Things I've discovered this week

It was a screw
Evidently, the slow leak in my tire was from a screw. The offending screw has been removed, the hole plugged and the tire re-inflated. I am now road safe again.

I won't self-combust in a church
It's been a long time, so I wasn't sure. But I survived my niece's baptism without incident. We'll see how I do next weekend, when my nephew is baptized. They're different churches, afterall -- one Catholic, the other Lutheran.

I've developed a photographic style
When I sent a link to Dave's cousin in Scotland to view the photos from the baptism (see above), this was part of her response: "Even if you hadn't sent them, I would have known you took them. Apart from the types of poses and the study of the architecture(!) - you aren't in them!!!" I confess, I do like windows.

We really need to buy a snow blower
This is our sixth winter in this house, and we haven't bought a snow blower yet. But there have been so many snow events this year, we're both sick of shoveling. The neighbor-kids all seem sick of shoveling, too. Nobody has been ringing our doorbell this year. That's probably for the best, though. At $20 a shot, we would have dished out a lot of money in snow removal this year -- enough to buy a snow blower.

Oolong means Black Dragon
Went to a tea tasting last night with Marriott and JC in the city. It was 90 minutes of standing around and tasting all sorts of teas: white, green, oolong and black. I usually like to sweeten my tea, but for the tasting we drank it straight up. My favorite was the sumatra oolong barisan, but I'm pretty certain that by the time we got to the darjeeling and assam teas, my pallet was shot. When I go again in two weeks, I'm bringing my own crackers and cold water. Oh, and making sure my camera battery is charged.

Stuff White People Like
I discovered this blog, Stuff White People Like, by way of a post on Beeker's Words. Too funny, and kind of embarrassing to see how many things fit. Like #13 Tea.

Favicons
See the little icon next to this web address in the address bar of your browser? Apparently, that's a favicon. Anyway, I stumbled on an interesting post on Hello Mother, Hello Father about how to add a Favicon, and of course had to run out and do it myself. The hardest part was making something only 16 by 16 pixels that I liked. What do you think?

I am the moment school lets out

Yes, a quiz. But I kind of like this one. :)

I saw it on Carolyn Bahm's site.

What are you?

No Garfield?

Wook sent me this link. Here's all the setup that's given, from Garfield Minus Garfield:

Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolor disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life? Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against lonliness and methamphetamine addiction in a quiet American suburb.

Now go look at the comic strips.

I only wish there were links to the original strips for comparison's sake. The best I can offer is a link to the official Garfield comic site. Strangely, not nearly as funny.

Blogging while driving and Foamy the Squirrel

I wish I could blog while I'm driving. That's when it seems so easy to compose entries in my head. But, then, there are the obvious safety issues...

And sometimes it's for the best, like those times when I get home, sit down and start to type, and then wonder, "Why did I think anyone would care about the slow leak in my right rear tire and why I'm sick of having to put air in it every week?" That's when I usually end up posting a photo. Or a link to a silly internet quiz.

Sometimes the entries aren't necessarily stupid, but I've already written them in my head a few times and I'm bored with them by the time I sit down at the computer. Like, I really think that somebody out there might want to know my take on the difference between the slang "noob" and the slang "nub" but, meh, I'm done with it already. I'm even more certain that somebody would be interested in my take on how a well-constructed pair of 4-inch high heels can be far more comfortable then your average pair of flats, but that's old news to me.

So, since I'm evidently going through a phase of ennui tonight, I'll content myself with leaving you this link to a funny Foamy the Squirrel episode I ran into on Beeker's Words today. If you've never heard a Foamy the Squirrel rant, then you're in for a treat. But be warned, it's not safe for work or young ears. Click here and press play.

And if you do come up with a way to blog while driving, don't tell me about it, because that would probably just earn me a hammer through my windshield (see Foamy above).

Self-portrait

As we were killing time in the parking lot, waiting for my niece's Baptism to start on Sunday, I got a little silly with the camera. I kind of like the result -- dirty, scuzzy side-view mirror and all.

Go Drake Bulldogs!

I've been afraid to mention this because it seems so tenuous: My college alma mater actually has a ranked men's basketball team. Not only that, they appear to be headed to the NCAA tournament.

I mean, Good Lord, do you have any idea how bad the Drake Bulldogs have been for the past few decades?

