Let's Party and Rock the Row!

For everyone who wondered about my fascination with the A Round of Words in 80 Days challenge, here's your opportunity to find out more about this wonderful group. Stop by and enjoy the fun with the ROW80 gang.

*****

The party is coming! The party is coming! On October 5th, the #ROW80 hashtag is going to light up like the stage at a teen rock concert. There's going to a be a 24-hour celebration for:

• All the participants who just finished Round 3 of ROW80.
• Anyone who plans to post their goals and dive into Round 4.
• The amazing people who supported the ROW80 writers throughout the year (y'all REALLY deserve a drink!)

Party Details:

• Theme: "Rock the Row"
  However you want to work that in is great. I leave it to your outrageously creative imagination!
• Date: October 5th, 12:01 AM to 11:59 PM ET in the U.S.
  This also happens to be the first day of check-in so there should be a ton of ROW80 fun happening around the blogosphere.
• Party will be held at the #ROW80 hashtag.
  Fire up your Tweet Deck or HootSuite and let's get jiggy with it.
• Photo Competition:
  You can start now...we won't tell. Start digging for or taking photos that reflect the theme. We'll do our best to gather them and decide on the best to spotlight in a post at the ROW80 blog. Once the readers vote, the 1st place winner gets a copy of Kait Nolan's latest book, Red, in e-book format!!
• Friendly Blog Competition
  We will also post a mash-up of favorite ROCK THE ROW posts at the Row80 blog.

Jenny Hansen is developing some polls ready so everyone can vote on these things. :-)

There's also going to be dancing! Jenny made a "Rock The Row" playlist! All these details can be found at her ROW80 post. Co-host Nicole Basaraba's post can be found here.

  

What is a Twitter party?

  

This is where we all stop in to the #ROW80 hashtag all day long and play and party together - trading news, pictures, music and jello shots. It's going to be a great time!

  

*****

Don't forget to sign up for the ROW 80 challenge. Wrap up 2011 with writing style! The fun begins Wednesday, October 5.

We have a winner!

Congratulations to:

KainsHottie

You are the winner of a signed paperback copy of Depression Cookies. I will be contacting you via email shortly. My lovely assistant, my oldest daughter Jackie, drew a name out of a hat this morning.

Thanks to everyone who entered and Michelle Flick of Oh! For the Love of Books for sponsoring the Falling Into Book Blog Hop. She is a fellow Campaigner and walked me through my very first blog hop giveaway. I'm grateful for the learning experience and look forward to participating in more.

Click the link below to check out the other winners:

Today also marks the first day of my October Ultimate Blog Challenge. Thanks to Michelle Shaeffer and Michele Scism for hosting this event. As part of this challenge I will post 31 times in October, hopefully as a post a day. I look forward to meeting new bloggers and focusing on my post writing.

My Imago, My Friend, My Inspiration

My mother, my imago, inspired me to write my entire life. I put her on a pedestal and hoped someday to reach the same status. The miasma of constant relocations, although difficult, ended up being our family’s saving grace. Most of my life I only had my mom, dad, and two sisters. We were a team; there was nothing else to fill the lacuna teenagers fall into. I survived in the cocoon of family, protected from peer pressure and temptation.

Writing Depression Cookies with my mom only strengthened our relationship. The synchronicity of the moves became clearer as we searched for their meaning. We believed readers would embrace our journey, especially when we intertwined it with others we had known. Even if they’d never moved, they knew disruption in some form.

It was essential for us to look closely in the mirror and be honest and raw with what we saw now, what we saw then. Our greatest hope was that this novel would open up a dialogue between all women to search for similarities instead of differences. Someday I hope my own daughters will read it and oscitate at all the things their Mom, and Nana, really do understand.

*****

If you are left a bit confused and wondering why my vocabulary seems to be much improved from my last few posts, I must admit this post was inspired by the latest Campaign challenge. My first reaction was to tackle this as fiction, but I wanted to find a way to incorporate the words into a blog post I would write for our readers.

More about the challenge from Rachel Harrie's Campaign site:

Write a blog post in 200 words or less, excluding the title. It can be in any format, whether flash fiction, non-fiction, humorous blog musings, poem, etc. The blog post should:

·         include the word "imago" in the title
·         include the following 4 random words: "miasma," "lacuna," "oscitate," "synchronicity,"

If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional and included in the word count), make reference to a mirror in your post.

For those who want an even greater challenge (optional), make your post 200 words EXACTLY!

*****

I’m happy to say I took on all the challenges, even making it 200 words exactly. If you enjoyed my interpretation, please visit this page and vote for me, #173.

While you are there, take some time to my fellow campaigners responses to this challenge.

Food Network-Style Writer Challenge: Exposing my Food Obsession

Yesterday, I was running at the gym and watching Food Network. My first thought... how unfair to be running and watching food. But I wasn't complaining when my four miles was over and I barely noticed. Clearly I'm obsessed.

I love food. Wish I didn't, but I do. I blame a mother who put out a Thanksgiving-like spread at almost every meal and greeted me at the door after school with warm cookies. Shame on you, Mom! ;-)

My favorite Food network show right now is Chopped. In case you aren't familiar with the show, four chefs are given mystery boxes containing three food items. These items are not obviously connected. Each chef must use these ingredients to deliver first an appetizer, then an entree, and finally a dessert. Each round has a different food basket. The winning chef receives $10,000.

For fun, I've reimagined the game as a writer's challenge. Enjoy...

Unplugged

Four writers gather in front of three book critics. After each round, a writer's laptop is unplugged and he/she is dismissed from the game.

