And the Winner Is…

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Carol Early Cooney

Is it hard to win a trip?

You know the joke about the old man who kept praying to God that he would win the lottery. He kept asking why he didn’t win. Over and over he prayed. Finally one day the man heard a giant clap of thunder and then the words

If you don’t buy a ticket, you can’t win.

In 2002, a book was published by the name of The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio:  How my Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less.  It was about a woman who entered contests and sweepstakes to help make ends meet.

Honest moment – I have not read the book yet. (Yet, you say? It came out 11 years ago!) There was even a movie made out of the book.  (No, I haven’t seen that either.)

I read about the book when it came out and was fascinated the concept of winning things. The only thing that I ever won was when I was in high school. I won a black plastic salad bowl set from a radio station.

A few years ago, our local paper had an article about a woman who entered contests and sweepstakes for hours EVERY DAY. She had won lots of things including trips. She had some system and just would spend a few hours (!) each day working on entry forms.

I was fascinated all over again.

I guess I never really believed I could win. But there is still this attraction. What if I entered and won something wonderful?

In the Maeve Binchy book that came out this year, A Week in Winter, two of the characters were bitter about winning second place and going to Stone House. They ended up giving tips to the other guest about how to win contests. (I read this book.)

So this is buzzing around in my head.

I decided to do a bit of research. Mostly because it is a good way to delay writing and I can look like I am very busy. I also learn lots of interesting things when I am researching. (For example, did you know that flamingos are only pink when they eat shrimp?)

First off, you need to know the terminology. A contest requires skill and is judged. A sweepstakes awards winners at random – pure chance. This could be important when  deciding what you want to do. More people enter sweepstakes (harder to win) and less people enter contests (easier to win but it takes more effort).

There is more to this than you can imagine. There are books, YouTube videos, web sites, apps, and more. There are conventions for people to meet and share information.

Are you wondering if people ever win? Why, yes, they do.

Here is a YouTube video that I found about one winner http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgjGCoSmLQM

So, I have decided that it is time for me to check out this world of winning and see how I can do. I am going to recruit a few others to try it also. Want to be part of this experiment?  Please join me.

My plan is to write about it once a month. I will tell you how I started, all the mistakes I make, and IF I win anything.

Let’s see what happens.

Oh and just because this does seem to have the sound of the crazy lady with 9 cats sitting in her house, please be assured that I have a dog – no cats.

You can certainly start by just searching the internet for sweepstakes.  You will be amazed by the amount of information that will be found.  If you would like to take a look at the book I read last night, you can find it here http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BM7RY3Q/ref=oh_d__o00_details_o00__i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. It is a Kindle download that costs $2.99. (I wonder if you can win it?)

Stay tuned.

I CAN win!

Posted in Miscellaneous Thoughts | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

July 4th, Parade, and Pet Peeve

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Carol Early Cooney

 

 

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I took this picture at 1 p.m. on July 1.  It looks like a regular commercial street right?  Are you wondering about the chairs lined up on the sidewalk?

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And here is a shot from down the block.  More chairs.  Any idea what this could be?

This is one of my pet peeves.  These chairs are on the parade route for my town’s 4th of July parade.  Yes, today is July 1 and people have chairs marking their spot for the parade.  Please note that BY LEGISLATION the chairs were only allowed to be put up at midnight on July 1.  Yes, they had to make a law about when the chairs for the 4th of July parade could be placed along the route. People had started putting out chairs during June! I think July 1 is too far out.  How about putting out the chairs on July 4th and then sitting in them? 

I find this entire concept to be offensive.  I am glad that many people want to go to the parade.  I understand that it is a wonderful parade.  But since when do you grab a spot for the parade 3 days in advance?  While being offended by the practice, I am also amazed that the chairs aren’t stolen.  Your snow shovel can get stolen off your porch but the lawn chair that you put out on a public sidewalk (3 days early) for the parade doesn’t get touched?  

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Does this happen in your town?  What do you think of this practice?

 

Posted in Miscellaneous Thoughts | 1 Comment

Looking for a book to read?

