Tonight at my youngest daughter’s middle school they were having a Science
Fair/Author Expo.  Starting with the science side, I must say I was
impressed.  There were no baking soda volcanos like when I was that
age.  They had a vast array of experiments.  There were: “Does Color
Seen Impact Memory”, “Does Barrel Length Effect Impacts of Guns”, “Do Pills or
Capsules Deliver Medicine More Efficiently”, “Which Teeth Whitener Works Best”,
“What Beverages Cause the Greatest Tooth Decay” and my favorite, “Which Energy
Drink Makes Plants Grow Best”  (the winner far and away was Red Bull, in
case you wondered.)  Presentations have come a long way since I colored on
Bristol board with pencil crayons.  Photos and graphs abounded while some
set up laptops running a film of their experiment in progress.  Science is
well and good but I wanted to see the booths about the authors.  Part of
the reason was that my daughter was there but I also wanted to see what
tomorrow’s leaders were reading.  You can imagine my delight when I saw
that close to ¾ of the writers chosen were in some form of Fantasy genre. 
My own daughter chose J.K. Rowling.   Others chose writers like J.R.R.
Tolkien, Suzanne Collins and Stephenie Meyer.  They were represented by
multiple students as well.  As part of the display, the student would dress
up as a character from the book.  My daughter was dressed as a Hogwarts
student but I was pleased to see a number of characters with fake swords and
some form of magic.  Fantasy is alive and well.  I have always
contended that Fantasy will always have a place in literature.  People want
to escape to another world where their troubles don’t exist.  Fantasy is a
great place to just that.  It was nice to see the different subsections of
the genre such as Urban, Paranormal and Epic all displayed with pride by their
student representatives.  These are tomorrow’s Young Adult and the future
Adult readers.  They are setting their foundation in the worlds of make
believe.  I have said many times that Fantasy is for the dreamers out
there. We can learn something from these students.  Imagination is the
first step to invention or “Thinking outside the box” as it were.  By
honing their minds now we will have the future inventors of the world.  All
their imaginative creations can be traced back to their readings in these
formative years.  It makes me proud to be a Fantasy writer.  Dream
big, students.  Dream big. 

If you read yesterday’s blog you’ll see that my garage door opener stopped
working and an electrician said the wiring was not the problem.  Today the
garage door repair person came.  I told him the opener would trip a breaker
if plugged in but he had to see for himself.  He didn’t test it on the plug
I had checked out.  He tried it on the plug in the garage where my freezer
is plugged in.  It tripped the GFI on that unit as well.  There was
just one small problem.  That unit did not have a reset button!  I
went downstairs and checked the breaker box but nothing was tripped.  I
returned to the garage and searched in vain for a reset.  In texting my
wife, she insisted that there was one.  I am actually hoping to be wrong on
this one and have her come home and just point it out.   It is better
to look like a fool than to pay for a new outlet.  Meanwhile the garage
door repairman was having trouble figuring out the problem with the
opener.  He said to me, “The problem seems to be when you plug it in, the
power shuts off.”  Really?  After an hour that’s what you’ve come up
with so far?  I knew that when I was dangling from the ladder
yesterday!  I told you that before you popped the outlet on my
freezer!  So he went to his truck and called his office.  Their
solution was to change out all the electrical components of the opener. 
Dollar signs flashed in my head.  Then I thought about it.  What
choice was there?  I needed it fixed and I certainly had no solution to the
problem.  I’m just thanking God that it is bitterly cold out and the
freezer won’t thaw during the day.  So I told him to fix it.  After a
while he came in and said everything was changed out and working fine.  He
showed me how to resent my remotes and open the door manually in the future. (It
worked the opposite way of my garage door at my old house.  That was the
reason it would not work when I was pulling the cord.  It’s a good thing I
waited too because the cord was attached to a little piece of plastic which I
would surely have broken by pulling too hard.)  Then it came time for the
bill.  I had purposely called this company because they installed the unit
when the house was built.  The service man asked, “How long have you lived
here?”  I answered, “2 ½ years.”  He looked at his sheet and said,
“The parts have a 3 year warranty so all the electrical was free.  It will
just cost $65 for the labor.”  My first good news.  The crescendo of
the “1812 Overture” was playing in my head as victory was finally mine.  I
wrote the check with the bells of triumph still ringing in my ears.  He
would have to leave before something happened like his dispatcher saying they
were wrong about the warranty.  I handed him the check and he left. 
Now if only I could reset the blasted freezer.

