Just in case you’re considering buying from Dell, I just thought I’d mention that they’re the worst customer service I’ve ever dealt with.
That is all.
Category: random
Social networking gone awry
I feel a little sickened right now. I’m posting this so publicly because I think this has affected pretty much all my friends and colleagues who are in my address book, even if we’ve only emailed once. If you received a LinkedIn invitation from me without being on LinkedIn already, please accept my apology. I was trying to hit "cancel" and I accidentally hit "send," and now I’m feeling the mortification that can only come from such a complete faux pas.
Please forgive! I have always been so careful to never do that–I only invite people who are already on the site, and I NEVER send spam to my entire mailing list!
Abridged Classics: Becoming Jane
By all means, carry on with helping me with the middle grade fantasy booklist. I don’t want to detract from that–you guys have excellent taste in middle-grade fantasy. But in catching up with Child_Lit posts about historical accuracy, I ran across a MOST excellent rundown of that awful movie which purported to be about Jane Austen’s life (let’s just mix up some Mr. Darcy and Mr. Collins, because hey, if she wrote about them, she must have experienced them, right?).
How did I miss this??
***Note: some strong language in the commentary subtitles***
I much prefer this version of the movie, and it’s only a few minutes long!
Yes, Dad, I *am* a journalist. So I have to go pawn this to pay my rent!
I absolutely HATE those stupid jewelry commercials. Because YES, honey, what I want for you to express your love for me is a big, shiny rock that was acquired through child slavery and whole-village slaughter. And via Alpha Consumer, I have finally found a way to express it (though they don’t get into the blood diamond issue, or the whole Diamond Cartel–there’s a reason we use the word "cartel" in association with drugs and diamonds…).
As for me: the way to this woman’s heart? Books, of course!
I’m going to have to watch more of these. Apparently it’s a marketing watch web TV show.
Tidbits
Getting some very nice Christmas cards in the mail today reminded me that I have mine halfway done. I just need to address them–they’re labeled, stuffed, and everything.
I also got a cover of Red Dragon Codex drawn by a reader. It’s awesome, and I’d show a picture if I had a working camera.
The snow is really coming down here. Glad I don’t have to drive anywhere! I am planning on going up to Salt Lake tonight to go with some friends to a Living Nativity, so here’s hoping the roads clear by then–I’m looking forward to spending time with the friends.
Despite not having to leave the house to go to work, it feels like a snow day, so I have declared a holiday. I am watching Northanger Abbey bundled up in a cozy blanket, sitting next to my cat who is fascinated by all the snow coming down. And of course the song "Snow" from White Christmas is going through my head: "Snow… snow…
snow… snow… snow! It won’t be long before we’re there with snoooo-ooooow! I wanna wash my face, my hands, my hair in snow. What is Christmas with nooooo snooooow?" etc. There’s no replacing it, I’m afraid.
Looks like the snow is lightening up a little, at least.
Oh! And something I forgot to mention when it went up on the website, which announces something I’ve been holding off on announcing that I’m going to have to announce now–I’ll post it in a new dedicated post.
Fortunately, we can help. Little brothers are standing by.
I heart BBBS. What a clever way to get guys thinking about volunteering!
Oh, here’s the national one I just saw on the Colbert Report:
It’s the little things
- Got a package in the mail this morning. Two, actually. It’s always so fun to get a package. One from my sister, one from my Grandma, both Christmas presents. Dilemma: do I open them? It’s so tempting! But the temptation eases when I see that Grandma has also included my Girl Scout cookies, which I bought from my cousins’ daughters and planned to get from her when I went home for Christmas. Yum!
Sadly, it’s looking like my car won’t get me home next week. I was looking forward to the trip, but I need new tires and driving from Utah to Illinois requires crossing Montana, and I just don’t like the idea of getting stranded in nowhere, Wyoming in the middle of winter, especially during the week that what few businesses would be open would probably be closed for the holidays. - Twitter is fun so far, but if you’re on there and I haven’t added you to follow, let me know, because the adding mechanism is weird and I’m having a hard time finding people.
- Seattle has been slammed by a snowstorm/ice storm just when I needed to get a hold of some
people there while they’re at work. Argh. But I did always like the random days off when the tiny bit of snow (and often massive amounts of ice) shuts everything down. - I’m driving to Salt Lake City this afternoon via Park City to see if I can make my car make that noise it’s been making, so I can show it to the mechanic and he can diagnose it. If you’re in PC or SLC and want to meet for hot chocolate, let me know.
Speaking of social networking
I’ve decided to try out twittering. If you want to follow me, you can find me at http://twitter.com/stacylwhitman.
Tildrum wants *you*
To tell me about your favorite children’s book/publishing related websites.
I so seldom actually look at my own front page that it took me until today to realize that not only did I have out of date links on the sidebar from since I’d left Mirrorstone, but that I’d never really updated them when I was still at Mirrorstone!
So I took off the links to specific series that aren’t being published anymore (though I couldn’t resist leaving Hallowmere up there) and need to add a link to the still on-going Dragon Codex books by R.D. Henham, a pen name for several authors including Rebecca Shelley, Ree Soesbee, Amie Rose Rotruck, and Clint Johnston. I love letting people know about books that I’ve worked on because I think you’ll love them.
I added some links for children’s publishing general information: everyone who is first learning about children’s publishing must get to know The Purple Crayon and the SCBWI.
As far as reviewers and authors, I realize how incomplete those lists are. Those are from about three years ago, with small additions made over the years. So, let’s do
a little game. What do you consider the most essential children’s book-related blog? We’ll have three categories: blogs that dish about publishing (no matter who runs it, whether author, librarian, magazine, or reviewer), blogs that review children’s books (any age range), and author blogs. If a newbie came to you and said, "Can you point me in the right direction?" what sites would you recommend to them?
The prize for this game is just the knowledge that you are the go-to guy or gal for this kind of information. Sorry, things are a bit tight here at the Grimoire mansion, and isn’t the glow of doing good better than any material possession anyway?
And on the brighter side
Anyone watching Heroes? I LOVE that Seth Green was the comic shop guy. "Best. Day. Ever." Ha!