Cheers, Cavanaugh Blogfest

If the blogosphere was one gianormous high school, Alex J. Cavanaugh would be the cool senior that everyone knows - the one who never needs an introduction or a last name for that matter. It doesn't matter what circle you run in, the second someone mentions "Alex" or the "Ninja Captain," everyone in the conversation has something to say about him.

A month into starting my blog when I was still pretty clueless and naive about this whole blogging thing, Matt MacNish referenced him in an interview I posted (making me the clueless freshman transfer student and MacNish one of his cool senior friends). After checking his website, noticing he ran with ALL the cool kids, and seeing how many comments he gets every time he posts, his rock star status was undeniably confirmed.

The first time Alex commented on one of my posts, I'm pretty sure I blushed and ran and told my husband who did not appreciate what a big deal that was. Cool senior boy waving to insecure new transfer student/freshman in a crowded hallway = BIG DEAL. After all, my existence as a blogger had just been confirmed. I was pretty damn sure that once Alex J. Cavanaugh visited my site, my dream agent was wouldn't be far behind him contract in hand.....still waiting for that one.....

But then Alex kept stopping by. And he turned out to be this really nice, supportive person who is genuine and funny. I'm pretty sure the cool senior kid usually turns out to be a douchbag. Alex - I'm happy to discover you're not a douchbag. Instead, you're a truly wonderful person I've enjoyed getting to know this past year. While you've remained a mystery in many ways by never posting a picture of yourself, I'm pretty sure I've got you pegged.

What does Alex look like? 

Easy. He's a dead ringer for my uncle Greg. Since none of you have the pleasure of knowing him, I'll paint a very clear picture and segue into the next question....My uncle Greg is a perfect mix of Jeff Goldblum and Tom Skerrit.

Who would play Alex in a documentary?

Tom Skerrit. He's just a bit more suave than Goldblum. HOWEVER, for the scenes where Alex is playing the guitar, we might have to have Golblum stand in - like a body double, if you will. I don't think Tom Skerrit can pull off playing the guitar as well.

Who does Alex remind you of?

Gotta stick with my intro for this one.....the cool kid in high school who ironically doesn't turn out to be a douchbag once you get to know him.

To Mrs. Cavanaugh:

I think you're absolutely lovely. I love when Alex writes about you. I love that he enjoys spending time with you. I love how in love with you Alex obviously is. If possible, I think you, Mrs. Cavanaugh, might be on a taller pedestal than Alex because of your willingness to share him with us all.

Dammit! I've run out of time for the BEST part of this blogfest....the flash fiction paragraph. Good thing I feel very confident that I have nailed what Alex looks like. I did, didn't I? I look forward to reading everyone else's flash fiction pieces.

Cheers.

IWSG: Compliments

Why is it so hard to believe the good stuff? I never do - NEVER - not when it comes to writing. If a CP writes a positive note, I think, "That was very sweet of her to say." If a CP writes something negative, I immediately jump to the conclusion that I'm the world's worst writer and should quit now before I waste years of my life chasing a pipe dream I'll never reach. This is immediately followed by many glasses of wine and days of moping until I get around to slowly building myself up again realizing that I'm not the WORLD'S worst writer - that's silly. Surely someone out there sucks more than I do.

It's almost worse if that comment is constructive or makes a really good point. If I actually agree with a CP's negative comment, then it's so much harder to write her off as a jerk who feels inferior by my stellar writing skills and only wants to rip me apart to make herself feel better...OR (an even better excuse)...He's just an idiot who just doesn't get me, my writing, my characters and how much time I spent perfecting the scene he's riping apart. (Just to be clear - aka in case they are reading this post - I actually LOVE my CPs and Betas to death - especially when they rip me apart).

Is anyone actually able to wallow in all of the positive feedback and not feel totally crushed when they hear something negative? If so, what's your secret?

Contest Circuit: December 3

December...really? December already? How did that sneak up on me so quickly? I didn't have a lot of time to surf around for the happenings hitting the blogosphere this past week. If I missed something, let me know! 

Looking forward to IWSG this Wednesday!

Contests: 

Pitch Wars. 31 agented authors or industry interns "coaches" will be teaming up with aspiring authors. Nov 26 coaches will post the genres they are interested in working with. Dec 5 aspiring authors will apply to their 3 top choices for coaches. If picked, each coach will read and give comments about your entire manuscript and query. Jan 23-24 Agents will read pitches and make requests. See any of the coaches' sites for details like Monica B.W's site Love YA!

Jessa Russo and Tamara aka Feaky Snucker are hosting Holiday Pitchfest on December 4-6. They are having a workshop on Dec 4 to hone your pitch followed by a blog pitch party AND a Twitter pitch party the next two days. See THIS POST for a list of participating editors and agents.

Blog Hops and Flash Fiction:

Victoria Smith and Jaycee Delorenzo are hosting The Mating Game Blog Hop. Choose a couple from your MS. On Dec 3 hop around to five judges' blogs where they will have dating game type questions for your characters to answer. Then post those answers on Dec 10.

Romantic Friday Writers is hosting Holiday Spirit Blogfest. They are looking for excerpts of up to 800 words (fiction or nonfiction) that focus on a family tradition, unique family recipes, inspirational articles - anything that captures the holiday spirit of whichever holiday you celebrate. The linky will be open from Dec 12-31.

I'm a Reader Not a Writer and Oasis for YA are hosting their third annual Mid Winter's Eve Giveaway Hop. Sign up if you'd like to participate in the giveaway, or check out the list of 100+ bloggers already signed up to giveaway great prizes! Dec 21-27.

Morgan Shamy, Mark Koopmans, David Powers King and Stephen Tremp are hosting Cheers, Cavanaugh Blogfest on Dec 10-12. Pay tribute to rock-star blogger Alex Cavanaugh by answering questions that describe him: What does he look like? Who would play him in a documentary? Who does Alex remind you of? There is a bit of flash fiction fun and you can comment to Mrs. Cavanaugh for bonus points. Since Cavanaugh is such an enigma, these answers will be fun to read. The prize is one of the best parts... signed copy of CassaStar or a picture of Alex and a download of him playing his guitar (either of which are not to be shared online). The masterminding behind this one cracks me up. Well done Morgan, Mark, David and Stephen!

Emily R King and Tammy Theriault are hosting "And You Are...?" Blog Hop. For this clever and entertaining blog hop, Mrs. Claus is giving away three presents to three lucky people who answer David Spade's interview questions. Dec 3.

Word and Stuff is hosting Baby Faces Blogfest on Dec 2-3. For Trisha's first blogfest celebrating her blogiversary, post a picture of yourself as a baby/toddler or tell a story about yourself when you were a baby.

Tyrean Martinson and M. Pax are hosting Hobbit Fest. To celebrate the movie's release, Tyrean and M. Pax have four Hobbit related questions for you to answer. Dec 14.

Giveaways:

Smitten Over Books is giving away a pre-order for one of 11 upcoming new releases next year. Ends Dec 25.

Contest Circuit: November 26

What do David Spade, Alex Cavanaugh and the Hobbit all have in common? They make up the oh-so creative themes of December's blogfests! 

I hope you all had plenty to be thankful for this past week. Happy Monday!

Contests: 

Pitch Wars. 31 agented authors or industry interns "coaches" will be teaming up with aspiring authors. Nov 26 coaches will post the genres they are interested in working with. Dec 5 aspiring authors will apply to their 3 top choices for coaches. If picked, each coach will read and give comments about your entire manuscript and query. Jan 23-24 Agents will read pitches and make requests. See any of the coaches' sites for details like Monica B.W's site Love YA!

Operation Awesome is hosting a Mystery Agent contest on December 1. Enter your one sentence pitch for a chance to win a full MS request! The Mystery Agent is looking for YA and MG. See site for subgenres.

Women on Writing is hosting a flash fiction contest due Nov 30. Open prompt should be 750 words or less. The contest will be judged by agent Jessica Sinsheimer.

Savvy Authors is hosting a Pitch Your Book opportunity to Kerri Nelson of Prism Book Group on Nov 30.

Scribophile is hosting a NaNo Spectacular First Chapter contest. Ends Nov 30. Cash prizes of $50 and $25 available. You must be a member, but membership is free.

Scribophile is also hosting a Haiku Break Contest for cash prizes. Ends Nov 30.

Blog Hops and Flash Fiction:

Victoria Smith and Jaycee Delorenzo are hosting The Mating Game Blog Hop. Choose a couple from your MS. On Dec 3 hop around to five judges' blogs where they will have dating game type questions for your characters to answer. Then post those answers on Dec 10.

Romantic Friday Writers is hosting Holiday Spirit Blogfest. They are looking for excerpts of up to 800 words (fiction or nonfiction) that focus on a family tradition, unique family recipes, inspirational articles - anything that captures the holiday spirit of whichever holiday you celebrate. The linky will be open from Dec 12-31.

I'm a Reader Not a Writer and Oasis for YA are hosting their third annual Mid Winter's Eve Giveaway Hop. Sign up if you'd like to participate in the giveaway, or check out the list of 100+ bloggers already signed up to giveaway great prizes! Dec 21-27.

Morgan Shamy, Mark Koopmans, David Powers King and Stephen Tremp are hosting Cheers, Cavanaugh Blogfest on Dec 10-12. Pay tribute to rock-star blogger Alex Cavanaugh by answering questions that describe him: What does he look like? Who would play him in a documentary? Who does Alex remind you of? There is a bit of flash fiction fun and you can comment to Mrs. Cavanaugh for bonus points. Since Cavanaugh is such an enigma, these answers will be fun to read. The prize is one of the best parts... signed copy of CassaStar or a picture of Alex and a download of him playing his guitar (either of which are not to be shared online). The masterminding behind this one cracks me up. Well done Morgan, Mark, David and Stephen!

Emily R King and Tammy Theriault are hosting "And You Are...?" Blog Hop. For this clever and entertaining blog hop, Mrs. Claus is giving away three presents to three lucky people who answer David Spade's interview questions. Dec 3.

Word and Stuff is hosting Baby Faces Blogfest on Dec 2-3. For Trisha's first blogfest celebrating her blogiversary, post a picture of yourself as a baby/toddler or tell a story about yourself when you were a baby.

Tyrean Martinson and M. Pax are hosting Hobbit Fest. To celebrate the movie's release, Tyrean and M. Pax have four Hobbit related questions for you to answer. Dec 14.

Giveaways:

The Giveaway of all Giveaways....Beth Revis is giving away nearly 50 signed books - and amazing titles at that. Seriously - go to her site just to see the list she's complied. Ends Nov 30.

Smitten Over Books is giving away a pre-order for one of 11 upcoming new releases next year. Ends Dec 25.

Contest Circuit: November 19

Happy Thanksgiving week! I have so much to be thankful for this holiday season. At the very top of that list are family and friends - new friends, old friends, blogging friends...I'm very lucky to have such great people in my life. Safe travels for those of you traveling this week! May you all be surrounded be good company and good food.  

Contests: 

Pitch Wars. 31 agented authors or industry interns "coaches" will be teaming up with aspiring authors. Nov 26 coaches will post the genres they are interested in working with. Dec 5 aspiring authors will apply to their 3 top choices for coaches. If picked, each coach will read and give comments about your entire manuscript and query. Jan 23-24 Agents will read pitches and make requests. See any of the coaches' sites for details like Monica B.W's site Love YA!

Women on Writing is hosting a flash fiction contest due Nov 30. Open prompt should be 750 words or less. The contest will be judged by agent Jessica Sinsheimer.

Savvy Authors is hosting a Pitch Your Book opportunity to Kerri Nelson of Prism Book Group on Nov 30.