So today my garage door opener decided to stop working.  I reset the
breakers in my basement and nothing changed.  Next I inspected the garage
door opener and saw that it was not receiving power.  Following the cord
back to the GFI plug I saw that it had tripped.  The plug is in the ceiling
of my garage and it is about 12 feet high.  I used various poking devices
to try to reset the GFI but it was no use.  That led to the part I feared
and dreaded.  I would have to go on a ladder to get at it.  Ladders
themselves do not scare me.  I happen to have a problem with vertigo and my
balance is not good at all.  So the little orange light stayed on, as if it
was laughing at me way down on the ground.  Finally I mustered up my
courage and brought out the ladder.   The next problem was that the
car was parked under the plug.  I tried to manually release the garage door
in order to open it.  It would not budge.  The best I could do was
place the ladder next to the car and reach over.  To complicate matters,
the closest point to place the ladder was directly beneath the garage door
opener.  I climbed the ladder and bent my body between the car and the
opener.  It quickly became apparent that I would need to go to the top of
the ladder to reach the plug.  That was right next to the opener and
impossible to stand on.  The plug was also several feet over above the
car.  So I had to put one foot on the ladder and one knee on the top of the
car to get under the plug.  The ladder began to slide as I shifted my
weight toward the car.  At last I was in position.  Then my vertigo
started making everything move around.  I wasted no time.  I reached
up and reset the GFI.  At least I tried to.  I pressed the button and
nothing happened.  Again and again I pressed it to no avail.  Then I
unplugged the garage door opener and tried it.  The GFI reset
perfectly.  Then I plugged the opener back in and it tripped again.  I
inspected the wires as best I could and they looked fine.  So I tried it
one more time and the GFI still tripped.  Then I lost my balance and hung
onto the car for dear life.  I don’t know if the ladder wobbled or I did
but there was movement.  I contorted my body and managed to slide down the
ladder, collapsing on the ground with the world spinning around me.  When I
made it to my feet I called the electrician who did our wiring on our 2 ½ year
old house.  He said he would be over.  After arriving he told me that
my wiring was fine and that I needed to contact the company who installed the
opener.  After calling my builder I was given the number of the
contractor.  Upon calling him I found he only supplied the parts and I
needed to call the service department.  By the time I was able to contact
them they said it was too late in the day to come out.  So after all that I
have an appointment for tomorrow morning.  And the story continues…

I had some relatives over tonight somewhat unexpectedly.  It was great to
see them but the first thought that came to my mind was that it was close to
dinner time and I had nothing defrosted to feed the number of people I had
over.  My solution was not so different than the one many of you would
reach.  Pizza.  Ah, what a glorious invention pizza is.  You have
an entire meal in the palm of your hand.  You have your bread, vegetable,
meat and dairy in a neatly sliced circle of heaven.  Unless you are cooking
it is usually the cheapest way to feed a good number of people.  A five
minute car ride to our local pizza place and dinner was ready.  As I ate I
couldn’t help but wonder what people did before there was pizza?  A quick
look on line showed that the term has been around since the year 997 A.D. in
Italy.  The item itself has various origins but seems to be credited to the
Italians for the most part.  So let’s just say for convenience that pizza
came about at that time.  Since then it has grown into a staple, a comfort
food and a delicacy.  Italian immigrants brought the sensation to the new
world and it exploded into our culture.  Few foods have had the impact of
pizza.  Still, there’s a lot off history before 997 A.D.  What did
people feed to houseguests before that?  It looks like the Italians come to
the rescue again with pasta dishes like spaghetti, ravioli and lasagna. 
While many Italian dishes take considerable time to prepare, a humble pasta and
sauce is an inexpensive relatively easy meal to make on short notice.  It
simply involves boiling some water and tomato sauce.  Italian food has
become a mainstay in American culture.  Different ethnic foods have
niches.  There is Chinese (Americanized) Food, Mexican (Americanized),
Indian, Tia, Vietnamese, French, German and the list goes on.  They all
represent different tastes many people sample from time to time.  With the
exception of Mexican food, none of them are staples of weekly life in America
the way Italian food is.  Perhaps it’s the tomato sauce?  Perhaps it’s
the cheese?  Maybe we just like dough in some form and people wanted more
than plain bread.  Whatever the reason, people love Italian food. 
They especially appreciate it when they have many mouths to feed.  So sit
back and have a slice of pizza, a piece of lasagna or a bowl of pasta with some
friends or family.  Italian has become a big part of the new American
Cuisine.

