Pages & Paws

Writing, Reading, and Rural Life With a Border Collie

Category Archives: Musings


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5 Reasons “Bestselling Author” Doesn’t Mean Beans

‘Wait. Is that Sasquatch?’

Hello Friends!

If you’ve been with us for any length of time – say, 20 minutes or so – you know that Mom and I are like, totally unimpressed with the words “Best-selling author.” Or its kissing cousins, “(fill in the blank) Award Winner.” Ditto“Over a bazillion copies in print.” The fact that everyone and their neighbor’s cat is crowing about a new release impresses us about as much as a plate of overcooked cabbage. Without the plate.

Yeppers. We’ve heaped praise on unknown indie authors who’ve earned it. We’ve also panned Pulitzer Prize winners who deserved it. Ya just never know.

So here, in living technicolor, is our latest round of best-sellers that bombed. According to us. We read these so’s you don’t have to. You’re welcome:

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eBook or Hard Copy?

We’ve all heard about ’em.  Seen ’em.  Some of us own more than one.

We’re talking about the latest and greatest in communication technology: iPhones, smart phones, iPads, texting.  Handy-dandy little items, these, especially when it comes to capturing creative genius on the fly.  Right?  Uh, right?

Being all magnificent and everything.

Put another way: what recording device does Her Momness use to lasso that creative blogging gem before it stales and staggers into the overcrowded corral of busy forgetfulness? What’s her preferred reading format – print or ebook?

Kindly keep your shirt on, Toots. We’ll get to all of that in a min. But first things first:

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35 Most Memorable Opening Lines Ever

Opening lines. They can pull you into book and urge ya to go further, or turn ya off so’s ya move on.

Mom and me, we’ve been around long enough to know some good opening lines when we see ‘em. So we made a list. Checked it twice. And came up with our 100% unscientific, totally subjective list of 35 Most Memorable Opening Lines Ever. From books we’ve actually read.

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Hark! Her Grumpiness Speaketh! (I’d Listen Up ‘Fize You)

Her Royal Grumpiness is all grumpified today. For two reasons: 1) Glasses; 2) The Book Place.

Short version: New prescription eye glasses ain’t working. Only way Her Momness can read a computer screen is by tilting her head up and looking through the bottom of the lenses. So not happenin’. What was that optometrist thinking? So annoying.

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How To Make the Most of a Writing Contest

Being all Beautiful and Brilliant and Everything.

Turning a corner here today into somethin’ a little diff: writing contests.

Raise your paw if this has ever happened to you. (It’s okay. Nobody’s lookin’.):

You’re cruising the internet, local bookstore or writer’s group and come across an announcement for a writing contest. It may be fiction or non. Short story, humor, poetry. Whatever. You’re intrigued. You check out the guidelines. Polish your best material to a solar sheen. Submit. And cross your fingers.

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Book Bridges: When Moms Get Dewy-Eyed & Sparkly

It looked like this here yesterday. And like:

So Mom and I decided a soggy Saturday’s a good day to clean out the attic. (It seemed like a good idea at the time.)

Now, you may not know this about me. But I’m a Great Attic Clean-Up Supervisor. I found a comfy rug. Laid down. Watched Mom cart stuff up and down the stairs. Dust. Categorize. Box. Un-box. Re-box.

Supervisin’s a tough job. But somebody’s gotta do it.

Anyway, Mom opened this one box. And sat down. “Oh my!” says she. “Kimmi, look at this!”

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A Writer’s Best Friend

Mom and I, we read like, a ton. (In between peanut butter snacks, natch.) But we’re doing somethin’ a little different today. Today we’re musing about writing. Maybe cuz we’ve heard from some authors recently who are frustrated. Discouraged. Thinking of throwing in the writing towel. If that’s you – or you know someone who fills that bill – then this post’s for you. You might also want to buckle up. Just sayin’. Take it away, Mom!

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Encore: A Reviewer’s Review of Reedsy Discovery

You know that feeling you get when a million-ish people read your latest stroke of brilliance? And another million-ish are looking for it? It’s not quite as good as sinking your teeth into a nice, thick, juicy rib eye steak…

Wait. Where was I?

Oh yeah. Popular blog posts.

Her Momness and I have been fielding lots of requests for an encore of our post about Reedsy Discovery. A fair amount of peeps have weighed in on this review site for indie titles from an author’s point of view. But a review of Reedsy Discovery from a book reviewer’s POV is as scarce as a slim sow.

We fixed that.

Rather than re-post that stroke of genius again en toto, we decided the best way to do an encore is to provide the link to the original post. With some updates. So here ya go. You’re welcome:

A Review of ‘Reedsy Discovery.’

You gonna eat that?

 


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Rattlensnakes and Reunions

 

The Smartest Member of the Family. (Don’t tell Kimber I said that, okay? I’ll never hear the end of it.)

Mom and I were nosing through Draft Posts That Never Saw The Light of Day recently. (Well, I was nosing. Her Momness was … um… snoozing.) Anyway, we found this post that we thought deserved a second chance. It’s about being a writer. Kind of.

So here ya go. You’re welcome:

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How to Build Your “Platform”

Happy Thursday Friends!

Congratulations! The weekend is in sight. So today we’re doing something a little diff. We’ve had a lot of inquiries from authors about “building a platform.” How do you do it? What does it take? Ideas? Dos and Don’ts?

So here, at no extra charge, is The Official Mom and Kimber Guide to How to Build Your Platform. You’re welcome:

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