I received a notice today that someone commented on a photo of mine that was posted on Facebook. Since I have few photos on FB--for a reason, since I am extremely UNphotogenic--I popped over to see what was being commented on. Because I was absolutely sure it was someone mocking my bangs picture.

BTW, I'm letting the bangs grow out. I couldn't stand having hair touching my forehead all the time.

Turns out someone made a comment about the Vampire Slug I bought last year. Now, Vampire Slug has become a fixture on my desk. He currently lords over lesser beings like Shemp the Sheep and the WOW plushies from high atop the monitor stand. So I understand people feeling the need to comment about Vamp Slug. And just on the spur of the moment, I flung myself over to Etsy to see what new items the woman who created Vampire Slug and Shemp had for sale, and my eyes almost popped out of my head when I saw...

[drumroll, please]

THE ABOMINABLE SNOW SLUG!

Is he not the cutest thing since Vampire Slug? Immediately I purchased him, since I knew VS would appreciate having someone else to pal around with on the monitor stand.

That is my good news for the week. Oh, there is other stuff like making progress on various book-related items, and having fun making Wordpress themes, but the Abominable Snow Slug trumps all other good news.

BTW, if you would like to peruse the creator's Etsy shop, you can do so here.

And your good news is...?

You guys are so good to me--being patient while I was slacking off. You all get big gold stars for the that.

DGM returns with a very yummy model named Phil. He is for those of us who like our eye candy with a bit of wear on them. His picture kept looking at me with those knee-melting eyes whilst I was slaving away trying to find a suitable candidate.



I tried to tell him no, but I think he hypnotized me or something.



It must have been hypnotism, right? *cough*



THE POWER OF PHIL COMPELS YOU!

Sorry. Couldn't resist that.

"So Katie," some of you are no doubt saying, "You've been slacking of late and not posting blogs like you should."

This is true. I have been having a wonderful month of vacation time wherein I did little writing, and have procrastinated those tasks that I really should be doing, like edits on In the Company of Vampires. Which I swear I will do this weekend. No, my fingers are not crossed. They just happen to look like they are.

Ahem. Anyway, I freely admit to slacking, and apologize to those of you who have been waiting patiently for me to get off my butt and stop watching Avengers episode so I can do my daily blog posts.

For those of you who are WOW fans, I will point out that my slacking has paid off in one respect::



Yes, it's Loremaster at long last! The tabard makes me giggle like crazy.

But there is more to life than WOW, and thus we must turn our attention to the important things, like amusing sites to visit on a Friday, thereby ruining any productivity you may have had planned for the day. And do I have a good one for you today! I've spent far too long on it already. It's a madly addicting toy: Falling Sand.

Now, it may not be intuitive what you can do with all the tools, so there is a help site to explain it.

Must go try and make a step pyramid for the sand to cascade down from...Happy Friday!

My apologies for missing DGM. I blame the Olympics hangover for keeping me dazed and unfocused yesterday (at least so far as dishy guys goes).

To make it up to you all, today I bring forth the Love in the Time of Dragons ARC contest! As something a little fun and different, the contest is going to require everyone to make a word cloud from a chunk of a favorite dragon book.

What's a word cloud? This is!



This is actually a word cloud based on a page of text from the upcoming Ben and Fran book, but it should give you an idea of what they look like. So how do you create one?

You visit wordle.net, a site that will create customized word clouds for you with just a couple clicks of the mouse. You can specify font and color scheme, layout, and all sorts of variables to create fun word clouds.


What: create a word cloud based on a paragraph or two of your favorite dragon book (you don't have to use wordle.net, but it's a handy site to create a word cloud).
When: contest runs from Tuesday, March 2 to Tuesday, March 23, 2010. Entries must be received by midnight on the 23rd.
Who: attach your wordle as a graphic (or link to it elsewhere) in an e-mail addressed to contest@katiemacalister.com
How: Ten entries will be randomly drawn to receive signed ARCs of Love in the Time of Dragons. You may enter only once.

Questions? No? Go forth and wordle!

I am a busy little bee trying to finish up those reader requests for freebies. Man. There were a lot more than I thought from eyeballing the stack of mail. But never fear! I'm midway through mail postmarked December, and heading into January. Then it's just a hop, skip, and jump to the few February letters (since my darling agent Michelle only sends me batches of mail a couple of times a month). So hoobah! Those lovely Baltic bookmarks and other assorted goodies are either on their way, or will be in the next day.

