As someone who’s not a huge Facebook (FB) fan, it will be interesting to see if this new social media platform gives Facebook a run for its money.
According to an article at Forbes, “The platform, which is still in public beta (meaning invite-only), has caused quite a stir; dubbed by some as the ‘hipster social network’, Ello offers a forever ad-free experience and promises to never sell its
Dear Betty,
You win. (Okay, Pete helped.) Rather nasty trick, there, invoking the Boss's name. You know I am powerless against the Co-Dictators of the Universe.
My entry to the current Clarity of Night contest is here. Or you can read it in the postscript. I keep hoping for one of those magical epiphanies that write themselves, 250 words of such depth and perfection that it reduces Parrish to tears. Sadly, no such epiphany occurred for this contest. I will jump cartwheels if only I can stay in the Forties Club (do not even dare to suggest that has anything to do with my age).
I've read but not commented on all the entries. Some, like this one, are way too profound for my summertime brain. Some (like Tessa's, and Sarah's are poetry: I stink at appreciating poetry.
Quite a few of my peeps entered: Merry, Ello, Chris, Aniket, wolfie, Paul, Pete, Parrish, J.C., Precie, Angelique, Dottie, Sandra, Absolute Vanilla, Surly Writer, Whirlochre. Am I well-connected or what? (Yes, I hobnob.)
My current favorites are da Boss's and Sylvia's and Tre'von's. I think. At least right now.
Not only is my Clarity entry not to the level I'd hoped, my word counts on the WIPs are lagging. McKoala's going to claw me soon, I'm afraid. I know your own poetry and Rumpelstiltskin writing is going well, even if I haven't left comments. I'm all-knowing that way.
I hope that your home ownership and kitchen remodelling are going well. You will certainly need to get ahead of things in order to fill the Boss's shoes when he's on leave. First thing you can do is raise my salary. Royalty needs bling, you know.
Do give my best to Mrs. Betty and to Zora.
Cordially,
the Queen
PS - I haven't mailed your books yet, but I also haven't forgotten.
PPS - Here's my entry:
Presage
by Aerin Rose
Twenty-two hours from San Francisco to Kathmandu. Four hours until the layover in Hong Kong. Caelin will have finished grading papers by then. She arches her back, stretching, then wiggles her toes, and catches the eye of the flight attendant.
“More, please.” She indicates the travel-sized wineglass. The remaining ruby droplets glisten in the spotlight of her reading lamp. The attendant nods from the galley.
“You realize that’s basically grape juice?” Chloe peers around the headrest as her business class bed reverts to its upright position.
“It’s a second growth Bordeaux and you know it, O Queen Food Critic,” Caelin retorts. “How’d you sleep?”
“Not well. Looks like fourteen bottles of questionable Bordeaux didn’t help you sleep, either.”
“Excited?”
“And nervous. What if she hates us?”
“Sweetheart.” Caelin strokes her wife’s cheek as Chloe unfolds the passport she’s been clutching. A little girl with dark eyes and copper skin gazes at them, unsmiling and unafraid. “She liked us well enough before. Any kid will hate her parents at some point. Let’s just focus on getting her home.”
The flight attendant materializes with the bottle of Château Cos-d'Estournel 1989, which streams like scarlet silk into the stemware.
“Like the orphanage is going to let her come home when you show up drunk,” Chloe teases, leaning close. Caelin smiles into her spouse’s black curls. Points of light play on the surface of her wine, casting images against the back of the seat in a rosy haze.
If you're a follower of "In Search of Giants," you know that Ello is one of my favoritest people ever in the universe (partly because we received our introduction from one of my other favoritest people, Precie.)
If you're not a follower (um, why aren't you?), then let me introduce you to Ellen Oh, whose agented manuscript about the Seven Kingdoms is currently out for submission. She's also one of the forces behind An Enchanted Inkpot.
Step #1
LIGHTNING ROUND
- Krispy Kreme or Dunkin’ Donuts? Krispy Kremes rule!!!!
- Hunger Games or Graceling? Very tough call, but I'm gonna go with Hunger Game
- Mac or PC? I have a PC but desperately covet a MAC.
- bath or shower? Shower. And since I shower everyday, sometimes twice a day (i'm a bit obsessive), there is no way I'm cleaning a tub that often. blech!
- salty or sweet? Both. Usually together. But if I have to choose one over the other, usually I go sweet.
- Paris or London? I've been to Paris but never to London - so I pick LOndon only because I want to go!
- beer or wine? Beer, unless you have sangria. I love sangria!
Step #2
DESCRIBE a favorite scene or event from your childhood memory.I'm a brain deady Mommy! What memories????
