… I might try this.

DIY: A Sculptural Modern Bouquet for Mom

Happy Mother’s Day
]]>Blog2016-04-24T15:53:38-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/its-shakespeare-week.html#unique-entry-id-162http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/its-shakespeare-week.html#unique-entry-id-162

]]>Blog2016-04-08T17:25:10-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/a-library-of-illumination-prequel.html#unique-entry-id-161http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/a-library-of-illumination-prequel.html#unique-entry-id-161
I usually come out with a new book each summer, but I'm still hard at work on the "Third Chronicles of Illumination," which won't be ready in time. Instead, I'll be releasing a prequel novella called Becoming Johanna, which will give readers some insight into why she is the way she is.

PREORDER

]]>Blog2016-02-15T15:09:07-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/gravitational-waves.html#unique-entry-id-160http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/gravitational-waves.html#unique-entry-id-160


I love the idea of gravitational waves and would like to learn more about it; and possibly incorporate it into The Third Chronicles of Illumination. Or the Fourth.]]>Blog2016-01-20T15:59:19-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/time-flies.html#unique-entry-id-159http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/time-flies.html#unique-entry-id-159
I made a conscious decision late last year (because unconscious ones never work) to temporarily suspend work on 3COI—Third Chronicles of Illumination—so I could immerse myself in the holiday season. It was a good decision, and it reduced my usual holiday stress. But now that all the decorations are put away, it’s time to get back to work.

Rereading my last few chapters were eye-opening, because I previously wrote a lot of things I’ve since forgotten about, and it was kind of exciting to see just how far I got. I’ll tell you one thing, the Third Chronicles of Illumination will definitely not be the last book in this series. There is a lot going on in many of the 12 realms where Libraries of Illumination exist, and I don’t want to give any of them short shrift, so there will definitely be a Fourth Chronicles of Illumination in 2017.

3COI marks the year Jackson got restless, although the books condense time, so while it will seem like a year to us, it will actually be a much shorter amount of time for Jackson. It’s also a banner year for Mal, now that he’s on special assignment for the Overseers. The LOI system is really buzzing, and I’m glad I’m writing again because I’m looking forward to releasing the Third Chronicles of Illumination by late summer.]]>Blog2015-10-06T09:51:40-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/fantsycon-trailer.html#unique-entry-id-158http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/fantsycon-trailer.html#unique-entry-id-158]]>Blog2015-09-21T10:38:41-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/e42408eb65041bae4ecf590ee534a90f-157.html#unique-entry-id-157http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/e42408eb65041bae4ecf590ee534a90f-157.html#unique-entry-id-157

If you love reading sci-fi, paranormal, fantasy and the like, you won't want to miss this: an online book convention featuring authors who specialize in what you love.



I'm excited to be one of the authors taking part in Virtual FantasyCon during the first week of November. I'll be online Sunday November 8th talking about the Second Chronicles of Illumination, but there will be lots of authors taking part every day, starting November 1st.


Don't miss it.
]]>Blog2015-07-21T12:01:11-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/johanna-charette-vs-jackson-roth.html#unique-entry-id-156http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/johanna-charette-vs-jackson-roth.html#unique-entry-id-156

This guest blog appeared yesterday on Bent Over Book Words as part of my virtual book tour for Second Chronicles of Illumination and it talks about why my female protagonist Johanna Charette isn’t as much fun as her partner Jackson Roth.

Every great couple survives because each individual brings complementary strengths to the relationship. In the Second Chronicles of Illumination, as in all the Library of Illumination adventures, Johanna plays the straight “man” to Jackson’s joking. Readers are always telling me how ‘great’ Jackson is, and how ‘mature’ Johanna is, adding that she doesn’t even seem like a teenager. It’s because Johanna is a serious book nerd who found solace from her miserable childhood at an orphanage, inside the pages of books. The rules at Peakie’s Foundling Home were stringent, and Johanna rarely got to play games or have fun. The home also frowned on individuality, so Johanna had to learn how to fit in. She did it by emulating the adults around her. And she learned to play it safe, not daring to do anything unconventional until the very end of her residency there.

Jackson’s childhood was nearly as miserable, but he had his brother Chris and his sister Ava to play around with, and a loving, if financially stressed, mother who encouraged his sense of humor. Sometimes there was barely enough money to put food on the table, but the Roth boys survived by out-joking each other to take their minds off what they didn’t have. Their younger sister was their greatest fan. Even their mother couldn’t help but smile at some of their antics. Jackson, being the oldest, was expected to be the “man” of the house. He learned how to face adversity and quickly diffuse problems. It forced him to become daring—and he took risks that many other people would turn their backs on.

So while both Johanna and Jackson both grew up poor, they had very different life experiences. Johanna is very insular. Her upbringing forced her to develop an acerbic wit and dry sense of humor, often meant only to amuse herself. Jackson is much more likely to joke around in an open, carefree way that will elicit laughs, and acceptance, from onlookers. People respond to him.

Consider them two sides to the same coin. And like every famous duo, you’re going to prefer one partner to the other. You know if they were playing “good cop, bad cop” Johanna would be the bad cop because it’s the role she’d be most comfortable playing. Jackson is the more likable of the two so, of course, he would play the good cop. There’s a line in Second Chronicles of Illumination when a flight attendant calls him “Sir.” His reply? “I’m not a ‘sir.’ I’m Jackson.” He’s real. He’s humble. And he’s cute.

But don’t think Johanna plays second fiddle to Jackson. She’s intelligent, methodical, and passionate about what she does. She’s the “prime” curator—a tower to be climbed; an ocean to be crossed; a force to be reckoned with; and appearing to be unattainable gives her a certain amount of allure.

Maybe the only person who likes Johanna better than anyone else—is Jackson. He’s absolutely under her spell. She was his mentor. She scolded him when he made mistakes, but never shut him out. He learned from her and learned to depend on her. And in turn, she learned to depend on him. They provide each other’s support system. They’re a team. And they bring out the best in each other. And that’s what makes them a great couple, even if you think Jackson deserves better!

]]>Blog2015-07-20T10:13:45-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/rembrandt-lived-here.html#unique-entry-id-155http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/rembrandt-lived-here.html#unique-entry-id-155
As a former art major and a lover of architecture, how could I not reprint this Houzz article on Rembrandt’s Amsterdam home?

Happy Birthday, Rembrandt: Peek Inside the Dutch Painter’s Former House

]]>Blog2015-07-19T09:54:20-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/evolution-of-the-stethoscope.html#unique-entry-id-154http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/evolution-of-the-stethoscope.html#unique-entry-id-154

I love graphics, like this one from Newsday, which shows the history of something I may want to use in a future book. Since both the Evangeline series and the Library of Illumination series involve time travel, glimpses into history provided by articles like this one, help round them out.

]]>Blog2015-07-16T14:12:12-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/76df591162cbd904baf2409707311a30-153.html#unique-entry-id-153http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/76df591162cbd904baf2409707311a30-153.html#unique-entry-id-153



I recently authored a guest blog for Mythical Books as part of my virtual Second Chronicles of Illumination book tour, and it allowed me to reveal some information about the Library of Illumination and its curators that might never make it into the final version of the book. That’s not to say these factoids won’t appear in a future episode. Just that they were either not stressed, or made abundantly clear in existing books, or were left on the cutting room floor. But anyone familiar with writers knows every word we’ve ever written is precious to us, and we can’t bear to cast precious pieces of prose or interesting ideas into oblivion. And so I’m going to share those bits and bobs with you right now, to give you insight into what I know—that everyone else may not be privy to.

Here are six little known factoids about the characters in my books.

• Jackson looks older than he is. Johanna looks younger. So they appear to be the same age. However, Johanna is seventeen months older than Jackson, which is why she’s reluctant to amp up their relationship.
• All the books in Libraries of Illumination appear in the language of the reader.
• Some overseers’ symbols in the ebook are different from the ones in the print version, because of font limitations.
• Jackson and Johanna are protected from the effects of the space-time continuum by a combination of their longevicus charm, and a special charm Myrddin placed on his workshop on Skokholm Island. It worked on them, but not on Cathasach or Beck, because Johanna and Jackson are curators. And so was Myrddin.
• There are seven doors hidden in the basement of the Library of Illumination that protect vastly different chambers. Door 7 is, of course, the vault. Door 5 leads to a crypt containing former curators. There’s a nuclear room from which the blue orb powers the library behind Door 2. And a Time-Map Room, which displays a requested place during different layers of time behind Door 6. Door 4 leads to a Duplication Room where many, but not all, items can be replicated. Door 3 is the entrance to the Alchemy Room where materials can be transformed into something they are not. And Door 1 is so secret; even I haven’t yet discovered what it protects.
• Jackson had a triquetra tattoo on his neck, but it disappeared during a time fluctuation.

There is so much more I could add, but those items would be spoilers for upcoming storylines. So for now, I’ll have to keep them to myself. Suffice it to say, Jackson and Johanna will have a fun time discovering what’s behind all the locked doors in the basement.

(Most of this post was originally published as a guest blog for Mythical Books on July 14, 2015)]]>Blog2015-07-15T14:47:32-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/a-page-from-the-iliad.html#unique-entry-id-152http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/a-page-from-the-iliad.html#unique-entry-id-152

This is a late 5th or early 6th c. page (found on Wikipedia) from "The Illiad” by Homer, believed to be one of the oldest works in western literature. When I was a child, I found a copy of “The Iliad and The Odyssey” in the attic among my father’s books and tried to read it, but I didn’t understand what I was reading, nor its significance.

]]>Blog2015-07-02T12:21:23-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/who-knew-prepositions-had-a-song.html#unique-entry-id-151http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/who-knew-prepositions-had-a-song.html#unique-entry-id-151
I never give much thought to prepositions except when I end a sentence with one. But grammarrevolution.com thinks they’re important enough to merit their own song. Unfortunately, the “preposition song” doesn’t include a complete list of all the prepositions we might use, but at this point, I don’t even know if Im capable of memorizing the short list they have in this song. Still, it caught my interest, so it’s here.

]]>Blog2015-07-01T22:26:22-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/you-may-not-win-but-you-dont-have-to-lose.html#unique-entry-id-150http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/you-may-not-win-but-you-dont-have-to-lose.html#unique-entry-id-150To give away books … or not to give away books—that is the question.

I just read an interesting interview by an expert in book marketing who says once an authors' books are published, they shouldn't use them as prizes in giveaways and raffles. The reasoning is: people who might purchase a book don't click on the "buy" button because they're hoping to win a copy of it. That kind of delay apparently costs sales because there are so many new books coming out every week, people tend to forget about you. Out of sight, out of mind.

This saddens me, especially considering my YA Fantasy Second Chronicles of Illumination just came out this week, and I've got a book giveaway going on right now on Goodreads.

I just want to say to those of you who are hoping to win a copy of my book—if you don't win, please don't forget about it entirely. Instead, go to your local library and ask for it.


They probably won't have it on the shelves because it's an indie book. But they will have access to it, and if you ask for it by name, they may buy or borrow a copy for library patrons, like yourself, to read. And it won't cost you a dime.

Then, if you're a really nice person, you'll review it here on Goodreads. That's all an author can hope for (and yes, I am ending the sentence with a preposition).

And thanks for your interest in my books!]]>Blog2015-05-28T10:08:19-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/metamorphosis-planetarum.html#unique-entry-id-149http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/metamorphosis-planetarum.html#unique-entry-id-149You have to love old books...

In an introduction of "Metamorphosis Planetarum" (probably the 1774 version) there's supposed to be a short description of a supposed transmutation of lead into gold carried out in 1660 by Monte-Snyder in Vienna in the presence of the Emperor Leopold I.

]]>Blog2015-05-26T09:39:36-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/ac64dac73d25a30604bf8759fd8b6eb8-148.html#unique-entry-id-148http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/ac64dac73d25a30604bf8759fd8b6eb8-148.html#unique-entry-id-148Second Chronicles of Illumination just received its first review from K.C. Finn for Readers’ Favorite:



Second Chronicles of Illumination is a young adult fantasy novel by C.A. Pack, and the follow-up to The Library Of Illumination novel. Two teenagers are the chosen guardians of an enchanted library where stories come to life, and where the greatest secrets of the universe are held. Johanna and Jackson’s previous misdemeanors have created a crisis across the whole of space and time, and now an alien force threatens to overtake the library and steal all the knowledge of many worlds to use for their evil deeds. Magic, science fiction, and time travel combine in a wild chase, where two young people must choose between their personal values and what’s best for the whole universe in order to save the day.

The Second Chronicles of Illumination plays out in the style of my childhood favourite film, The Pagemaster, though here the characters are older, wittier, and far more inclined to cause trouble. I particularly enjoyed the banter and relationship between Johanna and Jackson, which seemed genuine and not overdone on the romance side as so many YA books are nowadays. What C.A. Pack has produced is a genuinely thrilling adventure with vivid descriptions and a fully built world, with rules you can learn and immerse yourself in. The story was highly unpredictable due to its inventive concept and multi-genre style, making it an exciting yet sophisticated read for both young adults and their elders. Overall, an excellent tale with plenty of twists, vivid imagery, and a satisfying escape from the humdrum real world.

Release Date June 30, 2015 ]]>Blog2015-05-24T20:42:24-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/c7361df4ebc5aac464f697ce8b6e2e49-147.html#unique-entry-id-147http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/c7361df4ebc5aac464f697ce8b6e2e49-147.html#unique-entry-id-147
]]>Blog2015-01-12T18:09:14-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/1861c09644e25e14e895ebce72bbab9e-146.html#unique-entry-id-146http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/1861c09644e25e14e895ebce72bbab9e-146.html#unique-entry-id-146

]]>Blog2015-01-12T14:22:33-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/second-chronicles-coming-soon.html#unique-entry-id-145http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/second-chronicles-coming-soon.html#unique-entry-id-145



2LOI VIDEO

Thank you Fiverr.com]]>Blog2014-12-28T13:59:59-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/typewriter-song.html#unique-entry-id-144http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/typewriter-song.html#unique-entry-id-144

I’d never heard of the Typewriter Song, until today, when I read about a man whose son ‘didn’t get it’ because he had never heard the sound of a typewriter. So I gave it a listen, and now I’m sharing it with you.

]]>Blog2014-11-28T15:28:51-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/mini-contractor.html#unique-entry-id-143http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/mini-contractor.html#unique-entry-id-143


I don’t know if I’ll ever get around to building a mini advent village like the one below (as seen in Houzz), but the idea intrigues me enough to want to save the patterns included in this sideshow.

Make Your Own Mini Advent Village

Even better, imagine recreating a tiny village with a 3D pen like this one:



Fun!
]]>Blog2014-11-22T17:18:12-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/bookcase-door.html#unique-entry-id-142http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/bookcase-door.html#unique-entry-id-142

I’m looking for a waste basket for my new office and thought it would be nice to find one that resembles old books. I didn’t find an affordable waste basket (talk about throwing money away) but I did stumble upon this video for creating a door that looks like a bookcase. It intrigues me.



I’ve got just the door for a project like this, but then I’d lose my “pin board,” however, a bookcase door would definitely look classier than a bulletin board. ]]>Blog2014-10-14T07:37:16-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/autocomplete-songwriting.html#unique-entry-id-141http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/autocomplete-songwriting.html#unique-entry-id-141

I’m a writer, and proud of it, so I was skeptical when I heard that a performer name Jonathan Mann had “written” a song using predictive word search in Apple’s IOS 8.

Does the song make sense? Not exactly, but it’s kind of catchy. And watching a finger tap on the words on the screen for four minutes is kind of mesmerizing. Take a look:

]]>Blog2014-10-03T09:47:06-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/omg-im-writing-yana.html#unique-entry-id-140http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/omg-im-writing-yana.html#unique-entry-id-140


OMG I’m writing YANA.

Huh?

I just read a guest post on literary agent Jill Corcoran’s blog written by Editor & Author of Writing New Adult Fiction, Deborah Halverson. It describes the difference between new adult (NA) and young adult (YA) fiction. The author defines the difference as sensibilities. I believe I’ve blogged before how YA has a teenage protagonist and that NA skews older. However, NA can also have a teen protagonist—an older teen protagonist—who may be 18 or 19 (and up to 24) years old. NA is for older teens who may have graduated high school and are now in college or their first job. They’re no longer minors and are responsible for their lives. So—more than sensibilities—it’s about responsibilities.

In the Library of Illumination series, Johanna Charette (17) starts a new career and is responsible for her own life. She’s my female protagonist, and while she’s younger than expected, she definitely falls in the new adult category. On the other hand, Jackson Roth (16) is still in high school and lives at home with his mother, brother and sister. He’s definitely a young adult character.

This means I’m writing hybrid young adult-new adult, or YANA. My reader demographic has just increased from 14 – 18, to 14 – 24. On the surface, it sounds great, but there’s a lot to be said for a narrow demographic. I don’t feel comfortable including expletives in a book for young adults (even though many young adults use them), or sexual scenes (even though in the words of my then-15 year old nephews, the three things they thought about most were sex, X-box, and girls). It’s about setting an example for young people that their parents are comfortable with. But I don’t have those same concerns writing for a new adult audience. Their tender sensibilities have already been colored by the realities of the world around them. They can take the spice.

My characters are in a series, so in another year or so, my protagonists will both segue firmly into new adult territory. Will it change the way I write? Perhaps. The attraction between them will grow, and so will their vocabulary. But gratuitous sex and explicit language are not my usual M.O. so the changes may be subtle. For now, my YANA will be kinder and gentler, and the violence of war will continue to be more general and less explicit. YA.

But, I can’t promise it will always stay that way. NA.

]]>Blog2014-09-26T19:57:42-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/f34d4fc74a9147521014e794651f6479-139.html#unique-entry-id-139http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/f34d4fc74a9147521014e794651f6479-139.html#unique-entry-id-139

Okay, maybe it’s a little (little?) pretentious of me to compare myself with Charles Dickens—a man regarded by many as the greatest writer of Victorian times—but if I don’t point out our similarities, no one else will. I feel I have a bond with Chuck (he loved nicknames) and I’d like to explain why.

1. Obviously, he was a fiction author. Guess what? Me, too.

2. A lot of Dickens work was written episodically. If you’ve read Chronicles: The Library of Illumination, you know I write episodically, as well.

3. Dickens was born on February 7th. Me, too!

4. He was born on an island (Portsea Island in Portsmouth). I was born on Long Island in New York.

5. Dickens wrote numerous novellas and short stories. Ibid!

6. He liked to weave topical elements into his plots. Been there, done that (oh wait, did I just use an outdates cliché? That’s somewhat topical).

7. Chucky is known to have been a voracious reader. I read every book in the juvenile section of the Lindenhurst Memorial Library by the time I turned eleven.

8. He worked as a reporter. OMG, the comparisons are just too much to bear!

9. Dickens was afraid of bats. I can say with certainty that I am, too.

10. We both are drawn to the paranormal. He can be linked to “The Ghost Club” of London. I can be linked to Evangeline’s Ghost.

11. The Chuckster self-published one of his books—the most famous one—A Christmas Carol. Note how he used my first name in the title? Our bond was blooming even before I was born.

12. And in the study of one of his homes, he had a door which was designed like a bookcase (filled with fake books rumored to include titles like: Noah’s Arkitecture, and a nine-volume set titled Cat’s Lives) which led to a secret room. Okay, I don’t have one of those, but are you aware of the high cost of custom cabinetry? I would if I could.

Anyway, I thought I’d let you know about one of my idols, and the many traits we share. Hey Chuck, if you can hear me, send some positive authorly karma my way (see no. 10). And, yes, I know ‘authorly’ is not a word, but neither was ‘abuzz’ until Dickens coined it. I rest my case.

“The most important thing in life is to stop saying 'I wish' and start saying 'I will.'”
― David Copperfield
]]>Blog2014-09-08T19:10:03-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/f2136c291663accac5484bf54f6fc6f2-138.html#unique-entry-id-138http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/f2136c291663accac5484bf54f6fc6f2-138.html#unique-entry-id-138


I wonder what Shakespeare meant by a "conceited tragedie?"





]]>Blog2014-09-05T10:08:10-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/artist-at-work.html#unique-entry-id-137http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/artist-at-work.html#unique-entry-id-137

I’m posting a link to this video of an artist at work because I love watching his creative process unfold (and probably because I used to be an art major).



Ilustrando-SD]]>Blog2014-09-01T15:57:16-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/genre-stew.html#unique-entry-id-136http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/genre-stew.html#unique-entry-id-136
? ? ? ? ?
Have you ever been befuddled by genres?

My Library of Illumination series has teen protagonists (young adult) who work at a library where books come to life (fantasy) and it happens in an urban setting (urban fantasy), but it has shape shifters and sorcerers in it (paranormal), and a time machine (science fiction). It’s written as individual novelettes and novellas and then grouped into novel-length “chronicles.” Most of Chronicles: The Library of Illumination (books 1 - 5) takes place in a library in the real world (paranormal) but it has a nuclear energy theme in one of the stories (science fiction), and magical elements (back to fantasy). I’m now at work on the Second Chronicles of Illumination—which includes my latest novelette—The Overseers—and it involves travel to other worlds (science fiction), with different beings and different cultures (fantasy, fantasy, fantasy).

For those of you who aren’t sure how these specific genres are defined, here’s a rough breakdown of the differences:

FANTASY: Something that can’t possibly happen, made to sound like it can—in an other-world setting. J.R.R. Tolkiens’s Lord of the Rings is fantasy all the way. It clearly involves fantastical creatures set in other worlds or realities.

URBAN FANTASY: Fantasy in an urban setting. Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris fall under the urban fantasy umbrella.

PARANORMAL: Supernatural aspects (ghosts, shape shifters, werewolves) happening in a real world setting. The Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer fits the paranormal genre. It happens in the real world, but there’s a weird element (vampires) in it. One of my books, Evangeline’s Ghost, straddles the line between urban fantasy and paranormal because my ghost travels back-and-forth from New York City to Heaven.

SCIENCE FICTION: Something that’s possible even if it’s improbable. H.G. Welles novels are as sci-fi as it gets. What’s interesting is that Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series is also considered sci-fi, although I would have labeled it paranormal. So, as you can see, this genre “thing” is not cut and dried.

Then there’s HORROR, which is any of the above genres written to scare the bejeebers out of you. Stephen King novels like Carrie and Mr. Mercedes are easy to identify as horror.

Just to add another dimension to the genre dilemma, my primary demographic is young adult, which is often listed as a genre. For the most part, young adult literature can be any genre that has teen protagonists. There’s also new adult, but I believe that category skews older, with protagonists in their 20’s.

As my Library of Illumination series continued, I had envisioned my protagonists morphing from YA into new adult territory, however, in The Overseers, they undergo a special ritual that stops that from happening. They may get older with each new adventure, but if you read the book, you’ll understand why that will no longer affect their YA designation.

I hope this helps eliminate some confusion.

Note: This blog was originally written by me as a guest post for www.bookinglyyours.blogspot.com/


]]>Blog2014-08-25T13:09:47-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/my-inspiration-nancy-drew.html#unique-entry-id-135http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/my-inspiration-nancy-drew.html#unique-entry-id-135

One of the reasons why I became such an avid reader (and now, writer) is Nancy Drew, teen detective. I read every single book my library carried in that series and switched to the Hardy Boys when I ran out of Nancy Drew mysteries to read.



The books have been modernized over the years, but the original books were noted for having an edgier teen heroine with a lot of attitude.



I just saw a first edition of the first Nancy Drew mystery, The Secret of the Old Clock, on Ebay and honestly considered bidding on it, but the book was in such bad condition I let it pass. Still, someday I hope to buy a similar early edition of Nancy Drew and put it on my bookshelf right next to my first editions of Thorne Smith's Topper and Topper Takes a Trip. If you read my book Evangeline's Ghost, you know I like to write about ghosts, as well as teenage female heroines, like Johanna Charette in the Library of Illumination series. ]]>Blog2014-08-01T16:38:16-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/publishing-road-map.html#unique-entry-id-134http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/publishing-road-map.html#unique-entry-id-134

I saw this Publishing Map on www.yahighway.com and loved it so much, I’m reprinting it here for you to enjoy.




]]>Blog2014-07-24T14:06:40-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/elmore-leonards-ten-rules-of-writing.html#unique-entry-id-133http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/elmore-leonards-ten-rules-of-writing.html#unique-entry-id-133

Elmore Leonard's Ten Rules of Writing

1. Never open a book with weather.
2. Avoid prologues.
3. Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue.
4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb "said”…he admonished gravely.
5. Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.
6. Never use the words "suddenly" or "all hell broke loose."
7. Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.
8. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.
9. Don't go into great detail describing places and things.
10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.
]]>Blog2014-07-21T08:13:32-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/Stephen%20King%20on%20Writing.html#unique-entry-id-132http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/Stephen%20King%20on%20Writing.html#unique-entry-id-132Getty Images

22 Lessons From Stephen King On How To Be A Great Writer

• MAGGIE ZHANG

Renowned author Stephen King writes stories that captivate millions of people around the world and earn him an estimated $17 million a year.

