How to Choose a Writer’s Conference

PJ here, happy to be on the East coast and back in my own bed…ahhhh. After doing this writing thing for a while, I’ve been to quite a few writer’s conferences, and I wanted to share my experience on how to choose the “right” conference for you. If you belong to RWA or a similar writer’s organization, you probably get inundated with lots of options. Here are a few things to think about.

Location/Accommodations: Check out the hotel venue and make sure the location is some place you’d like to stay for a few days. A bad night’s sleep, disappointing food, or poor quality hospitality can really put a damper on your stay. It’s worth visiting the hotel’s website and checking out their reviews. Make plans for car rental and recreational activities ahead of time so you don’t get there with hopes of visiting a locale on your “down time” only to find that you can’t get a car rental on short notice or the place you want to visit is closed. Although you are going for business, one of the perks of traveling is enjoying the sights along the way. Also, check to see what is around your hotel. Are there local restaurants and shopping within walking distance? Is there a gym? An indoor pool? Are you next to a train yard, airport, or in a bad section of the city? Some of these things may not be important to you, but if they are, make sure you know what you are paying for ahead of time. Scope out your hotel and surrounding area on Google maps.

Price: Is it affordable and worth the money for what you are getting? Are meals included? Are the speakers well known and knowledgeable? Is it worth your time, money, and effort? Remember to consider your loss of income while you’re away from your day job, and factor in any accrued costs such as wardrobe, entertainment, and additional travel fees (taxis, trains, buses etc.). Remember to save all receipts for tax purposes.

Focus of conference: Does the conference offer workshops that will help you further your career goals? If you are a newer writer, make sure there are craft workshops geared to what you’d like to learn. If you are seeking publication, are there opportunities to meet with agents and editors to pitch your story? Agent and editor panels offer a great opportunity to ask questions, find out what they are looking for, and hear the latest about the industry from publishing professionals. If you are a published author, do they offer promotion, marketing, and business oriented workshops? Interested in self-pubbing? Do they offer the most updated information available in this rapidly growing and changing aspect of the industry? If you are participating in a book signing, how successful have previous years been and how many readers can you expect to see? Shipping books is expensive, so ask for clear answers about realistic expectations. My experience is that print books don’t sell all that well at conferences and I rarely recoup the cost of shipping. I can see e-books being the way to go for future signings.

Networking: Conferences are a wonderful place to meet like-minded individuals and make professional contacts that you might never have the chance to meet otherwise. Don’t stalk the agents and editors but research them and know who you’d like to make a connection with. Make the effort to sit next to them at lunch or dinner (or in the bar). Be ready to talk intelligently about your work. Be prepared with a SHORT pitch of your WIP. Create a one or two sentence summary (log line) of what your story is about. The most common question asked at conferences is “What do you write?” The second most common question is “What is your story about?” Have an answer memorized and ready, and confidently smile as you give them your brief spiel. Don’t monopolize their time, but use the time wisely. If you get tongue tied and start rambling or their eyes begin to glaze over, stop talking and ask them a question about something unrelated. Where are you from? Are you a writer, too? Do you love baseball, zumba, pole dancing? Something that will put you at ease and take the heat off of you until you can collect yourself and get comfortable enough not to sound like an idiot. These are just people, but they are professionals and are there to FIND YOU! Respect their time, but don’t let your fear stop you from putting yourself out there.

Quality Speakers: I cannot stress this enough. Do some research on the speakers. What are their publishing/professional credentials? Just because they are there, doesn’t mean they are interesting, entertaining, or an expert in their field. Have they done this workshop before? How many times? Ask around to other writers and check out the websites of your presenters. If they don’t have a professional website that is engaging and informative, it might be an indicator that they aren’t all that well organized.

