Today, I have Rachael D, a freelance reviewer as my special guest. I'm honored that she was willing to answer my questions so frankly and completely. Thank you, Rachael.
1)Tell me about your blog and review process.I review for a couple sites online. Each site has different rules and lengths to their reviews. For one site I write only 350 words but for another I can write up to 500 words. I like to write more then less since sometimes it's hard for me to summarize in only a small amount of words.
2)How do you decide what books to read and review? Do you have a rating system? Two of the sites that I review for sends me lists of books that they received from publishers for review. I pick what books I would like from their list. The third site I review for sends me books each month based on what genres I've said I like. Alot of times I get books that I wouldn't normally read but I've discovered alot of great authors through reviewing for them. It's always fun to see what books they picked for me each month. I don't like to rate books but I need to for two of the sites. They have words describing each rating so you can decide what to rate it.
3)When you post a review, do you notify the author? Usually the website I review for is the one to notify the author. I have emailed an author or two my review before after thoroughly enjoying their book.
4)How would you advise a new author to get the attention of reviewers? All you need to do is submit your books to a review site that will review your genre of books. Then the reviewers will most likely get an email showing your book and if they're interested they will review it. Also you can run contests on your site for people to review your book. I've reviewed books that I've won through contests like this before. Usually it's run by a different author then the one who has written the book though. You can ask fellow authors to give away a book of yours for review on their site.
5)What really makes it for you as a reader? What do you look for in a book? What would be a deal breaker?I enjoy books told in the first person point of view. I read a large variety of genres but I don't really like science fiction, historicals, westerns, or erotica. I don't mind a strong sexual chemistry and some sex in my book as long as there is a storyline going on. Sex with no characterization or storyline is a definete turn off for me. I look for a book that makes me laugh, scares me, makes me think, makes me interested, and makes it so I don't want to put it down. I don't like alot of descriptiveness about scenery and books that are too wordy are a turn off. I like short chapters with alot of excitement that makes the book move along at a fast pace.
6)Where do you think the e-publishing market will be in five years?I don't think I'm the right person to ask about e-books. I'm not really a fan of them since I would rather hold the book in my hands rather than read it online.
7)Tell me anything else you would like to let my readers know. Read what you like and never be ashamed of what you read. If you enjoy erotica, romance, thrillers, mysteries, or biographies, it doesn't matter. The most important thing is that you are reading and using your mind.
Rachael D.
Thank you so much Rachael for your insights. It was a pleasure having you on my blog today.
And now, the acorn report! What would you do in the name of research? How far would you go? My foray into acorns began innocently enough. I was walking my dog, noticed the acorns on the ground, scooped up a handful and carried them back to my apartment. So began my saga.
After searching the internet for recipes, I discovered a site that not only had recipes, it also had the complete directions for processing them so they would be edible. Processing took several days. Roasting, shelling, boiling, drying, and finally grinding the result into a fine powder roughly the consistency of cornmeal was quite a labor intensive project.
It takes a lot of acorns to produce 1 and 1/2 cups of acorn flour. Without the wonderful assistance of one of my husband's co-workers, Joe Mainolfi, I'm not sure we would have succeeded. Thank you, Joe! Joe brought in two boxes of acorns he gathered up for us. It was a tremendous help.
Finally, over the weekend, I had enough acorn flour to try a recipe. My choice was a moist acorn muffin with apples, raisens and nuts. Actually, they were delicious. Small, as there was a minimal rising agent in them, but excellent taste. I can safely say that I now know more about acorns and processing them for food than anyone should have to know. But I truly enjoyed the experience. If I'm ever stuck in the wild in the fall near an acorn tree, at least I'll know what to do!
Anny
Don't forget to stop by Araminda's blog at http://www.aramindajones.blogspot.com/ to see what she's up to today. And then scoot over to Kelly's blog at http://www.kkirch.blogspot.com/ to check out what she's up to on the Saga. Something brilliant and twisted, no doubt.
