Somebody Stop Me!

TONIGHT TONIGHT! Join us on the Reds and Readers Facebook page for the Jungle Reds Happy Hour--we will all be there, wil chat and conversation and news and prizes--joins us, as always, on the 7th of the month at 7pm ET! Just go to @RedsandReaders on Facebook!





HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh my golly, I will never learn. And I am terrified at how much my computer seems to know what tempts me. It’s embarrassing!

I am completely and humiliatingly unable to resist what I know is total Clickbait.


”See shocking before and after pictures of celebrity plastic surgery!” I know I shouldn’t look, but I have to. “How stars looked when they were kids!” Oh, I need to look at that Just, just for a moment.

“The very best Italian subs as chosen by our expert testers.” Reds and Readers, I don’t even like Italian subs, but I thought well, I should know this!

The only kind of potato chips to buy. Don’t I need to have that information?

And who could resist: “if your salmon has these characteristics, throw it away instantly!”

I mean, I’m gonna look.

I know I know, if I click on luggage (guilty) mascara (guilty) cute underwear (guilty), how not to dress like an old person (guilty) they’re going to bombard me with ads. And yet, I still click. (I never sign up, though, at least.)

Even the time I clicked on the world’s most hideous dress just to see if it actually could be as hideous as it looked, ( it was), I kept getting emails saying “that dress you loved is on sale!” And I would yell at the computer: I did not love the dress! I hated the dress! Stop showing me the dress!

Dear Reds and Readers, when you see “The top 10 things you should always do the minute you get into your hotel room,” or “amazing kitchen hacks” or “why you should always carry a bread wrapper clip in your wallet” do you say: oh, I need to know that? Or are you strong enough to skip it?


JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Hank, I’m sorry if this embarasses you, but I am the person who NEVER clicks on those teasers. I’m paranoid about being followed around the web (can we still say the web? Is that term old as dust now?) I use NoScript and Adblocker Plus and I regularly delete my cookies and history.


What I WILL do, if I’m really intrigued, is search for the phrase “how not to dress like an old person.” Yeah, that one always gets me, too. Usually I can find the original article the clickbait provider used. This might also generate ads, but guess what? With AdBlocker, I never see them! (I swear I’m not paid to shill for them; I just love the product.)


HANK: Nope, not embarrassed. I always knew you were wiser! (And pssst, anyone know how the money works, anyway?)


HALLIE EPHRON: I’ve no idea. But there’s always money.

I avoid most clickbait, but the thing that snags me is a photo of delicious-looking something with a link to a promised.

Click.

And get a looooong prelude, something about how delicious it will be. Then another click to read something or other marginally related. THEN click to finally get to the recipe which might get drawn out over several clicks, too. Caching caching caching. Annoying. Makes it worth paying for NYTimes COOKING.


LUCY BURDETTE: Hallie, I do pay for NY Times Cooking but I’m still drawn to those cooking videos. I just watched one with ground meat and other ingredients baked in filo balls with a dipping sauce that had me drooling. What else?

Anything with cats, agility dogs, and these hysterical half-huskies who try all kinds of foods with equally funny captions and t-shirt slogans. I guess I’m easily amused:).


HANK: I LOVE the huskies. And cats doing wacky things.


RHYS BOWEN: I’m trying to be more cautious about clicking. I confess I have been lured in the past to click on How Smart are you? Or talking parrots. Or adorable rescued horses. I do still check out some travel posts : five places you want to avoid in Europe this year etc. And I have learned, the hard way, that things are not what they seem. A sale of Chico’s clothing was a scam. Luckily my credit card refunded the money. And once I ordered what looked like a chic linen dress. When it came it was thin polyester and only fit for a night shirt. So no more buying from Facebook!


JENN McKINLAY: Travel pics always, always, always get me. National parks, foreign destinations, and I’m clicking and now that’s all my feed is - yes, please, take me away! Skincare is another weakness. Yes, I will click and buy the viral Korean collagen mask and now they email me daily but the mask is awesome so it’s okay!

Given the precarious economic times we’re in, I have told the fam - you can click but not buy - austerity measures are back in place. I wonder how these product advertisers and businesses will try and lure us when our purses are snapped shut? Hmm.


(HANK: Agreed. Not a penny spent for anything. But also, I started learning french, and now all my Insta feed is French. Which I..love. But how does it know?)

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I’m in the Julia camp here. We have ad blocker, and we have something added to Facebook that keeps me from seeing a lot of the click-baity stuff. And I kind of have a rule about not clicking on the videos, because even if it’s something I know is legit, they are so distracting. I think I’m the only person in the world who doesn’t watch cute cat videos! But I”m going to have to look up the huskies.

Also, if I see an ad for something on Instagram that I might actually want to buy, I go to the product website rather than clicking on the IG link. Rhys, apparently the Chico’s scam was a big thing! You weren’t the only one that got sucked into that.

HANK: Oh, I don't know about the Chico scam! So, Reds and readers, what do YOU click on, and how do you stay away? Any clickbait temptations? Movie stars, the royals, skin care,color wheels, cooking tricks, kitchen gadgets, hotel secrets? BUT!

TRUST ME.

Click on this.

