Friday Fun

Yay! It's Friday! Finally! Which means it is also time for some super awesome Internet fun. Provided, of course, by moi. The lovely, perfect, awesome, splendiferous Yvie, frenchie-extraordinaire.

True Story.

First thing's first - Don't forget to sign up for the Teenage Heartthrob Blogfest! It's live on Monday!

Now, what you've all been waiting for! Onto the fun!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

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Wednesday Weird

How fitting, that the third installment of Wednesday Weird should fall on Leap Year day!Also, happy birthday to all those people who were born on this day and really only get a birthday once every four years.

Onto the weird! Today, we're going to talk about an unsolved death. And not a normal unsolved murder like over at Slam Dunks's blog.

Nope, it needs to be weirder.

Like the Taman Shud Case.

The victim was found dead at 6:30 am, December 1, 1948, under a street lamp at Somerton Beach in Australia, which is why this is also called The Mystery of the Somerton Man. And that's pretty much all we know about this guy.

Of course, there's tons of crap we don't know, which is what makes this case so mysterious and weird.

All the identifying tags on his clothing had been removed and his fingerprints and dental records didn't match anyone. And not just in Australia, either. They looked almost everywhere for the identification of this man.

The autopsy came back with some congestion in his brain that would be consistent with poisoning, except there wasn't a trace of poison found on or in him.

They found a brown suitcase that belonged to the man, but it only held more clothing with the tags ripped off.

But, the best part, in my opinion, was the secret pocket in the man's pants which contained a scrap of paper with the words "Taman Shud" printed on it. The words mean "finished" or "ended".

The text was cut from a book, a collection of poems called The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Which isn't that crazy, but it turns out this scrap was from a specific, and extremely rare first edition, translation. So, you know, not just from the local library.

In the back of the book, the cops found a handwritten code:

And no, the letters aren't just random scribbles. They actually are some mysterious cipher. Just one that NO ONE has been able to solve. Ever. And people have been trying to solve it for over 60 years.

And that's pretty much it!

So we have an unidentifiable dead man, who may have been poisoned, with secret pockets in his altered clothing that leads to an, as of yet, uncrackable cipher in a rare, first edition, book of poems.

Yeah. Weird.

But it would make a great novel.

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In Which We Catch Fire!

Welcome to the Catch Fire blog party! wOOt!!

Today is the Catch Fire Blog Party, celebrating the release of CassaFire by Alex J. Cavanaugh!

The goal is to help CassaFire “catch fire” on the best seller charts and achieve the success of the first book, CassaStar.

There’s also a special package of prizes being given away at the author’s blog (copies of CassaFire, CassaStar, tote bag, mug, and bookmarks) as well as book giveaways during his two-week blog tour. (See Alex’s site for details)

Unfamiliar with CassaStar? What? How can that be? Well, no worries! Here's the breakdown:


CassaStar was just the beginning…

The Vindicarn War is a distant memory and Byron’s days of piloting Cosbolt fighters are over. He has kept the promise he made to his fallen mentor and friend - to probe space on an exploration vessel. Shuttle work is dull, but it’s a free and solitary existence. The senior officer is content with his life aboard the Rennather.


The detection of alien ruins sends the exploration ship to the distant planet of Tgren. If their scientists can decipher the language, they can unlock the secrets of this device. Is it a key to the Tgren’s civilization or a weapon of unimaginable power? Tensions mount as their new allies are suspicious of the Cassan’s technology and strange mental abilities.

To complicate matters, the Tgrens are showing signs of mental powers themselves; the strongest of which belongs to a pilot named Athee, a woman whose skills rival Byron’s unique abilities. Forced to train her mind and further develop her flying aptitude, he finds his patience strained. Add a reluctant friendship with a young scientist, and he feels invaded on every level. All Byron wanted was his privacy…


What? You want more?

Well then, here's the book trailer!





Yeah, you'd better believe you want to nab a copy of that.
Luckily now you can!

Barnes and Noble

Amazon

Amazon Kindle


So head on over to Alex's site and pick up a copy today!

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In Which I Get What I Ask For

So a few weeks ago, I totally won a full MS critique in the Write Dreams Auction. Which was awesome and I really really wanted it.

So I sent her my Break Free MS, which I am still plugging away it, revising and line editing and loving and revising and... well you get the idea.

