Archive for September 2010

A new James Patterson Women’s Murder Club has hit the stands. In James Patterson Women’s Murder Club Little Black Lies, best-selling true crimes author Regina Blacklock fades in and out of consciousness as the fumes thickens. Falling inches short from discovering the truth behind a 35-year-old case she has been researching, police are left with one clue leading to the Women’s Murder Club. Become part of the investigation as Lindsay, Claire and Cindy follow Regina’s trail in hopes of piecing together the missing links in Women’s Murder Club – Little Black Lies, a hidden object game mystery.

PC Catch of the Week: In the early 1900′s the legendary artwork, the Serpent of Isis, was stolen at the grand opening of the Egypt Museum in Cairo. Originally discovered by your grandfather, you have been searching for the missing masterpiece your entire adult life. One day, a mysterious letter arrives indicating that the person who possesses the artwork can be found on board the Mont Palu Express. Catch the train and solve the ancient mystery!

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Mac Catch of the Week: In the early 1900′s the legendary artwork, the Serpent of Isis, was stolen at the grand opening of the Egypt Museum in Cairo. Originally discovered by your grandfather, you have been searching for the missing masterpiece your entire adult life. One day, a mysterious letter arrives indicating that the person who possesses the artwork can be found on board the Mont Palu Express. Catch the train and solve the ancient mystery!

Catch the deal for your Mac! Use coupon code CATCH299.

This $2.99 Catch of the Week runs through Sunday, October 3 at 11:59pm.

Remember Big Fish Games has a Daily Deal offering a different game for $2.99 every day.1a96f67&cid=tgz

Today Big Tex starts welcoming everyone to the Texas State Fair in Dallas where fried food reigns. Every year since 2005, the State Fair holds a fried food contest where cooks submit their unique fried creations. Last year’s winner… fried butter. My cholesterol shot up a few points just from typing that. The Fair has presented fried Coke, fried cookie dough, fried PBJ and banana sandwich.

This year’s best taste winner: Texas Fried Fritos Pie (Texas chili with sharp cheddar inside Fritos, then lightly battered and fried.) The most creative winner is fried beer (beer-filled pretzel pocket). I’m not kidding. See the list of Big Texas Choice Awards winners since 2005. How about a healthy food contest to go with it?

I’d like to take my kids to the State Fair just once, but every year it’s just  too expensive even with free tickets for Sundays for the kids. Yes, I know — I’d be making memories. But it’s not easy to just pick up and go there.

Avil Beckford of The Invisible Mentor interviewed me. Here’s the part one of the interview and part two of the interview. I shared life lessons in hopes it will help others learn something from them.

Brain food…

• The Beginner’s Guide to Zen Habits – A Guided Tour: “Take it in small chunks.” A worthy one to bookmark.
• 50 Kick ass new guerrilla marketing examples: Great examples of how to look at things from a different perspective.
• New words, senses and phrases added to New Oxford American Dictionary: A handful of the newbies: BFF, bromance, cloud computing, hashtag, LMAO, social media, social networking, staycation, steampunk, tag cloud and TTYL.
• How to Build a Successful Business by Doing These 10 Things: Lists Sam Walton’s 10 rules for building a business, so you don’t have to read his mixed reviews book.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• The Lion, the Witch and the Car Seat: Readers get creative with classic book titles re-written for modern times. Example: “Pat the Bunny and Then Slather Your Hands with Purell.” (I love that this post is dated on my special birthday because I love children’s books.)
• 30 Impossible Scenes That Happened: AND caught on camera. Holy photos, Batman! The commentary on each one fascinates.
• Lego Minifig Generator: Create your own Lego character.
• 30 Creative Sport Logo Designs: Some not your usual mascots. One thing I like about minor league baseball — creative team mascots!

Here’s a question from The Invisible Mentor interview that I’d love to hear you answer: How do you nurture your soul?

New England Holocaust Memorial in Boston

Quick recap: I hadn’t taken a real vacation in nine years (awful, I know) when I received an invitation to a family event in Nashua, New Hampshire. In researching the travel, it turned out the best deal was to fly to Boston’s Logan airport and take a shuttle to Nashua. Well, if I’m gonna head that way, I might as well leave a couple of days early and see Boston for the first time.

Perfect vacation. Just miss three days of work and the trip lasted five days. Not too long to fall behind. Not too short that I feel rushed. Discover a new city while catching up with family I hadn’t seen in years.

The bar that was the inspiration for the TV show Cheers

I debated whether to take my laptop because I could access email on the BlackBerry. Hubby advised me to take the laptop. The Boston hotel charged a flat fee for an Internet connection for 24 hours. Nashua had free Internet.

Mom and I landed in Boston greeted with a misty rain and cooler temperatures. We caught a cab to take us to the hotel. The ride had a few tunnels. So I’d glance at my BlackBerry even though the connection broke while in the tunnels. Natural light returned. “Meryl, stop looking at your BlackBerry. Look at Boston!” Mom said.

I had been. She just caught me when I was looking down. I took the time to be aware of my surroundings and just absorb Boston into my skin and memories. I noticed the amazing buildings, old and new. The architecture captivated me that I wished I had a better eye for taking pictures so I could capture the landscapes. I knew about the rule of thirds, getting close ups and all. The photos turned out average as usual. I tried.

Anyway, one of the things that stresses me about a vacation is falling behind and playing catch up. Yes, the return home turned out to be a difficult one for about a week before my life returned to normal. It was worth it, but I’ll pass on another vacation for a little while — maybe not nine years.

How to Enjoy a Vacation without Worrying about Work from a Worrywart

1. Be aware. Take in the moment. Study your surroundings. Talk to yourself in your head. Mine went something like this: “Wow. The New England Holocaust Memorial beautifully captures the six million Jews killed with one pylon for each million. Look at all those names adorning all four sides of the pylon from top to bottom in small print. Imagine one million names in a single pylon. Notice the concentration camp names on the ground and the chambers where steam rises from the charred embers at the bottom, such an appropriate way to remember those who perished at the Nazi death camps.”
2. Take pictures. I get shy about asking friends and family to pose for pictures, but I made an effort. Unfortunately, some turned out blurry. At least, I have a nice album of my trip. I ordered prints from a photo service that lets you enter captions and it prints them on the back.
3. Write about the trip. I have been keeping a journal since 1989 to chronicle my life. When I couldn’t remember something, I can find the answer in my journal. Whenever I had the opportunity, I captured all I could.
4. Check emails. For me, it was a way to minimize the return home insanity. I deleted newsletters and responded to easy to answer emails. This lessened the pain of returning back to my regularly scheduled week.
5. Avoid too much planning. I also avoided making too many plans as I didn’t want to stress out over trying to stick to the schedule and do it all. The only official plan we had in Boston was meeting with my mom’s first cousin who lived in the area. She took us to John F. Kennedy Library and Museum, a place we couldn’t get to by walking. We also had lunch on Hanover Street, known for Italian restaurants, and dinner at a nice restaurant where we met another first cousin. Before leaving Texas, I studied Boston and the places I could walk to from my hotel. I managed to hit all the highlights in two days including Boston Common, a touch of the Freedom Trail, the inspiration for Cheers, Quincy Market, Faneuil Hall and a few other places.
6. Relax! Since I wrapped all loose ends and notified clients of my upcoming trip, I didn’t have to worry about work. Not much email came in while I was gone. Thank you, dear clients.

I didn’t see everything in Boston, but I think I did well for two days and walking most of it. What do you know? Boston University is one of the colleges on my daughter’s list. So who knows? I could become a seasonal visitor there. I’d love to visit Boston again, but I’d like to visit some other cities first that I’ve never seen like San Francisco, Chicago and Seattle.

How do you make the most of a vacation?

