Protect Your Work

Recently several friends on both the Absolute Write Forums, Clan Destiny, and Romance Divas found their creative work stolen, republished without permission, or offered for free on a mass-download site. Sometimes we, as writers, upload free work for promotional or other reasons, and want our readers to have access to the information. Sometimes we don't.

There are some helpful tips and tricks for writers in these instances. While certainly not foolproof, these snippets of code make it very hard for most surfers to steal your data. One code disables right-click on webpages. The other code disables the clip board, which stops visitors to your site from copying and pasting, AND from using the print screen command. Only after the browser they are using has been shut down and restarted will the clipboard be re-enabled, and it will re-activate upon return.

Since I use both scripts on my sites, I am offering this snippet of code on its own page. To find these instructions,

VISIT THE WEBSONG COPYRIGHT PROTECTION SCRIPTS PAGE

Moldavite and Amber

A wonderful friend of mine, Maria, recently found this amazing amulet for me. I haven't got it in my greedy hands yet, but it is en route and gorgeous. She said a fellow witch recommended moldavite and amber for lung problems in creative, twitchy people... and that would be a perfect description of ME. Being the best girlfriend ever, Mari picked up this incredible piece for me, and I just can't wait to wear it. For more about gemstones for creative, twitchy types, check out my page on the subject HERE.
I plan to put this on a longer chain beneath the chalice well amulet that you see in the graphics on my Home Page.

Great New Titles from Forbidden Publications

Available Monday, January 29th from Forbidden Publications

Sela Carsen: The Virgin Courtesan (historical; sensual)
Stacy Dawn: Apple of His Eye (contemporary; mainstream (aka nonerotic)
Elisabeth Drake: Wasting the Dawn (dark paranormal; carnal)
CJ England: Angel Eyes and Demon Lies (paranormal; carnal)
Dayna Hart: Wings of Love (fantasy; mainstream)
Loribelle Hunt: Be Mine (contemporary; sensual)
Crystal Jordan: Twice in a Blue Moon (paranormal; carnal)
Jennifer Leeland: Naughty Notions (contemporary; carnal)
JT Schultz: Cupid's Target (paranormal; sensual)
Shelli Stevens: Cabin Fever (contemporary; carnal)

Well I DO Declare! An Attack of The Vapors

Women in technicolor Southern Civil War movies always look so elegant doing it. Scarlet could collapse on a dime and bring about a riot as handsome men scrambled to be the first to proffer smelling salts. But while Melanie and Scarlett may have pulled off fainting like pros, they came from an age of fainting couches, corsets, and the celebrated chicanery of beautiful, eyelash-batting belles. I'd always wanted to try it.

I'm pretty much over it, now. Tonight I fell flat on my backside at the bathroom door. One moment I was feeling a touch woozy (I'm battling an infection); the next I was lying on my back looking up at something vaguely familiar, furry, and soft. It was spraying my face with a gentle mist. It wasn't anyone dashing, in-- say-- a dove gray waistcoat with a bottle of smelling salts. It was Max, snorting Pug snot all over me in a moment of panic and concerned affection. (It could also have been indignation. My left hand was in his water dish.)

Well, you play the cards you're dealt, I suppose.

Ahmed wasn't with me and my parents were attending an appreciation dinner to which I had also been invited. Not in the mood to be appreciated, with blood and unidentifiable icky stuff coming from several parts of me I'd really rather have sealed off permanently at this point, I stayed home. Ahmed was, much later, quite dashing and sympathetic. He was fresh out of smelling salts and mumbled something about "silly cows" when I mentioned the dove gray waistcoat. I believe that was my delirium talking; he surely wasn't yammering on about bovine IQs while I recovered from my danger-- ummm serio-- errr-- bloody stupid encounter with gravity loss. Still, I think some sort of sterling silver container with smelling salts is the least he could do and I'll be looking into procuring something nice, vintage, perhaps, on ebay.

