This weekend we're pondering the internet.
What year did you start riding the information super highway?
What did you do before the world wide web?
We Have Winners
Prize rules are here and winners should contact us through our Seekerville email address. We allow 6-8 for prizes to allow for forces beyond our control, such as babies, Mother Nature and DEADLINES!! And if we goof up, just email and let us know.
Tuesday we welcomed Barbour debut author Keli Gwyn who explored The "Seekerville Effect." Winners of of her book A Bride Opens Shop in El Dorado, California, are Piper and Stephanie Queen Ludwig. To celebrate Keli's birthday, Seekerville is giving away a digital copy. The winner is Joanne Sher.
Wave if you’re attending RWA Nationals this month in Anaheim. What about the ACFW Conference in Dallas? Did anyone go to RomCon, held recently in Denver? How about DragonCon or Sleuthfest or Killer Nashville? Wednesday. Love Inspired Suspense author Debby Giusti shared on Writing Conferences Across America. Winner of one of Debby's books, winner's choice, is Jennifer Thompson.
Thursday award-winning author Jocelyn Green shared How to make the most of writing time with "Stop the Clock! 10 Tips for Time-Starved Writers!!" The winner of Jocelyn's new book, Wedded to War is Cindy W (Country Bear).
Friday Seekerville was delighted to welcome ACFW Carol Award Winner, Bethany House author, Nancy Mehl with her post, Reviewing the Reviewers. The winner of Nancy’s latest release Inescapable is Pol.
Next Week In Seekerville
Monday: Today Seeker Pam Hillman welcomes Jodie Westfall, the official ACFW Conference Photographer. Jodie will share tips for a successful photo shoot. Monday's drawing? One lucky commenter wins a $50 session with Jodie at the 2012 ACFW Conference in Dallas!!!
Tuesday: Welcome Thomas Nelson author Cara Lynn James to the blog seat. Cara will chat about "The Importance of Urgency and Tension". She'll be giving away a copy of her upcoming relase, (an RT 4 1/2 star novel), A Path Toward Love, which is available for pre-order HERE!
Wednesday: Love Inspired author, and 2012 Carol finalist, Tina Radcliffe shares "The AHA! Moment " today. Stop by to get inspired and learn from your favorite friends and Seekers. Up for grabs is a ten page critique!
Thursday: Today Avalon author Sandra Leesmith will interview the FHL IRCA finalists in her post "What's It Like To Be an ICRS Finalist?" She will be reporting from the FHL meeting at the RWA conference in Anaheim at the Romance Writers of America National conference. Check out the blog to find out where to meet with Debby Giusti and Sandra and other Seeker friends who will be at the conference!
Friday: Join free-lance editor and ACFW JOURNAL Magazine editor Michael Ehret in Seekerville today. He'll share a couple key things he looks for when editing extra verbiage. Is there a prize? You betcha! He's giving away two (2) free contest preparation packages. Mike will look at your first 15 pages (double-spaced, standard manuscript format pages) and a one-page synopsis. He will edit your submission the same way he does for his In The Edit posts on his website (www.WritingOnTheFineLine.com). He'll also look for holes in your synop and offer suggestions.
Seeker Sightings
We'd love for you to share your sightings and news in the comments.
Thanks to Cheryl Wyatt for this photo of Tina Radcliffe's Oklahoma Reunion and the other stellar short contemporary finalists for the 2012 Carol Awards at the ACFW booth at this year's ICRS.
Oooh!! More good news. Tina's April 2013 release from Love Inspired, has a name. Welcome Mending the Doctor's Heart into the world!
Congratulations to Pam Hillman. Stealing Jake, finaled in the Long Inspirational category in Oklahoma Romance Writers of America's first annual International Digital Awards contest.
We'd love for you to share your sightings and news in the comments.
Oooh!! More good news. Tina's April 2013 release from Love Inspired, has a name. Welcome Mending the Doctor's Heart into the world!
Congratulations to Pam Hillman. Stealing Jake, finaled in the Long Inspirational category in Oklahoma Romance Writers of America's first annual International Digital Awards contest.
Look for Debby Giusti at the 2012 "Readers for Life" Literacy Autographing signing in Anaheim, California at the Anaheim Convention Center on Wednesday, July 25, 2012, from 5–8 p.m. PT in the Ballroom (third floor). It's free to the public. She'll be at Table 407! Here's a peek at last year's Literacy signing in NYC.
Congratulations to all the 2012 Carol Award Finalists. Check out Cecelia Dowdy's blog for all the book covers of all the finaling books!
Congratulations to the Christy Awards Winners. You can watch a replay of the awards ceremony on the live blog here.
