Yes, that's Rudolph, standing in my front yard. I Hope Santa doesn't try to repress him again this year, just because his nose glows. Anyway, 'tis Friday and I have some announcements:
Notes From Underground: If you are one of our handsome/lovely contributors, don't forget to send us your submissions by next Wednesday, December 15th! It would be a shame if your stuff didn't get into the anthology. Just saying, in a passive-aggressive threatening manner.
Trivia Contest & Giveaway! The first annual really cool Literary Lab Trivia Contest With Prizes (we'll find a shorter, punchier name soon, I promise) is coming to town! Stop by every hour on Tuesday, December 21st for questions and prizes! I don't know what the questions will be, nor do I know what the prizes will be, but we'll sort that out by the 21st and it will all be amazing.
The Great Mighty Reader Challenge: This is the contest of which I spoke! Domey Malasarn, Michelle Davidson Argyle and I have accepted a challenge from Mighty Reader to each write a story based on an idea/image she has supplied. This came about during Davin's recent visit to the very nice home I share with Mighty Reader. Davin and I were discussing how different our basic methods of creating a story are: he has an initial idea for the beginning and writes away from it while I have an initial idea for an ending and write towards it. Mighty Reader suggested that we each take the same idea and Davin would use it as a starting point and I would use it as an ending point. So we're going to do that. Michelle is going to use the prompt as either a start or end, as she likes. We each have One Week (next week, as it happens) to write our brilliant stories. We'll post them, or links to them maybe, here next Friday. Stay tuned. It will be awfully fun.
Also! It's Friday, and none too soon! This week has made me very tired. Tomorrow we go forth and ritually slaughter an innocent tree, which we'll drag home and cover with lights and tinsel and stuff. There will also be a hot lunch and hopefully cocoa.
That's a very cool contest idea, I can't wait to read your stories!
ReplyDeleteNotes from Whomerground?
ReplyDeleteI can't believe you're killing a tree, Mr. Bailey.
ReplyDeleteWe should give away an eel for our event on the 21st.
Rick: I can't wait, either! I have no idea what I'm going to write! I won't know until I've had a couple of glasses of wine.
ReplyDeleteNevets: Yeah, that's right.
Michelle: I don't like plastic xmas trees, and we always go to a tree farm so it's sustainable ecological damage.
How do you wrap an eel?
Can't wait to read the MR challenge results.
ReplyDeleteDidn't peg you for someone with a lit Rudolph on your front yard, Scott.
If the eel is in a rectangular tank, it is much easier to wrap. If the eel is in a hexagonal or octagonal tank, the task of wrapping becomes slightly more complicated. If the eel is in a spherical or semi-spherical tank, wrapping becomes increasingly more complicated, and a nice bow, red or gold, could make the job simpler. If the eel is out of the tank, or hidden in the head of a horse, the wrapping paper will probably get wet/bloody and tear. In that case, I could suggest perhaps using a plastic wrap first, prior to adding the paper. Make sure you have plenty of scotch tape.
ReplyDeleteNevets, I'm warning you. Or else!
ReplyDelete@Scott - From what I saw of the fish monger in Germnay, you wrap an eel in butcher paper, but loosely.
ReplyDelete@Domey - I don't want you to sic some cannibal on me, so I'll get it in. Horrible timing, though, that my EMT class is wrapping up at the same time as I'm supposed to be wrapping up Notes. Ugh.
Yat-Yee: I can be surprisingly shallow. And, Rudolph's cute! Any doe would be proud to have him in the yard. His nose blinks, too.
ReplyDeleteNevets: The contest is a perfect way to wrap up the year!
ReplyDeleteYou didn't tell me his nose blinks. That changes everything.
ReplyDeleteI think this is my author photo.
ReplyDeleteIt's too bad Michelle doesn't create stories by expanding the middle haphazardly. Now that would be exciting!
ReplyDeleteHappy tree lighting! I love to drop a mini candy cane in my hot chocolate (but it only works if you use the mix stuff I don't know how it'd do with real milk) then forget it's in there and get zapped by it with the last sip when it all settles to the bottom.
ReplyDeleteNo, I can't just drink eggnog like everybody else, why do you ask?
I saw the coolest author photo ever today: Kermit, in side the back jacket of "Before You Leap" I've only had time to glance at it quickly but I believe that the frog is wearing a leather jacket.
Domey: With anything the size of an eel tank, you're going to need two rolls of paper, taped together to make it all the way around. They're wider and deeper than they look. You're going to need an expert. I would volunteer, as I once did this as part of my job (that's what happens when three departments merge) but I don't think that they'll let you ship the eel, anyway... :~D
Happy holidays Lit Lab!
~bru
Bru: Mighty Reader always makes cocoa the old-fashioned way, with a pan of milk. I am not a fan of peppermint, so that's okay. I'm also not a fan of eggnog; I don't see the point.
ReplyDeleteWhen and where did you work with eels?
Oh Goody, I'm off on Tuesday. We "cut" our tree a few days ago at a local tree farm. I don't do plastic either. Even if you used the thing for fifty years it would still have a landfill life of a trillion and one. Can't wait to read your stories! Oh,and I like your author photo and how else could one possibly make cocoa except with milk?
ReplyDeleteInteresting concept for a contest. I'm looking forward to the results.
ReplyDeleteI, too, will be killing a tree in the near future. However, it will not be a cultivated farm tree. It will be a free range cedar from our wood lot. The things are like crab grass. Everywhere a bird goes, they pop up just like magic. And before you all go all mushy and sympathetic for the things, be advised that they have a built in self defense mechanism. They bite and I have the scars from Christmas Past to prove it.
Have a great weekend.