Ahh … rough week. Best I let y’all go adventuring through these links.

Brain food…

• Where to Find Free Market Listings. An alternative to the awesome Writer’s Market.
• The 12 Golden Rules of Great Conversations. Tips also apply to writing. For example: Instead of “That’s a huge burger!” use “That thing is a heart attack on a plate!”
• How to Kill the Facebook News Ticker. I use the AdBlock Plus extension in both Chrome and Firefox. It works! Put the two lines in two separate filters, not one.
• Read One Book a Week. Once you get rolling, you’ll keep going. Here are great books with fewer than 200 pages.

Photo from sxc.hu user Spiders

Can’t believe fall arrived on time in the Dallas area after one of the hottest summers ever. Today is the first time I donned my sweater while working in the office. What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think about fall aside from changing leaves? For me, it’s candy corn. I know Halloween is over a month away, but somehow it’s become a bad habit for candy corn (and it must be a specific brand) to find its way into my house along with a few candy pumpkins.

Brain food …

• The Great Big (30+) List of iPhone Apps for Writers. Ooh. Saving this in case my next phone is an iPhone. BlackBerry still fighting … battery flipped out, but found a replacement and it’s still working.
• Blog Book Tour Providers. Blog tours are a great way to spread the word about your book without the cost of travel. You also get a search engine boost.
• What Is the Point of Writing a Book If You Have No Online Presence? Authors need to think platform and presence long before the book deal.
• Attitude Counts. This economy can bring anyone down because it keeps beating on us. It’s OK to be down, but don’t be out for too long. Take action.

For fun because we’re allowed …

• When Parents Text. How about “When kids new to texting text?” I hope I never land on this list. 10 Funniest Parent Texts from Oddee.
• 88 Ways to Make a Stranger Smile. Nothing lifts one’s spirits than making another smile just because …
• X-Men Restroom Sign.
• What It Would Look Like If Facebook Was Honest About Its New Changes.
• The past and the future of famous logos. So future logos will be boring, or turn into generic icons?

Here’s my “where I was” September 11 story. Where were you?

• Can Pre-Paid Legal Services Help Freelancers? You may have seen ads for Pre-Paid Legal or know someone who told you about it. It turned me off especially because of its MLM setup. But take away the marketing and it’s a good service.
• Book Blogger Directory. A keeper for authors. Remember, don’t just email ‘em all asking to review your book. Target blogs that match your book’s ideal reader. [Link: Chapter and Voice]
• How to Focus in the Age of Distraction. Great mindmap. But I had a hard time focusing and trying to stick with one branch. I kept jumping over. =)
• Where to hang out at Google+ Hangouts. I haven’t joined one yet. Have you? What was your experience?
• Two great Twitter tools. Twitblock: Scans your followers for potential spammers following you. DoesFollow: Quick way to find out if someone is following you without sending a DM or scanning that person’s long list of followers.

For fun because we’re allowed…

• Pencil pictures. Very cool.
• Brandversations: When competitors invade each other’s logos. Love the artwork.
• 8 Retro Imaginary Advertisements for Modern. More beautiful artwork that combines old time advertising styles with modern day gadgets. Think old Coca-Cola ads meet Macbook.

My little guy, who turned eight yesterday, will be in third grade next fall — in the latter half of his elementary school years. Years ago, I started a tradition in writing a letter to my children on their birthdays reflecting the past year. I showed my daughter several letters on her 16th birthday as a way to connect when we went to breakfast for her birthday. But I think I’ll give all of the letters to them on their 18th birthdays. (Unless you have a better idea.) So daughter gets hers next year.

Eight is a great age. Still young enough to be adorable, like cartoon and other movies tween boys typically don’t watch (He asked to see The Wizard of Oz and Aunt E gave him the DVD and we watched it together. 12-year-old brother didn’t join us.) and doing crafts like Pearler Beads. It won’t be long before I’m a mom of “older” kids who don’t do the cute stuff anymore. I try to make the most of every day of his life and his siblings’ too. They’re only a certain age for one year, kids for 18 and adults for way more than that.

Mazel tov, William and Kate.

Brain food…

• The Sad, Beautiful Fact That We’re All Going To Miss Almost Everything: If I can’t get into a book, I dump it. Too many books out there, on my shelves and in my Kindle to waste time on the unworthy ones. I also went through my wish list and deleted a bunch of books with this thinking in mind. [Link: Elisa, my sister -- yes, that would be Aunt E]
• The top 9 lessons I wish I knew when I started my business: I’m grateful I had my meryl.net email long before I started the business. It’s also sad because I’ve used it as my primary email for so long because lots of spam come to that account. I’d love to wipe out and change my email address (while keeping meryl.net, of course). But I’d have to forward all messages to the new address and spam will follow.
• Letter to Beginning Writers: Applies to all writers. [Link: BubbleCow]
• 6 Ways a CRM Tool Can Help a Freelancer: The hard part… finding the right one.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Don’t Just Polish Your Nails — Geekify Them: Takes patience and tiny fingernail brushes.
• Video Game Alphabet Pattern: Lemmings! I spent hours on that game. I feel like a geek failure as I don’t know all of the games.
• 12 Most Bizarre ‘Royal Wedding’ Merchandise: Why would anyone want a life-sized picture of Will and Kate on a fridge? Crown jewels? Prepare to LOL.
• Better Book Titles: “This blog is for people who do not have thousands of hours to read book reviews or blurbs or first sentences. I will cut through all the cryptic , and give you the meat of the story in one condensed image.” [Link: Elisa]

The local newspaper had a tasty article about cookie balls. It tells the story of a teacher who received round sweet treats from a student. She couldn’t figure out what they were, but she knew the treats weren’t cake balls.