Organization: If you’ve ever participated in organizing a conference, you know about the gazillion moving parts and the army of people it takes to put on a seamless production. Of course there are always things that go wrong or details that get missed, but overall, organizers want it to be a good experience for everyone and they want attendees to return year after year to support the effort. If they don’t return e-mails, or answer your questions clearly up front, chances are the conference won’t be much better organized than the individuals running it. Conferences are generally a way for organizations to make money to support writers and their endeavors, so organizers (who are all volunteers, so be patient and kind to these people) are invested in making your conference experience successful. If there are suggestions you have for improvements, be sure to share them with conference organizers.

Image courtesy of Petr Kratochvil http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=3421&picture=apples-and-pears

And last but not least, Food: You might have to contact the conference organizers for this information, but it’s worth asking about the menu ahead of time. If you have dietary restrictions or just want to make sure that some healthy selections are available, it’s worth the added effort to ensure that your needs are known ahead of time. You also have the option of doing a bit of shopping when you get settled in and stocking your hotel room refrigerator (make sure one is available in your room when you book your reservation) with fruit, yogurt, water, etc. so you can avoid the breakfast buffets that offer all those yummy bagels, pastries, muffins, and such. Will there be adequate chocolate selection at breaks? Just sayin’.

Unlocked Secret: Do your research, guys. There are enough choices for quality conferences around the country and your educational dollars are valuable, so make them count and get the most of your experience.

I hope to see you all at the RWA National convention in Atlanta this summer. It’s shaping up to be a fabulous time!

Any other tips for our readers to help them find a quality conference? What has been your favorite conference experience? Any funny experiences you’d like to share from the “trenches”?

Regroup and Relax

I had a crummy week last week. Work stuff. Family stuff, combined with two deadlines and the start of a new diet had me wanting to bite somebody’s head off by Friday. But I knew I had to hold it together. Girls like me don’t do well in prison. But fear of prison aside, I held it together because I knew I was FINALLY be able to relax this weekend.

I grabbed my two besties, piled them into the Sugar Mobile and headed to Saratoga Springs, New York. Why Saratoga Springs you ask? Have I suddenly developed a love of horse races and gambling? No, but Saratoga is a cool place to go if you’re into that kind of stuff.  We went for the mineral baths. Back in the day when people preferred natural remedies over pill popping, they flocked to these brown water fizzy hot baths to cure everything from constipation to skin diseases. So I figured what better way to relax than to float in some brown mineral water.

Cool, right? The entrance to the baths and spas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We went to the Roosevelt Bath and Spa which in all honesty is a little creepy when you pull up. It’s in the middle of a state park and the old brick buildings on the grounds resemble a deserted college campus. You can feel the history there and maybe a ghost or two if you believe in that stuff.

I think my friends and I were nervous walking through the door( it was kind of creepy), but when we got inside we were greeted warmly by the staff and  shown to the locker rooms where we promptly got naked and into the the comfiest white robes on the planet.

After the bath and massage. See how happy I am!

We were then shown to the relaxation room, which is filled lounge chairs and water features and soothing music and other naked people who were also waiting for their appointments.When we were called I honestly didn’t know what to expect. Even with all the modernization, the building still has that sanitarium feel, with the original tiles and tubs from the days of Roosevelt, but once you get past that, once you get past the the idea that you are about to spend the next half hour submerged in brown fizzy water you realize how cool the place is.

The bath itself is unusual. I should stress that while the water is brown it is not dirty. It comes in clear and once the air hits it, the minerals oxidize and turn the  water brown, but the water is clear. It’s not like any bath you would take at home. You float. The water kind of bubbles around you as the minerals soften your skin. The attendant told us that there was natural lithium in the water that elevates your mood. I was like ‘yeah right’ when I heard that but it was true. I did feel a little happier, a little more energized. And for the first time in a long time I thought about happy things. I didn’t think about work or (gasp) writing. For the first time in a long time I was totally disconnected from the world. No phone. No internet. No computer. Not even a clock to stress me out about time. I was forced to relax. We followed the baths with hour long massages,where the therapist told me I had tension in my jaw and tightness in my mid back. Who would’ve thunk it? She was amazing too.

Walkway to the hotel.

