Tag Archives: Albert Lea Tribune

You’ve Linked to Me, Now What Do I Do?

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joyfullMy world has opened up since my book Granny Hooks a Crook was published and since I started investigating all the social media that is out there. It can get confusing for us older adults that spent most of our lives writing letters and communicating with a phone system that was attached to a wall. I am a dreamer and I love the new technology most of the time. My problem is that I love to explore new programs and new ways to connect with the people and my readers.

You might say that is a good thing, right? Maybe but…. I try too many things too fast so I know a little about a lot and not a lot about a little. Ooh, I have a new Grannyism to add to my Fuchsia, Minnesota cups in my Hermiony store at Zazzle. As you can see, and it happens with many creative minds, mine is scattered here and there with thoughts that randomly pop into my head that have nothing to do with anything I am writing about. Back to the little but not a lot.

A few weeks ago I decided I should have a book trailer for my kids book Whatchamacallit? Thingamajig? What did I do? I tried a new program. It took me days to get my project done because I had to learn a little about this new program that I loved in order to finish my project. The book trailer is kind of cute, not the best, a little long, but it was so much fun.

My scattered mind is now going back to the social media. I joined Linked In, Stumble Upon, Tumbler, Reddit and I probably forgot a few other ones that I thought I needed to join. And I probably didn’t put the correct names because ahh… I can’t remember them all. I already belong to Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook and WordPress. I have started receiving invitations on  Linked In. I wasn’t sure what to do with them. People have recommended me. Recommended me for what? I wasn’t sure and I knew the people that recommended me so it must be the thing to do. I wasn’t sure I needed a Linked In Account because I always thought that was for corporate types not Granny writers. I see it is for more than the corporate suits. But then… I only know a little about the site.

And I can’t forget about Google. It keeps changing and adding and confusing me. But I do love Google at least the parts of it I can figure out.

I don’t accept everyone on some of these media sites. I don’t need to expand my world to solicitations or things that make me feel worse, and I don’t need to have thousands or millions of Twitter followers so I don’t follow people that offer me more followers. I can’t figure out the reason I would want to follow millions of people. I like to read what people post. I only want sincere followers and people I can follow back that expand my world in a positive way.

Social Media is great for writers. I am grateful I can send my writing off to editors that correct my bad grammar since it is not my strong suit. I am grateful for social media because it is crucial for getting the word out on our books. The best part for me is being able to connect with my readers. Also I joined some writers groups on Facebook and have made many new friends. There are so many talented and fun people out there.

I was feeling anxious about joining too many things and not keeping up. It was causing me stress. I felt behind in my knowledge. I was stressing on all I had to learn. I had pieces of this and pieces of that. And then……and then……the thought hit me that I may never put the pieces together just right. I may Stumble, Tumble, Tweet, Pin It and whatever else I want to do. All of these things are perfect for a scattered mind to keep it active, to keep it learning and to keep it interesting.  I will never learn it all because if I did the website will change. And here’s the kicker, no one really cares but me.

A few people recommended me on Linked In. Recommended me for what I wondered. The recommendations were good so recommend away until I find out how and why to recommend someone. It felt good to be recommended and to have someone say something positive about my scattered mind.

As a writer these social media sites are important and so are the groups on Facebook. Outside of that is the fact that I need this expanded world to broaden my vision, my friendships and my life. The people I follow, the people I connect with are inspirational, spiritual, creative and positive. I hope I am that to them.

So Stumble, Tumble, Tweet, and whatever else you want to try. Don’t be scared. Have some fun, be kind to yourself. Connect with those like you. Find balance between online friends and off line friends. Learn about far off places, different cultures. Make friends with those in another country. Connect with old friends. If you are older, don’t give up because you are scared and are afraid you can’t learn. Take your time. Be patient. You can learn and you might be glad you did.

I just have one question, you’ve linked to me, now what do I do?

 

What is a Readers Responsibility

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I am a writer. I write books, newspaper articles and an opinion column. I am also a reader. I love to read. I must admit I like fiction better than history. I like romance better than war. I like Cozy Mysteries better than gore and violence.

