The Triple A

It's Sunday!!!!!
Less than 12 hours of freedom before I disappear into the work week, which is going to be a nightmare. *strangling self*

Until then I pause to bring a shameless plug *coughs* I mean post to someone who inspires me. This particular person inspires me so much that I am procastinating and not working on my 60n60 project to write this monologue. So here it goes:

The Triple A stands for Absolutely Awesome Amazing. Corny, I know, but true.
When speaking of the Triple A, I speak of a person I honestly have never met. Have I known this individual for years? No, but I have seen the amazing things that she does. This is a organized, intelligent individual that works from sunup til sundown and beyond. She takes care of a farm, blogs each and every single day, and is diligently focused on getting a writing career started for her and half a dozen individuals that she assists.
This is a woman who is admired from near and afar. She has many friends who would gladly offer to do just about anything for her, with the exception of kidnapping a particular evil entity and delivering him to her doorstep (he would probably go on his own free will though).

This is someone who willingly signed herself up for an extremely difficult task. She started a contest for an anthology, reviewed, provided feedback, and judged the entries (I was one of those crazies to enter). The idea of taking on such a project is daunting. This crazy, wonderful person took it one step further with editing, cover art, and publishing said anthology. She also has willingly offered support and motivation to me without bribes or blackmail, which I usually have to do to get others to submit.

Without further ado I give you The Triple A *drumroll, pause, breathe*

Phoenix Sullivan

Woot! Woot!

Check out Phoenix's blog Dare to Dream. In fact you better go there tomorrow, as Phoenix is having a blog anniversary. Contests, get in touch with the archives, or submit a query for some amazing feedback and insight!

-Once there you can also visit that great link to purchase that anthology I was talking about, Extinct Doesn't Mean Forever. If you are lazy you can click on this link.

-Then great intoxicated with Phoenix's self-published novel Spoils of War: An Arthurian Saga. Again a link for you lazy ones (don't worry I'm lazy too). 

Hope to see you all at the blog anniversary tomorrow.
Farewell from a purple sheep.

Blog Joy Saturday

We Interrupt This Programming for an Important Announcement!
Tomorrow, more like 3am (some of you may still consider that Saturday), is the launch of Daylight Savings Time in the United States. Joy for the loss of 1 hour of sleep *sarcastic snort.

Now back to the regular scheduled post

Blog Joy Saturday

To write is to also read. You cannot expect to be a good writer unless you consume volumes of elaborate prose within the genre you adore correct? Most agents and authors would agree, although I am sure there are some out there who fall outside of that mold.

Regardless to help all of you wonderful people get their daily dose of reading I propose blogs as a medium to turn to when you are tired of news articles, magazines of celebrity hounding, and no time for reading a full book or short story. Heck, blogs usually tell the story. The story of the downtrodden, misty eyed, aspiring romantic author. The story of the witty, acerbic science fiction author that provide a humor, curse-filled look at ordinary topics.
To help you find some of these places, which exist beyond the blogger realm, I provide links of delight, pictures of morsels, tasty ideas (yes, I know too much description. Show don't tell). Here's to the showing.

My Top Five Blogs of Saturday

5. Maisey Yates I know after you all read this list you are going to say I am a little leaning with my Top 5 this week, I say boo! If it's good I will post it. Maisey is a wonderful romance author. She speaks from the heart and I like her. Spunky, sassy, and I am sure raising three kids deserves a ton of praise! Her blog is on her website. She offers a neat perspective and insight to writing, fun stories, and some giveaways. I encourage a look at someone who has accomplished her dreams and is living them.

4. The Semi-Organic Mom Like talking about kids, motherhood, and laughing at those funny stories only Mom's have (because the kids do the silliest stuff). Then Semi-Organic Mom is the way to travel. She also offers some great advice and research on mom topics, even for those who are not quite a mom but on their way (bun in the oven, pot on to boil, spawn of hell waiting to burst, etc).

3. Life, Muse, and Coffee This blog I just found. Great advice for writers, fun interviews to different authors I would have never thought to check out. All around fun and enlightenment. Just take a peek!

2. Limecello!!! Lime offers a little bit of fun. There are interviews, recipes, ranging comments. Just good times, great posts, and laughs. Her blog makes you feel like having fun and Lime is always eager to respond to her commenter's. Plus I recently won a free book from Lime's blog and love the idea of giveaways!

1. The Season Blog Are you interested in romance??? The Season Blog is where you need to go! Giveaways, author interviews on the latest and greatest out. Plus this blog is attached to a website that offers reviews on each month's romance novels in every category. I'm talking historical, contemporary, paranormal. The Season gives you a chance to get a little more info about a romance book you may be thinking about and more. Couldn't dote on this site enough as it has influenced multiple purchases (Yes, I read romance, like to keep my options open)!

That's it for Saturday. Read your heart away, learn about new books, new tricks, and above new topics to help fuel that creative muse sitting on your shoulder.

-Good Night, Forever Yours, a Purple Sheep

Writing Fun Stuff

Salute to another Monday. From now on this post is going to be my Top 5 countdown.

5. If you aren't following Miss Snark's First Victim blog creator Authoress on Twitter, I recommend you do so NOW! I know, a little demanding, but there is an EPIC contest taking place as I blog. If you have not visited her blog before I recommend highly that you do that as well.
The epic contest involves several smaller ones on Twitter at various times and the giveaways range from books to query critiques. A great opportunity for little to no work.

4. Chatterbox Chit Chat Lynnette Labelle also has a fun contest happening as I blog. The prize: a critique of the first 500 words of your manuscript or your query letter. Your choice. There is some basic instructions and it pays to follow them. Deadline for the contest is this coming Sunday March 13th, 2011.

3. Mer Bear from Fine Print has a new blog. She is offering up some great advice on blogging Do's and Don'ts. While this may not exactly fall under every one's 'Fun' category, learning how to successfully traverse the crazy world of online social media can be rewarding.

2. Like Jewelry??? Author Pal Chad Johnston has a fun giveaway on his blog. 
He's giving away earrings for some heartfelt comments. Not a book mind you, but pretty sparklies to dangle from your lobes. Plus, Chad is funny and his stories are comical. Take a peek.

Finally...1. All I can say is Terribleminds. This blog is fun and Chuck Wendig could make anyone fall out of their chair laughing. Disclaimer: This blog may not be appropriate for those under 18, that may be pregnant, have heart conditions, or intake large amounts of anti-depressants. Other that you are free to laugh your ends off.

Revolt!!! (Contest alert)

Okay this is a little late in the game... but I thought it would be good to post an upcoming contest, and mention a couple of other fun things.

Contest: REVOLT!

All this talk about fellow members of the human race protesting their leaders in Northern African and the Middle East makes this contest a must enter for those who have their brains on the topic. The deadline is March 15th, and the reward is nice too. Click the title above to head to the infodump.

Plus, Lynette Labelle @chatterbox chitchat has a great blog on creating tension in a single character scene.

If you are still looking for fun stuff to do you can check out the Romance Bandits . Just about every day these lovely group of heart stealer's give away goodies (books and other swag) to lucky commenter's on the blog posts. You learn so much about good reads coming up in the romance category (all genres). Not to mention the ladies are just good ol' fun.



New Blog to follow

For all you desperate writers out there toiling away at query letters and synposis' there is a new query blog that begs to be mentioned.

The Query Goblin

I encourage my fellow slush pile lurkers to seek out this blog and be brave enough to submit their query. I might even follow your bravery with a little bit of my own. This one is specifically designed to re-write your query, which could spark some of your own creativity. Let's be led down the goblin path together. Shall we?