The Girdle of Melian

es indeedy, it's fun time! What makes you smile? That's the question asked by the London Science Museum . Take part in the project by leaving a comment on Marsha Moore's blog . My answer was my five-year-old nephew getting excited about something so that he jumps around, waving his arms, exactly like characters do in cartoons. I'd always wondered why no one did that in real life, and now I know; kids do! Jayne, over in the UK, has sent out her first query and is holding her first ever contest to celebrate . She's got some gorgeous prizes on offer, right after my own heart, from vintage children's books to vintage Agatha Christie to other lovely items. Hop on over and enter! Kait Nolan's Forsaken by Shadow , available at Amazon and elsewhere, is now in serial form on her own website. Check out the first part, here and tune in every Friday to read the rest. I've got a snip too! This is taken from the house party going on at Cherry Hill, Georgia -

uestions from Inside the Actor's Studio! We recently had a staff exercise at work, part of which involved answering some of the questions that James Lipton asks: 1. What is your favorite word? Wariangle 2. What is your least favorite word? Like (when used in Valley Girl sentences such as "I was, like, at my boyfriend's house and, like, we were, like, making out? He took off my bra, and then, like, his parents, like, came home?!) 5. What sound or noise do you love? The Aegean sea crashing on the sand near my grandmother’s house 6. What sound or noise do you hate? TV commercials 7. What is your favourite curse word? Fish wrinkles! 8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Veterinarian or sailor (on a sailboat) 9. What profession would you not like to do? Anything involving public speaking 10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? “This way to the TARDIS...” (I

f all unexpected things, my bank is hosting a summer reading club for children and teenagers! They've actually been doing this for a few years now; this year's theme is Destination Jungle and features, among other authors, the incomparable Jean Little, Rudyard Kipling, Farley Mowat, Iain Lawrence and Barbara Haworth-Attard. If you live in Canada - and possibly the North-East United States - spread the word and get your local library and schools involved. Also, the Why Don't Boys Read YA controversy is still smouldering over on Hannah's blog .

art way through the 51 day marathon and my word counts per day have dropped to about 400 instead of 600. But, look at me! It's 8 am on a Saturday and I'm already up, ready to begin typing all the 1000s of words that are filling up three notebooks. Just in time to enter the Teen Novel Contest from Wyvern Publications , that I found out about from Aubrie . Meanwhile, 19 year old author of Young Adult and Middle Grade books, Hannah , discusses why boys don't read YA; they skip from MG to regular adult books. Now, I'm against this sort of labelling in the first place (having read The Lord of the Rings , A Wrinkle in Time , Charlotte's Web and a host of other books all in about the same year, when I was 10-11), but it's the way the industry seems to work now (even if individual readers might not) and I go along with it while querying. Hannah suggests that one of the reasons for this might be that YA novels stereotype boys into wimpy, nerdy, goody-two-shoes types

logfest of Death still going on below! Meanwhile, I'm almost at the half way point of my 51 day marathon and I've been writing nearly every day. Had a bit of a lag this weekend - lots of family and friend visits - but still 30 days to go. As soon as I get all the handwritten scenes typed up I'll up my word count widget; should be at 55,000 words at least. Only 20,000 more to go until revisions start - and then perhaps some celebrations (read: contests) might be in order... Or maybe I'll even host a blogfest of my own; Tessa's has been great fun!

Here's mine, short and more of a foreshadowing of death. This scene takes place in Constantinople in early spring, 1493, between the protagonist Rose and one of her travelling companions and closest friends, Baha. *** Baha's breath rattled in and out of his lungs, his chest rising and falling beneath Rose's hand until he raised himself on one elbow to cough into his handkerchief. He lay back, and the rattling resumed. Rose returned her hand to his chest, clasping his fingers where they rested directly below his heart. He looked at her, then away, and she tried not to notice how white his skin had grown, how red his eyes were. The coughing would start again soon; best to ask him while she had the chance. "Baha? Should I tell your family about – that you –" "No!" It was only a whisper, but forceful for all that. He opened one eye and narrowed it at her. "They did not wish to see me when I returned to Stamboul, and will certainly not care to se