I also feel as a writer and a reader it is important to leave reviews of those books and articles I have read. As a writer I also receive reviews on what I have written. As I was reading those reviews some great, some good and some not to good I started thinking about my responsibility as a reader when leaving those reviews. How can I  give a review that describes my feelings about a book, especially if it is one I am not fond of, without being destructive and brutal.

We’ve all had those destructive and brutal reviews. It could be our writing is not up to snuff but as I investigated my reviews and the reviews of other authors, I found that many of the brutal reviews, even for best selling books have a piece of the story about the person doing the reviewing that is not being told.

When Oprah had her book club, this was before the Kindle, I would buy some of the books Oprah recommended. She loved the books and her fans did too. Without mentioning any of the names of the books, I will tell you that more times than not I did not like the books. They were best sellers but I would read them and they left me flat. This was before it was so easy online to review books. If I had been reviewing them on Amazon I would have had to look hard and long for honesty in my review. Did I not like the books because they weren’t any good or they weren’t well written? No, I did not like the books because they weren’t the type of book I usually would read. It would not have been fair of me to trash the book and give it a bad rating. The fault was not in the book but in the choice of a book for me to read.

I recently ordered some tea for a gift for a person. I didn’t take the time to look at the description of the tea. I, who know nothing about tea, thought the name sounded cool so I ordered it. It turned out it was tea smoked with Pine Tar and we thought we could actually smoke ribs with this tea. Other people raved about the tea. It was not the right type of tea for the person that was receiving it. Was it the fault of it being bad tea, no. It was the fault of the person that ordered it and that happened to be me. I did not pay attention when looking for a tea. I got excited about name and not a description.

I have learned, when ordering tea and when ordering a book on Amazon or downloading a free book, I need to check the description, length of the read or flavor of the product and then make a choice. I still read some books I normally would not read. Occasionally I will pick up a history or geography or something very out of my realm. Recently I downloaded a book from Amazon. It cost me $4.99. It was the work of an author I had previously read. I absolutely did not like the book because of the content. Did I ask for my money back? No. I made the choice. Did I leave a bad review. No. I felt I had to be fair. I gave it a three and explained it probably deserved better but it was not the type of book I normally read or liked and if someone liked that genre of book it probably deserved a better rating.

Then there are the books that I start reading but do not finish. If that happens I usually do not leave a review at all. However if I see it as a book problem I will find the author and email them and discuss it with them. Maybe I am wrong. If I can’t reach the author and I do leave a review I usually explain gently my feelings about the book.

When buying a book online I would offer this advice to readers. Check out the book details, check out the reviews. If you see a bad review, check out the reviewer. This has to do with the there is more to the story that I mentioned above. It has been my experience that the bad review has more to do with the fact the reader doesn’t like that type of book. If you look at the readers reviews check out the books they gave high reviews vs the ones that got low reviews. You may find there is a pattern. There are also the reviewers that trash every book they read. Before you exclude a book that you had previously been excited about owning, look into the entire story behind the reviewer.

I have asked myself at times when looking at someone’s reviews when they had trashed a book, why they had even chosen that book to read because it was clear it wasn’t what they liked. I might add if you are one of those that leaves a scathing review with no tact, think about the person on the other end of the review. What if it were you and it were your book? Does it may you feel good to make someone feel bad? Authors have pretty thick skins but it doesn’t mean once in a while that the barb hits. There are times criticism in a review as long as it is tactful and constructive is a good thing.

Just a little musing as I was leaving a review. The next time you choose a book, check out the details. Is a mystery? Is for kids or adults? Does it have enough pages for you? Does it contain any type of material that you would not like? Know the facts before your buy.

cropped-collage.jpgThe next time you read a book and you leave a review I challenge you to ask yourself what your responsibility is as a reader. Is it to bash and trash, fling and sting or heighten and enlighten? Only you know for sure.

On The Road To Iowa!

