The Write Stuff

I'm always looking for unusual writer junk, and on my last office supply run I made some neat little finds that I wanted to share.

I picked up this quartet to the left at BAM. Here are more details on each, clockwise starting at the little green journal:

One Word A Day Mini-Journal by Knock Knock -- This is a palm-size hardcover that gives you 365 opportunities to "choose any word to describe your day and write it down." Journaling doesn't get any simpler or more concise than that, and there's even enough room to write a few more words if you want to say more; $12.59 with my discount card.

Small Edgewise Journal by Orange Circle Studio -- this flocked turquoise little beauty of a journal has 144 white and soft pastel ruled pages, interesting edge tabbing plus an elastic ribbon to keep it closed. The binding allows it to lay flat as you write in it, and it's small enough to tuck in a purse or a large index card holder; $3.60 (on sale at 50% off.)

Origami Sticky Notes by Suck UK -- 100 sticky notes imprinted with picture diagrams so you can fold them into ten different origami critters. Office notes will never be the same; $3.59 with my discount card.

A Year of Fortunes (without the cookies) by Knock Knock -- I bought one of these little hardcovers during the holidays to give to a family friend; it contains 365 preforated, dated fortunes with wry sayings on one side and lucky numbers on the other; $14.85 with my discount card.

I also rummaged around the bargain bins at BAM and found two unusual journals:



You have to peek inside to see wwhy they're unusual:



The Tri-Coastal Script Journal offers widely-spaced ruled pages that give you about twice the writing room as a standard journal (perfect for scribes like me who don't have tiny handwriting); the Pepper Pot journal on the right with the starburst cover design has graph-ruled pages with color-striped edges. The fact that I got them for $4.50 and $6.73 (50% with an extra 10% off for my discount card) respectively was a nice bonus.

From BAM I went to Target to look for some notebooks and binders and see what they had on sale. They have a new line of "Sunwashed" office supplies under their own brand that I really liked with dreamy photo designs and lovely colors. When I'm working on a particular project I like to color-coordinate my writing stuff so I can find everything with a glance, so I picked up a binder ($4.99), legal pad/clipboard padfolio ($8.99), journal 3-pack ($5.99) and pencil box with pencils ($4.99):











I also found a lot of notebooks and journals marked down for clearance, and scored an 8" X 6" 80-page Mead notebook with those lovely dot-gridded pages instead of lines ($2.65) as well as a slightly smaller, 80 page Horizon groovy hues ruled notebook with a front pocket and an elastic closure ribbon ($1.98):





I got an additional 5% discount off everything for using my Target Visa at checkout. Target also had every 2013 pocket planner, desk blotter, wall blotter and so forth heavily discounted, and clearance prices on some nice smash book and scrapbooking supplies, so if you're in the market for any of those it maybe worth a trip to check them out.

Calm & Cool

I've always wanted to design a motivational poster for writers, and now I have:



Want to customize your own version of the Keep Calm poster? Go to the TheKeepCalm-o-Matic and do it for free online.

The Quick Brown Whatsahoosit

If you're a poet or writer who likes playing with nouns you might try to feed some of your text to the N+7 generator, which according to the site "involves replacing each noun in a text with the seventh one following it in a dictionary. (In French, it is also referred to as the 'S+7' procedure.) Here you can enter an English text and 15 alternative texts will be generated, from N+1, which replaces each noun with the next one in the dictionary, to N+15, which takes the 15th noun following."

I tried a classic bit of typing practice, and here are the results:

N+0: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dogs.

N+1: The quick brown foxglove jumped over the lazy dogcarts.

N+2: The quick brown foxhole jumped over the lazy dogfights.

N+3: The quick brown foxhound jumped over the lazy doggies.

N+4: The quick brown foyer jumped over the lazy doggies.

N+5: The quick brown fraction jumped over the lazy doglegs.

N+6: The quick brown fracture jumped over the lazy dogmas.

N+7: The quick brown fragment jumped over the lazy do-gooders.

N+8: The quick brown fragrance jumped over the lazy dogsbodies.

N+9: The quick brown frail jumped over the lazy doilies.

N+10: The quick brown frailty jumped over the lazy doles.

N+11: The quick brown frame jumped over the lazy dolls.

N+12: The quick brown frame-up jumped over the lazy dollars.

N+13: The quick brown framework jumped over the lazy dollops.

N+14: The quick brown franc jumped over the lazy dollies.

N+15: The quick brown franchise jumped over the lazy dolphins.

(Generator link swiped from Gerard over at The Presurfer)

Book Drop Results #1

Last month I tried a book dropping experiment to test my ability to match people with books I think they'd enjoy. This required the test subjects to tell me what sort of story they most liked to read, and then me sending them a book without telling them in advance the title or author. The first results are in, and here's what happened with my book drop for DeeCee.

First, the original comment from the book drop post:

DeeCee 3:31 AM

I like UF/PNR that have multiple book story arcs with fewer than 10 TSTL moments. :)

I sent DeeCee Rob Thurman's Trick of the Light, which I consider among other things to be the smartest urban fantasy I've ever read. In my e-mail to DeeCee, I also mentioned this: You were the toughest of my book drop winners to choose for, mainly because I think you and I read a lot of the same books.

I am psychic, it seems, as this was DeeCee's response when the package arrived (posted with permission):

I actually do already have Trick of the Light-I just finished reading it about 3 weeks ago. :) Trixa was a smart heroine, but I think Cal Leandros will still be my go to UF.

I wasn't about to give up, though, so I sent this:

I should have known! Ha. Okay, I've sent another book out, and hopefully this time I've managed to find one to surprise you. I'll check back with you once I return from my road trip.

And DeeCee's response to reading the second book, which was Sarah Addison Allen's The Girl Who Chased the Moon:

I can't thank you enough. You picked the perfect book. Allen's writing is so fast, the two contrasting voices kept the story moving and I couldn't put it down today. I can't believe Allen pulled off [censored by me, as it contains spoilers] -she didn't even have to explain the hows or whys. But I think Stella's scenes made me LOL the most, "Erase that." :) I've got to go track down The Sugar Queen and the Peach Keeper now.

I can't take credit for discovering Sarah Addison Allen, however, as two of her books were given to me by two different friends who thought I would enjoy them (and they were wonderful, and I loved them.) That's why book dropping works so well, I think. When someone gives me the gift of a great story, passing it along to someone else is as much fun as enjoying it myself. You don't have to stop at one person, either. Today while I was at BAM I recommended Allen's Garden Spells to the lady manning the cash wrap.

Although it took two tries I'm going to call this one a success, and my thanks to DeeCee for allowing me to share comments from our e-mail exchange. As soon as I have more results in, I'll post more updates.

Your Olympic Body Double

This is fun -- the BBC is giving us all a chance to live vicariously as Olympians by offering this body matching generator which tells you based on your height and weight which athelete at the games you are most like (in shape, obviously, not in fitness.)

I plugged in my stats and found out I have a Brit twin:



I've no idea what handball is, but now I'll have to find out. So who is your body double at the games? Let us know in comments.

(BBC link filched from The Presurfer)

Book Dropping

I read a neat article this morning about a dedicated knitter in Cambridge who participates in yarnbombing -- the practice of anonymously leaving or covering something in a public place with knitted or crocheted work. Some of these projects aren't small, either; I've seen a photo of a tank covered by a yarnbombing (which you can check out too if you scroll down here.) While some people don't care for the practice I think it's charming.

I've often handed out my books to strangers in public a few times, but I always ask first if they'd like one. Just shoving a book into someone's hands seems a bit rude to me. I've also read about releasing books in the wild, ala Book Crossing, but I've never purposely left books in a public place to be found by anyone (accidentally, however, I have -- and I apologize to whoever found my old copy of Brave New World on that park bench three years ago.) I think my main hesitation is the prospect of a child too young to be reading my adult fiction picking up the book and reading it without letting Mom and Dad know. Under those circumstances some books can be like Pandora's box.

I most like finding out what people enjoy reading and without warning giving them books I think they'll appreciate. I think of those as book drops -- the gift of a story I believe is suited to the recipient but that they don't expect. I have pretty good luck with matching the book to the person, too.

Today I want to try a controlled book drop experiment -- on you all, of course. In comments to this post let me know in general what sort of stories you enjoy reading (and it seems to work better if you don't tell me the names of your favorite titles or authors, but instead describe the type of story) by midnight EST on Sunday, July 15th, 2012. I'll choose three names at random from everyone who provides me with a description, and send the winners a book I think they'll enjoy reading. In return, I ask that the winners tell me after they've read the book what they thought of it so I can post the answers here on the blog. This giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something at PBW in the past.

Reading Speed

Do you know at what rate you read? Take this quick reading test over at Staples and find out.

My results:



The passage I was given to read was unfamiliar, but I answered the comprehension questions 100% correct, so I'll call that fairly accurate. How did you guys do? Let us know in comments.

(Reading test link swiped from Gerard over at The Presurfer)

Visual Fun

Big Huge Labs, home of many fun and useful Flickr toys, has one generator I often use for title and story ideas: the photo fortune generator.

The generator, which provides a random pithy quotation and three random images based on a single keyword taken from the quotation, often produces some interesting combinations. Here are a few screenshots of my results (click on any image to see larger version):



Classic fairytale and fable retelling is a favorite device among fiction writers, and this one seems to hint that there might be more to the story of the goose who laid the golden eggs. Such as, what has that pretty girl been feeding her flock? Whatever is shining in that jar? Might be fun to explore. Title ideas: The Golden Goose Girl, A Light Lunch, Hold What Glitters.



I cringed a little as soon as I saw the first image -- quite painful looking, and reminded me of this guy who came into the ER who had . . . no, I better not tell that story. Anyway, the following two pics added some irony and a wry chuckle to the tableau, especially followed by Plato's silly pronouncement. Title ideas: Good for Evil, Make It Happen, The Spoiler, Forked (and there's a Twilight parady begging to be written.)



The Woody Allen quotation adds a bit more comedy here, but the images tell a different story -- a very engimatic one. The beautiful feline, the bright flower and the hall filled with paintings would make interesting and (if handled correctly) powerful story elements. I'm thinking a thriller or mystery. Title Ideas: What the Cat Saw, Silent Bloom, Torn to Masterpieces.



This was my favorite of all the ones I generated; I love the grinning pup. The sunset (or sunrise) and the fetching young lady all add suggestions of romance, as does the Howe quotation. Title ideas: Loving Enemies, Better Friends, Sunset Smile.

If you don't care for the randomness of this generator but are still in finding inspirational images tailored to your needs, you can head over to Flickr and perform a search using keywords that directly relate to your story. I did one search with the keywords strong, stubborn and warrior and found this amazing but totally unexpected artwork that gave me some new ideas on how to flesh out one of my secondary characters.

Symbols & Words

One way to exercise your imagination and come up with some new story ideas is to use online generators that provide you with random prompts. The latest I've found, The Creative Idea Generator, is very simple and quite fun to use. You click on a word, image or surprise button to produce words and symbols, then move and rearrange them to create different pairings, idea clouds, plot circles, etc. It's almost like making your own story road signs, which is great for sparking ideas.

Here's a screenshot of my first test drive:



I paired the symbols with the words at random and then rearranged a few as ideas started forming. The downstairs symbol + "contract" made me at once think of someone who sells their soul to Satan (this is probably because I just reread The Grimrose Path by Rob Thurman) but I also got a very strong image of a nice cleaning lady character who doesn't just clean up corporate offices.

Other random story ideas I had: Where do you keep an important hostage? On a boat. A plague that turns 99% of the population into sleepwalkers who act out their dreams. When the ski lift fails, all that saves you is your scarf. A bug that either contaminates the world's petroleum supply, or renders it obsolete. An alien blade so beautiful that to look at it blinds you (the blade made of light has already been done.) A murder mystery where a writer kills everyone who violates his copyright -- or maybe an editor or someone tries to kill him over an inconvenient copyright. Fish and chips, I need to eat dinner (and I did have fish and chips last night, so it even inspired a meal.)

This generator is especially useful because we all interpret images and words differently, thus no two people are going to get the exact same ideas from it. I like the simplicity, too; it prods your imagination without overwhelming you with a lot of data.

Link nicked from Gerard at The Generator Blog.

Design Your Own

As much as I love shopping for fabric, I've always wanted to design my own. In the past I've produced some original swatches by printing via laserjet onto photofabric, and by hand dyeing or painting white cotton and muslin, but I've never had a chance to design and produce actual yardage.

I have some promo projects in mind for next year that would be better if I could design the fabric involved, so I checked my quilting-related bookmarks, and found a site called Spoonflower that I had never really investigated. I think when I first visited it my old computer wouldn't let me access or use the design generator pages.

Fortunately this time around I got into them, and in about five minutes had a finished design based on this photograph I took of two of my roses back in 2009:



I liked how the design came out so much that I ordered a yard of it, which I think will also give me a decent firsthand look at the quality of fabric Spoonflower produces from uploaded designs (and once it arrives I'll report more on that.) If this works out well I will definitely be doing more of this for future personal and promo projects.

While cruising around the Spoonflower site I also noted they have regular themed contests for fabric designs (winners are awarded a nice-sized credit toward Spoonflower purchases) and they also sell your designed fabric in their marketplace (designers get 10% of the sale price, paid to them in site purchase credits or as straight payments via Paypal.) Since there is no cost involved in putting your design up for sale -- the site does everything for you but design it -- this could be a neat way for you creative souls out there to earn some extra income.

I Robot

Sometimes you just need a robot, right? Thanks to Robohash, now you can generate "provide unique, robot/alien/monster/whatever images" by just visiting the site (your IP address generates one) or by typing in some text.

Here's what I got:



Don't be fooled by the single red eye or the television antenna on his head; he's 100% ready and able to wipe out the laundry for me.

Link swiped from Gerard over at the Generator Blog.

Green Journal

While I admit that I am addicted to art magazines, I never feel guilty buying an issue of Greencraft magazine. All the art projects in it are made from recycled materials -- things like old sweaters, cardboard, junk mail, even dryer sheets -- and the content is never boring or predictable.

In the Autumn 2011 issue there are a bunch of great ideas (including a way for me to finally recycle all these old beautiful calendars I can't bear to throw away) but the one idea I found most interesting was a notepad made from a hardcover book board, old end papers from other books, and a ribbon. It was so beautifully simple I immediately saw how I could adapt it into a green journal, using book boards for covers and filling it with pages made from the ton of stuff I have in my scrap paper bin.

I assembled the tools I needed, and started with some book boards that were left over from another project, and picked two that were the same size. Once I trimmed the ragged edges on the binding side, I punched two holes at the top of each board (I don't have a 2-hole punch, so I tucked the boards in the end of my 3-hole punch, punched one hole in them, and then flipped them over and punched another hole on the opposite side. Worked great.

For the pages I raided my scrap paper bin, and used a chapter from an old manuscript, watercolor paintings that didn't work out, some odds and ends I'd trimmed from other projects, etc. I mixed them up and trimmed them slightly smaller than the book board covers, but I didn't worry about making them all equal in size because I think that makes the journal pages more interesting. I then stacked them so that all the white or unused sides were facing up, and them punched holes in them the same way I did the covers.

Putting the journal together was simple; I put the pages inside the covers, threaded some narrow organdy ribbon through the holes and tied them all together with a bow. I left it loose so I could turn the pages, but the next time I made one I'll probably use binder rings or some elastic ribbon or cord to have more give in the binding.

By stacking all the white/unused sides in the same direction I gave myself space to write or paint something on the right side of the journal. I plan to put photos or pictures on the left/used sides. I'm not going to alter the book board covers, though, because I think they're charming just the way they are.

If you don't have any book boards to recycle you can harvest them from any old used books available at flea markets, thrift stores or rummage sales. Some mixed media art suppliers sell them, too. If you're not into making journals, you can adapt this idea to make a green photo album or scrapbook. You don't have to use the same materials for the pages as I did, either; old maps, leftovers from scrapbooking projects, pages from magazines, pamphlets, greeting cards, photographs, envelopes, souvenirs, fabric or anything that appeals to you. This might also be a great project for kids to teach them how to recycle some of their old artwork, school papers, doodles and so on.

Test Your Vocab

Ever wonder what size English vocabulary you have? Here's a test you can take online to give you an estimate.

I took the test and gave honest responses (it's honor system based, so you can lie and say you know the tough words and probably make yourself look better.) I thought I'd absolutely bomb, especially when I hit the final column, but my results surprised me:



Test link nicked from Gerard over at The Presurfer.

Reinventing the Bookmark Idea #3

I have a small collection of string-and-bead type bookmarks that are lovely . . . and pretty much useless, because they all tend to fall out of my books. This is because I am not especially careful when I pick up, put down or carry books, and a single length of string with pretty beads on either end offers no way to anchor it in place (unless you tie the ends in a knot, which you would then have to pick out every time you want to move the bookmark.)

I wanted to address this problem with my third and final design while keeping the same simple components: a length of string and beads. I also thought I could use a variation of the cinch-type looped knot I often use for things I want to secure, as that sort of knot is easy to release. Fiddling with a few of the corded pendants I sometimes wear resulted in the BookLoop.

For demonstration purposes, here's my BookLoop alongside Marjorie M. Liu's novel A Wild Light:



To make one you'll need a piece of cord, ribbon or string that is four times the height of your book plus two inches (for a standard paperback, that's thirty-two inches.) Don't use anything that is too puffy or dimensional; a simple length of narrow flat ribbon or satin cord will do fine. You'll also need a large bead, button or pendant to serve as the anchor.

Put your anchor on the string, and tie the ends together to make a loop, just as you would a necklace. Once you have your loop tied securely, place it in your book like so:



Bring the top part of the loop down along the spine of the book, and pull the pendant through the end of the loop:



When you pull on the anchor to tighten it, it should look like this:



The great thing about this is you can customize it however you like (and maybe finally do something with all those focal beads or orphaned pendants sitting in your jewelry box.) It doesn't require a lot of expensive bits, it's easy enough for any writer or reader to make and use, plus when you're reading and not using the BookLoop, you can hang it around your neck and no one will ever guess that it's a bookmark.

I really had fun with this challenge, and now that I have three design ideas to play with I'm going to work on variations on the themes and see how I can improve on the original concepts. How do you guys think I did? Let me know in comments.

Reinventing the Bookmark Idea #2

While playing with bookmark ideas I did want to come up with a design made with recycled materials. Being a quilter I save all sorts of fabric and quilt scraps, yarns, threads, old buttons and other sewing stuff for repurposing projects, so I raided my stash boxes and put together a pile of materials.

In my latest batch of art mags I noticed a number of cuff-type mixed media bracelets that I thought were interesting, especially the designs that incorporated old textiles. That got me to wondering if I could make a cuff that turned into a bookmark instead of a bracelet, which lead to my second design, the BookCuff.

For this project I used an old cutter quilt piece I picked up at a garage sale, two glass buttons and a scrap of tapestry yarn. First I cut a strip out of the quilt with pinking shears (this prevents fraying) in a length that was a little over 15". To provide the means to close the cuff, I thought of the old interoffice envelopes we used in the old days with the two circular fasteners and a bit of string. I duplicated that fastener with the two buttons and the tapestry yarn, sewing one button to each end of the quilt piece. I also added a third button to the end of the yarn to have something to hold onto when winding the yarn.

Here you can see the finished product holding my place in Marjorie M. Liu's The Fire King. It's a bit too wide because I was trying to preserve the quilt block design, and while it held my place in the book perfectly the look of it didn't make me happy; I felt it covered up the cover art too much. As a bookmark the piece is really too floppy, too.

What doesn't work for one thing sometimes serves nicely for another purpose. I often give away sets of series books as gifts for friends, and I also like to shelve series books together and sometimes take a set with me when I travel. Usually I just put them in a tote bag, but I discovered that my BookCuff makes an excellent strap for more than one book:



This is very customizable, since you can cut the material you use for your bookcuff to whatever length you need for however many books you want to strap together. You can also use whatever materials appeal to you or relate to the books; leather, lace, tapestry, fun fur (wouldn't that be great for were novels?) along with whatever little bits you want to use for the fasteners (and if you write steampunk I'd definitely check out some art mags for inspiration.)

Noteboek

Noteboek from Evelien Lohbeck on Vimeo.

Got Doggelgänger?

Today I'm unplugging to finish up some work for my editor. So that your visit here was not entirely wasted, I thought I'd let you meet my canine twin. We met when Gerard over at the Presurfer tempted me to try out Doggelgänger, an online toy which matches human faces with their canine doubles.

Turns out I am a 56%* match for this lovely creature named Bailey:



Bailey is a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, and has the chocolate brown eyes I always wanted. Staffies are great dogs, too. If only I were this gorgeous!

The neat thing about this is that the pups used for matches to are all awaiting adoption (I'm guessing they're all in New Zealand, the site has an nz at the end of the URL, and my match is listed as being in Auckland.) Hopefully lots of our Kiwi friends try it out and find someone to bring home and love.