From ESPN (Drake a blessed reminder of college hoops ecstasy):

All of America wonders how Drake has become the surprise story of the year in college hoops.

Drake already has won its first Missouri Valley Conference title since 1971, and the Bulldogs are a lock for the school's first NCAA Tournament berth since '71. Before Saturday, they hadn't beaten a top-10 opponent in 26 years. They hadn't had a winning Valley record since 1986. They have finished last in the Valley 11 times since '71.

According to what I've picked up in the alumni newsletter and other media, the Bulldogs started the season expected to finish dead last in the Missouri Valley Conference. They have a brand-new coach this year (the son of the previous coach) and two of the starting players are former walk-ons to the team.

And they've managed to pull an incredible season out of seemingly thin air. A real Cinderella story.

My husband, also a Drake alum, is excited. They've even inspired me, who only has a mild interest in most sports, to jump on the bandwagon. It'll be the first time ever that I fill out a NCAA bracket, and actually care about one of the teams. (Yeah, now I've cursed them.)

Their schedule shows them playing Tuesday night against Missouri State, then Saturday against Wichita State, then on to the conference tournament next week. Saturday's game is supposed to be on ESPN 2. You know it'll be on in our household.

The Call: Memories of Acceptance

I wish this post were about me getting "The Call", but it's not.

This is about a series of posts on the Spice Briefs MySpace page about the different Spice authors remembering when they got their call of acceptance from Spice.

My favorite story is the one posted by Grace d'Otare, because I'm mentioned in it. :)

It all started about a year ago. Some girlfriends and I were up late, drinking wine, and playing a game I like to think of as 'Writer's Grown-up Barbies.'

We imagined a mysterious castle with towers, window seats, a glass conservatory, a creepy dungeon and plenty of secret stairways. Then we filled it with fantasy couples, all telling each other stories-- sexy stories -- around a massive stone fireplace. There's a wicked storm outside. The lights go out....What would they say in front of each other? What would they hold back? What would happen when each couple got back to their room?

In case you're wondering, even though Grace had her novella published, the other girlfriends mentioned are still plugging away at their projects. Unfortunately for me, the plugging process is going rather slowly.

Giving some heart

I saw this on That Grrl's page, and she picked it up from BlogTalkers.



The question posed was this:

Heart. What is close to your heart? Does heart disease run in your family? Would you say your heart is in good shape? Would you ever consider donating your heart after passing away? Why or why not?

When I was writing a comment in response to the question on That Grrl's page, I realized the question really struck a nerve with me and I needed to write about it here.

This is the essence of what I wrote in my comment to That Grrl (she hasn't approved the comment yet, so I can't copy it word-for-word from her site):

Heart disease runs in my family. Big Time. I do every thing that I can to keep my heart strong. When I die, if my heart is in a condition that someone can use, I say please use it.

I believe that what is an ending for me, can be a new beginning for someone else. Possibly several people. And that brings me comfort.

When my father died a few years ago, all he was eligible for was tissue donation. My mother, knowing my strong feelings about organ donation even then, readily signed the paperwork. To me, this was a bright spot in an otherwise incredibly painful experience -- maybe someone would see some benefit from my Dad's death.

The idea of letting my body rot in a sealed vault in the ground, separated from the natural cycles of life, has no appeal to me. I'll be done using it. Take my organs, cremate the rest and scatter me to the winds.

Obviously, I have strong feelings.

But I also believe that when it comes to death, you should follow whatever practices give you and your loved ones the most comfort.

I know the idea of organ donation can provoke strong responses in people. Have you given it some thought?

Hi, my name is Haley and I'm a blogaholic

75%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

I found this link on Life's Context and, of course, had to try it myself.

Things I've discovered this week

All 5th- and 6th-grade girls have long hair
It's not a scientific sampling, mind you. But, when I went to my nephew's school production the other night, I noticed this trend. Of at least 150 students in 5th and 6th grades, half being girls, I only noticed *one* girl with short hair. One.

Footloose represents the entire decade of '80s music
Yellow Submarine represents the '60s, the Hustle and Y-M-C-A represent the '70s, and Achy Breaky Heart sums up the entire '90s. At least they did at my nephew's school production of "On the Radio", about music through the 20th century. Granted, it's an elementary school production, and these songs have a distinct visual element that's fun for families, but it still disturbs me. Did I mention how much I enjoyed my nephew's performance?

