Mind Sieve 4/18/11

Grab onto your hats as this is going to be a whirlwind this week. Also thinking of trying something a little different to give you more of a taste for the posts. Let's see how that works out...


Fan Fun

SoonerCon via Youtube shared a link to a Japanese Anime preview for the X-Men! Looks somewhat rad!

Mo Tanchareon shared a link from ComingSoon.net for a preview of the digital series Mortal Combat: Legacy. The fighting didn't look bad, but not enough there for me to form an opinion yet. :)

SooneCon forwarded a link from TechGoblin.com of an article that says starting in July all Star Trek episodes of all series will be available from NetFlix. (DS9 has a later release date of October.) Sweet news!

Donate and help to reality an AT-AT for America. No, you read right. Peeps are getting together to try to make a fully functioning AT-AT from Empire Strikes Back. Wonderful weirdness! My inner geek is giggling like mad! Hee hee hee!

Electric44 via Ziteapp shared an article and video about T3 Motion's revelation of an electric vehicle prototype. Very stylish interior!

For those of you who watch ABC's show Castle, you might recall he mentioned having a website. Well, he does for reals! And actually has FAQ's and writing advice. Check it out! www.richardcastle.net

Barbara Hambly finally has a WEBSITE! Woot! She's had a Live Journal account for a long time, but she finally has an actual website! Yay!


Author Platform/Social Media

Leyl Master Black has a list of the Top 5 Facebook Marketing Mistakes. Shared by Collen Lindsay and GoldBugGroup.

Chuck Wendig had guest bloggers last week. Here is Karina Cooper's post - How Not To Be A Dickface As A Writer. (NSFW) Great points in this one.

Here's a taste:

"May I have your attention, please? Hi. My name is Karina Cooper. I am a writer. Are you all paying attention? Yes? Good. Ready?
"Charlie Sheen.
"You know that thing you just did? That tic? That, right there, is why you want to hear me." (Continued at blog)

Pam Moore tells us Social Media: A Little Less Talk and A Lot More Action.
Here's a Taste:
"Listen up folks! It’s time for conversations, relationships, Twitter chats, and Facebook parties. Social media is one big relationship! You must tweet, post, like and talk all day. As long as you’re talkin’ you’re being social. Since you’re so social, you’ll do great in social media as long as you keep making friends, chattin’ and raising your Klout score doing such." (Cont...)

Pumpyourbook shared a blog post from John Ames over at Beyond the Books Blog where he explains in detail How to Create A Facebook Welcome Page. (I have one, but need to make others.) This is a nice step by step walk through, even if you have minimal tech savvy. Quite nice.

Fondalo shared a post over at Bundle Post by Robert M Caruso on Mind Your Content - Social Media Sharing Opportunities That Fail.
Here's a Taste:
"As a Social Media guy, I am constantly posting, connecting, engaging and building relationships online. For those of you that know me at all, you know a large part of that for me is helping others. A component of that is showing #Gratitude to others in various ways. Thanking, retweeting and sharing other peoples content are a few of the ways I do that. But some of you unintentionally make that extremely difficult for me. If you make it tough for me to help you, then you are making it tough for others as well." (Cont...)

MKelly007 wrote a post about 11 Rules of Social Media. Basically she tells us to be friendly, be nice! Both of which are great rules to live by!
Here's a Taste:
"Since social media is, well, a social medium, it’s important that users understand the proper ways to behave online. No, just because you’re behind a computer monitor in your mom’s basement doesn’t mean all social etiquette goes out the window. It’s quite the opposite—following proper social media etiquette is a key to being successful online (and to making sure you don’t make a complete idiot out of yourself.)" (Cont...)

Kristen Lamb asks - Are You a Twitter Tyrant or a Twitter Activist. The next of her Twitter Tuesday features.
Here's a Taste:
"This Week’s Fail Whale–The Twitter Tyrant.
"All of us have passions, and that is wonderful. Being passionate makes us feel alive and gives our lives purpose. But, when we are building a platform, especially in the beginning stages, we must be mindful to always express our passions in a positive way. Ranting on Twitter is never acceptable. I have had people I had to unfollow simply because every time they tweeted, I needed an antacid. Life is stressful enough without volunteering for an ulcer." (Cont...)

Peter Shankman argues that Facebook and Email are NOT Distractions But Necessities.
Taste:
"My original title of this post was going to be “Disagreeing with Julia Morgenstern.” Then I figured, why give her the SEO juice? No, seriously, I figured the above title would be more beneficial to what I wanted to say today." (Cont...)


