Well, not quite all...yes, Christmas was a sweat bath--no roast dinners at my place--but we are continuing to experience heatwave conditions with resultant bushfires which are ripping through the country destroying properties and livestock. Just as well Aussies are a tough lot. Thank God for firefighters! What would we do without them?
Meanwhile, those of us who are not in bushfire areas are surviving on-going temperatures up to 43 deg. Celsius (109 deg. F), by moving from an air-conditioned room, to an air-conditioned car, to an air-conditioned shopping centre, to the pool, to the beach...none of which is conducive to writing. However, write we must...
RomanticFridayWriters has hit the road again, so I wrote my first flash fiction for the year--my story is below this post. I managed to squeeeze the bushfires in, along with a touch of Hugh Jackman.
RFW's FEBRUARY CHALLENGE will be announced in a week's time. It's going to be wow! Hope you can join the writing train--you will have 3 weeks to come up with a 1,000 word max. story/poem after the prompt is announced.
So, moving right along, there are lots of upcoming blogfests in this wonderful community...I've picked a few to pass along. I hope to enter all...
This one is already underway. I'm hoping to find time to slip it in...
To celebrate the release of her novel, you guessed it. 18 Things, Jamie is hosting a blogfest. Between Jan 17 - 24 you can post your 18 Things bucket list. I've been reading some, and they're awesome!
Jamie says:
All you have to do is blog about things on your bucket list. If you don’t have a bucket list, you should, and now is the perfect time to start! If you’re not sure what a bucket list is (blasphemy!), it’s something completely personal that each person should do (IMHO). It’s a great reminder that gives an extra boost to live life to the fullest and keep us looking forward, even when life wants to drag us down sometimes. Finish a marathon? Read the top 100 books? I’m looking for fun, heart-pumping, poignant, or inspirational things that you want to want to do, or maybe already crossed off your list. And it doesn’t have to be 18 Things . . . it can be anywhere from 1-18 things (I just needed my title to get out there. Marketing trolls said so!)
Anyone who posts their 18 Things between January 17th-24th can enter to win a number of prizes.
Click the bucket link to sign up, then read about all the fab prizes--some are already gone, so hurry...
Next blogfest please:
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| Click on the badge to sign up -- there's already 69 peeps! |
The first is the Re-Introduce Myself blogfest on January 28, brainchild of Stephen Tremp, Mark Koopmans, Elise Fallson and C.M.Brown. who say:
2012 was an amazing year as so many new authors, writers, poets, musicians, and people with something to share such as recipes and movie reviews joined the blogging community. We visit other blogger’s sites and they visit us. But many new bloggers and the more established ones often don't really know much about each other.
So mark January 28th on your calendar for an opportunity to re-introduce ourselves to the ever-expanding blogging community. Simply take a moment and tell us something interesting about yourself. Anything. It can be about writing. Or blogging. Or a hidden talent. Perhaps you’re in the Witness Protection Program. Feel free to keep your post short. This is meant to be a quick and fun Blogfest. I’m keeping mine under 100 words.
Then we have:
Click on the badge for more info...
The Sarcasm Goddess is the whackiest blogger I know. If you enjoy sarcasm and all sorts of ironic posts, you need to follow her. Now she's come up with the idea of sharing one or two of your bestest posts in 2012--bring them out for an airing so to speak.
She says:
Two weeks from now, on January 31st I will be hosting a linky open to all bloggers. Link up one or two of your favorite posts from 2012 and/or link up one of your most favorite posts of another blogger! And please, spread the word so we can meet lots of new bloggy friends!
The date again is January 31st, because what better day to celebrate last year than on the last day of the first month of this year!
Next Please...
Help me celebrate the release of Retribution by submitting your most interesting stories of people taking another shot at a relationship.
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· There is no restriction as it pertains to form or genre. Stories can be fact or fiction. Use your imagination, make your stories attention-grabbing.
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Somewhere in there, you must tell the reader why the couple broke up and why they feel compelled to get back together. This can be done from any of your characters’ point-of-view.
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Somewhere in there, you must tell the reader why the couple broke up and why they feel compelled to get back together. This can be done from any of your characters’ point-of-view.
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· The word cap is 500.
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· Indicate on your blog post, by the relevant badge, whether you’re in the fact or fiction category.
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· There will be voting and prizes, so it’ll be a reader’s choice situation, where you get to choose your favourite anecdote/poem/refection/story. The best piece of fact and fiction—as determined by your vote—will receive a $10.00 Amazon Gift Card, so that’s two prizes.
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I will be reaching out to a few trusty bloggers so that in the event of ties, we can have a tie break decision. If we cannot decide on a winner in either category, prizes will be divvied up between the best two entries and the loot (meagre as it is) shared.
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I hope you’ll join the fun and sign up below to participate. Entries open now, so get cracking on those stories. (NOTE change of date from Feb 1 to Feb 14 - Valentine's Day!)
Last but not least...
This bloghop is to help Andrew who has cerebal-palsy. Nick Wilford wants your 500 words of flash fiction on the theme, Overcoming Adversity. He will collate the stories and all proceeds will go towards Andrew's college fund. This is a great challenge. I hope you'll join me in posting a story between Feb 4-5th.
