Merry Wanderer of the Night:
penpal

Alright — I was too lazy to record an IMM for about 2 weeks & then, I got a package of complete WIN in the mail and just KNEW I had to vlog right THEN! But... I got a lot of books, so it's a bit of a long video.:)

Before the video though — Quick Note about the pen pal thing — I'm late getting everything together because my sister is going through a lot of personal drama right now, that includes toxic people putting her and her children at risk and an emergency move beginning at 8pm... LONG story full of more drama that I want to get into. But I have been spending a lot of time helping her, watching her kids etc so that they can try to find a safe place to move with their family. (UGH. I hate stupid drama). SO. I'm hoping to get this put together soon, but it's taking longer than I thought it would.

Anyway — the video. (Also... sorry... It seems the syncing is off again at the end.)

There are too many books to list here (read... I'm too lazy to do it, maybe later, but probably now...)

So, I will link all the bloggers that I mention as well as the books I got for review.

ALSO — Update re Lisa Schroeder — I have converted another lover since this video was recorded!! Ya, I'm that good.:)

Review:

Breadcrumbs — Anne Ursu (excerpt, review)
The Beginning of After — Jennifer Castle
Dark Eden — Patrick Carman
The Power of Six — Pittacus Lore
The Kid- Sapphire (DNF review)

Joli @ Acting Up with Books

Shannon @ Books Devoured

Lindsi @ Books, Sweets and Other Treats

Enna @ Squeaky Books

Cyndi @ Dog Eared and Bookmarked

Jacinda @ The Reading Housewives

Not mentioned by name in video — But my cousin is Ems @ In Which Ems Reviews Books

Back of the Book Reviews

Rachel @ Reading Angel

Rachel @ Fiktshun

Nancy @ A Musing Reviews

Also — OH MY GOODNESS!!! LISA SCHROEDER!!! LOVE her!!:)

So, I've been talking about starting up a pen pal-esque program for a while now and I finally think I have a good enough handle on things to get it going! So, below is a form. I need everyone interested in being a pen-pal to fill out this form!

(in my blog for the original introductory post if you missed it)

Most of the questions are pretty self-explanatory, but I'm more than happy to answer any questions! I did include a question regarding privacy because I want everyone to feel completely comfortable with this project, which means that if you have a limit on how many bloggers you want your address shared with, that's completely fine. So let me know if there are a limit to the number of people you want your info shared with, or any limitations. I promise that I will be the only who sees them and I won't tell if there are limits you want placed here.

I'm hoping to get the first group of letters going by the end of this week. So sign up fast! I'll be doing this more than once, so all is not lost if you don't sign up immediately, but I'd like to have as many participants as possible this first time through!

So here we go! Pull out your stickers and stationary and grab those fun and fancy pens! (Sharpies FTW!)

I was talking to Jacinda on Twitter the other day and we were talking about mail and how awesome it is to receive it. So I got to thinking, how awesome would it be to set up a penpal system among blogger?! Have it set up so that people can send and receive letters from people all over the place. I thought it would be awesome to get a group of people together who just sent random letters throughout the month to awesome people. I love writing letters and I love receiving them. I mean, really. How awesome is that?! So what do you think? Want to be a penpal?!

Here is what I've been thinking — Here is how I'm thinking this could work. AND I'm TOTALLY open to suggestions. I WANT you to contribute, I WANT you to give me ideas, tell me what you think, tell me if it sucks etc.

SO — I really want this to be a positive experience for everyone involved. I don't want it to ever end up that a few people are getting all the letters and other people are getting nothing. So, to keep things fair and balanced, I was thinking that, at least initially until we see how things get moving, I would have a master list of everyone participating in the letter exchange. Name, address, how many letters you think you are send each month, where you are willing to send, how many people you want having access to your address, etc.

I will then organize it so that you receive roughly the number of letters that you send each month. So, if you sign up to mail 1-2 letters a month (or however often we do this) you will receive 1-2 letters a month. I understand that not everyone has the time or ability to write 15 letters a month, so this way, you are getting as much as you are putting in, no one is left out and no one ends up overwhelmed. You are, of course, welcome to mail a letter back to your penpal and begin a correspondence there completely independent of lists and schedules etc, but it will start as a fun way to interact with new people and get to know some bloggers in a way that doesn't always come across via the internet. And, it's also an excuse to use fun stationary, pens and stickers!:)

So, let me know if this is something that would interest you! I intend to do a follow up post soon, possibly as soon as tomorrow with a GoogleForm asking for more feedback and how many letters you think you'd be up for sending each month.

Please ask questions, leave suggestions, give feedback! I think this could be seriously awesome and SO much fun and I'd love to see this go well!! So, leave a comment here, in my blog to talk to me on Twitter, or send me an email at basicallyamazingbooks [at] gmail [dot] com Can't wait to see where this goes!!:)