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What I'm writing in YEAR OF THE DOG

I just finished writing Year of the Dog ! It had a massive plot hole that I had to fix which turned out to be more work than I expected. Here’s a snippet: “Hey, Auntie Nell.” He wrapped his arms around her, bussing her on the cheek and breathing in pikake flowers and shortbread cookies. And suddenly he was nine years old again, and her solid presence had made his chaotic world stable once more. “What are you doing here?” He usually took her to dinner on Wednesday nights, but today was Tuesday. The edges of her smile faltered a little before brightening right back up again. “What, I can’t visit my nephew?” She angled around him to enter his home. “Is this your new house? Looks lovely.” Which was a blatant lie, because the fixer-upper was barely livable, much less acceptable to a neat-freak like his aunt. She also left four matching pink and purple floral suitcases on the stoop behind her. Only then did Ashwin notice the cab driver standing slightly to the side of the walkway. “Can ...
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Thinking of getting a Kindle or a Nook?

Now's the time to do it!





My agent and many of my friends have Kindles and love them. I have a Nook from Barnes and Noble and am partial to it, because I can buy ebooks from both BarnesandNoble.com and Fictionwise.com (which is a little cheaper) and read my ebooks on my Nook. With the Kindle, you can only buy books from Amazon.com.

The Nook now has a Wi-Fi only version ($149) that's even cheaper than the Kindle, and their 3G version (similar to the Kindle and the Nook that I have) is only $199, which is only $10 more than the new Kindle price.

I don't know if the Kindle can do this, but I just discovered that with my last software update to my Nook, I can actually surf websites on my Nook, too, as long as I have Wi-Fi! That's way cool! (However, like the iPhone and iPad, the Nook doesn't have Flash, so it can't load any sites using Flash.)

The Kindle and Nook are great ereaders because they use the e-Ink technology for the screens, which enables you to read on them for a long time without eye fatigue (as opposed to a computer screen).

I love the fact I can bring dozens of books with me! For me, when I choose a book to read, I like to have a large selection so I can pick what appeals to me at the moment.

So for any of you thinking of getting an ereader, now's a great time to do it!
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Comments

Unknown said…
I'm contemplating the Nook, but I've heard you can't use .doc or .rtf files on it, and since one of my main uses would be to edit my WIP's, it makes me hesitant to invest the money in a Nook, although I like all the other features it has as opposed to the Kindle. Thoughts?
Thu Jun 24, 07:56:00 AM 2010
Camy Tang said…
For .doc or .rtf files, I save them as .htm files (web page using Microsoft Word) and then use Calibre (a free program) to convert the .htm files into .pdb or .epub files. I think actually you might be able to convert them directly from .doc or .rtf into .pdf or .epub files using Calibre, but I haven't tried it yet. I love Calibre because I've taken manuscripts, converted them, and loaded them directly into my Nook and they're formatted without problems.
Thu Jun 24, 08:02:00 AM 2010
tricia said…
My husband got me a Sony eReader for Mother's Day. I love it, except that now I have to build a stash of ebooks. I like that I can get ebooks from the library and load them onto my eReader. (most the books I read come from the library, so this was pretty important). I'm like you, Camy, I like to have variety when I travel and now I can do that without the bulk. Hurrah!
Thu Jun 24, 06:45:00 PM 2010
Crystal Laine said…
I have been thinking about getting one of these for my 92-year-old mother-in-law because she needs LARGE print books and I'm having such a hard time finding good books in large print. So, my question is, would she be able to easily use it and enlarge the print?

She has macular degeneration and can see with her magnifying glass. I thought whatever I bought, I could use, too (I'd have to download the books) but if it doesn't work, I would just use it.

Anyway, I've seen so many posts about this and now I'm leaning towards the Nook. Would the Kindle be better for my MIL?
Fri Jun 25, 12:14:00 PM 2010
Camy Tang said…
Tricia--I haven't yet borrowed any ebooks from my library but I need to start doing that!

Crystal--you can enlarge the font on both the Nook and the Kindle. I actually do this a lot, because it's easier for me to read when the font is a bit larger than in print. I don't know about the Kindle, but when I open a book in my Nook, I immediately can go to the second screen on the bottom and enlarge the font.

Camy
Fri Jun 25, 07:21:00 PM 2010
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