Blog

7/2/08

I have just volunteered to write a monthly column on grammar tips for the TWC Spotlight newsletter put out by The Writer's Chatroom. Awesome!

6/27/08

Learned I took Honorable Mention in a mystery story contest that I entered in November. The story will be published in a future issue of the magazine, which comes out quarterly. I'll make sure to update my pubbed credits page with the story link when it comes out! Yay me! Oh, I had a hand in helping the 3rd place winner polish his story. Maybe I helped too much? :)

6/21/08

Lost my entire blog from tripod today, so I've converted over to blogspot. It's so much easier to use and update. Just really pissed that I lost the reviews and interviews that I had on the original blog. (grrrrrr)

6/20/08

Hosted Kim Richards as a stop on her VBT today. Have quite an interview with her, and she has shared a lot of great links. Her new novel Death Masks is a chilling read.

6/19/08

Was asked by Sandy Lender about why I use a pseudonym and how I came up with the name. See my reply on her blog.

4/3/08

I created a MySpace page. So many folks have one, and it certainly can't hurt to get my name out there some more. I've actually got quite a few friends already! I plan to use it for networking, and for meeting other writers - particularly those in New England. I love meeting other creative types, and finding those in my 'neck of the woods' is something that has always interested me. So, hopefully it'll be a cool place to be. We'll see!

4/1/08

More exciting news! I'm now on the staff of TWC - The Writer's Chatroom. I'll be moderating a monthly author chat, finding authors to bring to the chatroom, researching, writing newsletter articles, updating blogs, and who knows what else. I love what they do in supporting writers, and the authors they bring in are incredible - generous with their time and willing to share themselves with the audience. I've been wanting to be involved with them (other than as a participant) for a while now, and here I am - on the team! Woo hoo!

Feel free to subscribe to their email list so you'll be notified of upcoming author chats - you may find a new author to read AND meet! The 'Celebrity Sunday' chats are held every Sunday from 7-9PM EST.

The site has a plethora of information - so if you're a writer, check it out, you won't be sorry!

3/31/08

Wow. This is cool. I received a copy of "Kytos - The Dark Beyond: The Rathing Chronicles" from John von Kesmark (the author) today. I assisted him with editing the manuscript last year and the book is now in print. Not only did he autograph it for me but I'm actually listed in the Acknowledgements! I hadn't known that ahead of time. He gives me a nice plug. "Thanks are due to Lisa Haselton in the USA for her initial critique, advice, and editorial role and for putting me right on the correct use of 'English-American' phrases..." This is another first that I'm celebrating. :)

3/16/08

I hosted my first-ever Virtual Book Tour (VBT) stop yesterday on my author blog Reviews and Interviews. A VBT is where an author "stops by" and answers questions, but instead of being in person in a book store, they are online on a blog. Being 'virtual' allows authors to reach an audience worldwide from the comfort of their home office. It's a cool concept and I didn't have a full understanding of it until this experience.

I hosted debut author Jordan Dane. We had an interview and then she fielded questions all day from visitors. There was trouble with the blog for a part of the day, but once that was fixed, the questions and answers free flowed. (another learning experience) I'm looking forward to hosting more authors this year. Already have 2 lined up for April!

3/1/08

Just found out I took 2nd place in a flash (500 words or less) fiction contest. Yippee!

1/16/08

I received an Honorable Mention 4th place for the 2007 Muse Contest. My story isn't published on the site, but I'm not able to shop it around. When it's published, you can be sure I'll post it on the published credits page! I'm told I'd be surprised at how close to third I was, so the story is a winner.

The theme was "winter", and the story had to have a surprise ending. It's great to see my name listed among the winners. On to the next milestone!

12/15/07

My writing experience now includes ad copy for books...my writing outlets continue to grow. Yay.

11/25/07

I crossed the NANOWRIMO finish line at 10:45 tonight! It was a hard race. I wasn't able to stay up with the daily 1,667 words due to paying writing and editing jobs taking priority. (Silly me, huh?) But I had a huge sprint this weekend with over 10,000 words on Friday and over 11,000 words on Saturday. I needed a measly 3,500 to finish, so tonight I've done a little over 4,000. My novel is not at all done. The story seems to be just starting! I'm continuing with it. But as of today I'm considered a "winner" in nanowrimo land. I'm SO EXCITED!!!

11/1/07

It's November 1st. Start of NANOWRIMO! I have *no* idea what my story is yet, but I'll be starting it in, oh, 10 minutes or so. I met other local participants on the 29th, and that was cool. We writers are an isolated lot, but now I have names to go with screen IDs. Nanowrimo is a great experience. If nothing else, it teaches you how to turn off negative voice in your head that says you can't do anything!

10/15/07

Just wrapped up my week-long attendance at the Muse Online Writing Conference. If you've ever been to a writing conference, you know how exhausting it can be - all the mingling and meeting and learning and walking and talking and socializing and pitching and writing, and, yeah, it's a great experience, but exhausting.

Well, attending a conference online is even MORE exhausting, I think, but also a lot more beneficial. It brings in an audience from around the globe. The friendships made are probably more real and longer-lasting than those "in-person" conferences. The camaraderie can't be beat. And the contacts are priceless.

I'm now in the recuperative stage. All my work went on hold last week so now I'm playing catch up while still processing all that I gleaned from the conference. I attended over 31 sessions in all. I have gobs of handouts, publishing contacts, resource links, and a lot of new writing friends. I've already blocked off the week for next year's conference. :)

9/14/07

My flash fiction writing partner and I placed 1st and 2nd in the September Fiction Flyer contest. We helped each other with our stories. She took first and I took second. What a team!