tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31706715697649276562024-02-06T18:27:29.070-08:00REMEMBER THIS ...discussion of books, epubs, family and friendsMartin Renaudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07555632204486612016noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3170671569764927656.post-76761015760184155542013-09-29T13:56:00.001-07:002013-10-06T16:37:53.355-07:00Music and writing: creating a moment to last forever<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I love writing and composing music. My books have sold okay but my music has been primarily for personal enjoyment and secondarily to serve as a plot device in my scifi novels, Socialite1. (The characters in those books wrote songs and comedy skits for a recurring neighbourhood variety night.) Recently, however, I began a new job, and my focus has been away from personal creative projects. I love my job, but haven't found that balance between working outside the home and working on my own projects. The dream of course, remains the same, to write something that will do for others what literature and especially music has done for me: create a permanent mental oasis in time.<br />
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Most of us have that one song we love, that most people have never heard. For me, it's "Chicago" by Sufjan Stevens (I attached it at the end of this post). It's my happy song: the song I play when I'm feeling down, because it provides a pure escape. It's one song that resets my mind. It doesn't have to be just one song, though - on rainy days, for example, I always feel like listening to Supertramp.<br />
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In fact I am constantly finding a private oasis in the works of others. The NY Times ran an article today about <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/29/arts/music/elton-john-and-bernie-taupin-are-back-with-diving-board.html?pagewanted=all">Bernie Taupin and Elton John</a>. Their relationship, of course, is magical and, now, pretty much legendary. The article doesn't really add much to what has already been said and written about the duo. It was motivated by the release of their new album , of which there undoubtedly will be at least one song that I will love. I saw Elton perform a new song, <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/elton-john-sings-for-liberace-at-emmys-20130923" target="_blank">Home Again</a>, at the Emmy's last week and was impressed: in my opinion it was one of the strongest songs he has written in a while. I probably won't like everything on the new album, but after that performance, I am sure their will be at least one song that will stick with me forever.<br />
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And that's how it is with music, a lot of it does not resonate at all, then we find something that transcends our life, removes us from today into a singular moment in which nothing else matters. Sometimes it's a whole performance that can do that. I watched Arcade Fire on SNL last night, and after SNL during the <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/arcade-fire-showcase-new-album-on-snl-and-trippy-concert-special-20130929" target="_blank">NBC special, Arcade Fire "Here comes the night time."</a> WOW! The whole show was intense, unusual and creative. Tina Fey was right when she introduced the after-SNL music segment saying, "Things are going to get weird!" The music was amazing, the show, well a little weird. The song "We Exist" was phenomenal, way better than the disco-like "Reflektor" that is playing on the radio - it really doesn't do much for me. But even more outstanding was their last song, "Normal People." The whole show felt like it was about a minute long - despite it running a full half-hour.<br />
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Millions of people watched the same show that I did last night, yet each person felt the music in their own way. I wonder how many enjoyed it as much as I did. But, really, who cares if the artist's music appeals to millions or not: any song has the potential to be important to each of us, and that is all that really matters. Even if a song doesn't sell millions of copies, it may still have that unique effect on just a handful of people. Like the Steven's "Chicago" - it didn't become a smash hit, but for me and many others, it is timeless and important.<br />
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And that is motivating for me: to know that even if only a few people ever get to hear my music, or read my books, time may stop for one of them, as it does for me while I am writing.<br />
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<a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/101502004139875878383/" rel="author" target="_blank">Martin Renaud</a>
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<br />Martin Renaudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07555632204486612016noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3170671569764927656.post-24281387330733005552013-06-28T15:09:00.000-07:002013-06-28T15:09:31.435-07:00Will we soon be encouraged to text and tweet during movies?<h2>
The financial incentive for movie producers to allow texting and tweeting during their films is obvious: free, broad spectrum advertising. </h2>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCAcs5XfUTGmGR1cTajPRqf6Kcds3BL357olA4tjGyA6FFsUwNggok9ZIa4Ldxc_e0nw49f9w-zVWFpvD2PVo3qeXROr4s1ePPvgjT62tGkrdGoPMPrFavftrG-uVh3BnsJT6djchPz5cJ/s400/atmovies.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCAcs5XfUTGmGR1cTajPRqf6Kcds3BL357olA4tjGyA6FFsUwNggok9ZIa4Ldxc_e0nw49f9w-zVWFpvD2PVo3qeXROr4s1ePPvgjT62tGkrdGoPMPrFavftrG-uVh3BnsJT6djchPz5cJ/s200/atmovies.png" width="200" /></a>The only reason they aren't encouraging it already is fear: many people will complain that the distraction takes them "out of the story." This fear will wane as mobile sharing becomes more ubiquitous in other entertainment venues.</h3>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">The fact is,</span></b> if we were given the opportunity to text or tweet during a theatre production or a movie, many people would - without hesitation. Many already are! Few theatres have ushers anymore so you can either complain or take matters into your own hands. Both options may make the <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2013/05/23/toronto-cinema-texting.html" target="_blank">situation worse</a> than simply missing out on part of the show.<br />
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Theatres have been considering allowing texting for a few years now. An<a href="http://screenrant.com/movie-texting-in-theaters-benk-167333/" target="_blank"> article on the website screenrant.com</a> suggested that some entertainment execs are considering easing up on texting in theatres and possibly even encouraging mobile communication during certain movies (i.e., those aimed at a younger audience.)<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Perhaps the first widespread adoption</span></b> of live tweeting will come from live theatre. A recent <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/06/27/196295312/please-text-and-tweet-during-this-theater-performance" target="_blank">NPR article</a><span id="goog_592332326"></span><span id="goog_592332327"></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/"></a> discussed how a new theatre production is hoping to draw a larger audience by capitalizing on its patrons spreading the message during the show. The show, appropriately called <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/244014045745058/?ref=22" target="_blank">#HASHTAG</a> is about "the daily struggle to stay engaged in the present moment." Its texting policy has already paid off by garnering nationwide exposure in an article on NPR (not to mention a tiny bit more exposure through this blog post.)<br />
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<b>While we may not</b> see this policy implemented on Broadway anytime soon, other theatre venues should see that the benefits can outweigh the risk. For instance, the use of mobile devices would not substantially add to the many distractions that occur during outdoor productions. All outdoor productions, therefore, should consider announcing the following statement before each show:<br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000;">"We encourage you to tweet and text during this production of (insert play title here!) If you laughed or cried, tell your friends right away while the feeling is fresh. Also feel free to use Vine or Instagram video to share a short clip of the production. Be sure to include our hashtag so we can link all of these great comments and videos to our website!"</span></blockquote>
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This could be the slippery slope that persuades movie companies to ease up and allow similar behaviour during films. I think under some circumstances it wouldn't be that bad. For example, if the movie is already a flop, or perhaps if all indications are that a soon-to-be released big budget film will most likely flop (<a href="http://io9.com/is-pacific-rim-destined-to-be-an-epic-flop-576879105" target="_blank">as has been suggested of the new movie Pacific Rim</a>), then the studio should make every attempt to boost attendance, including encourage texting, short video clip sharing etc.<br />
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Would you have a problem with that?<br />
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<br />Martin Renaudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07555632204486612016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3170671569764927656.post-51764567169494041652013-06-20T09:21:00.000-07:002013-06-20T09:21:55.016-07:00Jerry Seinfeld returns for coffee: great characters, no acting<h2>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Better than any sitcom on television: you will love Jerry Seinfeld's latest show. </span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Unscripted (for the most part), off-the-cuff, and original, <a href="http://comediansincarsgettingcoffee.com/" target="_blank">CCC (Comedians in Cars getting Coffee)</a> is hilarious.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidgwXOAJSmEppducNV5jvdRBXdD8EteeYlwMiAOXNBSoKgC0JNjJ8NSkejmVxMavYJiqpoBAHcXL3PztONFDcvqoui__q4zKjcXEAvMryq05kTTcNd0qEKz4Cggy1BhLZI-3jkEdCyuNwZ/s1600/ccc-logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidgwXOAJSmEppducNV5jvdRBXdD8EteeYlwMiAOXNBSoKgC0JNjJ8NSkejmVxMavYJiqpoBAHcXL3PztONFDcvqoui__q4zKjcXEAvMryq05kTTcNd0qEKz4Cggy1BhLZI-3jkEdCyuNwZ/s200/ccc-logo.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
<b>Seinfeld is more popular now than ever</b>. On a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8-jOrNoAHQ" target="_blank">recent episode of Jimmy Fallon</a> (see below for video) Seinfeld walked on stage to deliver a short stand-up routine and was greeted by a prolonged standing ovation. He looked at the host and commented, "very nice. It's nice!" Genuine, truly genuine gratitude.<br />
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That's could be the hallmark of his new web video series. Several hours of recorded video is edited down to about 15 minutes of honest conversation, clever observations and touching reveals by Seinfeld and his guest.<br />
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<b>It's original!</b> The concept is simple. Jerry asks a friend, usually a comedian, to accompany him for a cup of coffee. Jerry then drives to his guest's house in a car specifically chosen to match the personality of each guest. (Part of the fun is to discover what vehicle Jerry has picked out for that day.) They drive to a coffee shop and talk.<br />
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Describing the show doesn't do it justice. You have to check it out for yourself. My favourites are the episodes with Michael Richards (Kramer from Jerry's sitcom) and Mel Brooks. The show just started its second season - the first show of the new set featured the hilarious Sarah Silverman.<br />
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I can't wait for today's show which features <b>David Letterman</b>. Check it out. The series is only available on the website <a href="http://comediansincarsgettingcoffee.com/">comediansincarsgettingcoffee.com</a> - that's right, you don't need cable, or pay channels, just the internet. And all past episodes are still there for you to enjoy, free!<br />
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After you watch a few episodes, let me know which one was your favourite.<br />
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Seinfeld on Jimmy Fallon (June 17, 2013)<br />
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<br />Martin Renaudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07555632204486612016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3170671569764927656.post-47470394149163919142013-06-19T14:09:00.003-07:002013-06-19T14:09:23.483-07:00NASA’s Grand Challenge: Science or Politics?<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2013/jun/HQ_13-188_Asteroid_Grand_Challenge.html" target="_blank">NASA just announced</a> an initiative to collaborate with scientists and citizens around the world to </span></span></h2>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">1. search for asteroids that may threaten Earth and</span></span></h2>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">2. develop an asteroid action plan. </span></span></h2>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Is this a good thing? While reading the announcement I couldn’t help but think that something isn’t quite right here.</span></span></h3>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>SCIENCE?</b></span></h3>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Is this “Grand Challenge”</b> truly a new thing? Prior to today, how did NASA deal with announcements of a near Earth object from external agencies?</span></span><br />
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<b style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Farmer in Kansas</b><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">: Hi NASA, I just spotted a previously unidentified asteroid on a trajectory that will put it between the moon and Earth? It may be heading straight for us!</span><b style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></b><b style="letter-spacing: 0px;">NASA receptionist</b><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">: That’s nice. (click!)</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Will the Grand Challenge force this receptionist to put down her </span>nail-file<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> and press the red button to sound the alarm? Unlikely. I suspect NASA already has a long history of treating any credible observation of an asteroid with the respect it deserves. A new Grand Challenge isn't going to change that. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Additionally, the options for dealing with an imminent threat from space are continuously being explored in science and fiction. I am sure members of NASA watch movies just as much as I do. They must have seen the elaborate attempts at diverting asteroids in films like, <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2013/02/15/f-meteors-film.html" target="_blank">“Deep Impact” and “Armageddon.”</a> Some</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> of the brilliant minds at NASA have probably already “Mythbustered” these attempts to determine which of them are “Busted” and which are “Plausible.”</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">POLITICS?</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>In the announcement </b>NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver states that “we </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">have found 95 percent of the large asteroids near the Earth's orbit.” This sounds like a number they just made up. After all, how could they know that the number of asteroids they currently have identified is equivalent to 95% of the total, without knowing the total? Even as an estimate, 95% seems irrelevant given that just last week <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/science/asteroid-the-size-of-a-small-truck-zooms-past-earth/article12439286/" target="_blank">a truck sized asteroid</a> was detected one day before it reached its closest point to Earth. Are we supposed to feel warm fuzzy comfort because only 5% of these extinction level asteroids have yet to be found?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; letter-spacing: 0px;">The announcement included a statement from </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">the White House deputy director for technology and innovation Tom Kalil that “… finding asteroid threats, and having a plan for dealing with them, needs to be an all-hands-on-deck effort.” What does that mean? If the White House truly believed that an all-hands-on-deck effort was needed, they would increase NASA funding so more experts in mathematics and physics could systematically search the skies, rather than rely on unpaid, unsystematic, haphazard stargazing.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">NASA’s Grand Challenge simply reflects certain truths about space exploration and the current political climate: </span></span></div>
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<li style="color: #2f2f2f; margin: 0px 0px 7px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Giving space exploration more money is politically not feasible (after all, in the USA, even allocating money to health care is controversial)</span></span></li>
<li style="color: #2f2f2f; margin: 0px 0px 7px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">While getting hit by an asteroid would be bad, getting hit by an asteroid without previous posturing about trying to stop it would be worse.</span></span></li>
<li style="color: #2f2f2f; margin: 0px 0px 7px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">More eyes looking to the skies for an asteroid is a good thing, more eyes doing it for no more money is a better thing</span></span></li>
<li style="color: #2f2f2f; margin: 0px 0px 7px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Until someone proposes a full-proof plan for destroying or deflecting a near Earth object, with a working prototype of proposed technological innovations and test case data demonstrating efficacy in a real-world situation (in other words until someone actually saves the Earth on their own dime) the four letters that we will turn to when an asteroid is on a collision course will not be N A S A, they will be H O P E.</span></span></li>
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Martin Renaudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07555632204486612016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3170671569764927656.post-66192496493505280502013-06-10T10:59:00.000-07:002013-06-10T12:16:16.367-07:00So Excited! Apple just announced iBooks for MacThis is exactly what many Apple customers have asked for. Textbooks, magazines, and of course novels purchased through iTunes will soon be accessible, searchable etc. on your computer.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgepiCZe6iYWQ5Ee3gtIUs_c3_hklpGA4nNvWJcinkVtMfOUvgz24w8_HylcNrpLcIjbIrWDfcrQTzqlqaQRF5t9ypj9TnIcUQanKFz_Ev-wJ7WJFM1pGD9GjS3oq528fsq1FwMbW0Yb9Mi/s1600/wwdc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="101" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgepiCZe6iYWQ5Ee3gtIUs_c3_hklpGA4nNvWJcinkVtMfOUvgz24w8_HylcNrpLcIjbIrWDfcrQTzqlqaQRF5t9ypj9TnIcUQanKFz_Ev-wJ7WJFM1pGD9GjS3oq528fsq1FwMbW0Yb9Mi/s200/wwdc.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
I've been waiting so long for this announcement. So far you could only read books downloaded from Apple's iTunes bookstore on a mobile device like iPhone, iPad or iPod.<br />
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This has been a pain since I spend much more time on my Macbook than on my phone. Also the full screen allows for an easier, more pleasant reading experience. Lastly, it just didn't make any sense for an innovative company like Apple that provides an incredible user experience to neglect user preference to read iBooks on their home computer. The soon-to-be released new OSX Mavericks operating system will include iBooks for Mac.<br />
