10 December 2010

Goodies Galore!

Today, I thought I'd bring you a few goodies from the writing world.  Giveaways, vlogs, and general funness.  First up:

 Words With Jam
Words With Jam is a fabulous (and FREE!) e-zine for writers and readers looking for something a little different.  You can subscribe via email on their site and receive the magazine right in your email every other month. It's available as a .pdf, or through the online viewer.  I received my December issue a couple weeks ago and looked through it using the online viewer - and it is gorgeous! High quality graphics, informative and fun articles, contests.  What more could you want?  Although they're based in the UK, the wisdom in these pages is appropriate for writers all over the world. Sign up now!

That Girl Tyson



Tee (or T.L., or Tina, or Tyson) is a fellow writer I "met" on Authonomy and have kept stayed connected with on Facebook.  She's been vlogging for a few months now, and it's a weekly six-minute smile for me.  Her vlog features some regular segments like weird crap around her house, what came in the mail, and Urban Dictionary words. Not to mention regular appearances by her pets that always put me into adorable overload. She's cute, spunky, and Canadian! This is her most recent vlog, but you can subscribe to her posts at YouTube so you don't miss any of the awesomeness.  You might watch the first time just for the endearing accent, but you'll keep coming back because it's good fun!

Win Stuff!

I came across Beth Revis's blog via a link from Elana Johnson's blog, and I'm glad I found it! Beth is a debut novelist whose first book, Across the Universe, will be released this coming spring. From her website, here's a tidbit about the book:
Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awake on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into a brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.
Sounds awesome, right?  Well, she's having an amazing giveaway of 100 prizes, some of which include bookmarks, pins, and signed copies!  Check out the contest here, and while you're there, take a look around her website for some great stuff.  I love the layout and design of her site.  Maybe one day I'll have something that looks that nice. I'll have to keep up a more regular posting schedule first.... LOL.

Win More Stuff!

The two ladies mentioned above (Elana and Beth) also blog for The League of Extraordinary Writers, a group of debut YA dystopian writers.  In fact, Beth is the League's founder.  Elana's debut novel, Possession, is also forthcoming this spring, and she is having her own giveaway, as are the rest of the League writers.  To find out how to win this great stuff, check out their blog here.

Okay, last but not least in our goody bag today, is:

Contests, contests, everywhere! (Or: Win EVEN MORE Stuff!)

In another happy tale of link-clicking, I found the Just a Contest website when I went to the Words With Jam site just earlier today!  They list tons of writing contests for writers, both here in the US and abroad.  They list entry fees (if any), prizes, deadlines, and more.  You can search contests, export contest info to a calendar, and I'm sure there's more, but I haven't gotten a chance to look at it all just yet!  It's worth a look for anyone interested in writing contests.

That's about it for our goody bag today.  Who knows, if I stumble upon more awesomeness, I may make this a regular feature!

02 December 2010

Crit for a Cause

I just wanted to take a moment to let you guys know about a great opportunity this month.  Literary Agent Irene Goodman auctions off partial manuscript critiques on Ebay every month, with the proceeds benefiting charitable foundations.  This month (December) however, she is auctioning off FIFTEEN critiques!  This means YOU have a chance to have your partial reviewed by a top industry insider!  Or, you could bid on a critique as a gift for someone else.  Even better, the proceeds go to charity.

Irene's son has Usher Syndrome, which causes progressive loss of sight and hearing, so she has chosen to donate the proceeds of the auctions to three foundations doing research in these areas.
If you would like to bid on one of the auctions, there are links on the agency website.  There are five auctions for each of the three foundations.  Get feedback for yourself, and support a charitable organization.  I'd say that's a win-win, how about you?