We are the Writin' Wombats - Writin' Wombats - CCLXXIII

First?

Oh I was! YAY!!!! Great article, Wendy.

My favorite part of being a Wombat: The cheer, understanding, and support. It makes me all warm and fuzzy like, well, a Wombat I guess.

My least favorite part: When I disagree with views expressed in the threads. Usually, I find this is a good time to keep my yap shut. Or, stuff my yap with pie or cake. Easter Candy works too.

The best part about being a Wombat is the variety of conversation topics we have going on all at the same time. Ironic since the topic jumping is what makes newcomers confused the first couple times they enter the Wisdom. But if they stick around long enough, they, too, will be talking tree sex, queries, volcanos, synopses, holiday plans, lighthouses (sorry, Ken;), book covers, and so on and so on, all at the same time.

Plus we usually have chocolate.

The bad part about being a Wombat is it distracts us from our writing. Oh, yes it does. But, depending on your mood, this can also be a good thing. For instance, on days when you've received a rejection and decide you're never writing again (though you will, of course) distraction is a good thing. And you can still talk about tree sex, holiday plans, volcanos, and lighthouses (sorry, again, Ken), and skip the writerly talk until you're writing again.

Plus there's still chocolate.

*Edited version*

Since Pat shared hers, here's my one sentence pitch for my novel Sweet Interference:

Thirty-two year old veterinarian, Jacy Parker, never senses a storm will follow winning a hundred thousand dollars at a miniature golf course designed around a Noah’s Ark theme, but when a mischievous eleven-year-old’s actions cause bad forutne to rain down on her it takes a bashful apple farmer and a handsome celebrity to finally cast a rainbow.

Too corny?

Of course, I'll spell "fortune" correctly. No worries, Sherrie :-)

Jill, that's wonderful! Oh my, I'm not sure I'm entering now. It's tomorrow, isn't it? Wow. I'll likely forget.

What I like about being a wombat is that I am absolutely, purely, a wombat baby. I am the writer the wombat collective birthed. Without them, I would have left Gather long ago, or fallen in with bad company, but I most assuredly would never, ever have written a single word. They took a lump of uneducated coal, and keep honing and chipping away and polishing me. Every one of them is generous with their knowledge, honest with their critique, and unfailing in their support and sympathy.

I agree that being a wombat can be a distraction. Ad mentioned, sometimes a distraction is exactly what is needed. They dust you off and bandage up the boo-boos, but never let you wallow. Then they give you chocolate or a Manhattan or a swift kick in the pants, whatever is called for.

The good: Interacting with other writers and making great friends. Chocolate, of course. Hicken soup. Commiserating.

The bad: Talks about tree sperm. The occasional argument.

The ugly: Jill killed her egg. Poor egg.

Hi wombats. My Easter weekend kept me pretty busy, but we stayed in our town for the duration. I sang (a lot) in the morning, which is a nice way to celebrate the occasion.

Yesterday, I spent a lot of time working on pitches, of the one sentence and three sentence variety.

Here is my current thought on the one sentence pitch for Growing Up Single: "Coming of age meets romantic adventure when Jack Riley embarks upon a journey of self-discovery that takes him far from his small town roots."

The three sentence version looks like this: "Coming of age meets romantic adventure when Jack Riley embarks upon a journey of self-discovery that takes him far from his small town roots. The road from Sixties rock and roller to Eighties software guru is a bumpy one and it’s easy to lose your way. Over the years, several enchanting women coax Jack to leave the single life, but is he ready to resist the lures of temptation alley and pursue love with the woman of his dreams?"

Jill, I think you crammed as much info in your one sentence pitch as I did with my three. I assume you'll fix the typo. You can also skip the commas before and after Jacy Parker, though I'll let Beth, our comma queen, confirm that.