PC Catch of the Week: Treasure Seekers: Visions of Gold: 1st Runner-Up Best Adventure Game of 2008! Adventure runs in the family! Join Nelly and Tommy in their quest to retrieve their pirate grandmother’s hidden treasure! Test your skills with challenging puzzles that will take you from strange laboratories to the dangerous depths of the ocean. Play at your own pace with no timers or penalties, just hours of brain-tickling Hidden Object fun. Set sail with Treasure Seekers: Visions of Gold today!

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Mac Catch of the Week: Help Treasure Seekers: Enchanted Canvases: Help Nelly find and save her brother from a mysterious Romanian castle! Dive into the castle’s magical pictures and discover the secrets of the Philosophers’ Stone. Use your Hidden Object skills in Treasure Seekers: The Enchanted Canvases to break the spells on the castle and track down Tom. Find the wicked person responsible for imprisoning him and take home the ancient and priceless treasure!

Catch the deal for your Mac! Use coupon code CATCH299.

This $2.99 Catch of the Week runs through Sunday, September 26 1 at 11:59pm.

Remember Big Fish Games has a Daily Deal offering a different game for $2.99 every day.

New Releases

• Hospital Haste: Time management game where you help Nurse Sally work quickly to diagnosis, treat, and cure all of her patients.
• Reincarnations: Uncover the Past: Hidden object game. Jane and Dr. Herzle have made a major breakthrough in reincarnation studies, but their hard work is compromised when Jane is kidnapped.
• Ski Resort Mogul: Time management game that continues the “mogul” series. Save your aunt’s struggling ski resort from foreclosure by turning a few rickety cabins into a booming getaway complete with ritzy hotels, classy shops and five-star restaurants.
• Dark Tales: Edgar Allan Poe’s The Black Cat Collector’s Edition: In this adventure game, Monsieur Mark Davies has reported his wife, Sara, missing. It’s up to you to track her down and solve the mystery!

The one day fast begins tonight. This time, I decided to make the pre-fast meal rather than go pick up prepared food. I kept it simple: Chicken, sweet potatoes and challah (egg bread). Made the chicken and challah on Sunday to freeze. So all I have to do is make the sweet potatoes and heat up the chicken. Wanna bet the younger kids will whine and complain about the meal? It’s just one meal, guys.

I went on a challah frenzy. The first one I made had whole wheat flour. Not bad — the honey barely appeared. So I made another one that used more honey. Better, but I forgot the egg wash! It does make a difference to cover the challah with egg. I made one more using traditional white flour, the way I usually did it. I lost my challah mojo by then. It didn’t come out quite right. I guess that’s what happens when you stop making challah for a long time.

I think I’m challahed out. Time to chill with the weekly links.

Brain food…

• Make Your Writing Funny: Writing Your First Joke: I got a lot of work to do in flopping with my first joke.
• Virtual Blog Book Tours: How to Set up and Run a Successful Book Tour: I’ve been a fan of blog book tours for years. If you’ve been a reader here for a while, you know that I have had great authors sharing their wisdom and stories with you.
• Mike McKean’s Tools for Searching the Internet: All the resources for the next story idea from a professor at Missouri’s School of Journalism, one of the colleges my daughter plans to look into. [Link: Amy Simons]
• Three Resources to Evaluate Information: Sometimes we forget to verify the reliability of the content we read on a website. These three resources from universities tell you what to look for on a web page to determine if it’s a useful one.
• Back to school: online journalism training for freelancers: I love taking classes and looking for classes to take even though I don’t have the time right now. I hope to enroll in a program to earn an MFA degree someday.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Dilbert on Social Media: Sadly, it’s true for many organizations.
• 12 Most Funny Tweets Ever: Creative statements in 140 or less.
• Headlines from Writer Hell: How do these manage to escape the writer and editor? Ah, glad they did… go have a laugh.
• Talk Like a Pirate Day: Already saw several mentions about the upcoming day. @abigvictory described my sentiment in a funnier way than I ever could (plus, I am sticking to one marriage, thankyouverymuch). “Talk Like a Pirate Day is like my second marriage. What was fun at first soon turned into ‘Whose idea was this and please make it stop?’” I remember this from over 15 years ago before the Internet was cool. A website would convert any page to pirate-speak (and others).

