I have a confession: I cannot resist any post title that reads “misc” or “random thoughts” or “stuff”. I have no idea why, but I absolutely must click through to find out what is up. And even though it may be just a few odds and ends, I always enjoy reading about what my fellow bloggers are up to. Here’s hoping you feel the same way.
1. Borders True Romance
By now you all know about the Borders True Romance blog, which Sue Grimshaw, romance buyer for Borders, Jane of Dear Author, and Sarah of Smart Bitches, are hosting. There will be author interviews every day, and readers’ blogs on Fridays. I was asked to contribute to the Friday “open mic” slot, and to my surprise, I see I am first out of the gate this Friday. I wrote a short (under 800 words — really) piece on what we mean by “escape” in romance. I touch on high versus low art and the benefits of reading novels. I hope you will check it out. I actually get a video intro from Ms. Grimshaw herself!
They are looking for reader and blogger contributions, so if you are so inclined you should submit. There are a lot of Fridays in a year.
I’m really not sure what the site will offer, besides videos with big name authors and fairly high production values, at least compared to Author Talk and the like. I guess the idea is to create a new space for discussion. I have put it on my sidebar and will be checking it out. We’ll see.
For the little guys, I think it promises good exposure to a potentially new audience, which was the appeal for me. I’ll let you all know if it has any great impact on my stats.
2. My new eyeglasses
I got new glasses yesterday. This is a big deal. It happens about once every 10-12 years. This is what they look like:
I wear contacts usually, but the reaction from Mr. Racy to these glasses has been so ego boosting that I have been wearing them 24/7 just so I can waggle my eyebrows at him and wait for the wave of lust to hit. Of course, this may have something to do with the fact that for the last ten years I have been wearing glasses that look like this guy’s:
If you thought I was totally trying to copy a certain other blogger’s look, well, you’re way off base.
(Except that I started to write a novel. It’s a little subgenre I invented that I’m going to call “urban fantasy”, and I’m calling it The Disillusionists. I heard the title was available.)
3. Vacation
You know I love philosophy and romance novels. What’s the obvious third great love? If you guessed amusement parks, you’d be right! Tomorrow we make our 7th annual trek to Orlando. We typically split the trip between WDW and Universal, but this time we are doing Universal the whole week, because if you stay onsite you get linebreaking privileges.
Usually, when we go to Florida, we are leaving the frigid northeast in the dead of winter. This year, we decided to do something incredibly stupid and go in August.
I would say I won’t have time to blog, but I am fairly certain I will be holed up in my air conditioned hotel room with my laptop to get out of the sun, so expect posts.
Somehow, I have 83 books on my Kindle. I swear I am ordering them in my sleep at this point. I started Judith Ivory’s Black Silk today, which is awesome so far. I also have two old Charlotte Lambs that Tumperkin sent me which I will bring along. A Kate Noble. And I’m going to buy Summer of Two Wishes since Nicola’s review piqued my interest, and do a dueling books review with Hint of Wicked.
4. The Book Bloggers Award
I was nominated, so a nice woman who commented on my last post told me. Thank you to whomever did it. Then she emailed to say I would receive “instructions”, which I now await. Can anyone tell me what is up with this? I assume you have all been nominated as well.
I like your new eyeglasses. Very classy and apparently very sexy, too! I think I’m due for an eye exam…
Have a great vacation!
Hi, I’m working on BBAW (Book Blogger Appreciation Week) and your blog has been nominated for an award. More information will be forthcoming via e-mail, but I need you to send me your e-mail address as soon as possible (within the next 48 hours at the latest). My e-mail address is anovelmenagerie AT aol [dot] com.
Mmm, glasses. Those are really cute. So is Carolyn. And even Weird Al! I’m going to have to write about a hot nerd hero someday to satisfy my glasses fetish.
Jessica, the BBAW started last year and is part of the Book Blogger Appreciation Week .Check their website here: http://bookbloggerappreciationweek.com/
It is a quite serious, huge thing ,a well-run Week. Amy from My Friend Amy is behind it. You get nominated for awards, then you send them links and a judging panel will shortlist it (or not) for voting.
Thea and I are panelists for one category and we have been nominated for others as well.
We got nominated too, apparently, according to this comment which appeared last night. I followed the link Ana just gave, and there it says that “August 16-17 Nominees are contacted and requested to furnish awards committee with selected information.”
The trouble is, judging by the comment TMT got and the two at RRR (one from Florinda on the previous post, and one from Sheri on this one), the people doing the contacting seem to be doing it by leaving comments on recent posts, and they use their own email addresses, don’t give a link to the main Book Blogger Appreciation Week site but instead ask the recipient to contact them by email in order to provide information (the nature of which is left vague).
If a recipient doesn’t know the people involved, this might tend to make them feel suspicious and wonder if the intention is to harvest email addresses. In addition, this method of contacting nominees is open to abuse, because someone who definitely was a spammer could leave lots of comments like this, asking people to email them, and there’d be no way to distinguish genuine commenters who are associated with BBAW from fake, spammer, ones who aren’t associated with BBAW.
