S.L. Viehl's Blog, page 105

Off to Party

I'm unplugging today to spend some time with my guy as it's his birthday. So that your stop here was not entirely wasted, here's a very cool animated video from the UK that is actually an advertisement (wish we had more like this over here; does contain background music, for those of you at work):

The Bear & The Hare from Hornet Inc on Vimeo.

14 Days & Counting

Sometimes it can be tough to get into the spirit of the season, especially during online time, so to give my cheer a boost I'm sorting through my holiday bookmarks and trying to visit some old favorites.

I know it's two weeks until Christmas thanks to NORAD's Santa Tracker site, which has a countdown timer on their front page (as well as a whole new look this year.)

Snowday's holiday classic Create Your Own Snowflake site is also back for another holiday season of making virtual snowflakes (quite addictive, too. I can never make just *one* snowflake.)

Every year I make a point to revisit Jacquie Lawson's animated e-card The Snow Dog because it just makes me happy.

What links do you revisit during the holiday season? Please share your favorites in comments.

Covering Elsewhere

Today I'm visiting Typing with Wet Nails, author Anna C. Bowling's blog, to talk about how even great cover art can sometimes mess up your life. Stop by if you get a chance today and enter for a chance to win my hand-quilted and beaded Winterberry tote of goodies including signed print ARCs of Disenchanted & Co. and The Clockwork Wolf.

Comments Catchup Day

See you in comments.

Gift No-Nos

Ten Things I Do Not Want for the Holidays

Anything related to The Hunger Games, The Game of Thrones, or Ender's Game. In fact, if you're out shopping for me and you spot anything that has Game in the title please just walk the other way.

Ballpoint pens covered with fur, rhinestones, spikes, obscenities or miniature body parts. What you think is cute I'll probably think is pointless, plus my mom will likely end up stealing it, taking it to church and using it during her latest Bible study class, after which the pastor is going to want to have a word with me. Again.

Birdhouses. All of the pregnant birds around here refuse to use them. The snakes, frogs and squirrels, on the other hand . . .

Hats. I'm just not a hat person. I'm not a scarf, watch or lacey lingerie gal, either. I also now own enough cute fuzzy socks to keep my feet warm until Doomsday.

House plants. No matter where I put them my cat gets to them, eats them, and then regurgitates them all over some high-traffic carpeted area, generally during a dinner party. This includes potted catnip and that kitty grass that is supposed to be good for them.

Any product that has the name Kardashian attached to it. Do I even have to explain this one?

Kindle anything. I don't own a Kindle and (more importantly) I don't want to own a Kindle so you would be helping me not buy one. You should probably skip any Nook stuff too because I keep misplacing the one the family bought me for my birthday.

Makeup kits with ten thousand eye/lip/cheek colors in them. Aside from the fact that I haven't worn makeup for ten years, I cannot think of a single occasion in my life that would demand I paint any part of my face fuschia, chartreuse or bubble-gum-pink in order to appear presentable.

Perfume. But if you need some for someone else, please see me -- I have a huge drawer in the bathroom filled with about a hundred unused bottles from birthdays and Christmases past.

A T-shirt or sweatshirt with a decal that reads "Writers Do It [Insert Obnoxious Sexual Innuendo]." This because a) I don't advertise on my body that I'm a writer, b) there's never a really clever way to fill in that particular blank and c) it's absolutely none of your business how I do it.

What don't you want for the holidays? Let us know in comments.

Sword of Unimaginable Annoyance

This animated video is quite clever and absolutely adorable (and contains narration, music and sound effects, for those of you at work):

Song Of The Knight from Ringling Computer Animation on Vimeo.

3 Gifty Journals

While browsing the blank book shelves at BAM I found a trio I thought would make great gifts for any journal lover:



From left to right: Hardcover London-themed journal $5.00; Forest Animals journal with animal sticker tabs $10.95; and Clear Skies Journal $10.95 (I should also note that I got an additional 10% off those prices by using my BAM discount card.)

Here's what they look like on the inside:



The two critter journals are from Chronicle Books, and while I can't read the fine print on the London-themed journal it's a very nice buy for just $5.00. Also, I'll be giving away all three of these journals as part of some upcoming giveaways for the Disenchanted & Co. novels, so if you'd like to win one stay tuned to the blog.

Catch Lark

I know author Barbara Samuel aka Barbara O'Neal has many fans among my visitors, so I thought I'd pass along some news: she's just released a new title in a new genre and under a new psuedonym:



I've nabbed a copy to read on my Nook once I finish up my work this month. To learn more about this new venture visit the author's blog here.

