Top Ten Movie Countdown Blogfest, Google Reader Alternative, and Ninja News

Are you ready for the Top Ten Movie Countdown Blogfest?

First, some news and a Google Reader alternative.

Ninja News

SC Write is holding a query contest! Want to know if your query will get attention? Check out his site for details.

Writers4Writers is promoting Angela Brown and Kyra Lennon today!

Still on the fence about the A to Z Challenge? You need to visit Michelle at Writer-in-Transit! This awesome Ninja Minion posted a fun and creative piece on the benefits of the Challenge, and did it in true alphabet form.

Google Reader Alternative – Feedly!

After checking out several options this weekend, I went with the highly recommended Feedly. Go to the site and download the program. Once it’s complete and the main page comes up, click on the magnifying glass on the far right. You can click on Google Reader and it will import all of your feeds and folders directly into Feedly. (Note image at left.) From there, you can organize and adjust the view.

And even if you don’t use Google Reader, the blogs you’ve followed through your Dashboard are still listed in Google Reader and will be imported into Feedly.

Simple and easy to use – I like it!

Top Ten Movie Blogfest! 

List your ten favorite movies!

I’m counting down to mine…

10. Inception – Another film that proves Nolan is a genius. Original science fiction is so rare that you should treasure it when you find it. The cast is stellar and the storyline intricately perplexing.

9. Super 8 - Take one part E.T., a dash of Jaws, a pinch of Cloverfield, and toss in a bit of Stand By Me and you have the ingredients for a great film filled with nostalgia. This movie made me feel like a kid again - that wide-eyed sense of wonderment. J.J. Abrams’ movie is a tribute to the great works of Steven Spielberg.

8. Jurassic Park - I remember reading the novel by Michael Crichton and thinking there was no way they could turn this into a movie. Fortunately, Steven Spielberg picked up the gauntlet and ushered in a new age of summer blockbuster. So many jaw-dropping moments and amazing action set pieces. This movie took my inner child out for a two hour+ romp.

7. The Avengers - One of the greatest superhero films ever. It really captures the feel of the comic book. It was amazing to see all the heroes come to life on the big screen. Whedon did a great job creating a cohesive, engaging story.

6. Serenity – It was like Christmas when one of my favorite science fiction shows of all time ("Firefly") got the big-screen treatment. The characters are great, the dialogue crackles with energy and wit, and the show was given a wonderful send-off. This finally gave the fans closure. (Curse you FOX!!)

5. Raiders of the Lost Ark - This is as close as it gets to the perfect movie. Great pacing, amazing set pieces, and wonderful characters. This movie had me grinning from ear to ear and remains one of my all-time favorites. This should be required film school viewing when it comes to pacing and editing.

4. Aliens - James Cameron took a creepy, slow-paced, brooding film (Alien) and turned it into a non-stop roller coaster ride of action and excitement. If you’re a fan of this film, you quote lines from it all the time. This film is a non-stop juggernaut of action that keeps ramping up the excitement and tension. I'm a huge fan of all of Cameron's work but this one is truly epic.

3. Memento - Christopher Nolan burst on to the movie scene with this amazing, mind-bending film. Memento requires your entire brain to remain focused on the events unfolding as you are asked to follow a narrative playing in reverse. Every time you think you know what is going on, the next scene deconstructs every notion in your head. A masterpiece.

2. Mystery Science Theater 3000 The Movie - I am a huge fan of this great cult series. Joel, Mike and the bots have been like family since the show’s inception. Watching MST3K in the theater was such an amazing experience. The cinematic stinker that the crew skewers is "This Island Earth" and it is played up for big, big laughs.

1 - LOTR Trilogy - What an amazing piece of work from Peter Jackson and the team from Weta. Every frame has been lovingly crafted with intricate detail and care. It's quite apparent that Peter Jackson loved the LOTR books and he made films that appeal to the broad masses as well as the fanboys..

Visit other participants for a fun day filled with great movies!



Ready for a query pitch contest? Part of Writers4Writers? Ready for the A to Z Challenge in two weeks? Tried Feedly? And what are your favorite movies?

Insecure Writer’s Support Group, Ninja News, and Animated Movie Trivia

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.

And this month I have two awesome co-hosts helping - Livia and Tasha! Be sure to visit them and say thanks for their willingness to help.

