Showy Snow

I just realized that I haven't posted any photos to the blog in quite a while. Well, here's one that shows why we love this part of Arizona--any time of the year.

Sun on fresh-fallen snow is delightful anytime and anywhere, but when it's on the beautiful red rocks of Sedona, there's nothing else like it! We always drive over when there's new snow simply to marvel at the surroundings and snap a few photos like this one. But there's no way to capture all the majesty and glorious beauty of even this limited view of God's masterpiece within the frame of a snapshot. This is one of the scenic spots in our country that everyone should see at least one time.

Now if I could only paint a picture like this ...

FULLTIME RVERS – WARNING ABOUT NEW LAW!

I just discovered information at RV Travel's Web site about a new law that was passed in 2005 that might have an impact on fulltime RVers. The Real ID Act was hidden in another act, which apparently was one of those things tacked onto another law to slip it through the system. It may pose a problem for those of us who don’t have an actual home, but who use a mail-forwarding address and don’t spend much, if any, time there.

The new law mandates that all states provide verification of identity when renewing a driver’s license or state-issued I.D. card. The problem appears crop up when renewing our driver’s licenses: we’ll need to be there in person to verify our identity. The law also mandates that we show proof of our principle residence address, which of course, fulltimer’s don’t normally have. We're driving our homes! To prove your residential address, you are usually required to provide a rent receipt or a copy of a utility bill.

We wanted to get a library card when we stayed in our home address area in Texas for a few months, and the library accepted a rent receipt from the RV park where we were staying. But it is unclear if states will accept this tenuous record as proof of our residence, especially if it doesn’t match the address on your license or I.D. card. Probably Escapees Club will provide something to prove our residence—but I’m not sure they have done anything about this yet. They do have a legal defense fund that members can contribute to that lobbies for RVers.

The verification process is supposed to begin in 2008, but it looks like states can extend the deadline to December, 2009, and many states have already said they’re not about to go along with the federal law. I think the states that have lots of RVers will probably fight this if it isn’t too late, because that’s usually what happens when their honest, taxpaying RVing residents are having their lifestyles (and sometimes livelihoods) threatened.


The problems that may occur if this law isn’t complied with is that we may not be able to board a plane or enter a federal facility. I’m not sure what that would mean for those of us who are retired military and have military I.D. cards. Maybe we won’t be able to renew those, either.

It will be interesting to see what happens when this law goes into effect. If you’re concerned, visit the National Conference of State Legislators Website to learn more.

SHOULD YOU MAKE YOUR BOOK AVAILABLE AS AN E-BOOK?

Yes, yes, yes! Especially if it is a non-fiction book! So many more of my books have sold as e-books than as hard copies! I was skeptical at first, but I’m positive I wouldn’t have sold as many books if I hadn’t offered it in e-book form, which is priced a few dollars lower than the hard copy.

Many people (like we RVers) don’t have space to store reference books like Portable Writing that we’ll want to refer back to often. Storing it on a CD or in our computers makes it much more accessible and doesn’t take as much room as a book. If you’re self-publishing, you can offer your book on a CD or as an ebook download, but make sure to learn how to protect your work from being copied and distributed by an unethical, opportunistic buyer looking for just such an opportunity to make money.

What if you do find your work being distributed illegally? Usually a letter to the perpetrator will scare them into stopping, and you may convince them to pay you the profits they’ve made (yeah, right!) I would have a lawyer write a letter to the guilty party, which will make it appear more official and maybe convince the perp that you are willing to pursue him or her through legal channels. It’s amazing how quickly an official looking letter can scare some people straight.

Should you take it further and file suit if you find your work being used illegally? That would depend on how widely it has been distributed and how willing you are to push it. It is expensive to pursue legal avenues, so I would want to be sure I would recover what I’d lost.

OFFERING FREE CONTENT FROM YOUR BOOK ON THE WEB

If you are trying to sell your book, why would you want to give part of it away free on the Internet? There’s one good reason. Before people buy your book, they want to know if it has anything interesting in it, and if your writing is enjoyable. In bookstores, potential buyers can pick up your book and browse through it, maybe read some of it before they buy. If they’re buying through the mail or over the Internet, they have no idea what the book is like if they don’t get a chance to hold it in their hands and at least read the information printed on the cover.

To sell more books, put a copy of one chapter of your book on your Web site to attract customers. Or at least, put a photo of the cover and include the Table of Contents and some information about what they’ll find inside.

Buyers can read two chapters of my book Portable Writing, which appears at: http://www.booklocker.com/books/2461.html. I don’t know how many books have sold because buyers could read an excerpt, but I suspect most of them have sold because readers got to preview it before shelling out hard-earned cash.

WEB SITES FOR WRITERS

The following are resources that might be useful to writers. The following Web sites were all checked by me, and I include comments about what I found there.

www.fundsforwriters.com

This site is loaded with links to sites where writers can find grants, contests, and fellowships, BUT you must pay for what you get. I copied the following from their Web site

TOTAL FundsforWriters - Our biggest and best newsletter
Writers claim it's the best investment they've ever made in their freelance careers. $12 a year for 26 biweekly issues containing 90+ grants, competitions, markets, jobs, publishers and agents seeking your work and all paying $350 or 20cents/ word and up.
I have not subscribed to the newsletter, so can’t comment on its usefulness. If any readers have a subscription, we’d all love to know if it is worth the price.

www.constant-comment.com

I went to this site expecting to find them buying writing on any topic, which would then be placed on their site. However, it is not up and running yet. I have no idea whether it has been up in the past, but it was listed in Writer’s Digest “101 Best Websites for Writers.”
I will check back with this site after my book is finished, and hope to find that the information I found in Writer’s Digest is correct, which states that writers name their price for their work and place it on this site. Then, those in need of written material browse the site and pay for articles, etc. that they want to use. You are charged 35 percent commission on any work of yours that they sell, but it doesn’t cost anything to place your work on their site. And you get to keep 65 percent. It sounds good—almost too good to be true. That’s why I’ll check it again so I can let you know if it’s as good as it sounds—or you can check it out for yourselves.

www.literarylawguide.com/resources.htm

I was hoping to quote the first line of lyrics to a song that was popular during the sixties in my book, so I went here to find out how to go about getting permission, or find out if using this line would violate copyright law. I didn’t learn what I needed to know (darn!), but I found some articles on various subjects that might be helpful to some of you (and me, maybe).

I did find out that celebrities (like the ones who wrote the song lyrics I’m interested in) will often sue anyone who uses their name or likeness for financial gain. Since I was hoping to quote those lyrics and name their creators in the next to the last chapter of my book, I didn’t think using their names would attract more buyers for the book since I wouldn’t be using their name in advertisements, but these celebrities might think otherwise. I had thought their words might just provide a frame of reference for readers to the times I had written about.

I finally went to a quote Web site and found something that would work. Check out the above website to find out if it has answers to questions you might have. There may be much more to the site than I discovered during my two minute cruise through it.

www.writerswrite.com

The above Web site contains good sources of information on self-publishing.

The magazine: Writer’s Digest

If you want to find the complete list of “101 Best Web sites for Writers,” it’s available in the June, 2007 issue of Writer’s Digest. I would recommend that you get a subscription to Writer’s Digest since every issue has something useful for writers. On the Web, www.writersdigest.com/newsletter for a free e-newsletter, or buy the current issue and subscribe with one of the enclosed cards.

Almost everything I learned at first about writing came out of several years’ of back issues of Writer’s Digest that I read at the public library.