Showing posts with label acorns. Show all posts
Showing posts with label acorns. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Monday, September 17, 2007
Winning and Losing
Acorn preparation part two--shelling the acorn. Well, it's been interesting. I'm no where near done. I will tell you that shelling the small acorns is... let's just say that shelling the bigger ones is much easier. I still have quite a bit to do so I'll update you on that tomorrow.
Have you ever played a game of solitaire and known from the very first card that you were going to lose? Sometimes life is like that. From the very first move you know that some action is not going to work out. Other times you can begin the game and know immediately that you will win.
And then sometimes the placement of one card can decide the game. Maybe that's the day that you decide to drive down a street you don't normally drive down--and someone broadsides your car. Maybe that's the day you walk into a store and you're the 1000th customer. Maybe that's the night that you switch shifts with someone else at your fast food job and the store is robbed.
I've had some winning hands in my lifetime--a few. Mostly, my life is in that last category. The one that is so iffy. Decide to go to the store and walk into a robbery in progress. Or decide to go for a walk and meet a new friend along the way.
I choose to take each turn as it comes. Some good. Some bad.
But there are people--we all know them--who take every single turn in life as a personal attack. That's a stressful way to live and leads to a shortened life. One of my son's teachers (a very long time ago when he was in elementary school) was frustrated and angry. "Sometimes I think he stays awake at night thinking up things to do!" she declared. It's possible, but not likely. People in general don't have the time to devote to "getting" their fellow man.
Winning or losing is mostly about our own choices and how they intersect with someone else's choices. At the intersection we frequently must make another choice on the spur of the moment. We must think on our feet. React instantly. How we perform can be a matter of life or death.
So far, I've made the right choices. I'm still here. That doesn't mean I'll be right tomorrow. It just means that I'll have a tomorrow. Another day to make some more choices. Hopefully, winning choices.
Anny
Have you checked out Amarinda's turn at the blogga saga? No? Wait until you see what she did this time. http://www.amarindajones.blogspot.com/
And over at Kelly's place, she's interviewing the last of her heroes, Nicolas. Hop over there and find out what Nicolas is up to at http://www.kkirch.blogspot.com/
Have you ever played a game of solitaire and known from the very first card that you were going to lose? Sometimes life is like that. From the very first move you know that some action is not going to work out. Other times you can begin the game and know immediately that you will win.
And then sometimes the placement of one card can decide the game. Maybe that's the day that you decide to drive down a street you don't normally drive down--and someone broadsides your car. Maybe that's the day you walk into a store and you're the 1000th customer. Maybe that's the night that you switch shifts with someone else at your fast food job and the store is robbed.
I've had some winning hands in my lifetime--a few. Mostly, my life is in that last category. The one that is so iffy. Decide to go to the store and walk into a robbery in progress. Or decide to go for a walk and meet a new friend along the way.
I choose to take each turn as it comes. Some good. Some bad.
But there are people--we all know them--who take every single turn in life as a personal attack. That's a stressful way to live and leads to a shortened life. One of my son's teachers (a very long time ago when he was in elementary school) was frustrated and angry. "Sometimes I think he stays awake at night thinking up things to do!" she declared. It's possible, but not likely. People in general don't have the time to devote to "getting" their fellow man.
Winning or losing is mostly about our own choices and how they intersect with someone else's choices. At the intersection we frequently must make another choice on the spur of the moment. We must think on our feet. React instantly. How we perform can be a matter of life or death.
So far, I've made the right choices. I'm still here. That doesn't mean I'll be right tomorrow. It just means that I'll have a tomorrow. Another day to make some more choices. Hopefully, winning choices.
Anny
Have you checked out Amarinda's turn at the blogga saga? No? Wait until you see what she did this time. http://www.amarindajones.blogspot.com/
And over at Kelly's place, she's interviewing the last of her heroes, Nicolas. Hop over there and find out what Nicolas is up to at http://www.kkirch.blogspot.com/
Saturday, September 15, 2007
The lowly acorn
If you missed yesterday's blog, this is just a reminder that I'm featured in the premier issue of eMuse at http://www.emuse-zine.com/ with two lovely reviews for Dancer's Delight and Traveller's Refuge plus a wonderful interview. Please have a look.
