Blog Sharing On Self-Publishing

In my Real Life, such as it is, I don’t know a single person who is currently writing a book, who plans to write a book, who has ever written a book in the past, or who even dreams of writing a book someday.  Man, do I hang out with boring people, or what? 

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Auld Lang Syne

Based on a poem by Scotland’s Robert Burns, Auld Lang Syne is traditionally sung here in the U. S. at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve.  The words “Auld Lang Syne” refer to “Times Gone By,” though the literal translation is more like “Old Long Since.” Whether you think of it as “days gone by,” “old times,” or even “for the sake of old times,” there’s a pretty good chance you’ll be singing it tomorrow night.  Or at least humming along as the ball drops in Times Square. (We oldsters seldom go out that late, so we usher in the new year via television these days.)

The song asks us if we should forget old acquaintances and days gone by? Of course not. And it encourages us to “drink a cup of kindness” for those acquaintances and those long gone days. 

If you plan to sing along, here you go:

“Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And never brought to mind?

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

In days of auld lang syne!

For auld lang syne, my dear,

For auld lang syne,

We’ll drink a cup o’ kindness yet,

For auld lang syne!”

Happy New Year!

 

Wicked Business by Janet Evanovich

My Rating: 3-1/2 of 5 Stars

Let me say right up front: this book is not serious literature. It isn’t to be compared to the “Great Works” of any literary genius I’m aware of. I didn’t learn a single thing about improving myself or making the problems of the world go away. Nor did I add any new

Blog Share!

Since I didn’t have a chance to nominate a new blog as part of my receiving another Blog of the Year star earlier, I figured I’d post my nomination(s) separately:

You MUST check out moviewriter.nyu !  I insist! *grin*  Seriously, it’s a very well written and funny blog, and it currently features several holiday stories that are hilarious.  One on Santa’s Reindeer, Donner, changing his name to Tony that I really enjoyed, and another about Father Time refusing to be forced into retirement on December 31, simply to make way for the Baby New Year.  Not only are the premises entertaining, but the writing is excellent.  I highly recommend this one.  And I’ll be back later, when I have time to scout out a couple more for your reading pleasure. 

Enjoy!

Quote #59 – Dave Barry

“Don’t you wish you had a job like mine? All you have to do is think up a certain number of words! Plus, you can repeat words! And they don’t even have to be true!”

     –Dave Barry on Journalism/Writing

 

(Note: It explains SO much.)

Another Star!

Thanks to Sheri of Sheri de Grom for awarding me another star for the Blog of the Year 2012 Award!  I’m tickled to have it, Sheri, and I so appreciate your kind words!  I’m really pleased that you enjoy my reviews, and I hope you’ll continue to stop by to visit as often as you can.  I know I enjoy checking out your blog as well, and folks, you should, too. 

1. Select the blogs you think deserve the 2012 Blog of the Year Award.
2. Write a blog post and tell us about the blog(s) you have chosen – there’s no minimum or maximum number of blogs required – and ‘present’ them with this award.
3. Please include a link back to this page, Blog of the Year 2012 Award. http://thethoughtpalette.co.uk/ourawards.blog/of/the-year-2012-award – and include these ‘rules’ in your post. (Please don’t alter the rules or the badges!)
4. Let the blog(s) you have chosen know that you have given them this award and share the ‘rules’ with them.
5. You can now also join our Facebook page – click the link here ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award (http://www.facebook.com/groups/BookoftheYear/) and then you can share your blog with an even wider audience.

I’m going to have to sit down this afternoon to work up some nominations for this award to share here.  I haven’t been home much in the last few days, so I haven’t been able to focus on it, but I promise to get back to it SOON.

Thank you, again, Sheri.  It’s been nice getting to know you here on WordPress.  Have a great weekend!

Anyone Read This Yet?

Now In My To Be Read Basket

Just got this for Christmas, and I’m eager to get to it soon.  It’s coming up right after I finish the two I’m reading now.  I couldn’t help but notice this blurb

My Ever-Growing “To Be Read” Pile!

Can You See Me?  I’m Standing Right Behind The Pile!