Scribophile is hosting a NaNo Spectacular First Chapter contest. Ends Nov 30. Cash prizes of $50 and $25 available. You must be a member, but membership is free.

Scribophile is also hosting a Haiku Break Contest for cash prizes. Ends Nov 30.

Blog Hops and Flash Fiction:

Victoria Smith and Jaycee Delorenzo are hosting The Mating Game Blog Hop. Choose a couple from your MS. On Dec 3 hop around to five judges' blogs where they will have dating game type questions for your characters to answer. Then post those answers on Dec 10.

Romantic Friday Writers is hosting Holiday Spirit Blogfest. They are looking for excerpts of up to 800 words (fiction or nonfiction) that focus on a family tradition, unique family recipes, inspirational articles - anything that captures the holiday spirit of whichever holiday you celebrate. The linky will be open from Dec 12-31.

I'm a Reader Not a Writer and Oasis for YA are hosting their third annual Mid Winter's Eve Giveaway Hop. Sign up if you'd like to participate in the giveaway, or check out the list of 100+ bloggers already signed up to giveaway great prizes! Dec 21-27.

Morgan Shamy, Mark Koopmans, David Powers King and Stephen Tremp are hosting It's Time to Give Back on Dec 10-12. They will be sharing details on November 19. Until then, they are keeping us all in suspense with their promises that this will be epic. Looking forward to learning more!!

Emily R King and Tammy Theriault are hosting "And You Are...?" Blog Hop. For this clever and entertaining blog hop, Mrs. Claus is giving away three presents to three lucky people who answer David Spade's interview questions. Dec 3.

MizB at Should Be Reading has several weekly events: Musing Mondays, Teaser Tuesdays, WWW Wednesdays and Friday Finds. For Musing Mondays, MizB asks and book/reading related question and you answer on your blog. Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme where you share 2 sentences from your current read to entice others to read it. For WWW Wednesdays, you share what you're reading, what you've just finished, and what you think you'll read next. Friday Finds shares books you've heard about throughout the week. See her site for details.

Alison Can Read and Parajunkie host Feature and Follow Friday. Want to build your followers? Sign up on their linky to meet new bloggers. Follow them, leave a comment and they will follow you. Once a week, one blogger is featured. See their site for more details.

Tyrean Martinson and M. Pax are hosting Hobbit Fest. To celebrate the movie's release, Tyrean and M. Pax have four Hobbit related questions for you to answer. Dec 14.

Giveaways:

The Giveaway of all Giveaways....Beth Revis is giving away nearly 50 signed books - and amazing titles at that. Seriously - go to her site just to see the list she's complied. Ends Nov 30.

Tara Tyler and Cassie Mae have reached 500 followers and are giving away fabulous prizes to celebrate: a blog banner designed by Tara and a critique by Cassie. Ends Nov 21. 

Smitten Over Books is giving away a pre-order for one of 11 upcoming new releases next year. Ends Dec 25.

Wanted Readers and Live to Read are giving away 23 books of really great titles. Ends Nov 24.

I Miss You Blogfest

So for the first part of this blogfest, we are to list 1-3 bloggers we miss.

(1) Ruth Lauren Steven - No matter what Ruth writes about, she manages to crack me up. Ruth is doing NaNo right now, so she ha plenty going on. Still, I miss her posts.

(2) Hope Roberson - You can still find Hope over at Falling For Fiction, but some of my favorite posts from Hope have been on her own blog. Hope's had a very busy fall season that will likely continue into the winter. Hope has a very witty writing style that pinpoints exactly what I'm thinking or feeling in a humorous way.

(3) Now three bloggers I miss because I've been ridiculously busy and haven't stopped by their blogs as much as I'd like: Katie Mills aka Creepy Query Girl, Julie Dao at Silver Lining, and Rachel at Rachel Writes Things.

That's between 1 and 3 bloggers, right?

For the second part, people I'd miss if they stopped blogging. This list is even harder....I have about 30 blogs that I love to visit as often as I can and then others that I stop by less often and find myself asking why I don't stop by there more.  I love our hosts' blogs, Alex, Matt and Andrew, I've somehow negated them in my mind because they are our hosts (and that way I can still mention them and then mention more people).

