Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Blogfest, NaNo, Award, and Ask Me if I'm Naked...

I’ll get to that naked thing in a minute…

Jeffrey at World of the Scribe is hosting a Thanksgiving Blogfest on November 24! Visit his blog for details.

Still plugging away at NaNo – hit 26,637 last night. I’m on target, which means I’ll be one of those frantically trying to input my 50,000 words the evening of the 30th. But I’ve really hit my stride with this one and concocted some great twists.

Thanks to everyone who comes by here even when I slack on blogging! And big thanks to those of you who’ve purchased (or plan to purchase) my book. I really appreciate all the support. I don’t know about the other chains, but my publisher said Barnes and Noble is stocking CassaStar, which is cool!

Now about asking me if I’m naked…
Well, you can ask, but the answer is no!
However, I thought I’d give everyone a shot at a little Q&A with Alex. Whatever you want to ask about me, CassaStar, or my current project. (And if I get so much as one water question, I’m blaming you, Lee!) So go ahead! Make my day...
Just remember, I’ve already answered – I am NOT naked! Not right now, anyway. Later tonight, that’s a different story. (I’m married – it’s legal!)



And finally, Yvonne at Welcome to my World of Poetry gave me the Wholesome Blogger Award!

I’d like to pass it along to some wholesome bloggers who’ve continued to come by here even while I’ve lagged in my blogging and commenting due to NaNo:

Ellie Garratt She’s an awesome young lady and a fellow NaNo writer. She even had time for a blogfest this month!
Melissa at Through the Looking Glass Another awesome lady – and she’s hosting a Christmas holiday blogfest, so check it out.
Jai at Jai Joshi’s Tulsa Tree She’s a new blogger friend but never fails to comment and share. And Jai’s a really amazing writer!

There’s so many more of you, but I’m supposed to be writing!!

Remember, hit me with your best question - I can take it!

65 comments:

Gail said...

Barnes & Noble...you have arrived!

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

Pleased to know you're still plodding on writing. I bought your book through Amazon UK.Thanks for the links will look into a couple.

Have a nice day,
Yvonne.

Anne Gallagher said...

I'm reading your book right now as a matter of fact. I'm still in the beginning. Byron and Bassa are having words about jumping. (I didn't give anything away there did I?)

Question -- somewhere I read you were in the carolina's. So am I, north or south? I'm north, near winston. And how old are you? You seem young with an old person's mentality.

Sorry, am I sounding like a stalker? Dont' mean to be.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Thanks, Gail!

And I really appreciate that, Yvonne!

Anne, you didn't give anything away. And good questions!

Christine Danek said...

Congrats B &N and the award.

Do you do any sort of ritual before or as you write? Specific food or drink, special chair, etc.

Keep up the good work, Alex.

Ellie Garratt said...

Congratulations on Barnes & Noble - that's huge!

Keep plodding away on your word count, it will be fun writing up to the last minute. Did I say that? I need caffeine.

Okay. Here's my question: There's a certain part of CassaStar that is very emotional. Did it move you to tears after you wrote it (sorry, tears equal water. So, water question).

Ellie Garratt said...

Oops. . .forgot to thank you for my award! Thank you!

Jemi Fraser said...

Congrats on the award and the B&N! :)

Simon Kewin said...

Congrats on the award and the Barnes & Noble win : great news. CassaStar is definitely on my currently-being-compiled Christmas list!

Notes Along the Way with Mary Montague Sikes said...

Alex, Barnes and Noble is amazing! Your book will be so big! Congrats and thanks again for your support with my blog book tour!

vic caswell said...

whoa dude! barnes and noble! awesome!

hmm... question... any pets?

DEZMOND said...

you got me with the tittle of the post again ...

Will Burke said...

Holy poop-on-a-stick, you can NaNo and Blog? I looked for Cassastar in Chapters (the Canadian B&N) with no luck. Any plans for distributuin to our exotic land?

Old Kitty said...

My question? Why aren't you naked?

LOL!!!

Take care
x

Sarah Ahiers said...

what's the worst movie you've seen in theaters?

Sherrie Petersen said...

Ha! I love that on the day you talk about being naked you get the Wholesome Blogger Award :)

Okay, my question for you: how many trunk books before CassaStar got published?

Matthew MacNish said...

What's with the Asus laptop in that award? Kind of random, but cool.

Helen Ginger said...

Have you been to your local Barnes & Noble to make sure they have CassaStar in stock and to offer to sign books for them and/or do a signing?

