The 2007 and 2010 Fiesta Bowl Champions!

The 2007 and 2010 Fiesta Bowl Champs!Hero of the night?  How about the much maligned punter, Kyle Bratzman, who after missing his first attempt at a field goal, delivers the gadget play of 2010 by completing a pass to Kyle Efaw, netting much needed yardage on a trick punt. The drive ended on the go-ahead TD.  A couple of local boys playing Boise style football on the national stage.

How about Brandyn Thompson’s dream game?  From scoring a pick six to causing the game’s final turnover he was Johny-on-the Spot for the entire game.

And speaking of Defense, how about them Bronco defensive players and coaches?  They played like the number one defense in the land.  Wait, I think they are the number one defense in the land.  At least for tonight.  Good job Broncos!

Oh yeah, how could I forget this little number?

14-0

All of the posts on this blog have been moved over to the new blog with the exception of this one.  So if you don’t mind, please update your RSS and your bookmarks to reflect the new blog URL.  http://ken-mcconnell.com

I will no longer be updating this blog.  It will remain live until early 2010 and then it will shut down and all hits to the W0PHT.org domain will be forwarded to the new domain.  At some future date in 2010, I will complete shut down the old domain.   I have no plans to use it, but I will retain it as W0PHT is my Amateur Radio Call Sign.

“The people that work [at Rediscovered] really know books very well. They’re not afraid to talk up the local authors,” says McConnell. “That helps me as a writer who lives here, and it can only help the community to get to know those writers that do live here.”

Cool.  Great article, Tara Morgan!  Now go read the article and please come visit us all this Saturday evening at Rediscovered Bookshop!

If you then would have said that I would not own such a device, despite being an author, I might have thought you a bit daft.  If you then said that the only people who read digital books were women and they read mostly Romance and Mysteries on such high tech devices, I would have surely thought that you were crazy and I would not have believed it.

I have trouble believing it now.  Whatever happened to Geek Cred?  Sure, you have that fancy phone, but everyone has those.  Ebook readers are the future, today.  One would think that the genre that would be a perfect fit for a device from the future would be science fiction.  Not so, apparently.  It seems that SF/F/H readers are the slowest to adapt the new technology. Who would have thunk?

Of course, the fact that I write science fiction and sell it on such devices has not convinced me, or more properly, the reader in me, to buy one.  But that could change.  The biggest reason I don’t have an Ebook reader is because I have better and more important things to spend my meager paychecks on.  Were I single, I’d have a couple of them, I’m sure.  But in this horrible economy, I can’t justify the expense for something that I will only occasionally use.  I do have a standing promise with myself that when my Amazon sales are large enough to buy and Ebook reader, I’ll get one.  I’m not sure what will happen first, the price drop in the hardware or my sales increasing due to people liking my books.  At this rate, the former is a more likely possibility.

Too many people think they can write because they wrote in school.  They feel that there is nothing else needed to write novels.  Wrong.  Writing fiction is a constant learning curve that you you never stop climbing.  Not only do you have to be familiar with the language, but you have to be familiar with the craft of fiction writing.  That is not something that most people can just do intuitively.  No matter how well read you are.  You have to study books on writing and take a few classes here and there to learn the ropes.

Sometimes, when you are devoting your entire weekend to a writing class or seminar, it can feel like your time would be better spent actually writing.  But always remember that just writing is not enough to get better at your craft.  You have to spend time learning it from those who have gone before you.  It’s never a waste of your time to learn from those who are better than you.  In fact, you can learn even more, from mentoring someone who is not to your same skill level.

I’ve learned more from reading other people’s writing over the years, than I have ever learned from reading distinguished works from established authors.  If you ever get the chance to judge a writing contest or to participate in a writing critique group, take it.  You will be amazed at what you learn and it will make you a better writer.

I have recently realized that I can plot out one novel while proof reading another.  The act of creating a plot is much different than editing what has already been written.  So when I’m on the computer, I edit Tyrmia.  When I’m doing something else, less mentally taxing, I can let my imagination go on plotting.  My goal is to have Kill Dash Nine pretty much plotted before I start writing it in January.

I may not finish the outline that quickly, because for this book, the plotting will be more complex.  I have a feeling that outlines, charts and colored pens will come into play to keep me straight.  Whatever I wind up doing, I’ll talk about it here.  So stay tuned.

The files were made by programmer Jeremy Carey-dressler and were created with Expressivo’s Jennifer voice. It actually sounds pretty cool, in a very Geeky way.

Westerfeld’s words and Kieth Thompson’s art are keeping my son glued to the story and thinking about it in much deeper ways than he would without the artwork.  He studies each plate for all the details and points out what the author said about them.  This novel is very engaging for him and his dad.  We can’t wait to finish it and move on to the next one in the series.

So if you intend to get in on the ebook revolution, now would be the perfect time to send them an inquiry and get in on the ground floor of what will no-doubt be one of the best new ebook publishers.  You can follow them on Twitter here.  Tip of the hat to Val Roberts for the news!