Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon and Team Trix Cheerleading

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-A-Thon is all about promoting literacy. As the title implies, a bunch of people are doing nothing but reading books for the next 24 hours.And where there's a marathon, there has to be cheerleaders! To do my part, I've signed up for both cheerleading and reading.

I've been assigned to the Team Trix Cheerleading Squad, which covers R-Z on the linky list. I am starting at the bottom of Z. That way, people at the end of the list will not be forgotten. So for the next 1+ hours, I will bloghop around and cheer the readers on. I know that the participants all love to read, so I'm sure they're having so much fun - and they have a darn good excuse to sit around reading all day! Does life get any better than this?!

I've signed up to do my reading bit, too, but it will have to be later when I'm through cheerleading!

Today, I hope to finish The Legend of Victor Standish by Roland Yeoman. It is a new release and I have to say that I started it the other day and could hardly put it down. I would have finished it at one sitting if I didn't have a darn rib injury from doing the Rugged Maniac 5K last weekend!

Here is the excerpt taken from Roland Yeoman's blog:

There are strange tales told by the vagrants of the French Quarter when midnight descends. The hours fade as the shadows creep closer. The tales are not to amuse, but to keep weary eyes from closing. For the creeping shadows are hungry. One such tale is THE LEGEND OF VICTOR STANDISH.

If you want to buy it, you can do so here at Amazon.  I don't have a Kindle, but did you know you can download the app on your PC for free? It's so easy. Then you can read it from your computer, laptop, or whatever other apps that are compatible.

If you don't know Roland, you should definitely check out his awesome blog, Writing in the Crosshairs.

HERE ARE SOME OTHER QUESTIONS ANSWERED FOR THE READ-A-THON:

1) Where are you reading from today?

Mostly in bed due to injured ribs - in my house in the Rockies! It's a clear, cool and breezy day.

2) Three random facts about me…

I like to read British mysteries as a genre, and YA fiction.

I began writing in January 2010 and jumped right in with a book.

I'm a pretty big hermit.

3) How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours?

About one is all I can handle today. The Legend of Victor Standish.

4) Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours, or number of comments on blogs)?

I am trying to a visit to all the blogs listed under R-Z, but I don't know if I'll make it! That's a lot of blog visits and will end up way past the 1-hour cheerleading I volunteered for.

KEEP ON READING!

Third Campaigner Challenge: Show Not Tell

Rachael Harrie's Third Campaigner Challenge has been announced, and this is how it rolls:

Write a blog post in 300 words or less, excluding the title. The post can be in any format, whether flash fiction, non-fiction, humorous blog musings, poem, etc. The blog post should show:

• that it’s morning,

• that a man or a woman (or both) is at the beach

• that the MC (main character) is bored

• that something stinks behind where he/she is sitting

• that something surprising happens.

Just for fun, see if you can involve all five senses AND include these random words: "synbatec," "wastopaneer," and "tacise." (NB. these words are completely made up and are not intended to have any meaning other than the one you give them).

Entries in the Third Campaigner Challenge will close on Monday, October 24th (at 11.59pm EDT).


I BELIEVE I HAVE INCORPORATED ALL OF THE REQUIREMENTS!

TO SEE THE OTHER ENTRIES, OR IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO VOTE FOR ME, CLICK HERE. I AM NUMBER 65!

IN HONOR OF HALLOWEEN, HERE IS MY ENTRY!

Running From The Grim

There’s this boy I like, see. And he likes to run on the beach. So here I am at the butt-crack of dawn, alone on the beach.

I yawn in the early morning gray, the damp, tangy sea salt tickling the back of my throat. Tucking wisps of humidity-clouded hair behind my ears, I begin to jog. Glancing around, I still don’t see him. I don’t see anyone...

I hit the cold spot at the same time as the roaring fills my ears. Voices – agonized, moaning, screaming. Like trapped souls of the dead.

My stomach sinks. A familiar tingling creeps up my spine. A quick glance over my shoulder confirms what my senses have already told me. The Grim Reaper has announced its own horrid arrival.

