A Modest Internet Star Visits, Ninja News Overload, Award, and Movie Trivia

Juliana Haygert interviewed me and it's up now!

Modest Internet Star

Today I have a treat for you – a doggie treat! Yes, Penny the Jack Russell dog and Modest Internet Star is visiting today, with a little help from her owner, Gary.

Greetings and lucky you, yes it's me, Penny the Jack Russell dog and modest Internet star. First of all, I wish to thank that very kind human, Alex, for allowing me the opportunity to amaze you with my guest 'pawsting', sorry, posting.

I submit the occasional posting over at my human Gary's site aka "klahanie". By example, my ongoing mission is to help make Gary a better writer. Alas, he's struggling. However, I've managed to teach him a few simple tricks like, roll over, beg and shake a hand.

I was recently interviewed by Gary. One of his questions was, "Do you have any writing suggestions for aspiring authors?" To which I replied, "Write from the heart. Make your writing intimate. Write in such a way that your reader really feels like you're talking directly to them. Make your reader care about the story. Most importantly, grab and hold onto the reader's attention from the very first sentence. Never give up and pursue your dream. Do your best to make your dream a reality.

Yes, I'm flattered to be famous. Although the pesky 'puparazzi' are forever hounding me. And I tried to add some "snark", whatever that is, to this posting. I figure it must be a mixture of snore and bark!

The vital ingredient of my writing is that I demonstrate the unconditional, non-judgemental love that we animals give to humanity. We have lessons to teach. If only mankind would listen.

If you have never visited the site I 'pawblish' on, here it is, Klahanie.

Once again, thank you Alex, my human friend.

Thank YOU, Penny! You are now a Modest Internet Superstar.

Ninja News Overload!

Katherine is holding a giveaway at her blog, Katherine’s Corner– lots of books to win, including a copy of CassaStar!

Tara and Viklit are hosting the I’m Thankful for my Readers Blogfest in November!

Tasha Seegmiller is celebrating her one year blog anniversary with a giveaway!

If you want to know what’s going on in the world of contests and submissions, visit Kimberly’s site, The Art of Infiltration. Every Monday she posts links and the list is impressive!

Black Gate has just published Sean McLachlan’s historical fantasy novella The Quintessence of Absence. And he is on assignment in Iraq for the next three weeks! So congratulations and prayers for safe travels.

My awesome co-hosts for the November 7 posting of the IWSG will be LG Keltner and CM Brown!

The Angry Lurker is holding a two year giveaway of custom dice! And they are very cool…

David Powers King announced that Ink Pageant is celebrating its first birthday with a Kindle Fire giveaway!

Lynn Kelly’s new book, Curse of the Double Digits, is out now! And she’s holding a big giveaway to celebrate. Congratulations, Lynn! Purchase it on Amazon.

Cally Jackson is hosting The Year I Turned 18 Blogfest – visit her site for details!

Nick Wilford at Scattergun Scribbles is celebrating one year of blogging with a three book giveaway!

Cat Lavoie’s new book, Breaking the Rules, is now available – congratulations, Cat!

Award

Patsy Collins gave me the Super Sweet Blogger Award – thank you, Patsy!

1. Cookies or cake? Cookies because you can eat more of them.
2. Chocolate or vanilla? Chocolate – with peanut butter, of course.
3. What is your favourite sweet treat? Hot Tamales! (Bet you didn’t see that one coming.)
4. When do you crave sweet things most? After popcorn. Must be the salt.
5. If you had a sweet nickname what would it be? Does Stud Muffin sound sweet?

Passing this one on to Livia, because she is indeed a real sweetheart.

Horror Movie Trivia

Name the director! (All well-known directors.)

1 – The Frighteners
2 – Mimic
3 – Bram Stoker’s Dracula
4 – The Serpent and the Rainbow
5 – The Keep


Any questions for Penny the Modest Internet Superstar? See any good giveaways? Good blogfests and new releases? (I know – a lot today! That’s what I get for skipping Wednesday.) Know the movie trivia? And seeing a movie this weekend? I still might see Sinister, but first I’m hitting Argo. 91% on Rotten Tomatoes…

Remember my interview with Juliana Haygert - it's live now!

Major Ninja News!

No, the Ninja Captain has not changed rank – I just have a lot of cool stuff for you guys today.

First, I have the honor of a guest post at Melissa’s Imaginarium! Melissa is awesome in every way possible, so please visit her. And Thursday is her birthday!

The Debutante Ball: Feast of Debut Authors continues! December 13 was Regan Guerra, December 14 is Melissa Pearl, and December 15 is Joseph Beekman. Lots of cool things to win!

Our very own Talli Roland has a new book out – Build A Man! Yeah, I know you ladies would rather do that then deal with us… Talli is the most supportive and cutest English-Canadian you will ever meet, so go say hey!

One of my most favorite blogger buddies, Yvonne Lewis at Welcome to My World of Poetry, has a new book -“Written From the Heart” Yvonne has worked SO hard on her second book and so many things went wrong in the process. Please stop by and congratulate her and check out her book!!!

Voting is still open for The Movie 411 Awards.

The most successful author I know is Milo James Fowler at In Media Res. He’s sold dozens of short stories this year, and that is due in part to his participation in Write1Sub1:

Once upon a time, Ray Bradbury was a struggling young writer in love with the craft. He wrote a short story every week, polished it up, and submitted it to a magazine. Rejection letters flooded in, mainly due to his prolific number of submissions, but there were also acceptances along the way, and they inspired Bradbury to keep doing what he loved: telling stories as only he could.

This year, over 150 writers decided to follow in Mr. Bradbury’s footsteps by joining Write1Sub1. Some have written and submitted a new story or poem every week, and some have done so every month. So far, more than 40 participants have had their work accepted by over 100 different markets—from Twitter fiction to pro-paying, SFWA-qualifying short story markets—and we've cheered each other on every step of the way. But we've also been there to commiserate with disappointments and rejections, because that’s what Write1Sub1 is all about: community. We're dedicated to creating high-quality written works, and we're determined to submit them until they find good homes.

It's never too late to join as either a weekly or monthly participant, and Write1Sub1 RELOADED is only a few weeks away: 1/1/2012!

David Powers King co-founded Ink Pageant, a parade of blog posts for writers!

We want to help writers improve their craft and reach their goals.
We're not alone. There are scads of authors and aspiring writers out there willing to help each other, and they're willing to share advice through their blogs. We want to help bring it to you and make it easy to find.
Ink Pageant has a few other purposes. You can share recommended reading or sell your books through your profile page; announce book signings, conferences, and other events; and share movie or book reviews. Most importantly, posts you submit can be put in front of an interested audience, benefitting them and bringing your blog a little extra traffic.
Right now their December giveaway is an in-depth 10 page critique from Eschler Editing – check it out HERE

See some good books? Ready to tackle Write1Sub1? Join Ink Pageant? Head about to explode from all the news? Now, go visit Melissa’s Imaginarium!