I think I may have found one. It looks like it might work, so I will be doing this today. There are two more that might work as well.

Today, I am celebrating the life of someone very important, so I think a clean theme with a clear intention is my goal.

I may come back to this theme, I LOVE IT. But I’ll have to wait until Elegant Themes fixes all the problems first.

As much as I’d like to say ‘skip it and let’s go on’ I have to stop and ask myself why. Why am I not getting into this book? It’s well written, it has a nice reception, it’s quality work. I love fantasy, and this couldn’t feel more traditional. So what’s going on?

It could be my life. Is there something in my life that I want books who’ll pick up the pace right now? Maybe, I have been busier lately. Therefore, I need to be fair to this book, and move on to another. I get in certain moods for something, but I’ve been trying to read this book for a week and I’m only 6% through! It is a book I am just going to have to wait for a nice, relaxing day.

Hey book, how are you? Now, I like you and you like me, but right now I need to read different people. It’s not you, it’s me. Well, actually it’s both. My mind is craving something with action/adventure and you’re the opposite of what I need right now. But hey, we can still be friends. I think once I get in the mood for another traditional fantasy, you and me we’ll have a good thing going again. So this isn’t goodbye, just a separation. I need someone with more action. When I’m ready to settle down, we’ll talk again.

I do have to say that this will probably lower the score. There is no way I could even rate a Harry Potter book a five star after such a tough beginning.

Do you have books you KNOW will be good, but that have such a tough beginning to get into?

]]> http://notsoinnocent.net/2012/05/13/such-trouble-getting-into-this-book/feed/ 0 http://notsoinnocent.net/2012/05/04/friday-follow-6/ http://notsoinnocent.net/2012/05/04/friday-follow-6/#comments Fri, 04 May 2012 05:39:13 +0000 Moissanite Jewel http://notsoinnocent.net/?p=1963

Q: What is one thing you wish you could tell your favorite author?

Dear Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett,

When the H E double hockey sticks is Good Omens going to become a movie!? Do I have to rob a bank before it happens?

No, seriously, do I? ‘Cause I have to think about that longer.

-Moissanite Jewel

Unfortunately, he was not falling for it. We had to dig through slushy peat moss carefully, and look for signs. It took a long time to find him. We ended up putting half of the peat moss into a cheese puff container. Every minute longer was more worrying. Did he get out? we finally found him in the middle straddling right above the water. We grabbed a smaller container and he went up in it. Afterwards Neil (my husband) placed the lid beneath him. You would think that a hard part would be over, but no. He did not want to come out of the container. After a brisk shake he’d finally come out. Yet somehow, we did not see him. I looked down and saw him right beneath me in the tank! I told Neil we needed to cover it right away. Boy, my heart was racing. He didn’t move for some time, getting used to his new environment. Neil said he’ll move when it gets dark someplace else.

Next morning, he’s burrowed down somewhere deep.

Want to see a pic of our sweet Alucard? Our red little guy sure has grown up. He was so small when we first got him, and now he’s so big!

I am an author. I make sure my books are in the best condition I can make them. I remain non confrontational with readers who do not enjoy me. I am a blogger. I write reviews and edit them over and over to the best I can. At all counts, I have been doing great. At least, I thought so. Through all this I forgot the most important thing of all.

My hands. The ability to type and write is the most important thing I have to make my words spread across the world. Creation, editing, publishing, reviewing, blogging, it all must be done with my hands. They are my number one asset, and yet I haven’t treated them as such. I write, I edit, I blog often, and I am always trying to do something online. Yet, I have nothing to help my hands.

My wake up call came a couple of days ago. It was probably some light arthritis because the pain wasn’t anywhere near the outside of my hand, just my knuckles. I became curious and looked into it deeper.

I want to protect my hands, they are my investment! My bread and butter. So instead of waiting before my hands become a problem and a doctor is necessary, I am minimizing my risks by doing the following:

1. Getting Dragon Naturally Speaking. That’s what I talked about on my last post. This is a brand new computer, and getting version 9 on it wasn’t easy. I also have to retrain my dragon. Want to hear what the phrase “This is what my actual dragon sounds like right now. Actually that doesn’t sound so bad but the more I talk the harder it is” results in?

This is what my actual dragons sounds like right now that are actually isn’t too bad at them or I talk wart it’s going to be cheering

LOL! As you can see my dragon really needs some training. Dragon naturally speaking takes the words I speak and puts it into type. It is a quick and easier way to help my hands out on simpler tasks to give my delicate fingers the break they deserve. I can’t do it all the time, but one of the most helpful things it used to do was surf the internet, write emails, and even talk on forums. It really did help my life the first time I bought it. I originally bought it when my daughter was just a baby and she was taking up way too much of my hand time. Even though I didn’t publish any books yet, writing was my hobby. New mommy or not, I had to write.

2. Getting an ergonomic keyboard. Natural flat and straight keyboards are fine for people who type once in awhile, but for me I needed something that fit the curvature of my hands.

