Long and the Short of It Anniversary Celebration!

~~Permission to Forward Granted and Encouraged~~~ The Long and the Short of It is very excited to be celebrating its ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY -- and we're giving the gifts! Yep, that's right. On August 27, 2007, the website went live. What better way to celebrate than give away a $50 Gift Certificate to Amazon.com along with a TON of books? From August 1-26 we will be giving away one prize each day from one of our author sponsors. You have to enter ON THAT DAY to win the prize for the day. On August 27, all the daily entries will be included in the Grand Prize Drawing for a $50 Gift Certificate from Amazon.com. Here's an easy way to earn an extra entry into each day's drawing AND the Grand Prize Drawing: Just tell people about us and link to our anniversary page (http://www.longandshortreviews.com/LASR/anniversary1.htm) Once you've posted the announcement on your blog or website, put your link in the Mr. Linky (you must have a corresponding daily entry to qualify for the extra entry)! Thanks for passing the word on!

This n' That

My publisher, Lyrical Press, has put together an awesome forum for author's and readers to chat and find out what's new. You'll be able to participate in drawings and contests and whatever else is happening. If you'd like to check it out (and register), you can do so by going here. Also, did I mention our Senior Editor, Emma Wayne Porter is participating in the PBW Blog(Paperback Writer) Virtual Workshop? Visit Emma's blog to participate in her SELF-EDITING BOOTCAMP. Oh, FYI, Lyrical Press is taking part in the huge week-long BITTEN BY BOOKS extravaganza, BLOGGY CARNIVAL. Lyrical Press will be giving away a total of $50.00 worth of gift certificates to LPI's store, Once Upon A Bookstore! We hope you'll play along for the chance to win gift certificates and other prizes from authors and publishers alike. The fun starts today (Monday, July 28th) so hurry and visit Bitten By Books blog for rules and to enter. Lyrical Press Lyrical Press Forum Once Upon A Bookstore Emma Wayne Porter Bitten By Books Paperback Writer Blog

Not Attending RWA National?

Not going to RWA National? Don't worry, there's lots of FREE virtual workshops to attend right in your own home. I've listed a few below, so make sure you check them out! Happy Conferencing! ROMANCE DIVA'S WORKSHOP PERMISSION TO FORWARD GRANTED Not going to the RWA Conference? The Romance Divas annual Not Going to Conference Conference will make you feel a bit less deprived! Amazing workshops, a star-studded guest list and awesome giveaways, all right here on the Diva forum! Don't miss it! The NGTCC is *free* but you must register with the site in order to participate: http://www.romancedivas.com/ Watch for the special NGCC workshop areas on the general forum and in the Steamy section!Here's a bit of a schedule update for the Q&As and Workshops... Wednesday, July 30 Paula Guran, Editor, Juno Books Q&A on Creating Kick a** Heroines Laurie Rauch, Editor, Samhain Publishing Workshop What Happens After the Contract (aka Editors are PeopleToo!) *Laurie will be at that other conference that I think a few people may be going to so we'll be posting for her and she'll pop in to answer questions that may arise when she can tear herself away from all the horribly boring goings-on. Thursday July 31 Joyce Hart, Hartline Literary Q&A on Inspirational Romance Stories and the Inspy Market Sandra Schwab, Historical Romance Author Workshop on Historical Accuracy and Anachronisms Friday, August 1 Yolanda Sfetsos, Author of Guarded by Stone Q&A on Paranormal and Urban Fantasy World Building Katie MacIver Katie Did Design Workshop on Website Design and Color Selection Saturday, August 2 Joey W. Hill, Erotica Author Workshop on Plotting Erotica and Erotic Romance Rhonda Stapleton, Editor and Author Workshop on Style and Voice *Rhonda will also be at that other conference so we'll be posting for her too. CATANETWORK-WRITER'S E-LOOP Join us for a fabulous workshop by the prolific Susan Meier, category romance author.This is the long awaited workshop that will change how you read and how you write. We are so excited to be able to offer this to everyone. This is an eye opening workshop and Susan Meier is a great teacher. So drop by CataNetwork-Writers' yahoo group, the official group of CataUniversity.com. How to Analyze the Books You Read Writers seeking to break into category, historical and single title romances are always told to READ. Yet many of us have read for years without cracking the code of what editors and publishers want. In How to Analyze the Books You Read, author Susan Meier explains a simple process that can help you analyze books to uncover the requirements, passions and just plain quirks of a publisher and/online, as well as the exceptions to the rules that can trip up even the most savvy analyst. Here's the link to sign up: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CataNetwork-Writers/ It all begins Monday - July 28. PAPERBACK WRITER - LEFT BEHIND & LOVING IT VIRTUAL WORKSHOPS LB&LI Schedule Monday, July 28th, we'll kick off Left Behind & Loving It, my third annual week of virtual workshops here at PBW. For those of you who would like to join in, hold workshops on your blogs and have me link to them, please read this post for all the details. The schedule of my workshops will be as follows: Monday, July 28th: Power Plotting -- plotting techniques; how to use my novel wiring diagram to organize your plot quickly and logically Tuesday, July 29th: Eff the Editing -- my take on editing, and how to keep it efficient and effective Wednesday, July 30th: World-Building I -- the first part of my workshop on world-building within reason Thursday, July 31st: World-Building II -- second part of my workshop on world-building within reason Friday August 1st: Styling -- ways to use your personal style to market your work Saturday, August 2nd: Brand Me -- creating a memorable brand for your work, your blog, or yourself Sunday, August 3rd: Write the Life -- avoiding burnout, coping with the biz and living the writer's life that you want Monday, August 4th: Ask PBW Anything -- Open Q&A where you can grill me on anything writing- or biz-related. Each day I will be holding a giveaway for my usual LB&LI goodie bags, filled with books, gadgets, and neat writer junk. *Don't forget to check the PBW Blog for schedule of participating workshops.

