Heather Weidner ~ Writer, Reader, Lover of Quirky Trivia
Lady Bloggers' Society
SITS
Cool Tech Gadgets...
Did you watch "The Big Bang Theory" last night? I loved Raj's experience with Siri! Check out these other cool gadgets.
Happy Friday!
Slush Pile Hell - Some Fun Reading...
Take a break on this lovely Friday and check out Slush Pile Hell. It's full of sample query letters and the agent's comments. I'm just glad that none of mine were listed.
Happy Friday! Keep writing!
What I Learned...
Here's are seven things I learned from Meredith Cole, Mary Burton, and Ellery Adams. They put on a great panel for writers at the Sisters in Crime - Central Virginia meeting in January.
1. Go to writing conferences.
2. Write every day. No excuses!
3. Choose your other creative projects carefully (especially ones that take away from your writing time).
4. Do your research before submitting to agents.
5. Writing is a business. Be professional!
6. Persistence is as important as talent.
7. Save some of your first advance to market yourself.
(l-r: Mary Burton, Ellery Adams, and Meredith Cole)
Developing Leadership Talent - Berke, et al.
It's a good reference for hiring and developing leaders within your organization. One emphasis is that you need to create a way for "recruiting and retaining high-quality talent." And that is key with today's unique labor market.
Their six most important leadership strengths are (p. 56):
1. Leading People
2. Strategic Planning
3. Resourceful
4. Being a Quick Learner
5. Inspiring Commitment
6. Participative Management
There is a great deal of information on writing competencies for job performances. I like that they stress that competencies/goals needs to be written in behavior terms. It makes them much easier to review and evaluate later.
The text has a lot of sample worksheets and checklists which are helpful if you're looking to incorporate some changes in your management processes. They also have a great appendix with a detailed Leadership Competency List and a Profile Tool.
I also liked their 10 Key Job Challenges That Stimulate Learning (p. 60):
1. Unfamiliar Responsibilities
2. New Directions
3. Inherited Problems
4. Problems with Employees
5. High Stakes
6. Scope and Scale (Size of Effort)
7. External Pressure
8. Influence without Authority
9. Work across Cultures
10. Work Group Diversity
Learning is key to finding and developing good talent. The book also stresses the importance of relationships.
This is a good reference for hiring managers, HR folks, or folks looking for management positions.
Eoin Colfer's PLUGGED
If you like gritty, crime thrillers with a strong and slightly damaged protagonist, you'll love Plugged. It reminds me of historic hardboiled detective fiction.
Daniel McEvoy is an ex-soldier in the Irish military who has drifted from job to job after his service. At the beginning of the novel, he's a bouncer at a sleazy casino in New Jersey. When one of the hostesses is murdered after a confrontation with a client and his friend, a back-room doctor, goes missing, McEvoy runs a foul of the Irish mafia, drug dealers, slimy lawyers, and bent police officers. And McEvoy bumps into some interesting fringe characters.
"Plugged" takes on all kinds of meanings throughout the novel. And this book has the funniest Rottweiler scene. I'm glad that the dog ended up on the winning side. (I have a soft spot for literary dogs.)
Happy reading!
Copyediting - Great Website for Writers
Check out Copyediting. It's a great website. You can subscribe to the blog for email updates. There are wonderful tips for writers (and technical writers). Thanks, Jeb for the link!
Jax Invade the Beach
We took the Jax (4 including my sister's) to the Outer Banks of North Carolina for New Year's. We were fortunate. It was in the mid-60s for most of the week, so we enjoyed spring-like temperatures in December and January.
The pups got their first beach experience. They enjoyed long runs in the sand and digging for sand fiddlers. They also climbed the dunes at Jockey's Ridge and barked at the hangliders. And they were the only ones who enjoyed the four flights of steps in the beach house. They turned the stairs into a racetrack.
I hope you had a wonderful holiday season! Best wishes for 2012!
"Yes, we do want to go for a walk!"
Riley at Jockey's Ridge.
The Jax take the beach at OBX.
Tig and Riley between naps.
Can this be true?
I heard this on the way home yesterday from work, and I had to go back and read the blog posting. Americans make up HALF of the WORLD's richest 1%. That changes the whole meaning of the 99 vs 1%.
I was stunned. Read Jack Cafferty's post. And it takes only $34K to be among the world's richest.
Even with all of the problems and strife, America is truly blessed. I hope we don't take it for granted.
SinC-CV Author Panel - January 21 - Bon Air Library
The Sisters in Crime - Central Virginia chapter is hosting an author's panel on Saturday, January 21 at 11:00 AM at the Bon Air Library in Chesterfield, Virginia. Authors Meredith Cole, Mary Burton, and Ellery Adams will talk about developing and selling your mystery.
Email me if you want more details.
Richard Yancey's THE HIGHLY EFFECTIVE DETECTIVE
Richard Yancey has an interesting sleuth in The Highly Effective Detective, set in Knoxville, Tennessee. His protagonist, Teddy Ruzak, is a night security guard until he inherits money from his mother's estate, and he decides to become a PI. He hires his favorite waitress from a local diner to be his secretary. He has no business or investigative experience.
Ruzak is unusual in that he has no confidence, no police skills, and not much success in his life. He became a security guard when he washed out of the police academy. Despite all of the strikes against him, he manages to land two cases and solve each in the end.
He waxes long and gets philosophical at times. If you can get past this, the novel has some interesting characters and a few funny spots.
I also read The Highly Effective Detective Goes to the Dogs. (I'm a sucker for mysteries with dogs.) Ruzak is in pretty much the same state as the first mystery. The state of Tennessee shuts him down for not having a PI license. He meets a goth girl at the animal shelter, and he eventually adopts a dog that is infatuated with the secretary's son. In this novel, the second in the series, Ruzak discovers a dead body in the alley. He has no paying client, but he spends the novel solving the crime when the police think they have their man. By the end, he has to pass the next PI exam, or he's out of business permanently.
The characters are interesting. I've never read a mystery with a sleuth quite like this before.
Happy holidays!