Alison Kent's Blah Blog

The gym I mentioned belonging to in my previous post? Years ago. I went at lunch or after work, and this was before I was laid off in 2004. I know our company gave up our membership there at least a year before the lay off, so best guess? I belonged in 1999 – 2001 or so. I worked out daily and loved it. I could manipulate amazing amounts of weight on the various machines. I alternated walking and jogging on the track that circled the fourth floor of the building and would look down at the cars and people on the sidewalks as I passed. Great fun. I dictated almost all of LOVE IN BLOOM (hey, that dates it; LIB was released in June of 2000) during those laps.

I loved that routine. It was a break during the middle of the day, or a way to unwind after when waiting for the husband to pick me up. I told myself when I was laid off that I’d turn into an exercise fanatic since I had so much free time, working from home. Uh, no. That didn’t happen. Seems I hate exercising on my own. I hear how others work through plot problems while walking. All that goes through my head is, “How much longer/further do I have to go?” And I’m in Texas, so hello. HEAT, blech. Still, I walk. And dictate. And nudge the dog along because she seems to think she has to stop and sniff every blade of grass. When I can’t deal with the heat, I use the treadmill, though so seldom the dust coating it recently required a trowel to remove. I even have a dedicated DVD player set up for watching while I walk. Still hate it.

What I love is my Wii Fit. Who knew exercise could be fun? Like, you know, a game? Several of my writer friends had sung the praises of their Wii Fit systems, so in March, when the systems were available again, I used several Amazon gift certificates to buy one. I am a total addict. A convert. And as much fun as the husband and I have competing with each other in the balance games and aerobics, I love Wii Fit Yoga. Yes, I know the ’score’ and the issue of ‘posture’ are at odds with yoga as a discipline, but for someone stuck at home w/o transportation most of the time, it’s better than sitting on my backside growing stiffer and stiffer and broader, ahem, the more I write!

This Suite101 article, A Yogi Speaks About Wii Fit Yoga, says about the game:

Yoga is a mind-body practice that is more about the connection with the present moment, the breath and the movement than it is focused on “fitness”. In fact, for most yogis, the physique that results from years of practice is a happy side-effect of the stress-relief, awareness of the present moment, and overall health that they experience through practicing yoga.

In the New York Times article reviewing the Wii Fit, they asked renowned author and Om Yoga instructor, Cyndi Lee to review the game. Her response was that the game was “a little dumbed down” and that “they are teaching more from a fitness or gym perspective”.

As you can see by this shot from my TV, there are only two moves I haven’t tackled. The others I’ve done dozens of times. And even though the scoring may be at odds with the connection with the present moment, etc., I like it. It tells me whether I’m on, or having an off day. And I love that they’re coming out with a new Yoga For Wii in October. I want more and new and harder and to expand this very simple version of what feels SO good. Anyone else a Wii Fit Yoga lover? I’m off to stretch now …

The online romance community is good, old-fashioned word of mouth updated for a digital age. Readers recommending books to other readers thru blogs, message boards, e-mail loops, and Twitter – instead of meeting up at the corner bookstore, the PTA meeting, or calling each other on the phone. That’s what makes social media so darn attractive to so many readers and authors.

Super Librarian Wendy made that comment at Access Romance’s Readers Gab in a conversation about how publishers and authors get their books into readers’ hands. I’ve been having a similar conversation with friends the last few days, as the Avon / AAR kerfluffle, which I knew nothing about until one of said friends pointed it out, brought back memories of my introduction to the romance genre.

Though I’d read a lot of gothics – Phyllis Whitney, Mary Stewart, Victoria Holt -and a lot of glitz – Jackie Collins, Sydney Sheldon – and, of course, Nancy Drew, I came to category romance long after Harlequin had acquired Silhouette from Simon and Schuster. I was living in north Texas at the time, working at the Eveready Battery sales office in Farmer’s Branch (pretty sure it’s long gone), and I frequented – as in weekly – a small romance friendly used book store just a few blocks from my house.