In his memoir, "On Writing," King shares valuable insights into how to be a better writer. And he doesn't sugarcoat it. He writes, "I can't lie and say there are no bad writers. Sorry, but there are lots of bad writers."
Don't want to be one of them? Here are 22 great pieces of advice from King's book on how to be an amazing writer:
1. Stop watching television. Instead, read as much as possible.
If you're just starting out as a writer, your television should be the first thing to go. It's "poisonous to creativity," he says. Writers need to look into themselves and turn toward the life of the imagination.
To do so, they should read as much as they can. King takes a book with him everywhere he goes, and even reads during meals. "If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot," he says. Read widely, and constantly work to refine and redefine your own work as you do so.
2. Prepare for more failure and criticism than you think you can deal with.
King compares writing fiction to crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a bathtub, because in both, "there's plenty of opportunity for self-doubt." Not only will you doubt yourself, but other people will doubt you, too. "If you write (or paint or dance or sculpt or sing, I suppose), someone will try to make you feel lousy about it, that's all," writes King.
Oftentimes, you have to continue writing even when you don't feel like it. "Stopping a piece of work just because it's hard, either emotionally or imaginatively, is a bad idea," he writes. And when you fail, King suggests that you remain positive. "Optimism is a perfectly legitimate response to failure." 
3. Don't waste time trying to please people.
According to King, rudeness should be the least of your concerns. "If you intend to write as truthfully as you can, your days as a member of polite society are numbered anyway," he writes. King used to be ashamed of what he wrote, especially after receiving angry letters accusing him of being bigoted, homophobic, murderous, and even psychopathic.
By the age of 40, he realized that every decent writer has been accused of being a waste of talent. King has definitely come to terms with it. He writes, "If you disapprove, I can only shrug my shoulders. It's what I have." You can't please all of your readers all the time, so King advises that you stop worrying. 
4. Write primarily for yourself.
You should write because it brings you happiness and fulfillment. As King says, "I did it for the pure joy of the thing. And if you can do it for joy, you can do it forever."
Writer Kurt Vonnegut provides a similar insight: "Find a subject you care about and which you in your heart feel others should care about," he says. "It is this genuine caring, not your games with language, which will be the most compelling and seductive element in your style."
5. Tackle the things that are hardest to write.
"The most important things are the hardest things to say," writes King. "They are the things you get ashamed of because words diminish your feelings." Most great pieces of writing are preceded with hours of thought. In King's mind, "Writing is refined thinking."
When tackling difficult issues, make sure you dig deeply. King says, "Stories are found things, like fossils in the ground ... Stories are relics, part of an undiscovered pre-existing world." Writers should be like archaeologists, excavating for as much of the story as they can find.
6. When writing, disconnect from the rest of the world.
Writing should be a fully intimate activity. Put your desk in the corner of the room, and eliminate all possible distractions, from phones to open windows. King advises, "Write with the door closed; rewrite with the door open."
You should maintain total privacy between you and your work. Writing a first draft is "completely raw, the sort of thing I feel free to do with the door shut — it's the story undressed, standing up in nothing but its socks and undershorts."
7. Don't be pretentious.
"One of the really bad things you can do to your writing is to dress up the vocabulary, looking for long words because you're maybe a little bit ashamed of your short ones," says King. He compares this mistake to dressing up a household pet in evening clothes — both the pet and the owner are embarrassed, because it's completely excessive.
As iconic businessman David Ogilvy writes in a memo to his employees, "Never use jargon words like reconceptualize, demassification, attitudinally, judgmentally. They are hallmarks of a pretentious ass." Furthermore, don't use symbols unless necessary. "Symbolism exists to adorn and enrich, not to create an artificial sense of profundity," writes King.
8. Avoid adverbs and long paragraphs.
As King emphasizes several times in his memoir, "the adverb is not your friend." In fact, he believes that "the road to hell is paved with adverbs" and compares them to dandelions that ruin your lawn. Adverbs are worst after "he said" and "she said" — those phrases are best left unadorned.
You should also pay attention to your paragraphs, so that they flow with the turns and rhythms of your story. "Paragraphs are almost always as important for how they look as for what they say," says King. 
9. Don't get overly caught up in grammar.
According to King, writing is primarily about seduction, not precision. "Language does not always have to wear a tie and lace-up shoes," writes King. "The object of fiction isn't grammatical correctness but to make the reader welcome and then tell a story." You should strive to make the reader forget that he or she is reading a story at all.
10. Master the art of description.
"Description begins in the writer's imagination, but should finish in the reader's," writes King. The important part isn't writing enough, but limiting how much you say. Visualize what you want your reader to experience, and then translate what you see in your mind into words on the page. You need to describe things "in a way that will cause your reader to prickle with recognition," he says.
The key to good description is clarity, both in observation and in writing. Use fresh images and simple vocabulary to avoid exhausting your reader. "In many cases when a reader puts a story aside because it 'got boring,' the boredom arose because the writer grew enchanted with his powers of description and lost sight of his priority, which is to keep the ball rolling," notes King.
11. Don't give too much background information.
"What you need to remember is that there's a difference between lecturing about what you know and using it to enrich the story," writes King. "The latter is good. The former is not." Make sure you only include details that move your story forward and that persuade your reader to continue reading.
If you need to do research, make sure it doesn't overshadow the story. Research belongs "as far in the background and the back story as you can get it," says King. You may be entranced by what you're learning, but your readers are going to care a lot more about your characters and your story.
12. Tell stories about what people actually do.
"Bad writing is more than a matter of shit syntax and faulty observation; bad writing usually arises from a stubborn refusal to tell stories about what people actually do — to face the fact, let us say, that murderers sometimes help old ladies cross the street," writes King. The people in your stories are what readers care about the most, so make sure you acknowledge all the dimensions your characters may have.
13. Take risks; don't play it safe.
First and foremost, stop using the passive voice. It's the biggest indicator of fear. "I'm convinced that fear is at the root of most bad writing," King says. Writers should throw back their shoulders, stick out their chins, and put their writing in charge. 
"Try any goddamn thing you like, no matter how boringly normal or outrageous. If it works, fine. If it doesn't, toss it," King says.
14. Realize that you don't need drugs to be a good writer.
"The idea that the creative endeavor and mind-altering substances are entwined is one of the great pop-intellectual myths of our time," says King. In his eyes, substance-abusing writers are just substance-abusers. "Any claims that the drugs and alcohol are necessary to dull a finer sensibility are just the usual self-serving bullshit."
15. Don't try to steal someone else's voice.
As King says, "You can't aim a book like a cruise missile." When you try to mimic another writer's style for any reason other than practice, you'll produce nothing but "pale imitations." This is because you can never try to replicate the way someone feels and experiences truth, especially not through a surface-level glance at vocabulary and plot.
16. Understand that writing is a form of telepathy.
"All the arts depend upon telepathy to some degree, but I believe that writing is the purest distillation," says King. An important element of writing is transference. Your job isn't to write words on the page, but rather to transfer the ideas inside your head into the heads of your readers.
"Words are just the medium through which the transfer happens," says King. In his advice on writing, Vonnegut also recommends that writers "use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted."
17. Take your writing seriously.
"You can approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness, or despair," says King. "Come to it any way but lightly." If you don't want to take your writing seriously, he suggests that you close the book and do something else. 
As writer Susan Sontag says, "The story must strike a nerve — in me. My heart should start pounding when I hear the first line in my head. I start trembling at the risk."
18. Write every single day.
"Once I start work on a project, I don't stop, and I don't slow down unless I absolutely have to," says King. "If I don't write every day, the characters begin to stale off in my mind ... I begin to lose my hold on the story's plot and pace."
If you fail to write consistently, the excitement for your idea may begin to fade. When the work starts to feel like work, King describes the moment as "the smooch of death." His best advice is to just take it "one word at a time."
19. Finish your first draft in three months. 
King likes to write 10 pages a day. Over a three-month span, that amounts to around 180,000 words. "The first draft of a book — even a long one — should take no more than three months, the length of a season," he says. If you spend too long on your piece, King believes the story begins to take on an odd foreign feel.
20. When you're finished writing, take a long step back.
King suggests six weeks of "recuperation time" after you're done writing, so you can have a clear mind to spot any glaring holes in the plot or character development. He asserts that a writer's original perception of a character could be just as faulty as the reader's.
King compares the writing and revision process to nature. "When you write a book, you spend day after day scanning and identifying the trees," he writes. "When you're done, you have to step back and look at the forest." When you do find your mistakes, he says that "you are forbidden to feel depressed about them or to beat up on yourself. Screw-ups happen to the best of us."
21. Have the guts to cut.
When revising, writers often have a difficult time letting go of words they spent so much time writing. But, as King advises, "Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler's heart, kill your darlings."
Although revision is one of the most difficult parts of writing, you need to leave out the boring parts in order to move the story along. In his advice on writing, Vonnegut suggests, "If a sentence, no matter how excellent, does not illuminate your subject in some new and useful way, scratch it out."
22. Stay married, be healthy, and live a good life.
King attributes his success to two things: his physical health and his marriage. "The combination of a healthy body and a stable relationship with a self-reliant woman who takes zero shit from me or anyone else has made the continuity of my working life possible," he writes.
It's important to have a strong balance in your life, so writing doesn't consume all of it. In writer and painter Henry Miller's 11 commandments of writing, he advises, "Keep human! See people, go places, drink if you feel like it."


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/stephen-king-on-how-to-write-2014-7#ixzz386Z9fKsh
]]>Blog2014-07-18T08:56:59-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/word-crimes-weird-al-yankovic.html#unique-entry-id-131http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/word-crimes-weird-al-yankovic.html#unique-entry-id-131

A friend sent me the link to this and I think I’ll need to watch it a few more times before I tune in to everything that’s said here. It’s great writing advice, and it’s fun.

]]>Blog2014-06-26T18:01:23-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/not-just-an-apple-commercial.html#unique-entry-id-130http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/not-just-an-apple-commercial.html#unique-entry-id-130

This song was commissioned by the government in the 1960’s as a call to fitness for America’s youth. I always thought it was part of The Music Man, probably because Robert Preston sang it.

Now, whenever I hear it, I want to run ...
out and buy a new iPhone.

]]>Blog2014-06-24T09:40:16-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/to-blog-a-book-or-not.html#unique-entry-id-129http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/to-blog-a-book-or-not.html#unique-entry-id-129I just read a blog by an author who wrote a book about blogging books (episodically, so to speak) and I realized—I did that years ago for the first few adventures of the Library of Illumination. The article contained keywords and when I clicked on the plan for how to do it, I was taken to an Amazon page where a book explaining how to blog a book was listed for $9.99 on Kindle. I didn’t buy the book. It’s a case of been there, done that, but I did wonder: why didn’t I write that book two years ago?

Then it hit me. It’s non-fiction. Authors who write books about how-to write books are non-fiction authors who are more likely to outline everything, because they have to create book proposals. I imagine nearly all non-fiction authors are “plotters” whether they want to be or not, because their proposals describe each chapter with a mini-synopsis. I’m a “pantser.” I write by the seat of my pants and let the muse take me wherever she wants to go. But my muse has been keeping odd hours lately, and I’ve been bogged down with spring cleaning (I know, I’m late) and organizing, so I haven’t gone looking for her. Anyway, I decided to give outlining my current book a go.

I’m about a quarter of the way through Myrddin’s Memoir (LOI book 7) so I loosely outlined the next quarter of the book. Maybe my muse will like having this map for her journey. Maybe not. If she takes me off on a tangent, she’ll win by default. I trust her. But thinking about how to do the next section has given me a much-needed kick in the pants. It’s time to stop cleaning out drawers and closets and get back to the task at hand, after all, I’m a writer, not a professional organizer. And it’s obvious I’m not a plotter, because I failed to outline the second half of my book. It’s no wonder I never wrote a book about blogging a book—I’m too much of a pinball whizzing from place to place. I’d rather just write, than write about writing.

Except for this blog—which is short. And now you know why I write novelettes. They’re short, too.]]>Blog2014-06-08T08:34:56-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/parodying-the-travails-of-a-spa.html#unique-entry-id-128http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/parodying-the-travails-of-a-spa.html#unique-entry-id-128

Amber Foxx, author of The Calling and Shaman’s Blues, is a Goodreads member, who recently commented on a thread about how “readers want authors to promote their books” by summarizing everyone’s thoughts in a Gilbert & Sullivan styled parody.

This is the link to her blog where she posted it on June 7th, 2014. But considering it is a blog and subject to change daily, I’m reposting it below.

The Author’s Patter Song
(With apologies to Gilbert and Sullivan)

I am the very model of a modern indie authoress.
My editor is excellent, my formatting is not a mess.
I’ve hired top professionals for proofreading and cover art ,
And hope that that I will join the ranks of authors who discovered are.

I don’t engage with trolls or drive-by one-stars on the internet.
I’ve never said so far a thing on Goodreads that I might regret.
Real readers wrote my good reviews not sock puppets or family.
I hope this will promote me since I must not do it spammily.

I can’t afford for Foreword or for Kirkus to approve me
And if I were to push hard would-be readers would remove me
From their to-read lists, and so I keep my self-promotion minimal.
With marketing so subtle that it borders on subliminal.

I’ll hang on with obduracy and get discovered anyway.
To languish in obscurity would be a terrible cliché.
But …
I’m at the very bottom of the Amazon best seller list
Where almost every other model modern indie author is.

I love parodies and I’m an indie writer, so I thought this one was brilliant.

]]>Blog2014-06-04T17:34:21-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/confessions-of-a-twitter-failure.html#unique-entry-id-127http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/confessions-of-a-twitter-failure.html#unique-entry-id-127

I’m illtwitterate. I have a Twitter account that I post on several times a week, but I follow more people than follow me, and I don’t really have a connection to a lot of them. As a result, I’m forever drowning in tweets that I can’t relate to. It’s like a constant stream of self-conscious minutiae, mixed in with advertising. I have trouble separating the wheat from the chaff, so I never do what every “branding expert” has advised me to do, which is engage my fellow tweeters. It’s not that I don’t want to engage them. It’s that they’re too difficult to pinpoint among what I like to refer to as—twitter litter.

I’m not bashing Twitter. I think it’s great if you know how to use it—and therein lies my problem. As I said right upfront—I’m illtwitterate.

Don’t get me wrong. I know how to tweet. I can attach photos and links with the best of them. I used to write Twitter leads for nightly news stories when I worked in news.

Although, now that I think about it, I don’t use hash tags even though I know I should. And I never really got a grasp on @. Navigating Twitter’s sea of information is drowning me. There must be a Twitter for Dummies book out there. It just never occurred to me that I needed one until now. And like all the other “for Dummies” books I’ve read, I’ll probably get halfway through it and say, “I know all this.” Unfortunately (for me), the pearls of wisdom I’m seeking will most likely be buried in the second half of the book—which I’ll never get around to reading. Maybe that’s a telling sign. Maybe I need to embrace Twitter completely before I get it. Even better, Maybe there’s someone out there who can teach me how to navigate Twitter—in 140 characters or less.

]]>Blog2014-06-03T08:32:36-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/h.g.-wells#unique-entry-id-125http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/h.g.-wells#unique-entry-id-125

I saw this online and wanted to reblog it because I find it incredibly interesting.
H.G. Wells' Remarkable Scientific Article About Evolution On Mars
Mark Strauss



1
Ten years after publishing The War of the Worlds, H.G. Wells revisited the Red Planet, writing a non-fiction article speculating about what type of life existed on Mars. The provocative question he posed to readers: "Is it probable that evolution has gone upon exactly parallel lines on the two planets?"


SEXPAND
The essay, published in the March 1908 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine, was titled "The Things That Live On Mars" and featured astonishing illustrations (left and below) by William R. Leigh who, until then, had made a living painting landscapes of the American West. Years later, the famed science-fiction author Edmond Hamilton would describe the article — which he discovered when he was just four-years-old — as a defining moment in his life: "I looked at that magazine until it wore out. I wasn't yet able to read it, to read the article, but those pictures! I sat and wondered if Mars was a long way off and if it was a very strange place."
Wells described his article as an invasion by imagination, based upon "scientific reasoning… in conformity with the very latest astronomical revelations." Although the central question on readers' minds was the possible existence of intelligent beings, Wells argued that this could not be considered in isolation of the other lifeforms that had emerged on the planet:
They cannot live there alone; they can be but a part of the natural history of Mars in just the same way that man is but a part of the natural history of the earth. They must have been evolved from other related types, and so we must necessarily give our attention to the general flora and fauna of this world… before we can hope to deal at all reasonably with the ruling species."
It sounded logical, although it had one key flaw: Wells derived most of the "latest astronomical revelations" about the Red Planet from Percival Lowell's controversial 1906 book, Mars and Its Canals, which was dismissed by most of Lowell's peers in the astronomical community. Still, it's difficult not to be swept up by Wells' colorful descriptions, as he meticulously contemplated every aspect of the Martian environment, and what it might reveal about the type of life that evolved there.
Fauna and Flora


SEXPAND
Wells reasoned that the appearance of "Martin herbs and trees" was a consequence of the planet's gravity and atmospheric conditions:
The force of gravity upon the surface of their planet is just three-eighths of its force upon this earth; a pound of anything here would weigh six ounces upon Mars… The limit of height and size in terrestrial plants is probably determined largely by the work needed to raise nourishment from the roots to their topmost points. That work would be so much less upon Mars that it seems reasonable to expect bigger plants there than any that grow upon the earth.
Snow occurs nearly everywhere all the year round, but the commonest of all forms of precipitation upon Mars would seem to be dew and hoar frost….the Martian tree-leaf will be more after the fashion of a snowfall-meeting leaf, spiky perhaps like the pine-tree needle… Moreover, since moisture will come to the Martian plant mainly from below in seasonal floods from the melting of the snow-caps, and not as rain from above, the typical Martian plant will probably be tall and have its bunches and clusters of spiky bluish green leaves upon uplifting reedy stalks.
Wells went on to suggest that Martian vegetation offered valuable clues as to the types of animals that lived in the alien forests:
[Due to thin air] its anatomy must be built with more lung space than the corresponding terrestrial form. And the same reason that will make the vegetation laxer and flimsier will make the forms of the Martian animal kingdom laxer and flimsier and either larger or else slenderer than earthly types. … Since the Martian vegetation will probably run big and tall, there will be among these big-chested creatures climbing forms and leaping and flying forms, all engaged in seeking food among its crests and branches. And a thing cannot leap or fly without a well-placed head and good eyes. So an imaginative artist may put in head and eyes, and the mechanical advantages of a fore-and-aft arrangement of the body are so great that it is difficult to suppose them without some sort of back bone. Since the Martian vegetation has become adapted to seasonal flood conditions there will be not only fliers and climbers but waders — long-legged forms. Well, here we get something — fliers, climbers, and waders, with a sort of backbone.
The Architects of the Canals
Having described the animal and plant life on Mars, Wells argued that it was now easier to speculate about the ruling inhabitants who had made the gigantic canal-system that Lowell envisioned:
Clearly these ruling beings will have been evolved out of some species or other of those mammal-like animals, just as man has been evolved from among the land animals of this globe… How far are these beings likely to resemble terrestrial humanity? There are certain features in which they are likely to resemble us. The quasi-mammalian origin we have supposed for them implies a quasi-human appearance. They will probably have heads and eyes and backboned bodies, and since they must have big brains, because of their high intelligence, and since almost all creatures with big brains tend to have them forward in their heads near their. eyes, these Martians will probably have big shapely skulls. But they will in all likelihood be larger in size than humanity, two and two-thirds times the mass of a man, perhaps… Will they stand up or go on four legs or six?… A multitude of types, like the squirrel, the rat, and the monkey, can be found which tend to use the hind legs chiefly for walking and to sit up and handle things with the fore limbs. Such species tend to be exceptionally intelligent. There can be no doubt of the immense part the development of the hand has played in the education of the human intelligence. So that it would be quite natural to imagine the Martians as big-headed, deep-chested bipeds, grotesquely caricaturing humanity with arms and hands.
Finally, here is a thought that may be reassuring to any reader who finds these Martians alarming. If a man were transferred suddenly to the surface of Mars he would find himself immensely exhilarated so soon as he had got over a slight mountain sickness. He would weigh not one-half what he does upon the earth, he would prance and leap, he would lift twice his utmost earthly burden with case. But if a Martian came to the earth his weight would bear him down like a cope of lead. He would weigh two and two-thirds times his Martian weight, and he would probably find existence insufferable. His limbs would not support him. Perhaps he would die, self-crushed, at once. When I wrote The War of the Worlds, in which the Martians invade the earth, I had to tackle this difficulty. It puzzled me for a time, and then I used that idea of mechanical aids, and made my Martians mere bodiless brains with tentacles, subsisting by suction without any digestive process and carrying their weight about, not on living bodies but on wonderfully devised machines. But for all that, as a reader here and there may recall, terrestrial conditions were in the end too much for them.


SEXPAND
Wells conceded that his theories were, ultimately, imaginative leaps of speculation. ("How wild and extravagant all this reads!") Still, creationists at the time took issue with his essay. One such writer, William Halls, observed:
H. G. Wells, writes … from the standpoint of the evolutionist… Speaking of the Martians, Mr. Wells says, "Clearly these ruling beings will have been evolved out of some species or other of those mammal-like animals, just as man has been evolved from among the land animals of this globe." If this theory were true that man, on this globe, and intelligent beings on other globes, also, were evolved from a lower order of animals, by chance, without an intelligent design, then it might be reasonable to suppose that they would be subject to the modifying conditions of environment, and that the inhabitants of one world would differ from those of another, in proportion to the difference of their environment.
But this theory is contrary to divine revelation, and also analogical reason… The inhabitants of all the worlds, including Mars, being the sons and daughters of God, to suppose that they are different in form in one world to those on another, is unreasonable; though there may be individual peculiarities, no two being just alike; yet in their general conformation, they must agree. There is one supreme power governing all things in heaven and on earth… In the legitimate exercise of this power there is harmony, order, and uniformity, the same on earth as in the heavens.
To my knowledge, Wells never engaged in a public debate on this subject. Though I can't help but wonder what a Scopes Martian Trial would have been like.


]]>Blog2014-05-28T20:37:42-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/thecelebritycafe.com#unique-entry-id-124http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/thecelebritycafe.com#unique-entry-id-124

Just got a great review from TheCelebrityCafe.com and I thought I’d share it.

]]>Blog2014-05-22T10:27:47-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/10-things-you-probably-dont-know-about-me.html#unique-entry-id-123http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/10-things-you-probably-dont-know-about-me.html#unique-entry-id-123

I know ... I know ... I did a 10 Things blog earlier this month, but that was about Chronicles: The Library of Illumination and this is a little different. It’s...

10 Things You Probably Don’t Know About Me


Even though writers do whatever they can to connect with readers, most people don’t usually know any more about an author than what’s printed in the short bio in the back of a book—if that much. And considering my bio is very short, there’s a lot readers don’t know about me. So I’ve put together a list of the ten most interesting factoids about me and my world.

1. I used to teach people how to be television news reporters. I know, it’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it.
2. I’m qualified to teach aspiring reporters, because I used to be one myself, not to mention a television news anchor, and an assignment editor.
3. Even though I’m not much of a singer, I enjoy writing song parodies and have been known to perform them in public.
4. I own two parrots, Nigel and Colin, who are named after two characters in my first novel. They’re female parrots. I named them before their DNA was tested to determine their sex. I didn’t have the heart to rename them, since they responded so well to their names.
5. The first line of the first story I ever wrote was, “The sun rose in the east,” and it was written in a small notepad I carried around in the third grade.
6. Apple—not Android.
7. I once asked a cop in a subway station for directions, and didn’t realize (until someone pointed it out to me) that he was standing guard over a dead body.
8. I’ve been to more than 20 countries and 42 of the 50 United States.
9. I like thunderstorms.
10. I’m already hard at work on the Second Chronicles of Illumination—which encompasses the next five novelettes in the series. The ebook for The Overseer will be released this summer, and Myrddin’s Memoir is coming out in the fall.

And now you know all my secrets. Well, maybe not all of them, but some of the ones that may shed some light on Chronicles: The Library of Illumination .

]]>Blog2014-05-01T18:41:12-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-library-of-illumination.html#unique-entry-id-122http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-library-of-illumination.html#unique-entry-id-122

There are always little bits of information floating around in a writers mind that influence what s/he writes, even if that specific information is never spelled out. There are a lot of little bits about Chronicles: The Library of Illumination that for some reason or another were left on the cutting room floor, but that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten them. And each little factoid could still be revealed in a future LOI adventure. But it’s always nice to have some insider information, so today I’m going to tell you ten little known facts about the Library of Illumination:

1. Jackson used to have a different last name. Originally, his name was Jackson Ryan, but someone pointed out to me that it was too similar to Jack Ryan from Tom Clancy novels.

2. In The Overseers (book six) you’ll learn why Mal is still alive after 800 years. He didn’t live that long without a little extra help from The Overseers.

3. I originally used a real super hero in Doubloons but removed him because of possible copyright infringement. When I came up with Impervio, I started writing a companion comic book about him, but quit after page 14.

4. When she was 16, Johanna ran away from the orphanage where she lived most of her life and changed her name and age to avoid being found. It worked. The system was so overcrowded, no one bothered to look for her.

5. Jackson doesn’t own a cell phone. He realizes he could use one in Portals, but never bought one because he’s saving to buy a car.

6. LOI Curators are supposed to hand over a special book of knowledge to their successors, but Mal didn’t give his to Johanna, because he thought she might be too young to comprehend such a vast amount of history and information. This leads to all kinds of problems in Portals when Johanna finds out there’s a lot she doesn’t know about the Library of Illumination.

7. Latin is the inspiration for the Terrorian language—probably because I took Latin as a language in school.

8. Both Johanna and Jackson have Twitter accounts. It’s true.

9. Johanna always wanted a cat named Ophelia, but doesn’t get one until Myrddin’s Memoir (book seven).

10. Most of the people who use the Library of Illumination are scholars and researchers who are on an “approved” list. They make their requests via snail mail, email or phone and the books are sent to them. Users know about the special qualities of the books, and use them judiciously. However, the library is not open to the public. People who visit there are usually invited guests. And there’s an enchantment on the library that makes it difficult to most people to find.

]]>Blog2014-04-23T14:50:30-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/75cef97ebb7aead093500ae081a00248-121.html#unique-entry-id-121http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/75cef97ebb7aead093500ae081a00248-121.html#unique-entry-id-121

I just saw the link to this Facebook video on HuffPo. It shows Fred Astaire introducing Marilyn Monroe—to present an Oscar. It’s from 1951, when the Oscars were a radio-only broadcast, and there was no need for a teleprompter—which was only in its infancy at the time.

The stars were “dressed to the nines.” And Marilyn Monroe was able to glide across the stage in whatever shoes she had on, unlike many actresses today, who mince along carefully on too-high heels.

Ahhh ... Hollywood glamour.

]]>Blog2014-04-12T03:54:26-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/the-character-of-characters.html#unique-entry-id-120http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/the-character-of-characters.html#unique-entry-id-120

Chronicles: The Library of Illumination has a great pair of protagonists whose personalities complement each other—like bacon and eggs... gin and tonic... milk and cookies... Actually they’re teens, so scratch the gin and tonic.



It’s a wonder I can write about them (or any of the other characters who populate my books) at all, because I have a horrible memory. So I need ways to remember each individual—or they’ll blend into one another. As a result, many of my characters are based on actors or historical figures—people whose appearance embodies the character I’m creating—and whose image I can conjure at a moment’s notice to get the details right. Once I know what they look like, I put some thought into their names. I often research both first and surnames for a particular region or ethnicity and look up their meanings, so the name reflects the character. And in my historical books, I’ll study clothing for the period and dress my characters accordingly.

That process worked really well for my first two novels, however, Chronicles: The Library of Illumination took a 180 degree turn. Johanna Charette and Jackson Roth came out of nowhere. Johanna arrived first as the sole protagonist in the original Library of Illumination novelette, and her characteristics and background developed out of thin air. When I started that story, it wasn’t with a particular genre in mind, nor with the intention of turning it into series. I only intended to write a short story. I though I’d end up with a little cozy mystery. Instead, I created a library that came to life along with its enchanted books, and I couldn’t leave it alone.

I began the sequel, Doubloons, knowing I needed a male to counterbalance Johanna’s character. He developed on the page rather than in my mind. The more I wrote, the more solid he became. I actually think he’s a better character than Johanna because you get to meet his family and his friends in the book and they all add dimension to his character. Johanna gave birth to the series, but because she never knew her parents and was brought up in an institution she happily left behind, her background is not as deep. We know she’s devoted and smart and steadfast, and we learn in Casanova that she can come across as sexy, as well. But we won’t really know her until the novelettes making up the Second Chronicles of Illuminations are released. There’s going to be a lot going on—and I’ve set up a few story lines that will give Johanna layers upon layers.

Finally, each character needs its own voice. They have to sound different when they speak. They have to have their own special phrases or nuances, and that’s usually based on their personalities. So think about your characters—their personalities—their backgrounds—their ethnicities—and give each one a unique voice with their own speech patterns, quirks, and vocabularies to help illustrate who they are.

]]>Blog2014-04-07T03:52:21-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/www.incidentalcomics.com#unique-entry-id-119http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/www.incidentalcomics.com#unique-entry-id-119

After seeing another comic by Grant Snider, I checked out his website and loved what I found. This is just one of them. I thought I’d share it because I firmly believe in muses.

]]>Blog2014-03-22T03:51:12-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/who-needs-backup-singers.html#unique-entry-id-118http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/who-needs-backup-singers.html#unique-entry-id-118

Who knew an iPad app could be so useful? (Of course, having a band doesn’t hurt either.)



]]>Blog2014-03-17T03:50:25-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/the-trials-and-tribulations-of-a-virtual-blog-tour.html#unique-entry-id-117http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/the-trials-and-tribulations-of-a-virtual-blog-tour.html#unique-entry-id-117

I want to have a virtual blog tour for Chronicles: The Library of Illumination and began searching for potential blogs to approach. It’s more time-intensive than I ever imagined, and I’ve got a pretty vivid imagination. Sure, there are lots of bloggers out there, but I need people who blog about books; young adult books; YA fantasy books. Who knew finding bloggers who blog about YA fantasies that don’t involve vampires, zombies, or dystopian themes would be such an extremely narrow field?

But I didn’t let that stop me. I created an Excel spreadsheet with the names of blogs and websites that looked like a decent fit—after visiting each one to see what kind of books they write about. The research is time-consuming and involves a lot of dead ends. But my spreadsheet started looking like something after a few weeks of searching, so I decided to suspend the search and actually write to the bloggers I had already identified. Excitement built as I created the perfect email request and attached my book cover and summary. Every email was personalized to the specific blogger, explaining why I selected him or her. And then...

Nothing...

The good news is: The process didn’t involve a lot of written rejection.
The bad news is: It didn’t involve a lot of written rejection because most bloggers don’t bother responding to queries that don’t interest them.

Okay, I did get back one positive response. ONE. However, after several weeks work—I was hoping for more. I did better asking Goodreads members to “Read 2 Review” and “Read 4 Review.” To me, they apparently mean the same thing, so if any Goodreaders out there can distinguish the differences between R2R and R4R for me, I’d appreciate it. The process took much less time and I got four positive responses. That’s a total of FIVE. Five blogs or reviews do not a bestseller make.

So I hired someone to set up a virtual blog tour for me. I elected to have ten stops over two weeks. I originally thought more than ten stops seemed too labor intensive—after all—I do need time to work on my next book. In retrospect, however, I feel like I should up the ante, so I added an option to have my cover and summary posted on 40 or more blogs—the week Chronicles: The Library of Illumination comes out. You can never get enough publicity.

Here’s a preliminary rundown of my blog tour, which will run from April 22nd through May 6th:

April 22 - Reading Addiction Blog Tours
April 22 - EM Havens Writes - Review
April 23 - Avid Book Collector - Review
April 24 - Shelf Full of Books - Review
April 26 - Book Junky Girls - Review
April 28 - Paranormal Romance and Authors that Rock - Review
May 3 - Rhythem Poets - Review/Interview
May 5 - Sam the Bookaholic - Review
May 6 - RABT Reviews - Wrap Up

Plus I have a stop I set up on BookinglyYours on May 3rd. “Won’t this be fun.”

