Spring Arrives Early

My goodness, it seems like time to make a blog post arrives faster every week. Perhaps it's because I'm busy with other things now that we've had a taste of spring. I'm thinking about the garden, but today it is 53 with wind. Two nights this week it is to be in the 30's. That hasn't stopped me from planting two tubs with radish and lettuce which is up and thriving now. My tomato and pepper plants are doing good. I started them 6 weeks ago and have them on the front porch getting toughened in. Also, my large geraniums are out on the porch. I can always bring all that in for the night if I have to.

In the last two weeks we've been in the barn as much as the house. We only have four sheep and goats out of 14 left to deliver. This has been the best of times for newborn animals to come into the world. They do so much better when they aren't hit by a blast of cold air.

Also, this last week, I was busy returning emails. I graduated in the last class at Keystone High School before the small towns around here consolidated and became Benton Community. There were 32 in our class and a week ago we lost the first classmate. We were all sad and feeling the lost of one of the nicest members of our class. He was a home town boy who stayed put and made a difference in his community. So there was visitation, services and a lunch to attend toward the end of this last week. A chance for some of the classmates to connect and catch up. Two more years yet until the next reunion. This has always been a tight knit group that keeps in touch and attendance has been high every five years. I know our thoughts at the next reunion will be about the classmate we lost.

Winter has a way of tightening up the joints. I've been down on my hands and knees lately in lambing pens helping newborns. Then down on my hands and knees cleaning flower beds that have flowers coming through dried leaves and grass. This morning, I can tell I used joints and muscles that need more exercise.

I released my latest Amish book recently. The fourth in the Nurse Hal series. - As her name is so is Redbird available at Amazon, Smashwords and www.bookstorebyfay.weebly.com. For paperbacks. Kindle, nook and Smashwords for ebooks.

The last chapter has a look at what it's like to work with sheep lambing and Nurse Hal's learning experience with that. One thing about living my whole life in the country around animals is I have experiences something like Amish farm life to relate to that I can share in my books.

Well, that's it for this week. More running around scheduled for this week, and I will tell everyone about that in my next post.

Speaker at Church Luncheon on St. Patrick Day March 17, 2012

One of the hostesses at the monthly women's luncheon at the Methodist Church in Chelsea, Iowa looking at the books on my book table.
The dining room set up for St. Patrick Day and awaiting the guests arrival.
With this unusually warm weather comes chances to get out and talk about my books and do a reading. I was the speaker for the Methodist Church women's group in Chelsea, Iowa on Saturday March 17th for their monthly luncheon. It was a nice day for a scenic drive past fields being disked, and farmers planting oats. Many birds have come back early and were perched on the electric wires.
In the church, I found the tables, covered with green or white cloths, decorated with shamrocks and small black pots taken from the end of several rainbows, filled with mini candy bars. My book table was just as decorative with large shamrocks scattered about and a foil rope of tiny shamrocks vined around my books.
We had a lunch that I thoroughly enjoyed. You see I had spent several days eating chicken noodle soup and bananas because I broke a tooth. After I had the tooth pulled, I had to be on a soft diet which consisted of applesauce and mashed bananas and only milk to drink for two days. So as if the cooks, Pauline Baker and Angie Baker, knew what to do for my diet, they served me Jell-O and a sloppy joe which was easy to chew and much appreciated after the bland diet I'd been on for days. Pauline Baker who made the delicious Jell-o sent a plate home with me. That sure tasted good on the warm night we had and kept me from eating something that would hurt.
My talk was about printing my books at Create Space Self Publishing and what lead to the start of each book or series. I finished by reading the first chapter out of my book As Is Her Name So Is Redbird. Everyone that lives in the country and maybe some that live in town have put up with mice invasions at some time or other. My main character Nurse Hal is scared of mice and picks a very unusual way to get rid of the one in her kitchen. I for one could identify with her even though I have never went to the extremes she did to get rid of the mouse.

Odds and Ends

I’ve received an outpouring of reviews from my relatives about the Bright and Bishop family history book I wrote. I loved that they told me they learned things from the book about our ancestors that they didn’t know. The book wouldn't have been possible if the relatives hadn't shared their stories and pictures with me. What is important about this book is the fact that future generations of each of the nine Bright children belonging to John and Veder Bright, my grandparents, will now have a book to educate them about the past. I don’t think I omitted anything of importance. At least, I hope I didn’t. Now we can proudly look back and say these are the people who made us who we are today; honest, hard working and people our children and their children can be proud of.