A recent No Whine session on queries raised what I thought was the essential point: you want to tell just enough to get the agent / editor to actually read the book. My one sentence blurb goes the high concept route and the three sentence version colors in more detail, but still steers away from the tendency I've had to start laying out the plot, which I find doesn't work really well.

Thanks, Pat. But your "crazy woman in the tower included" line is genious. Seriously.

Uh oh. Anyone following the blow up about Amazon stripping sales rankings for books? Mostly targeted at Gay, lesbian, et. al. and also hitting erotica hard. It's all over Twitter, Smart Bitches, etc. It's getting ugly.

Here's what Smart Bitches says (I love them and I believe Judi is going to be on their blog next week)

Amazon ranked

On Twitter, use #amazonfail

Both really good, James. I might not be the best judge in your case, though, since I read the book. But I don't think you need the word "alley" in the three-sentence pitch. Threw me a bit.

On being a writing wombat? The discussion above is a good example. The group will quickly dive into the fine points of writerly points like the art of the pitch and share enough so that all of us benefit.

Why are we talking about pitches to begin with? Several wombats brought us links for various pitch contests, and Pat, for one, has already parlayed that into a request for a full. The typical writer here prefers to write more at length than the pitch allows, but distilling our beauties into a few sentences is part of the fine art of marketing, without which it's very difficult to get a book published.

What I like most about the group is the shared devotion to writing coupled with a genuine camaraderie which enables us to push each other to new heights in a friendly environment. Even better, we've gotten to know each other personally -- including numerous face to face wombat meets -- which has encouraged us to share more and be constructively transparent in our critiques. It still stings when feedback tells us we have more work to do on our manuscripts, but the points are so much easier to take when delivered in a friendly way and by people whose talents you've grown to respect.

I've only had a few experiences as an adult where I felt a true sense of bonding with a peer group and the Writin' Wombats is the most recent and deepest example of that rare phenomenon for me.

May have changed my mind, James. I now see you're using alley as another road in the journey, so to speak. Hmm. Can't decide now. We'll see what others think.

good job you guys on the pitches! And, yep, I'm partial to the crazy lady in the tower.

re: Amazon. Uh. Oh. What brilliant mind (insert heavy sarcasm here) came up with that one?

correction, Pat. Smart Bitches will be on MY blog (and that includes all you smart ladies here, I'm hoping!) Tuesday.

Jill, thanks for both bits of feedback. I'll also hold my comments in case others want to weigh in.

Pat, your one sentence pitch is a fine example of the high concept approach, though you quickly drag in into the gutter, which is, of course, half the appeal.

What does being a Writin' Wombat mean? After hanging around here for more than a year, I still don't know.

My first reaction to Wendy's question was the beginning of the Cheers theme song.

"Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got. ?
Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot. ??
Wouldn't you like to get away? ??
Sometimes you want to go ??
Where everybody knows your name, ?
and they're always glad you came. "

Oh yeah, and there's writing, encouragement, writing, tutoring, writing ... and chocolate.

I'll spare Dale a bit of effort in his wombat public service activities. The link to the last wombat thread is here.

If you haven't been there yet, you need to go there to read about the latest vendetta where the hottest thing in shoe leather takes on the best selling authors in the world of romance, to check out Pat's pitch and, last but not least, to take in fine points on the topic of tree sex. Licentious, but required reading.

P.S. Here are the rest of the lyrics to Cheers that weren't on the show.

All those night when you've got no lights, ?
The check is in the mail; ?
And your little angel ?
Hung the cat up by it's tail; ?
And your third fiance didn't show;

Chorus

Roll out of bed, Mr. Coffee's dead; ?
The morning's looking bright;
?And your shrink ran off to Europe, ?
And didn't even write; ?
And your husband wants to be a girl;

Be glad there's one place in the world ?
Where everybody knows your name, ?
And they're always glad you came; ?
You want to go where people know, ?
People are all the same; ?
You want to go where everybody knows your name.

I can tell you something that is not a key characteristic of Wombatia. We are most-definitely not of one mind. Personally, I'm a-okay with that.

