Insecure Writer’s Support Group! MST3K on RiffTrax, Apple TV Review, Revival–The Donald Braswell Story, and Ninja News!

It’s time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you’d like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post the first Wednesday of every month. I encourage everyone to visit at least a dozen new blogs and leave a comment. Your words might be the encouragement someone needs.

My awesome co-hosts for today are Stephen Tremp, Karen Walker, Denise Covey, and Tyrean Martinson!

I’m in a good place right now because last month I polished and sent off two short stories.

One was for an anthology based on ‘turning points,’ and I opted to go with an early Cassa story, one featuring Byron before CassaStar begins. I like how it turned out.

The second was for Geekdom House, whose mission is to provide a refuge, workshop, a culturally relevant welcome center and place for discussing nerd and geek topics. (While also bridging the gap between geeks and Christians.) It was a Christmas story and I opted for something contemporary and very geeky.

And I have to admit – I enjoyed writing both stories. It takes me forever to plan, plot, write, and edit a novel. But I can knock out a short story in a month. Still slow compared to some, but maybe that’s a more viable path for me right now.

Revival!

Today I welcome fellow author and brother in Christ, Mark Koopmans! Not only is the release of his first book a huge milestone for Mark, but for the subject of this biography, singer Donald Braswell II. I had the honor of reading Revival before its release and I promise – it is moving and inspirational! Mark and Donald, congratulations and God Bless!

Aloha,
When Alex invited me (Cheers!) to talk about my new book, REVIVAL – The Donald Braswell Story, he asked for snark.
I’m known for following all the rules of etiquette, so what better than the topic of rejection.
I’m un-agented, so when I started REVIVAL, I went a wee bit nuts and submitted requests to agents and publishers galore. (I mean, I was writing a memoir. I didn’t even need a finished manuscript.)
Emails shot off like beams of literary brilliance, and I thought, “this writing stuff is easy.” (Cue canned laughter.)
However, when batches of brilliance bounced back, I looked to see if:
• Consecutive rejections were similar?
• Rejections were due to grammar or style?
• Agents dismissed my use of the third person in the first place? Or the first person pretentious tense?
When I saw a pattern, I called Art Bell. After that, I looked for constructive criticism, made changes and shot off another quiver of queries.
Three years, and many rejections later, I still enjoy recycling the old letters (especially when the kids need coloring paper.) And finally, through hard work and a Churchillian belief, REVIVAL officially published yesterday.
So, the next time you get a rejection, tape it to a wall. Use it as a positive resource. Never take it personally. Cleave the good, and don’t you ever dare quit. If you believe in your ms, then make it happen.
Thanks to Alex for letting me share, and thanks to all of you, my fellow believers in the positive power of prose.
“We shall write on the beaches, and we will never surrender.” – (Nearly said by) Winston Churchill.

Tomorrow, I’ll be at Jo’s blog, where I’m sure there will be a word of wisdom and a recipe to boot.

From Juilliard to jumper cables; from wasting all the talent in the world to America's Got Talent, REVIVAL—The Donald Braswell Story is a memoir about the "Texas Tenor" who lost his voice in a random accident, but finds his calling through faith—and a musical miracle.

Buy Links: Pen-L Publishing and Amazon
Visit the authors: Mark Koopmans and Donald Braswell II

RiffTrax/MST3K

Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes are now available at RiffTrax!

New classic episode released each #MST3KMonday. Available to own and download/stream from your RiffTrax library.

First two episodes with Bonus Intros from Mike Nelson: The Pumaman and The Final Sacrifice.

Here's a message from Mike Nelson:

Apple TV Review

Last week, I received my Apple TV device. And wow!

This is a very cool app for those of us already in the Apple ecosystem. It hooks up to your television set and is a thousand times faster than accessing things through a smart TV. What does it do?

It plays movies from iTunes, NetFlix, Hulu, major cable networks, and media in your own library.

It will display your photos, music, and videos from the cloud and your other Apple devices.

Like the iPad, it features apps you can add and remove.

You can also mirror your iPad to your television for a giant iPad experience. (This feature tickled my wife to no end.)

Amazon is not releasing an app for this device, however – you can bypass it with airplay on your iPad. Sneaky!

The box serves as a one stop shop for movies, television, music, photos, apps, and home videos. Uber cool!