That's my question. If you haven't, do it!

Kelly Polark said...

Hurray you're in Barnes and Noble!!
Who is your favorite Star Wars character?
What is your favorite current song?
:)

Summer Ross said...

Congrats on the award! I posted the blogfest on my side bar. Have a great rest of the week!

Tara said...

Er, did you really post the wholesome blogger award the day you wrote about nakedness. *snicker*

My brain is nanofied - can't think of any questions! Can't wait to get your book - I will, I promise! I plan on getting a couple copies for gifts for SF friends, too :)

Carol Kilgore said...

Great news about CassaStar. Loved this multi-faceted post.

Laura Eno said...

Congrats on the award and great news about CassaStar!

Bossy Betty said...

You get naked when you get the Wholesome Blogger Award? This does not seem right....

Jodi Henry said...

Just be carefull about getting the words in before 11pm on Nov. 30th.

I added my words last night after 11pm and they went on todays word count. (and yes, I have my time zone correct for washington.)

Another one of my blogger friends had this same thing happen in florida.

J

Arlee Bird said...

You and I are staying pretty close with our NaNo outputs. I'm still hoping for a few 5000 word days.

I wanted to ask.... No, wait, I'll go ask Patricia Stoltey for that one.

About the prepublication process-- I was impressed by how well written CassaStaR is--how many beta readers did you have before sending your book to an editor and where did you get those readers? How much rewriting did you have to do?
That's probably a pretty big question that could be a post in itself. I'd love to hear more about your journey to publication. (unless you did it already and I missed it).

Lee
Tossing It Out

N. R. Williams said...

Good luck with all that writing stuff. I'm still heavy in the edits. Here's my question.

Do you ever feel like your brain is inside out? LOL
Nancy
N. R. Williams, fantasy author

Hart Johnson said...

And here I thought I'd converted you! Alex--GET NAKED! NOW! (and it's legal, even if you aren't married--heck, we were BORN naked! You don't see them arresting babies, do you?)

really glad you're happy with your WriMo! I'm not unhappy with mine, but I don't get twisted until revisions... You know WHY? Because for a WriMo I can't do all my writing NAKED! (My basement is just too cold and I can't be in the bathtub 3-4 hours a day)

Colene Murphy said...

Tease.
Congratulations on your award! Awesome!

Jai Joshi said...

Oh thanks, Alex! I'll treasure this award.

Great news that you're on target with Nano. So many of the bloggers have been blowing me away with their motivation and drive to reach that 50,000 word goal. It's been a boost to my own drive.

Jai

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Thanks, Christine!

Ellie, you did say that! And you're welcome.

Simon, thank you! I appreciate that.

Monti, happy to host you.

Dezz, then my ploy worked.

Will, I have no idea. I know Yvonne got it from Amazon UK.

Sherrie, Tara, and Betty - yeah I guess I could've timed that bettter...

Jodi, God forbid I'm still writing at 11pm on the 30th!

Hart, I wondered how you were managing your tub writing. I'll get naked later, I promise.

Golden Eagle said...

Congrats on the award, and that B&N is stocking your book! Cool!

M.J. Fifield said...

Congratulations on your NaNoWriMo word count. Best wishes reaching that 50k goal by the 30th. Myself, I'm a little bit behind right now.

Shannon Messenger said...

Hmm...questions. Um...What's your most embarrassing story (that you're willing to share)?

Hehe, I might be a tad evil for asking that. Eh well. :D

Unknown said...

I totally understand you're busy because you're doing NaNO. I've been working hard on it as well. Well, can't wait to see what you have for us in the future.
CD

Mason Canyon said...

Congratulations on the award and it's awesome that your book is at B & N now. You never can tell, there may be a movie deal out there somewhere for you too. Best of luck.

Mason
Thoughts in Progress

Anonymous said...

Do you write sober or do you enjoy a few glasses of wine or beer from time to time when writing? I admit I like a few glasses of vino when writing. But just a few.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Haleine, don't give up.

Shannon, not as evil as my answer.

Mason, that would be awesome!

Jeff Beesler said...

Alex, thanks so much for pimping my Blogfest! I really appreciate it!

Elizabeth Mueller said...

Lol, you and your nakedness.

Congrats for making it to B&N! Great word numbers for NaNo! Hope you're having fun!

You have an award!

See ya Friday! :D

PK HREZO said...

