Category Archives: Shameless Self-Promotion

Sound Quality

When I podcasted Grizelda in the fall of 2008, I got some complaints about the book’s sound quality.  This isn’t too surprising, since I was recording it with a $25 USB microphone in my dorm room.  I rubber-banded a Kleenex over the mike head to cut down on room noises.

Anyway, determined to make The Confederacy of Heaven into a better, stronger podcast than Grizelda, I’ve been looking into better sound recording options.  Turns out that Carleton’s Cinema and Media Studies department has a sound booth that’s open for student use.  For free.  All you have to do is sign up for an appointment, so I did, for tomorrow afternoon.

I get to talk into a real microphone tomorrow!  I’m going to feel like a DJ.

New Books at the Benton Library

Hey, all!  We got a slew of new donations over the winter break, including:

  • The Dresden Files books 1, 2, 3, 5, and 9.  For those who are not familiar with these, these books are the inspiration for the TV show The Dresden Files.
  • Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
  • Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
  • Marlfox, Outcast of Redwall, Pearls of Lutra, and The Long Patrol, all Redwall books.
  • Shadow of the Hegemon, by Orson Scott Card

And many others.  Come check us out!  As always, we’re on the corner of Second and Winona.

Grizelda Is Now Up on Smashwords

After a few technical difficulties, Grizelda is now available online as an e-book.  You can sample the first third of the book for free, and if you e-mail me and mention this blog, you can get a discount.  As always, the Podiobooks version is free.

Check it out here: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/margarettaylor

Here’s the Podiobooks version: http://www.podiobooks.com/title/grizelda

Book Covers!

I have a newfound respect for graphic designers. You probably don’t want to guess how many hours it took wrestling around with Photoshop to get the colors of the circly things in the background just right. These people must put so much time and effort into every cover that hits bookstore shelves.

Anyway, my efforts do look homemade, but I’m quite happy with how they came out. That lady in blue there is Nasan, by the way, heroine of the upcoming Confederacy. I got to bust out the old watercolor pencils for her. I used to draw a lot when I was a teenager but quit when the writing thing took off. Maybe it’s time to pick it back up.