Playing is more fun than working
Duh. Everyone knows that. But I mean it more in the sense that sometimes I'd rather spend hours manipulating my photos than connecting three sentences together in an effort to write. How's my novel coming? Don't ask. But look what I made.

I can't sleep late any more
I was thrilled to have Monday off for President's Day. I didn't have to get up for work, and I didn't have to get up to go to my workout class. A true day off. Except, I woke up at the same time and couldn't get back to sleep. Bah.

BlogCatalog
I signed up with BlogCatalog. It's kind of social networking for bloggers, and a good place to browse blogs. Haven't played around with all that much yet.

BlogRush
I also signed up with BlogRush, which is a syndication service for bloggers. There's a widget in my right column that shows headlines from five other blogs. Somewhere out in the blogosphere, a headline of mine appears on someone's widget. Hopefully, someone or two will click through and find this post.

Mosquito Ringtone
I'm not buying this ringtone. It's just that I've been reading about the mosquito on news articles online, and was intrigued to actually get to hear it. The mosquito is a high-frequency noise that most adults can't hear because we lose that frequency as we age. It was developed as a tool to deter teens from loitering outside businesses. So, on the ringtone site above, they have samples of the mosquito played at different frequencies. I can still hear the mosquito at the 40 and younger frequency, which is good, because I'm still under 40.

Eclipsing moon

This is my best shot of the moon at some point during the lunar eclipse last night. Not wonderful, but better than I expected considering I wasn't prepared and didn't even know how the particular tripod I was using worked. Some lessons on how to use the camera might help also. :)

This was looking up through some tree branches.

Stealing a kiss

While I had the big lens on the camera, and the camera was still on the tripod, I decided to torture my dogs a little by taking more photos of them. I was disappointed in the blur, especially in the middle shot, but then decided I like the way they work together as a set.

Something fun

I saw this on Cheaper by the Half Dozen and had to try it. Twice. Both times produced the same result, so it's probably pretty accurate. I'm sure I used to be faster. Thank you, Dad, for insisting I take a typing class in high school.

75 words

Speed test

The dead post file

So many things in my drafts folder... So many things that I've meant to blog about, but never did for some reason.

I'm cleaning my virtual desk -- clearing out the aborted blog entries that are just taking up space, and publishing those that were almost finished but just didn't get published for some reason.

Want a "for-instance"?

Way back in November, I meant to post kudos to Starr Toth, who placed second in a Gather.com writing contest, so therefore won a publishing contract with Pocket Books. When they announced the contest winners, Starr's name sounded familiar, so I searched my email. Turns out, she judged a contest entry of mine (a love scene, no less) back in 2003, and liked it a lot. We had a brief email exchange, but didn't keep in contact.

In her email Starr told me: "I want 'Prairie Fire' to get published so I can read the whole thing - you pulled me in and left me hanging!" Unfortunately, I'm still leaving people hanging with Prairie Fire.

Her book, Trust Me, comes out this fall. You know I'll be buying a copy.

Other dead posts?

I meant to link to a Stephen King review of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

I meant to link to a New York Times article about Magical Thinking: Why Do People Cling to Odd Rituals?.

I meant to link to a discussion on The Watcher's Chicago Tribune blog about her pet peeves in television plots, along with readers pet peeves and industry professionals' pet peeves.

For some forgotten reason, I meant to write about the old Fireside Roller Rink (or is that Rollarena?), which is long gone. I'd Googled it and come up with this link to one of Eric Zorn's columns, which had a relevant comment by someone named Bud Fox.

I'd also meant to write about a blind root-beer tasting that we did with my nephews. All I have to offer, instead, is this cool photo that my sister took.

I meant to write about many excursions I've been on with my girlfriends. Like when Marriott took me to see My Fair Lady a few weeks ago, or when Marriott and I popped into the old Carson Pirie Scott store on State Street right before it closed, tea at Ethel's Chocolate Lounge, going with JC and Jules to make custom purses as 1154 Lill, and other adventures.

What posts were resurrected?

Not all the draft posts were deleted. A few were so close to being finished, I polished them a little and published them anyway.

See:
Anne Lamott
Wook cut his hair!
Lollygagger
S-Factor Afternoon

Things still in draft format?

Yes, a few things still survive in draft format. They aren't finished enough to publish, but I still like the ideas enough that I want to execute them. Notably, the rest of my Australia trip -- which was more than six months ago now.

