Linda Kay Silva
Author of the Across Time Series
April/May 2010
View my Vlog!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsBW4O3AAHs
Bella and Spinsters is getting a major overhaul next month! Yay!
I have been working hard to get my latest series out there, but the industry is changing so much that it's hard to keep up. Finally, we will be putting our books into eBooks. The best thing about this is I have the chance to bring Delta Stevens back to life in the Storm series. I miss her and I am a bit amazed by how many women who used to read her have not yet picked up Across Time. I wish readers would understand that if they don't keep supporting publishers like Bella, that soon, like the independent bookstores, our literature will be gone. We won't find ourselves on the bookstore shelves any more. We NEED to continue to buy books from the writers in our community.
Maybe I am preaching to the choir, so if I am, I apologize.
Women like Katherine Forest and Rita Mae Brown opened doors that will only stay open if the financial machine is the doorstop. We fought a long time for so much and if we aren't careful, those things will slowly vanish, like indie bookstores, leaving us with only the BIG names on the bookshelves.
So if you haven't bought a book this month from me or Spinsters, do us all a favor and keep the flow going. If we don't support the community, it won't be there to support us.
And thank you to those of you who have.
I love writing.
I want to keep on writing.
I can't if I don't sell books.
Happy Spring!
April 2010
Okay...I admit it. I'm a geek.
I knew that when I was awashed in a sea if like-minded geeks on my way to the Wonder Con, the sister of the highly acclaimed Comic Con held every year.
And....well...I was in heaven.
Why?
Because I was surrounded by people who didn't give a shit what ANYONE else thought. People dressed up like Captain American, Wonder Woman, trolls, werewolves, even, yes, SpongeBob! These were people who know how to have a good time regardless of the opinions of others.
I love that.
I loved seeing young girls dressed as Poison Ivy and young men dressed as the Mad Hatter.
I loved it because these wonderful people were being true to themselves. They were enjoying the company of those who don't judge them for wearing a wolf costume or who look like Chewbacca from Star Wars.
I loved it because there was a sense of community, an unspoken rule that said no one would laugh or throw stones.
How could we?
We live in glass houses.
And those houses are where communities are born.
Writers NEED communities.
We need communities of all kinds if our work is going to expand and we are to grow.
Writing, for most of us, is a solitary endeavor. We sit alone amidst the company of characters no one else can see or hear yet.
Yet.
Until others can see them and embrace them as we do, we need to remember that we, too, need community. We need people who will not judge us if we choose to leave the house looking like Sponge Bob. We all need a group of people we can sit with and let our Xena hair down with, put our Superman boots on the coffee table and belch like Batman.
We need community.
If you haven't joined one, try www.meetup.com and find a group near you.
April 2010
I am convinced that all those people who say they don't want or NEED an iphone say that because they
a. can't afford one
b. think the replicas are just as good (they're soo not)
c. are afraid of change
d. none of the above but some other lame excuse
Why lame?
Because as a writer, I can't tell you how many cool apps there are to help us with our work.
No, not just spell checkers and thesauri.
No, not just free Kindle readers.
The iPhone is the perfect accessory every writer should splurge for. Here are just a few of the apps I have on my phone:
1) Jott for iPhone will not only record your notes but also transcribe them. The process
involves your recording your notes and transmitting them to a server at
Jott, where they’re transcribed and sent
back to your iPhone. The process takes a few minutes. You also can get
your notes from the Jott site if you want to cut and paste them into an
app on your desktop. It’s not flawless but worth a try. Free.
2) Want to strengthen your vocabulary muscles? Give VocabDaily a try. Free with ads; $2.99 without ads.
3) IdeaGenerator: Developed by The Directors Bureau Special Projects, IdeaGenerator is basically a slot machine for ideas. At a mere 99 cents why wouldn't you add this fun and
productive app to your phone? By stroking or shaking the screen, three
random words appear, taken from lengthy word lists. These random words
are designed to spark creative connections in your brain thereby
leading to story ideas.
4) WordTwiddle: Designed by Double Dog Studios, Word Twiddle is another three-slot word generator but the words in this app
are more customizable. By choosing your own word lists (Emotions,
Lyrics, Puke, Greek Characters, Advertising, Perceptions, to name just
a fraction of them), WordTwiddle helps create brain connections that
help with all aspects of creative life including blogging, marketing,
plot formation for storytelling, problem solving, children's games,
etc. At 99 cents, this app is a steal.
