My Space Gets it Right

It isn't often we see someone get it right, but MySpace finally did. 29,000 sexual predators, or people with serious issues of sexual nature in their past, have been booted from the site. The internet has been getting bad press with regard to its passively monitored (or not monitored at all) stomping grounds for sickos. The criticism is, and has been, valid. IRC, sites such as Facebook, even sites geared toward kids have provided rich mines in which the creepiest people can dig for victims. While privacy, free speech, and free access are all liberties we should cherish, the safety of children comes FIRST. Kudos to MySpace for appropriately setting its priorities, and getting it right.

A'Wizarding We Shall Go

It's time. Ahmed and I are off to our local Barnes and Noble in an hour or so to get our little tickets and stand in line with buddies Phil and Shea. We'll be staying at a cushy hotel room to lounge in a hot tub and read the final chapters of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Geeky, I know... but it's become a rite of passage for us. Most of the kids who haven't outgrown it are in Europe for the summer, so we'll have a few rugrats with us, but believe it or not we both enjoy this for ourselves. So I am off, soon, to have a full body nerdileptic seizure. See you Monday, when I've devoured the 750ish pages, passed out, and started re-reading more slowly. :)

Are You Non-Conferencing? WHY NOT?!?

Hey, if you haven't jumped into the fray over at Romance Divas for the Non-Conference Conference, you're missing out HUGE. Jackie Kessler has given some of the best advice I've ever come across for book signings. Amanda Brice is flinging expert legal advice around like rice at a wedding. It's free brilliance gone wild!! Remember, joining is free. I can't imagine better advice you'd have to pay for!

For those unfamiliar, Romance Divas is an award winning community for writers of romance, and probably more valuable to its members than any other organization to which we belong. I know what you're thinking... another online community full of cat-fights, flame-wars, and nonsense. But nothing could be further from the truth. The founders keep it civil and the membership is... well, it's like spending a long weekend at a cabin with 2,172 (at last count) of your best friends from college.

For a complete schedule, look at the post below... and get your butt over to RD to become number 2,173!!

The Not Going to Nationals Fest at Romance Divas!

Not going to Nationals? Don't worry...Romance Divas is doing the next best thing!

Romance Divas announces the first annual "Not Going to Nationals Cyber Conference" from July 11-15, right on the forum.

Best of all, it's FREE!

Just register as a member at Romance Divas--membership is free, you just need to sign up!

If you have trouble with registration email night.diva.maria@gmail.com.

There will be workshops, Q&As, and giveaways each day. All you have to do is participate!
Schedule:

July 11:
Workshop: PC Cast and Kristin Cast (topic TBA)PCCast.net
Q&A: Erotic romance with Portia da Costa and Madelynne Ellis
PortiaDaCosta.com
MadelynneEllis.com

July 12:
Workshop: Book Signing 101: Tips to Help Make your Signing a Success by Jackie Kessler JackieKessler.com
Q&A: Legal Issues for Writers by Amanda Brice AmandaBrice.com

July 13:
Workshop: What to Expect After You Sign the Contract by Marley Gibson MarleyGibson.com
Q&A: TBA (either with an agent from the Larsen-Pomada Agency or a panel on multi-cultural romance)

July 14:
Workshop: Sasha White (topic TBA) SashaWhite.net
Q&A: How To Write Both YA and Adult Romance by Berta Platas BertaPlatas.com

July 15:
Workshop: Trim That Fatty Writing! by Rhonda Stapleton RhondaStapleton.net
Q&A: TBA (either with an agent from the Larsen-Pomada Agency or a panel on multi-cultural romance)

We also have loads of great giveaways, including books, critiques, coaching, and more!

Happy Independence Day

In honor of our patriotic holiday I am going to share some words written by Johnny Cash. Even the least nationalistic among us can find a sense of pride in his gorgeous anthem to Old Glory:

Ragged Old Flag
By John R. Cash, © 1974 House of Cash, Inc.

I walked through a county courthouse square,
On a park bench an old man was sitting there.
I said, "Your old courthouse is kinda run down."
He said, "Naw, it'll do for our little town."
I said, "Your old flagpole has leaned a little bit,
And that's a Ragged Old Flag you got hanging on it."

He said, "Have a seat," and I sat down.
"Is this the first time you've been to our little town?"
I said, "I think it is." He said, "I don't like to brag,
But we're kinda proud of that Ragged Old Flag.

"You see, we got a little hole in that flag there when
Washington took it across the Delaware.
And it got powder-burned the night Francis Scott Key
Sat watching it writing O Say Can You See.
And it got a bad rip in New Orleans
With Packingham and Jackson tuggin' at its seams.

"It almost fell at the Alamo
Beside the Texas flag, but she waved on, though.
She got cut with a sword at Chancellorsville
And she got cut again at Shiloh Hill.
There was Robert E. Lee, Beauregard, and Bragg,
And the south wind blew hard on that Ragged Old Flag.

"On Flanders Field in World War I
She got a big hole from a Bertha gun.
She turned blood red in World War II.
She hung limp and low by the time it was through.
She was in Korea and Vietnam.
She went where she was sent by her Uncle Sam.

"She waved from our ships upon the briny foam,
And now they've about quit waving her back here at home.
In her own good land here she's been abused --
She's been burned, dishonored, denied, and refused.
And the government for which she stands
Is scandalized throughout the land.

"And she's getting threadbare and wearing thin,
But she's in good shape for the shape she's in.
'Cause she's been through the fire before
And I believe she can take a whole lot more.

"So we raise her up every morning,
Take her down every night.
We don't let her touch the ground
And we fold her up right.

"On second thought, son, I DO like to brag,
'Cause I'm mighty proud of the Ragged Old Flag."