I have mentioned in my blogs more than once about the importance of research when you write. My time-travel book certainly will have some pretty odd research paths. Currently, I'm working on the nutritional properties of acorns. After searching the net for a while, I found directions on processing the acorn to a usable form.
So! First of all, I needed acorns! Fortunately, it's the time of year that acorns are lying around on the ground, free for the taking. Oh, my aching back and knees. Who knew what a pain in the back it is to harvest acorns? And for what? Perhaps we ended up with half a gallon of acorns.
Next we roasted them. Now, I cheated here as I really don't have any possibility of using anything other than my oven. But in my story, I believe that my hero had a cast iron dutch oven in his camping gear, so that should work to roast the acorns. Put acorns in pot, no more than two deep and set in coals to roast.
Tomorrow, when they've cooled, we get to peel them. That should be fun. I'll keep you up to date on my hands on research with the acorns. I can hear you asking now, "Why is she doing this?"
I believe that knowledge is a good thing to have. And I also believe that first hand experience is better than book knowledge whenever it's possible. Of course, sometimes that is not possible because it's immoral or unethical or even illegal. Processing acorns for food is not in any of those categories.
Already, I learned something that I didn't know. Acorns come in two different sizes and shapes, depending on the species of oak tree. We happen to have both kinds of oak tree within yards of each other so we collected some of each kind. The larger acorn is twice as big as the smaller acorn. I can already see that if I depended on acorns for food, I would hope I lived close to a tree with the bigger acorns! Food yield from the bigger ones is much higher.
I expect you're wondering who the "we" is in this little tale. Well my husband of course. I think he's more fascinated by the process than I am. We'll see how interested he is when it comes time to cook with them!
There's an old expression--"From little acorns, big oak trees grow." I never realized the exact truth of that until I stood beneath the oak tree that towered six stories above me. So it is with our words. One hurtful word can grow into a painful rage. One loving word can save the world.
Anny
Amarinda - www.amarindajones.blogspot.com
Kelly - www.kkirch.blogspot.com
I have mentioned in my blogs more than once about the importance of research when you write. My time-travel book certainly will have some pretty odd research paths. Currently, I'm working on the nutritional properties of acorns. After searching the net for a while, I found directions on processing the acorn to a usable form.
So! First of all, I needed acorns! Fortunately, it's the time of year that acorns are lying around on the ground, free for the taking. Oh, my aching back and knees. Who knew what a pain in the back it is to harvest acorns? And for what? Perhaps we ended up with half a gallon of acorns.
Next we roasted them. Now, I cheated here as I really don't have any possibility of using anything other than my oven. But in my story, I believe that my hero had a cast iron dutch oven in his camping gear, so that should work to roast the acorns. Put acorns in pot, no more than two deep and set in coals to roast.
Tomorrow, when they've cooled, we get to peel them. That should be fun. I'll keep you up to date on my hands on research with the acorns. I can hear you asking now, "Why is she doing this?"
I believe that knowledge is a good thing to have. And I also believe that first hand experience is better than book knowledge whenever it's possible. Of course, sometimes that is not possible because it's immoral or unethical or even illegal. Processing acorns for food is not in any of those categories.
Already, I learned something that I didn't know. Acorns come in two different sizes and shapes, depending on the species of oak tree. We happen to have both kinds of oak tree within yards of each other so we collected some of each kind. The larger acorn is twice as big as the smaller acorn. I can already see that if I depended on acorns for food, I would hope I lived close to a tree with the bigger acorns! Food yield from the bigger ones is much higher.
I expect you're wondering who the "we" is in this little tale. Well my husband of course. I think he's more fascinated by the process than I am. We'll see how interested he is when it comes time to cook with them!
There's an old expression--"From little acorns, big oak trees grow." I never realized the exact truth of that until I stood beneath the oak tree that towered six stories above me. So it is with our words. One hurtful word can grow into a painful rage. One loving word can save the world.
Anny
Amarinda - www.amarindajones.blogspot.com
Kelly - www.kkirch.blogspot.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)