Remember our library-lovin' blog challenge? (I included the link just in case you don't!) My agent, Nathan Bransford, is currently running a similar challenge to benefit Heifer International.

The challenge is today-only, and this is impromptu, but I'm joining in. I'll also donate $1 per comment on my blog for the first 50 unique commenters (no 50 comments from the same person!).
EDITED TO ADD: What did you awesome people go and do? You reached my goal with hours left in the challenge. So here's what I'm going to do--another twenty cents per comment for the comments after #50, all the way up to my deadline. That way, every comment will count for something!

This costs you nothing. If the spirit moves you, please do any or all of the following:

Leave a comment here. Yes, make me donate!
Go to Nathan's blog (I provided the link above); his own comment challenge is closed, but he has the list of all the other participating blogs, many of whom will have their challenges open for days to come.
Visit those other blogs listed at his post and leave comments there. Make them donate too! You have the power! ;-D
If you're still inspired to do more, spread the word about this via Twitter, Facebook, and whatever magical elves you may know who spread information.

My challenge will run through noon Eastern time on December 24.

This also won't be the last challenge you see from me: I'm planning to do a mini-library-challenge during my launch week in January, and then we'll reprise the big library-lovin' blog challenge later in the spring.

Just got my first taste of what it's like being a published author.

Someone who doesn't know me from Eve referenced my writing in a blog interview, complete with link. (He liked my post about How Getting Published Is A Lot Like Calvinball.)

Whoa. It's a rush! So weird and "out there" and cool.

...

I want that again!

Oh, er, we got really carried away now didn't we? The usually famous top ten, published on New Year's Eve, is replace by seeing the first half of the ten already before Christmas Eve...which begs the question of whether there is something more in store...

And that there is dear readers, for I can announce today that on New Year's Eve, I will be announcing, not the top ten of the year, as the second half of that will be revealed on the 25th December, but the top ten albums of the decade - exciting eh?

But, without further ado, let's get onto this year's chart:

10. Wild Beasts: Two Dancers

I so tried to dislike this one, I mean that voice is just too much sometimes, and being, as I am, a self-confessed hater of all things Anthony and the Johnsons, it seemed only right and fair that I would not be interested in these guys.

Which of course was so unfair. Unfair mainly, as, although we have that whiny tinnitus-inducing voice at times on this particular album, the falsetto has a little more character and is more varied, seeing as the lead singer uses other vocal pitches at his disposal too.

But, hey, this is one impressive album, in terms of musical styles and something I've not found a lot this year. These experimental styles that really do work. I see that Dirty Projectors, have featured on a whole load of best ofs this year, for that same reason, and I totally disagree, as I found the album completely lacking in character and in complete opposition to this one.

It's hard, yet soft, it's lyrical, yet grating, it's falsetto, yet powerful, it's experimental, yet conservative and all that works in one neat package. One of those on the chart that needs plenty of listening to get a real sense of the scope of the album and I'll definitely be looking forward to their next offering!

9. Jonsi & Alex: Riceboy Sleeps

Big nod to Barry Napier here for being a total star and pointing me in the direction of this album. That the two involved are members of Sigur Ros, who featured in my top ten last year, makes it even more unfathomable that I was about to miss out on this little gem.

If you're a fan of Sigur Ros, then you have an idea of what is coming up here, otherwise you're in for one hell of a nice surprise!

It's a mood album, and maybe one reason that it's not higher is that sometimes the mood doesn't suit, and I need to listen to my albums a lot when compiling the charts. It's very mellow, very relaxing but in no way easy listening. You'd react if it was playing in your supermarket or if one of the tracks followed the insipid Norah Jones, on the radio.

It reminds me of Sigur Ros, a lot, for obvious reasons, but also Coil, in their ambient tracks and I think any lover of fine, atmospheric music should give this one a listen.

8. Andrew Bird: Noble Beast

Again those familiar with my album charts since 2005, were wondering when, rather than if, one of my newest musical heroes would be taking his spot in the chart. I'm sure some would have expected him higher but, in truth, this is the highest he has ever been, fluctuating between 12 and 8 all year.

It's a mighty fine album and one that deserves much merit. It contains Not a Robot, But a Ghost, which always reminds me of Cate Gardner and her kooky but excellent story titles, and is also an excellent tune, and it has the most played song of any since I got this computer (and Last.fm), Anonanimal, which has been vying for the song of the year since January 14th of this year, a behemoth of a track, and one that still causes the hairs on the neck to stand up when it opens.

In truth Bird puts together another lovely album and there's not a weak track on it in truth, its position is more to do with the criticism I have of Kings of Convenience, earlier and that is that a few of the songs are very reminiscent of previous albums, to the point where they feel almost like cover versions. I'm not saying Bird should completely change his style, just that a little variation goes a long way.

However, if you are new to the man, then this album is as good a place as any to start.

7. Florence and the Machine: Lungs

And 'bloody hell', was my first thought on hearing this debut album. The response was due to having seen footage of the band, and thinking that Florence Welch, was a little irritating live, and made the music hard to deal with.