We stayed at the Gideon Putnam Hotel and resort which is on the same grounds as the spa.It’s a beautiful historic hotel with a very attentive, friendly staff. Normally we couldn’t afford such an extravagant weekend but we booked the Gideon’s Girls Escape package which made everything right in our price range. They have a bunch of packages, even a romance one if you want to take your honey and do some smooching. I normally don’t recommend places but I encourage you to head there if you ever get a chance. It’s an experience you won’t have any place else.

What about you guys? What other cool places should I head to?

Marketing Makeover

As the end of 2012 looms on the horizon, I’ve been working on my first quarter marketing plan for 2013. Being a relative newbie to indie-publishing with much more to learn, I’ve been studying the results of my first year efforts, and in retrospect, I can say I’ve definitively learned one thing. Well, I’ve learned a LOT actually, but one thing in particular stands out for me. I’ve learned that there are no constants in this business. What worked for one book didn’t work for others. What worked yesterday might not work today, and no matter how hard I work, there is an element of luck and timing that I have no control over. PJ Sharon here, welcoming you to the Writing Secrets of Seven Scribes. Today, I’ll be sharing what I think is a more focused approach than my previous “throw everything at the wall and see what sticks” marketing plan.

Not that I haven’t had some moderate success with this approach, but like any business, the only way I can survive is if I trim the fat so to speak, and look for areas where I am wasting my time, effort, and resources. To that end, here is what I plan to do differently in 2013.

1) KDP Select-The exclusive 90 day enrollment that I did last spring with Amazon for Savage Cinderella was by far the most successful (at least in the short term) promotional tool I found. With 39,000 downloads, a temporary spot on the top 100 list, and a significant uptick in sales for several weeks after my FREE days, I felt like I was seeing some real progress forward. However, shortly after coming off the Select program, my sales declined in June, and the numbers tumbled every month after that for my first three books. I heard from industry veterans that the best way to rebound was to publish another book, which I did in September. Despite a month long blog tour and several group promotions, I have not seen much improvement in sales since then.

I resisted continuing with the KDP Select program because I didn’t like the idea of exclusivity, and I was hearing that results for the Select program had reportedly not been as good as they were last spring. That being said, I’ve decided to take the plunge again—for several reasons. I would be foolish not to tap into the Amazon pot that is set aside monthly to be divided amongst Select participants, paid out for “borrows” from the Kindle Lending Library. With 1.5 million dollars available for December (twice the norm), “borrows” should offer authors a nice Christmas bonus. Being able to offer my books for FREE for five days during that 90 day period without jumping through all the hoops of playing the “price matching” game is a simple and effective marketing tool. It also helps me to increase my reader base and my visibility, which are probably the greatest challenges that an author must focus on.

So I’ve revamped my cover for Heaven is for Heroes and enrolled both it, and On Thin Ice, into the program for the next 90 days. That means Only Savage Cinderella and Waning Moon are available on all platforms. If all goes well, when my 90 days are up, HIFH and OTI will go back onto all distribution channels and I’ll put Waning Moon into the Select program for a few months prior to the release of Western Desert, book two in the trilogy. I hate feeding the Amazon “monster,” but until I see real sales on B&N et al. I can’t pass up the opportunity. I literally have made an average of $15 a month from B&N—and less through Smashwords–hardly worth giving up potentially hundreds of sales through Amazon.

This is where I was supposed to mention earlier that both Heaven is for Heroes and On Thin Ice will be available for FREE on Amazon this Friday and Saturday, December 22-23. If you haven’t read them, I’d love it if you would download them or tell anyone you know who might enjoy some YA romance drama. The more downloads I have, the closer I’ll get to that top 100 list so all those new Kindle owners can find me after Christmas. I appreciate it!

2) I’ll keep exploring available social media platforms-I now have almost 500 FB likes and nearly 1000 Twitter followers, which is where I have put my focus over the past year. I’m not sure how that translates directly to sales, but it sure helps me connect with some great authors, bloggers, readers, reviewers, industry professionals, and some all-around awesome people. Since word of mouth is still the best advertising, it’s clear that social media is here to stay and is a useful medium to help get the word out. I would like to try to focus on finding what works for me and best helps me connect with my target audience. That will include more time on sites like Good reads, Pinterest, Tumbler, Wattpad, and Kindle Boards.