Oh please. You're doing awesome. I'm always amazed and impressed with your dedication when I see you've commented on my blog.
Thanks for taking the time out for that. ANd I know you must be overwhelmed.
I'm a little ahead of you on NaNo word count, but then I don't have a debut book out and I've been a total slacker with blogs. :)

Carol Kilgore said...

I read your blog this morning but didn't have a real question for you, so didn't comment. But now I just read your comment on my blog and I DO have a question. How do you tune out distractions? And when it's a distraction from something that breathes, how do you do it and not feel guilty? Well, two questions :)

Dominic de Mattos said...

Hi Alex ... have I missed something?
I thought a Q&A session might have some As as well as Qs!! lol

So, were you tempted by self publication through the eReader route?

Great news about Barnes and Noble :D

I'm showing off my daughter on my blog BTW!

Southpaw said...

I couldn’t find any information about what the Thanksgiving blogfest was about only the linky.

Questions… Did you always know you wanted to write a sequel? Do you start out with a word count goal or just write until your done and see what you’ve got?

Vicki Rocho said...

26,000 words? That's fantastic!!! I'm 20k behind you, but I'm not really participating.

My question: With all that manic writing, are you brushing and flossing like you should be?

Susan Fields said...

Way to catch our attention with your post title! And congrats on B&N - that's huge!

My question: How many revisions of CassaStar did you go though?

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Jeffrey, you're welcome!

Thanks, Elizabeth! And looking forward to our group posting.

Thank, Pk. I still feel I should be doing more...

Carol, that's a double edged sword!

Holly, sorry! I should've linked to the information...

Thanks, everyone! I hope to be around more tomorrow.

T. Powell Coltrin said...

Nice. Sounds like you are on track. Keep it going.

Congrats on your award. Now...get back to work.

The Words Crafter said...

Congratulations on the award and the recipients! I'm having a hard time typing because Roo is sitting on half of the keyboard!!!

Like Anne, I am from NC and we live under 2 hours from each other. I'm in Hickory. Just curious which state you live in....

I hope that it means they've had enough online orders and now they feel justified in actually stocking it! You should come do a book signing, I'd buy another one!

Melissa said...

Congrats on the award Alex and thank you so much! It really means a lot to me! (I really like the decal on that laptop! I sort of want it)

You tricked me into asking you if you were naked... I'm not sure how I feel about that. ;)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Teresa, yes 'Mam!

Thanks Words Crafter. Not as good at the physical stuff as I am online.

Melissa, sorry, and hope my answer to the naked question isn't disppointing!

Unknown said...

Way to go on the NaNo... keep it up! I know you can do it!!!

Congrats on the awesome award... you're so prolific (love that word!)

Umm, and no, I will not ask you if you're naked. Because that's awkward *crickets*

Powdered Toast Man said...

When you were younger did you ever worry about getting an erection when you went to the doctor for a physical?

Kittie Howard said...

Congratulations on the award, Alex. And B&N is a big deal, really cool...congrats again!

Regina said...

Sweet award. I'm glad B&N picked it up. I am a junkie there and will look for it. Have a great day.

Talli Roland said...

Now all I can think is naked naked naked naked... yes, I am that mature.

How about this as a question: What has been the most helpful thing anyone has said to you about the whole publishing process - after you've been published? (Hope that makes sense! I'm wondering more about the after-publishing bit...)

BryStearns said...

Well done Alex! Looking forward to getting a chance to read what you got! Very excited to see it!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Thanks, Jen. Yeah, a little awkward.

Thanks Kittie!

Thank you, Regina! If they don't have it - ask.

Talli, glad I could instill such a deep thought!

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Congrats on NaNo. It's great when the writing works.

As for a question: How'd you pick your names for your characters?

Carolyn V. said...

Congrats on the award, NaNo, and to being dressed! *two thumbs up* =D

Abby Minard said...

Congrats on Barnes and Noble, and the award! How long did it take you to write Cassastar?

Anonymous said...

Congrats on your NaNo progress, and Barnes & Noble!

ali cross said...

Dang. I suck at asking questions! And NO I really DON'T want to know if you're naked!

But, hmm.

Okay, here's one in celebration of CassaStar being sold in Barne's & Nobles (huzzah!) ...

Byron is a very complex man with a lot of internal history and cause & effect. How did you build him as a character? Did you model him after someone you know (or yourself)? Or did you build him layer by layer through revisions?

Cheeseboy said...

Wow, you get more awards than anyone I know! You seriously should try and sell them on eBay.

Enid Wilson said...

Congratulations on B&N! How do you find twists in a story?

My Darcy Mutates