During each round, the competing writers are given a basket with three mystery objects.

Round 1
Each writer must write a poem using the following three objects: a strawberry, a pencil, and a leaf. Time limit: 20 minutes

Round 2
The three remaining writers must write a short story using the following three objects: a dead ant, a flower, and a paintbrush. Time limit: 1 hour

Round 3
The final two writers must complete an outline and the first five pages of a novel using the following three objects: seeds, a baseball, and a stuffed panda . Time limit: 2 hours

Each week the mystery objects change, and the winner receives $10,000!

Would you participate in a televised writing challenge like this? What other types of game shows or television competitions would be fun to turn into writing games/competitions?

Have some fun with this. I did!

And the Award Goes to... Our Blog!

Awards make me happy and put a little extra spring in my step. It's nice to know people are reading and enjoying our efforts here. Today's Tub-Full Tuesday celebrates this idea.

We owe thanks! First to Sheri L. Swift and her blog, Finding Joy in the Journey, we have been awarded the One Lovely Blog Award. Her blog is truly lovely, and I've enjoyed connecting with her through Rachel Harie's Platform-Building Campaign and now She Writes. Thanks, Sheri!

Second thanks go to the Having Acquired the Words blog, one I've recently discovered. The header says it all, "Sandwich-Generation mom, daughter, wife, bohemian... creating between the slices." I love witty, and she strikes me as witty. She gave us the Versatile Blogger Award. We've previously accepted this award (see right sidebar), but were honored to be chosen again.

Rules for accepting the One Lovely Blog Award:
1. Thank and link to the person who nominates you (done)
2. Pass this Award along to 15 recently discovered blogs and let them know about it!

Since we've been honored with several awards lately, I am going to pass to 10 newly discovered blogs instead of 15.

Now for the fun part... sharing the love:

1. Having Acquired the Words
2. Becky's Barmy Book Blog
3. The Bookworm is Here
4. Lindy Legends and Other Such Nonsense
5. Once Upon a Prologue
6. Amanda's Writings
7. The Guardian Writer
8. Just a Word in this Story Called Life
9. Scribble and Edit
10. Bridget Straub: Author, Artist, Mom

Several of the newly found blogs above are participating in the Falling Into Books Blog Hop with me. Find out more about my giveaway here.

Or click on this badge for all the giveaways.

Falling into Books Blog Hop Giveaway: Ready, Set, Go

It's officially giveaway time!

To recap my Friday post:

We are participating in our first Blog Hop Giveaway. *rounds of applause* *fireworks* The brainchild of Michelle Flick of Oh! For the LOVE of BOOKS, the Falling Into Books Blog Hop runs from Monday, September 26 to Friday, September 30. Winners will be announced on Saturday, October 1st.

We are giving away a signed copy of our novel, Depression Cookies. More information about our award-winning novel can be found at our website. This giveaway is open to all US residents over age 13. Details for entering are below.

Please click on this beautiful badge to participate in more fantastic giveaways.

Details for my giveaway:

- Please leave a comment below answering this burning question: What's the single most important characteristic of a meaningful relationship? (this is research for our next novel about a mother and her college daughter)

- For an extra entry into the hat, please join this site with Google Friend Connect on the right sidebar. One more entry for following me on Twitter. Please note if you did one or both of these in your comments below so I can count it properly. If you are already my friend and follower, thank you. We want to reward you with one extra entry (again make note in your comment).

The morning of Saturday, October 1 I will put all the names in a hat (with repeat names for extra entries) and have my oldest daughter pick. I know it's not as fancy as using an internet tool, but I haven't played with those yet and don't want to mess up my first official blog hop giveaway. I'll post a picture with my daughter pulling said name (for fun!).

Any questions, please leave a comment. Good luck!

A Flexible Challenge: What Could be Better?

If you frequent my blog, and little makes me happier, you've heard all about A Round of Words in 80 Days. If not, it's time you do.

Kait Nolan's challenge is "the writing challenge that knows you have a life." How grand. I considered joining NaNoWriMo next month, but ultimately decided to wait until the next one (or Camp NaNo next summer). First, Mom and I are committed to finishing the follow-up to Depression Cookies. I am going to be working on my solo YA project when Mom has the book, but know I can't completely commit to it.

ROW 80, however, lets me set goals and change them throughout as necessary. I learned so much from Round 3, my first. See my post detailing those lessons here.

Round 4 runs from October 3 through December 22, perfect for your year-end writing goals. Whether a longtime writer trying to finish a project or a newbie trying to kickstart scheduled writing, you will benefit from this lovely group of writers. And this Round, I am a sponsor.

From the ROW 80 site, a bit of explanation about the challenge:

We have 4 rounds a year, each running 80 days.

Your goal can be anything you like as long as it is measurable (e.g. number of words/pages, specified amount of time to spend on writing per day/week, number of pages edited, etc.–for more on what makes a measurable goal, see this post).

Once you have settled on a goal, you write it up on your blog (yes, you must have one) and link to it on the Goals Linky for the Round, which will be posted on the ROW80 Blog.

If your goal changes before the end of the 80 days, simply write up a new goals post and link to it on the latest check-in day.

We have check-ins twice a week on Wednesday and Sundays where you will update us the same way (e.g. write up a blog post of your progress and link to it on that day’s linky).

On Twitter we use a hashtag of #ROW80 if you wanna come hang out

And if you happen to find us after a round has begun, just write up your goals post and hop on in whenever. We’re a friendly bunch.

I hope you'll join us for Round 4.

Do you enjoy the accountability of a challenge?