Ninja News

My apologies for not including The Peanuts Movie in my November movie preview on Monday! I ran out of room. I’m sure Snoopy is still doing the happy dance though.

Help Glorie Townson a.k.a. Toi Thomas, choose a cover for her upcoming contemporary romance.
Vote for the It’s Like the Full Moon book cover HERE.
Learn more HERE.

New release!
Firestarter by Patsy Collins
Find it on Amazon

Ready to read Donald Braswell’s amazing story? Thinking of picking up the Apple TV device? (It’s really cool!) Ready to watch some MST3K on RiffTrax? And what are your writer insecurities today?

A to Z Challenge Theme Reveal, Weird and Future News, What Are the Kargrandes, Battle of the Bands Results, and Ninja News

Double A to Z Challenge shot today!

I’m a guest at Curiosity Quills Press, explaining why the Challenge is a great opportunity for writers and authors. (It's live now!)

I’m also at the A to Z Blog with tips on how to make friends.

Interesting Weird and Future Stuff

Caught these first two items at Edi’s Book Lighthouse:

From Web Urbanist - The Capital: Egypt Plans Largest From-Scratch City in History.
Slated to be constructed in just 7 years and cost $300 billion (more than the GDP of Egypt), this ambitious design for a brand new capital city of 5 million people is unprecedented – if completed, it will be a record-setting endeavor. And it is not just a conceptual vision, or at least not entirely- the site has been selected and a 100-square-kilometer test section has already been approved by the Egyptian government.

Edi also posted this from Dark Roasted Blend - Futuristic Concept Cars of the 1970-80s. Check it out – not as far-fetched as you might think.


And in a similar vein, Dark Roasted Blend had an article about Videophones from Future Past. Some of these really are far-fetched!

What Are the Kargrandes?

New clue today at What Are the Kargrandes? This is clue number eleven. (Why eleven? Because it’s higher than ten!) New clues every Monday until the release of Dragon of the Stars on April 7.

Sample Tweets for this week:

What are the Kargrandes? Can you guess? What are their powers? http://whatarethekargrandes.com/ #whatarethekargrandes @alexjcavanaugh

What are the Kargrandes? Solve the mystery by April 7! http://whatarethekargrandes.com/ #whatarethekargrandes @alexjcavanaugh

The Thunderclap campaign is a go! Thanks to all who signed up. If you are on either Twitter, Facebook, or Tumblr and want to help me spread the word on April 7, click HERE.

I also have an awesome (and easy) Scavenger Hunt planned for that day that involves Mini-Alex. Many thanks to the bloggers who have volunteered to participate. (I’m sure the promise of an exclusive Mini-Alex photo was the deciding factor!)

Ninja News

DL Hammons is looking for volunteers to read through the entries of the upcoming round of Write Club. See his site for details.

Mark Koopmans signed a book deal!
REVIVAL: The Donald Braswell Story will be published Nov. 3, 2015 by Pen-L Publishing. Way to go, Mark!

The giveaway for The Great Time Lock Disaster by C. Lee McKenzie is coming to an end soon. Register to win at Goodreads.

New Releases –

Double book release!
There’s a Goat in my Boat by Pat Hatt



AND…

Vault of the Gods by Pat Hatt

Seducing Fortune by Brinda Berry
Book 3 of the Serendipity novels

Battle of the Bands Results

I pitted Dream Theater against Redemption with Elton John’s Love Lies Bleeding. Ironically, several voted for Elton John. For those who voted for the two featured songs, this is how it all came down:

Redemption - 5

Dream Theater - 21

And, no surprise, my vote went to Dream Theater. Both are good, but Dream Theater took it to a much higher level.

Challenge Theme Reveal

And now, the day we’ve all been waiting for–the Great Challenge Theme Reveal!

My theme–Cult Classics!

Cult classic movie.
Cult classic album.
Cult classic science fiction book. (Boy, that was tough!)
And of course, a featured blogger buddy. (Or two or three.)
Plus, a term from Dragon of the Stars.

All alphabetically!

In choosing blogger buddies, I tried to select those who hadn’t been featured in the past two years. I hated that I couldn’t feature everyone, but my goal was to keep this year’s Challenge posts short. Some will go by name, some by blog, and some by a crazy Ninja equation. So you’ll have to check every day to see who I’ve featured!

And I know a lot of you have your posts scheduled and ready to go for April. I have mine in Word, html formatted and ready, and all of the images sized properly – but I won’t schedule each post until the night before. (Everyone do a collective gasp.) I still intend to run the Ninja News, announcing any new books, movies, news, whatever. I’ll probably throw in a movie review now and then. Or a cult classic image. So I can only plan ahead so far. But I’ll manage.

Even though the Challenge opens on Wednesday, April 1 is still Insecure Writer’s Support Group post day. Plan accordingly and prepare for a wild ride that day.

Plus, my next book releases on April 7, right in the middle of the Challenge. There will be a Scavenger Hunt Blitz that day, with lots of Mini-Alex photos and a chance to win an autographed copy of Dragon of the Stars, bookmarks and swag, and $20.00 in iTunes gift cards. There’s also an extensive blog tour (which begins next Monday at Stephanie Faris’ site) and other cool stuff to win.

I’m also posting at the A to Z Blog and the Insecure Writer’s Support Group next month.

Yeah, it's a lot! I’ll survive. At least that’s the plan…

If you’re participating in the Challenge, what’s your theme?

Visit the A to Z Blog for the full list of theme reveal participants!

What do you think of Egypt building a new capital? Get a kick out of the concept cars and phones? Figured out the Kargrandes yet? Battle of the Bands’ result surprise you? Does my Challenge theme sound interesting? What’s yours…?

Be sure to visit Curiosity Quills Press and the A to Z Challenge Blog!

Retro A to Z Challenge: W – Whitesnake 1984 (plus R.I.P.D. Movie Review and Ninja News)

Whitesnake – Slide It In 1984

Greatest Whitesnake album ever! People tend to gravitate toward the over-commercialized album that followed, but the infectious groove of this bluesy rock album is superior. And yes, every song title is a dirty double entendre.

1984 fun facts –
*Cost of a new home - $86,730.
*Average income - $21,600.
*Cost of a movie ticket - $2.50
*Cost of a new Corvette - $23,392.
*The first commercial CD players became available
*The MTV Music Awards debuted
*Dan Marino passed for 5,084 yards, a record that would stand until Drew Brees broke it in 2011 with 5,476 yards. (Which was topped in 2013 by Payton Manning with 5,477 yards.)

Movies released –
The Terminator
Ghostbusters
Gremlins
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
This is Spinal Tap
Beverly Hills Cop
Nightmare on Elm Street
Sixteen Candles
Starman

Music released –
Rush – Grace Under Pressure
Y & T – In Rock We Trust
Iron Maiden – Powerslave
Ratt – Out of the Cellar

Games released –
Pitfall II
Paperboy
Duck Hunter

And why is 1984 special?
It was the year Hart Johnson started college and she loved it!

Hart is the author of numerous mystery novels and serials. She hails from Ann Arbor, MI, and is the mother of two. Hart writes in her bathtub and is aiming for naked world domination. One of my first blogger buddies, Hart is a true friend and the master of snark. She blogs at Confessions of a Watery Tart.

Ninja News!

Tara Watson’s Hands-On Therapy is free April 26 - today! Download it at Amazon.

Thanks to everyone who visited me at Ellie Garratt’s site on Friday for her new Where I Write feature! I know everyone is busy with the Challenge, so I appreciate you adding one more stop.

Don’t forget - the final installment of Lord of the Clones, a video masterpiece courtesy of Father Dragon Al, is going down next Tuesday. And you will be asked to vote for your favorite! The awesome Ninja Cloner (me!) or Lord Baldernot (Mark Koopmans.)

Our fate will be in your hands…

Movie Review – R.I.P.D.

Finally caught this on NetFlix. This time, it’s the opposite of The Lone Ranger – it wasn’t as horrible as the critics claimed.

Now, it was completely derivative of movies such as Ghostbusters and Men in Black. And it was completely forgettable.
However – it was very entertaining!
Reynolds and Bridges worked well together. They had some funny lines.
It’s the proto-typical leave-your-brain-at-the-door popcorn film. And sometimes that’s all right.
Good for a rental from NetFlix.

Fan of Whitesnake? Following naked-advocate, Hart Johnson? Going to vote for me next Tuesday? Have you seen R.I.P.D.? (Think I watch too many movies?) And what do you remember about 1984…?