]]>Blog2014-03-08T03:49:06-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/les-mousserables.html#unique-entry-id-116http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/les-mousserables.html#unique-entry-id-116
I’m a sucker for Les Misérables and I love parodies so you can guess my feelings about this Sesame Street parody, Les Mousserables.



Not exactly Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway, but entertaining all the same.]]>Blog2014-03-06T03:48:30-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/340-square-feet-of-living.html#unique-entry-id-115http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/340-square-feet-of-living.html#unique-entry-id-115

Houzz Tour: Ease and Comfort in 340 Square Feet

Architects, interior designers, and more ∨

Before starting a bathroom remodel, search for bathroom ideas and interesting products, including a one-of-a-kind tub, vanity and bathroom sink.
Browse top designers interior portfolios, from high-quality bakeware and decorative plates to ideas for remodeling bath and kitchen.

]]>Blog2014-02-27T03:47:44-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/learning-the-lingo.html#unique-entry-id-114http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/learning-the-lingo.html#unique-entry-id-114
As an independent publisher, there are many things that are new to me, and I’m unfamiliar with the lingo. I find the best way to learn something new is to write it down, so I’ve written up some of the terms that I’ve recently heard.

ARC - does not refer to Noah. It’s an acronym for advanced reader copy and is most often an early, unedited version of a book that can be sent to reviewers and bloggers to generate some pre-publication buzz.

BLAD - is not short for bladder. It stands for book layout and design and it’s a sales tool that incorporates cover art with a short sample of a book’s layout and design including illustrations and promotional copy.

Branding - does not involve burning flesh. It’s an element that instantaneously identifies an author and sets his or her work apart. This is an example of my brand for The Library of Illumination series.


On-Sale Date - does not mean buy one get one free. This is the day on which a publisher officially releases a new book. In print publishing, the date is usually on a Tuesday; but the on-sale dates of an ebook or indie book can be whenever the author is ready to click on the “publish” button.

Platform - is not a dais. In media, platform refers to the author’s built-in audience. Anything that exposes the author’s work to a large number of people, like a blog or a TV show, is part of their platform. Their social media followers are part of their platform. The bigger the platform - the better the opportunity for sales.

These are just of a few of the terms I learned recently as an author and publisher. There are many more, especially when it comes to laying out text, but that’s a blog for another day.
]]>Blog2014-02-12T03:46:42-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/judging-a-book-by-its-cover.html#unique-entry-id-113http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/judging-a-book-by-its-cover.html#unique-entry-id-113


Yes, I know, both covers have the same title.

I originally wanted to design my own cover for Chronicles, The Library of Illumination, but so many people stated emphatically, “Professionally designed covers attract more readers,” that I decided to look for a professional designer. I love my cover but, to me, it looks like it might have been designed for non-fiction. Besides, it was the wrong size and I didn’t know how to easily duplicate it.

Instead, I hired artist Jeanine Henning to design a new cover. Her first draft (below) looked completely different than what I finally signed off on (above). I thought her first concept skewed too young for high school students. If I were going for a middle school demographic, it might have been perfect. I’ll never know, because I chose not to use it.



I also toyed with another design that I tested on some proofs, but decided to rework the title and use that design for the cover to Portals, the fifth novelette in the Library of Illumination series—which I’m releasing this week.



Needless to say, I’ve been busy,.

Apparently, you do judge a book by its cover.
]]>Blog2014-01-11T03:45:47-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/the-end-papers.html#unique-entry-id-112http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/the-end-papers.html#unique-entry-id-112
After wasting several hours formatting Chronicles: The Library of Illumination hardcover edition incorrectly, I thought I’d put some notes down on paper, to make it easier for next time. I’m a writer who is also a publisher, but I’ve never worked for a publishing house and this is my first hardcover book, so I’m getting my education in the school of hard knocks. This week I learned there are subtle differences in the way a hardcover, a paperback, and an ebook are formatted.


Learning experience No. 1: End Papers. The interior text file for a hardcover book requires end papers – those blank pages you find at the beginning and end of a book. If you don’t use them, it cheapens the look of your hardcover book. Paperbacks and ebooks don’t use them.

Learning experience No. 2: The Half Title Page. Apparently, there’s a title page and there’s a half title page. These are the pages most readers skip on their way to chapter one. The title page includes the title, the author, and the publisher, while the half title page only includes the title. Contrary to its name, it does include the entire title.

Learning experience No. 3: Paperback books don’t need endpapers, however, if you don’t use them, your spine size will be different than it is for the hardcover version of your book and the cover design will be a hair off. That is, if you want your paperback to be the same size. But you probably won’t, so the entire book will need to be redesigned.

Learning experience No. 4: Ebook readers don’t want to wade through any of this stuff. They want to see the cover or title page and then chapter one. The copyright page and any acknowledgments or dedication need to be moved to the end of the book.

There are many, many more lessons to come, I’m sure, but considering I’ve been in formatting hell all week, I thought I’d touch upon the ones that are driving me crazy, right now.
]]>Blog2014-01-04T03:44:20-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/NYTimes-tribute-to-the-creator-of-etch-a-sketch.html#unique-entry-id-111http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/NYTimes-tribute-to-the-creator-of-etch-a-sketch.html#unique-entry-id-111



Just saw the tribute to Etch-A-Sketch creator Andre Cassagnes in last week's NYTimes Magazine. It's illustrated by Christopher Niemann and it's brilliant. There are videos online showing the individual milestones of Cassagnes's life, but I don't think they have the impact of the print version which shows all of them in a single frame. Can’t find the print version, but here’s a link to the video.

http://www.nytimes.com/video/magazine/100000002613889/an-animated-tribute-to-andr-cassagnes.html]]>Blog2014-01-01T03:43:26-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/happy-new-year.html#unique-entry-id-110http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/happy-new-year.html#unique-entry-id-110]]>Blog2013-12-27T03:42:34-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/saying-goodbye-to-2013.html#unique-entry-id-109http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/saying-goodbye-to-2013.html#unique-entry-id-109
There was a time when I would fret over the Christmas holiday because I had to write a recap of the year and edit it together for LI News Tonight’s last show of the year. Writing it took an hour or so. Editing it took days. That task is long gone, but I still enjoy a good recap, and after years of writing for the Press Club show, I still love a parody set to music. I’m a fan of Jib Jab’s annual recap, if not necessarily everything included in them, so here’s the salute to 2013.

]]>Blog2013-12-18T03:41:45-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/make-your-own-mercury-glass.html#unique-entry-id-108http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/make-your-own-mercury-glass.html#unique-entry-id-108
Mercury glass looks charming at any time of year, but it’s especially magical at Christmas. And if you’d like to make your own, this article from Houzz explains how.

Shine Up Your Holidays With DIY Mercury Glass Globes

Remodeling, decorating, and more ∨

Browse through a wide selection of decorators and find the perfect fit for your bedroom remodel.
For small bathroom ideas, browse photos of space-saving sink consoles and clever hidden medicine cabinet mirrors.

]]>Blog2013-12-16T03:41:01-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/free-kindle-download.html#unique-entry-id-107http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/free-kindle-download.html#unique-entry-id-107

Seasons Greetings!

This week only - Wednesday December 18 through Sunday December 22 - my novelette Library of Illumination: Doubloons will be available as a free Kindle download.

The Library of Illumination is a magical place where all stories begin: literature, science, poetry; every thought that has ever been committed to paper resides within. 16-year-old Jackson Roth is library curator Johanna Charette’s new assistant, but he may be too rambunctious for the quiet repository of knowledge. He unwittingly releases a bunch of rowdy pirates, who leave a cache of Spanish doubloons behind in the main reading room after they disappear back into the pages of Treasure Island. The money from the pirate booty couldn’t have come at a better time, but a pawnbroker’s interest spirals out of control, and instead of untold riches, there is mounting danger. Can Johanna and Jackson outsmart their enemy before an itchy trigger finger finds its mark?

Enjoy Doubloons for the holidays. It's my gift to you.]]>Blog2013-12-07T03:39:19-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/custom-prefab-wall.html#unique-entry-id-106http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/custom-prefab-wall.html#unique-entry-id-106

I need an office and I’m thinking of redesigning our alcove into a space where I can write. Custom bookshelves can be pretty pricy, but I saw this feature on Houzz and it inspired me to create my own wall of “built-ins.”

How to Create Your Own Semicustom Media Wall

Kitchen designs, bathroom designs, and more ∨

Browse living room ideas, from sectional couches to a unique chandelier and floor lamp, for your next interior design project.
Find new home builders who can help you create a dream kitchen, complete with kitchen island, a large dining table set and a creative kitchen cabinetry design.

]]>Blog2013-12-04T03:38:10-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/my-muse-went-home-for-the-holidays.html#unique-entry-id-105http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/my-muse-went-home-for-the-holidays.html#unique-entry-id-105

It is so difficult to think about writing and publishing during the holiday season. There are too many other tasks vying for my attention: shopping for gifts, sending out greeting cards, planning my Christmas Eve menu, baking cookies; I don’t know how other writers stay focused between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I feel like a ray of light passing through the prisms of a chandelier – suddenly disbursed into several different directions in a spectrum of colors.

Scattered is another way to put it.


But I didn’t let that stop me from setting up a book promotion for the week before Christmas.
Doubloons, the second novelette in the Library of Illumination series, will be a free Kindle download on Amazon from December 18th through the 23rd.

It’s my Christmas present to my readers.
Here’s the link: http://amzn.to/1ka54Jm

]]>Blog2013-11-13T03:37:19-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/now-thats-a-robot.html#unique-entry-id-104http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/now-thats-a-robot.html#unique-entry-id-104
When I was a kid, my brother and I tried to build a robot. We didn’t get very far, but we really, really wanted a working robot - like Robbie. Apparently, we weren’t on the cutting edge. Long before we caught robot fever, Westinghouse was wowing the crowds at the 1939 Word’s Fair with its own robot. Take a look at what Siri’s great grandfather looked like:



This is not a “live” presentation, but an obvious a “production,” shot especially for Westinghouse. The mother reminds me of Myrna Loy (and may actually be her, although it’s not listed among her IMDB credits). Plus, the family is segregated from the actual crowd. I guess Westinghouse was already getting ready for it jump to television, even though that didn’t occur for at least another decade.]]>Blog2013-10-30T03:36:03-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/library-living.html#unique-entry-id-103http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/library-living.html#unique-entry-id-103
Libraries are intricately woven into my life, whether I’m researching one, borrowing books from another, or writing the Chronicles of the Library of Illumination. I also love design, thanks to an old college roommate, so when I saw this Houzz article about renovating a small library into a home, I was intrigued. Take a look.

Houzz Tour: An Old Oregon Library Starts a New Chapter

Kitchen ideas, bathroom ideas, and more ∨

From designer chairs and desks to the perfect bulletin board and credenza, create your dream home office.
Work with a home decorator when choosing a rug or hanging new blinds in your home.

]]>Blog2013-10-30T03:35:11-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/where-some-simple-stuff-comes-from.html#unique-entry-id-102http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/where-some-simple-stuff-comes-from.html#unique-entry-id-102
I love learning about where “stuff” comes from, so I’m sharing the following feature I found on Houzz.

Who Invented the Coat Hanger, and Other Household Mysteries Solved

Architects, interior designers, and more ∨

From Shabby Chic home accents to contemporary furniture and the perfect mirror, browse thousands of decorating ideas to inspire your next home project.
Browse top designers interior portfolios, from high-quality pots and pans and a decorative dinnerware set to ideas for remodeling bath and kitchen.

]]>Blog2013-10-07T03:34:25-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/the-marketing-bind.html#unique-entry-id-101http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/the-marketing-bind.html#unique-entry-id-101
Marketing can be an author’s best friend and worst enemy.

Investing time and energy in marketing and promotion - sells books. That’s what’s good about it. It also cuts deeply into a novelist’s writing time. That’s what’s bad about it.

There are tweets and updates, giveaways on Goodreads and Wattpad, interacting with LinkedIn groups and emailing readers, writers, and resources. So much to do, so little time.

Ever since I jumped on the marketing bandwagon to promote Evangeline’s Ghost, I haven’t added a word to my YA fantasy series. The first Chronicles of the Library of Illumination is currently being edited, and is on track for release on February 4th, 2014. It’s not affected by my temporary shortage of writing time. But the second Chronicles certainly will be if I don’t settle on a schedule that lets me do both jobs at the same time. I hope it’s only a learning curve.

I wish I could clone myself. Then I could get everything done at the same time. Two clones would be even better. If Siegfried Feuermacht could do it, why can’t I?

If you don’t know who Siegfried Feuermacht is, my marketing isn’t working very well, because it means you haven’t read Evangeline’s Ghost. That’s unfortunate for me, because I spent an awful lot of time and money marketing that book.
]]>Blog2013-10-01T03:33:40-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/evangelines-ghost.html#unique-entry-id-100http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/evangelines-ghost.html#unique-entry-id-100
</center>

Evangeline’s Ghost

It’s October 1st, 2013, so It’s official.

Evangeline’s Ghost is now available as a trade paperback and ebook on Kindle. That’s not to say it hasn’t been available for the past two weeks. I made the colossal mistake of thinking that if I set up the book on Amazon and listed October 1st as the date of publication, the book wouldn’t show up until today, but no such luck. It showed up on Amazon immediately. So it’s out there. I like to think of it as part of my learning curve. You may even be able to score a free copy if you’re a member of Goodreads.

Now, it’s time to invest my resources in publishing Chronicles: The Library of Illumination which is scheduled to be released on February 4th, 2014.

]]>Blog2013-09-22T20:44:08-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/ancient-architecture.html#unique-entry-id-99http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/ancient-architecture.html#unique-entry-id-99

I’ve always been a closet architect, just ask my husband who is bugging me to throw away four decades of Architectural Digest so we’ll have more storage space. I would donate them to someone, but “throw away?” Never.

Anyway, I love thoughtful design, and I enjoyed the following Houzz article on the ingenuity of ancient architecture, so I thought you might, too.

On Show: The Ingenuity of Ancient Architecture

Architecture, interior design, and more ∨

Hire residential landscape architects to help with all aspects of landscape design, from selecting or designing outside patio furniture, to siting a detached garage or pergola.
Share photos of the kitchen cabinets and kitchen sinks you like with a top kitchen remodeler in your area.

]]>Blog2013-09-16T20:43:40-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/target-alaska.html#unique-entry-id-98http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/target-alaska.html#unique-entry-id-98

Lidia & Charles LoPinto wrote Target: Alaska thirteen years ago, before 9-11 turned the word “terrorism” into part of our daily vocabulary. Now, the authors are re-releasing their novel.

This quick-moving story has a multi-layered plot that merges environmental crime with nuclear terrorism—a dirty business that threatens the pristine waters off Alaska. The protagonists are a rumpled FBI agent whose career is threatened by his drinking, and a dedicated, but flighty, EPA investigator whom we never really learn enough about, to know why she does some of the things she does. Every time a new man looks her way, she seems eager to date him. The only man she’s not interested in—is her partner.

This is a good read, but it could use the help of a proofreader to fix some minor problems and get rid of the excessive exclamation points that take the reader out of the story. The late Elmore Leonard advised writers to use no more than two or three exclamation points for every 100,000 words of prose. It’s a really tough rule for a writer to follow, but like anything else, too much of something diminishes its value.
]]>Blog2013-09-10T20:42:47-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/a-hard-earned-education.html#unique-entry-id-97http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/a-hard-earned-education.html#unique-entry-id-97

When I left NYIT after nearly twenty-five years of teaching college students how to be television news reporters, the sad end of an era came with an unexpected perk: free college classes for life! And this year, I decided to take the school up on its offer.

It wasn’t as easy as I thought. I needed a signed form from Human Resources approving me for tuition remission. Once I found the course I wanted to take, Drawing 1, I found out I needed a signed form from the department chair saying I was approved to take that class. But there was no chair at the time, so I had to get the permission of the temporary chair. A flurry of emails ensued. He said, “no problem,” but I dragged my feet. It was early summer and I thought I had plenty of time. A month later, when I actually visited the school to have the form signed, I found out there was a new chair and I would need her signature. There was another flurry of emails. Finally, I had her signature in hand, and drove to the campus registrar to finish signing up. That’s when I discovered I needed to go to admissions and be admitted as a student first, because I needed a student ID number. When I got back to the registrar, I learned I couldn’t sign up until I either submitted my MMR form or had it waived. Once that was done, I found out I still had to go to the Bursar, even though my class was free, to submit my tuition remission form. That’s when I learned every student pays a fee for tuition insurance, but since I wasn’t paying tuition, I needed to have my fee waived, or it would cost me $40. for insurancee I didn’t need. Another flurry of emails. I couldn’t get that waiver until I had a school email account, but my student email account wouldn’t work, because I was still in the system as a staff member from my nearly twenty-five years of teaching college students how to be television news reporters.

My students used to complain about how difficult it was to sign up for an internship in our program, but I figured they were just being histrionic and blowing everything out of proportion. Duh!

Anyway, this morning was my first time back at school as a student. I received my BA and my MA at NYIT, so it should have felt like old times, but it didn’t. It felt foreign to me and I realized it’s much easier to be the professor than the student.

Although, I must admit, I never thought that, when I was the professor.]]>Blog2013-09-02T20:41:53-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/its-all-in-my-head.html#unique-entry-id-96http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/its-all-in-my-head.html#unique-entry-id-96

When I was a kid, I was a part-time explorer of the philosophical world. I remember twirling one day until I got dizzy and fell to the ground, which prompted me to ask, “Daddy, why am I me?”

I recently learned that dizziness is not necessarily a precursor to an inquiring mind. A couple of days ago I thought I might base the plot of a future book on everything around the protagonist being imaginary.

Then, I learned that theory has a name: solipsism - which says while we know what’s going on inside our own heads, we can’t prove that the thoughts of others actually exist; only that we think they may actually exist.



If the external world doesn’t exist, that would make me very, very smart, because it means that all of Da Vinci’s inventions, theories and drawings, and stories by Charles Dickens, were actually created by my own mind. I am Victor Hugo, so to speak.

And if you tell me I’m wrong, I’ll just think it’s my own brain imagining you playing devil’s advocate.

Anyway, if you exist, I stumbled upon a great web page that includes a bunch of theories, including solipsism, that are food for thought.

Here’s the link.

As Mal told Johanna in the Library of Illumination, “Go forth and illuminate” (yourself).
]]>Blog2013-08-26T20:40:57-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/60-seconds-to-self-publishing-your-novel.html#unique-entry-id-95http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/60-seconds-to-self-publishing-your-novel.html#unique-entry-id-95

For months, I’ve been researching the best way to publish my novel, Evangeline’s Ghost, and I think I’ve got most of the steps down. Take a look and let me know if I missed anything.



]]>Blog2013-08-19T20:40:04-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/dwindling-drive-ins.html#unique-entry-id-94http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/dwindling-drive-ins.html#unique-entry-id-94
There was a time when Long Island had at least a half-dozen drive-ins, but they’re all gone now. They gave way to large multiplexes with lots of screens and sky-high ticket and concession prices. I attributed it to greed. Now it looks like the few remaining drive-ins may be killed by technology. I just saw a Businessweek article that says: even though as many as 4,000 drive-ins dotted the landscape in the 1960’s, less than 400 of them exist today. And now, with the advent in digital films, they too could fade fast.

Here’s a link to the article.

The demise of the drive-in is especially sad for new parents who either cannot find, or can’t afford a babysitter. Drive-ins were a great way to go out on a “date” with your spouse and bring baby along. Even if the tot got cranky, you didn’t have to worry about his or her screams bothering everyone around you too much.

Drive-ins are great and it’s sad to think technology and property values are stomping out a beloved part of American life.]]>Blog2013-08-13T20:39:09-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/christina-bianco-and-her-divas.html#unique-entry-id-93http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/christina-bianco-and-her-divas.html#unique-entry-id-93

This is too entertaining to pass up. I’ve got to embed it.

When “Total Eclipse of the Heart” first came out, I think I played it 142 times in a row. I just might play the following YouTube video that many times - to hear all the nuances.


]]>Blog2013-08-11T20:38:30-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/killer-bee.html#unique-entry-id-92http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/killer-bee.html#unique-entry-id-92

]]>Blog2013-08-11T20:37:43-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/a-tree-grows-in-westbury.html#unique-entry-id-91http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/a-tree-grows-in-westbury.html#unique-entry-id-91

I had a beautiful palm tree in my condo when I first got married, but didn’t know how to care for it and watched it slowly die. I followed it up with a rubber plant that met its demise at the paws of the only cat I ever owned. And so it goes with plants and me.

But now, after seeing this article on Houzz, I think I may give it another go with a Kentia Palm.

One Pot, One Big Shot of the Tropics

General contractors, home builders, and more ∨

Hire a decorator to find that sofas and a coffeetable for your living room.
For small bathroom ideas, browse photos of space-saving sink consoles and clever hidden medicine cabinet mirrors.

]]>Blog2013-08-02T20:36:28-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/making-manuscripts.html#unique-entry-id-90http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/making-manuscripts.html#unique-entry-id-90

In the Library of Illumination, Johanna teaches Jackson all about bookbinding and illumination. The following video from the Getty Museum outlines the steps that were taken to create an illuminated manuscript on parchment book from scratch.

]]>Blog2013-08-01T20:35:12-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/raising-the-bard.html#unique-entry-id-89http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/raising-the-bard.html#unique-entry-id-89

I just saw the following tips on a mailing from Writer’s Digest, and I want to share it, because it’s such good advice—not just for thriller writers but for all genre writers.

10 Things Thriller Writers Can Learn From Shakespeare —Zachary Petit

Conspiracy. Murder. Politics. Love. Sex. Ghosts. Pirates. Thrillers and the works of William Shakespeare may have more in common than you’d think. After all, as authorr A.J. Hartley pointed out, the legendary playwright that we now regard as “refined” and “literary” was considered ruetic and fanciful in his time. Shakespeare wrote for the mass medium of his day, Hartley said. And as Hartley proved in his session “Cues From Shakespeare, the First Thriller Writer,” there’s a lot the bard can teach scribes about storytelling.

Here are some of the enduring lessons Hartley shared.

1. “Good writers borrow. … Great writers steal.”

Most of Shakespeare’s stories originated in other source material. “This is just kind of the nature of the beast,” Hartley said—there’s a limited number of original tales out there. So, great writers steal—“and then own the result.” Shakespeare wrote his works in his own way, with his unique signature.

2. Remember: Shakespeare never went to Italy.

Hartley asked: Without delving into the Shakespearean authorship question, how could the son of a glove maker evoke settings, fields and time period he couldn’t have ever experienced? “By reading. Copiously. Diligently.” But, Hartley cautioned, writers should never let their research trump their tales. “[Shakespeare] gives you as much as you need to tell the story, and that’s all.”

3. “Get right to it.”

Shakespeare doesn’t waste time getting things moving. Any book should do the same.

4. Story is character.

In the bard’s world, the props and costumes are kept to a minimum. The plays can be performed on a bare stage. “It’s all about the interaction between character and how the characters speak,” Hartley said. Likewise, from a story perspective a thriller shouldn’t be about explosions and car chases, but character.

5. Begin scenes late and end them early.

Just like the screenwriting maxim.


I couldn’t agree more. If it worked for it should work for us, too.]]>Blog2013-07-29T20:34:34-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/small-in-a-big-way.html#unique-entry-id-88http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/small-in-a-big-way.html#unique-entry-id-88

My mother made dolls and my father built dollhouses and together they created some amazing miniatures, but as elaborate as their designs were, they never came close to this.

Mad for Miniatures? Show Us Your Dollhouse

Kitchen ideas, bathroom ideas, and more ∨

Browse living room ideas, from a sectional couch to chandelier lighting and floor reading lamps, for your next interior design project.
Collect and share photos of bathroom tile, bathroom vanities, shower curtains and bathroom mirrors to create your perfect home decorating style.

]]>Blog2013-07-22T20:33:13-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/feel-the-sensation.html#unique-entry-id-87http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/feel-the-sensation.html#unique-entry-id-87

I saw this video on haptic technology on Slashdot this morning. Disney has created a device that allows you to feel air movement when using motion control gadgets.

It’s not pretty - but that’s right now. How long can it possibly take for this to show up on store shelves for consumers’ personal use.

]]>Blog2013-07-14T20:32:35-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/thrillerfest-2013.html#unique-entry-id-86http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/thrillerfest-2013.html#unique-entry-id-86

Alexandra Sokoloff

I just got back from Thrillerfest 2013, held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Manhattan, where I picked up a lot of great information. It was my 7th Thrillerfest and I always learn something new.

One session, given by thriller writer Alexandra Sokoloff, discussed how novelists can adapt a formula used for TV and film scripts to their books - to keep readers hooked. She was a great instructor, and I’d like to share the highlights of her lecture.

Most films and TV shows follow the same type of plot point outline that divides a story into eight sequences. Each block should end with a mini climax - it could be a bold statement made by a character, or something as simple as asking an unanswered question; having a phone ring; or a knock on the door (on TV, is usually comes right before a commercial break). The key is to keep the audience/reader wondering what happens next. This works for a half hour sit-com, a 1-hour drama, or a 2-hour film. For a 400 page book, a sequence would cover about 50 pages.


ACT 1
Sequence 1

Call to adventure

Seq. 1 mini-climax @15 minutes


ACT 1
Sequence 2

The status quo has changed

Seq. 2 mini-climax @30 minutes


ACT 2:a
Sequence 3

The hero devises a plan

“hero is winning”

Seq. 3 mini-climax @45 minutes


ACT 2:a
Sequence 4

Something goes horribly wrong

“game changer”

Seq. 4 mini-climax @ 60 minutes


ACT2:b
Sequence 5

The hero is tired and depressed and losing hope

Seq. 5 mini-climax @75 minutes


ACT 2:b
Sequence 6

All is bleak

“worst moment”

Seq. 6 mini-climax @90 minutes


ACT 3
Sequence 7

The hero takes a stand…

“Storm the castle”

Seq. 7 mini-climax @105 minutes


ACT 3
Sequence 8

Hero faces greatest nightmare

“new way of life”

Sequence 8 Climax @120 minutes


Is this formula written in stone? Probably not for established writers who know when and why to break the rules; but if you’re just starting out, you may want to stick with it. Just tweak the times of the mini-climaxes to coincide with the length of your book.


]]>Blog2013-07-02T20:31:58-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/same-old-same-old.html#unique-entry-id-85http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/same-old-same-old.html#unique-entry-id-85
I saw this quote online and it made me feel guilty. I’ve been going through my manuscripts trying to route out weak verbs, but I doubt I’ll ever be perfect. I know that because I used one of the following offenders in my first sentence.

“Most people use twenty verbs to describe everything from a run in their stocking to the explosion of an atomic bomb. You know the ones: Was, did, had, made, went, looked… One-size-fits-all looks like crap on anyone. Sew yourself a custom made suit. Pick a better verb. Challenge all those verbs to really lift some weight for you.” — Janet Fitch]]>Blog2013-06-24T20:31:18-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/book-cover-design-the-prequel.html#unique-entry-id-84http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/book-cover-design-the-prequel.html#unique-entry-id-84

Last week I wrote about designing the cover for one of my future books. I’d like to expound on that.

Writers who publish independently have to take care of all the details that a publishing house would normally deal with, like hiring an outside editor, finding an interior layout designer, and deciding on a cover artist. There’s also marketing and promotion, but that’s another whole layer of business above and beyond creating the product.

Understand: I love writing fiction. Ever since I first learned to read and write, I discovered that fiction allows us to live life in another person’s shoes. It’s a new lease on life - with none of the consequences, or (sadly) the perks. I like to call it one of the Four Levels of Consciousness: 1. The Daily Grind (aka life itself), 2. Daydreaming, 3. REM Sleep, and 4. Vicariously Living Through Fiction. And while the first two levels (and possibly the third) are defined by your own experience, fiction can expand your horizons beyond that.

I also love art. So when Chronicles: The Library of Illumination stressed me out because I didn’t know how I would explain the content to a book cover designer, I decided to hire from within. The problem with CLOI is that it includes five novelettes combined into one 85,000 word book. I wanted each story represented on the cover, which definitely doesn’t fall into the less is more ideology.

