My aquarium is probably more dangerous than your lab since it contains a splashy fish who could put water in the power bar. Not that your landlord would find this any more comforting.
*googles for a place to stay further than 8 miles away from the border*
hehehehe
That sucks big time njc! And welcome to the nanny state - we've had it for a while in Aus already and trust me, it's painful to anyone with an average intellect and some common sense. It's not your landlord's doing though, laws, rules and regs have to cater for the lowest common denominator - the pain invoked on the rest of the population increases exponentially with increasing CSQ (similar to IQ, but instead of intelligence, common sense is measured). Personally, I believe more in tough love - let stupid do stupid and deal with the consequences on a one-on-one basis because there will always be a villiage idiot "smart" enough to outdo any system. But no, guvernmint must DO something!!!!
I wish I had any advice to give other than toughen up and hope you can make a plan. Normally, I'd suggest a partial lobotomy, but in your case, it won't work at all, you're way too smart. Maybe ask why K is allowed to have a fish tank? I mean, if they allow THAT!, surely a few LEDs won't be a problem? Their dumbstruck expressions will hopefully make up for some of the pain. *K, just kidding, mate, but you started it!*
Amy also have a few good ideas. My personal solution was to move to the States ... :-)
Yes, indeed, Janet, I've been there. Same feelings on 50 Shades of Shit. Sorry, but it was poorly written. And, um, you can give that same review above on Amazon if you so wish and give her 1 star.
Now, if you need some good reading, I'll email you some more manuscripts and you can wear your editor's hat all the time.
LOL, it is the ultimate solution! Now if I only can get paid by the word hehehehe But seriously, I'm frustrated as hell because I want to finish MM (yes, yes, I'm hooked, but then, you didn't think it wasn't going to happen) but I only have to many hours in a day grrrrr
We should all probably start to leave reviews on Amazon to get these award-winning authors back on track?! But then again, I don't know if I could now that I know how hard it is to write a novel. But then again, she should know better. grrrrr
I thought it was just me that thought even the great authors were slacking off. Some of the authors I read (W.E.B. Griffin, Stuart Woods, David Weber, and several others, have put out books, but the page-count is slowly going down. The fonts are slightly larger, and the margins are wider. This tells me either the author is getting tired (or old), or the publisher is trying to make a bigger dime. One author stands out, though, as not producing smaller books and that is Tom Clancy (and, now that he's passed away, Mark Greaney).
Maybe after producing a great amount of books, an author is deserving of a rest. I know that if I'd written 43 books, I'd be tired too.
~Tom
The problem with all the great/professional authors, I think, is that they are now all full-time writers and need to get a new book out every 3 months or so to keep their income levels going. So the combination of being pressed for time and running out of ideas (fresh ideas + words) seems to be a deadly one.
So maybe the lesson is to keep your day job and prolong your writing career and credibility?
I can definitely sympathize. I've been taking a break to read more, and Facebook adds pop up with free books. Who wouldn't want a free book, right? Needless to say, all of those stories, though free, were not worth what I paid - my time. They were horrible and most I never made past the first chapter before I deleted it from my kindle. I've learned so much from TNBW that I constantly find myself wanting to comment and edit everything I read. I've even struggled to finish most of the greats lately (i.e. Nora Roberts, Heather Graham, Catherine Coulter, etc...) - granted they have some excellent early novels that made them big, but lately all are lacking. I want a story I can get lost in instead of feeling like I'm just wasting time.
The last published story I read that I couldn't put down was "3-2-1" by JA Huss. It's a dark romantic suspense, basically a train wreck that you can't look away from and extremely sexually graffic. The psychological twist at the end will blow you out of the water and explain it all. I read that in December, and since then, I've read more than 25 others that I honestly can't tell you anything about because they were wasted time.
I've since started to download samples of books before I waste my money and that has helped. With the EXCEPTION that the trend in books now seems to publish 1 story broken down into 3 or 4 books instead of just putting the whole story out there. I hate that trend! I've revolted against anyone that does that and refused to buy the second book. I want a happy ending - that's why romance is my choice of story.
All this to say, it's up to the author to take the initiative to make a story great and TNBW will help. Because of those horribly written stories can get published then so can mine.
Ditto! And thanks for the "3-2-1" suggestion, will check it out when I have time again! :-)
Now that I've done a couple of Collin reviews, I suddenly (maybe more miraculously because this is me after all!) understand what this TW and that's that you and njc are talking about are about ...