Right now, I am in waiting mode. My publisher has my manuscript and their editor is going over it before sending it back to me next month for revisions. CassaStorm has been my focus all year, and until the final edits are done, it will remain on my mind. I’m happy with what I created (and special thanks to Rusty, Cassie, Jeffrey, and my two test readers for making it SO much better) and won’t start thinking about another project until next year.

So while I’m not really insecure right now, I’ve been thinking about certain writing aspects. Seems like the great works are always far deeper than what’s on the surface. They are full of symbolism and metaphors. They tap into a basic human desire or drive in an all-consuming way. They are planned with care, guiding the reader down a path of inner discovery.

Um, yeah. And then there are my books. What you see is what you get. If you read anything deeper into them, it’s not there on purpose.

However, upon completion of the first draft of my latest, I realized I did have a theme! Again, not planned. Which means the theme rather surprised me. (Is that bad?) And at the risk of losing my “Stud-muffin” image (insert laughter here) the theme is LOVE.

CassaStar – love of a friend

CassaFire – love of a spouse

CassaStorm – love of a child

Yeah, I’m stunned. No idea how that happened.

Is it a good theme? Does your work or books have a theme?

Be sure to visit other members of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group!

Ninja News

Talli Roland’s latest book, The Pollyanna Plan, is available now. Congratulations, Talli! Wish I had your writing chops.

Jamie at Mithril Wisdom just celebrated three years of blogging. We started blogging within weeks of each other in 2009 and met during the first A to Z Challenge, so I feel like I’ve known Jamie forever. Congratulations, dude! Let’s keep rocking.

Writers4Writers kicks off on Thursday! Hosted by Stephen Tremp, Mary Pax, Christine Rains, and CM Brown, the first spotlighted author will be Nancy Thompson and her book The Mistaken. Visit the hosts for information on how YOU can help! You can also visit the W4WS Facebook page HERE.

Jeffrey Beesler has declared December to be Milk and Cookies Month! He kicked it off yesterday by listing a couple Chocolate Chip Hipsters. (EJ and I were listed,) Thank you, Jeffrey! You rock, my man. Shame you ate all the cookies though…

LG at Writing Off the Edge is celebrating her one year blog anniversary with a blogfest - The Beginnings Blogfest, Wednesday, January 9, 2013. Lots of options for telling us about your beginnings. See her site for details. And congratulations, LG!


I just hit 1700 followers. Thanks so much, guys! Whoa… Crap! Need to party or something. Let me think about it and get back to you on Friday.

And just to clarify one of my answers for Monday’s blogfest – yes, my Gibson Les Paul guitar cost A LOT more than $100. Add a digit and some bigger numbers and you get the picture. (And for you musicians, it has a Floyd Rose tremolo!)

Movie Trivia!

Because I haven’t done this in a while. Animation edition.

1 – From Aardman Animations, this clay-animation film took place on Mrs. Tweedy’s farm.

2 – This 70’s animated film was set on a post-apocalyptic Earth where two brothers, Avatar and Blackwolf, do battle to control the world.

3 – This Christmas animation features the voices of James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, and Bill Nighy – and a member of Santa’s family you never knew existed!

4 – Joss Whedon wrote the screenplay for this cell-animated space movie set in the year 3028 and featuring a spaceship that holds the secret to the salvation of the human race.

5 – Before Pixar put out their take on these small critters, Woody Allen voiced the lead, “Z,” in this film.

6 – Written by Ted Hughes in 1968, this science fiction story set in 1957 became a critically-acclaimed movie in 1999 with its simple innocence.

What are your insecurities today? Have you signed up for Writers4Writers? (Come on – Nancy’s book ROCKS!) Ready to kick of 2013 with a blogfest? And know any of the answers to the animated film trivia questions…?

Ninja News, Writers4Writers, and the I Miss You Blogfest!

It’s Time for the I Miss You Blogfest!

But first…

Ninja News

Cassie Mae and Tara Tyler hit 500 followers and are holding a giveaway! Tara is creating a blog banner for one lucky winner, and I’m sure you’ve seen her awesome banners all over the blogging world. Cassie is giving away a manuscript critique since she’s now in demand. (I’m sure I had nothing to do with that…)

Denise at L’Aussie Writer is hosting a Holiday Spirit Blogfest that runs December 12 – 21. For this Holiday Spirit blogfest (open to the whole blogosphere), RFW is looking for excerpts of up to 800 words of fiction or non-fiction stories of family tradition, favorite/unique recipes, inspirational articles, etc.; that involve the essence of the holiday spirit.

