Ravyn's Flight Now Available for Kindle

The wait is over! (Read that in that in the WWE announcer voice because that's how I'm hearing it. :-) We've all heard that guy advertising pay-per-view wrestling events, right?)

Finally, at long last, Ravyn's Flight and Eternal Nights are available in the Kindle store!

I'd hoped to have the books live at both Amazon and BN.com on the same day, but Kindle didn't like my file extension. If I would have received a message that said, hey, dummy, we don't take this format any longer I would have fixed it right away. Instead, all I got was a pair of emails telling me the books were live. They clearly were not. But it's all straightened out now.

So if you like to read in the Kindle format, you can now pick up my Jarved Nine books at Amazon now.

Ravyn's Flight

Eternal Nights

 

Kindle Fire

I realized that while I've reviewed the regular Kindle on my blog, I haven't reviewed the Kindle Fire yet, so here it goes.

The Fire was a lot heavier than I expected it to be. That's the thing that's stuck with me the longest since I got it last fall. I was actually shocked by the weight. It also comes with a cord that only plugs into the wall, not into a computer, but if you have a regular Kindle cord, it works just fine.

I've taken it into the kitchen to display recipes while I've attempted to cook. I've also used it to stream movies while I'm in the kitchen working. The small size is very good for this, not so easy to read recipes, however.

Downloading content or streaming movies is easy and it does this well.

I like reading books on the Fire. I've actually become so accustomed to reading on back-lit screens that I had trouble with the regular, e-ink Kindle not lighting up. Sometimes the page doesn't turn right away and it takes more than one tap, but it's a minor inconvenience.

The rest of my problems with the Fire are more annoying. Because of the small screen real estate, it's sometimes very difficult to tap links. Even increasing the resolution doesn't always help and I ended up buying a stylus. It's helped a lot, but there's another frustrating tapping issue--anything near the edges of the screen is less sensitive than I'd like. Just hooking the little caret at the bottom to pull up the menu can be a challenge.

What drives me absolutely crazy, though, is that it keeps freezing up when I'm using it to surf the web and there is no way to unfreeze it without rebooting. It happens all the time, usually 3 times a week and that's too much.

Worse than that was the time my Fire wouldn't start up at all. I found instructions on how to fix it in the Amazon forums, but this shouldn't happen to begin with.

Overall: The Fire is okay, but I wish I'd waited and gotten the iPad.

2.5 stars.

Did You Get an E-Reader For Christmas?

If you received an e-reader for Christmas and are looking for titles to fill it up, why don't you check out my stories?

Kindle:

Through a Crimson Veil (Crimson City 3)
Dark Awakening (A novella originally published in Shards of Crimson)
The Troll Bridge (A short story set on Jarved Nine)
Blood Feud (A short story)

Nook:

Through a Crimson Veil (Crimson City 3)
Dark Awakening (A novella originally published in Shards of Crimson)
The Troll Bridge (A short story set on Jarved Nine)
Blood Feud (A short story)

Other E-Readers: 

Through a Crimson Veil (Crimson City 3)
Dark Awakening (A novella originally published in Shards of Crimson)
The Troll Bridge (A short story set on Jarved Nine)
Blood Feud (A short story)

To check out my other books in electronic format, please visit my website.

Kindle Fire: My Thoughts

My Kindle Fire arrived on Wednesday. This was later than a lot of people, but I'd waffled for a few days before deciding to order, so I wasn't at the front of the queue.

The first thing I thought as I lifted the Fire from the box was this is heavy. I have a Kindle 2, and even with the external keyboard, it's lighter than the Fire. This weight really registered later in the evening when I was using it while I sat on the couch. My case came a day later, so this was all the device. I'm putting this in the minus column.