*We have the same white hair. I just have a lot more.

The Namator Game

We all need to do some exercises in spontaneous creativity now and then or we forget how to have fun. That said, we don't have a lot of spare time. So here's a quick and easy game you can play that will spark ideas, get your muse working and maybe even inspire a story or two.

To play the game, you must visit Namator.com and, using the four generators there, pull three words from each list of results you generate. Then, very quickly and without thinking about it too much, write who or what they are.

Here are mine:

Companies:

Effenoise -- Records to make your parents swear. Company motto: Turn up the Effenoise.
Silemony -- Like alimony, only your ex pays this company to keep you quiet (there's a whole creepy story in this one.)
Phonevox Corps -- something steampunk, I think. Maybe like the Peace Corp, but they go to third world countries to install the vox, a primitive form of land line communication.

Fantasy:

Jeffrry -- The werebeast version of Jeffrey the pest control guy. Not my pest control guy. His name isn't Jeffrey. I promise.
Arakgaret -- I really liked the way this sounded when I said it out loud. An Egyptian deity. The God of Airless Spaces.
Dracass -- Pernish-sounding. Maybe the dragon version of the jackass.

People:

Augustine Hinsch -- Sourpuss. Penny pincher. Dog hater. Priss lips.
Minta Dasilva -- Her dad owned a mining company, and thought he was being funny.
Dhanya Ishida -- Nice and lyrical. Maybe a poet or a samurai. Or a samurai poet.

Planets:

Ancient Baseor -- Okay, so God coughed up this huge hairball, and then . . .
Gothdustrial Silver -- Ahhhhh. Gothdustrial. I'm in love. I want to live on this planet. Take me there, please.
Terra Floraop IV -- the planet of adorable floppy-eared bunnies who got kicked off earth, or invaded earth . . .wait, I think Spinrad already wrote that one.

If you play the game and want to share some of your results in comments, please do.

Music Cubes

Click a square and you'll make light and music (if you are in any way sensitive to flashing lights don't play with this, though)



Stumbled across this over at Aimee Stewart's Foxfires blog.

Character Trading Cards

Three years ago I came up with the idea of creating Character Trading Cards as an alternative to the usual character info worksheet. I also thought it might be a fun way for authors to promote their work.

It seems the idea has resurfaced, as folks have been asking me for links, so I've unearth the old posts from the PBW archive vault and checked to see what's still working.

The free online generator I used to make my first example is still working nicely, as does another free card generator over at Read Write Think. We also had another pretty neat discussion here with lots of ideas from everyone about using trading cards as promo.

When I made my first card (you can see the full size original here) I wanted to use it mainly as a personal/quick character reference, so I listed things like Lucan's talent and scent. When you make cards for yourself, you'll want to jot down the most important facts you'll need for writing purposes.

A card you intend to use for promotional purposes should have things like the novel title and a teaser, like this one I made up today for Nightshine at the top of the post. On both cards I used cropped cover art images that depict the characters, but you could probably tweak the card to show an image of the entire novel cover.

Other ways you can use trading cards as promotional items: design one for your blog or web site that shows the URL, an avatar or graphic associated with your site, and a brief description of your content. If you're a Twitter or a Facebooker, add on those contact URLs. Series authors, you could probably fit thumbnails of your covers and titles in reading order on your cards. Cards for upcoming releases could include the date they hit the shelf and ISBNs.

If you want to make your trading card about you, I'd put your bio photo or a business graphic on the card, all your contact info and a tag line that describes what you do, i.e. "freelance editor" "cover art designer" "romance author" etc. A trading card could probably be scaled down to the size of a business card, although you'll have to watch the quality of the graphics and font size, and see if it's still readable when you print it out.

For printing purposes you'll want to use cardstock or a decent weight photo-quality paper. I remember that I did experiment with printing mine out on scrapbooking paper, printing on the white side so the print side would be the backing, but the results weren't that great and the card was too flimsy. Scrapbooking papers may have improved so you might see what's available at your local craft shop. If you're planning to produce a large quantity of a single design it may be cheaper to have them professionally printed.

Back when I originally proposed the idea authors Shiloh Walker and Sasha White actually ran with it and did amazing things with trading cards for their characters and novels. My old links to their examples aren't working, but I believe both authors printed and used the cards as real promo items, so they'd probably have some good advice.