Monday Mash

Four days and counting until I leave for the Bologna Children’s Book Festival, so my mind is all over the place. Time for finishing things rather than starting them, that’s for sure. (and don’t get me started on mercury in retro with a side-dish of solar flare)

I’m following up on conversations and tying loose ends. This is going to be such a hodge-podge that I’m leading with a table of contents. lol.

In this mash-up:

1) Final Round of 50 First Lines Contest ends tonight at midnight (PST) – Although, honestly, I won’t even be checking until Tuesday morning.

2) Blog Guest Schedule: Friday, Mar 16 – Monday, Mar 26

3) Thanks for the “awesome” blogger award

4) Meme Tag: Lucky Seven

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1) Final Round of 50 First Lines Contest ends tonight at midnight (PST) – Although, honestly, I won’t even be checking until at least 9 am on Tuesday and if you turn yours in late I don’t think anyone will bite you.

ENTER HERE

And stay tuned for winners and to give feedback. Much appreciated. Would like to do it again sometime.

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2) Blog Guest Schedule: Friday, Mar 16 – Monday, Mar 26

I’ve tried to blog during conferences before. I’m hopeless at it. So, I’m not going to expect myself to blog during in Bologna. But I won’t leave you hanging.

The Weekend Workout will be guest blogged by one of my own writing mentors, Jack Remick. You do not want to miss this. He blows my writing mentoring out of the water. One of the best instructors I’ve ever had. He has a writing blog with his teaching partner Bob Ray. And he has BOOKS.

Middle Grade Monday entries will be guest posted as well and I’m STILL looking for someone to guest post for March 26th. The only stipulation is that it has to be about Middle Grade Literature (either writing or reading it)

Next Wednesday, March 21 will be an interview with William English, one of the travelers on the Magic Appreciation Tour (During which I’ve been delinquent. I missed the tour bus and had to hitchhike to the next gig.)

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3) Thanks for the “awesome” blog content award!
Someone gave me an “Awesome Blogger Award.” See, it’s all shiny on my sidebar.

I’ve been offered these before and I haven’t done anything with them. I admit, I am sometimes cynical about things like that (but I’m a fountain of joy in person, really). I thought the awards were silly. But this time I’m putting it up as a thank you for thinking of me. Really, what’s the harm? Besides, I like being awesome.

Okay, so, the only problem is that I can’t remember who gave it to me. Oh, the shame. 

4) Meme Tag: Lucky Seven
I like this meme. We so often get to show off our first 250 words or summaries or queries on writerly sites, but rarely do we open to to the middle and pull something out.

the rules:
1. Go to page 77 of your current MS
2. Go to line 7
3. Copy down the next 7 lines – sentences or paragraphs – and post them as they’re written. No cheating
4. Tag 7 authors (have to find 7 who haven’t done it already)
5. Let them know

I present p. 77 starting with line 7 of my WIP:
INTERGLACTIC: A Pop Space Opera
(I used 7 paragraphs because it was dialogue, hence short)

Monkey’s eyes roll around a bit, then stop. His left foot twitches, his right foot twitches. Each body part twitches in turn, his ears last.

“Greetings,” he says to idoLL, Tara, and Ari. “I am custom diplo-synth data AIP #P2975H. I will be your cultural liaison, pop synthesizer, and general information kiosk.”

“See?” idoLL says to Tara, “what’d I tell you? Robots don’t lie about who they are.”

“Greetings diplo-synth data AIP #P2975H,” says the princess. “Very nice to meet you.”

“You may call me Liam.”

“You look like a chimpanzee,” says idoLL. “Can I call you Monkey instead?”

“All right.”

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IF YOU PARTICIPATED in the Lucky Seven meme I’d love to check them out.  Feel free to put your link in the comments below.