Unlike my regular Kindle, the Fire has a glossy touch screen. I didn't have an issue with glare, although I read online that others have, but I did have some trouble with the touch part. First, when held in the normal vertical position, the onscreen keyboard is very narrow and I frequently touched the wrong keys. Secondly, sometimes I had to touch repeatedly before the Fire registered it. I don't know if it's me since this is my first touch screen or the Kindle. This touching issue became more challenging considering how tiny some website links appeared on the device. The third issue was all the fingerprints I left behind. They were really obvious when the screen was black and I hate fingerprints on computer screens. I'm giving this another minus.

Setup was easy, and as I bought it on my account and not as a gift, I didn't have to do anything with that. It automatically registered itself. Setting up one-click buying was also a snap. The interface with the Kindle store is smooth, seamless, and so awesome, it's going to be easy to spend money on eBooks. Too easy, but I'll call this a plus anyway. :-)

I authorized apps from third parties and was able to download the Barnes & Noble Nook app onto my Amazon Kindle Fire. :-) This elated me because having everything in one place is the ultimate goal, right? The only problem I have is that only a fraction of my Nook books would download onto my Fire. I haven't had time to investigate this yet. And while this is semi-annoying, I never expected I'd be able to get any Nook books on my Fire, so this is a plus.

Amazon loads the icons for a few apps on the device when it's delivered, but if you want them, you still need to download them. The ones I checked out like Pandora and IMDB were free. I also checked out the app store and found some cool stuff. Bejeweled 2 was the free app of the day last Wednesday, so I got that. I also picked up Tune-In Radio which lets me listen to radio stations from around the world. I listened to the BBC for a while and also a station in Australia. Then there was the police scanner app--I forget what it's called--I was able to listen in on the LAPD for a bit. I also downloaded the Seesmic app for Android because the Twitter site stayed completely blank in the browser. All these apps were free. I'm putting this in the plus column as well.

I streamed a movie to the Fire on Friday and this worked very well. No stuttering of the movie--it played smoothly--and the images were crisp. The movie I test ran was a free offering through the Amazon Prime membership and selecting it was easy. A couple of taps and I had launch. I think individual internet connections will affect this, but my cable company was up to the task. Plus.

But y'all want to know what it was like to read on. I liked it. The screen is backlit, unlike the regular Kindles and their e-ink, but that was actually one of the reasons I decided to buy it. I don't have enough light in my bedroom to read the regular Kindle without using a book light and I never manage to position that thing right for me. Reading on the backlit screen of the Fire was perfect. The only issue I had--again--was with the touch screen. Sometimes it wouldn't change pages, sometimes I brought up the controls on the bottom of the screen by accident. I'm guessing this is me and learning how it works. Overall, plus.

There is no HDMI port, actually no ports at all beyond a place to plug-in headphones and the power cord. I need to find out if I can use the power port with a USB cord to hook into my laptop and side load books. This is another thing I haven't had time to explore.

Turning the Fire turns the screen orientation as well. I know Apple has done this on their portable devices, but I don't have any of those things and it surprised me the first time I moved the device and had the screen adjust itself. Once I got used to it, it was cool. Plus.

Overall, I like the Kindle Fire. Despite what you've read online and in the media, it's not a competitor for Apple's iPad, at least that's my opinion. It's an ereader that has some bonus functions like streaming music and internet access if you're somewhere with WiFi. The iPad is a machine that can work as well as play, the Fire seems to mostly be an entertainment portal. If you're looking for an iPad, you'll be disappointed. If you're looking for a color ereader with a backlit screen and some additional features, the Fire is a good choice.

Qualified thumbs up.

Kindle 4

No one tell my mom about this blog post! It's a secret, okay?

I bought my mom a Kindle 4 as a combination birthday/Christmas present. Yes, I know I'm early, but she's so hard to buy for and this way I have time to download all kinds of books for her. I've already gotten all of my books on there for her and it's charged, wifi setup, etc.