The Page Walker blog has done me the honor of performing and posting an
interview with me.  There are some questions here that I do not usually get
asked.  http://t.co/EEPwcRLSez 
Take a few moments to read it and I think you’ll find it most interesting. 

The good folks at “Mama Knows Books” blog were kind enough to do a piece on
me.  There is a blurb about the book but also the story of bringing “Quest
for the Red Sapphire” to press.  There is a never before posted excerpt
from the book as well.  You can read it at this link:  http://mamaknowsbooks.blogspot.com/2014/02/guest-post-quest-for-red-sapphire-by.html
Sandy
Sanford did a marvelous job and I hope you enjoy the piece

An interview with Melissa Miller, CEO of Solstice Publishing, www.solsticepublishing.com

Are you a
founding member of SP?

Melissa - Yes. I started Solstice Publishing on my
own in 2008 under another name and in 2010 I changed it to Solstice
Publishing.

Could you please tell us how SP began?

Melissa -
Solstice began because of my love of books. I started out as an author and then
became a publisher the following year.

Do you work with agents?


Melissa - Yes we work with or without an agent.

During the
publishing process, how many people at SP actually read an entire book besides
the assigned editor?

Melissa - The EIC who decides to accept the book,
then the editor, and the proofreader also read the entire book. So three
people.

Is there any disadvantage being characterized as a “Midwestern
Publisher?”

Melissa - I don’t believe so. We are an E Publisher.
Everything we do is online so I don’t feel that your address in any way helps or
hurts you in today’s epublishing industry.


Do you have a virtual
staff with everyone in different locations communicating via
email?

Melissa - Yes. We use Go To Meeting for face to face video
meetings, Basecamp for project management, Facebook for chats and messages as
well as emails and text messages for everything else. With all of the technology
available to us today it’s not hard to have staff in different locations of the
world.


An interview with  Kate Collins COO of Solstice Publishing, www.solsticepublishing.com

Are you a
founding member of SP?

Kate – No, but I’m thrilled to be part of it now.
There’s something very exciting about working with people who have a clear
vision of the future and an idea of how to get there. Melissa knows where she
wants Solstice to go, and it’s a privilege to be able to help her get it to that
level.

I see you are an author as well as the COO of Solstice. How and
when did you make the transition from writing to publishing?

Kate – I was
an author first, and then Melissa gave me the opportunity to work with her at
Solstice. I think it’s given me a unique perspective on what happens on the
business side that many authors don’t get.

Do you work with
agents?

Kate – Yes, we have a few agents whose clients have signed with
us. We have far more unagented authors, but that doesn’t matter to us. Having,
or not having, an agent is a personal choice for each author.

How many
people are working for SP today?

Kate – We’ve got about twenty or more
people, counting all our editors and proofreaders. There’s a whole amazing crew
that works on the books that the authors rarely interact with.

You’ve
done some recent reorganization at SP. Can you describe the company’s current
structure?

Kate – We’ve got an amazing staff now. Our Editors in Chief do
a wonderful job in reading submissions, answering author questions, and the
like. It makes it easier for me, as COO, to help Melissa grow the company. We
can spend more time finding opportunities to promote the titles on a daily basis
now.

How would you characterize SP publishing today?

Kate –
Growing, expanding, and thriving! Melissa’s done a great job in the recent
changes, making it easier for all of us to get things done and help out the
authors even more. We’re all big on communication, and the new chain of command
really keeps the flow moving towards getting the titles released.

How do
you attract new authors?

Kate – The normal venues of social media, and
referrals by our authors. They’re our greatest asset, and best referral
network.

On average how many submissions do you receive each
month?

Kate – That varies so much! We really can’t put a number on it.
One month can see three, the next have 20.

How does your staff choose
which to publish?

Kate – That depends on the EiC that reads it and what
they feel makes a good book. We’ve got a general guideline to go by, but it’s up
to the individual Editor in Chief to make the call.

Is there any
disadvantage being characterized as a “Midwestern Publisher?”

Kate – I
didn’t even know there was such a thing! LOL. We’re a publisher. Period. Sure,
we’re not one of the big 5 out of New York City, but we’re growing. Given the
nature of communication now, it’s just as easy to email someone or ask them a
question on FaceBook over sit down at lunch in Central Park and make a deal over
a couple of drinks.

Do you have a virtual staff with everyone in
different locations communicating via email?