Swirling clouds of unnatural vapor, thick like a London pea-souper, enshrouds me on all sides. With my heart racing, I flee as fast as I can. Running fast through sand is like trying to squeeze thick honey through a bear-bottle. Visibility near zero, I frantically search for an escape route that will end with my soul intact.

My foot catches on driftwood and I go down hard, gritty, damp sand imbedding into my hands and knees. Scrambling to my feet, I risk a quick glance back, and stifle a sob. Still there, a tactise wastopaneer, and growing bigger, taller, wider, darker. A foul stench assaults my nostrils, invades my mouth, triggering my gag reflex. Rotting flesh and fear. The smell of death.

Racing until my lungs are about to explode, I burst through some kind of synbatec barrier...

“What the...” the boy sputtered, finding himself flat on his back. I lay sprawled across him, staring into startled brown eyes.

All things considered, this new situation I suddenly find myself in is a vast improvement.



The Results Are In! Check Out The Winners!

The Judge & Jury Blogfest is over and the results are in! This is the fun part for me; awarding the prizes! It was a close contest, and I know that we all had a tough time choosing our favorites due to the high quality of the submissions.

I know, once again, blah, blah, blah, get on with it. So, without further ado:

Nadja Notariani WINS FIRST PLACE! 

And a $15 amazon.com gift card.

WE HAVE A TIE!:

Michelle Pickett WINS 2ND PLACE, and,

Caitlin WINS 2ND PLACE!

They both win $10 gift cards at amazon.com

Clarissa Draper WINS THIRD PLACE!

Clarissa will receive a $5 amazon.com gift card.

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!

• I have a $10 amazon.com gift card booby prize for Hywela Lyn for being my 100th follower.
• Each of the jurists below have earned $5 amazon.com email gift cards.

Nadja

Michelle

Clarissa

Francine

Crystal

Jolene

Kelda/Deborah

Aaron

Sabrina

CarrieAnne

Margie

S.B.

Congratulations to all the WINNERS! And a great big THANK YOU to everyone who participated, and a special THANK YOU to the jurists for choosing the awesome winners!

TO THE WINNERS AND JURISTS:

Your amazon gift cards will be delivered to your email, so please keep an eye out!

Teaser Tuesdays: The Graveyard Book

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

•Grab your current read

•Open to a random page

•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

•Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here is my teaser:

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.

"It's like the people who believe they'll be happy if they go and live somewhere else, but who learn it doesn't work that way. Wherever you go, you take yourself with you."

CONGRATS TO THE SEMI-FINALISTS!

The votes are in! And I have to say that it was really, really, close. The quality of the entries was just so high, I knew that I'd have to go back to the drawing board with my (non) entry. My inexperience is totally showing here. But I'm learning so much from everybody since I started blogging a year ago. Anything I want to know about writing? I can find right here in the blogging community. And everybody is so supportive. And, I just want to say, THANK YOU!

I know, blah, blah, blah, get to the point already! So here we go with the top six semi-finalists, in no particular order:

• Clarissa
• Kelda
• Nadja
• Sabrina
• Michelle
• Caitlin

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE SEMI-FINALISTS! Please be sure to visit their blogs and leave some comment love. And come back on Friday to see the winners and the prizes awarded!

TO THE SEMI-FINALISTS: I altered the blogfest badge and made it into a semi-finalist badge, so please feel free to post it on your blog. I know my graphic designer skills are lacking, but like my writing, it's a work in progress!

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?! My original plan was to have you take these six semi-finalists and have you vote again for the top three. But after thinking about it, I've decided to make it easier on everyone and just use the votes you've already made.

And so...I will post the first, second and third place winners based on the entries with the most votes on Friday, October 14th. This will give the six semi-finalists a chance to boast post about their accomplishments before the top three winners are announced!

I've had such a blast hosting this blogfest. Thank you so much everyone for hanging in there with me. I really appreciate it!