How about a candidate for an alternate tagline?

Writin' Wombats care about good writing. If you don't, you suck.

The Amazon fail thing is heating up. On Twitter, 1078 tweets on #amaonfail in 30 minutes. In case you don't think this is important, remember, we have erotica writers among us.

And James, et. al., thank you for liking my pitch. I can recite it in my sleep now. And it began as a throwaway joke line right here on a wombat thread.

That sale-rank stripping thing at Amazon is wack!

How is it Amazon has suddenly become this ultra-conservative enterprise? Wasn't there talk amongst the ABNA forums about them throwing out any entries that included cursing? If that was true, well, what can I say but "damn them!"

I think my one tame squirrel is nutty. He's taken to climbing up on the backdoor and staring in the window until somebody comes and gives him a snack.

PW is now saying Amazon is telling them the delisting of books was a "glitch". Yeah, because a Twitter/blogosphere/Facebook/online petition storm had nothing to do with the "fix".

Oops, Just a glitch?

Mike, I think your tame squirrel is brilliant :-)

Pat, this is the kind of glitch that emerges when businesses corner a particular market. They start acting like monopolists and issuing their decrees, thinking that it's purely their call. If nobody protests, it is.

Nice article, Wendy. :-)

John, this is the place where everybody knows your name. There was a trade show in my industry which was like that -- until it evaporated last year.

Ken, yep, it's okay to disagree here (and people do), but most of the arguments are disagreements about ideas, not personal attacks. People who indulge in the latter have worn out their welcome here fast.

Good point, James, here we have dialogues instead of diatribes.

5700 words today, and I'm not ready to stop, yet that day job demands I go to bed at some time tonight to prepare for 13 hours of h-e-double hockey sticks tomorrow. I do love my Sundays, which I should start calling Writedays.

Is that REALLY the rest of the Cheers song, John? Or did you make it up? Interesting lyrics.

Good Evening Wisdom. Nice conversations going on. Crazy lady in the tower.. snork! love it.

Jamie you should send me the first in your series.. to make sure the odd words and stuff get caught. Yeah, that's the ticket. smile.

Amazon looks to be back peddling. Poor customer service rep who made the comment.. they aren't going to be nice to CS over that.. even if it was true. tisk, tisk.

I'm beat. Dinner went well, even if the turkey took longer to cook than I thought it would.

Early to bed for this one. Goodnight Neverland

hey Ken, your series, What's Glen's last name?

Never mind. Duh, I just went and got one of your books. Wilson. Sheesh.

It's real, Jamie. I took it off a lyrics website.

Cool picture, mademoiselle.

KEN.

I can't down load Steel Waters, for whatever reason. I've tried everything. I can down load it but can't save it. If I can't save it then I can't use it on my gather announcement of upcoming guests. Would you please download it to gather? I can go to your pics and right click and save it to my computer pics.

Interesting stuff about Amazon rankings. Whether or not it was truly a gliche, I'm glad this will be resolved (or at least I sure hope so).

Wonderful article, Wendy!

Yeah, I've been following the #amazonfail. There's a petition going around, did you guys see it? Really outrageous behavior by Amazon. They are also delisting all kinds of titles that deal with homosexuality - including national book award winning non-fiction titles about things like, gays in the military. On top of being idiotic censorship, it's also blatant homophobia. Things like that bug me.

Really glad to see that they are backing down. I have literally spent thousands and thousands of dollars at Amazon - in my old job, I bought books from them and we are talking about a lot of books - like 10K a year at least. I signed the petition and told them to look up my name and I wouldn't be buying another thing from them if they continued with this.

What does it mean to be a Wombat? I think, WRITING, whatever the F@#K YOU want!

HA HA!


Hola Wendy . . .

