Dream Makers

Wow 2012!

Can I get a Woot WOOT from my readership?

I've been so looking forward to this year.  I've had this wonderful sense that this year was going to be a great.  As I took time the last two weeks to really think and dream about goals for 2012 and tweak some existing long term goals, I thought back to some of the things that really helped me to grow as an individual, photographer and business woman. Sharing that feels appropriate...

Here goes:

creativeLIVE     Awesome workshops that you can access online.  Live!  You can than purchase them to watch over and over if you choose.  But while they are happening you can tune in live and soak up the knowledge....FOR....FREE!!!

chasejarvisLIVE    It's Chase Jarvis (awesome).  Free (again...awesome).  Interviewing fascinating folks (once again...AWESOME).

The War of Art: Winning the Inner Creative Battle by Steven Pressfield    I read this book.  And made a decision.  And I haven't looked back.  End.

Visual Poetry by Chris Orwig    Loved this book.  Gets me thinking outside of the box every time I raise a camera to my eye.

Wedding Photography From The Heart by Joe Buissink    Hello!  I will never look a photojournalism the same again.

Annie Leibovitz: Life Through A Lens      Buy it...Rent it....piece it togeather on YouTube...whatever...you must watch it from start to finish.  Amazing documentary.

Fascination Horse by Gabriele Boiselle     Equine inspiration.

My Moleskin notebook....sadly you can not purchase it....BUT  I can share with you that the knowledge contained within is yours for the taking.  Shelley Paulson, Jessica Claire, Gabriele Boiselle, Jasmine Star, Bambi Cantrell, Tamara Lackey, Matthew Jordan Smith, The Shutter Sisters,  Photoshelter, Britains Best Photography, Ramit Sethi and Chase Jarvis.  Some offer free content through blogs & free eBooks.  Others offer books, workshops and mentoring.

2012 is the year that dreams are going to come true for me.  I hope that they do for you too.

Outtakes From A Marriage

A post in which I recommend two blogs, a book and blame my Kindle (again). I had a date with my Kindle a couple weeks ago....it's a good thing that it was on a rainy afternoon. Also that my husband wasn't home. Because otherwise absolutely nothing would have gotten done if it wasn't (raining), not to mention my husband would have been jealous of my 'hunk of plastic' (I'm talking about my Kindle here...just in case some of you might have your minds in the gutter).

Ann Leary wrote the kind of book that you just don't want to put down. The kind that hooks you the first page and will not let go. Go to the library, bookstore, turn on your Kindle...wherever/however you get your book fix and go get it. You will not be disappointed. I promise.

I found out about Ann and her book from a post that Alyson at New England Living did a few months ago (visit her...she's fun). From there I linked over to the Ann Leary blog. (Visit her...she's fun too!) She goes on killer vacations, has horses, enjoys plants, loves her family which includes her dogs, is well read, and has a wicked sense of humor. So she basically writes the kind of blog I'm attracted to.

So whatcha' readin folks? Blogs? Books? What are your recommendations?

Edited 9:23AM on Tuesday.... due to heinous spelling mistakes and other anomalies......which were mostly caused by yesterdays rushed writing....sorry for offending the senses. LOL!

The Kindle Made Me Do It

Sookie Stackhouse now you listen to me....

I don't do vampire books...I rarely do romance books....I'm not overly into mystery books.

But Ohhhhh Sookie! When you combine the 3 into one. Well all I can say is I'm hooked...um I mean bitten.

I'm blamin' this on the Kindle...you know that hunk of plastic that I read on. Someone recommended the first book. I downloaded it to give it a try by the end I was bitten by the Sookie bug. And it's just to darn easy to be curled up in my reading chair at 10:30 at night. Finish reading a book in the series and you can't help yourself you download the next book without moving a muscle. Which explains how I've burned through the first 6 books in the last week and a half. AGGGHHH! To make up for this literary faux pas I downloaded Anna Karenina to read when I'm done with the latest Sookie book. That should atone for my sins nicely.

Anyway The Southern Vampire Series aka Sookie Stackhouse Books....are total escapism. Nothing life changing going on here. But oh how you get sucked right in. If your lookin' for a brain vacation and the TV just doesn't do it for you....look no further.

So are you pro Vampire? Have you actually read the Sookie Books? Or are you completely mortified by this small peak into my bookshelf?

Why I Love My Kindle

I've been using my Kindle for two months now.  And it's official.  I love it.  So here is my top 10.

10.  Free Books.  Yeah baby.  Classics are free.  Bibles are free.  Got a couple free cookbooks.  And Genres that I never would have even tried, if not for diabolical publicists everywhere that convinced their authors to offer the first book free of charge so that people would get so hooked on the series they would pay for the rest.

