Suggestions for Snow Festivals, Ice Palaces, and Winter Carnivals

Today begins the world’s largest ice sculpture festival and you’ll still have plenty of time to get to China. The Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival lasts one month, weather permitting, and is erected throughout the city. There are two main exhibition areas, Sun Island and Ice and Snow World, which is open at night and features full scale buildings made from 2-3′ blocks of ice. The average temperature in that area of northeast China runs approximately 1.8 degrees. You’ll have to dress warm!

Another giant snow festival occurs in Sapporo, Japan, where the festival dates are early February. More than two million people view more than 400 snow statues and ice sculptures at the Odori Park and Susukino sites. The Sapporo Snow Festival began in 1950, but was actually started by high school boys before the war.

Of course, you don’t have to fly across the pond to view an ice festival as there are an abundance of them held yearly in any north area region that receives more than two feet of snow, and no doubt includes one close to you. In North America, Montreal was the first large city to create an “ice palace.” However, the event moved to St. Paul following a smallpox epidemic in 1885. St. Paul held their first Ice Palace exhibition in 1886 and was illuminated with electric lights at night, making this one of their first buildings to have electric lighting.

Much closer to home back in Idaho, McCall will be celebrating their 52nd anniversary at the 2017 McCall Winter Carnival. There are snow sculptures situated throughout the area, some of which may exceed 20′. Food vendors, parades, opening and closing fireworks and other special events are attended by thousands enjoying the snowy event.

Our family enjoyed the festival that ran from the end of January into the first weekend of February, 2011. If you are not a skier, snowboarder, ice fisherman, or any of the many other activities associated with winter, you can still get out and enjoy the season. These sculptures are amazing! Let me know if you have a suggestion for a great winter venue! ©2017 Virginia Williams

Burke’s War – Review

Burke’s War by William F. Brown

Genre: Currently #27 in Kindle Store, Prime Reading, Literature & Fiction, Action and Adventure

Publisher: William F Brown

Publication Date: February 2015

Submitted by author for review

Burke’s War by William F Brown

Having read and enjoyed Winner Lose All by William F. Brown, I was certainly prepared to enjoy Burke’s War. I really was, but first…

It was necessary to suspend disbelief to think that a passenger on a jet landing into O’Hare in Chicago could not only see a murder taking place on the roof of a three-story building, but look into and lock eyes with both the murderer and the victim. (Shaking my head–can’t buy the initial premise.)

The plot has the protagonist Bob Burke returning from Washington DC after a failed attempt to renew an important contract for his telecommunications company. After he witnesses and reports the murder, he discovers local police are less than interested and extremely skeptical of his being capable of seeing such an event from that vantage point. The one officer who believes his account may be able to lend some help, but otherwise Burke is at a loss to decipher those who are corrupt from those he can trust. Continue reading “Burke’s War – Review”

Penny Stocks–Road to Boom or Bust?

I’ll bet investing in penny stocks is not one of your New Year’s Resolutions. Should you reconsider?

When I published “Hot Air Promotions” for my grandfather, I had the mistaken idea that penny stocks went out with the thirties when it is believed he wrote the book. To say the man was bitter would be an understatement; after all, he didn’t call it Hot Air Promotions for nothing! Stanley McShane, however, was investing wholly in penny mining stocks. His rancor rose to new heights tucked within his poems. For him, unquestionably, it was bust–not boom.

The new year, 2017, is particularly notable, of course, as it will see the first term of a newly elected president, albeit one without heavy previous political experience. The man has already created waves in Wall Street pushing the Dow to within 1% of 20,000 for several days. Some say it may exceed 22,000.

Continue reading “Penny Stocks–Road to Boom or Bust?”

10 Worst Christmas Gifts Ever

Christmas came and went in a flurry of last minute buying as it always does, sometimes dictated by a late pay check, often times by a clueless giver that left the gift recipient wondering, “What Were They Thinking?!!”

Point being; maybe they were issuing subtle hints–or you took it that way?

1. A boxed set of 31 tubes of toothpaste. This set consists of exotic flavors such as Indian Curry and Kiwi Fruit. (Are the tubes one time use only? Or with judicious use, could you get a whole year out of each of them?)

2. Bar of Soap

3. Pity Marcia A., of Carlsbad, California, who one year received a pill vial designed like a white elephant filled with baby teeth of the friend’s children!

4. Dental floss

5. How about one slipper–or slippers designed to look like bear claws, rabbits, cats, blah, blah, blah

6. iPod Toilet Paper Holder How about this iPod toilet paper holder? (I just plugged my iPod into a clock-radio.)

7. Did you get a piece of coal in your box or stocking? Uh oh

8. Fruitcake–does anyone EVER eat those? (Why do they continue to make them?)

9. Vacuum, kitchen pans, blah, blah, blah

10.(Inappropriate–or any) Magazine subscription

Perhaps the best gift of all just came in a “prank” box, popular now in various sizes. These can be ordered direct from PrankPack.com or Amazon and can be found in local stores like K-Mart. Prank box-Bathe&Brew How about the Bathe&Brew box? Bacon scented dryer sheets?

Wired Rogue by Toby Neal – Review

Wired Rogue by Toby Neal

Genre: Currently #4603 in Best Sellers Rank for Literature & Fiction, Action & Adventure, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, Crime

Publisher: Tony Neal

Publication Date: November 2016

Submitted by author for review

Wired Rogue by Toby Neal – Great cover, conveys location

Once again, Toby Neal has written a book with so much character and charisma in her multi-dimensional protagonist, exotic Sophie Ang, you’ll feel intimidated when she launches into explosive action in Wired Rogue. I’ve written before regarding the author Toby Neal and have long enjoyed her Lei Crime Series. The character of Sophie Ang was introduced in that series, along with friends Marcella and Marcus.