^^^ did you see what I've done? ;-)
I should probably but out, but what the heck, here is my opinion in any case:
Your Collin stories are something else than pure literature. Given the subject, and the emotions, laughs and tears associated with the tales of your journey together, I think readers will be a lot more forgiving if the "rules" are not followed to the letter. Not saying you can let go and leave spelling mistakes, crude grammar and poor punctuation as is and all over the place, but like using "that" more than once, it's a non-issue. I haven't noticed it at all until I saw the review. And after reading again after noticing it, it still didn't bug me. Now, if this was Dictates, I'd be over you like a bad rash probably, it will be pure torture to read "that that that that that" if the book is 300 pages plus. But your short stories about Collin is short, it's in your voice and it's from your heart. It's DIFFERENT, so different rules apply. So take that into account before you take up anything any reviewer suggests, present company included. And some reviewers, more so than others, are really inflexible when they are reviewing the work of others that have a completely different voice/writing style than them and tend to rewrite the piece like they would've done it instead of just reviewing it.
If TW sees this, she's likely not going to take it well. So hopefully I haven't make things worse, but I just thought to let you know what I think for what it's worth.
And by the looks of it, you're in an elite TNBW group that hasn't been blocked by her yet!
^^^ *smacks myself over the knuckles*
A new reviewer tells me he can't use the in-line review because he's a new member. Is that right, or did he get a glitch?
JP
I think this is still the case, JP, only premium members have access to in-line reviews and new members by default are not premium members, they have to upgrade.
edit - correct me if I'm wrong Sol!
If you can find anything from the Barossa Valley, you can't go wrong!
Yeah, rules and stuff that doesn't allow one to drink at work. No fun :-(
Homework:
1. Find a book that you like and think about what POV the writer used. In the forum, post the title of the book and the POV. Read a chapter. Does the POV bounce around within the chapter?
Stephanie Laurens - Devil's Bride
POV - 3rd person
With this book, SL kept to the POV of one character, but I've read other books of her where she changes POV between the two MC's without using breaks, and sometimes she change POV between the two MC's a few times forth and back in the same scene/chapter again without section breaks. Now that I've been made aware of the POV "jumps", I notice it. Before, I didn't!
Thanks Sol. I'm hoping to complete the next assignment soon!
Hi everyone
I've also joined a this class a bit late and need to catch up! So here goes.
(1) What type of writing (romance, horror, science fiction, etc.) do you like to do?
Historical romance
(2) When did you start writing?
At the age of 16-17. Seriously, only recently at the age of 39.
(3) Who are a couple of your favorite authors?
Stephanie Laurens
(4) What's a fun or quirky fact about you?
I'm in a highly technical career that few would ever associate with someone that loves to read (and write?!) romance novels.
Thanks for doing this Sol!
Smoothing an "abrupt" POV change mid-scene. I don't use this often, but given my genre is romance, it is needed at times. I only change the POV once in any scene, and not every scene, and would appreciate any pointers as how to make the change less of a shock to unsuspecting readers.
OMG I know exactly what you mean Janet! I have shelves of books that I've collected of romance novels (mostly by what were two of my favorite authors). I say 'were' because now I'm not so sure. I recently tried to read one again and it was hard to 'get into' the story because I was constantly looking for nits
. Then I tried to read the other author and now know why when I first started writing I had problems with head hopping! It was all over in her book. And I came to the exact same conclusion as you, a mixture of disappointment and hope. Surely if these well known authors can get published then surely we can! Now my goal isn't to be 'as good as' said authors but to be 'better than'. I'm just not sure what to do with all the books on my shelves because I truly don't think I can ever enjoy reading them again...
With the author I do recommend, I did pick up nits, but it was minor enough that it didn't distract me to bits and I could still enjoy reading the book. I had been picky before, but after TNBW, the pool now has shrunk even more. :-(
And my favourite author, Stephanie Laurens, not sure if her writing has gotten worse or not, but I struggle to finish her books these days as well. Although, I can still read her earlier books without any problems, so I guess she's not going through all the trouble anymore since she now is "established" and it's not TNBW per say (although I think it's not helping!).
But I'm so glad I'm not alone! :-)
She could have called it 'Fifty Shades of Earl Grey'....
LOL, she should've! 50SOG was one of the books I couldn't finish - only got to about Chapter 2. It was mostly due to the weak heroine. In 50SOEarlG at least she slapped the guy (once), so I'll give Liz Carlyle that much.
I bought a few books to read since we were going to travel for hours and hours to the other side of the world. While I (sort of) enjoyed the first two books of a specific romance writer/NY Times bestseller - only minor slip-ups that could be ignored - the third book was a complete waste of time and a massive disappointment. I give you 1856 meets 50SOG. I kid you not.