3) Budget funds for paid advertisements and production costs. Short cuts are not the way to go in this business. It’s a very competitive industry and becoming more so every day. Hiring a cover artist, quality editors, and paying for advertising that has proven to be effective are worth budgeting funds for. My husband and I doing everything ourselves at first seemed like a way to save money and maintain control of my product, but in the long run, I can see I didn’t give my books their due.

The nice thing about Indie publishing is that I can make changes whenever I want. The books won’t be taken off the market if they don’t sell in a month or two. My backlist can become my front list if I want to start a new advertising campaign and change up the cover, try a new venue, or target specific groups of potential readers. The sky is the limit, but it all costs money, so I’ve realized that I have to budget money to give the books their best chance to succeed.

4) More than anything, though, I’d like to become more organized about my time management-This is a business. But without writing good books in a timely manner, I will have no business. That means that the writing has to come first. I’m not kidding myself into thinking I’ll be able to keep it all under perfect control, but I will budget my time differently, allowing for 50-60% of my time to go towards production of new material, with only 40% of my time spent on administrative details.

There have been times over the past year where I haven’t written a word on a WIP for weeks because of getting caught up in all the crazy business chores and responsibilities. I’m finally beginning to let go of all that, and bring my focus back to the writing. If it means less time building my network or promoting the books, then so be it. And if I only get one quality book out this year, then that’s okay with me, too–though I’m planning for two and possibly another short story.

Most importantly, staying healhy, sane, and having some fun along the way is much more important to me than sales figures these days. When I start stressing about all the “to-do’s,” I remind myself to relax and enjoy the ride. You never know what’s going to come over that next big hill.

What will you do differently this year?

E-mail overload…or etiquette?

It’s a lovely Tuesday here in the Berkshires with a billion leaves in full splendor. They’re turning and falling far too quickly, however. I spent the weekend in Vermont with family—a much needed break from my writing routine before jumping into Book Two of The Chronicles of Lily Carmichael, called WESTERN DESERT. I would have liked to spend every minute enjoying the company and truly getting away from my work, but the truth is, I brought my computer and sacrificed some time with my siblings and the falling leaves to answer e-mails and stay on top of my blog tour. If I hadn’t, I would have come home today to a thousand e-mails and a to-do list that would take me into the wee hours of the morning to catch up on. You think I’m exaggerating? Let’s take a look…

I belong to several writer’s loops, without which I would not be where I am, or be able to do what I do. I love my writing buddies! There is no doubt that networking is essential to this business and that none of us can do it all alone. As part of various writing loops, I have a certain responsibility to participate, reciprocate, and respond helpfully whenever possible. In these digital days, it’s easier than ever to connect with peers, find support, and work together to help each other succeed. I’m happy to do it, and I budget a considerable amount of time to keeping current—a worthwhile investment, in my opinion.

Some of these loops have strict rules about promotion and participation etiquette. Certain days are allotted for such things as “liking” FB pages, Amazon Author pages, and adding “likes” and “tags” to books. Some groups have no promo or only promo on certain days. Other loops allow promotion of blog appearances and will help “tweet” the word. There are groups that are for information only, and I love them for the invaluable industry scoop that everyone shares. The moderators who keep these groups on task and call us out when we go astray are amazing—giving freely of their time to make this all possible and keep some semblance of order to the chaos. As much of a rebel as I can be, I am happy for the rules because with so many participants (over a thousand in some groups), it can become a bit…well…unruly. 

Although the rules are slightly different for each group, there are some common etiquette tips that are good to know and sometimes ignored due to the fact that we are all insanely busy, and we often drop a few of the many balls we are juggling. I know I do. This post came about because of a few of my unintentional faux pas. Here’s my list of etiquette guidelines that I try to follow, but that have slipped through my fingers more than once. Lord knows that if we could all follow these tips it would certainly save me, personally, about half of the 400 e-mails a day that I have to go through to find the 100 I need to pay attention to. I’d bet I’m not the only one.

