Moira Rogers (Bree/Donna) knows a lot more about the wiki and what it can do than I, but I wanted to tell you what I have been doing with mine. First of all, I am a wanna-be geek, but I need the technology to be simple enough that I can understand it. It has to be logical, simple, and effective. A wiki is all that and more.

What is a wiki? You ever look anything up on Wikipedia? Perfect example of a wiki well-done. You look up info, then you link info…that’s pretty much all there is to it. And you get to it easily…that’s the best part of it all. One click, and the info is RIGHT THERE for you.

I’m using it for my new book, a sequel to the SciFi I just finished. I used it to plot out the whole story, put in the character info, work on some theme and titles, keep track of words I made up for this other planet’s language, etc. One click when I can’t remember someone’s eye color, I’m there. One click when I can’t recall what where I left off at the last chapter. One click … just one click, and I’m there. No sorting through sheets in a notebook, no digging through Word files or OneNote files, no asking Shannon to remember for me…it’s all in the click.

Go to www.tiddlywiki.com today and download yourself one for your desktop. It doesn’t have to be on the net at all—mine isn’t. It’s completely self-contained, and easy to back-up. For anyone looking for an easy organizational method, give it a try.

While writing Sunlight, I suggested to one of those authors, L. Shannon whose book is Love, that we should link our stories. She agreed. Her hero, Dillon, and mine, Johnathan, are brothers and part of a bigger group of vampires known as the Steel City Vampires.

To introduce readers to Dillon and Johnathan before the release dates–we decided to write a new story and give it away! Why??

Just click in the link below to get to my web page where you can receive your FREE copy INSTANTLY of Steel City Vampires: Welcome Home.

http://readmoore.com/free_reads.htm

NOT STOLEN, NOT PIRATED…Just our gift to you vampire lovers!! Be sure to read the interviews at the end…we had such fun with that. And be sure to get all the Vampire Oracle books!!!

Philip Henslowe: You see - comedy. Love, and a bit with a dog. That’s what they want.

–Shakespeare in Love

What do readers want? What do writers want? What do publishers want? Heck, what does anybody want?

I hope you’re not expecting me to tell you. I don’t honestly know.

So, what am I blogging about, you may be wondering…or you may be ready to move onto another blog that has posts that make sense. Feel free to continue reading this blog. Plenty of writers on here make sense–just not me.

I’ve struggled lately with all these questions. What do writers want? What do publishers want? What do readers want? Is there a meeting place for the three? Or are they three parallel lines, destined to run side-by-side and never meet? (Math/geometry is my background…I always end up referencing math concepts. To the mathphobic, I apologize.)

I wanted to write…this I knew because every spare moment I had, I was doing it. On napkins, in notebooks, on the computer…I do it all the time. Check that box. I wanted to write romance. Check. Romance with suspense. Check check. Racy romance with suspense and humor. Okay now! Getting somewhere. Hawkes Abandon, Pay Dirt, Paid in Full, Sunlight-Vampire Oracle (and two others under another penname).

What do publishers want? Tougher. Some like suspensey racy romance with humor. Found a good one–Cobblestone Press. Wonderful publishing experience! Then, I found another–Samhain Publishing, but they wanted my “Racy romance with angst” - Seduction 101. Both fantastic publishers both doing great books–great great great.

So, then what? Writing. So, I’m writing along. Then the pudding: the readers. Readers seemed to like my racy stuff better than my tamer suspense. They *loved* them some racy, or at least that’s what I thought they were liking about it. Okay, so I wrote more under my other penname.

What’s the problem? Uh, I fell off. I burned out on racy. So, I wrote a novel with no sex in it. NONE–zip. The manuscript placed in the finals of Mystery Writers of America’s contest last year. Started looking for an agent for it because it’s mainstream stuff–no HEA. Deanna would NOT be liking that book.

Then what happened? Missed the fun of the romance. Wrote another story–smokin hot. Loved that story! Fun!!! Sold it. (under aforementioned penname)

What’s all this mean??? Publishers may want one thing, I may want one thing today and something completely different tomorrow. Readers read what they like–some of it is racy, but now I’m seeing more and more picking up the tamer stuff. What does it mean?

Who gets to decide what I’m typing every day? Do I have a problem?

That’s when I got to thinking…the answer to all the questions wasn’t what I needed. I needed the right QUESTION.

What do I want? I want fun. I want to write. (And I really want to stop self-analysis. It makes me nauseated.)

(Shannon says this post is “a rare glimpse into the mind of a nut.” Suspecting she’s right although perhaps not as rare as it should be.)

Debra Moore aka Moira Reid

Pay Dirt, Cobblestone Press
Hawkes Abandon, Cobblestone Press
Paid in Full-Valentine Monologues, Cobblestone Press
Sunlight-The Vampire Oracle coming 9/08, Cobblestone Press
Seduction 101 coming May 20th, Samhain Publishing

Please visit my website! http://www.readmoore.com 
Join my yahoo group: EMAIL readmoore-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

What better way to celebrate Mom’s Day than to read a good book? (Heck, celebrate cutting the grass by reading a book…it’s okay with me.) Read out loud to the kids, read alone to yourself, read kinky stuff to your significant other and let the world be your oyster! Read read read!

You can learn anything you want…take a vacation in your mind…lose yourself and your troubles–just for the cost of a book. Or heck, the library! Have it all for NOTHING!

And take a moment to thank the teachers, your parents, friends…whoever taught you to read! It’s a gift, I’m telling you. To be able to communicate with others present and past, near and far, others with ideas and cultures different from your own. It’s a wonderful gift there for the taking! Drink it up!

Debra Moore aka Moira Reid

Pay Dirt, Cobblestone Press
Hawkes Abandon, Cobblestone Press
Paid in Full-Valentine Monologues, Cobblestone Press
Sunlight-The Vampire Oracle coming 9/08, Cobblestone Press
Seduction 101 coming May 20th, Samhain Publishing

Moved from dial-up to DSL a while back…and when they say you can never go home again, baby they are RIGHT! My DSL died yesterday for some strange reason. The geeks are working on it, but oy. Dialup. Don’t get me started. This page alone took 10 minutes to load, just so I could type on it.

I just bit Dee’s head off a second ago because of it. She was all sweet and “Hey if you don’t like dial-up, get DSL.” I’m like, “I have #$@#$@# DSL!!! It’s $@#@#$@!”  Yes, I am NOT a patient or nice person when the puter is not working. When I want my www, I WANT IT NOW!!!

Okay, deep breaths. Apologies to Dee…now. Where was I? Oh yeah, I was actually going to write about something useful, but then I got to thinking about how technology has changed everything and how when it’s not working, I lose my marbles!!!

I’m completely dependent on technology now. (Spellcheck, dictionary.com and google and being some of my favorite things in the world!) And my laptop…if I don’t have it with me, it’s like Linus without his blanket, Shannon without her dogs, Sable without her “fabulousness.” It’s just NOT good.

I depend on my voice software to save my wrists, my wireless to keep the kids from tripping over me everywhere, all my software to allow me to do websites, blogs, newsletters, plot outlines, novels, etc. I hardly EVER use actual paper and pens. When the power goes out at my house, I go TO BED! What the hell else am I going to do???

Yeah, I’ve got issues. I admit it: I live for youtube. I love blogs and IMs. I want my GOOGLE!!!!

I think sometimes about writers who used typewriters and actual CARBON PAPER to write. I’m telling you, those people were DEDICATED! I get lazy just thinking about pressing the down arrow to page through the thing. Cut and paste actual PAPER? Are you KIDDING ME?

Yeah, I got my first computer in 1986, and I’ve had at least one ever since. I’ll never be without one again. And if the geeks don’t get this thing fixed by tomorrow, I am going to lose it for REAL. Verizon has NO IDEA of the unstable woman they will be dealing with.

I’ll get a chance to blog again someday, maybe. Next time I’ll talk about all the OTHER angst that exists for writers…like, there is a list, dude.