I just had my mom draw names out of a hat (okay, a green cereal bowl) to see who wins a signed copy of Jack of All Trades and who gets homemade bookmarks and stickers. I was only going to give away one copy of the book, but I decided to do two and then have three bookmark-and-sticker winners.
So here are the winners:
Signed book: Ibid
Signed book: barbarakelley
bookmarks and stickers: Cate Gardner
bookmarks and stickers: ikkinlala
bookmarks and stickers: Jamie Eyberg
A big round of applause for the winnahs! I've emailed or messaged all the winners except for Ibid--Ibid, drop me an email at kcshaw123 [at] gmail.com with your mailing address so I can send your book out to you Monday!
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
Yes, we have stickers!
Look! Look what I made! Stickers!
They look like this, and I'll throw some in with the bookmarks to the folks who win the contest. I've decided to extend the contest through tomorrow night, incidentally, mostly because I have to work tomorrow so I wouldn't be able to mail the winners' loot until Monday anyway. Remember, if you haven't already entered the contest, just post a response in the contest thread and you'll be entered!
I found the stickers at Staples this morning, much to my surprise. They're Avery #8293 labels with 20 per sheet, each sticker 1 1/2" across, and even my crappy printer can print them pretty well. I'll be taking some with me to DragonCon next week (next week, jehosephat! when did that happen?) for the free table. Who can resist a sticker? They stick on stuff!
If anyone out there has promo stuff they want me to put on the DragonCon free table, drop me an email at kcshaw123 [at] gmail.com and I'll send you my address so you can send me your promo stuff. I need to get it by Friday morning when I'll be leaving.
Holy cow, I only have one week to pack and unpack and pack and unpack and pack!
I found the stickers at Staples this morning, much to my surprise. They're Avery #8293 labels with 20 per sheet, each sticker 1 1/2" across, and even my crappy printer can print them pretty well. I'll be taking some with me to DragonCon next week (next week, jehosephat! when did that happen?) for the free table. Who can resist a sticker? They stick on stuff!
If anyone out there has promo stuff they want me to put on the DragonCon free table, drop me an email at kcshaw123 [at] gmail.com and I'll send you my address so you can send me your promo stuff. I need to get it by Friday morning when I'll be leaving.
Holy cow, I only have one week to pack and unpack and pack and unpack and pack!
Thursday, August 27, 2009
+1 for August
You remember that time travel story I complained about more or less constantly from about February to end of April this year? The one I wrote for the Time in a Bottle anthology that I figured they would reject, at which point I intended to delete the story from my hard drive forever? The one I sweated over and hated so much that once it was done, I swore off writing short stories for all eternity (which lasted about six weeks)?
I just got an acceptance for it. I am once again reminded that I'm completely incapable of judging my own work.
(It's a story set in the same world as Jack of All Trades, with Jack, Helen, and Pepper as the main characters, so I'm especially pleased. And if you haven't already, don't forget to post a comment here to enter the Jack of All Trades contest.)
I just got an acceptance for it. I am once again reminded that I'm completely incapable of judging my own work.
(It's a story set in the same world as Jack of All Trades, with Jack, Helen, and Pepper as the main characters, so I'm especially pleased. And if you haven't already, don't forget to post a comment here to enter the Jack of All Trades contest.)
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Stickers and Tears
I got paid for a story today, which has made me reckless with money. I went out to Walmart to buy the sticker-maker I saw this weekend, and while I was standing there reading the back of the box, I thought, "Wait, all I really need is a box of round sticky labels that I can use in my printer. Duh."
So I didn't get the $20 sticker-maker. But despite a whole five minutes searching the web, I can't find any round white adhesive labels about 2" across that come on sheets that can be put in the printer. Anyone have any ideas? It seems like that would be a pretty common thing to use in craft projects, but I thought the same about blank bookmarks and they were A) really hard to find and B) cost $4 for 20, which is just ridiculous for die-cut white cardstock.
