It's January 5 (Happy New Year, Everybody!) and here in Tucson that means cardinals. For many years now, we've had a mated pair of cardinals nesting in our pomegranate tree. My husband spotted the female earlier today, and one of my stepsons spotted the male, so we know they have arrived for their annual visit. Given that it's been close to ten ( Read more... )

Snaffled from eneit, who got it from anghara, who got it from this post, by fiction_theory.

The exercise, which originated with this book, is as follows: Come up with five opening lines for books you never intend to write. Use different techniques and try out different genres than you usually would. Just make them as interesting and compelling in one line as you can.To ( Read more... )

( Read more... )

What I’ve so far done this week
For Red Poulaine

• Posted to Red Poulaine’s Musings and scheduled a second post
• Printed packing slips and address labels

For my writing

• Made a note of a story idea I got at TusCon
• Contacted the members of my writing group to schedule our next meeting

For my CRLA certification

• Spent approximately 2 ½ hours working on ( Read more... )

I've been neglecting my DW and LJ communities for a long time, now, in favor of what I realize are often broader, but shallower, connections. I reach more people, but I do so at the expense of the wonderful conversations I used to enjoy here. In a way, I've been going for what the corporate world calls low-hanging fruit, which are, at least in my ( Read more... )

Sarah's Reviews is currently offering a $100 Amazon gift card giveaway in support of the publication of Andy Gavin's The Darkening Dream. The ebook is currently available for just $0.99 on Amazon. I've never read anything by Andy Gavin, and I have a long list of books waiting to be read, but I've signed up for this giveaway, as it's just too good ( Read more... )

My friend, the terrific author Janni Lee Simner janni, is offering prizes in connection with the paperback release of her YA novel Faerie Winter.


( Read more... )

Censorship affects us all.

Today, blogs and sites across America, Canada, and the world are blacked out in protest of two legislative bills proposed in Congress: SOPA and PIPA. These two bills, which Congress claims are intended to stop online piracy, would have disastrous consequences for free speech, online communication, and online commerce.

" ( Read more... )

I'm in the process of building an Etsy store, so I've been spending a fair amount of time on the site learning my way around and delightedly favoriting items I find charming, original, beautiful, or just plain strange.

I've also discovered the Etsy blog, which provides an eclectic window into a diverse range of subjects. Today, I found "Inventing ( Read more... )

I just stumbled upon this year-old blog post and learned that today is World Vegetarian Day and the first day of Vegetarian Awareness Month. Sadly, the blog itself, which was well-written and entertaining, does not seem to be being updated anymore-but, back to the actual point of this post ( Read more... )