Posted on June 25, 2013 by Carol Early Cooney

So there are about a hundred other things I should be doing right now but I think that writing a post on this blog is the most important. Well, important to me at least.

I have been thinking – which is shocking enough all by itself but what prompted this exertion was a Facebook post looking for book suggestions. Now, I am sure they were looking for the latest summer reads. I have gone through the lists in the magazines and nothing has really caught my eye.  So I started thinking about making a list of the books that I have liked and occasionally posting them on this blog.

I am the person that eReaders were made for. When I am on vacation, one of the criteria for a great vacation is whether I completed an average of  one book a day. As you may guess, I read fast. On vacation, I often read mysteries but there will be a little bit of everything mixed in.  

One of the things I do, which I am not sure if it is due to laziness, is that I love an author with lots of books. If I like the author, I will read through their works. I have learned, thanks to the Stieg Larsson books, that taking a break in between the books in a series is a good idea.  Ripping through those books was too much.  By the third one I was a bit fried.

I thought I would start with authors who have either a series or multiple titles that I have liked.  The list contains fiction, nonfiction, and mystery authors.  Just as a note, if you want to check out these authors and you are not sure of the order (if there is one) of their books, look at their web site. They usually list the order of the books there.

Here is a list of authors – in no particular order.

C. S. Lewis – The Narnia Series and other writings*

Madeline L’Engle – all of her writing*

Agatha Christie – mystery – I always like the Tommy and Tuppence books then Miss Marple, then Hercule*

Donna Leon- Italian mystery – Commissario Guido Brunetti series

David Sedaris – humor -you have to like his humor

Laura Lippman – mystery – Tess Monaghan series and others

Jacqueline Winspear –British mystery – Masie Dobbs series

Mary Higgins Clark – mystery – many books-not a series

Anne George – mystery – The Southern Sisters mysteries*

Anne Lamott – I will confess to liking her nonfiction more than her fiction

Charlaine Harris – mystery – Yes, she writes Sookie Stackhouse (True Blood is based on her books) but she also has several other series that are good

Elizabeth Berg – fiction

Andrew Greeley – mystery and lots of them. There are several series*

James Patterson – mystery – the Woman’s Detective series

Debbie Macomber –fiction- really light reading….

Deborah Crombie – British mystery series

Maeve Binchy – fiction*

Susan Wittig Albert – mystery series

Douglas Kennedy – fiction

Earlene Fowler – mysteries – I started with the Benni Harper mysteries but she has others

M. C. Beaton – British mysteries – two series

Elizabeth George – British mystery – Inspector Lynley series

Well, that is a good start! If you have any suggestions, please let me know! I do read other books that I will share on this blog over time.

Happy Reading!

*These authors have written their last books. I will miss them.

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Free Reading

Posted on June 18, 2013 by Carol Early Cooney

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You may have noticed that I like to read.  I do.  I like to get lost in a story or be able to laugh out loud from an essay.  

It is hard to afford to buy all the books I might want to read.  Yes, my town has a great library but I have gotten used to my eReaders.  While there are books that I want to own and books that I need to own to be able to get the most out of them, there are lots of books that I just want to sprint through and move on.  Those are the perfect eBooks to me.  So, I have been looking for sites for free eBooks.  

Also, because I read fast, I have found the eReader is the perfect thing for me to take  on vacation.  I can take 10 – 20 books with me and it is practically weightless. 

I really never think that I am ahead of the curve on such things but in case you are behind me, let me share my sources for free eBooks.  If you have others that you can share, please do!  You can put them in the comments or add to the facebook page  or tweet them to me (@carolearlycoone) and I will share them.  

Also, let me note the I use two e Readers.  I own a Nook from Barnes and Noble.  I have the basic Nook that came out several years ago.  I decided on the Nook because Barnes and Noble will allow you to have 5 devices on your account.  So, my husband and daughter and I can share books.  They also have a lending policy which allows you to share with another Nook user but I have never done that.  I find downloading books to the Nook to be simple.  I did have a Sony eReader first and I can switch the books that I purchased for the Sony to the Nook. 

