Shauna Kelley: The Joy of the Season and the Benefits of Blogging

Please join me in welcoming Shauna Kelley, who participated in the challenge for the first time last year. I'm happy to say she'll be joining us again. She's here today to tell us about the books she's published recently.  

I am honored to be here. The A to Z Challenge was the first challenge I particulate in, and has helped to  welcome me into/teach me about blogging.  I am particularly grateful to be here in December!

December is my favorite month. I am a lover of decorating, a huge fan of baking, and most of all, a rabid gift-giver. I am doing a Friday series over on my blog on my favorite gifts, but here I want to focus on the gifts that being part of this blog community provides me. 

I blog because I write. I started my blog to promote my first book, Max and Menna, and, as people who blog solely to promote their work often learn, it was ineffectual. I took too long to realize that my blog was not a podium, but a conversation. 

I now know that the benefit of my blog is not in having space to talk about my work, but in having a way to connect with writers. For centuries, writing has been an isolated profession. Now, the blog world offers us a community in which to support, encourage, and celebrate with each other. This is a gift, and one of the best ones I’ve received in a long, long time.  

The power of this gift rang through loud and clear during the launch of my second book,  Don't Wake Up, which was deemed by more than 40 agents and small presses to be “unmarketable.” It is the story of Gillian, who plays a dangerous game with her husband. He awoke from a coma claiming he cannot remember their life, but she recalls all too well years of manipulation and pain. She invents a family in attempt to get Ricky to acknowledge that this, too, is a lie. However, as her deceit grows, she begins to wonder how far she can go to punish a man for sins he cannot remember committing.

After so many rejections, I might never have published the book if it weren’t for the community around my blog helping me to understand:

• When you’re telling your community about an achievement (like publishing a book) it is no longer just self promotion (which I find very uncomfortable) but instead becomes sharing good news with friends.
• The market for my “unmarketable” book is right here. I have friends here that appreciate my book despite its length, its subject, and everything that makes it “high risk” to a press.  

We’re all here for different reasons, but we’re all here. And now that you can definitely tell that Christmas brings out my mushy side, know that I am thankful to be writing now when I have this gift of a community!

Thanks for being with us, and  helping to get us in the spirit of the Christmas season.
- Tina

Letter Play - Wickedly Wrecked and Weary

The following roundup is brought to you by Nicole at The Madlab Post...

It’s time for Letter Play - Where DIY activities, cinema and life offline collide!

Items in and around the house featuring Letter W have been hard to come by when working on today's post.  Add to that the fact that I'm tired and wiped out from a long, hectic, stressful week -- the last thing I want to do is look at a computer or take photographs. So instead of going through new W's, let's take a look at some of the previous letter play posts that followed this series' metamorphosis:

W's for Wordsmiths

First glance clues: Two of the W's are from food items while the remaining one is from a printed publication.

Crazy C's

First glance clues: All of the C's are from items found in the grocery store aisles but one of them is also sold at locations that house goldfish and turtles.

That's all folks!

Have a Happy Friday...

NICOLE

@MadlabPost on Twitter

Special Challenge Participant - Sydney Aaliyah and Australia

Today’s Special Challenge Participant Feature is Sydney Aaliyah! Her Challenge theme was “Traveling in Australia.” So if you’ve ever wanted to explore the land down under, here are some highlights from Sydney.

When did you make your trip to Australia and why did you select that theme?

My trip to Australia was on April 14th to 21st, 2012. It was a birthday present for my boss/friend who was turning 50.

M was for musicians – name some Australian musicians.

Australia has a lot of great musicians from the 80’s that I loved. Icehouse, and Crowded House (not sure what’s with the house theme) had some good songs. Savage Garden I discovered because my hometown radio station was one of the first in America to play their song.
But, the ultimate Australian band had to be INXS. I saw them in concert twice and was a big fan.

Icehouse called Australia the “Prisoner Island” – is that true?

Australia has a unique history in that it was a penal Colony for England back in the early 1800’s. England would send all their murders, rapist and seasonal criminals there. A lot of them died in transit as well. It must not have been easy to get from England to Australia back in those days.
As far as today, I spent my whole trip in Sydney and didn’t notice much of a criminal element. I did meet one guy who said he had been trying to leave Australia for years, but couldn’t. I think that was more of a personal economic issue.

Tell us about the area known as The Rocks.

The Rocks was a great neighborhood in Sydney. Near the water front. It reminds me of The French Quarter in New Orleans and Georgetown in Washington, D.C. Like the neighborhoods I mentioned above, Sydney’s the Rocks as the following characteristics;
 1st floor old and new retail/restaurants and bars (Ralph Lauren next to an art gallery that has been there for 100 years)
 2nd floor apartments/condos w/balconies (in the quarter, rent is still reasonable, but in GT and TR expensive)
 alley ways that have the coolest shops (Alley Cat Jazz, Blue Note Club, I will find out tonight)
 Wine bars/coffee shops (not Starbucks)/brewhouses
 tourist shops
 One great breakfast spot – (Clover Street Grill, Peacock Cafe, Pancakes on the Rocks)

What was your favorite place?

The views from the top of the Sky Harbor Bridge was my favorite.

Since I’m all about the movies, who are some of Australia’s movie stars?

Why are their so many great movie stars from Australia? My all time favorites are all from Australia:
Cate Blanchett – favorite role, Katherine Hepburn in The Aviator – Oscar win
Russell Crowe – favorite role, Maximus Decimus Meridius in Gladiator – Oscar win
Hugh Jackman – favorite role, Charlie Kenton in Real Steel – I got crap for this pick, but I stand by it. Robots, a boy and his father.
Heath Ledger – favorite role, William Thatcher in A Knight’s Tale, but I have to mention his performance as The Joker in The Dark Knight. –Oscar win

Did you have a vegemite sandwich while you were there?

I didn’t only because a couple of my employees are from Australia and they had introduced me to Vegemite before. No a big fan. The taste is unexpected. If you’ve tried it and didn’t grow up on it, you know what I mean.

If you do the Challenge next year, what theme will you tackle?

Wow. Yes, I will absolutely commit to doing it next year. It was my first blog hop activity that I every participated in and it was where I meet Alex and Arlee and the rest of the crew. They have my continuous and undying support and devotion.
But, a theme, this early, I haven’t a clue. I am open for suggestions. Go ahead, challenge me.

You heard her - challenge Sydney!

Co-host Ninja Captain Alex is the author of CassaStar and CassaFire and his blog can be found HERE