Three more days to go!!

Retro A to Z Challenge: E – Extreme 1990

Extreme – Pornograffiti – 1990

This was the band’s second album, but it’s the one that shot them to the top of the charts. Most people know More Than Words, but the album also featured Get The Funk Out (with guest vocalist Pat Travers) and the incredible guitar intro to He-Man Woman Hater called “Flight of the Wounded Bumblebee.” Nuno Bettencourt remains one of the most amazing guitarists of our time.

1990 fun facts –
*Saturn line of cars was launched
*Nelson Mandela was released from prison and became leader of the African National Congress party
*Baseball World Series was won by Cincinnati Reds
*East and West Germany reunited
*The SciFi Channel debuted
*The NFL playoffs were revised to include two more wildcard teams

Movies released –
Goodfellas
The Hunt for Red October
Total Recall
Tremors
Die Hard II

Music released –
Alice in Chains – Dirt
Queensryche - Empire

Games released –
Wing Commander
Final Fantasy III
Civilization

And why is 1990 special?
Because that year, Mark Koopmans journeyed to a foreign country and rented an apartment while flying solo. That adventure would eventually lead him to Hawaii and the life he now enjoys.

Mark (also known as The Madman and Lord Baldernot) is originally from Ireland. He now lives in Hawaii with his wife, a U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander, and stays home to wrangle three young boys. (God bless him!) Mark is a writer with an incredible sense of humor (ask him about Siggy) and he’s devoted to the Lord. He’s an awesome friend and you won’t find a more genuine soul anywhere. Find Mark’s blog HERE

Thanks for the Features!

Special thanks to the following for featuring me or my book this week:

Medeia Sharif reviewed and featured CassaFire HERE

Robin at Your Daily Dose featured me HERE and included a really old post of mine.

Pat posted a review and feature of CassaFire at Indie Writers Monthly HERE

Thanks, guys! I was really surprised and honored to be featured.

April Movie Preview – Part Two

Here is part two of the upcoming theatrical releases for April! (Part one was yesterday.) As always, descriptions courtesy of the IMDB. Snarky comments by me.

April 18 – 

Transcendence
A terminally ill scientist downloads his mind into a computer. This grants him power beyond his wildest dreams, and soon he becomes unstoppable.
Director: Wally Pfister
Stars: Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy
Possible Johnny Depp boob shot. (Can you say Lawnmower Man III?)



April 25 –

The Quiet Ones
A University physics professor assembles a team to help create a poltergeist.
Director: John Pogue
Stars: Jared Harris, Sam Claflin, Olivia Cooke, Erin Richards
I'd create a poltergeist that looked like Kate Beckinsale...

Brick Mansions
An undercover cop tries to take down a ruthless crime lord with access to a neutron bomb by infiltrating his gang.
Director: Camille Delamarre
Stars: Paul Walker, David Belle, RZA, Robert Maillet
I hope it's good since it's one of Paul Walker's last films...

Challenge + IWSG = Overwhelmed

Have you enjoyed the first week of the Challenge? Hope you’ve enjoyed my theme. Yes, it was once again more work than I anticipated, but a lot of fun to put together. The week was a bit overwhelming though. Let me give you an snapshot of my week.

Tuesdays are usually quiet – maybe twenty new posts in my Blogger Buddy file on Feedly. This Tuesday, it began at sixty-five new posts before 6:00 am. No problem – I knew it would be busy. Got through it and had fun.

Wednesday came. IWSG post day. At 5:45 am before I left for work, there were eighty-three new posts for my Blogger Buddies alone. By 7:00 am, that number was one hundred and eighteen.

Crap. At that point, all of my clones quit.

After about thirty blogs, I decided to focus on IWSG posts first. There are three hundred members of the IWSG. You can see where this is going…

So my apologies if I did not visit you on Wednesday. I couldn’t even return all the comments. Will do my best to keep up for the remainder of the Challenge.

Next year, the Challenge will begin on IWSG day. I may not sleep at all that day. Do they still make Jolt Cola…?

Remember Extreme? Following Madman Mark? Seeing any of those movies this month? Were you overwhelmed this week? And what do you remember best about 1990…?

Naked in the Apocalypse, February Movie Preview, Cassa Updates, Movie Trivia Answers, and Ninja News

A lot happening today! We kick it off with a visit from author and traveler, Sean McLachlan, whose book Radio Hope just came out.