Tell us about your holiday memory.

Welcome to meryl’s notes blog (this here place you’re lookin’ at) in Plano, Texas. We’re honored to be a stop in Margo Candela’s WOW! Women On Writing Blog tour. We’re giving away a copy of her book, Goodbye To All That. Read on to see how you can win.

Photo credit Alex Ben Parks

About Margo Candela: Margo Candela’s husband owes her six months … preferably on a tropical island sipping margaritas. The deal was, she had three years to write her first novel Underneath It All and find a publisher. She signed the book contract at 2 1/2 years so she still has that six months coming to her. Of course, Underneath It All wasn’t her first novel. Her first was a romance novel spoof she wrote at age 15 on an antique typewriter she paid $20 for — actually her mom paid $20. Sadly, Wenchhead and the Isle of Evil Men was never published. Do you think it was the title?

Published Author Seeks Agent by Margo Candela

It’s inevitable. You get a group of writers together, either just starting out or who have a book or two on the shelves of Barnes & Noble, and eventually the conversation will turn to agents. Writers love to talk about agents, sometimes obsessively. How to get one to notice you? Who’s the best? Why they’re so mean and who’s a flake and shouldn’t be trusted. Besides writing, many writers also like to gossip and I’ll fess up to having done my share.

As of last count I’ve worked with three agents and one literary manager. Even I have to admit that’s a lot, but two became editors and two I fired. (Which is a whole other story.) What I’ve learned since signing my first agency contract in 2005 is that agents are regular people. They have personal problems and short attention spans. They move from agency to agency and sometimes leave the business altogether. As soon as I accepted that agents are human, it made doing business (or not) with them a lot easier for me.

After pretending for a long while that I didn’t need or want an agent, I’m once again up to my neck in the agent pool. This time, though, I’m not sending out blind queries and hoping for the best. I’ve asked a couple people who I trust if they have any names for me and they’ve sent feelers out on my behalf. Having been through the agent search process before, I can attest that this is the best way to go about it. Of course, it helps that I have a track record — I have published four novels, meet my deadlines and don’t have a bad reputation in publishing. I’m lucky to finally know people who genuinely want the best for me.

Even with some valuable introductions, I still have to make a good impression because I’m also being vetted. I’ve learned to be honest about what level of attention I expect from an agent and I’m always very careful to never smack talk anyone I’ve worked with even though it might make for some juicy gossip to bond over.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s still very awkward to have to admit that even though I’m published, I don’t have an agent. People do look at me like I’m some sort of weirdo or maybe an under-medicated diva. All I can do is let my work speak for itself and hope that my next agent is my last.

Win: For a chance to win a copy of Goodbye To All That, please leave a comment at least 50 words long about connecting with an agent, publisher, client or colleague through word of mouth. You have until 11:59pm on September 23, 2010 to qualify for the drawing. The unbiased and robotic Random.org has the honor of picking the winner.

My book club met the day before I headed to Boston. While we planned out the 12 months of reads, we had a little change up because someone left the book club. Most of us weren’t enthusiastic about the departed member’s choice. Instead, we moved October’s book to September, and November’s to October and so on. Although I order a few books at a time to stay ahead, this time I didn’t have the next book I needed.

I knew that traveling to Boston would provide plenty of time for catching up on reading. I didn’t have time to go to the book store. Even if I did, it may or may not have The Girl from Foreign. So it forced me to buy my first Kindle book and download it.

Uh oh. Trouble.

We’re Having Technical Difficulties

It had been so long since I had looked at the Kindle, its battery died. I plugged in the charger to get it going. But the charger had a weak connector that kept coming loose causing the Kindle to stop charging.

<Wiggle wiggle> Finally. Stay… don’t move. Light stay on.

