Have You Kindled Yet?

I'm in LOVE. What do you mean, with who?? Who needs a man when I've got an Amazon Kindle to keep me company?? (I'm a word crazy author and reader--you should have seen that coming. LOL)

I received a third-generation Amazon Kindle 3G wireless ebook reader as a Christmas present and I've been dancing on cloud nine ever since. Granted, this is still the honeymoon phase. The wine and roses may give way to an ugly side after we get to know each other better, get too comfortable with one another...but for now I'm euphoric. As a voracious reader, how could I not be thrilled to have a palm-sized library in my pocket? Okay, so I haven't maxed out the 3500 book limit yet, but I'm workin' on it.

I'm not the world's biggest tech geek--the older I get, the more I seem to miss on the technology front, but even I had heard of the Kindle, Amazon's answer to electronic books. I scoffed. I pooh-poohed. My biggest irritation with ebook readers is that many of them only read specific formats, and the Kindle promised to be one of those inclusive readers, technology that would only work with Amazon products. What good would that do? I disregarded just how large an entity Amazon really is and how many books they have at their disposal.

I won't go into the specs--if you want an outline of Kindle's finer points, check it out on Amazon.com. They do a pretty good job selling it. ;) Mostly, I just wanted to wax poetic on what Kindle does for me. They have tons of free books and tons more titles for reasonable prices, which gives my penny-pinching nature a thrill. They have a great selection of kid's books--my five-year-old son enjoys the Kindle as much as I do. They've got freebie apps that allow me to read Kindle books on my PC, too. (Also free apps for Macs, iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, etc.) How awesome, that people don't even need to BUY the nearly $200 machine to read Kindle books! That's a step in the right direction for ebooks, in my opinion.

Yes, as a reader I'm giggling like a schoolgirl over my Kindle. But the writer in me is also falling hard. I've discovered how easy it is to upload my titles into the Kindle database and be a published Amazon author. It's the perfect home for my older titles and shorts, works that publishers may not consider lucrative. And who knows? Maybe my newer titles will find a home there, too.

Yup. With Kindle in hand, the world's looking rosy. I'm in love for sure.
-M
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Winter Day Writing

Today as I look out my big dining room window, everything is covered in white. We are supposed to get up to five inches of snow today, which in some places may not be much, but here it is a pretty decent snowfall. I'll be stuck in the house all day today and maybe even tomorrow. When I look out my window with everything snow covered and quiet, I don't just see that one image. I always end up coming up with what if and from there my mind races with ideas and characters. I can't help it, that's just how my mind works and I bet a lot of writers do that. Sometimes I get frustrated with how many ideas will pop into my head, and having to choose one when the others won't leave me alone distracts me. Sometimes the one idea I choose to start on comes to a standstill. That's when it's a great thing to have other ideas on the back burner. I'm hoping that these next couple of days I'll be able to capitalize on one of those ideas, or make great strides in one of my on-going stories that need to be finished. The snow, the quiet, my coffee and my laptop--a perfect writing invironment for me!

I've had a new essay recently published in a new book titled Answered Prayers by Barbara Popyach. It was a short essay, just a few paragraphs, and it focused on my answered prayer of being able to walk again after my accident so I could raise my daughters. I haven't even been able to read the book yet. I've seen the cover and it is lovely and I know Barbara (the editor) was very happy with how it turned out. I'm still doing readings and signings for my story in the book Appalachian Angels. Those readings slow down during the winter but there is one set for February in Berea. I hope the weather is mild so we can make that one. I am looking forward to warm weather and doing more of the readings and signings.

This year I hope to write much more than last year. Last year was a bad writing funk for me. I do have a few stories out in submission land, and there is one in particular where my query was good enough that my ms was requested. Still no word back from any of them yet. I need to push the anxiety of waiting to the side and concentrate on writing. So now I think I'll refill my cup of coffee, glance out that picture window, and let my imagination run wild. That blank white screen in word is counting on it.