Tuesday, February 28, 2012

My New Kindle

HOW MY WRITING'S GOING:
I'm working on the first fifteen pages of my new wip for a local SCBWI Advanced Writers Retreat in April. The first fifteen pages will be critiqued by Viking Children's Books editor Kendra Levin at the retreat. I can't wait to hear what she has to say!

A GIFT:
My hubby got me a Kindle for Valentine's Day. It was quite a surprise - I hadn't even asked for one. I haven't bought any books for it yet because I have such a stack of previously purchased books already waiting for me. I did put my own manuscript on it, though, and it was so cool to read my book on my Kindle! Which brings me to...

A VERY HELPFUL POST: I found this post on agent Vickie Motter's Navigating the Slushpile blog about formatting your manuscript for an e-reader. The changes are so easy to make, and make such a difference on an e-reader. I downloaded both my original manuscript and my manuscript after making the changes, and it was so much easier to read after following Vickie's instructions. If you aren't reading Vickie's blog, you really should! It's packed with practical and easy-to-follow querying advice.

HOW ABOUT YOU:
Are there any extra-super-helpful blogs you'd like to give a shout-out to?

52 comments:

Old Kitty said...

Awwww what a lovely valentine's surprise! Awwww! Quelle romantico! (Yes I spliced two languages there! LOL!).

Good luck with your wip - the retreat sounds amazing!!!

Take care
x

Bish Denham said...

I'm so excited for you! And I'm off to read Vickie blog! Thanks.

The Happy Whisk said...

This is a super exciting post. All wonderful and I look forward to hearing about how it goes in Aptil, and what book you buy first for the Kindle.

Have an oogie boogie day.

DEZMOND said...

ooh, congrats on the Kindle and yay for the hubby ;)

Anne Gallagher said...

I'm thinking I might buy myself a Kindle for my birthday this year. I've downloaded so many books to my PC and I just can't sit and read them at my desk. I'd love to be able to read in bed.

I'm diving back into my WiP today to see if I can work out all the bugs I created 4 years ago.

Laura S. said...

That's such a generous Valentine's Day surprise! I'm not into eReaders, but I have some family and friends who LOVE their Kindles so I think your hubby made a good choice!

Hope you have a great week, Susan!

Talli Roland said...

Yay for Kindles! I loooove mine. And reading your MS on it is super-helpful because it's so much easier to pick up typos.

Brian's Home Blog said...

That is a nice gift and I will have to check out the magic that makes something work on the Kindle!

Anonymous said...

Have fun with your new toy. I found I'm not nearly as impatient with long lines now that I have an eReader. I'm like take your time lady. I'm reading

Matthew MacNish said...

I love reading and critiquing on my Kindle!

Lauren said...

What a cool retreat you're going on! Good luck with your WIP!

Laurel Garver said...

Hope the retreat is great. I just got a Kindle for Christmas and have been burning through books faster than ever--classics, library ebooks and friends' books too. I plan to put some apps on it as well, like address book and appointment calendar. Less to carry!

Kittie Howard said...

Your husband seems like a really thoughtful guy. Once I got the hang of my Kindle, I couldn't imagine life without it. Hope April is a fantastic time for you.

LindyLouMac said...

I love my kindle as well, but it will never replace my love of real books.

DL Hammons said...

My wife had a Kindle...loved it...began pining for a Kindle Fire...so I gave her one for Xmas. Loves it even more!! She gave the old one to our daughter. Me...I'm happy with my iPad! :)

Jai Joshi said...

Great, thanks for the link!

Jai

Carole said...

I hope you also got a sturdy cover for it - I did a post about my Kindle experiences http://caroleschatter.blogspot.co.nz/2011/10/benefits-of-having-kindle.html

Robyn Campbell said...

Yay you!! And might I say, Yay for your hubby!!!!!!! (He scored points) :-)

I will check out Vickie's blog, Susan. If you recommend it, then it must be bodacious.

Kelly Polark said...

I didn't know you could download your manuscript onto the kindle?!!

I'll be sure to check out Vickie's blog!
Enjoy the new Kindle! (I got one for Christmas. Still not entirely used to it yet!)

Carol Riggs said...

Yay for you getting a Kindle! Yep, I've loaded my ms onto my hubby's Kindle and taken it with me to a retreat so I could keep working on it. :) I probably don't know much about formatting it though, so thanks for Vickie's link!!

Jemi Fraser said...

Such a nice gift!! I haven't tried putting my ms on my Kindle yet! I'm going to have to try that :)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Glad you have an eReader now!
Moody Writing offers great writing tips and I always learn something at Elizabeth Spann Craig's site.

A.L. Sonnichsen said...

What a sweet Valentine's Day present from your hubby! And how awesome that you'll get a critique from Kendra. She is awesome! Hope you get a lot out of it! :)

Denise Covey said...

