Web/Tech – The Word Wenches

Ask a Wench about Tech!

November 17, 2023November 14, 2023 by Mary Jo Putney

Are you a high tech or low tech person? Do you enjoy all the bells and whistles of modern technology—or does it make you run for the hills?

Mary Jo here: Because the Word Wench site is transitioning to a new platform and there has been much flailing and some howling behind the scenes, tech has been much on Wenchly minds so this seemed like a good time to talk about it.

Technology, specifically the personal computer, literally changed my life. I bought a Leading Edge, an early PC, to do copywriting and billing for my small freelance design business. The Mayhem Consultant showed me how to use word processing–and very shortly after I realized that here was a great tool for writing down the stories in my head because when you fix the typos, they stay fixed!!! Three months later I was offered a contract for Signet Regencies and the rest is history.

Clearly I owe tech a lot, but that said, I’m a tech minimalist. I love communicating with friends all over the world, my desk top computer is set up just the way I like it and I must admit that I like my iPhone for various reasons, including the ability to take quick pictures, such as this one of Riley the Wrecker and do of his Egyptian pals.

But I loathe upgrades, which usually make things worse, not better. I have to be dragged, hissing and snapping, into new tech. I have software that is a couple of decades out of date because I don’t want to waste time and brain space learning something new that I’ll probably like less. Put me on the island with the Tech Dinos!

Shattered Rainbows

June 27, 2023June 11, 2023 by Mary Jo Putney

by Mary Jo

The Story:

Shattered Rainbows, book #5 in my Fallen Angels series, is currently free on most ebook platforms and will continue to be free for about another week. I'm writing this blog partly to talk about the book, but also explain some of the marketing decisions that go into why a book might be free.

Shattered Rainbows is a favorite book of mine. (For the record, Romantic Times gave it a 4 1/2 star GOLD rating and it was a RITA finalist.) I could probably say that almost anything I've written is a favorites, but that's especially true in this case. Lord Michael Kenyon is one of the most intense and tortured heroes I've ever written, and he has a lot of baggage to work through, complicated by the fact that he's a British Army officer and the battle of Waterloo is a key feature of the story.

I have no idea why I'm fascinated by British military history in the Napoleonic period, but I keep coming back to it time and time again. Partly that's because it was a 'good war,' fighting against an authoritarian Continental monster. Lots of drama for stories! Characters are tested in the crucible of battle, and in none of my books has that been truer than in Shattered Rainbows.

The Smart TV vs the Luddite—Things Did Not Go Well

June 27, 2023December 18, 2022 by Andrea Penrose

Andrea here, channeling my inner Grinch today. Along with shopping for family and friends this holiday season, I decided to give myself a present—a new smart TV! My current TVs are, umm, not very smart. And after yesterday, I’ve decided neither am!

A very nice team from the Geek Squad at Best Buy showed up—because I wasn't so dumb as to think I might be able to set it up and program it myself, even though I’m fairly good at figuring certain tech things. They bring in the humongous box and eye the current TV in my living room and ask if I want them to haul it away. I explain that no, would they be kind enough to carry it upstairs to the bedroom, where an even older TV is the one that should be recycled. They smile cheerfully and say “No problem!”

Up we go. They regard the older TV. “”Wow, says one of them. “I used to sell TVs, and like that’s one of the first flat screens ever made. It’s from 2004, right?”

“Yup,” I reply.

They chuckle and switch the sets (and bless them, they program the remote as I upgraded my cable boxes in preparation for their visit.) "Okay, all done."

A Book at Bedtime

June 27, 2023February 2, 2022 by Nicola Cornick

Nicola here, talking today about listening to stories, not as audio books but as serializations. On 31^st January 1949 the first edition of BBC Radio’s "Book at Bedtime" was broadcast. It ran every night for 15 minutes between 10.45pm and 11pm. The first book that was serialized was John Buchan’s The Three Hostages, a rip-roaring adventure story written in 1924. In the months and years that followed, all sorts of literature from the classics to new releases has and continues to be featured on the program, although perhaps there hasn't been as much genre fiction as there might have been. In fact only a year or so ago the BBC admitted that they were looking for happier endings after noticing that listeners had been put off by “gratuitously violent and tragic stories.” Well, yeah – I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t want to drift off to sleep with images of violence or misery into my mind!

According to The Times, a brief circulated to potential producers at the time stated: “We will always aim to select a variety but we would like to be offered more titles that are pure pleasure, diversion or even comedy. Happy endings are often a bit too rare in what we are asked to consider. We can listen to sad or disturbing stories if they are ultimately redemptive, but a gratuitously violent or tragic ending is upsetting, infuriating and can seem distasteful.” The note adds that “listeners rarely enjoy being cheated with ambiguity or uncertainty”, implying a preference for plotlines that are neatly resolved. Again, that's a yes from me; I don't mind stories where some elements are left unresolved for the reader or listener to decide on, but if that happened just before I was going to sleep I'd lie awake thinking about it!

New Audiobooks and Giveaways!

June 27, 2023June 4, 2019 by Mary Jo Putney

by Mary Jo Producing audiobooks from my back list is time consuming and not inexpensive, but I continue to do them because so many people really like listening to audiobooks. My current goal is to make audio available for all seven of my Fallen Angels books, and we're getting close! Several years ago I started with audio versions of Thunder and Roses and Dancing on the Wind along with the non-Fallen Angels book The Bargain. The economics of producing audiobooks changed dramatically so I put the audio program on hold for several years, but the marketplace is always changing, so …