My journey began with finding the visuals - an easy, but pricey task considering the number of elements I used. Combining them turned out to be harder, because even though I could see them drifting hazily across each other in my mind’s eye, I didn’t know how to combine them in Photoshop. One of the reasons why I’m able to create my own cover is because I found a discounted online Photoshop course through Groupon. Another reason is that I love a creative challenge. And the third reason is that I have an artistic background.

I’m not advising every writer to tackle the creation of their own cover. As I wrote on one LinkedIn forum, I’m a former art major who sold several of my own paintings when I was a teen - to earn money for college (Fashion Institute of Technology). I neither graduated from FIT nor continued painting (more’s the pity), but that doesn’t change the fact that I can conceptualize ideas visually. A lot of writers think visually, but not all of them do, so hiring a pro is an important step on the road to publishing independently. But there will always be a few of us who stray onto an interesting looking path, and fewer still who will discover something wonderful and fulfilling at the end.

Several people on LinkedIn wrote that the only way to get a good book cover design is to hire a professional. I like to think that I did.]]>Blog2013-06-16T20:30:33-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/new-book-cover.html#unique-entry-id-83http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/new-book-cover.html#unique-entry-id-83


For the past couple of weeks, I’ve struggled to come up with a design for the cover of my upcoming novel, Chronicles: The Library of Illumination. I previously published three Library of Illumination novelettes, but have written six, and decided to put several of them together in one book. While images for the covers of the previous books were easier to develop, this book proved tougher, because it encompasses several different stories, and I wasn’t sure how to handle it. I also needed to make sure the cover would appeal to a teenage audience.

I love the stock photo I found to represent Johanna and Jackson. But it doesn’t tell the whole story so I tried to include imagery from the novelettes, but that became a huge mess. I finally settled on the mini photo strip on the bottom and liked the way the cover was shaping up, but there was nothing “illuminating” about it, so I searched high and low for an illuminated “C” for the word Chronicles. I couldn’t find one, and spent a day designing my own. With my template complete, I went online to purchase the rights to various elements I would be using, and that’s when I stumbled upon a black and gold illuminated “C.” The one I had designed was okay, but this one works better with the entire cover concept and complements the trefoil emblem that I’m using as an “O” in the title.

All my previous covers were dark. This one started out white, but looked too sterile. I played around with the background color and the gradient copper turned out to be more appealing. All-in-all, I’m pretty pleased with it, but it was a long slog because I had to teach myself Photoshop to do it. I crafted the Evangeline’s Ghost cover in InDesign, but couldn’t get as creative as I wanted. I needed to push myself to learn something new.

Now, I can add Photoshop to my resume, along with InDesign. Whoever knew I’d end up as a poster child for Adobe Creative Suite.

]]>Blog2013-06-10T20:30:10-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/bigger.html#unique-entry-id-82http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/bigger.html#unique-entry-id-82

I was singing to myself in the kitchen yesterday morning—making it up as I went along—and thought this song would work if I could make it bigger. Then I laughed and thought I should email one of my friends and ask her if she wanted to work on a musical with me. We could call it Make It Bigger.

But now, it would only look like I was ripping off Neil Patrick Harris’s opening song for the 2013 Tony Awards. It is a freaky coincidence (no lie) which is a sign that whatever I want to do in the future, I’d better work fast and accomplish it before someone else comes up with the same idea.

To be honest, though, I don’t know if I could have written anything this big.

a]]>Blog2013-06-03T20:29:37-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/trophy-wife.html#unique-entry-id-81http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/trophy-wife.html#unique-entry-id-81

I was given the opportunity this weekend to work on a project, put together by my friend, Gary Licker. He’d signed up for the 48 Hour Film Project, which gives teams only 2 days to write, rehearse, block, shoot, edit, score, and add effects to a 4 to 7 minute mini-movie. The project coordinators give the filmmakers the genre, as well as the name of a character and his/her profession, a line of dialogue and a prop that must be used. Our project got off to a slow start, but picked up speed as the weekend progressed, with the following result.



The film premiers this Friday night at 8:00 at the Cantor Film Center in Manhattan.

]]>Blog2013-06-02T20:28:56-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/48-inch-living-space.html#unique-entry-id-80http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/48-inch-living-space.html#unique-entry-id-80

I love examples of small space living, but I think the following space featured in an article from Houzz is a little extreme - even for me. It was built in Poland between two buildings (in what most people might call an alley) and for the most part is only 48 inches wide.

The Narrowest House in the World?

Architects, interior designers, and more ∨

Ideas for your living spaces, lighting and landscape design.
Find home remodeling professionals, local residential architects, top home builders in your area and decorating and interior design ideas.

]]>Blog2013-05-25T20:27:55-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/the-motion-quotient.html#unique-entry-id-79http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/the-motion-quotient.html#unique-entry-id-79

The results of a new study published by the University of Rochester says a visual test can predict a person’s IQ. It has to do with the mind’s ability to filter out unnecessary information. Apparently, the faster you can eliminate unimportant details, the more quickly you can determine the solution to a problem—and that’s an indication of a higher IQ.

People given the visual test were also given a standard written IQ test, and researchers claim the people who scored well on one—scored well on both. They add, the visual test is probably a more accurate way of determining intelligence, because there have been claims in the past that the written tests are culturally biased.

Wonder how well you would score? Take a look:

]]>Blog2013-05-12T20:26:52-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/ahhh-the-riviera5.html#unique-entry-id-78http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/ahhh-the-riviera5.html#unique-entry-id-78

I may hate to fly, but I love to travel, so I put my fears behind me a few weeks ago and flew to Barcelona before boarding a cruise along the Riviera. I loved Barcelona and wouldn’t mind going back. We were only there for a couple of days and didn’t get a chance to see everything I would have liked, but we did tour the Casa Batlló which was amazing, walked the length of La Rambla, visited the marina which was right outside our door at the Hotel Arts, and “saw” just about everything else from the hop on-hop off bus.

Our cruise on the Oceania Riviera took us to Marseille Saint-Tropez, Monte Carlo (where I bet and lost money in Le Casino), Portofino (my favorite) with it’s beautiful hills, lush gardens, and interesting walls and archways and Florence
(which I haven’t been to since my honeymoon and which literally looks the same) with its old world architecture. We were supposed to dock at Sorrento for a trip to Capri, but ended up in Naples and canceled our excursion because of rough seas and rainy weather.
I took the extra time to pack for our departure from the ship and our final destination: Rome (which I also haven’t been to since my honeymoon). We were only there for 24 hours, but the weather was glorious and we again used the hop on-hop off bus to reacquaint ourselves with the city. Afterwards, we walked to the Spanish Steps from our hotel (this is a view from the top) and then ate at Harry’s Bar.

It was a great trip and I can say with confidence that I left my mark on Rome, because of the massive 4½ hour nosebleed I developed just minutes before we left for the airport. Who knew blowing my nose could be so disastrous? Anyway, Fiumicino airport security may never forget me, after telling me they had to see my “entire” face before they would let me board Alitalia, and I carefully removed the tissues I was using to stanch the flow of blood, only to have it come gushing out. The guard cried, “I’ve seen enough!” before waving me onto the plane. The flight attendants were very attentive and seemed relieved when the bleeding stopped about an hour later.

And that’s what I did on my spring vacation. Ahhh…the memories. There’s nothing like them.
]]>Blog2013-04-14T20:26:13-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/small-yet-stylish.html#unique-entry-id-77http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/small-yet-stylish.html#unique-entry-id-77

I can’t believe how much style they packed into this Hong Kong apartment, which is only 630 square feet.

Houzz Tour: Boldly Stylish in Hong Kong

Houzz- Kitchen, Bathroom and More »

Home Design and Decorating Ideas- For Example:

Living Room Designs · Dining Room Designs · Bedroom Designs · Home Office Designs · Kitchen Designs · Laundry Room Designs · Staircase Designs ·

]]>Blog2013-04-09T20:25:27-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/beignets.html#unique-entry-id-76http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/beignets.html#unique-entry-id-76Blog2013-03-29T20:24:49-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/instruments-of-terror.html#unique-entry-id-75http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/instruments-of-terror.html#unique-entry-id-75
Can you imagine being kicked in the shins by someone wearing this shoe?

Ouch!

But ladies, it’s a Louboutin, and if the shoe fits…]]>Blog2013-03-24T20:24:03-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/tickets.html#unique-entry-id-74http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/tickets.html#unique-entry-id-74

A cover story in Newsday this week about paper Long Island Railroad tickets riding into history brought back memories of when I rode the railroad in my youth (note: the above ticket is not mine). Back then, the seats were on a kind-of roller system that allowed you to face them forward or backward. It was good for card players enjoying a nightly game on their way home from work, or families that needed more than one seat and wanted to face each other during the trip. For me, it was the only way I could get a window seat. My brother was older, and he always won the privilege of sitting next to the window. I was always relegated to the middle seat. But sometimes, if the train was empty, the conductor would switch out the seat so I could sit next to the window too.

When I got older, I learned that the best day to go to Manhattan was Wednesday, because Wednesdays were Ladies’ Day and females rode for half price. I remember going into the city on a Wednesday looking for prom gowns with friends, and searching for a room in a boarding house in Greenwich Village when I couldn’t get a dorm room at FIT.

And every time, I had a paper ticket in hand. Now, the railroad is moving toward e-tickets and eventually, paper tickets will become quirky, and sometimes valuable memorabilia.

http://www.newsday.com/long-island/li-life/lirr-tickets-to-history-1.4875757#1]]>Blog2013-03-16T20:23:18-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/coincidence.html#unique-entry-id-73http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/coincidence.html#unique-entry-id-73
I just saw this picture of Apple’s proposed plans for a new facility.

Dubbed ‘Apple Campus 2,’ it is reported by PadGadget (which cites Bloomberg as a source) that this new facility would cover more than 150 acres of land in Cupertino, California. And it’s allegedly hoping to “reach gold-level LEED certification by the Green Building Council.”

The article says Apple plans to plant 6,000 trees around the campus, and I hope it’s not so Apple can return to its roots by producing more products like this.



But what really scares me is its pronounced similarity to a relativistic ion collider, like the one at Brookhaven National Laboratories on Long Island.



The Brookhaven collider is in jeopardy, because of funding cuts, but Apple has a lot of cash in its coffers.

I’m just saying: it’s a mighty interesting coincidence.]]>Blog2013-03-03T20:22:44-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/not-always-so-grand.html#unique-entry-id-72http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/not-always-so-grand.html#unique-entry-id-72

Before There Was a ‘Grand’ in Central

Office for Metropolitan History

The Madison Avenue end of the New York and Harlem Railroad depot, Fourth Avenue and 26th Street, in the 1880s. By then, the complex had become the first Madison Square Garden.
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY
Published: February 28, 2013

In my series, Evangeline’s Ghost, Grand Central Station plays a part in both the first and third books, so I’m always excited when I seem historical information or pictures that I haven’t seen before. The New York Times recently featured the following article by Christopher Gray, Before There Was a ‘Grand’ in Central, which I’ve linked to below.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/03/realestate/before-there-was-a-grand-in-central.html?smid=pl-share

]]>Blog2013-02-27T20:22:10-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/oh-my-god.html#unique-entry-id-71http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/oh-my-god.html#unique-entry-id-71

I can’t remember the last time I put out two blogs in one week. I’m lucky if I do one every week or two. But I’ve always wanted to convert a church into a home and this one in Australia is really well done. The following was featured in Houzz. Take a look.

Houzz Tour: From Olden Church to Soaring Modern Marvel

Houzz- Kitchen Remodel, Bathroom Remodel and More »

Browse Kitchen Products on Houzz- For Example:

Aprons · Bar Stools And Counter Stools · Dish Racks · Dishtowels · Kitchen Faucets · Knives And Chopping Boards · Gas Ranges And Electric Ranges · Wine Racks ·

]]>Blog2013-02-25T20:20:50-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/it-boggles-my-mind.html#unique-entry-id-70http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/it-boggles-my-mind.html#unique-entry-id-70
I was looking for the source of a quote about Ginger Rogers dancing backwards in high heels, and I stumbled across this Youtube video, which is both mesmerizing and disturbing. It has nothing to do with Ginger Rogers, although I wonder if she would have tried it, if it were written into the script?



As far as the quote is concerned, I pulled the following info directly from Wiki.

The line originated in a 1982 Frank and Ernest cartoon as "Sure he was great, but don't forget that Ginger Rogers did everything he did, backwards... and in high heels."

]]>Blog2013-02-20T20:19:11-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/stupid-is-as-stupid-does.html#unique-entry-id-69http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/stupid-is-as-stupid-does.html#unique-entry-id-69
Today, I learned that I’m human. Really human. I know, because I made an idiotic mistake.

I ordered a bunch of Advanced Reading Copies of Evangeline’s Ghost to send to potential reviewers and book bloggers, only to discover the name of one of the protagonists is missing. ARCs are usually “uncorrected copies,” but this error is a little too big to ignore. The omission would make reading this particular novel, an adventure.

For example, on page 205 it says, “I hired my own man to do the job. Someone named .”

Someone named…what? It’s a good thing I was spot-checking the galleys and noticed spaces between some words and the periods ending the sentences. I worked for hours to fix it, but then today, I found four more places where the bad guy’s name was missing. I had to reformat my book, and inform my editor about the snafu. And I used up the whole day repairing my sloppy work. So I want to pass on a bit of advice for writers who are fond of using the Find and Replace feature on MS Word:

1. Don’t give in to any distractions while mass-replacing words in your document. And…
2. Make sure there’s a word written in the ‘Replace’ box, before you hit the ‘Replace All” key.

Fundamental, right?

Stupid, right?

To make up for it, I ended up paying for a whole new bunch of galleys for my book, to ‘Replace’ the flawed ones. It was an expensive mistake to make, and you can be sure that I’ll never make it again.]]>Blog2013-02-03T20:17:43-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/speeches-on-the-cutting-room-floor.html#unique-entry-id-68http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/speeches-on-the-cutting-room-floor.html#unique-entry-id-68
An email I just got from BenSherman.com, a British retail clothing site, contained a link to 12 Historical Speeches Nobody Ever Heard, and the link brought me to the following article by Lucas Reilly, which was hosted by Mentalfloss.com. I hope they don’t mind my sharing it here:

12 Historical Speeches Nobody Ever Heard

Lucas Reilly
filed under: politics, top-story



IMAGE CREDIT: 
GETTY IMAGES
For every speech, there are a bunch of versions that ended up on the writers' room floor. Here are 12 speeches that were written but, for a variety of reasons, never delivered.
1. “IN EVENT OF MOON DISASTER”
As the world nervously waited for Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to land on the moon, Nixon speechwriter William Safire penned a speech in case the astronauts were stranded in space. The memo was addressed to H.R. Haldeman, Nixon’s Chief of Staff, and includes chilling directions for the president, NASA, and clergy in case something went awry.

Here's the text:
IN EVENT OF MOON DISASTER:
Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.
These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.
These two men are laying down their lives in mankind’s most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding.
They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be mourned by their nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.
In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man.
In ancient days, men looked at stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood.
Others will follow, and surely find their way home. Man’s search will not be denied. But these men were the first, and they will remain the foremost in our hearts.
For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind.
2. EISENHOWER’S “IN CASE OF FAILURE” MESSAGE
General Dwight D. Eisenhower sounded confident before the Normandy Invasion. “This operation is planned as a victory, and that’s the way it’s going to be. We’re going down there, and we’re throwing everything we have into it, and we’re going to make it a success,” he said.
Operation Overlord was a massive campaign—an invasion of 4000 ships, 11,000 planes, and nearly three million men. Despite a year of strategizing and a boatload of confidence, Eisenhower had a quiet plan in case his mission failed. If the armada couldn’t cross the English Channel, he’d order a full retreat. One day before the invasion, he prepared a brief speech just in case:

"Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based on the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone."
Although the allies suffered about 12,000 casualties—with an estimated 4900 U.S. troops killed—155,000 successfully made it ashore, with thousands more on the way. Within a year, Germany would surrender.
3. WAMSUTTA JAMES’S 1970 PLYMOUTH ANNIVERSARY SPEECH
The people of Plymouth, Massachusetts wanted to celebrate. It was the 350th anniversary of the arrival of the Pilgrims, and a day of festivities was planned. For the celebration dinner, organizers invited Wamsutta James—a descendent of the Wampanoag—to speak. They hoped James would give a cheery address recounting the friendly Pilgrim-Indian relationship. But James was not interested in that airbrushed version of history:
"It is with mixed emotion that I stand here to share my thoughts. This is a time of celebration for you—celebrating an anniversary of a beginning for the white man in America. A time of looking back, of reflection. It is with a heavy heart that I look back upon what happened to my People."
From there, James debunked a slew of cultural myths. The relationship between Pilgrims and Native Americans was always uneasy, he said. Wampanoag ancestors had lived in New England for nearly 10,000 years before the Europeans had arrived. But, in just a few years, the newcomers had brought disease and gobbled up land. The relationship eventually burst in 1675, when King Philip’s War erupted, decimating the Native American population and Wampanoag culture.
"History wants us to believe that the Indian was a savage, illiterate, uncivilized animal. A history that was written by an organized, disciplined people, to expose us as an unorganized and undisciplined entity. Two distinctly different cultures met. One thought they must control life; the other believed life was to be enjoyed, because nature decreed it. Let us remember, the Indian is and was just as human as the white man. The Indian feels pain, gets hurt, and becomes defensive, has dreams, bears tragedy and failure, suffers from loneliness, needs to cry as well as laugh. He, too, is often misunderstood."
When James submitted his address for approval, the organizers rejected it. They asked him to read a speech prepared by a public relations writer instead. James walked away.
4. “I DON’T FEEL LIKE RESIGNING”


With swaths of damning evidence around him and no support behind him, Richard Nixon stared into a television camera August 8, 1974, and announced his resignation. It wasn’t supposed to be that way. That was Plan B.
A few days earlier, Nixon’s speechwriter, Raymond Price, prepared two drafts for that address. In one—titled “Option B”—Nixon announced his resignation. In the other speech, he vowed to fight for his job. Here’s an excerpt:
“Whatever the mistakes that have been made—and there are many—and whatever the measure of my own responsibility for those mistakes, I firmly believe that I have not committed any act of commission or omission that justifies removing a duly elected official from office. If I did believe that I had committed such an act, I would have resigned long ago. . .”
“If I were to resign, it would spare the country additional months consumed with the ordeal of a Presidential impeachment and trial. But it would leave unresolved the questions that have already cost the country so much in anguish, division and uncertainty. More important, it would leave a permanent crack in our Constitutional structure: it would establish the principle that under pressure, a President could be removed from office by means short of those provided by the Constitution.”
Shortly after the speech was written, the “smoking gun” was released—a tape-recording of Nixon’s plan to halt the FBI’s Watergate investigation. His political support evaporated overnight. Impeachment became a certainty: “Option B” was the only option left.
5. JFK’S DALLAS TRADE MART SPEECH
It was late November 1963, and President Kennedy had begun a two-day, five-city tour of Texas. After a speedy 13-minute flight from Fort Worth, a motorcade picked up JFK at the Dallas airport and took him on a ten-mile tour through downtown. The president was bound for the Trade Mart, where he was scheduled to speak at a luncheon. He never made it.
Here’s a short excerpt of Kennedy’s undelivered Trade Mart speech.
“There will always be dissident voices heard in the land, expressing opposition without alternatives, finding faults but never favor, perceiving gloom on every side and seeking influence without responsibility. Those voices are inevitable.
But today other voices are heard in the land—voices preaching doctrines wholly unrelated to reality, wholly unsuited to the sixties, doctrines which apparently assume that words will suffice without weapons, that vituperation is as good as victory and that peace is a sign of weakness. . .
We cannot expect that everyone, to use the phrase of a decade ago, will ‘talk sense to the American people.’ But we can hope that few people will listen to nonsense. And the notion that this Nation is headed for defeat through deficit, or that strength is but a matter of slogans, is not but just plain nonsense.
That day, Americans sorely needed to hear Kennedy’s unread closing:
“[Our] strength will never be used in pursuit of aggressive ambitions—it will always be used in pursuit of peace. It will never be used to promote provocations—it will always be used to promote the peaceful settlement of disputes.”
A second undelivered Dallas speech, for the Texas Democratic Committee in Austin, can be found here.
6. ANNA QUINDLEN’S 2000 VILLANOVA COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS
Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Anna Quindlen had already written Villanova’s keynote speech when protests at the Catholic university began to roil. A handful of students disagreed with Quindlen’s views on abortion, and the issue boiled over so badly that Quindlen bowed out from the event. Although never delivered, her speech “A Short Guide to a Happy Life” has been widely circulated on the internet:
“Get a life. A real life, not a manic pursuit of the next promotion, the bigger paycheck, the larger house. . . Get a life in which you notice the smell of salt water pushing itself on a breeze over Seaside Heights, a life in which you stop and watch how a red-tailed hawk circles over the water gap or the way a baby scowls with concentration when she tries to pick up a Cheerio with her thumb and first finger.
"And realize that life is the best thing ever, and that you have no business taking it for granted. . . It is so easy to waste our lives: our days, our hours, our minutes. It is so easy to take for granted the color of azaleas, the sheen of the limestone on Fifth Avenue, the color of our kid’s eyes, the way the melody in a symphony rises and falls and disappears and rises again. It is so easy to exist instead of live.”
7. CONDOLEEZZA RICE’S 9/11 ADDRESS

Getty Images
On September 11, 2001, Condoleezza Rice was slated to deliver a speech at Johns Hopkins University, addressing “the threats and problems of today and the day after.” Terrorists made their own statement that morning, forcing Rice to scrap her speech.
In 2004, excerpts from Rice’s address leaked to The Washington Post. The speech did not mention Al Qaeda or Osama Bin Laden. Rather, it promoted missile defense as an upgraded security strategy. Of the few lines released publicly, one read:
“We need to worry about the suitcase bomb, the car bomb, and the vial of sarin released in the subway [but] why put deadbolt locks on your doors and stock up on cans of Mace then decide to leave your windows open?”
8. NINOY AQUINO JR’S LAST REMARKS
Philippine Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. was not a fan of President Ferdinand Marcos. When Aquino stirred up the political pot, Marcos’s regime—ruled by martial law—tossed Aquino in jail. Years later, Aquino made his way out of prison and exiled himself in the United States. In 1983, upon hearing that life in the Philippines was getting worse, Aquino returned home to help. He came armed with a stirring speech:
“I have returned on my free will to join the ranks of those struggling to restore our rights and freedoms through nonviolence. I seek no confrontation. I only pray and will strive for a genuine national reconciliation founded on justice. . . A death sentence awaits me. Two more subversion charges, both calling for death penalties, have been filled since I left three years ago and are now pending with the courts. . . I return voluntarily armed only with a clear conscience and fortified faith that in the end justice will emerge triumphant. According to Gandhi, the willing sacrifice of the innocent is the most powerful answer to insolent tyranny that has yet been conceived by God and man.”
Aquino never read the address. Over 1000 armed soldiers awaited his landing. He was immediately arrested and, while waiting for his prison escort, was shot in the head. The assassination spurred a revolt against Marcos’s regime, which crumbled three years later.
9. JFK’S OTHER CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS SPEECH

Keystone/Getty Images
America soiled its collective pants October 22, 1962. The country’s eyes were glued to the television as President Kennedy said what everyone feared: Cuba had missiles, and they were “capable of hitting any city in the western hemisphere.” The United States was a giant bullseye.
Kennedy announced a Cuban “quarantine,” a military blockade that restricted weapons and other materials to the island. Other options, however, were on the table—a second, more aggressive, address announced plans for an airstrike. Kennedy’s speechwriter, Ted Sorensen, didn’t write the second speech, but he did read it, and he was disturbed by its opening:
“I have ordered—and the United States Air Force has now carried out—military operations with conventional weapons to remove a major nuclear weapons build-up from the soil of Cuba.”
The alternate speech said that America would use nuclear weapons if necessary—a bold statement that never appeared in Kennedy’s televised address. It’s unknown who wrote the speech and if Kennedy ever saw it. “There is still a minor mystery as to who, if anyone, was asked to draft an alternative speech announcing and justifying an air strike on the missiles,” Sorensen later wrote.
10. ROMNEY’S 47 PERCENT FIXER-UPPER

Rick Friedman/Corbis
When Mitt Romney’s “47 percent” comments leaked in September, his campaign scrambled for a fix. A flurry of press conferences followed as the Romney camp tried to patch the damage. Later in September, an undelivered speech was leaked to the Wall Street Journal. Here’s a taste of what it said:
“One tragedy of the Obama Presidency is how many more Americans have become dependent on the government. I know it’s not their fault. Most want to be self-sufficient, to provide for their families, they can’t because there aren’t enough jobs. . . This is a national scandal. Not because those fellow Americans are free-loaders, but because they aren’t able to get a good job that pays enough to be self-sufficient and lets them fulfill their human potential. . . I don’t want to take food stamps away from Americans in need. I want fewer Americans to need food stamps.”
11. SARAH PALIN’S VICTORY AND CONCESSION SPEECHES

Getty Images
Sarah Palin’s relationship with John McCain was never very warm and fuzzy. The Palin and McCain camps constantly clashed along the campaign trail. As one McCain official explained in a New York Times interview, “It was a difficult relationship… McCain talked to her occasionally.”
The duo’s biggest duel occurred on election night. Palin’s speechwriter, Matthew Scully, had drawn up two speeches: a victory and concession address. Hours before the candidates took the stage, McCain’s senior staffers told Palin that she couldn’t read either. According to The Daily Beast, McCain aides “literally turned the lights out on Palin when she retook the stage later that night to take pictures with her family, fearing that she would give the concession speech after all.”
Here’s the best of Palin’s undelivered addresses:
Victory Speech:
“As for my own family, well, it’s been quite a journey these past 69 days. We were ready, in defeat, to return to a place and a life we love. And I said to my husband Todd that it’s not a step down when he’s no longer Alaska’s 'First Dude.' He will now be the first guy ever to become the 'Second Dude.'
Concession Speech:
“I told my husband Todd to look at the upside: Now, at least, he can clear his schedule, and get ready for championship title number five in the Iron Dog snow machine race!. . . But far from returning to the great State of Alaska with any sense of sorrow, we will carry with us the best of memories. . . and joyful experiences that do not depend on victory.”
“America has made her choice. . . Now it is time for us go our way, neither bitter nor vanquished, but instead confident in the knowledge that there will be another day… and we may gather once more. . . and find new strength. . . and rise to fight again.”
12. FDR’S FINAL WORDS

Getty Images
April 12, 1945, was a beautiful day in Warm Springs, Georgia. Franklin D. Roosevelt relaxed inside his woodland cottage, the “Little White House,” and was having his portrait painted. But during lunch, a bolt of pain shot through the back of his head, causing him to collapse. By 3:35 pm, doctors had pronounced the president dead of a cerebral hemorrhage. A speech sat in FDR’s study, unread.
Roosevelt had edited the speech the night before. It was an address for Jefferson Day, a celebration of Thomas Jefferson, and was supposed to be delivered April 13 via a national radio broadcast. Here’s an excerpt of FDR’s last words to the American people:
“Let me assure you that my hand is the steadier for the work that is to be done, that I move more firmly into the task, knowing that you—millions and millions of you—are joined with me in the resolve to make this work endure.
The work, my friends, is peace, more than an end of this war—an end to the beginning of all wars, yes, an end, forever, to this impractical, unrealistic settlement of the differences between governments by the mass killing of peoples.
Today as we move against the terrible scourge of war—as we go forward toward the greatest contribution that any generation of human beings can make in this world—the contribution of lasting peace—I ask you to keep up your faith. . .
The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith.”

Read the full text here: http://mentalfloss.com/article/32069/12-historical-speeches-nobody-ever-heard?+Sherman#ixzz2JqPX2bll
--brought to you by mental_floss!

]]>Blog2013-01-22T20:16:58-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/grand-old-grand-central-terminal.html#unique-entry-id-67http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/grand-old-grand-central-terminal.html#unique-entry-id-67
Grand Central Station is going to be one hundred years old this year. The terminal officially opened on February 2, 1913, and according to the New York Times, it cost the equivalent of $2 billion to build in today dollars.

Sam Roberts and Vijai Singh of the NYT produced the following video about some of the wonderful secrets of Grand Central Terminal.




If you want to know more about this New York landmark, Roberts has a new book out, aptly entitled, Grand Central.
]]>Blog2013-01-17T20:16:08-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/the-dread-synopsis.html#unique-entry-id-66http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/the-dread-synopsis.html#unique-entry-id-66
TITLE: The Dread Synopsis
GENRE: Writing, How-to
WORD COUNT: 650
AUTHOR: C. A. Pack

I was once told by an editor that my manuscript was well-written, which surprised him, because he said my synopsis was “awful.” It’s not that I didn’t try to make that synopsis as professional as possible. It’s just that boiling down an 88,000 word novel into a one-page summary “that reads in the same style as the book” apparently lurks outside my field of expertise. You would think that regurgitating news as 90-second summaries for most of my life would have prepared me for this, but apparently not.

