tablet art

Growing Daylilies

New Kindle Book

First book is finally finished and on Amazon.
Other books are in the works.
Growing Daylilies a Personal Experience: Revised and Updated Edition 2015 (ArtistGarden.net Books)

Proofing books on iPad. Just posted on the Artwork and Photography blog about previewing your Kindle edition book in progress on your iPad. I'm slowly converting my site to eBooks.

 Kindle Edition Part II

Still Reading

About Dogs

Since adopting Molly from a local SPCA, I've been reading a lot about dogs.
Molly is a very energetic Border Collie that was abused for the first 4 months of her life.
In the first weeks she was extremely nervous about just everything.
At first I wasn't quite sure how to handle her.

A friend loaned me her copy of
Be the Pack Leader: Use Cesar's Way to Transform Your Dog . . . and Your Life by Cesar Millan
and this started my journey in reeducating myself about handling dogs.

Next I read The Other End of the Leash: Why We Do What We Do Around Dogs by Patricia McConnell Phd. This book made me realize how little I understood my dogs. I first read about clicker training for dogs in the first book. So I did a bit of research and found a great book;
 Reaching the Animal Mind: Clicker Training and What It Teaches Us About All Animals
This book is a good start but I needed more.

 Next came: The Power of Positive Dog Training Great help but I needed something else before I continued.

 Fired Up, Frantic, and Freaked Out: Training Crazy Dogs from Over the Top to Under Control
This book helped specifically to calm her down when she lost controls of her emotions. Then I could go back to the previous book which I reread when needed.

Now I could never return to the old methods. But don't take my word for it, check out Use Your Clicker blog. This blog inspired me to give it a try. You will love the videos of Nana

Vera I | Knowledge Network

British Series

In an earlier post, I wrote how disappointed I was that we don't have more British programming here in Quebec. Well, it turns out I was looking at the wrong channels. BC Knowledge Network does show more interesting programming. I had the pleasure of watching the first episode of Vera: Hidden Depths last Saturday. The main character, DCI Vera Stanhope was created by Ann Cleeves. I've already read the books and watching actress Brenda Blethyn play Vera adds to the experience. I will now check the programming on this network more often.

  Vera I | Knowledge Network

Authors on Twitter

Social Networking

There are many ways of discovering new authors.

It would be wrong to limit myself to recommendations only from online bookstores.

To reach a wider audience, savvy authors use social networks, like Twitter.

I plan to do the same when my book is out.

Kindle Editions

Now in Canada


This morning I learned that I can now buy Kindle Editions from Amazon.ca and pay in Canadian dollars.
You don't need a Kindle device, I don't have one.
I have the app on my desktop and my iPad.
I prefer Kindle Editions for all Adobe Books.

Hopefully, Sharon Milne's upcoming
Adobe Master Class: Illustrator Inspiring artwork and tutorials by established and emerging artists
 will include digital editions.

After visiting ChewedKandi's site, I'm looking forward to reading her book.

Gone

Mo Hayder


I read an average of two books a week, not all of them are great.
Gone by Mo Hayder is the kind of book that is difficult to put down.
The story pulled me in and kept me reading well past bedtime.
I'd love to see this book turned into a movie.

Being a Mom

Not Super Models


Well, since this blog is about reading, I am sharing a link to an article my daughter found and shared with me.
I've shared this link on FaceBook, Twitter and StumbleUpon, so if you follow me there too, then you already know about this amazing article written by Allison Tate.
As a mother and grandmother, I highly recommend reading


The Mom Stays in the Picture.

Amazon Reviews

Adobe Classroom in a Book


Another review on Amazon now live.
This time for Adobe Illustrator CS6 Classroom in a book Kindle edition.
I open the book on one screen and do the lessons on the other.
No pressure to follow the rest of the class, and I can work in my pj's
I can also read the book on my iPad, no Kindle required.

Tea and England

Traditions

If you read authors like Mo Hayder, you often find scenes where tea and cakes are served.

I often wondered how it all got started and found this interesting article on the subject.

Afternoon Tea

 

 

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iBook

Reading Apps

One of the main reasons I will buy a book from one retailer over another is price.

So I wonder if most people do the same.



Another is availability and of course the app itself.

Up until recently, I read Kobo editions on a Kobo Touch or my desktop.

I kept the Kindle editions for desktop reading also since I don't have a Kindle device.



Now I can read both editions on the iPad, including the magazines from Zinio.



Now I am reading Skin by Mo Hayder with the iBook app.

I love the fact that I don't need a book light.



The last printed book I bought is Bones Are Forever by Kathy Reichs.

She is one of my favourite authors, but I still haven't started reading the book.



That is why I am preparing my first publication as an ePUb edition.

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Posting with iPad

First post using Blogsy app for iPad.

Now I don't need to wait until I can work on my desktop in the office.

 

I've been testing reading apps and until this morning, Kobo worked fine.

When I opened my book this morning, the pages were shaky.

 

The Kindle of course works great.

I uninstalled the Nook since readers in Canada cannot buy e-books from Barnes and Noble, that is very annoying.

 

This morning I finished Skin by Mo Hayder.

She ended the story with a major cliff hanger.

Which of course means I will read the next one.

 

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Skin

Mo Hayder


Years ago, I started to avoid books with violent scenes.
Certain authors include them more than others, and I stopped reading them.
I read to distract me from my daily routine and to escape for a short while, not for getting nightmares.

Reading a negative review about a certain author made me curious enough to read a preview chapter on her latest book.
I am now reading a fourth book by Mo Hayder, Skin .
She doesn't pull the punches.
At the end of the previous book, Ritual, the author shares her reasons for creating DI Jack Caffery and police diver Flea Marley. She also introduces us to The Walking Man, an interesting character with a violent past. She puts into words the thoughts you might have in the same situation and hopefully never act on them.

Oyster

Ebooks

There is a company that might make reference books popular as ePubs.
Oyster wants to create a service similar to Netflix.
They intend to make thousands of eBooks available to read on a monthly basis for an annual subscription fee.
The article on the Good E Reader is well worth a look.

dotEPUB

Offline Reading

I discovered something called dotEPUB.
This Bookmarklet lets you convert any webpage into an e-book.
You have a choice of two formats, EPUB OR MOBI (Kindle).
Extensions are available for Chrome and Firefox.
So a visitor can save an interesting article to read later offline on their desktop or mobile.  

Try it

Fall Photo

Google +
Just added a new fall photo to my Google + Album
I'm using it as a screen saver

Dying Fall

Ruth Galloway Mystery

Yesterday, I visited Elly Griffiths Facebook fan page and found a post with the cover of her next book, Dying Fall.
This was posted in mid September, I am looking forward to reading a Ruth Galloway mystery again.

The Likeness

Tara French


Tara French lets her main character tell you the story.
In The Likeness , the story is told by Cassie Maddox, a secondary character in the previous book, In the Woods .
The stories are connected without being too similar, clever.

The story starts with a good hook and keeps you reading.
I enjoyed the book and will read more.

Reviews

Digital Book World


Are you familiar with Digital Book World? The article on Fake reviews is one of many great articles found on this site.

My reviews are limited to books I actually read. Does this make me an honest reviewer? That depends on who you ask.

I never write negative reviews, why? The fact that I dislike certain books (there is a long list of them) doesn't mean the books are badly written. They just appeal to a different audience. I prefer to leave the bad reviews to those who prefer to share their dislikes. Why bring attention to a  terrible book?