ghosts

There are 11 posts tagged ghosts (this is page 2 of 2).

Paranormal and Urban Fantasy Authors I Have Liked

This post is a place to share the books and authors I really have enjoyed. I follow most of these writers on Twitter as well. I like to see how their writing routine works – when they’re actually writing and not just talking to hopeful writers. I also hear about what they are working on and what’s coming next in the series. Plus, they announce contests on Twitter and their websites too.

My favourite books in the paranormal/ urban fantasy genre have humour along with vampires, dragons, werewolves, witches, ghosts, and all the rest. The humour brings a story and especially a character, to life for me. Without humour they seem kind of flat on the page. Even a villain can have a wicked sense of humour.

I don’t like a lot of sex either. It just gets boring pretty fast. I write my own erotica and romance so it could be I’m just taking it for granted or smothered in the stuff when it comes to reading it. When it comes to sex in books I usually skip it. If a book has a lot of sex scenes and I’m turning a page, then another page and still another couple of pages after that, I lose interest. Too much mucking around with sex and the action and the storyline suffer for it.

The Paranormal and Urban Fantasy Writers I have Liked (So Far)

Reader Groups

Read Some Reviews and Find New Writers to Try

What Do Guys Read?

If you look at the fiction for boys and young men, there isn’t a lot to choose from. I noticed this years ago as my nephew (Zack) was growing up. Now Zack is almost 16. He reads books from the regular fiction. But, once in awhile he backtracks to something he read as a boy. He has a loyalty to the books he liked, he will read them again and again. So why are there so many more books for girls than boys?

I found a link to Guys Read in an older copy of Reader’s Digest.

Our mission is to motivate boys to read by connecting them with materials they will want to read, in ways they like to read.
1. Make some noise for boys.
We have literacy programs for adults and families. GUYS READ is our chance to call attention to boys’ literacy.

2. Expand our definition of reading.
Include boy-friendly nonfiction, humor, comics, graphic novels, action-adventure, magazines, websites, audiobooks, and newspapers in school reading. Let boys know that all these materials count as reading.

3. Give boys choice.
Motivate guys to want to read by letting them choose texts they will enjoy. Find out what they want. Let them choose from a new, wider range of reading.

4. Encourage male role models.
Men have to step up as role models of literacy. What we do is more important than all we might say.

5. Be realistic. Start small.
Boys aren’t believing that “Reading is wonderful.” Reading is often difficult and boring for them. Let’s start with “Here is one book/magazine/text you might like.”

6. Spread the GUYS READ word.
Encourage people to use the information and downloads on this site to set up their own chapters of GUYS READ, and get people thinking about boys and reading.

On the site they have a list of genres and types of books guys might read: Scary, War, How to build stuff, At least one explosion, Action/ adventure, outer space, but with aliens, Cars, trucks, etc., Mysterious occurrences, Ghosts, Monkeys and/or apes, People being transformed into animals, Outer space but without aliens, and Books for little guys which is probably the same list just a different shape of book.

What would you write for boys or young men? Think of a plot and characters that would appeal to them.

No More Newsletters, Please!

I’ve been trying to clean newsletters out of my email inbox. There are far more than I can ever even want to read. I don’t want to try reading any of them at this point. The sad thing is that a few of them I used to read all the time and would still enjoy if I didn’t feel so crowded any time I open my email. I’m glad I stuck with webmail rather than using the email address I have with my domains. At least on the web it is “on the web” and not taking over space on my computer.

I think anyone who suggests starting a newsletter as a good promotional idea is behind the times. Or just so new online that they don’t have a vastly cluttered email inbox, yet. I do get tempted to take a look at newsletters, even still. But, the fact is that there are so many voices in my email inbox now that I can’t hear any one of them. So they are all going to go, slowly and painfully. I don’t see any way to clean out the inbox other than the painful and slow way of going through them individually, unsubscribing and then deleting all the newsletters already sent and never read.

Now and then there are newsletters which will not let you unsubscribe or worse, newsletters which say you are now unsubscribed but they have not done anything or they have subscribed you to other lists/ newsletters which they send out. Spammers will be spammers. If this happens you just black list them using the garbage filter in your email service. Gmail has that set up well and it works! I know from using it quite a lot.

Anyway, when I finally get this mess cleaned up it will be nice to see my friends again. Some newsletters which I know are there I will find again, like connecting with a good friend you’ve been missing. Scribe and Quill is one I am looking forward to getting to know all over again. I am sure the clean up is going to take me a few weeks. There are newsletters which will revisit me like unwanted ghosts. Eventually, I will get all the junk out and my email inbox will be a nice place to visit once again.

Gmail Ninja – Tips for handing your Gmail inbox clutter, from Gmail.

Four Steps to Banish Email Clutter – Think Simple Now