Dispatches from the Cold North

I'm feeling pretty good today, despite watching people fall down just outside my building, and having to put up "watch for ice" signs on the front doors so there would be no more accidents. (New Northern shopping list: *must* invest in rock salt). I finally made a little headway on my manuscript, and am cheering on Sara from afar as she comes in on the home stretch on her line edits. Go, Sara!

Okay -- apparently C.S. Lewis was writing a cosmological treatise with the whole Chronicles of Narnia thing. Each of his seven books is alleged to be related to a ...planet. So, if you're keeping score, the allegorical thing is out, and three-dimensional chess is in.

Just when I was asking about books for babies, Lorie Ann comes out with readertotz! Especially if you're an ECE teacher, check it out.

Ever heard of Book View Cafe? It's a cooperative, nonprofit website supported by over twenty authors who have books published in print, who are also wisely giving themselves another arena of expression. YA fiction and more is served up a chapter a week, and if you're the type of person who likes to read online, you can read a chapter a day in your Google Reader. And now no one has an excuse to say they don't have time to read.

Meanwhile, Whidbey announces their monthly fiction contest -- very, very short fiction this time because after this November we've just had, who's got the attention span to write a longer story? "Enter December’s Whidbey Student Choice Contest for a chance to find $50 under your tree and a publication on your resume. Remember to keep the word count under 1000."