1) Trim your posts- This means that you keep enough of the previous poster’s message to give the gist of the content, but trim or delete anything that isn’t pertinent. People on “digest” have to search through every lengthy posting before they get to the final message. This is one of the reasons I’m not on digest. I would be tempted to delete threads without looking at them at all, and would miss a lot of important information. Therefore, I continue to receive individual e-mails.

2) Respond privately to CONGRATULATE, or otherwise personally support another writer. I know we all get excited when someone signs a contract, has a new release, or celebrates an amazing milestone, but I’m sure I’m not alone in my e-mail overload plight where thirty responses to congratulate someone come blasting through my Outlook in-box…ten times a day. I’ve got my e-mail set up so I can get a glimpse of the subject and weed through comments quickly, but multiply the thirty by five different loops, thousands of daily participants, and lots of amazing successes flying through our groups, and it becomes a tad overwhelming. So instead of hitting “reply,” look at the bottom of the page and click on “reply to sender” whenever possible. This is not a hard and fast rule and some people might not agree, perhaps thinking that “congrats” are meant to be shared with the group, but I think public encouragement ends up being more about the sender than the receiver–intentionally, or unintentionally. I’d love to hear the argument for and against this.

3) Check your links-My bad! I did this today. I was at my brother’s, on vacation, and obviously distracted. I requested some “tweet” love from some of my writing loops and figured out about twenty minutes later that I had put an incorrect link in the tweet. Tell me this hasn’t happened to you? Six of my very busy writer pals had graciously tweeted my incorrect link to a few thousand of their followers before I went back and made the correction. Efficient, aren’t they? It’s a waste of their time and makes it appear that I am unprofessional, and therefore reflects poorly on them as well. As a courtesy, I will do my best to check my links in the future before I send information out to my groups. Accept my apologies, gang. 

4) Saying “Thank you”- This one is tricky. Do we say “thanks” to every individual who tweets or re-tweets one of our messages? Should we do it publicly or privately? Do we thank every person who “shares” our FB posts? Is it okay to just respond to the group as a whole or is it clogging up the loops to do so? This one is tough and I’d love to hear what you all think about what the proper etiquette is to show appreciation for all that our writer buddies do for us without clogging the loops and over-running everyone with e-mails saying “thanks” or “congratulations?” One idea that a friend on one of my loops had was that re-tweeting or sharing one of their posts was a good way to thank someone. I tend to agree. 

 

 

What do you think? Any other etiquette tips you’d like to share? How many e-mails do you get in a day, and how do you manage them?

Holiday Road — Part Two

Happy Thursday, darlings! Suze here. In case you didn’t get enough of my vacation pictures last week (click here for Holiday Road, Part One), here are a few more.

The Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn Michigan. We had actually planned to go no farther than Toledo, but when we realized just how close we were to another state, we decided to take a detour into Michigan. And are we ever glad we did! It saved us some money. If you’ll remember your Seinfeld episodes, returnable soda bottles are worth ten cents in Michigan, not a measly nickel like everywhere else! So we stopped at a grocery store and returned a soda bottle, thereby doubling our money almost instantaneously. Honestly, it was like magic. Much better than the stock market, and it kind of makes you think in a different way about your investment portfolio.

We traveled on to the Henry Ford Museum. This place was huge! I’m talking acres of interior space. And not at all boring, as I’d feared. Yes, there were lots of antique cars, and strange, giant machinery, but there was also an original Oscar Meyer Weinermobile. Further in was an old-fashioned diner, complete with red pleather booths, a counter with chrome stools, and a waitress with purple hair and a nose ring. She made that traditional uniform look edgy, I tell you. I had a yummy chicken pot pie and a bottle of cream soda (call it “pop” when you’re in that part of the country).