I wanted to pass along my thoughts about the latest Kindle. First of all, this is not the touch version. I'd happily have bought her one of those if I thought she'd take advantage of it, but she's very techno-phobic and the simpler the device the better. Because this isn't the touch screen model, it means the keyboard that pulls up on the screen can only be used by using the 4-way button on the bottom. Kind of a pain, but it was usable and my mom will never type on the K4, so no worries.

The first and most noticeable thing was how much lighter and smaller the K4 is compared to my K2. That's an awesome improvement and one that's good for my mom. She won't have to work as hard to hold the device. I rested the K4 atop my K2 and there was probably an inch on the top and an inch on the left showing of my Kindle. That's how much smaller the K4 is, but with no keyboard, it can shrink.

The back of the device has a little texture to it to improve grip and prevent it from sliding when it's put down on a table or counter. I plan to buy my mom a case as part of her gift because it will be extra protection if she falls asleep while reading.

The page forward and previous page buttons are on the sides of the device more than on the top of it. There is also one of each on both sides so it's easier to go backward no matter which hand you like to use to hold your device. On the K2, the previous page button is only on the left side, the home button only on the right. The K4 has the home button on the front. There are a few other button differences, like the on/off switch is on the bottom and not that top, but this isn't a big deal.

Aside from the smaller, lighter K4 and the lack of keyboard, the reading experience was identical to the K2. This is good because I've loaned my K2 to my mom and she liked that. I need her to feel comfortable with the Kindle or she won't use it.

Next up, downloading a lot of books to my mom's Christmas K4. I need enough to keep her busy reading for a long while.

I'm a Thwarted Book Cheater

Today, I was talking ebooks with a couple of my friends. I love my Kindle, I can't say that enough, but there's a limitation to reading electronically that makes me nuts--I can't skip ahead. Not conveniently.

I cheat when I read. When I'm reading a paperback, I'll skip ahead and skim a few pages farther on. I'll jump a few chapters forward and do the same. And my favorite thing of all, I'll jump to the end and read the last scene. Sure you can do this kind of in a Kindle, but not as easily as in paper.

Maybe I shouldn't cheat as I read. I know readers who are appalled that I do this, but I also know there are other readers who do the same thing I do. We discussed it and the numbers seemed pretty evenly split, not that I kept a tally of any sort.

I'm not sure why I cheat ahead when I read or when it started, but I do know it's a very ingrained habit and my biggest frustration reading ebooks. If only I could skip ahead without messing up my place in the book. If only I could skip ahead without having to hit page forward repeatedly until I get far enough ahead from where I'm at to do my skim reading.

If there's a Table of Contents, it makes it slightly easier, but not by much. Then I have to open the menu, click on go to TOC, and then hit the hyperlink to take me forward. If there is a clickable TOC. :-(

When I talked to my friends, I also expressed my dissatisfaction with the rereading experience in electronic format. You see, usually when I reread, I don't go through the entire book. I just hit the scenes or parts of the scenes that I really enjoyed and want to revisit. Sure, I can bookmark the spot in the Kindle, but while I'm reading, I'm either too enthralled by the story to think of bookmarking or I don't realize that this particular scene is going to end up being a favorite. Sometimes that only makes itself known after I'm finished.

All this said, I still buy the bulk of my fiction now in electronic format. I love the instant gratification. I love having multiple choices on what to read when I have my Kindle with me. I love not having to build more bookshelves. LOL! My dad was getting a little crabby when I asked him to make me one toward the end.

Blood Feud Is On Kindle!

Last year, I wrote a short story for The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance 2, called Blood Feud. Until now, it's only been part of the full collection and I wanted people to be able to buy it on its own if they only wanted to read my story. It took me a little while to find the time to figure it all out, but Blood Feud is now available in Kindle format!

Demons and vampires have always been enemies, but they reached an uneasy truce. A truce now threatened by a demon who is murdering vampires.

Isobel is a troubleshooter for her vampire clan and she's ordered to work with a demon to find the killer. She never expected her new partner to be Seere, the demon lover she'd abandoned.

