K.A. Laity's Blog, page 168

Authors After Dark

All authors must wear a tiara: shouldn't this be true every day, everywhere?

Moonlight, Lace and Mayhem -- and Me!

I'm guest blogger over at Moonlight, Lace and Mayhem today. Stop by and say hi and read what I have to say about...



football?!



Yep, it's true (and why there's a picture of Mesut Özil here). No, I didn't have a choice, it was just their theme for the month. While I'm not much of a football fan, I tried to be a good sport (heh) and at least be funny when I couldn't offer too much in the way of knowledge about the game. It did remind me of all the fun this summer in London, with all the people...

Albacon 2010, Oct 8-10

Hey kids! Especially you locals -- we're only weeks away from Albacon, the capitol region's only spec fic con which runs from Friday October 8th until Sunday the 10th, with oodles of fun stuff for you to do and see.



Writer GoH: Allen Steele

Artist GoH: Ron Miller

Fan GoH: Lisa Ashton



Plus we just got news that fan fave Jackie Kessler will be able to attend (which means Jackie Morse Kessler will be there, too!). Check out my interview with Jackie where she reads from Hunger.



Check out our p...

Seeking Crafty Women

Hey, Vicky tells me we're getting some great submissions for the inaugural issue of the Journal for the Women's League of Ale Drinkers, but we haven't got much in the way of crafty things. There's still plenty of room for lovely photos of your crafty projects: knitting, crocheting, needlepoint, sculpture, food -- the possibilities are endless!



The photo from Cake Wrecks is just to spur you on!



Here's the skinny and the general call once more: do please consider sharing your work with the wo...

It Must Be True

Are You Anybody?

I had a rather surprising piece of mail this week, that made my head spin around for a minute and then re-read the message. I've been invited to be a keynote speaker.



Huh? Me?!



Apparently so. It's the eleventh annual Craft Critique Culture Conference at the University of Iowa next April. You can see this year's schedule online and get a feel for it. Here's their description:





Craft Critique Culture is an interdisciplinary conference focusing on the intersections among critical and...

BitchBuzz: The Next Big Thing

My latest column:

Women are Key in Discovering the Next Big Thing The latest innovation from iTunes launched this week. Ping was supposed to revolutionize the music experience. Reviews, however, were tepid. The "social network for music" as Apple promotion called it turned out to be less social than existing networks and not integrated with them, a rather serious miscalculation. It's possible they rushed the launch to coincide with the iPod re-launch and it will improve, but for...

Kit Marlowe Visits UnBound

Kit Marlowe is over at the UnBound blog with the Ravenous writers today. She's writing about cant, jargon and slang in her books and in her favorite novels. Join her and the whole crew, who are a fun bunch of folks and our wonderful hostess, the fabulous Dana Fredsti. Here's a snippet:



I love language!



I know, I know: all writers do, but I love the superfluity of language that supplies slang. I think in part it's like knowing a secret handshake or being part of an exclusive club. I...

Shakespeare-a-Go-Go

I set off Sunday for a Shakespeare double-header with my theatre buddy, Ron, and got all the way to Massachusetts to fill up on cheap gas before I discovered that I had left my check card in the cash machine: D'oh!



We got to Shakespeare & Co for the first order of the day: A Winter's Tale. I had seen a production last year at the Old Vic with Sinead Cusack and Simon Russell Beale, part of Sam Mendes' Bridge Project. It's not ever been one of my fave plays: it's got an awkward juxtaposition o...

Talking Book Trailers at Sia's

Here's Sia's introduction to my piece on what I learned from making book trailers: please stop by and comment, and be sure to check out the many interviews with writers featured on her blog.

PROMOTION AND BOOKTRAILERS My guest is a favorite of mine, Kate Laity. She's written some wonderfully entertaining stories under various names, including tales of magic, myths, and legends, as K. A. Laity. 

Branding and promotion is something of interest to authors. We talk about both quite a bit and you...