What is a Virtual Tour? Last Chance Rescue to Find Out!

I've teamed up with Goddess Fish Promotions to conduct a 'virtual tour' to promote "Last Chance Rescue."

So, what is a virtual tour? (I knew you'd ask; I had to, too!)

Here's the gist: there are web sites and blogs that pertain to writing and/or romance novels (or other types of writing) that NEED content. Goddess Fish has a stable of 40 or 50 sites (maybe more) that are looking for content.

So they 'pitch' me and my book to their stable of affiliates. Hosts that decide I'd be of interest to their readership can 'commit' me to a specific date. They send me their topic questions (I complete the responses ahead of time) and then on the appointed date, they 'interview' me using their questions and the answers I've provided. Their visitors/participants make comments, etc, which I can then log into and comment on - like having a discussion via the Internet.

The official dates of the tour are November 9-20, but I'm finding out that the work required doesn't only happen within those dates! So far I have four 'tour stops' and have completed three written 'interview responses.' I'll share some of these as we go, so watch this blog for more details...

Performance Dates for Cameron

This is the band I recorded some back-ups for last year. I probably won't be able to make any of these (too far and schedule too tight), but here are a few gig dates for the locals who may be interested:

10/30/09 Boxcar Bar - Waseca, MN 9pm -12:30 am

11/14/09 Busters/Southpark – Owatonna, MN 8pm- 1am

11/27/09 Busters – Mankato, MN 9pm-1am

12/4/09 Lefty’s – Austin, MN 9pm-1am

Point of View Changes in Popular Author Novels

I'm about 80 pages into a novel by an extremely popular author (Nora Roberts). It's a suspenseful, enjoyable novel, but here's my beef with some of these popular authors (the other that comes to mind is Jodi Piccoult)...

It has been pounded into my head by my ex-English teacher mom and writing instructors (and other writers) that you should NOT have multiple points of view in a single chapter (and that, further, you should limit how many points of view you tell the story from, period).

In this book (and the Jodi Piccoult one I recently read), the point of view not only changes from chapter to chapter ('Last Chance' changes by chapter but only between TWO characters) ... it can shift from paragraph to paragraph! As a reader, I'm not ready for it - it interrupts the flow of the story when I have to backtrack a paragraph or two to make sure I understand whose 'head' I suddenly jumped into.

Is it just me, or have other writers (and readers) noticed this?? Is it just the immensely popular authors that can get away with this??

To Watch Book Trailers

I just found this fun site/blog where you can watch all kinds of book trailers. If you can't sit down to read at the moment (say you're at work...), this is the next best thing! (And it beats sifting through all the trash on YouTube!) Check it out at www.watchthebook.com

First Flying Lesson -- and One Hilarious Surprise

After three delays (weather – maintenance – weather), I finally got my first fixed-wing flying lesson in. Mostly I flew straight-and-level with a few shallow turns (my instructor did the take-off and landing).

Surprise #1: It was easy! Compared to flying a helicopter, it was a piece of cake. I hear landings are the hardest – but if I can learn to hover in a helicopter (now THAT was HARD) then I think I can handle this...

Surprise #2: No airsickness! I had it for the first half-dozen or more helicopter lessons but it went away as I got used to the motion. Maybe it was just a really calm day and I’ll be UN-happily surprised next time...

Surprise #3 (and this one you could NEVER guess!): in April of 2005 (yep, 4-1/2 years ago!) I took a demo flight. My logbook was signed by that instructor at the time. When we completed this lesson, my current instructor went to sign it and...it was HER signature in my logbook -- from over 4 years ago! She had married and had a different last name and I had never put it together.

How is that for cosmic karma (a topic I’ve blogged about in the past)??

Writing the Dang Novel...

There’s nothing like a deadline to get a writer moving. Sometimes I enter contests as much to give myself a kick in the pants as to actually ‘win’ anything! This past week was a case in point: I spent it transforming what I have of Novel #2 into a novella (a form I really like)...