Kindle owners can now borrow Rowling's Harry Potter books at Amazon.com

Amazon.com is offering Rowling's Harry Potter books in the Kindle Owners' Lending Library.

The Kindle Owners' Lending Library now features over 145,000 books to borrow for free, including over 100 current and former New York Times Best Sellers. The Kindle Owners' Lending Library has an unusual and innovative feature that people love - unlimited supply of even the most popular titles. With traditional library lending, the library buys a certain number of e-book copies of a particular title. If all of those are checked out, you have to get on a waiting list. For popular titles like Harry Potter, the wait can sometimes be months. With the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, there are no due dates, you can borrow as frequently as once a month, and there are no limits on how many people can simultaneously borrow the same title - so you never have to wait in line for the book you want.
- Amazon.com

Access to the Kindle Lending Library is through Amazon Prime and costs $79 a year.

A Church of Trees in Kaiserslautern, Germany

Even though this is a blog about writing, one of my most popular posts was about a picture entitled, Church of Trees, Belgium.

It was a stunningly beautiful picture -- I can say that without blushing because I didn't take it! Writers, after all, get inspiration from many sources, not the least of which is the beauty of nature.

I just came across this picture by Jeremy Taylor (see above) and thought I'd share it, with his permission. :-)

Cheers.

Related posts:
 - Church of Trees, Belgium

Neil Gaiman Interviews Stephen King, King talks about Dr. Sleep

Neil Gaiman and Stephen King are two of my favorite writers, so I was looking forward to reading King's interview and it didn't disappoint.

I was hoping King would say something about the sequel to The Shining he's been working on, Dr. Sleep. Everyone I've talked to about King doing a sequel has looked at me and said, "He's doing a sequel?" as though they must have misheard.

I did it [wrote Dr. Sleep] because it was such a cheesed-off thing to do. To say you were going back to the book that was really popular and write the sequel ... People think of that book, they read it as kids. Kids read it and say it was a really scary book, and then as adults they might read the sequel and think, this isn’t as good. The challenge is, maybe it can be as good - or maybe it can be different. It gives you something to push up against. It's a challenge.

I wanted to write Dr Sleep because I wanted to see what would happen to Danny Torrence when he grew up. And I knew that he would be a drunk because his father was a drunk. One of the holes it seemed to me in The Shining is that Jack Torrance was this white-knuckle dry drunk who never tried one of the self-help groups, the like Alcoholics Anonymous. I thought, okay, I'll start with Danny Torrence at age forty. He is going to be one of those people who says 'I am never going to be like my father, I am never going to be abusive like my father was'. Then you wake up at 37 or 38 and you're a drunk. Then I thought, what kind of a life does that person like that have? He'll do a bunch of low-bottom jobs, he'll get canned, and now he works in a hospice as a janitor. I really want him to be in a hospice worker because he has the shining and he can help people get across as they die. They call him Dr Sleep, and they know to call for him when the cat goes into their room and sits on their bed. This was writing about guy who rides the bus, and he's eating in a McDonalds, or on a special night out maybe Red Lobster. We are not talking about a guy who goes to Sardi's.

King's explanation/description makes me want to read the book; it also nicely explains the title, which I was curious about.

Let me give you one more excerpt. Here King is talking about something he mentioned in On Writing .

I never think of stories as made things; I think of them as found things. As if you pull them out of the ground, and you just pick them up. Someone once told me that that was me low-balling my own creativity. That might or might not be the case. But still,  on the story I am working on now, I do have some unresolved problem. It doesn’t keep me awake at nights. I feel like when it comes down, it will be there...

This has just scratched the surface of Neil Gaiman's original interview with Stephen King. Gaiman has put the unabridged version up on his site, it's over 4,000 words and well worth the read.

Link:
Neil Gaiman interviews Stephen King.

Photo credit: NeilGaiman.com

Murder One by Robert Dugoni now $1.99 for two weeks

Robert Dugoni

I first met Robert Dugoni at the Surrey International Writers' Conference and decided that if he was half as good as a writer as he was as a speaker I was going to love his books.