I LOVED that book store. The owners and other readers I met there are the ones that introduced me to the authors who would become my first auto-buys: Linda Howard, Diana Palmer, Elizabeth Lowell, Sandra Brown. Understanding nothing of the cycles of book distribution, I haunted that store every Saturday to see what author had a new release, or what books had been traded in that I could snatch up. I talked plots and characters with the women there, just as I did with the women I worked with those two years.

Fast forward to 2006. I’d been in Houston since 1989, and was working at the job from which I’d been laid off in 2004. I’d sold my first book in 1993 while employed by the same company, so my co-workers knew my writing history. Of the women I worked with over the years, a big percentage of them were readers. In 2006, however, I was in a new department, interacting with people I hadn’t known before. These women were big time readers. They loved Nora and J.D. Robb and Cindy Gerard and Tess Gerritsen and me. *g* I introduced them to more authors. They swapped books regularly. When one changed jobs, she came back at lunch to trade books with the others. But guess what.

Not a one of these long-time romance readers knew there was a magazine called Romantic Times. They did not visit author Websites, or so until they learned I had one. They knew nothing of blogs, again, until they knew I had one. One of the most voracious readers kept a spreadsheet that she printed and carried with her to make sure she didn’t pick up books she’d already read. They got their recommendations from one another, from other friends and family. They picked up books from garage sales, thrift shops, used book stores, nevermind that they could afford to buy every single thing they read new. These were degreed professionals. Women who knew their way around a computers and software, who owned laptops and smart phones.

Honestly? I still think this is how most word of mouth buzz is built for authors, and how most readers find their books. I don’t discount the value of online sites that review books and discuss the genre, but in the almost two years since I’ve been out of the corporate work force – again – I don’t imagine much has changed. In fact, I can see the above scenario being played out in offices across the country, at mothers’ playdates, during school volunteer luncheons, in gym locker rooms. (I once borrowed a Star Trek tie-in novel from a fellow gym member to read on the exercise bike.)

Then there are readers who can’t afford new books, who rely on libraries and Goodwill, who read because it is the only entertainment they have access to. They can’t afford cable TV or subscriptions to Netflix or to go to the movies. (Sheesh, I can barely afford the latter!) They aren’t going to look for reading recommendations online because they don’t have access. How many readers fit this profile? No clue, but going by my own experience with used book stores, I know they provide a service to a lot of readers who would otherwise never find out about certain books.

What about you? Since you’re all here, I know you get recommendations online, but do you have reading friends in real life who use other ways to find their books?

Falling Bookstore photo courtesy of Leithcote

As much as I love watching the American Idol hopefuls (the ones who can actually sing, that is) compete each week, it’s the singing itself, not the competition, that keeps me there. I love singing voices as much as I love writing voices, and as I think about that this morning, it’s probably why I posted recently to Twitter:

Have decided I can tell in a page or two if I’ll stick with a book. Voice is everything to me as a reader. Good thing I’m not an editor.

I knew this year’s 4th AI judge, Kara DioGuardi, was a songwriter, and I knew she sang, but until hunting down her Website last night after the finale, I had no clue how amazing her voice is. Listen to her here with Dave Stewart singing Taking Chances (which she I believe co-wrote for Celine Dion). Here’s Kara’s YouTube channel.

So not knowing anything about her but what I found on her site, that she sings background for artists like Kelly Clarkson, Santana, Britney Spears, that she writes for Pink and Gwen Stefani, Carrie Underwood and Christina Aguilera, that she’s a VP at Warner Brothers Records, I wonder again about the voice thing and my comment above. I would NEVER want to be an editor even though I’ve been told repeatedly I’d be a good one. It’s not the work I want to do, and I wonder if Kara prefers being the power behind the performers she works with. (Of course, for all I know, she has recorded, but I don’t get from her bio that’s her focus.) In fact, she says in this interview with Matt Lauer that she wanted to be an artist but could never get any songs – and how many authors have you heard say they began their careers because they wanted to write the books they couldn’t find to read?

