Category: Anecdote (Page 8 of 31)

4 Simple Ways to Help an Author

November 30, 2016 / Katie L. Carroll

The holiday season is in full swing, and it’s a time for gift giving and charity. With the giving spirit in mind, perhaps you’re wondering how you can help out your favorite authors. Well, I have four simple suggestions on how to do just that this holiday season or anytime of the year!

Buy the Book

Okay, this one may seem like a no-brainer, but the absolute best way to help out an author is to buy their book. So maybe it’s not your favorite genre or aimed at your age category (or maybe you don’t read books…please tell me you read books!), buy it anyway. Notice this suggestion doesn’t say “read the book.” You can buy it without reading it (of course us authors want people to read our books, but we totally get it that a book is not for everyone…we’ll love you just for buying it, even if your never break it open). Give it to someone as a gift. Put it in your living room and when people come over, you can point to it and say, “Look! My friend wrote this book.” Ebooks are generally the least inexpensive option, so buy a digital copy and let it gather virtual dust. The more an author’s book is bought, the more likely they will make more books, and, ya know, the more likely they’ll be able to buy food and gas and stuff.

Pick Up a Free Copy

I’m not talking about going to Joe Schmo’s book pirating website and downloading a free, illegal copy of the book (and probably a virus or two on your computer). That doesn’t help us at all! Authors, especially those who have a series or several stand-alone books, will sometimes run specials where the first in a series or a book from their backlist is free. But we run these free promos on legit websites, like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other reputable book sellers. How does this help an author? So we don’t get money from this type of transaction, but we do get exposure. Enough free downloads means our book moves up on lists and maybe earns us a spot in one of those website’s newsletters. Also, if people like the free book, they may decide to pay for the other books we’ve written that aren’t being offered for free.

Write a Review

So you’ve bought your author friend’s book or you (legally) downloaded it for free. Now what? Remember how we said we really want you to read it (but understand if you don’t), that’s because we also love it if you take the time to write a review. It doesn’t have to be anything long (just long enough to hit a site’s minimum character count) or super interesting really. Something like, “I really enjoyed this fantasy adventure. Fans of Lord of the Rings would really like it too.” And it doesn’t have to be a 5-star rating. Authors (well, many of us!) want honest reviews. Don’t get personal about the author (even if you’re that author’s mom and want to tell them you love them); keep it about the book, its setting, its plot, its characters, and how all of it made you feel. The most important websites for reviews are Amazon and Goodreads. Amazon because if you get enough reviews to satisfy one of their algorithms, you will often get free marketing from them in the form of being a featured book or perhaps placed in their newsletters. Goodreads is where a lot of readers hang out and find their next book to read. If you do have a blog or somewhere on the Internet where you share your opinions of things, go ahead and put the review there too.

Give it a Shout Out

There are over 1 million new books published each year in the U.S. alone…that’s a lot of competition! In today’s publishing world, marketing–meaning getting the word out about your book–largely falls into the hands of authors, even those who are published with a big house. We are a creative, wonderful bunch, but marketers by trade we are not. That’s not to say there aren’t authors out there doing a fabulous job of marketing their books, but many of us don’t have the skill set or time to give the book the real push it needs to sell lots of copies. And no matter how much marketing time and money is put into a book, word of mouth is still one of the most important (if not the most important) ways a book is sold. Mention your author friend’s book to others. Ask your author friend for bookmarks or something you can share with your friends, families, co-workers, that guy in the grocery store who bags your groceries. Go to your library and request they purchase a copy. Same with your local bookstore. Ask if they have it in stock. If not, ask them to order it. We authors even have a name for the people who help us spread the word about our books: street team. Be a part of your favorite author’s street team, even if they don’t officially have one!

Being an author is awesome, but it’s not a great way to make a living. One report out of London found that only 1 in 10 authors make a living through their writing, and a crazy 17% made no money at all in one full year! The reality for many of us is that we have full-time jobs not related to writing; we are stay-at-home parents who are the primary caregivers to our kids; we write full-time but most of our income does not come from our novels. Any help we can get spreading the word about our books, we’ll take! And I can tell you that if you’re the one doing that, we will love you for all eternity.