B&H Publishing Announces New Children's Imprint (PW)
Infographic: The Evolution of the Romance Novel (PBS)
Master GoodReads (Tanya Kappes via Jan Morrill)
Where Bookworms Go For Sustenance (MediaPost)
eBooks Now ‘Dominant Single Format’ in Adult Fiction Sales (GalleyCat)
Ten Simple Keys to Plot Structure (Michael Hauge Screenplay Mastery)
Fiction Weave Free Writing App for Android and Tablets
Don't forget the winners of the 2012 RITA and GH Awards will be announced July 28, 2012, at the RITA and Golden Heart Awards Ceremony to be held at the 2012 RWA Annual Conference in Anaheim, Calif. You can follow the fun on Twitter. #RWA12
A few safety reminders for attending conferences or #rwa12 (Angela James)
Is Your Writing Better Than Facebook by Ed Cyzewski (Rachelle Gardner via Mary Curry)
Good night. I am turning off my computer as ordered.
ReplyDeleteHelen
Wish I could hit bed too. Somehow I thought it'd be a good idea to make my recovery disc copies and it's taking much longer than I thought it would.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to everyone.
Christina
LOL. Christina I have my external drive sitting here waiting for me to to a backup...I KEEP FORGETTING TO START IT BEFORE I GO TO WORK.
ReplyDeleteNight, Helen.
It's going to be 102 out tomorrow. The 'fresh air' is hot enough to slow roast a chicken.
ReplyDeleteI'll just stay right here.
I'm still up for a few! Midnight madness [at 930!] with my oldest two! PRINCESS BRIDE, BABY!!!
ReplyDeleteMawwige is what bwings us togevah twoday.
Trying to get drafts of my one sheets done. Tracey Bateman is acting as our 'editor' at the ACFW meeting tomorrow.
But there's pics of Casey and Pepper on them so they'll be gorgeous :D.
Super congrats to the winners and looks like another great week coming up!
I started using the internet in 97 went I went to college. I was WOWED by the instant messenger stuff with which I chatted with one friend who had it in his office at work. And I emailed one friend at another college and used the online catalog for looking up academic journals. Oh, and I checked out the Veggie Tales chat room which was already full of perverts. Yep, spent very little time on the computers unless I was typing--internet wasn't that fun.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could turn off the computer and go to bed--my nap wasn't a great one today--but I must keep working.
Let's see... Sell sheet is mocked up...
ReplyDeleteGot my first email address in... 94? But I could only check it at the public library and I never went...
In 97 I started my last college and you could request one. Not long after that I got dialup through them.
It was fabulous. Click. Take a shower. Click. Take a nap. Click. Go for a walk. Realize you clicked the wrong link. Curse. Click. Punch someone. Click.
And so on.
By 2000 or so I had fairly reliable dial up and by... 02? I had broadband of some sort and haven't looked back since.
No clue how many email addresses I have now ;).
Carol, hahaha! Dial up...
ReplyDeleteUm, I remember learning how to use a mouse for a bioethics class that used computer programs of widespread viral devestation...
I try not to remember my life before the internet. Mostly researching piles and piles of books.
My kids have no idea how hard it was to find things out back then. We still have an encyclopedia set.
P.S. This post had so many acronyms I had a hard time following.
ReplyDeleteI'm too lazy to Google ICRS....
International Christian Retail Show
ReplyDelete= ICRS
The CBA version of BEA
Book Expo America
Hallelujah. Congrats winners and authors (for their blogs).
ReplyDeleteHave a good weekend ALL!
Wow, thanks for linking to my blog! I hope you enjoy looking at all the pretty book covers that I posted on my July 17th blog post! I also hope everybody has a blessed Saturday!
ReplyDeleteAll of you talking about getting on the internet for the first time when you went to college.... Man, I'm feeling old.
ReplyDeleteWhen I went to college I used a computer for the first time. We learned to write programs by coding cards. You put the cards in a stack and ran them through the computer...
We jumped on the net in 93 when we got our first home computer. Dial up? It was the only option. We paid for internet access by the minute. I remember waiting for two weeks to be able to access the net again because I had used up my minutes.
I'll stick to my high-speed cable internet, thank you. It's the only way to fly!
Congrats to the winners! Next week looks great!
LOL, Teenster ... LOVE the last caption!!! Great WE, my friend and ...
ReplyDeleteSUPER CONGRATS TO ALL THE CHRISTY WINNERS AND ACFW FINALISTS (YES, TINA, I'M TALKING TO YOU!!)
HAPPY WEEKEND, ALL!!