Just sit there and look cute...

Yeah, I know, more dog photos. But I can't help myself! This time it's just Thor.

Things I've discovered this week

The concept of a "meme"
It's an idea or exercise that is spread from blog to blog. Kind of like the survey-get-to-know-you chain-letters that people like to email, but instead it's something you post on your own blog, then tag other bloggers to do the same. See my The Page 123 Meme for an example.

Lisa 365
A blogger who has taken the challenge to try something new every day for a year. This idea really resonates with me. A few years ago, I experimented with doing something that scares me every month. It only lasted for a few months, because, well, everything was scary. Lisa's challenge of trying something new every day doesn't require that the something new be big, just new, like building a tower out of wine glasses or cutting up a credit card.

Entrecard
The bloggers in the World of Warcraft community all seem to be using Entrecards, so I explored the idea and signed up. I'm less than a week into using Entrecard, and the hits on this site have gone up. The idea is that you drop a digital business card on sites that you visit, earning credits every time you do. Then, you can use those credits to display your digital business card on other Entrecard sites.

Blog 2 Print
Someone has invented a way to take the content from a blog and have it printed into an on-demand book. Looks intriguing, but I can't really see why anyone besides me would want a book version of this blog.

Ugly blogs
While playing with Entrecard, I've visited a lot of blogs that I wouldn't have normally visited. Some are gorgeous, but some are so cluttered with money-making schemes that it's hard to find the content. I'll stop there.

Facebook
I can import this blog into my Facebook account's Notes section. Not only that, the Notes will automatically update whenever I post to this blog.

Feb. 14

The Page 123 Meme

Stumbled on this exercise on two different sites today (Perpetuus Mos and Writer's Round-About), and was intrigued to try it.

The assignment:
1) Pick up the book nearest you
2) Open to page 123
3) Find the 5th sentence
4) Post the following 3 sentences
5) Tag five others

OK, the book nearest me is Windswept by Ann Macela. It’s the only book in my cubicle. Bought it at my writers group meeting last night from one of my author friends, so it was in my bag. My copy is autographed. Haven’t read it yet, but the cover is pretty. See?

So, I open to page 123, find the fifth sentence, and then post the following three sentences:

“I didn’t expect you so early. Jesus just brought the paper in. It’s on the table.”

At first the selection, out of context like this, sounded completely inane to me. But the more I look at it, the more it seems like the opening of a writing exercise. Like a writing instructor is saying "Here's your bit of dialog, now build a scene around it" ... which I'm not going to do.

Now, the last part of the assignment is to tag five other people, which usually means I should single out five blogger friends and challenge them to post this same exercise. Nah. I'm not so into that part of the assignment.

Instead, I'll do the same as the two bloggers who turned me on to this. If you want to try the exercise yourself, post your version in the comments section here, or post a comment with a link to your blog entry. I'm curious what turns up.

Who knew tea could be so hot? (Writing Love Scenes)

Writers group topic last night? Writing Love Scenes (aka The First Kiss and How to Ramp up Sexual Tension)

Remember this is a romance writers group, so we're all strongly indoctrinated in traditional romance novel love scenes with its coded language. Many of us have made forays into erotica, but many are not interested.

Favorite quote? Said by Theresa Stevens, managing editor of Red Sage Publishing, who is also a member of my Windy City Romance Writers group.

Context: She's just finished reading an example of an erotica love scene and the discussion is about the explicit level of the language.

"Red Sage is in the tamer end of erotica," she said.

There's murmurs of disbelief in the crowd. How could the language get much more explicit?

It's not the language, she clarifies, it's the situation: "You have one man, one woman, they're both human."

My eyes meet Jules' eyes across the room. We're both thinking of the same Morgan Hawke novel. We laugh. (I love that Morgan Hawke novel, BTW.)

Most educational part of the session? Allie Pleiter reading from her inspirational romances.

Allie explained that when writing these inspirational romances (marketed to a Christian audience), the most explicit she can get is a kiss, and basically the characters have no bodies from the neck down. So that kiss scene has to be saved for the moment of greatest impact to the story.

And since she can't work with any sort of sex scene, she has to find other ways to communicate the emotional connection between the characters that is often such an integral part of a sex scene.

All I have to say is, check out her book The Perfect Blend, because the scene where the hero serves the heroine tea is hot, and, really, all he's doing is serving her tea in a public restaurant.