(1) Barbara Watson and Natalie Aguirre are so classy and lovely they must be mentioned.

(2) Eeks! I had about ten other people I wanted to mention like Julie DeGuia for her Wordless Wednesday posts that I love and Suzy for The Big Reveal posts that are always so fascinating...but I've run out of writing time this morning!

This is my last official day of maternity leave. The family and I are off to Shedd Aquarium in Chicago and I'm running late (which is oh, so rare for me.....)

Each of these ladies is a seriously talented writer that can make just about any topic interesting!!

Hubby yelling (kind of)! Must go now!!!

Contest Circuit: November 12

Reason #54 why giveaways are so awesome: A couple weeks ago I entered Rebecca Taylor's giveaway for a Kindle and won. Since then I've become a Kindle addict.

Reason #19 why giveaways are so awesome: Because sometimes they also benefit a good cause. See Sharon Bayliss's giveaway below.

And while you're at it, sign up for one of theses fun and entertaining blog hops! I'm so impressed with the creativity behind these.

Contests: 
Women on Writing is hosting a flash fiction contest due Nov 30. Open prompt should be 750 words or less. The contest will be judged by agent Jessica Sinsheimer.

Blog Hops and Flash Fiction:

Andrew Leon, Matthew MacNish and Alex J. Cavanaugh are hosting "Oh, How I Miss You Blogfest" on Nov 16. List bloggers you miss who you haven't heard from in a while as well as 1-3 bloggers you would miss if they ever stopped blogging.

Victoria Smith and Jaycee Delorenzo are hosting The Mating Game Blog Hop. Choose a couple from your MS. On Dec 3 hop around to five judges' blogs where they will have dating game type questions for your characters to answer. Then post those answers on Dec 10.

I'm a Reader Not a Writer and Oasis for YA are hosting their third annual Mid Winter's Eve Giveaway Hop. Sign up if you'd like to participate in the giveaway, or check out the list of 100+ bloggers already signed up to giveaway great prizes! Dec 21-27.

Morgan Shamy, Mark Koopmans, David Powers King and Stephen Tremp are hosting It's Time to Give Back on Dec 10-12. They will be sharing details on November 19. Until then, they are keeping us all in suspense with their promises that this will be epic. Looking forward to learning more!!

Emily R King and Tammy Theriault are hosting "And You Are...?" Blog Hop. For this clever and entertaining blog hop, Mrs. Claus is giving away three presents to three lucky people who answer David Spade's interview questions. Dec 3.

MizB at Should Be Reading has several weekly events: Musing Mondays, Teaser Tuesdays, WWW Wednesdays and Friday Finds. For Musing Mondays, MizB asks and book/reading related question and you answer on your blog. Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme where you share 2 sentences from your current read to entice others to read it. For WWW Wednesdays, you share what you're reading, what you've just finished, and what you think you'll read next. Friday Finds shares books you've heard about throughout the week. See her site for details.

Alison Can Read and Parajunkie host Feature and Follow Friday. Want to build your followers? Sign up on their linky to meet new bloggers. Follow them, leave a comment and they will follow you. Once a week, one blogger is featured. See their site for more details.

To celebrate the release of her book, Haphazardly Implausible, Miss Jack Lewis Baillot is hosting a Book Blog Party. Sign up to be featured on her blog and write about your book or recent project. Sign up before Nov 14. Posts will be featured Dec 17-22 and Jan 7-12.

Tyrean Martinson and M. Pax are hosting Hobbit Fest. To celebrate the movie's release, Tyrean and M. Pax have four Hobbit related questions for you to answer. Dec 14.

Giveaways:

Sharon Bayliss is hosting a giveaway that supports the American Red Cross. Curiosity Quills is donating half of all proceeds for several of their books. To add her support, Sharon is giving them away. Enter the Rafflecopter for your chance to win them from her and support a great cause!