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To celebrate, I will soon be making all of my books available on the iBookstore again. I had made them exclusive to Amazon to capitalize on Amazon's kindle select program. That promotion will be over at the end of the week so readers will then be able to download all four books of my scifi series, Socialite 1, onto their Apple devices. Similarly, my murder mystery Good Gladys, which continues to get rave reviews from bloggers around the world, will also soon be available at the iTunes Bookstore.<br />
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Read more, live longer!<br />
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<br />Martin Renaudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07555632204486612016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3170671569764927656.post-27315821623202801452013-05-04T14:31:00.001-07:002013-05-04T14:31:39.001-07:00Five crazy potential developments in Wearable Tech<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDGK3jyPSp_pX-x-NNNoj6HfZYvNlzAjUXReVI8Qj_nofau9sYlqie4qzYR25uD4zlfuEcGb0fhSkxOroSiu8iBR8qhpMS_FN0O7uWbCnOKkqjJeg6MgVLq2WeNu9vcY6J-0V-z_aAUpYt/s1600/Ironman-iron-man-4030720-1280-882.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDGK3jyPSp_pX-x-NNNoj6HfZYvNlzAjUXReVI8Qj_nofau9sYlqie4qzYR25uD4zlfuEcGb0fhSkxOroSiu8iBR8qhpMS_FN0O7uWbCnOKkqjJeg6MgVLq2WeNu9vcY6J-0V-z_aAUpYt/s200/Ironman-iron-man-4030720-1280-882.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
I've been thinking a lot about new technology and where it is heading as I spent the last two weeks working on the next book in my SciFi series "Socialite". Part of the challenge of writing these books is determining where technology will be in ten or twenty years. One type of device that is sure to see an explosion in development over the next few years is wearable tech. <br />
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Wearable tech is just beginning to gain momentum. Of course there is <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9238898/Google_Glass_apps_start_to_hit._Wink_Wink_" target="_blank">Google glass</a> - the odd looking eyeglasses that will take a picture when you wink among other things. <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57582475-76/google-nike-jawbone-and-the-fight-to-win-wearable-computing/" target="_blank">Nike, Motorola and many other</a> companies have bracelets that monitor your heart rate and track your fitness progress in miles or reps. There are also clip-on pedometers and things you stuff in your shoe. One aspect of these technologies I don't like is that they are add-ons - something else you have to remember to grab as you race to pick up the kids or catch the train. We already have too much to remember to take with us. Wearable tech, for the most part is something else we'll forget at home and get annoyed with over time.<br />
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Often these devices don't even look appealing. For example, I hate the look of the Google Glass - I bet they made it so weird as a form of advertisement for Google. I appreciate the technology, but wish they designed it to be non-obtrusive, blending in with existing glasses, still functional, but not so much … in your face.<br />
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The same goes for the bracelets, watches, belt clips. Why not make the tech a part of the items we already wear?<br />
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To that end, I propose 5 Wearable Tech devices that make your life easier by being part of your regular wardrobe.<br />
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<b>1. The techie tie</b><br />
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I guess it could also be a techie scarf, but for now we'll stick with the businessman's tie. It looks just like a regular tie, comes in a variety of styles and colours. Its large surface area is perfect for a faintly lit, touch activated bluetooth keyboard to appear on its surface. Even if you don't want another keyboard, you'll still appreciate the huge storage capacity of the battery that occupies the immense volume of the tie's interior. Who wouldn't want a readily available backup power source - plug in your smartphone and recharge!<br />
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<b>2. Mood tuque</b><br />
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It monitors the heat rising from your head and your movements to assess your moment to moment mood. You can set it to change colour based on your mood or to send updates to Twitter when your mood changes. Integrated GPS could result in posts like, "I am hot and bothered at the 1st Ave Dairy Queen." Sure to generate a following!<br />
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<b>3. Locator Belt</b><br />
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Belts are a part of everyone's wardrobe. And like a tie, they have a big surface area and volume to exploit. Belts also wrap around the person, making them ideal to be used as a locator. Currently companies like <a href="http://www.hitachi.com/New/cnews/060206.html" target="_blank">Hitachi</a> and <a href="http://www.murata.com/new/news_release/2012/0920/" target="_blank">Murata</a> offer Radio tags (RFID tags) small enough to be placed on almost anything. Imagine embedded tags in your keys, your wedding ring, the television remote. Tell the Locator Belt that you can't find your keys and the portion of the belt closest to the keys vibrates, orienting you in the right direction. Get closer to the tag, and it vibrates faster.<br />
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<b>4. Sniffer shirt</b><br />
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Not only is it embarrassing when you realize that your deodorant didn't last the whole day, it's annoying for everyone around you when you <i>don't</i> realize it. <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/03/mini-nose-scent-detector-sniffs-out-bombs-possibly-liars/" target="_blank">"Nose Tech"</a> is currently used mostly for explosive and drug detection in places like airports but as all tech is trending toward miniaturization it shouldn't take long for manufacturers to devise a shirt with integrated sensors for moisture and unpleasant odours in the underarm area. A text sent to your phone that says, "YOU ARE RIPE!" will help you avoid becoming a water-cooler gossip topic.<br />
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<b>5. Porous Pants</b><br />
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Imagine you are at a tense meeting in a hot stuffy boardroom craving relief from the heat. Press an inconspicuous button on your pants and instantly the pant fibres expand slightly, allowing more airflow to reach the skin on your legs. This may not be too far fetched. Piezoelectric polymers that respond to electricity by expanding or contracting have been around for decades. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyvinylidene_fluoride" target="_blank">PVDF</a>, for example, is extensively used in sensors and other electronic devices, and is manufactured in all shapes and sizes, including as fine threads. Pants integrating such fibres could put airflow manipulation under user control. While everyone else swelters during stressful negotiations, you would be cool, calm and in total control.<br />
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<b>Bonus #6 - Smart Purse</b><br />
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Actually, I'd be shocked if no one already thought of this. Most women carry their purses everywhere so it's an obvious choice for integrating many of the features that I listed above. Purses should include a backup power source that charges the phone sitting within. It could also display a full keyboard when desired like the techie tie. It should do GPS linked instant Twitter postings like, "Hey, I'm chilling at Starbucks!" Its 3-D shape would be ideal for multi-dimensional locator functions - pick up your purse, press a button and it leads you to your keys! With all of these functions, the man-purse might finally become a must have item as well.<br />
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So the possibilities really are endless for the future of wearable tech. What would you like to see on store shelves in the near future?<br />
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<br />Martin Renaudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07555632204486612016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3170671569764927656.post-59308586094046438102013-02-27T01:34:00.000-08:002013-02-27T01:39:16.726-08:00Research and Writing: Sharing discoveries<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEWyzBgy_LBsbk-Gxk8vubiF1wi60OeVwPtlzTlTbPcCTEYg4CFXbo1WLSxwzsuTTZkQAQamdCzc9kSfFK4I75AABJGxdb7dL2p5AApQSqVCIy0xZRIPeVIuq-p-v7RUA7fj0u-p9gsUp9/s1600/R&W.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEWyzBgy_LBsbk-Gxk8vubiF1wi60OeVwPtlzTlTbPcCTEYg4CFXbo1WLSxwzsuTTZkQAQamdCzc9kSfFK4I75AABJGxdb7dL2p5AApQSqVCIy0xZRIPeVIuq-p-v7RUA7fj0u-p9gsUp9/s1600/R&W.png" height="125" width="200" /></a></div>
Research is an integral part of the writing process. Many of the components in the scenes I am writing come from my daily reading. Sometimes research is directed toward answering a specific question that arose while building a scene. More often it merely adds to the growing "things that would be cool in a novel" list. I spend a couple hours each day reading online: news, science, tech, politics etc. I thought I would share some of more interesting bits and pieces. I am sure that some of these things will stick in my head and eventually find a home in one of my novels.<br />
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1. smartphones with a dumb flaw<br />
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We've known for a long time about <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/45513063/ns/technology_and_science-security/t/carrier-iq-smartphone-spyware-no-threat-privacy-experts-say/#.US1RvaV7SxI" target="_blank">"spyware" on smartphones</a> that record the keystrokes typed into the phone. Creepy, yes, but also great fodder for a fiction writer! An <a href="http://securitywatch.pcmag.com/none/308519-rsa-your-smartphone-stores-every-keystroke-you-ever-typed" target="_blank">article just came out</a> is even more unsettling. It seems that smartphones automatically store everything you type in a special database, an unencrypted treasure holding everything that you entered on your phone.<br />
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In retrospect the existence of such a database shouldn't be surprising. Typing on one of those things is seriously simplified by the intelligent, learning software that each manufacturer has included with the device. The more you type, the easier typing becomes as the phones learn your habits of wordchoice. How? By accessing the database of your previous typing behaviour. The "dumb flaw" isn't the existence of the database, it's the fact that it is unencrypted. Encryption comes in many forms, but essentially it makes the information harder for a thief to use. If they gain access, encrypted data is unreadable. Encryption is older than me. It's been around for decades and continuously gets better. Apple, Google, Blackberry etc. should have included it to protect their customers, but apparently they didn't. Clever, mischievous and most likely criminal app designers could include code in a smartphone app and gain access to this database, and therefore to every password, search topic etc that you have entered on the phone.<br />
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2. Apple applies for patent to enable iphone to <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57571281-37/apple-patent-filing-may-lead-to-iphone-that-predicts-your-needs/?tag=nl.e703&s_cid=e703&ttag=e703" target="_blank">predict your needs</a>:<br />
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Again much of this isn't new or unexpected. Apple's latest patent would enable the iPhone to automatically brighten or dim, become silent or louder and many other things in appropriate situations. The phone would essentially "learn" your needs at certain times, in certain places. How? Again, the information of your past behaviour has to be stored somewhere. Based on their history with the keystroke database, we can assume that this data will also be unencrypted and susceptible to theft.<br />
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These two capabilities offer some interesting options for a fiction writer. What would a thief do with such information, beyond just the obvious choice of accessing your bank accounts and robbing you blind? Imagine if they could also modify the data stored on the device. Instead of having the phone simplify the users life, a prankster could have it do the opposite: alarms could go off during meetings, it could dim in dark lighting or use precious battery life unnecessarily all day long. I'm sure their are clever app developers already planning on taking advantage of this new insight into the lives of phone owners. If you had access to such information how would you use it?<br />
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<br />Martin Renaudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07555632204486612016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3170671569764927656.post-17100906543147252722012-11-16T01:33:00.001-08:002012-11-16T01:33:08.476-08:00Gimp or Photoshop: Creating Book Covers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT-7QPCxmoPOLlAq-W7uQ1lEsstm5oKdKye_PUBq307hqPCNlH2SStFGTLrGMmFloiW30pQMlN9RdjVzBdaOrG2j9EWs4e3ZrwthliCSZdetY_PoZHaEHqy4RjPmHzS9VLYZceI2sUTFqY/s1600/GoodGladys_Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT-7QPCxmoPOLlAq-W7uQ1lEsstm5oKdKye_PUBq307hqPCNlH2SStFGTLrGMmFloiW30pQMlN9RdjVzBdaOrG2j9EWs4e3ZrwthliCSZdetY_PoZHaEHqy4RjPmHzS9VLYZceI2sUTFqY/s200/GoodGladys_Cover.jpg" width="129" /></a></div>
Self-published authors have to do everything on their own, including book covers. There are services available, of course, that can be paid to do this. Most of us, however, do not have excess resources so we either do it ourselves, or ask family or friends for help. The DIY approach can also be costly if you do not have graphics software on hand for the task. Photoshop is regarded by most as the best tool for the job, but it is very expensive. For my latest round of book cover designs, I choose to try the free software called <a href="http://www.gimp.org/" target="_blank">GIMP</a> and was pleasantly surprised. Combining Gimp with the Createspace cover template allowed me to overcome the hurdle of creating a cover for my latest book, and editing and redesigning the photoshop generated covers of my previously published books.<br />
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First a little history:<br />
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Last year I wrote a four book scifi series called Socialite 1. While working on the time consuming task of editing I had little time to work on the covers, so my son (14 years old at the time) offered to do them. He used a combination of tools available on our iMac.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2qxuWcFkFgKjTl7Re58R57SrNGaP-haBkUg4oWjJ5_Vwjit1fFC1BEAU0CLWB3xb_f7EhSBVz9nAHxkZXOJcruCCyfHyHRbn698L5yll9Cob2c5AIcVXh8KYSMjzvA1O0P3n5u1eB52R9/s1600/9780987851604.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2qxuWcFkFgKjTl7Re58R57SrNGaP-haBkUg4oWjJ5_Vwjit1fFC1BEAU0CLWB3xb_f7EhSBVz9nAHxkZXOJcruCCyfHyHRbn698L5yll9Cob2c5AIcVXh8KYSMjzvA1O0P3n5u1eB52R9/s200/9780987851604.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
The basic design he used emphasized the dichotomies of good and evil with contrasting dark and light triangles. (here is a picture of the cover of book 1 of the series.) I was very appreciative of his efforts, of course, but knew that I would need to make them more visually appealing at some point in the future. At the time Photoshop was offering a thirty day trial, so I used photoshop to create the back page and spine of the print book covers. I had never used it before, but found it quite easy to learn for this task (using youtube videos as my teacher.)<br />
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This fall I completed my fifth book <a href="http://www.goodgladys.com/" target="_blank">Good Gladys</a> (pictured above) and figured that at the same time as I was designing its cover, I would redo the covers of my Socialite books. I looked for an alternative to Photoshop (because of price) and found that many websites recommended GIMP. I downloaded it (for free!) onto my MAC (the PC version is also available), watched a few youtube HOW-TO videos <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7t5hsbtwrM" target="_blank">(here's a sample)</a> and went to work.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPiZw5X1JNiL3Y_aKXfr9Cvx0CsHGVjsLkuNKDFFJghk6mZXRELMUq6GFyhnFaKze8SDlgOWO9HeeQ7_G7Czrh1ASq4U-kvebrdVRVMBcStJFyDZKl1iJHcL-xfJ5FukpC4u3Ns38agRUH/s1600/ggsue2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPiZw5X1JNiL3Y_aKXfr9Cvx0CsHGVjsLkuNKDFFJghk6mZXRELMUq6GFyhnFaKze8SDlgOWO9HeeQ7_G7Czrh1ASq4U-kvebrdVRVMBcStJFyDZKl1iJHcL-xfJ5FukpC4u3Ns38agRUH/s200/ggsue2.jpg" width="147" /></a></div>
I asked my sister-in-law, a wonderful photographer, for a photo depicting a sunrise or sunset—something kind of mysterious looking, appropriate for the murder mystery genre of Good Gladys. She sent this to me (pictured at right). A little cropping and some manipulation of the colours turned that photograph into the cover pictured above. GIMP was really easy to use, and the whole cover took only a few hours from start to finish. For the print version of the book, I just opened the cover template provided by createspace, then added the image of the front that I had created and sized it appropriately. I found that this process was just as easy and effective as it had previously been with photoshop. The resulting pdf document of the cover was instantly accepted by the Createspace editors, just as the photoshop version of the Socialite covers had been.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsa0JWxeTgMgdH3U1C1r1crZNHT7vOdCRlpOHaKIzbz3mOzJ7bar7FMUK7ydo4qOCdF5g0p7pf39eCIBBXwyUU2f1209vVjRlL7p-q9ZVVuAhuh3az1ecfm3ESwYpgw7bTcyust5LagrTv/s1600/GoodGladysfullbookcover+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsa0JWxeTgMgdH3U1C1r1crZNHT7vOdCRlpOHaKIzbz3mOzJ7bar7FMUK7ydo4qOCdF5g0p7pf39eCIBBXwyUU2f1209vVjRlL7p-q9ZVVuAhuh3az1ecfm3ESwYpgw7bTcyust5LagrTv/s200/GoodGladysfullbookcover+copy.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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Here's the final print book cover:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitSDOYzk7-T0P43p52NVBKNiPRqYSJHMcGGjnsE83oKaM-CeujH78C6fIla24k-QFpk7L7kdNtj_4l9LIRKF6ocYTJkS037BU8QqZymYtrjKCGbbLSw63jP0-KcvDdcI_uK-qOy2Yxmk15/s1600/BookCoverS1B1rev+front.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitSDOYzk7-T0P43p52NVBKNiPRqYSJHMcGGjnsE83oKaM-CeujH78C6fIla24k-QFpk7L7kdNtj_4l9LIRKF6ocYTJkS037BU8QqZymYtrjKCGbbLSw63jP0-KcvDdcI_uK-qOy2Yxmk15/s200/BookCoverS1B1rev+front.png" width="132" /></a></div>
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Finally I decided to tackle the socialite covers. The files were Photoshop files (.psd). I was surprised that GIMP had no problem opening these files, preserving all of the layers that I had created in the past. Although I am not very experienced I found the tools in GIMP were fairly easy to use and with some trial and error, I was able to transform that image of book 1 shown above into this:<br />
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I highly recommend GIMP. I don't know if really seasoned Photoshop users would experience severe limitations in its functionality, but I do know that inexperienced users, like myself, can get very satisfactory results, with minimal effort. The software is free, and there are many, many instructional videos on youtube to get you started.<br />