Of course, I now need to include a one-page synopsis in an agent query for another book, but the one I’ve written is long and boring, so I did a little research.

FictionWriters.com (FW) says a synopsis should be a narrative summary of a book with feeling. I can shorten my synopsis, but it will still probably be boring. Or I can imbue it with feeling, but then a lot of the basic story will have to be omitted to keep it down to one page.

FW: The first paragraph should include the hook. At least I did that.

FW: A synopsis should be written in the present tense. Hooray! I think I did that. Hmmm… I’d better check.

Meanwhile, WritersDigest.com (WD) says the synopsis should be written in active voice. Shouldn’t everything?

FW: It should introduce the main characters. Score one for me. I think it would be pretty difficult to write a synopsis without listing your main characters.

Vivian Beck.com (VB) says I need to include each character’s motive, conflict and goals. I don’t think I was that specific.

WD: Include the character’s feelings and emotions to advance the story. Uhhh…

FW: Their conflicts should be woven in. Oops. I’ve been so busy writing the action, I don’t know if I’ve included each character’s conflicts, of which there are many.

FW: A synopsis should be written in the third person. That, I’m sure I did, because I always write in the third person. Even my emails are in the third person… just kidding.

FW: Characters should be sympathetic. Yikes. How am I supposed to include this all on one page? The reader must relate to them and worry about them. Double yikes!!

VB: Each scene needs an action, a reaction, and a decision. I’m starting to feel a little depressed.

WD: A synopsis must convey the narrative arc. I seem to remember that from somewhere…

FW: The synopsis should be written in the same style as the book. Woe is me! This is where I seem to lose it, because my synopsis sounds like a laundry list, devoid of style and grace.

FW: It should not include every character, scene and plot point. Score one for the Capper!

WD: It should have a unique point of view.

FW: You must put in the conclusion of the novel. I would think that’s a given.

FW: Avoid all grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes. Lord knows, I try.

WD: Write clearly. I’m starting to wonder if that’s possible?

VB: Rewrite it until every sentence is perfect. Are any of us perfect?

Then, FictionWriter.com says to SINGLE-SPACE the synopsis if it’s less than a page, but to DOUBLE-SPACE it if it’s more than a page. So a one-page synopsis would be a one-page synopsis, but a two page synopsis would turn into a 4-page synopsis? Do I have that right?

Apparently, I have to go back to the drawing board. I’m starting to think I should forget about looking for a traditional publisher, and instead, independently publish every one of my books. Then I wouldn’t have to bother writing a synopsis for each of them. That would be great, because as far as I’m concerned, it’s much easier to write an 85,000 word novel than it is to write a one-page synopsis.


]]>Blog2013-01-05T20:14:28-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/on-her-own.html#unique-entry-id-65http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/on-her-own.html#unique-entry-id-65


I finally saw Les Misérables and I loved it - from the opening scene until the final image - but something about it bothered me.

THE RAIN.

The weather would be perfectly dry until Eponine had a song that mentioned rain. “In the rain the pavement shines like silver.” “A little fall of rain can hardly hurt me now.” Poor Samantha Barks, who is absolutely wonderful as Eponine, was forced to sing in the rain for her two big songs. That wouldn’t have been so bad if the weather had been threatening in the scenes leading up to her songs, but it only starts to rain when she starts to sing those two songs. Now, I know the songs were written decades ago and it would have seemed dumb for them to mention weather conditions that didn’t exist in the film, but a little preliminary thunder or a sprinkle in the previous scene would have been a nice lead-in.

I wanted to love this movie with all my heart, but couldn’t, because of the sudden weather changes. So I’d be forced to only give it four out of five stars.]]>Blog2012-12-23T08:52:57-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/houzz-experience-a-victorian-christmas.html#unique-entry-id-64http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/houzz-experience-a-victorian-christmas.html#unique-entry-id-64

I love seeing how Christmas was celebrated in previous centuries and this article from Houzz allows us to peek inside a 19th century home. Just click on the link.

Experience a Victorian Christmas at the Gibson House

Houzz- Kitchen Remodel, Bathroom Remodel and More »

Browse Kitchen Products on Houzz- For Example:

Bar Stools And Counter Stools · Kitchen Cabinets · Kitchen Countertops · Dishwashers · Microwave · Refrigerators And Freezers · Toasters · Wine Racks ·

Happy holidays!]]>Blog2012-12-21T08:51:50-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/december-21-2012.html#unique-entry-id-63http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/december-21-2012.html#unique-entry-id-63

]]>Blog2012-12-20T08:51:27-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/the-end.html#unique-entry-id-62http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/the-end.html#unique-entry-id-62

So here we are on the eve of what the Mayan calendar has predicted to be the end of the world and I thought I’d reprint author Catherine Coulter’s December newsletter, because (aside from being entertaining) it’s so dead on. Originally, I was going to wait for tomorrow to print this, but, you know, just in case, I thought I’d get in one last post…

………………………………….…………….

December Newsletter 2012 Vol. 21 No. 12

     Friday the 21st is 'put up or shut up' time. The ancient Mayans either forecasted our doom in three days time or they simply ran out of calendar rocks. The earth either splits apart and hurls all of us hither and yon or we are frantically buying our last Christmas presents, and praying to the God of Pity that our giftees like them.

     I picture one lone Mayan standing high atop a big honker pyramid, hands cupped around his mouth, shouting, "Sorry, suckerrrrs, you're gone on 12/21/2012!" Another Mayan (this one's bald) sits back on his golden throne, wisely nods his head, points his finger, and says, "Make it so."

     The thing is, though, if the ancient Mayans were able to forecast the end of time, this means they had BIG BAD magic. I ask you,  who on earth then could ever take them out? Surely not Spanish hooligans who didn't even bathe, and had only horses and guns with one bullet? I mean, no magic there. Sprinkle in nasty European diseases -- bodda bing badda boom -- and the ancient Mayans were gone.

     So, when (and if) you wake up on the 21st, lie there a moment, maybe stretch a bit,  and say aloud,  "Carpe diem." Now get yourself dressed and go shopping. Most of all, have fun and be grateful we're all still tethered to the lovely earth.

Merry Christmas! Catherine Coulter

Fa-la-la-la-la..la-la-la-la!
]]>Blog2012-12-19T08:50:16-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/colm-wilkinson-in-les-mis.html#unique-entry-id-61http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/colm-wilkinson-in-les-mis.html#unique-entry-id-61
In 1987, When I was so sure I was going to be hired as a publicist at Disneyland, I bought myself a ticket to see Les Misérables, because I wanted to make sure I saw it before moving to California. Needless to say, the show was great, and Colm Wilkinson was magnificent. I didn’t get the job, but I did get the opportunity to see a musical that forced me to get the cast recording and learn all the songs by heart.

Fast forward a quarter of a century, and Col Wilkinson is again in Les Misérables, this time as the Bishop.

“Fight. Dream. Hope. Love.” As we’re nearing the highly anticipated release of ‘Les Misérables,’ Working Title Films and  Universal Pictures have unveiled this new clip from Tom Hooper’s (The King’s Speech) adaptation of Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel and subsequent stage musical. The clip centers on Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) getting cut some slack by the Bishop (Colm Wilkinson), someone he just stole from.



**UPDATE: There was a video embedded here, but I guess it was pulled. Apparently, we’ll all just have to see the film to hear Colm Wilkinson sing.
]]>Blog2012-12-18T08:49:33-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/multi-functional-furniture.html#unique-entry-id-60http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/multi-functional-furniture.html#unique-entry-id-60
I love multipurpose furniture, and this piece would be great in a kids room or office. This company provides various finishes, so you’re not stuck with shades of pink or purple, and there are other bed/couch/desk configuration. Plus I love any video that’s edited to even the oddest version of Pachelbel’s Canon.



Then, there’s this Youtube video that I found on Resource Furniture’s web site:



I can’t help but linger when I see an ad for this type of furniture, because it’s so functional. Who knew I was so pragmatic?

]]>Blog2012-12-14T08:48:37-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/writers-on-writing.html#unique-entry-id-59http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/writers-on-writing.html#unique-entry-id-59

What is the best way to create suspense?

It’s a question author Lee Child often talks about at writers’ conferences, and recently answered in an article for the New York Times. Here’s a link to the answer:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/08/a-simple-way-to-create-suspense/?smid=pl-share
]]>Blog2012-12-11T08:47:16-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/be-a-one-man-band-with-your-smart-phone.html#unique-entry-id-58http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/be-a-one-man-band-with-your-smart-phone.html#unique-entry-id-58
Last year, Gary Licker and I put together a class to teach people how to shoot and edit news packages on their smart phones. We were almost ready to go with it, but the timing wasn’t right and it fell between the cracks.

Now Vocativ Video School has put together a video primer on how to shoot video on smart phones and it’s excellent advice for everyone. Even though getting a shaky shot of something big is better than not getting the shot at all, keep in mind that you can put together a great story with just a little preplanning. I’ve embedded Vocativ’s video here. It everything we taught our former LI News Tonight reporters and camera people. Good advice is good advice.

]]>Blog2012-12-02T08:46:16-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/its-getting-closer.html#unique-entry-id-57http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/its-getting-closer.html#unique-entry-id-57
I am so psyched about this film that I grab onto every little snippet I can find about it, and today it’s a piece of the song “Who Am I?” by Hugh Jackman.

]]>Blog2012-11-24T08:45:01-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/a-christmas-journey.html#unique-entry-id-56http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/a-christmas-journey.html#unique-entry-id-56
I have started on My Christmas Journey.

While that may sound like the title of a book or the name of a Hallmark TV movie, it is the intricate path I take every holiday season from normalcy to full-blown holiday immersion. It starts with the tree. When I was young I swore that I’d never have an artificial tree. That ended after only two years of picking tiny pine needles out of the carpeting for months on end. So now I have an artificial tree that takes up a huge chunk of real estate in my storage closet - all year long. Unfortunately for me, when I tried to dislodge it from storage this year, the tree bag split above and below the zipper, making the tree a nightmare to move and forcing me to purchase a new bag.

Armed with Paypal and my new iPad mini, I purchased a new storage and it’s a doozy.
It’s a bag on a base with wheels. You insert the tree into it before you decorate it, which means I’ve already put up my tree twice this season - once on its regular base, and then again on the new base. When the holidays are over, the premise is that I should easily be able to pull the canvas and nylon bag up - forcing the hinged tree limbs upward into an easy-to-handle compact position, until I have a nicely bagged tree. Now you and I both know that that’s never going to happen, but right now, I’m living the dream. Taking down the tree will probably be the subject of a future blog. My faux-fir is massive. It’s actually too big for my living room, but I artistically bent the top branches so it fits. It will be an interesting study in geometry and the laws of physics when the time comes to put it away.

I was blessed with an early a holiday miracle. The tree only took me a couple of hours to re-shape. Years of forcing it into a too-small storage bag has done horrible things to its branches, giving it a form that defies nature. Making it look like a tree usually takes several hours, but now that the base is on wheels and I can move it away from the corner walls, the process is much easier. I’ll go out on a limb and say that if Fred Astaire were still alive, he could probably dance around the living room with my tree. It’s too bad that the ring that holds the new storage bag in place looks like it’s sagging. It took me an hour to put the bag-base together (nothing ever comes fully assembled, anymore), and I’m just hoping my tree isn’t in imminent danger, not to mention, me. Years ago I had a fully decorated tree fall on top of me, and it wasn’t a pretty sight.

I’ve already invested many hours in this tree and it’s not even decorated yet. That’s the second leg of this journey, which starts tomorrow. Decorating my tree will probably take me two days and by the time I’m done, my home will look like a bomb has exploded in it. No room will go unscathed. That is the universal truth of Christmas decorating and it’s all part of My Christmas Journey.

]]>Blog2012-11-07T08:42:41-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/english-country-sounds-so-inviting.html#unique-entry-id-54http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/english-country-sounds-so-inviting.html#unique-entry-id-54
I have never thought of myself as an English Country Home person, but after seeing the pictures in this article, I’m learning that I love the cozy feeling that this design has to offer. Rather than go through it point by point, I thought I’d embed the article. Just a note: I particularly like the copper gutters. And the vine covered exteriors. And the stone. And the window. And…

18 Ways to Bring English Country Charm Home

Houzz- Kitchen Remodel, Bathroom Remodel and More »

Browse Home Office Products on Houzz- For Example:

Bulletin Board · Cable Management · Desk Accessories · Desks · Filing Cabinets And Carts · Task Chairs ·

]]>Blog2012-10-24T08:41:33-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/a-small-reason-to-celebrate.html#unique-entry-id-53http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/a-small-reason-to-celebrate.html#unique-entry-id-53

I’ve written before about how I’ve been holding out for an iPad mini (for more than a year) and finally, the tablet of my dreams has arrive.

Wait… you say it had no retina screen? No problem. Whenever I see pictures of retina displays next to non retina displays to show the contrast, I never see the contrast.

What’s that? The mini has an A5 chip and not the A6X? I probably won’t notice the difference.

One more thing? The mini has a new lightening connector that’s not compatible with existing peripherals? Does it matter? If I upload everything to my MacBook Pro and it gets transferred to the mini via bluetooth, how many adapters do I need?

Let’s face it. I’m a writer, and my predominant reason for wanting an iPad mini is for ease of use when traveling - something highly portable to read on, write on, and connect on. I’m also an Apple person. I’ve got the afore mentioned MacBook Pro, an iPhone 4S and a first generation 64 GB iPad on which I have 49 GB still available for use.

The mini will suit me just fine. I don’t need it for heavy-duty computing, video editing (although I can’t wait to try that), or watching films and TV programs.
I’ve got other stuff for that.

The iPad mini is what it is…

Perfect.
]]>Blog2012-10-15T08:40:45-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/Little-Nemo-Google-Doodle.html#unique-entry-id-52http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/Little-Nemo-Google-Doodle.html#unique-entry-id-52

My favorite Google doodles are the interactive ones, and today’s pays tribute to the 107th anniversary of New York Herald cartoonist and animator Winsor McCay’s Little Nemo in Slumberland. McCay began drawing Little Nemo in 1905 and the cartoon was so popular, it was eventually made into a Broadway musical. Years later, McCay began animating some of his characters and created one of the first films to use cels.

Before there was Disney, there was McCay.

Maurice Sendak has described McCay as one of America’s Great Fantacists. I kind of wish McCay were here now, to illustrate the Chronicles of the Library of Illumination.

Check out this Google Doodle which was posted on Facebook.

]]>Blog2012-10-05T08:40:00-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/The-Closet-Chronicles.html#unique-entry-id-51http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/The-Closet-Chronicles.html#unique-entry-id-51
          Almost every day, I go onto Pinterest and re-pin fashions of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries to use as research for the historic novels I write. Today, it made me think of my own top six fashions from years gone by.
          Far and away, I probably got more wear out of a pair of black denim, low rise, boot flared pants than any other article of clothing in my closet. They laced up with rawhide in lieu of a zipper, and I often paired them with a black V-neck sweater with blouson sleeves.
          A long, wine-colored suede vest came in a close second. I loved it because it had a shawl collar and pockets. It went with dresses; it went with dress pants; it went with jeans. I often wish I still owned it.
Then there was the blue lace dress my mother made for me. It is very similar to the one pictured, except mine was baby blue. It was a simple dress, but don’t think of it as just a home-made outfit. My mother worked for a couturier who sold her designs through Bergdorf Goodman and she custom fitted that lace mini sheath with long sleeves and a boat neck to my body. It was as soft as gossamer, as stretchy as spandex, and easy to take care of. It wasn’t just simple. It was simply beautiful.
          During the winter I had a black wool coat that had a high collar, was double breasted, with brass snaps, fitted through the waist with an inset belt and ended just above the knee. I guess you would call it feminine military style. I wore it until it was threadbare.
          In lieu of a little black dress, I owned a little black velvet suit. A short black skirt and a blazer style jacket that didn’t overlap in the front but had gold buttons on each side that attached to their mates with chains.
          And then there was my Donna Karan sarong skirt and blazer in black silk. It doesn’t seem like a sarong would go with a blazer - one being sexy, the other being utilitarian - but they paired together beautifully. The two pieces cost me a fortune, but I wore every cent’s worth out of them. I remember dressing in them to cover a visit by the Vice President of the United States (I was a reporter) and as I was getting ready to leave, I ripped one of the sleeves at the elbow. It was summer, so I just rolled up the sleeves and the fabric was so fine that no one ever knew I had a wardrobe malfunction. My tailor was able to repair the problem by tapering the jacket’s loose sleeves and I was able to wear it for several more seasons. It was a perfect pairing, yet each piece worked alone, as well.
          I loved all those outfits, and what I think makes them extraordinary, is that they could all pass muster if worn today. I can’t say the same for some of the other outfits I’ve owned, but then they weren’t classics like the items mentioned above. ]]>Blog2012-09-23T08:38:51-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/15-More-Objects-That-Define-NYC.html#unique-entry-id-50http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/15-More-Objects-That-Define-NYC.html#unique-entry-id-50

A few weeks ago, the New York Times Metropolitan section had a feature about 50 objects that defined New York, which I reprinted. This week, the NYT added another fifteen articles, which I’m also sharing with you. I don’t know how a 32 ounce soda cup, which can be found everywhere made the cut, while egg creams did not. But hey, it’s not my list. I’m just passing it on...

New York’s 50: Wait! There’s More
By SAM ROBERTS
Earlier this month, we asked you to tell us which objects represented New York City to you. We had made our own list, “A History of New York in 50 Objects,” and wanted to hear what we had missed. Well, you told us. More than 600 of you responded on NYTimes.com, offering everything from a bright red apple to Bella Abzug’s hat.
No subject engaged you more than food. We included a hearty helping in our list, but you wanted seconds. You lobbied passionately for pizza slices (triangular and square); egg creams (made with Fox’s U-bet chocolate syrup); pastrami sandwiches; Mello-Rolls and other ice cream treats, especially from Mister Softee and Bungalow Bar; seltzer bottles; Ebinger’s blackout cake; the cream-cheese sandwiches at Chock full o’Nuts; bialys; plantains; cheesecake from Junior’s and Lindy’s; Charlotte russes; a pickle barrel; and hot dogs from Nathan’s and from carts under the ubiquitous blue-and-yellow Sabrett umbrellas.
You rejected the symbols we chose to represent the Metropolitan Transportation Authority: the silver throttle used to inaugurate subway service and the MetroCard. Readers demanded the original subway token, the one with the cutout Y in the middle of NYC. It appears on a follow-up list we are publishing this week, among 15 entries selected from your nominations.
Maybe we should have defined “objects” more narrowly. Your suggestions included a few people — former Mayor Edward I. Koch was cited most often — and many things much, much bigger than a breadbox, like Central Park, Grand Central Terminal, Kennedy Airport, the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building. Does the stainless steel Unisphere from the 1964 World’s Fair count as an object? At 700,000 pounds and 140 feet tall, with a diameter of 120 feet, the globe is unlikely to be put in a museum display case.
There are few symbols that summon the city more immediately than the “I ♥ NY” logo, designed by Milton Glaser in 1977 for a state campaign to spur tourism. But until you print it on a T-shirt or a key chain, you can’t really hold a logo in your hand.
We called for objects that did not just evoke New York, but that also could be used to tell the story of the city: A lottery wheel from the Civil War draft and a crack vial from the 1980s, both included in this list, served that purpose well.
What else did we overlook the first time? You offered a Playbill or a theater marquee to epitomize the Broadway theater, some physical manifestation of Robert Moses’s legacy and a Stork Club ashtray. Readers asked, What about Miss Rheingold and Miss Subways? A CBGB T-shirt? Tin Pan Alley? The model-sailboat pond in Central Park?
Some suggestions were truly inspired. A Newark reader proposed the 1-inch-by-3 inch Delaney card, the visual attendance record invented by a Bronx teacher that, the reader wrote, “held the power of life and death over a student.” A Tokyo woman proposed Con Edison’s orange-and-white chimneys placed over manholes to allow steam to escape without scalding passers-by or obscuring visibility.
Here are some of the best and most popular reader recommendations, with historical annotations from The New York Times.
As we noted when we published the first 50, any list can constitute only a history of New York, not the history. Among your nominations was a copy of Walt Whitman’s 1855 “Leaves of Grass,” which itself contains a fitting coda to the notion of a finite list of influential objects.
“I am large,” Whitman wrote in his poem “Song of Myself.” “I contain multitudes.”

Related: A History of New York in 50 Objects

1. Dueling Pistols, 1804

1. The Stoop, 1800s Onward

1. Draft Lottery Wheel, 1863

1. Samuel J. Tilden’s Will, 1886

1. Wooden Water Tanks, Late 1800s Onward

1. Brass Doorknob, Late 1800s

1. 1911 Triangle Fire Monument

1. The Spaldeen, 1949 Onward

1. Black-and-White Cookie, Early 1900s?

1. Subway Token, 1953 to 2003

1. The Domino, Silvercup and Pepsi Signs, 1900s

1. New Yorker Cover, 1976

1. Crack Vial, 1980s

1. 9/11 Missing Posters, 2001

1. 32-Ounce Soda Cup, 2012

]]>Blog2012-09-09T08:36:52-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/apples-big-announcement.html#unique-entry-id-48http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/apples-big-announcement.html#unique-entry-id-48
This week, Apple will be unveiling the iPhone 5 and Apple-o-philes everywhere have been champing at the bit, ready to invest in the next generation iPhone.

I’ve been an Apple fan since almost the beginning because Apple computers have always been innovative and user friendly, but what really reeled me in for life, was the Apple Macintosh. It was released in 1984 and as far as I was concerned, it was the best looking computer I had ever seen.

I stumbled across Steve Jobs’ 1983 announcement of the first Macintosh and in honor of this weeks Apple event, I’m embedding it here.

]]>Blog2012-09-04T08:35:12-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/a-history-of-new-york-in-50-objects.html#unique-entry-id-47http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/a-history-of-new-york-in-50-objects.html#unique-entry-id-47

The following feature from this weekend’s New York Times Metropolitan section was so good that I’m re-bloggin it here. It really does capture the essence of New York.

A History of New York in 50 Objects
By SAM ROBERTS
An artichoke and an elevator. A Checker taxicab and a conductor’s baton. A MetroCard and a mastodon tusk.

Inspired by “A History of the World in 100 Objects,” the British Museum’s BBC radio series and book, we recruited historians and museum curators to identify 50 objects that could embody the narrative of New York. (Recalling that adage about great minds: In March, Leonard Lopate asked his WNYC radio listeners to participate in a similar project.)

The “History of the World” was limited to objects in the British Museum’s collection. Like that list, ours “can only be a history” and “not the history.” And because it is a people’s history, we are inviting participation. Tell us what objects past or present represent New York City to you in the comments section below.

The List

1. Mastodon Tusk, About 11,000 B.C.

1. Munsee Arrowhead, Pre-1700
2. The Schaghenbrief, 1626
3. The Flushing Remonstrance, 1657
4. Painting of New Amsterdam, 1665
5. The Oyster, Late 1600s
6. English-Dutch Dictionary, 1730
7. Beads From the African Burial Ground, 1700s
8. A Horse’s Tail, 1776
9. Washington’s Balcony, 1789
10. Wooden Water Pipes, About 1800
11. Randel’s Map, 1811
12. Lake Erie Keg, 1825
13. Singer Sewing Machine, 1851
14. Patent for Otis Elevator Brake, 1861
15. The Lefferts’ Cookbook, 1800s
16. Checks of Boss Tweed, 1866-1870
17. Edison’s Dynamo, 1882
18. Brooklyn Bridge Toll Ticket, About 1883-1898
19. Manuscript of ‘The New Colossus,’ 1883
20. Sculpture of the 1898 Consolidation
21. Child’s Shoes From the General Slocum, 1904
22. Tiffany Subway Throttle, 1904
23. Battle’s Badge, 1911
24. The Automat Machine, 1912
25. The Bagel, Early 1900s
26. 1913 Armory Show Stamp
27. First Yankee Stadium Program, 1923
28. Rivoli Air Conditioning Advertisement, 1925
29. Ticker Tape, 1929
30. The Artichoke, 1933
31. Tree of Hope, 1934
32. Time Capsule From 1939 World’s Fair
33. Levittown House, 1947
34. 1955 World Series Banner
35. Checker Taxicab, 1952-1986
36. Diplomatic Plates, 1960s Onward
37. ‘Tonight Show’ Audio Track, 1962
38. Greek Coffee Cup, 1960s
39. Bernstein’s Baton, 1969
40. Saturday Night Special, 1960s Onward
41. ‘FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD’ Headline, 1975
42. AIDS Button, 1980s
43. Loisaida Avenue Sign, 1987
44. The Boom Box, 1980s
45. The Phantom’s Mask, 1988
46. The MetroCard, 1994
47. 9/11 Dust, 2001
48. Mast Brothers Chocolate Bar, 2007 Onward
49. Meng Political Sign, 2012

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/09/02/nyregion/a-history-of-new-york-in-50-objects.html?smid=pl-share

]]>Blog2012-08-22T21:36:11-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/unusual-home.html#unique-entry-id-46http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/unusual-home.html#unique-entry-id-46
I’m looking for unusual architecture to create the many different worlds I’ll need for the next several segments of the Chronicles of the Library of Illumination, and this tiny home in Sweden fits the bill to a tee. I can see one person living in this space without going stir crazy, but it’s hard to imagine two. Decide for yourself.

This slideshow is from 8.22.12 Houzz:

Houzz Tour: A Rare Tiny-Home Specimen in Sweden

Houzz- Kitchen Remodel, Bathroom Remodel and More »

Browse Storage And Organization on Houzz- For Example:

Baskets · Clothes And Shoes Organizers · Coat Stands And Umbrella Stands · Hall Trees · Hooks And Hangers · Media Storage · Storage Boxes · Wall Shelves ·

]]>Blog2012-08-16T21:35:22-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/chronicles-the-library-of-illumination.html#unique-entry-id-45http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/chronicles-the-library-of-illumination.html#unique-entry-id-45


The Library of Illumination started out as a short story that somehow ended up on steroids.

I just finished the Chronicles of the Library of Illumination, a 77,000 word YA fantasy that starts, innocently enough, with the story of a young girl who becomes the curator of the most wonderful library ever, and ends with her and her 17-year-old assistant, Jackson, discovering secret portals to Libraries on other worlds. This obviously lends support to the proverbial saying, “we are not alone.”

This compendium includes the first five segments (which means, there’s more to come). So now, the pressure is on to finish creating my other worlds. If you look on my website under Library of Illumination - Realms, you’ll see the beginning of where this is going. I’ve got names of realms and curators and the names of individuals in the College of Overseers. Plus some symbols, however, they are subject to change because they don’t always reproduce across multiple platforms in predictable ways. But I’m working on it.

My most ambitious undertaking (other than writing the manuscript) has been the Library floor plans, which are incomplete (and at 1,311 levels, they will remain incomplete, forever). It’s funny because I created them, so I could illustrate where different things were taking place. What it really illustrates is why it’s good that I never became an architect (although I still dream about becoming one, some day). I had staircases where they could not feasibly exist, and my initial design would barely have held a fraction of the books that the greatest Library, ever, would be required to house. I posted a floor plan on my website, but will have to change it soon, because I had one of the protagonists using an escape route, that they’d have to leap over 15 feet of open air - to reach. Now that the manuscript is done (until an agent or editor tells me to change it) I’m going to spend the next few weeks tweaking my floor plans and designing new civilizations for the next LOI segment.

]]>Blog2012-08-11T21:34:46-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/hidden-transportation-gem.html#unique-entry-id-44http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/hidden-transportation-gem.html#unique-entry-id-44

Every so often, I find a place I would love to visit, but can’t.

The following travel blog was written by “Sophie” in February 2012 and details a once-beautiful New York City subway station, that was abandoned when it’s sharp curves were no longer safe for longer passenger cars. Once you see the pictures, you’ll want to visit it, too. It’s a gem.

New York City’s Hidden Subway Station
WRITTEN BY SOPHIE 24 FEBRUARY 2012

Deep in the belly of New York’s subway system, a beautiful untouched station resides that has been forgotten for years with only a limited few knowing of its existence. Stunning decoration with tall tiled arches, brass fixtures and skylights run across the entire curve of the station, almost a miniature imitation of Grand Central Station… But it sounds like something straight out of Harry Potter, right?