People won’t be naked in the Apocalypse

I’ve noticed something strange about post-apocalyptic books and movies—everyone is dressed in rags. While that adds to the atmosphere, it’s not very realistic. The fall of civilization is actually going to make everyone better dressed!

There are two types of apocalypses—the fast and the slow. The fast apocalypse is what you see in books like The Road. It’s not clear what happened to destroy the world literally overnight. Judging from the effects I’m thinking it was a comet or an asteroid. Whatever it was, a large percentage of the population got wiped out and all industry and government ground to a halt.

What an opportunity for a wardrobe makeover! Think about it. In your closet you probably have enough clothes to last for at least a couple of years if you’re more concerned about avoiding the roving packs of cannibals than buying the latest designer duds. But even with the cannibals on the prowl you still can dress for success. If 95% of the population just keeled over, you can hunt through their closets for whatever you want. Don’t like what you see? Head over to the shopping mall. The security guards have all been eaten! Just don’t get trapped by zombies like in Dawn of the Dead.

The slow apocalypse is a bit tougher. In the century leading up to the story in my novel Radio Hope, there are wars, plagues, nuclear exchanges, and huge amounts of toxic emissions. At the very least that’s going to cause a bad hair day. But as civilization disintegrates, people will start making more things themselves. While the Biowars took out the horses and cows, it spared the sheep, so there’s plenty of wool. People also grow cotton and hemp. Well, this is a family blog so let’s not dwell on why the traumatized survivors of World Wars III-VI might want to grow hemp.

In any case, people will be well dressed in the apocalypse. The great thing about the fall of civilization is that we will no longer have mass media telling us to dress like Miley Cyrus! Long live the apocalypse!

Sean McLachlan is an archaeologist turned writer who is the author of several books of fiction and history. Check him out on his blogs Midlist Writer and Civil War Horror.
Purchase Radio Hope at Amazon.

Cassa and Ninja Captain Updates

From February 4 – 10, CassaFire will be 99 cents at Amazon and my publisher’s site. This is the first time they have ever run a promotional special like this and have ads running at several sites, including BookBub. If you can help me spread the news, starting Tuesday, I would greatly appreciate it. I will have some promotional Tweets and snippets posted on Wednesday. I’m the guinea pig, so hopefully the promotion rocks the house!

A wonderful and eloquent review of CassaStorm was posted on Amazon last week. I don’t usually post snippets of reviews, but I had to share:
This tale is basically a story of the struggle of a family pulled and wrenched in many ways by the frantic circumstances which are thrown in their path. They alone have the key to saving the universe from destruction. It is at once terrifying and uplifting.
It is a space story at its best. Through the fascinating plot, we are poised at a point which is critical to the safety of the galaxy. It is a great study of bravery and love.

Today, an epic battle ensues at Father Dragon’s between me and Lord Baldernot, Mark Koopmans. Who will come out on top?

I won the caption contest at The Geek Twins last week.

And here is the official A to Z Challenge Ninja Minion Army -
Joy Campbell, Michelle Wallace, Susan Gourley/Kelley, S. L. Hennessy, Rhonda Albom, Madeline Mora-Summonte, LG Keltner, Cathy Olliffe-Webster, Diane Riggins, and Melanie Schulz.

Ninja News

Today at the A to Z Blog is an interview with the awesome Challenge co-host, Tina from Life is Good. Tina is the glue that holds the A to Z Team together and if you missed her posts last year about a Swede’s first year in America, you missed something awesome.

Cathrina Constantine’s Tallas is now available! Visit her site to win some awesome stuff including gift cards.

And Cherie Reich revealed another stunning book cover last week!

Movie Trivia Answers

Name the town. (And sorry, I had the title of number four messed up at first.)

1 – Rango 2011 - Dirt
2 – Tremors 1990 – Perfection, Nevada
3 – Ocean’s Eleven 2001 – Las Vegas
4 – Doc Hollywood 1991 – Grady, South Carolina
5 – Ghostbusters 1984 – New York City
6 – Ferris Bueller’s Day Off 1986 - Chicago
7 – Ratatouille 2007 – Paris

February Movie Preview

Here are the upcoming theatrical releases for February! As always, descriptions courtesy of the IMDB. Snarky comments by me.