Writing Advice

KeikoMushi shared her discovery of a blog post by Savannah J Foley - Mistaken Newbie Writer Beliefs. Lots of truth here folks! WORD!
Taste:
"I have been a noob. Or, as I have often seen it called, a ‘huge, flailing noob.’ Now, I’m still pretty new to the writing business in general, despite having written over six complete manuscripts, having an agent for two years, and of course being a part of this blog." (Cont...)

A Lee Martinez talks to us about Emotional Resonance, Writing, and Other Complicated Stuff - Worlds Apart.

S Blackmoore tells us to Go Ahead, Shoot the Baby on a guest blog over at Terribleminds. (Don't pull your punches! Maybe? Hee hee.)
Taste:
"I’ve been watching a lot of film noir from the forties and fifties over at Noir City, the noir film festival going on this month at The Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, and I’ve noticed something that’s been bothering me.
"There are a lot of happy endings." (Cont...)

Nathan Bradford tells us Everyone will have a Chance but not all of them are equal! (Too true!)
Taste:
"This is indeed a great time to be an author. No longer must manuscripts disappear into the drawer, never to be heard from again, lacking only a publisher's best guess. Now, no matter what people think of a book, it can be published and try and find its audience." (Cont...)

From Roni Loren - Top 5 Mistakes Writers make at Conferences (Some good points, peeps!) :P
Taste:
"So, I've mentioned before that I'm a conference whore. I think part of it is that I've always loved learning. I have nerd DNA that can't be escaped. But the other part is that I have so much fun being around other writers. It's like finding your home planet after feeling like you were the only weird one all these years." (Cont...)

From Chuck Wendig (NSFW) How Not To Bug The F*** Out When Writing A Novel. Great advice as always!
Taste:
"There comes a point during the writing of a novel when, in the thick of it, some 30 or 40,000 words deep, you look down and wonder, how did you get naked, exactly? Where are your clothes? Why are you covered in grass-stains, your flesh marked by thorn-scratches? Why in your hair do you smell boar’s blood and the mating fluids of forest nymphs? Time is lost in clips and stretches. You feel disconnected from your body." (Cont...)

Chuck also discussed this week - The iPad for Writers. Apps to use, how to use the iPad in general to be more productive writing, etc.



And a new category this week...

Scams

DirtyWhiteCandy shared The Dark Side of the New Age of Self-Publishing by Larry at the StoryFix.com blog.
Taste:
"On Thursday I got the email that all writers dream about. It was from a major television network, inviting me to appear on their morning talk show as part of their regular “author’s corner” segment." (Cont...)

Victoria Strauss from Writer Beware wrote a blog post entitled Atlanta Nights The Movie: From Hoax to Film. Quite enlightening and shows how truly weird life is.

Okay, that's it for this week. Let me know if you like the "taste" segments or not.

Happy reading!

Mind Sieve 4/11/11

Another week of fun and helpful stuff!

Fan Fun

Comediva suggested we all check out PMS Adventures. Girl Superheroes where PMS is what gives them POWER! Bwahahahahaha!

George Takei shares with us his autition tape for Broadway's Spiderman! It's pretty funny. Love the Indiana Jones move at the end. Heh heh.

Freshmen, a Super Hero comic book project from Seth Green and Top Cow, is now avialable for download.

Author Platform/Social Media

PamMktNut shared a post from YourCustomer about 3 Ways Facebook Questions can help your brand. (A new doohikey tab in FB. (Now if only I could come UP with some good questions and answers. lol)

From Kristen Lamb and Twitter Tuesdays come - Use Twitter Like a Pro, Not a Bot.

CidTyer shares Twitter Pet Peeves.

Be A Shark in the Waters of Social Media - guest post by Fred Hicks over at Terribleminds. Great stuff!

Brianne Villano talks to us about The Simplification of Facebook Pages for Authors and Newbies. Good tips!

From Writer's Digest - Elements of a Sucessful Fiction Platform. I swear the work of an author is never done...

Writing Advice

Roni Loren gives us The Ten Commandments of the Successful Author. Many great points!

Character Development from Rosemary Clement-Moore.

Karen Dionne tells us that For Career Authors, Staying Published is the Real Challenge.

How Dungeons and Dragons can help us be great novelists! (All genres!) By Kristen Lamb. (As long as you don't try to publish your D&D adventure.) :P

The Writer Who Is Also A Parent - Advice on time and life and more! From Chuck Wendig.

Jami Gold asks Can Karma Help You Become a Better Writer?

Enjoy, ya'll!

Mind Sieve 4/4/11

Got a ton of stuff to share with you this week. (Some of it was from last week's overflow!) Doh!