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To see all of the new book covers for the Socialite series, go to my <a href="http://www.goodgladys.com/" target="_blank">Good Gladys</a> website and scroll to the bottom. I hope that this was helpful for other self-published authors considering trying their skills at creating interesting, effective book covers.<br />
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<br />Martin Renaudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07555632204486612016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3170671569764927656.post-68203816047432386532012-10-08T12:23:00.000-07:002012-10-08T12:24:24.719-07:00Fund This? Will my donation make a difference?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPUlYSykFsQiw6g-Rr9PzbacwLWU9gd8XtgHAupxzakKA-n_RDoPSsZ8AGhq3R4wtxWZg8j8aKdn_0h2lH-Cr67fpKvVyL1advFHlxrgzsIRzjxGwc4Ae65XmvXJHbjzhGquw1CZlKNgoQ/s1600/guiltypleasures.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPUlYSykFsQiw6g-Rr9PzbacwLWU9gd8XtgHAupxzakKA-n_RDoPSsZ8AGhq3R4wtxWZg8j8aKdn_0h2lH-Cr67fpKvVyL1advFHlxrgzsIRzjxGwc4Ae65XmvXJHbjzhGquw1CZlKNgoQ/s320/guiltypleasures.png" width="320" /></a></div>
Crowd Funding sites like Indiegogo, Kickstarter and many others do not hold any of the campaigns that they host accountable to the people who donate. Nevertheless, very few scams have been reported. Most campaigns are genuine and most donors get what they sign up for. Regardless of the type of campaign, be it a tech gadget, a music album or a life-saving operation, the campaign organizer and the donor to that campaign are joining forces, working together to realize a dream.<br />
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There have been numerous stories in the news lately of projects having difficulty responding to donors. As a spokesperson for the very successful Pebble Watch Campaign stated ,<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/18/technology/success-of-crowdfunding-puts-pressure-on-entrepreneurs.html?ref=jennawortham&pagewanted=all" target="_blank">"there are 65000 people who ordered a watch that doesn't exist yet."</a> Obviously there are a lot of poeple who don't mind paying $100+ to hitch a ride on someone else's dream. Crowd funding has made hitching a ride on a dream extremely easy. Millions of people are contributing $1, $10 $25 etc every day to share in someone's crowd funding project.<br />
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And there are a lot of dreams to choose from on crowd funding sites. In the past few posts I have already shown six that I thought were interesting, and worth looking into. In this post I am presenting a few more. Dream along with the creators of these projects in two ways: give them a donation to help the project get completed and/or tell your friends about the project so they can also share the dream.<br />
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The first one is shown in the image above. It is an album of cover songs (donors can even request one of their favourites) all done bluegrass style. Watch the video, it's funny and makes you want the guy to succeed. Here is the link: <a href="http://www.rockethub.com/projects/9136-guilty-pleasures-bluegrass-album-production" target="_blank">Guilty Pleasures</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivFaf3Kt56fgMxQevREL9nYRiqj8u5vACa4EMgWNFT1JlHiEDqTIWXtcTGcjwb3TNE3Zdk4F61j28n7UMP_1OmVeGyzcmxxVrmM_jiRVZhurl_XJc45ngdmwhZkdVIbYu2sMwe6IjLrGol/s1600/chesspeeps" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivFaf3Kt56fgMxQevREL9nYRiqj8u5vACa4EMgWNFT1JlHiEDqTIWXtcTGcjwb3TNE3Zdk4F61j28n7UMP_1OmVeGyzcmxxVrmM_jiRVZhurl_XJc45ngdmwhZkdVIbYu2sMwe6IjLrGol/s200/chesspeeps" width="200" /></a></div>
The second one is a cool variation on the game chess. It's an animated chess game where the pieces show emotion in their facial expressions, body language and movement. This is only a couple steps away from the Wizard's chess game we saw in Harry Potter!<br />
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Here is the link: <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2077855624/chess-peeps-chess-comes-to-life?ref=recently_launched" target="_blank">Chess Peeps</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqLbSMY15OnTMM47uZt3haCMeStfYOK68oVWbYwH4cOMeuIGoAh-TutVT4RUyeL9iyFvqN6E9tgjp6Xyu6zb0QmQdwUuwfKj3x_yi0GwBOoRjXyHHLECX2V1NTdKqHyVgdQjhbRfjFVkN2/s1600/filmfest.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqLbSMY15OnTMM47uZt3haCMeStfYOK68oVWbYwH4cOMeuIGoAh-TutVT4RUyeL9iyFvqN6E9tgjp6Xyu6zb0QmQdwUuwfKj3x_yi0GwBOoRjXyHHLECX2V1NTdKqHyVgdQjhbRfjFVkN2/s200/filmfest.png" width="200" /></a></div>
This third and final one was brought to my attention via the comment section of an earlier blog post. This is a short film, a scary mystery that is complete and ready for presentation at film festivals. They already won an award but need funds to get to more festivals so their film has a chance of success. And they are sooooo close to reaching their goal.<br />
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Here is the link: <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/redchap/drei-von-eins-festival-or-bust" target="_blank">Drei von eins</a> (three of one)<br />
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Finally:<br />
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And of course you can always share in my dream by contributing to my book campaign:<br />
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Here are the links:<br />
<a href="http://www.indiegogo.com/youdecidethegenre?a=653208" style="background-color: white; color: #6728b2; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">INDIEGOGO - MYSTERY OR SCIFI: YOU DECIDE</a><br />
<a href="http://www.gofundme.com/1ahnhk" style="background-color: white; color: #6728b2; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">GOFUNDME - MYSTERY OR SCI-FI: YOU DECIDE</a><br />
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<br />Martin Renaudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07555632204486612016noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3170671569764927656.post-33903476013624408392012-10-05T12:27:00.000-07:002012-10-05T12:27:01.300-07:00Fund this? Give a Boost to the Cool and Quirky in the world of Crowd Funding<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbnzd6dgyY3KLBJ8UqIL4c5E3tKDm8kwjSv8LHOtX9dlSEGBQOiIkuwQY-UGsaDB9jfbZB7HEwWVR-Z2o8Sxw9zJL1fzFJYdzb2D27PJcMirZkQG_p1HsXkXktTn8SLgQgsmPxNujqEfhU/s1600/kolahoop2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbnzd6dgyY3KLBJ8UqIL4c5E3tKDm8kwjSv8LHOtX9dlSEGBQOiIkuwQY-UGsaDB9jfbZB7HEwWVR-Z2o8Sxw9zJL1fzFJYdzb2D27PJcMirZkQG_p1HsXkXktTn8SLgQgsmPxNujqEfhU/s200/kolahoop2.png" width="200" /></a></div>
Anyone who has perused the pages of a crowd funding website realizes that there are a lot people receiving donations for their cause or project, often in the thousands of dollars, from complete strangers. Some of these projects request help with medical emergencies, desperate financial need or similar social cause. As with most crowd funding campaigns, the majority of these cries for help do not get answered. A few, like <a href="http://www.torontosun.com/videos/editors-picks/featured-tor/1213592864001/bus-bully-victim-receives-hefty-cheque/1834796688001" target="_blank">Karen the bus monitor</a>, do the impossible by motivating thousands of people to contribute to the cause. Though that campaign asked for $5000, Karen received over $700 000. This example illustrates one of the main drawbacks of crowd funding: a few projects tend to receive the majority of the donations. Many really good causes and projects fail to raise anything.<br />
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Sites, like Indiegogo and Kickstarter recommend that projects seek their initial funding from family and friends to give their project initial momentum. Only after they have sufficient funding will their project get featured on the site. This means that most projects will not even get exposure from the site hosting it. How then can a campaign gain exposure?<br />
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Gaining traction isn't easy. Rather than focussing on the problem, I am using this blog as a partial solution for some campaigns. The campaigns that I list are ones that I thought were interesting. If you agree, then you should tell others about the campaign. If you really like it, perhaps send a donation their way. Even $1 helps the organizers of the campaign know that someone has seen their page and likes what they are doing. I know from personal experience that both of these things, publicity and donations (of any size) are a huge boost.<br />
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In <a href="http://martinlrenaud.blogspot.ca/2012/10/fund-this-crowdfunding-comments-and.html" target="_blank">yesterdays post</a> I discussed three creative campaigns (a band, a book and a mentalist). Today's selections are a few cool and quirky invention campaigns that I came across this morning and liked. As I said before, I don't know any of the people running these campaigns, and have no vested interest in any these projects.<br />
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The first is the Bubble Worm. A new twist on an old idea. You blow into it and make a cool foam. I know my kids would have had a blast with this when they were young. The creator's campaign is having a slow start so take a look and see if it's something that you would endorse.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSQ8SSkdj4x4IQnZyFJsfZq2YGG-rn7gsAp9011Pljbj7Q-HSEuBG2mhp_HQE_3CCgFxEjCzFCF3SZtVVAD2qCEhWfNQwRYO0-x7lld9cNjCHYCOJxJyNy3-uB3FvTyU5zRnJELSwmXPeT/s1600/bubbleworm+copy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="77" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSQ8SSkdj4x4IQnZyFJsfZq2YGG-rn7gsAp9011Pljbj7Q-HSEuBG2mhp_HQE_3CCgFxEjCzFCF3SZtVVAD2qCEhWfNQwRYO0-x7lld9cNjCHYCOJxJyNy3-uB3FvTyU5zRnJELSwmXPeT/s320/bubbleworm+copy.png" width="320" /></a></div>
Here is the link: <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/286869480/the-worlds-oldest-toy-reinvented-the-bubble-worm?ref=recently_launched" target="_blank">BubbleWorm</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5f3_kOBLiCleYmcD8S9xWJX9MI7NgBDgYm3t-udyEdGpFKrUpnp8EgJf5PB-masaAtphOEs__KMKMoaQ38axnLBtjEJ5stW0F4kRSm9TqZ7gPUdC_SD5XpOnywG_6YVrx4I8aWpkITdd1/s1600/kolahoop.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5f3_kOBLiCleYmcD8S9xWJX9MI7NgBDgYm3t-udyEdGpFKrUpnp8EgJf5PB-masaAtphOEs__KMKMoaQ38axnLBtjEJ5stW0F4kRSm9TqZ7gPUdC_SD5XpOnywG_6YVrx4I8aWpkITdd1/s200/kolahoop.png" width="200" /></a></div>
The second project is an interesting techie version of a hoola-hoop called KolaHoops. It's a hoola hoop with a computer and lots of led lights inside so patterns and colours can flash as it spins. The effect as shown in their photos (one at the top of the page and the one to the right) is really cool.<br />
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Here is the link: <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1724755181/kolahoops?ref=recently_launched" target="_blank">KolaHoops</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt9hj8h5kDxmjr4kSPy3_mMJg9SqfSVZHscuKwCr9XAzUsg4LK9G_yf4zAiFGCCpuis1LKlHpQldDSf-mkSlZoNbagPIAAH5GJdLnNEQSiVqbGxAxV6_-2NZ8gso5GdWwZk7MtHZ4ikdrx/s1600/Helios.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="115" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt9hj8h5kDxmjr4kSPy3_mMJg9SqfSVZHscuKwCr9XAzUsg4LK9G_yf4zAiFGCCpuis1LKlHpQldDSf-mkSlZoNbagPIAAH5GJdLnNEQSiVqbGxAxV6_-2NZ8gso5GdWwZk7MtHZ4ikdrx/s200/Helios.png" width="200" /></a></div>
This last one is for the smartphone crowd. It basically turns your phone into a roaming, tilting robot. It's called Helios. Put the phone into it, than you can control it from any web browser. The camera on the phone gives you a view of where Helios goes. You can move from side to side, in circles and pan up and down. It even has downward sensors to detect table edges so it doesn't drop off. Pretty cool!<br />
Here is the link: <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1452229737/helios-evolve-your-iphone?ref=recently_launched" target="_blank">Helios</a><br />
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<b style="background-color: white; color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Finally</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">I'll share some more projects in a future post. Until then, check them out and also check out my campaign too.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Once again, here are the links for my campaign.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;" /><a href="http://www.indiegogo.com/youdecidethegenre?a=653208" style="background-color: white; color: #6728b2; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">INDIEGOGO - MYSTERY OR SCIFI: YOU DECIDE</a><br style="background-color: white; color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;" /><a href="http://www.gofundme.com/1ahnhk" style="background-color: white; color: #6728b2; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">GOFUNDME - MYSTERY OR SCI-FI: YOU DECIDE</a><br style="background-color: white; color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">I should re-emphasize, if you can't contribute with a donation, no problem. I hope you will please share this post, or even just the link to one or all of these campaigns.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Leave a comment suggesting other campaigns that you think I should discuss in the future. No guarantees that I will write something about your campaign (I will never put negative comments!) but even having your site in the comment section for readers to see will be another way for people to find out about you. </span>Martin Renaudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07555632204486612016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3170671569764927656.post-45473179205017938502012-10-04T14:01:00.001-07:002012-10-05T10:45:27.296-07:00Fund this? Crowdfunding comments and samples<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The number one impediment to a successful crowd funding campaign is lack of exposure. Not enough willing contributors find out about it. I am a crowd funding donor and recipient. As such, here are a few comments on my experiences and a few projects that I saw on crowd funding sites that I think more people should be made aware of. I know you can't contribute to every interesting campaign, neither can I, but we all can spread the word a little bit better, and ask others to do the same so these projects find a large enough pool of contributors to succeed.<br />
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Some people may think that the popularity of crowdfunding sites over the internet has made getting funding for a project, a social cause or sudden need brought on by personal tragedy a cinch. Not so! In fact most projects on Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or any of the other sites fail to reach their target; many fail to raise any money at all.<br />
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<b>My Experiences: </b><br />
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My own experience is fairly typical. I first created an Indiegogo campaign in June to raise funds for the marketing and distribution of my new four book series Socialite 1. I am very grateful to all those who participated and supported the campaign. I followed the advice on the site, told family and friends, used Facebook, Twitter, Reddit etc. I had excellent perks for donors. Nevertheless, at the end of the campaign I received less than 10% of my goal.<br />
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My campaign ran on Indiegogo, which allows flexible funding, so I did get to keep the money that was contributed. The many people who use Kickstarter and don't reach their funding goal, get nothing. Kickstarter only pays out when the goal has been reached. I feel bad for them. Not all of them: some projects are just weird.<br />
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I just started a second <a href="http://www.indiegogo.com/youdecidethegenre?a=653208" target="_blank">campaign</a> to raise funds to publish another book. I am running it as a contest: I am writing two books (shown in the image above) and I will decide which one to finish and publish first based on the donations by readers who prefer either Mystery or Science Fiction. I hope that by giving people a say into the publication of a new book, the campaign may get more exposure than my previous one.<br />
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This campaign is at Indiegogo. (Creating a campaign on Kickstarter is not an option for non-US citizens). I am also trying a new crowdfunding platform called <a href="http://www.gofundme.com/1ahnhk" target="_blank">GoFundMe</a>. These two platforms are similar in that they allow people to donate to projects and causes. They are different in a number of important aspects for those running a campaign. Firstly, Indiegogo requires that a minimum of $500 must be donated with the first two weeks of the campaign or else the campaign will never be included in their search results, shown on their homepage or get any exposure to their crowdfunding community. My first attempt at crowdfunding missed the mark, so my campaign never really got off the ground. By day 15, I couldn't even find it on their site.<br />
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<a href="http://www.gofundme.com/1ahnhk" target="_blank">GoFundMe</a> on the other hand requires that $100 be raised prior to them listing it on their site and making it available to searches. They don't put a time limit on campaigns either, so your cause isn't dead after two weeks if you don't get $100.<br />
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So I am trying both and will post updates on their progress over time.<br />
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<b>Other interesting campaigns:</b><br />
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I don't believe we should ever ask for something without giving something back when we can. As I said I can't give to every campaign that I like, but I can give them a little more exposure. So here are a few campaigns that I like. Note, I don't have any connection to these campaigns, and have never met any of the people running them. I just like what they are trying to do.<br />
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The first one is a blues band from Chicago: I like their bluesy sound, and the perks they offer are reasonable - only $10 helps them out and gets you a copy of their debut CD. Awesome! Here is the link:<br />
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<a href="http://www.indiegogo.com/thehooksbanddebutep?contribution_success=true&pledge_id=1198197&a=653208" target="_blank">THE HOOKS</a><br />
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The second campaign was for a book. I liked the concept of the story: time travel becomes possible but people are allergic to it. There are lots of ways the story could go that would be interesting. The author generously gave donors a copy of the ebook too. This campaign was at Indiegogo, but it expired there before the author reached the target. I'm putting it here so anyone who likes the concept can watch for the book, or email the author for a copy. I am also including this book because I'm sure the author still wants people to know about her hard work. </div>
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<a href="http://www.pozible.com/index.php/archive/index/8196/description/0/0" target="_blank">ALLERGIC TO TIME</a><br />
(update: I just learned that the author has another campaign running to fund editing. Here is the link:<a href="http://www.indiegogo.com/allergictoediting?a=653208" target="_blank"> Editing Allergic to Time</a>.)<br />
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The third and final one comes from Kickstarter and is for a Mentalist in Utah to fund promotion of his first stage show. I think his pitch is kind of cool, and I love the TV show the Mentalist. Also, one of the books in my campaign involves a mystic/medium so I have done a lot of research on this form of entertainment. If you think it's cool, then tell other people, and perhaps send a donation to that campaign.<br />