He is and I do.

Being poor, though, I must confess I've taken most of his books out of the library so I was exited to hear about a special deal his publisher, Simon & Schuster, is running. For the next two weeks, until May 22, Murder One is going to be on sale for $1.99. At that price even I can afford to buy it!

Here are links to the venues where Murder One is on sale at the promotional price:

- Page of links at Simon & Schuster


- Murder One at Amazon.com
- Murder One at Barnes & Noble
- Murder One at iTunes

I'm not sure if the promotional price has kicked in at all the stores, but when I checked just now Barnes & Noble and iTunes, they did have the book on sale for $1.99.

Apparently this discounted price is part of a promotion for Dugoni's new book, The Conviction, that's coming out June 12, 2012.

By the way, the sale began May 8, 2012 so it should last until May 22, 2012.

Enjoy!

Short Story: A Night In The Country, Part One

This post has been removed.

The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt, Sylvia Plath

Having one of those days where the words won't come? Here are a few inspirational quotations for the writer in us all.

And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise.  The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.  ~Sylvia Plath

A word is not the same with one writer as with another.  One tears it from his guts.  The other pulls it out of his overcoat pocket.  ~Charles Peguy

I'm not a very good writer, but I'm an excellent rewriter.  ~James Michener

Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.  ~Anton Chekhov

Metaphors have a way of holding the most truth in the least space.  ~Orson Scott Card

If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood.  I'd type a little faster.  ~Isaac Asimov

These quotations were taken from Quote Garden.

Ann Voss Peterson, Long time Harlequin Author, Goes Indie

Ann Voss Peterson has been writing for Harlequin since 2000 but doesn't have enough money for her son's braces. Joe writes that, in paper sales, Ann has outsold him at least 5 to 1 but that he earns triple what she does.

Granted, Harlequin gave Ann, and many other authors, their break into the industry -- and she thanks them -- but if the company isn't going to give her a decent contract (20% ebook royalties on net but with "net" undefined) then they're practically pushing her, and other authors in the same boat, out their doors.

To announce her departure Ann is offering her new book, Pushed Too Far, free for the next few days. Get it on Amazon here: Ann Voss Peterson, Pushed Too Far.

Read Ann's guest post on Joe Konrath's blog, A Newbie's Guide to Publishing, here.

Go Ann!

Whatever happened to Herbert Morrison?

Yesterday was the 75th anniversary of the Hindenburg disaster. Herbert Morrison was the radio reporter at the scene of the accident, the person who described the tragedy as it unfolded.

Morrison's emotional description of events impressed me as a child, perhaps it even haunted me me a little. The horror in his voice, the incredulity. Thinking back on Morrison's reporting of the tragedy, yesterday and today, I'm struck by the fact that I have -- well, had -- no knowledge of what happened to him afterward. I needed to remedy that so today I'm dedicating this blog post to the late Herbert Morrison.

One for the record books
 There's a lot I didn't know about radio reporting back in the day. Everything had to be live so the very existence of Morrison's recording is somewhat unusual. In fact, when portions of Morrison's description of the disaster were "rebroadcast nationally by the NBC Radio network the next day ... it was the first time recordings of a news event were ever broadcast, and also the first coast-to-coast radio broadcast. (Wikipedia, Herbert Morrison)"

Morrison's life before and after the tragedy
Before his historic reporting of the Hindenburg tragedy, he was an announcer for musical programs for WLS Radio and he had recently reported on several floods. A year later he left WLS "to work for the Mutual Broadcasting System and that network's New York flagship station, WOR.

Morrison served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, and later became the first news director at WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In the 1975 motion picture The Hindenburg, Herbert Morrison was employed as a technical adviser. He was portrayed by actor Greg Mullavy in the movie, but his recording was used in the film. He was also sent across the country by Universal Studios to promote the film.
- Wikipedia, Herbert Morrison

Morrison's audio recording of the Hindenburg tragedy
Here is a transcription of Morrison's audio recording of the tragedy, courtesy of Morrison's page on Wikipedia.