It was opened in 1904, with the hope of making it the crowning glory of the New York subway system in elegant architecture and a place for commemorative plaques to honour the work that had resulted in such a successful underground mass transit system. It was to be the original southern terminus of the first ‘Manhattan Main Line’; however the station was closed and boarded up in 1945. The gem of the underground began gathering dust, forgotten by the general public, as passengers were forced off at the Brooklyn Bridge Stop before the train continued on to the terminus to make its turnaround.



The reason for its closure was that newer longer cars were required to match the demand of passengers that passed through the system. But as the stations tracks were severely curved, a dangerous gap between the train doors and the platform was formed making it an unsafe area. This combined with the fact that only about 600 people used it, resulted in its closure with only mythical plans of turning it into a transit museum. But this was never followed through.

However, now you don’t have to take my word that the secret City Hall Station exists, as the 6 Train will now allow the passengers who have been enlightened with the knowledge of its whereabouts to stay on the train during its turnaround and see the Station. You won’t be able to get off, but you’ll be taken for a slow tour of the platform and see what a beauty it was in its heyday!

And if that isn’t enough, The Underbelly Project has turned it into a kind-of off-limits art gallery. They are a group of street artists who have painted the walls of the unattractive concrete areas with their art in a spooky art exhibition that will be witnessed only by urban explorers who prowl the deep train system at night and Metropolitan Transportation Authority workers.




Over a hundred murals have been accumulated over time by graffiti artists, namely PAC and Workhorse (infamous NYC graffitists), who discovered the bare walls and invited others to add their art.

But if you want to go and view these art works, you will most definitely run the high risk of being arrested as venturing the tunnels is both highly illegal and dangerous! I’ll just stick to seeing the photographs as I’m pretty sure my search for art would turn into a horror story down in the black tunnels… or I’d get hit by a train.

]]>Blog2012-08-03T21:34:00-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/creating-a-language.html#unique-entry-id-43http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/creating-a-language.html#unique-entry-id-43
IK    I am
OK   You are
UK   He, she or it is

IKIS   We are
OKIS  You are
UKIS  They are

Nothing is worse for someone who is not fluent in other languages, than to have to create a unique language. But that’s just what I need to do for the Library of Illumination. In the latest segment, we learn the Library exists on twelve different worlds, and I had to create a special language for one of them. I’ve made up a few words, and conjugated the singular and plural of “to be” for the Terrorian Realm, but that’s about it, and I don’t know where to go from here. I kind of wish there was an online course on how to develop your own language. I guess I could dig up an old French Language book and see how they they get the basics across. Or I can just leave it be.

At least, I don’t need touristy stuff like, “Where is the bathroom?” because Terrorians expel waste through their bare feet. If you ever travel to one of my fictitious worlds, you’d better watch where you step. And don’t expect to find a Diet Coke anywhere on the planet. I guess Dorothy said it best when she told Toto, “We’re not in Kansas anymore.”

I’ll be posting my Terrorian Language Primer on my website under the Library of Illumination during the next couple of weeks. Hopefully I’ll get some feedback, that will keep me on track. I would never want to be accused of being responsible for another world’s bad grammar.

]]>Blog2012-07-23T21:33:01-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/bookbinding-by-hand.html#unique-entry-id-42http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/bookbinding-by-hand.html#unique-entry-id-42
A member of my LinkedIn bookbinding group sent me the link to a great video on Neatorama.com showing a pictorial dictionary being made by hand. It’s absolutely wonderful for people like me who love seeing this process in action. There are now machines that print books on demand in no time at all, but this video shows how time intensive, making handmade books can be.

]]>Blog2012-07-16T21:32:25-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/birth-of-a-book.html#unique-entry-id-41http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/birth-of-a-book.html#unique-entry-id-41
I often mention bookbinding in The Library of Illumination, and I found this wonderful video on how a book is created that I want to share here:



Courtesy of: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturevideo/booksvideo/9067569/Birth-of-a-Book-a-tour-of-Smith-Settles-handmade-bookbinding-process.html ]]>Blog2012-07-15T21:31:07-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/4ab4ce594f24e76b7b648e948653bb66-40.html#unique-entry-id-40http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/4ab4ce594f24e76b7b648e948653bb66-40.html#unique-entry-id-40
Peter James, Sandra Brown, David Morrell, R.L. Stine

I just got home from my sixth Thrillerfest Writer’s Conference (there have been seven of them, but I missed the one in Arizona), and like every other year that I have attended, I feel like I learned a lot. I hadn’t planned on pitching this year, but The Library of Illumination Chronicles are so close to completion that I had to do it. Luckily, some agents were interested in seeing the manuscript, even though I was pitching YA fantasy is a room filled with agents looking for thrillers.

The workshops and panels I attended were taught by some of the best thriller writers in the world, including Catherine Coulter, David Morrell, Steve Berry, Sandra Brown, Lee Child, Lisa Gardener, Bob Dugoni, and so many others (I usually subscribe to the rule of threes, but there were so many New York Times best selling writers in one place, that I couldn’t hold back. And I didn’t even mention John Sandford, Joseph Finder and R. L. Stine, and that’s still only the tip of the iceberg. Because it was four days of workshops and panels and interviews involving great writers. OMG! I left out Heather Graham, and Karen Dionne and M.J. Rose. Really, I could keep adding names to the list… Doug Preston, Gayle Lynds, and Phillip Margolin (who should know my auto corrector wants to change his last name to margarine).

I met other aspiring authors, just plain folk, like former FBI agents, doctors, lawyers and navy seals. And journalists, lots and lots of journalists (but, it should be noted, that we were outnumbered by the lawyers). Everybody’s got a story they want to tell, and it seems like they all want to publish that story as a thriller. I even saw a former commanding officer of my local police department’s homicide squad, who is writing crime fiction. It was quite an event.

Once I get my notes organized, I’ll share some of the writing tidbits I picked up. Look for them in this blog and on my Facebook and Twitter pages. But right now, I’ve got to go finish The Library of Illumination Chronicles, so I can write a synopsis of it and send it out.

The pressure is on, but life is good.

]]>Blog2012-07-09T21:30:29-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/ipad-mini-yes-please.html#unique-entry-id-39http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/ipad-mini-yes-please.html#unique-entry-id-39

For weeks, I’ve been following rumors about the possibility of an iPad Mini being released toward the end of this year, and praying the rumors are true. I know Steve Jobs gave it a big thumbs down, with a now-famous quote about how it would have to come with sandpaper so users could file down their fingers. But he was - dare I say it - wrong. If it were true, the sales of iPod Touches would have nosedived. Jobs was a big guy, over six feet tall, and would have naturally had large hands. So maybe a mini would be too small for him. But roughly half our population is women, with smaller hands and more slender fingers. We don’t want to lug around a cumbersome 10-inch iPad, if there’s a smaller, lighter one available that has all the same features.

Everyone is talking about how it could be made at a lower price point to compete with the Kindle Fire and Nexus 7, but that shouldn’t be a consideration at all, especially if it means an iPad Mini would have less features than a full size iPad. I think what a lot of us want is something smaller and lighter to carry around, not something less impressive. I stopped lugging my iPad everywhere just a few months after I got it, because it weighed me down. But a mini would be lighter, would fit in my bag better, would be easier on my wrist, and I’m sure my fingers wouldn’t mind a smaller keyboard at all. Even better, if it has bluetooth, I can always use a wireless keyboard if I want to type on a full size one (just like I’ve done with my 10-inch iPad).

Apple, you’re not just a company that caters to men. Women buy your products, too. Release an iPad Mini. You can call it an iTab. They’ll fly off the shelves.

]]>Blog2012-07-04T21:29:46-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/ten-steps-to-self-publishing.html#unique-entry-id-38http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/ten-steps-to-self-publishing.html#unique-entry-id-38

I belong to quite a few LinkedIn writers groups, and I noticed that there are several ongoing discussions about what separates a professionally published book (or what some people call real publishing) from vanity publishing (or what some people call pay-through-the-nose publishing) and self publishing (or what some people call when-am-I-going-to-get-to-see-my-family-again publishing).

All writers dream about being published by one of the BIG SIX publishing houses: Random House; Simon & Schuster; HarperCollins; Macmillan; Hatchette Book Group; and Penguin Group. Some authors are embraced. Most are turned away. If those writers really want to see their books in print, they’ve got to go the vanity press route, or self publish. A lot of writers (especially those published by the big six) consider vanity publishing and self publishing to be the same thing, but there’s a big difference.

When writers select one of the vanity publishing companies like Xlibris, iUniverse, or Vantage Press to name a few, they pay that company big bucks to publish their books. The company supplies a cover, the ISBN number and copies of the completed book for the author. They may list the book on their website and/or in their catalogues. And they may do minimal marketing like sending a press release to a pre-set list of media outlets and providing promotional bookmarks, media releases or one-sheets. Just don’t expect much in the way of follow-up marketing.

Self-publishing is a little different. Those authors are responsible for shepherding their books every step of the way, from laying out the interior pages, to having covers made, to buying their own ISBN numbers, to registering their work with the Copyright Office at the Library of Congress and then getting LCCN numbers so librarians can access information about their books from the Library of Congress. It’s up to self publishers to supply their own bar codes, book trailers and one-page information sheets for the media. And they are responsible for finding printers who charge reasonable rates.

In an effort to streamline the path for someone who is thinking about self-publishing, I’ve boiled it down to ten steps to help put the process in perspective:

1. Finish the book. This is a no-brainer. How are you going to sell something that isn’t finished? How are you going to get a cover made if you don’t know how wide the spine should be because you don’t know many pages make up your book? How are you going to price out a printer, if you can’t tell him how much printing he’ll actually have to print?
2. Write all your cover copy and front and back matter. Before you go any further, write everything that will go into your book that is not part of the actual text. You’ll need a short blurb to include when assigning an ISBN number to your work, and a longer description that will go on the book cover. Know what you’re putting on your title page and what information you’re going to include on your copyright page. Are you going to have a dedication page, or an acknowledgments page? Will your back matter include an author bio or a glossary, or an index? Write it now, so you have it ready to go when you need it. You need to know how much front matter and back matter you are including as well as how many blank pages you’ll need, so you will have an accurate page count. You can write a 47-page novelette, but it may be 60 pages long when all is said and done.
3. Hire a professional editor. Sure, you’re a good writer. You know your story backwards and forwards. Why should you pay good money to someone else? Because you’re too close to the story. You know the backstory. You know what has been edited out. You know stuff nobody else knows, and therein lies the problem. Someone else who knows none of the things you know, may read your book and say, “I don’t get it?” because they don’t know an important piece of information that somehow ended up on the cutting room floor. It always helps to have an extra set of eyes look over your work--a professional pair of eyes.
4. Have someone proofread your book. Sure, you know all about punctuation and grammar usage, after all, you’re a writer aren’t you? But sometimes when you’re typing and you correct a line that you wrote, the quotation marks don’t always make their way back to the end of the dialogue. Or a letter may go missing from a word. Maybe your manuscript says, ‘he’ instead of ‘the.’ They’re both real words so the mistake won’t show up in spellcheck. Then there are those pesky commas: should I use one here; can I leave the comma out there? And don’t even get me started on the horrors of autocorrect. Plus again, you’re too close to the story.
5. Think up a catchy name for your publishing company: Tall Tree Books, Blue Sky Press, Brownstone Ink, etc. You may want to stay away from using your own name or initials, if you don’t want to scream “self-published.”
6. Order an ISBN (International Standard Book Number), or a block of ISBNs (more numbers cost less) from Bowker.com. You’ll need one number for each type of book you produce, even if they all have the same title. You’ll need one for the hardcover, another one for the trade paperback, and another for the mass market paperback. The ISBN identifies the exact book and size and type and publisher, so you will need a new number for every version of your book that you produce. You can also buy bar codes and widgets from Bowker. Once you establish an account with them, you can get what you need, when you need it.
7. Register your work with the Copyright Office. This is to establish your intellectual ownership.
8. Get a Library of Congress Control Number or LCCN so librarians can access your information.
9. Hire a graphic artist who has experience designing book covers, so he can create the right size cover to showcase your work. This will include the front and back covers and the correctly sized spine, and book flaps if you want a jacket for a hardcover book.
10. Decide on a printer. Maybe there’s one not too far from where you live who will charge you a reasonable rate. Or maybe you prefer a POD printer. I like to use CreateSpace because I do not have to buy one of their packages to have them print my book. I just have to answer all their questions, format the interior of my manuscript according to their template (you can download it from their website) and upload a cover. If you have a lot of patience, and aren’t really picky about the crazy fonts they assign to book titles, you can use their cover creator. Just know that it can be a major pain in the butt because it’s a template and customization is limited.

That’s it. The building blocks of publishing your own book. Walk in the shoes of Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, Virginia Wolff, Henry David Thoreau and Deepak Chopra - just to name a few - who have self published in the past.

The next step is selling the finished product. Marketing a book is a lot of work, but you got this far didn’t you? It’s too late to turn back now. I’ll have more on marketing in a future post.

]]>Blog2012-07-03T21:28:45-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/unusual-weather.html#unique-entry-id-37http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/unusual-weather.html#unique-entry-id-37
I saw this on Media Bistro and found it amusing.

]]>Blog2012-06-25T20:17:13-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/flash-fiction-eternity.html#unique-entry-id-36http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/flash-fiction-eternity.html#unique-entry-id-36
I’ve always wanted to try my hand at flash fiction, but wasn’t sure I could keep my story under one hundred words. This is my first try and I wanted to share it:

          Lara and Max had not seen each other since before the war. They had gone their separate ways when they were deployed, but now that the war was over, Lara had returned to the fields where they had played together as children.
          “Lara.”
          She looked up to see Max running across the field. “Max, No!” But it was too late. The war had invaded a space they once believed sacrosanct. Max learned it was a mine field before Lara could warn him. His childhood wish to spend eternity in this place with its wonderful memories had unfortunately come true.

]]>Blog2012-06-18T20:16:00-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/nyt-beyond-the-grid.html#unique-entry-id-35http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/nyt-beyond-the-grid.html#unique-entry-id-35
I saw the following story in the Real Estate section of the New York Times this weekend, and I want to reblog it, so I don’t forget it. It’s about the little out-of-the-way streets in Manhattan that make up tiny communities that seem far, far away from the hustle and bustle of the city. You may need to be a NYT subscriber to see the multimedia presentation that includes Pomander Walk, Rutherford Place, Beekman Place, Stuyvesant Street, and Cherokee Place, but if you can access it, it’s fun to learn about them. What follows is the main article from the NYT:

THE vast majority of Manhattan residents live on streets that seem to run forever. Twenty-third Street clocks in at about two miles, Second Avenue at nearly seven. Thanks to Manhattan’s grid plan, which is celebrating its bicentennial with an exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York, the bulk of the island is laid out in rigid checkerboard fashion.

Multimedia

Interactive Feature
Five Small Communities Within Manhattan

But for a few fortunate people, there is another Manhattan, a handful of short streets that run for just a block, or two or three at the most. Their histories are invariably rich — some were born as driveways for large gated estates — and their charms quickly reveal themselves to both residents and visitors.
Such streets are typically lined with trees and exquisite old buildings, and often adjacent to parks. Many are designated as historic districts. Being off the beaten track and sometimes gated, they tend to be unusually safe. Many have adorable names, like Patchin Place and Sniffen Court, and have been home to celebrated residents (E.E. Cummings on Patchin Place; Irving Berlin on Beekman Place).
Small and tucked away, these streets offer a respite from the hectic city. “They have a special quality,” said Kevin Walsh, the creator of Forgotten New York and one of many urban bloggers who find these enclaves irresistible. “You feel it the moment you set foot on these streets.”
And because they break the geometric precision that dominates much of the island, they offer unexpected vistas. “Even if you don’t think about the grid,” Mr. Walsh said, “you’re subconsciously aware of it, and you notice subliminally when it’s interrupted.”
Short streets have a few downsides. They befuddle taxi drivers. To arriving guests, it can be hard to explain exactly where you live. Residents sometimes know their neighbors almost too well; everyone knows when you come home at 2 in the morning. It’s easy for residents to obsess over amenities like outside lighting and other street furniture. As Simeon Bankoff, the executive director of the Historic Districts Council, said, “People on some of these streets take their sidewalks very seriously.”
But residents don’t complain much. They realize they enjoy a benefit not often found in a big and congested city, the sense of being part of a small and exclusive community. “It was as if everyone was part of a large extended family,” said Alicia Bliss, a 39-year resident of Henderson Place, a cul-de-sac north of East 86th Street that is home to dollhouse-size Queen Anne row houses. “Our front door was like a hallway to our neighbors’ houses.”

]]>Blog2012-06-13T20:14:39-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/french-paradox.html#unique-entry-id-34http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/french-paradox.html#unique-entry-id-34
This is not a joke about two physicians who walk into a bistro.

The French Paradox is the anomaly involving a preternaturally thin culture of people who stay that way while enjoying, wine, cheese and pastries.



However, the homogenization of the world is apparently taking a toll on the citizens of France. I’m not talking about how they process their milk, but rather, how they’re adopting some bad American habits. Studies show the obesity rate among adults is climbing in France (although not as much as it is in America) and the stats are worse for young people.

Leisurely meals are reportedly an important ingredient of the French Paradox with families eating together and lingering over their food. However, a story by CBS in 2009, blamed a growing weight problem in France on an increase in their use of processed foods, with a decrease in the amount of time available for cooking and eating a meal of locally produced fresh food that might consist of a starter, entree, and a dessert (plus wine, cheese and bread).

This past weekend, the New York Times ran an article about Jenny Craig’s foothold in France. Apparently Jenny C. opened shop there about two years ago, and is doing well. The company’s general concept is the same, although the food is different. Americans apparently can’t do without three meals and three snacks a day, while a French Jenny C. plan only includes one snack, and their meals have less calories. While American dieters are sent “French Toast” for breakfast, French followers are served up cereal.

Then there’s fast food. McDonald’s has had a presence in France since the 1970’s and while it, too, has adapted its menu to cater to the culture, that menu includes processed food. The sauces may be different, the seating in McCafés more comfortable to encourage lingering over the meal, and you may be able to order a McBaguette for breakfast, but it’s still McDonald’s, which means it relies on standardized food bought in bulk to make a profit. That could be one of the reasons why weight problems among French youth has reportedly quadrupled in the last 25 years, because even though many people in France fought the invasion of the American fast food culture, young people have embraced it.

It’s the price of globalization. Technology has made the world smaller (and more sedentary), linking everyone together and bombarding far-flung cultures with new possibilities. But with the good, comes the bad. And that includes eating habits.

Macaron, anyone?

]]>Blog2012-06-02T20:12:20-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/secret-french-door.html#unique-entry-id-32http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/secret-french-door.html#unique-entry-id-32
I saw this door in Le Style Magazine (online). I don’t know exactly where it’s from, however, I think it’s absolutely wonderful and the color is great. I tried to pin it on Pinterest, but wasn’t able to, so I had to find another way to save it so I wouldn’t forget it -- like here, now.

]]>Blog2012-05-31T21:55:28-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/les-miserables.html#unique-entry-id-30http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/les-miserables.html#unique-entry-id-30
]]>Blog2012-05-23T21:54:53-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/luxury-looks-on-s-budget.html#unique-entry-id-29http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/luxury-looks-on-s-budget.html#unique-entry-id-29

I love simple decorating tips that look like they cost a fortune. So when I saw this on Houzz, I thought I’d embed it here so I could share it with you.

Mood Makers: Luxurious Looks on a Budget

Houzz- Kitchen Remodel, Bathroom Remodel and More »

Browse Storage And Organization on Houzz- For Example:

Baskets · Bookcases Cabinets And Computer Armoires · Closet Organizers · Clothes Racks · Hall Trees · Hooks And Hangers · Media Storage · Storage Boxes ·

]]>Blog2012-05-16T19:51:18-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/the-width-of-fashion.html#unique-entry-id-28http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/the-width-of-fashion.html#unique-entry-id-28
I love research and I want to share one of the interesting tidbits I discovered while researching the Casanova segment of The Library of Illumination.

If you’ve ever seen pictures of 18th century women in double-wide gowns that forced them to turn sideways while going through some doors, it’s because the fashion of the day called for panniers. These were oval hoops made of cane, metal or whalebone (baleen) that were attached to women’s waists.



They were the fashion of rich women and were required at royal court until the beginning of the 19th century. Panniers apparently did wonders at camouflaging women’s hips and thighs. But they were considered ridiculous by many men. Is it any wonder?

]]>Blog2012-05-12T19:50:44-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/uh-oh.html#unique-entry-id-27http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/uh-oh.html#unique-entry-id-27
I love shipping and receiving gadgets via the U.S. Postal Service because it’s convenient, so I nearly fell off my chair this morning when I read that starting May 16th, shipping electronics containing lithium batteries overseas will be banned...just because of a few fires on passenger planes—including one linked to a 2004 crash.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but in recent years, it has actually been less expensive to mail small packages using the USPS. Now, we’ll be forced to foot the bill for private delivery services, like UPS and FedEx.

That means it will cost more to ship items like cameras, cell phones, and iPads—to friends and family overseas, however, not all private companies deliver packages to APO and FPO boxes, so you’ll have to shop around.

The ban may not be permanent, but as it stands right now, the postal service says it will remain in place “until further notice.”

]]>Blog2012-05-11T19:49:50-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/home-sweet-home.html#unique-entry-id-26http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/home-sweet-home.html#unique-entry-id-26
If you like the idea of living in an unusual space, Zillow is featuring such a home in Saranac, NY for $750,000.

It’s a missile silo with all the comforts of home…if you don’t mind living mostly underground. And it has an airplane runway for a driveway. How cool is that?



There’s a lot more to see here.

]]>Blog2012-05-09T19:47:02-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/paper-prom-dresses.html#unique-entry-id-25http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/paper-prom-dresses.html#unique-entry-id-25
Being a former design student at the Fashion Institute of Technology, I understand the complexities of making a fitted dress. Needless to say, I was really impressed by the work done by a number of high school students who created newspaper prom dresses out of the Detroit Free Press. Take a look at their work. I’ve attached a link to the video:

http://www.freep.com/videonetwork/1617846351001

]]>Blog2012-05-07T19:45:55-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/the-library-of-illumination-the-orb-chapter-eight.html#unique-entry-id-24http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/the-library-of-illumination-the-orb-chapter-eight.html#unique-entry-id-24

The Library of Illumination - The Orb

Chapter Eight

          “You okay?” Jackson had followed Johanna to the antechamber.
         “It’s not a bomb,” she whispered. “It’s a nuclear power generator that supplies energy to the Library. It has to be charged every five hundred years, and now is the time. Except, how am I going to charge it, without the authorities going all crazy on me?”
         “Do you know what you’re saying?”
         “Of course!”
         “That five hundred years ago, shortly after Gutenberg came out with the Bible in the display case inside and well before the industrial revolution—that there was a nuclear generator on earth supplying power to the Library.”
         “Yes.”
         “I can’t wait to hear you explain that,” he nodded toward the agents, “to those guys.”
         “I guess... I’ll just have to make something up.”
         Jackson picked up a lock of her hair, “What can I do to help?” He looked at her and saw her eyes were riveted on the strand of hair he was holding. He dropped it. Now that they weren’t going to die, she seemed a little more standoffish.
         Johanna remained quiet for so long, Jackson thought she hadn’t heard him. Finally, she looked at him and smiled. “You’ve got to get them out of the main reading room. Lure them down to the basement with the promise of showing them something odd that may be connected to the device.”
         “What am I supposed to show them?”
         “I don’t know. Improvise.”
         “This isn’t some pawnbroker. These guys are feds. They can lock us up. I need to show them something.”
         She pictured an old, clunky instrument gathering dust in a corner. “The Graphophone! Show them the Graphophone.”
         “That thing that you played those recordings on?”
         “Yeah.”
         “That thing’s as old as the hills! Only an idiot would think it’s connected to the orb.”
          “Jackson, the orb is even older than the Graphophone. I need you to do this for me. Besides, they already think we’re incompetent.” She grabbed each of his hands in her own and looked him in the eyes. “They can’t expect you to know what that thing is? It’s way before your time. It would be an honest mistake. And even if they do think you’re an idiot, I would know you’re a hero.” She stretched up and kissed him.
         Jackson felt an electric current, almost as strong as the one he had felt the last time he touched the orb. “Okay,” he sighed. “I’ll be your idiot.”
         Johanna gave him a big smile. “Sooner is better.”
         They walked together to the Information desk, but their smiles faded when they saw the orb spinning wildly. The younger FBI agent was smothering a smoldering piece of paper.
         “Oh my God, what did you do to it?” She spotted what looked like a fishing net lying on the floor.
         “We tried to catch it in the net, and it went ballistic, rotating like that and throwing off sparks.”
         She looked at Jackson. “Now what?”
         He picked up his cue immediately. “I’ll bet you anything that it’s being controlled by that thing I saw down in the basement,” he said excitedly.
         “You’re crazy,” she said.
         Mace pushed past the other agents. “What thing downstairs?”
         “Some kind of really odd thing that I’ve never seen before.”
         “Show us.” The FBI agents, followed by the cops and Dax, paraded down the stairs after Jackson.
         As soon as they were out of sight, Johanna looked up at the orb and said, “Illumination.” The spinning slowed and the orb lowered. “This way.” She walked to the back door. “Outside.” The orb slipped through the door and rose until it sparkled in the light of the sun.

         In the basement, Jackson took officials to see an intricate piece of machinery made up of several brass and nickel rods connected to gears and a handle. One of the rods was fitted with a wax-coated tube. Another one was attached to a free arm with a metal stylus. The contraption sat on a walnut box resting on a rusty treadle frame, similar to the ones used on early sewing machines.
         Mace’s voice echoed off the grey stone walls. “What the hell is that? You brought us down here to look at that piece of junk?”
         Jackson defended himself. “How am I supposed to know what it is? I’ve never seen anything like it before. What if it’s important?”
         “It’s an old recording device,” Dax said, “used to capture the sound of music and voices on wax cylinders.”
         “My great grandfather used to have one of those,” a cop said, rubbing his finger over the brass gears. “My uncle made a mint selling it online.”
         “Forget this,” Mace growled. “We’d better get back upstairs before that thing incinerates us all.”

         While the men were downstairs, Johanna let herself back into the building and quietly closed the door. She retreated into the antechamber to await the agents’ discovery that the orb was gone.
         Salisbury led the way upstairs, but stopped short when he got to the reading room, causing the others to bump into him.
         “What now?” Mace was losing patience.
         “It’s gone!”
          Jackson walked around them. “Johanna!” he yelled.
          She rushed out of the antechamber. “Did you find something?”
         “No. It was some old recording device. Are you okay?”
          She nodded.
          “Where’s the orb?” Mace demanded.
          Johanna looked up at the spot where the orb had been spinning. “What did you do with it?” she asked, feigning ignorance.
          “We were downstairs. You were the one up here with it.”
         “I...I...had to use the... facilities.”
         “The facilities? You didn’t see where it went?”
         “No.” She circled around the Information Desk. She suddenly felt as nervous as her voice sounded, but not for the obvious reason. The big blue generator floated in the sunlight right outside one of the Library windows. If she could see it, so could everyone else.
         “Maybe it’s behind the stacks,” she said, trying to throw them off.
         The men split up and searched the interior of the Library. “Check downstairs,” Mace told Salisbury, “in case that thing followed us down and we missed it. I’ll check the back offices.” He headed toward the antechamber that Johanna had just vacated. One of the cops searched the stacks to the left, while another searched the shelves on the right. Dax took the stairs to the second floor, while the police chief went out the front door to call for backup.
         Johanna’s nerves were stretched to their limit. They hadn’t taken any precautions with the books on the second level or in the antechamber. Those volumes were all enchanted, and she was afraid that Mace or Dax would either open a book unleashing its power, or look out the window and see the orb suspended in mid air behind the Library.
         She picked up the remote control for the backhoe and made sure she pushed the joystick in the process. The backhoe roared to life and rolled into the Library. Even though Johanna was the person who pressed the lever, the movement startled her and she dropped the controller. The joystick hit the floor, making the backhoe change direction. It headed straight for the stacks. “No!” Johanna screamed. She stooped to pick up the controller, but it was too late. The backhoe slammed into a stack causing it to tip over, and each bank of shelves behind it tumbled into the next one, toppling them like dominoes. Books crashed everywhere.
         The cop who had been investigating that section had just rounded the corner of the last stack and wasn’t in direct range of being hit, but his color drained as he witnessed the chaos.
          Jackson came running. “Johanna, are you all right?”
          She nodded.
         Dax rushed down from the second level, still holding one of the books he had found up there. He grabbed the controller away from her. “What are you crazy?”
         “I picked the controller up to put it by the backhoe. I accidentally dropped it and the backhoe went berserk!”
         Everyone reunited to inspect the damage.
         Johanna caught Jackson’s eye and looked out the window. He followed her line of vision and returned her gaze with a half-shrug.
         Mace leaned over and picked up a few books. He placed them on the Information Desk and as he turned away, his eyes came to rest on a blue blur on the other side of the window. “Outside!” he pointed. “I see it!” He started for the front entrance, but Salisbury yelled, “Use the back door. It’s closer.”
         Dax threw down the book he was holding as he ran after them. In an instant, an unshaven, ill-kempt man dressed in rumpled linen breeches and a checked shirt appeared. He stood outside an odd enclosure made up entirely of well-worn sea chests. The handsome trunks were reinforced with iron hardware and leather straps, and were stacked end to end to create a wall. The man stared at Johanna. “Do you speak English?”