Feast for the Senses at WaterFire Providence

October 12, 2016 / Katie L. Carroll

A few weekends ago, the hubby and I snuck off for a night away from the kiddos! We headed to WaterFire Providence. Basically WaterFire is a cultural event centered around specially made fire braziers (created by artist Barnaby Evans) that float in the water. They are placed all along three rivers in downtown Providence and accompanied by a musical program.

It’s a pretty simple concept, but it’s beautiful, inspiring, and a feast for the senses. There are boat rides available, but we stuck to walking along the rivers this time around. There are street performers, food, lots of people watching, and this year there was a torch ceremony that preceding the lighting.

I first stumbled upon WaterFire when I was in Providence for a concert quite a few years ago. The concert got cancelled at the last minute and we ended up wandering around downtown and came across a crowd…and fires…in the water! I’ve been back a bunch of times since then (check out my post “Rivers of Fire” for a look at one past visit). I hope you enjoy the pictures from my latest visit!

October #InkRipples: The Masks We Wear

October 5, 2016 / Katie L. Carroll

People wear masks for all types of reasons (and I’m not talking about Halloween masks here). To be deceitful, to protect themselves, to attack others anonymously. There are other more subtle masks that aren’t necessarily about hiding, but are a sort of compartmentalization of our different selves.

I’ll never forget the first time I saw my father in work mode. I was a little kid and for some reason was present when he was talking business. His voice was different and he had a whole new body language I’d never seen before. At the time it was so weird to see him that way, but it gave me another insight into the person he is and the many parts of him. On the eighth grade trip to Washington, D.C. my classmates and I got to see a different side of our teachers when they danced along with us at a pizza party. We saw the people behind the teachers.

For me, there’s my author mask that I wear when I’m at an author event and there’s my parenting mask for when I’m at story time or my son’s school. I even use a different name for my writing vs. my family life. These masks are so complete that they border on different personas, though they certainly can intersect at times. Then there are the million other sides of me that aren’t as consuming as the writer or parent me. I have a mask for each one, each mask is as much a part of me as any other, and all together the make the whole of me (which I suppose is the maskless me…or maybe the me of many masks!).

What kind of masks do you wear?

#InkRipples is a monthly meme created by Katie L. Carroll, Mary Waibel, and Kai Strand. We pick a topic (October is all about masks), drop a ripple in the inkwell (i.e. write about it on our blogs), and see where the conversation goes. We’d love to have you join in the conversation on your own blogs or on your social media page. Full details and each month’s topic can be found on my #InkRipples page.

That Day Your Baby Starts Kindergarten

August 29, 2016 / Katie L. Carroll

I often said to The Boy, my first-born, “You’ll always be my baby.” He very sweetly indulges me in this dialogue that usually ends with a snuggle and a kiss. Of course The Boy isn’t a baby anymore. He’s off to kindergarten today, and his baby days feel like a million years ago. So I ask you to please indulge me–the nostalgic mama–as I reminisce on this milestone of a day.

Five years and one day ago The Boy arrived in grand style during Hurricane Irene. He was 17 days early, and his daddy and I did not feel ready at all. In fact, not knowing that hurricanes can make you go into labor, we hadn’t even gotten the nursery fully ready. (Big surprise–not!–I blogged about it in “A Beautiful Life is Born.” Seems I was a little more leery of posting pictures then…still cautious now but more open to sharing.)

That’s my tiny little nugget on his first night “home.” We didn’t actually spend the night at our house because we had no power, but we did take a picture of him in his crib before heading to my in-laws for the night.

A little over one year later, I left my full-time job to do freelance work, focus on my writing, and be a stay-at-home mom with The Boy. Though I had already been working from home a few days a week, the new freedom I had in my schedule allowed for more bonding time with my little buddy.

We started going to toddler story time at the library, hanging out at the cafe for a snack and to watch the trains and trucks go by, and went on lots and lots of walks. That’s what I’ll miss the most about him not being around all day long, our fun yet simple daily adventures, exploring and learning about the world. And being able to do it pretty much whenever without having a million other things on the schedule.