The last thing Seere wants is to fall under Iso's spell a second time. But as they work together to find the murderer, Seere learns that what burns between them is more explosive than any Blood Feud.

If you've read my Nocturne Bites story, Demon Kissed, Blood Feud is set in the same world. In DEMON KISSED, when Andras makes reference to the demon prince being in love with a vampire, he's referring to Isobel and Seere from BLOOD FEUD. There's a third story in this world coming out in 2011 from Nocturne Bites as well. I think the title is going to be SHADOW'S CARESS, but I have no idea on the release date yet.

Anyway, I've been working on this plan to upload Blood Feud on my own for a while. I had this awesome cover made and then procrastinated on the actual conversion for Kindle upload. It was a little tedious to format, but it went much easier than I expected.

I know not everyone reads on a Kindle. I'm going to try to format for the other readers as well, but I can't promise when I'll manage to get it done unless I can upload the file in the same format that Amazon took. Somehow I'm guessing it won't be that easy.

And as I'm typing this, I'm working on getting The Troll Bridge uploaded for Kindle, too. TROLL BRIDGE was part of The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance and is set on Jarved Nine. It takes place about seven years after the end of Eternal Nights, Wyatt and Kendall's story. I know a lot of fans of the Jarved Nine series have been asking for this to be available as a stand alone, so I'm excited to get this out there.

Blood Feud for Kindle

Kindle Upgrade Thoughts

I've been waiting and waiting for my Kindle to get the 2.5 update that allows books to be filed/organized. The one thing I haven't loved about my Kindle was the fact I couldn't sort anything. I could look by author or by title or by download date, but that didn't help me find a particular book. This weekend I decided I couldn't wait for Amazon to push the update and I installed it manually.

First off, this was much simpler than I expected it to be. The directions on the website were clear and easy to follow. It was also quicker than I thought. The install only took a few minutes.

Then the real fun began--trying to sort a 24-page list of books into categories.

Defining the names of categories turned out to be moderately difficult. I wanted to slice it down far enough that I could find everything easily, but I didn't want it so fine that I had 24 pages worth of categories. Since I read a lot of romance, I broke that down into Paranormal, Romantic Suspense, and a generic Romance for anything that didn't fall into the first two. I also did a Read and Unread for each because Amazon's designation (bold dots below the book title instead of regular dots) doesn't exactly leap off the screen and scream Read!

Anyway, I gave Urban Fantasy it's own folder and then did all of Fiction under one umbrella. I also broke down my research books into Writing Craft, General Research, and Research specific to a particular story/series idea. As I filed books away, I discovered the need to add more categories for filing purposes and made it to 2 1/2 pages worth of categories. That's more than I'd hoped for, but I guess I'm not too surprised.

Then began the "fun" process of categorizing everything. I'm still not done since I was only able to work on it at odd moments. This ended up being interesting. I discovered books I had no memory of downloading. I rediscovered books that made me go, Oh, yeah, I wanted to read that. It was amazing how much I had that just got buried without a filing system.

Right now I still have about 5 pages of books to categorize. The problem is that I've had my Kindle for about 16 months now and I don't remember what these books are about or which file they belong in. I need time to research them so that I can file them, and right now, time is in short supply.

I think this update to the Kindle software was long overdue. The ability to put books into categories should have been there from the beginning and it was something I noticed immediately when I got it. I'm still not 100% happy, though, with how categories work.

While I do love the fact that a book can be filed in more than one location, I absolutely hate that I can't arrange my category names in alphabetical order. Grr. Amazon puts whatever category I opened last on top. I can see that some people would like this, but I'd prefer alphabetical order so I can find what I'm looking for quickly and easily. If Paranormal romance is falling in the middle of my list of files, how am I going to find it without paging through and scanning through the entire list? (BTW, if there is a way to do this and you know it, please tell me. I haven't had time to really explore the update yet.)

So overall, the 2.5 update for Kindle is definitely worth the extra steps to download manually, but it's still not a perfect solution for organization. Two thumbs up, with a wish that Amazon would refine this filing a little more and give the reader more options.

Kindle Take 3

I made an interesting discovery this week. I prefer reading on my Kindle now to paper books.

It's almost a year since I received my Kindle, and in that time, I've done the vast majority of my reading on it. Yes, there are frustrations as I blogged about in my updated review. I'm still working my way through a research book that is heavy on charts and tables and those are still all but unreadable in Kindle. But fiction, well that's another story.

How'd I discover this?

I'm judging the RITA this year and my books arrived last Wednesday. I brought the first book to work to read during lunch and it was, well, a pain to hold the book propped open when I'm used to simply holding the Kindle. The position of my hand aggravated my tendonitis. I also got spoiled being able to just press a button to turn a page. Not an option with the book which required a manual turn. :-)

It kind of struck me because I couldn't imagine not having keeper books on paper. In my first Kindle review, I think I said something like I'd rebuy books I loved in paperback, but now I wonder. If I'm liking reading on the K more than on paper, why would I bother buying anymore paper books?

On the other hand, when I left work last night and knew I had too much to do to read anymore at home, it was sure nice to leave the book in my cube. I'd never do that with my Kindle, so there are still disadvantages, but not as many as maybe I thought. And if I've acclimated to e-books, more and more people will, too. Which would be awesome except that not all my books are available in electronic formats and I wish they were. I have no control over this either, no matter how much I wish I did.

So judging the RITA was eye opening because of how my reading habits have changed in 11 months since I went to Kindle. Wow. Still amazed.

Kindle Revisited

I've blogged a couple of times before about my Kindle, including reviewing how much I liked it. Now, nine months into my ownership, I've discovered a few drawbacks I hadn't considered or discovered back then. I still love my Kindle and it's awesome to be able to take more than 150 books everywhere I want, but there are a couple of issues.

The big one is something I discovered just in the last week or so. I'm reading a research book at the moment and fervently wishing I'd bought hard copy instead of the ebook version. The huge reason is this book has a lot of charts and graphs. These graphics were shrunk down to fit on the Kindle screen, but there is no way I know of to enlarge them. Making the font bigger makes the caption beneath the graphic larger, but that's it. The graph/chart remains exactly the same size. Which basically means I have a Kindle screen filled with shades of gray and fonts so tiny that I don't think Steve Austin and his bionic eye could read what it says.

Most of what I've been reading on the Kindle has been fiction, and while I have read a few research books, none have had the extensive graphics that this one has. It's been an eye-opener for me.

My second issue is my car. If this research book I'm reading right now was a paper copy, I would have hauled it out to my car this morning, dumped it on the passenger seat, and left it there all day. Then, after the Evil Day Job was over, I could sit in the parking lot, waiting for my engine to warm up, and read. I can't do this with my Kindle.

Reason number one--the temperature. The high yesterday was 5 degrees and it felt colder than that. I'm afraid that the cold would damage the reader if I left it sitting in my vehicle all day. I'd have the same concern if it was 95 degrees, but in the summer, I don't have to wait for my car to warm up. And no, I don't want to haul it in my tote bag up to the office. I already have that thing filled with heavy stuff, including my netbook to write on during lunch hour.

Reason number two--I'd be worried that someone would break in and steal the Kindle. My office isn't in a bad area, but you just never know. Why offer temptation? With a paper copy of this book, I could leave it on the seat and not worry about anyone wanting it that bad. And even if someone did, the book would cost maybe $20 to replace. The Kindle is still at $250.

I do like the idea of having multiple research books with me, but in this case, it's just not working out for me really well. I still love my Kindle, but if I had it to do over, I'd definitely buy this book in paper.

A Couple Months With My Kindle

I've had my Kindle now for about 2 1/2 months now and I love it--a lot. I like being able to take it with me to appointments and know I'll never run out of things to read. That's a two-fold bonus. One, it holds a lot of books and two, if I do finish everything I have, I can use the Whispernet connection to buy more. I don't have much time to read, but somehow it seems easier to squeeze that time in on the Kindle.

Another benefit to the Kindle is all the free reads available. There are also books sold at reduced prices like a $1.00. This has had me downloading authors I might not have tried before at full paperback price. I hardly ever get to read, and when I do pickup a book, I want a guaranteed winner which means I've tried fewer new authors.

My other favorite part is I guess ebook in general rather than Kindle related, but there are more shorter reads available like Nocturne Bites. The smaller size story means I can actually finish a book now before I forget everything I read earlier. :-) Like I said, my reading time is extremely limited.

It's also allowed me to read more ebook only books. Before I would order them, download them to my computer and never read them because I spend enough time on the laptop, darn it. The Kindle changes that equation for me.

Drawbacks. My biggest pain is the lack of a file management system. I want folders so I can sort my books into various categories. Barring that, I wish Amazon would set things up so that the stories I finish would drop to the bottom of the list of books when I'm sorted by date downloaded. I don't remember titles and the little dots aren't the easiest thing to use to judge whether or not I've finished a story or just got really close to finishing it.

Maybe this is psychological, but while I love the Kindle for books I know I'll only read once, I still want my must-buy and/or keeper authors/books in paperback. This might change over time because I sure love not having to buy more bookshelves, but for right now, if it's a book I might reread, it's still paper for me.

Other drawback is so many people are curious and start asking me questions while I'm trying to read. I suppose once more ereaders and Kindles are around, the questions will stop, but right now I feel like I should get demonstration model pay because that's what I end up doing a lot of times when I read in public. :-)

Overall, the positives far outweigh the negatives, and after a couple of months of use, I'm giving this purchase a thumbs up.

More Kindle 2 Thoughts

I've been able to actually use my Kindle 2 for about a week now and my overall opinion is a positive one. This is going to be a really short review, but DST is kicking my butt. I hate switching time and wish we could just stay on one year round. But I digress.

Kindle 2. What I don't like. The screen is a little gray for me. I know it's shaded to make long reading stints doable--too white a screen would be worse--but this is just a little dark for me. I know all about eye strain. I've got my computers set up to tint my WordPerfect screen a pale blue. But this just seems dingy. Plus there's a little bit of ghosting going on that bugs me.

I also prefer to read a book with real paper. There's no doubt about it, K2 isn't as nice as an old-fashioned book. I can't see this as a way that I'd buy my keeper authors. For them, I'm still going with paper.

What I do like. I love, love, love being able to have multiple books with me all the time. I already have quite a collection of fiction and nonfiction on there and I can skip to whatever I feel like reading. I started reading a research book at work last week, but I decided that I didn't feel like research. If I'd put the book in my bag and brought it in, I would have been out of luck, but with my K2, I just selected a fictional story instead.

I love being able to instantly download what I want. At work, I decided I needed info about Japanese history, so at lunch, I popped on the K2 and had a couple of sample chapters sent to me. Totally love the instant gratification. I also had some fiction recommendations and was able to immediately download and start reading.

The size is great and it's not too heavy which means I can hold it for a while while I read. There's no prying open a book and holding the pages open with my hand which helps with my tendinitis--big time. It's easy to turn pages without disrupting the flow of reading.

Another plus is carting my work around with me without needing a computer. Big plus when my books come in over 400 pages.

All in all, I'm very happy with my K2 purchase. I wish there were more research books available in this format because this is clearly how I want to read my reference material. I'm running around the Amazon site, clicking "Kindle Me Please." :-) I can't wait to see what this looks like at the 5th or 6th generation. Could be really cool!

Kindle 2

My Kindle 2 arrived today. I'm off from the Evil Day Job this week, and since I wasn't sure whether or not I'd have to sign for the package, I got up early so I could shower and get dressed before the UPS guy came. The earliest I've known them to drop anything off was 11:45, so I figured 9:15 was safe enough to be brushing my teeth. Unfortunately, that's when I heard the doorbell ring.

I rinsed fast and ran for the door, but the UPS guy was quick and he was gone already. Luckily, my package was sitting next to my door and I welcomed the Kindle 2 into my home.

So what are my impressions? The first thing that struck me after taking it out of the box was how thin it was. This made me nervous every time I handled it because it feels fragile and I'm afraid to press the buttons too hard. I'm sure this will pass once I get used to it. I'm also sure it will help once I have a case for it. The K2 comes naked. I ordered the hot pink M-Edge case, the one that stands up on it's own, but it won't arrive for a couple of weeks. (I linked to the case because I had a lot of Googlers found my blog by searching for a hot pink Kindle case. Good to have you here.)

Until the case arrives, I'm thinking of carting it around in the box it came in. Some people have posted that they carry it without a case, but I just can't do that.

The Whispernet function is nice. I ordered a copy of Virgil's Aeneid (yes, I am a geek) and I had it in less than a minute! Too cool. There were also free books available in the Kindle store as Harlequin celebrates their anniversary, so I had those delivered as well. These, however, I'd ordered online before my K2 arrived and when I synced, there they were. Cool!

Typing on the keyboard was easy and comfortable, something I didn't expect since the keys are so tiny. I liked being able to adjust font size. I think I got spoiled by the computer and all the comfort settings I use because of the time I spend writing.

Minuses. As someone on Twitter pointed out, file management is an issue. It is. Even with the few books I have on there now, it's a pain in the butt to page through them. It would definitely be nice to be able to put them into folders, like Research, Fiction, Classics and whatever.

I also would have liked the screen to be a little brighter. Maybe it seemed dim because it was cloudy here today and there's no back light on the K2. In sunshine, it might be better or I might have to buy a light for it. Of course, if I was spending a lot of hours reading on it, I might like that grayness.

There were also "ghosts" of previous pages on the screen while I waited for the next one to come up. I don't know if that's normal or not since I've never used a screen like this before.

These are very general first impressions. I have a book due March 1, so I haven't had time to play with my new toy much. I will be posting more thoughts when I do get my hands on it.

In the Zone: Do Not Disturb

Today, I hit the zone. Every writer knows what I'm talking about. It's this place when you're writing and you don't want to stop--not for anything. Every interruption is a pain even things like eating, sleeping, and showering. (Don't worry. I'm showered, but I resented the time away from the book.)

I've been working hard all along--the book is due on March 1--but the zone is totally different. I can put in 10 hours and not be in the zone. I can also put 10 hours in when I'm in the zone and have it feel as if 2 minutes has gone by. I love the zone. It is totally the best place to be. :-)

So until I post the dancing Hobbes here, blogs will be short. Maybe non-existent, but I'll try to post something. And I'll be answering comments next week.

I should have realized I was slipping into the zone when I couldn't sleep last night as I fretted over one of my scenes. It was wrong. I knew it was wrong. But how to fix it? I woke up with the answer, and with about four hours of sleep, hit the computer. It's fixed. But I still didn't officially hit the zone until late this afternoon, early this evening. Shortly after I ordered the Amazon Kindle 2.

Yes, I caved. I ordered the Kindle. It was the thought of lugging 400 pages with me in hard copy that convinced me to take the plunge. I didn't order the extended warranty, but the price still makes me wince.

Kindle 2, I Covet You

I've been drooling over the Kindle since the original edition was released, but I talked myself out of it. Not easily. I waffled over and over for weeks and just when I thought I'd for certain talked myself out of it, someone at my (necessary) Evil Day Job bought one and the coveting began again. The only thing that finally ended my indecision was when I read the Kindle 2 was coming out and it would be in colors like the iPod Nano was. I totally love color and the idea of having a hot pink Kindle if I only waited was enough to convince me. Yes, shallow, but there you have it. I can be bought for fuchsia.

To my great disappointment, when the Kindle 2 was released, only Stephen King got a pink version. This breaks my heart. Hey, Amazon, I want a pink one, too! I'll even take purple or tangerine or red. Don't they know how many of us are waiting for bright exciting colors? Sigh.

But it doesn't seem to matter. I'm lusting after the Kindle 2 anyway. I keep opening Amazon in my browser and looking at the thing. I've already found a hot pink case to make up for the lack of a hot pink Kindle 2. The price is off-putting. Talk about a big ouch! I was hoping the price would come down with second gen, but that didn't happen.

As you've probably guessed, I'm waffling again. I want one. It would be great for research because if I needed information and found a good book on the subject that was Kindle-ized, I could order it immediately and have it in minutes. I could also highlight and bookmark and snip the parts that pertain to what I need. Much, much easier for relocating information months later. I can't tell you how many books I had to dig out and go through a couple of years ago to find one fact. I knew I had read it. I knew I owned the book. It took me hours to locate the right one. This, alone, makes the Kindle attractive.

On the other hand, that price still stops me cold. Plus, I'd have to get the extended warranty--just in case. It would freak me out if I didn't at the price point it's selling at.

In the pro side of the column, some of the books are cheaper in Kindle format and I could take dozens of titles with me in one small gadget. That's one of the things I totally love about my iPod--no matter what mood I'm in, I can find the right music because it's all there. When I used to bring CDs to the EDJ, I would guess the night before what I would be interested in listening to, and if I was wrong, I was out of luck. The Kindle would be the same thing for books. No matter what I felt like reading, I could have it with me.

On the other hand, that price still stops me cold. :-) Seriously. $359. Plus $65 for the extended warranty, plus $45 for the hot pink cover.

The iPod has more than one use. There's music, there's podcasts, there's iTunes U (which I love with all my heart), there's television shows which I also love because I never have time to watch TV. But I bring my car in to be serviced, bring the iPod with me, and catch up on some programs. The iPod also lets me load my contacts list so I can have that all with me, it has a calender function, an alarm feature, it shows me the time in London or Sydney.

Kindle 2 doesn't do that many things which makes the money harder to spend. And now I'm wondering about Kindle 3. Will that come in hot pink?

Help! Please!

My agent is going to have a paranormal romance week on her blog in November and she asked me to write a guest post. I said I would, but I'm not coming up with any kind of topic. So let me throw it out to the world--what would you like to see a paranormal author blog about during paranormal week? Any and all suggestions would be most gratefully appreciated.

All week I've been debating whether or not to buy a Kindle. Every time I think I've firmly made the decision not to buy one (There's a $50 discount until Nov 1 thanks to Oprah), someone else gets one and starts talking about how great it is. The thing is that even with the discount it's still over $300 and that price tag just makes me balk. I want one, but I really don't need it.

My problem is I love gadgets. Not all gadgets, but if it's tied in to books or computers or both in some way, I have to fight myself. And with the Kindle the ease of research and the ease in which facts can be highlighted are two very tempting components. The best part is that say I need a book on a certain topic and it's on Kindle, instead of waiting days to get it, I could have it in a minute and do the research. How cool would that be? And I could load my manuscripts on there and do some minor editing while I was waiting for an oil change or something.

And darn it, I'm talking myself into it again! I thought I'd pretty much managed to corral the latest urge. If it weren't for the $50 off coupon expiring Nov 1 I could just say I'd pick it up in a couple of months, but because of that deal, I have to make a decision now.

So here I sit, waffling. If it weren't over $300 it wouldn't be such a huge deal, but it is and my Evil Day Job is up in the air since we were bought out this week. Argh! Want vs. need. Which wins?