Fan Fun

Candace Havens shared a link to the preview of the Three Musketeers in 3D! Lots of familiar faces too! Logan Lerman, Milla Jovovich, Orlando Bloom, Matthew Macfayden, Ray Stevenson, and Christoph Waltz as Cardinal Richelieu.

Vcinemashow is asking peeps to join them in Facebook to show your love of Asian Films.

SoonerCon shared the new trailers for Sega's video game adaptations of this summer's "Thor" and "Captain America: The First Avenger"

Dr Who has a cool 10 minute adventure online. Link curtesy of TopsyRT - Doctor Who: Amy Flirts With Amy? It's too darn funny! A great time loop piece.

SonnerCon shares The theme to the Original Star Trek as played on a...SAW~! (Watch the people's faces. They'll crack you up!)

Kaohsiung City, Taiwan's Eden Hotel has a $50-per 3-hour suite devoted to Batman. (Also shared by SoonerCon. I am sensing a pattern here. :P)

Dollhouse returns in comic book form this week with the brand new story "Dollhouse: Epitaphs" from Dark Horse. (News from MoTacharoen)



Author Platform/Social Media

From inkyelbows comes an updated list of Twitter for Writers. From the basics on up! (Looks super comprehensive!)

Kristen Lamb shows us how to - Go Hard or Go Home--Blogging & Branding. Tag like gang bangers. Own ur digital turf(As I was reading it I realize that though my blog had my name, I wasn't using my tag line! Now we're in business. Bwahahaha!)

YAFantasyGuide told us of Special Invite: Promote your books w/ character profiles.

SFWA posted a link to - How Not to Market Your Book. An actual sample (with the names filed off) of a letter received by Victoria Strauss.

Yes, there is a way to launch a FB fan page and not need therapy from Kristen Lamb. More eye opening wisdom!

How writers can use twitter to help SAVE TIME - by Kristen Lamb.

And cause she's on a roll - You know what you need? More Blogging Cowbell!

From PimpYourNovel we have Getting Your Name Out There. (I so totally agree about going to conventions!)



Writing Advice

Chuck Wendig brings - "Beware Of Writer II: Revenge Of The Teenage Penmonkey From Mars." Insights into a writer's mind! (NSFW)

Kristen Lamb talks about Antagonists.

Trusting Your Muse! Good post by Gigi Salem.

A slice of a writer's life. Stress less. Good advice by Writer Wellness maven JoyHeld. Shared by Kristen Lamb. Now I just need to find the time!

And that's it for this week folks! Enjoy!

Mind Sieve 3/28/11

It's going to be a full load this week! Lots of stuff!


Fan Fun

From Seth Green twitter feed I got this link about Nathan Fillion who made it onto the cover of Entertainment Weekly! Nice little write up with the cover pic at EW.com

SoonerCon shared this link to a pseudo steampunk film by Luc Besson, the same man who brought us Nikita and the Fifth Element, called The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-sec. The preview is totally awesome!

Candance Haven linked the latest preview for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. More movies for my to be watched list!



Author Platform

Nathan Bradford has a great post on Face Book for Authors. Most of the steps are very easy. A few may have changed slightly as Facebook just did a major change with fan pages, but most should be viable.

Kristen Lamb's Twitter Tuesday #10 is right on the money this week. You'll note that I already follow her advice as from the get go I went with @GloriaOliver. :)

10 Ways to Increase You Likebility Quotient - another Kristen Lamb zinger for this week! I do some of these already but I really need to clone myself to be able to participate more. Ugh!



Writing Advice

Kristen Lamb talk about her kitchen junk drawers and at the same time shows us where we can get idea and even help ourselves with our writing.

Donna Newton asks the question "What's in a Log Line?" And taking some lessons learned we get a before and after picture of hers. Very good advice for pitches.

Log line and actual content get discussed in Hooking the Reader and Never Letting Go by Kristen Lamb.

This bit hits home for both writers and readers. Part of it stems for a current discussion on e-book pricing, but it's the bottom half that I want you to look at. It's something I've touted about in my blogs a time or two - The Care and Feeding of Your Favorite Authors - from the indomitable (if not safe for work) mind of Chuck Wendig.

Nathan Bradford talks about a problem all of us writer types face - How to Find Balance? (Cloning! I tell you, cloning is the answer! Bwahahahaha!)

Stalled on your novel? Need ways to jump start the old noggin' again? Chuck Wendig has made a list of ways for you.


Okay, I think I will stop there. lol. This should keep you busy for a bit. :P