Flying Wires has been added to LittleSamuari.com, a new web site for reading books online. Readers have free access to any of the books at the web site. Another unique aspect of LittleSamurai.com are the interactive features a publisher can add to their books. For example, Flying Wires contains hypertext that connects the reader with web sites, online documents and photographs. This media expands and enhances the story. The photos are a tangible example of something mentioned by one of the characters. The urls to organizations, events or places provide additional information about what is mentioned in the novel. LittleSamurai.com offers a reading environment that goes beyond just reading a digital book. It takes the reader into a corner of the real world behind the story.
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Flying Wires now available in paperback
Monday, October 12th, 2009
I am proud to announce that Flying Wires is now for sale as a paperback! Printed at Lulu.com, the 326-page book is now available for purchase online. Lulu.com has excellent turnaround from order placement to delivery, so you won’t have to wait long to enjoy the flight! Click here to order your copy today.
From the Lulu.com web site:
Currently, the only novel written about ultralight flying, this romance with aviation and finding love the second time around, will carry the reader to new heights. Engaging dialog and descriptive narration reveal the world of ultralight pilots and instructors. The author accurately presents the joy and the drama of flight through the experiences of the men and the heroine, the only woman pilot at a rural turf-airstrip in North Carolina. By opening this book, the reader takes the pilot seat and straps in for an exciting flight!
Flying Wires has been available as a PDF since December 2008. The Kindle edition became available in March 2009. Here are some comments I’ve received from readers:
This is a real page turner! – Arty Trost, Ultralight Adventurer
Just wanted you to know that I finished reading your book and enjoyed it a lot! – Jim Mason, Pilot
I loved it…. Congrats. When is the next one due? – Ricardo Trujillo, Pilot
The bytten word
Monday, August 17th, 2009
A Kindle book on iPhone
Thanks to JR, a fellow cyber author and publisher, I’ve come across another article about publishing and reading via Kindle, Sony, Blackberry, PC, and other electronic readers. Peter Svensson’s August 15 article Phones, PC’s put e-books within reach of Kindle-less focuses on the popularity of reading from paperless media and the technology that’s responsible for it. Only a few years ago, publishing for portable electronic readers and PC’s was a road less traveled. According to Svensson’s article, it’s hard to keep new e-books down; sales are beginning to climb. Intrepid entrepreneurs turn paper manuscripts into cybertext as quickly as the new software appears and just as importantly, readers are logging on in ever increasing numbers.
Laurel resident hopes online book sales soar
Thursday, June 11th, 2009I was recently interviewed for a profile article about me and my novel, Flying Wires. Click here for a JPEG of Timmy Gelles’ article in the 11 June 2009 issue of The Gazette or here for a link to the online version. Only recently, have I had the time to do some marketing of Flying Wires and I’m quite pleased that this opportunity came along.
In the meantime, my Examiner.com articles and my work for NAMI Howard County are keeping me quite busy. Now that the first phase of the NAMI contract is complete, I will soon be working about 10 hours per week for the next twelve months on the second phase.
To purchase the PDF version of Flying Wires, click here. To purchase the Kindle version – which is also downloadable to an iPhone and iPod Touch – click here.
Reflections
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009Awhile back I heard about an upcoming installment to the “Repossessing Virtue” radio project on public radio. Krista Tippett, the host of “Speaking of Faith,” asked listeners to visit the “Repossessing Virtue” web site and write their story about how they were dealing with the current economic recession. The future radio program would include audio interviews with people from all over the country. Listeners were asked to consider the following questions as they composed their essays:
- Are you experiencing this economic moment as a moral or spiritual crisis as well?
- Do concepts of trust, of living in community, of what sustains you have relevance in new tangible ways as you face changed economic realities?
- What qualities of human nature do you want to cultivate in yourself or your children?
- Who will we be for each other?
In October 2008, my husband and I made some changes when we saw the havoc that tore through what was once our comfortable retirement nest egg. So when I heard Krista’s request, I sat down at my computer and wrote our story.
On April 1, I received an e-mail from Nancy Rosenbaum – Associate Producer of “Speaking of Faith.” She liked my essay and asked if I would like my interview recorded over the phone for possible use on the upcoming program. I was thrilled that my essay had been chosen. A few days later, I read my essay over the phone to Trent Gilliss [Online Editor/Producer] and replied to a few questions – in addition to the ones listed above. At the end of the recording session, I was asked to submit photos of myself and I was told that the program was due to be aired in mid-May. When I asked if my interview would be part of the program, I was told that the editorial staff would listen to all the interviews and make a decision on which ones they would use. As a result, more than half of the recorded interviews would not be used on the program; however, the essays, photos and edited versions of the interviews would be posted at the web site.
This past Friday, Nancy Rosenbaum sent me a link to my essay at the “Speaking of Faith” web site. She told me that my audio interview wouldn’t be used on the radio program, but over the next few weeks, an edited version of my audio interview will be added to the web site. Please visit the web site to read my original essay and check back later to hear the audio interview. I’ll post an update at this blog. A synopsis of the program which airs online on Thursday, May 14 and on public radio stations between May 14 through May 20 is posted below.