Anyway, as for the fainting thing-- don't believe the hype. Scarlet and Melanie made it look good on the big screen, but President Bush had it right. You wake up feeling stupid with a dog staring down at you to confirm the sensation.

Gettin' All Up In His Grill

Sometimes it's a very healthy thing to know your limitations. I, for example, know what I can and can not get away with when it comes to personal appeal. I can manage cute if I work it. I can pull off scruffy tomboy with a certain degree of charm. I can even clean up pretty well and do urban chic as long as I don't shoot for glamour. Sophisticated elegance is not my forté, nor is moviestar fab. I tried to do a come-hither look once and was offered a Tums.

Ahmed, my much-beloved, can pull off the smooth grace of a James Bond. He has the accent, the stature, and the cultured demeanor of a man of the world. He can do sexy doctor-- very Ben Casey with a dash of Persian spice to make him edgy. He can make women swoon with his swarthiness and fire.

What he can't do is street cool. So imagine my amusement when, recently, a much-younger colleague of his overheard him telling me off on the phone. "Tell her not to get up in your grill," Jeff coached. Isn't Jeff adorable? He fancies himself a bit of a card. And bless his heart, Ahmed tried to run with it.

"Yes! Exactly! I'm feeling my grill has been violated and abused. You need to stop harping at me and respect my personal grill-space, Badjia!"

Or what? You'll write me a strongly worded letter?

There he was, on the other end of the phone... my dashing rake of a man, demoted in an instant to übernerd. It's funny how that works. Knowing one's limitations is the key to making great impressions. I do feel a little bad about... you know... getting all up in his grill. (Does it count as a grill if it's flossed daily and has never missed a cleaning?) Anyway, I'll give him a sly look and make it up to him later. I could use a Tums.

The E-Publishing Explosion

Is it just me, or is anyone else a little worried about the glut of e-publishers flooding the internet? My relationship with e-pubs is both dramatic and curious, since I have had very good experiences and very bad, as well. Many regular blog visitors will recall very bizarre experiences last year. Yet the little voice in my soul who cries out in hope for the industry refuses to simply "go negative."

True, a new e-publisher seems to appear every week. I'm not speaking figuratively, either. Last night I was cruising one of my favorite forums after a long hiatus away and noted two new names in the announcement section. One was an offshoot of another e-pubber with a somewhat positive, though not widely recognized, name. The other was brand new and had a website plagued by broken links, sloppy and unprofessional design and graphics, and spelling errors that would make a college freshman majoring in Math cringe.

On the one hand, romance has been one of the few successful genres in e-publishing, with Ellora's Cave blazing a path that very good e-publishers followed. To date my experiences with both the writers, review coordinators, and literary quality found at Freya's Bower, Amber Quill, and Forbidden Publications have been very good. There are others I've heard good things about. And then there is the endless, perpetually appearing, mysteriously staffed, dubiously promoted tide of others.

It makes me nervous. Maybe it shouldn't, but it does. I see talented writers who seem impatient for publication rushing to submit without carefully considering the legitimacy of this new, hyped up, bucket of promises. I see new names appearing weekly, often with absolutely no muscle behind them.

Interestingly, when Susan Schulman and I sat down over a year and a half ago to consider opening some kind of online publishing venture, we considered e-publishing. Romance News happened when we both decided it would be the most fun. But before that decision came about both e-publishing and "personalized books" were strong contenders. We shied away from e-publishing because we felt the market was being flooded to the point of ridiculousness and few were delivering the quality promised.

I find myself wishing more people were as hesitant as we were.

Lori Handeland Featured at RD This Month

RITA award winning author Lori Handeland is the featured author at Romance Divas this month. Handeland has been a driving force in paranormal romance. You can visit her website at www.lorihandeland.com, and get to know her on the Featured Author Page at Romance Divas. Be sure to check out her Nightcreature Novels, they are fabulous!