The limitations that Allie has to deal with in her genre remind me of the limitations that moviemakers had to work with in the 1930s-1960s with the Hays code. Which, ironically, was a time when many of the best romantic movies were made.

Things I knew that were reinforced about writing love scenes?

**A successful love scene, no matter the level of explicitness, is all about the emotions. There has to be something at stake emotionally between the characters, and that love scene had better somehow change them and their relationship. Personally, I find that if any of these elements are missing in a scene, it becomes voyeuristic and boring and I start skimming.

**The concept of "reader foreplay", which is how Theresa Stevens described it. I've always know the concept as building "sexual tension". Basically, it's that the attraction is building between your characters long before anything sexual actually happens.

"There are fantasy elements involved that get you cooking long before the kiss," Teresa said.

**In romance novels, the course of the story often unfolds so that emotional intimacy leads to physical intimacy.

In erotic romance, it's usually the other way around. Sexual, physical intimacy leads to emotional intimacy.

Lollygagger

It snowed again yesterday. A few inches. Especially on the drive home. Took me twice as long as usual to get to doggie daycare to pick up Loki and Thor. (Yes, I confess, they go to doggie daycare every once in a while. Fantastic place. Can't recommend it enough.)

The routine is that I gather Loki first and put her in the truck. She pulls a lot, especially when she's excited. She's 95 pounds of solid drafting dog, so it's much better to deal with her alone.

OK, so I get her loaded, then go back inside to gather Thor. The only time Thor pulls is when he's trying to keep up with Loki, otherwise he's great on a leash. But he's also a lollygagger. Likes to stand outside the car and watch the world go by. Give him enough time, and he'll eventually jump in. Most of the time, I have to pick up his front paws, put them on the back seat, then lift his 75-pound behind into the truck. He's perfectly capable of jumping, but doesn't want to be rushed.

So, I open the door, say hello to Loki for a moment so Thor can catch the sights, then turn around. And what do I see? Thor has *lain down* in the fresh snow on the sidewalk. Yeah, he's decided to get comfortable and settle in on the soft, cushy snow bed. Better to watch the world go by.

I sigh, then laugh. "Get up, dork."

What? he seems to say, not moving. It's been a long day at school and this snow is nice and cold and soft.

"I've been driving in this for the past hour. It sucks."

He doesn't move.

I walk around behind him, tug on the leash a few times. He ambles to his feet.

"Get in the car."

What? You want me to move?

Now the thing is, Thor is not my lazy dog. That's Loki. No, Thor is the one who's ready to go, day or night. There's a big, scary world out there, and he's eager to see every inch of it, from a safe distance. Today, evidently, that's from the security of a fresh pile of snow on a sidewalk in a busy strip mall.

I coax him to the back door, where he stands and stares at me. Fine. I put his front feet on the seat then lift his 75 pounds of seemingly dead weight into the truck. He lays down on the seat, and I carefully tuck his tail under him so it doesn't close in the car door.

Then it's another 45 minutes of sucky snow driving home, just so Thor can chill out in the snow in his own backyard. Lucky guy. Life is hard when you're a Bernese Mountain Dog.

Hot off the Press

What a wonderful feeling. I'm looking at my shopping cart on Amazon.com and have, waiting to checkout, two books by former coworkers at the newspaper. Former fellow copy editors, no less.

The funny thing is that, content-wise, the two books are at different ends of the spectrum - one calling itself "a thrash novel" and the other by a Christian publisher.

I keep in regular contact with Don Hammontree and have been watching closely as he prepared to publish his book Baptized in Formaldehyde. He wrote the first draft so long ago, I remember reading it way back when.

Finally, it's due to be released on Friday.

Here's the Amazon description of the book: "Steve left folk music in Peoria to join a rock band so loud and rude grown women called them names. But it wasn't all fun. His day job, for a sadistic boat captain, helped him redefine his notions of human filth. He also had to wonder if his legs were worth $5.50 an hour. Fueled by pizza and Pepsi, Steve learns the terrors of pleasure and the rigors of freedom. He also discovers that being 23, which sucks, ends too soon."

I haven't spoken to Mike Sandrolini in years, but I heard through the grapevine that he published a book last year.