Start Your Monday with a smile even though it's {{shiver}} TAX TIME

For those who haven't filed yet (and even for those who have), this article will lighten the load:

The New Friendly IR_, Daylight Savings, and Form 1040

Being a part of the world of Wombatia is the best thing to happen to me here on Gather. Finding a group that is kind in it's handling of disagreements is so refreshing. The kind of help we get and give here is outstanding. Although I haven't written anything worth a darn in several months I really appreciate all the writerly topics as well as all the 'detours' we take into volcanoes, climate changes, Easter candy, rock concerts, child rearing, etc.

We are a well-rounded group, caring about our mutual love... writing. But we also care about each other and that is so valuable. I can hardly wait until I am able to meet up with so many of the 'bats.

Hope that happens one day, cause I love ya all.

Another hope, that my muse will quit pouting just because I had surgery and come back to help me out. I'm feeling the need to sprout new ideas... must be Spring Fever!

Paul, thanks for the @# so we don't have to flag the article.

Hey, everyone, I have an interview up at http://pbdiva.wordpress.com/

The promo machine is leaving the station. Any and all passengers will be appreciated.

Getting ready to leave for RT on Sunday. Steph and I are driving down and spending time with a chaptermate who upped and moved to the sunny state - in her gorgous mansion, I mean, house. (uh, huh.) I'm going to try to blog like I did last year from the convention.

Right now I'm off to write - with kids and my sister's kids here. Should be interesting.

Monday, phooie!

((hugs)) for Jamie.

Oh, and pictures of my research for In Over Her Head at: http://wickedlyromantic.blogspot.com/

thanks man...

Wendy, what a great article! Love reading what wombats think of the wombats. Both John and James pegged it--the Cheers theme and I've only had a few experiences as an adult where I felt a true sense of bonding with a peer group and the Writin' Wombats is the most recent and deepest example of that rare phenomenon for me. Wonderfully put.

I'm glad everyone is enjoying it Beth. The Hicken and Spleen is indeed a wonderful place.

In the gracious words of Lady Judith, I got nothin'.

*snork.

I like the Cheers theme too. I think that should be our official motto song (is that like an alma mater song? I'm getting brain dead from using up all my words in my stories.)

Wombats - people who, when you get together face-to-face for the first time, pick up a conversation as if you never stopped having one, and taking a while to realize that you haven't met them face-to-face before.

And for those who read my post about the newest shark to show up in Catch of a Lifetime, guess what's playing in my computer right now? "Can't Touch This." Laughing to myself now...

Pat, I've been following the story. The only way to deal with companies like Amazon is to yell unfair practices, loudly and VERY publicly. They've been pulling quite a few bone head maneuvers the past few months. When they're called on it, it's always, "oh my, it was a glitch, we apologize." Yah right. The thing is, they make these arbitrary decisions without warning or any fanfare, just as they did with removing authors that did reviews and had the nerve to put their name AND their book title in the signature--the reviews just quietly disappeared until spotted by a few authors and they started screaming very publicly about it. The reviews removed are now back AND include the authors title in their signature line. They will have to do the same with this whole censorship thing too. By their comments on adult content, Christine Feehan's books would have to be de-ranked, as would MOST of the romance genre, suspense/thriller genre books. pfffft. So do what double day book club does, label it with a warning, explicit sex, violence, and strong language and let the reader make the choice. The thing is, this sort of action on the part of Amazon impacts on an author's livelihood and puts Amazon on some very precarious legal grounds--which they can't afford.

Judi, you have some good stuff up on the net. Really, all the time involved will pay off. :-) Be sure to keep us posted here because some of the places you will be interviewing is not on my blog rolls of blogs I read, so I'll miss them.

Cheryl Brooks, author of The Cat Star Chronicles, today's guest Over Coffee
FORGETFULNESS

And Wednesday will be our own Ken. :-)

Stage a counter movement that lodges complaints against botany books for their gratuitous depictions of plant sex and the accompanying graphic photos. I mean, have you seen some of the things they have in these books that any small child can be exposed to. Pistols and stamens all over the place. Some even show manual manipulation of them. It's shocking, just shocking.