It's practically standing still now. They've dropped ropes out of the nose of the ship, and they've been taken a hold of down on the field by a number of men. It's starting to rain again; it's—the rain had slacked up a little bit. The back motors of the ship are just holding it just, just enough to keep it from — It burst into flames! It burst into flames, and it's falling, it's crashing! Watch it! Watch it, folks! Get out of the way! Get out of the way! Get this, Charlie! Get this, Charlie! It's fire—and it's crashing! It's crashing terrible! Oh, my, get out of the way, please! It's burning and bursting into flames, and the—and it's falling on the mooring-mast and all the folks agree that this is terrible, this is the worst of the worst catastrophes in the world. [Indeciperable word(s)] It's–it's–it's the flames, [indecipherable, possibly the word "climbing"] oh, four- or five-hundred feet into the sky and it ... it's a terrific crash, ladies and gentlemen. It's smoke, and it's flames now ... and the frame is crashing to the ground, not quite to the mooring-mast. Oh, the humanity and all the passengers screaming around here. I told you, I can't even talk to people whose friends are on there. Ah! It's–it's–it's–it's ... o–ohhh! I–I can't talk, ladies and gentlemen. Honest, it's just laying there, a mass of smoking wreckage. Ah! And everybody can hardly breathe and talk, and the screaming. Lady, I–I'm sorry. Honest: I–I can hardly breathe. I–I'm going to step inside where I cannot see it. Charlie, that's terrible. Ah, ah—I can't. I, listen, folks, I–I'm gonna have to stop for a minute because I've lost my voice. This is the worst thing I've ever witnessed.

Here is Morrison's audio file overlaid on newsreel footage taken at the same time.



Apparently the original recording distorted Morrison's speech -- it ran about 3% too fast. I believe the file I've embedded, above, has been corrected for this. To see your yourself, you can compare this version with the version embedded in the Wikipedia article on Morrison.

In putting together this post I've drawn heavily from the Wikipedia article on Herbert Morrison, but I've only touched on a fraction of the material included there. It's well worth the read.

A Writers Reward: Recipe For Chocolate Cupcakes with Dream Filling

I think writers need to celebrate when reach a milestone, for instance, when we finish a story.  Yesterday I completed a short story, A Night In The Woods, I began years ago -- exactly how many is depressing to contemplate. Perhaps that's why typing "the end" felt like such an accomplishment.

What do we do when we achieve something? We celebrate!

I celebrate by baking. Lately I've had a craving for my Chocolate Dream Cupcakes, so that's what I made. (Not at my apartment, though, my kitchen is the size of a postage stamp!)

Anyway, this is, hands down, my favorite cupcake recipe so I wanted to share it with you. It's super easy.

What you need:

Cupcakes
- A box of chocolate cake mix, I prefer Duncan Hines Devil's Food Cake Mix (wickedly delicious!).

Icing
- 6 ounces of unsweetened chocolate
- Three tablespoons strong coffee
- Icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 tsps dark rum
- 250 grams (1 cup) cream cheese, room temperature

Filling
- 1/3 cup water
- Three large egg whites
- 1 tbsp white corn syrup
- 1 1/2 cups white sugar

Instructions
First, following the instructions on the box, make the cupcakes and leave them to cool on racks. They'll need to be completely cool before they're iced. A tip: I like to use paper cupcake cups so I don't have to grease and flour the pans.

When the cupcakes are cool, use a paring knife to cut out a small circle in the middle of each cupcake. I put the fluffy chocolate cores in another bowl and snack on them later.

Now, let's make the filling. This is just 7-minute frosting. I should cut this recipe by a third (so only 1 egg white is used, etc.,) but I haven't tried that yet so I'll give you the full recipe and you can experiment. Combine all ingredients in a medium sized glass bowl and set over a pot of simmering water. Beat with a hand mixer on medium or high for 7 minutes. Take the bowl off the stove and continue beating every two minutes or so as it cools.