          Johanna ignored him. She turned toward the orb. “Delumination.” Then she nodded her head at Daniel Defoe’s most famous character, knowing the shipwrecked man’s look of relief would be short-lived. She grabbed the book off the floor and slammed it shut, hiding it in a drawer behind the Information Desk.
          Outside, officers found nothing. “It must have been a trick of light. Or maybe an airplane passing by,” Salisbury reasoned. “There’s nothing out here.”
          Still, the FBI and the police spent another hour, inspecting the back yard and the surrounding area, before finally admitting the orb was gone.
          Dax finally returned for the remote control and maneuvered the backhoe onto a flatbed truck that was blocking the street.
          “Where do you think it went?” one of the cops asked.
          “Hopefully, back where it came from,” Mace answered.
         They took one last look inside the Library, but conceded the device had evaporated into thin air. The parade of government vehicles departed, and people who had gathered hoping for a spectacle, returned to their mundane lives.

         Johanna secured the front door lock before plopping down on the couch.
         “Where do you think it went?” Jackson asked.
         “Wherever it was before it first appeared.”
         “This may be off-topic, but I have to ask, who was that grungy looking guy with all the trunks?”
         “You saw that?”
         “Yeah.”
         “Do you think the others did?”
         “No. They were too focused on the orb.”
         Johanna relaxed. “Robinson Crusoe.”
         Jackson smirked. “Did he think you were going to rescue him?”
         “We didn’t get that well-acquainted. I was too concerned about the orb.”
         Jackson sat down next to her. “I sure hope its power cell had time to re-charge.”
         “Of course it did, can’t you tell?
         “No. How would I be able to tell?”
         “Think about it.”
         “I’d rather think about you.” He rubbed her arm and pointed out the goose bumps that puckered her skin. “I’m definitely having an affect on you.”
         She laughed. “I hate to disappoint you, but I have goose bumps, because I’m freezing. The orb obviously controls the air conditioning. Better luck next time.”

         That was fine with Jackson. As long as there was a next time to look forward to, he was willing to keep trying.

The End

]]>Blog2012-05-04T19:42:55-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/the-library-of-illumination-the-orb-chapter-seven.html#unique-entry-id-23http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/the-library-of-illumination-the-orb-chapter-seven.html#unique-entry-id-23
The Library of Illumination - The Orb

Chapter Seven

          Johanna unwrapped a kiss to the rumble of the backhoe making its way up the hastily built ramp. By the time she swallowed the chocolate, the machine was coming through the inner lobby door. “No!” she choked.
          Dax, the backhoe operator, let go of the joystick on the remote control as Johanna pulled at one of the Persian carpets.
          “Jackson, help me get this rug out of the way before it gets ruined.” The two of them dragged the cumbersome carpet into a corner.
          “Sweetheart,” Dax shouted, “If that thing is what we think it is, the carpet is the least of your worries.”
          Johanna blushed, but didn’t care. Until they were all blown to kingdom come, she would do whatever she could to protect the Library and everything in it.
          “Get everyone out of here,” the backhoe operator told officials. The last thing I need is another ridiculous interruption.”
          Mace walked over to Johanna and Jackson and yanked his thumb toward the door as if he were hitchhiking. “Out.”
          “I need my bag,” Johanna said, rushing toward the antechamber. She saw Mal’s diary and stuffed it in her purse.
          Jackson waited for her, and they walked out together.
          The temperature outside the Library was stifling. Johanna wondered if an egg would sizzle on the sidewalk? The entire week had been unseasonably hot and humid, but she had forgotten all about the heat once the big, blue orb appeared. Now, with the sun beating down on her, she could feel the sweat beading on her upper lip.
          Jackson took her hand.
          “What are you doing?”
          “If I’m going to die, like I said before, I want to die happy.” He leaned in and brushed her lips with his own. When Johanna didn’t pull away from him, he wrapped his arm around her, and pulled her closer.”
          “Hey, hot lips, Miss Library Curator, we need you.”
          Agent Salisbury’s sarcasm brought her back to reality. She pushed Jackson away. “What is it?”
          “How do you open that door? Our man inside removed the chair that was propping it open, so it wouldn’t get hit by the backhoe. The wall slid shut and now we can’t get inside. And apparently, he can’t get out.”
          Johanna tried to enter the lobby. All she needed to do was push a button and say, “Illumination,” but the backhoe was in her way. She tried to climb over it, but it effectively blocked her path. “You’ve got to move this thing out of the way.”
          “Call Dax and tell him to reverse the backhoe, so the little lady can get into the lobby.” Mace ordered.
          “I can’t reach him. He’s not responding.”
          “What do you mean you can’t reach him? He’s just on the other side of the door.”
          “He’s not answering on the two-way radio or his mobile. Do you think the orb is causing interference?”
          “How the hell do I know?” The heat and the tension was starting to wear down the professional resolve of the older FBI agent.
          “I can let you in the back.” Johanna opened her bag and searched for her keys, but they weren’t there. She envisioned the last time she had used them and remembered dropping them in her desk drawer. “Except I don’t have my keys.”
          “Right. National security is thwarted, all because some little girl who somehow got to be Library curator, forgot her keys.” The agent’s voice mixed scorn with frustration.
          Jackson studied Johanna before replying. “I have a key to the back.”
          “But you can only get him inside the gate,” she reasoned. “How are you going to get him inside the Library?”
          Jackson took a deep breath. “I have a key to the back door.” He avoided looking at Johanna, shifting his gaze to Salisbury. “Follow me.”
          The agent trailed Jackson around the block and through the ally. At the back door, Jackson pulled out a brand new key and unlocked it.
          “Your girlfriend didn’t know you have that key, did she?”
          Jackson shrugged. “She does now.”
          Inside, the frustrated robotics operator was banging his fist against the front door. He turned when he heard their voices. “Thank God. I thought I’d never get out of here. My radio doesn’t work and neither does my mobile. I thought I was going to be trapped in here with that thing until the end.”
          “You’ve got to reverse the backhoe, so the girl can open the front door.”
          “I can open the door from in here.” Jackson pressed the ivory and brass button on the wall. “Illumination.”
          The door slid open to cheers from the people outside. “Now for this...” Salisbury began. He stopped mid-sentence as the large blue sphere rose ten feet off the floor, and floated in mid air above the Information Desk.
          “Are you going to move this backhoe or what?” the older agent called before noticing that the status quo had changed. He followed his partner’s gaze. A guttural noise escaped his throat, when he spotted the orb hovering overhead.

          Outside, Johanna sat on the curb, desolate over the fate of the Library that she had failed to protect. She dug through her bag and found Mal’s diary. She looked around to make sure no one was watching her, before she nonchalantly got up and walked into the Library lobby. Her heart nearly stopped when she saw the sphere floating above everyone’s head. She claimed a small piece of the floor that wasn’t blocked by the backhoe and sat down. She held Mal’s diary open in her hands and whispered, “nuclear device.” It brought her to Mal’s recollection of the Trinity Project and nuclear testing in White Sands, New Mexico. It outlined the devastation following the use of atomic weapons against Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It included the meltdowns at nuclear power plants in Chernobyl, Russia and Fukushima, Japan. But aside from a few other Cold War and Middle East references, there was nothing else.
          Johanna leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes. Mal, why aren’t you here to tell me what the big blue ball is?
          The pages shuffled. Johanna looked down at the diary, which now appeared to be an inch thicker. It lay open on one of the last pages.
          She felt her pulse quicken when she noticed a picture of the orb. She devoured the words written below the image. The device was a special reactor, separate from the electrical grid that provided energy for homes and businesses in the area. The orb powered only the Library, and nothing else. It had been that way since before Mal arrived, but the former curator had noted that the reactor showed signs of failing and that he needed to do something about it. Suddenly, the handwriting in the diary changed to printed instructions. Number three advised against touching the device because it was protected by a force field. No kidding! Number six indicated the sphere would rise as it lost power. It’s getting weaker! Suddenly, she didn’t feel so bad. Number eight advised moving the reactor into direct sunlight every half-millennium to recharge it. How do I do that if there’s a force field? She found her answer in number ten, which said the word “Illumination” – spoken only by the current curator – would give that person voice control to move the object. And number twelve said once the object had been charged, the word “Delumination” would remove the reactor from sight. Number thirteen, however, chilled Johanna to the bone. It said under no circumstances should force be used against the generator, or a nuclear chain reaction could occur.
          Johanna scrambled to her feet, and climbed over the backhoe. Inside, Salisbury was talking about catching the orb in a net.
          “Gentlemen,” Johanna cried out, “False alarm! We don’t need your assistance anymore. You can go.”
          Mace spun around and glared at her. “I’m calling the shots here, and this is not a false alarm. I’m not leaving without that thing!”
          Johanna tensed. How am I supposed to get out of this she wondered? When the group turned back to observe the orb, she walked to the antechamber and opened the diary again. Mal, you’ve got to tell me, is there any way to make them forget why they’re here? She waited for the pages to flutter, but they remained still.

]]>Blog2012-05-03T19:42:09-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/look-at-me.html#unique-entry-id-22http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/look-at-me.html#unique-entry-id-22
I’m usually not one to post comments on LinkedIn group discussions, but someone asked what to do with the masses of research that novelists seem to accumulate on the Historical Novels group, and I mentioned how I like to blog any research that doesn’t make it into my books.

I guess I did good because it turns out - I’m a top influencer.



I know, I didn’t do as well as Elizabeth Gates, but to see my name up there at all - is kind of a minor miracle.

So here I am shouting “Look at me! I’m up to my ankles in social media.”

]]>Blog2012-04-27T19:40:32-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/library-of-illumination-the-orb-chapter-six.html#unique-entry-id-21http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/library-of-illumination-the-orb-chapter-six.html#unique-entry-id-21
The Library of Illumination - The Orb

Chapter Six

          Within the hour, the cops returned with their Chief of Police and two agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They eyed Johanna and Jackson, but ignored them and headed directly for the orb. Their conversation mimicked the discussion by the scientists who had preceded them. Additional attempts to touch the sphere were futile.
          The older FBI agent was a muscular man named Mace. “We’ve got to move it out of here.”
          “If we can’t even touch it, how is that going to be possible?” a cop asked.
          Salisbury, the younger FBI agent, caught his eye. “Backhoe.”
          “What if it blows up?” the Police Chief speculated.
          “How did it even get in here?” Mace asked. “Somewhere, someone knows just what this thing is, and how to move it.”
          “Maybe Scotty can beam it up?” Jackson said dryly.
          Johanna unobtrusively kicked him in the ankle.
          “Hey, the kid’s a Trekkie,” one of the cops said.
          “Star Trek is not going to help us here,” Mace replied as he slowly circled the orb.
          “I still think a backhoe is the way to go,” Salisbury said. “It might be a little tough getting it in here, but it should be able to handle the payload.”
          “What if the driver fries on contact?” the police chief asked.
          “There doesn’t have to be a driver,” Salisbury answered. “We can use a robotic backhoe, that way nobody gets hurt.”
          “Yeah, unless the freakin’ thing explodes,” Jackson added. He felt Johanna’s shoe connect with his ankle, again. “Hey,” he whispered. “I’m too young to die, and I don’t want these guys doing something stupid.”
          “If you’re scared, hop on a plane to Australia, or else shut up,” she hissed under her breath.
          Jackson clamped his jaw shut, fisted his hands and stared at the floor. He was surprised by Johanna’s reprimand. Aren’t we in this together? he wondered, but didn’t say out loud, not wanting to further upset her.
          “All right, young lady, who’s in charge here?”
          Johanna bristled at the agent’s tone. “I am.”
          “No. I mean, who’s your boss?”
          “I am the curator of this Library.”
          “There’s no CEO? No Board of Directors?”
          “The Library Board has little to do with the day to day operation of the Library.”
          “Just get the top guy down here, now! This is a matter of national security. Go on! Get on the phone!”
          Johanna had no other choice. She called the head of the Library Board and told him he was urgently needed. He tried to put her off until she said, “The FBI is here.” He arrived twenty minutes later.
          She could see the annoyance etched on his face turn to fear, as he stared at the pulsing blue orb.
          “Johanna,” he called out. “Where did this device come from?”
          “I don’t know. It was here when Jackson and I returned from working in the antechamber.”
          “Where’s your loading dock?” Salisbury asked the head of the Library Board.
          He shrugged. “Johanna, where’s the loading dock?”
          “We don’t have one.”
          “What do you mean we don’t have one?” the Director admonished her. “We have to have one. All this stuff didn’t get in here through the front door.”
          “As far as I know, it did. There is a narrow alley in the back, but it’s too small for a large vehicle. And there’s no ramp, just concrete steps up to the back door. So, as far as I know, there’s no loading dock.”
          “A backhoe could fit through the double doors out front, as long as we can get it up the steps,” Salisbury speculated. “Maybe we could lay some planks across them and drive the backhoe up the incline.”
          The older agent nodded. “That seems like our best plan.” He lowered his voice, “Just make sure we’re not going to all this trouble for nothing. Take a walk around the building and check whether what she’s saying is true. She’s just a kid, and how she ever got to be curator of this place, I’ll never know.”
          “Would anybody mind if I went out and got some lunch?” Jackson looked from face to face. Nobody seemed to care, so he left.
          It wasn’t long before more agents arrived. They measured the width of the front door and nailed planks together to form a ramp. Officials were intent on driving a backhoe through the main entrance.
          Johanna felt the sting of tears. How could this happen? How could she have let Mal down? He entrusted her with the Library and now it looked like the entire place was going to blow apart, as soon as the backhoe made contact with the blue orb.
          She slipped away from the main room and went into her office to retrieve Mal’s diary. She was about to open it when she heard Jackson call out her name. Instead, she put it back on her desk and walked out front.
          “I got you a chicken salad sandwich and a latte.”
          “Thanks.” She picked up a cellophane bag filled with foil-wrapped chocolates. “What’s this?”
          “I thought we could share a few kisses.”
          Johanna smiled in spite of herself. Jackson grinned.

          The head of the Library walked over to them. “I’m glad to see you two enjoying yourselves while the rest of us scramble to avert a catastrophe that could cut the future of this Library short.”
          “If there’s a catastrophe, at least I will have had a last meal,” Jackson replied, “because if that thing blows up, I get the feeling that a lot more than the Library will be affected.”

          The head of the Library Board remained speechless for a moment, before rushing off to the FBI agents where he initiated a spirited conversation. A short time later, he climbed into a shiny, black high performance sports car. It was his pride and joy – the ultimate status symbol – which made women notice him, and men envy him.
          He dialed his wife from his mobile phone and insisted she take the children, strap them in their car seats and immediately drive to their country home up the coast. He told her there was no time to ask questions, or to pack.
          She argued with him but he raised his voice, “Just grab the children and go. It’s a matter of life or death. I’ll meet you there and explain everything.”
          “What’s happening?” she cried.
          “Just do it.” He peeled away from the curb. He couldn’t care less if the Library blew up, as long as he wasn’t anywhere near it when it did.

To be continued…

]]>Blog2012-04-25T19:39:30-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/living-small.html#unique-entry-id-20http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/living-small.html#unique-entry-id-20
I can’t imagine living in less than 500 square feet of space, but this slideshow from Houzz shows how to fit a whole lot of living in a small East Village apartment. My usual style is traditional, but I love the clean lines of this renovation and the storage ideas - like drawers built into the stairs. I thought I’d shared it, considering how impressed I am by it.

My only problem would be what to do with all my books…

Houzz Tour: Elegant, Efficient Manhattan Studio

Houzz- Kitchen Remodel, Bathroom Remodel and More»

Browse Window Treatments on Houzz- For Example:

Cellular Shades · Curtain Poles · Curtains · Roller Blinds · Roman Blinds · Venetian Blinds · Vertical Blinds · Window Blinds ·

]]>Blog2012-04-22T19:36:48-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/gabriellas-cottage.html#unique-entry-id-19http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/gabriellas-cottage.html#unique-entry-id-19
In Evangeline’s Ghost, Evangeline takes Gabriella back to her home in France, which I described as a stone cottage. I just saw this on Houzz and it reminded me of it.



According to the description, this is a part of an old village rectory with an attached barn in Normandy, France. This one has been totally renovated and has 2500 square feet of living space, which is larger than what I had envisioned for Gabriella’s family. But it’s the stone exterior and the mood it evokes and the rose bushes out front which reminds me of my favorite ghost and her colleagues.

]]>Blog2012-04-09T20:13:28-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/elongated-yellow-fruit.html#unique-entry-id-33http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/elongated-yellow-fruit.html#unique-entry-id-33
I know, I know—a banana is just a banana.

H. W. Fowler coined the phrase “elegant variation” in the 1920s to condemn using unnecessary synonyms like elongated yellow fruit to replace a single word like banana. Fowler later became associate editor of The Atlantic and began collecting examples of elegant variations including, “numbered spheroids” for billiard balls; “hen-fruit safari” for Easter egg hunt; and “rubber-tired mastodon of the highway” for truck.

In The Library of Illumination—Casanova, I wrote a page-long scene about the theft of a book and found myself guilty of committing my pet peeve—the serial repetition of a single word. I used a thesaurus to find as many alternatives to the word book as possible. There was volume, folio, tome, bound manuscript, but I had to use those same words so many times in the space of one page that I started repeating them as well. So I added adjectives like “precious tome” and “treasured manuscript” to make each expression sound different, until I realized my monologophobia had morphed into periphrasing. Specifically, my fear of repeating a word made me guilty of speaking in a roundabout way.

Did I mention synonymomania—overusing distracting synonyms?

Theodore Bernstein, assistant managing editor of the New York Times between 1925 and 1950, coined the words monologophobia and synonymomania. Former Sunday Times editor Harold Evans once described a monologophobe as someone who would edit the bible to read, “Let there be light and there was solar illumination."

So now, I feel thoroughly chastened. Yet I know I won’t go back and change every reference to a book—to the word “book.” What can I say? Reading that same word over and over again makes me cringe. I know it worked for Hemingway, but I just can’t board that train. So if I call Shakespeare’s First Folio a “precious tome” because I don’t want to refer to it by name, point at me and snicker. When it comes to being a monologophobe—I’m guilty as charged.

]]>Blog2012-04-06T19:34:07-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/the-hunger-games.html#unique-entry-id-18http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/the-hunger-games.html#unique-entry-id-18

I must have fallen off the face of the planet. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins has been around for several years, but until a few weeks ago, I hadn’t heard of it (and if I did, had probably dismissed it as a diet book). So when I heard it was a hot YA novel, I thought I would read it, to see what made it so appealing.

The book is a post-apocalyptic thriller in which North America has been divided into a dozen starving districts and a Capitol (where excesses run high). The Capitol uses an annual even called the Hunger Games to keep the districts in line, by making each district send one girl and one boy to fight to the death, while their families watch on TV. Last child standing is the victor. The book has a strong, 16 year old female protagonist. She’s independent and self-sufficient, yet vulnerable. The other main characters are appealing. There’s a love triangle, personality conflicts, and some pretty heinous villains. The stakes are high to begin with and get increasingly higher. There is a lot of gore, but kids experience that every day shooting zombies on an Xbox. It’s a great series.

When I started reading, I told myself I was looking at it with a critical eye, but after the first fifty pages, I was so hooked that I was reading for pure entertainment. Then I found out it doesn’t really end after the first book. It’s part of a trilogy. The good news (for me) is I was so late in my addiction, that the second and third books had already been published. I downloaded them immediately and finished them within 2 days --- just in time to read all the articles about the movie.

I guess if I had started writing YA a few years ago, The Hunger Games might have been on my radar. As it is, I lucked out because I was able to read it all in one fell swoop.

The remaining question is, what other great YA books are still out there, that I’m missing?

]]>Blog2012-04-02T19:33:03-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/library-of-illumination-the-orb-chapter-three.html#unique-entry-id-17http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/library-of-illumination-the-orb-chapter-three.html#unique-entry-id-17

The Library of Illumination - The Orb

Chapter Three

          Adam was a least a foot shorter than Oppenheimer, who stood six feet tall. Eve was even smaller. The first couple was surprisingly bald, with no facial or body hair. Instead, they had the soft downy skin of newborns. They had not been exposed to the elements long enough to be either tanned or hirsute. They neither cowered in fear, nor tried to cover their naked bodies, but stood as still as statues, their skin so pale they could have been mistaken for alabaster figurines. Their muscles were clenched and their eyes wide. They seemed to be on high alert, monitoring every sound and movement around them.
         The scientists slowly turned away from the orb, their attention arrested by the naked couple who had suddenly appeared.
         They all stared at each other, not knowing where the others had come from. No one had any knowledge of the unique peculiarities of the Library of Illumination, nor had they seen the physicist open the Bible. Oppenheimer slowly looked from Adam to Eve to Johanna, who was staring at the book in his hand. He looked down at the bible, and closed his eyes for a second as he processed the information at hand. When he opened his eyes, he smiled at the couple, and closed the cover on the Gutenberg Bible. Adam and Eve disappeared as quickly as they had arrived. The scientists gasped and immediately began speculating about what had just happened. The disappearing couple was, to them, just as astounding than the strange blue orb with a force field.
         Johanna took the bible out of his hands and said, “Please Dr. Oppenheimer, can we discus the matter at hand?”
         One mathematician raised his voice, “Where did they go?”
         “Back to their own reality,” Oppenheimer replied, “Just as we will return to ours. Is that not right, Miss?”
         “Is that one of your random hypothetical suppositions, Oppie?” a scientist asked.
         “There is nothing random about it, Gentlemen. We’ve been brought here to discuss this device.” Oppenheimer gestured toward it with one arm. “Care to share your opinions on it?”
         “It is very powerful, and the field around it is becoming exponentially more dangerous,” the mathematician stated.
         “It gives off light, but doesn’t appear to generate heat,” noted an engineer.
         “The interior protrusions are aimed at what appears to be a carbon ball in the center. If the protrusions have been engineered to act as a fission trigger, and the central ball contains an adequate amount of uranium and plutonium, or even chemicals unknown to us at the juncture, then this could be a powerful explosive, that needs to be immediately disarmed,” another scientist concluded.
          Oppenheimer walked around the orb, noting what his colleagues had said. “Gentlemen, if devices like this are possible and there are people who have access to them, then we have a big job ahead of us.”
         “Can you disarm it?” Jackson asked.
         “No,” Oppenheimer answered, “Not without more information on who created it and why. Or how it was put together.” He looked at Johanna. “What year is this?”
         A colleague berated him. “How can you ask such a ridiculous question? You know very well it’s 1943.”
         Johanna shook her head. “This is the twenty-first century,” she said quietly.
         Oppenheimer nodded.
         “Then there is nothing we can do for you.” He paused, “There must be much to observe outside these walls. I don’t suppose you would take us on a tour?”
         “What a wonderful idea,” one of the scientists said. “And I would love the opportunity to explore this library.” He swung his arms in a wide arc to illustrate the breadth of what he wished to take in. He twirled around, but got tangled in the carpet underfoot, and fell into the blue orb. He immediately disappeared.
         “Where did he go?” The missing man’s colleagues looked around.
         “This device is obviously much more dangerous than it appears!” one of them said. “We must commence an immediate search.”
         “That’s out of the question,” said Johanna, still holding the book that had produced Oppenheimer and his colleagues. She closed it, and the group disappeared.
         Jackson tugged on the book. “Why did you do that? We need their help to find out where he went.”
         Johanna refused to let go of the book. “Hopefully, he’s now back in his own time period, and has been reunited with the others.”
         “What if he isn’t there? What if his disappearance changes history?”
         Johanna pulled the book away from Jackson and placed it on the shelf. She picked up a later book about the Manhattan Project and began searching through the pictures of the team members. She found the scientist in question. The picture was taken right after the gadget –a code name for the A-bomb – was tested near Alamogordo, New Mexico. “Look. That’s him,” she pointed out. “I don’t know what happened to him, but his disappearance could not have been permanent. If it were, all these books would have changed automatically, and he wouldn’t be in this picture.”
         Jackson ran his hands through his hair, pushing it straight back off his forehead. “Now what?” He picked up a pencil and shook it rapidly between his thumb and his index finger, watching the movement. He lost his grasp and the pencil flew into the orb, but instead of disappearing like the scientist, the pencil pinged off the force field and shot away at an accelerated rate of speed, embedding itself in the spine of a dictionary.
         Johanna walked over and inspected the damage as she tried to control her anger over her protégé’s careless behavior.
         Jackson sensed he was in trouble. “Johanna, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize what I was doing. Is the book badly damaged? Do you want to dock my pay to pay for the materials to fix it? You can you know.” His tone was earnest.
         Johanna took a deep breath. “Do you realize how lucky we are that this pencil only pierced a book? What if it had ricocheted in a different direction, and embedded itself in my eye? Or your heart?”
         The 16 year-old paled. “I didn’t know that would happen. How could I? I didn’t expect to lose my grip on the pencil.”
         “Whatever that thing is,” she tilted her head toward the orb, “it’s very powerful.” Almost immediately, her shoulders slumped and her voice quieted. “I think we have to call in the authorities. But first, we have to move as many of these books as possible into storage.” She paused. “I think we should buy a couple-hundred regular books for the shelves down here, so if someone should open one, nothing will happen.”
         “Isn’t that going to take a lot of time and money?”
         “I cashed in the last doubloon and put the money into the Library account,” she answered. “I can use that to pay for the books. Maybe we can find a used book store that will sell us their contents, for a good price.”
         “What if we can’t?”
         She sighed. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

To be continued…

]]>Blog2012-04-02T19:32:00-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/more-on-the-wlny-merger.html#unique-entry-id-16http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/more-on-the-wlny-merger.html#unique-entry-id-16


Saw this on Media Bistro today and thought I’d repeat it here for anyone who missed it.

CBS AFFILIATES, MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS, NEW YORK
WLNY Takeover a ‘Once in a Lifetime Experience’ For CBS
By Merrill Knox on April 2, 2012 11:48 AM

CBS has officially taken ownership of WLNY and launched a three-phase transition that will result in new newscasts and high definition programming at Long Island station.
As part of the merger with WCBS, the CBS O&O in New York City, Betty Ellen Berlamino has been named vice president and station manager of WLNY. She is a former general manager of WPIX, the CW-affiliate in New York.

• Related, FishbowlNY: WCBS Unveils Plans for WLNY with New Morning and Primetime Newscasts

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience in the New York market to create a new TV station,” WCBS news director David Friend said.
In July, WLNY will launch a morning newscast at 7 a.m. and an evening newscast at 9 p.m. The morning newscast will include WCBS’ weathercaster John Elliott and sportscaster Lisa Kerney. Additional on-air talent will be named soon.
The evening newscast will be anchored by the WCBS evening team — anchors Chris Wragge and Dana Tyler, weathercaster Lonnie Quinn and sports anchor Otis Livingston. Richard Rose, who is WLNY’s primary anchor, will also contribute to the newscast. The Daily News reports that Rose was the only WLNY personality to be picked up by CBS.
For more from Friend and WCBS general manager Peter Dunn, visit FishbowlNY.

