Archive for January 2011

PC and Mac Catch of the Week: The Dark Hills of Cherai: After hearing the story of a great adventurer named Wyatt, and the treasure hidden in his home, a young boy named Arjun decides to find it for himself. Little does he know, however, that an evil magician is waiting to kidnap him! Save your cousin from Digambar, and find the legendary treasure of Cherai! Explore a mysterious palace with three cousins in The Dark Hills of Cherai, using your hidden object talents, to track down the treasure and save your family.

Catch the deal for your PC! Use coupon code CATCH299

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

This $2.99 Catch of the Week runs through Sunday, February 6 at 11:59pm.

Remember Big Fish Games has a Daily Deal offering a different game for $2.99 every day. (Look to the right.)

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Meryl Evans

My second child and older son turned 12 this week. Wow. Last year of the tweens. It won’t be long before he’s taller than me (5.5″ to go). E Since he loves to play video games, I’m sharing this article I found on his birthday: Factoids of the day: Game not over. The article highlights how games make us better. It’s all true, but we still need to limit video game time for kids or else they’d play all hours. Gotta get ‘em movin’!

The Challenger disaster happened 25 years ago today. I was in school, but I can’t recall how I found out. The only thing I remember feeling stunned while watching the explosion in front of a clear blue sky and seeing the looks on the family’s faces that looked neither happy or sad because they didn’t know what happened yet. AP asked Facebook readers where they were on this day. It’s a chilling read.

Brain food…

• 22 Social Media Marketing Tools: Apps for managing multiple social media IDs in one spot. [Link: Alan K'necht]
• Ten Useful Hacks to Make Things Happen: Another winner from Valeria Maltoni.
• If You Think Someone Is Mentally Ill: Loughner’s Six Warning Signs: I believe it’s important we’re all aware of these signs. Unlike sinus infections and diabetes, mental illness is an unseen illness — and a very real one that needs treating infections and pneumonia.
• Five great Gmail timesavers: I didn’t even know about Smart Mute, but then I don’t fall into too many group conversations — thank goodness.
• Thsrs: The shorter thesaurus.
• Kill Your To-Do List: Some people just need to dump to dos altogether and try this one. Be sure to check out the comments for more great advice.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• This is the web right now: Another winner from Oatmeal.
• iPad Game for Cats: Smart doggy!
• Social Media Guru Robbed after Using Foursquare: This is actually a parody of a very serious problem. I stopped using the service months ago after reading several true horror stories. I loved the service, but it’s just not worth the dark side of it… [Link: t2]
• 36 Facebook T-Shirts to Match Your Status Update: First it was Twitter tees… now FB. LinkedIn far behind? Nahh… too serious of a social network.

Here’s a game that might catch writers’ eyes. A good way to fight writer’s block… play a game. No guilt when you’re playing a writer.

With her deadline looming, a romance author escapes to Eastern Europe with the hope that a trip to Transylvania can provide the inspiration she needs to rewrite her latest book. But soon her discovery of a Victorian-era love triangle provides much more than a new storyline: it provides an entire novel’s worth! Reunite the long lost lovers in the afterlife in The Stroke of Midnight, a fun (seriously, is anyone in marketing going to call a game anything but fun?) hidden object game.

If you decide you like the game and it’s your first game from Big Fish Games, be sure to use coupon code NEW50 to save 50 percent.

Download The Stroke of Midnight free to see if you like the game.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Meryl Evans

The follow jaw-dropping (seriously — that’s what I did while reading it) email apparated in my inbox:

My name is[deleted] and I am the online editor at [deleted]. I, along with the rest of the writing staff, write expert advice for small businesses and entrepreneurs. We have written for Entrepreneur.com, SCORE, American Express OPEN and many others.

Are you currently accepting contributors for Digital Web Magazine? I see you are the editor on that site. What’s involved and how can we get started? Please let me know what information you need on my end.

Before I tell you what’s wrong with this email, take a close look at the home page of said magazine. Here’s a screen shot as of this writing:

Click to view larger in a new window.

Figure it out? Publication shut down. Last update was 2008. Person writing latest post is Nick Finck. The site also has a contact page. Yet, the sender emailed me. My name appears on the site, but I don’t stand out from the many contributors.

The slogan does a good job of giving you an instant idea of who the publication targets. The email says the staff writes articles for small businesses and entrepreneurs. While web professionals can certainly fall in those categories — a smart writer would provide a more detailed topic instead of a high level one that could apply to many careers.

Smart writers and editors research a publication first. Experienced editors get these emails and would know better than to submit an irrelevant query. People have sent me emails offering to write content that has nothing to do with the publication’s topic.

It’s more time consuming to contact a bunch of publications with a generic email like this than to read a publication and send a targeted, personalized email to the right publication and the right person behind it. Taking the former approach leads to zero results and aggravates a lot of editors who will put the person and company on their garbage list. I’ve saved the email so I can be sure to avoid the person and company.

What else should writers do before contacting publications?

Big Fish extends its sale on the Big Fish Games’ Customer Favorites Awards for 2010! Get any of the standard version winners for only $4.99. Just use the coupon code GAMEOFTHEYEAR during checkout for any standard version game. Coupon code will not work for Collector Edition titles.

You can apply your coupon code in the shopping cart during checkout as follows:

1. Sign in or create a free Big Fish Games account.
2. Find any standard version game and click Buy It.
3. From the shopping cart, enter your coupon code underneath the question, Have a coupon code?, and click Apply Code.

The sale runs through Monday, January 31, 2011.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Meryl Evans

For the past few years, I’ve been more cautious about things I buy and keep. Part of it, I attribute to my dad’s passing. He left behind a massive Donald Duck collection thanks to friends and family spoiling him with the Disney character he often imitated to make children laugh. Plus, why have all that stuff in the house to sit there and take up space?

The Books Must Go on … elsewhere

I hope to donate my Theatre World Annual collection. Each book is an encyclopedia of theatre for that covers one year. The shows that played, the shows that closed and recognized actors. I started collecting them in the early 1990s when I discovered the first five books. I wish I had never started the collection because I spent more time loading and unloading the books from shelves than I did reading them. Besides, today we have ibdb.com and many Internet resources where I can look up show information.

Yet, I can’t just give them away. I tried to sell some of the books, but it’s hard to find the hardcore theatre fans who actually collect these. I sold a couple on eBay, but it wasn’t worth the time to post and repost each book as collectors will be looking for specific editions, not a bunch in the set. Shipping a bunch of books in one box is pricey.

The Second Kindle Book Purchase

My book club announced the latest book (It’s a new year — so we haven’t put together our list yet) the day before I had two doctors’ appointments. While I could grab one of my many books I want to read, I needed to read the book club’s choice because of the deadline. With two doctors’ appointments, I expected to read a bit even with a kid in tow.

I don’t keep fiction books after I read them, so why pay for it? I checked with the library. I put my name on the waiting list that had seven people in front of me. I couldn’t tell how long it’d be before the book would be available.

Since I have a Kindle and a need to get a book ASAP, I bought my second Kindle book. (And I’ve had the thing for almost a year.) The first Kindle book came in August when I was heading out of town and found out my book club’s read the night before leaving town. Since I read a lot while traveling, I thought it’d be worth purchasing and it was.

I checked in my library’s website to cancel my request. Aw, man! I couldn’t. A copy is on its way to my library and arrived at the library on the day of the doctors’ appointments. Thanks, Murphy. It’s OK. I read at least 13 percent of the book, so I’d say it paid for itself (it was cheap for a Kindle book, too).

Quirky Book Buying Habits

By the way, the Kindle has a bunch of free books and PDF files loaded. (Check Amazon’s limited-time offers page for free books — scroll down past the fee books.) Have yet to read them just like the many books on my bookshelf. Isn’t that odd? I don’t want to buy an ebook unless I’m absolutely sure I’ll read it soon. Yet, I have books on the shelf that have been sitting unread for years. When buying books, I don’t think about when I’ll get around to reading it — just that it has value because I typically buy nonfiction reference and advice.

Even though I, a geek and gadget lover, still prefer books to ebooks — the ebook readers have a purpose. For me, I can grab a book that I need in a hurry without fuss. As much as I’d like to cut down on books and bookshelves, I’m not going to buy an ebook version of all of the nonfiction books I own and keep. Ebooks aren’t cheap enough to replace a big library.

Besides, I make a lot of mistakes with the tiny mouse / joystick on the Kindle. The administration and categorization process is tedious on the Kindle.

How do you feel about ebooks today?

The time has come for Nelly and Tom to stop a potential catastrophe and save the world in Treasure Seekers: The Time has Come! With new powerful devices, such as the Ring of Time and the X-Glass, Nelly and Tom must go on their most exciting adventure yet! Is Totenkraft really as evil as they previously thought? Find out in this hidden object puzzle adventure game!

This is a special Collector’s Edition release full of exclusive extras you won’t find in the standard version. As a bonus, Collector’s Edition purchases count toward three stamps on your Monthly Game Club Punch Card!

Corny description aside, Treasure Seekers is a popular and best selling series. The others:

• Treasure Seekers Follow the Ghosts
• Treasure Seekers The Enchanted Canvases
• Treasure Seekers Visions of Gold

Download and free to try Treasure Seekers: The Time Has Come Collector’s Edition

PC and Mac Catch of the Week: Cassandra’s Journey 2: The Fifth Sun of Nostradamus: Cassandra finally has her magical ring back, and must now find and banish a mysterious demon that has come to our world! Along the way, you’ll learn new magical spells and help Violet find her missing brother, Michael. Cassandra’s Journey 2: The Fifth Sun of Nostradamus will test all of your hidden object talents with unique gameplay and magical minigames! Banish the demon and save the world from evil!

I wonder if Nostradamus predicted there’d be a game with his name? This is the sequel to Cassandra’s Journey: The Legacy of Nostradamus.

Catch the deal for your PC! Use coupon code CATCH299

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

This $2.99 Catch of the Week runs through Sunday, January 30 at 11:59pm.

Remember Big Fish Games has a Daily Deal offering a different game for $2.99 every day. (Look to the right.)

I’m grateful to live in a time and a place where we treat people for who they are inside not what’s visible.

Brain food…

• Authors: How to write a press release for your book: While press releases aren’t the best route for marketing a book, you can make sure that the PR you do is the best possible with these tips. [Link: Jane Friedman]
• How to Write Copy that Connects using a Tried and True Formula: One thing I work to do… avoid “we” or “company name” and make it about “you.”
• Social Media Measurement 2011: Five Things to Forget and Five Things to Learn: I love this article. It’s not your usual social media metrics article. For one, it says forget about following numbers. Agreed. People ask me, “How did you get so many followers?” That’s not the point. The point is whether they’re the right folks. Of course, if you’re looking for a social media expert and see a self-proclaimed expert with 20 followers — pass.
• My Favorite Question: Makes you think about a company’s strengths. “If brand dies tomorrow, and you had to deliver its eulogy, what would you say missed the most? What would make you genuinely sad?” This helps writers who work on content for companies.
• 5 Tips for Freelance Mentor Relationships: Some of you may have  gotten emails from newer writers asking for advice. At first, it may frustrate you because you’re thinking, “I worked hard by myself to get where I am. Why don’t you Google that?” True. But put a positive spin on it. The person contacting you sees you as a success and that you have the answers.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Should I Work for Free? Debated whether this was brain food or fun. It’s both. [Link: Karen Swim]
• Pac-Man Ghosts: Another mashup. Inky, Blinky, Clyde and Sue replaced by Waldo, Stormtrooper, Superman and Megaman.
• Apple’s Rise to Number 1 Infographic: How Apple went from Homebrew Computer Club to number one.
• 15 Funny Exam Answers: Makes me wonder how my teachers would’ve responded if I had given smart aleck answers. Probably just mark ‘em wrong.
• 10 Most Curious Birth Stories: I would’ve love to have a kid born in 09/09/99, 03/03/03 or 05/04/03 (missed by one week), but it wasn’t to be. Fascinating stories.

After crashing your car in the middle of nowhere, you stumble upon The Drowned Dead Hotel, a lonely forgotten structure leaning from a cliff. Beneath lies a dark and cold lake that used to be a lively town. What secrets are buried at the bottom of the muddy waters? Who are the mysterious inhabitants of the hotel? Dive into Phantasmat, an incredible hidden object puzzle adventure game, and get to the bottom of a long forgotten tragedy.

Phantasmat is a special Collector’s Edition release full of exclusive extras you won’t find in the standard version. As a bonus, Collector’s Edition purchases count toward three stamps on your Monthly Game Club Punch Card!

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Meryl Evans