Tuesday 20 October 2009

Killing Two Birds...


The two birds of the subject line are Facebook and Names. Firstly, Facebook - well - I've gorn all technical (with a lot of help from the lovely alzamina - thank you so much!) in my newly-found self-promo-ing zeal and added a CJ Fan Page to my normal Facebook page - hence the rather odd link-widget-thingy (see how quickly I've picked up the appropriate jargon?) on the right. And I'd really, really appreciate it if someone would click the "become a fan" button otherwise it'll look really sad...

And the second bird - names... Well, it's just that my friend has named her new daughter Sukie Lulu after two of my heroines - which I think is lovely but I sincerely hope Sukie Lulu won't grow up to hate me, and also I've had an email from a lovely lady who tells me her three sons are all named after my heroes - Drew, Rory and Ellis - which is again very flattering and probably a lot more acceptable...

But it does mean in future I'm going to have to be very, very careful about "christening" my H&H just in case some poor newborn gets lumbered with something I think is sweet now but they'll hate like poison when they get to 25... Elle, bless her, was near as dammit called Poppy Star. She is SO glad I saw sense...

And funnily enough, while on the name thing, the heroine in Midnight Feast has also had to have a bit of a name make-over. I'd called her Sunny Strange because she is both of those things - but this was considered just a bit too - er - goofy - so she's now Ella Maloney. It took me ages to get used to it - plus I did "find and replace" and therefore now have loads of things like "it was a lovely Ella morning" and "there was a Maloney atmosphere" splattered right through my carefully crafted and beautifully honed 75,000 so far and counting words. Sigh...

16 comments:

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

I remember doing a find and replace as I'd called the grandfather and grandson Alexander, so changed the older one to Ken. I had a book full of Kenanders after that.

Groovy Pumpkin said...

Hi Christina,

I love the image you have with this post - I know how the man feels, especially on Facebook - there's always something trying to edge it's way onto my computer somehow. I think Facebook is quite confusing - I much prefer Twitter.

I've only joined the Facebook/Twitter world recently and feel like a newborn trying to learn how this new world works - I have't quite figured it all out yet, it just seems a bit too hard - how sad is that?!

By the way, I've now finished Moonshine - it's so lovely, I really felt warm and fuzzy reading this one, and Dylan was truly gorgeous too!!

Thanks so much - I really appreciate the hard work you put in to keeping Jo-anne public happy!

Big hugs and smiles to you today!!

Jane xx

Colette McCormick said...

Love the name Sukie Lulu.
I have a face book page but don't really use it apart from seeing what some mates are up to from time to time. The last thing I need is another excuse to not do what I should be doing and mess around on the computer instead.

alzamina said...

yay - you got loads of fans coming on now! Glad you like your page :-)

Don't talk to me about names - my brother is called Kirstian (kir-stee-ann), my sister is called Ikater (ee-kate-er) and the family name for first born boys is Lyne (line!) At least I got a normal name of Sue - hehe

New horse in the stable now now so we now have a pair again!! big black 5 year old shire called Tom - real sweetie!

Christina Jones said...

Debs - so funny! Short cuts often are anything but aren't they???

Christina Jones said...

Groovy Pumpkin - oh I know! The pic seemed to fit me exactly! And please don't mention Twitter - I'm so s-l-o-w I've only just got to grips (almost) with FB... And THANK YOU so much for liking Moonshine and Dylan - chuffed to bits that you got a bit of feel-good out of it. Hugs and smiles back - you're a star!

Christina Jones said...

Colette - yes, I think Sukie Lulu is cute for a baby - still not sure if she'll be happy with it when she's older... And FB is a time-waster BUT apparently now an essential for publicity - so I'm kind of obliged to give it my best shot.

Christina Jones said...

alzamina - eternally grateful as you know. Blimey - how did you get to be called Sue??? I had a friend who made her babies names up by throwing Scrabble tiles and picking letters at random. She ended up with Paxby, Noomi and Redah... Welcome to Tom - he's fallen on his hooves with you, hasn't he?

Jilly said...

I don't do Facebook - I've never got to grips with it! Blogs and websites - yes but Facebook - not for me sorry.

Find and Replace - brilliant for a short document - when you don't really need it - but for a book - well you end up with some very 'strange' effects. Sorry about the pun!

Christina Jones said...

Jilly - oh believe me I'd have avoided FB too if it hadn't been for the three line promo whip job! Strange pun forgiven!!!

Brand-ie said...

I already commented on your FB page.
I am on there as a way to keep in contact with my sister's.

Aww love the names.

Christina Jones said...

Brand-ie - thanks so much! Will go and "speak" to you on FB now too - once I've worked out how...

katiebird said...

Hi Christina - I'm so proud to be both a fan and a friend! I think it's great that you are learning to work the Facebook scene. And I hope you'll share some of your experiences with us.

I've been helping a writer friend of mine and any hints are welcome.

Christina Jones said...

katiebird - thank you too - for being a friend and a fan! I'm gradually getting myself into the 21st century!!! Will try to post more helpful (?) writing tips - but in the meantime, please ask - will help if I can.

Karen said...

Ooh, I was fiddling with find and replace earlier, changing the name Ed after realising I already had a Ted and a Ned(God knows what was in my coffee this morning) and realised I'd wiped out every word ending in 'ed.' Tut. Good job it was only a short story!

I love the name Sunny Strange by the way :o)

Christina Jones said...

Thanks Karen - the ed-editing made me chuckle. Find and replace is clearly a double-edged sword (think that's the right expression - do remember once opening a hornets'nest by the incorrect use of "hoist by his own petard" - you have to be SO careful...). I still love Sunny Strange as well - still don't understand why she had to change... sigh...