Here is the link:<br />
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<a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/frankbright/games-of-the-mind?ref=category" target="_blank">GAMES OF THE MIND</a><br />
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There are a ton of interesting projects out there. Perhaps I'll share some more in a future post.<br />
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Once again, here are the links for my campaign.<br />
<a href="http://www.indiegogo.com/youdecidethegenre?a=653208" target="_blank">INDIEGOGO - MYSTERY OR SCIFI: YOU DECIDE</a><br />
<a href="http://www.gofundme.com/1ahnhk" target="_blank">GOFUNDME - MYSTERY OR SCI-FI: YOU DECIDE</a><br />
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If you can't contribute with a donation, no problem. I hope you will please share this post, or even just the link to one or all of these campaigns.<br />
<br />Martin Renaudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07555632204486612016noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3170671569764927656.post-23615689022427166692012-04-11T15:13:00.001-07:002012-04-11T15:35:57.439-07:00Some revision notes and epub conversion lessons<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I just finished a full revision of the four books of Socialite 1 and learned a few lessons that some of you may find helpful. This stage of the self-publishing process was initiated by a desire to make the books available in print form. I choose CreateSpace for the outlet because it's free, has a lot of helpful tools and templates for the design of the books and the covers (the image shown here is my final version of the cover for Book 2, created using the latest free demo version of Photoshop) and offers very reasonable royalties…but mostly because it's free to create the books. This process was worthwhile, though time-consuming. <br />
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I began the edit step by placing the text of each book in a Word template (supplied by CreateSpace) that I selected for the size that I wanted for the final books. I choose the 5X8 format. I initially wrote the books in Pages - Apple's version of Word - and the cut and paste into Word was simple. There were a couple of glitches involving page numbering and section breaks but nothing too complicated. I loved that the margins were automatically adjusted for alternate pages to account for the binding. I read helpful articles on the CreateSpace site about editing and cover design. These resources led me to construct a short checklist for the final product. Going through the checklist for each of the four books ensured consistency across the chapters and across the four books in the series.<br />
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<b>Checklist:</b><br />
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<ol>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">start chapters on odd numbered pages: this is a matter of personal preference, but at the very least I wanted to ensure that the book title page, dedication page, table of contents, first chapter, acknowledgement page and author's page started on an odd numbered page so that the reader would see it on the right side (not the left) when they opened the book.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">empty pages that separate sections or pad the end are totally empty - no numbers or headers</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">justify text in chapters - I had found problems with this for my ebooks since I first created them for the Amazon Kindle and their .mobi format doesn't allow justification. In this iteration I fixed that issue (though I noticed that after sending the files to Amazon's Kindle site the new books revert back to left aligned text.)</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Don't indent first paragraph of each chapter. I set the tabs to 0 and used paragraph formatting (at 1.5 inches) for the remaining chapters as was suggested and it worked great.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ellipses should be created using the single character rather than 3 periods - on a MAC this is done using the keyboard shortcut Alt + semicolon</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">use proper hyphens, en- dashes and em-dashes - I found this article very helpful to fix any improper forms of these characters in the text (<a href="http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/finetypography/ht/dashes_hyphens.htm">http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/finetypography/ht/dashes_hyphens.htm</a> )</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">I had used 1.5 line spacing for my earlier epubs but found that single spacing looked better for the print versions</span></li>
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Once I had the text looking the way I wanted it I used the Edit-Find function to check that each of these points on the checklist was consistently followed. </div>
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I loaded these books into CreateSpace, along with the newly created covers (again created using the appropriate template for the 5X8 book size. I am now awaiting delivery of the book proofs. Soon these will be available for marketing to book stores.</div>
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<b>Creating new Epub Files:</b><br />
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Having completed the editing of the text, I had to make the ebooks consistent with the soon-to-be released print books. For this stage I copied and pasted the Word version of the text back into Pages since Word does not have a SAVE to EPUB function, but Pages does. I reused the formatting from my earlier files that worked as epubs ensuring that each type of text was assigned to a unique "style". For example, the chapter titles were formatted as "Heading 2" in the paragraph styles section on Pages. These styles are critical for proper conversion to the xhtml language of the ePub files. Again, this was quite simple, but errors here can cause problems later, so I checked and rechecked all of the styles for consistency. Once everything looked good I used the SHARE as EPUB feature in Pages to create the four files that would work on eReaders (iPads, Kobo, Sony etc.) except for Kindle.<br />
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I tested these on an iPad, iPod touch and a Kobo and they looked great - text was justified as I wanted, the table of contents worked great and the cover looked amazing. <br />
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The next step was to create the .mobi files for the Amazon Kindle.<br />
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Creating Kindle files:<br />
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I loaded each file into a free epub editing program called Sigil. The program window is divided into sections to facilitate editing each part of the epub (an epub is actually a set of files and Sigil enables the readers to change each portion of it). Learning how to use Sigil isn't hard, but figuring out which parts of the epub to change takes a little time. I just Google each thing that I wanted to change and readily found answers to all of my questions. Here are the most important things I learned:<br />
<ol>
<li>paragraph padding - ePubs created from Pages appear in Sigil with each paragraph separated by a huge gap. This was annoying. I found out that Pages inserts a piece of code at the beginning of each chapter that creates this padding. The code looks like this: div.sgc-2 {white-space:pre-wrap}. I deleted all instances of that code and the paragraphs came out looking professional, without all that white-space.</li>
<li>The book browser on the left side of the Sigil window shows all of the files in the ePub - one of them "cover.xhtml" will cause the Kindle to show two pages of your cover. I simply deleted this file (right clicked on it and hit Remove). Now the kindle will show a single cover of the book.</li>
<li>The book Browser does not have the table of contents file needed by the kindle - I created a new one (right clicked on the "TEXT" folder and selected "New File" then renamed it to "toc.xhtml". I found a version of this file on a website and copied the code from that version into the code window for my file, then renamed the chapters accordingly. Here is a sample for anyone who wants to use my toc.xhtml code (you don't have to understand all of it for it to work):
<div style="-qt-block-indent: 0; -qt-user-state: 1; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-indent: 0px;">
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<div style="-qt-block-indent: 0; -qt-paragraph-type: empty; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-indent: 0px;">
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<div style="-qt-block-indent: 0; -qt-user-state: 1; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-indent: 0px;">
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<div style="-qt-block-indent: 0; -qt-user-state: 1; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-indent: 0px;">
<title></title></div>
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<li>Besides a few other minor adjustments, like asking Sigil to generate a separate table of contents file using the section on the left side of the Sigil window (this is the toc.ncx file a separate table of contents file from the first that must be in an epub) I had to add a piece of code into the file called "content.opf" to tell the eReader that I added a toc.xhtml file. the line of code makes the section called "guide" look like this:</li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvizXU84Pgw3VUxIRsx9i8IWEUzwTJuokDcQ0KITwRei-XQFz2k3bfC3VXaMddty9W8dF3oSx5itYwLAmddA4WHtWuqA2P7tQKTXSyAOvpRxi4c-yDBmQYwsLOd1SB2CE8IHvS6XPng0Ch/s1600/opf.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="42" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvizXU84Pgw3VUxIRsx9i8IWEUzwTJuokDcQ0KITwRei-XQFz2k3bfC3VXaMddty9W8dF3oSx5itYwLAmddA4WHtWuqA2P7tQKTXSyAOvpRxi4c-yDBmQYwsLOd1SB2CE8IHvS6XPng0Ch/s400/opf.tiff" width="400" /></a></div>
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Getting the Kindle files to look perfect was a little tedious but in two days I had all four books looking great. I tested them using the free Kindle reader application on my mac - the latest version allows me to switch between different devices (Kindle fire, Kindle eReader and mobile versions of the Kindle reader) so I could adjust my ePubs for maximum compatibility. It also automatically converts the ePub into a .mobi file. When everything looked great I sent these .mobi files to Kindle and voila - SUCCESS!</div>
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Please let me know if any of these instructions are unclear and I'd be happy to clarify. There are many steps that I did not include in this post, so leave a comment or question if you are having problems with your own book conversions.</div>
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And - check out my books - the first one Bees to Benny is still free as an ebook. The new versions of my books are available to download at Amazon's Kindle site and will soon be available at Apple's iBookstore and at the Kobo ebookstore.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Martin%20Renaud" style="color: #800040; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Amazon Kindle</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Martin%20Renaud</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/martin-renaud/id477163464?mt=11" style="color: #800040; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Apple iPad, Ipod, Iphone</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">: http://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/martin-renaud/id477163464?mt=11</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=Martin+Renaud+Socialite" style="color: #800040; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Kobo</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">: http://www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=Martin+Renaud+Socialite</span></div>
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<br />Martin Renaudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07555632204486612016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3170671569764927656.post-5560904821871268102012-03-27T11:44:00.001-07:002012-03-27T11:45:27.755-07:00What do Aliens look like?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0MiI4NfBzYHlzNO0uWl0snsdbfs6J7YAElqFsx76UdbfM9h-DSyWM1hC1EiLXvCRYDtln8eJlXh_4AdPs62LN3ZGJP_5dVk5FVdAHDFjNiwP5xFxbzv_CpNXBHZeGzqgO7em72dA_vb82/s1600/aliens.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0MiI4NfBzYHlzNO0uWl0snsdbfs6J7YAElqFsx76UdbfM9h-DSyWM1hC1EiLXvCRYDtln8eJlXh_4AdPs62LN3ZGJP_5dVk5FVdAHDFjNiwP5xFxbzv_CpNXBHZeGzqgO7em72dA_vb82/s200/aliens.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Science fiction has offered us a plethora of images of potential alien life. They are all rooted, to some extent, in assumptions about differences in their evolutionary history as compared to humans. Some of these images are bug like, some warrior like, while others look more like an average, hairless, baby faced human (like the image shown here.) Most presume that aliens would share certain human-like characteristics like bipedalism (walk on two legs), bilateral symmetry (right and left sides are mirror images of each other), and a similar arrangement of the major body parts (head on top with eyes and mouth, long central torso etc.) These add familiarity for the reader but lack a level of ingenuity that we expect in fiction.<br />
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In the <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/socialitebooks/" target="_blank">Socialite 1 book series</a>, the aliens, Ray, Grace and Elle Amis, were designed on their planet to look exactly like humans. This was important for the story since they had to blend in and be accepted by the Liebe family if they were going to have a chance of completing their mission. I did not even describe the Zozian species in any detail, except for a few general remarks. For example, in Book 2: Mission to Mission, Elle and Jacob are walking through the forest near Harrison Hot Springs in British Columbia and Elle explains why she believes that we are never alone:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Jacob stumbled on a decayed piece of cedar, revealing a community of beetles, and isopods. “Don’t step on them!” shrieked Elle. She bent down and looked at the assortment of life. “They have such a small circle of life, especially compared to these huge trees around us, that can live for hundreds of years. Even compared to ourselves: within a year these little ones are born, become adults, reproduce then die. Although their circle of life is small, they deserve just as much respect as creatures with larger life cycles.” They cautiously stepped over the crawling creatures. “You see - even we aren’t alone out here.”</span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Oh, is that what you meant. What about in space? That astronaut stuck up there on the space station - he’s alone. There aren’t even any bacteria up there.”</span> </blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“He’s not alone, either,” argued Elle. “He’s in constant communication with the people in Houston, who are trying to figure out a way to get him down.”</span> </blockquote>
</blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“He could simply turn off his speakers, turn his back on Earth if he wanted.”</span> </blockquote>
</blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Even then, he would just be facing all the other inhabited planets in the universe,” said Elle. She was skipping over a log as she spoke, pulling on Jacob’s arm, forcing him to skip as well.</span> </blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“You believe in alien’s, do you?” asked Jacob, sarcastically.</span> </blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“My dad does, that’s for sure,” said Elle. “He says that life on other planets is a certainty.”</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Really? Do you mean, life like us?”</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Now who’s being silly? They aren’t like us...not exactly. He told me that they have to look a lot different from us, because of different evolutionary histories, and different planetary conditions.”</span> </blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“It sounds like your dad has thought a lot about this.” Jacob tried not to sound too skeptical, or else Elle might think he was judging her father’s sanity. “I guess while you were growing up he had a lot of time to think about these things, thoroughly.”</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Now you’re just being silly.” She stopped, looked into Jacob’s eyes and asked, “is it so hard to imagine life beyond this atmosphere? When you look at the stars at night, don’t you sometimes wonder if someone may be looking back at you?”</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Yeah. Sometimes. I just never went the extra step that your father has in speculating on what they look like.”</span> </blockquote>
</blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Try it.” said Elle.</span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
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Elle is subtly trying to get Jacob to believe in the possibly of alien life, a necessity if he is to eventually accept that she is alien. In the backstory to Socialite, the <a href="http://zozian-diaries.blogspot.ca/2012/03/gollards-diary-during-expedition-to.html" target="_blank">Zozian Diaries</a>, Ray Amis is translating the diaries of previous Zozian explorers to Earth. Ray's commentary is meant to allow humans to understand what Zozians are like and how they think. I used this format so that I could periodically add details of Zozian physiology, sociology and psychology to that story. For example, in <a href="http://zozian-diaries.blogspot.ca/2012/03/part-2-patterns-of-light-and-animals.html" target="_blank">Part 2</a>, Ray explains why the Zozians used to call humans "animals with holes" by describing how Zozians look. Keep watching for additions to the Zozian Diaries as I will add new parts to the story each week, explaining more about these aliens and their adventures.<br />
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Remember: Book 1: Bees to Benny is still free at:<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Martin%20Renaud" style="color: #800040; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Amazon Kindle</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Martin%20Renaud</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/martin-renaud/id477163464?mt=11" style="color: #800040; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Apple iPad, Ipod, Iphone</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">: http://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/martin-renaud/id477163464?mt=11</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=Martin+Renaud+Socialite" style="color: #800040; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Kobo</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">: http://www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=Martin+Renaud+Socialite</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><b>Please tell your friends about Socialite Books - people are more likely to buy books that their friends recommend than books they find on their own.</b></span></blockquote>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Find socialite books on Facebook at <a href="http://www.facebook.com/socialitebooks" target="_blank">http:www.facebook.com/socialitebooks</a></span></b></blockquote>