One of the bits of neat information I came away with that I knew vaguely before I wrote the Bright and Bishop family history book was that I have a very talented cousin. We have an artist in the family, Gene Foust. Thanks to the Internet I can tour his art gallery. I’d like to pass on the websites for this talented impressionist artist so you can take a look at his collection of works, too. The online store for Gene’s original paintings is at http://www.etsy.com/shop/foust If you could use a new landscape painting or a print please shop at Gene Foust’s store. He has been selling online for a number of years and has a BA from Truman University. His landscapes are reasonably priced and very colorful. Believe me when I tell you it will be hard to choose just one.

http://www.genefoust.blogspot.com/ is the site of impressionist artist, Gene Foust’s blog. Gene shows how some of the paintings he has worked on changed to the finished product. Addresses are included to reach the sites where you can purchase one of these paintings.

Http://www.fineartamerica/genefoust is an online art gallery that sells Gene’s landscape paintings. Two pages of fine art that will dress up any room in your house. An investment in this fine impressionist artist's paintings in our day may be a Antique Roadshow treasure in a few years.

I’m thinking there is still a generation of baby boomers and older folks that remember going to a one room school house. It’s fun to remember back to those days of a simpler time when all 8 grades shared one room with one teacher. The Bushwhacker Museum in Nevada, Missouri has a book on the history of school houses in Vernon County, Missouri where I went to school. The book is titled “Readin’ Ritin’, ‘n’ ‘Rithmetic” The story of Vernon County’s Country Schools complied by Neoma Forman and belongs to the Vernon County Historical Society. I purchased a copy sometime back and found the book very helpful while writing my family history book, complete with pictures of my mother and some of her siblings.

For sometime, a couple of my friends worked on and researched the school in Story County, Iowa that they attended. The completed project is a book about Milford Township Consolidated School titled “Milford Township And Proud Of It” written by Dale Hughes and Jurine Moore. This is a 354 page book, 91/2 x 11 inches laser pages with 702 pictures. There is a CD version available, too. For information on how to purchase this book or the CD to bring back memories of school days in Story County, Iowa, contact Milford’s Coordinator Jurine Borton Moore at 319 361 3300

Last but not least is news about the restructuring of my online bookstore. It is complete. I had so many books on the front page it was confusing. Now there are several pages of book shelves. Click on the tabs in the menu and go to the genre of your choice or look at them all. The site has my bio, a page of accomplishments and one with book reviews. My blog is posted on another page. There is a mapsite that shows where my books sell across the United States.

The bookstore is set up with paypal buttons under each book. The books are reasonably priced, signed by the author and in 12 font which is a larger print that is reader friendly. Shipping is fast since the inventory is at my home, and I order the books from print by demand. Take a look at the newly remodeled bookstore at http://www.booksbyfaybookstore.weebly.com

Paypal Censorship Update from Smashwords

This message was sent to me from Smashwords - a site where I sell my books and ebooks. Everyone has a right to read what they want to, and every author the right to write the genre that suits them. Those that don't care for books with adult content don't buy them. That's their choice. I fit in the don't buy column and mention that often in my blogs. Those who like the stories I write can attest to the fact my books don't have adult content. That is a preference for me and my readers. Having stated that as an author and a person who loves to read other author's works, I don't understand that paypal thinks it has the right to put a censorship on this particular fiction genre. Those who want to write or buy adult content books have the right to make that choice. If paypal succeeds at a censorship for this genre, what other genres or websites would they try to conform to their personal belief. So read what Smashwords has to say about the problem and protest at the websites mentioned below if you want to participate in the discussion.
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PAYPAL CENSORSHIP UPDATE
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In case you haven't heard, about two weeks ago, PayPal contacted Smashwords and
gave us a surprise ultimatum:  Remove all titles containing bestiality, rape
or incest, otherwise they threatened to deactivate our PayPal account.  We engaged
them in discussions and on Monday they gave us a temporary reprieve as we continue
to work in good faith to find a suitable solution.

PayPal tells us that their crackdown is necessary so that they can remain in
compliance with the requirements of the banks and credit card associations (likely
Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, though they didn't mention them
by name).

Last Friday, I sent the following email to our erotica authors and publishers:
 https://www.smashwords.com/press/release/27   Then on Monday, I issued an update,
and announced we would delay enforcement of PayPal's guidelines so we and PayPal
could continue our discussions:  https://www.smashwords.com/press/release/28

THE PROBLEM:

PayPal is asking us to censor legal fiction.  Regardless of how one views topics
of rape, bestiality and incest, these topics are pervasive in mainstream fiction.
 We believe this crackdown is really targeting erotica writers.  This is unfair,
and it marks a slippery slope.  We don't want credit card companies or financial
institutions telling our authors what they can write and what readers can read.
 Fiction is fantasy.  It's not real.  It's legal. 


