Taste of Kiwi: Blog of Author Shelley Munro

I think brown is such an ordinary color. According to my Merriam-Webster’s dictionary brown is any of a group of colors between red and yellow in hue, of medium to low lightness and of moderate to low saturation. Brown is the color of chocolate though, so it can’t be all bad.

Here are thirteen shades of brown:

1. Nutmeg
2. Chestnut
3. Bronze
4. Mushroom
5. Cocoa
6. Rust
7. Earth
8. Mahogany
9. Mocha
10. Coffee
11. Raisin
12. Copper
13. Umber

Do you like brown? What’s your favorite color? Your most hated color? And a question for writers: when you give your characters brown hair, do you call it brown or use an interesting description such as those above?

I have a selection of interesting posts and info today.

The first is a link to Holt Uncensored that talks about ten mistakes writers make. This post makes for interesting reading and serves as a good reminder of the basics.

For those of you who like gadgets, Paperback Writer has a post about shareware and freeware especially for writers.

At Novelist Inc. Joe Nassise tells us about another writing tool, one to help in backing up a work in progress and for syncing on two different computers.

And finally for both readers and writers: I did my answers for an interview today. One of the questions was: if you could choose one dessert, what would it be? My answer, after much deliberation, was ice cream. Which dessert would you choose?

I’ve mentioned the cabbage tree in several of my books. It’s a native New Zealand tree and part of the lily family, the largest one in fact. The official scientific name is Cordyline australis and the Maori name is Tî râkau or Tî kôuka. It has a single trunk and the leaves are long strips. The leaves hang in rounded bunches and look like huge pom-poms.

Early settlers used them as a subsitute for cabbage (the heart part of the leaves), hence the common name cabbage tree. They grow in various parts of the world and tolerate the cold. I’ve seen them when I’ve visited other countries. There’s even one on Alcatraz Island. We have some growing in our garden, although it’s not good to run over the leaves with the lawn mower because they’re fibrous. That’s asking for trouble!

The trees grow up to forty feet high, although the ones around where I live are on the short side. They’re not very old. During recent years lots of cabbage trees have died because of a disease called ‘Sudden Decline’, caused by the pathogen Phytoplasma australiense. The disease makes the leaves fall, leaving a pathetic looking trunk behind.

This is a cabbage tree – the one with the long strip-like leaves.

These are mountain cabbage trees. Hubby and I took this photo during our recent trip to Tongarairo National Park.

This is a shot of our Parliament buildings in Wellington, affectionately known as the Beehive because of its shape. Notice the row of cabbage trees planted in front.

When I think of New Zealand trees a cabbage tree is one that always springs to mind, along with the mighty Kauri tree (a topic for another post), the pohutakawa and the kowhai trees. (both pretty flowering trees).

When you think about plants and trees native to your area which ones do you think of? Have you seen a cabbage tree in your country?

Mr. Munro is on the injured list at the moment. He jammed his finger in a shipping container after a fumigation yesterday and is feeling miserable. He has to go for x-rays tomorrow but meanwhile has it strapped and the doctors have given him drugs. I feel so sorry for him but there’s nothing I can do. He didn’t sleep well last night. Hopefully some of the drugs the doctor gave him will help with that tonight.

The Body Shop has a mega sale on body butter. I’m a huge fan of their body butter and have purchased a large supply to last me for the entire year. I use it in lieu of perfume and have, in times of desperation, used it to tame frizzy hair. It works like a charm. Does anyone else like body butter?

I went to the local mall today and saw a billboard sign. The text captured my attention rather than the product it was advertising. I think it was alcohol of some description. Anyway, the text said: would you rather walk in on your parents or have your parents walk in on you?

An interesting dilemma. I know which I’d choose. I’d rather have my parents walk in on me. Some things just sear to the eyeballs, and I reckon this is one of them. I’d rather it wasn’t my retinas imprinted with the scene!! What about you?

I’m blogging over at Access Romance today, and since it’s Valentine’s Day in New Zealand, I’m talking about love. Here’s the link to the Access Romance blog.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Do you celebrate and if so, what do you do to celebrate this special day for lovers?

I had a couple of topics ready to do a TT, but I’m feeling grumpy and a bit bloodthirsty today so I decided to do my TT on REVENGE.