]]>Blog2012-03-30T19:29:39-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/library-of-illumination-the-orb-chapter-two.html#unique-entry-id-15http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/library-of-illumination-the-orb-chapter-two.html#unique-entry-id-15

The Library of Illumination - The Orb

Chapter Two

          Johanna paced nervously. “Let’s be logical about this. Where do you think the device might have come from?”
          Jackson shook his head. “You’re the curator. You tell me.”
          She nudged a piece of lint with her toe and then bent down to pick it up. “Do you think someone could have broken in while we were in the antechamber?”
          He looked at her in disbelief. “I doubt it. You know how hard it is to break into this place.”
          “Maybe they knew to ask for illumination,” she hedged.
          “Maybe the sphere came out of a book,” he answered.
          “Spontaneously?” she mocked him.
          “Why not?”
          “Because a book wouldn’t just fly open.”
          “Are you sure?”
          “Right now,” she sighed, “I’m not sure about anything.”
          Jackson tried to touch the orb again. This time the shock was not as mild. “Maybe we should call the police.”
          Johanna shuddered. “The police will ask too many questions. They might poke around and start opening books. It could be a disaster. And after what happened with the pawnbroker, I’d rather not call them.”
          Jackson could not understand her reluctance. “If it’s dangerous...” he said with emphasis, then paused realizing he sounded confrontational. He changed his tack. “Maybe it’s from Mal,” he speculated in a quieter voice.
          “Like a fount of knowledge,” she said wistfully. She reached out to touch it, but Jackson grabbed her hand.
          “I would think a fount of knowledge would be... I don’t know... friendlier?” He realized he was still holding her hand and blushed as he dropped it. “You don’t want to touch it.”
          “Do you think it came from another planet?”
          Jackson made a face. “You mean like the planet Krypton?”
          Johanna rolled her eyes. “I meant from a planet with intelligent beings on it. Maybe it’s a communications device.”
          “Or maybe H.G. Wells visited to the Library again in his Time Machine. You told me that once happened here, right? So maybe he dropped it off while we were in the back.”
          Johanna narrowed her eyes at him.
          “You look sexy when you do that.”
          “Jackson!”
          “I didn’t mean to say that out loud.” He had the good sense to look embarrassed. “Sorry.”
          She took a deep breath to regain her focus. “The first thing we have to do is determine if it’s dangerous. I just don’t know how to do that without getting any authorities involved.”
          “Why don’t you just open up a book about Albert Einstein?”
          Johanna’s face lit up. “Jackson, you’re a genius!” She walked over to the science stacks. “Of course, you should take that compliment with a grain of salt, because if you really were a genius, we wouldn’t need Einstein.”
          “Thanks.”
          She found a manuscript of Einstein’s Relativity: The Special and General Theory and opened it. A man with dark, wiry hair who looked like he had just stuck his finger in a live electric socket, materialized in front of her. He had a dark mustache that matched his hair, and was wearing a shapeless cardigan.
          Einstein stared at Johanna for a moment before breaking into a warm smile. “I’m Albert Einstein. What is this place? I don’t remember traveling here.”
          “Dr. Einstein, we’d like your opinion of a worrisome object that, as far as we can tell, has appeared out of nowhere. It’s giving us cause for concern.” She led Einstein to the blue orb.
          He studied it for several minutes before trying to touch it. Like Jackson, his hand was repelled. “It contains a great deal of energy.”
          “Yes, but what is it?”
          “Do you have notes or drawings outlining the construction of this device?”
          Jackson shook his head.
          “Formulas?” Einstein continued. “Schematics? Without those, I can only theorize that what I see before me is extremely powerful.”
          “Is it a bomb?”
          “Perhaps.”
          “Perhaps?” Jackson practically shouted. “Is that the best you can do? You’re freakin’ Albert Einstein!”
          Einstein looked at Johanna. “Who is this young man?”
          “Jackson.” She lowered her voice to a whisper, “He works here.”
          Einstein turned to the boy. “Everyone should be respected as an individual, but no one idolized.”
          “What does that mean?” Jackson asked more calmly.
          “Why do you think I, more than you, should know what this is?”
          “Because you’re a genius.”
          “The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”
          Johanna, who was still holding the manuscript on Relativity, closed it. Einstein disappeared. She removed a later work by the physicist.
          A white haired version of Einstein appeared to them. He looked at the blue orb and smiled. “I remember this from earlier in my career. It’s still here.” He studied Johanna and Jackson. “You, too, remain and have not aged.”
          “We’re trying to determine if the sphere is dangerous?” Johanna continued.
          “Where did it come from?” Einstein asked.
          “We don’t know,” she said.
          “This technology, while intriguing, is not within my field of expertise. If you believe it to be a bomb, then may I suggest J. Robert Oppenheimer as a suitable expert? He is a theoretical physicist with a great deal of knowledge in the area of explosive devices.” He paused. “How long has it been since I was here last?”
          “Just a few minutes,” Jackson said.
          Einstein smiled. “Then it’s true. The distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”
          “Who is this Oppenheimer guy?” Jackson asked as Johanna re-shelved the second manuscript.
          “He was the director of the Manhattan Project and is known as ‘the father of the A-bomb.’”
          “So you agree, it’s a bomb?”
          “You’re the one who said it was ticking,” she observed.
          “So where would I find a book on Oppenheimer?”
          “I’ll get it,” Johanna said, taking the stairs to the second story. “Look around to make sure no one got in while we were in the back room.” It took her several minutes to find the right book. “Here goes nothing,” she said, opening it to a page at random.
          Instantly, a small group of scientists, engineers and mathematicians appeared. They were deep in conversation and scarcely noticed that their surroundings had changed, except for one man. He was lean, with thick hair, bushy eyebrows and clear blue eyes. He took a deep drag on the pipe he held clenched between his teeth, before speaking. “I will not even hazard to guess how we got here, when mere moments ago, we were sitting in my office at Project Y. I do wish to know what you want with us?”
          “Are you J. Robert Oppenheimer?”
          “I am.”
          “Albert Einstein told us you might be able to help us. We need to know what you think this is?” Johanna pointed to the blue orb. The others had already noticed it and had gathered around it.
          “Where did it come from?” Oppenheimer asked, mesmerized by the pulsing blue light. The hypnotic strobe cast a ghostly pallor on the faces of the men gathered around it. Oppenheimer reached out to touch it. He felt the energy of the force field, but not the sphere itself.
          “Spooky, huh?” Jackson asked. “I tried that, too. There’s a force field around it.”
          “It would seem our esteemed director has been warned off.” The others began talking excitedly about what could create such an energy shield.
          “It just appeared,” Johanna told Oppenheimer. “There was nothing here an hour ago when we went into a back room to work on an illuminated manuscript. We found it when we returned. The Library is a locked facility and there are no signs of a break in.”
          As Oppenheimer listened, he surveyed his surroundings. The words ‘Library’ and ‘illuminated manuscript’ piqued his curiosity. “What is this place?”
          “It’s the Library of Illumination,” Johanna answered. Her attention was diverted as a scientist who tried to touch the orb for the third time, cried out when the shock became painful. She moved closer to him to make sure he was all right.
          The diversion didn’t faze Oppenheimer. He walked over to the nearest shelf to see what treasures it might hold. On it, lay the Gutenberg Bible, which had not yet been placed in the display case. He gently ran his finger across the richly tooled brown calf cover that carried the scars of more than five centuries of use. He gently lifted the front cover. Recognizing the history and value of the book, Oppenheimer carefully turned the pages to the book of Genesis. It wasn’t long before Adam an Eve sprang to life, standing naked before him.

To be continued…

]]>Blog2012-03-29T19:26:42-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/who-knew.html#unique-entry-id-14http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/who-knew.html#unique-entry-id-14
esearch can be so fulfilling!

In the Library of Illumination - Book Three, Johanna and Jackson are exhibiting a 15th century Gutenberg Bible for an upcoming Library Board meeting. I had an opportunity to see one of these books years ago, in the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz, Germany. At that time, I had no idea I would ever refer to the first mass-produced book - in a future book of my own. But that has now happened, and I wish I had payed better attention. As I was writing a description of the bible, I wondered if it would have been produced with a cover? I Googled images of the bible and saw some that appeared to have covers, but that didn’t tell me if the covers were original. So I sent an email to the Gutenberg Museum. In the interim, I glossed over the cover issue, and then forgot about it.

Until now.

I received an email from Dr. Claus Maywald of the Gutenberg Museum in which he described the origins of the bible, saying Gutenberg (or any printer at that point in time) would print the contents as quires - a word that was unfamiliar to me. I looked it up and learned that quires are 4 pieces of paper folded in half to make eight pages. A printer would sell the quires to a customer. The customer could then hire a rubricator - a scribe who specialized in illuminating the manuscript and adding decorative details.



The final step would be to send the manuscript to a bookbinder to be bound with a cover. According to Dr. Maywald, a typical 15th century cover for the Gutenberg Bible might have been made of brown calf leather with hand tooled decoration and a clasp binding.

You can learn more about the Gutenberg museum here.

]]>Blog2012-03-25T19:25:15-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/past-and-future-artists-meet-the-present.html#unique-entry-id-13http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/past-and-future-artists-meet-the-present.html#unique-entry-id-13

Decades ago, as a design major in college, I was once unceremoniously escorted out of the Emilio Pucci Lounge at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City, for sketching some of the designs. I was working on a course assignment from a professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology, so the idea of “plagiarism” had never entered my consciousness. However, it was a word SFA employees bandied about, as a security guard showed me the door. In retrospect, it was the beginning of the end of my design career.

I can’t help but wonder if I would have felt less embarrassed if they had labeled me a corporate spy. To a teenager, that might have seemed more sophisticated and less ugly than plagiarizer.



Fast forward to St. Petersburg, Russia in the 21st century. On a recent tour of The State Hermitage Museum, I learned that art students in Russia are encouraged to copy the works of great masters.
And some of those students were quite good. There were the realists who matched brush stroke for brush stroke…



...and the more adventurist students, who gave old paintings a new twist.



The Hermitage is one of the largest museums in the world and has a history that spans a quarter of a millennium. With a collection that includes nearly three million works of art, the museum holds a vast array of canvases to capture students’ attention.



After having personally been denied the opportunity to do something similar years ago, I now feel exonerated. After all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

]]>Blog2012-03-23T19:23:10-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/library-of-illumination-the-orb-chapter-one.html#unique-entry-id-12http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/library-of-illumination-the-orb-chapter-one.html#unique-entry-id-12

I’ve been talking about blogging my next book and here is the first installment:

The Library of Illumination - The Orb

Chapter One

          Late morning sunlight filtered through the tall, narrow windows of the Library of Illumination, capturing the intricate design woven into the Persian rug, within the geometric ghost of windowpanes. Suddenly, the play of pattern and light was replaced by something more visually stimulating, yet so ominous and unusual, it would soon test the resolve of everyone who came in contact with it.

***

         Illumination. Even though the gold leaf highlights on the richly illuminated text had faded with age, the impact of its beauty was no less powerful.
         “Look at the delicacy of the acanthus leaves surrounded the main letter. They’re only a small part of the whole, yet their intricate beauty lends depth to the illustration.” Johanna, curator of the Library of Illumination, was giving her sixteen-year-old assistant Jackson a lesson on restoring illuminated manuscripts.
         As she sighed in awe of the beauty of the artwork, Jackson sighed inwardly over the beauty of Johanna. He had been working at the Library for several months, and when school went on summer break, he had jumped at the chance to work additional hours at the Library. He didn’t know if she knew how he felt about her. Nor how she felt about him. For now, it was enough for him to have an excuse to be near her five days a week. So here he was, sitting a hair’s breadth away from her, inhaling her scent and becoming intoxicated by the tone of her voice.
         Johanna was older than Jackson, but he had no idea how much older. She didn’t really look any older than him. He appeared mature for his age. And he was at least eight inches taller than she was, making them look like contemporaries. But he knew she had an active social life, because he’d once seen her having dinner with some guy when he and his pals were walking home from the movies. Johanna and her date had been sitting at a window seat in Le Chat, Exeter’s excuse for a French bistro.
         “...the ink isn’t absorbed by the parchment. So the pigment merely lies on the surface of the page, which is why it’s so delicate and has a tendency to fade.” Johanna turned toward Jackson. In doing so, her thigh brushed against his bare leg. It was the middle of July and they were both wearing shorts and tank tops to stay cool in the heat.
         Jackson felt every nerve ending in his body jump to attention. His face reddened.
         “It’s too hot back here, isn’t it? I can tell you’re hot just by looking at your face.” Johanna continued, “I’d better read Mal’s diary tonight to see if he mentions whether the Library has air conditioning. If this heat keeps up much longer, the books are going to melt.”
         “Yeah,” was all that Jackson could think to say.
         “Why don’t you go get something to eat? The luncheonette has air conditioning. The pizza place has fans, but with those big ovens going, you couldn’t pay me enough to eat there.”
         Was she asking him to have lunch with her? “Sure. Wherever you want to go.”
         “Oh, I can’t go. I’m expecting a call from Book Services about a delivery. You go. I think you need to cool off.”
         Did he ever, but he had no intention of telling her that.
         They walked out of the Library antechamber. “When you come back, we’ve got to finish setting up the display for the Gutenberg Bible. We don’t want the Board of Directors to get their hands on it during their meeting here on Thursday. They may decide to open the cover and we don’t need Moses parting the Red Sea in the middle of the Library. I know it’s hard to believe, but even though they represent the Library of Illumination, they have no clue that these books can come to life. And I think it’s best if it remains that way. Mal, the former curator, felt the same way. He said some of the Board members were just doing it for the prestige and power of being on the Library Board. And he said ‘power corrupts.’”
         Johanna often spoke this way about Mal. Jackson had never met him, but you would think Mal was a god the way Johanna spoke about him. Jackson stared at her wondering if she felt about Mal, the way Jackson felt about her?
         “Don’t stand there gawking at me. Go to lunch.”
         Jackson felt his face redden, yet again. “I was just wondering,” he said, “do the books come to life, even when they’re loaned out?”
         “There are a few, select scholars and universities that have been approved to receive the enchanted books. I usually have to borrow books from other libraries for people who aren’t on my master list.”
         “Who approves them?”
         “Well... Mal approved them, I guess, and then when someone who’s on the list retires, he or she usually recommends someone they trust, to be added to the list. So I guess it’s self-perpetuating.”
         “So when they open the cover, stuff happens, even though they’re not here in the Library?”
         “Yes, but they know how to handle it.”

         “What is that funky, blue light?” Jackson wondered aloud as they rounded the information desk. They stopped in their tracks when they spotted a large sphere in the middle of the room. It was about three feet in diameter and appeared to be studded with smooth silver disks. On closer inspection, the metal disks were attached to internal spikes, aimed at an eighteen-inch matte black globe, suspended in the center of the orb. An iridescent blue and purple gelatinous substance surrounded the globe and appeared to pulsate, emitting a dull blue light.
         Jackson reached out to touch the sphere.
         “Jackson, no!”
         The teenager’s hand never made contact. Instead he felt a buzzing sensation that propelled his hand away from the orb – like a mild electric shock. “It won’t let me touch it!”
         “What do you think it is?”
         “I don’t know, but it doesn’t look good.”
         “Why do you say that?”
         “Because it looks like something from a science fiction movie; it came out of nowhere; it’s got it’s own defense shield; and it’s pulsating.”
         “Like it’s alive?”
         “Like it’s ticking.”

To be continued…

]]>Blog2012-03-21T19:22:29-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/im-in-love.html#unique-entry-id-11http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/im-in-love.html#unique-entry-id-11
… With the most beautiful and unusual writing desk I’ve ever seen.

In my ongoing search for the perfect place to write, I think I’ve found the perfect desk. It’s called a Lyre Secretaire and it used to grace a private estate in Holland.



I love the unusual shape, and being my mother’s daughter, appreciate the carved winged griffins that support each side of it. My husband always says, “If you see something you like, buy it, because you never know when you’ll see it again.” It’s a maxim I usually subscribe to, however, I think I may have to let it pass me by. The price is $39,000.00. And then I’d have to pay another stratospheric amount to have it shipped from the Netherlands.

So all I can do is dream. Or maybe I can take this picture to a graphics company to have it blown up into a life-size poster that I can decoupage to the front of an old boxy armoire.

Close… but no cigar.

]]>Blog2012-03-20T19:20:40-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/need-a-niche.html#unique-entry-id-10http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/need-a-niche.html#unique-entry-id-10
There’s nothing like an article about Working from Home to get the juices flowing. Not the creative juices, sadly enough, but the need for a designated workspace. As a writer, I do a lot of research. I’m constantly surrounded by pads and pencils, sketches and notes, and my absolute favorite notebooks - Circa - by Levenger. They’re made up of covers and individual pages that are held together by plastic (or wood or stainless steel) discs. And being the type of person who can get lost for an hour in a stationary store, I’ve got tabbed inserts and a whole punch and specialty pages for my Circa Collection. And now, Staples has come up with something similar, at a much lower cost. Whoopee! Since Staples provides immediate gratification and I don’t have to wait a week or two for my goods to be sent to me, I find myself transitioning over. But I digress.



All this stuff needs a place to live, that is both handy but non-obtrusive. And it has to live with reams of paper and labels and boxes of ink and guidebooks, dictionaries, maps, books on writing technique, post it’s paper clips, stapler, whole punch, pens and pencils and files. Lots and lots of files. All I need is a 7 foot square section of quiet space to call my own, with tall shelves on top ad hidden storage on the bottom. A credenza perhaps with a nice desk to go with it.

My problem isn’t finding the furniture. I’m very good at that. The problem is finding space in my condo. It’s not like I can put an addition on the place or bump out the roof with a dormer. And enclosing my balcony is definitely not allowed. So now what?

This may become an ongoing lament as I continue writing, because more words = more books = more notes = more stuff in need of a permanent home.

]]>Blog2012-03-17T19:20:04-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/fission-fiction.html#unique-entry-id-9http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/fission-fiction.html#unique-entry-id-9
I’ve got a new idea for a segment of the Library of Illumination, and to write it, I need a little illumination of my own on what a nuclear device would look like. So, lazy me, I went to Google images and found something like this:



Not exactly what I was hoping for, but I guess my mind has been tainted watching too many films and too much TV. What happened to all the cool bombs built into stainless steel or aluminum cases? It didn’t seem very promising.

I also found this:



It would be perfect if my genre was steampunk.

I didn’t really see what I was looking for, and in the end, I came up with a device of my own design, after all, I write fiction. I absolutely love where my research is leading me, but after several hours, diamagnetic levitation, Calabi-Ya manifolds, and bubbles of charged plasma all blend into one another and leave a muddle puddle where my brain once lived.

This is the story I said I would blog, so I just want you to know, the research has begun, and the first blog will soon follow.

Erin go bragh.

]]>Blog2012-03-16T19:19:01-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/WLNY-merger.html#unique-entry-id-8http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/WLNY-merger.html#unique-entry-id-8
I just saw this on TV Spy and since it involves people I know at WLNY, I thought I’d include it here.

With WCBS Merger Looming, WLNY Will Suspend News Operations This Month
By Merrill Knox on March 15, 2012 2:00 PM

Long Island’s WLNY will suspend newscasts at the end of this month, two months before the station is expected to officially merge with WCBS.
WLNY’s last 11 p.m. newscast will be March 29, according to the New York Daily News. The station will air “Entertainment Tonight” in that timeslot until the two stations merge, which is expected to be in mid-June. WCBS, the CBS O&O in New York City, plans on expanding Long Island coverage with the acquisition of WLNY.
“We are excited to be acquiring WLNY and making it a bigger and better station,” a WCBS spokesman said. “Once the sale is finalized, we will be investing in additional people and resources so that we can provide Long Island and the entire tristate area with additional newscasts.”
The Daily News reports WLNY employs 55 people and 30 of them have been told they will stay after the merger.

]]>Blog2012-03-16T19:18:20-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/siri-schmiri.html#unique-entry-id-7http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/siri-schmiri.html#unique-entry-id-7

I don’t know if you’ve seen any of the Apple commercials featuring Siri lately, but she’s supposed to be your own little BFF. In case you’ve been off-planet, Siri is a voice-activated assistant that will check your appointments, make phone calls for you, get directions to your favorite restaurant, and even call you a “Rock Star.” Except when she won’t. I don’t think Siri get’s along with everyone, because she sure as hell doesn’t get along with me.

I recently had trouble finding a restaurant where I was supposed to be attending a meeting. I risked picking up my cell phone while I was stopped at a light, to ask Siri to give me directions. I’m sure she thought, Ha! Gotcha! when she said, I’m sorry Carol, but I can’t help you right now. Please try again in a little while. Sure, she apologized, but it always seems that when I need her most, she’s got something better to do.

I also think Siri’s a little hard of hearing. The Black Forest Brew Haus in Farmingdale became the Brew House in Queens. And once, when I asked her to call Bob Lipper, she answered, Do you want me to call Bill Bleyer’s home number or his work number? “Bob Lipper,” I said a little louder and what I hoped was more clearly. I don’t see Barbara Lipper in your contacts. Perhaps you want me to call one of these: Bob Lipper… Barbara Paskoff…” “Call Bob Lipper’s cell phone,” I said a little more confidently. You don’t have a cell phone listing for Bill Bleyer. Would you like me to call Bill Bleyer on his home phone or his work phone?

And God forbid I continue asking the same question in different ways, hoping Siri will eventually catch on. She actually gets snippy in her replies. But the absolute worst is when she feigns ignoreance. I’m sorry, Carol, but I don’t understand the question. Just because I asked her what I should buy my brother for his birthday…

All I’m saying is, don’t expect Siri to be your bosom buddy, because she can turn on you on a dime.

]]>Blog2012-03-15T19:17:26-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/john-steinbecks-words-of-wisdom.html#unique-entry-id-6http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/john-steinbecks-words-of-wisdom.html#unique-entry-id-6
I was looking through various discussions on one of the LinkedIn writers’ groups that I belong to, when I saw one on writing advice from John Steinbeck. I figure the man knows what he’s talking about, since he’s a Nobel Laureate.

When he won that honor in 1962, the Nobel Prize Organization said it was “for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social perception.”

The following article is a reprint from theAtlantic.com

6 Writing Tips From John Steinbeck
By MARIA POPOVA


The legendary author explains why you should abandon all hope of finishing your novel.

If this is indeed the year of reading more and writing better, we've been right on course with David Ogilvy's 10 no-bullshit tips, Henry Miller's 11 commandments, and various invaluable advice from other great writers. Now comes John Steinbeck—Pulitzer Prize-winner, Nobel laureate, love guru—with six tips on writing, culled from his altogether excellent interview it the Fall 1975 issue of The Paris Review.
1. Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish. Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page for each day, it helps. Then when it gets finished, you are always surprised.
2. Write freely and as rapidly as possible and throw the whole thing on paper. Never correct or rewrite until the whole thing is down. Rewrite in process is usually found to be an excuse for not going on. It also interferes with flow and rhythm which can only come from a kind of unconscious association with the material.
3. Forget your generalized audience. In the first place, the nameless, faceless audience will scare you to death and in the second place, unlike the theater, it doesn't exist. In writing, your audience is one single reader. I have found that sometimes it helps to pick out one person—a real person you know, or an imagined person and write to that one.
4. If a scene or a section gets the better of you and you still think you want it—bypass it and go on. When you have finished the whole you can come back to it and then you may find that the reason it gave trouble is because it didn't belong there.
5. Beware of a scene that becomes too dear to you, dearer than the rest. It will usually be found that it is out of drawing.
6. If you are using dialogue—say it aloud as you write it. Only then will it have the sound of speech.
But perhaps most paradoxically yet poetically, 12 years prior—in 1963, immediately after receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception"—Steinbeck issued a thoughtful disclaimer to all such advice:
"If there is a magic in story writing, and I am convinced there is, no one has ever been able to reduce it to a recipe that can be passed from one person to another. The formula seems to lie solely in the aching urge of the writer to convey something he feels important to the reader. If the writer has that urge, he may sometimes, but by no means always, find the way to do it. You must perceive the excellence that makes a good story good or the errors that makes a bad story. For a bad story is only an ineffective story."
If you feel bold enough to discount Steinbeck's anti-advice advice, you can do so with these 9 essential books on more and writing. Find more such gems in this collection of priceless interviews with literary icons from half a century of The Paris Review archives.

]]>Blog2012-03-14T19:16:30-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/who-has-the-time.html#unique-entry-id-5http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/who-has-the-time.html#unique-entry-id-5
I love to hear what other writers are buzzing about and one of the best ways to do that is to join a writer’s group on LinkedIn, and there are lots of them. There’s The Writers’ Network, Fiction Writers Guild; Authors, Writers, Publishers, Editors & Writing Professionals; The Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators; Children’s Book Authors & Illustrators; International Thriller Writers… the list goes on, and so do the postings.



The problem, of course, is that if you read and respond to (or as the buzzword puts it: engage) other writers on those sites, you’ll never have enough time left over to actually write. And even if you do, you’ll probably have to use it to market your last book, instead of working on your next one.

A well-known thriller writer taught a workshop a few years back that speculated if a writer could pen just 3 pages a day, which sounds totally feasable, (s)he could write at least two books a year. But even three pages a day is a stretch, when you’re also busy blogging, responding, engaging, reading and researching. Notice, I didn’t even mention eating, sleeping, or day-to-day living.

I don’t know what the answer is, but I wish someone could beam the information straight into my brain. Just don’t email me, because that takes up an additional hour or so - all by itself. And who has time?

]]>Blog2012-03-11T19:15:06-04:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/vatican-archives.html#unique-entry-id-4http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/vatican-archives.html#unique-entry-id-4
If you saw the film Angels & Demons, this should spark your imagination the way it did mine.

There is an exhibition of priceless archives in Italy that have been stored away in the Vatican vault for centuries. One hundred historic documents are going to be on display at the Musei Capitolini in Rome until September, 9, 2012, and I can’t think of anything more interesting. The exhibit includes a letter written by Marie Antoinette and the judicial acts of the trial of Galileo. An up close look at some of these archives would probably provide fodder for several segments of the Library of Illumination. That makes me a motivated traveler.

Take a look:



I can’t think of a better way to while away a few hours…

It’s time to plan a ROAD TRIP!

]]>Blog2012-03-10T19:13:48-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/where-do-you-put-the-prisoner.html#unique-entry-id-3http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/where-do-you-put-the-prisoner.html#unique-entry-id-3
I can’t tell you how much information I had to wade through to learn that the New York City Police Department didn’t have a fleet of police cars in 1918.
Paddy wagons?
Yes.
Motorcycles?
You bet! Some of them were even outfitted with machine guns. Gotta keep those anarchists in line…



But patrol cars?

Not really.

As far as I can tell, a fleet of cars wasn’t added until the 1920’s.

]]>Blog2012-03-09T19:12:31-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/hitlers-artwork.html#unique-entry-id-2http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/hitlers-artwork.html#unique-entry-id-2
I’ve been researching Germany - after the fall of Adolf Hitler - for Evangeline’s Ghost - The Bridge - and came across this water color of the Old Vienna Opera House that Adolf Hitler is said to have painted about one hundred years ago.

]]>Blog2012-03-08T11:16:19-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/billie-burkes-former-digs.html#unique-entry-id-1http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/billie-burkes-former-digs.html#unique-entry-id-1
I’ve been working over the past few weeks to help journalists enter the 2012 Press Club of Long Island Media Awards Competition. This is the first year the application process was solely online, so there was a learning curve for everyone. The good news is, we took in more than 460 entries. The bad news is, I know of people who did not enter, because as they put it, ”You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” Still, all the people who did choose to enter kept me busy with a steady barrage of emails.

All while I was trying to compile my annual tax returns.

So ask me if I’ve written anything? I already have two new ideas for segments of The Library of Illumination (LOI), and a completed outline for a second Evangeline’s Ghost book. What I don’t have is any completed pages of new work.

I’m hoping now that the initial awards activity has settled down, and my tax prep is behind me, that I can start getting back to what I love doing best. And what I’m planning to try is blogging my next LOI segment. It’s my way of welcoming spring.
]]>Blog2012-03-08T10:57:52-05:00http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/thank-god-thats-over.html#unique-entry-id-0http://www.carolpack.com/blog/files/thank-god-thats-over.html#unique-entry-id-0
I’ve been working over the past few weeks to help journalists enter the 2012 Press Club of Long Island Media Awards Competition. This is the first year the application process was solely online, so there was a learning curve for everyone. The good news is, we took in more than 460 entries. The bad news is, I know of people who did not enter, because as they put it, ”You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” Still, all the people who did choose to enter kept me busy with a steady barrage of emails.

All while I was trying to compile my annual tax returns.

So ask me if I’ve written anything? I already have two new ideas for segments of The Library of Illumination (LOI), and a completed outline for a second Evangeline’s Ghost book. What I don’t have is any completed pages of new work.

I’m hoping now that the initial awards activity has settled down, and my tax prep is behind me, that I can start getting back to what I love doing best. And what I’m planning to try is blogging my next LOI segment. It’s my way of welcoming spring.]]>