Alright, I remember one. When I was about 13, my parents went to Main for a family trip. Even though we were not well off, my parents felt that since we were in Maine we had to splurge on a nice lobster dinner. So we went to a wonderful seaside restaurant and I remember everyone but me had a lobster, even my 5 year old sister. I was allergic to lobster and shrimp when I was younger so they bought me a nice steak. The weather was beautiful, the place was wonderful and I remember feeling so happy. The next day we went to the each and picked snails, clams and mussels from the receded shoreline and my parents cooked them up right on the beach. It was wonderful. I think its why I always have an affinity to the coast. It brings back great memories.
Step #3
TEACH US one or two of your favorite 4-star vocabulary words.Motherfu... errrr sorry. I like small simple words. But my favorite fancy shmancy word is Tintinnabulation. I first learned it reading Edgar Allen Poe and his poem The Bells. I loved that poem. "And the tintinnabulation of the bells, bells, bells!" Nearly 25 years later and I can still remember that poem!
Step #4BOOK BLANKS- The last book I finished reading was MORIBITO by NAHOKO UEHASHI.
- I gave it 5 stars.
- One word to describe it is MORIBITO. HE HE. NO IT WAS GREAT.
Step #5QUESTION: How does your “previous life” in law within the non-profit sector influence the themes you include in your writing?Ok so the one thing you learn as a lawyer is to write in excruciating detail and overexplain yourself in an attempt to never leave any uncertainty. This same process is unfortunately in my creative writing. So I have a tendency to overexplain. First I tell you what's going to happen, then I tell you it happened and then I recap what happened. It sucks. It takes me several revisions and skilled beta readers who are good at smacking me upside my head to catch this ugly little habit.
One good thing about my legal training is that it gives me an analytical mind so that I really look at scenes or storylines from many different angles. I'm always looking for loopholes, problems, issues, solutions, etc. I outline to death and map out everything searching out the weaknesses. It makes for a thoroughly researched story.
Step #6QUESTION: What makes you proud of yourself?My children and my husband. My family and friends. My agent. But I don't want to say I'm proud. Rather, I'm so very grateful. Every day I count my blessings and give thanks because I have been blessed and I'm so thankful for all I have.
Step #7GIVE US THE SCOOP. Tell us something about yourself that’s exclusive to "In Search of Giants" (ie, has never been publicized in print or podcast interviews. I have a deathly fear of..... curtains! That sounds weird right? But I used to have this reoccuring nightmare where I was in an empty room facing a dark open window framed with white billowy curtains blowing in a soft wind. There was nothing else. No monsters. No people. No sound even. Just the curtains blowing in the wind, but it left me with such a feeling of utter terror that I have never completely gotten over it. In fact just typing this out gave me horrible goosebumps. I know this says something freaky psychological about me but I have never analyzed it. I just avoid draperies and tend to stick to venetian blinds now!
Ello, you are awesome. Thanks for letting me interview you!
When you have Monday off, all the other days are off too. I had to put the timer on to remind myself to leave on time, but when it started beeping, I was eating my lunch and thought it had something to do with my food. I turned it off. It wasn't until twenty minutes later that I realized I had to leave. Do you think that was the holiday effect or was that due to my insomnia-induced short circuitry? Or perhaps the newspaper I was reading was so scintillating I couldn't tear myself away, you know, For Better or Worse, Zits, and LuAnn. We also get Ann Landers, but I really like Carolyn Hax's advice column, "Tell Me About It."
* * * * *
By the way, don't forget to stop by
Ello's blog. She's interviewed Dr. Gigi Durham, author of
The Lolita Effect, The Media Sexualization of Young Girls and What we can Do About It. Interesting conversation going on over there.
By Anatoly Liberman
Strange things have been observed in the history of the verb shine, or rather in the history of its preterit (past). To begin with, a reminder. Verbs that change their vowels in the formation of the preterit and past participle are called strong (for instance, sing—sang—sung, shake—shook—shaken, smite—smote—smitten), in contradistinction to verbs that achieve the same results with the help of -t or -d (for instance, shock—shocked—shocked, cry—cried—cried). For practical purposes this division is almost useless, for weak verbs can also change their vowels, as in sleep—slept, and mixed types exist (the past of strew is strewed, but the past participle is usually strewn). (more…)
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Wait. What? He gets to go on leave? And you get a salary?!?
Sigh. Should have written a better one too. :(
But you sure are well connected. :P
And you already have zeroed in on your favs. I'm klueless as of now.
And no, I wont crack any jokes about the 'forties' thingy you easily have 2 more years. :D :D :D (Am I dead or what?)
I do honestly think, you'll make it to the forties club.