In Which I Forgot

So I completely forgot to write a post on Monday. It was extra dumb because all day Sunday I kept reminding myself not to forget, and then Monday morning I was all "I'm a dumbass!"

I think the deal is that when Twin, who normally works on Sundays, has the day off, we just do a lot of fun and wacky things, so I get off my usual scheduled events of writing blog posts and junk.

Yesterday we decorated for x-mas, so I'm going to blame that for no blog post. But, the tree is up as are the garlands and wreaths. We also now have a spot for our Christmas village we inherited from our grandma and fixed up some fancy mason jars with cranberries in water and floating tea lights.

Like this, only I used smaller jars

All in all, it looks pretty nice.

How about you? Is your house decorated?

In Which We Launch Tangled Tides!!

Yes, I know all us americans are doing either two things right now, recovering from our food comas, or shopping, but other important things are happening on this blackest of fridays...

Karen Amanda Hooper’s young adult novel, TANGLED TIDES, is officially being released into the world today. I’m joining the celebration by fighting in the war--the underwater web war between the sea creatures!

Karen’s story contains battling merfolk, selkies, sirens and gorgons. She says she loves all of them, but she wants everyone else to choose a side, so…

I CHOOSE SELKIES!!
 
 
 

 
 
Wanna learn more or join in on the fun? Go check out the details at Karen’s blog.
 
Karen is giving away a signed copy of her book and some other sea creature themed prizes. To enter, join the underwater web war on Twitter. Tweet which sea creatures you’re rooting for and why. Include the hashtag #TangledTides and you could win.


Karen will be on Twitter all day celebrating and answering questions, so stop by and say hello. @Karen_Hooper



Summary of the story:

Yara Jones doesn’t believe in sea monsters—until she becomes one.

When a hurricane hits her island home and she wakes up with fins, Yara finds herself tangled up in an underwater world of mysterious merfolk and secretive selkies. Both sides believe Yara can save them by fulfilling a broken promise and opening the sealed gateway to their realm, but they are battling over how it should be done. The selkies want to take her life. The merfolk want something far more precious.


Treygan, the stormy-eyed merman who turned Yara mer, will stop at nothing and sacrifice everything to protect his people—until he falls for Yara. The tides turn as Yara fights to save herself, hundreds of sea creatures, and the merman who has her heart. She could lose her soul in the process—or she might open the gateway to a love that’s deeper than the oceans.



Amazon
Rhemalda Books
Barnes & Noble
Goodreads
 
 
Bam! So support Karen! Because she's an awesome chick with an awesome book!

In Which I Share Good News

Yay! You're back! I'm glad to see it.

Because I have some fun news to share today!

What is it, you ask? What could it be?

Simple.

I sold my short story Hole Ridden!

Woot!!! That's right! I'm going to officially be a published author!!

It will be appearing in Dark Moon Digest #6, which should be available for purchase in early December. It will be available as an ezine at a later release date.

I'm super excited guys. It's nice to know that when I actually put in the work to get something published (this was the first story I actually submitted anywhere) it can happen.

This is, hands down, my favorite short story I've written. It's also the short story that people who have read it tend to remember the most. People refer to it as "the hole story", which is a pretty accurate description.

I've mentioned it in posts here, here, here and here (where it was picked as editor's choice on OWW).

In that third post, which was mostly about how my wordle cloud for it ended up being a creepy, ominous cloud that was a perfect visual representation for the story itself, Twin had stated that when it was published she would make me a nice frame with the wordle cloud.

Well, she didn't forget:

Yay! Thanks to everyone who's ever beta read it for me or offered me advice on dealing with submissions. YOU ARE ALL AMAZE BALLS. Glitter in the air for all!

In Which I Return

So, I'm back everyone. Last week I took a surprise hiatus. I didn't mean it to happen, it just kind of popped up. And once I was in it, I figured I'd just use the time off productively.

I've been having PC problems, which frustrate me to no end. My good laptop has a stupid virus or something, which makes using search engines almost impossible, and makes using FB and google reader very frustrating. And when I get frustrated I mostly just walk away. So my presence on the interwebs has been less than normal and will probably remain that way until I find the time to get the laptop fixed (mostly, it's just a pain in the butt to try and figure out when I want to go without my computer. Probably not until I at least catch up on NaNo)

Yes, I'm behind on NaNo. Yes I'm still confidant I will be able to catch up and still pull out as a winner. So far, the MS is kicking my ass. I've yet to reach that stage where I'm excited about it. Which makes me sad and also makes me not want ot write on it. Mostly I just want to go back to Break Free and work on that.

Oh well, nothing I can do about it now.

Anyway, while I was offline last week, I did get some SUPER AWESOME NEWS that I will be sharing on Wednesday. So, please stop by then.

Also on Friday I will have a post which may or may not tell you how you can win a book via twitter. And by may not, I definitely mean may.

So! Exciting things going on here the rest of the week. Have exciting things been happening to you? Fill me in! I feel a little lost, having limited internet access.

String Bridge Amazon Chart Rush!

Today is THE day to help Jessica Bell's debut, STRING BRIDGE, hit the bestseller list on Amazon, and receive the all-original soundtrack, Melody Hill: On the Other Side, written and performed by the author herself, for free!



All you have to do is purchase the book today (paperback, or eBook), November 11th, and then email the receipt to:




jessica.carmen.bell(at)gmail(dot)com




She will then email you a link to download the album at no extra cost!

To purchase the paperback:

Amazon USA

To purchase the eBook:

Amazon USA

Amazon UK

To listen to samples of the soundtrack, visit iTunes.

If you are
not familiar with String Bridge,
check out the book trailer:

Rave Reviews for String Bridge:

“Jessica Bell’s STRING BRIDGE strummed the fret of my
veins, thrummed my blood into a mad rush, played me taut until the final page, yet with echoes still reverberating. A rhythmic debut with metrical tones of heavied dark, fleeting prisms of light, and finally, a burst of joy—just as with any good song, my hopeful heartbeat kept tempo with Bell’s narrative.” ~ Kathryn Magendie, author of Sweetie and Publishing Editor of Rose & Thorn Journal

“Poet and musician Jessica Bell's debut novel String Bridge is a rich exploration of desire, guilt, and the difficult balancing act of the modern woman. The writing is lyrical throughout, seamlessly integrating setting, character and plot in a musical structure that
allows the reader to identify with Melody's growing insecurity as her world begins to unravel … String Bridge is a powerful debut from a promising writer, full of music, metaphor, and just a hint of magic.” ~ Magdalena Ball, author of Repulsion Thrust and Sleep Before Evening

“Jessica Bell is a brilliant writer of great skill and depth. She doesn't pull back from the difficult scenes, from conflict, pain, intensity. She puts it all out there, no holds barred, no holding back. She knows how to craft a scene, how to develop character, how to create suspense. This is an absolutely brilliant debut novel. I look forward to reading her next novel, and next and next.” ~ Karen Jones Gowen, author of Farm Girl, Uncut Diamonds and House of Diamonds

Connect with Jessica:



String Bridge: http://www.stringbridge.com/

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/jessica_bell

Website: http://www.jessicacbell.com/

Blog: http://thealliterativeallomorph.blogspot.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/author.jessica.bell

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MsBessieBell

Publisher: http://www.luckypress.com/

Please TWEET and/or FACEBOOK this post using #StringBridge!

In Which We Check In

Well, we've officially made it through NaNo week 1, and I want to know how things are going for you.
Judging by your word counters on my buddy lists, most of you are doing amazeballs. Way better than me.

I've been hitting the word count each day, which is a bit of a disappointment. I really want need to get ahead, not just because of the approaching holiday (though that is definitely a reason) but also because I know this weekend is pretty shot for me.






Friday we're hosting a baby shower for a writer friend (Twin's Co-Worker) and her writer husband. So, judging by our party timeline (there's going to be a lot of baking and cooking) I really won't have time to squeeze in any writing on Friday.

Saturday is my Mom's birthday, so we'll be going out for breakfast. I may be able to sneak in some words here, but I'm not going to count on it. I rarely, if ever, write on Saturdays. It's just not my thing.

Normally Sunday would be my day to catch up since Twin works on Sundays, but she's got this one off, and we have cooking club in the evening, and the theme this week is yeast breads.
Which means Twin and I will be doing even more baking on Sunday (and kneading and folding and rolling etc)

So. This is why I want to get ahead. Hopefully I can get 3K in today and Thursday. If so, that should give me a good enough buffer that I'll be able to make anything else up over the next week.

