The Corner Desk

Tips from Topaz Cove Creations

www.shirleyannparker.com

July 2003

Happy Fourth of July to the USA! And Happy First of July to our Canadian friends! It doesn't seem at all possible that we have reached another milestone holiday in the year, actually passing the halfway point of 2003. The world doesn't seem to be better off this year, nor are most of us in the best of shape as families or individuals, but we are surviving, that most of us. We need to keep fighting to retain our rights, along with those programs and opportunities that are ours, legally, ethically and spiritually. Let us never become cowardly or complacent or despairing about the moral decay that surrounds us, but get in there and put what little money we have where our mouths are! We can defend our freedoms without starting questionable, controversial wars, but as we celebrate those freedoms, let us be more compassionate toward the innocent, especially women and children, caught in the webs of evil men—at home and abroad—who don't know what it is to make their own choices. Let us help give them a chance at leading lives free of fear. 

Be sure to check our Conference News this month,
especially the Western Authors Book Look & Shindig,
to be held in Prescott, Arizona - August 16, 2003!

Contents

Technical Writing Tip of the Month

PDF files have always displayed well for me in Netscape Navigator and in Internet Explorer. For people who were experiencing difficulty with this, Adobe.com has had instructions to fix the non-display of PDF files. For example, their instructions for "IE 5.0 and later" are:

1. Start IE, and choose Explorer/Preferences.

2. Under Receiving Files, click File Helpers.

3. In the File Helper Settings pane, select Portable Document Format,
click Change, and then click OK.

Etc.

Well, that may work for IE 5x. Unfortunately, there is no Explorer/Preferences menu in IE 6.0, or anything similar to it! At least none appears, since SBC practically forced its Yahoo DSL upgrade and "suggested" install of IE 6 on customers. (I even checked the Windows Explorer menu to see if it's there instead. I'm well used to the "process of elimination" route in troubleshooting.) To narrow down the problem, I then requested a test from Tech Support at Hostway (they host this site) and discovered that my PDF files display just fine in their supposedly identical version and service pack of IE 6.0. 

Netscape Navigator (even 6.2.1) displays PDF files for me just fine, but there is obviously something "different" about the customized IE 6 that SBC Yahoo DSL is putting out. I cannot display anyone's PDF files from any site on the web, nor can I Right-click and Save..., or Control Click and Save.... If something more needs to be downloaded to my PC, I'd sure like to know what it is. SBC's Internet Tech Support still has not responded to my request for help, which, unfortunately, comes as no surprise. I have been less than pleased with SBC's service ever since they bought out PacBell.

Stay tuned....

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DISCOVERIES   A Journey Through Life 

Buy now through our secure shopping service:

Also available from www.buybooksontheweb.com and at www.barnesandnoble.com,  www.amazon.com, and through your bricks 'n mortar bookstores!

Click here to read a review of DISCOVERIES from www.rebeccasreads.com! And here to read another review and an interview with yours truly. And please, visit www.amazon.com and post your own review of DISCOVERIES. 1. It's quite easy. 2. You don't have to use your full name.  3. It will really help!  Thank you very much.

Writing Tip of the Month

Whether author or illustrator, your first book is published and you're thinking of taking a booth at a cool book and author festival you've heard of, but what are they really like?

Basically, two kinds of book and author festivals are held. The most frequent are those hosted by school districts where the potential visitors are known. In addition to regular school visits by children's book authors throughout the school year, each school district may invite a well-known children's author to be the center of attention at their annual festival. Authors charge specific fees for visits and often post their "terms and conditions" on their websites. As a general rule, the more experienced they are at speaking, the more they are entitled to charge. To locate school book festivals, a search on the Internet will bring up interesting descriptions and opportunities.

The other type of book and author festival is for the general reading public, attracting visitors of all ages and with a variety of (usually) outdoor author or publisher booths, author readings in an auditorium, panel discussions, and other forms of entertainment for the crowds. Frequently, Friends of the Library may have tables of used books for sale, also, as a fundraiser. This can be disconcerting, to say the least, when an independent publisher is trying to sell new books right across from them! It is doubly so when the "indie" has been assigned a booth right next to one staffed by a major bookstore chain.

Dealing with the vagaries of the weather means you hopefully prepared for the possibility of rain, and also brought some weights along to hold down flyers and bookmarks that otherwise become airborne in capricious winds. If large umbrellas are provided, or you brought your own, winds may knock them over on occasion. Bring bottled water or lemonade, in case only soda is available for purchase. Ask ahead of time about the possibilities for lunch. 