The article explains that the centers of cake balls include a mix of cake crumbs and icing. The cookie balls blend cream cheese and ground sandwich cookies (Oreos and Nutter Butter, for example). A clear cut definition, wouldn’t you say? Unlike cookie and cake balls, the boundaries between memoirs and autobiographies blur.

I could quote the definition of memoir from many dictionaries, but instead I will share Writer’s Digest‘s definition. WD editor Brian A. Klems explains the difference between memoir and autobiography.

An autobiography focuses on the chronology of the writer’s entire life while a memoir covers one specific aspect of the writer’s life.

Christina Katz commented that she needs to read more because so many great memoirs await. (She must’ve read my mind because after I drafted this post, she published a list of memoir recommendations.) So I started thinking about the memoirs I’ve read and couldn’t recall a single one until I checked my books read list [pdf] (thank goodness for the list and Goodreads). In reviewing the first part of the looonnnngggg list, most were essays, autobiographies or neither. Like WD says, Amazon does put memoirs and biographies together.

I can’t think of a memoir that focuses on one aspect of a person’s life.  Oh, wait! What about Henry Kisor’s What’s That Pig Outdoors?: A Memoir of Deafness? The book focuses on Kisor’s experiences as a person who is deaf. But he shares a variety of stages in his life. So does that count as a memoir? Autobiography?

Christina’s list includes Stephen King’s On Writing, which I’ve started reading. Like Kisor, the book revolves around one topic (can you guess?) throughout his life. So does that mean Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott qualifies as a memoir?

Sounds like I need an memoir education beyond the fabulous guest post from Linda Joy Myers. Bet many others want to know the same thing.

What are your favorite memoirs? Why? What do you think of the distinction between memoir and autobiography?

klatsch n. “A casual social gathering, usually for conversation.” Source: The Free Dictionary AKA A meryl.net blog post centered on a discussion topic.

Photo courtesy PDPhoto.org

Inspired by the short books that helped me get my reading groove back, I asked others what are their favorite books with no more than 200 pages. If you need a jump start to get back into reading or need a short read, here’s your list of books to check out.

I looked up those new to me and already have them on my “rent from the library” list. Since these are short, I plan to get them soon after I catch up on a couple of longer books I need to review. I’d let them cut in line, but I’ve already let too many books skip ahead in line.

Yes, a couple go a little beyond 200, but not much and they’re superb suggestions. Apologies for all the links — need to credit others and make it easy for you to look up the books.

jmcnally: Letters to a Young Poet, by Rainer Maria Rilke.

mikeandthemoms: I’m going to go with two – The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (I think it’s under 200) and The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway.

GeekMommy: under 200 pages? either Anthem by Ayn Rand or Mimi the Merry Go Round Cat by Dorothy Haas. Both have shaped my mind.

yarnmaven: The Weblog Handbook by Rebecca Blood. Everything else I read is much longer or a knitting magazine.

bradshorr: Hard to pick one … this hits me at the moment Eugenics and Other Evils. On a totally different tack – Woody Allen Getting Even. Also C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters. World Wide Rave: Creating Triggers that Get Millions of People to Spread Your Ideas and Share Your Stories.

CathLawson: The Richest Man In Babylon

guykawasaki: If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland.

Alison Law: I really loved Shopgirl by Steve Martin (144 pgs. according to Amazon.com). Looking forward to your list!

Ben Henick: The Little Prince

Sara: Chronicles of Narnia

Gloria Chen: Improv Wisdom: Don’t Prepare, Just Show Up by Patricia Ryan Madson.

Linda Kamin: On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

Marsha: Most Good, Least Harm: A Simple Principle for a Better World and Meaningful Life by Zoe Weil

Charles Bohannan: The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)

Jamie Grove’s List

In the Land of Pain, Alphonse Daudet

The Last Opium Den, Nick Tosches

Embers, Sandor Marai

Literature and the Gods, Roberto Calasso

The Devil’s Larder: A Feast, Jim Crace

The Piano Shop on the Left Bank: Discovering a Forgotten Passion in a Paris Atelier, Thad Carhart

From Michael Michalowicz, the Toilet Paper Enterpreneur: Body for Life: 12 Weeks to Mental and Physical Strength, The Richest Man in Babylon, and Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money–That the Poor and the Middle Class Do Not!