1. Some philosophers would give a sex to revenge, and appropriate it almost exclusively to the female mind. But, like most other vices, it is of both genders; yet, because wounded vanity and slighted love are the two most powerful excitements to revenge, it has been thought, perhaps, to rage with more violence in the female heart. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

2. An eye for an eye would make the whole world blind. ~ Ghandi.

3. Revenge is a bitch. ~ Anonymous

4. Live well. It is the greatest revenge. ~ The Talmud

5. Revenge converts a little right into a great wrong. ~ German Proverb

6. Well, remember what you said, because in a day or two, I’ll have a witty and blistering retort! You’ll be devastated THEN! ~ Calvin & Hobbes

7. You cannot get ahead while you are getting even. ~ Dick Armey

8. Revenge is often like biting a dog because the dog bit you. ~ Austin O’Malley

9. Don’t get mad, get even. ~ Robert F Kennedy

10. Something of vengeance I had tasted for the first time; as aromatic wine it seemed, on swallowing, warm and racy: its after-flavor, metallic and corroding, gave me a sensation as if I had been poisoned. ~ Charlotte Bronte

11. That old law about “an eye for an eye” leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing. ~ Martin Luther King Jnr.

12. Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves. ~ Confucius

13. Revenge… is like a rolling stone, which, when a man hath forced up a hill, will return upon him with a greater violence, and break those bones whose sinews gave it motion. ~ Albert Schweitzer

I’m sure like most people, you’ve thought about revenge and maybe carried it out. It’s human. I mean I kill people off in books all the time… Just sayin’…
What do you think about revenge? Good, bad or ugly?

My husband likes cooking and he really loves grocery shopping. It’s one of his favorite things, and he can spend ages in a grocery store. We have a couple of grocery loyalty cards and the other day we received a fifteen dollar voucher along with a coupon offering free freight if you purchased online.

Hubby was reluctant. “But I like grocery shopping,” he said.

I said, “But we won’t have time to go shopping this weekend because you’re on call and our fridge is empty.”
(We usually shop together)

“Well I suppose you could register and we could try shopping online,” he said.

I promptly registered and played with the website. It was easy to register, easy to navigate and actually quite a bit of fun in a geeky way.

I said to hubby, “You come and try it.”

He did, ordering the rest of the things on our list, although he still complained that it wasn’t the same as the real thing. Our order arrived the next day, during the specified time, all present and correct. Unknown to me hubby had added chocolate to the list. “It’s the healthy stuff,” he said. “Dark chocolate with lots of cocoa.”

Me nodding. (Like I need an excuse for chocolate)

I found the online experience easy and efficient. My personal shopper rang to query when there were two items that were out of stock. We didn’t do any impulse buying, apart from the chocolate and saved money. We didn’t use as many of the plastic bags in the packing process. You do need to watch the sizes of things to make sure you’re getting either large or small as you prefer. Sometimes it isn’t obvious. I imagine each order would become easier as you get to know the site. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat. Hubby isn’t so convinced.

Have you tried grocery shopping online? If you haven’t, would you try it if the option were available?

I’m a guest over at Allie’s Musings today with an interview by Allie Boniface. Come and visit me!

New authors have a lot to think about when they start promoting their work. One of the questions they invariably ask is about newsletters. Here’s my take on author newsletters, both advantages and disadvantages and other sundry thoughts.

I started a newsletter very early on, close to the time my first release came out because I figured I’d have a captive audience. After looking at what other authors did, I started a yahoo group–a list only one–and did one post a month. Yahoo is simple. It’s a text only newsletter with no frills. Most online readers are familiar with it and are already members so find it easy to sign up.

When I did the redesign on my website in 2007 I decided I’d do the same with my newsletter, and I changed to a new newsletter service, one suggested by my web designer. This allowed me to send out a HTML newsletter with my special web header and I could also include pictures.

I send my newsletter out around the 20th of the month, but it depends on my workload and on the odd occasion, I’ll skip a month. Other authors send their newsletter out on the first of the month. Some send quarterly newsletters or two-monthly. There are no rules. Each author needs to decide what works for them.

I pay about $5 a month for my current newsletter. There are other options and the charges depend on the number of newsletter members. Bravejournal has a newsletter service and you’ll also find author groups such as Access Romance and Writerspace offer to do author newsletters.

CONTENT:

Once again, I looked at what other authors did and took note of features I enjoyed to use in my own newsletter. Most authors have a news section detailing recent or upcoming releases, author appearances etc. I do or have done excerpts, contests, interviews, columns about New Zealand life, recipes and sometimes talk about books I’ve enjoyed reading. Some authors offer serial stories, which can work well.

Experiment with content until you find a mix that works for you. I like to keep my personal life out of the newsletter, so you’ll never hear about the private workings of my marriage or about the wild weekend I had last month. You might hear about travel and I might mention my husband in passing, usually a little gentle fun at his expense, but that’s it. I don’t like to hear about people’s sex lives or intensely personal stuff and apply the same rule to my newsletter.