The studio album takes all that away and just leaves us with one of the finds of the year, putting together a wonderful voice, some powerful music, and, my particular favourite: the lyrics. Cosmic Love, and Blinding were the two that stood out for me but any number on the album had so much character and presence that I just couldn't stop listening.

This is the first of the Mercury Prize nominees that I think was better than the winner, more for the fact that they did more with the album as a whole, even though it doesn't flow as much as Hannigan's. It does mean, however, that this wouldn't have won the award had I been judging either...

6. Bat for Lashes: Two Suns

For that award would have gone to this gem, surpassing the dizzy heights she set with Fur and Gold, to come up with an album, more refined, with a harder edge, yet softer in tone. How she does it I don't know but Natasha Khan has suceeded again in producing an album that stands out from its contemporaries in so many different ways.

Glass and Moon and Moon, are the two tracks that exemplify Khan's excellence in the field, although all of the tracks show a strength of a maturing artist, ready to become one of the classics in a couple of years or so.

Her voice has this dreamy quality that draws you in before she assails you with all kinds of musical instruments. As you get used to those two you then find that the lyrics are pretty damn punchy and you're taken to the next level of a musical nirvana.

I firmly believe Bat for Lashes, will be joining the ranks of Bird and Stevens in a couple of years!

Look out for the top five, as one of your Christmas presents this year!

Dear Anonymous Commenter,

Thank you for taking the time to comment on my post about Self-Publishing Myths.  While the poor grammar and spelling were annoying, (something you might want to work on as you self-publish that second book), I was struck by this part of your comment:

“Lets be realistic- how many people get published through traditional publishers? When people used to ask me if i was published i would ask them if they had won american idol.
Its not about talent, its about pitching, luck, who you know and the stars aligned!”

I spent way too much time thinking about your words, trying to find a response that would capture the true depth of my feelings.  I came up with the following:

Bite me.

To elaborate, you wander over to the blog of an author who’s published five books with a commercial publisher and proceed to explain that talent and skill and work have nothing to do with it; I just got lucky and knew the right people.  Because the right people will happily risk their careers to publish their friends’ books, even if those books suck.  Is that the line of pseudologic you’re following here?

From what I’ve seen, this sort of nonsense usually comes from one of two scenarios:

1. You drank the Kool-Aid from one of the scammier vanity presses and bought into their crap about “traditional publishers” being run by evil overlords who live only to crush the souls from peppy young writers like yourself.
2. You submitted a few times, got rejected, and decided to take your toys and go home.

You go on to say, “My books are good, as im sure a million unpublished books out there are.”  Right.  Much like everyone who tries out for American Idol is sure their singing is good, and that they deserve a major record deal. 

Because it’s so easy.  Because anyone can sit down and crank out a great story.  Heck, my cat hocked his breakfast onto the keyboard last week and produced a dandy little flash piece about zombie squids.  Everyone’s wonderful and brilliant, and it’s just a lottery as the Publishing Gods roll their d1,000,000 to see which of those worthy candidates shall be chosen.

Most of the people who get rejected from American Idol are sent home because they suck.  The ones who make it to those final rounds are the ones who’ve worked their asses off to learn how to sing.  Writing is the same way.  It takes time and a lot of work.  No magic fairy is going to blow sparkly story dust up your butt and transform you into the next J. K. Rowling.

I understand if you’re frustrated.  I know it can be discouraging trying to break in as a writer.  I’ve been there, and so has every other commercial author you so casually dismiss as “lucky.”

You chose to go the self-publishing route.  Maybe because your unique creative vision was too special for the New York publishers.  Maybe you really are as good as you think you are, and the entire publishing industry was just too blind to see it.  Maybe not.  I don’t know, and I don’t particularly care.  I wish you all the best, and I hope you’re happy with your choice.  But if not–if you’re going the passive-aggressive “publishing is mean and out to get me” route to console yourself–could you please at least keep it to the privacy of your own blog?

Thanks.

Mirrored from Jim C. Hines.

yeloson showed this to me and it confirmed what I've always known about those collectible dolls. Don't watch it before bed. Really.

Authoress Anonymous and I (perhaps foolishly) decided we'd finish our drafts by Christmas evening. I have no idea why we thought this was possible, but apparently we're going to try. Last I heard, she has two chapters to go. I have four.

Yeah, I don't think I'm going to make it, either. *g*

I still need to write:

1. Erin finding a way down from somewhere very high that isn't falling
2. Erin running around the city looking for a cute boy
3. A cute boy's POV, which I skipped today because I'm busy being in Erin's head
4. Erin learning the Awful Truth
5. Erin standing up to various people and going to save a cute boy
6. Lots of actiony things including but not limited to, fights with dragons and sylph, and lots of people dying ugly deaths
7. Denouement.

Not necessarily in that order. (Except the denouement, of course.)

Even if I don't finish by the crazy deadline, that's okay. I'll still have pushed through a lot of hard things. Action scenes are some of the toughest for me, so today I let myself breeze through one so I can flesh it out and fill it in later. It's a stick figure action scene, but I can see what happens there and later I can make it Blue-Ray. (No really, one day it will be awesome. Just not today.)