Hugs,
Julie
I remember my sister helping me create my first hotmail address and then, like Carol, I had to pick it up either at the library, which I rarely went or at my mother's house.
ReplyDeleteMom got the internet before me.
The difference with Carol is, I was a forty year old woman when I was doing this.
She was probably twelve.
Another FABULOUS weekend edition, Tina!
ReplyDeleteI started using the internet in 1995 or 96! So much more out there on the world wide web now than there was back then!
Wonderful Weekend Edition, Tina!! Thanks. Huge congratulations on your Carol final!!!! Cannot wait to cheer you on in Dallas!!
ReplyDeleteCongrats to our weekly winners and to all the Christy and Carol finalists! Fun to celebrate good news.
Our weather has moderated or so it seems after 3-digit temps. I think we'll go to our festival fireworks tonight. Not as dry here thanks to some badly needed rain. Doubt it came soon enough for the farmers' corn crop.
Janet
Congrats to naming your baby, Tina! And the spring is a perfect time for new life, isn't it? I can't wait to read it! Luckily there are tons of fantastic new releases coming out every month between now and April so I'll have something to distract me from my impatience. :-)
ReplyDeleteAnd congrats to Pam!!!! Sigh -- I know I'm going ot have to get over my love affair with books and start looking into digital reads so I'm not missing out. Right now I don't have an e-reader and reading a book on my ancient laptop is impossible for me. I have issues with sitting too long at the computer.
Ironic, isn't it that alot of the links were about digital books?
It's actually cool enough to bake this morning so I'm passing out some uber delish pumpkin cookies, lightly frosted of course, to go along with Helen's coffe. Wait -- did Helen even make coffe this morning? I don't think so. She must be sleeping in. Oh well, you're on your own cause I'm a herbal tea-tottler. :-)
Oh -- and the internet? Um...like forever since I work in libraries but creating my own online presence...not until about 2005/2006. That's when I was cyber-borned. :-)
Hi Seekers.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to all the Seekerville winners.
Congrats again to TINA on the Carol nom.
Congrats PAM on being a finalist in the IDA contest.
Tina, I came across a great blog this week. Ed Cyzewsk was a guest blogger on Rachelle Gardner's blog.
Is Your Writing Better than Facebook?
http://www.rachellegardner.com/2012/07/is-your-writing-better-than-facebook/
I thought of this because of your internet question. Back in the days of dialup, I didn't spend half so much time online as I do now.
Jan, don't feel old. When I was in college we didn't even have computers.
Tina, great WE! And I'm with Jan, congratulations on your nomination!
ReplyDeleteCongrats to all the winners this week! I'm looking forward to next week. I need some of those posts! Do I really have to wait? Sigh.
MARY--The blog by Ed Cyzweski was super, wasn't it?
Jan, chuckling about your computer programming in college--class.
I was exposed to the internet when I was a teacher, probably somewhere around 1994. A fellow teacher taught us a lot about it. He even used video cams to teach his class. Wild stuff.
We got internet in our home probably in 1997 or so. Dial up for years. Love broadband now. I'm with you, JAN. No plans to go backward on this information/technology highway.
Oops, guess I'm out of a job. Got in such a hurry to obey orders last night that I forgot to make coffee.
ReplyDeleteHere's a fresh pot.
I never had a computer class in college. Around '95 or 6 I bought one and started learning a bit on my own. Then in '98 I had to start teaching computer classes at school.
I ordered textbooks and worked the chapters ahead of the students. Good way to learn it. Had the limited number of minute of dialup at home--I think it was a couple hours a week.
Then got regular dialup, but waited until evenings to use it so as not to tie up the phone. Got rid of dialup 5 or 6 years ago. Can't remember exactly.
Congratulations, Tina!!
Another great WE, Tina--thanks!! ~ Congrats to all the winners, and looking forward to more great posts this coming week. ~ Was pondering your question about what we did before internet....I wrote more letters and made more phone calls, LOL. (call me old-fashioned, but I still like using snail-mail for personal greetings, etc.). ~ Okay, getting off here to READ!!! (cannot go outside because it's raining in GA--which is a good thing!). Hugs, Patti Jo
ReplyDeletep.s. Enjoy the Georgia Pecan Pralines and Peach Punch I brought to share--but beward of the sugar rush from those pralines, LOL! ;) PJ
OOOPS!!! That's supposed to say "Beware" NOT beward! That's what I get for not proofreading... PJ
ReplyDeleteI was slightly familiar with internet before 97, but that year I started working in the library and had to learn fast to help the patrons when they had trouble. (I loved the research capabilities that opened up in front of me. :-)
ReplyDeleteDidn't have it in our home until 2002, and we still had dial up (although faster than what I had learned on in 97) until last year. If I wanted to do anything fast, it waited until I was at work. In the part of the rural county where we live, there was no service for faster internet without doing satellite and paying through the nose. (One neighbor had satelite internet and complained about constantly losing signal.)