I sense another epic duel shaping up.

My muse is going absolutely insane. I want to write sooooo badly. Scenes, scenes and more scenes running through my head. Not sexually graphic ones. Surprising I know, but I don't have any time to write today. GAH!

I did grade about 250 papers this morning. Okay, that's an exageration. It was more like 120, but still. A LOT. And the vast majority were essay questions. I think that's what has the muse over-excited. Grading papers is sooo boring and requires so little thought that other parts of my brain start spazzing out. I'm giving tests in every class today, so with no lectures (except maybe 30 minutes during my night class), I need something to occupy my mind. I'm done grading papers. Now what?

Oh and I'm dissecting the male and female reproductive systems in my two labs, so that should silence my muse. That's not for another hour though. sigh.....

I'm SUPER hyper today too. Not sure what the deal is.

Someone give me a sedative or something.

Greetings, wombats. Another chilly Monday.

Judi, nice interview. The publicity machine is indeed rolling.

Sia, Amazon has had a few snafus in the last year or so. They've been so sure-footed for many years, so this is surprising, but they are getting bigger and more dominant in publishing. The newer folks at Amazon may not be as tuned in to the "customer first" ethos which brought the company its success in the first place.

Thanks "Kat", Sia and James for stopping by. Last night I think I did 15 interviews in front of tv. I find that's the best time b/c I try to use my daylight hours for giving the muse free rein with the story (or popping by the Wombats). Sia, I'll keep posting them here - I think I might do an article for the rest of Gather b/c if I start posting every link as an email, people are going to get sick of seeing my name, and that's not a good thing.

Jamie - can't you write down the scenes in longhand while the students are taking their tests? Not ideal, but at least that way you won't lose the momentum. (It might be that lamp - you might have to dial down the sunshine! which sounds so wrong for so many reasons.)

Oh, I meant to tell you what's cool about this interview today, is that author Judi McCoy referred me to the Paperback Diva, Andrea. I was very honored.

My excitement this weekend--got a juror qualification questionnaire in the mail. U.S. District Court. This could be cool. Funny that the two of us who share an office--who've never been called to jury duty--get jury stuff within a few weeks of one another. My office mate got called for county stuff. This doesn't mean I'll even get called, but it could be fun.

Jamie, I keep thinking you are Abby when I see your picture.

Hello Wombats, I hope you all had a lovely Easter vacation. I'm recovering nicely from surgery but as evidenced by my outing to the beach yesterday, I tire easily.

The best thing about being a Wombat? Being surrounded by knowledge of all kinds.

The worst thing? Spending too much time here, although I've not been guilty of that, lately.

Surgery? Yikes, I missed that, Dana. Glad to hear you are on the mend. I prescribe more restful days in the sun.

You've been missed Dana. Put your feet up on a settle and I'll get you some tea w/honey. Hope you feel better very soon.

Mike - SNORT!

Our 2nd Anniversary is coming up isn't it? Hmm.

I got up this morning thinking it would be a normal Monday. Logged off of here and DH appeared. His neck is very stiff and he stayed home. Five minutes later I hear DD's car. She was here, with PP, to do her taxes. Wheeee! All before 9am. Don't these people know I'm a lady of leisure?

Off with me.

Em, Jamie.. can't you write while the students take their tests?

In the interest of disclosure, I have to admit I've been a botanical pimp. I did plant breeding for 5 years and developed an Indian corn variety. I feel so dirty now.

Dana, hope you're feeling better soon. Surgery does zap you though, so take care.

Wendy, all before 9? There goes your leisure time...

Judi, ah the joys of networking. But, it's a fine line with links. Necessary but you don't want to over do it either. That's why I'm trying to do an article invitation thing rather than use email on gather.

James, Amazon will learn or not, :-). Yah it's a gray chilly day here too. Blah. Better than snow.

