In the Deomain of the Winter King

Isn't this a fantastic picture?
It's a lighthouse on Lake Michigan that's been encased in ice as a polar vortex causes temperatures of -50 below.
But it is one of those pictures that's worth a thousand words.

Friday Fiction Feed from Twitter--Blood Street

I enjoy social media. As someone who works at home, it helps me feel connected to a wider world. One f the things I really like is when a tweet points me in the direction of a book I might like to read. (Even though my TBR pile now has its second bookcase, my motto is "no book left behind."

Today I ran across Carl Alves' novel Blood Street, which is currently on sale at Amazon.com for 99 cents.  You can sample Alves' fiction for free on his website, which I did, and now I'm about to click over to Amazon and spend a whopping dollar sampling his book. (It actually doesn't look like he updates his website very often but all the links still work.)  Ah--did some digging around and he has a new site here.

The book combines vampires and Mafiosi and I can't wait to read it.

Cath Staincliffe's Blog

I review for Criminal Element and one of the real pleasures of the gig is discovering writers who are new to me. I just finished reading Cath Staincliffe's new book Dead to Me and enjoyed it so much that I tracked down her website to learn more about her.

Her blog is a lot of fun. In addition to interesting posts about topics such as point of view and how to write tense scens, she lists books that she's recently read and enjoyed. All of her recommendations sound interesting. Check her site out here. And watch for my "Fresh Meat" about Dead to Me on Tuesday.

Christine Pope's Sympathy for the Devil

Romance writer Christine Pope is a friend of mine and I really enjoyed her latest book, which is an update of a book she originally published through Pink Petal Press. She updated it, gave it a slick new cover and has now sent it out into the world. It's a paranormal romance that's devoid of vampires, but it does have a hilarious set of supporting characters who disrupt the romance for their own devilish ends. Check it out here.

What Craig's List posters really think of writers

You never know what you're going to find when you click around CL. I've found jobs that were both lucrative and satisfying, like the gig I landed curating biographies for a new website. I've found jobs that were fun but didn't pay much at all. I've been stiffed by clients I found there--and in one case, I'm still pursuing the scofflaw--and I've been offered ongoing work by others. I love Craig'sList.
But every once in a while, there's a listing that gives me pause. Today, under "Writing and Editing," I found this listing headlined "House Cleaning."

House cleaning service offers...we are two ladies very responsible and honest.... We've been working at cleaning services for 8 years...independent job, good references, free estimates.
-clean bathroom
-kitchen, cabinets
-vacuum, mop floors, change , wash and fold the sheets
- baseboards, windows, cob webs
-dust, organize
-summer projects
-extra services can be charged.
Every day, every week, every other week, once in a month.... It's up to you:) 

Sigh.  It's hard enough explaining my choice to remain a freelancer in a dicey economy without seeing ads like this posted in the forum where I go to find paying writing work. Is the universe trying to tell me something?

Happy Birthday Zora!

Google honored Zora Neale Hurston on the occasion of her birthday. (Never mind how old she would be--you never ask a lady her birthdate.) Hurston is famous for her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God (one of four novels and countless short stories she wrote). I had not read the novel when I ran across this quote from it:Half gods are worshipped in wine and flowers. Real gods require blood.  I thought those two sentences were just stunning and they drove me to the novel. Plus, I thought she had the coolest name ever.  And the lady knew how to wear a hat.Anthropoligist, folklorist, author--she was a (Harlem) Renaissance woman.

Oh Snap!!

I work a lot with baby boomers who are leery of social media. Many of them are having a hard time transitioning into the digital age. Some of them have a distinctly, "You kids get off my lawn" attitude toward all things new and shiny and even faintly techno. Today one of my clients asked me what Instagram was. And I explained it. And I was feeling pretty on top of it because I know about Flickr and Photobucket and Photorocket and even SmugMug.  And then one of my clients mentioned SnapChat. I missed the memo on that one.
Sigh.
You have to keep up or you fall behind.
Ready or not, here comes tomorrow.