I really needed a full MS critique to spot BIG ISSUE things. You know, plot holes, character arcs and development. I'm usually pretty good at spotting big issue things in other people's work, but there's no way in hell I can spot it in my own. The blinders are totally up once I finish that first draft.

So she got back to me after two weeks (super fast, right?) and her critique was EXACTLY what I wanted and needed. Some of the things I worried about, she loved and had no problem with. And some things I didn't even know had problems were problematic. Perfect. I was so happy she was able to spot things I couldn't.

So what happened?

I sank into a pit of despair.

Yep.

Fun.

This is figuratively me. Not literally, obviously. I don't wear denim baseball hats

Sometimes that happens to me, when I get a good/helpful critique. Even though I'm excited about it, I'm still disappointed that I have to make changes and am, you know, not perfect. Which obviously I'm not, but sometimes you have to trick yourself to feel extra good about your writing so you don't lose momentum. Or at least I do. Maybe that's just me.

It's just irritating. Because had I got a not helpful critique back, one that said something like "this is great! I loved it! Good job!" and that's it, I would've been flattered, but mostly irritated because I need constructive criticism, not just feel good happy times. Right? Right.

Anyway, I knew my bad mood would pass once I was able to fully absorb and accept the critique. And it did, about three days later. And now I'm back in the saddle, working even harder on the MS. Prepared to really make this one THE ONE. Yeah? Yeah.

What about you? Do critiques, even good, helpful, critiques, send you into the pit of despair?


(OT: OMG guys, I managed to write this whole post, without a single typo! It's some sort of miraculous record for me!)

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Friday Fun!

It's Friday! Which means it's time for Yvie to show you the fun!!

Let's do this!

 

 

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

The solution for close talkers

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

 

 

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

 

 

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

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Wednesday Weird

It's time for the second edition of Wednesday Weird!

Today we're moving away from crazy animal stuff and onto books.
What books you ask? Why, the Voynitch Manuscript.

The Voynitch Manuscript is an ancient book that no one has ever been able to understand or decipher.
It's an actual book, with consistent script, organization and detailed illustrations, but no code-breaker, cryptographer or linguist has ever been able to figure it out. And boy have they tried.
It appears to be an actual language, just one no one has ever seen before.

Throw in the mix that fact that no one can even figure out who wrote it, or really when, and you got some sort of crazy MS on your hands.

Most of the manuscript seems to deal with herbs and plants, but none of the pictures match any known plant or herb species.

So there you have it! You think your rough drafts are bad? At least it hasn't become some sort of mysterious cryptological mystery.

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In Which I Celebrated My Birth

So a few weeks ago I celebrated a b-day and got some fun writerly and readerly things from the fam.

The first was a Kindle! Yay! I've been wanting an e-reader for a while now.

Kindle Touch 3G

Youngest sister, who's living in Chicago while she goes to college at Columbia, sent me an amazon gift card to use on Kindle accessories. I don't know about anyone else, but I love to buy accessories for things. I mean, getting something that lets you do more shopping? That's just awesome!

So I bought a kindle skin, to make it look pretty.

And then I bought a lighted leather cover.

the kindle powers the light. No batteries needed

Bro got me the last 3 of the rangers apprentice series, which is awesome because I love this series and am both excited to finish it, and sad it will be done.

Parents also sneakily got me an awesome necklace.

Sneakily because they had to get it at renfest. And the only time they were at renfest was with the rest of us. Twin explained that once last summer our mom had disappeared to get some cider. But when she came back she didn't have any. I must've been preoccupied about something because I didn't even question it, and normally that would've been something that got my suspicions up. Because I am a suspicious person by nature.

It's a talisman for poets and writers. The info says:

These symbols are said to create a powerful magic to help one find the right word at the most opportune moment.

On the backside of this talisman (top picture) is the "Seal of Eloquence" or the "Seal of Mercury". It contains the names of powerful angels, magical words, and Latin phrases, all of which help to greatly increase the power of the Talisman.

Concentrating on the endless knot work of the six-pointed star will intensify "natural inspiration" and assist in all of your writing endeavors... poems, plays and books, even your personal journal!

So there you have it! I got a few other present with Twin, but they aren't related to writing or reading.

So do you have an e-reader? Did you buy fun accessories for it?