Tara Maya's Tales

20 Things I’ve Learned from Steve Jobs   1. Build stuff that you love, then ask people to buy that stuff so you can keep building more. In 1974, Steve Jobs invited Steve Wozniak to join the Homebrew Computer Club. Woz wanted to keep it a hobby. Jobs convinced Woz to start a company. In 1976, they sold the first fifty Apple I computers.   2. Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want. At age 13, Steve Jobs called up the head of HP and asked for free computer chips…and got them.   3. Even if you don’t graduate, you can still keep learning. Jobs dropped out of Reed College, but kept auditing classes. (I learned to write BASIC on an Apple II.)   4. If you lose your job, stay focused on what you’ll do next. In 1985, Steve Jobs was fired from Apple, the company he’d help found, and replaced by John Sculley. Jobs promptly founded a new computer company, NeXT. "I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best...

Rest in peace. You will be missed by many.

Today we have a guest post by Rayne Hall. Rayne Hall is a traditionally published author, who has recently made the move to self-publishing for her latest dark fantasy Storm Dancer, which is only $0.99 on Amazon and definitely worth reading. She also teaches writing classes, which I highly recommend. She is an excellent teacher. You can find out more about the classes below, or on this site:  www.sites.google.com/site/writingworkshopswithraynehall/ Creating Believable Magician Characters by Rayne Hall Does your story have a magician - a shaman, a sorcerer, a necromancer, a ritual wizard, a theurgist, a miracle worker or a witch? The traits which make them effective magicians shape their personality. Here are ten tips for their characterisation. Your magician should have most - not necessarily all - of these character traits. Although I'm using the female pronoun for this article, everything applies regardless of gender. 1. Intelligent Magic requires a...

Last year, this was my 9-11 Post: On September 11, 2001, I was living overseas. I remember that a local newspaper carried the headline, the next day, "Superman Cries." I very much wanted to buy a copy, but I had other priorities at the time. My mom was scheduled to be on an airplane on that day, and I was trying to track her down, make sure she was safe (she was), and then I spent a lot of time on the phone or trying to get online to talk it over with her and other loved ones. By the time I tried to pick up a copy of the newspaper, they were sold out. It's interesting that at a moment like that, people would turn to a fictional character to try to make sense of the tragedy. They could have used the Statue of Liberty or Uncle Sam, the more usual allegorical figures of nationhood, but instead featured the comicbook Superman, with a single tear. * * * I included a link to this  emotional timeline of 9-11  from Mind Hacks. What I did not discuss was my own emotiona...

My oldest son started kindergarten yesterday. It was also the release date of the third book in my series -- The Unfinished Song: Sacrifice . Usually, I neglect my kids because I'm busy writing, but yesterday, I neglected my new release so I could spend the day with my little man. At least, that was my intention. It's not possible to turn off Writer's Brain. After Roll Call and Storytime, the kids ran outside to play while the parents squeezed into tiny chairs to listen to the teacher. The teacher was a perfect kindergarten teacher: sweet and chipper and friendly and yet down-to-earth. While she expounded on the daily schedule and how budget cuts impacted the status of art supplies, I gazed around the room, struck by an idea for a story about a woman whose three preschool sons are werewolves. I would call it, "My Three Werewolf Sons." Right at the moment I was puzzling out the backstory about how the young children came to be bitten by a werewolf (I would blam...

At some magic hour today you should be able to buy Sacrifice, third book in the twelve part series The Unfinished Song. Early bird buyers will be able to pick up the book for just $.99.

Yay! Thank you to those who have waited patiently...Sacrifice, the third book in The Unfinished Song, is here! Almost. It should be available for review copies and early bird purchase on Monday, August 30, 2011. This will be a busy day for me, since it is also the day my oldest son starts kindergarten. UPDATE: Except, of course, I meant TUESDAY, because that is the 30th. D'OH! Here's a sneak peek at the cover: