I Heart Friends

In case you haven't guessed, I'm feelin' the love and have decided this is a week for giveaways! There will be a giveaway every day this week!

Yesterday's contest will take a lot longer to find a winner (and to make up for it I'm considering giving away a few more books,) but the rest of this week's giveaways will give you a little more instant gratification.

Okay, so back to business:

I heart friends. That isn't a cute little thing to say, it's real, deep and hugely important to me. Friendship has never been a natural gift for me. In particular, I've never been able to have multiple friends at the same time. But becoming a writer has opened up a whole new world of friendship to me.

Is it because we're all the same brand of strange? Or that because we're accustomed to dealing with all sorts of people (in our heads) we are more accepting of real live people? I think it's perhaps a combination of many things, but whatever it is, I'm grateful for it.

I have bloggy friends, real life friends, crit group friends, conference friends. Whatever the adjective, they are all defined by one powerful truth: They are my friends and I love them.

You are my friends.

I have a beautiful gift package from Urban Botanics (a kit to make your own personalized scent and lotion) to give to two special friends. If one of my male friends wins, I'll give you a very manly gift package from The Body Shop.

Here's how you can score points to win:

Already a Follower +5
Become a Follower +2
You Follow me on Twitter +2
You've met me in real life +10
Comment on this blog post +1
You're my Friend on Facebook +5
You Followed me on my Old Blog +5
You are a "regular" commenter on my blog,
i.e. you've posted at least twice in the past ten days +5
Share your favorite friendship quote, or your own wisdom on friendship +5

I really appreciate you, my friends. When you comment on my posts, it truly makes me happy. I am a better woman, a better writer and definitely a better friend, for your influence in my life.

I Heart YOU!

winners will be chosen tonight, around 10:00 pm MST

I Heart Books

Bring Out Yer Books

I'm in need of a reading list. While doing many MS reviews over the past couple months I've fallen behind on what's hot in YA. So I'm asking for all of you to scour your brains and tell me the best books I should add to my reading list. Of the latest releases, I've only read Hush, Hush and Catching Fire. I'm currently reading Ink Exchange. I'm most interested in reading YA urban fantasy and paranormal. So lay it on me. Bring out yer books.

And here's the nifty deal. If I like the book YOU recommended best, I'll buy you a book of your choice. If more than one of you recommended the winning book, I'll randomly draw a name to win.

Just as a disclaimer: I'm an embarrassingly slow reader. It might take me a few months (or all year) to get through my reading list. But I will. I'm nothing if not faithful. And I won't forget my promise to you through my Bring Out Yer Books contest.

Favorite Movie Prize Giveaway!

To those of you who pieced together my most-awesome clues from last week's ask ali, and sent me your guesses . . . thank you!

All of these fine gals guessed that my favorite movie of all time is Fifth Element! Woot!

The winners are:

Jenn
Carolyn V.
Christine
Laura
Shanna

Send me your mailing addresses if you haven't already, people, and I'll mail you your prize!

Happy Hundredth Follower Day ~ And the Winner Is . . .

110
Shanna!*

Thanks for the push to help me get past 100! Woot!

Shoot me an email -- with your address and book choice and I'll get it off to you this week.

Thanks for the Follow Love Everyone!

*winner selected via random.org

Happy Hundredth Follower Day! Win a Book!

It's a lazy Sunday afternoon with sick family members lying around and the football game about to start. And whaddya know, but I'm two followers away from reaching 100.

Feeling generous, feeling inspired, I'm offering a book-of-your-choosing to one of my awesome followers.So if you've been lurking, go ahead and follow ~ I'll pick a random friend from my list of followers at 10:00 p.m. Mountain Time tonight providing I've reached 100 by that time.

Ally ally in come free!

ask ali ~ Favorites!

So, I totally forgot to put in the favorite song part. Sorry Laura! It was probably Laura's sneaky way to get me to sing it. Ha! Caught you! Probably a Freudian slip or something that I forgot, right?

When I was regularly performing, this was always my encore song. It always left the house in silence, while people internalized the music and the words--though I always sung it in French, most often the audience was provided with a program in which the translation was printed. I don't have a recording of me performing it, but, while not in my key, here's Rosa Ponselle performing the song I most love above all others, ever:

Tristesse Eternelle
Chopin
Deep darkening mists
spread o'er the plain.
My heart is saddened,
thou art far from me.
Oh my dear love!
Not a bird in hedge or meadow sings
their songs so tender now are stilled.
Even the roses faded, fall,
the meadow's gray,
all nature calmly sleeps.
My mem'ry holds.
Joyous days of spring when we together
wandered paths in ecstasies of love,
oh dearest heart.
The nightingales
heard our love alone.
And our secrets guarded,
as their own.
Our golden dreams
forever gone.
Faded the roses,
empty are the nests.
'Tis ended all.
Autumn winds have made
the faded leaves at last to fall.
I regret that happy days and spring are gone!
Sweet memories
dearest to my heart.
Oh sweet memories, forever flown.
Forever gone.