MySpace Aggravation - Grrrr!

First of all, I'd like to apologize for my very long blog hiatus. I've been real busy with my book and I just haven't had the time to post. I hope you'll forgive me. And thanks to everyone who sent an email, asking if I was alright. It's nice to know you have friends out here in cyber space, even if you've never met face to face. Thanks so much for you concern. I really do appreciate it. :) Now, on to my rant... For those of you who have a MySpace account, have you ever tried to change your email address? If you haven't, you'd better listen up. Last month I switched IP's. As I'm sure most of you do, when I switched my service, I also switched my email address. Unless you use a Yahoo or Google email address, where you don't have to bother to update your account every time you switch your service (which I've learned to do), that's all good and fine... until you need to switch your MySpace email address. In order to switch your MySpace email address, MS support is required to send an email to your OLD addy. After you receive the email, you hit reply and send the whole email back, and that's how your change is confirmed. But I didn't know this. I switched my email address BEFORE I changed my MS account, therefore I didn't have access to my old email address, so I was unable to update my account. Now what? I figured there had to be some kind of back-up plan for people like me who didn't know this, so I checked the faq's where there they tell you to fill out the email form with the promise they'll get back to you; I filled out the form and a couple of minutes later (I will say I received a fast reply) I received this response:

If you do not have access to your old email account, please reply to this email with a salute and the email address to which you want it changed.

Here is how to create a salute: 1. Create a handwritten sign that says MySpace.com and your friend ID. Your friend ID is the number between ID= and &mytoken in your profile's URL/web address. 2. Take a picture of yourself with this hand written sign and reply to this email with the salute as an email attachment, or as an e-mail link to where it is uploaded.

Is it just me, or is this the craziest thing you've ever heard of? At first I thought they were kidding. I honestly did. I scrolled down and quickly scanned the email, looking for the part that said it was a joke. LOL I can just see myself holding that sign up and snapping a picture. I've come to the conclusion that this is some kind of punishment for those of us who don't change their MySpace email BEFORE they get rid of their old address. Go figure. Well, I'm off to make my sign and use the dh's camera phone. Wish me luck...