What does your Bookshelf say about You?

As a little girl, I envied my father's bookshelves, which had pride of place in our tiny living room. They were never far from my eyes or my greasy fingers -- I was forever nicking books and reading them inside the covers of my Social Studies or General Science texts. I was caught reading Anna Karenina at 10, Nana at about 12; I was poring through the complete works of Bernard Shaw at 15, along with generous helpings of Chekov, Tolstoy, Ibsen, Hemingway, Flaubert, Rabindranath Tagore, Neruda and of course, Shakespeare. Then came Camus, Kafka, Schopenhauer (which I persisted in, with the aid of distractions from M & B romances, Erle Stanley Gardner, and Alistair MacLean from the local library.)

All through that time, I never wondered what my father's bookshelves said about him. He was a self-taught reader (English was his second language, as it is mine) -- and his books were filled with notes in our mother tongue, and a variety of underlines.

But obviously folks believe that you can tell a lot about the man/ woman by the books he/she reads. Here's an article that says exactly that:

Your bookshelf is an intimate physical representation of your accomplishments (titles as trophies earned), aspirations (that ever growing to-read pile), associations (that book your boss gave to each employee), personal development (those self-help titles that urged you to talk to strangers), guilty pleasures (50 shades of beach reads), escapes (sci-fi to some, travelogues to others), memories (meeting that author, visiting that indie shop on vacation), interests (the bigger the Star Wars fan, the more Star Wars books) and countless other tells that another reader would unconsciously and immediately compare against their own shelf. And that's just the ingredients – how you organise, arrange, and display these titles should impart even more insight as to a reader's personality.

 
 Perhaps my father's collection showed a well-rounded and insatiably curious reader. I'll have to take a look at the shelves for any deeper insights when I visit him next.

My living room has no bookshelf. All of the shelves are in my study, where they cover two walls, and spur me on or distract me as I write, depending on my level of concentration for the day. They probably show I'm a random reader, with no defined taste, who would read almost anything, depending on her mood on any given day. The pic here is part of the only bookshelf that I could click without bending my back out of shape.

Where are your bookshelves placed, and what do you think they show about you? If you mail us pictures of your bookshelves (you can try me at atozstories at gmail dot com), along with your blog links, may be we could do a blog post series based on bookshelves and their owners.
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This post was brought to you by Damyanti from Amlokiblogs.

To every Author out there. . This post is for you.

Good morning wonderful A-to-Zers!  It is so wonderful to be posting here again.  

Today I am here to capture the attention of every published (or soon to be) author in the world!  (Okay, honestly that would take a lot of work and I really don't have the room for all of you. But you get the point). 

You see, last year I held  this wonderful event on my blog.  Let me tell you about it. 

Last year I did The Twelve Books for Christmas.  I interview 12 authors (per blog, there were three blogs signed up). And each author gave away a book or two or three or twelve.  :)  And we did this for the twelve days leading up to Christmas.  It was a TON of fun and even though it was short notice last year, it got a LOT of attention.

So why am I telling you about this in September?  Well here is why:

Last year I posted the "Are you an author" post on November 30th and it was incredibly difficult to get everything set up and even with my handy-dandy best friend, we still struggled getting everything ready on time.

SO, I am telling you this because I am hoping to get more than *36 authors signed up for The Twelve Days of Christmas.  :)  Want to know more? Interested in signing up?  Want to read the rules?  Everything can be found HERE on this form!

There is a slight mistake in the form.  It does say that Interview Questions will be sent out within the next week.  This is not true.  I will slowly be e-mailing out interview questions as it gets closer to the actual event! But knowing which authors are signing up ahead of time will make it easier to build up some hype!

Oh and if you're worried about participating because you are Indie, don't!  Want to know why? CLICK HERE! 

If you're worried about signing up because you are Traditionally published, don't!  Want to know why? CLICK HERE.

If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, please look at the form first and then feel free to comment or e-mail me!

Okay, now go fill out (or at least look at) the Sign up Form!

*We now have room for more than 100 authors for the Twelve Books for Christmas. 

Alright, so if you're a YA (or middle grade. And Adult by request) Author,  SIGN UP! Seriously, what do you have to lose??  

If you're NOT an (Published) Author,  go tell all your friends who are about this post!  Spread the word!  Because, hey, that means more books for you to win right?

~Konstanz

nothoughts2small.blogspot.com       ~     thewriterace.blogspot.com

It's October and I am in a A to Z Challenge PANIC!!

Hail to the King, Baby!

Yes, we behind the scenes of have been [A to Z Team] working on our plans for the "A to Z Challenge 2013" and it makes me wonder what the heck I am going to do for 26 Letters... in 26 Days. There are many things going on in my life as I am sure you all have something happening... I want you all you start you game plan, is there going to be a theme... or are you going to wing it?

-So how do you prepare for something that is so far away and yet.. so close?

-What will inspire you, how do you know?

-Who is thinking about it, right now?

-Are you thinking about right now, cause I brought it up?

Good I am glad I am not the only one, see it is a little early to start the panic.. but at least you are thinking about it...



In the meantime can I recommend a few things:

Retro-Zombie's: 500 Followers "Giveaway"

                            Spray Blood "Giveaway" [Ends Today]
Dave Wrote This "The Nineties Blogfest" [Oct 15th]
Ciara and Alex's "Did I Notice Your Book Blogfest" [Oct 17th]
 

Yeah, I know it feels like a set up, doesn't it... it really is not. I am truly in panic to think of what I am going to post this coming April. Do you have something that will help keep your mind occupied until then or are some really cool people thinking they are ready? See I didn't even mention my "NEATORAMA'S T-SHIRT" store, wait I just did... sorry I could not help myself.

I even put a photo of my cat "Gizmo" she is real relaxed...
alas she doesn't have to think about the challenge!
Jeremy Hawkins
[Retro-Zombie]