Shortly after The Boy’s second birthday, we found out baby #2 (dubbed The Prince by one of my lovely blog readers!) was on the way. That lead to a very challenging year for the family. It was the year I questioned my decision to become a stay-at-home parent, the year I questioned the decision to have another child, the year I questioned my very ability to be a good mother, and the year I pretty much questioned every other life decision I had ever made to date. (Yup, I blogged about all that, too, in “How Does a Mother’s Love Grow?”.)

All the while my sweet baby was turning into a wonderful, smart, stubborn, sweet, sensitive, curious, perceptive, expressive little boy. Sometimes the emotions felt too big to handle (for both of us!), but we were learning and growing in our roles as mother and son. And preparing for big changes to come.

Fast forward to the next year when The Boy was not quite three and The Prince made an equally exciting, albeit very different, entry into the world. (You are probably not surprised to hear there’s a blog for that as well with “The Precipitous Birth of Baby Boy #2.”) And boy has time flown since then. Forget about fast forward, I’m talking super-fast, lightning-quick, warp-speed ahead kind of time.

There were times when I thought The Boy would never see the Prince as anything other than this thing that took up a lot of Mommy’s time. I worried (among a million other things) that they’d never have that special sibling bond I had with my sisters and brother. But mostly the days were filled with the daily grind of making it through to the next day, and all the little things that filled my life as a mommy. The Boy and I managed to go to the zoo just the two of us on his birthday. We still went to story time and the cafe, we just had an extra little guy in tow.

The Boy started three-year-old pre-K one rainy November morning. There were holidays, more birthdays, and pretty soon I had toddler and a little boy who seemed so far away from being a baby. I often wondered where the days, weeks, months, years had gone.

Always we had our trips to the library, walks downtown and to the beach, treats at the cafe, and playtime at the park. The milestones, the big moments continued to come and go, a million little ones filling all the in-between moments. I tried to remember each one, I took a lot of pictures, and I wrote in the boys’ journals I keep for them.

Year four brought a new school, new friends, new interests, new challenges. New fears. Somewhere along the way, that bond I had worried would never happened blossomed. The Boy and The Prince were brothers, friends, combatants, partners-in-crime. My little nugget–the baby who always had a quick smile turned toddler who could always tell when mommy needed a hug turned pre-schooler who tried my patience to the very end and beyond–was not so little anymore.

I hope he never grows out of speaking his mind (even though it can be sooooo annoying for me as a parent) and being passionate about his interests (no matter what they end up being in the future). I hope he continues to love learning and reading. I hope he never tires of The Prince looking up to him and copying him (even though it can be soooo annoying as an older sibling–I know from experience!). I hope he keeps working on expressing his emotions and figuring out how to do that in productive way (a lesson I’m continuing to learn as well). I hope he continues to challenge me to be a better mom, a better person. I hope he doesn’t drive me crazy!

Most of all I hope he knows how much I love him and how proud I am of him. The Boy. My hurricane baby. My 5-year-old. My kindergartner.

August #InkRipples: The Problem with Guilty Pleasures

August 9, 2016 / Katie L. Carroll

The problem I have with the term “guilty pleasure” is that I don’t think you should feel guilty for enjoying the things you like to do. Whatever you read, watch, or do in your free time is your business (so long as it’s legal and, ya know, not hurting anyone). Enjoy it. Embrace it. Forget those people who don’t approve of it!

I’ve watched plenty of movies and TV and read plenty of books that others might consider guilty pleasures, but I certainly haven’t felt guilty about it. I’m more likely to feel guilty about not doing something. (Like when I read a book while the boys are having quiet time instead of doing, say, the laundry.)

Okay, I might feel slightly guilty when I hide in the kitchen enjoying the last chocolate muffin while the boys are busy playing in the other room. A mom’s gotta have a treat once in awhile, and kids can be real mooches. At least I haven’t resorted to eating in the bathroom to be alone.

Time to fess up! What is something you enjoy that might be considered a guilty pleasure?

#InkRipples is a monthly meme created by Katie L. Carroll, Mary Waibel, and Kai Strand. We pick a topic (August is all about guilty pleasures), drop a ripple in the inkwell (i.e. write about it on our blogs), and see where the conversation goes. Be sure to check out Kai’s and Mary’s posts this month. We’d love to have you join in the conversation on your own blogs or on your social media page. Full details and each month’s topic can be found on my #InkRipples page.