After the Kindle finished charging, I downloaded the book and promptly turned off the wireless. Leaving the wireless on can run down the battery faster as the Kindle keeps listening for whispers of a download.

eReading

I read a few magazines first to get through them. (I had a pile of magazines to go through and took a bunch with me.) Halfway through the flight, I turned on the Kindle and selected The Girl from Foreign. I liked the crispness and design of the contents. Comfortable and easy on the eyes.

The first annoyance was the turning of pages. At times, the Kindle would flicker and not instantly load the next page. It felt like I returned to the ’80s when computers were slower and things took longer to load. Or the Internet of the ’90s.

Formatting was also an annoyance. Sometimes spaces between words were missing. (I know this happens in print, but I noticed it more in reading this book.) Sometimes paragraphs got split into two pages leaving one page with half of a page’s worth of content.

Since this was a memoir, it had photos. None of the photos contained captions. I couldn’t tell what the photo was about from reading the paragraph before or after the photo. At the end of the book, I found a list of photos and associated page numbers. The page numbers matched the printed version’s page numbers, not the Kindle. In other words, three digit page numbers instead of four. I couldn’t click the photo caption to jump to look at the photo. It was tedious trying to match up the photos with the captions. Dark age computing.

Digital Page Numbers vs. Print Page Numbers

I couldn’t get used to having  four digit page numbers (line numbers). Why couldn’t it match the book? I knew it was possible because the passenger next to me had an ereader and it used page numbers. Plus, it had a clock at the top of the page. To see what time it was, I had to hit “Menu” and it’d appear there.  I understood that Amazon wanted to provide line numbers for easier searching — but it can do this while retaining print’s page numbers.

Using the print’s version’s page numbers would also make it feel like you’re making progress in the book. It took a long time to feel like I made progress even with the progress bar on the bottom.

The bookmark, search and notes features came in handy. I bookmarked facts for later and instant referencing. When a person’s name came up — and he had not been mentioned for a while — I searched the book to jog my memory. Took fewer than 10 seconds. In the print version, I’d be flipping longer.

It was a neat experience, but not enough of one to convince me to switch to ebooks. At least, I have the option of getting a book instantly or downloading a few if I ever manage to go on a long vacation. That way, I don’t carry multiple books — just one reader loaded with multiple books.

Update on September 22, 2010: I had my book club meeting on this book last night and it turns out the pictures don’t have captions with them. All the captions appear in the back of the book with the page numbers. Big mistake. They need to be with the photo. And the Kindle should be able to link those pages so you can jump to the picture associated with the captions.

What do you think of ereaders?

PC Catch of the Week: Defenders of Law: The Rosendale File: Take on the role of a seasoned lawyer and become one of the Defenders of Law. Someone has murdered sweet Miss Rosendale and your client has been falsely accused. It’s up to you to prove your client innocent by gathering evidence at crime scenes, analyzing ovidence, and using it in court. Convince the jury by presenting the clues you find by scouring gorgeously hand-drawn scenes in this Hidden Object adventure! The murderer, weapons, suspects, and motives change each time you play, for a unique experience!

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Mac Catch of the Week: Defenders of Law: The Rosendale File: Take on the role of a seasoned lawyer and become one of the Defenders of Law. Someone has murdered sweet Miss Rosendale and your client has been falsely accused. It’s up to you to prove your client innocent by gathering evidence at crime scenes, analyzing ovidence, and using it in court. Convince the jury by presenting the clues you find by scouring gorgeously hand-drawn scenes in this Hidden Object adventure! The murderer, weapons, suspects, and motives change each time you play, for a unique experience!

Catch the deal for your Mac! Use coupon code CATCH299.

This $2.99 Catch of the Week runs through Sunday, September 19 at 11:59pm.

Remember Big Fish Games has a Daily Deal offering a different game for $2.99 every day.

The Jewish New Year kicked off the Days of Awe at sundown on Wednesday, September 8. This year, I got an unexpected surprise of seeing family I hadn’t seen in a long time. My mom’s first cousin passed away and kids and some of their children and grandchildren came in town for the service. I’m sorry it took a passing for the opportunity to have a nice visit, but I’m grateful for the time spent with them.

