Laurel Anne Hill

By

Warning to Earthlink “Free Email Service” Users

Warning to Earthlink “Free Email Service” Users

Do you have an Earthlink free service account?  You may wish to consider changing to another email service provider as soon as possible.  Recently, Earthlink cut off access to my email.  After at least a dozen long-and-dreadful phone calls to Earthlink technical services representatives in India, I learned that free service accounts can be cut off at any time and there is no way to retrieve emails or address lists. Yes, it really took that many phone calls.  The ordinary representatives did not know free service accounts existed so I had to be transferred.  All but two of the transfer attempts resulted in disconnects.  And when I asked for a phone number of a customer service representative in the United States, I was told that the Earthlink offices in the US have computers in them but no people at all.

So there you have it.  Earthlink free service account users beware!  As a matter of fact, I would question signing up for any Earthlink account at all.

For those of you trying to reach me, my website still connects to my old Earthlink address.  Wait a week or so before leaving a message on my website.  My web manager will have to make a connection change.  Or, if you know my old Earthlink email address, just substitute @yahoo.com for @earthlink.net.

Warm regards,

Laurel Anne Hill (Author of “Heroes Arise”)
http://www.laurelannehill.com

By

Adapting Sideways© (www.adaptingsideways.com) has posted a cute and informative animated video on YouTube. 
The subject is point of narration.   Connect via their website or use the below link.

Adapting Sideways is the brainchild of Charlotte Cook, publisher and story editor, and Jon James Miller, award-winning screenwriter and novelist. They have adapted screenplays to novels and brought novelists to the level of polish needed to find agents and publishers. Adapting Sideways focuses on bringing to committed writers comprehensive strategies that take writers with stories to publishable novels.

Enjoy!

Laurel Anne Hill  (Author of “Heroes Arise”)
http://www.laurelannehill.com

Finding the Point of Narration

https://laurelannehill.com/255/

By

What Really Happens at Science Fiction/Fantasy Conventions (Part 1)

I found them on Craig’s List.
So, a tribble, a shaman and Harry Potter walk into a bar…
Next we’ll sing the UC Berkeley fight song.
Yo, ho, ho and a bottle of “Rum and Runestones.”
Wow! I’ll put salsa on my apple pie again to get this dream.
And you’ve barely changed from high school, either.
I love going to the opera.
I did not walk into that bar.
When a vampire smiles at you, run for the nearest exit.
Oh, no! The IRS!

These photos are some of my favorites from RavenCon (Richmond, VA) and BayCon (Santa Clara, CA) in 2010.

Enjoy!
Laurel Anne Hill
Author of “Heroes Arise”
http://www.laurelannehill.com

By

My Ocean Companion (by Laurel Anne Hill, Author of “Heroes Arise”)

Laurel Anne Hill, Author of Heroes Arise
Laurel Anne Hill

Are you a fan of the ocean?  Have you ever enjoyed–or wanted to experience–wading in ocean shallows, exploring tide pools, riding a wave and/or SCUBA diving beneath the surface?  Do you love the cries of seagulls or the smell of ocean breezes?  Does your significant other share your love of the sea?  If so,  please listen to my free podcast, “My Ocean Companion” (approximately ten minutes long).

“My Ocean Companion” relates a few of my many SCUBA diving adventures and describes the ache in my heart when I could no longer engage in that exhilarating sport.

Go to http://www.laurelannehill.com and click on the “Podcasts” tab.  All of my podcasts are also available for free on iTunes.

Enjoy!

Laurel Anne Hill
Author of “Heroes Arise”
http://www.laurelannehill.com

By

Hit-and-Run Extra Eyeball Chowder (by Laurel Anne Hill)

Laurel Anne Hill (author of Heroes Arise) tells an amusing story about boiling fish heads and tails for soup

Boiling fish heads to prepare soup stock has to be one of my least favorite culinary tasks.  A flotilla of eyeballs staring back at me when I lift the cover off my cook pot is gross.  Sure, I strain the broth after I’m finished boiling the heads and tails with celery, onions and herbs.  But my mind refuses to dispel the image of over-cooked, roly poly eyes.  No matter what ingredients I add to the finished broth, the name of the ultimate product has remained unchanged for over fifteen years.  My family calls my creation “roly poly fish head soup.”

Knowing the above, I’m sure you’ll understand my reaction on a recent family fishing trip at Odell Lake in Oregon.  We were trolling for kokanee, (land-locked sockeye salmon) when one family member reeled in his line.  No twelve-inch kokanee was attached to the hook.  Only a very small eyeball.   A fish’s eyeball.  Yuk! 

Poor Mr. Fish.  I really felt sorry for the little guy.  With the usual winged predators foraging for breakfast, survival chances for One-Eye appeared slim.  I felt as though I’d just participated in aquatic hit-and-run.  But I couldn’t exactly find him and administer first aid, now could I.  On the other hand, we had caught a number of scarred fish throughout the years that obviously had survived serious wounds.   Maybe One-Eye might possibly recover, after all.

My family caught ten kokanee that morning, all of them with two eyes apiece.  Our catch for the week totaled seventy.  Or, 70 heads, 70 tails and 140 eyeballs for the soup stock pot.  Yes, only 140 eyeballs.  We tossed the bonus eyeball back into the lake.   Names have a way of sticking in my family.  I wasn’t ready to become the chef of “hit-and-run extra eyeball chowder.”

Happy  Soup du Jour,

Laurel Anne Hill (Author of “Heroes Arise”)  

 

By

Northern California Storybook & Literature Festival (from Laurel Anne Hill)

At Maidu Library
Northern California Literature & Storybook Festival

Northern California Storybook & Literature Festival

Saturday, July 31, 2010
10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Free admission & parking
www.roseville.ca.us/LitFest

 Maidu Library & Community Center
1530 Maidu Drive, Roseville, CA 95661

 Enjoy author panels, writing workshops, how to get published information, children’s entertainment and arts & crafts. Books & food available for purchase. Visit the festival website for a complete list of authors and the event schedule.

 This project is supported in whole or in part by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian.

Laurel Anne Hill (Author of “Heroes Arise”) and many other authors will be participating in the Northern California Storybook & Literature Festival on July 31.  At 10:20 am, Laurel will serve as a panelist on the Fiction Panel in the Reception Hall.  At 1 pm, she will lead a writing workshop (Meeting Room 2) about building new worlds and creating compelling characters.  The workshop is for those who write fantasy, science fiction or general fiction. 

Visit Laurel’s website at http://www.laurelannehill.com.