<br />Martin Renaudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07555632204486612016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3170671569764927656.post-52372920291154862592012-03-26T11:18:00.000-07:002012-03-26T11:19:42.101-07:00Today's Inspiration: people in my life<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I remember a scene from the comedy series "Kids in the Hall": a writer is struggling with his work when the image of Queen Elizabeth (Scott Thompson, of course) appears above his head advising him to "write what you know." After all, when requiring advice we Canadians always turn to the Queen of England. I'm not sure if I am remembering the scene correctly. Regardless, the sentiment has value: writing what you know is good advice. In developing characters for my stories, I often draw from the people that I know. Often this takes shape as the character interacts in a particular scene of a story.<br />
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The characters in my books are never based on a single person, though some people may see themselves or someone they know in the actions or descriptions portrayed in a particular scene. For example, the main character of Socialite, fourteen year old Elle Amis, is an amalgamation of some of the most important people I know, my wife, and my kids. I wrote her character description years ago for a very different story that I didn't finish. When I decided to begin writing again, after my wife's passing, I was reviewing some of my previous notes and became reacquainted with Elle and realized immediately that she was the femme fatale of my books. I still find that her character drives the creation of her own scenes as I am writing.<br />
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One of my favourite minor characters in Socialite is Mrs. Therese Austen. She is an older woman, who lives a few doors down the street from the main characters, and is often seen walking her little dog Bixby. She was partly inspired by my sister-in-law's mother, who talked very softly and had a way of making you feel like you were the most important person in the world. In the books, Mrs. Austen treats Jacob in exactly this way: to her, Jacob Liebe is the most important person in the world. When I was writing the description of Mrs. Austen the image that kept coming to mind was one of the Queen mum in a green cloche hat - I couldn't resist how exquisitely Canadian it felt to describe her as I saw her in my head. I liked the character so much that I decided in the early stages of preparing Socialite 1 that she would play a major role in the ending of this series, as you will see when you read Book 4: Unless Rules. <br />
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None of the characters in my books are exact replications of people I know. Instead, I tend to see a scene play out in my head, and imagine how the emotions or reactions should be described. In the process a memory of someone acting similarly will come to mind, and often that imagined person is someone I know. Sometimes, the process happens in reverse: I'll remember how someone handled a particular situation in a clever or unusual way and make a note to use that memory at a later time. The ordinariness of everyday life is often interrupted by one of these brilliant, living vignettes - unfortunately we tend to forget them all too quickly. When looking for inspiration as I'm writing, I kick myself sometimes for not heeding the advice given in another Kids in the Hall, Scott Thompson skit: speaking as the character Buddy Cole he ends a comedic monologue with: <br />
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"<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">It all reminds me of something that Moliere once said to Guy de Maupassant at a cafe in Vienna... That's nice. You should write it down."</span></blockquote>
Here is a small scene with Mrs. Austen meeting Ray Amis for the first time from S1B2: Mission to Mission. After fourteen years of seclusion in his house, all the while watching and learning about his neighbours by watching projections from the many cameras that his daughter's chauffeur, Morse, had installed around the neighbourhood, Ray Amis is finally going for his first walk outside just after dawn. He doesn't get far before his peaceful solitude in interrupted by Mrs. Austen and Bixby.<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>He was alone in his thoughts as he walked past the sleepy houses lining Homedale Street. As he reached the end of the block, he noticed an old woman walking her dog coming toward him. He recognized her as Mrs. Therèse Austen. “Good Morning,” he offered, smiling cordially.</span> </blockquote>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Where’s your dog?” she kindly asked.</blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“My...what makes you think I have a dog?” he asked puzzled.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“No one comes out at this time without a dog,” she reasoned. “Here you are, so what happened to your dog? Did he get off his leash?” Ray looked curiously at her. He had seen her many times on the AmisVision screens, walking her dog to and from her house. His curiosity had prompted him to ask Morse to install additional cameras along her route, so that he could learn more about this strange behavior. For hours, some days, he would watch her slowly walking, sometimes to the grocery store, sometimes to the diner, but usually, just casually walking in circles, cleaning up after her pet. She always wore the same lime-green coat, with a matching Cloche hat. She was also constantly talking to her dog. </span> </blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I have no dog, nor have I ever felt the compulsion to subject a creature of this planet to subservience or confinement,” he confessed.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span>“No dog. Well, that <span style="letter-spacing: 0px; text-decoration: underline;">is</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> new. And you live close by?” she continued, undaunted by issues of animal slavery.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I live at the yellow house down there,” he said, pointing down the street, no longer afraid of being identified by his neighbours.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“You mean the house across from Jacob’s?”</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Yes. Are you one of Jacob’s friends?” asked Ray.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Oh ye-e-es. I am,” she said, enthusiastically. “Ever since he was a little boy. I used to watch him sometimes when his mom would go shopping. A wonderful, kind, intelligent boy. Are you a friend, too?”</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“My daughter is.”</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I hope she’s pretty. Is she pretty? I was hoping that Jacob would meet a pretty girl.”</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I am her father, of course, so my opinion may seem biased.”</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Are you new here?” she asked, moving on to another subject without completing the previous one.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span>“No,” said Ray. He was becoming tense due to his lack of control of the conversation and the inquisitional verbal delivery of his neighbor. He didn’t want to be rude during his first, <span style="letter-spacing: 0px; text-decoration: underline;">real</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> conversation with an outsider, so he answered, “I’ve lived here for many years.”</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“You don’t walk much. I’ve never seen you. I guess you drive instead.”</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“No, I don’t drive. As it happens, this is the first time that I’ve taken a walk around here.”</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“You don’t have a car and you don’t walk, how do you get around?” she asked, looking concerned and confused.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I have a car, but it’s just for my daughter. She has a driver who takes her places,” explained Ray, trying to direct the discussion in a new direction.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“You don’t go with her?” she asked, still confused.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“No, I don’t go with her.”</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span>“Poor girl, all alone. Well not quite alone, now that she has Jacob. Then, how <span style="letter-spacing: 0px; text-decoration: underline;">do</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> you get around?” Mrs. Austen repeated.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I must confess that I don’t want to seem rude by avoiding or refusing to answer your benign question. I absolutely don’t condone dishonesty. So, perhaps we should conclude our discussion for now and continue some other time on a different subject.”</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Perhaps you could borrow someone else’s dog for your walks,” suggested Mrs. Austen.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Why would I want to do that?” returned Ray.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Then we could talk about our dogs,” said Mrs. Austen plainly, without a hint of sarcasm in her voice. </span> </blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“You are very astute. I look forward to speaking with you again some time,” said Ray.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>All four books in the Socialite series are available at:</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Martin%20Renaud" style="color: #800040; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Amazon Kindle</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Martin%20Renaud</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/martin-renaud/id477163464?mt=11" style="color: #800040; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Apple iPad, iPod, iPhone</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">: http://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/martin-renaud/id477163464?mt=11</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=Martin+Renaud+Socialite" style="color: #800040; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Kobo</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">: http://www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=Martin+Renaud+Socialite</span></span></div>Martin Renaudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07555632204486612016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3170671569764927656.post-27696890908480955192012-03-22T13:07:00.000-07:002012-03-22T13:15:38.571-07:00Zozian Diaries - a new beginning for Socialite<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I have a ton of ideas for expanding the Socialite series into the future. Currently I am working on the second set of books which will be called Socialite II: Duality (those of you who have finished Socialite 1 will understand the significance of the title.) I have also sketched out many of the scenes for Socialite III and Socialite IV. All of these series follow the timeline set in the original series, and gradually move into the future following the lives of Elle Amis and Jacob Liebe. When I started to conceive of their story, my initial notes had the story beginning many years before the arrival of Ray and Grace Amis on Earth. I scrapped the idea of including the stories of the early Zozian explores from Socialite 1, and did not want the next three series to fall backward in time either. Instead, I decided to develop these stories separately as the Zozian Diaries.<br />
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The Zozian Diaries cover the voyage that preceded the Amis' journey. In Socialite 1: Book 3, Grace and Ray described the importance of that expedition to the Zozian people. Here is a brief section of that scene:<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> "Our people have been traveling here every couple of centuries since we discovered your planet, oh, about eight hundred years ago. Back then, our people were amazingly creative and vibrant, scientifically and artistically. They had solved many of the challenges that currently affect your planet: energy shortages, poverty, food shortages. Health care, disease and longevity, were the only major hurdles left to conquer. </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Our first expeditions brought back plants, insects and various other samples. Samples from other planets proved useless to us. The compatibility of the genetic material on Earth with our own, however, led to the development of the first siloplasts. These technological wonders, enabled us to combine small DNA sequences with our own. Within a hundred years of that discovery, we had cured most diseases on our planet and increased life expectancy by about twenty years. So you see, your planet and ours are already parts of a greater whole.”</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Your people?” said Tim with skepticism and a little fear. He and Mandy, silently communicated with a glance at each other, their agreement that Ray must be delusional.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Well, as I told you before,” Ray continued, undaunted, “the people of Zozia Lee, look a lot different from you and me. When I was a child, I felt like a stranger, an outsider. We all did. In fact, that was one of the conditions of the experiment, to ensure that we would be more comfortable and content when we reached our new home. Blood samples brought back on the very last expedition, the same expedition that brought the ‘great book’ to us, enabled our scientists to reconstruct a human-like genome - part human, part zozian. Mistakes were made, frightfully ugly mistakes, and they were treated with utmost sympathy and compassion. As was I, and the forty or so others who survived in the later stages of the experiment. That’s right, Grace and I were part of that same experiment that produced Benny. We were the successes, the ones from whom two would be chosen for the most ambitious expedition attempted. As you can attest, we look, and talk and, well, in many ways, behave like humans. So, for the first time, a Zozian explorer would be able to interact, and to live with the human population. Grace and I were chosen.”</span></span></blockquote>
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I am developing the diaries as a translated version of the original diaries written by the explorers of the expedition that prepared the way for the Amis' mission. The translation is being conducted by Ray Amis. He will add notes throughout the text to help explain unusual or unclear comments made by the explorers. These diaries will cover the discoveries and inadvertent interactions of those explorers with humans in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. I am presenting these diaries as a web log. Each week I will add a few days or key events to the log. Readers can follow along with the adventure weekly, as I am making this freely available on the website listed below. In part 1, the explores have arrived and are watching Earth from the vantage point of the moon (hence the picture above.) Eventually they will make their way onto the planet. I hope that you enjoy this new addition to the Socialite story.</div>
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Click on this link: <a href="http://zozian-diaries.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Zozian Diaries</a></div>
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Click on a link below to get the first set of books: (Book 1: Bees to Benny is still free at each location)</div>
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And please leave a comment or review of the books once you have read them.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Martin%20Renaud" style="color: #800040; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Amazon Kindle</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Martin%20Renaud</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/martin-renaud/id477163464?mt=11" style="color: #800040; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Apple iPad, Ipod, Iphone</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">: http://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/martin-renaud/id477163464?mt=11</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=Martin+Renaud+Socialite" style="color: #800040; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Kobo</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">: http://www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=Martin+Renaud+Socialite</span></div>Martin Renaudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07555632204486612016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3170671569764927656.post-90952898422717154952012-02-28T23:40:00.001-08:002012-02-28T23:40:10.391-08:00Writing without borders - letting the muse do the typing.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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While writing Socialite 1, I found that I enjoyed the process the most when I let the feeling of a scene take over. Usually, after getting the kids either off to school or off to bed, I would sit at the computer and scan the excel spreadsheet on which I had each scene for each book described in a single sentence. For example, one scene in the spreadsheet said: "Elle recites original poem during Jacob's English class". That brief description allowed me to recall the whole scene as I had originally imagined it. So as I was saying, I would sit at the computer and look over the scenes and eventually, one particular scene would begin to get my mind racing, developing the action, the dialogue, etc. My fingers would get typing and a little while later the scene would be complete. This process worked well, except during the scenes that were meant to contain music, or poetry.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUKHUpnCpxg9VlOaKrAMUD0Vae8XRoerwita0TrNk8marOQVhUJ3nUGeMWjZIs7Zr0DB4lnqY6ir_3GM92qHyQ1xlkOGvWd5_raD_b0_OsfIMlsgMo77x9eq2ikN2bW1rdzR0i5nWEic93/s1600/poetrytiff.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUKHUpnCpxg9VlOaKrAMUD0Vae8XRoerwita0TrNk8marOQVhUJ3nUGeMWjZIs7Zr0DB4lnqY6ir_3GM92qHyQ1xlkOGvWd5_raD_b0_OsfIMlsgMo77x9eq2ikN2bW1rdzR0i5nWEic93/s320/poetrytiff.tiff" width="320" /></a><br />
The music and poetry scenes seemed to require a more organic approach. Often I would look at one of the scenes and imagine how the action might develop, but without the central music or poem, I just couldn't get anywhere. If I had a sense of how the song or poem would begin, I would go for a walk, usually to get a Starbucks' coffee, and arrive home with a complete scene ready to type into the computer.<br />
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In the case of the poetry scene mentioned above, I knew that I wanted Elle's poetry to be original - unlike anything that the reader had experienced (like the image of poetry above). At the same time it had to be something that would allow for humour in the scene and enable the kids in the class to interact with Elle. On one of my evening walks, the poem and poetry format came to me quickly and seemingly without effort. It probably wouldn't have, if I had stressed about coming up with it while writing book 1. Since I was writing all four books simultaneously, and out of order, it didn't matter to me that book 1 and book 2 had both been mostly complete when I finally was inspired to conceive of the "Hidden Word" format of Elle's poem. I knew that scene was going to be in chapter two, but just left it incomplete until it came to me.<br />
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That scene is one of my favourites in book 1. It is the first time that Jacob hears Elle speak, and only the second time that he and Elle interact (earlier that day, Jacob's nose is smashed with a soccer ball, and Elle runs over and wipes the blood from his nose - without saying anything.) The scene is also the second time that Elle modifies her voice to affect the behaviour of one of the other characters in the book. Throughout the book series I play with causes of behaviour and the attribution or more frequently misattribution made by the characters for their own behaviour. After this scene, Jacob can't get Elle out of his thoughts and attributes those persistent thoughts to a normal human interest of a boy for a girl, though the reader knows that there is a lot more going on that is not normal and not human.<br />