5) EverNote: This application designed by Evernote is marketed as "turning your iPhone into an extension of your brain." For
a writer, inspiration may strike at any moment. Now with EverNote, it
is super easy to catalogue that moment with everything from images,
audio notes and the geography that may go along with it. All notes are
searchable and this free application is used by over a million people.
Those are just a few of the cool apps for writers. There are so many more!
Waiting in line at the comic convention, I had an idea for a plot.
I whipped open my iPhone, spoke my plot in less than 20 seconds, and carried on with my day. No need to worry about remembering it (at my age that happens with more and more frequency!)
Help yourself out.
Get one.
Well worth it.
My PODCAST link!
http://lindakaysilva.mypodcast.com/index.html
Nov 24th
I have returned from my writing conference in North Carolina and I had the BEST time! It was, hands down, the best writing conference I have attended in a long time. I learned more than I ever thought I could, and I met some of the nicest people! It was awesome. Stay tuned for some of the things I learned and how I intend to apply that in my writing world!
Nov. 15th
Remember the Bucket List I referred to down below? Well, here is one of the things on that list. Yes, this is a tattoo of Storm. It is a half sleeve I sat through 12 hours to get. Yes, it hurt, but I soooo dig it. There is something powerful and empowering about having her there. Since I wear lots of tank tops, it is that "I don't care what you think of me" attitude that is so freeing in my life. I really don’t care…and the best part is, she opens more doors than she closes. Younger guys are in awe and come up to talk to you. Women who look like soccer moms want to let you know that they, too, have a tattoo. It is a great conversation piece, and I share it with you to remind you that hiding your light under a bushel is a big waste of light!
Okay, so what's next?
1) Trip to North Carolina for a writers' conference
2) Trip to Bahamas for Christmas with my dad and my three girls. (Oh yeah, and one *cough cough* boyfriend)
3) A teeny rest and then...the BIG Kahuna...Rome, Athens, Turkey, Egypt, New York. Heart be still!
Nov 7th.
Had a wonderful lunch with my editor, Katherine V Forrest. She is an incredibly delightful woman, not to mention a detailed and accurate editor. My work only benefits from her sharp blue pen.
We were discussing how to better reach our readers...with all of the technology out there, we should be selling more books than we are. We should really be growing our readership for Spinsters, but we are not sure where to begin.
Along with that, we discussed what to so with the multitude of novels I have already written. I am hoping we can DO something with them besides the obvious self-publishing route. I write 2-4 novels per year and have no place to go with them. I am hoping that with Katherine's help, I can fine tune them and find a home for them.
Any thoughts?
Oct 31st
Halloween...it seems to bring out the kid in all of us...unless you are like me and are immature most of the time...lol.
So, I am twittering a lot. Lori has me convinced that shameless self-promotion is the only way to go, so I am going to give it my best try. It helps to have wonderful people telling other wonderful people to buy the books. I don't think readers realize the changes that are taking place in the publishing industry. Will e-books eventually replace real books? Will all the self-published people finally have a venue with which to promote their own work? And will there be a need for agents any more?
It should be an interesting adventure, and you KNOW...I am all about the adventure.
So, I am finishing the revision of Third Time's a Charm...I love it when a character becomes my friend, like Jessie has. She is in ancient Egypt this time...and it will be an amazing experience to actually be there in February when I turn 50.
You won't want to miss that!
Oct. 24th
Busy, busy. I started a new novel on the cruise, called Steel Horses. It has taken on a life of its own. I mean it! I had all these plans, but suddenly, the bike became the center of the story. It's crazy, but I love it! I am having the time of my life writing it!
Oct. 16th
Just returned from a cruise down the Mexican Riveria. It was so very relaxing. Lori read 4 books for the 12 days and I wrote half a novel.
Okay, so I never really relax...I am pretty sure most writers, artists, and musicians seldom do. Our minds don't work that way. We see someone dressed differently and the writer starts creating a back story...and artists thinks about portraying the person on a canvas, the musician hears notes no one else can hear. Our minds zoom along the track at breakneck speed...we wonder, we think stupid thoughts.
How stupid?
Well, one morning in the shower, I was singing Superstar by The Carpenters...and I thought about Karen Carpenter. Then (here is the eccentric part...I prefer that word to stupid or crazy) I wondered, "Am I the ONLY person thinking about her right now?"
Yeah.
Try LIVING with me.
Not easy.
I'm practically a Letterman Stupid Pet Trick. :)
Nah. I'm not that bad...