9.  $.99 books.  Yeah see above about diabolical publicists.  Also so great Independent publishers that are offering really good deals.

8.  The 2/2 principal.  Battery life....I plug her in for two hours every two weeks.  And I read on the thing....A LOT!  I'm a minimum of a two book a weeker.  

7.  No Glare.  Yeah...none!  This thing is not like a computer screen, there is no back lighting.  Go figure.  I have no idea how it works.  But there is no glare.  It's called eInk technology.  Whatever....it rocks.

6.  It holds 1500 books.  That's right 1500 books at your finger tips at all time.  On a plane, in the car, on a boat, on vacation, in the doctors office.  Because it can store that many.  In case your like jonesin' for some Gabaldon or Austen.  Not to mention Hemmingway or Frost.  Or maybe that darn Temeraire series that got me hooked (see number 10).  Oh yeah...and unlimited storage in your Amazon account.  So just in case you own 3,000 books.  You store 1500 in the kindle and 1500 that you will have to download via the whispernet to read.

5.  Cheaper then bookshelves.  Really.  Trust me I just had to build some book shelves in the 'sugar shack'.  The Kindle was about $200 bucks cheaper and holds more books.

4.  Whispernet...This is really cool.  I can be hanging upside down from monkey bars...and order a book and it's sent instantly to my kindle.  This thing connects via some sort of cellular phone network (I think sprint) to the net and goes to the amazon store and gets you your book.  And there is no charge.  It's free.  Well free is a relative word here because if the book cost .99 cents then I'm sure it's built into the cost.  But if the book is a freebie then there is still no delivery cost.  Talk about instant gratification.

3.  Search and Save For Later... I can connect to the Amazon Kindle store whenever I want.  Search (or browse, which ever I want to do) for a book.  And instantly buy it, download a sample, or save it for later.  That's right...free samples.  Sigh.  My TBR (to be read) pile is bigger than ever.  And my 'Save For Later' list... I use that to keep track of books that I want to buy but am waiting for price drops.  I'm cheap and there are so many free to 3 buck books that I've only bought two $9.99 new releases.  I'm waiting for a price drop for the rest.

2.  Horizontal reading... In bed, on the couch, on a lounger.  Sigh.  This thing is so much more comfortable to read laying down then a dead tree book.

And the number one thing I love....

1.  Dictionary... Now this makes me go all tingle and happy.  Truly weepy happy.  My hunk of plastic reader has a built in dictionary.  When I don't know a word... I scroll up to it and the definition pops up at the bottom.  Yeah that's right.  No more stopping and running for the dead tree Oxford.  It's a word lovers dream come true.

Apparently the Kindle reader does some other nifty things too.....but I'm not sure what those things are.  I have not had extra time to 'play'.  I'm not sure I even want to know what else it does.  I know that there is margin note option.  And some sort of wiki search function.  

Just two more that didn't make the top 10.  You can search an individual book.  ie..In the bible I can type the word 'eagle' and it will give me a list to choose from of every eagle reference.  I also love the books it has opened up to me.  Writers who have been passed over for publishing because someone thought they just were not quite good enough.  Welp now there is a self publishing medium that anyone can do.  I've read some truly wonderful short stories.  And am in the middle of two self published novels.

Anyone else have a Kindle?  Questions?  Comments?

Kindle Date Recap

I spent an hour at Starbucks with a lovely lady who let me paw over her Kindle on Friday.  And paw I did.  Best thing...Kindle has the Oxford built into it.  Need a definition.  Scroll to it and the meaning shows up.  Seriously.  I love that.  I read with a dictionary as a companion .  I need to know what words mean.

The next thing I noticed.  No glare and no eye strain.  It's like reading paper.  How Amazon did that, I don't know.  But it's wonderful.  

I left Starbucks determined to buy a Kindle.

Friday night I snuggled into bed with a wonderful book...Gardens of Delight....can't remember who wrote it (sorry!).  But as I was reading and turning the pages...and well immersed in reading.  I thought...ut-oh I can't get a Kindle.  I love books...actual bound print on paper BOOKS.

Saturday...same thing.  I'm a paper girl.  It's got to be books or nothing.  Saturday afternoon.  I was spring cleaning.  As I shifted books off the nightstand, kitchen table, moved totes filled with books, moved stacks piled on the floor.  I stopped.  Stared at the books.  Had a mini-breakdown.  Came to the conclusion that I either needed a bigger house or I absolutely no more books can be purchased.  A bigger house means more to clean.  I hate to clean.  But not buying books.  Not so much an option either.  Soooooo......

