If I’ve ever spoken to you in person, you probably know I want a Kindle. I have a very good friend who also wants one and so we send each other links to different contests to win them.

There’s one particular contest from the Bibliofreakblog, that is doing their contest a little differently. You can do different things to get more entries. These ‘things’ range from following the Bibliofreak on Twitter to making a YouTube video.

I have no talent for film making, but it turns out that my friend, Nancy, does. (This is addition to her MULTITUDES of other talents.)

Here is a link to her YouTube video.

And a link to her Icelandic sheep website.

It’s great, and it gives a little glimpse into her life as a shepherd of Icelandic Sheep…as told by her stunning ram, Nicholai.

Please check out her video. It’s a nice fun way to slide in to this post-holiday work week. Except for Nancy, because on the farm, the work never ends!

Not my interview with him, although I wish!

It’s a very entertaining interview, and I want to give a big thank you to my friend Ann for sending it along. In the interview, Cormac, author of “No Country For Old Men,”  talks about the apocalypse, love and his new book, “The Road.”

Here’s just a snippet, the link to the full article is below.

WSJ: How does that ticking clock affect your work? Does it make you want to write more shorter pieces, or to cap things with a large, all-encompassing work?

CM: I’m not interested in writing short stories. Anything that doesn’t take years of your life and drive you to suicide hardly seems worth doing.

Click here for the full interview.

TGIF. Seriously.

So we had fun with the Word of the Year, but here’s another fun thing, because it’s Friday. Wahoo! Did I mention I’m glad it’s Friday?

Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus. <–Click and play! (free trial)

Basically,  it creates a visual map for the words you search for, which you can then click on and find more words, etc.  I’m not going to give up my paper thesaurus anytime soon, but the visual thesaurus is creative and fun.

PLUS…they have an article on the homepage today about Merriam-Webster’s uninspiring pick for (insert echo effect) “Word of the Year.” (end echo effect) Admonish. As in, “We should all admonish Merriam-Webster and Oxford American Dictionary for picking such relatively boring words for Word of the Year.”  Maybe we should unfriend them too.

Happy Friday!!

What’s bigger than the Oscars, Grammys and Emmys combined? The Oxford American Dictionary’s pick  for Word of the Year! (Insert wild applause here)

Exaggerating, you say? Probably. I’m a writer. That’s what I do.

In making its annual decision, the staff at Oxford American Dictionary strive to find a word that is both “current yet has potential longevity.” Wow! That must be some amazing word, right? Something that will stand the test of time, a word that we’ll want to use over and over again and never ever get rid of, because it’s so awesome! In this day and age when we’re communicating in all sorts of new ways and getting to use all sorts of new words, they must pick one that is beyond all of its word counterparts, in short, the most incredible word of the year! Right?

Ok, here it is…

Wait for it…

Wait…for…it…

Unfriend.

Yes…that’s right. Unfriend. (Do you sense my disappointment?)

C’mon people…there’s already enough strife in the world. Should we really crown a word as negative as ‘unfriend’ king of all words for 2009? It’s not like they didn’t have other ones to choose from.

Funemployed – taking advantage of one’s newly unemployed status to have fun or pursue other interests

Intexticated – distracted because texting on a cellphone while driving a vehicle

And then there’s the ever popular, “Teabagging.” There are a couple of different definitions for this one.

Ok, so I know the Word of the Year is just supposed to be something fun, and it is, but in a time when we all could probably use a few more friends, a little more happiness, maybe “unfriend” wasn’t the best choice.

Here’s a list of other potential words…what would have been your pick?

Editing is not my favorite part of the writing process although I’m learning to enjoy it.

Somewhat.

I enjoy it a touch more than trying to trim the claws of my polydactyl cat, which is  a step up from how I felt last year. Baby steps.

At any rate, I found this picture for fun Friday. It comes from the website 101reasonstostopwriting.com. Definitely check it out if you need a laugh of the dark  humor variety.

How do you feel about the editing process?

We all need tools to do our jobs. For a writer, that could mean paper and pen, typewriter (yes, there are still some out there) or a computer of some kind.

I do my writing primarily on random slips of paper and my Netbook. It’s an Acer Inspire One, which my husband introduced me to and I love it. It’s portable, has all the power I need, and it’s blue! Um, er, not that the color was any kind of factor in my purchasing decision.

Really though, it’s great. My only ‘complaint,’ (not that you can really call it that) is the screen size. It’s fine for word processor applications or web browsing, but I’m a multi-tasker, so if you try to have more than one thing open at at time it can get a little crowded. No worries though, it easily plugs into a monitor so I can have the benefit of a larger screen, or dual screen.

So, what tools do you use for your writing? What do you think are the pros and cons?

If you’re interested in a netbook, check out this website –> Netbooked.com

Yes, I did. But what does it have to do with writing?

It’s an example on a fun site that explains how to use an apostrophe…in a fun graphic way, instead of the boring Strunk and White way. (No offense to Strunk and White or their fans!)

Click here to check out how to use an apostrophe.

PS…You should check it out even if you know how to use one, because who can turn down the opportunity to see kittens riding a goat?

November 1 marked the start of NaNoWriMo. This quirky acronym stands for National Novel Writing Month and for the uninitiated, it’s a “fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.”

I participated a few years back and have to say, it was loads of fun. Unfortunately, I’m not participating this year but have a number of friends who are and I wish them the best of luck!

There are a few new things surrounding this year’s writing marathon and one of them is Scrivener’s NaNoWriMo 2009 Special Trial Edition. Scrivener describes their product as “a word processor and project management tool created specifically for writers of long texts such as novels and research papers. It won’t try to tell you how to write – it just makes all the tools you have scattered around your desk available in one application.”

One of the great things about the NaNoWriMo trial edition is for those participants who finish their 50,000 words, they’ll get 50% off of the regular license fee for Scrivener. Even better, if you don’t finish your 50,000, you can still get 20% off for just participating.

So, have you ever participated in NaNoWriMo? If so, what were your experiences?

When I did it, the thing I found most useful was the freedom to turn off my inner editor. The rules clearly state, DO NOT GO BACK AND EDIT! And for me, that’s one of the hardest parts of writing. That urge to go back and go over it again before I can press on. Could be why it took me around two years to finish my first draft of “Shaping Fate.”

If you are participating this year, please let me know how it’s going! I’d love to get updates!