Blogger Awards

Yes, I'm down with the blogger award thing. I recently got my second and third blogger awards, so I'm going to pass them both along in one post.

The Stylish blogger award was from Tony Benson and his blog, Fireside Park, thanks Tony. BTW: Tony's running a "Show Me Yours" blogfest at the end of the month.

The Versatile Blogger Award has been around for sometime and to be completely honest, I've felt a little left out not receiving it yet. Thanks to Carol Riggs over at Artzcarol Ramblings, I no longer feel left out. Carol updates her blog quite often, and has a great backlog of posts to check out.

Now, for 7 things about me:
1. I build arcades for a living. Yes, there's something of a living to be made there.
2. I have the worlds two most beautiful daughters ages three and seven months--no the baby isn't sleeping though the night yet!
3. I have an old Lab named Casey. She's female, which makes it four against one in my house, but my wife likes baseball, so I'll survive (Go Giants)!
4. I normally write after midnight. Owning my own business, it's the only time I can find.
5. I've been to China seven times (soon to be eight).
6. I still get Legos for Christmas. No, I don't ask for them, but of course I build them.
7. I love Sci-fi, but seldom write it (though I'm not quite sure why).-
-
Yes, I know I'm cheating and, since I'm doing two awards, I should really list 14 things. But frankly I'm a little boring, so seven will have to do.

As for the bloggers I am passing the awards along to, I have too many to chose from. I know a lot of bloggers already have these awards so, I'm going to focus on newer blogs, or blogs with less than 100 followers.

Versatile Blogger winners:
Liz Davis at Novel Moments.
Dennis Laffey at What a horrible night to have a curse... (Yes, Dennis you were my 100th follower).
PV Lundqvist at PV Lundqvist Might not be the most creative blog name, but you've gotta love his tagline, "Embarrassing his kids by writing for their age bracket."
Kindros at Random Kindros has only been blogging since December, but he has Firefly clips on on his site, so he's off to a good start.
AJ & Charli's completely irreverent blog AJ & Charli Bite Back.

Stylish Blogger awards:
Dan Klinefelter at Sanguine Musings.
Alta at Limitless Possibilities has been blogging for a couple of years; lots of entires to catch up on.
Melanie at YA for the YAt Heart (she just posted her query letter and I'm sure would appreciate some feedback).
Nicole Green at SLUSHY MUSHY ME.
Katharina Gerlach is a published author who's been blogging since 2008.
Lisa at First Draft on Life, Literature and Lunacy hasn't been blogging long, but is very active.
Last, but not least, Angelica R Jackson's Angelic Muse is one of my favorite blogs.

You may have noticed that's only 12, not 14 winners, well I figure a few of these blogs might have already won one of these awards. So, if any of the winners have already won the awards they were nominated for, feel free to change awards. After all how much differences is there between a versatile and a stylish blogger?

Huck Finn Censored Again, No More N-word

Even the illustrations in Huck Finn are
shocking by contemporary standards.

Mark Twain is, in my opinion, one of the most influential American writers of books for children. The interesting fact is that he really wasn't a children's writer. Most of his body of work was for adults. In fact, in the preface of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, he specifically makes of point of telling adults the book is suitable for them as well as children.

It's follow-up, The Adventures Huck Finn, was clearly social commentary. And it's one of the most effective examples in literary history. I can still remember being shocked when I read it as a kid--the characters were so racist, I wasn't sure if it was an accurate representation of that time. It was just something I couldn't wrap my 12-y.o. brain around.

Today, Forbes has an article, about a publisher in Alabama that wants to sanitize Huck Finn. To quote slashdot:
Over a hundred years after the death of its author, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn will be released in a censored format removing two derogatory racial slurs: "injun" and "nigger." The latter appears some 219 times in the original novel but both will be replaced by the word "slave.
Toning down Huck Finn is really just an attempt to sanitize our national history. Children should be allowed to see a clear picture of the past--no matter how ugly--in the hope that they will so be shocked and disgusted by it that they will find it impossible to tolerate bigotry in their own lives.

Update:
I thought it was only fair to link to a blog with the opposing view. I think, the idea here, is that some (perhaps many) students will find Huck Finn personally hurtful. That is a good point; while we do need to teach kids about racism in America, we need to be very sensitive about how we do it.

However, I find the blogger's assertion that Huck Finn is not relevant today, shows her clear mis-understanding of the novel. Even if we someday reach the Dream of a society where color doesn't matter, we'll still need to study our history to keep it that way.

Huffington Post Interview with Amanda Hocking

Amanda's a class act. I've interacted with her a little when I participated in her Zombiepalooza and on message boards. Speaking of zombies, if you are into them you should read her book Hollowland. She's not just a successful Indie author, she sold 100,000 books last month--in one month. Okay, I'm exaggerating a little, she only sold 99,000.

But, before you quit your day job to start self-publishing kidlit, there's a couple things you should know. First, most of her readers aren't kids, they are adults who read YA, paranormal romance specifically. Second, she's very talented. And third, she's gotten a little lucky, she would have found success no matter what, but she's had great fan support and even greater timing.

This level of sales can't be ignored and the Huffington Post ran an interview with her today. Even, if you aren't considering going Indie, it's worth checking out. And if you are considering it then consider this, she still has an agent.