I know the filling sounds like a lot of work but, trust me, it's worth it. The filling is what makes these cupcakes mouthwateringly delicious.

Now we're ready for the icing. This is simplicity itself, just melt the chocolate with with the coffee in a double-boiler and, when the chocolate is melted and blended with the coffee, start mixing all the icing ingredients together in a large bowl.

Assembly
If you have a piping bag for icing then use this. I don't so I make a piping bag out of wax paper or use a medium sized Ziploc bag. Just fill up the bag and cut off one of the corners. So armed, fill up the hole you've made in each cupcake. Now take a big dollop of chocolate icing on your knife and slap it down in the middle of the cupcake on top of the hole and seal it up. You'll end up using a lot of icing, but the more the better; we're celebrating after all!. :)

That's it! These are great cupcakes to share, everyone I've given them to has come back for seconds and I've never had to take any home from a pot luck.

Good luck! I hope these cupcakes satisfy your sweet tooth as thoroughly as they have mine.

Photo credit: Me! Can't you tell? ;)

"A Writers Reward: Recipe For Chocolate Cupcakes with Dream Filling," copyright© 2012 by Karen Woodward.

How To Self Publish: An Introduction

This is what I'd like you to get out of this How To Publish series: If the only thing holding you back from self publishing is fear, fear of failure, fear of the unknown, then my goal for you is that by the end of this series, you'll have taken the plunge and published something.

Remember, there's no rule saying you have to publish under your real name, you can use a pen name. The important thing is: If you want to self publish, if this is something that interests you, then do it! It is free and can be infinitely rewarding.

By the way, this post is part of my How To Self Publish series (see Related Reading, below, for links to other articles).

Fear of Technology
It's natural to be hesitant before doing anything new but don't let fear of an unfamiliar process keep you from publishing your work. Self publishing doesn't require any special technical knowledge, anyone can do it.

Later on in this series we'll step through how to publish your work on each of the major platforms: Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords. (I've published many of these posts already, links to them are below in the 'Related Articles' section.)

Self Publishing is NOT Vanity Publishing
It used to be that the only kind of self-publishing was vanity publishing but the two, today, are quite different. Vanity publishers were stigmatized, and rightly so, because they preyed on writers. Vanity publishers would charge the moon to publish your book and fail to place it with any reputable retailer so it was impossible for you to make your money back.

The end result of publishing through a vanity press was often a drained bank account and a basement full of books.

On the other hand, when a person self publishes with Amazon.com, for example, they will publish your book for free, but take a pre-agreed upon percentage of the sale, either 30 or 65 percent. This is the sign of a reputable publisher.

The rule of thumb is: Money flows from the publisher to the author, not the other way around.

Note: Companies or people who charge a flat fee for specific services -- editing, formatting, cover art, and so on -- aren't publishers and so the above rule of thumb doesn't apply. Just like any business will need to pay for services (telephone, internet, hydro) so authors sometimes employ people to help them with certain tasks. That said, a writer doesn't need to employ anyone to self publish.

If You Don't Try, You'll Never Succeed
There's one thing all successful people have in common, no matter the area: they're all failures.

No, that's not a contradiction in terms. Everyone who has succeeded has made many mistakes along the way. I believe it's a fundamental truth of human existence that in order to succeed we must first fail. No one succeeds at everything, so if someone isn't failing occasionally, they aren't trying. So don't let fear of failure stop you from trying something new.


I'm writing a book on self-publishing and have decided to pre-publish the draft chapters on my blog so, please, if you have any comments you'd like to make, please do! I would welcome the feedback. There are three was to contact me. You can comment on this post, you can contact me through the contact form on this site (use the 'Contact Me' tab on the upper right), or you can contact me through Twitter (@woodwardkaren).

Cheers, and thanks for reading. :)

Related Reading
Self Publishing on Amazon: Kindle Direct Publishing
How To Self Publish on Barnes & Noble
Self Publishing on Smashwords

Photo Credit: Debbie Weil