It's a Web Log and They Call It a "Blog"

First, this post has nothing to do with Lost Girl, but I watched it last night and thoroughly enjoyed the cheesetastic ye olde fight scenes with werewolf brothers clashing swords and wearing costumes that looked as if they came from the local community theatre. Favorite lines: "We made a lot of money and we spent it on wine and women. The rest we wasted." And also, "I'm a big bad wolf."

My editor has asked me to make a video for a conference she's attending and, of course, I don't own a video camera and am a tech nitwit and I was thinking of when sold my first novel, Happy Hour at Casa Dracula. One of my pals, who is a visionary -- I kid you not, he gets hired for this stuff and flown all over the world to speak to big corporations -- told me to start a web log and said, "They call them blogs for short."

Blog blog blog. That sounds terrible, doesn't it?

So he helped me get on some early blog site with a bunch of Apple/Mac people, and I was like a cavegirl with a rock and they were like spacemen with ships and jetpacks. I gave up trying for a while and then discovered Blogger, which was easier for me. I didn't know how to insert a photo. It took me forever to figure out how to do links and how to embed a video.

Anyway, I thought blogs were amazing! I mean, if I, a tech nitwit, could update information without knowing HTML code, then anyone could do it. I was no longer at the mercy of website designers and their pay/hour fees. I started a few blogs, gave up, and then came up with the idea of Vampire Wire, which was more news and links than reviews. My visionary pal had said that the best way to establish a presence online was to promote others -- and, as a former publicist, that's something I really enjoy doing.

Fast forward a few years. I kept hounding my editor to send ARCs to bloggers and to connect with them. She said, and I quote exactly: "Forget about blogs."

Forget about blogs? No way.

Now publishers are falling over themselves to reach out to bloggers. The blogging community has become a wonderful intricate extensive network to promote reading and authors. I have long-term online palships with bloggers all over the world and that's something that wasn't possible only a short time ago.

I venture into other tech stuff. I tried to make MP3 clips for my books and that was really hard, because I don't have the talent to act out voices, and a week of my life was subsumed by the effort. (Best thing -- got to go to Guitar Center for my mic and who knew that Guitar Center was filled with so many helpful attractive men?) Right now, I'm working with a really talented narrator, Patricia Fructuoso, on the audiobooks of my Casa Dracula series using ACX/Audible's program. She gets to deal with all the headache-making audio glitches.

 I tried to make book trailers and came up with hacktastic wonky slideshows. I had my website redesigned at least three times and finally had it put on Blogger so I can update it -- but I never do! I have an email newsletter through Constant Contact, but I never send it out. Facebook changed the settings for authors, who are considered businesses, and I cannot figure out how to maintain my page there, so I just don't go.

I can manage Twitter.

And now I'm expected to make a video? Really?

GRATUITOUS VIDEOS OF THE DAY

In honor of Lost Girl's last episode, it's all about the werewolves. Yes, I posted this video recently. And now you can watch it again. You're welcome.





There are a few curses in this and a little nudity. Tom McNair, the lonely young man who's a werewolf in Being Human, is a lovely character. He wants to be normal, have a family, and make himself a better person. Werewolf. Whatever.



I can't avoid posting a video to the most famous werewolf around, I guess.