Deborah Woehr

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the goals for my blogs. I’ve cut out one and plan to cut out another when I return. That leaves this blog, The Writers Buzz, and Self-Publishing with Lulu.

Is The Writers Buzz of any value to you? Do you read it anymore? Why?

So far, I’ve gotten some great feedback and questions on the Self-Publishing with Lulu blog. I plan on writing a walk-through instructional series, like I did last year. Lulu has long since updated its software and Distribution services, which outdates my original series a bit.

Right now, the focus of this blog is on novels. But I’d also like to include other series, such as photo and cook books. What do you think?

I hate saying goodbye when I know that it will be longlasting or permanent. No matter how hard I try, the emotions always bubble out of me. Compared to the last job I had, this one was a dream. I’ve come to believe that the people you work with are 90% of the job.

I knew the contract was going to end, yet I didn’t anticipate the effect it would have on me until a couple of weeks ago. These people had become my second family. We laughed and joked everyday. We shared stories about our families. We worked as a team to get things done.

It was a tough day, but I managed to walk out the door with my dignity mostly intact. As I said in that meme, I don’t need to get drunk to make a fool out of myself.

I’ve made some good friends and some good contacts, which I look forward to catching up with over lunch.

First off, I was very impressed with the customer service. Worried that I wasn’t going to get this in time before I left, I called their office. The lady was very friendly and helpful, which is a rare thing with customer service departments.

The Neo arrived yesterday afternoon. Measuring 1.8″x12.4″x9.8″, it’s smaller than the standard keyboard, yet not too small. Several years ago, I had looked into buying a keyboard for my PDA, but they were way too small and (possibly) too expensive. My PDA has been stored away since then. This won’t happen to the Neo. I’m enjoying it very much.

I’ve written several articles for my blogs, which I successfully exported to my Mac, edited and preposted. Today, I imported the chapter that I’m working on and faced the first downside to this machine, which I’ll discuss below.

Things I Like About the Neo

1. It’s simple to use. Think of it as an electric typewriter without the bulk or the cord.

2. It’s light, yet sturdy. If you order through the link I gave you, you’ll get it with a carrying case, which has plenty of room for notepads, pens, and a small book.

3. Since I don’t have the Internet to distract me, I’m finding myself more focused on what I’m writing.

4. It comes with an instruction manual that is actually useful! I haven’t tried everything yet, like printing directly from the Neo or using the infrared capability that allows you to “beam” your article directly to your computer or printer. When I’m ready, I know I’ll be able to read the directions without wanting to put the manual through my shredder.

5. Thanks to the “File System”, I can organize my work in different sections inside the Neo. The top of the keyboard is lined with buttons for file sections. I’ve decided to use the File 1 section for articles. File 2 through 7 may contain my novel chapters. File 8 will be for notes and research.

6. Memory and battery life. The Neo is built with 2MB of memory. After checking the size of two of my chapters, I realize that I’ll have plenty of memory to go around. You can use the Neo for up to 700 hours before you change the battery. It comes with 3 AAs, which was a great convenience.

7. You don’t have to worry about saving your work every time you have to walk away. The Neo saves your work as you type.

8. The Neo has a built-in spell-checker and thesaurus.

9. The software CD that comes with the Neo does not have a serial number. That means that I can install it on my Mac as well as any of my family’s PCs. It installed just fine on Tiger, but I haven’t tried it with Vista.

Things I Don’t Like

1. The lack for formatting. While that’s not a big issue with article writing, it can be tedious trying to format a chapter in progress. Since the Neo will export your file in text format, you will have to format your text in your word processor. The upside to that is I can go through and polish what I’ve written and possibly catch some typos in the process.

2. No LCD backlighting. I see this as a negative and a positive. You have to have adequate lighting in order to see the screen. The positive side of this involves eyestrain. I have a stygmatism where my eyes are constantly adjusting from the light of the computer screen and any other light source at the same time. The result is that I get headaches often, especially when I work long hours.

3. The size of the LCD screen. I don’t remember the last time I used a screen this small. You can adjust the font display size, but the default works fine. It’s going to take some getting used to. I won’t be using this for heavy editing.

Is the AlphaSmart Neo worth the investment? I would say definitely. It’s cheaper than a basic laptop. It won’t heat up on you, like a laptop. And, you can type with the Neo sitting in your lap.

Never mind kids, the Internet is my greatest distraction. I’m always fighting with myself to keep from checking my email, surfing for software or books, blogging, reading other blogs, etc. I spend too much time on the Internet. It’s a wonder that I get any writing done.

This morning, I passed an ad in the Writer’s Digest for the Neo by AlphaSmart without a second thought. Then, as my husband and I were talking about our impending vacation, I began to think about the hours I’m going to be trapped on airplanes without a cigarette. I estimate 12 - 15 hours total. Then I began to think about the two-week downtime this vacation is going to cause and how it’s going to set me back on my editing. I’ve passed the halfway point, by the way.

I returned to the magazine and opened the front cover. Then I went online and began researching the Neo as well as its competitors. There aren’t too many machines like this on the market. I read the glowing reviews from other writers, who stated how their productivity had improved and how easy the Neo was to use.

