What's the Score Blogfest Winners

Thanks so much for everyone who came out to celebrate my blogiversary with me on Wednesday. I love blogfests, I love writing, and I love music, so what better way to celebrate? It was great fun learning about how people consider the music for the WIP, and what music people deem worthy of representing their work.

So much fun!

If you missed it, I put the Linky List at the bottom again, just in case :)

Now, as promised, there are PRIZES!

 

Based on the number of entries per person, I plugged the numbers into Random.org. Out of a total of 50 entries, Random.org picked numbers 2, 23, and 9, in that order. So...

The winner of a chapter or query critique is: 

Charity Bradford!

The winner of the $20 Amazon Gift Card is:  

Trisha from WORD+STUFF!

And the winner of the book of her choice from Amazon is: 

Alexis Fittinger!

I will get in touch with you in the next few days to make arrangements for you to get your prizes.

Thanks again to everyone for celebrating with me! I'll be back to regular posting on Wednesday.

What's the Score Blogfest, and Some Thanks

Happy June 1st. Today's my nephew's birthday, so I want to send a shout out to him.

Happy Birthday, Gabe!

Also, yesterday was my one-year blogiversary. It's hard to believe I've been blogging for a year, and I can see a huge difference in the way I blog then and now. Also in the way I write. I'm lucky to have stumbled into this bloggy world, to have made the friends I've made, and to have learned everything I've learned so far. You're all a part of that, and so I say

THANK YOU!

I could go in to thanking particular people, but that would take the entire next year, and the music just started playing, and they will soon usher me offstage. So, please know that you're all awesome and amazing, and I appreciate each of you for your individual creativity and spirit.

So, uh, Blogfest anyone?

In celebration of my blogiversary, I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate than with a blogfest. There are even prizes, and there's still time to play. Haven't signed up yet? Is it past midnight in your timezone? No worries. Send me an email at rlconnolly [at] gmail.com and I'll add your name to the Linky List.

What can you win? Check out the announcement. And stop by on Monday, June 6th, when I'll reveal the winners!

What's My Score?

I love my WIP. I've spent years with it, so I ought to. I think about it when I'm walking to and from classes and work, and the soundtrack makes it easier for me to concentrate (and aren't you glad I'm thinking about my WIP instead of oncoming traffic?).

Here are a few of the best songs from my soundtrack. While I have a huge one for the entire three-book series, I tried to stick to songs that apply to book 1, since that's what I'm slaving over right now.


"Had to Go" by the Heartless Bastards
A few lines in this song sound as if they had been written with my WIP in mind.

"Winter Blue" by Heather Nova
I had my iPod on shuffle and this came on. I just about stumbled with how well it seemed to fit, and then I added it to my playlist.

"Everything She Does Is Magic" by the Police
Cliche? Maybe. I don't care. :)

"Starlight" by Muse
This song sounds like my male MC talking to me.

"Paparazzi" by Lady Gaga
Minus the line about eyeliner, this works pretty well, too. (I didn't pick the official video to link here, though, because I just don't get it.)

"Fool's Gold" by Lhasa de Sela
It's not so much the words to this song (although they kind of work) but the mood. Not to mention that her voice is one of the most amazing I've heard in my lifetime.

"Weird Fishes" and "15 Steps" by Radiohead
Wish I could explain these. They just move me and make me think of my WIP.

"Conspiracy" by Paramore
Okay, maybe this one doesn't ONLY apply to the first of the three. It applies to the whole thing.

What about you? What's your score?

Don't forget to visit the other participants today!

Scores, Strings, and A Crazy Little Thing Called Memberships

First, remember to sign up for the What's the Score Blogfest for June 1st. List songs you'd like to be in the soundtrack to your WIP, and win prizes just for participating. Click above or on the right for more details.




_____________________

Jessica Bell is organizing the promotion for her upcoming release, STRING BRIDGE. Think you might be interested in getting an ARC and posting a review? Being involved in the Amazon Chart rush? Her Blog Tour? Hope over to Jessica's blog and sign up.