While book 2 of the Paradise Crime series could be a standalone, you might want to read book 1 first to gain some insight and back story into Sophie’s character and the ongoing battle regarding her program DAVID secreted within the FBI with whom she’s worked computer guru for five years. Continue reading “Wired Rogue by Toby Neal – Review”

Goodreads Choice Awards 2016

The winners of the 2016 Goodreads Choice Awards have been published on the Goodreads website. These are the only major book awards decided by the readers themselves and come through literally millions of votes; 3,562,702 to be exact. Who says people don’t read anymore?

Voting was scheduled in three rounds beginning November 1st and ending November 27th and included 20 categories from Fiction and Mystery/Thriller to Non-Fiction and YA Fantasy. Of all nominees, there were 237,844 votes total. In the Fiction category, the winner with 30,154 votes went to Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriaty. Truly Madly Guilty was also listed on Amazon in the top 20 overall customer favorites, where additional favorites listed were such authors as J. K. Rowling, Nora Roberts, John Grisham, Bill O’Reilly, and Michael Connelly. And in the best mystery and thriller category, Stephen King for End of Watch with 42,382 votes. How is that even fair?

Also found in the top 20 in both the Goodreads Fiction category as well as the same category on Amazon was The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeny with 24,848 votes on Goodreads and The Nix by Nathan Hill with 3,645 votes, also an Amazon editor best pick of the top 20. Additionally, Nathan Hill scored again for Best Debut Goodreads Author. And it doesn’t stop there. Continue reading “Goodreads Choice Awards 2016”

Mortom by Erik Therme-Review

Mortom by Erik Therme

Genre: Currently #1555 on Best Seller’s Rank for Kindle eBooks, Mystery Thriller & Suspense

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

Publication Date: April 2015

Submitted by author for review

Mortom by Erik Therme – Cover hints at suspense

Maybe it was the discovery of the odiferous rat found under the refrigerator when the protagonist, Andy Crowl and his sister Kate, tentatively set foot in the house he has just inherited, but this one grabbed me from the beginning. The rat had a key wrapped in a note shoved into his rotting jaws. His unfortunate cousin, Craig Moore, had passed and left his entire estate, consisting of this old house and an empty bank account to Andy despite the lack of recent familial connection.

What he remembers of his cousin was the puzzles in which they both shared an interest. Craig wasn’t just good with puzzles, it was the one activity where he could actually best Andy. It doesn’t take Andy long to realize, however, this puzzle is a deadly one, but one that could also reap him some major bucks if successful–and heaven knows (given his current circumstance) he needs them! Unfortunately, the puzzle comes with a timeline. Continue reading “Mortom by Erik Therme-Review”

How Does Reading Level Matter in Fiction?

I love these little confirmations that somewhere I stumbled onto something worth blogging about. I did so on my November Rosepoint blog–https://rosepointpublishing.com/2015/11/29/do-you-know-your-flesch-readability-scores/ These stats are important to consider now that we know just how fast you must be able to grab your audience–and keep them. This is a great article by Kristen Twardowski with a slightly different twist than my own, which I found fascinating concerning some of our best known authors. Enjoy!

How Does Reading Level Matter in Fiction?

December 5, 2016 Kristen Twardowski

How well do most published authors write? Would you be surprised to hear that Jane Austen wrote at just above a 5th grade level, Stephen King writes at about a 6th grade level, J.R.R. Tolkien wrote at slightly more than a 6th grade level, and Leo Tolstoy wrote at about an 8th grade level?

To find out all of this information, Shane Snow did a readability analysis of the works of different bestselling authors. He based his exploration off of their scores for the Flesch-Kincaid tests, which were developed in 1975 on behalf of the US Navy to assess the difficulty of technical manuals. These tests take into account total words, sentences, and syllables in order to assess a written work’s grade level.

Snow’s analysis found that higher level writing did not necessarily result in successful sales. In fact, the bestselling fiction books that he looked at all fell between 4th and 9th grade readability levels. (Nonfiction books came out a little differently; they fell between 6th and 11th grade readability levels.) When you consider the fact that most people comfortably read at around an 8th grade level, these readability scores make sense. As I mentioned when talking about how different types of reading influence authors, simple writing really can be the best writing.

If this all has piqued your interest, there are several different online tools that allow you to test a written work’s readability levels.

Readability Score – Readability Score is an extraordinarily snazzy site that assesses the readability of a text according to several different measures. It also provides word and syllable counts. Unfortunately it does restrict how often an individual can test different texts for free. (They really want people to pay for the premium version.)

Readability Calculator – The Readability Calculator is a much simpler looking tool, but it is free and still provides all of the most interesting readability scores.

For fun, I used these tools to score some of my recent writing, and the results were fascinating.

My blog on Making Author Events Matterhas an average grade level of 8.1.
My post on ISBNshas an average grade level of 8.5.
My guest blog about the history of the Nutcracker ballet and my romance with the Mouse Kinghas an average grade level of 9.1.
And the first portion of When We Go Missing, my debut novel, has an average grade level of 7.4.

If you are a lover of books, I encourage you to explore the reading level of famous pieces of literature or of your own writing. It is a great way to become more aware of some of your writing ticks. (If you are the type of person who has an idealized vision of what your writing level ‘should’ be at, however, then you probably shouldn’t do too much readability testing. It is an easy thing to obsess over even though their is no perfect result.)

If you do any testing of famous works or of your own writing, let me know what you discover! I’m curious to know what you might find.