A to Z Blogs of the Week, and Belated Thanks!

I've made my way through more of the A to Z Bloggers list and, as expected, I came upon many more wonderful blogs. I'm happy to highlight three of them this week.

1) Cheekyness

I love the title of this blog, and Su writes about lots of interesting topics with a fun and "cheeky" style. From what I have seen so far, her blog is a great read.

2) Cheap Therapy

Another great title! I discovered "Project 52" on Cheap Therapy, and I think it is a really clever idea for goal-setting. I may have to do my own Project 52 next year.

3) Writers' Ally

Great blog title number 3. When I first saw the web address for S.A. Larsen's blog, I read it as "writer sally," and was expecting a writer named Sally. Instead, I found Sheri, and though she is taking a bit of a hiatus from blogging over the summer in order to focus on her writing, she and others created a Facebook group to support bloggers called Writers Support 4 U. I've joined, and I think it seems like a fantastic group.


So those are my blog hop highlights for this week. Shannon at The Warrior Muse has re-opened the submission link for the A to Z Visitors Blog Hop, so if you'd like to join, there's still time! I have a page at the top of my blog where you can add your link, or you can sign up at Shannon's page or at Life is Good.

Also, I want to send a very belated THANK YOU to two bloggers who were kind enough to give me blog awards in the past few weeks.

First off, the very sweet nutschell at The Writing Nut honored me with the Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award. Thank you, Nutschell!

And, the creative and talented Deirdra at A Storybook World gave me the Creative Blog Award. Thank you, Deirdra!

It's always a treat to get these awards, and I'm very grateful to both ladies!

An Anthology for a Great Cause, Two Awards, and Summer Sluggishness

As you can tell from the title, this post is a bit of a hodgepodge. Maybe more than a bit.

First off, I visited Cherie Reich's Surrounded by Books today, and learned of a great anthology that is now available for purchase. It's called Stories for Sendai, and all proceeds will be donated to Global Giving for the continuing earthquake and tsunami relief efforts in Japan. The book is available on Amazon here.

Twenty authors, including Cherie, contributed their inspirational stories to the book. This seems like a great opportunity to discover some wonderful writers and read great stories, while also helping a very worthwhile cause.

Second, I want to thank Brenda Sills and Lisa at Diary of a Square Toothed Girl for awarding me with the Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award!

I've been fortunate enough to receive this award two weeks in a row thanks to Brenda, who was kind enough to pass it on to me last week, and Lisa, who gave me the award just yesterday. I just met Lisa last weekend through the Media Mayhem hop, and it was so thoughtful of her to give me this award. I am so grateful to both of these ladies, and I really appreciate the awards!

Finally, I've been struggling with terrible laziness so far this summer, and I can't seem to get focused to write or even to visit blogs. I've been working on catching up with my blog visits and I'm almost there, but the writing is not coming back as easily.

For most of June I was totally focused on writing my article for publication in Cat Fancy, as it had to be submitted by July 1, and this was the first time I was working with a writing deadline. I finished the article with time to spare, but my other writing has definitely suffered.

I was at Bards and Prophets today and LG wrote a post about summer doldrums, and that seems to be what I am experiencing. Maybe it's just the time of year, those "lazy days of summer," but I do hope to get more focused and disciplined for the next few months. Lately I seem to just be in a fog when I sit down with the laptop to write.

Another part of my problem might be that I have become obsessed with the show Game of Thrones. Did anyone else watch this? I did not watch as the season aired, but just watched a marathon On Demand. Wow is all I can say. I loved the show and can't wait for next season. But watching the whole season in little more than a week may have contributed to my overall laziness! Now that I'm finished I may have more inspiration to turn off the tv and get back to the laptop.

I think it's time to wrap this hodgepodge up before I end up going off on too many ramblings. I hope everyone  is having a fun and happy summer so far! (And to my southern hemisphere friends, happy winter!) I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a productive July and August for me. I really want to get out of these summer doldrums.

Giveaway Reminder, a Blog Award, and a Free Book!

Just a reminder that the deadline to enter my Sixth Month Anniversary Giveaway is Saturday, June 11th, at midnight, Eastern Standard Time. If you want to enter for a chance to win an Amazon gift certificate or some great vampire books, just leave a comment here. Thanks to everyone who has already entered or commented in the thread!

Also, I was thrilled to win a giveaway myself earlier this week. Amy at The Ramblings of Amy gave away some copies of her book They Walk, which is the first in a trilogy. I haven't had the chance to start reading it yet, but I've no doubt it will be great, and I was very excited to win a copy of the book. So I wanted to send a big thank you to Amy, and encourage everyone who is not already familiar with her blog to check it out!

Thanks are also due to L. Carroll at Lor Mandela. She was kind enough to surprise me with The Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award, even calling my little home here "the cat's meow." :D I am very grateful and appreciate the award so much. Lor Mandela is another great blog and I would encourage everyone to take a look if you are not already a follower.

So thank you again to Amy and L. Carroll for bringing smiles to my week with these great surprises!

Happy weekend, everyone! :)

Irresistible Sweetness, and BuNoWriMo

Last week was my week for blog awards, as Katie at Katie O'Sullivan gave me the Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award on her blog. I am very grateful to Katie, and happy to be able to add this award to my sidebar. Katie is lucky enough to live on Cape Cod, and she is the editor of Cape Women Online magazine. She is also a fantastic writer. I met Katie during the A-Z Challenge, and I highly recommend her blog to anyone who is not already familiar with it. Huge thanks to Katie for my award!

On another note, I have decided to sign up for BuNoWriMo, hosted by the great writers at Burrowers, Books, and Balderdash. I learned of BuNoWriMo thanks to Laura at Daily Dodo, and I'm so glad I came upon the link when I did.

BuNoWriMo is modeled after the popular NaNoWriMo that takes place each year in November. I've never participated in NaNoWriMo, but I've read about it many times. I've thought about participating this year, but I hated the thought of waiting until November to give it a try. That's why BuNoWriMo is so perfect for me, as it takes place in June.

The goal, like NaNoWriMo, is to write a novel in a month. I have no idea if I will be able to accomplish this, but my primary goal is to get a workable first draft written. I have been kicking around ideas for a mystery/suspense novel that I want to write, but I am terrible about just writing a draft without worrying about editing. I edit so much, I end up not getting anywhere. So I'm hoping the fast pace of the novel writing challenge will allow me to get a first draft finished, as I won't have time to edit and obsess over each paragraph.

I needed a break this month after completing A-Z in April, but I'm looking forward to giving this new challenge a try in June. If you're interested in getting involved, you can learn more about it here, and here.

It all starts on June 1st, and I can't wait. I'm very excited to see what I'll have to work with by the time June 30th rolls around. Here's hoping for a coherent, or at least semi-coherent, first draft!