Fabulous Blog Ribbon Award and Other Awesome News

Friday again eh? I hope everyone has a great weekend in spite of the freakish weather that's affecting various corners of the globe. Today I'm going to do a bit of a round-up of some stuff that I'm involved in in hopes that others will be interested too.

First though, I received the Fabulous Blog Ribbon Award from Lauren at Eclectic. Thanks! Rules as follows:

1. Post the rules on your blog.
2. Name five of your most fabulous moments, either in real life or in the blogosphere.
3. Name five things you love.
4. Name five things you hate.
5. Pass the ribbon on to five other bloggers. (Leave them a comment to notify them of their win.)


Five fabulous moments (hmm):


1. My wedding day
2. Birth of my daughter
3. Finishing a book for the first time
4. Getting a story published
5. Getting a job at my local paper (only three months, but hey)


Five things I love:


1. My family
2. Writing
3. Reading
4. Wotsits
5. Amazing blog peeps!


Five things I hate (should be fun):


1. The Disney Channel (if you've got kids you'll understand)
2. People who drop litter or cigarette ends. Especially out of moving vehicles.
3. Housework
4. Programmes in the Jersey Shore/Made In Chelsea genre
5. Spammers


Five deserving nominees: 


1. Treskie
2. Suze
3. James Anderson
4. E.J. Wesley
5. Jessica L. Foster

Now onto something much more interesting...

The effervescent Candilynn Fite has started up a brand new monthly flash fiction contest, Follow My Lead. Each month, she will post a photo and prompt and you have two weeks to post your entry. The closing date for this first contest is June 30th, so you'll have to scramble to get your story posted this time, but the good news is that from now on the contest will open on the first Friday of each month! So only a week till the next one, woohoo.

Candilynn is also offering fantastic prizes, namely books written by authors within the blogging community. For this first contest, it's End of Days by the mercurial Roland D. Yeomans, a great friend to many of us. Entries are posted directly within the comment thread, so if you want to read my attempt, jump over to Candilynn's blog and scroll down to somewhere near the bottom (not forgetting to check out all the other stupendous offerings). Loads of fun!

Next, a couple of blogfests that I signed up for recently. I'm sure that many of you are already aware of them, but if not, you might want to think about getting involved. First up it's Hookers and Hangers hosted by the ladies at Falling For Fiction. This is all about seeing how good your chapters are at grabbing the reader in the first line, and leaving them dangling at the end. Post your first lines on July 16th and last lines on July 18th. You can post as many as you want, and the first three will be judged. The five judges will each pick a winner from both categories, making a total of ten winners who will each receive a 10 page double spaced critique and a Friday Spotlight on FFF! Exciting times! Sign up here.

And looking further ahead, there's the fab-sounding "What If?" Fairytale Madness Blogfest running August 13th to 17th. Quite a lot of rules to go along with this so here's the lowdown from the horses' mouths:

Have you noticed that by changing one detail; one event, one character trait, one thought...you can completely alter the rest of the story?

For this bloghop we are exploring "What If?"
Not only do we want it to be fun, but it will hopefully be a fun writing exercise and make for some great reading during the hop!

To enter:
Think of your favorite "well known" fairytale and ask "What If…!"
Then, pick one of these four categories: (be sure to mention which category you're joining, during your blog post!)

·       Best Plot Twist

·       Best Love Story

·       Best Tragedy

·       Best Comic Relief

Finally, write a scene(s) illustrating a new detail of the 
fabled fairy tale that changes our perspective.

To recap,

Is it a plot twist? (Cinderella gets knocked up by the Carriage Driver…)

An unknown romance that comes to light? (Snow White dumps the Prince for Grumpy…)

A tragic loss occurs? (The Three Little Pigs are too late to save their house…)

A little comic relief? (Hansel and Gretel win a trip on Euro Rail, sponsored in part by M&M’s…)

Whatever the change…It's limited only by your imagination – but please keep it PG-13.

Other Rules:

·       Post your story during the week of August 13 to 17.

·       Flash Fiction – 300 WORD MAX. (You don't have to tell the whole story in three hundred words. Pick what works to illustrate your point.)

JUDGING CATEGORIES and the respective judges:

 ·       Best Plot Twist – Cassie Mae

·       Best Love Story - Morgan Shamy

·       Best Tragedy -  Leigh Covington

·       Best Comic Relief - Mark Koopmans

PRIZES!

(Prize will go to the winner of judge's sponsored category. For example, Leigh's prize goes to the winner of Best Tragedy, Mark's prize goes to winner of Best Comic Relief, etc.)

Leigh is offering: A Paperback Copy of "Save The Cat," by Blake Snyder!

Morgan is offering: A full manuscript critique!

Cassie Mae is offering: $25 Amazon Gift Card

Mark is offering: a $25 Hawaiian care package (incl. $5 USPS Priority Shipping) Winner can choose from any number of small items such as candy, trinkets, Kona Coffee, etc.

I think this will be a hoot! I'm yet to finalise the details of my story, but I plumped for Team Tragedy. I like letting out my evil side and watching my characters suffer! *rubs hands together and laughs maniacally* Go to any of the hosts' blogs to sign up and add your name to the linky list!

And last but most certainly not least, a good blogging buddy of mine, Kyra Lennon, is launching her first book, Game On, on August 6th and celebrating with a blog tour running until the 19th! I'm really excited for Kyra. If you follow her blog, you'll know she's always bubbly and upbeat and her writing itself is just as likeable. Here's the blurb for Game On:

After swapping her small town life to work for a top U.S soccer team, Leah Walker thought she could finally leave the ghosts of her past behind. However, when she meets serial womanizer, Radleigh McCoy, the memories of her old life come swarming back, and she is forced to ask herself whether she has really changed at all. 

Go and show Kyra some support in the run-up to her tour, as well as commiserations for England crashing out of Euro 2012! >:o(

That will be all... Have a good weekend everyone!

Are you participating in either of the blogfests? Following Kyra, or interested in Candilynn's contest? Anything else exciting coming up?