Posted in Author Appreciation Week

Author Appreciation Week–I’m In

 

Heidi R. Kling, author of the forthcoming YA novel Sea, has declared this week author appreciation week. Who am I to argue with something that sounds fun, is obviously a wonderful cause, and gets me out of thinking of other blog topics this week? You can read Heidi’s no-rules rules here, and decide whether you want to join in or just have fun reading the posts all week. If you’re on Twitter, watch for the hashtag #AAW, and I guess just watch for the posts to pop up on Facebook.

So there are no rules in general, but here’s a little bit about what you’ll find at my blog this week:

  • I won’t be posting about any authors I know! What does that mean, in these days of social networking and virtual friends? Well, I’m not sure. 🙂 But I have too many friends who are authors, whose books I love and with whom I have some kind of person connection–online or off–that I’m just avoiding making choices out of that group! Cowardly? Perhaps? Wimpy? Most likely. But, hey, it works for Jeff Kinney.
  • I’ll be focusing my appreciation on the things “my” authors do with their words–the choices they make about which stories to tell, or the things about the writing craft that those stories teach me. I think it’ll be interesting to see how else the word appreciation plays out across the blogosphere.
  • I may or may not make it every day. Three authors popped pretty instantly into my head, so I’m guessing five will be pretty easy, but if the post looks like it’s going to become the camel’s straw, well, you won’t find one here for that day. Or you might get two the next. Just think of me as your own random-post generator.
  • I’m using the lovely Author Appreciation avatar from Heidi’s blog, created by Sara at Novel Novice (www.novelnovice.com).  If you’ve read my blog for a while, you’ll know I can’t even draw stick figures, so there’s no way I’m going to try to create an avatar when someone has already done such a beautiful job!
  • I’m going to try and keep track of other bloggers celebrating this week, and I’ll probably (possibly?) throw a few links in a the end of each post. A few. Has anybody noticed the size of the Internet lately?!

There. I’ve done my best, as you can tell, to put structure into something that has no way of staying structured, but I can always try. Enjoy the week and make sure you tell all the authors in your day-to-day life how much you do appreciate them, too!

Posted in Books

Friday Five: Books I’m Waiting For

I’ve been doing a lot of re-reading lately, and it’s part “comfort food” and part waiting, I think. I’ve got some books on order and there are more that aren’t out yet (could some of you PLEASE write more quickly?!). So today’s five is a few books that are on their way…from a few days to a few months out! Take a look at the links & see which ones you might want to add to your stack!

*1. Andromeda Klein by Frank Portman

*2. How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford

*3. The Secret Year by Jennifer Hubbard

+4. Sea by Heidi R. Kling 

^5. Thief Eyes by Janni Lee Simner

* Thanks to the gift card from my wonderful sister-in-law, these are on their way via the postal service. If they get here today or tomorrow, I’m in BIG trouble with all the other stuff I want to get done this weekend!

+I know Heidi online & locally, and all the wonderful things I’ve been hearing about this book make me very impatient for its release!

^I also have a while to wait for this one. I really liked Janni’s Bones of Faerie, and Thief Eyes is set in Iceland, where I visited a few years ago. Plus, all Janni’s blog posts and tweets about the story and the dilemmas both her characters and she have faced during its writing have me completely intrigued.

What’s on your I-Want-to-Read-this-NOW list?

Posted in Blog Award

Love Ya Award: More Blogs for You to Check Out

Last week, K.M. Weiland at WordPlaypresented me with the Love Ya Blog award. Thanks, K.M. for including me in your list!

Love_Ya_Award-795570

Here’s the definition of the award:

The “Love Ya” Award states: These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to other bloggers who must choose to pass it on and include this cleverly written text into the body of their award!

I like to add a few new blogs to your possibilities when I pass on one of these awards. On the other hand, some of the “old” blogs I read so fit this award that…well, you’re going to get a mix in this list!

My “Love Ya” awards for the week go to:

Enjoy! And if you feel like passing on the award at your blog, leave a link to it in the comments and we can all share.