Kate – Yes. In some ways,
it’s an advantage. Our staff is able to work at different times, making it so
someone’s available to talk with authors outside of what many would think of as
normal business hours.

How many authors have you contracted
with?

Kate – Probably around 200 currently, but the number fluctuates
from month to month as new authors are accepted.

How many books do you
publish each year?

Kate – That varies so much! It’s impossible to give an
accurate number.

How many active books do you currently
have?

Kate – Best estimate is around 400 titles out right now. We release
new books almost every month, though, so it’s pretty fluid!

Are your
contracts for authors or for individual books?

Kate – We contract each
title separately, instead of by author.
I noticed that you have a rather long
list of books optioned for film. How do you work that, and what are the
steps?

Kate – We’ve been approached by production companies who had
interest in some of our titles. Due to confidentiality agreements, we can’t say
more.


Book links:
Amazon – Kindle/Daughter of Hauk: http://www.amazon.com/Daughter-Raven-...

Amazon
– Kindle/Son of Corse: http://www.amazon.com/Corse-Raven-Chr...

Amazon
– Kindle/Mark of the Successor: http://www.amazon.com/Mark-Successor-...

Amazon
– Kindle/Kick the Can: http://www.amazon.com/Kick-Can-KateMa...

Amazon
– Kindle/The Strength Within: http://www.amazon.com/Strength-Within...

Amazon
– Kindle/Looking At The Light: http://www.amazon.com/Looking-The-Lig...

Amazon
– Kindle/A Stab at the Dark: http://www.amazon.com/A-Stab-At-The-D...

Amazon
– Paperback/Daughter of Hauk: http://www.amazon.com/Daughter-Of-Hau...

Amazon
– Paperback/Mark of the Successor:

http://www.amazon.com/Mark-Successor-...

Amazon
– Paperback/Son of Corse: http://www.amazon.com/Son-Corse-Raven...

Audio
Book:
http://www.amazon.com/Daughter-Hauk-R...

Twitter:
@DaughterHauk

FB: http://www.facebook.com/pages/KateMar...

Blog:
http://www.katemariecollins.wordpress...

It seems that every retail store is trying to cash in on either internet sales
or phone sales.  More and more, my inbox fills with “on line only” and
“mail order” offers.  As a person who does not get many opportunities to
shop in stores, I have been taking greater advantage of them.  Just
recently, however, I actually went to Kmart to buy some shoes.  I really
love these particular shoes and they are the only ones who carry them. 
When I heard they were on sale, I made a trip to the store.  As luck would
have it, they were out of my size.  I eventually found a store associate
and was told that I could place an order in the store and they would be
delivered to my house for free.  That sounded fair enough.  So I
placed the order in the store after buying my daughter some shoes.  On her
order I was given a coupon for $5.00 off my next shoe purchase.  So I tried
to use the coupon on my shoes.  They said I could not use it because the
order was being placed for shipment to my home.  I was disappointed but
figured it was not a big deal.  When I returned home I noticed the wrong
size had been ordered.  I tried to call the store but they had closed for
the evening.  So I called the phone sales department.  They said they
could not cancel the first pair of shoes but I could order another pair and when
they both arrived I could return the wrong size in the store.  I wasn’t
happy about putting out twice the money but at least I could now use my
coupon.  When I brought it up I was told it was an “In Store” coupon and
that I could not use it for shipment to the home.  This was one of those
points you have in life where you either blow your top or laugh.  I chose
the latter.  When I was asked what was so funny, I responded that the store
said I could only use it for shipments to the home and now they were saying I
could only use it in the store.  They had to see the irony there.  In
my most polite voice I asked that they check with their supervisor and see if
they could make an exception.  In the end I was allowed to use the
coupon.  I soon had two emails saying my orders had shipped.  This
should be the end of the story but it is not, sadly.  Yesterday I received
an email saying one of the orders had been canceled and I would not be
charged.  (Even though I had already been charged.)  It turns out when
they ordered the correct sized shoes, they put in some address in Iowa that
didn’t exist instead of Nebraska.  The wrong shoes arrived and the right
ones were cancelled but not refunded.  So I called again and was told I
would have to order again but that they were no longer on sale.  I didn’t
laugh this time.  In a bothered but calm tone I told them it wasn’t my
fault they couldn’t transfer the shipping address from one order to the other
and I wanted the price they were when I bought them…and my coupon! 
Skipping to the end, they finally have ordered the shoes that I have paid 3
times for and have nothing to wear.  If only they had stocked my size in
the store, none of this would have happened.