Now, in addition to being an entrepreneur and innovator, Henry Ford was also a collector, and the museum has continued to acquire some pretty amazing things after his death. Three things there struck me profoundly, and here’s the first:

That is the actual chair in which Lincoln was assassinated. It’s in a Plexiglas case, but you can get right up next to it. The dark area on the upholstery is either bloodstains, or residue from hair pomade–I found a couple of conflicting stories. For my kindred-spirit history nerds out there, on the evening of the assassination, the chair was brought into the presidential box at Ford’s theater from the apartment of Harry Ford for the comfort of the president. After the assassination, the U.S. government took possession of the chair. Later, Harry Ford’s widow petitioned for the return of the chair. She was successful, and promptly sold it for $2,400 in 1929 to Henry Ford (who does not seem to be any relation).

The Rosa Parks bus. This is the actual bus on which Rosa Parks was riding in 1955 when she refused to give up her seat to a white person. You can board the bus and listen to a recording of Ms. Parks talking about that day. I had goosebumps as I listened to her words, and I wondered if I would have had the courage to do what she did.

The limousine in which Kennedy was assassinated. The long black limo is no longer a convertible. After the assassination, the car was modified to include a top, bulletproof glass, and armored plating. And then it was painted black and put back into service as part of the White House fleet, carrying presidents up through Jimmy Carter. Really. Subsequent presidents got back into that car. At the Ford Museum, it is fenced off, but you can get within a few feet of it. As I approached, a chill ran through me and I felt nauseous, feelings that did not go away until I left the area. Make of that what you will. But I can tell you that as I passed the car again later in the museum visit, the same thing happened.

How about you? Have you ever seen an object that affected you profoundly, physically or emotionally? Visited any good museums lately?

Retreat Recap

Tuesday’s Scribe, PJ Sharon here. I had the great pleasure of joining several CTRWA members this past weekend at the lovely Guest House Retreat Center in Chester, CT. We’ve been planning this weekend retreat for months, and no one was more excited than me to get away and share some quality writing time with my pals. I thought you all might like to hear about the highlights.

After checking in at 3:00 on Friday afternoon, we were all treated to a wonderful dinner and dessert before settling in for an evening of critiquing. We divided up into small groups, and each had the opportunity to share the first five pages of our WIP. This was immensely helpful to me personally, as my fabulous critique partners, Jane Haertel and Tracy Costa, convinced me yet again, that my short story prequel to my trilogy, to be released as part of the WG2E October Anthology, called SOUL REDEMPTION, actually started in chapter two. (Read my previous post about “The story starts here.”) I’m not sure why I haven’t quite mastered the art of where to start a story, but they were absolutely right and it will now read so much better.

Saturday morning, I rousted eight of my fellow writer friends out of their beds to join me in a 6:00 a.m. yoga class. I’ve been teaching yoga for about seven years now, and I love sharing a gentle, restorative practice with newbies and experienced yogis alike. Relaxed, refreshed, and energized, we had a hearty breakfast and then spent the next few hours working on our individual WIP’s in the comfort and solitude of the many nooks scattered about the quaint old inn.

After lunch—and I have to say here, that the food was simply outstanding—we gathered for an interactive debate with authors Kevin Symmons and Arlene Kay, who shared their humorous and spirited take on setting vs.character. Then we had more alone time before supper, where most of us made another dent in our weekend word count. I was able to finish all of my edits for WANING MOON, and I heard from Melanie Meadors that she broke her record of 5,000 words in a weekend. WTG Melanie!

Saturday night after a tasty Salmon dinner and blueberry cobbler—seriously, did anyone else gain five pounds this weekend—we got together for a fun-filled evening of Plotting Playoffs with our hostess diva, Jamie Pope, aka. Sugar Jamison. Our illustrious Prez, Jennifer Fusco won the big honor of the night and was rewarded with the coveted tierra, boa, and pink girly gloves—not to mention the best writer on earth certificate.

I’d like to personally thank the brilliant Jane Haertel, aka Suze Hardy, for helping me plot out Book Two of my trilogy, WESTERN DESERT. It’s going to be awesome, but I may need another retreat in the spring!