New Photos-- Dusk This Evening

If you haven't yet discovered the joy of digital photography you don't know what you're missing. My Fujifilm S5600 is my favorite toy. I upgraded to a professional camera after wandering away from photography for many years, rediscovering the fun bits via digital, and renewing my passion with a really nice rig. Visit my photography site, Tower and Well to see more of my work, which focuses on capturing natural light and the power of the image in the moment.

Here are a few recent samples (taken tonight):

Separated at Birth?

During a recent ebay expedition I played one of my usual games and typed my last name into the search engine. Believe it or not this has rendered some pretty neat collectibles for me over the years. I always find a few copies of John Updike's Olinger Stories and page upon page of rookie cards for Jon Olinger, a football player with the good taste to spell his name correctly (like my baby brother). Once in a while, however, I find a gem. I've obtained old documents relating to my great-uncle Bob Olinger (nemesis of Billy the Kidd, who would eventually kill him with a shotgun full of coins in an infamous escape). This week I stumbled on a baseball card featuring an Olinger named Marilyn who was a shortstop in the All American Girls League, the women's' baseball league featured in A League of Their Own

Since the discovery several have insisted she looks like me. Depending on the angle, I suppose she sorta' does. You be the judge.



Separated at birth?

What I Learned in 2006

What I learned in 2006:

1. Things done in the spirit of good faith, whether they help others or not, are pointless if they make me miserable. My own happiness will be coming first in 2007. (Local charities take note, and update your nag lists.) This is going to be my selfish year.


2. Sink your teeth in long enough and refuse to compromise when you know you are right. I love threes. I had three "pit bull victories" in 2006 and look forward to more... and regular cleanings with the dentist. (It will be fun to see how many more than three people/agencies/organizations are self centered enough to think this is about them... it probably isn't. Carly Simon, anyone?)


3. Anything you love doing is worth doing. Photography has insisted on resurfacing in my life for a reason. There are no new successes I need, though there are some I covet. I've been successful in all the ways that mattered up til now and any new successes are luxuries. I like that. It's like karmic cashmere.


4. Nobody knows what SPAM really is, so report it, and pay for a decent filtering system. We won't be going down that road again (what is it about threes?) in 2007. Also, people will email me with private details of things I neither want, nor should, know about until I make them stop. For reasons I will never understand the same people will cower in a corner in terror of saying/writing these things to those who should hear/read them. Weird.


5. Comfortable is not the same as safe. Good people can be stupid on your behalf. I don't really watch my back but I do watch everyone else's fronts. This is the internet. There is a weasel in every nest, and I am usually among the first to know. (See number 4.) I sort of always knew that but again... comfort is a seductive siren. I go back to being suspicious on principle in 2007.


6. Funny is the hardest thing to write, but it's also what I do best. Back to funny I go, and see number 1.


7. My dog is more popular than I am. His blog was a hit, even with irregular postings. I'm jealous, and working it out in therapy. I'm also making him post more this year since he's such a big shot. (Ungrateful rat... grumble-grumble.)


8. Cancer is a wuss and I've got 5 notches on my lipstick case to prove it. Bite me, cancer!


9. Pulmonary Fibrosis didn't get Cancer's newsletter warning of the dangers of tangling with me. I will NOT be dying in 2007. Kiss my fat, white, Irish, slightly cellulite encumbered-- but bouncy just the same-- ass. I'm not going down to a hack. They can put me in an iron lung but I'm not dying this year. Too much to do.


10. I have Ahmed, and therefore have absolutely nothing to bitch about... ever. None of the challenges in my life even count. I get him. You can only have so much in the world, so my quota was eaten up by him. It was worth it and always will be. (I also assume everyone knows I will bitch anyway.)

There you have it... words of wisdom. If not wisdom, certainly optimistic wit and clever bravado. You'd be absolutely amazed how far you can get on clever bravado.