Mom’s cousin was an amazing man who has accomplished a lot in his 90 years. (The panorama photo is from 1920 — the year he was born.) He was involved with many organizations and was one of the founding members of Fort Worth’s Van Cliburn Competition. He and his wife hosted contestants and one (Jon Nakamatsu) went on to win the competition. I had the honor of meeting Jon when he came to my parent’s house for a holiday meal.

My daughter, a high school junior, plans to attend college night early next week. She’s lucky because her school will have over 200 colleges visiting for the event. (Two of the local high schools host back-to-back college nights.) College night at my high school didn’t have 50 colleges. Maybe even 30 — but I can’t be sure. It’s an overwhelming and crowded event, but a great opportunity for the kids to start their college research. We’ve encouraged her to pick the schools that she’s interested in to make it easier.  College application adventures to be continued…

Brain food…

• A Sample Query Letter – that works! This is a good template to use as a guideline. Of course, adjust to fit publication and article. READ the publication before you query.
• Stories That Cross Borders and Boundaries: Tips for writing multicultural lit. While a memoir and not a novel, I’m in the middle of a fascinating cultural read in The Girl from Foreign. [Link: Elizabeth Craig]
• A Book About Writing That Might Change Your Life: Another one to add to my ever growing wanna reads.
• 10 Amazing Free Online Writing Courses: Grammar, tech writing, marketing and more.

For fun because we’re allowed…

• Silent Star Wars: If Star Wars was made in the early 1900s… [Link: Mark Hurst -- next one, too]
• Dancing at the Movies: Lose your blues… everybody cut footloose… love this video. See the comments for the movies.
• 12 Funniest “No Parking” Signs: You mean, I shouldn’t park here?
• Sleepwalking Soccer (Football) Goalkeeper: Bet he won’t forget to grab the ball from now on, right?

Share a family or college story.

I had planned a post using my trip, but I struggled to recover from my vacation all week. Although I didn’t think I needed a vacation from my vacation, my body thought otherwise. It wiped me out that I kept going to bed early and allergies took over. I had to modify my schedule to get things done. My body was probably in shock that I took the first real vacation in almost a decade that it didn’t know what to do when I returned.

The short version of the trip: Loved seeing and experiencing Boston while catching up with family in Nashua, NH.

Hope I get back in the swing next week… it may be tricky with holidays on Monday and Thursday. Happy Labor Day to all. And do take the day off. Everyone deserves a break.

Brain food…

• Make the Most of Your Memory: 10 Tips for Writing About Your Life: I ask family to fill in gaps when trying to recall a memory. People writing memoirs won’t get it perfect, but they can take steps to complete the picture.
• a brief guide to life: Trying to declutter and enjoy life more…
• Why & How Freelancers Should Exercise (from Fitness Expert Scott Tousignant): When I returned from Boston and Nashua, I felt out of sorts and had a hard time returning to my routine. While my exercise routine was off — I exercised for at least 40 minutes daily — maybe not what I usually do that day or as hard. The point was to do something and feel like I accomplished something.
• See How They Did It: 104 Social Media Case Studies: Not all 104 are on this page — it links to others elsewhere. Good resource for both B2C and B2B.
• Author Headshots: Also applies to any professional photos. I’m trying to schedule my family’s annual photos and get my professional headshots while at it because mine is from 2005. The hard part — finding the right tops for the family (we wear jeans) and for my professional photos. This part isn’t going well, but I might get some shots in my meryl.net tee (which I happen to be wearing in the photo).

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• 50 Best Websites 2010: According to Time. NO resource can truly name the best websites or best anything online… but at least, you discover a few goodies.
• Stay: From the 50 Best Websites. Wanted to bring this one out so I’ll have it for myself for the next time I travel. (By then, they’ll be 10 newer, better sites.)
• 12 Geekiest Fashion Accessories: Fun stuff, but I wouldn’t wear ‘em all.
• “Set” has the most definitions of any word in the English language: 464! Better make sure we clearly communicate what we mean when we use “set” in our writing.