THE SOLUTION:

There's no easy solution.  Legally, PayPal and the credit card companies probably
have the right to decide how their services are used. Unfortunately, since they're
the moneyrunners, they control the oxygen that feeds digital commerce.

Many Smashwords authors have suggested we find a different payment processor.
 That's not a good long term solution, because if credit card companies are behind
this, they'll eventually force crackdowns elsewhere.  PayPal works well for us.
In addition to running all credit card processing at the Smashwords.com store,
PayPal is how we pay all our authors outside the U.S.  My conversations with
PayPal are ongoing and have been productive, yet I have no illusion that the
road ahead will be simple, or that the outcome will be favorable. 


BUILDING A COALITION OF SUPPORT:

Independent advocacy groups are considering taking on the PayPal censorship case.
 I'm supporting the development of this loose-knit coalition of like-minded groups
who believe that censorship of legal fiction should not be allowed. We will grow
the coalition. Each group will have its own voice and tactics  I'm working with
them because we share a common cause to protect books from censorship.  Earlier
today I had conversations with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), The
American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) and the National
Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC).  I briefed them on the Smashwords/PayPal
situation, explained the adverse affect this crackdown will have on some of our
authors and customers, and shared my intention to continue working with PayPal
in a positive manner to move the discussion forward.

The EFF blogged about the issue a few days ago:  https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/02/legal-censorship-paypal-makes-habit-deciding-what-users-can-read
 Today, ABFFE and NCAC issued a press release:  http://www.scribd.com/doc/83549049/NCAC-ABFFE-Letter-To-PayPal-eBay-re-Ebook-Refusal-2012

I will not be on the streets with torch in hand calling for PayPal's head, but
I will encourage interested parties to get involved and speak their piece.  This
is where you come in...


HOW YOU CAN HELP:

Although erotica authors are being targeted, this is an issue that should concern
all indie authors. It affects indies disproportionately because indies are the
ones pushing the boundaries of fiction. Indies are the ones out there publishing
without the (fading) protective patina of a "traditional publisher" to lend them
legitimacy. We indies only have each other.
 
Several Smashwords authors have contacted me to stress that this censorship affects
women disproportionately.  Women write a lot of the erotica, and they're also
the primary consumers of erotica.  They're also the primary consumers of mainstream
romance, which could also come under threat if PayPal and the credit card companies
were to overly enforce their too-broad and too-nebulous obsenity clauses (I think
this is unlikely, but at the same time, why would dubious consent be okay in
mainstream romance but not okay in erotica? If your write paranormal, can your
were-creatures not get it on with one another, or is that bestiality?  The insanity
needs to stop here. These are not questions an author, publisher or distributor
of legal fiction should have to answer.).

All writers and their readers should stand up and voice their opposition to financial
services companies censoring books.  Authors should have the freedom to publish
legal fiction, and readers should have the freedom to read what they want.

These corporations need to hear from you.  Pick up the phone and call them. 
Email them.  Start petitions.  Sign petitions.  Blog your opposition to censorship.
 Encourage your readers to do the same.  Pass the word among your social networks.
 Contact your favorite bloggers and encourage them to follow this story.  Contact
your local newspaper and offer to let them interview you so they can hear a local
author's perspective on this story of international significance. If you have
connections to mainstream media, encourage them to pick up on the story.  Encourage
them to call the credit card companies and pose this simple question, "PayPal
says they're trying to enforce the policies of credit card companies.  Why are
you censoring legal fiction?"

Below are links to the companies waiting to hear from you. Click the link and
you'll find their phone numbers, executive names and postal mailing addresses.
 Be polite, respectful and professional, and encourage your friends and followers
to do the same.  Let them know you want them out of the business of censoring
legal fiction.

Tell the credit card companies you want them to give PayPal permission to sell
your ebooks without censorship or discrimination.  Let them know that PayPal's
policies are out of step with the major online ebook retailers who already accept
your books as they are.  Address your calls, emails (if you can find the email)
and paper letters (yes paper!) to the executives.  Post open letters to them
on your blog, then tweet and Facebook hyperlinks to your letters.  Force the
credit card companies to join the discussion about censorship.  And yes, express
your feelings and opinions to PayPal as well.  Don't scream at them.  Ask them
to work on your behalf to protect you and your readers from censorship.  Tell
them how their proposed censorship will harm you and your fellow writers.

Visa: 
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=V+Profile

American Express:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=AXP+Profile

MasterCard:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=MA+Profile

Discover:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=DFS+Profile

Ebay (owns PayPal):  
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=ebay+Profile

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