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Here is the entire scene:<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Just as class was beginning, Matt, sitting right behind Jacob, jabbed his sunglasses - a permanent accessory propped on top of his bald head - into Jacob’s side and whispered, “Hey loverboy, look! Your personal nurse just walked in.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Mr. Estlin, who taught both English nine and ten, motioned for Elle to wait in the corner. He was tall, about six foot five inches and looked very thin in his tight blue jeans, tan corduroy shirt, and pencil thin black tie that barely reached the middle of his belly. His frizzy, permed, long, brown hair made him look at least five inches taller. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Alright! Let’s quiet down,” he began. He had a commanding voice that, combined with his physical appearance, ensured cooperation; the class quickly became quiet. “I gave all of my classes a poetry assignment in the first week of school and promised a prize for the best composition. Not everyone took the contest seriously,” at this a few students, including Jacob, laughed, “but a few of you handed in some excellent work. Unfortunately there could only be one winner, and I am sorry to say that none of my grade tens could compete with the amazing poem that was written by this grade nine student, Elle Amis. I can now reveal the prize, as it is something that will benefit all of you. As the winner, Elle has won the opportunity to read her poem in front of both of my classes, so that we can all applaud her work of art.” Some of the class groaned, others laughed, but most of them were just happy to have lost the competition. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Jacob felt a little sad for Elle. As he saw it, she had both won and lost. He felt like Elle was being cheated somehow. He spoke up, “Mr. Estlin, don’t you think that since Elle is new to the school you might give her something like a pen, or a book instead.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Matt, misinterpreting Jacob’s intentions added, “Yeah, spare us the torture, please!” The class erupted in laughter. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Jacob felt embarrassed that he may have just made things worse for Elle. He tried to clarify, “I just think that it’s probably a little embarrassing for her to be forced into standing in front of a class of strangers, you know, in the limelight.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Mr. Estlin considered this request for a moment then turned to Elle and said, “do you feel uncomfortable in this situation, Elle? If you would rather not present your poem, I could read it instead.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Elle looked at the faces of the students in front of her, smiled and in a sweet, confident voice answered, “I’m fine.”</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“There you have it, Mr. Liebe. She’s fine. Let’s give her the floor, everyone,” said Mr. Estlin. “First, I should explain the type of poem she has created, as we haven’t covered this particular style yet. She created her poem in the newest poetic format called ‘hidden word’ created and popularized by our country’s current poet laureate, Aladar Roch. In ‘hidden word’ poems, the last word in each stanza is omitted; yes, that’s right, it’s just left out. The text of each stanza is cleverly constructed to suggest the identity of that final missing word. I think it would be fun if we all shout out the first word that comes to mind as Elle pauses at the end of every fourth line where the hidden word is located. Let’s see if Elle was successful in getting us all to think of the same thing. Her poem is titled </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">Cicada</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">. You can begin whenever you are ready, Elle.”</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Elle stood at the front of the class, looking poised and confident. She didn’t look directly at Jacob, though he was now staring at her. She flicked her long hair over her shoulder and began to read her winning composition. Most of the students in the class appeared bored - it </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">was</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> poetry after all. She read slowly and loudly:</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Buried I hid</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> Eight years then five</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> You thought I was dead</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> In truth, barely ________</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Elle paused, and a few kids in the front shouted “Alive.” Matt yelled, “Sex!” The students looked at him and he whispered, “he said to say the first thing that came to mind.” A few students laughed, but not Jacob. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Elle waited a few seconds for the class to become quiet again, then continued,</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Escaping the tragic</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> Avoiding the sin</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> As if by magic</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> I shed my _______</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Elle paused again, and this time most of the class shouted, “Skin.” Mr. Estlin cast a smile at Elle, though she didn’t see it. She continued to stare at the class and concluded with,</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This voice will assist</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> So love I can bring</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> No lover resists</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> Whenever I ______</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“Sing!” the whole class shouted in unison. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Mr. Estlin looked very pleased. “Great job, Elle. It worked perfectly. How about we give a round of applause to our poet!”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The students clapped, and the boys cheered loudly, as boys will always do for a beautiful girl. When the cheering reached a peak she spoke up in the most imploring and sweet voice, “you are just so nice. I can’t thank you enough for being so gracious. I beg one favour, though. Could I please recite a very short poem written by my favorite author? It is very short and I am sure you will like it. Please?” This last word echoed in the class room for a few seconds before the boys broke out even louder than before in thunderous cheers. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Mr. Estlin was proud of the enthusiasm in his class. He asked, “who is the author?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>She replied, “E.E. Cummings.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Oh what a treat! We would love to hear one of his classic poems.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>She waited for silence, then began, “I carry your heart with me” with a different voice than she used for her earlier poem. This voice was deeper, almost husky, and sexy. The atmosphere became cave quiet as her voice bounced off the classroom walls. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>For Jacob, it seemed that each word took a few seconds to cross the gap from her mouth to his ears. Her eyes moved around the room, but her voice, destined to find him, seemed to get lost in a search for the most worthy listener, eventually choosing Jacob. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>When she spoke the line, “here is the deepest secret nobody knows,” he hung onto those words wanting nothing more than to know what her secret was. Then he was rewarded with the answer as she slowly, purposefully whispered, “I carry your heart (I carry it in my heart)”. He started to feel embarrassed as the tears welled up in his eyes and had to pretend to sneeze so he could bring a tissue to his face. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Remember</b>: book 1 is free at most ebook retail sites, so download it today. I would love to hear your comments as well, so if you have time, enter a review of the book at the store where you got the book. Or simply leave a comment right here on this blog. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Here are the links: </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #800040;"><b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Martin%20Renaud" target="_blank"><span id="goog_1505338941"></span>Amazon Kindle</a></b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Martin%20Renaud</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /><span id="goog_1505338942"></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/martin-renaud/id477163464?mt=11" target="_blank">Apple iPad, Ipod, Iphone</a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">: http://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/martin-renaud/id477163464?mt=11</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/"></a><span id="goog_1505338946"></span><span id="goog_1505338947"></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/"></a><span id="goog_1505338953"></span><span id="goog_1505338954"></span></span></div>Martin Renaudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07555632204486612016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3170671569764927656.post-72777651622476695062012-02-07T14:41:00.000-08:002012-02-08T00:34:43.974-08:00Socialite Inventions: the challenge of doing scifi while "keeping it real"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKX4JsEEJEzWlOiY0zUfJYzKh78Gv8oK_n6SSLkQaF7McP_EGPGvUM9-dLXkAt695UBvrMUidyb_XakdKaIhYfPNomkT042zbZ6osw5yK6TESviBdqBP2JgZD5JOn-wrcwzm5QMtWM0Edy/s1600/newtech.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKX4JsEEJEzWlOiY0zUfJYzKh78Gv8oK_n6SSLkQaF7McP_EGPGvUM9-dLXkAt695UBvrMUidyb_XakdKaIhYfPNomkT042zbZ6osw5yK6TESviBdqBP2JgZD5JOn-wrcwzm5QMtWM0Edy/s200/newtech.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Science fiction has a long history of introducing readers to fantastic, creative technology. Sometimes the technology is a novel amalgamation of contemporary materials, as in H.G. Wells "The Time Machine." At other times it comes out of extrapolation from real science to create an advanced, though for the reader, plausible, device or craft, like ray guns or warp-traveling cruisers. While developing Socialite, I needed to create two distinct levels of technology. The technology used on Earth had to seem just a few years advanced of current society. The technology of the Aliens had to be extraordinary, yet at the same time, easily concealed from the people on Earth. Creating these two types of techs was the most enjoyable part of writing the series (and continues to be as I work on Socialite II).<br />
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Socialite is set in the not-too-distant future, so most of the technology on Earth was created to be a slight advancement of the tools around today. The main internet tool, the Socialite network, though designed by the alien Ray Amis, is incrementally superior in form and function to Google, Facebook etc. It enables secure and private one stop computing for social and business communications. Most of its advanced functionality comes out of the universal adoption of the tool by governments and businesses around the world. I drew on my experience in designing security software to create the "RiddlePass" authentication layer of Socialite that is described in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Socialite-Book-Mission-ebook/dp/B005ZUV79I" target="_blank">Book 2: Mission to Mission</a>. <br />
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Many of the other tools, including the Amis home security system, cell phone enhancements, collapsible tablet computers and button cameras, were developed to appear as logical extensions of current tech. For example, in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Socialite-Book-Humanize-ebook/dp/B005ZUVFAY" target="_blank">Book 3: To Humanize</a>, teenager Matt Low is given a gift from his dad: a pair of sunglasses with a camera imbedded in the glabella area (between the eyes) and the ability to snap a photo or video of whatever you are looking at, and wirelessly have it sent to a nearby cellphone. The glasses in the photo (above) were recently developed, and <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57372312-93/googles-hud-glasses-have-been-sighted/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&tag=nl.e703" target="_blank">Google has been reported to be working on their own version</a>. <br />
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Also shown in the photo above is a currently available version of another of the gifts Matt received from his dad, Stroop clothes. I didn't realize when I wrote Book 2 that these clothes exist, but I am not surprised since the Stroop effect has been investigated by psychologists since the mid 1930s. The Stroop clothes that Matt received were gaudy and unwearable by a teenage boy in North America. (E.g., bright baby blue pants with the word "white" printed all over them.) Like the "Wonders of the world" halloween costume that Matt's dad gave to Matt in Book 1, these two gifts symbolized the distance between Matt and his parents. The glasses in Book 3 symbolized a bridging of the distance: Matt and his friends thought they were really cool.<br />
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The most advanced types of technology described in Socialite are their ship and their "siloplasts". Their ship is named after the author Jonathan Swift (it's description and the reason for it's name I will leave for readers to discover.) The siloplasts are the bridge between current and future tech. They are miniature semi-autonomous robots that have a kind of symbiotic relationship with their carriers/hosts. Described as micro tech, rather than nano tech, siloplasts are both the aliens' greatest and worst technological achievement. In Book 2, Ray describes them as an extension of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal-organic_framework" target="_blank">metal organic framework</a> technology that enables car engines to consume water instead of fossil fuels. This technology allowed me to include a lot of speculation on evolution, adaptation and memory (pet interests of mine after studying Biology and Evolutionary Psych for years). <br />
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Dreaming up plausible extensions of current tech and feasible versions of new tech has been one of the most enjoyable aspects of creating the Socialite series. I hope that readers have as much fun reading the books as I had writing them. Here are the links to download my books. The first book "Bees to Benny" is still free - and please remember to post a review at the site where you got the book - I know that time is precious for all of us, so every review or comment is greatly appreciated.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Martin%20Renaud" style="color: #800040; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Amazon Kindle</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Martin%20Renaud</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/martin-renaud/id477163464?mt=11" style="color: #800040; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Apple iPad, Ipod, Iphone</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">: http://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/martin-renaud/id477163464?mt=11</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=Martin+Renaud+Socialite" style="color: #800040; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Kobo</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">: http://www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=Martin+Renaud+Socialite</span><br />
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<br />Martin Renaudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07555632204486612016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3170671569764927656.post-58839055600429908132012-01-20T01:29:00.000-08:002012-01-20T01:29:13.373-08:00Apple's education initiative may not be kid friendly.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJBPPVVyqWziQf9BH_wCX9NXppdiZMdbyxme-8PKnLc_c46gvDJ7_D0cieNiyMsNKAg9pMDDpW7Oj2Q4AFU_egvALarIuA6qXecgFaNUk-wtPnSTfbkoV5d9RY1i6FJ8hGfgY4ONs5RlH8/s1600/ereaders3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJBPPVVyqWziQf9BH_wCX9NXppdiZMdbyxme-8PKnLc_c46gvDJ7_D0cieNiyMsNKAg9pMDDpW7Oj2Q4AFU_egvALarIuA6qXecgFaNUk-wtPnSTfbkoV5d9RY1i6FJ8hGfgY4ONs5RlH8/s1600/ereaders3.jpg" /></a><a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57360688-37/apple-unveils-ibooks-2-for-digital-textbooks-self-pub-app-live-blog/?tag=mncol;txt" target="_blank">Apple announced </a>today at their education event in New York a new initiative for creating and downloading interactive, multimedia textbooks at their iBookstore. The best part of the announcement is a proposed cost of $14.99 or less for textbooks purchased through this service. Apple also proposed to enhance the learning experience by integrating streaming videos, and multimedia applications within the textbooks. Despite these apparent benefits, school boards and especially Apple's competitors, should seriously consider the costs associated with switching to an iPad education model. This model puts a sophisticated computing device, the iPad, into every learning environment where your child may use a textbook. Unfortunately, it also restricts students' use of the learning material to occasions where an iPad is available. An additional consideration is that students using the iPad would be placed in a conflicting learning situation since the iPad was not created for reading, it was created for entertainment and is remarkably good at doing just that. A careful consideration of the costs and benefits of the E-textbook learning experience suggests that a far simpler model than that proposed by Apple should be embraced, especially for elementary and high school students.<br />
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<b>Benefits of electronic textbooks:</b><br />
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There are real benefits to using e-textbooks in the classroom for schools and for students. Firstly, textbooks are expensive. <b>E</b>-books reduce the expense of updating classroom materials, and eliminate the costs associated with damaged or lost books. Of course, add to that the environmental affect of not printing all of these books on paper. Apple's pricing of less than $15 per book, with unlimited free replacement is a BIG deal. No longer would schools have to pay to replace lost, stolen or damaged books.<br />
Students would not have to lug around heavy knapsacks full of textbooks. We all remember how backbreaking that can be. They also would not have to remember which books they need on a particular day, for a particular class. All of their textbook needs would be located on a single electronic tablet that weighs a few ounces and can store thousands of books.<br />
Additionally, students would have a world of reference materials at their fingertips. E-books are not static like textbooks. The readers include a dictionary, thesaurus and a web browser - student's could fill knowledge gaps instantly. Also, students with slight visual impairments can easily increase the size of the text as needed.<br />
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<b>Costs of electronic textbooks:</b><br />
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The electronic readers that hold the books must be purchased for each student. A large portion of this expense can be offset by the savings on textbooks, though parents would most likely have to pay if the e-readers are lost, stolen or damaged. <br />