Truly.

Do it.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/740643751630909

Jenn, back me up on this. (I know someone will lst me know if the link doesn't work.)

From US Fish & Wildlife to ERIE ENDING with Christy J. Kendall

Drumroll 1: The winner of Leslie Karst's WATERS OF DESTRUCTION is Pat S. - Pat, email Leslie at ljkarst@gmail.com to arrange shipping...

Drumroll 2: Don't miss tomorrow's Reds & Readers Happy Hour at 7 PM ET! Hank will be posting the link in the Reds and Readers group.

 HALLIE EPHRON: It's always a thrill when we get to introduce you to debut writer, and today it's my honor to host Christy J. Kendall.

We all have "storied" pasts that we mine for our novels, and Christy has a particularly interesting one... she comes to the crime novel by way of the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Today she's joining us to talk about her debut, ERIE ENDING: A Wildlife Refuge Mystery.

CHRISTY J. KENDALL: I believe the love of telling a good story is in a writer’s bones. But sometimes, learning how to tell that story takes a while.

I began my writing journey penning an epic James Michener-type tome, convinced it would be a best-seller someday. I wanted my stories to be about places and their development over time, particularly wildlife refuges.

My first story began with the formation of the landscape and glaciers. Yes. Glaciers. Sometime later, after bogging down in the pre-colonial era, I realized this was not the story I wanted to write.

What was I doing? Frustrated, I picked up a new book I was excited to read—a mystery. I’ve always loved mysteries. Why wasn’t I doing that? It was time to change course.

I thought it would be easy.

My US Fish and Wildlife Service career brought me to the San Francisco Bay area. There, I attended my first Book Passage Mystery Writer Conference. Wowzer. There was so much talent and expertise in a single place. My mystery writing journey began.

When I completed my first novel, I started another, querying each as I moved forward. By the time I’d written the third novel (and rewritten the other two a hundred times), I received a note from an agent that my writing was not where they’d want it to be to send to a publisher.

I knew then I couldn’t do this alone. Conferences, consultations, writing groups, and writing organizations could only take me so far. Was I a slow learner? There had to be a way to pinpoint what I was doing wrong. I needed one-on-one professional help. I hired a developmental editor.

What an eye-opener!

With that revised manuscript (and rewrites of the other two, again), I replied to open submissions from two publishers. One of them accepted the book and referred me to an agent, who then garnered a three-book deal. Twenty-plus years later, I am a debut author. Yes, it took a while.

Am I sorry I didn’t start earlier, or learn more quickly? Sure. But I’m not sure I’d enjoy it as much as I am today.

With retirement from the career that inspired my writing in the first place, I can now travel to new wildlife refuges to research the next book.

I still attend conferences and workshops and have fun meeting all the writers I’ve loved reading over the years and the new ones who bring such joy. I’m still learning from all of them.

What is the moral of the story? It’s never too late. Don’t stop learning. Don’t stop writing. Never give up. And grow a thick skin. Not everyone will love your words.

HALLIE: Great advice, earned the hard way (which is how we ALL have come by it!) I was 10 years from the time I decided I wanted to write to when I got an agent interested. 

Please share: What have you learned the hard way, after try-try-trying again?

About ERIE ENDING: When environmental activist Connie King is murdered on a wildlife refuge on the southwest shore of Lake Erie in Ohio, the Refuge Manager, Angela Martin, says goodbye to her nemesis with relief and a twinge of guilt. But the Sheriff accuses a beloved volunteer of the crime, and Angela and another volunteer, Lilly Weathers, investigate. Through shady real estate deals, Connie enhanced her bank account, not the environment.

To save herself, and others, Angela unwittingly puts herself in the path of a killer. Meanwhile, Angela's love life comes to a crossroads that could tear her apart. Will Angela make the right decision? Right or wrong, if she survives, she'll pay.

Nailing It

 

HALLIE EPHRON: This Christmas I got gifts from my grandchildren.

From my granddaughter, I got a package of press-on nails.

As you might imagine, this gift says more about her than it does about me. She is obsessed with her nails. There are shops stores near her in Brooklyn that sell nails. That’s it. Full stop. Press-on nails in an amazing range of colors and designs.

This is from my grandgirl who’s a gymnast and a competitive swimmer and who opted for a STEM-focused junior high. She saves up her pennies to buy nails, nails, and more nails.

Go figure.

So far I have not attempted to put on the nails she gave me. I’m waiting until she visits here or I’m in Brooklyn and she can guide me in the fine art. Bonding experiences are not to be passed up.

My grandson aso gave me a Christmas gift. This amazing fantastic and wonderful picture, which tells you as much about HIM as my granddaughter’s gift tells about her. I’m quite sure he’ll be wanting a motorcycle when he gets to be his sister’s age. And OMG hasn't he got talent!?! (He's 9.)

This got me thinking back to when I was my granddaughter's age. I was seriously into makeup. “Flesh” colored lipstick. Fake eyelashes and eyeliner. We rouged our cheeks and teased (and sprayed) our hair so it stood out like an astronaut’s helmet.

And somehow I survived.

Do you have youngsters in your extended family who are spreading their wings and proclaiming their identities through their arts?