Ninja News Overload! And a Humble Thanks.

Overload definitely describes last week. You guys are awesome!

Today I have the honor of a guest post at Lucy’s site, Moonlight Gleam. She is a real sweet person, bubbling with energy. If you can, please pay her a visit.You even get to hear from Byron!

Want some real Ninja secrets? Want to know how many hours I devote to blogging? If you missed my short interview at Laura B. Writer’s SITE on Saturday, then you need to check it out.

Tuesday the video for CassaFire will be posted at You Gotta Read Videos. This site pits twenty videos against one another in competition. I’ll let you know when voting opens. I’ll try not to grovel, but no promises…

Someone told me on Friday I needed to move this higher (it’s at the bottom of my blog) so I thought I’d just post it here. My publisher is giving away five copies of CassaFire on Goodreads…

Goodreads Book Giveaway

CassaFire

by Alex J. Cavanaugh

Giveaway ends January 20, 2012.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Yes, this Ninja really is everywhere…

Now on to the news!

Cassie Mae at Reading, Writing, and Lovin’ It! is hosting “Is it Getting Hot in Here? Blogfest” on Valentine’s Day. If you’re feeling hot and bothered, this might be for you!.

First edition of the Vine Leaves Literary Journal went live on Friday! Jessica Bell has put SO much work into this project, so check it out.

Karen at Coming Down the Mountain kicks off the Big Blog Tour for Celery Tree today! She has worked on this project for a year now and is so excited!

Cate Masters began a new site called TBR, “Meet the authors who’ll make your list grow.”

I was nominated for a Top Writing Blogs Award from eCollege Finder, an education resource representing accredited online institutions. Really! Must have me confused with another Alex…

Sean McLachlan at Civil War Horror had a new book, “The Night the Nazis Came to Dinner, and Other Dark Tales," and it’s priced at 99 cents.

And it’s time for the Amazon Novel Breakthrough Award contest! Head on over to Michael’s site, In Time, for full details.

Finally, I’d like to offer a most humble thank you. Last week was utterly amazing and it was all because of you guys. For these wonderful things, I give my thanks:

* For your response to last Monday’s post. (I worried about that one.)

* For helping all four of my blogger buddies reach a thousand followers.

* For your incredible posts for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. There were some really heartfelt posts and many of you rallied to offer encouragement. I think I managed to visit everyone on the list, but if I missed you, please forgive me.

* For your appreciate of the IWSG. I started it for YOU.

* For your enthusiasm for the A to Z Challenge. It really is an amazing event.

* For the sheer amount of comments you made! I’m still blown away…

* For the kind words, encouragement, and friendship

For all of that, this Ninja says thank you. I am here to serve. And sometimes amuse!

Don’t forget to visit Moonlight Gleam today and Laura B. Writer if you missed Saturday’s post.

Whew! Ready for a blogfest? Participating in the Amazon Novel Breakthrough Award contest? How about the A to Z Challenge? Feeling thankful as well? Are you exhausted just from reading all of this?

Awesome Stuff and the Big Announcement!

Thanks again to everyone who participated in the Insecure Writer’s Support Group!There were some awesome posts, including this funny one from Mark and a touching and inspirational one from Youngblood. I’ve tried to visit as many as possible and I’ve also cleaned up the list a bit, eliminating those who aren’t participating.

I also had a very funny surprise visual review of CassaStar from Jesse at Not Worth Mentioning. Thanks dude, it was hilarious!

Saturday, January 7, I have a guest post with Laura B. Writer. She is a marketing consultant who critiques writer/author blogs during the week and conducts interviews on the weekends. So stop by and say hey on Saturday!

But today’s main event it the April 2012 A to Z Challenge!

First – what is the Challenge?

This amazing month long blogfest was created by Arlee Bird at Tossing it Out. If you subtract Sundays from April, you then have 26 days--one day for each letter of the alphabet. (This year April 1 is on a Sunday, so we will start on that day.) Using this premise, you start beginning April 1 with a topic themed on the letter A, then on April 2 another topic with the letter B, and so on until you finish on April 30 with the letter Z. This will be the third annual A to Z Challenge!