7 –

The Monuments Men
An unlikely World War II platoon are tasked to rescue art masterpieces from Nazi thieves and return them to their owners.
Director: George Clooney
Stars: George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Bill Murray
Huge cast but getting mixed reviews. Bummer.

The LEGO Movie
An ordinary LEGO minifigure, mistakenly thought to be the extraordinary MasterBuilder, is recruited to join a quest to stop an evil LEGO tyrant from gluing the universe together.
Directors: Phil Lord | Christopher Miller
Stars: Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Morgan Freeman
This will do well, although sadly I’m not excited. Those are not the Lego figures I remember.

14 –

Winter’s Tale
A burglar falls for an heiress as she dies in his arms. When he learns that he has the gift of reincarnation, he sets out to save her.
Director: Akiva Goldsman
Stars: Colin Farrell, Jessica Brown Findlay, Russell Crowe, Will Smith
Based on the book and with a great cast. I actually want to see this one.

Robocop
In 2028 Detroit, when Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) - a loving husband, father and good cop - is critically injured in the line of duty, the multinational conglomerate OmniCorp sees their chance for a part-man, part-robot police officer.
Director: José Padilha
Stars: Joel Kinnaman, Douglas Urbanski, Abbie Cornish, Gary Oldman
Yes, the original was cheesy. Yes, this looks better. Yes, I am sick of remakes
.
21 –

Pompeii
A slave turned gladiator finds himself in a race against time to save his true love, who has been betrothed to a corrupt Roman Senator. As Mount Vesuvius erupts, he must fight to save his beloved as Pompeii crumbles around him.
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Stars: Kit Harington, Carrie-Anne Moss, Emily Browning, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
I think we all know how it ends…

28 –

Non-Stop
An air marshal springs into action during a transatlantic flight after receiving a series of text messages that put his fellow passengers at risk unless the airline transfers $150 million into an off-shore account.
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Stars: Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore, Lupita Nyong'o, Anson Mount
Neeson is really cranking out the action roles these days.


Whoa! How will you dress for the apocalypse? Get any of the trivia right? Excited about any of February’s movies? Ready for Wednesday’s IWSG? And can you help with CassaFire’s promotion this week? I am willing to grovel…

Now, go see me take down the bald one at Father Dragon’s blog.

Fifty States of Pray with Mini-Alex

Fifty States of Pray, hosted by Mark Koopmans.

For those who are hurting.
For those feeling lost and sad.
For those seeking answers.
For those who have lost faith.

May you find your peace this Christmas.

“For to us a child is born…” Isaiah 9:6

“For God so loved the world that he gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life...” John 3:16

Christmas blessings to all and Happy New Year! 

And congratulations to Hilary Melton-Butcher who won eBook copies of my books for Milo James Fowler’s Tis More Blessed event.

See you on January 6, 2014! 

And if you are reading this after Christmas, what presents did you get?

Mini-Alex on Vacation, Upcoming Events, Ninja News, and the Big News – CheersFest 2.0 Roastee!!!

Vacation and Mini Alex Photo

I’m back!!!

The wife and I had a great time seeing the sights and consuming food. (Don’t worry – we were go-go-go all week and I worked off all of my indulgences.) Actually had a couple chilly days – should’ve gone farther south!

Mini-Alex went along although he spent most of the time chilling in the hotel room. (Probably watched Sports Center and drank beer all day while we were gone.) He did slip out one day and posed by the river, but otherwise he preferred to stay indoors.

I missed everyone and tried to check in every day, although thirty minutes isn’t enough time to visit more than a few blogs and my email. However, I did work more on my outline and will pull back a day or two from blogging to start writing again.

Upcoming Events!

Tuesday, I am visiting Jessica Bell at the Alliterative Allomorph. I talk about the journey beyond your book’s release and how the stories in Indiestructible can help you down that path.

Wednesday I have the honor of participating in the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writer’s Chat on Twitter! These weekly chats with authors, publishers, editors and others discuss relevant topics for SFF writing. They are hosted by author-editor, SFWA affiliate member, and SF Signal contributor Bryan Thomas Schmidt and reposted at the SFFW Chat Website. The chat is one hour and begins at 9:00 pm EST. Follow along with hashtag #sffwrtcht and @sffwrtcht or @BryanThomasS.