Sub Op + Free Issue

Apex Publishing is holding a holiday flash fiction contest with a nice bonus for everyone who submits: "Whether we’re ready to admit it or not – and I’m definitely not ready to admit it yet – Christmas is right around the corner. This means all the lights, the music, the festivities, and the cheer. To help brighten up the holiday Apex style, we’ve decided to run a flash fiction contest.
How to enter: All entries must have to do with Christmas, but have a distinctly Apex slant – dark science fiction, fantasy, or horror;
You can submit anytime between now until December 16th; 250 word limit; Email entries to apexwritingcontest@gmail.com with the title and author name in the subject line; Limit 3 entries per person; Story should be in the body of the email. Submissions will be read by Jason Sizemore and me (Lesley Conner) with the winning story being published on the Apex blog on December 23rd. Besides getting their flash fiction published on the Apex blog, the winner also receives the following fantastic prize pack: a short story (up to 5,000 words long) critiqued by Apex owner/publisher Jason Sizemore, payment of 5 cents a word, and a one year subscription to Apex Magazine.
To make sure that everyone has a merry Christmas, all entrants will receive a free issue of Apex Magazine. All you have to do is let us know in your submission email which issue of Apex Magazine you would like and we will send it out to you. Search our back issues to see which one you’d like to own." See contest info here for more details.

Not a Penny Ten

Ten Things You Can Have for Free

Freeware caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive.

aClipboard Manager manages text clipboards in an easy way. Users do not need any practice to be comfortable with aClipboard Manager. The reason is that aClipboard Manager is a simple-to-use program. In fact, aClipboard Manager has been created for the developer´s own purposes. But it is better to distribute aClipboard Manager among others so that many users can be benefited by using aClipboard Manager. Users can use aClipboard Manager for any purpose free of cost" (OS: Windows XP/Vista/7)

ArtWeaver is a "simple Freeware program for creative painting, i.e. Artweaver makes all artistic effects, which you need for your work. You can create sketches from photographies and experiment with a wide range of brushes. The brush simulation is realistic as possible" (OS: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7)

Converseen is an "open source project written in C++ with the powerful Qt4 libraries. Thanks to the Magick++ image libraries it supports more than 100 image formats. You can convert and resize an unlimited number of images to any of the most popular formats: DPX, EXR, GIF, JPEG, JPEG-2000, PDF, PhotoCD, PNG, Postscript, SVG, and TIFF.
With Converseen you can save your time because it allows you to process more than one image with one mouse click! Converseen is very simple: it features a very simple user interface without strange options" (OS: Windows XP/Vista/7)

Flashnote is "just a rough copy for your quick work with any text information. Just when you need a rough copy to save or to process some pieces of a text, here is Flashnote – small, quick and convenient. You just have to press the shortcut combination and in a flash of a second you will have your rough copy before you. This done press ESC and the program hides. Everything can be done quicker, simpler and in a more convenient way" (OS: Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/7)

The Form Letter Machine is a "program that will help you to write letters and emails by mixing and matching from pre-written paragraphs. It's useful for people who regularly need to send out emails which include different components in different circumstances. For example if you field technical support requests, or if you need to reply to various inquiries, etc. It enables you to assemble text from multiple paragraphs, each one customized for a specific type of inquiry or response. You can build your own configurations using checkboxes and radioboxes and nested groups, and then easily write new letters or respond to inquiries by checking off the components you want to include. A real-time preview allows you to view the message as it is composed. The program also supports user defined variables, which allows you to quickly personalize the template with a name or other data that is specific to the task. The text is then copied to the clipboard and can be used in your e-mail program or word processor" (OS: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7)

According to a review of GeniusPDF Reader, "many PDF readers are so bloated that they consume plenty of system resources unnecessarily. If you want a lightweight but effective free PDF reader that will speed up your system, then GeniusPDF is for you. This ebook reader will make you enjoy reading your ebooks on your computer whether they are inspirational, research or comic ebooks. GeniusPDF is compatible with several other ebook formats besides PDF, including CBR, CBZ, MOBI, DJVU and EPUB, which makes it more versatile than many ebook readers, even many of the premium ones" (OS: Windows XP/Vista/7/8 [32-Bit/64-Bit])

M-Minder will "remind you of important (to you) events on computer startup. At computer start up a reminder window will open, displaying a list of events to remember for the day. After you have viewed this list the window can be dismissed and the software will then hide itself in the System Tray. At regular, user selectable, intervals a small reminder window will pop up for each still pending event and a customizable sound will optionally be played. The user is presented with a choice to either permanently discard this window or to let it pop up again after the next time interval. Future events can be reminded daily up to one year in advance" (OS: Windows 9x or higher)

MemPad is a "plain text outliner and note taking program with a structured index. All pages are stored in a single file. User interface available in 16 languages" (OS: Windows XP/Vista/7)

Simple Sticky Notes is a "simple, easy-to-use, absolutely free, fast and efficient taking notes software. Simple Sticky Notes is 100% safe and ads free" (OS: Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/7)

Task Coach is a "simple open source todo manager to keep track of personal tasks and todo lists. It is designed for composite tasks, and also offers effort tracking, categories, notes and more" (OS: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, BSD, iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch)