Tag!

Source

I thought I was better at ducking, but perhaps this cold has slowed me down--it can't be my advanced years!

Anyway, Eve Gaal over at The Desert Rocks got me.

The Tag rules:
1. You must post the rules!
2. Answer the questions and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you’ve tagged.
3. Tag eleven seven (because it's a magical number) people and link to them.
4. Let them know you’ve tagged them.

Eve's Questions - My Answers
1.    Have you written a book?

Yes. I've got two completed books and two partials. One of the completed manuscripts I'm currently querying, and the other (that needs to be edited still) replaced one of the partials when it morphed from MG to YA. The other partial really needs to be told in more than one book, and I'll be outlining it as a trilogy later this year. 

2.    Were you a participant in the famous Underwear Challenge of 2010? 

No. But I did get sucked into it in 2011.

3.    What is your favorite children’s book?

Charlotte's Web 

4.    Tell us about the last time you went to the library. Alone or with someone else?

Last week, when I met some friends there. I work for my city and the library is attached to my building. I LOVE my library. 

5.    Do you prefer the internet for research?

I love doing research using the Internet. I let my fingers do the walking. 

6.    What’s your favorite flower?

I love the smell of carnations. 

7.    Do have a distaste for used cook books?

No, I just don't use them much anymore. 

8.    Have you ever used a book to repair a bed or to hold up the leg of a table? 

Nope. I have a very handy hubby. 

9.    If you could enter a certain scene in a book, which one would it be?

It would so be when Kaladin saves Dalinar in The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. Those two men ROCK! 

10. What book is on your nightstand now?

Become by Ali Cross. 

11. Do you read to your pet?

Nope. My little doggy died last summer, but I didn't read to her anyway. Now, ask me about reading to my grandkids . . .

Okay, here are my questions:

1. If Abe Lincoln and George Washington got into a fight who’d win--and why?
2. What was your favorite book in 2011?
3. If you had a magical snail that could grant wishes, what would you ask for?
4. What would your last meal be if you were on death row?
5. Who is your favorite, Bill or Ted?  Why?
6. What will your weapon of choice be for the coming zombie apocalypse? Why?
7. Who is your favorite literary stalker?
8. If people were thrown in jail for bad habits, what would you be thrown in jail for?
9. What is the most distant place you've visited or lived?
10. If a spaceship were to land outside your house right now, would you get in it? If yes, where would you ask it to take you--and it could be anywhere you wanted to go.
11. Who is your favorite author?

And these are the poor suckers lucky people who get to answer them--go visit the blogs and check our their answers--though they may answer this at a time that best fits their schedules:

Laura Josephsen
Robin Weeks
Suzie F.
Far Away Eyes
Nancy Thompson
JeffO
Shelly Brown

Blog Critique by Ali Cross

 And what better time to do some redecorating?

The amazing Ali Cross, author of Become, is also the tekkie person for a writing group I belong to. She offered to do some blog critiques, and I jumped at the chance.Over the last year, as I've read blogs all over the place and attended classes at conferences, I've picked up a few things, but I knew I could do much better.

Here's what she had to say (with my comments in blue):

FIRST IMPRESSIONS:

What worked:

• loaded fast
• pretty, bright and cheery
• nice layout
• good content
• comment form pops up and doesn't use captcha - good [At a writing conference I took a class by the awesome Elana Johnson. She said that since checking people's blogs can be time consuming, we need to make this as easy on our visitors as possible. I haven't had problems getting spammed since I took off that protection. Blogger's spam filter does a wonderful job--sometimes too good. The longer it takes to comment the fewer blogs you'll have time to visit.
• nice friendly picture of you :)

What could be improved:

• could use a header, incorporating both your blog name and your name [I've been working with one of my artist sons on this, and he's drawn a preliminary header, but it's not "there" yet, and I'm not sure it would fit the template I was considering at the time.]
• tab titles are obscure and don't immediately tell me what I might find there
• could consolidate like information together, instead of having it spread out. Use your sidebars wisely, by keeping "general" info in one column and "follow/about me" information on the other:
• LEFT SIDEBAR:
• site visitor map isn't important and, if you choose to keep it (I wouldn't), you could move it to the bottom of one of your sidebars [I moved this to the bottom right away. I love my little map]
• don't need to title the blogfest, let the button do the talking for you
• RIGHT SIDEBAR:
• the EVERNEATH and CATCHING FIRE buttons should move to the left sidebar
• nuke pageviews (they are really only interesting to you, same with the visitor map)
• I'm personally not a fan of the "share it" widget you have. I'd much prefer info on how to follow YOU, not your content. [Oooo . . . good observation here. Something I never considered.] However, this is personal opinion only. If you want to keep it, move it up to beneath your iWrite badge, so all your social networking items are grouped together. So maybe you'd have ABOUT ME --> FOLLOWERS --> NETWORKED BLOGS --> iWRITE --> SHARE IT --> TWITTER WIDGET
• reduce the number of updates on your Twitter widget [I also did this right away]
• you need to add an easy way for readers to follow you in all your places (FB/Twitter/g+ buttons, etc buttons
• COMMENTS:
• you could personalize your comment form with a message from you to your followers

PAGES:

Awards:

• If you're going to have this page, make it the last one [I added this page because I've received so many kind awards that it was too much to keep on the main page]
• either link each award to the post in which you acknowledged the receipt of the award, or (preferably), add a caption with the giver's name, linked to their blog

Writing Associations:

• this info would be more interesting in context with YOU [True]
• add it to an About Me page & don't forget to include your iWrite badge [Duh!]

Are You Talking to Me?:

• add these as a widget in your sidebar as mentioned above - then you could nuke this page

An Alternate Reality:

• should be on your About Me page with a description of what it is. That way people can choose if they want to click it or not.

I'm hoping Ali's critique may give you something to think about in regards to your own blog. I have a feeling I may be tweaking things here and there.

She also talked about the issue of branding. But that's a topic for another day . . .

Book Review - "Transcendent"

I recently finished Transcendent, Tales of the Paranormal by

1.	Rita J Webb	2.	Melanie Marks
3.	Lani Woodland	4.	Wendy Swore
5.	Melonie Piper	6.	Heather McCubbin

...and Evan Joseph.

From the back cover:
Discover the secrets of a siren, fly with a hawk girl over the mountains of Montana, and flee supernatural party-crashers as the décor comes to life in this magical journey through paranormal stories.

Along the way, watch for ghosts in a haunted house, or ride through the moonlight with a stranger. Save a comatose boy who has lost his soul, and don’t forget to bring your garlic and wolfsbane—you never know when the shadows will snag you.

Transcendent includes eight stories of magic, love, death, and choice by some of the newest names in young adult fiction. 

It's been a long time since I've read an anthology, and I'd forgotten how much I enjoy them. In fact, it was through an anthology that I discovered one of my favorite authors of all time, Anne McCaffrey, and her amazing Dragonriders of Pern world.

One of the great things about an anthology is you get to taste the writing of a variety of different writers. You can experience their writing styles, world building, imagination, and characterizations. It's can be tough to do a good job of that in a short story, so my hat goes off to everyone who succeeds.

Transcendent reminded me a little of Stephen Spielberg's TV show Amazing Stories from the 1980s. My family loved most of the episodes and even recorded them on tape. Here's a clip from one of our favorites called Mummy Daddy. Seriously, it's hilarious!

Well, I could see the various short stories in Transcendent being made in a TV series. Some of the stories would start out quite normal and turn into the bizarre, and I'd be turning the pages to see what happened next. Other times I knew right from the beginning that something was afoot.

The story of the hawk girl is written with almost hauntingly beautiful language, and the party that goes awry due to the décor is hilarious and creepy all at the same time. I think perhaps my favorite was the story of the boy who gets struck by lightening and ends up trapped in his iPod.

A couple of asides . . .
1. A couple of weeks ago, the charming Ali Cross, author of Become, did a blog critique for me. On New Years Day, I'm going to post her comments and redecorate. She had some great suggestions that some of you may be interested in, so I hope you'll drop by.

2.  I met my goal to finish the latest edit of WIP #1, and the full manuscript is in the hands of an editor. My oldest son is working on a book cover should I decide to self-publish.

I'm not the least bit excited.

(And if you believe that, I've got this bridge I'd like to sell you . . .)

Oooo ... Where's Your CARMA?

Shh ... once again, I'm not really posting today, so don't get confused.

November is rapidly approaching and with it, on the significant date of 11/11/11, is the release of five fabulous fables as part of Dark C.A.R.M.A.:

Become by Ali Cross

Sixteen-year old Desolation Black wants nothing more than to stay in Hell where it’s cold and lonely and totally predictable. Instead, she’s sent back to Earth where she must face the evil she despises and the good she always feared.

When Desi is forced to embrace her inner demon, she assumes her choice has been made—that she has no hope of being anything other than what her father, Lucifer, has created her to be. What she doesn’t count on, is finding a reason to change—something she’s never had before—a friend.

Bound by C.K. Bryant

When a photo shoot ends in tragedy, Kira discovers her best friend, Lydia, has been keeping a secret. Knowing the truth, and accepting it, will change Kira’s life forever and thrust her into a world of ancient curses, magical objects, and savage enemies. What happens next will challenge everything Kira knows about her world, herself and the shape-shifting warrior she’s falling in love with. No longer the timid mouse her mother accused her of being, but a woman who finds the mental and physical strength to endure and survive.

BOUND is a heroic tale of true friendship, infinite sacrifice and untamed love.

Breathe by Melanie McCullough

Life’s hard. People make it harder. They tether you to them. Make it difficult to breathe, and damn-near impossible to leave…

Seventeen year-old Abby Rhoades knows this all too well. Born to a mother who could never love her and who vacillates between a sloppy drunk and a suicidal maniac, Abby’s never had it easy. But Abby can swim. And Abby has a plan–win the state championship, earn a free ride to Penn State, and leave her small town and suffocating mother behind.

But then the body of Tom Ford, her mother’s latest boyfriend and a man Abby adored, washes up along the shore of the Susquehanna River. His injuries suggest murder and suspicion quickly falls on Abby then on her best friend Garrett Scott, both of whom saw Tom the night he died.

They both know what happened that night, but neither one is talking. There’s too much at stake and the truth could tear them apart.

 Exiled by Rashelle Workman

Stubborn, sixteen-year-old Princess Venus of Kelari wants one thing, to become immortal, that is, until someone exiles her to Earth, kills her irrihunter and takes her family.

Now she wants revenge.

First she’s got to get home. But before she can return to Kelari, the Gods have commanded her to help an arrogant boy named Michael find his soul mate.

Only she doesn’t know the first thing about love.

Pigments of my Imagination by Angela Kulig

From the moment Lucia steps into Bayside Art Academy, she is fed a steady stream of lies, but it’s not until she meets Michael that she begins to question the people she trusts. Unraveling fact from fabrication seems impossible until Lucia finds her first painting, and discovers the dead do not lie–at least not to her.

A dozen lifetimes ago, Lucia started a war. Not a war with armies or guns, but a bloody war nonetheless. The path leading Lucia to the truth is hidden within lovely art that spans the ages. In this life, however, Lucia doesn’t know where to look. Lost, she turns to the one thing she knows with certainty–she is in love with Leo, and has been before.