The thing is, the people from BBAW would only know your blog and have your email if you joined the list they have. I for example, and other people, as far as I know, got contacted by email because of that.
I do agree that leaving random comments is probably not the best way to deal with the nominations though – it seems as though they expect every single blogger to know what BBAW is, when it’s clearly not the case. Plus, it is so easy to find an email address for the bloggers, they should be trying harder, me thinks.
Laura Vivanco wrote:
Yes! that’s why I asked. Thanks for the info. congrats on your nomination!
@ Ana:
Thanks to you, too, for the clarification. How fun to be on the judging panel.
Er. Hey, do you need anything? A week of guest posts extolling the 7 different ways I love your blog, maybe? Foot rub (yes, I know you are across the pond. I have unnaturally long arms)? Free philosophizing?
The free philosophizing is particularly appealing but I don’t think I am on the planel you have been nominated for, damn it hahahahaha
“congrats on your nomination!”
But as I understand it, if I don’t email them back, then the nomination will be void. Is that right?
“The thing is, the people from BBAW would only know your blog and have your email if you joined the list they have.”
They can know about a blog by finding it on the internet, but I don’t really understand why BBAW needs my email address in order for Teach Me Tonight to be nominated. After all, bloggers don’t need to have authors’ email addresses in order to review their books, so why do the people judging for BBAW need to have an email address? Sorry to be asking so many questions, but the process seems rather confusing.
Ok, I should be getting ready for my flight but I am glued to my computer chair.
I just checked twitter and gleaned some information.
1200 blogs have been nominated (or 1200 nominations? not sure). No comment.
Apparently, you will be asked to submit links to your best posts that represent whatever you were nominated for.
That’s all I’ve got. I think it would be helpful to have a link to a page that explains this in when folks comment to tell you you have been nominated.
But it felt good to be on twitter, if only for a few blissful minutes. Sigh.
had no idea it was that many LOL.
Laura – I meant that they need the email to let you know you have been nominated, not for the nomination per se. You should be getting an email with the explanation about the nomination, the category you have been nominated for and what you need to do next to submit links to be judged (should you wish so). You can withdraw your nomination if you want to.
as far I know.
Yay BLACK SILK! Also, cute glasses.
Hey, Congrats on the nomination! And my my my, what LOVELY glasses! I see you have discovered that the slutty librarian fantasy lives on. If you are planning a special evening, please allow me to suggest attaching the little chain that goes around your neck.
Just kidding. Okay, I have been dying to read some Judith Ivory, too! And can I say again how excited I am to have won the new Duran?
Oh, also, great idea on the HINT and SUMMER books. I read Nicola’s SUMMER review, too, and I almost wanted to buy the book more for having read HINT. I will look forward to your analysis!
I was emailed for each individual nomination. Perhaps they couldn’t find your email and commented here? I have seen the same thing happen on other blogs.
Nice glasses
My post for the Borders blog will be up in a few weeks. ACK the pressure!!
I updated my glasses to a similar style a few months back. Upon seeing them my husband did an arm pump and yelled “Yes! Dirty librarian!”
I had no idea that such a thought was a…thing for him. Nice to have blundered into it, though.
Dang! I have a pair of similar glasses and my husband said, “You look kind of like Elton John. Are you sure those are in style?”
What can I say, that’s what I get for marrying a physicist/engineer.
Thanks for the info on the mysterious (to me) BBAW.
LOLOLOL. This cracked me up so much:
as my partners asks me this question all the time. and do you know, he is a physics teacher! LOL
I am sitting in the lobby of the Hard Rock Hotel, where the internets are free and the music is loud and stale (Pat Metheny, the Who), staring at an Elvis nudie suit on the wall in front of me while drunk people slither back to their rooms. I really really needed to have my coffee before embarking on my internet circuit in these conditions.
Carolyn Crane wrote:
I don’t know…his head might explode. Can he take so much hotness?
Marsha wrote:
Exactly how I feel.
katiebabs wrote:
Can’t wait to read it! We’ll see about it — all week my link has been up there and I can’t say I have gotten a lot of hits from it. It might be more effective to post later, in that sense, as by that time more momentum may have been generated.
Heloise wrote:
LOL!!
What can I say? We cannot all rock the same sexy librarian look. Try the naughty schoolgirl.
UPDATE on BBAW:
Ok, 3 nominations, funniest blog, best romance blog, and best writing. Very nice. I have to send links to 5 posts for each.
You’ve prob gone to Florida now – but have a lovely time.
And yes – nice glasses. I got some new ones too but I HATE them. Argh. Guess that leaves me wearing the contacts 24/7
I like the specs! Isn’t it fun getting new glasses? I just got new ones in the Harry Potter style and I love them.
And I will be checking out your post at Borders *g*
And alas, no nominations for me – c’est la vie
Kristie,
I wish I had known about BBAW in time to nominate some blogs. I would have nominated RoR for Best Community Builder, Best Reviews, and Best Romance.
Hope you are enjoying your new glasses! I was a bit shell shocked at prices, but it’s so nice not to be looking through scratched lenses.