough and, in short, incredibly competent and knowledgeable. If you go for an evaluation and don’t get that feeling from the doctor, and his team, find another.

Because this is such a long post, I’m going to place the rest of the story after the jump.

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Brianna often spouts off a lot of funny one-liners that I share on Twitter, but sometimes our conversations are too long to share on Twitter. This morning, she got me pretty good.

Last night she had swimming lessons, and I’d brought a long-sleeve black rashguard for her (because the pool is COLD) and some random swim bottoms that were not black. As she was changing into them, she asked if I had matching bottoms to go with the black top. I explained that it was okay, because black goes with everything. She processed that for a few seconds, asked if brown went with black (don’t ask me why she was fixated on brown) and then said “okay”. That was that.

This morning, she got dressed in pink sweatpants and a pink shirt. I told her to go find her tennis shoes and she said, “I’m not going to wear my tennis shoes.”

“Okay, what are you going to wear?”

“My black boots.”

“No, you can’t wear your black boots, they don’t go with your outfit.”

“But, Mommy, you said black goes with everything.”

*crickets*

Little brat. I was actually speechless. She wore the black boots.

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I promised myself on February 1st I’d turn my attention to breathing life back into my poor blog. It was never my intention to be absent this long, but my energies, by necessity, had to be focused elsewhere. However, I have no intention of closing down this blog or letting it die, so I’m going to pour some of that energy into thinking of how to be interesting on multiple blogs at once. Wish me luck!

Those of you who’ve been reading my blog since the beginning–five years! I missed my blog birthday back in January during my blog hiatus– have also been watching Brianna grow up, and we’ve gone far too long without pictures of her on the blog. I share them on Twitter, but I know many of you aren’t on Twitter (or aren’t paying attention on Twitter) so I have to show you how .5 (her name before she was born because we refused to tell anyone what we were naming her until after she was born) has grown up. She’s such a little girl, with quite the (stubborn) personality. Incredibly fun, and funny, bright and imaginative, and way too charming for her own good, she’s really an amazing joy to spend time with.

We got about ten inches of snow dumped on us this past weekend. More snow than we’ve ever gotten at any one time in the decade I’ve lived here. Brianna was beside herself with joy. I grew up in North Dakota but she’s the one who longs for the snow they get there (I don’t get it, myself). Here’s a few quick pics of her, and the dogs, romping in the snow.

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I just realized I was remiss in not posting this here (as I’ve been remiss in not posting here at all, which has really been nagging at me).

Starting Monday I’ll be hosting a self-editing workshop on the ESPAN RWA forum. It’s not too late to sign up and the sign up cost is extremely reasonable. Details below:

January 18, 2010 Self Editing Workshop by Angela James

Join Angela James as she shares some of the common pitfalls she’s seen in submissions and contest entries. She’ll give you ideas, tips and tricks for polishing and self-editing your manuscript. Discuss things such as dialogue tags, whether all forms of “to be” really are evil and just what you’re doing to your life expectancy with your use of that exclamation point. Through it all, she’ll be available for clarification and questions in order to help you on your way to a cleaned-up manuscript.

This course will run over several days on the forum, so you can pop in and out as needed to ask Angela questions or see the new information she’s posted. So, you don’t need to be available at any certain time of day, but you do need to sign up for the course to attend.

Angela James Bio:

Executive editor of Carina Press, Harlequin’s digital-only press, and veteran of the digital publishing industry, Angela James is a
well-known advocate for digital publishing. James has enjoyed a long and varied publishing career that has included ownership of an independent editorial services business, work as a copy editor for electronic book and small press publisher, Ellora’s Cave, and executive editor for Samhain Publishing. James frequently travels to regional, national and international writing conferences to meet with authors and readers, and present workshops on digital publishing for both authors and readers of all genres of fiction.

To sign up for this course, visit the ESPAN website.

The course will have special pricing (as we kick-off our new series of workshops) of $5 for ESPAN RWA members, $10 for non-ESPAN RWA Members and $15 for non-RWA (please choose your option)

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I know, I was supposed to announce the contest winners last week. Sorry! Thanks to those who provided gentle reminders.

So, without further ado and thanks to the genius of random.org, I have a main prize winner and two smaller winners.

For the consolation prizes, which is a box of goodies (sorry, no HQN bag):

Christy H, who said:

And the winner of the HQN bag and assorted goodies:

Amy Katherine, who said:

What I love about digital publishing? There’s only so many books I can store in one flat (I’ve around 400 lbs of books in my flat right now–I left many boxes at my parents’ when I first moved out of the family home). Not an issue with digital books!
Congrats, winners, and thanks to everyone who entered and shared their thoughts about digital publishing. Thanks to a recent trip to Toronto, I have another Harlequin bag to give away but I’ll be giving that one away on the Carina Press blog, so watch there for information!

Winners, you can contact me at angelajameseditor AT gmail.com to collect your prizes.

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It’s a long story, but last night our babysitter (a very nice older lady) ended up hanging out at our house for about an hour after we got home, and I gave her control of the remote. She switched it to Debbie Macomber’s Mrs. Miracle, but the movie had already been on for an hour so we only saw the last half. It was actually a pretty cute movie (as evidenced by the fact that my brother and I kept watching the end, even after the babysitter left), though it wasn’t something we’d have ever turned it to ourselves. But because we came in late, we never got to find out what the sister did to Reba (the heroine) that was so horrible she wouldn’t speak to her for four years. I Googled for spoilers, but I couldn’t find the answer. So, I’m turning to you guys for the answer if you’ve read the book or seen the movie. What the heck did she do?

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That’s me! Today anyway. I’m not blogging here but I blogged at THREE other places today.

At author Lauren Dane’s blog for her Writerly Wednesday post, I blogged about finding time (to write, edit, promote or do whatever it is we want to do).

At Whipped Out, I wrote about my Thanksgiving menu and shared links to the recipes I’ll be using.

And at the Carina Press blog, I asked for help!

Happy Thanksgiving to my US friends! I’ll be cooking up a storm for the next two days and then, Friday? Shopping!

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