And on Monday, November 19, the details of this blog event, hosted by Mark “The Madman” Koopman, ”Marvelous” Morgan Shamy, Stephen “Breakthrough” Tremp, and David “Kingpin” Powers King, will be revealed. You’ll be surprised. You’ll be mystified. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll kiss three bucks goodbye… (Wait, that’s the tagline for the spoof Hardware Wars!) Safe to say, you will not be expecting it. Like the Spanish Inquisition. No one expects the Spanish Inquisition… (Wait, that’s a Monty Python skit!) Just forget all you know, or think you know… (Crap, that’s the tagline from Willow!) Just tune in Monday!

Writers4Writers (W4WS)

Mission:
· Help writers bring awareness of their book(s) to tens of thousands of new people
· Help writers reach Amazon Top 100 in at least one category (i.e., suspense, free, whatever)
· Increase sales of their book(s) after the promo is over
· Drive new traffic to their blog and increase following
· Create verbal and viral buss.

In A Nut Shell: the spotlighted author (December will be Nancy Thompson and her book The Mistaken) will choose a social media avenue such as Twitter or Facebook (or both). Then, the good people of Blogdom will promote the author’s book to their Twitter followers or Facebook friends, that is, incredibly large new audiences the author could not reach on their own.

Hosted by Stephen Tremp, Mary Pax, Christine Rains, and CM Brown. You can also visit the W4WS Facebook page HERE.

Kickoff is December 6!

I Miss You Blogfest

Hosted by Andrew Leon, Matthew Rush, and Alex J. Cavanaugh

The bloggers we really miss…
and the ones we would really miss!

Do you have a couple blogger buddies who aren’t posting as often? Those who’ve pulled back and seem absent from the blogging world? Do you have blogger buddies you are grateful they are still around and would miss if they vanished? Now is your chance to show your appreciation and spotlight them!
List one to three bloggers you really miss and one to three bloggers you would miss if they stopped blogging. Then go leave a comment on those blogs.
Our blogger friends are special – time to let them know!

The bloggers I miss

Clarissa Draper After her book release, Clarissa posted just a little bit less, and then she went on vacation for a month. I’ve known her for two and a half years and really miss Clarissa’s words of wisdom. (Fortunately, she is now back from vacation! So maybe I won’t have to miss her anymore.)

Jeffrey Beesler Met Jeffrey the summer of 2010 and he became a good friend and critique partner. His books and real life events have kept him busy though. He used to post daily, featuring theme weeks, and I could always count on seeing his comments. I really miss seeing Jeffrey around the blogging world.

Baygirl After over two years of her wit, I really came to appreciate Baygirl’s fun posts, which often included pictures. She posts much less now and there’s a definite void without her voice online.

The bloggers I would miss if they quit:

All of you! Really, how can I select just three people? Everyone who visits is important to me. I notice when any of you are gone for a few days. I could do a really long post and say something wonderful about all of you. But since I’m restricted to just three…

Jeremy at Retro-Zombie If I’m ever backed into a corner, I want Jeremy at my side. Only once before have I met someone so willing to do anything to help another. He’d give you the shirt off his back. He has a graphics business, and yet he’s so willing to do them for free for his friends. I can always count on Jeremy. If you’ve ever visited his site and thought ‘odd,’ then you just don’t understand the heart of the man behind that blog. Jeremy rocks, and hopefully he never leaves us.

Ella at Ella’s Edge I met Ella during the first A to Z Challenge. She is without a doubt the most creative person I have ever met. She sees the beauty in the simplest things, and her words flow like a gentle stream. Even her artwork, crafts, and photos are poetic. She has a peace about her that speaks volumes of love. I would miss her spirit and the safe haven that is her blog if she ever left us.

Chuck at Apocalypse Now No other way to say it – Chuck is THE MAN. It didn’t take me long after finding his blog two and a half years ago to realize that Chuck and I have a lot in common. He’s someone I could hang with and shoot the breeze over a couple drinks. Chuck is one of the most supportive people I know – I think he’s talked more people into buying my books than I have! He’s dedicated and possesses a great sense of humor. Hopefully when the Mayan calendar runs out next month and his countdown to the Apocalypse ends, Chuck doesn’t vanish on us.

Your turn – who do you miss and who would you miss?

List of participants below. Feel free to join us!



Signing up for Cassie and Tara’s giveaway? Joining the Holiday Spirit Blogfest? Signed up for Writers4Writers? Who do you miss or would miss in the blogging world? And don’t forget to come back Monday…