Sunday afternoon I came back to work.  Did a little billing.  Then logged back onto Amazon to read the forums about the Kindle.  There is a 30 day money back guarantee.  I have Amazon credits from the Coin Star and gift cards so that brings the price way down for me.  Which is great.  There are a ton ...... I mean a ton of free books....and books under a $1.  Pretty much all the classics are free.  So by converting those ...... much room will be freed up on my bookshelves

Monday morning....I ordered it.  I have 30 days to try it.  I'm going to download a bunch a freebies.  And read for a few days on it...not switch back and forth between real books.  See if I can get into it.  I'm also interested in having my Grandpa try it.  He is an avid reader and it's hard to get him to the bookstore/library.  He depends on us to pick books for him.  If we both had Kindles we could share an account.  I like the 'sample' the book option....so he can read a bit, decide if he likes it...before we buy.  

I'll let you know after I read on it a while.

Date With A Kindle

I have a date!

Amazon has a service that lets you search for someone in your area that has a Kindle and who is willing to meet you and let you paw the gadget!  

So today at high noon...I meet the Kindle.

Ohhh-Awww!!!!

To Kindle or Not To Kindle

SIGH....By now you've heard of Kindle right?  I read.... a lot of books.  Like 2 to 3 books a week sometimes more.  I like big books.  The bigger the better.  But big books even in paperback are expensive.  And honestly....I'm out of room.  I have books on shelves, night stands, boxes stored at the house, boxes stored at the office... I leave books at the coffee shop when I'm done with them and I don't think it will be something I'll read again anytime in the future.  I send books to friends.  My new closet will be faced with built in bookshelves.  And still I need to de-book.

I need an intervention, or do I?  Maybe what I need is a Kindle.  It holds like 1500 books.  And if you run out of space apparently you can delete them cause Amazon keeps a record of what you purchased...forever.  

At first I was a bit miffed at the price....but then I added up the cost of the new book shelves and trust me...they don't hold 1500 books.  So as a bookshelf....Kindle is cheaper.  eBooks for Kindle are anywhere from 6-10 bucks.  And there are tons of classics that cost nothing. 

Then I thought....hmmmm does the Author make the same money?  Diana Gabaldon (Queen of the big arsed book) posted that she makes more money on eBooks.  Her royalty is 50% on eBooks.  So that assuaged that pondering.  There is also the ease of trying out brand new writers.  There are places out there in cyber land where you can buy 'unpublished' work (meaning...self published) in .txt format which is supported by Kindle.

Think of the trees....the paper, the wood for bookshelves.  I'm all about saving trees.  What do you think folks?  Anyone got a Kindle?  Anyone want one?  Anyone vehemently opposed to eBooks?

I Miss Narnia

I miss Narnia.  I really do.  As a child I could sit and read these books over and over.  I wore a set completely out.  It was so real to me a place of talking beasts, walking trees, Fauns, Satyrs, wardrobes, lamp posts and magic rings. 

I often wander whether I love trees and animals because of Narnia or whether I loved Narnia because I loved trees and animals.  Either way the thought that a place existed through a wardrobe where animals and trees were our friends kept me enthralled for years.

When the new Disney movie came out for the Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe .... I immediately went and saw it.  And I loved it.  I somehow missed Prince Caspian in the theatre.  But Arctic Fox mentioned that he watched it and thought it was so-so.  So I rented it last night and though I didn't think it was as good a LW&W... Liam Neeson is still the voice of Aslan and the kids were the same.  And seeing the talking animals ... whose portrayal is so majectic.  Lets say LW&W was 5 stars for me and Caspian was only 4.5 stars.  

It's been at least 20 years since I last read any of the Narnia tales. It's high time that I spend a little time with C.S. Lewis and read them as an adult.

Did you read Narnia as a child?  As an adult?  Have you seen either of the Disney movies? 

What is Love?

A couple weeks ago I finished The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons (it was excellent by the way if you didn't see the mini review in the sidebar).  Although there were many outstanding scenes within, one has stayed with me these following weeks (besides the horrors of starvation and basic survival in WW2).  

Dimitri ask's a question to a group on a picnic "What do you think love is?"  Our heroine, Tatia, after much ribbing and thinking responds "Love is...when he is hungry and you feed him.  Love is knowing when he is hungry."  Within the context of the book this is profound.  Within my own life this is an equally profound question and response.  My Grandmother feed her family and husband.  My Mum takes great pride is caring and cooking for her husband.  I too love to cook for my loved ones.  Knowing what another persons needs are and being able to provide that....is a powerful thing.  And not something that I really considered 'love'...until now.

So....Gentle Readers....I ask you "What do you think love is?"