Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Ramblings

By Jaden Terrell

I just got home from work (after 10 PM) and remembered Thursday is my day to post.. Since I'm afraid all hope for a coherent post is gone, I'm going to just throw out some random thoughts and links that I've recently found of interest. I hope you will too.

First, the inimitable Nathan Bransford has just announced the finalists in his "best first paragraph" contest. I'd say they're pretty darn good, but the rules forbid campaigning for your favorite, so I'll just say, if you hop over to Nathan's site, you can vote on the one you like best.

Speaking of things we like best, Timothy Hallinan, author of the Poke Rafferty Bangkok thrillers, is still doing his 365-day blog project. He has a much cleverer name for it than that, but I can never remember the whole thing. Anyway, I made a pledge to comment on all of them, and I am reeeeeeeeeeally far behind, but I will keep my word. In the meantime, if you haven't been reading them, you're missing out on some great posts. Tim's latest book, The Queen of Patpong was just nominated for an Edgar. It's a marvelous book, which I reviewed on Murderous Musings when it came out. I'm rooting for Tim. Also, I harbor a secret, superstitious hope that hobnobbing with Edgar nominees will somehow make me one of them.

Finally, for anyone seeking a giant, yet terribly rewarding time-suck, you might like to check out Absolute Write and the Absolute Write Water Cooler (forums). I think I've posted about them before, but I finally joined tonight. I haven't had time to explore the sites, but they seem to be chock full of great information and advice for writers. (What exactly is a chock, anyway? Does anybody know?)

5 comments:

Shane Cashion said...

Thanks for the links. Will definitely check them out.

Helen Ginger said...

Great links. Thanks.

I believe a chock chocks wood. If he could, that is.

Jean Henry Mead said...

Thanks for the links, Beth. I'm also a Tim Hallinan fan, and love his website complete with Asian music. If I were an Edgar judge, The Queen of Patpong would certainly be a winner. I loved the book.

Timothy Hallinan said...

Thanks for the plugs and the links, Jaden. BOOOYYYYY are you behind. This is Day 148, which I can hardly believe, and some people are STILL hanging in. I thought they all would have evaporated months ago.

And thanks to both you and Jean Henry Mead for the nice words about QUEEN. Can you get onto the Edgar panel, do you think?

Jaden Terrell said...

Tim, you are so right. I'm trying now to comment on some recent ones and then go back to pick up the others.

I wish I were on the Edgar committee too. You would be a shoe-in!