Until...our county got a grant and installed high-speed, broad-band lines that are managed by our rural electric co-op - one of three places in the state to do so. Super fast. Super affordable. Faster and more affordable than what we have at work. Finally. I can watch movies, download, blog, research, etc., to my heart's content.
The only problem...now I have fast internet to play on when I should be writing.
Thanks, Mary Curry! I added the link.
ReplyDeleteHelen, I feel so responsible for your coffee omission.
Pralines and Pumpkin Cookies. Breakfast of Champions.
ReplyDeleteGreat WE Tina!! Congrats again to the contest finalists!! What a great spread of the Carol Finalist covers. Nice work, Cheryl!
ReplyDeleteI got my first computer in 1996 and got on the Internet soon after. May have been in early 1997. I started out on the AOL boards and took my first romance writing class from Brenda Hyatt on AOL. :)
ReplyDeleteI spelled that wrong. It's Brenda Hiatt.
ReplyDeleteSUPER WE Tina! Especially since I won ;)
ReplyDeleteNext week looks FAB - and congrats TWICE to you, Teenster - for your Carol nom, AND your new book title!
We started out on AOL, and when they connected to the internet in '94, I hopped on (LOL and I had NO recollection of this at all - had to ask the hubby!).
Turning off my computer so I can read (or work on a synopsis). My lovely wife noticed my TBR stack of LI, LIS, and LIH books and wondered if I was going to read them or at least cut them down to one and put the others away.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I feel your pain Walt. I am up to over 200 books in my KINDLE TBR.
ReplyDeleteGood post for the weekend edition and was surprised to see I was a winner on friday post-thanks all.
ReplyDeleteI cannot remember for sure when I started on internet but think it was around 1998. I was in my fifties and boy was it hard to figure out lot of this stuff. I got a little help and now I have a blog and do reviews of books so glad I stuck with it.
Happy weekend all...
Paula O(kyflo130@yahoo.com)
Ooooo! Congrats to the finalists and love the covers!!!!
ReplyDeleteTina, you're my Google.:)
Missy, Jane Myers Perrine was just talking about that old AOL Series board this morning on her blog. Did you see that Chris/Kris Fletcher just sold to SuperRomance this week?
ReplyDeleteJane mentioned you in her blog.
http://janemyersperrine.com/blog/
Okay, I used to roam the aol series board as well. And why does Kris Fletcher sound so familiar?
ReplyDeletelol - Going outside now. Hopefully it's not too hot. We had some rain this morning and it cooled things off.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, what was the question? I took my first computer classes in 1982, got my first personal computer, a Mac Classic, not long after they came out.
As far as the internet, I can't really remember since I'd been using computers for years. I do remember finding out via email about my first placement in a writing contest. I placed 2nd in FHL's Touched By Love contest in 1997, and they sent the notices out by email. So, maybe 1995-1996? Like most everyone else, I had to check my email at the library or at work.
Congratulations to all the winners!
ReplyDeleteI remember getting our first computer in '95. My husband and I were still newlyweds. I worked at the bank and they got a special deal on computers for the employees. I about faint when I think of the thousands of dollars it cost.
The first night I got 'online' I was hooked. I couldn't believe how fast time went by. It was 2am before I knew it. Living back in the woods we had to live with dial up for years.
I reach the end of the internet every day about 11 am.
ReplyDeleteInexplicably.
And then, the next morning, it starts working again.
:(
Love the video of the RWA book signing last year in NYC. We raised $46,000 for literacy. Woot!!!
ReplyDeleteVisit me this year at table 407!!! Pretty please. No buying books needed. Just stop by to say hello and get a Seeker hug.
First 'puter? We got an IBM knock-off in 1990. Ah, that didn't mean I knew how to work it. :)
First time I was on a computer was 1989, at my son's school. I was helping to input info. The teacher kept having to help me.
Soon after, I wrote a song/jingle about being "A Low Tech Mama in a High Tech World." I still feel the same way.
Congrats to the winners!!!
Tina, maybe from The Golden Network? Or because she was Workshop chair for RWA National a couple of years back. Of just cause she's really friendly and knows a lot of people.
ReplyDeleteCould be one of the times we ran into each other last summer, I was with her. That's ringing a bell.
I have to think on this Mary Curry. It will come to me when I least expect it. :)
ReplyDeleteTina...you wrote the WE and NEVER MENTIONED YOUR CAROL FINAL.