The purpose of the Challenge is to blog almost daily following the alphabet – and to make friends. Yes, many gain blog followers, but as those who’ve participated in the past will tell you, the real treasure lies in making new friends.

I was a last-minute entry to the first A to Z Challenge. I think Lee is still laughing at the comment I made when I decided to do it. There were about a hundred of us and I was randomly selecting entertainment stuff that began with the corresponding letter. (For Q, I posted about Q-Bert and the movie "Q" – lame!) But I made some great friends in the process, including the wonderful Yvonne Lewis and Ella.

Last year, Lee enlisted the help of several co-hosts and I was honored to be among those bloggers. Were we blown away when almost thirteen hundred participants signed up! (And for those of you who were overwhelmed last year, we have a plan for this year.) I had a theme this time and featured two blogger buddies each day whose blogs corresponded with the letter. It was an awesome month and I made a ton of new friends.

Now we are gearing up for the April 2012 A to Z Challenge and signups begin January 30. But today’s big announcement is the introduction of this year’s hosts:

Arlee Bird at Tossing it Out
Alex J. Cavanaugh
Stephen Tremp at Breakthrough Blogs
Jenny Pearson at Pearson Report
Matthew McNish at The QQQE
Jeremy Hawkins at Retro-Zombie
Tina Downey at Life is Good
DL Hammons at Cruising Altitude
Shannon Lawrence at The Warrior Muse
Elizabeth Mueller
Damyanti Biswas at AmlokiBlogs
Konstanz Silverbow at No Thought 2 Small

We are armed and ready!

To keep up with other announcement regarding the Challenge, please follow the A to Z Challenge Blog.

This is one of the most amazing challenge you will undertake and one of the most rewarding – join us!

Are you planning to participate? Were you a part of last year’s event? Did you make some new friends? What awesome things happened to you as a result of the Challenge? This Ninja would like to know…
And if you have a second, scroll to the bottom of my blog - I completely forgot my publisher was doing this!

Hot News, Dark Spells, and on Fire!

News first! No time to explain, let me sum up.

The Insecure Writer’s Support Group’s next post is THIS Wednesday!!!

Jen Daiker will be published in a collection of romantic stories next year – way to go, Jen!

I won Laura B. Writer’s 200 followers contest – an eBook copy of Kristen Lamb's Are You There Blog? It's Me, Author! Thank you, Laura.

Saw Puss in Boots – great animation and solid story. Think adventure rather than comedy. And not for real little kids, as they simply won’t follow the storyline.

Madeleine Scribble and Edit gave me the Friendly blogger award. Thank you, Madeleine!

And appreciate all the words of congratulations on CassaStar cracking Amazon’s Top Ten in science fiction – and special thanks to Rusty for catching a screen shot of it at number eight. I still can’t believe it…

Darkspell's Launch Spookfesta

Darkspell by Elizabeth Mueller – available today!
Winter Sky believes she is everything ordinary . . .until she is kissed by Alex Stormhold.
As seer of Stormhold Coven, Alex is sworn to be Winter’s protector against the darkness that hunts her. Violently thrust into a magical realm she always thought impossible, she stumbles upon a disturbing secret of her own. Will love prove thicker than magic?
Purchase Darkspell on Amazon and visit Elizabeth at her BLOG or WEBSITE

Spookfesta question - "If I had all the magic in the world, I'd . . ."
Return the earth to its original state – as Heaven. (Of course, I couldn’t really do that – but fortunately, God can!)

On Fire!

Thanks to everyone who has signed up for CassaFire’s Catch Fire! blog party on February 28, 2012! If you haven’t, visit HERE (see also tabbed page under my header) to join the fun and a chance to win a copy of CassaFire.

And thanks to those who’ve spread the word about this blog party. My official tour is now set and CassaFire is already on Goodreads with a four star review.

Happy Halloween! Anyone else have a wild week or weekend? Participating in Elizabeth’s fest? See a movie? About to panic because NaNo starts soon…?