Preparing for Electronics Class

Although I'm a ham operator with an Extra license, I really don't know a lot about electronics. It's always been an interest, but I've never seriously pursued it. Now that I'm going to teach a class of elementary students about electronics, I decided it was time I took a course myself. So I purchased the Make: Electronics book and the electronic parts to go along with it. My plan is to work through this in the next month to get a better understanding. AND it will be fun!

In addition, I am getting a set of Snap Circuits to practice with. I'm thinking of purchasing a few of these to get the students started in electronics. They seem to be easier to use for young children than a breadboard. After they get more experience, we will switch to a breadboard. At least that is my plan now. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know. My students will be 3rd-5th grade. We will have 15 lessons, 80 minutes each.

Just finished The Welcome Committee of Butternut Creek - LOVED IT!

The Welcome Committee of Butternut Creek by Jane Perrine is a wonderful book! I picked it up to read and just couldn't stop. Finished it in 24 hours. The story is about a young pastor who comes to a small town. The church where he is pastoring is run by the "Widows," a group of older women who like to make sure everything is run "properly," and that includes getting all the single folks married off!

If you're looking for an enjoyable book for summer reading, I highly recommend it. I just purchased the second book in the series, The Matchmakers of Butternut Creek.

Gloria Teague, Another Reason I Attend Writer's Groups

I love writer's groups. I try not to miss any of them. Currently, I am a member of SCBWI, ACFW, and Tulsa Night Writers.

One reason I love writer's groups is because of the new friendships I form. It's so nice to have other authors to talk to, to critique your work, and encourage you.

I met this sweet gal, Gloria Teague, at Tulsa Night Writers. She's the writer of both fiction and nonfiction; and, currently has two books and two novels out, as well as more than 50 short stories. What an inspiration!

Her newest book, Beyond the Surgeon's Touch: One Miracle Away from Death, is stories based on actual events in emergency rooms that illustrate that miracles can, and do, happen to average people more often than you may realize. I can't wait to read this one!

You can visit Gloria's website at: www.gloriateague.com

Day 5: Sunday, Session 1

On Sunday, my brother, Keith, and his wife, June, met us in the hotel for breakfast. They were leaving from New York on a cruise later in the day. Breakfast was fabulous! If you ever go to New York, I highly recommend the Sheraton New York on 7th street.


Breakfast!

That morning I went to three more sessions. The first was Writers and Mobile Apps: The Big Opportunity by Al Katkowsky.

As an iPhone/iPad app reviewer and an author, I was extremely interested in this topic. Katowsky talked about why we should consider building a book app: money and exposure; what books are best for an app (any that lend itself to multimedia or tech books - example is iPhone Missing Manual); and what he used to build his app.

Most of his session was way too complicated for me to write here. Basically, he suggested finding a good app developer unless you feel competent to do it yourself and be prepared for your launch by have preselected downloaders (people who will download your app the first day). This is to ensure that your app will get noticed.

As an app reviewer, I would like to add that getting your app reviewed by a major magazine (such as iPhone Life) is a good way to get publicity. Also, create a press release. Reviewers get these to find apps they want to review. (Keep your PR simple! Personally, I hate long PRs. Keep it short and to the point; give me links to photos and videos.)

I'd also like to add that picture books and YA novels can be successfully done on an app. But don't merely put text, static images, and some music in your app and think it will sell. Personally, I'd rather read the actual picture book, itself, than read that. But if you can create one like these: Jack in the Beanstalk by Ayars Animation, Icarus Swinebucket by Michael Garland (created by Giant Atom), and Bram Stoker's Dracula (the Vook version), you'll have a winner!

Bookplates

An interesting blog posting on historical bookplates.

The future of books - interactivity!

I was amazed at Alice on the iPad (see my Alice review), but Jack and the Beanstalk proves that interactive books are only going to get better. Here’s why:

While Alice has exquisite graphics and fun animations, Jack and the Beanstalk has cute, kid-friendly graphics and LOTS of animations, PLUS music, interactions on every page, and games such as a memory game, a shape-matching game, bubble popping, and finger painting.

  

The interactions on Jack and the Beanstalk are things that kids will love to do like touch the screen to light the street lamp or start the fireworks, find hidden “easter” eggs that sing and wiggle, touch characters to make them talk or dance, and swipe to reveal hidden creatures in a lake and then count them.

You can turn “Narration Audio” off to read the story out loud yourself, but you may get tired of reading! Jack and the Beanstalk is a “book” that kids will want to “read” over and over again, not only to hear the fun story, but also to search for the hidden surprises.

And when you’re finished reading, you can go to the Ayars Website (www.ayarsanimation.com) and download the Jack and the Beanstalk coloring book for kids to color.

Jack and the Beanstalk works on the iPhone (3.2 or later) and iPod Touch, too. 

So, fellow authors and publishers, how can we take advantage of this new technology? Have YOU considered an app for that?