ReplyDeleteMy dear, we want to congratulate you! Consider yourself congratulated. :D :D
The first 'personal' sized computer I ever used was in college in about 1975. There were a lot of those huge, wall-sized computers but this was a small one, you could type into it.
ReplyDeleteIt was about the size of a....couch. Very cool.
And I got to use it.
Once a day.
I got to type up the program for the evening news.
I had to walk across campus to use it. There was only one such device on the whole campus.
Times have changed.
Has anyone ever run a mimeograph machine? There's your ink soaked nightmare. And that was cutting edge when I first used it.
I did, Casey, girl. Look at the picture of Oklahoma Reunion in Seeker Sightings.
ReplyDeleteWill you be at ACFW?
Mary, I remember the mimeograph machine. Did the church programs on them. Messy!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I remember what I did before the internet. I have a vague remembrance of feeling lonely and isolated, but also less stressed.
ReplyDeleteHome sweet home! I'm back from Orlando!!! It's so good to be back. But it was a great vacation.
I remember when my Mom first got on the internet on her computer. It was dial-up and the noise scared her, she knew it was broken and she hurried and turned it off!
ReplyDeleteI think we got our first computer in about 92. So, our youngest has had a computer in the house his whole life. Weird.
Oh, blessed Sunday!
ReplyDeletePam, I keep grinning every time I see mention of think of you finaling/winning PUBLISHED authors' contests.
YIPPEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Grinning in upstate!
I took business classes my senior year in high school.
I learned how to run the mimeograph machine.
And my first job out of high school, wait, second... First was a directory assistance operator:
"Good morning, directory assistance, how can I help you?"
And we wore those rubber guards on our fingers to FLICK THROUGH PAGES faster...
Yes. Real pages. With addendums printed weekly as people moved and changed numbers. And this is what we had to say if someone was UNLISTED....
"I'm sorry, sir, but that number is not listed in my directory. May I help you with something else?"
And then of course the person was just plain MAD because they thought we had the number in front of us and just wouldn't give it out...
Oy.
So funny in retrospect!
I love computers, but I hate computer programs on business phones. I would so much prefer a person and not a numeric system that quite often cuts you off after waiting your place in numeric line for ten minutes.
And there's NO ONE TO PUNCH.
Now that's sad.
Great WE Tina.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to the finalists. YAYYYY TINA
Any Seeker friends going to RWA? Check out Seekerville on Thursday for time and place to meet up with Debby and I. And be sure and visit Debby at her table.
I started Internet from the beginning as they brought it into our schools and as a teacher I had to learn to teach the children. Obviously just the basics. LOL
I have a friend (no, seriously, I do) who said when she went to camp when she was a little girl her mom told her to phone home at least once.
ReplyDeleteAnd to phone home she was to, "Dial zero, say the word 'Collette' to the operator, then her home phone number."
And then the operator would let her talk to her mom.
My friend wondered who in the world 'Collette' was, but it worked so she didn't question it.
LOL Mary! Collette!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd I remember mimeographs btw. I ran them.
Arm got tired crankin' the stupid thing.
But never forgot the smell...
We got our first computer in the mid 80s. An Atari 520ST - a Windows type system [not dos where you had to type instructions in but a visual/mouse type thing]. Recently looked it up and the game [Space Quest] my sis and I played all the time is still available for a Windows system now. All 6 versions of it [though we only played the first one].
Think that was before the internet...
Rough draft of the historical is officially done, though way shorter than I wanted it to be... Still a relief...
Carol Moncado, you amaze me.
ReplyDeleteRough draft done????
Oh my stars, I'm officially enrolling in slacker school.
God bless you! Congratulations. And you can elongate it by shooting folks and/or staging funerals.
Funerals are poignant things. They take a while.
Did you all know that if you put rice, fruit, pudding, marshmallows and whipped cream together, you get a slice of heaven on Earth?
Pretty wonderful, 'sall I'm sayin'.
Unlike Carol, I'm limping along but scheduled to finish next spring's book this week.
And I love it. It makes me smile. and kinda cry.
But mostly smile.
Think: Smile with tissues!
There ya' go.
Ruthy, darlin', "rough" is understatement of the year for this draft.
ReplyDeleteIt's got disappearing puppies.
NO historical details to speak of.
Inconsistencies galore.
20K too short.
Voice is horribly inconsistent.
Especially his.
It'll take two months to clean it up. If I'm lucky.
So none of this slacker talk because I'm QUITE SURE your draft is much prettier than mine ;).
Looks like good stuff coming up! :) Congrats, Tina, on your Carol Award final!
ReplyDelete