Hello Susan. Congrats on having a big gun critiquing your new WIP. Hope it's favourable.

Lovely hubby to buy you a Kindle. I'm still reading in my cloud reader. Must be a thrill to read your own ms on it.

Thanks for that link to ...slushpile...I'm checking it out now.

Denise

Lara Schiffbauer said...

Oooh - great link! I'll be checking that one out. Good luck with the critique - that kind of feedback is wonderful.

Kathi Oram Peterson said...

Thanks for the link.

What fun to go to a retreat with an editor from Viking.

I have a Kindle. Last year I had to go on a trip, and I needed to read through one of my books, so I loaded it on my Kindle. I was so glad I didn't have to take my laptop. The Kindle is much easier on your lap in a car.

Enjoy your Kindle.

Deniz Bevan said...

I *still* haven't made the jump to e-readers...
Love Kait Nolan's blog - she's always helpful, and fun!

Lydia Kang said...

I might get an iPad soon. We'll see. What a great Valentine's present!

Sharon K. Mayhew said...

Very cool of your brilliant hubby. You'll have to show me your new ms on your ereader when I come and see you in a couple weeks. :-)

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

aw, now THAT's a romantic gift for Valentines :)

Isn't it fantastic to read your manuscript on the kindle. It's amazing how mnay mistakes I pick up on it rather than reading it from word.

Jo Schaffer said...

Cool! I love my kindle! I got it in December and have already put some serious miles on it! (=

Shelley Sly said...

Yay for your new Kindle! :) Thanks for the helpful link to Vickie's blog, too. I'd like to learn to format my MS's for e-readers, just in case.

Cynthia Chapman Willis said...

What a lovely Valentines Day gift! Enjoy!! And thanks for the blog link. I'll check it out.

Carolyn V said...

I'm behind the times. I still need a kindle. *sigh* What a great present! I've only heard great things about it!

Lola Sharp said...

Aww, what a sweet gift. <3
I recently bought a kindle touch, but only for reading CPs MSs. Readign fulls on the computer got old fast. I don't mind it for a chapter or two, but reading an entire book on the computer is torture. Anyway, I love it for that. I haven't downloaded any published books yet.

There were, now that you mention it, a few formatting glitches, so I'll have to read Vicki's post. Thanks. :)

I can't wait to hear all about your retreat. :)

Margo Berendsen said...

I have shiny new gadget syndrome and I've been wanting a Kindle Fire since they came out... so tempting to use my tax return... and to see my own writing on a Kindle!!!! Thanks for the link to Motter's site, I have not found that one yet.

Anonymous said...

I read my WIPs and beta read on my Kindle. It makes things so much easier.

Happy writing. That's exciting about the editor.

Stina said...

I remember reading that post of Vickie's. Fortunately I was already doing things right without realizing it. :)

Congrats on the Kindle present.

Romance Book Haven said...

What an awesome Valentines gift. Have you got the cover with the light on it?

Ciara said...

Thanks so much for sharing her blog. Wow, what a great opportunity for a critique!

Carolina M. Valdez Schneider said...

Awww, and all I got was flowers...

Hehe. Well, sounds like a lovely Valentine's Day.

And I agree-Vickie has a wonderful blog!

Jennifer Shirk said...

What kind of Kindle did you get? I'm tired of fighting with the family over the Ipad and want to buy myself my very own reader.

Golden Eagle said...

That's a great Valentine's Day gift! :)

Trisha said...

Thanks so much for the link to that blog post - I don't have an eReader, but I know that if I ever have my work available for eReaders I want it to be formatted properly!

That's awesome about your 15 pages being critiqued! Good luck with that :)

As for me, I'm just chugging along with my weekly goals, trying (not too successfully) to make good progress in advance to make up for the weeks I'll be overseas.

PK HREZO said...

Oh cool! I'll check it out. And I always upload my ms to my kindle for editing purposes. It's amazing how much it helps to read it as an actual book... i always found more areas to fix.
And congrats to you on all your Cupid success!!

Nissa Annakindt said...

Congratulations on the Kindle. I go to Manybooks.net for free ebooks. There's a lot of older books there like Jane Eyre and Moby Dick that I've downloaded.

I like the Kindle because as I'm getting older I can change the print size to large print on all my Kindle books.

Marcia said...

This is a great tip. Thanks!

सहज समाधि आश्रम said...

nice post

Clara said...

Thank you so much lady, I was looking for ways to format my manuscripts into e reader format like five minutes ago!
Great post :)

Cindy said...

That retreat sounds fun. I always wanted to go to one of those...someday. It's also fun to put your own stories on your Kindle.

Connie Arnold said...

That was a lovely surprise for you! I got an e-reader last year and love it. Thanks for sharing about Vickie's blog.

TerryLynnJohnson said...

have fun on your retreat!