Lisa, love your icon. I get around to changing mine eventually. 2 year anniversary? Sheesh. Already?

Ehh! Beaker, I'm not sure if that's a complement or an insult.

I don't write fiction at work. It makes me feel like a bad employee. It's bad enough that I check gather from work. I do have an hour right now at home for dinner. Maybe I'll write.

Dana, it's great to see you! Hope you recover to 100% quickly.

In case you guys haven't seen this yet, it's the latest "Britain's Got Talent" sensation - remember Paul Potts? Here's the link to the whole clip, which is worth it just to see the mocking grins on the audience members (and judges too) until this lady opens her mouth and starts singing:

Watch it here.

And I don't even like Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Look! All the king's horses and all the king's men put me back together again :-)

Jamie, you're looking rather mysterious/secretive in your new icon. An enigma.

So, how are all our ABNA semi-finalists holding up? Big day's this week, isn't it? One thing I noticed with writing contests is it always seems sooooo long between the time you enter and the time winner(s) are announced, by the time it's announced its somewhat anti-climatic and you don't really care so much any more. Have you all reached "I don't care" mode?

Jill, I'm honestly torn between wanting to progress to the next round and being axed so I can think of something other than this stoooopid contest. I don't think I will be too devastated if I don't move on. I'd like too, don't get me wrong, but I'm sooooooo ready for this whole thing to be over with.

I'm off to teach my next class. Will someone just shoot me and put me out of my misery? Nothing permanent, just a wound that will get me out of work for a week or so. Chant a "4 more weeks" mantra at me or something. I'm totally burnt out on these night classes. Completely, totally, utterly burnt out on teaching night classes. I wanna go back home. :-( *pout

I think I sorta look like a fortune teller. What do you think Sherrie? Should I add a crystal ball to my icon? I promise not to read anyone's butt crack.

What a voice! OMG.

What an appropriate song to sing; one she could sing from the heart. About dreams and how life can crush them. thank you Lisa, that was a treat.

I also loved the expressions on the judges faces as they realized just what they had there. Priceless. She had to know what she was facing with those three, not known for their kindness.

Oh yeah, Jamie. You definitely look like a fortune-teller. Not the butt-crack-reading kind though, thank goodness!

About Amazon, I'm ready for the next phase one way or another. If I'm cut, I'll cry and move on. If I'm not cut, I'll obsess for another month. It seems like FOREVER since I entered this thing, which of course, it was.

It's been really interesting reading the excerpts though!

Dana, glad to hear you are on the mend.

Once again, my comment on a Wordpress blog (Judi's Publishing Diva interview) is not showing up. I've been spammed, I know it. What is it they have against me?

Dana--Wishing you a speedy recovery! I'm glad to hear you're doing well.

Lisa--That Briton's Got Talent clip is excellent. My daughter showed it to me yesterday.

Good luck to our ABNA finalists!

I loved that clip Lisa. It shows so much truth about the human condition, a truth I have witnessed countless times. One of the first was when as a high school music student I went to a recital at Julliard, and heard a series of teenaged violinists play. Most of them were quite good, but I was getting bored, not being a great fan of the violin. Then this kid came out on crutches. "How can a cripple play the violin?" I asked my friend, as did lots of others in the audience.
As it turned out he played pretty good. Yes, it was indeed Yitzak Perlman.

Then there is the story of Jerry G. I went to a special high school for music and art (the school that the old TV show FAME was based on). I noticed a kid in the cafeteria surrounded by girls. Even at that age, I was quite interested in this phenomenon. This kid was fat, ugly, short and stupid looking. His clothes were awful. I asked a girl why he was so popular. She stared at me in amazement. "Dont you know who that is?"
"No"
"That is Jerry G"
"Who?"
"Jerry G. He is the best trumpet player in the school."
I was not impressed. Until I heard him play. For a few minutes, I even doubted my own budding sexuality. He didnt play the trumpet, he made the trumpet sing to you. You specifically. Yes he became famous.