I have also downloaded the Kindle app on my iPad.  Kindle has its own platform which is different from other eReaders.  This was more of a problem when it first came out but now is not much of an issue as they have made the software more available.  

The first place to look if you want current best sellers or current books is your local library.  My library has a membership in www.mymediamall.net. I have rarely been able to get the books right away but if you are not in a hurry, you will be notified when the book is available for you to download.  From the time they send the email, you have 3 days to download the book.  You then have 7 or 14 days to read the book on your device.  It is pretty easy.  They also have lots of audio books.  To be perfectly honest, I have not been successful in downloading the audio books.  (The problem is probably sitting 18 inches in front of my screen).  

The Gutenberg Project is also a source for free books.  The books available are books for which the copyright has expired.  It is a great place to find the classics. Books are added as their copyrights expire.  These books can be downloaded free.  I did have  a funny experience with one of these books.  The books are obviously screen shots of books.  I downloaded a copy of A Christmas Carol.  A child had colored in the original book.  It didn’t affect the reading of the book and I thought it was cute.  You can look over the offerings at www.gutenberg.org.

A app was recently recommended in The Writer magazine.  The name of the app is Spreadsong and it can be downloaded both for Apple and Google based products.  There is a wide variety of older books available and the site is perhaps more user friendly than the  Gutenberg Project.  Also, for a fee of $3.99 you download the audio version of the books.  (Great for summer drives!)  

The World Literary Cafe (www.worldliterarycafe) is an online group for readers and writers.  There is a section on the web site for free eBooks.  The offerings change frequently so you can check back daily.  These are likely to be new authors looking for a following.  It is a great chance to find a new voice and support them.  

Goodreads (www.goodreads.com)  is an online book review network.  You can sign up and see what others are reading and see reviews for books.  There is also a connection for free eBooks through that site.  You can just type “free eBooks” in the search box at the top of the page.

I have been saving one of my favorites for last. My favorite spot is Amazon.  Yes, while I hate to say it, the mega giant is the best source for current free eBooks.    If you go to Amazon (www.amazon.com) and put “free Kindle books” in the search box, a list of free downloadable books will come up.  These are really new authors looking for an audience.  The books are in a wide range of genres.They also offer kindle books for $.99 and $2.99.  A pittance  to pay for someone’s hard work.  

So there you have it.  As I said earlier, if you have other sites, please let me know and I will add them to the list.  

Go get a great deal! 

 

 

 

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I am thinking about inspiration today.  It could be that I feel that I need some.  Despite the multitude of prompts that can be found in the writing world, sometimes you want that concept that captures your attention and fires your imagination.

The thing about inspiration is that you never know where or when it is going to hit you.  Sometimes all you have to do is walk around the block and you will be inspired with thoughts or feelings. Sometimes, you just need to sit down and start writing until something good comes out.  (and sometimes nothing good comes out…)

Today, I happened to think of this video.

There she was an ordinary woman.  No one expected much from her.  The judges and audience had crossed her off before she opened her mouth.

And then she opened her mouth.

And the world stopped and looked.

I think Susan Boyle can be an inspiration for all of us.  We don’t all look like Angelina so the world may overlook us at first glance.  They may not expect much from us.  But yet we can all use our talent to surprise and please our audience and even our personal judge.

Susan Boyle did not just open her mouth that night.  She had used her talent on much smaller stages in the past.  She had her dream and she worked toward it.  Her dream might have come true much later in life than she would have liked but she did perform on the big stage.

She got past the naysayers from her village.  She got past the biggest judge of all – the one in her head that told her she was not going to make it.  Getting past that judge is the hardest of them all.  But she did it.   

So whatever your dream, whatever your talent, it takes work.  It may not come easily but being able to do that happy dance on the stage of life will be worth it.  Find a way to silence your inner judge and shine for the world to see.

She believed.  Do you?

Posted on June 14, 2013 by Carol Early Cooney | 1 Comment