I was reading an article about cupping (where they put a heated glass bubble on your back & create a vacuum to draw out toxins) which claimed that you only bruise if you have lots of toxins, and that in the worst case scenario the bruises will fade in about five days.
If that is the case, I must be the Toxic fricking Avenger, man. I should have *superpowers*, dammit.
Also, Harry Potter was perfectly fine. It’s a Harry Potter movie. :)
miles to Minas Tirith: 466.5
(x-posted from the essential kit)- Mood:
fine
This makes disturbing sense to me. I just wish I knew what I wanted.
I suspect what I want is "away."
- Mood:
thoughtful - Music:Bits and pieces of everything.
Going to Grandma's Laptop Case
By Jennifer Perkins
They just don't make suitcases like they used to. Remember the luggage of our youth with bright floral patterns and kitschy little slogans printed on the side that said things like "Going to Grandma's"? Well, you are going to hope that Grandma has wi-fi with this suitcase revamp, because it does not hold a week's worth of clean underwear — it holds your laptop!
Ann Martin's Ring of Keys is a replica of antique keys made with quilled paper. I'm amazed by all the details!
Ann writes:
A few years ago I became interested in translating found and natural objects into paper filigree; my mission was to make them as realistic as possible. Mostly I replicated plants, but then tried my hand at quilling an ornate key, inspired by one that fits an antique Victrola.
If you love paper crafts and want to know more about quilling paper, Ann's blog All Things Paper is great and you can refer to her simple card tutorial to try your hand at quilling.
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When I traveled to Iran last, I had a chance to visit Yazd, one of the oldest cities in the world. Outside of Yazd is Maybod, also very ancient. One of the noted handicrafts of this region is the traditional porcelain. And Maybod Morvarid (morvarid means pearl in Farsi) is one of the oldest crafters of porcelain in Iran. I was lucky enough to get a tour of their workshop, which is just behind their sweet storefront (pictured above).
Come take a journey with me across the globe to a historic land. I offer you Maybod Morvarid as a photo essay.
[Read this article] [Comment on this article]They will all be participating in a writing workshop at the upcoming Worldcon. However, due to a glitch with the Worldcon website, the workshop isn't listed there and thus the submission process has also gone astray.
From Oz Whiston's entry...
"The Writers Workshops at Anticipation are small session workshops for either experienced or beginning writers based on manuscripts submitted in advance. These workshops provide Anticipation members the opportunity to have their manuscripts evaluated by selling writers and industry professionals who enjoy helping them grow as writers. Many of these professionals have taught at residency workshops, such as Clarion, or in creative writing programs."
For more information and a partial list of instructors read the rest of the entry which also details how to make submissions and participate. Deadline July 25th for submissions.
Keep cool and travel to Hawaii in your own backyard with this recipe for an Aloha Smoothie by CRAFT contributor Katie of goodLife {eats}.
Vol. 1 Brooklyn talks to Kevin Sampsell about Portland Noir, the new anthology he edited for Akashic. It's interesting to hear that Portland has this weird dark side — the Shanghai tunnels, A Day Called X, a donut shop that sells penis-shaped pastries (you'll have to search for that link yourself). I'm moving there in two weeks, and was really only familiar with the "twee girl with a backpack listening to Tullycraft at the zine library" angle. Either way, my new apartment is apparently in walking distance to like six bars, so I'm good either way. Can't wait to move and have time to pursue my favorite hobby of pumping my own gasoline! Wait, what's that you say? It is? Oh, FUCK
If you live in Chicago, you have no excuse to miss tonight's Bookslut Reading Series, at 7:30 pm at the Hopleaf. (You also have no excuse to not FedEx me a pint of Brouwerij Bockor Cuvee Des Jacobins Rouge. Come on. If I lived in Chicago, I'd totally hook you up.)
Tonight's guests include Aleksandar Hemon (Love and Obstacles), Jean Thompson (Do Not Deny Me), J.C. Hallman (The Hospital for Bad Poets), and Marc Phillips (The Legend of Sander Grant). As Robert Duffer writes, "That has to be one of the highest-profile line-ups outside of a convention in recent times." And unlike a convention, you won't want to kill yourself five minutes in!
As an added bonus, Bookslut editor Caroline Eick has promised that if more than 15 people show up to tonight's reading, she will sing, a cappella, the Sugarcubes song of your choice. She knows them all. It's crazy, and impressive. Go and have a beer for me! You don't want to miss this. It's like the Ozzfest of contemporary literature.
At The Huffington Post, Matt Stewart explains why he's releasing his novel The French Revolution on Twitter. Matt's a great writer, so I'm hoping his experiment works out better than my 2003 decision to release my first novel via Friendster. (Although judging from the emails I still get from Friendster, my book was very well-received among hot, horny South American models with cowboy hats.)
What’s playing on the iPod right now? BIG GIRLS DON’T CRY by Fergie
Because I was going to RWA, last week several previously published romance authors looking to get an agent on board for their career got in contact with me. They were hoping to meet me in person at the National conference.