Financial costs are not the only consideration however. Students who misplace some types of e-readers, or forget them at school or home will not be able to access any of the information from their textbooks - they are all located on the one device. Similarly, e-readers are battery operated so occasionally students would be without their textbooks because they failed to recharge the device.<br />
Some students may find an e-reader more strenuous to read than a normal textbook. The e-reading experience is not the same as reading a book. Personally, I find the E-ink technology on my Kobo easier to read than text in a book or on a computer screen: the text looks very similar to that in a book, the device is easier to hold than a book, and reading outside is just as easy as inside (unlike on a computer screen). Not all e-readers have this technology. The screen on the iPad, for example, is more similar to a computer screen and has the benefits of full-colour, and the costs of poor visibility in the bright sunshine.<br />
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<b>Added costs of Apple's version of electronic textbooks:</b><br />
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Although I love my Mac computer, and most Apple products, including the iPad, I don't think that the iPad is the ideal e-reader for pre-University level students. One huge impediment is the cost of the device. Apple has not announced a substantial reduction in price of its iPad for schools, which puts the cost at nearly $500 per device per student. Many school districts are struggling with tight budget constraints, and simply would not be able to manage the expense. Similarly, parents would not want to assume the risk of paying for lost or damaged devices.<br />
The high cost also means that few households would have an iPad at home as a backup for those days when their child has forgotten their "textbooks" at school. Apple does not allow their iBooks to be read on a standard computer. The student must have an iPad, or some version of the iPod (including iPhone) to access the material. <br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> Perhaps a larger issue is that iPads were designed for entertainment and social communication, not for reading. Yes, the reading experience on the iPad is just as good, maybe even better, than it is on other colour e-reading devices, like the Amazon Kindle Fire or Kobo Vox. The iPad, however, does so much more than just reading. For example, it is great for games, video, music and social communication. In a classroom setting, in high school and elementary school, many students will find the temptation to use the device predominantly for non-textbook activities irresistible. Many students will be distracted by the plethora of other cool things the iPad has to offer, and will procrastinate.</span></b></span></b><br />
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<b>An Alternative model for E-textbooks:</b><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Companies that offer alternative e-readers, like Amazon, Kobo, Sony and others, </span></b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">would be wise to launch a campaign extolling the benefits of their devices for schools over Apple's iPad. Their devices offer all of the benefits of an e-reader without many of the costs associated with the iPad.</span></b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> These companies </span></b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">have devices that cost close to $100. I would suggest, however, that since they will have years of profit, first from selling the textbooks, and second from conditioning generations of readers to acquire books through their online stores, that they should offer at least a 50% reduction in the e-reader price as an added incentive for school boards to adopt their products. At this price, schools could still save a lot of money with low-priced e-textbooks, even after incurring the cost of e-readers for all of their students. Also, parents wouldn't be averse to assuming a $50 risk for lost or damaged e-readers.</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> Sure, these readers aren't as fancy as the iPad, but they will be able to offer all of the benefits that really matter. They can hold thousands of books, are light and easy to handle, they allow for searching words and most have a web browser for looking up additional references. An added bonus is that both Amazon and Kobo offer free applications that enable a reader to access all of their books on any computer, PC or Mac as well as on the e-reader itself. Student's who forget their e-reader at school, lose it or damage it can still access their textbooks - NO EXCUSES! I think this is one of Apple's biggest flaws. I have published books at the iBookstore that most readers can't access because of this huge limitation - they have to go to Amazon or Kobo to get them. On the other hand, anyone who buys my books at Amazon or at Kobo, can read them on any computer thanks to the fantastic free applications offered by these companies.</span></b><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Apple has argued that they offer a singularly unique, multimedia textbook reading experience. They suggest that they have created the next generation of textbooks. They may be right - their textbooks may be beautiful and fun to use. I would argue, however, that there is no evidence that students using their textbooks will be smarter, score better on tests or be better informed than students using any other form of e-reader. The distraction factor alone would suggest otherwise. More importantly, I think that Apple has missed the point of a textbook. It is a tool that should be efficiently employed, then put aside. I teach my children to spend as little time as possible with the textbook: scan a required chapter and make notes on everything that you don't understand, trying to spend as little time as possible; put the book aside and rewrite the notes, highlighting areas that are unclear; then ask questions (of the teacher or using Google and online sources) until everything is clearly understood. The textbook should not be attached to the student like an umbilical cord - they should take from it what they need, then set it aside. Filling the books with interactive videos etc as Apple has done, encourages students to waste time. Every teacher knows that one solution does not work for all students, even if that solution was created by Apple. It is up to teachers to assess each student's needs and adjust the instruction accordingly. How can a teacher do that when the student just wants to play Angry Birds all day on their iPad?</span></b>Martin Renaudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07555632204486612016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3170671569764927656.post-71144552690046121972012-01-19T08:06:00.000-08:002012-01-19T08:06:45.950-08:00Today's Inspiration - homemade marshmallows<br />
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Today's inspiration is the look on the kids faces when they saw what I was putting into their lunches for school: <a href="http://candy.about.com/od/marshmallowrecipes/r/sberry_mallows.htm" target="_blank">homemade strawberry marshmallows</a>. While they slept, I made them for the first time. It didn't take long. I followed the instructions on the internet (mostly). Use the link above if you want to give it a shot. They probably should have set for a little longer - the recipe says 8 to 10 hours and I didn't finish making them until around midnight, so they were only 7 hours along when I drove the kids to school. Nevertheless, they cut easily and look right, and have an amazing taste. Next time I think I'll try chocolate!<br />
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My kids are accustomed to little surprises in the morning. Usually these are either musical or literary. I often work late into the night on writing or composing. As such, while they eat breakfast I'll play them my latest song, or read a scene that I just wrote and ask their opinion. Sometimes they offer suggestions for improvement. Today, they had only praise for the candy.<br />
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I try to infuse the characters in my novels with a similar desire to create and collaborate. All through the Socialite series solutions to problems are arrived at, well, socially, rather than individually. For example, when Elle is struggling to think of a perfect Christmas present for Jacob, she asks his mom, who relates a very personal anecdote of a creative gift she once gave. This inspires Elle to make Jacob's gift, rather than buy him something (the easier option for her since she is wealthy.) The whole Socialite story, in fact, is about social interaction in its many forms: using the internet, sharing talents, and helping others (human and alien) to solve their problems. <br />
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So try a new recipe, make some marshmallows, then share them, to brighten someone's day. And during the 8 to 10 hours that they take to set, download my books and read a really fun scifi adventure.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Martin%20Renaud" style="color: #800040; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Amazon Kindle</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Martin%20Renaud</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/martin-renaud/id477163464?mt=11" style="color: #800040; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Apple iPad, Ipod, Iphone</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">: http://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/martin-renaud/id477163464?mt=11</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=Martin+Renaud+Socialite" style="color: #800040; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Kobo</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #474b4e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">: http://www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=Martin+Renaud+Socialite</span>Martin Renaudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07555632204486612016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3170671569764927656.post-50441244412925423782012-01-13T12:59:00.000-08:002012-01-13T13:08:49.757-08:00Teens, Society and FictionMy teen children enjoy young adult fiction like Harry Potter and Hunger Games. So one of my initial goals when writing the Socialite series was to create a series that they would like to read (they do, thankfully!) During the construction of the series I wanted to include many of the issues that teens today encounter and have to deal with - but to show how an alien race would view these issues. For example, what side would an alien species take on controversial issues like capital punishment or abortion.<br />
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Many of the main characters in Socialite are teens growing up in a society much like our own. Since the series revolves around two families, the Liebes and the Amis (one human, one...not) brought together by the Socialite network, social issues are essential to the story. As in our own society, social media exposes the characters of all ages to the best and worst issues from around the world. Global events like natural tragedies, legal decisions and political intrigue are relevant to the daily lives of the main characters. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvYwMCkHnEt1lqKb7zRiuo4Y6FyfMz7_Yi6FApmV9yp2YEkHJMDJvtGSz-xyweU8mEGOwSTINYiyFjdKLkHmFxtPqBsMwR_8iyWd7HmPAc-2OTKoRpAX2edniE_zlF4NATtjGOP7qGT35k/s1600/political-pictures-dalai-lama-karma-creeps1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvYwMCkHnEt1lqKb7zRiuo4Y6FyfMz7_Yi6FApmV9yp2YEkHJMDJvtGSz-xyweU8mEGOwSTINYiyFjdKLkHmFxtPqBsMwR_8iyWd7HmPAc-2OTKoRpAX2edniE_zlF4NATtjGOP7qGT35k/s320/political-pictures-dalai-lama-karma-creeps1.jpg" width="219" /></a>Much of the story involves a battle between individual desires and those of the rest of the population. Unlike the message spread by the Recycling Karma campaign (or the Dalai Lama in the cartoon shown here), the story reflects society realistically: people don't get what they deserve, they get what they get: bad/good things happen to good people, and to bad people. Often chance is as important a determinant in the outcome of an event as a person's own actions. Many evolutionary puzzles, including altruism, self-sacrifice, and suicide are brought into the story to help develop this view.<br />
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The story is neither dystopic, like the Hunger Games, or magical fantasy like Harry Potter. It presents real issues in our society alongside the issues of the aliens. The teens encounter issues of peer pressure, bullying, parental unemployment, teen sex, teen pregnancy and abortion. At the same time they have the fate of two worlds to worry about.<br />
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Read Book 1: Bees to Benny for free, then buy the next three books in the series.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Martin%20Renaud" target="_blank">Amazon Kindle</a>: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Martin%20Renaud<br />
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<a href="http://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/martin-renaud/id477163464?mt=11" target="_blank">Apple iPad, Ipod, Iphone</a>: http://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/martin-renaud/id477163464?mt=11<br />
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<a href="http://www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=Martin+Renaud+Socialite" target="_blank">Kobo</a>: http://www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=Martin+Renaud+SocialiteMartin Renaudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07555632204486612016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3170671569764927656.post-50946663490354918062012-01-03T10:02:00.000-08:002012-01-03T10:02:46.898-08:00Today's inspiration: ebook reader, coffee cup and friendly reminders<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMdlu_x-pC9rwFwvK8Ig5mtfzrw7SjpQoHqGnLLcVIISZm02AnPMm5axpo5rfYnwRMj3D4jxkKhhxfjTG6qxOaKkl4zqg4ChRiYmqCsqrRMmJFgL32r0POCl97B4bCN9jh8j1JYYN-gZXP/s1600/inspire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMdlu_x-pC9rwFwvK8Ig5mtfzrw7SjpQoHqGnLLcVIISZm02AnPMm5axpo5rfYnwRMj3D4jxkKhhxfjTG6qxOaKkl4zqg4ChRiYmqCsqrRMmJFgL32r0POCl97B4bCN9jh8j1JYYN-gZXP/s200/inspire.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Inspired reflecting on the last few weeks' preparation for the holidays, the celebrations and, of course, the gifts. <br />
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Preparing for the holidays are always accompanied by emotions: joy of anticipation, anxiety searching for the gifts, peace when the shopping is over and fun and laughter with family and friends. I remember when I was a kid and opening gifts was the huge thrill of the season. When my children were young, my thrill was to share in their excitement. This year was quite different. We have reached a point of equilibrium: my two teenagers were just as excited to see me open a couple of my gifts, as I was for them to open theirs.<br />
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We laughed watching a recent episode of the Jimmy Fallon show when his guest, SNL's Seth Meyers, talked about his family stocking tradition - it was just like ours! We start with the stockings - carefully wrapped tubes of toothpaste, floss, lipbalm and other essentials that will be needed in the coming year ensure that each stocking is full of expected treasures. The kids wake first, of course, get the stockings from under the tree and bring them to my room so we can open them sitting on my bed. Then we take turns in the living room opening gifts, reserving the special gifts for last. They had one for me, that they wanted to leave for the end, I had one for the two of them that WAS going to be last - as the parent I can insist.<br />
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Their gift to me was the longed for Kobo ereader that I mentioned in an earlier post. As it turns out, my kids couldn't wait for me to open it - so <b>they</b> could read from it! I loaded a book on the Kobo and read it over a couple of days, but not on the Kobo - I used the Kobo computer application to read it on my Mac instead, since my kids took turns reading books on the ereader. They love it! <br />
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Of course the first books I loaded onto it were my own - the four books in the Socialite series. My son had been too busy with school and music to read the fourth book "Unless Rules" over the fall so he wanted to read it on the Kobo. My daughter wanted to read "A star is found" by Hollywood casting directors Janet Hirshenson and Jane Jenkins. Both kids enjoyed the similarity of the reading experience to a real book and the bonus of instantly looking up words on the dictionary.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn3M3-EZly31E8UAAIV-T2WOl-Z_j_OL9PjZm6QMMRIliLD5Y0_D8HYu0Do3EI7EF5LyHjR96URWUuPSHe0dmJV9h1RIS4g4Ru3bd_sKUW5ZYLK-KvDZt6Q2X-thB6Gyo7DLX8xfXs5Moj/s1600/P1010529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn3M3-EZly31E8UAAIV-T2WOl-Z_j_OL9PjZm6QMMRIliLD5Y0_D8HYu0Do3EI7EF5LyHjR96URWUuPSHe0dmJV9h1RIS4g4Ru3bd_sKUW5ZYLK-KvDZt6Q2X-thB6Gyo7DLX8xfXs5Moj/s200/P1010529.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHHmZpHXHCvl-KwrYQb3hUwvMxrLxSC-GAOVLNQNflVRdAMZWCZFLE9kZFD8PPWB1ZtGVcxbRe3QR8ptICWSfTD8Pc57KZPfkZf9gpcbrn6fqI5Be0wiYNIBf_fJkGLKcLCNkJv5K7usxR/s1600/P1010528.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHHmZpHXHCvl-KwrYQb3hUwvMxrLxSC-GAOVLNQNflVRdAMZWCZFLE9kZFD8PPWB1ZtGVcxbRe3QR8ptICWSfTD8Pc57KZPfkZf9gpcbrn6fqI5Be0wiYNIBf_fJkGLKcLCNkJv5K7usxR/s200/P1010528.jpg" width="200" /></a>Unexpectedly, they were both anxious to see me open my gift at the large extended-family gift exchange on boxing day. Months before boxing day, I email a single name (pseudo randomly chosen) to each person in the family so they only have to buy a gift for one of the forty or so people at the gathering. This ensures that everyone has one gift to open. Usually it is a sweater, or a gift card. My sister-in-law had my name. The kids obviously knew what I was getting. It was a coffee mug, with a logo of the DarkRoast coffee chain from my Socialite story. The font of the text, and the colours match the cover of my first book, "Bees to Benny." I was really surprised. Readers who have read book 4 will understand the importance of DarkRoast to the whole Socialite story. My sister-in-law read the books when they first came out and has been on my case to get busy writing the next series, Socialite 2. After a gift like that, what more motivation could I need.<br />
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The best part of the holiday season was spending time with lots of people. The last year spent writing four books and composing the accompanying music has been very isolating. The holidays were a social time: they did feel like a holiday - even more so than my trip to Mexico in the summer. That trip was great, but it wasn't very social. Spending hours laughing and talking with family and friends was just what I needed before embarking on another year of reading (on my Kobo) and writing.<br />
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<br />Martin Renaudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07555632204486612016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3170671569764927656.post-72160845840831171662011-12-06T00:40:00.001-08:002011-12-06T09:56:46.918-08:00Why I want an ebook reader for Christmas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp1HtpYgSQXEaMUacw8i3l77OGIoXGIl0W7olI45IaOVFxAMrHDWwbOUJ3jkeUpbQ5nz5sjxX75EDuyUPEg77QMbt6ifb_xmaINFvOuYpIYOKrJkM_Mh9uC7w66VSwzFCCW07um7PscqIk/s1600/ereaders3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp1HtpYgSQXEaMUacw8i3l77OGIoXGIl0W7olI45IaOVFxAMrHDWwbOUJ3jkeUpbQ5nz5sjxX75EDuyUPEg77QMbt6ifb_xmaINFvOuYpIYOKrJkM_Mh9uC7w66VSwzFCCW07um7PscqIk/s200/ereaders3.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