But I'm close.
Annnyyyywayyy...
The whole trip I kept saying, "I am having such a great time..."
But...
here's the strange part...
we weren't DOING anything!
Nothing.
Nada.
And then it hit me.
Wait. I'm writing for hours a day.
HOURS.
Yay!
So, I came home, created a schedule that requires me to write first...for a couple hours in the morning, and again at night.
I had to go away to figure THAT out?
Letterman, here I come!
Oct. 1, 2009
So I turn 50 next year. Oh, you've heard? Because I believe in celebrating such changes in one's life, I have a year long (and quite extensive) list of things I want to do....call it my mini bucket list!
To that end, here are some of the things I have accomplished from that list so far:
1) I jumped out of airplane with my 20 year old daughter, Sunnie, whom I adore. She was so fucking butch, that when she was the first one out, she hopped right on down to the open door of the decrepit wind-up plane we were in and threw herself from the plane. Damn. I had no choice but to follow. And out I went. It was fun...but not as fun as riding my Harley.
2) Speaking of Harleys...I bought the Harley of my dreams...and just returned from Street Vibrations in Reno with:
3) The Women's Motorcycle Club I joined. www.jugswmc.com. Just Us Girls. I traded in my tennis racket and the bitchy women who play for leathers and uber cool chicks who ride bikes far cooler than mine!
4) I got a tattoo with Sunnie and then, while Lori wasn't looking...got a half a sleeve done of...yes...STORM!
5) I got married in Hawaii...or Mauied! If that wasn't cool, my oldest friend of 45 years happened to be in Hawaii at the same time and so she celebrated with us! What fun!
6) I built the pond of my dreams. It's like a pool! 5 turtles, koi, two waterfalls, and it sounds amazing!
7) Took all of my teachings online so we are now free to travel anywhere we want any time we want
8) I swam with the dolphins! What a thrill THAT was!
9) We built a master suite by adding 500 sq feet of sun room for the bedroom overlooking my pond, and turned one bedroom into a master bath complete with steamroom and another bedroom into a closet. Yeah...we have THAT much clothing!
10) I visited my first whorehouse and interviewed the nicest bunny from the Bunny Ranch!
So...stay tuned for all of Linda Kay's 50 year Mini Bucket Exploits! Don't miss out!
View my Vlog!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsBW4O3AAHs
Bella and Spinsters is getting a major overhaul next month! Yay!
I have been working hard to get my latest series out there, but the industry is changing so much that it's hard to keep up. Finally, we will be putting our books into eBooks. The best thing about this is I have the chance to bring Delta Stevens back to life in the Storm series. I miss her and I am a bit amazed by how many women who used to read her have not yet picked up Across Time. I wish readers would understand that if they don't keep supporting publishers like Bella, that soon, like the independent bookstores, our literature will be gone. We won't find ourselves on the bookstore shelves any more. We NEED to continue to buy books from the writers in our community.
Maybe I am preaching to the choir, so if I am, I apologize.
Women like Katherine Forest and Rita Mae Brown opened doors that will only stay open if the financial machine is the doorstop. We fought a long time for so much and if we aren't careful, those things will slowly vanish, like indie bookstores, leaving us with only the BIG names on the bookshelves.
So if you haven't bought a book this month from me or Spinsters, do us all a favor and keep the flow going. If we don't support the community, it won't be there to support us.
And thank you to those of you who have.
I love writing.
I want to keep on writing.
I can't if I don't sell books.
Happy Spring!
April 2010
Okay...I admit it. I'm a geek.
I knew that when I was awashed in a sea if like-minded geeks on my way to the Wonder Con, the sister of the highly acclaimed Comic Con held every year.
And....well...I was in heaven.
Why?
Because I was surrounded by people who didn't give a shit what ANYONE else thought. People dressed up like Captain American, Wonder Woman, trolls, werewolves, even, yes, SpongeBob! These were people who know how to have a good time regardless of the opinions of others.
I love that.
I loved seeing young girls dressed as Poison Ivy and young men dressed as the Mad Hatter.
I loved it because these wonderful people were being true to themselves. They were enjoying the company of those who don't judge them for wearing a wolf costume or who look like Chewbacca from Star Wars.
I loved it because there was a sense of community, an unspoken rule that said no one would laugh or throw stones.
How could we?
We live in glass houses.
And those houses are where communities are born.
Writers NEED communities.
We need communities of all kinds if our work is going to expand and we are to grow.