Be sure to visit Nisa & Laura this week!

**
Also, don't forget to send me the name of my favorite movie in an email,
and I'll send you a little gifty.
All correct guesses win a prize!
ali at alicross dot com
(and be sure to include your mailing address!)

**
Next week, my crack team, the M.Y.T.H. Busters (MY Twin Helpers)
will tackle Carolyn V.'s pressing concerns about footwear.

**
And last but not least, keep those questions coming!
Leave them in the comment trail, or email me :)

An Award & Tag and Too Much Fun for Words

A week or so ago, Jon gave me the fabulous Silver Lining Award. Thanks Jon! *waving*

Jon said, "I love Ali because she always comments on my blog and says things that make me feel special. Ali's cool." He did not compare me to glitter, which I think was a totaly faux pas, on his part but I'm willing to overlook it because he said I was cool.

As with all bloggy awards, I'm supposed to pay it forward. Which I'm totally for. But I'm also totally against arbitrary rules. When I pass on an award, I'd like it to really mean something, and for the recipient to really feel special.

I actually googled around and couldn't easily (as in it wasn't in the top two google results, what can I say) find a meaning for the Silver Lining Award. So I'm going to make up my own. I think the Silver Lining Award should be given to bloggers who manage, despite troubles and cares, to put a smile on their face and to brighten their little corner of the blogosphere with their words.

With that in mind, I am going to pass this award along to two bloggers who I think are most deserving of this award. Yes, I said two as opposed to the required five. *sorry* (ha!)

Christine
&
Laura

The official rules of this award are as follows
(though I won't hold you to them since I obviously didn't):

* Post the award on your blog.
* Let your readers know who gave it to you and link to them.
* Nominate five other blogs and link to them.
* Let your nominees know that they've received the award.

Enjoy Ladies! You deserve it!

Now, Krista tagged me for a little meme which also comes with an award. Once again, I'm kinda "meh" on an award that doesn't mean anything, but I'm totally down for a game of tag. This is one of those one-word kind of deals, and I haven't done one in a while so, here I go:

Your Cell Phone? Pink
Your Hair? Pink
Your Mother? Missed
Your Father? Mystery
Your Favorite Food? Fudge
Your Dream Last Night? Meaningless
Your Favorite Drink? Water
Your Dream/Goal? Published
What Room Are You In? Office
Your Hobby? Crocheting
Your Fear? Unloved
Where Do You See Yourself In Six Years? Happy
Where Were You Last Night? Karate Something That You Aren't? Cruel
Muffins? Blueberry
Wish List Item? Lakehouse
Where Did You Grow Up? Canada
Last Thing You Did? Chastised
What Are You Wearing? Pink
Your T.V.? Off
Your Pets? Resting
Friends? Wonderful
Your Life? Writing
Your Mood? Hopeful
Missing Someone? Heather
Vehicle? CR-V
Something You Aren't Wearing? Earrings
Your Favorite Store? Anthropologie
Your Favorite Color? Pink
When Was The Last Time You Laughed? Scouts
Last Time You Cried? Song
Your Best Friend? David
One Place You Go To Over And Over Again? Twitter
Facebook? Family
Favorite Place To Eat? Roadhouse

If you'd like to have this award (because heck, it's pretty cool looking) then feel free to grab it, and I tag anyone and everyone who's reading this and is thinking, hey, I'd like to play! If you do, let me know so I can be sure to visit your blog and check out your answers.


And guess what? Yesterday I got two more requests for fulls! I know! I'm kind of starting to freak out a little! Except, I'm also toying with the fear: What happens if all these people request my manuscript (which means my pitch is good and maybe synopsis is good, and my start is good,) but they still all reject the manuscript? What if that happens?

I think as a writer I have to be prepared for such eventualities--I mean, writing is a terribly subjective craft. What's hot now, might not be hot in a couple years, or vice versa. So I'm deciding to have a positive attitude regardless of the outcome. The only failure is to give up entirely, right? So I'm writing, and keepin' on and one day, one of my stories will hit the right chord with one agent and one editor and one publisher is all I need.

How about you? Are you going to try, try again even if at first you don't succeed?
I know I am!

WiP Wednesday!

Why the exclamation point? Because for the first time in a while, I'm actually making progress on my WiP, Children of the Gods. Querying had sort of stopped up my creative flow, but I'm happy to say that I've popped that lid and the juice is a-flowin'.

Photo by Dennis Flood
And yes, this picture represents a portion of my story. Fits quite well, actually :)

I'm at that really exciting part of a new project when the characters are sounding unique to me, and I'm learning their stories. New characters have been introduced and I can see the plot taking shape. It's been a while since I've been in full creative mode--I think I've been revising/rewriting for probably two years now between Desolation and Jump Boys.

Now I get to remember why I'm in this line of work--because writing stories is a joy. Not surprising then, I am a happy girl.

Desolation Agent Search Update!
The search is going really well ~ 5 Agents are currently reading the full!
*happy dance*

So, my fine friends, where does the joy lie in your writing?