Linky Love - new links

Current Theme Song (aka what's playing on my ipod right now): Falling For the Time by Barenaked Ladies



Contests!


Over at Steph Su Reads she is having her mega-blogoversary giveaway. And she has just recently reached 900 followers, so congratulations to her! Ends Feb 28th, so hurry!

Speaking of huge giveaways, Storywings "little" 49 follower giveaway has exploded to over 243 (as of this posting. With each new benchmark, she adds more books. At this point, it's staggering. Luckily you have until March 19th with hers. And it is international, always a plus.

Bree Despain, author of the highly popular The Dark Divine book(s), is also holding a contest. Her supercool husband invented something sweet. I think it will be making many mommies very happy. Go check it out. Prizes include a YA book of your choice, a signed copy of The Dark Divine, or even a 15 page manuscript critique by her. Now that is what I call nice winnings. Hurry though, this one also ends Sunday Feb 28th.


Other Coolness!

I love The Spectacle blog. Lots of different authors with some really cool articles. Very spiffy. One that impressed me recently (for all you writers out there) is Jo Whitmore's analysis of The SHOWDOWN, you know, the final climactic moment in your book of epic awesomeness. She breaks it down really well and makes it easy to understand.

Here is Janice Hardy's (author of Shifter) take on how to write a query letter in four easy steps. Definitely good ground coverage for those getting ready or thinking about querying in the near future.

And since I'm a nerd, I'm including this, eight months before Halloween. Like scary stories? Ever wonder what some the famous places that inspired these stories look like? Wonder no more. The Smithsonian magazine has put together Real Places Behind Famously Frightening Stories.

And don't forget to check the amazing and fabulous Nathan Hale's blog. He is doing a picture book marathon, as well as the incredible Land of Doom comic series, where he and Yellowbelly (his fantastic creation) infiltrate the intense world of Children's Publishing. He just got to the YA category. Oh yeah. Go check it out.


That's it for now!