Also on my to-do list is writing a glossary for the new Ben and Fran compendium, which basically means I have to re-read the books with a highlighter in hand. Unfortunately, that makes me sleepy, so I have to do it in small doses. Why does reading a book with a highlighter make me sleepy, you ask? It hearkens back to my college days. All those years of physics and math burned out my "comprehension whilst holding a highlighter" brain cells.

I also get twitchy whenever the words "pop quiz" are mentioned, but that's another story.

So today I get to:

1. Deal with all your freebie requests
2. Write a glossary
3. Studiously avoid the gigantic mound of clean clothing that the hub cunningly piled on the couch in such a way as to resemble a beached whale
4. Think of a contest for the Baltic ARCs
5. Think of a second ARC contest for the community-only ARC giveaway (don't say you haven't been warned)
6. Hit the exercise bike, AKA Bike o' Pain, for five minutes every hour for many hours, since this is my new plan of attack with regards to exercise
7. Assorted other stuff that would make your eyes glaze over with boredom, up to and including plotting a new book, update my website, and tackling the ever growing Inbox of Consuming Hell

To amuse you all on what is a rainy Friday in the PNW, I bring you a funny ad that I saw mentioned on the Wenches' forum (it's not an IWG ad, but the ladies there, having exceptionally good senses of humor, posted the link as something to entertain). Please note that due to language, today's field trip is NOT SAFE FOR WORK or those of delicate sensibilities, or younger years. 

Need a room? (NSFW)

As mentioned in the previous post, this is the cover for the upcoming two-in-one version of Got Fangs? and Circus of the Darned, which will be out simultaneously with In the Company of Vampires (Nov. 2010).

Industrious as in actually getting off my substantial behind and tackling that huge stack of reader request mail, so those of you who've sent in requests for freebies--your patience is (finally) being rewarded! I hope to get through them all today, and am depriving myself of Olympics coverage until I get them done. Yes, I feel just that guilty about taking so long to get to them. Also, there is no men's curling on today until the afternoon. *cough*

As I mentioned on Twitter yesterday, a box of Love in the Time of Dragons ARCs have arrived, which means I'll be starting a contest in the next week to give the little buggers away. Stay tuned for more info about that.

I also have a preliminary new book cover to share, but have been asked to hold off until a bit more finalized version is available. As many of you know, the next Dark Ones book will be out this November: In the Company of Vampires. This book brings into the adult romance world the characters from my two young adult vampire books--Benedikt Czerny and Francesca Ghetti.

Because Ben and Fran have a history before Company of Vamps, and also because their two books are out of print, and the publisher's YA line has been closed down for a couple of years now, I thought it would be cool if their original books were available again, so folks who pick up copies of In the Company of Vampires can read Ben and Fran's history from the start.

I'm pleased to announce that a compilation of both Got Fangs? and Circus of the Darned (the two Ben and Fran YA books) will be published at the same time as In the Company of Vampires. The new volume containing the two YAs has been titled Confessions of a Vampire's Girlfriend, and will be published as a young adult book.

The cover for Confessions is the new cover I mentioned, and I have to say, cover junky that I am, the preliminary version is really nice. I'm looking forward to sharing it with you all--fingers crossed that Editor Laura gives me the thumb's up to post a version in the very near future.

Since I missed Good News Tuesday, feel free to share your good news here today! And now it's time for me to stop procrastinating, and get back to the December reader request letters...

We return with some Olympic-style dishy guys...mostly because I can't stop watching the Olympics. I think we all know about my curling obsession...

First up is Chris Drury, a hockey dude as you can see. I love his expression of gritty determination in this picture.



Up next is Roland Clara, a cross country skiier:



I do love a guy who's not afraid to be goofy in public.

Third we have another Chris, this time one who has gone through a liver transplant (and still can kick other snowboarders' butts)--Chris Klug:



And our final Olympic Dishy Guy for the day is for the younger set, Sidney Crosby (another hockey dude):

You're not going to thank me for this...it's addicting. Must...stop...playing...

Crush the Castle!

Boy, holidays throw me off. Well, that and being glued to the TV to watch the Olympics.

Here's a delayed DGM, Olympics-style--a few pictures of some athletic eye candy (ones who are very talented to boot!).

Up first: Stefan Read (Canadian ski jumper).




And next we have Jean-Philippe Le Guellec (Canadian Biathele):



Snowboard fans will recognize Seth Wescott:



Skier Andy Newell could tempt me onto the slopes...



And finally for this week's Olympic DGM, former wild man Bode Miller (downhill skiing):