The new Ghost Hunters starts soon, and I'm unexpectedly emotional as a result. For the last several months, every Wednesday night me, my mom, and my cat Angel (and my other cat Vincent too, although he wasn't as interested) would sit down together and watch Ghost Hunters. Now Angel is gone, and I am crying over a stupid TV show that my cat did not really watch, she just wanted to hang out with the people eating snack food. I've been hugging Vincent a lot and sniffling.
No ghost cat jokes, I mean it. Emo sticker-less person here ready to snap back.
(Oh yeah, if you haven't already, don't forget to post a comment here to enter the Jack of All Trades contest.)
So I didn't get the $20 sticker-maker. But despite a whole five minutes searching the web, I can't find any round white adhesive labels about 2" across that come on sheets that can be put in the printer. Anyone have any ideas? It seems like that would be a pretty common thing to use in craft projects, but I thought the same about blank bookmarks and they were A) really hard to find and B) cost $4 for 20, which is just ridiculous for die-cut white cardstock.
The new Ghost Hunters starts soon, and I'm unexpectedly emotional as a result. For the last several months, every Wednesday night me, my mom, and my cat Angel (and my other cat Vincent too, although he wasn't as interested) would sit down together and watch Ghost Hunters. Now Angel is gone, and I am crying over a stupid TV show that my cat did not really watch, she just wanted to hang out with the people eating snack food. I've been hugging Vincent a lot and sniffling.
No ghost cat jokes, I mean it. Emo sticker-less person here ready to snap back.
(Oh yeah, if you haven't already, don't forget to post a comment here to enter the Jack of All Trades contest.)
Monday, August 24, 2009
It's a contest!
Yes, finally, I got my sh--stuff together enough to start the contest.
Because I am the least organized person in the world, and more to the point didn't expect Jack of All Trades to be released until next month, I didn't have any bookmarks or anything printed up ahead of time. So I made some! Well, okay, I've made two so far, out of 20 planned (because I only have 20 blank bookmarks). Each one will be unique and numbered, so they're collectible! Yeah, collectible. Also, the lettering is by my mom, who letters much better than me, and the dragon artwork is by the awesome Richard Svensson, taken from the book, printed on my crappy printer, and glued down with artist's glue (not Elmer's). The yarn is handspun by me! My goodness, how exciting can you get? Also, the bookmarks are 100% guaranteed to mark your place in any book you choose. Except ebooks.
So anyway, the contest. All you have to do is reply to this blog post and you're entered. But you can't reply anonymously, because how do I know which anonymous person you are? At the end of the week (Saturday night), I'll put all the names in a hat and pick one, and that lucky person will win a signed copy of Jack of All Trades and a bookmark! Two other not-quite-so-lucky people will win bookmarks. I'll probably throw in some other little things too, although I don't know what yet. I've got my eye on a sticker-maker, but they're not cheap.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Lots of links, and a One Lovely Blog Award
I've posted the first chapter of Jack of All Trades as a pdf file, which you can read here. Let me know if it doesn't work or you can't read it or something. The book is now also available for order through Amazon and B&N! That's pretty cool, although I do get a higher royalty from orders directly from my publisher, and of course you can order the book (and read most of the first chapter online, with illustrations) here.
Starting tomorrow I'll be running a contest throughout the week. Winner will receive a signed copy of Jack of All Trades and some other loot, although I don't know what loot yet since I haven't yet bought any. That's what Sunday afternoons are for.
Jameson T. Caine has awarded me the One Lovely Blog Award, which is sweet of him. It must be all the pink on his website. :) Despite the pink--or maybe because of it--Jameson writes creepy and fascinating horror stories, many of which you can read online, just check the links on the sidebar of his blog.
Now it's time to pass the award along to some worthy blogger. I choose Samantha Sterner, another horror writer whose blog is always interesting, entertaining, and often just plain funny.
The rules for the award:
1. Accept the award, and don't forget to post a link back to the awarding person.
2. Pass the award on.
3. Notify the award winner(s).
Starting tomorrow I'll be running a contest throughout the week. Winner will receive a signed copy of Jack of All Trades and some other loot, although I don't know what loot yet since I haven't yet bought any. That's what Sunday afternoons are for.