If you missed the trailer:

_____________________

For those of you new to my life and woes, there's something you need to know:

I'm a recovering linguist.

This means several things for my writing. First, when I write, I have to focus A LOT on the voice, because I'm still trying to purse the academicese from my writing. Keeping my prose clean of the dry, scientific, observational sentence structures is tough. Seriously.

Another remnant of my linguist days are my society memberships. I'm a member of LSA, SLS, and  AATSEEL. I even freelance as an editor for the publisher of the journal associated with SLS. I'm in deep, folks... at least until I have to renew again in the winter. Then I can let those memberships laps.

But thinking about those has got me thinking about memberships in writerly organizations, and I don't know which are the best for a budding writer on a limited budget. For example, SCBWI is $85 for the first year. I'm sure it's worth it, but that figure about makes me want to faint. Membership in LSA was only $20! I could stay a linguist for four more years and still be able to buy lunch.

Okay, I'm done complaining.  SCBWI offers lots of great services and perks to members. The question is: do I belong there?

Really, that's the problem. I don't know where I belong. I could join SCBWI, but my work straddles YA and adult. Would SCBWI be a good fit for me? What about RWA (at $110)? I don't really consider myself a romance author, though there are strong tones of romance. How about SFWA? Well, a quick look at their website indicates that I'm not eligible, anyway.


So, help me out. What societies are out there for a writer trying to make her way? If you're a member, do you feel you get your money's worth from the dues? How do you make the most of your memberships?

Changes, Constants, and the Big Announcement

Anyone know what happened to Blogger over the past few days? I suppose that’s what I get for delaying my announcement.

So, as some of your may know, I just finished my time in graduate school. Hurray! I’ve decided to move on to other things—like writing (plus a part-time gig)—to while away the hours. For a while it didn’t look possible, but my husband was offered a pretty nice new job with his shiny new PhD. We’ll be moving in August, though just across town. My life is full of changes right now, though they’re all for the better.

But I’ve got one consistent thing in my life… okay, yeah, I’ve got TONS of them, considering we’re not moving to South Dakota or Peru or something. But, when it comes to the relevance of this blog, I have something that’s strongly consistent.

The blog itself.

May 31st marks my one-year blogiversary!

And you know me. I HAVE to celebrate. What does that mean?

BLOGFEST :)

To celebrate, I’m hosting the What’s the Score Blogfest.

On June 1st, post any number of songs, artists, composers, posers, who/whatever that you might want to include in the soundtrack to your WIP. YOU’RE IN CHARGE! You make the soundtrack the way you want it.

Don’t have a WIP? Is your WIP’s soundtrack personal and not something you want to share? No problem! Take your favorite book, or the book your reading right now, or a book you remember well, and make a soundtrack for it.

Want to enter? The Linky List is at the bottom of the page.

Are you thinking, “Meh. Too much work?” Can I add a little incentive?

No celebration is complete without prizes, right?

Prizes:

• Every person who participates is automatically entered to win either a $20 AMAZON GIFT CARD.
• Every person who participates is automatically entered to win a BOOK OF HIS/HER CHOICE from Amazon.
• Anyone who WANTS to have their name added to win either a CHAPTER CRITIQUE or a QUERY CRITIQUE, just let me know in a comment ON THIS POST.

Odds of winning?

Honestly, I have no idea, and I’m horrible at statistics, so I can’t really answer that.

HOWEVER, would you like a better chance to win?

• +1 participating
• +2 current follower (as of 5/13/11) / +1 new follower
• +1 for Tweeting (max. 3; include @rosieanabelle in your Tweet)
• +1 for Facebook post (please provide a link)
• +3 for adding the graphic to your sidebar (please provide a link)
• +5 for posting about it (please provide a link)

That’s a total maximum of 15 points. Talk about increasing your odds!

Well, I hope the announcement was worth the wait, especially with Blogger being funny. Hope to see you on June 1!