So I'll wipe my fevered brow and leave you with these inspiring thoughts...I'm doing a lot of the Read, Read, Read, Read (in my air-conditioned bedroom.) Have already read 7 books in January. Luckily, I don't need much sleep!
- Are you finding it hard to get writing in 2013?
- Does weather influence your writing? Good or bad way...
- What are your writer's goals for the year?
- Are you inspired to enter any of these blogfests/bloghops?
- Do you know of any more blogfests? Leave a comment...
23 comments:
I'm signed up for several of those blogfests
We are warm and then cold, Some winter!
Wow! What a lot of blogfests. And that is one heck of a way to picnic on the beach.
At the moment I am focusing on my existing WIPs instead of writing new stuff. But one of this year's goals it to write 1k of new writing each week, so I'll be doing new stuff as well. And of course there is BuNoWriMo and, later, NaNoWriMo, to think about. But for now, I'm fixated no revision! And I'm not having a problem getting stuck right in.
The weather does affect my writing, in that when it's gross and humid I really am not in the mood to do anything at all!
Yeah, I got to 'enjoy' 46C in Sydney last week. That was a mite too hot. No air-con either, just fans.
Many blogfests!
HI, Denise,
Why you are sweltering we are FREEZING here in Chicago... a high of q 12 with a 0 degree windchill. BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! At least the sun is bright, but OH so deceptive. It looks warm until you set out the door and get bowled over by the 30 mph FRIGID wind.
Thanks for all the news on blogfests. I have entered several and hope to do the rest.
Yes, I am influenced by the weather. I write best on GREY days.... When the sun is out, I want to be too! EXCEPT TODAY! LOL.
Those all look like great blogfests! I've already signed up for Nick's I'll have to figure out which other ones I can do.
Stay cool! Wish I could send you some of our frigid weather.
Oh and somehow I just found out I wasn't a follower on this blog! I thought I was, now I am! :)
Good goals Trisha. Had plenty of the gross and humid lately!
46C. Not right is it?
It is hard to imagine how cold it is over there...and all the snow in the UK and Paris.
If i didn't write when the sun was out, I'd never write, lol!
I thought you were following too. Lately the Google Friend thing is a bit strange.:-(
It is hot here again air con going now lets move onto those blogfests they sound awesome thanks for telling me all about them
I actually bought a swimsuit and got in the water with the kids last week. First time in years and years. It was too hot to be embarrassed. Our poor aircon is going lots and lots, but today was nicer with bits of rain.
WOW, so many blogfests! I'm going to try to do some of them. I've been mostly re-writing since New Year, but really looking forward to meeting up with our writers group again next week!
Hi Denise!
Thanks for posting about all these wonderful blog fests!
It's sweltering hot here.
Nas
Hey, Denise,.
Thanks for the shout out. I've shifted the date on mine to Feb 14 and plan to enter a couple of the blogfests. Have shiny, new badges and all to. It's hot around here too, but not unbearable since it's the start of the year. Hope things cool down soon.
A blog hop to help Andrew. This is wonderful...
Heat sounds terrible over there, though. 109! Gasp. I've only experienced this kind of heat in the far southwest desert corner of Utah, in a small town where Jen and I lived from 2000 to 2005, St. George, Utah. I HATED the heat. No bush fires, though. That is what is so awful for those Aussies who are thus afflicted! They do sound tough, though, and yes, firefighters are the most service-minded human beings. They put their lives on the line for us!
Congratulations to Joy!
And what a slew of awesome blog hops. I'll have to participate in one or the other. Hmmm...
Sad to hear about the bushfires.
I do wish we had your heat, though! It's a dry heat, isn't it? I'd love that... We have the exact opposite here; it's -38C with the wind chill today!
Hi Deniz, no, not dry heat, unfortunately--very humid! But hey, woke up today and it's raining!! Woo hoo! And a bit cooler. Maybe the worst is over.
Hope you do get to participate in some of the blogfests. D
Great to hear from you Ann. Today I woke to rain and cooler weather. Perhaps we've turned the corner. I hope the rain heads down south and helps put out some of the bushfires!! Or al of them!!
(((hugs))) Ann and Jen!
And why shouldn't you parade around in a swimsuit? Nothing better, lol! Rain at last!! Looking forward to next Wednesday!! D
That is hot. We were at 6 F a few weeks ago, but have been above freezing the past few days, which is weird for here in January.
Bloggyland is crazy busy lately, but it's wonderful to see. I'm signed up for several of those.
Wow lots of great info here!
And those pics are incredible! The sand sofa is too cool, but that pic of the koala!!! omgosh. Wow. Thanks for sharing that!
It's pretty warm here in FLA too, but not quite as hot as you.
Wow, so much going on. You're an angel for organizing events so we can see what's what. Denise, the fires/extreme weather you're experiencing have been/are in the news here. One video footage of a fire looked like the gates of hell had opened it was so horrific. Our extreme winter isn't nearly as deadly or disastrous. However, there is thick pollution over Salt Lake City, much like China's pollution, that worries.
One of the comments about English 'translations' said never to use the word 'fanny' in Australia. We have something here called a 'fanny pack' (sorta like a little backpack) that is commonly used. I can see how a tourist could use such a word without knowing it's offensive. When you have a chance, could you e-mail me (kittiehoward@gmail.com) and translate this word? Many thanks!
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