Guest Blogger Brinda Berry!

Please join me in welcoming the delightful as well as informative author Brinda Berry to the blog.  The first five people to leave a comment here will win a romance trading card! There's also a chance to win a copy of the e-book or a chance at an Amazon gift certificate. Take it away, Brinda!

Using Podcasts for Research

In writing my debut novel, The Waiting Booth, I used what some may consider an unorthodox method of research. Instead of using the many online resources or visiting an actual library, I relied on information that I could obtain at my convenience while commuting to my full-time job two hours daily. I listened to podcasts.

If you aren't familiar with the world of podcasts, you are really missing out on a very enjoyable form of information that suits our social natures. The podcast is a digital audio or video file that a user can access by using a web feed or checking it manually for updates to download. I used the iTunes software to manage my podcasts and subscribe to some of my favorites. Episodes are available for me on my laptop, iPad, and iPhone. I have an auxiliary cable that I plug into my car radio to connect the device (iPhone), and I can listen on the go. There are a variety of mobile devices which support the storing of podcasts.
I listened to The Scientific American Podcast, Stuff You Should Know, The Coolest Stuff on the Planet, NPR: Science Friday Podcast and others for inspiration and research while writing The Waiting Booth. I don't have a degree in science and won't pretend to be versed in some of the more scientific topics. The great thing about podcasts is the social format of the information. There are interviews with questions that I might ask. These are experts in the field as well as ordinary people with limited expertise. Conversations occur that break down the issues to the most basic elements. Also, these brief talk shows that usually lasts between thirty minutes to one hour are highly entertaining and frequently humorous.

Even if you aren't researching a topic, you have other great resources in the world of podcasting. There are enlightening author interviews on BTR: Authors on Air, Blog Talk Radio. Other podcasts focus on topics like technology, language instruction, news, humor, and sports. I'm afraid to look at the selection because I keep finding more podcasts to add to my listening queue.

Have I sold you on listening to a podcast yet? It may not be for everyone. I have a long commute daily, so this format fits nicely in my schedule. Instead of a commute, you may exercise with a daily walk while listening to your iPod. Or you could play it from your computer while you are cooking a meal. The possibilities are endless. Writers all lament about the lack of time for writing related tasks. Podcasts are terrific resources for the time-challenged author. I hope you'll try a podcast if you haven't, but I must warn you. They are addictive!

Brinda has her own blog at http://www.brindaberry.com/blog.html . 

Her new book is THE WAITING BOOTH:

A missing boy, government agents, an interdimensional portal...

Mia has one goal for her senior year at Whispering Woods High—find her missing older brother. But when her science project reveals a portal into another dimension, she learns that travelers are moving in and out of her woods in the most alarming way and government agents Regulus and Arizona are policing their immigration. Mia’s drawn to the mysterious, aloof Regulus, but it’s no time for a crush. She needs to find out what they know about her brother, while the agents fight to save the world from viral contamination. But when Regulus reveals that he knows Mia’s secrets, she begins to wonder if there’s more going on than she thought...and if she was wrong to trust him...

CONTEST RULES: http://www.brindaberry.com/summer-2011-blog-tour.html

The Great Scrivener Experiment

I'm a 'big picture' gal.  I like to be able to see the whole story, the arc, the conflicts and disaster, and see if I've got 27 scenes in the hero's POV and only 3 in the heroine's.  And it's damned difficult to do that in Word.


I'm also a sucker for office products, software, anything that even sniffs politely of technology.  I see advertisements for things like that and I start drooling, which isn't always for the best if it's an online ad.


So now my friend Shannon McKelden makes a post on Facebook about how she just loooooves Scrivener, and it does everything except bake the bread for you. (Okay, I'm interested)  THEN she sweetens the pot by talking about the 'corkboard' view in Scrivener (I'm getting hot flashes) and how you can color-code scenes or POV or whatever (I'm practically fainting at this point)  and then move things around AT WILL to see how they fit together in a new way--or not.  (I'm fumbling for my credit card at this point).


This morning I downloaded the program and copied in my manuscript VALENTINA, the one that was requested from Wild Rose Publishing.  Maybe it was Scrivener, or just looking at the book in a different format, but I suddenly realized that the book opens with a frikking SEQUEL, not a SCENE--in other words, no action.  Of course, that's fiction-writer's death, and I need to fix that.


Meanwhile, I'm trying to figure out how to break the monster manuscript (103,000 words) into the various chapters and scenes and color-code them, and I hope it'll stop raining sometime today so I can get out in the garden.

And--oh, yeah--GO U.S. WOMEN'S SOCCER!!!!

Why Children Are Like Books

My daughter's been home for a week now from L.A., and is heading back tomorrow.  And I got to thinking this week that kids are a bit like the books we write. 

We do all kinds of prep work before they get here, and finishing that d@*& book has gotta be right up there with the birthing process.  It takes a lot of work, a lot of time, and there are a whole bunch of people involved. 

Revision is like raising the kid.  Wondering if you're doing the right thing, if you should say this or that, and when someone gives you advice, wondering if you should take it or stick to your guns and do what **you** think is right, consequences be damned.  In the end you know you missed a few things, but you hope you got it right most of the time.

Then you send your little work of art, be it a child or a book, out into the cold, cruel world.  All you can do at that point is pray that yes, you did get at least some of it right, and that someone, somewhere out there will stop and look and say 'Hey, you didn't completely screw that up.  This is actually pretty good.'

Because with books and kids, you generally don't get a second chance to fix things. 

My daughter, bless her heart, has actually told me (now that she's past the age-18-I-know-everything-in-the-world stage) that some of the stuff I told her has turned out to be TRUE!!  Yes, the landlord wants the rent at the first of the month.  No, you cannot show up late to work on a continuing basis and expect to keep your job.  And your older brother may have seemed like a turd-breath (her term, not mine) when you were younger, but he's actually a pretty cool guy as an adult. 

And that, my friends, is like getting a five-star review.