Writing, for most of us, is a solitary endeavor. We sit alone amidst the company of characters no one else can see or hear yet.
Yet.
Until others can see them and embrace them as we do, we need to remember that we, too, need community. We need people who will not judge us if we choose to leave the house looking like Sponge Bob. We all need a group of people we can sit with and let our Xena hair down with, put our Superman boots on the coffee table and belch like Batman.
We need community.
If you haven't joined one, try www.meetup.com and find a group near you.
April 2010
I am convinced that all those people who say they don't want or NEED an iphone say that because they
a. can't afford one
b. think the replicas are just as good (they're soo not)
c. are afraid of change
d. none of the above but some other lame excuse
Why lame?
Because as a writer, I can't tell you how many cool apps there are to help us with our work.
No, not just spell checkers and thesauri.
No, not just free Kindle readers.
The iPhone is the perfect accessory every writer should splurge for. Here are just a few of the apps I have on my phone:
1) Jott for iPhone will not only record your notes but also transcribe them. The process
involves your recording your notes and transmitting them to a server at
Jott, where they’re transcribed and sent
back to your iPhone. The process takes a few minutes. You also can get
your notes from the Jott site if you want to cut and paste them into an
app on your desktop. It’s not flawless but worth a try. Free.
2) Want to strengthen your vocabulary muscles? Give VocabDaily a try. Free with ads; $2.99 without ads.
3) IdeaGenerator: Developed by The Directors Bureau Special Projects, IdeaGenerator is basically a slot machine for ideas. At a mere 99 cents why wouldn't you add this fun and
productive app to your phone? By stroking or shaking the screen, three
random words appear, taken from lengthy word lists. These random words
are designed to spark creative connections in your brain thereby
leading to story ideas.
4) WordTwiddle: Designed by Double Dog Studios, Word Twiddle is another three-slot word generator but the words in this app
are more customizable. By choosing your own word lists (Emotions,
Lyrics, Puke, Greek Characters, Advertising, Perceptions, to name just
a fraction of them), WordTwiddle helps create brain connections that
help with all aspects of creative life including blogging, marketing,
plot formation for storytelling, problem solving, children's games,
etc. At 99 cents, this app is a steal.
5) EverNote: This application designed by Evernote is marketed as "turning your iPhone into an extension of your brain." For
a writer, inspiration may strike at any moment. Now with EverNote, it
is super easy to catalogue that moment with everything from images,
audio notes and the geography that may go along with it. All notes are
searchable and this free application is used by over a million people.
Those are just a few of the cool apps for writers. There are so many more!
Waiting in line at the comic convention, I had an idea for a plot.
I whipped open my iPhone, spoke my plot in less than 20 seconds, and carried on with my day. No need to worry about remembering it (at my age that happens with more and more frequency!)
Help yourself out.
Get one.
Well worth it.
My PODCAST link!
http://lindakaysilva.mypodcast.com/index.html
Nov 24th
I have returned from my writing conference in North Carolina and I had the BEST time! It was, hands down, the best writing conference I have attended in a long time. I learned more than I ever thought I could, and I met some of the nicest people! It was awesome. Stay tuned for some of the things I learned and how I intend to apply that in my writing world!
Nov. 15th
Remember the Bucket List I referred to down below? Well, here is one of the things on that list. Yes, this is a tattoo of Storm. It is a half sleeve I sat through 12 hours to get. Yes, it hurt, but I soooo dig it. There is something powerful and empowering about having her there. Since I wear lots of tank tops, it is that "I don't care what you think of me" attitude that is so freeing in my life. I really don’t care…and the best part is, she opens more doors than she closes. Younger guys are in awe and come up to talk to you. Women who look like soccer moms want to let you know that they, too, have a tattoo. It is a great conversation piece, and I share it with you to remind you that hiding your light under a bushel is a big waste of light!
Okay, so what's next?
1) Trip to North Carolina for a writers' conference
2) Trip to Bahamas for Christmas with my dad and my three girls. (Oh yeah, and one *cough cough* boyfriend)
3) A teeny rest and then...the BIG Kahuna...Rome, Athens, Turkey, Egypt, New York. Heart be still!
Nov 7th.
Had a wonderful lunch with my editor, Katherine V Forrest. She is an incredibly delightful woman, not to mention a detailed and accurate editor. My work only benefits from her sharp blue pen.
We were discussing how to better reach our readers...with all of the technology out there, we should be selling more books than we are. We should really be growing our readership for Spinsters, but we are not sure where to begin.