I'll start at the beginning:
Desperate circumstances forced our heroine to work as a governess. She applies for a position with a notorious rake who is also the father of a young daughter - if I've ever seen an oxymoron, that was it. He turns down her application because she's too pretty and he suggests she should rather use her beauty to find *cough-cough* a whole other type of position. But of course, her eyes (!!!!) were so mesmerising and no lady ever slapped him when he tried to kiss them, he had to find a similar looking "lady" to have some fun with. Meanwhile, damsel in distress turns to her previous employer, a notorious courtesan who managed to marry a stinking rich peer who died and left her rich beyond measure. And instead of giving our heroine a new job, she helps the desperate lady to find this "whole other kind of job". Really???? At this point I started to doubt that I'd be able to finish the book (and books really need to be shitty before I'll consider not ever knowing the ending).
In any case, so the rake and heroine meet again. And this is where things really got out of hand, because see, he likes spanking his mistresses, and binding them to his bedposts, and to pleasure them with not one, but two porcelain dildos, etc. etc. I don't have a problem with that per say, but from here on the heroine unruffled completely. Divided between her pride and "liking" the spanking, between being a "good" girl yet liking feeling "dirty", and finally, falling apart because she's such a strong person while she just could not understand why/how she could like and allow to be dominated in bed ...
I did finish the book eventually. But it was painful. Especially the epilogue where the untutored little mouse made a 180 degree turn and then dominated the "strong" hero ... who was tied to some dilapidated summer house or something, and wasn't REALLY tied up for most of the time while she showed him how it's done. I'd much rather go through another visa application than read that book again.
The book, in my opinion, could've been saved (somewhat) if the heroine accepted the fact that she likes, and it's her choice, to be dominated. Or maybe not. But two guesses to each of you to try and get the answer to the first question my husband asked when I started to tell him how crap the story is: When do you think it was written, before or after 50SOG?
But it's not all for nothing. I've found refuge in the knowledge that even NY Times bestsellers should REALLY workshop their writing, and to be honest, if she can get that drivel published, so can I get my writing published.
The book was "The Earl's Mistress" by Liz Carlyle (I hope I'm allowed to do this!).
Not all lost as I've also found another author I really like to read in the process, for anyone who likes historical romance novels, I'd suggest trying Eloisa James. I've only read one of her books so far (Four Nights with the Duke), but she's definitely on my list if (when) I have time again to read.
On this note, is anyone else suffering from "TNBW syndrome" when they read these days? It's the condition where one can't switch off the "reviewer" switch and make mental notes of feedback to the author as you read ...
It would be great to hear from everyone again! And it's great to be back, although I won't have as much time to spend on reviews as before. :-(
Cheers Janet R
Interesting article in the NY Times on M.F.A. programs. Has anyone received an M.F.A.?
There were a couple of sections I found particularly interesting:
At the core of every program is the writing workshop, the so-called Iowa model because it originated there. In its strictest form, it works like this: Classmates evaluate and write detailed comments about students’ work, then sit around a table and “workshop” the piece. The writer sits silently while classmates comment first on what is working, then go back around to comment on what is not. The instructor weighs in. Only then can the author respond.
In the workshop, writing is deconstructed and put back together. Relationships are formed. A skilled instructor can point out flaws and suggest techniques it might otherwise take years to figure out. “You develop a keener sense of your readers,” Ms. Russell says. “When 14 people tell you something isn’t working, you listen.”
Sound familiar?
Only vaguely! 
njc, for the ignorant around here, so the 135 number is important because that would determine your battery life? One or two MICROamps don't sound like too much! When you're done with this thing, we should celebrate. This hasn't been easy!
And good luck with Erevain as well - let me know if you have something I can look at!
And ps - I passed my driver's license written test Monday. Driving test is this Friday. The friendly test centre told me where their cones are to practise my parallel parking. I'm getting there ... and so far no dead cones, K would probably be so dissappointed. Hopefully not too much, otherwise I'll have to see what I can do when I go out there again. But please think of me (and the test person in the passenger seat too) Friday, if you could cross fingers and all kinds of other things, so much better because I won't be able to with both hands on the steering wheel.
Sol, it could also be worthwhile to rather give new members extra points say for their first 5 reviews of other writers as opposed to everyone on the site including members who has more recip reviews to get to than time and some may not even need the extra points (slow writers like me for example :-) ). I truly believe that part of the problem could be new members not doing reviews for whatever reasons such as being new to this etc. and expecting reviews without actively "looking" and trying to get something going? And something like this may nudge them in the "better/right" direction before they simply give up and leave?
I thought it was the connection on my end and didn't think to mention it, but since you asked ...it did happen a few times, but it seems okay at the moment.
Thanks!
Wasn't that what the 'first three reviews' bonus was supposed to be for?