Now, I want to hear all about you. How's the daily grind going?
And if you're not participating in NaNo, what are you up to?

In Which I Have Pet Peeves

Let's take a moment to discuss the things that drive us a little bit cray cray. You know, those pet peeves  that you wish you could correct across the board, so you'd no longer be confronted by them.
 
You know the things. And I want to know all about them too. Especially if it's something that I don't know about.
 
So here's a list of my top pet-peeves:
 
 
1. Poisonous vs Venomous
 
This one has to be my number one pet peeve. I go a bit ballistic every time it comes up. Which is all the time
 
Poisonous - something you eat that makes you ill
 
Venomous - something that makes you ill by some other means, usually a bite, but possibly also a sting.
 
So please don't say snakes are poisonous. They are venomous. As are scorpions, spiders and male platypuses.
 
 
2. Nauseous vs Nauseated
 
This a common one, and I actually only learned about this in the last 5-6 years or so.
 
Nauseous means causing nausea. When you say you are nauseous, what that means is, you are making everyone else sick. Example:
 
Jean and Jim are hanging out together. Jean says she's nauseous.
 
What that means is - Jean is making Jim feel sick.
 
If Jean actually wants to say that she's not feeling well, she should say she's nauseated.
 
 
3. Bison vs Buffalo
 
This is something that almost everyone knows, but must be too lazy to be accurate.
 
The giant hoofed mammals native to North America and parts of South America are Bison.
 
 

 
 
The giant hoofed mammals native to Africa and Asia are Buffalo.
 
 

 
 
 
 
4. Healthy vs Healthful
 
This one is pretty easy to remember.
 
Things are healthful (good for one's health) and People (or animals) are healthy (in a state of good health)
 
WRONG - eat a healthy breakfast
RIGHT - eat a healthful breakfast.
RIGHT - You look healthy today.
 
 
And that's it! I may make this an ongoing feature, because I'm sure I'll think up some of my other pet peeves.
 
Alright, now its your turn. What are some of your pet peeves? Let us know! I certainly don't want to the person driving you crazy.

Friday Fun

Yvie's back, ape-friends, after a short lived hiatus for my stoopid dog brother's stoopid birthday.

Anyway, I have this amazing tale to tell. The other night, I was walking around looking for something to do. I was kind of in a mood and just really needed the right toy. So I was sauntering across the living room when I saw one of my most favorite toys of all, which is the armchair.

Well, decision made, I didn't want to waste any time. So I leaped for the chair from right where I was standing. True, I was maybe 5 feet away from it, but that didn't matter.

You know why?

Because I can fly.

Seriously. Mom and Anne lumpin FLIPPED OUT when they saw my amazing move. My legs were outstretched behind me as I zoomed across the room to land on the chair. Mom said was like Krypto. All I needed was my cape.

Krypto

Me. We could be twins!!

True story.

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!

Insecure Writer's Support Group

Today is the Monthly Insecure Writer's Support Group.




Yay!

I've actually been feeling pretty good, lately. NaNo's a big reason why, since it's so much fun you just can't really get stressed out by it. But also some other good things are happening too.

But here's the thing. We can't always rely on things going well to keep us happy. Because we all know there are long stretches on the writing road where things don't go good. Where things actually *gulp* go bad....

Like rejections. Most of us have felt that sting once or twice. Or maybe hundreds of times. And I don't care how thick your skin is (mine's pretty thick) or how laid back you are about it (I'm so laid back, I'm practically sleep writing this...), rejections hurt. Even if it's just for that second where you're disappointed. Even if you're expecting them. Even when they're the best rejection ever, because they told you they love you and think you're amazingsuperawesomeballssmokeonthewater cool, but they're closing shop or some other sort of reason that totally has nothing to do with you. Even those ones, filled with compliments, hurt a little.

But you have to keep going. You know why? Because even the most painful, horrible, make you want to never write again, rejection feeling has nothing, nothing on the feeling you get when something is accepted. Or your MS gets a full request.

That feeling is amazing. And totally worth the pain.

You can do it! I know you can.

In Which It Starts...

LET NANO 2011 BEGIN!!