Stephen Elliott’s List

The Stranger by Albert Camus

Ray by Barry Hannah

Salvador by Joan Didion

The Journalist and the Murderer by Janet Malcolm

Desperate Characters: A Novel by Paula Fox

And probably my favorite book, Jesus’ Son: Stories by Denis Johnson

Mark Macias suggests Beat the Press: Your Guide to Managing Media (Excerpts available).

Gisela suggests:

From Bauhaus to Our House by Tom Wolfe

Guide for the Perplexed by E.F. Schumacher

The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis

Meryl’s List

One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way: I started applying these ideas right away — before I finished the book. The author explains the science behind this in an interesting way.

Associated Press Guide to News Writing: The Resource for Professional Journalists: All you need to know to become a better journalist.

QBQ! The Question Behind the Question: Practicing Personal Accountability at Work and in Life: Rather than doing what comes naturally for many of us and becoming defensive and pointing fingers, the book changes your mode of thinking from “It’s his fault” to “How can I fix this?”

The Holy Man: Each chapter tells a tale and teaches a lesson. However, in the big scheme of things, there’s progression from start to finish as a couple of characters appear throughout.

Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results: Four simple things to make work and home a great place to be.

The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur: Become an entrepreneur with what you have and without the B.S. so many other books have.

My updated list of books read along[pdf] with their notes.

What other great books can you add to the list? What makes them special to you?

Updated: 22 April 2009

We have a lot of prizes to award today, so I’ll hold off our guest entry for tomorrow so the prizes don’t steal his spotlight!

From the Google Me! entry, we have Airport Mania: 2 copies (1 Mac and 1 PC) and one copy of Andy King’s upcoming Website Optimization.

Winners: Joanna Young wins a copy of Airport Mania and Yvonne Russell wins a copy of Website Optimization. We had no Mac comments in that entry, so the Mac copy remains unawarded.

Telling the Hard Truths of the Writing Life entry prizes include a book by Tara Calishain and AWAI’s Accelerated Six Figure Copywriting program.

Winners: Karen Putz (yes, you read that right!) wins a book by Tara Calishain and John Hewitt wins AWAI’s Accelerated Six Figure Copywriting program!

Prizes for The Fear that Holds Creative Writers Back entry are one custom banner for a blog or web site created to the winner’s specs and preferences, valued at $200. Men with Pens ask for a 7 to 10 day turnaround from the point that the winner transmits her/his specs, and two copies of Ricochet Infinity.

Winners: John Hoff and Ceci win Ricochet Infinity. Karen Putz (Again!!! This is your lucky day, girl!) wins the the custom banner!

Congratulations, everyone! Keep playing.

Please remember you can get more entries telling others about the prizes by linking back here — it won’t lessen your chances of winning — it’ll increase them. More copies of Website Optimization are up for the taking at CSS Collection.

With book coverage in print and newspaper sales declining, authors and publishers must extend their reach to the Internet if they want to boost book sales and publicity. Furthermore, authors are more involved in marketing their books than in the past as publishers can’t or won’t do enough.

Print publications still play a valuable role in books’ lives though the Internet offers many other advantages for promoting books:

• No need to rely on battery power, electricity, or a working Internet connection to read print.
• People leave finished copies of printed resources in doctor’s offices, coffee shops, and other public places for others to pick up.
• No shut down needed upon flight take off and landing.
• No taking it out of your carry on or briefcase to get through airport security.
• Fewer distractions and information noise as you don’t have links and animation enticing you away from your reading.
• Knowing where something starts and ends. The Internet consists of connected pages making it easy for someone to jump from page to page endlessly.
• Just open and read. No booting up, waiting for loading applications and pages, signing on…

Authors and publishers need to make the Internet their partner in marketing books. The Internet offers the following benefits:

• Cheap: It costs as little as $5 a month to have a Web site and $0 for a page on sites like MySpace, Facebook, and Bookhitch. Plus, add the book to your e-mail and discussion board signature for noticing when people read your e-mails and posts.
• Search: Search engines and Web sites help people find books on topics of interest.
• Access: Contact reviewers and bloggers who cover your book’s topic offering to send them a review copy. Also contact sites that publish book reviews like BlogCritics. The Internet also provides a great way to connect with reading groups. Many reading groups invite members to submit questions for the author to respond or hold a conversation online through chat or a Web-based application.
• Network: Forums, online groups, and social networks allow you to connect and interact with potential readers and reviewers.
• Link: Contribute articles to article libraries, online magazines, and other online resources where you can have a byline that links to your Web site or book ordering page.

Start or boost online book marketing with help from the following resources:

• Steve Weber, author of Plug Your Book!, walks the talk with his blog and Myspace page on this topic.
• Christopher Diggins’ Marketing Your Book Online guide
• 101 Book Marketing Sites
• BookSistah Blog often covers book marketing. Sophfronia Scott also has book and writing articles in EzineArticles.
• SalesRankExpress has a tool for checking a book’s Amazon sales rank.
• Future Perfect Publishing blog often covers book marketing.
• 27 ways to sell more books doesn’t focus on online book marketing, but authors can integrate its tips with online marketing.