Entertainment – Page 20 – Britt Skrabanek

Social media (and that whole love/hate thing)

I love it. I hate it. I love it. I hate it. I…you get the gist.

Well, it looks like social media is here to say, guys. I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say…embrace it already!

I totally get the the love/hate thing. I’ve gone through it myself.

It’s a common subject.; in fact as I was writing this post, I came across a great blog post by Jenny Hansen discussing Facebook called What do your Facebook Interactions REALLY say about you? Be sure to check out the Social Me analysis fun when you stop by.

OK, so back to the love/hate thing!

When My Space was “it”, I quit and rejoined several times. Each time I left because I wanted intimate relationships, so if people couldn’t see me in person or at the very least call me on the ancient-adjacent telephone…well, tough cookies!

When I moved away from my fam in Dallas, I joined Facebook. Somewhere in there I quit due to my previously mentioned stance over the lack of modern day intimacy.

And, guess what? I got lonely as hell.

If I didn’t get the memo before that the hey day of the casual phone catch-up was over, I got it this time.

Gee whiz, even email, our techy equivalent to a handwritten letter, has lost its glory in the world of personal relationships.

So, I decided to rejoin Facebook for the sake of companionship. I realized this is just how things are. As such, I decided to stop swimming upstream and simply float along the lazy social media river.

Before anyone gets huffy or accuses me of drinking the Kool-Aid, please know that I am still a diehard advocate for in-person or telephone get-togethers. The exquisite comfort of the human voice is unparalleled no matter how far the internet takes us.

I like to think of social media as an enhancement of communication, rather than the bitter end.

As a lesser known author trying to get my name out there, it is an amazing tool – and hey, it’s free and pretty darn fun.

Don’t worry, I’m not one of those annoying writers polluting your social feed with book pimping updates. All I have to say about that is…YUCK! I think we can all agree that people selling anything aggressively is such a turn-off.

However, I do believe in making new connections through social media and hanging out, having some laughs and sharing bits and pieces of life together. Undeniably, it’s a strong community out there, and I think in many ways it’s a healthy development.

Do people share annoying tidbits from time to time? Yes. And my advice for you is to either hide their updates or just scan right along past them. My advice for them…the complaining, the whining, and the too much info are no-no’s.

Nobody ordered a Debbie Downer with a splash of neuroses.

Like anything, moderation is key.

There is no need to be a part of every social media site in existence. I stick with Facebook and Twitter. Oh, how I love Twitter! It makes me feel super clever when I nail a point in 140 characters or less.

(Pardon my social media nerd outburst there.)

Still not with me? Here are two of my favorite social media memories which changed my outlook…BIG TIME!

Twitter Talk

A blogger gal pal of mine, Jessica Korteman of Notes of Nomads, and I had this incredible convo on Twitter. She lives and Japan and had just started reading my book, Everything’s Not Bigger. So, we were chatting on Twitter about my little book. It was morning here and I was sipping my cup of joe. It was nighttime there, and she was drinking a cup of milo. To speak with someone I have never met, to share a warm beverage with someone on the opposite side of the world…you guys, that’s pretty damn cool.

P.S. Be sure to check her blog out! I always joke that she is the female version of Indiana Jones in my mind, and she’s probably going to end up as a character in one of my books.

Facebook Reunion

I lost contact with my childhood best friend, Laura. We went through everything together growing up – playing Barbies and “house”, our first boy crushes, and major obsessions with Tori Amos and Aerosmith. She moved out of state, then I moved out of state; she moved again, then I moved again. We tried tracking each other down many times and had no luck.

Quite awesomely, we reunited on Facebook. Logically speaking, we probably would have never found each other without silly old Facebook.

If you take a good look at your own social media memories, you may notice some undeniable moments you would not have experienced otherwise. Think about it for a sec…

Virtually, you’ve gone to many weddings, you’ve seen lots of newborn babies, you’ve supported someone when they were going through a rough time with a comment – a little ray of hope.

Perhaps it’s not the type of humanity we ever thought could exist, and that is why it confuses and scares us sometimes. But, it’s there for us if we want it.

Seriously?! How are we NOT friends already? Click the links below, so we can fix that!

Let’s share a laugh (and maybe a snort or two) on Facebook!

Let’s Tweet our little hearts out together!

ALSO, ONLY ONE WEEK LEFT FOR YOU TO…

Vote for two of my characters’ names (it’s fun!)

AND…

Score $1 off on both of my books on Smashwords!

So, what do you guys think about social media? Do you love it, hate it, or love/hate it?

High Fashion, Suburban Swingers, Narcotics Detectives, and Gypsies

Haha…made you look! You’re probably thinking…what is that crazy Britt up to now?

But this fun bouquet of words is actually from a reader, a snippet from an outstanding review my little book, Everything’s Not Bigger, received last night.

If you’re interested in the randomness this title exudes, then you’ll probably want to scoop up a copy of Everything’s Not Bigger while it’s $1 off on Smashwords (ends February 28th.)

Also, my first book Beneath the Satin Gloves is a buck off as well. It’s kooky in a different way. Think WWII, spying lounge singer, sex and lies, and a little time travel element to keep you scratching your head.

And for you Valentine’s Day enthusiasts out there, I promise there are some mega romantic moments in each story that will make your heart go pitter-patter.

I’m totally interested in a buck off your books, Britt!

Well, cheers to that and click here for all the deets…

Here’s the full review from Amazon…

“What do Dallas high fashion retail salespeople, basset hounds, suburban swingers, Czech cuisine, narcotics detectives, Romani (Gypsies), gay trust fund debauchees, and witness protection all have in common? Answer: Jaye Davis.  

So move over Sophie Kinsella and Tom Robbins and make room for one of the most thoroughly modern female protagonists ever created. And, as a delightful bonus, find that all of Britt Skrabanek’s other characters in this novel are not bigger than life; they each ring true with the feel of a fact-is-stranger-than-fiction cast of players. No, these are not your typical quirky oddballs populating the television sitcoms but characters whose lives intersect so effortlessly with Jaye Davis. I ask myself whether Everything’s Not Bigger is a roman à clef or most definitely the very imaginative product of a keen observer of human nature. This novel is suspenseful, romantic, peppered with history, and salted with satirical social commentary.  

As with Britt Skrabanek’s first novel, Beneath The Satin Gloves, this offering is sprinkled with clever and tender comic relief. Two particular scenes, one involving a grumpy Czech grandmother (not Jaye’s), and the other depicting her platonic non-date stroll over a landmark Prague bridge, are sure to entertain. However, don’t be misled; this is a serious story about conflicting contemporary values. How do we overcome bad decisions, and do we have the determination to shape the life we really want to live.“

Beggars and Champagne

Once upon a time, there was a magical land far, far away named Milwaukee. It was a land filled with beggars and champagne…

…at least in my eyes, the starry eyes of a non-native.

Before I moved here I led a previous life in Dallas, and a previous-previous life in SoCal. At a young age, Wayne’s World taught me that Milwaukee was Algonquin for “The Good Land”.

Hey, I thought it must be an alright place if Alice Cooper and the Native Americans said so.

Other than that, people told me it was a land of cheese and beer. Seriously, this is all I once knew.

When I first met my Milwaukeean paramour in Dallas, we interrogated each other – as we all do during the dating phase – and naturally we confessed our first dreadful jobs.

Quite casually, he said, “I used to be a beggar.”

Red flag!

“A beggar?” I asked, batting my eyelashes and trying my darnedest to stay open-minded, because man oh man was I smitten!

“You know…at the grocery store.”

Light bulb.

“Oh, a BAGger! You bagged groceries.”

Phew!

“That’s what I said.”

No you didn’t.

It turns out the letter “a” is pronounced a little differently in the Midwest.

We had a good laugh over that…obviously. And, me and my far-from-bumming beau got hitched and moved to Milwaukee, the good land.

*Read the rest of the story over at OnMilwaukee.com (I was invited to write a “Readers Blog” at On Milwaukee, so it would be awesome if you guys could stop by their place…I promise there are more laughs with this kooky tale.)

So, I’m having this book sale…

I know, I know. We all have about a grillion choices when it comes to books. There are so many stories out there, and I have written two teeny tiny ones.

I’m not conventional, I’m not mainstream, I’m not famous.

I’m just me. Little indie author…me.

But, here’s the thing – I’ve got coupons! And, who in the hell doesn’t like coupons?

