Quotes and Updates – February 1

So this month I am dedicated to getting back to editing my first novella – The Companion, the first in my new series, Electric Sheep. I planned on getting it done in December, but… yeah.

So this month, for sure.

I am also going to start working on the sequel. This one will be coming from a new direction, but I expect it to be a catalyst to the story.

I will be writing with other writers, to get the first draft written with VBIAM. It is a writing program I have used in the past and is really fun. Feel free to sign up to get daily updates from myself and other writers.

You can read my first message here, dedicating to these new projects (and spoilers as to what is to come!). I encourage you to follow that journey with me.

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I am also working on making it a point to update my books more often. I have found in the past that if I update quotes and such for books, I am more likely to read them faster, less likely to put them aside for something new, and more able to keep up with reading multiple stories all at once.

I am bad about the multiple story thing. I have over a dozen books that I am currently in the middle of. I’m going to work on whittling that number down, but I get easily distracted by the new and shiny…

Today I will be updating as I go, so this post will grow as the day progresses… (this is an experiment, so it may not be a permanent feature).

Starting with this morning’s read:

Pg 42 –

“As far as I know, the Casino doesn’t stand on hallowed ground.”

The vampire looked down on me with an air of haughty disdain. Whatever faults Ghastek had, his control over the undead was superb. “That is a matter of opinion.”

Pg 57 –

I didn’t know if a power word would stop it, but I was out of options.

Pg 65 –

Even from this distance, his pose telegraphed violence, tightly coiled and reigned in, but ready to explode at the slightest provocation.

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59% –

“How plump and tasty – she must have been fattened on nuts!” exclaimed the old bandit woman.

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Well, got to busy myself with looking busy now…

So Many Ways to Say “I Love You”

There are so many ways to say “I Love You” to a book, and one of the best is rating them with stars. In fact, this is the most common way for reviewers (such as myself) to rate things – and not just books.

I think this is because Amazon has taught us (or encouraged us) to rely on others’ opinions why being a reviewer is such a popular “job” (and I put it like this because while time and effort is put into this, you do not get paid). But is it really reliable?

Star ratings are subjective. What I think of as earning five stars, someone else may give three or four. What I give a one star for, someone else may give five – for exactly the same reasons!

I have seen many people give a high rating to a crappy product, just to get noticed, saying that the product is absolute crap.

Personally, I have a very strict method of rating –

= This book completely wasn’t for me.

Either there was something wrong with the subject matter, the delivery, the product, or whatever. There was something seriously wrong, and I cannot recommend this to anyone with a clear conscious or without a warning.

= This book was bad, but not terrible.

This is reserved for for things that I don’t like, but there was nothing wrong with, other than I didn’t like it. Something about the book or product rubbed me the wrong way, but I could be convinced to try something similar, or even the same thing again.

= This book was okay. Not great, not bad.

This is reserved for things that I only felt ‘eh’ about. I would guess this about the same for everyone. This is a middle of the road option that doesn’t really mean good, bad, great, horrible, or anything. It does what it says, and no more, or the benefits equal the draw-backs.

= This was a book worth mentioning!

This is for books and products that are good, really good. I enjoyed it, and may actually get it or read it again if I run across it somewhere. This is one of my favorite ratings, actually, and says that whatever I’m rating, did the job.

= This was amazing!

There’s not much more to explain, because all I can do is recommend and brag about the book or product and the fact that I loved  it. I will talk about this until either people are sick of listening to me, or I find my next great thing!

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But you will not see stars on my reviews here.

Yup. I don’t need to justify my opinions with stars. I justify them with words. Lots and lots of words.

But I do share links to the places where I do post the stars, along with my words. This is because some places, like Amazon or GoodReads want the stars before they’ll post your review. It’s part of the deal, and it’s not a bad thing. I like seeing the handy little stars when I pick out stuff. Don’t you? Even if I get a wonderful little pleasure for picking out the low rated books, or putting up the first starred rating.

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And with that said, I would like to share some of the sites that I do write reviews on.

Smiley360 – I get book samples and products from Smiley, in return for rating and reviewing the things they send. This is great for those with Facepage (my own private slur for Facebook), the social media of choice. The fact that I don’t participate in Facepage is not relevant, because I can still earn badges by completing the ‘missions’ without one.

GoodReads – My original poison. I found that I can get books for free in return for writing a review, and I was hooked. I use this site the most, probably, since I have been there so long, and have built up a collection of followings, followers, and followees (those I follow). I don’t spend nearly as much time there since the updates and the background issue, though.

LeafMarks – This is quickly becoming my new favorite. It is similar to GoodReads in many ways, but without the book giveaways (at least I have not seen them yet, if they are there). I am also a librarian there, so I have a responsibility to ensure that book information is updated. Since this is a relatively new site, there is alot of information to import.

LibraryThing – This is another site that does giveaways (although I haven’t participated yet), rates books, and allows you to give your opinion. The only thing I recommend is to not try importing a large file of books here. I tried, and had to contact support, emailed them my file, and am still waiting to hear back. Unless you only have a few books to start with, I recommend starting from scratch.

Powells – This is a bookseller, but you can also post reviews. If your review is featured, you can earn a $20 gift card to the site. I lucked out, and got featured, and spent my credit on some graphic novels that I had been wanting to read and check out. I spent a few dollars for shipping, but it was worth it! Besides that, they always have something going on…

Amazon – While I don’t rate everything on Amazon, like some people (weird), I do try to rate books and the things I buy there (or are encouraged to rate there, like through Smiley). I have a Kindle, so buying, reading, and rating books there is almost a must. Thanks to frequent sales and offers, I get most of my books for free sent straight to my Kindle.

Barnes & Noble – We have a B&N near where I live, and when I lived in El Paso, it was the only bookstore. On weekends, we frequently haunt the store for a few hours after breakfast and before a nap. My youngest daughter is known by sight there. I also have an account on their site, but due to posting issues, I don’t often post reviews there, but have been known to in the past.

BookLikes – This is one that I am fairly new to, and am still figuring out. I don’t know much about it, so I will probably wind up spending a ton of time there as I figure things out, start writing reviews, figure out how it works, and so on. They also have giveaways for books, links to Amazon sales and free ebooks, and other things I haven’t even tried out yet. Watch for future updates about this one.

NetGalley – This is a site for advanced reviewers. Publishers post books prior to publication and reviewers can request access to these titles. If approved by the publisher (this isn’t a random algorithm) you will be granted access to a digital version of the book. A word of caution – the books are not all equal. Some formats do not render as well as others. Uses Adobe Reader.

YouTube – Soon to come! As I mentioned yesterday, I will soon be offering unboxings of the books and other do-dads that I get. This will be subject to trial as to whether or not I continue doing these or not. That said, I may also start trying show-and-tell type reviews, too (another suggestion I’ve been given). I’m willing to try almost anything once!

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So, ten sites where you can read my reviews, write your own, and even a few where you can get your own goodies! A few words about about star ratings and my take on their meaning to me. And something to look forward to!

And now, to watch television with my family!

 

For Whom the Bell… Oh, Wait.

The holidays took their toll this year, as I’m sure you may have noticed. Or not.

Either way, I haven’t been around much since then. We’ve been dealing with stuff. So let me share a comic (xkcd)…

So yeah. It could always be alot worse.

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But on the brilliant side of things, I’ve had alot of good pop up, too!

I have been pre-approved for books from BookBuzz.net. That is an awesome step for me! I now have free access to their current catalog, and will receive any book they post on ‘Galley, just for the asking. So far, I’ve looked around and am excited to move in on their titles!

Another positive, is a suggestion that has been made to me by a few people now – though for full disclosure, these are all people close to me – that I should start doing “unboxing” videos, opening the books and other goodies I get.

And, oh boy!, do I get quite a bit. I don’t order alot online or buy alot of stuff, because I don’t have alot of funding to spend. So I get stuff to review. Books, movies, even snacks, sometimes. And who doesn’t like that feeling of opening a new box full of goodies that just came in the mail?

So I’m going to start that, too. (I have a few boxes sitting around waiting just for this that arrived this week, so I’m all set.)

So, as you can tell, I have lots of plans for the future…

But sometimes I feel all…

And I stall out. I have so much to do that I spaz, jumping from one thing to another in an attempt to do it all at once. Have you ever done that? Almost everyone does that at some point or another.

And when it all gets too much, what do I do?

I plan.

Well, maybe not that bad. Lol – But it is bad. I get so wrapped up in planning, I sometimes forget that the whole point is to DO stuff realistically, and I leave myself with like 2 hours to sleep.

Not good.

So then I got to admit…

And that’s when I eat some white chocolate…

And remind myself that I am awesome.

(Heck, I learned how to put gifs on my stuff without a tutorial… Can you tell?)

So while I may wind up a little slowed down thanks to that other stuff, I’m not about to quit, or play it safe. It’s time to muscle up and show that I am a winner!

Besides… It could have always been worse:

And now, back to your (ir)regularly scheduled updates!