All the Good in Sports: True Stories That Go Beyond the Headlines "features 20 contemporary sports personalities who go beyond the headlines to candidly share how their relationship with Christ has helped them cope with a variety of difficulties, both professional and personal, and how in Christ they found victory in their personal lives," according to the writeup posted on Amazon.

Oh, and Sandro has a local booksigning coming up at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 28 at Anderson's Bookshop in Downers Grove. Marking my calendar now.

Update 11:15 p.m.: Sandro just found this entry through the wonderful miracle that is the Internet, and reminded me that he and Don used to write dueling columns on the Op-Ed page of the newspaper. So, indeed, they've been at opposite ends of the spectrum for a long time now. :)

In addition, Sandro said he has another booksigning at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 8, at Border's Books near the Oak Brook Mall. Now I have two options for booksignings to attend.

Feb. 12

Thinking of you, Dad. Happy Birthday.

Snow, cold and fog

We're deep in the throes of a Chicago winter. One day we get dumped with a ton a snow, then it warms up to the 50s and gets all foggy and dreary outside while the snow melts, then a few days later we get dumped with a ton of more snow, then the temperatures plunge and today we have single digits and gorgeous blue skies.

I think the only beasts enjoying this weather are my two Bernese mountain dogs (think Swiss Alps).

I'm not really complaining (OK, just a smidge), but in weather like this I can't help but sing "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow" with lyrics reworked by a former coworker (Briggs) years ago. The only relevant line you need to know replaces "Let it snow" with the more colorful phrase "F*** the snow". You get the idea, I'm sure. :)

I Voted

Not much more to say than that.
Just: I voted.

Storytime with BRK

It's bright and early Monday morning. How about a few funny stories to wake up to?

No. Not my stories. (I don't claim to be funny.)

These stories belong to BigRedKitty, who is one talented blogger, storyteller and World of Warcraft hunter. Yeah, I started going to his site BigRedKitty.net to learn how to play my own hunter character better, but I find myself coming back every day just because I love his humor and his distinctive voice.

He's had a few posts that are not at all WoW related that had me laughing out loud. Check them out:

We Haven’t Used a Chainsaw Since (a summer as Billy Joel's houseboy)
and
The Story Where We Use the F-Bomb (Air Force nuclear payload?)
and
Story Time - Non WoW, But We Promised (Air Force ORI in Japan)
and
Do Not Read Before or After Eating (Air Force dentistry)

Plenty of blood, but no sexy vampires

I work in the blood industry. The romance writer in me instantly wants to start talking about vampires after a statement like that, but, alas, this isn't about vampires.

Nope. I work in the blood industry for a company that writes software used by blood banks to keep track of donors and test results and to decide whether blood is safe to transfuse. My job is in the quality assurance area, so you *know* it deals with lots of regulations and other things that will make your eyes glaze over.

See, aren't vampires more interesting?

My point with the boring work stuff is just to say that a lot of my coworkers are former blood-bankers and I have an appreciation for the blood-banking side of things. So when a writer I know from my Windy City Romance Writers group wrote about donating blood recently, I perked up.

Manic Mommy, as she calls herself in her blog, posted a really entertaining account of her latest trip to donate blood, then followed it up with a challenge and a chance at a prize for anyone who donates before Valentine's Day.

It's a hugely worthwhile cause, especially because winter is a time notoriously slow at blood banks. A low blood supply translates to low stocks of blood at hospitals.

So, read her post, donate blood and enter her contest. And if for some reason you can't donate (like me) try to draft some others to donate instead (like what I'm doing to you here).

The Queen's Tale

My dear friend and critique partner just had her debut erotic short story published today. The Queen's Tale by Grace d'Otare is available for electronic download from Harlequin Spice Briefs.

I have a vested interest in seeing this short story sell well. Please buy it. :-)

Schmap!

Ever heard of Schmap? I hadn't until a few weeks ago. Turns out it's a digital tourism and travel guide. Kind of neat, with photos of popular destinations placed on a map for easy browsing.

Why do I know about Schmap? Because a few weeks ago they contacted me asking for permission to use three of my photos in their guides. No money. Just a photo credit and a link back to my Flickr page.

After some thought, I said "Yes"!

The new editions of the guides were published today. So, check out my three "published" photos:

The York Minster Chapter House Ceiling
The Rivercenter Mall along the San Antonio Riverwalk
The Bar at the Australian Hotel

Oh, and here are the handy-dandy widgets for the three guides I'm published in: