I put out a call last night for suggestions for today's blog post. I got a lot that were LOL worthy and some that were thought provoking.
So, instead, I'm going to address all the topics in 140 characters or fewer....should be interesting:
@icountwords: "Opening pages?" -- Opening pgs have to be strong & grab attention. No explosions necessary but if you can get me to raise an eyebrow or LOL you've done well.
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| Where's Authoress?! |
@JE_Owen: "Your personal opinion on how writers can resist querying Too Soon. And how you know when it's as ready as it's going to be!" Did it go through several edits, betas and sit in a drawer? If not. Don't query.
@ShelleyWaters: "Re: Blog The process from signing with an agent to shelf. (Not querying agents)" Every agent is different. Lots of emails! Revisions. Waiting. Will def blog on this.
@brittneygirl: "Me": You are insane. And amazing. And Mango's crazy auntie. And a fan of this
@JE_Owen: " Nm this instead:Too early to try and get people interested in your novel if you don't have an agent? Say making a Platform, fans?" Never too early to start your platform. Full blog post to come soon.
@LeahRMiller: "how about what is trending in submissions." Lots of ghosts, witches and Greek-related mythology. Lots of chicks named "Ash." Not enough cyberpunk.
@DawnRaeMiller: "making a comeback? :D" *growls*
@Mer_Barnes: " Starbucks' new cake pops." Delicious. Too sweet, but still delicious.
One thing I WOULD like to focus on today is TEXT 2.0:
This requires watching a video. It's about 3 minutes long (gets jaw dropping around 2:05) Keep an eye out for the RED DOT in the text when it gets to the Little Prince:
Now, after watching that and knowing that A) Apple has a patent on this technology and B) iPad 2 just launched with a front-facing camera, what are your thoughts?
~KO
I'm a little afraid I might go blind at either the awesomeness or the method used for tracking my eye. Still, I might be okay with a little blindness for this. Wow.
This made me tear up a little. As a dyslexic, and a mom of a dyslexic kid, this is amazing.
My jaw dropped. That technology is amazing! Wow, just wow.
I am amazed. In a few years, schools will be trying to get class sets of iPads instead of computers. (I don't know. Maybe they already are.)
WHU *jaw hits desk*
That is mind blowing. I got as far as thinking of a soundtrack behind certain parts of the story (like I write it) but couldn't figure out how it could ever be timed to the different way people read.
I'm blown away by what's been accomplished in my life....so excited to see where this goes!!
ps...now following so I don't miss any more of this good stuff :)
The Survival Mama
It's amazing for special education, but I've been highly disapointed with the Ipad we've been using for our students. The word prediction is terrible, the school isn't wifi so printing is impossible and the dragon speak doesn't work as well as promised.
I would have liked to see those problems fixed on a iPad 2 instead of added new tech.
I think it could be incredible, but still a lot of possible glitches.
One of the old guys near the middle looks like he needs to go number 1 really bad.
Hm. I wonder whether I'm ready for software that guesses what I'm thinking.
When I was in grad school, I participated in another grad students experiments, which used eyetracking to see how different people solved spatial problems on a computer. It was pretty fun. This looks very cool, but I have to say, I think I might resent software that decided which words to fade out for me, even if I am skimming! It feels patronizing. I guess I'm old school that way. BUT--having instant access to additional information like that is wonderful.
I don't know if it's a amazing or amazingly creepy, really. Think of what it could be in the wrong hands. (But that's what writers are for, right?)
There's new technology out that's coming darn close to Star Trek's Food replicators. What an amazing age to be alive.
Thanks for the quick-shot responses :D Looking forward to the full post on platform!
I have seen the anti-christ and this is it. If you don't use your brain for figuring things out, it trophies. Gleaning meaning from context, re-reading to find your place again, NOT having pictures presented of things that you can imagine: all those are the figuring things out, and fundamentals of the "static, silent" reading process. I honestly do not see "static and silent" as problems we need to address in reading.
If it's a tool for people with special needs that's all well and good, but I this presentation is assuming there's a problem with how we read and I disagree with that premise VERY strongly.
@Sarah and @Janet -- Amen. A-frickin-men.
See, I'm very jazzed with my iPhone and love all the little gadgets/apps it comes with to entertain me. The iPad is - for me - simply a larger version to play games with. However, when it comes to reading, I'm still very old school and like my books, so I haven't been pulled into the e-reader bandwagon yet. I'm not sure this would win me over. My eyes hurt tracking the dot! Unfortunately, I would see all the fancy zing as a distraction from the escape I rely on finding in quiet time with a book. It's also a little too Big Brother for me - what else is that dot tracking, hmmm??? :)
I wouldn't get too excited yet. I work with eye tracker technology currently and it's too...unpredictable for mass population use. I think it'll be a while until this is readily available on say the iPad 3. Plus, that little red dot makes me dizzy. But who knows, tech moves so quickly these days. Already the eye track tech available two years ago is vastly different, but it's still extremely temperamental. Maybe the iPad 5