Friday, August 28, 2009

What I've Learned This Week

I'm stealing from my friends Lisa & Laura, and finishing this week out by letting you know the top things I've learned!

Remember, L&L, imitation is the purest form of flattery ;).

10) People on Twitter love talking about a) food, and b) what their cats are doing. I'm not sure why, but it's true. I caved and tweeted about my cat today. Not sure if this is good or bad, but one thing's for sure: I'm very, very afraid.

9) I can't look at http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/ at work without giggling loudly, disturbing my neighbors. It's Just. Too. Funny. I'm still not sure why, but banter + hideous cakes = irrepressible laughter.

8) True Blood is a good show. It has proper vampires that murder people and burst into flames when the sun comes up. I missed that!

7) Listening to heavy metal helps me write better fight scenes. There is such a thing as Viking Metal.

6) Since revising my manuscript, I've now gotten used to only using ONE space after my periods! Can you believe it? I feel like I'm growing as a person.

5) Every time someone mentions getting a Kindle I get a little chill. I want one so badly I can taste it, but I'm totally too cheap to buy one unless the price goes down to... I don't know... free.

4) My husband is as outraged over the Google Settlement thing as I am. I can't believe they scanned all of those books that are still under copyright. WTF, Google? I usually love you, but that ain't cool.

3) I can now read my manuscript without having to stop and fix something in every single sentence :D. I think this means it's almost "done." Like... for reals done.

2) Every time I think about my manuscript being ready to query, I get a shiver of excitement, then a chill of terror, then longing to get to work on my new book Hollow Land, then the chill of terror again. It's like my own mini rollercoaster. And I love it.

1) Last but not least, while reading Neverwhere, I learned that EVEN NEIL GAIMAN USES -LY ADVERBS ONCE IN A WHILE :). They're not illegal, turns out. But you have to be Neil Gaiman to use them.


Also, I got some presents this week :D!


Christine Fonseca was kind enough to give me the Silver Shoe of Sincerity award for leaving sincere blog comments. It's just so SPARKLY! I never knew what it was for, but have long coveted it. I would wear it if I could. Thanks, Christine!

You guys are all amazing commenters, and I love hearing your thoughts, so it was difficult to call out just one person to give this shiny, shiny award to. I chose Yunaleska! Yuna, thank you for always being so encouraging and supportive :). You rock!


Secondly, the ever-fabulous JennyMac gave me her own special award! In case you all didn't know, I give good blog.

If you haven't checked out JennyM's blog, you really should, immediately. She tells the best stories, has yummy recipes, and even creates her own cocktails. Seriously, go there. You know you want to!

I'm going to give this one to Sara Tribble , horror writer and interviewer extraordinarre! Keep it up, Sara! :) I love reading your editor interviews.

I hope you all have wonderful weekends!

Did you learn anything new this week?

10 comments:

lisa and laura said...

We are totally flattered!

And I'm obsessed with True Blood too. I blame it all on Eric. He makes Edward Cullen look like Screech from Saved by the Bell.

Christine Fonseca said...

I love LiLa's blog - especially on Friday!!!

Let's what did I learn...well, balancing work and writing is seriously hard business - - - but in my line of work, if you pay attention, you'll have a million story ideas in no time. So I guess being busy is OK

Have a great weekend

Roni Loren said...

Great list. I agree about the -ly words. Reading Diana Gabaldon's Outlander, I was stunned at how many adverbs were in there. Some people can get away with it. :)

And I ♥ True Blood, too.

Michelle McLean said...

LOL gotta agree with the True Blood comment - I heart Eric...big time ;-D By the way, have you read the books? Because they are soooo much better than the show :D

And FictionGroupie - Diana Gabaldon can do no wrong :D LOVE the Outlander series. Jamie is another of my huge fiction crushes :)

Michelle McLean said...

I got all distracted by Eric and Jamie from Outlander and forgot to say congrats on the awards! :D

Rebecca Knight said...

Now I have new books on my list! :) I haven't read the Outlander series or the Sookie Stackhouse books. I'm not even sure what the series is called that True Blood is based off :P. My husband and I are watching that show tonight along with Avatar the Last Airbender.

It's a good night!

Abby Annis said...

Congrats on the awards!!

I noticed the other day, that I don't do two spaces after a period anymore either. Who knew I could change after so many years. ;)

Yea on #3!!

And I'm totally with you on #2.

Nayuleska said...

Rebecca you're so lovely! Thank you! (will put this award up this weekend :D)

B.J. Anderson said...

That's an awesome list and I hear you on the Kindle. I'm also getting ready to query a book and it's really freaking me out this time. I usually don't care, but I'm seriously turning neurotic with this one. Sigh. Have a great weekend!!

Tere Kirkland said...

Congrats on your awards.
*sigh*
I used to think Eric was dead sexy, literally. Then I re-watched Zoolander and keep seeing him as Meekus, who died in a tragic gasoline fight accident, and I laugh a little.

I'm right there with you on the Kindle. That's high on my list of things to buy when I am a "real" author, though, lol!