Ever have one of those days when the best thing about the day is that it’s Friday and the end of the work week?
Yeah, that’s been me, pretty much since Wednesday (except then, it wasn’t Friday, which made it all that much worse). Then, through the magic that is our 21st century technology, I was alerted to this:
It’s a Polyvore devoted to Bethany from The Geek Girl’s Guide to Cheerleading. The little details are amazing and made me smile–like the Lara Croft image, and the T-wolves, and a fantastic cheer uniform, and, and, and … I could go on. Oh, the embedded music (told you I could go on). You’ll have to click through for that.
All in all, a fun way to end the week and start the weekend.
Are you a YA writer looking for feedback? Want to help a good cause? Head on over to Cynthea Liu’s web site and auction where’s she’s raising money for a Title I school in her home state of Oklahoma: Tulakes Elementary.
While you’re there, take a gander at Darcy’s page. If you have the high bid, here’s what you’ll win:
One critique of a query letter or the first five-pages of your double-spaced manuscript for a young adult novel. You’ll also get an autographed copy of The Geek Girl’s Guide to Cheerleading and candy. Woah.
Candy too? I had no idea. How come Darcy never gives me candy when she critiques my work? I may have to pout.
Seriously, I can vouch for the quality of Darcy’s feedback. Head on over, get some great feedback, and help support a wonderful cause.
Plus, we’re gearing up for our big blog tour that starts on Monday. We’ll be here–and somewhere else–through the end of June. If you follow us around the ‘net and comment, you’ll be in the running for a big, geeky prize pack.
But first, do you write? Do you have a work in progress, a draft that is demanding to be finished? Need a little extra motivation–and maybe win a prize.
Then check out The 1st Annual Complete Your Draft Contest over at Chronicles of a Newbie. There are all sorts of prizes, an Amazon Gift card, an iTunes gift card, and … maybe signed copies of a few YA novels to boot. (You might see The Geek Girl’s Guide to Cheerleading on the list. You just might.)
So, if you’re a writer with a first draft and you’re looking for a little support, head on over.
It’s opening day — the most hopeful 24 hours in a baseball geek’s year. To celebrate we bring you poetry:
How To Play Night Baseball
By Jonathan Holden
A pasture is best, freshly
mown so that by the time a grounder’s
plowed through all that chewed, spit-out
grass to reach you, the ball
will be bruised with green kisses.
Copyright laws prevent us from showing you the rest of this amazing poem, but if you’d like to see more of this and other baseball poetry please visit Baseball Almanac.
And Music:
It’s not the greatest recording ever, but it is the most wondrous geeky baseball song in the universe. Here are the lyrics:
cubs in five by the mountain goats:
they’re gonna find intelligent life up there on the moon
and the canterbury tales will shoot up to the top of the best seller list
and stay there for 27 weeks
and the chicago cubs will beat every team in the league
and the tampa bay bucs will make it all the way to january
and i will love you again
i will love you, like i used to
i will love you again
i will love you, like i used to
the stars are gonna spell out the answers to tommorow’s crosswords
and the phillips corporation will admit that they’ve made an awful mistake
and bill gates
will single handedly spearhead the heaven seventeen revival
and the chicago cubs will beat every team in the league
and the tampa bay bucs will take it all the way to the top
and i will love you again
i will love you, like i used to
and i will love you again
i will love you, like i used to
Go Cubs!
And what’s baseball without hot dogs … and and, of course, gratuitous pictures of bacon (mmmmmm, bacon).
Typically, Charity’s Jane Austen action figure sits on her desk, both inspiring her and cajoling her (Jane is a sharp task mistress).
This, of course, is when she hasn’t been spirited away by Charity’s daughter to join in with The Littlest Pet Shop figures for all sorts of adventures.
Today, however, Jane is much dismayed that April showers are, in actuality, April snow showers.
Very vexing, indeed.
Jane would like to remind everyone that April is National Poetry Month. You can read a poem a day (on the web or via email) over at the Borzoi Reader. They do this in April and only in April, and you wont be flooded with emails any other time if you sign up.
The deadline on this one is coming up quick: April 16. But that doesn’t mean you don’t have time to enter. It’s all online, and there’s no entry free. See the site for more details, but essentially you continue the story, only in Sophie’s point of view.
So if you’re 13 to 18 years of age, if you like novels in verse, and if you want a chance to win a writing class at Gotham or an autographed copy of What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know, click through, click through.
I recently finished What My Mother Doesn’t Know and enjoyed it immensely, but clearly, I’m behind in my reading.
THE YOUNKIN-RIVERA PRIZES FOR YOUNG WRITERS AT SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY CARBONDALEA nationwide competition for creative writers aged 15-18. Entries accepted during the month of April in the genres of poetry and prose.
Prize in each category: $250 and a full tuition scholarship to the 2009 Young Writers Workshop at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
To enter in both poetry and prose: send no more than 2 poems (limit of 25 lines each) and one essay or story (of no more than 1000 words) per entrant, along with an entry fee of $10. Entries longer than the limits listed above will be returned, along with their entry fees.
To enter, send your submissions, postmarked from April 1 to April 30, 2009. Entrants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents.
The Young Writers Workshop will be held in 2009 from June 23 to June 27, 2009.
This competition is open to juniors and seniors currently enrolled in high school. Three prizes of $250 each will be awarded both in fiction and in poetry. Students may send a single entry in each genre (one poem and/or one short story or novel chapter).
All entries must be typed, with the student’s name, home address, telephone number, high school name and address, and the genre (poetry or fiction) of the work on the first page. Entries must be postmarked by March 15, 2009. Awards will be announced May 15, 2009. Please keep a copy, as entries cannot be returned.
This competition will be judged by faculty in the Writing Program at Washington University, including fiction writers Kathryn Davis, Marshall Klimasewiski and Kellie Wells, and poets Mary Jo Bang and Carl Phillips.
For more information, see the website. And if you enter, good luck!
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