Much wine was consumed, laughs were shared, and in my opinion, the best line of the weekend came from Jennifer Yakely, another CTRWA contracted and soon-to-be published author, who said, “Historical romances are all about balls and Duke screwing.” I love writers! Don’t you?

Holiday Road

Greetings, Scribelings. Suze here, back from a road trip vacation. I thought I’d share some of the highlights with you.

First, let me say that most of this trip was unplanned. We had only one time-sensitive place to get to; everything else was flexible as we traveled through and found interesting places to see. We made no hotel reservations in advance. I know not everyone can travel this way–in fact, I’ll bet some of you planning types are downright horrified, aren’t you? But with a smart phone and a Garmin GPS unit, I had no trouble finding us decent hotels/motels every day, wherever we happened to end up. So here are some of the interesting things we saw and did:

The Astabula, Ohio, Wine and Walleye Festival. Yes, for those of you who want to combine your love of both vino and game fish, here’s a festival just for you. If walleye’s not your thing, not to worry! You can also have perch. I had a very delicious, very fresh perch sandwich, a glass of wine, and listened to a good local band at the Rotary Club tent. Later, as we strolled around admiring the vintage cars lined up along the main street, I had a cup of some of the most delicious coffee ever–the beans were roasting right there, and the aroma was intoxicating. If you’re in Ashtabula, even if you miss the W&W festival, stop in for a cup of joe at Harborperk!

The Toledo, Ohio, German-American Festival. This was our only planned stop. Let me emphasize that this was NOT an Oktoberfest. Because it was August, sillies. And yet … it was JUST LIKE an Oktoberfest. Go figure. From men in Lederhosen to a live Glockenspiel performance every hour on the hour (sponsored by Jaegermeister) to a humongous beer tent with a live German band, this is the next best thing to being in Munich. There was even a Steinstossen event. Now apparently this is a real sport in Switzerland. Men (and even some women) lift a 138 pound rock (only 75 pounds for women–definitely doable…ha!) over their heads, then see how far they can throw it. We only saw one guy almost drop the rock on his head. Fortunately, it only struck him a glancing blow on the noggin, then hit his shoulder, and fell to the ground.

 

There was also a Swiss cheese eating competition. Contestants lined up to see who could eat a 1 pound block of Swiss cheese the fastest. We saw a couple of people finish, and when one guy looked like he was going to blow, we left.

Finally, also in the Feats of Strength category, is the Stein Lift. No, this is not a drinking competition, but it does involve beer and glass steins. Contestants line up to hold a full glass stein of beer, straight out from their bodies, for as long as possible without spilling. This is not as easy as it looks. Try holding a 2 or 3 pound weight in that position for a couple of minutes. (Try it and let me know what happens. I’m not going to do it myself. It looked painful!) The winner managed over 5 minutes, but it was a strain. Everyone walks away from this competition a winner, though. They get to drink the beer even if they lose.

Tony Packo’s Hungarian Restaurant. This is a landmark in Toledo. Fans of M.A.S.H. will recall that Corporal Klinger was from Toledo, and this is one of the places he apparently referenced in the show. The walls are lined with, I kid you not, autographed hot dog buns encased in plastic. The food was great and the atmosphere was better. My chicken paprikash was worth the stigma of having to tell you all that I went to Toledo on my summer vacation.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Cleveland isn’t really a dull place, kids! The Hall of Fame is loads of fun. Right now there’s a big exhibit on the Grateful Dead. In other parts of the museum, you can see some of Stevie Nicks’ costumes, Michael Jackson’s sequined glove, Johnny Cash’s tour bus, Janis Joplin’s Porsche, and my personal favorite, ZZ Topp’s furry drum set. The food, unfortunately, is not that great. Go someplace else for lunch.

 

Yes, that’s a leg lamp in the window!