I want to create, use words, choose them exactly so they say what I want them to say. Once they’re written and an editor has made them technically better and given me the necessary input to make them more powerfully compelling, it’s up to the reader to make those words her own, just as an artist would take songs Kara has written and do the same. Is this analogy going anywhere? Am I totally missing something? Or can a novel writer’s voice and a songwriter writer’s voice be thusly compared?

Today at GenReality I’m talking about letting go of stories we love, ones that editors don’t so much, and that seem will never find a home except within our hearts. The story I can’t let go is the one I posted an excerpt to a year ago January at this link.

On Saturday, I canceled my MySpace account. I never got into the whole MySpace thing, and though my profile picture was only three book covers ago, the bio information I had up on my page was three years old. Also on Saturday, I visited my Facebook page for the first time in weeks to find I had 97 friend requests. I also had a gazillion notes in my Facebook inbox from people wanting me to come to their chat or view their book video or remember that their new release was out or vote for them in some or another poll. I decided then and there that I am not suited for Facebook either, and will be killing that account and setting up a fan page instead. Eventually.

Those emails and requests to do something annoyed me (not the requests for friends; I love friend requests, mostly*), and I realized that if I wanted to announce things to others, said things might be annoying on the recipients’ end – though, true, my “friends” are people who have chosen to be so. I’ve rarely added anyone myself because I don’t visit Facebook enough to interact with anyone there. I’ve said it before. I like my blog. This is my home. I can tell you guys all about what I have going on, and since you came here of your own free will *g*, I don’t feel bad about it.

Here’s the thing. If I do friend someone at Facebook or Twitter, it’s because I’m interested in who they are and what they have to say. Or maybe I actually know them as a friend. Could be I’m just a rabid fan of their work. I do not “friend” them so I can spam them with information on my books. A fan page is different. If someone joins a fan page, they are asking for promo, and that’s the right place to give it to them.

This whole promo biz is out of control. When I get a friend request* that says, “Hi, Alison! I’m the author of SO & SO TITLE, and I know we’ll be good friends,” I just roll my eyes. I would NEVER in a million years pimp a book in such a way. If I wanted to friend someone, I’d ask to friend them. The end. And if someone accepts my request to be a friend? I would never respond similarly to one of the responses I received that said, “Thanks for the friendship! Check out our page with all our info, blah blah blah.”

Is it just me, or is that the tackiest of tacky?

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

I don’t want to be solicited to look at something, or visit someplace, or vote or view or whatever. I want to read a blog entry and be intriqged enough by the content that I’ll click on the links the author has included. I want to follow a Tiny URL from Twitter because the person tweeting has me curious about what I’ll find on the other end. Yes, I have a plugin that tweets my blog posts. (How many of you saw this blog topic in my Twitter feed and followed the link here?) And when I’m doing giveaways, I make sure readers know. As much as getting my name out there is for me, the giveaways are for you. But this barrage of self-promotional requests is annoying. And tacky.

Just don’t do it, okay? Let your book speak for itself. If it’s worth finding, people will find it. Readers are smart. They talk about books that interest them, about authors worth checking out. Readers also talk about promo spammers, and word – like the swine flu – gets around. Trust me. You don’t want to be known as a swine flu promo spammer. Leaving a faux comment in a blog so you can pimp your own book? Same thing. Don’t do it. Just don’t. Readers and other authors will thank you.

If the flashing graphic on the right sidebar doesn’t blind you first, a click will take you to the GenReality authors’ package up for bidding in the Brenda Novak Auction. Also, today, I’m blogging at the Blaze Authors blog and revealing my new Blaze cover.

Booklover 1335 is the winner of the copy of IT’S HOTTER IN HAWAII and NO LIMITS. Just send me your mailing info and I’ll get those sent out ASAP!

Today, HelenKay Dimon is talking about sultry Lousisiana, the setting of NO LIMITS, and giving a copy away. And on Larissa Ione’s blog, she’s talking about stepping into the pages of a novel with a sexy cover model, and giving two copies away.

Don’t forget the BIG contest I’m having with friends Jill Shalvis and HelenKay Dimon. Be sure and read ALLLLL the rules before entering so you’ll be eligible! Click the graphic to take you to the contest page!