THINGS YOU SHOULD NEVER DO:

1. You should NEVER sell the names or addresses you collect. NEVER. Just don’t do it because it’s not right.
2. Don’t overwhelm your members with newsletters i.e. something every few days. That’s called spamming.
3. Don’t add people to your newsletter without their express permission. That’s not right either!

HOW DO YOU COLLECT MEMBERS?

1. Have a sign-up place for your newsletters in a couple of different places on your website. Mine is at the top of the sidebar of my blog and on my About Me page. It’s also on my MySpace page (or it will be soon. I’ve just realized it isn’t there!)

2. Make it easy for readers to sign-up, and the despite the fact we want to keep members, make it easy for them to unsubscribe, too. Nothing irritates me more than a newsletter without unsubcribe information.

3. Offer incentives for readers to join – maybe the chance to win a prize or a free read are a couple of the options.

4. Some author group sites offer competitions where they collect the names of everyone who enters and they forward them to you at the end of the contest. Examples are The Romance Studio book-a-day contest. Cataromance ran a special contest over Christmas where readers signed up to win a prize and agreed to be added to author newsletters. Fresh Fiction also sends out a list of entrants’ email addresses once a contest is completed. NOTE: be careful to check the wording of a contest before you add names to your newsletter. For example in TRS contest not everyone agrees to be added. Some opt out.

SUNDRY:

1. There are rules that govern newsletters, especially in the USA. You should have contact details and unsubscribe information. I tried to find a link to the rules and regulations but couldn’t. If anyone has the exact details please let me know.

2. Subscribe to other writer’s newsletters and see how they do things. How often do they send out newsletters? What content do they offer? It’s a great learning tool.

3. Content is king. Basically a reader will keep receiving your newsletter if you give them good entertainment value.

4. Just because you have a newsletter member, it doesn’t mean they’re going to read your newsletter. Unfortunately there’s no way to make a reader look at your newsletter. I know when I’m busy I hit the delete button. I’m sure other subscribers do the same thing. That’s life!

5. A newsletter isn’t for everyone. You might not have many releases and therefore have nothing to put in a newsletter. I’ve already mentioned good content attracts readers, so if you have nothing to say, it’s possible you don’t need a newsletter.

6. Club together with two or three authors who write similar books and do a joint newsletter. Take turns at doing a feature column. This will work well for authors at the same publisher and there’s cross-promotion for all of you.

If you have any questions or anything to add let me know, and meanwhile, what do you like to see in a newsletter? Are there features you particularly like or dislike? Are there any author newsletters you’d like to recommend?

I’ve just finished reading a book by a fairly well-known author. The writing was solid. The characterization good. The dialogue made me chuckle in a few places, and then I reached the love scenes…

Most of the love scenes took place on horseback. Now I’ve ridden a horse before. I know anything is possible, but honestly, when the hero and heroine started having anal sex on horseback (the heroine was a virgin and they were in the middle of nowhere with the baddies after them) I was ready to throw the book at the wall. The love scenes were also really long. The characters chit-chatted for so long while doing the deed I became bored and lost track of who was doing what. Pages and pages of chit-chat during a love scene does not work. I fast forwarded to find more of the same. After that I became cranky and started to notice the plot holes in the story.

My love scenes range from a paragraph to half a page to several pages. It depends on the characters, the story and what stage the relationship is at. I like to change it up when it comes to length. When it comes to location: bedroom, kitchen, hallway, outside, spa pool, a tent, a vehicle, mountains, sea, space ship… A horse or other similar moving object such as camel or elephant–no, because it doesn’t strike me as safe or sane even though it might be possible. Animals are unpredictable creatures and I keep thinking about the injuries…

So, my question for you is: how long do you like the love scenes to be in a romance? What is the strangest location you’ve read/written in a romance? Are there locations that make you go ewww!?

I know you’re all cold and shivering in the snow in the Northern hemisphere, but we’re dealing with heat down this end of the world.

Today was one of the hottest days we’ve had all year, with most areas of New Zealand hitting 30C. That’s hot for us. It’s also extra hot in Australia with lots of bushfires, especially in Victoria and New South Wales. (Queensland is bucking the trend with floods.)

My heart goes out to all those who have lost family, friends and their homes in the fires. New Zealand firemen are on standby in a couple of areas because of the danger of fires due to extreme dryness.

I’m not very good with heat. I wilt like a little flower and have spent all day hiding inside, trying to polish my current work in progress. Air conditioning isn’t a common thing to have in a NZ home, but I’ve had every door and window open and there has been a bit of a breeze.

Do you like hot weather? What’s your favorite way to deal with the heat? How do you chill out and keep your cool?