Great idea! There’s only one problem. The timing. My schedule has already been booked up for over 4 weeks. I haven’t got an open slot to meet with a potentially new client—even if I’d like to!
Let’s say you’d really like to do this in the future. Here’s my suggestion for those of you who are previously published.
Start this process about 6 to 8 weeks before the conference. That’s when you want to get in touch. Offer to send samples of your work because any agent who might be contemplating a physical meet up will want to read your work first. We may or may not be a good fit for each other. (Also, I read widely so there is a chance that I might have read your work on my own but it’s probably more likely that I haven’t.) Seeing material is usually the best first step.
Once material is reviewed and I like what I see, then I’ll still have plenty of time to fit you into my schedule before the conference actually happens. This way we can then find out if we are a good match for each other both personally and professionally.
Big smile here.
Lenore at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories just upgraded her D12 handbag with a zipper, handle cord, and shape-holding panel stiffeners. You can learn to make your own D12 handbag with the free tutorial. She also made a D20 handbag with the same treatment!
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by Malle Vallik
Blogging is a very effective and important social media tool for authors because blogs bring your personality into play for your readers. Blogs increase visibility, and are an easy, economical and FAST way to reach readers. My thoughts are below, but I also like this post from Chris Brogan 40 Ways to Deliver Killer Blogger Content. You may also notice that I also write a lot of lists at my blog; there’s a reason!
Why Blog?
My digital team usually suggests that blogging is the 1st or popular tool in social media toolkit for these reasons:
– Best use of your most valuable resource – time
– Uses your strengths as an author
• Telling stories (engagement)
• Building relationships (engagement)
• Making connections (engagement)
• Build your brand/promote yourself
• Drive traffic to your website /sales
Best Practices:
• Brand/Identity/Voice
This is what will set you apart. If you are curious about author branding I wrote a post at my blog and there were some excellent follow up comments as well.
• Integration
This means you need to connect all your social media properties. You need a little box or badge or something like that into which you list all your web places (Myspace, Shelfari, blog, website, author bio at publisher, etc) and you embed it in all your web places.
• RSS
Stands for really simple syndication. It’s the orange RSS badge you see on many sites. It makes subscribing to your blog easy for your reader.
• SEO (search engine optimization)
You need to use strong discovery key words in the title and repeat in the first few lines of your blog so that search engines will find your blog and rank it high. Do a search on SEO and delve in!
• Link Love
Web 2.0 is all about sharing. In each post you should link to at least two outside sources.
• Widgets, Affiliate program and other Publisher tools
Your publisher may have some very cool tools that you should use to make your blog richer. At Harlequin we have the Browse the Book widget, the Harlequin Insider and our affiliate program. Talk to someone on the digital team to make sure you are fully in the know.
• Engagement
Comment on other people’s blogs. This shouldn’t be a one-way conversation.
• Measurement
Your blogging platform will have some kind of traffic measurements. Do look at your traffic, unique visitors, return visitors, and what posts drive the most traffic. Keep doing what is working and stop what isn’t.
What to blog about:
• Book News
• Ideas, trends or thoughts
• Entertainment
• Publish a list of links
• Comment on other blog articles
• Take a recent experience and share it
• Answer questions you received recently
• Turn a press release into a blog article
• Memes
In conclusion:
• Be creative:
– Blog tours
– Blog as a character
– Original stories
• Learn
• Evolve
• Don’t spend too much time, eg overthink . Set yourself a time limit (maybe ½ hour?) and if you find it is taking you too much time, then this may not be the right social media tool for you.
What do you like or dislike about blogging?
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Related posts:
The Australian government is considering changing the country's protectionist book import laws, and Australian authors are pissed. (And yes, I know "pissed" means "drunk" in Australian. I'm just going out on a limb here.)
(Please send hate email about this post to adingoatemystereotype@bookslut.com.)
Download these free knit slipper patterns from PolarKnit in sizes for the whole family. I just might have to knit the ladybug slippers for myself. Seriously too cute! [ via CraftGossip Knitting ]
Any of you public librarians looking for a way to get more kids to visit your branch?
A Brooklyn grandma got more than she'd bargained for when she rented a copy of "Austin Powers" from her local library and found it spliced with long pornographic scenes.
Sure, that sounds bad, but what if the scenes were from classy, highbrow literary porn? There are some truly touching, edifying moments in films like The Joy Fuck Club and The Three-Way Musketeers and The Five People You Meat in Heaven. At any rate, all this hilarious story needs is someone overreacting in the most illogical, scorched-earth way possible.
[Library patron Esther] Klein contacted her assemblyman, Dov Hikind -- and he's now demanding that local libraries ban all VHS tapes.
That'll do nicely.
The great Maud Newton presents a syllabus of doubt for all us skeptics.
When I was a kid, we'd try to create our own version of "scratch art" by coloring all over a piece of paper in rainbow colors and then coloring over that with a thick coat of black crayon. But covering up the rainbow colors with the black crayon overlay was exhausting, and never quite filled the page as well as we wanted. Small Fox has a tutorial for creating awesome scratch art with a technique for applying a black overlay that will be solid yet easily scratch-able. I can't wait to try this!
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