Ninja News

I’m sorry I missed most of the Realms Faire last week, but it appeared to be another successful and fun time this year. (And I believe the winning knight will be announced today.) Congratulations Mary – you’ve started an incredible event that will only continue to grow.

Rachel Schieffelbein’s Run for the Roses comes out Tuesday. The tour kicks off this week, so visit her site for details. Congratulations, Rachel!

Angela Orlowski-Peart’s latest, Almost Matched, is out now! She’s offering a great giveaway including books from other authors, so see her site for more information. Congratulations, Angela!

Crystal Collier’s latest is out, Moonless. Her blog tour for this historical paranormal YA story goes through the end of the month, so check it out. Congratulations, Crystal!


Last week I left you with some deep questions. (Not really!) The one I need to clarify was my question about people who don’t return comments. What I mean were those who don’t visit your blog after you comment on theirs. Not just one random comment, because I know those are easy to miss, but those who don’t return multiple comments. (And these can be seasoned bloggers, not just newbies.)
Hope that makes the question clearer.
And it really only takes three licks to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop.

Friday was amazing – so many balloons were released in Andrew’s honor! Kyra made a video for Nick Wilford’s family and Andrew, and it’s very touching:

CheersFest 2.0

“Ever attended a Christmas party where you bump into the one person who was always there for you during the past year. You’d thank them for being such a RockStar, right?”

So began the inaugural CheersFest (aka AlexFest) when our Ninja Captain, Alex J. Cavanaugh, was roasted and toasted in December 2012.

Everyone, including A-Cav had such a great time that we’ve decided to do it again.

(Tears really big envelope with a flourish…)

“Ladies and gentlemen, the 2013 recipient of CheersFest is none other than Arlee “Lee” Bird.”

On his main blog, “Tossing It Out,” Lee describes himself, in part, “as a writer, speaker, entertainer, music lover, collector, husband, father, grandfather, friend, traveler, seeker of truth and wisdom.” He majored in English while at the University of Tennessee, has blogged since 2008, and currently has six blogs that delve into his diverse mind.

The original brains behind the annual A to Z Challenge, Lee can be counted on to pay it forward and is a well-respected member of the blogging community.

Hosted again by Mark Koopmans, Morgan Shamy, David Powers King, Stephen Tremp and The Ninja Captain himself, CheersFest 2.0 will go LIVE! Dec. 9, 2013.

In order to proper cheer (or roast) Lee:

Here are four questions for you to answer on CheersFest Day, but please keep the retorts short – (no longer than 20 words each):

·                     Why did Lee come up with the A-Z Challenge?

·                     If someone dreams about being a juggler, what does it mean?

·                     Is a post by Mr. Bird worth two in the bush?

·                     Who could play Lee in a documentary? (Living or dead.)

In +/- 100 words, (excluding the title) write flash fiction using all these prompts:

·                     Bird

·                     Juggler

·                     Challenge

·                     Brown Jacket

·                     Tossing

For Bonus Points:

·                     In +/- 40 words, can you come up with a caption for Lee’s Facebook picture? 

As usual, the Very Demanding Rules of CheersFest include:

·                     Join the Linky List *below*

·                     Have fun

·                     Post your 200 (total) word contribution ON Monday, Dec. 9, 2013.

·                     No, seriously. Have Fun!

Two winners – chosen by Lee – will each win a prize:

·                     An autographed color photo of Arlee Bird appearing as the Court Wizard in the World of Fantasy Players. Also included in the first prize pack are an assortment of promotional materials from Lee’s show biz days with a personal letter and a brief history of his entertainment career.

·                     A personalized graphics design from Jeremy at Being Retro for the winner’s blog. (Jeremy will design a header, badge, button, banner, or whatever might appeal to the winner.)

·                      

Excited to roast and toast our blogger buddy, Lee?

If so, the Linky is now open. Sign up and we’ll see you on Dec. 9^th

Did you miss me? Ready for a vacation? (I think I need another one.) Excited about the new books? Did you release a balloon for Andrew? Know why some people don’t comment? And are you ready to roast Lee this year for CheersFest? I’m ready to be on the other side of the roasting this year…

Don’t forget to visit Jessica Bell on Tuesday and follow the #sffwrtcht chat on Twitter Wednesday evening from 9-10:00 pm EST!