Beth Green
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New Patreon Rewards!

7/31/2018

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I've just posted my digital July rewards for Patreon supporters and my $10 backers have a (couple of, actually!) postcards in the mail to them from my trip to Spain.

Here are the covers for the $5 reward (a short story about a backpacker in Thailand who gets involved in a situation that looks like a kidnapping) and the $3 reward (a travel tale about being hungry in an unfamiliar city). 

If you pledge today, you'll get these rewards plus previous months' stories as well! Take a look at all the reward tiers here:  www.patreon.com/BethGreen
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Audiobooks, Revisited

6/28/2018

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PictureOne of the last pictures of me wearing glasses--waiting in line at the hospital to pay for the surgery.
Almost ten years ago, while living in China, I had laser eye surgery

My eyes have always been bad—and one was worse than the other, causing depth perception problems (yes, that’s what I’m blaming my poor performance in high school PE class on. Okay?). I’d worn contact lenses since I was 15, but for a few years, my eyes had become increasingly sensitive and irritated by the lenses. I tried switching to glasses full time, but suffered vision headaches and just generally hated having something resting on my nose every day. 

After the procedure, the doctor advised me to reduce the strain on my eyes, and particularly the time that I spent looking  at computer screens, for about six months. 

At first I thought I’d be fine—I planned to listen to music and sleep a lot. But no, it was a lot harder to cut back on reading than I had thought. We had a vacation coming up, to Xinjiang Province in far western China. What was I going to do on our long bus and train rides? 

The answer: audiobooks.

Now, some of my readers here might know that I was homeschooled as a kid, and whether that's the reason or not, it has never been quite comfortable for me to take information in only by listening. I don't particularly enjoy listening to the radio, other than for music,  and when I took lectures in college, I took as many notes as I could so that I could read them back later.

Knowing this, my husband picked out the first book for me to listen to. We thought it would be easier for me to enjoy if it was a book I’d actually read before on paper. He chose George RR Martin’s A Game of Thrones. He’s an OG GOT fan, and I had recently bought him paperbacks of the full series (well, whatever was published up to that point; we didn’t even know there’d be a TV series then!) at an English-language bookshop in Macao. So one of my first experiences with audiobooks was listening to the narrator describe Westeros as we sat on a train going across the yellow Taklamakan desert near Kashgar. 

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Consequently, I've always imagined the Dothraki sea a little bit like this.
On later trips that year, I listened to Nora Roberts, Janet Evanovich and other authors I enjoy read aloud. Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys and his own reading of The Graveyard Book stayed with me particularly. I listened on a ferry down the Yangtze, *tried* to listening while going to the gym (but the music was too loud and to be honest, going to the gym is another thing I’ve never been able to get into…), and stayed up late at night in cheap hostels in India, mosquito netting inches from my face, riveted by one plot point or another. 
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But once the doctor approved me for reading screens again, I let my interest in audiobooks lapse. Until this year.

While training for our hike in Spain next week, I’ve started listening to audiobooks again, as well as podcasts, to make the miles pass under my boots faster.  Plus, since I’ll have to carry everything I need for the hike in a 26L backpack, I don’t really have room to take a paperback (one paperback is not enough for a week trip anyway). My Kindle’s small and light, but I would worry about damage to it if it rains. These past two months, I’ve learned  I’m still a newbie listener, and often have to back up to re-hear what happened if my focus is pulled elsewhere. I would never be able to listen to audiobooks and drive a car—that seems like a superpower! 
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Lately, I’ve been listening to thrillers. I’ve finished Rena Olsen’s The Girl Before and AJ Banner’s The Good Neighbor, and now I’m working on Carla Norton’s What Didn’t Kill Her—which I’m really enjoying. 
My next Audible credit this month will go to Steven King’s latest release, Outsider. I hope the tension will keep me on the path while walking—but I’ll probably switch back to podcasts after dark!
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Do you listen to audiobooks? Which ones would you recommend?

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New Patreon Rewards!

6/20/2018

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I've just posted my June rewards for Patreon supporters!

Here are the covers for the $5 reward (a short story in my series about an all-female  assassin agency) and the $3 reward (a travel tale about the time I hiked Mt. Emei, one of China's four sacred Buddhist mountains). 

If you pledge today, you'll get these rewards plus previous months' stories as well! Note that I also offer critique sessions for the higher reward tiers--perfect if you'd like a writing buddy, editor, and cheerleader!  www.patreon.com/BethGreen
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New Patreon Rewards

5/16/2018

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My May rewards for Patreon supporters post today! Above are the covers of the $5 reward (a short, short story about a fast-moving river and a now-or-never chance) and the $3 reward (a travel story set in Prague during my English-teaching days). Pledge today and get access to these rewards and last month's too:  https://www.patreon.com/BethGreen.

What is Patreon? It's a microfunding site for creators. You get cool things to read (and fun cat memes) and I can spend a bit more time on projects I'm passionate about!  Learn more here or check out the intro video on my Patreon profile page.
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Interview on Christi R. Suzanne's Blog

5/4/2018

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My writer pal and beta reader Christi R. Suzanne has a new blog series that feature emerging writers. I'm flattered I get to be the first writer she interviewed! Check it out (and the amazing Christi) at her blog. Can't wait to see who she interviews next!
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On the Shelf: Books Set in Prague (but by foreign authors)

4/29/2018

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This past week, my friend Jasmine Silvera released the second book in her Grace Bloods series, Dancer’s Flame. I've known Jasmine since she was in Prague writing her first book (and, um, actually I’m officially the first book’s godmother and so kind of invested in this…) and I'm thrilled to see her universe, set in a dystopian future Prague, come to life in a second volume. The story centers on Isela Vogel, a dancer who can call on gods through the power of dance and her relationship with the city’s most powerful necromancer, Azrael.
 
Jasmine did a great job showcasing the city, but often when I pick up a book about a place I know well, I worry if my own experiences are going to take away from my enjoyment of the setting. For example, my own familiarity with Prague makes me hypervigilant to the details, but it’s really not fair to expect an author to always put every cobblestone in the right place. For most books, it's more about catching the spirit of a location and emphasizing only the details that evoke the sensation of being there. 


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My Copy of the Gratitude, Good News & Guidelines Creative Non-Fiction Anthology Has Arrived!

4/18/2018

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Four mysterious packages arrived in the mail for me today (well, mysterious because I actually thought I'd ordered only three books last week, yet four came...) and one of them held my paperback copy of the GRATITUDE, GOOD NEWS & GUIDELINES Creative Non-Fiction Anthology. I thought it would be fun to make a short video of me unwrapping it. Happy watching! 

(Get your own copy via BooksMango.)
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GRATITUDE, GOOD NEWS & GUIDELINES ANTHOLOGY LAUNCHES TODAY!

4/4/2018

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Today’s the day!
 
It’s the international launch of the Gratitude, Good News & Guidelines creative non-fiction anthology! Edited by the multi-talented writer and educator Bhavna Khemlani, the anthology features 33 stories of inspiration from writers around the globe.
 

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New Patreon Rewards

4/1/2018

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My April rewards for Patreon patrons post today! Above are the covers of my $5 reward (a short story about an inept assassin) and my $3 reward (a travel tale about Easter traditions in Spain and the Philippines). Make a pledge and claim your rewards at https://www.patreon.com/BethGreen. 

What is Patreon? It's a microfunding site for creators. You get cool things to read (and fun cat memes) and I can spend a bit more time on projects I'm passionate about!  Learn more here. You can also watch my intro video explaining my vision for my patrons and my projects below. 
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Launching next week! Gratitude, good news & GuidelineS CREATIVE NON-FICTION ANTHOLOGY

3/29/2018

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I'm pleased to be featured in a creative-nonfiction anthology this spring!
 
On April 4th the Gratitude, Good News & Guidelines Creative Non-fiction Anthology will be launched. The proceeds from the sales of this anthology go to charity, supporting a school in an underprivileged area of Bangkok. I’ll be writing more about it and the editor who put it together, the multi-talented Bhavna Khemlani, next week—but if you can’t wait, the ebook is already available on Amazon.  
 
My essay, “Excuse Me Ma’am, Your Bag Is Overweight” is in the Guidelines section. In it, I share how airline packing restrictions can be similar to writing guidelines—and how I sometimes chafe at both.
 
Happy reading! 

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