My understanding is that this bonus was so that they can post immediately without having to do reviews to get the points first. The problem now seems to be they can post their work, but aren't receiving any reviews or only a few. Which is sort of the point I'm trying to make, at some point they will have to do reviews to get reviews (and to continue to post new work too of course) ...
I also prefer to have Connections at the top. Those are the ones I'm most interested in. New entries (not of my connections) could be next.
Well, the problem is that new writers are joining the site and not receiving any reviews. If this continues I'm going to need to tweak the point system. New members aren't going to stay if they post their content and receive a resounding - nothing. Putting connections at the top will only exacerbate this problem.
True Sol, but a lack of reviews isn't only because they're not top of the page, it's also because they are not reviewing? Which is the whole point of the site? And if "established" writers anyways scroll past to their connections, shifting it around isn't going to change things drastically in my opinion. Changing the point system would be good, but letting new writers know that you'd get more reviews by doong reviews can also only help. Or is this a bit too harsh?
ps this is more to do with getting new members to receive more reviews than to get my connections list to the top of the homepage.
It looks good, Sol. My personal preference would be to have writing from my connections at the top. When I have the time (if ever), I go through the other lists for new authors to read from. Not sure how others feel about the order of the lists.
Thanks.
Dirk
I also read connections first as I connect with writers I owe reciprocipal reviews and would support this, although it would be way down my list. A shift like this would make it harder for newcomers to get reviews without reviewing first, which I'm okay with. Like Dirk, I scroll down to my connections and it's a lot of scrolling to get there, and some days there will be no new posts and I have to scroll all the way to the top again to look for something new (although it doesn't happen very often).
1. We lengthened the number of pieces displayed for each type of content to ten. So there are now ten novels, ten short stories, etc. Let me know if this is too long or okay.
This is a really good improvement and much appreciated, thanks Sol. Although I think the essays and articles (maybe even the short stories) would do just fine with only 5 pieces being displayed on the homepage?
If you were it would increase your chances of winning to 100%.
Given my history of winning comps, I won't even win one where I was the only one in the race ...
I loved (note the tense) parallel parking! Now, I think roundabouts just got a whole lot "easier" ...
I will practice parallel parking as it can only be fun feeling 17 again (and because I need to - I'm still getting use to sitting on the left hand side of the car too, it messed up my spatial awareness AND it's an unfamiliar car to boot)! At this rate, the person who is going to do the test will need nerves of ionsdaleite (steel will not do) ...
I always use headlights, even on bright sunshiny days - other drivers can just see you so much easier that way - I honestly think with technology these days headlights should just switch on when you start the car and switch off when you switch off the car. Especially back home where the roads are really well lit (within city/town boundaries) and you can see well enough without headlights (although other drivers still do!) - have seen many a time cars without headlights late at night and when it was well and truly dark hours ago.
One day I should tell you about Australian carts (trolleys where I'm from - another thing I had to describe using more than 1 word first time around here) - all four wheels can swivel. Apparently that way you can drive the thing using one hand only ... In reality it's beyond stupid, because now EVERYONE struggles to control those things. The Aussie trolley manufacturers haven't realised yet that if it was such a brilliant idea, the whole rest of the world would've been using it by now. Since they're not, including our Kiwi friends on the other side of the ditch, clearly it should mean something ... *sigh*. Also, that's how Perth drivers drive, so that's why I probably haven't noticed any louts yet ... :-)
After just under 3 weeks, I can now listen to music and the radio - in other words, I can adjust the volume and skip tracks or change stations without veering off the road. I'm really worried that in about 6 months I'll be so used to this driving on the wrong side of the road thing (some might propose it's the right side of the road, but that's for another day) and default back to my old ways. I can only hope that day the other road users around me are awake and alert ... And from then on I think I'd be okay. Well, that's the theory for now at least! :-)
And we don't use High Street or Main Street. The main street is usually the road with the same name as the town.
Checked the booklet (and passed the on-line sample test just because I wanted to see if I can do it before reading the book *high five myself even though it was close*). Thanks Amy! And kids don't need booster seats. phew *breathes again*
The really good news is that we have finaly sorted out our bank accounts and we have received our Social Security Numbers today - so now we can buy a car!!!! And yesterday was the first "normal" day in a very long time - got up, went to work, went home, had dinner, talked crap with the family and went to bed - no shopping, sorting out admin or having to do something. It was awesome. It also means I'm one step closer to getting back on track with Matty and Kate ... :-D And reviewing of course! And a few other things like getting some grape juice to the other side of the US!
But so far the whole experience is really great - Americans for all their faults (said with love of course) are extremely helpful and in general really friendly! This weekend we should be able to go sight-seeing for a bit - I'm really excited about that! So yeah, it looks like we're going to make it (not that I ever doubted it, but you can never be 100% sure)! :-D
