Annette Lyon's Blog, page 29

Mini Post: Book Winner

Been a tad busy with The Teen Writers Conference this weekend, so I failed to post the winner of Sarah M. Eden's Courting Miss Lancaster , even though Random.org did pick one.
And that winner is: Elizabeth Morgan of Writers Block
She said: "My favorite Sesame Street character is Oscar the grouch. I love the way he is, but underneath it all, he is some times nice."
Have to admit, I like Oscar too.
Congratulations, Elizabeth! (Please send me your mailing address so I can ship it to you!)
If you...

Casual Blogger Conference 2010!

I'm probably the last person around to post about the conference, but I gotta. Especially 'cause I've got a couple pictures.
Thursday night was the speakers' dinner. I got to meet all kinds of people I've known only online, like Shelle (the conference photographer), Lolli (sat next to her at dinner!), April, and many, many more.
Each speaker stood and introduced themselves and their blog title, and when I did, I heard a squeal on the other side of the room. (Ego stroke? You betcha.) Turns out...

WNW: Until the Cows Come Home

One curious (dare I say word-nerdy?) reader asked where the phrase until the cows come home comes from.
I had no idea, but that's exactly the kind of random thing I like to find out.
We all know the basic gist of the phrase: partying or doing something else for a really long time, such as late into the night.
But where do the cows fit in? And why use cows when they're such lazy, unmotivated creatures?
Ah, so that's where my handy research came in.
Cows are lazy, yes. But there is one time...

The Zoo Field Trip: My Brush with Insanity

A couple of weeks ago I promised to describe the zoo field trip I went on with my first grader and how it surely cut some years off the end of my life and made me want a padded cell.
My group consisted of four cute little first graders: two boys and two girls, counting my daughter.
I volunteered all year, so I knew the kids; they were a really smart set. I was lucky. Or so I thought.
All goes well for the five minutes we took at the school for potty breaks. Then we head out to the buses. They...

Author Interview: Sarah M. Eden

***ATTENTION: Giveaway Below!***
It's no secret that Sarah M. Eden is my new favorite novelist. I've read four of her books (only one is in print currently, neener, neener), and after the first one, Seeking Persephone, I knew I had to meet her. That book was a Whitney Award finalist for Best Romance, so at the Whitney gala that year, I ran around frantically afterward asking people who Sarah was and where she was sitting. I'd never seen a picture.

Turns out my rush to bow at the feet of her...

The Lyman Flat Daddy Family

I swear, I have the best blog readers ever.
TODAY I get to officially place the order for the Patterson Flat Daddy. Booyah!
The next ones to get a Flat Daddy are the Lyman family.
Get this: their Flat Daddy is already paid for. I didn't even get a chance to tell you who they were, and you all donated enough to pay for it!
So here's their (belated) spotlight:
The Lyman Family
Daddy Lyman departed for his first deployment just two weeks ago. In his wife's words, it's already "surprisingly HARDER...

WOW! FLAT DADDY UPDATE

In less than 24 hours, we received enough in donations for the Pattersons' Flat Daddy!
My list of families has four more (so far) for whom I'm hoping to get Flat Daddies.
Our next family is one near and dear to my heart. I'll get their info up as soon as I can, but In the meantime, keep the donations coming! Even though their spotlight isn't up yet, the money will still go to them.
One note: Without my next Flat Daddy family, Band of Sisters quite literally would not exist.
Special thanks to...

Lyon's Tale Flat Daddy Families!

The longer Band of Sisters is out, the more military families I come across, whether in real life or online. I'm coming to see just how many of them could use a Flat Daddy of their own.
(Not familiar with the Flat Daddy concept? Visit my web site's FD page .)
These families can submit their names to Elaine Dumler (the official Flat Daddy Lady) to get on the list for a free one when the funds are available. But fund raising can take awhile, and the current waiting list has around 120 families.
So...

WNW: When Dictionaries Get It Wrong

My good friend Meggen sent me a link to an article, knowing it was right up my nerdy alley.
You can go read it, but the gist is this: a physics professor from Australia noted that every English dictionary he could find (including . . . GASP!!! . . . the OED) had the wrong definition of the word siphon.
We all know the general idea of siphoning: a liquid moves from one place to another, such as siphoning gas from a car.
Here's the problem: English dictionaries (which are not edited by...

It's Almost Here! Teen Conference Reminder

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The final registration day for 2nd annual THE Teen Writers Conference is just around the corner: Tuesday, May 25th. (That's a week from TOMORROW.)
If you know a teen who wants to write, this is the place for them!
The Teen Writers Conference includes lots of workshops with published writers, including Janette Rallison (whose sales are just under a million copies now), Dan Wells (international best-seller and Whitney Award winner for Best Novel by a New Author), and many others (including yours ...