“Living Differently, Beyond Economic Crisis.”
A new installment in our ongoing series, Repossessing Virtue, bringing the voices of our listeners into the conversation we’ve been building online and on-air since the economic downturn began last year. Many are grappling with the shame that comes in American culture with the loss of a job, and many are seeking community in old places and new. For some, economic instability — a kind of life on the edge — is not new. They’ve been cultivating virtues of patience, self-examination, service and good humor that might help us all.
I’m blessed and honored to have been selected to participate in this program. My story is just one of many, but apparently it mattered to someone.
Flying Wires again in the news
Thursday, May 7th, 2009
Now available in PDF and Kindle formats
The May issue of Light Sport and Ultralight Flying magazine carries a short synopsis and information about the PDF and Kindle versions of Flying Wires. Read the article here and either visit my web site to purchase the PDF or Amazon.com to purchase the Kindle version.
It’s been a week
Saturday, May 2nd, 2009
National Alliance on Mental Illness
Not much time to catch my breath and post this week. Last Sunday, we got a call from family and immediately began making plans to drive south Monday afternoon. Mike had to work and I had a meeting in the NAMI Howard County offices at 12:30 p.m. The half-hour meeting gave me the opportunity to sign my contract with NAMI, meet the other contractor that I’ll be working with and discuss the “game plan” for the next few weeks. While I work on the redesign of their information brochure for individuals with mental illness and their families, my team mate will be putting together a database of health care providers in Howard County, Maryland. By the time we meet again in a couple weeks, we should be through phase I of the project.
Monday afternoon, I let local friends know we were leaving town. When Mike got off work, we loaded up the car, had dinner and left town. We spent most of Tuesday with family and although a short trip, we’re glad we went. Fortunately, things have improved some during the week. The rest of the week was catch up on my Examiner.com column and work on a handout for a women’s retreat I’ll be attending next weekend. Today, Mike and I spent the morning on the University of Maryland campus in College Park, Maryland. We walked in the NAMIWalk for the Mind of America – the culmination of an annual fundraising effort to support the wonderful NAMI programs for individuals with mental illness and their families. Now it’s time to hit the hay. After church tomorrow, it’s back to work on the NAMI brochure.
Life blood
Saturday, April 25th, 2009I volunteered at a local blood drive today. Friends of mine coordinate 3 or 4 drives each year through their church. They are usually quite successful in rallying blood donors. For the past couple years, I’ve helped out at either the registration table or in the canteen. I particularly enjoy working the canteen because I get to serve the folks who’ve just given blood. They usually want either apple or orange juice, so I pull a cold bottle from the cooler as they sit down at a row of tables, filled with nuts, cookies, fudge, deviled eggs, and other tempting foods. After someone donates blood, the technician tells them to sit down in the canteen area, eat and drink whatever they need, and rest for at least 15 minutes. That’s usually enough time for a donor to regain their strength before going on their way. I know many of the donors, so helping them after they donate blood also gives us a chance to visit. If anyone has a problem, I can always call for assistance from a technician.
Blood donation services, such as the American Red Cross and Inova Blood Donor Services – the two companies that serve the area where I live, always need blood donors. Particularly with summer coming on, the demand for blood increases dramatically. When a person needs blood, receiving it usually makes the difference between life and death. I know. I was on the receiving end of that drama once. Without going into details, I collapsed in Vancouver, BC at the end of a two-week vacation. Not long after I was examined in the ER, I was started on an IV connected to a pint of whole blood. After a couple tests, it was discovered that I had a bleeding ulcer and, in a fairly short period of time prior to my collapse, I had lost 40% of my blood.
After I recovered enough so that I could fly home and some time after the ulcer healed, I got to thinking about giving back; donating blood. I realized that all because some unknown person walked into a clinic somewhere and donated blood, I was pulled through a rather dicey health crisis. Someone literally saved my life. By donating blood I would be able to help someone else. But, at the time I checked into donating, there were a lot of restrictions. Even after my ulcer healed, there was a waiting period. There was also the matter of a medication many folks take for high blood pressure, but which I took because it controlled a heart arrhythmia I developed in my 20s. So when the opportunity to help at a blood drive came up, I decided lending a hand was the least I could do. Until today.
During a slow period between donors, I was talking to my friend and he told me that some of the prescription medication restrictions for blood donors have been relaxed. I walked over to a group of technicians and asked one of the them about the medication I was taking. She looked it up and asked me a few questions. It turns out that because my heart arrhythmia is under control, the medication is not a show stopper. Hooray! I thanked her, walked back to the canteen and signed up to donate blood at the October blood drive. I feel good about it. I know that most of my volunteer work in my community helps others, but there’s something about donating my blood that feels special. You might say I feel it in my blood.
Publishing for Kindle
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009
Kindle on iPhone
I was invited by the Maryland Writers’ Association to write an article for their blog about my publishing experience for Kindle. Click here to read the article.