The entire month of February you can get both of my books at a $1 off their usual prices. Think about all the things you can do with that buck you’re saving.

You can – oh wait, nevermind. Even gum costs more than that nowadays!

Oh, well! A buck’s a buck.

Head on over to Smashwords and use the nifty coupon codes below. Before you scratch your head about what the blazes Smashwords is, just know that it’s a swell place for us indie authors to sell our unknown books via any e-book format in existence.

Instructions are right here so you know what to do after you download the format you need. With my Kindle Fire, I just email the mobi file to my Kindle email address and voila…easy squeezy!

Here’s my offbeat WWII spy thriller…

Click the book to see what it’s all about.

Click here to buy on Smashwords

(just copy and paste coupon code VY57T at check-out)

Here’s my feel-good, modern day thriller…

Click the book to see what it’s all about.

Click here to buy on Smashwords

(just copy and paste coupon code NS94W at check-out)

If you feel so inclined to be even more gorgeous than you already are for giving my books a whirl, it would be beyond awesome if you would take a few moments to leave a review after you have finished. Seriously, it would warm my heart.

THANK YOU kindly for supporting the indie author movement.

‘Tis the Season to Be Cheap and Creative

If you’re guilty of committing any of the following holiday fouls…

Crying yourself to sleep every night leading to December, in December, and after December.
Pawning your old VHS tapes to pay the minimum payment on your credit card bill just so you can have a little extra room to put more on it.
Plotting the deaths of your neighbor’s reindeer lawn ornaments because one of them looked at you funny, and you need to defend your honor.

…step away from the solid fudge Nutcracker and put down the whiskey masquerading as eggnog.

Feeling inadequate for not being able to afford a crapload of crap for your family and friends is – you guessed it – crap.

So, why do so many of us continue flailing through the holidays in this unseemly manner?

Consumerism is contagious, a pesky bug which thrives on infecting our bank accounts and our psyches.

But, it’s all around us and there is no flu shot or magical elixir we can use to cop out. It is solely up to us to keep ourselves healthy, to become immune to this airborne excessiveness.

Does that mean you can’t participate in the gift of giving? No, it doesn’t.

Does it mean you can change your ways and give on a modest budget? Indeed, it does.

Just step outside of that shiny snowflake box – be cheap and creative!

Scenario #1: The family that’s impossible to shop for.

Gift cards get a bad rap (or wrap, if you will…ho, ho, ho) but they’re also easy, flexible, and crowd-pleasing.

Back when I was still living in Texas, my mom and I came up with the idea to do a gift card exchange in which each person bought one gift card rather than buying for everyone and breaking the bank. A reasonable denomination was decided and communicated to the family.

To make things interesting, my mom read ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas and we had to switch gift cards around the table each time a particular word was recited.

Obviously, this can be utilized with any holiday poem or story depending on your persuasion. Choose common words like “and” or “the” to ensure lots of trading comes into play.

For creativity bonus points, have each person write one or two sentences then combine them into one nonsensical holiday story.

For calorie burning bonus points, have everyone run around and switch seats instead of passing by hand.

Scenario #2: The family that’s possible to shop for.

Used bookstores are a gifting treasure chest if you feel confident about the merry interests of your fam.

Fueled by coffee and shoestring budget determination, my hubby and I hit up a multi-level used bookstore here in Milwaukee and selected one dusty book for each family member for the holidays last year.

I gotta say…we made out like a couple of elfin bandits in that bookstore.

My mother-in-law was our greatest challenge because she has read just about every book in creation. So, we put our heads together and came up with one of our best gift ideas ever. And although this is top secret stuff, I’m gonna share it with you.

My hubby is one of seven kids…that’s right – seven!

To represent each of them, we gave my mother-in-law vintage National Graphic’s for the birth month and year of each of her wonderful children.

Needless to say, she loved it!

This gift idea is thoughtful, heart-warming, and original – feel free to explore different magazine collections (Time, Vogue, etc). Although in my opinion, you can’t go wrong with National Geographic…ever.

Bottom line…that over-indulgent holiday mentality is unnecessary and absurd. It invites stress into your family time, and who in the hell wants him to crash the festivities anyway?

When in doubt, just give some love.

Do you guys have any inexpensive gift ideas out there? I’d love to hear them. I might steal one this year.