Along with that, we discussed what to so with the multitude of novels I have already written. I am hoping we can DO something with them besides the obvious self-publishing route. I write 2-4 novels per year and have no place to go with them. I am hoping that with Katherine's help, I can fine tune them and find a home for them.
Any thoughts?
Oct 31st
Halloween...it seems to bring out the kid in all of us...unless you are like me and are immature most of the time...lol.
So, I am twittering a lot. Lori has me convinced that shameless self-promotion is the only way to go, so I am going to give it my best try. It helps to have wonderful people telling other wonderful people to buy the books. I don't think readers realize the changes that are taking place in the publishing industry. Will e-books eventually replace real books? Will all the self-published people finally have a venue with which to promote their own work? And will there be a need for agents any more?
It should be an interesting adventure, and you KNOW...I am all about the adventure.
So, I am finishing the revision of Third Time's a Charm...I love it when a character becomes my friend, like Jessie has. She is in ancient Egypt this time...and it will be an amazing experience to actually be there in February when I turn 50.
You won't want to miss that!
Oct. 24th
Busy, busy. I started a new novel on the cruise, called Steel Horses. It has taken on a life of its own. I mean it! I had all these plans, but suddenly, the bike became the center of the story. It's crazy, but I love it! I am having the time of my life writing it!
Oct. 16th
Just returned from a cruise down the Mexican Riveria. It was so very relaxing. Lori read 4 books for the 12 days and I wrote half a novel.
Okay, so I never really relax...I am pretty sure most writers, artists, and musicians seldom do. Our minds don't work that way. We see someone dressed differently and the writer starts creating a back story...and artists thinks about portraying the person on a canvas, the musician hears notes no one else can hear. Our minds zoom along the track at breakneck speed...we wonder, we think stupid thoughts.
How stupid?
Well, one morning in the shower, I was singing Superstar by The Carpenters...and I thought about Karen Carpenter. Then (here is the eccentric part...I prefer that word to stupid or crazy) I wondered, "Am I the ONLY person thinking about her right now?"
Yeah.
Try LIVING with me.
Not easy.
I'm practically a Letterman Stupid Pet Trick. :)
Nah. I'm not that bad...
But I'm close.
Annnyyyywayyy...
The whole trip I kept saying, "I am having such a great time..."
But...
here's the strange part...
we weren't DOING anything!
Nothing.
Nada.
And then it hit me.
Wait. I'm writing for hours a day.
HOURS.
Yay!
So, I came home, created a schedule that requires me to write first...for a couple hours in the morning, and again at night.
I had to go away to figure THAT out?
Letterman, here I come!
Oct. 1, 2009
So I turn 50 next year. Oh, you've heard? Because I believe in celebrating such changes in one's life, I have a year long (and quite extensive) list of things I want to do....call it my mini bucket list!
To that end, here are some of the things I have accomplished from that list so far:
1) I jumped out of airplane with my 20 year old daughter, Sunnie, whom I adore. She was so fucking butch, that when she was the first one out, she hopped right on down to the open door of the decrepit wind-up plane we were in and threw herself from the plane. Damn. I had no choice but to follow. And out I went. It was fun...but not as fun as riding my Harley.
2) Speaking of Harleys...I bought the Harley of my dreams...and just returned from Street Vibrations in Reno with:
3) The Women's Motorcycle Club I joined. www.jugswmc.com. Just Us Girls. I traded in my tennis racket and the bitchy women who play for leathers and uber cool chicks who ride bikes far cooler than mine!
4) I got a tattoo with Sunnie and then, while Lori wasn't looking...got a half a sleeve done of...yes...STORM!
5) I got married in Hawaii...or Mauied! If that wasn't cool, my oldest friend of 45 years happened to be in Hawaii at the same time and so she celebrated with us! What fun!
6) I built the pond of my dreams. It's like a pool! 5 turtles, koi, two waterfalls, and it sounds amazing!
7) Took all of my teachings online so we are now free to travel anywhere we want any time we want
8) I swam with the dolphins! What a thrill THAT was!
9) We built a master suite by adding 500 sq feet of sun room for the bedroom overlooking my pond, and turned one bedroom into a master bath complete with steamroom and another bedroom into a closet. Yeah...we have THAT much clothing!
10) I visited my first whorehouse and interviewed the nicest bunny from the Bunny Ranch!
So...stay tuned for all of Linda Kay's 50 year Mini Bucket Exploits! Don't miss out!