There are no shortage of websites touting the advantages of ebooks over regular print books. It's a personal choice and opinions vary in expected ways. When I was in my twenties I loved to get a first edition hard copy of my favourite authors' latest book, carefully wrap it in plastic, and hoped that it would last forever. If I was really fortunate, I might catch the author on a book tour and snag that cherished autograph as an added bonus for my treasure. (I remember the shocked look on Carol Shields' face when I approached her at the Arts Club Theatre in Vancouver many years ago with an armload of her books to sign.) Ah, youth! <br />
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Over the years, I have lost this penchant for preserved treasures; the plastic wrap has been removed and all have been unearthed from storage and placed on the bookshelf alongside secondhand paperback versions of the classics. I retained my love of the printed word, and can not imagine putting a pen or pencil mark in a book - throughout my university days even my textbooks remained in pristine condition as I would place notes and page references in my personal journal, rather than in a book. <br />
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As I do not own an ebook reader, not a day goes by without a book in hand at some point. So would I even use an ereader if I had one? I think that my reading habits would quickly adapt. Unprejudiced by a need for the feeling of paper on my fingers, or the desire to hold onto the traditional book experience, I think that I am ready. I also see many advantages to the ebook experience in my life.<br />
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I already spend a lot of time on the computer, and love the convenience of reading in one window, looking up unfamiliar words immediately in another window and checking references using wikipedia and google in another window. So in many ways my reading habits have evolved to the point where I would not find the experience of reading full novels on a screen unfamiliar. It should be a fairly painless transition. I also read numerous books simultaneously - currently I am reading Tom Jones and Emma, though usually I have four or five on the go at once. Having all of these at my fingertips on one device would be a lot more convenient than searching the house for the location of one that I put down...somewhere. <br />
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I also love to travel. Weight considerations on airlines are always a concern, one that restricts the number of books, especially hard cover books, that can be taken aboard. I noticed a lot of people this summer while in Mexico reading on iPads and Kindles, on the beach and next to the pool without a problem. I wouldn't take a computer to Mexico, fearing theft. I wouldn't even take an iPad, actually for the same reason. But a cheap ereader, like a kindle or kobo I wouldn't worry about. It could hold hundreds of books, it's small and light and would easily fit in the in-room safe when not in use. Best of all, if it did get stolen, I could replace it when I get home and instantly load all of my books back on it, without having to buy the books again. <br />
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It's an economical gift too. Many are around $100, which isn't too bad for a major gift. The best part is that in subsequent years, gifting ebooks would save my family a lot of money since electronic versions of books are less expensive than printed versions. The books that I have published, for example, range from free (for "Bees to Benny") to 3.99 - very reasonable for a novel when you think about the cost of printed books. Most ebook retailers have a "Gift Book" option on the purchase page to facilitate this process. I wouldn't even have to re-buy most of the classics in my library as many of them (from Dickens to Hemingway...) are freely available as ebooks. <br />
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The only other consideration is: which ereader? Amazon offers the Kindle, Chapters and many European stores are affiliated with the Kobo, Barnes and Noble has the Nook, Sony has its own store (I wouldn't get a Sony or a Nook as I found that Canadian authors can not self publish to those stores without using an intermediary like Smashwords). Then of course there is the cream of the crop, iPad. All of these offer an excellent, multi-functional reading experience with bookmarking, dictionaries and many other bells and whistles. <br />
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My preference, as I said is inexpensive. That would rule out the iPad, Kindle Fire and Kobo Vox - these are cool, but too elaborate for my needs. I just want a simple black and white reader that stores lots of books, allows access to lots of books and is easy to use. So that means an older version of Kobo or Kindle would be great.<br />
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I am sure that I will still buy some printed versions of books - spontaneous book store browsing habits can't be unlearned overnight. But an ereader would be a welcome addition to my electronic arsenal.<br />
<br />Martin Renaudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07555632204486612016noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3170671569764927656.post-48928510402791373382011-12-03T01:00:00.001-08:002013-07-18T06:48:01.574-07:00Today's Inspiration #5<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVJjDUks-md5fdkzE9DRyGZk6X95QONDF8D8IaBaAQi5Q3QYmyuwPUNPB4xH-Wnn2-pqeFqvmyvzMIq2jiti-B-TFEuKrB_Buy23SIkpYkT1HDIkyxlKJqnogUC3z4IVeQwUSnQMBU5JVc/s1600/inspire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVJjDUks-md5fdkzE9DRyGZk6X95QONDF8D8IaBaAQi5Q3QYmyuwPUNPB4xH-Wnn2-pqeFqvmyvzMIq2jiti-B-TFEuKrB_Buy23SIkpYkT1HDIkyxlKJqnogUC3z4IVeQwUSnQMBU5JVc/s200/inspire.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Today's inspiration: the creativity of script and actor.<br />
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The dilemma: how much of a great performance should we attribute to the writing and how much to the acting? There has to be a balance, of course, no matter if it's a television show, movie or even a simple thirty second commercial. The perfect confluence between the written word and the actor's interpretation of it create a surprising event: time is frozen as we are captivated by the moment, forget our problems and concerns and we smile, or laugh or cry, appropriately, synchronously.<br />
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For example, consider the quirky and creative ads run by Dairy Queen recently <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eibkUoRdOM&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL788DD73E8C3B0A57" target="_blank">DQ - good isn't good enough</a>. My reaction was instantaneous when the actor stated, "we don't just blow bubbles, we blow bubbles with kittens inside them." It is hilarious the first time, maybe even the second time. And you know that you are not laughing alone - it's one of those instant shared experiences. You know you can mention it to a friend and instantly agree on the quality of the creation. <br />
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Obviously, that whole scene works because of the writing. Contrast that with <a href="http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=tom%20hanks&source=web&cd=2&sqi=2&ved=0CEAQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FTom_Hanks&ei=aVLmTt2pG_TciAKl5JC1Bg&usg=AFQjCNEV-s3DggqNSkIv4icP97wHlQ7tRA&sig2=tFU0T8OUK9-zUDRRJ3dyVQ" target="_blank">Tom Hanks</a> performance in the movie <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkShPTH6SnA&feature=related" target="_blank">Castaway</a>. The movie is much more than a two hour advertisement for FedEx because of the stellar work of the lead actor. The character of Wilson (an oscar worthy performance, underplayed by a volleyball) could have died on the page if Hanks didn't make it so engagingly believable. A great performance, like this one, enhances our interpretation of similar events throughout our lives. For example, the image of Hanks on the life-raft kept coming to mind as I read the shipwrecked scene in Martel's fabulous <a href="http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=life%20with%20pi&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCMQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FLife_of_Pi&ei=HfPZTpbfFMeoiALWnamGCg&usg=AFQjCNHkERZIdzbkSrrzjJWvD-PeyyHo0g&sig2=0i-5NmVTrK9NhrcmFLD8zw" target="_blank">"Life of Pi"</a>. The movie version of this story will be out next year, but I suggest you read the novel first. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpx6yNNjrdCLyetoSiBW7w1Ul1p0_2JEOlpWMBlEKph06v8m6-zkXMVoVT3wg7W0bRw7kzGvaNHKqiCVbqRwAphoo_Ra0sDezs9TF9sINf6dz-gEQHA4ovuyw-ZoANOUxERJV527TbMtta/s1600/b2b+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpx6yNNjrdCLyetoSiBW7w1Ul1p0_2JEOlpWMBlEKph06v8m6-zkXMVoVT3wg7W0bRw7kzGvaNHKqiCVbqRwAphoo_Ra0sDezs9TF9sINf6dz-gEQHA4ovuyw-ZoANOUxERJV527TbMtta/s200/b2b+copy.jpg" width="121" /></a></div>
In the Socialite series of books, I have tried to create characters that enable a similar reinterpretation of everyday experience. The first book, "<a href="http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=amazon%20kindle%20socialite%20bees%20to%20benny&source=web&cd=1&sqi=2&ved=0CCYQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FSocialite-Book-Bees-Benny-ebook%2Fdp%2FB005ZUV7SY&ei=8FbmToyYG63MiQLpzMS0Bg&usg=AFQjCNFwCsHrPjMMcaEkAUWXmDzMeWRcyg&sig2=Umrnpm1dx6X6-1Ex0ibjfQ" target="_blank">Bees to Benny</a>," deals primarily with the ordinary lives of two families. Although the Socialite series is social SciFi, I have purposely kept the science fiction jargon to a minimum in the first book, to allow the reader to relate with the main themes of "first love," "protective parents", "school rivalries"and of course "the ubiquity of the internet". The science fiction is subtle at first, building as the reader gets more involved in the whole Socialite story over four books. I wanted it to mirror our own experience with social networks which tends to be very personal at first, until that day when you get a comment from someone in China or Indonesia - you are suddenly awakened to the fact that very little on the internet is private and even you, sitting alone on a computer at home, may one day post something that has global significance.<br />
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While reading the first <a href="https://www.facebook.com/socialitebooks" target="_blank">Socialite</a> book, my teenage son asked me why I chose to write Socialite in a limited third person voice. I told him, it allows the reader to see more of the action than any one character in the story does, but leaves a lot of the characters' motivations and intentions to the reader's imagination (which might not be the case if the voice was omniscient.) I think it also more closely resembles our lives, where we only get partial knowledge about a person's intentions and must use intuition and interpretation to fill in the gaps. <br />
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In a performance, actors do a lot of this interpretation for the audience - their facial expressions and body language transform the variety of interpretations of a character held by different readers, sometimes limiting the interpretation, at other times broadening it, giving it authenticity. <br />
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The combination of a well-written character and a well acted performance inspires me to try harder in my own creative efforts. What about you? What performance or literary character affected you so deeply that you felt inspired?Martin Renaudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07555632204486612016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3170671569764927656.post-84922656849972834852011-11-29T08:48:00.001-08:002011-11-29T09:44:15.693-08:00Today's Inspiration #4<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Today's Inspiration: earworms, sleepless nights and swallows. Vacillating from one of thought to another, to another then back to the first, over and over again, is infuriating. It's like a series of commercials replaying on a loop in my brain. That was my night last night. Though I got less than an hour of total sleep, after getting the kids off to school this morning, I am still aroused by these nagging intrusions in my brain.<br />
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Christmas songs, damn Christmas songs. You know how it is. Minding your own business, shopping in the mall, or maybe driving in your car, it strikes! I won't identify any one as a likely candidate since the phenomenon is idiosyncratic. Some researchers call it a <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3221499.stm" target="_blank">"brain itch"</a> that has to be scratched over and over. I blame a Facebook post by a friend about playing the songs for weeks already and the subsequent comments about playing the music - especially the lament by her husband. Though it could equally be attributed to the kids practicing for upcoming concerts. Regardless, all night, one of my earworms was a Christmas song - this time, one I had written - you wouldn't know it since I have never played it for anyone but my kids. I have only myself to blame, you might say.<br />
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Of course that was only one third of my problem. The second "itch" came from a scene I had just finished writing before trying to get to sleep. After getting the kids to bed I usually try to get some writing done. Last night was particularly productive and I completed an entire chapter before realizing it was about half past two and I had to get up at six to make breakfast and lunches. Once in bed it started, however, reworking a scene in my mind, trying it from a different character's perspective, shifting the timeline - annoying to say the least. Trying to put it out of my head, so that I could sleep only caused the thoughts to shift over to that Christmas song. This led to the third and most annoying shift - thinking about yesterday's post and the bird reference contained therein.<br />
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If you read yesterday's post you would have seen the exerpt from Wikipedia of the translated original lyrics of Leontovych's Shchedryk or Carol of the Bells. They bugged me then, and even more so as I was thinking about them in bed. They begin with the line, "A little swallow flew" about a Winter meeting between a farmer and this swallow. I could not reconcile the implausibility of this line - swallows wouldn't be around in the winter. Swallows feed on flying insects while airborne - so when the insects are scarce, like in the cold wintery regions of the planet, they migrate to warmer, tropical climates. Why would Leontovych use this reference in his song then - a summer bird, an image of hope, to contrast with the winter theme, perhaps. Or maybe he just liked swallows. I wondered about what time of year it was when he wrote the lyrics - perhaps that influenced his choice of bird. Or he may have simply lifted the image from a folk song he had learned in his childhood. The possibilities are endless - enough to keep me awake at night.<br />
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I think that tonight I will try to trick my brain by forcing an earworm on it. ELO wrote the song <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrffDM3hHk8" target="_blank">"Can't get it out of my head"</a>. I always found that Jeff Lynne's vocals, and the strings and Ahhs in the background combine to sound lullabyish (well at least to me it sounds like a lullaby). So perhaps this earworm will help to induce rather than prevent sleep.<br />
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<br />Martin Renaudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07555632204486612016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3170671569764927656.post-63197465930061565762011-11-28T00:07:00.001-08:002011-11-28T12:51:41.671-08:00Today's Inspiration #3<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Today's inspiration: Carol of the Bells, the English version of the Ukrainian song <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shchedryk_(song)">Shchedryk</a> written by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mykola_Leontovych">Mykola Leontovych</a> is one of the familiar tunes that we associate with the holiday season. Consistent with a lack of appreciation many of us feel for the familiar, I never felt compelled to research its origin and history.<br />
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I was inspired to do just that last night. My children (13 and 15 years old) were given an arrangement of this song a couple of weeks ago by their piano teacher to perform as a duet (arrangement by Melody Bober). As most parents with musical children know, the first couple weeks with a new piece is often excruciatingly painful to the ears. I took care of that last year by giving my children in-ear headphones, which they dutifully plug into the electric piano during their practice sessions (a mixed blessing, as I miss out on some of their developmental achievements, but I can live with that!) After practicing for about 10 days individually, last night they attempted to work it out together. While it was not perfect, as expected, I was surprised to find that some parts were so beautiful that tears came to my eyes - parental pride can't be discounted of course. Surprisingly emotional reactions are often the most quickly encoded into memory, and the most likely to cause knee jerk reactions like impulse buying - something composers inwardly desire while outwardly stating that they did it simply for the pleasure it gives to others.<br />
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In my own work, I would love to create something that evokes such a strong emotional connection with others. I remember last summer when my son was reading "Bees to Benny" (my first book) and I could hear him laughing from the other room as he reached a scene which he later wrote in a note to me "was so funny!" (The scene was set in the Liebe's kitchen as the family learned that Jacob had just been inside the home of their elusive neighbours, who had lived across the street for fourteen years, though no one had met or even seen them enter or leave their house.)<br />
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My knee jerk reaction, upon hearing the kids last night, was to learn more about the composer and the song that I had taken for granted. Leontovych did not get rich from this song - if fact it didn't even become popular until it was Americanized after his death, complete with English words about Christmas that did not relate in any way to the initial text of the song. Shchedryk was about a bird telling a farmer that Winter is temporary and will pass, bringing a bountiful new year for him and his family (very rough translation.) Here is Wikipedia's translation of some of the lyrics:<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; white-space: nowrap;">A little swallow flew [into the household]<br />and started to twitter,<br />to summon the master:<br />"Come out, come out, O master [of the household],<br />look at the <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheep_pen" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Sheep pen">sheep pen</a>,<br />there the ewes are nestling<br />and the lambkin have been born<br />Your goods [livestock] are great,<br />you will have a lot of money, [by selling them]<br /><br /><br />if not money, then chaff: [from all the grain you will harvest]<br />you have a dark-eyebrowed [beautiful] wife."<br />Shchedryk, shchedryk, a shchedrivka,<br />A little swallow flew.</span><br />
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Apparently, the song was written for an assignment in a course he was taking on harmony. Here is a version of the original song recently recorded by a Bulgarian choir. Enjoy!<br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsVdGCCkAMY&feature=colike">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsVdGCCkAMY&feature=colike</a><br />
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<br />Martin Renaudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07555632204486612016noreply@blogger.com0