Packing Light?

In two weeks time I leave for the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention in Chicago. I know I’m a little early but I am having a weeklong side-trip to New Orleans before flying on up to the Windy City. My mind is full of the possibilities of travel what will I do, where will I go and above all, what will the weather be like? This leaves me with a problem… two different climates. Packing might be an issue…

Having said that, packing is ALWAYS a problem for me.

How do you light packers do it? Part of my problem is that I am a planner, seriously, lists and schedules are my thing. I am not physically capable of leaving things to chance. I get cold sweats just thinking about it. I will have to pack for hot and cool plus stuff for the RT Con and any other eventuality that comes to me meantime. I have dresses, shorts and jeans and costumes and swag to think about. Then there’s medication, migraine, asthma, allergies….then there were those times when I got tonsillitis so maybe I should bring antibiotics… Shoes! Sneakers, walking shoes, heels sandals to wear with those dresses and shorts. Jewellery, gotta be blinged out. Also toiletries cos I have my favourite brands of everything and god knows I can’t leave those at home. Electronics, of course those all have to be in my carry on with the jewellery. Netbook, ereader (thank GOD for the ereader cos books were another packing issue), camera, phone and all the assorted chargers. There’s no WAY I can fit all that in one 20kg bag! I say it again, how do you people manage to pack light?

What a week!

I'm late posting because I've been ill. But I'm feeling much better now and today my email brought me something worth celebrating!

You have perhaps read of PayPal's recent decision to stop allowing its services to be used by companies that sell certain kinds of erotica. If the companies did not censor their offerings, PayPal would no longer do business with them. 

Further information then came out that PayPal's change in their Terms of Service (TOS) was actually dictated to them by the credit card companies and banks who decided THEY didn't want to have dealings with certain kinds of erotica. It was the financial institutions who put PayPal in the middle and PayPal made a decision based on their own best business interests.

Enter Mark Coker of Smashwords. In my blog post on this earlier last week, I said that, "If I were an artist, I'd draw him as a knight standing before a pile of books, wielding a sword of words against bankers and investment firms who stand ready with lit matches."

Today I'd adapt that picture to one of him beating back the bankers and investment firms, the wind of his sword blowing out their matches because today, PayPal reversed it's decision. They will NOT be a part of censorship of legal fiction in any way.

Does that mean PayPal has put its own business in jeopardy because its standing up for what it has come to understand is right? You betcha. In Mark's words (from his public letter sent today): "This is a big, bold move by PayPal. It represents a watershed decision that protects the rights of writers to write, publish and distribute legal fiction. It also protects the rights of readers to purchase and enjoy all fiction in the privacy of their own imagination. It clarifies and rationalizes the role of financial services providers and pulls them out of the business of censoring legal fiction."

So here's me beating the drum and recommending to all of you who purchase ebooks: Go to Smashwords. Visit the site and look at the offerings. Many of the Scribes have books there for sale, but so do thousands of other writers. Support this wonderful company that went to bat for our right to read what we want without censorship from Those Who Know Better. You won't be sorry...and you'll help send a message that solidifies PayPal's decision that they did the right thing.

Diana

Read an Ebook Week

It's the perfect time to fill up all those Kindles and Nooks and Kobos and Sony Readers and settle in for a day (or two or three) of reading. The Scribes have lots of books to help you fill up those ereaders. Check out all our pretty book covers on our website.

Two of my self-published books are on sale at Smashwords. Normally $1.99, you can buy Anything Goes or Panties Optional this week for only 99¢. Just use coupon code REW50 when you check out. (My other book available at Smashwords, What Are Friends For?, is already 99¢.)

Whether you buy one of my books or one of the other Scribes' books, curl up in your comfy chair and escape for a few hours into our world.

Happy reading!

Lynn