Open Mic Wednesday 6/22/11
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
It’s Open Mic Wednesday. What’s on your mind?
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Books by Kaye Dacus
Novel in Progress
Follow the Heart*
Book 1 of The Great Exhibition Series
Due May 1, 2012
first draft completion goal date: 01/31/12
*working title
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Middle Tennessee Christian Writers
Would you pay to attend an author event at a bookstore?
Someone I follow posted a link to this article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/22/business/media/22events.html
last night. Thoughts?
I very likely wouldn’t go to a book signing that charges admission. I wouldn’t be opposed to saying you need to buy a book to get into the event but even then I’d be less likely to go. It’s not that I’d rather buy online…I like a book in my hands when I buy it…it’s that I might not know the author that well or their work. Hearing them might draw me to their stuff (like the time I saw JT Ellison.)
Not sure I like the idea of paying to come although I guess if they are having a signing they want people to buy from there shop. This way the cost of the ticket would probably make the book the same cost as if you bought it on sale and added the ticket cost. I appreciate the buy the books at the shop to get it signed. That I would go along with. I know I have been to author signings where I already had the book (cricket books) but I have also bought the book at the store.
No – I’m not opposed to purchasing a book, but paying admission? Not gonna happen.
Depends on what kind of event it is. If it’s a workshop or forum, maybe. Just a booksigning? I’d have to REEEEEEALLY want to see that author!
I agree that if it was just a booksigning that I wouldn’t want to pay admission for it. I wouldn’t be too enthusiastic about having to pay to stand in a long line to have my copy signed by an author. However, if in addition to the signing, there was a photo opportunity with the author and there was a forum where you could ask the author questions about his or her work or the author was giving a formal or informal talk on a topic, I would definitely consider paying a $5 or even a $10 fee for admission. Of course this would be for an author I am a fan of and not for authors I have never read or I am only curious about.
I took my sons to the Stones River National Battlefield today. The Rangers just fell in love with Dale from the moment he arrived…much more so than I’m used to seeing at a national park. After about 45 minutes, one of the Rangers pulls me aside to say how refreshing it was to have a kid like Dale at the park “who really wants to learn about history. We don’t get many kids that really want to learn about this.”
Now, Dale gets it honestly…my grandfather, my dad and I are all Civil War buffs. But for a team of Rangers to be so happy to have one child genuinely interested in history kind of bothered me. Kids miss out on so much when they don’t dig into what made our country be where we are today.
When my sister and I were young, our family vacations were to places like Washington DC—including the Smithsonian, the White House, the Capitol, the Archives, the zoo (that’s educational!), the National Cathedral, etc., as well as surrounding sites like Arlington House/Cemetery, Mount Vernon, and Monticello. I can only remember my parents taking us to amusement parks twice—once to Disneyland when my dad had to go out to California for work, and once to Magic Springs, a small park in Hot Springs. But on that same trip when we went to Magic Springs, we also went to the Mid-America Science Museum—the hands-on children’s museum in HS. And I remembered more about the museum than the amusement park.
Of course, you hit a soft spot with me talking about visiting a Civil War site, since that was my minor the first time in college. And when I lived in DC, I took every opportunity to visit the major sites as often as I could (it helped we lived less than 10 minutes north of the Manassas battlefield)—Gettysburg, Manassas, Harper’s Ferry, Antietam . . . and the Civil War sites around Nashville are some of the first places I visited when I moved here way back in ’96. I need to go back to some of them!
Thats so cool I would love to go to some of the battlefields. I want to go to Gettyburg and Shiloh and several more. I am fascinated with the civil war. (its on my bucket list to visit some of these areas. I have a friend in Georgia who lives near one of the battlefields.
I know how you feel, Jason. My daughters both despair of their classmates. In history classes, the dates and facts that they take as part of their lives, the other kids seem to think is totally new information. We do the historical stuff, too, and they love it. One of the best trips we’ve taken was a few years ago when we did D.C., Williamsburg, Yorktown, Jamestown, Mount Vernon, and Monticello! Next time, it’s Civil War stuff! It doesn’t hurt that I’m a librarian and their father is a Social Studies teacher!
That happened to my family once at a very obscure battle park in north Alabama. From the Creek and Indian War, one of the battles where Andrew Jackson was in command. The ranger kept quizzing us on the history of the time and was beyond shocked when all 4 of us gave him the right answers.
The problem with history in this country is that it’s far too often taught as a collection of dates and facts. The people are totally left out of it. I worked at a local plantation for 4 years, as a tour guide, and we worked really hard to bring history to life for the kids who came through. It didn’t always work, but when it did it was awesome.
Summer TV
I know lots of you have shows you love that come on this time of year. What are they?
The only “summer” show I’m watching this year is the final season of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. I’ve watched every episode of this ten-year-old series—well, every episode in which Vincent d’Onofrio appeared—since it first started. I think what I like best about this one, which is where the other two series lost me, is that they dropped the “law” part of the show after the first year or two, at least as far as courtroom scenes went. The show writers realized that those of us who were avid viewers were watching for V d’O and his unorthodox investigative skills.
After trying to split time between V d’O and Chris Noth (ugh!) for a couple of years, and then outright replacing both of them with Jeff Godlblum (sorry, love JG in other stuff, but even his presence wasn’t enough to make me want to watch last year), they brought back our beloved Goran and Eames for this final season. And both V d’O and Kathryn Erbe are at their absolute best this time around. It is time for this show to go, but I’m so happy that they managed to do it like this, giving loyal viewers what we love—Bobby Goran at his deductive, brilliant, and crazy best.