My mother was a double major, Music and English.  As a result we grew up as
kids watching every musical in the book.  We would watch Camelot, Seven
Brides for Seven Brothers, West Side Story, Godspell, The Sound of Music, The
Blues Brothers the Beatles movies and pretty much any movie with Bing
Crosby.  If there was a soundtrack for it, chances are we watched it and
even owned it.  I was watching the movie “Grease” today.  That was
always tuned in if it was on.  Its funny how many subtle and often
inappropriate jokes were made in that movie that I never picked up on in my
youth.  I was watching it with my twelve year old daughter and was
wondering how many of the comments were going over her head and how many she
actually understood.  It’s not the kind of question you ask because it
forces you to explain all the hidden meanings and that would be one long
conversation for no reason.  Still I watched her and wondered.  I
think children have been exposed to much more adult subjects at an earlier age
than I was.  Perhaps I lived a sheltered life but I think a good number of
parents would agree with me that children are aware at an earlier age to things
like sex and drugs than we were.  By the same token, my father told me that
we were exposed to much more age inappropriate subjects than he and his
generation had been.  The point was driven home for me a few years back
when I was driving with my son and I was listening to the Beach Boys.  He
told me that, “Their music isn’t much different from 50 Cent.  They just
don’t swear.”  I am no expert on 50 Cent.  I do know that there is a
world of difference to me between his styling’s and those of the Beach
Boys.  From my son’s point of view, though, he saw them as the same. 
It is not so dissimilar to my father lambasting my music as “junk” when compared
to Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis, Tony Bennett and a slew of others.  It seems
to be the nature of things that each generation takes music and pushes the
envelope a little farther than it had previously been pushed.  Think about
it.  In the 1980s you couldn’t have had a song like “I Kissed a Girl” by
Katy Perry.  It never would have flown.  In the 1970s you couldn’t
have had Madonna being…Madonna.  In the early 1960s you couldn’t have had
AC/DC singing, “You Shook Me…”  The list goes on.  It kind of makes me
wonder what my daughter will be watching with her children one day and hope to
not have to explain.

There is a school of thought when it comes to book reviews that only five star
reviews are desirable.  In a perfect world everyone would love your
work.  I, however, am not a member of a perfect world.  That’s okay
with me.  Not everyone is going to love your work all the time.  It is
the nature of entertainment.  Take a famous singer for example.  That
person may have 5 number 1 hits on their album, but there are songs on it that
did not go number 1.  In fact, many of the other songs probably didn’t even
get played on the radio.  That artist worked hard on those songs. 
Maybe they were some of their favorites on the album.  There might be a bit
of a sting when you put your heart into something like that and people don’t
appreciate it.  That doesn’t take away from the fact that the singer was
quite proud of those songs.  Steven Tyler from Aerosmith was once
interviewed for a documentary and footage was shown of the band’s record
producer putting down some of the songs for the new album.  He was
indignant.  In the interview he explained that each song is like your baby
that you have created and someone is criticizing that offspring.  It
hurts.  I can understand that.  Anything that attacks your baby is
upsetting.  People may love a song he never thought much of and detest the
one he was most passionate about.  None of that matters to the
creator.  If it’s your baby and you love it…that’s all that matters. 
I have been fortunate to have mostly positive reviews.  The negatives that
were pointed out were either simply a difference in taste or perhaps something I
might want to look into for the next book.  Criticism can be very helpful
when taken in a constructive way.  It makes you better at your craft. 
I would never have even been able to compose a book if my father was not so hard
on me about my writing.  My writing would have been abysmal if my teachers
in school had not demanded more from me.  When I have a review with parts
which are unflattering, I take it with a grain of salt and look at it from a
larger perspective.  Is this just not the person’s cup of tea or do they
have valid points.  Whichever it may happen to be, I am grateful someone
took the time to review my work in the first place and then take the time to
write a piece on it.  The most amazing part of reviews to me is that people
see parts of the book which I never gave much thought and find it the reason to
love the work.  Then areas I painstakingly researched and plotted out were
“skimmed”.  Everyone sees different things in art.  You could be
looking at a book or a painting or listening to a song.  As long as it
speaks to you in some way, then my efforts have touched your life.  I can
think of no greater gift an artist can bestow.  As for the reviews with
criticism, each of those reviewers has expressed a desire to read the next book,
“Sapphire Crucible”, which is currently being edited.  They couldn’t have
disliked the first book that much.