1. Congratulations, Tara Tyler. You won a copy of POSSUM SUMMER. I think you’re the first person ever to earn a contest prize by posting a note on her blog.
2. Peeps, last week I alluded to my involvement on a small scale with the Red Cross-Writer Unboxed pairing. There are some great prizes available until Sunday evening, including:
- Critique from authors, editors and agents on query letters, proposals and partials
- A custom blog design
- Interior book design for an indie author
- My humble offering, which is a Writer’s Hope book bag. Here are the details:
You are bidding on a selection of books about writing, donated by aspiring author, Jan O’Hara. The titles included are: Betsy Lerner’s Forest for the Trees, Ralph Keyes’ Writer’s Book of Hope, Lott and Pickard’s Seven Steps on the Writer’s Path, and Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird.
If you’ve thought of buying these books and have held off, now would be an excellent time to place a bid. All monies go to the Red Cross. I’d appreciate it if you pass the word, not just for my entry, but for the auction proper.
3. Lastly, a video I learned of it through @CloviasLawn, a woman so wicked smart she’s been known to break my brain. If you’re on Twitter, follow her and tell her I sent you. 😉 Or don’t. Whatever you do, just don’t step on her lawn!
Filmed in Toyko in January, this piece is entitled Dragon and Peony: Sword Dance and Shadowgraph. I find it poignant, given recent events
As I talk with people, I’m astonished by how many of us have a connection to Japan. We all know friends who live there, or we have visited that country ourselves and become personally attached. Other than being glued to the news, have you been affected by what’s going on a half-world away?
Wow. A first =)
You’re doing some great things with your blog. Glad I follow it.
Thanks again!
Thanks so much, Tara. And congrats. When it’s in stock I’ll get that shipped off to you. 🙂
Thanks for the mention, lady. Japan has given a lot of beauty to the world, especially those of the nerdly persuasion. Sometimes I forget how small the physical footprint of the country really is. I was struck today by news images of old people making chopsticks from bamboo they’d gathered themselves, and neighbors boiling snow they trucked down from the mountains to share. Their strength and resilience is humbling.
(I think you knew, Jan, that my current wip is based in large part on Japanese folklore? So the last 18 mos or so had been spent doing research.)
It’s amazing how catastrophe can bring out the best in people. The Japanese place such high value on discipline and contribution to society, I’m not surprised, per se, but I don’t know if I’d demonstrate half the grace they’re showing, if put in similar circumstances.