oanna Bourne 's The Forbidden Rose - the best new book I've read so far this summer! - free copy contest is now over. And the second Advance Reader Copy goes to... Frodo looking over the candidates: I'll grab this one! Yup, this is it... And the winner is... Raven! Congratulations! Please email me your address and I'll get the book out to you on Monday. Meanwhile, don't forget to tune in Sunday for *cue ominous music* the Death Scene Blogfest !

hich author do you write like? Christi posted a link to an interesting test , wherein you plug in some of your text - from a blog post or your MS - and it analyses your writing. I posted the entire text of this blog post , including the introduction and the snip from Out of the Water and... I write like J. K. Rowling I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software . Analyze your writing! Not a bad result! I wonder if they have Tolkien in there? I'll try some different texts and see who else I get. Meanwhile, the good folks at Random Acts of Reading are giving away books! All you have to do is sign up to read their fun and informative posts. Enter here .

oing swimmingly! The 51 day marathon , that is. I only missed yesterday, but I'll blame the heat/humidity wave, and catch up tonight. I've been putting poor Rose through the ringer emotionally, with death scenes (in anticipation of Tessa's blogfest ) and confrontations galore. Out of the Wate r and The Face of A Lion are very nearly my twentieth stories, a bit of trivia I mention due to Nathan Bransford's recent reference to the Rule of Twenty referred to on Upstart Crow Literary . The rule is this: It is only when one reaches the twentieth or so idea that one starts entering the realm of the truly original idea. The full list looks something like this: 1 aldo - a young boy's adventures, about three "chapters" worth - chapters in quotation marks since the whole thing was written when I was about seven and barely filled a grade school exercise book 2 life in the fridge - literally, this was a conversation piece between the various fruits and vege

s Pam has so delightfully described it, right now it's so hot that walking outside is "like being smothered slowly by a really fat guy while standing in a vat of soup." Which is not an excuse by any means - I *have* kept up with my 51 day marathon ! Anywhere from 100 to 500 words per day, which sounds so measly except when you figure that they're all handwritten and I'm going to need another marathon session just to sit before the pc and type them all up. But I'm inching closer to the finish line of the first draft. The sticky humidity has, however, led me to conclude that it's best to extend the deadline for my contest until next Friday. Congratulations to gamistress66 for winning the copy of The Forbidden Rose on All The World's Our Page, and if you haven't been over there to read the 20 questions with the author, Joanna Bourne , hie thee now. My contest deadline extension means you now have until next Friday to enter. Win a signed Advanc

um dum dum... Here are the list of names: Frodo looks over the candidates: Shall I choose this one? I have made my decision: The first winner of an Advance Reader's Copy of The Forbidden Rose by Joanna Bourne is... Aubrie ! Congratulations, Aubrie. Please drop me an email with your address and I'll send out your book right away. Everyone else - and newcomers - still have a chance to win. Sign up here for the second copy. Drawing next Friday!

Happy Canada Day! ifty day marathon has become the fifty-one day marathon; thanks to Zan Marie for following me! I wrote about 500 words on Tuesday, another 400 or so yesterday and hope to write at least as many today, plus type up all the words floating about on bits and pieces of paper - all 4000 of them at this point. Meanwhile, here's a bit of a web tour: Visit Audible for some free downloads of audio books - including Diana Gabaldon's Outlander . Unless I'm knitting or scrapbooking at the same time I have a hard time being read to - I'd much rather read a book myself and am less likely to get distracted that way - but I've been listening to Davina Porter reading Outlander for the past half hour and am laughing out loud (and alternately shaking my head the Claire's blissfully ignorant comments on Black Jack Randall). I'm just at the part where she sees Jamie's ghost... Celebrate Canada Day on fellow Canadian Talli Rowland's blog .