100 followers - How I Did It

Okay, I know 100 followers really isn't an astounding number, but I did get most of those in about two months (that's my guesstimate anyway). Plus, I wanted to start a series of 'how-to' posts, sharing what I've learned so far about writing (not just writing, but building a platform, etc). I figured blogging was a good place to start.

While I enjoy blogging, it's certainly not something I do for the fun of it. It takes time away from my writing, but it's more than worth it to keep my fans informed (yes, I do have a few of them), connect with other writers, and build a platform.

I try to write stuff that will be of interest to both readers and writers and I steer clear of really controversial issues. I don't write about personal, non-writing stuff, unless I think others will really find it interesting.

When I first started blogging, I made a link to my blog in my signature on the forums I frequent (absolute write and Kindle boards, are the two I post the most on). I figured I'd slowly start getting people to follow. Over 6 months I got about 20. Most of those were other writers I knew (at least knew online), which was great because, they were more likely to leave comments.

But when I got ready to send out my query letter, I realized some prospective agents would google me and find the site; they might not be so impressed with 20 followers.

So, I started looking at who was following the bloggers that I followed. Sure enough a lot of them were YA and MG writers with some interesting posts. What I found was, if you follow a blog, that person is likely to follow you back.

After that, I simply checked once a week or so for new writer's blogs. I tried to leave comments and I followed many that were about kidlit or that I really liked, and about 1/2 followed me back.

One thing I found was that a lot of bloggers don't have a links to their own blog in their profile--big mistake. If you'd like to get more followers, you need to make it easy for people to find your blog.

Don't just follow every blog you find. You'll clutter your dashboard and few will follow you back. Look for blogs in the same genre or from writers you find interesting (I follow a lot of fantasy and monster blogs). Oh and most important, when someone follows you, check out their blog and consider returning the favor.

For me, I'm thrilled with 100 followers, it's enough that I don't have to worry about scaring away any agents that wander by. But I know there are a lot more experienced bloggers out there, please share you advice and comments on blogging. Do giveaways work? How about joining blog contest or blogfests?

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays - What are your Christmas Traditions?

If you are anything like me you are already burned out on the Holidays. One last night to go. I wonder what toys my wife bought that will require hours of assembly. But after some of my special eggnog, I won't mind. Let's just hope it's not a bike; or parts might start falling off tomorrow.

That's about what Christmas has become for me: working crazy hours, trying to fit in visits to Santa, trips to light displays. Not to mention figuring out what to buy for everyone in my extended family (there's more of us every year).

Still, I try to keep some Christmas traditions, not only for the kids, but also for myself. Tradition #1: Don't wake Dad up on the morning of Christmas Eve. On Christmas morning there's not much I can do to stop that. But today, I slept in until after 11a.m. Call it a little pre-Christmas gift to myself.

For the kids, they get to open one gift on Christmas Eve. It keeps them busy while I work on the most important Christmas tradition: getting that special eggnog mixed just right.

Do you have any Christmas traditions? Especially, any that are just for you?

My ebook, Monster in the Mirror, Compared to Coraline!

This great new cover was done by my
friend and fellow author, Ronnell D Porter 

I always feel a little awkward promoting my writing, but if I plan on doing this full time, I better get used to it.

I was having a pretty depressing day, with a bunch of Rejection e-mails (yes, with a capital R) from agents rolling in. But that all changed when I saw this post by Lesley over at the YA books Reviewed blog:

Guys, this short story is small and sweet. It's creepy and has a feel of Neil Gaiman's Coraline to it. That eerie, childlike innocence mixed in with horror and suspense. It's a great read, and I really enjoyed it.
The ebook also has (for a limited time) two short stories along with it. They aren't all horror, but they are fun as well.

Final Call:
This ebook is a great read. It's fast, fun, and a little freaky. And guys, it's free! Yep, FREE. Click here to download your copy!

Wow, that made my day! A little later I found out it's also on the bestseller list in the Apple iBookstore. It's #19 under Mysteries and Thrillers.

So take that, agents with your form rejections! Seriously, I'm sure the right agent for Super Zombie Juice Mega Bomb is out there. I just have to find her.

The Secret Histories of Books & Finding Treasures

Whether you're a reader or writer, you know what a treasure reading can be. But what about finding actual treasures inside your books?

I was thrilled to find a mint, hardcover edition of The Graveyard
 Book, complete with dusk jacket. Imagine my surprise when I
discovered a long personal message scribbled on the inside.
Now if I could just decode this cryptic handwriting, I might
enjoy learning about the kids who gave and received this book.

I buy lots of my books used from Amazon or my local thrift store. Just last night, while reading Lois Sacher's Wayside School Gets A Little Strange, I stumbled upon an older sticker backing (you know, the wax paper that holds the sticker before you stick it). On it was scribbled a smiley face (with some boogers hanging from his nose). It made me smile to wonder just who that kid was and how long ago he put it there, apparently to mark his page.

I've found bookmarks, business cards, dedications (usually on books given as gifts), even a few author signatures in used books (I love those). To me, it's like uncovering buried treasure.

What's the best thing I've found in a book? I once found a note, folded over four-times, like it'd been clandesidly passed in class, by a Melissa proclaiming her love for Omar and his gorgeous brown eyes. That one not only made my day, but momentarily transported me back to my middle grade homeroom--what a gift.

I'm still waiting to find some cash in an old book--maybe a winning lottery ticket? What's the best thing you've ever found in a book--besides a new world or adventure?

Update: New title, thanks to 'Old Kitty'