Wow, that talent audition was just incredible. I'm smiling from ear-to-ear!

I loved those stories, Sy, btw. It just goes to show, huh?

The song in the clip is "I dreamed a dream" from Les Misérables, lyrics by Alain Boublil, music by Claude-Michel Schonberg, plot by Victor Hugo.

I would like to factor that "Britain's Got Talent" clip like a differential equation...it's amazing and very touching. I like playing against people's expectation. She knew. Sure, there's intrinsic talent, but you don't sing like that without hard work and determination. She knew. Perfection.

I love stories like the ones you shared, Sy. I've always loved Perlman his passion.

I've often wondered if a person facing tragedies or problems in their lives doesn't find another way to let the joy of their spirit fly?

I like stories that inspire. Susan Boyle spoke the simple truth when asked what she thought had kept her from success, she'd never had the opportunity. She just about moved those judges to tears and she kept her word, she rocked that audience.

To answer Wendy. Warning, long and emotionally tinged comment ahead.
I have said some of this here before. We are all ordinary people, leading regular lives. We have jobs, or are looking for them, we have families, we have obligations, and we even have some quirks. (not me, of course). But, we are special. Because we write. We love writing, and we do it well. This makes us magical, and special. We dont write "thanks for sharing". We use wit, puns, jokes, dialog, deep descriptions. We don’t hold back, we give. And the result of all this giving has been the creation of a real community. And the magic of our writing allows us to see each other in ways that are rare and special.
Who here cannot fully see Pat's office, complete with the Colonel, the Diva etc. When Beth writes about going home after a long day, I am there with her, I can hear the whisper of the door as it closes. All of us are there in the classroom with Jamie, appreciating her passionate words of learning, knowing that while she is lecturing, much more exotic, and erotic story lines are swirling in her mind. Each of us has run, exhausted, behind Judi, as she careens through her days of meetings, blogs, child care and networking. We all know James' family, and Sia's family, and their good news is our good news, their hassles are our hassles. We cant wait to see “Geek alert” from Dale, because we know we will learn something that others have tried, but failed to teach us. And of course, Mike, always the man of surprises, from lovely and silly poems to the most astute observations on the net. Ill bet, like me, many of you have quoted these guys to your friends to explain a bunch of stuff. Every Wombat comment is pure, clean and fresh. Ken uses the language like a surgeon, expressing ideas, emotions and views with an economy and elegance that are hard to find. Beaker, I am sure is a professional comedy writer. I have never spoken to her, or heard her voice, nor Sherrie’s, but I can hear them when I read their comments. Beaker’s lower and drier, and Sherrie’s with a bit of a tremolo. Their words, on the screen, are pure delight, and they sing with pleasure. I have never met Wendy, but I can imagine her blank stare, I can see her grin, and I totally hear her voice as she talks to her pixie princess. I have met Jill, but I know her more through what she says and how she says it here, than I do from our one conversation at dinner. We know that Vivian will grace us with her presense when she can, we can feel the depths of scholarship that she is delving into. And even when our wonderful queen, Lisa, says shes “got nuthin”, she tells us in a way that we know she really has everything. We are cheering for Wanda, and encircling her in our magic circle, delighting in her delight at being here. We know that John is a major figure in Gather, his humor is at the professional level, and his online presence is enormous. But he has not abandoned us. He continues to spice our threads with his sharp, but loving and graceful words. We all know from John, that the best humor is the expression of the wonder of humanity. And June, if you are reading this, you know how much we love you and care for you, and how much we treasure those times when you can share your shining soul with us.
We are still getting know Atlantis and Dana S. but we already know a great deal about them. They write, they care, they are good people.
What I have been trying to say is that we know each other. We even know our alter egos, like Abby or Lady Elena. We know each others life stories, and our made up stories. We have read each other’s books, those that have been published (I have read Gina’s, Dana’s, and Ken’s and expect to read Pat B’s and Judi’s shortly) , and those still in manuscript. Some of us have played major roles in each other work.

