RAOK

The nicest thing happened to me on Monday morning. Lovely Lisa Gail Green over at Paranormal Point of View offered me a Random Act of Kindness in honour of Angela and Becca over at The Bookshelf Muse. These 2 wonderful ladies celebrated the release of their book The Emotion Thesaurus with an amazing Random Act of Kindness Blitz. All over the bloggy-verse, people performed amazing acts of kindness. Incredible stuff! AND the ladies are offering up a gift or two to everyone at their blog!

Anyway, Lisa offered me a critique - I'm thrilled with such a great opportunity! And now I'm going to pay it forward twofold. :)

First, I'd like to do a shoutout to my two critique buddies. They are amazing ladies who are incredibly bright and have eagle eyes when it comes to critiquing! They're also kind, generous and fun! I joined Agent Query Connect as a total newbie and lucked into a crit group with these two. They've taught me so much! Here's a little more about them:

Jean Oram writes chick lit and contemporary romance. She's also working on a chapter book for kids that has a fabulous premise. She's got an agent for a nonfiction project that revolves around her It's All Kids' Play website and blog. There are about a bazillion ideas for parents on this site - you'll love it!

Calista Taylor has published steampunk romances (Virdis and Devil on a Sparrow's Wing) and a grim reaper romance (JACK). She also has the Steampunk Your Wardrobe craft book coming out with Fox Chapel Publishing in the fall. In addition, Cali creates fabulous book covers!

Both Jean and Calista are also part of the From the Write Angle Blog team. Please visit these 2 lovely ladies and say Hi! :)

Second, I'd like to offer up my own critique for someone who comments. Please know I have absolutely NO credibility other than my own experiences (and putting out the offer is making me extremely nervous)! I'm not sure how valuable my input might be, but, sometimes an extra set of eyes is welcome. I have more experience critiquing queries, but I'm willing to look at the first 5 or 10 pages instead. Whichever the winner chooses...if anyone is willing to take a risk on me! Let me know in the comments if you are interested and I'll select a random winner on my next post. Because I don't blog on a schedule, I don't know when that will be - but probably in a couple of days! :)

Thanks again to Lisa, Angela and Becca!

What's one of your favourite random acts of kindness?

Gotta Love Google & Lisa Gail Green!

The other day (while Stephen Tremp was visiting here), the lovely Lisa Gail Green at Paranormal Point of View was deciding what paranormal creature I might be. Lisa's a terrific blogger and friend. Pop on over and say Hi! You won't regret it!

***

I think writers must have the most bizarre and eclectic mix of Google searches of all people on the planet. Just today I searched 'freeze branding for cattle', 'ammunition belts', 'PTSD recovery', 'Blackfoot swear words', 'nfl jerseys', 'cerebral palsy therapy' and 'gang symbols'.

Anyone monitoring my Google searches might wonder just what kind of life I'm living. Some people might wonder if I needed a little help. Or how many personalities I've got going on.

Writers would just nod and smile. Then they'd put together the pieces to figure out the genre of my current wip. :)

(BTW, the Blackfoot group apparently never used curse words and there aren't any in any of the sites I found. How cool is that? Gotta love the Internet!)

So, what's your Google list look like lately? Any weird and wacky combinations in your searches?