A Christmas Story House. This was both a huge thrill, and a huge-er disappointment. I love Ralphie! Christmas day is just not complete at the Hardy household till we’ve opened presents and watched Ralphie finally get his Red Ryder Range Model Air Rifle (good thing there’s a compass in the stock and a thing that tells time). Unfortunately, Ralphie’s house (and the museum and gift shop in two separate buildings across the street), were not open on the day that we were in Cleveland. Sigh. But we did go and see the outside of the house anyway. Bonus trivia question for you–from which direction did the Bumpuses’ dogs come? We were trying to figure out which house would have been theirs, but couldn’t remember.

We did tons more stuff on our vacation, so stay tuned for another installment.

Where did you go on your vacation this summer? Would you ever travel without reservations?

Is Reading Always Supposed to be Fun?

My garden is a great place to read … and write.

Happy July! Katy Lee here with a question for you. For the summer, we have assigned some classic books for our kids to read. They are books that I read as a child and loved.

But here’s the problem … my kids are complaining that they are boring and hard to get into. And they are “no fun.”

So, being the understanding parent that I am, I picked them up to see what they were talking about. I remember these books as being wonderful. How could they not like them?

And perhaps, after a few pages, I could kind of see what they were referring to.

For one, the beginnings are all back story with a third person omniscient POV feel. Third person omniscient is a method of storytelling in which the narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of all of the characters in the story, as opposed to third person limited, which adheres closely to one character’s perspective.

Being a writer and knowing how many recent released books don’t open with backstory anymore, but rather jump right into the action and reveal backstory a little at a time, I found myself skimming quite a bit. Which surprised me, because I still think they are great books!

I remember how they affected my life as a child … and are still a part of me today, and I want my kids to experience them, too, regardless of all the “telling” by the author.

Let’s face it, though. Literature has changed. We live in a fastpaced world where people expect instant gratification, and that includes quick reads. But at what expense will this be? What will be the outcome of this shift in writing? Will our love for the written word be trumped by our need for a fast read to keep up with our fastpaced lives to the point that the classics go away? If no one is reading them anymore, they just might.

So here is my question … Do I hand back the books to the kids and say read them? Or do I allow them to choose their summer reading? I’m sure many would say, “At least they are reading,” but if I give in, it could mean they never pick up the classics again. And in my opinion, they are missing out, even if the writing doesn’t follow the current trends.

So, what do you think? Is reading always supposed to be fun? Or will the work they have to put into the books give them more of an appreciation for the written word?

My Fortress of Solitude

Happy Friday everyone! Casey Wyatt here! Please be sure to visit at my blog today where I discuss – American Restoration, Pawn Stars and a Web Hunt! (and you can find out about Night Owl’s Summer Fun Hunt and learn how you can enter to win a $15.00 Amazon gift card from me.)

Every May, I’m giddy with joy! May means summer and summer means – my deck gazebo! (Yes, I do realize today is June 1, but my gazebo goes up in May!)

To say I love my gazebo is a massive understatement. It’s my version of the man cave. My fortress of solitude. It’s like having my own private room.

Soft cushions, privacy panel and bug screen – ahhh!

Anyone who lives with a house full of men, will understand the need to have some space from the guys. I love them, but I need quiet time. And I’ve found that it’s great for thinking. A perfect imaginarium. Mystic Ink, The Undead Space Initiative and my WIPs were all born out on my deck.

Owls are an important decoration…

Since hubby and older son hole up playing on the computer, only younger son will join me out there. We’ve had deep conversations, witnessed some cool animal visitations – like our hummingbird and a cool garden spider - and enjoyed the solitude.

Enjoy the local wildlife . . .

This year, for the first time, I decided to bring my laptop outside. This was a big step for me. Forever, I’ve only typed at the kitchen table. After receiving a laptop cooling pad this past Christmas, I’ve ventured onto my couch. Once I realized that I could actually be productive away from the table, I journeyed outside.

And take time to smell the flowers.

And it is sweet! I easily nail my word count. When I’m not writing, I love to read out there too. Sometimes, I just sit and stare at my flowers or the deep blue sky.

How about you? Got a favorite place to hide out and enjoy solitude?