Many of the visitors to a book and author festival are of the tire-kicker and looky-lu species. While they are usually warm and friendly, a few grouches slouch by, too, who have nothing kind to say about an author's books. The friendlies speak words of praise and encouragement, and occasionally buy a book that they'd also like autographed. But festivals are mostly good for getting your name out there, and meeting your prospective readers. Take lots of those flyers (with bio and contact information, as well as review excerpts if you have a few), colorful bookmarks, and business cards. Try not to be disappointed when people refuse to take a bookmark for your family-oriented books, acting instead as though it's contaminated.

If you think you'd like to try signing up for a booth for a particular festival in your area or state, be sure to get the fee information first and register early, so you can plan ahead. Some venues are very expensive, in the hundreds of dollars. Others may be somewhat more reasonable at $50 to $75 for half or a whole table. Also, consider getting a friend to meet you there, so you're not stuck in your own booth all day, unable to see what else is happening. The day will be hard work, but remember to have fun!

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What Shall I Write? Personal Letters for All Occasions

Book on CD (non-audio, PDF file) and trade paperback both available now! 
Buy now through our secure shopping service:  Or order through Amazon

As with Discoveries above, please visit www.amazon.com and post your own review of What Shall I Write? Personal Letters for All Occasions.

1. Again, it's quite easy. 

2. You don't have to use your full name.  

3. It will really help! 

 
Thank you very much.

Lifestyle Tip of the Month

Pageantry - Is There a Place For It In Our Lives?

Those with a Puritan streak in them would say no, that ostentation and pageantry were for the Old World and its outdated social customs, where the wealthy wasted millions in local currency while the lower classes quite literally starved. Such critics have a valid point: any society has the moral obligation to take care of the basic needs of people first, by providing real jobs for real wages, and medical care, unless leaders wish to deal with the ugliness and sorrow of anarchy in the streets. Yet there is a place for pageantry in the New World, even today. We cannot take all the joy out of life by denying people the opportunity and the right to dress up and celebrate, whether for our national holidays, historical events, sports, or for returning space exploration heroes.

All cultures have unique and colorful displays, dances, and parades, though they share many of the same qualities of excitement, pride, enthusiasm, and fun. Lively and joyful events are often held for the main purpose of boosting morale, of showing everyone else out there what the people are made of, what is important to them, what they want their children to remember. Pageantry is a way of reinforcing traditions, of displaying what is of value—what we want future generations to know about us—and of having fun! On the other side of the spectrum is the goose-stepping of every evil military force that ever marched and continues to march. It is far more symbolic of cruelty and despotism than any black hat ever worn by the bad guys.

The United States is actually no stranger to pageantry, even when some citizens turn up their noses at pomp and circumstance. Many immigrants from most corners of the world brought widely divergent theater, dance, music, sculpture, and painting, not to mention their creative writing ability, of course! And the Americas as a whole have unique celebrations, everything from the self-esteem of Native American dances, to the rodeo events that are held from Canada down through the tip of South America. Rodeos have matured over the years to lessen, if not eliminate, the cruelty to animals involved. (There will always be those who consider non-human life to be a lower life form and therefore undeserving of kindness. Such people eventually pay the price for their coldness and ignorance.)

From tinkling bells and scarf dances to Polynesian war dances, the culture of every inhabited continent was imported and is represented in North America. While no one does pomp and circumstance quite like the British with hopelessly uncomfortable uniforms for many to wear, most cultures prefer not to emulate that quite so closely. Of course, many women's costumes in any culture were and are long straightjackets, taking desperate amounts of time to shuck off when nature calls (among other unlovely disadvantages).

Some churches consider all ostentation in ceremony to be undesirable, yet there is a place for moderate amounts of it. If nothing else, it keeps congregants awake! Incense tends to sicken all who must inhale it, so could easily be omitted. But cleanliness, simple color, and beauty always have a place in worship. One does not need a hat with peacock feathers to be wearing Sunday best, for example, but palm fronds on Palm Sunday help children learn the story associated with them, and choir robes indicate reverence, beauty and unity. 

Finally, at this time of patriotism and celebration of another national holiday, we can see from the parades that pageantry indeed has a place in our lives in today's world.

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To purchase T-shirts, sweatshirts, mugs and more fun stuff, related to DISCOVERIES  
A Journey Through Life, and What Shall I Write? Personal Letters for All Occasions, visit www.cafeshops.com/topazcoveplus

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© 2003 Shirley Ann Parker. All rights reserved.

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