Since laptops have proven unwieldy and their batteries don’t last a day, much less 700 hours, this would be perfect. I can write on the plane, in the car, by the pool after I get home, etc. I’m looking forward to reviewing this machine. In the meantime, I’ll paste the link below.

http://www.alphasmart.com/lp/wd

Lorelle VanFossen has written a concise how-to book, covering every aspect of WordPress and how you can use it to create and build an outstanding blog. I read a third of this book before I began jumping to the sections that I needed to learn about or brush up on. Some tips I found useful are:

Time Management and Blogger Burnout: These are especially important if you run more than one blog.
Writing: Lorelle talks about how to use keywords and search terms to boost your search engine ranking as well as to draw human readers.
Blog SEO and Page Rank: I’ve tried to digest the information online about these topics only to find myself overwhelmed. Lorelle explains exactly how Google determine’s the page rank of a site and how to optimize your blogs without drowning the reader in geek speak.

Conclusion: I’ve been blogging for two years, so much of the information contained in this book was a review. However, if you are new to blogging or WordPress I would strongly suggest that you buy a copy of this book.

I bought this book, anticipating Chapters 7 and 9. Chapter 7 explains in detail how to construct your own WordPress Theme from a blank page, while Chapter 9 explains how to build plug-ins and widgets. I’ve read through Chapter 7, but have yet to test out the author’s tutorial. I’ll have to give you an update on that . . . or show you the result.

Conclusion: WordPress Complete is better than the Visual Quickstart Guide in that it teaches you the coding that is needed to add more functionality to your site, whether you want to create your own theme, add a photo gallery, create a pod cast, or use WordPress for a full-fledged CMS.

I’ve had friends and family give me tarot readings in the past, but I’ve never quite understood exactly what these cards mean and how you can read your past, present and future. Getting a reading was a fun way to pass the time, much like this quiz, which I found on Jason Evans’s blog.

You are The Sun

Happiness, Content, Joy.

The meanings for the Sun are fairly simple and consistent.

Young, healthy, new, fresh. The brain is working, things that were muddled come clear, everything falls into place, and everything seems to go your way.

The Sun is ruled by the Sun, of course. This is the light that comes after the long dark night, Apollo to the Moon’s Diana. A positive card, it promises you your day in the sun. Glory, gain, triumph, pleasure, truth, success. As the moon symbolized inspiration from the unconscious, from dreams, this card symbolizes discoveries made fully consciousness and wide awake. You have an understanding and enjoyment of science and math, beautifully constructed music, carefully reasoned philosophy. It is a card of intellect, clarity of mind, and feelings of youthful energy.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

I had come across Blurb late last year, I think. At the time, it was brand new and there were only a handful of books listed on the site. One of them was a blook by that airline stewardess. I quickly forgot about it.

Then I saw a mention on Grumpy Old Bookman, who stated that it has the potential to rival Lulu. After downloading the BookSmart software and giving it a test run with a photo book (see the photo reference below), I see his point. It is extremely easy to lay out your book.

BookSmart offers a good dozen layouts each for text, text with photos, and photos. The first qualm I had was the inability to import text into a book file. Blurb is working on adding this feature. For now, you’ll have to copy and paste.

Adding headers and footers is a snap. Simply click on the second page of your chapter, enter your header information, and click apply to all pages. Your change will appear on every page but the chapter pages. I’ve included a sample below. Click the images to get a better view.

Now, I will list the cons, which are significant to novel writers.

1. Blurb doesn’t offer the 6×9 trade paperback size. They offer 8×10, 7×7, and 13×11. This affects the price, which can be very expensive. According to Washington Post, it can cost up to $80 to publish a 400-page novel. That’s definitely a severe price jump, compared to Lulu.
2. Blurb doesn’t offer an ISBN service. You will have to obtain the ISBN number, EAN, and list the book with online retailers. They plan on offering an ISBN service in the future.
3. You don’t have the multiple publishing options that you do with Lulu: paperback, hardcover, ebook and audio book.

That said, I’m going to watch this company and see how it evolves. Right now, it is still in its infant stage but I think they might become a serious rival to Lulu. Check out the Washington Post article, which talks about Lulu, Blurb and the self-publishing industry. Very interesting reading. Also, visit the Blurberati Blog to keep informed.

A friend of the family said this to me when I told her that I couldn’t believe that my then-infant son was eight weeks old. My oldest son isn’t quite there yet, but I’m remembering her words. He’s growing up so fast. Today, graduated from junior high school. Before long, I’ll be sitting in the throng of parents, watching him accept his high school diploma.

Before we left for the ceremony, I asked him if he was excited. Not really. The milestone didn’t hit him until he walked up to the principal to receive his diploma. After the ceremony was all over, he walked up to us with an ear-to-ear grin on his face.

I made it, that expression said. Yes, you did, honey. Dad and I are so proud of you.

Last year, I listened to a radio segment about Mexican immigrants and how they should be loyal to the US if they were to live here. That means not touting the Mexican flag or demanding that our National Anthem be sung in Spanish. Many people called into the radio station that morning, including Hispanics, to agree.

If an American were to immigrate to Mexico or China, do you think they’d give us free health care, a free house, free education and change their way of life so their culture won’t offend ours? Oh, hell no.

It’s no wonder they’re coming over here in droves! Can anyone say “Sucker!” in Spanish?

I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of hearing about the soap opera of Paris Hilton and her little pals. That’s why I enjoyed this video.