--

Here's Kippy sitting by yarn. It went in the sink this morning (and nearly didn't fit), and it's been drying all afternoon. The side you see was at the bottom while it was hanging, so it's wetter than the rest. Of course, that's the side Kippy wanted to sit by. (Cats are so weird.)

If no man is an island, then our characters shouldn't be islands, either.

There are exceptions. It is possible to write an entire book with only one character. But what a challenge--and that character had better be doing something reeeeallly interesting, like making a major scientific discovery or fighting a killer storm or canoeing through a wilderness full of adventure. Even then, inanimate objects or forces of nature are likely to function as characters.

Most of the time, we will have multiple characters in our stories. These can be allies, antagonists, love interests, rivals. They can serve multiple roles: the best friend who at first aids but then betrays the main character; the villain who unexpectedly helps the hero. Their presence should help or hinder the main character in some way (if the character serves only a neutral role, why have her at all?), but the secondary characters' lives should not revolve entirely around the MC.

Every secondary character has his own life, in which his own wants and needs are central, even if the MC is very important to him. We don't need to see all of those wants and needs and prejudices and preferences of the secondary character, but the character's actions should always be consistent with that background information. When we ask what the MC wants, it's a good idea to ask what the secondary characters want, too.

This post makes me think the booj needs a fire.

If you're interested, drop me a comment or find me on Twitter. (@colleenlindsay)

Cheers!

Just woke up and feeling vaguely sluggish so have an NSFW video about a sex toy that I find perplexing. I get the idea, but the execution seems like so many things can go wrong in ways that will land a hapless user on one of those ER shows on TLC.

ARC winners will be announced in the next day or so.  Thereason is prob obvious to For those who read the Twitter feed or FB (which gets my twitter feed),  but for those who aren't there:  we had around 18-19 inches of snow on Saturday.  The resulting being-snowed-in, waaay too many hours of shoveling snow, & canceled school tweaked my schedule quite a bit.

I haven't forgotten the contests.  Snow & kids & Winter Break starting a few days early took priority though.

Will get results up as soon as I can do so.

Originally posted at Uncreated Conscience.

As an administrative note: St. Martin’s Press will be closed for business from Thursday, December 24th through Sunday, January 3rd. I, on the other hand, will continue to blog and read my face off. Over the break, expect less posts of the publishing variety and more posts of the photographic/silly/life variety.

Read the rest of this entry »

I'm not exactly a germaphobe, but when I'm cooking -- especially for other people -- I pay attention to cleanliness. I wash my hands. A lot. I don't sneeze on things. I don't put utensils up my nose. You know, the usual.

The cats resent the moments between hand washings where they are neglected and unloved. All night, the back and forth with Luna has gone like this.

Me: Baking, baking like a fiend. Woo, baking!

Luna: LOVE ME!

Me: Not now, kitteh! My hands, they belong to the muffin batter.

Luna: I AM DYING FROM LACK OF LOVE!

Me: Love later! Muffins now!

Luna: FOR THE LOVE OF BAST, LOVE ME YOU MAGNIFICENT APE! CAN YOU NOT SEE I AM FORLORN!

Me: Fine! *mad pettings and scritches ensue*

Luna: Ahhh, that's the stuff.

Me: Now be silent! *wash hands again*

Luna: You missed a spot behind one ear...

Lather, rinse, repeat. It's pretty sad, and we're pretty much suckers, when pjack helps with the baking by administering kitty scritches.

http://karnythia.livejournal.com/1448046.html

She's okay. Phew! There may be charges brought against the guy who was with her.

Thank you all for the warm and sympathetic response to my last post. I'll continue to thank people individually for their comments, but what I want to say now is that this is what writing is for me: the communication that sparks recognition, that forges a link between people. That "me, too" moment. So many people have said variations on this: I know what you mean; I'm going through that, too; it happened to me. It's one of the things I seek from reading, and what I hope to bring to my writing: the recognition of our common humanity, the feeling that we're not quite so alone.

She's okay! This is a most excellent day! They will most likely be charging the man that was with her.

The Feds just checked my references. OMFG! I could actually get the job I want at the agency I wanted in the location I wanted. Yes, that's a lot of want. Work with me. Care bear stare people. Care bear stare.

My story "Biding Time" is now online at The Pedestal Magazine.

I already knew I'd be in good company as Ken told me one of his Clarion peers has also been accepted, but I just about keeled over when I saw Jane Yolen listed as one of the other authors.

Man. When I break a rejection streak, I break it with style.

I meant to link these over the weekend, but...it's Monday now, isn't it? *g*

I don't know if I got the first one up here or not, but just to have a complete set, here are my recent yarn posts on Robin McKinley's blog:

The Spindling part one
The Spindling part two
The Spindling part something else

Yeah, I totally lost track of my numbering system. Either that, or it's so advanced and complex that none of us have a chance at understanding it. You decide.