Amy & I really like the new series on TNT called “Franklin and Bash.” It’s not high quality dramedy for sure but it’s entertaining and Amy thinks the character of Jared Franklin is based on me.
Now we get the shows sooner from the states we have finished some shows and others are ending at present. We get repeats of repeats of NCIS, all the CSI shows and Law and order shows. Its so frustrating when there are so many good shows we could get that they repeat these shows so much. We still have a few episodes of Hawaii 50 to go which is good.
I think I watch more summer TV than I do regular stuff the way my schedule is going – In Plain Sight, Burn Notice, White Collar, Covert Affairs. Leverage, Suits, and Necessary Roughness start in the next two weeks, and following that Eureka and Warehouse 13 return along with the premiere of Alphas.
I’ll check out Suits (of course if I like it then I’ll have to wait 30 days to see more than the first two eps. Have a I mentioned how lame this is????). Eureka and Warehouse 13 will be a lot easier to follow. I’ll spend the next month trying to avoid spoilers for WC and CA. Actually, I guess I’ll spend the rest of the season doing that since every ep I get to see will be a month old now.
I’m curious about Suits and Necessary Roughness…it’d be nice if I liked 1 of them, at least, better than Fairly Legal. I’ve decided to give up on that show, since I never cared about watching the finale.
I’m watching Memphis Beat. One of the actors, DJ Qualls, is a former student of mine. It’s kind of fun to think I had him in class years ago.
I forgot about Memphis Beat! I’m a new fan of that show and really enjoying it – you have a very cool connection to the cast!
I have my calendar marked for July 11th and eagerly awaiting the new THE CLOSER. I understand this will be the last season. I’ve enjoyed the reruns of previous shows and don’t tire of watching them again and again. Such a glutton of this show right now.
Have you been keeping up with the Casey Anthony trial on IN SESSIONS, channel 53? Seems everybody is watching this.
USA’s White Collar and Covert Affairs. HOWEVER… after two episodes, they will now be on a 30 day release schedule for us viewers who watch them on Hulu or anywhere else on the net (which means I can’t see last night’s eps for 30 days), so I’m going to try to forget about them and avoid spoilers for the next month. Boo!
But TNT’s Leverage begins its 4th season this Sunday, and I’m hoping with all my little Parker/Hardison/Eliot loving heart that TNT will put the episodes on line in a more timely manner than USA. Else I might just cry.
For Season 3 of Leverage, TNT put the 1st episode up two weeks after the initial air date, and then 1 week after that…if memory serves. Not great, but a better system than USA has by a long shot. :/
Someone in the know (a media reporter dude) told me TNT will be putting up the pilot of that new show, Falling Skies, on a one week delay. I’d like to check it out though it’s probably not for me. Another alien invasion show. I’ll hope for the best for Leverage. I’ll never have cable, but waiting is sometimes hard.
In happier news, I finished watching Season 3 of Leverage. So many great eps in this season. I’d be hard pressed to pick a fav. The Scheherazade Job, The Studio Job, The Gone Fishing Job, the Big Bang Job (Eliot’s ep, the penultimate one. Whooo!). That was a fun season.
Falling Skies is on Comcast On Demand – that actually surprised me, that they did it that quickly. I am thinking that cable providers have cut a deal with networks to have first pass at on demand rights…
For TNT customers only, it says. I’ve never looked at that site before. I’ll have to register and check it out and see if it’s better stocked that Hulu.
Psych! But they moved it to the fall, stupid IMO. So it’s Toddlers and Tiaras.
I love Psych too! But I don’t think I’d have time for it this summer. LOL
Beat the Heat!
What do you do this time of year to beat the heat? I’m likely to be standing over the AC vent (and I love traveling during the summer, because I can turn the AC in the hotel room down as cold as I want to without worrying about the electricity bill at the end of the month).
In summer the old place I lived we used water coolers (I think you call them swamp coolers) to try and stay cool but this house is stone and keeps the cool. Of course the past 2 summers were not very hot infact the last one was one of the coolest for along time. This coming one may be hotter. But the house keeps the cool and I will use the cooler when it does heat up. I use to love going away in Summer to use the AC where I was cos we didn’t have it.
Of course its winter here and the wood fire is lovely.
Ice Skating
DQ Grape Arctic Rush. Yum.
So far the heat is beating me.
Boredom Busters
When you’re going somewhere you might have to wait or you know you’re going to get bored, what do you take with you to try to stave off that boredom?
I always try to have a book with me.
I always have a book with me and my kindle. I also like to crochet, so I will bring that along and mainly do that in the car or the bus.
If I don’t have a book or notebook with me, I honestly just close my eyes and try to relax. It’s amazing how low your blood pressure is at the doctor’s office when you’ve dozed a few minutes before it’s taken! LOL
I am one who hates waiting. Like for the bus etc. At airports I take a book. Lining up for hours to go to the cricket there are others who we tend to chat with.
But if im going to the Dentist or somewhere I will take a book there too. I normally have my mp3 player also.
Totally onto a new topic:
)
My new adventure this summer is to join the SCA. Dorks, geeks, and nerds doing the Medieval Thing. Good research for a book, too, since everything is authentic. Well, I guess this wouldn’t be a new topic, since it can qualify as a Boredom Buster.