I can't type like this anymore, captain!

I bought myself a keyboard that is much more suitable for longer typing. I bought a microsoft keyboard that has a more natural arc for my fingers to set in while I type. The bottom is no longer a straight line across, it has a wave, that becomes straight at the other side where the number panels appear.

3. I bought an ebook on prevention. The facts in this book really did help point me in the right direction.

Last but not least, there are two more things I want: A typing brace and a gel pad below my keyboard that can be adjusted to fit the wavy length.

So if you are on the computer more than the average person, you might start thinking about these things too. Our hands are precious, and it’s better to prevent then wait until you have it.

If you have any other tips dealing with the subject of joint pain, please comment below. Any tips are helpful.

I noticed that many liked the appearance of book 1 and one liked book 2. I may have to play around with that. I am also taking into account about the font. I have been reading up about fonts, so I will see what I can do about that. These are the fonts by the way for the ebook. When searching through thumbnails, bigger is better. For the print books, the fonts are always smaller. No need to blow up on an entire print book.

Thanks to everyone who added their input. I am cutting off comments now (oakenbookcase being the last one). You have helped me peg the way my books for the series are designed. Void of characters. Setting, and only a smidge of symbolism. Simply is better. Thank you.

I will be emailing everyone who I can find an email address for, and I tried to comment on all sites related to your posts. Only one I couldn’t seem to get to work, but I joined the linky and FB.)

Winner: Set One

To enter, comment below or email me at novellaray@notsoinnocent.net with your thoughts. Or simply choose set one, set two, or set three. More details below the pictures. Just for commenting, I will send you a free book of either Death by Cake (my other series) or the first book in this series (In the Beginning.)

Set one: Main focus is setting. Devoid of characters. Some symbolism.

Set two: Main focus is setting. Original poser characters. Some symbolism.

Set three: Characters. Symbolic.

COMING SOON

I’ve got a lot of choices. After making so many mistakes when I first began, it took me some time to realize that I was way too close to my covers to see them as they are. Although my Death by Cake has only gone through two coverings (my original and then my hired artist), my covers for this series has gone through so many. So I am making a stand to brand my series with a certain type of cover. My The Great Destruction Series is a long series. Longer than a mere four books even, so covers can get expensive. My Death by Cake series is only three books long, so I have a designer and a basic branding on all of them to easily see they are the same. My The Great Destruction Series is tougher though.
-It falls between an adult and YA.
-The characters cannot be fully shown without looking goofy. (Very large colorful lemur like tails.)

-I want to be sure that an artist I hire for each book won’t split after a year. The whole series needs to have a continuous feel, and I will need dependability.

So I have decided to create a simple post to help me decide. If you enter you will receive my first ebook of this series OR the first ebook of my other series Death by Cake. (A quick check under basic info will let you know what each is about. One is Romantic Dark Comedy, while the other is Scifi/fantasy. Thanks! I appreciate your time.:)

This week I’ve got absolutely no free books. Not one new one to report. I made this to show I am still here, but I couldn’t get anyone to submit. The first week I received lots, but I can’t seem to get any more. I am attributing it to the following:

-KDP select isn’t as popular as it used to be
-My site isn’t ENT. KND or POI, so I’m not worth submitting to (Sniff.)
-Authors like to submit their books ‘the week of’ or ‘the day of’. I don’t do that, I gather longterm.

Next week it looks like we’ll have some, and the week after that. Hopefully I can get some more after that, but we’ll just have to see.:) If not, then I guess I’ll have to figure out some other kind of theme. (Drats)

Q: Have you had a character that disappointed you? One that you fell in love with and then “broke up” with later on in either the series or a stand-alone book? Tell us about him or her.

Ummm…I have to think very far back, in the depths of my mind to pull this one out. Hang on…yes, the kids who grew up.:) We all remember how wonderful The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was when we were growing up. All the kids were there in the land, having adventures. Then in the last book, it’s clear who has ‘grown up’ and will no longer return. You receive a sense of loss, wondering how many years have passed through each book. It begins so strong, and then the children grow up and say nay. It’s been awhile but I think one of their names was Susan. When they left that magical world of what they thought was make believe forever, and grew up, a part of me went with them because I felt like I’d grown up with them.

Does anyone remember the ending? I didn’t understand it when I was a kid, I had to reread it as an adult. But basically, what I took from it (I never actually watched the movies, sorry) was that the ones that didn’t believe, didn’t ever make it. So those that started those adventures, would never reach the paradise.

Wow, I had to go really far back on that one!

To follow, I would love love LOVE Facebook or Linky! But you know, whatever floats your boat.:)

I am also on my 4th book for my Summer’s Reading List! I just finished Pascal’s Wager (OMG, not lying, so freaking good. Philosophical gambling men must be my weakness) I will be starting Highway 90! So shout out some encouragement, this is my first challenge I made for myself.:)