So, what do I love about the Wombats? That’s easy. The Wombats. Each and every one of you. What is the down side of the Wombats? Also easy. There isn’t any.

Sy, thanks for sharing.



LOL. Sorry, I just had to say that.

What Sy said.

This is self-serving to an extent--how can I be objective at this point? Regardless, you guys will be blown away by what Adina has brewing. She's a live wire.

Wow. Now I'm just teary all over. First by the knockout of Susan Boyle, and then by Sy. Applause, applause.

I was going to say more, but I think not now.

Oh, and the Amazon brouhaha is being blamed on a coder in France who mixed up the meanings of adult, porn, erotica and sexuality. There's also a theory that this was a targeted attack by an organized fundamentalist group, especially given that this has quietly been happening since February (kinda like a test attack). Amazon would likely be shy about admitting they were vulnerable to that kind of thing.

Hello to one and all. Long day and I need some rest. Oh, and another birthday present arrived today. One of those Shiatsu massager things that attaches to your chair (the good kind, that rolls up and down your entire back). I may never leave my chair.

I don't know Jeff Bezos, but I know people who work for him. That company fits in well in Seattle, which is just as liberal as San Francisco or Madison. They'd rather hack off a limb before offending any of the trendy and fashionable gay, lesbian, transgendered, bisexual, confused or undecided communities. You should see some of the people in the elevator in their building. My father-in-law would have a heart attack. Not me, I think they're amusing--good fodder for character studies.

Jill

A perfect response. Which also makes my point. Wombats Rock. Sevenfold. Or whatever that group is that Jamie seems to like so much.

Hi all. Just have a short window between "Chuck" and "Castle". I entered the one line pitch contest with a variation on my rif off of Sy's take on Char. Have to see how that goes.

TSR is falling like a rock on Authonomy. Oh well. I never figured out why it went up so far in the first place. Maybe not spending much time over there lately has something to do with it. The quality of comments I'm getting seem to be declining, and I really would prefer to be writing, though there are several wonderful stories over there, including a wonderful story about a couple of accidental time-travelers, one of whom falls in love with the designer of the Titanic and tries to stop his death in the disaster. I don't have the link handy, but it's on my blog. http://dalecoz.livejournal.com/

I'll be out of touch much of the time between Thursday and Sunday. I'm going to a writing seminar sponsored by Donald Maass in Oakbrook (near Chicago). He is an agent and author of Writing The Breakout Novel. I don't know how good it will be, but the book seems pretty solid. Hopefully the seminar will be too.

Sy: Sorry I haven't issued many geek alerts lately. Maybe I'll get one in tonight.

Here is something worthy of a Geek Alert: It seems that the West Antarctic ice cap has collapsed and rebuilt itself over 60 times in the last 14 million years, with most of those times coming in the Pliocene (the era right before the ice ages started in earnest). This isn't the big ice sheet in Eastern Antarctica. That's apparently been stable for at least 14 million years and probably sense it formed between 35 million and 22 million years ago.

Significance: If the West Antarctic ice sheet collapses, sea levels go up around 30 feet (from old and possibly faulty memory) That would mean that us folks out in 'flyover country' would get inundated with refugee New Yorkers and other East Coast types looking for refuge from the waters. Global temperature are supposedly going to rise enough to destabilize the sheet by 2100 if you believe the projections.

Much of western Antarctic is actually below sea level, so if it lost the ice sheet it would be a group of islands, which would be kind of cool (actually very cool). Apparently back in the Pliocene at least part of the area was ice free for 200,000 years. It would have been cool to be able to watch life recolonize those islands when the ice left--and kind of depressing to see it die out as ice retook them.

Oops. Forgot the link: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227036.400-driller-thriller-antarcticas-tumultuous-past-revealed.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news