I’m looking forward to getting to know all of the new visitors to my blog as well as visiting some familiar faces.
This year it a year of beginnings for me, so for My First Book, the theme is:
26 Things You Should Know Before Writing a Novel
Basically, this will be a series of serious and lighthearted posts on what it’s like to write a novel, from a writer’s point of view. I’d love to hear from other writers too, be they short storiests or novelists, plotters or pantsers. And hey, I’m really looking forward to hearing what you the non-writing, but reading, public think of us crazy creators of your entertainment.
Thanks for stopping by! I hope you’ll enjoy my posts.
P.S. To the regulars: The Paying Forward Awards and Word Master Challenge will continue in May. Would have continued with both, but since I’m busy with revisions as well…
Hey all! Just coming out of my break to let you know I did a post on Damyanti’s blog about writing first drafts by hand and one on Sydney’s blog to explain why I blog. Would love to see you there!
So sorry about this, but I’m going to take a short break until Sunday.
As some of you already know, Etopia offered me a publishing deal which I accepted. What I didn’t mention (due to being unsure of the contract terms last week) is that the deal is that I split Doorways in two.
So. Because this might mean a killer deadline at worst and at best a currently uncertain work schedule, I want to get the ball rolling as soon as possible. As a result, I have a considerable amount of work to do before the end of the week.
I’ll share the arrangements with regards to the Paying Forward Awards as soon as I’ve confirmed with the prize sponsors.
I was going to postpone this until Monday or so, but keeping the secret is driving me mad. To the point where I just can’t seem to blog about anything else. So I’m going to say to hell with fearing bad luck and hello to me sharing some EXCELLENT NEWS.
People. (And pay attention, because this is a HUGE moment for me.)
Doorways has been accepted for publishing by Etopia Press!!!
I want to say I’m in better shape now, but let’s not jinx it. I’ll hopefully be all better by Monday.
In the meantime, though, I want to announce this month’s Paying Forward Award Categories.
Before I do that though, I just want to make a small announcement. For some reason, some of last month’s winners still haven’t claimed their prizes. So. If you were nominated in February, please check out the list of winners to see who’ve won. After Monday, I’m giving the prizes out to third and fourth place nominees to make their day. There are some amazing prizes left, so don’t miss out.
Okay, this time around, I want to play with the prize giving format a little. Instead of listing the prizes here, I’m going to list them and the sponsors with the winner’s announcements. That way, the winners can see what they can win more easily.
So this time, I’m only going to say that I have the following categories for this month:
Blogger Who Makes the Bloggosphere Amazing
Blogger With Unrivaled Determination
Blogger With Amazing Team Spirit
Blogger Who Brightens Every Day
Nominations are open until noon, GMT on Tuesday, March 26. To nominate, please mail me at mishagericke(AT)gmail(DOT)com with “Nominations” as subject. You can nominate for all or some categories. So… Who’s name pops into your head when you look at these categories?
Looks like I talked too fast yesterday, saying I was healthy. Still, it feels like I am beating the virus. Problem is that getting everything done (including visiting blogs to collect news day items) is a bit more difficult than usual.
So… today’s News Day post is mostly admin.
First of all, the Word Master Challenge is still open. So if you want to enter, but haven’t yet, you still have until the end of March.
Then, I’ll be announcing the Paying Forward Award Categories and opening nominations for March tomorrow. So, if you want to be one of the amazing and generous people sponsoring prizes please contact me at mishagericke(AT)gmail(DOT)com with “Paying Forward” as the subject as soon as possible so that I know how many prizes we’ll have. All prizes will be welcomed.
One thing that’s sort of unrelated to this blog is the WriteOnCon Pitch Fest going on this week. Agents are commenting on query pitches, so it’s definitely worth while for anyone wanting to query to check out the forum and learn what you can.
Also, the organizers are looking for book fans, book bloggers, published authors and represented authors who can vote for the best pitches in the competition. This is a huge thing, though, since the prizes can make some authors’ careers. Please check out this link for more information and to register as a voter.
Okay. That’s it for today. I promise I’ll start visiting blogs and commenting soon. I’m really missing my blog visits.
Any news for next week? Leave a comment or preferably mail me a link to the news bit with “News” as the subject.
Hey all! I’m finally making a come-back after finally putting the stomach bug in its place. Thanks so much to everyone who left good wishes. I truly appreciated them.
But now, time for some movies. I only have a rough idea about what’s in my top 10, so I won’t be numbering them. It’s odd, I know, but I don’t have favorite books either. My reasons, as silly as they may be, are in green.
Inception
Just because the writing, plot, characterization, everything worked together just like. Oh and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Tombstone
“I’m your huckleberry.” Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday is probably my most favorite movie character of all time. Just watchin him in the movie makes me want to write.
The Untouchables
For inspiring my approach to conflict management. 😉 In case you’re wondering:
“You wanna get Capone? Here’s how you get him. He pulls a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue! That’s the Chicago way, and that’show you get Capone!”
Seriously, though, probably the most to the point but efficient film speech I ever heard. And if I’m remembering right, Sean Connery improvised it.
Dark Knight
The Joker.
Enough said.
Brrrrrrrr.
Unstoppable
Because the train eventually feels like an evil entity. And because those guys put themselves into so much danger because no one else was there to stop the train.
Hunt for Red October
Even though the Cold War is over, there’s enough info in the writing to pull me into the world at the edge of nuclear fall-out. And make me care about how it turns out in the end.
Even though I watched the movie about 6 years after the iron curtain went down.
and its (sort of) sequel Executive Decision.
Not in the same class, really. But Steven Seagal did something amazing in this movie. Astounding.
He died within the first 30 or so minutes of the movie’s opening credits.
Special mention to another “sequel” Clear and Present Danger.
For one line: “By being a sneaky bastard, sir.”
Actually the story is excellent too. With Willem Dafoe playing a good guy. Which doesn’t happen often.
The three Chronicles of Narnia adaptions
Brought the magic of the books to life.
The Patriot
I lived in that movie for the whole time it played. Mel Gibson’s character was brilliantly written.
The Replacements
A lot of people missed this one. It’s a football movie about a random bunch of guys having to get their team into the Superbowl because the pros went on strike.
It’s sort of a comedy, but actually really deep. With a buddy story as the whole replacement team needs to learn how to get along with each other. And they are from EVERY walk of life.
And…
“At first I was afraid… I was terrified.”
Okay no. It’s too good not to show.
Made my day when I saw it again. Probably my favorite random scene.
So I was a bit optimistic about saying I’d put up a News Day post. Truth be told, my stomach bug is currently kicking my butt.
Now I’m planning to get myself healthy as soon as possible, which means I’ll be extending my blogging break, when I’ll be taking part in Alex Cavanaugh’s Top Ten Movie Countdown Blogfest. As with all activities involving the Ninja Captain, I’m sure it’ll be awesome. If you haven’t checked it out yet, please do. I’ll be fun.
Hey all. That stomach bug I might have mentioned has returned with a vengeance, which is leaving me exhausted.
As a result, I won’t be pasting more tonight, but will do the News Day post tomorrow instead. Please feel free to send me any tidbits (with links) that you think should be shared. Mail me at mishagericke(AT)gmail(DOT)com with News in the subject line.
