Randomness

Marketing Muse:

Have you heard about Ning.com It is like Facebook, but you join groups instead of individuals. You can search by keyword.

Special Thanks

Special thanks to those of you who emailed me saying you tried to nominate me for the Blogger Appreciation Week. (that was so sweet!) Unfortunately, the nominations closed last week. But honestly, it was all the thoughts that counted the most. No really! :)

Speaking of great blogs - we all follow some great ones. Don't know how I missed this, but at the end of May Writer's digest posted their list of best web sites for 2009. Check it out - there are some great resources. They have also opened up there 2010 nomination process for 101 best web sites for Writers. You can send comments and nominations for next year’s list to writersdigest@fwmedia.com with “101 Websites” in the subject line (deadline is Jan. 1, 2010).

Girl's Night Out

Saturday was definitely a writer day.

• Met up with old critique group members for coffee.
• Spoke at the Atlanta Schmooze - on what you ask??? What else? Marketing! ;) Nathaniel (Master Writer of The Orgami Master) spoke about his approach to picture books.
  
• Had dinner with Sheri Dillard, Elizabeth Dulemba, and Nathaniel
  

What a better way to cap off the night - a double signing with Jennifer Jabaley (Lipstick Apology) and Ginger Rue (Brand New Emily).

Here are a few notes on Jennifer:

Lipstick Apology is about a 16 year old girl, Emily, loses her parents in a plane accident. The media finds a note written on a tray table in lipstick that says: "Emily I am so sorry." Emily is forced to move to NY with her aunt and tries to recover from her loss.

She got her idea for Lipstick Apology from her sister. When her sister was leaving her kids (and flying) for the first time on vacation. She kept calling Jennifer and giving her instructions "in case the plane went down" (I've done this before!!!!!) Jennifer joked with her hubby and said, "watch my sister's plane go down. She'll probably take out her lipstick and write: "kids need to be in bed by 7" on the tray table. Jennifer's hubby said - "that would be a good book". Jennifer wrote it on a post-it and put it in a drawer. She found the post it when she was moving 3 years later.

She writes her books out long hand (yes you heard that right) and then transcribes to the computer.

She found her agent through the traditional way of submitting into the slush pile.

She felt the hardest part of the book was balancing a serious topic of grief and loss with humor.

She started writing during the 2 hours her baby napped. "if you want it bad enough, you will make/find the time."

Here are a few notes on Ginger:

Brand New Emily is about a 14 year old girl who is not popular at school. Emily decides to hire a New York publicist to makeover her image. Emily returns to rule the school all while discovering who she really is.

She used to do some journalism for celebrity magazine. She had to do an interview with Country music singers. She felt like there was not much difference between them so she talked with their publicists, who gave her insight into celebrity image makeovers. Ginger thought it would be interesting to use that in a teen book.

She partnered up with Bonne Bell/Lipsmackers, who provide her with lipsmackers at her signings and promote her book online. Her character, Emily, uses that makeup to improve her image.

She just signed on with Tricycle for another book.

Thanks to Bryan who just gave me a Literary Blog award :)

Here's the rules.
1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might not know.
5. Nominate other Bloggers.
6. Post links to the blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they have been nominated.

I'm going to switch it up.
Here are my favorite 7 things about other people :) Who is scared yet?

Just kidding!

7 things about me:

1) I have a 15 year old Jack Russell Terrier (or otherwise known as terror). He's getting old and I dread the day he goes. He's been through so much with me and is part of my family.

2) I was kicked in the chest by a BABY deer when I was camping because I tried to sneak up behind it in the woods. OK fine, I was planning on riding it. Kids - don't try this at home. It hurts.

3) I drove a huge blue and white van in high school until my senior year.
I tried so hard to make it cool. Unfortunately my dad did too. He added big red dice to the rear view mirror and ordered a airbrush license plate for the front that said USS Johannes. I learned thin that if you pretend you're cool, sometimes people forget your not.

4) My daughter has a rarish VSD heart condition. She is fine now but the first 6 months were scary. I have a panic attack every time she has heart burn :(

5) My favorite drink is a martini - not just any martini. Greygoose vodka straight up, extra, slightly dirty with extra olives. Yum! This is from my days of reading Ian Fleming books.

6) The first car I bought with my own hard-earned money was a 1995 Jetta. Unfortunately I had to give up my 1992 red Toyota hatchback Celica because it had no air, no radio (had to drive with a boom box on the seat - yes I said boom box!!!) and every morning I had to put in a quart of oil. Needless to say, I only got 500$ for it which was more than I expected.

7) I am insecure about my arms. I was a professional gymnasts from age 3 until age 10. This means in middle and high school, I had a tendency to resemble a small linebacker. I have always had broad shoulders and muscular arms. This is not a problem now b/c since I'm older, it works, but back in school my cheerleading squad (yes I was a cheerleader! why? my parents made me try out. I really just wanted to sing/play guitar) always made me the base because I was so strong. *sigh* I cannot watch cheerleaders today without getting a bit weepy ;)

I'm going to recognize a few writers in my posse:

Chandler Craig at Fumbling with Fiction
Gretchen Mcneil at Sean Chai
Jen K Bloom
Marissa Burt at Rummaging Reads
Jen Hayley
Lisa Rondinelli Albert
Shana Silver