Jameson T. Caine has awarded me the One Lovely Blog Award, which is sweet of him. It must be all the pink on his website. :) Despite the pink--or maybe because of it--Jameson writes creepy and fascinating horror stories, many of which you can read online, just check the links on the sidebar of his blog.
Now it's time to pass the award along to some worthy blogger. I choose Samantha Sterner, another horror writer whose blog is always interesting, entertaining, and often just plain funny.
The rules for the award:
1. Accept the award, and don't forget to post a link back to the awarding person.
2. Pass the award on.
3. Notify the award winner(s).
Friday, August 21, 2009
Spoilers ahead
I've debated writing this post since I finished reading The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. I really liked the book except for one thing. It's a minor issue, not important to the plot, just a revelation at the very end that a character we think of as one thing is actually another thing. It's the equivalent of the stupid joke at the end of the sitcom, the one that makes everyone laugh.
Except that it's more than that, and it really bothered me. A lot. I can't explain without spoilering the whole issue, so proceed at your own risk.
Spoiler below, okay?
Okay, so the book is about a group of four kids who are recruited by the kindly Mr. Benedict to infiltrate a private school. The school is the cover for a mad scientist's plan to control the world by broadcasting subliminal messages through radio and TV signals. It's fun and the characters are interesting: Reynie the puzzle-solver, who becomes the group's informal leader; nervous and brilliant Sticky, a black boy with an eidetic memory; Kate, energetic and spunky--she ran away to join the circus so many times they let her stay; and Constance, who expresses her crankiness by making up silly rhymes.
It's Constance that's the problem. She's described as a little person, and I kept thinking about it all through the book because I've never read a kid's book with a little person as the main character. I kept thinking about how important it would be for a kid with dwarfism or some other related issue to pick up this book and find someone like him, who's part of an adventurous team of kids and treated just like everyone else.
Except that at the end, Constance is revealed to be not a little person at all, but an especially precocious three-year-old.
Leaving aside the fact that NO ONE would mistake a three-year-old--no matter how precocious--for a ten-year-old little person, certainly not the three-year-old's best friends, the real little person reading this book suddenly gets a punch in the gut. Constance wasn't just like him after all. In fact, it's an insult: little people are indistinguishable from small children, and oh no, I'm sure they never get treated like that at all ever, right?
It left a really bad taste in my mouth. I just had to vent about it.
Except that it's more than that, and it really bothered me. A lot. I can't explain without spoilering the whole issue, so proceed at your own risk.
Spoiler below, okay?
Okay, so the book is about a group of four kids who are recruited by the kindly Mr. Benedict to infiltrate a private school. The school is the cover for a mad scientist's plan to control the world by broadcasting subliminal messages through radio and TV signals. It's fun and the characters are interesting: Reynie the puzzle-solver, who becomes the group's informal leader; nervous and brilliant Sticky, a black boy with an eidetic memory; Kate, energetic and spunky--she ran away to join the circus so many times they let her stay; and Constance, who expresses her crankiness by making up silly rhymes.
It's Constance that's the problem. She's described as a little person, and I kept thinking about it all through the book because I've never read a kid's book with a little person as the main character. I kept thinking about how important it would be for a kid with dwarfism or some other related issue to pick up this book and find someone like him, who's part of an adventurous team of kids and treated just like everyone else.
Except that at the end, Constance is revealed to be not a little person at all, but an especially precocious three-year-old.
Leaving aside the fact that NO ONE would mistake a three-year-old--no matter how precocious--for a ten-year-old little person, certainly not the three-year-old's best friends, the real little person reading this book suddenly gets a punch in the gut. Constance wasn't just like him after all. In fact, it's an insult: little people are indistinguishable from small children, and oh no, I'm sure they never get treated like that at all ever, right?
It left a really bad taste in my mouth. I just had to vent about it.
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