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Showing posts from August, 2011

How do YOU choose names for your characters?

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What you are about to read is a true story. It is a fundamental tenet of a writer's life that one must always be writing new material. When one project is complete, it goes into the proverbial drawer for a few weeks or a month. This is to allow oneself to forget what one has written, so that after a few weeks or a month has passed, one may look at one's work with the objective eye required to evaluate the work in progress. During this cooling-off period, one must be writing new material. This also applies during the editing/polishing phase in which a manuscript is perfected prior to publication. To that end, while I am polishing Book 6 of THE GO-KIDS, I am two chapters into a new science fiction novel (the title of which shall remain secret for the time being). While making a fourth pass through Chapter 1 of this new novel, I decided to go ahead and name the two male characters featured in the scene. They stand on a street corner in Santa Monica, California, on t

More Owls Are Flying!

In case you've not yet heard, and are waiting for your Pottermore beta email, or know someone who is, Insider.Pottermore.com has posted some new information regarding owls and early entry into Pottermore. They've also answered some questions from fans. See below for more. As you know, we’re using the Pottermore Beta period to make sure that Pottermore is the best it can be before it opens to all in October but we’ve noted some important questions cropping up … ‘Dear Pottermore. I'm taking the time to write this to remind you that I am not a squib. I want my letter now, please.’ [sic] heelsoverheaad ‘… I really think you should have sent another owl with my letter ... Errol really isn't up for long flights anymore.’ TheShepard10 We know that you’re all checking your inboxes every time we send an update announcing that Welcome emails have gone out. As you’ll remember from our previous Insider post, we need to start the Beta with a very small number of peo

Pottermore Welcome Letter . . . At Last!

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Caution: SPOILERS AHEAD. If you have not yet received your welcome letter, you may not want to see this. The owl arrived today, at 1:26 p.m. PST. I was rather surprised, because entry was to be first-come, first-served. At least, this was what was advertised on the Pottermore website during the seven days of early registration mania. But when the first batch of owls arrived with welcome letters (on Monday August 15), people who had registered on Day 7 were being granted entry. It was puzzling for everyone. Nevertheless, it is nice to finally have received the letter. Also interesting is the fact that this welcome letter is for the first Pottermore account I registered, the one which "failed" the registration when I tried the link they'd sent me in the confirmation email. I had therefore registered again, also on Day 1. I shall likely deactivate this one. I shall begin exploring Pottermore and will report back with my findings. Finally, here is the la

Pottermore Beta Testing Has Begun

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UPDATE Monday August 15, 2011: You may have noticed the Log In button is back on Pottermore. . . . It seems the owls are flying and people are being granted admission to Pottermore. One point of particular interest is that as Pottermore Beta Testers, our time spent there is not all fun and games; there is work to be done! But it's fun work, for there is a feedback button located in the bottom right-hand corner of every Pottermore page. It looks like this: So any time you experience difficulty or confusion or encounter something which outright doesn't work, click away! This is how we will improve the Pottermore experience for all come October. Read the latest from the  Insider.Pottermore.com blog  for more details. I'm being told that people on Facebook are saying Pottermore registrants from all 7 Clue Days are already being let in to begin testing. This seems to defy the "First-Come, First-Served" methodology stated by the Pottermore folks, but oh well.

Martin King's 100 Blogs in 30 Days!

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Martin King, author of various novels, including  is doing a special "100-Blogs-In-30-Days" challenge. He is visiting my blog today, as Day 16 and Blog #41 out of the 100. For each of the 100 blogs, Martin is recounting an experience from his childhood. The following is his entry for my blog: Have you ever found something amazing and yet didn’t really know what to do with it? I have! And after reading all my true stories so far, I bet you are wondering what other amazing thing could possibly have happened to this young boy. It is almost impossible. Well let me tell you it’s not. I’ve watched all the Harry Potter films and the way he’s always right at the place where something happens every single time, my life is a lot less ordinary. But on this day, I was digging in the back garden when I found something. Do you want to know what it is, or shall I keep you in suspense a little longer. OK, I shall tell you, I found a gun! Yes a real live gun. Now let’s look at the date