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Something About Nothing – Column for Albert Lea Tribune, March 17, 2014

On the road again. Just can’t wait to get on the road again. iowa photo: Iowa Iowa.png

Those words from the Willie Nelson song rumbled through my head as we prepared for a trip to Iowa for a weekend of fun with our son and his children. We had not been across the border, down south, well, a little down south, since the beginning of October. Every time we prepared to get on the road again, we had a snowstorm.

I want to share a few thoughts with you about our visit traveling across the Minnesota border to outside of Des Moines. I always find experiences when I travel that direction or at least something that makes me laugh and wonder.

I gave thanks when I stepped out of my car and I could remove my winter jacket and walk around a house on the dormant grass.

I learned that I need to brush up on my Xbox skills so my grandson doesn’t keep beating me in “Madden NFL” and some other crafty game. Of course, it would have helped had he actually explained what I was supposed to be doing and what the buttons meant on the controller.

The first game we played, which I can’t remember the name, his character blasted me right at the beginning, time and time again, and, yes, I quit in protest of not knowing how to play. My goal, I will learn and conquer and surprise him in the future.

I reinforced my opinion of some drivers on the interstate. Some drivers really are idiots.

I know I must remember the correct name of Orange Leaf frozen yogurt. My grandkids think it’s funny because I always call it Orange Peel. The yogurt tastes the same no matter whether you call the place Orange Leaf or Orange Peel. It is yummy.

It is possible when you wake up in the morning and are in a new community, and you realize you can’t stand your hair one more day, that you can walk into a salon and find a stylist that cuts and styles your hair exactly as you wanted it. When panic mode hits and your normal stylist is hundreds of miles away, there is someone who can save you.

Attending the “Mr. Peabody & Sherman” movie I noticed the adult men were laughing louder at some of the nuances in the movie than the children. I wondered how many of those subtle comments my young grandchildren would remember and ask later on what they meant. Why do movies for kids now have to have suggestive comments in them for adults?

It is possible to meet new friends in strange places. Another grandmother and I bonded at our grandchildren’s gymnastic practice over exercise. We decided the frog hop and the “pull the pad by your toes as you crawl across the floor” — we didn’t know the real name for the exercise — would be perfect for us to try at home. We agreed we wouldn’t let anyone else watch us. We decided to skip the upside-down-against-the-wall exercise as we felt we are a little balance challenged and our heads are dizzy enough without turning upside down. The strange thing about talking to this new friend was that it felt as if we had known each other a long time. I hope we meet up again.

I came away from a conversation about Sunday school with my grandchildren wondering why we don’t take kids’ advice when they have suggestions for making learning in Sunday school more interesting. They have some good ideas.

I concluded that unless we can figure out a way to turn off the electronics it is going to be a hard sell to turn children into readers in this gadget world of ours. Thank goodness for teachers who assigns their class reading assignments where the kids have to read at least 20 minutes every evening. Maybe in that short space of time something will spark a love for reading so they want to put aside their gadgets and get lost in the words and pages of books.

I learned on this trip that my 11-year-old granddaughter is a good cook. Not only can she cook, she makes it look like the enticing food on the cooking shows. My mouth still is watering from her scrumptious French toast and strawberries and cream.  She, unlike me, has the patience to stand and nurture what is cooking instead of walking away and ignoring it until she thinks it is done. She taught me that if she can be patient while cooking, I can too.

As we traveled the road back to Minnesota in the nighttime hours, I became aware of the number of people who have died on the freeway this year in the state of Iowa. Signs over the freeway in the darkness at various points in the road flashed those numbers and warned us to drive safely.

As we came back to Minnesota that night I looked at the beautiful stars in the sky and the brightness of the landscape at night because of the snow and marveled at the differences a few hours can make in our lives.

I thought back to my experiences during the weekend and was filled with wonder at how many experiences small and large that we travel through in our lifetime. The tiny pieces of moments and experiences weave together to change something about us, however small. We may not notice, but we are changed by the moments not just the hours and days.

“Miracles come in moments. Be ready and willing.” — Wayne Dyer