Oh, all right, already!  You caught me!  I’m not really in this picture.  And that really isn’t my To Be Read pile.  But it might as well be.  Geeesh, I’ve gotten behind!  And the worst part of it is

Wicked Appetite by Janet Evanovich

My Rating: 3-1/2 out of 5 Stars

Anyone who has read Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series knows how funny she can be.  This spin-off series is no exception.  It might not win any prizes for originality, but you just can’t read it without

Happy Exchange It Day!

So, how many of you got Christmas presents that absolutely had to be exchanged?  Really, almost the only time I ever even consider exchanging a gift is if I need a different size, but boy, the malls

Merry Christmas, One And All!

Just wishing all my new blogging friends and readers a very Merry Christmas!  May you hold your loved ones especially close this year, and they, you.  Be good to each other, share all your special family traditions, and let love fill your hearts!

I’ll be back on the 26th.  In the meantime,  “Let Heaven and Nature Sing!”

 

The Tiny Lantern Award

Thanks so much to Alice at Backstreets and Alleys for giving me her first Tiny Lantern Award!  I’m honored and pleased, Alice, and I thank you so much.  No rules or badges with this one, but to read more about it, please check out her link at: http://alleysbackstreets.wordpress.com/tiny-lantern-awards/ .  Hope you’ll spend some time looking around Alice’s blog, too.  I always enjoy myself there.

Thank you again, Alice!  I really appreciate this one a lot!

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

When I began this book, the opening pages immediately transported me back to 1962, when I read Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes for the first time; after all, a carnival, or a circus, that appears out of nowhere in the dead of night,

Christmas Quote #6 – Grace Noll Crowell

“Whatever else be lost among the years,

Let us keep Christmas still a shining thing;

Whatever doubts assail us, or what fears,

Let us hold close one day,remembering Its poignant meaning for the hearts of men.

Let us get back our childlike faith again.

     – Grace Noll Crowell

Christmas Quote #5 – Eva K. Logue

“A Christmas candle is a lovely thing;
It makes no noise at all,
But softly gives itself away;
While quite unselfish, it grows small.”

      – Eva K. Logue

What Are You Reading?

Time to play What Are You Reading again.  With so much going on around here, Christmas has me making slower progress on my To Be Read pile, but I’m still plugging away at it.  I’m currently reading Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.  It just might be the most unusual book I’ve ever read, and though I’m well over a third of the way into it, I have no real idea of where this is going. Morgenstern writes with a beautiful voice, however, and I’m completely fascinated by the Cirque de Reves (Circus of Dreams).

Are you reading something intriguing?  I would love to hear about it.  I get some of my best ideas for new books from your comments, so I’m hoping some of you will take a minute to update us. Thanks!

Christmas Quote #4 – Bess Streeter Aldrich

“Christmas Eve was a night of song that wrapped itself about you like a shawl. But it warmed more than your body. It warmed your heart…filled it, too, with melody that would last forever.”

–Bess Streeter Aldrich, Song of Years

I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

One of the most familiar carols of the Christmas Season, most people don’t know the story of Longfellow’s poem.  When I first learned what lay behind it, I listened to the carol in a whole new way. 

Christmas Quote #3 – Charles Dickens

“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.”

        ~ Charles Dickens (1812-1870), English author. From ‘A Christmas Carol’.

Christmas Quote #2 – Dr. Seuss

“Maybe Christmas, the Grinch thought, doesn’t come from a store, maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more….”
     –Dr. Seuss, How The Grinch Stole Christmas

Sandy Hook Elementary

In Memorium

Please hold these little ones, their brave teachers,  and their families in your heart.

Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus

 

Eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York’s Sun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has since become history’s most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or whole in dozens of languages in books, movies, and other editorials, and

Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich

My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

Okay, Janet Evanovich!  I’m officially putting you in the same category as Jim Butcher.  No, not genre-wise.  But dang it!  Both of you are driving me completely crazy!  (Not a long drive, of course, but that’s beside the point.)  I find myself stomping around the house now,

Christmas Quote #1 – Laura Ingalls Wilder

“Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.”

     –Laura Ingalls Wilder

Quote #58 – Cyril Connolly

“Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.”
    

     –Cyril Connolly