Merry Wanderer of the Night [Search results for websites] 

1. The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL). If you haven't heard of this website yet then you are probably constantly walking around in a state of confusion. Like any style guide, this website answers all of your questions about how to write an annotated bibliography or when exactly to use a semicolon. There are also instructions for resumes and research, so it really covers all the bases.
2. Oxford English Dictionary is the best online dictionary (in my opinion) because it not only defines the word for you but it gives you a history of what that word used to mean. This can be extremely helpful for writing papers about a specific word or topic. It takes some getting used to because the site is kind of janky, but I'm sure you'll be able to understand after a couple of tries.
3. Online Literature. The site is laced with ads but once you get past that there is great information to be found. There are forums about books and authors as well as lengthy profiles on many classic authors. It will also lead you to other websites about the author and articles. Oh... and did I mention they have chapters from books and full length poems for each author?
4. Quotations Page has thousands and thousands of quotes. If you are interested in an author or writing a paper about a topic this is a good place to look to either expand or narrow your ideas. If I'm writing a paper about marriage and Jane Austen I can go to this site and look for "quotes about marriage" by "Jane Austen" and I receive two (and 43 quotes about marriage overall).
5. Online Stopwatch is not really specifically for English majors but I'll admit that I use it quite a bit for school related tasks. If you have lots of stuff to work on and not a lot of time this will keep you moving. I personally like the countdown watch because it alerts you when time is up. One example of how I use this is when I'm writing a paper. Let's say I don't need to finish the paper that day but I should work on it for about an hour. I just put an hour on the countdown and it tells me when an hour has happened, that way I'm not constantly looking at my clock. It helps keep me focused.

“The artifacts were discovered hidden in cheap vases during an inspection of a shipping container from Alexandria, Egypt, at the Port of Valencia on Spain’s Mediterranean coast,” said Director-General of Guardia Civil Arsenio Fernandez de Mesa.

The ancient Egyptian artifacts, with a total value of between 200,000 and 300,000 euros (U.S. $225,000-339,000), were recovered as part of a comprehensive crackdown launched by agents from European law enforcement authorities in 14 countries to prevent looting, theft and illicit trafficking of cultural artifacts.

The Spanish police showed the press 36 of the recovered Egyptian artifacts including “a majestic bust of Sekhmet, the ancient Egyptian warrior goddess, worth an estimated 100,000 euros ($125,000),” Spanish Police Captain Javier Morales was quoted as saying by news24.

Also among the most valuable recovered artifacts is a statue of Isis, ancient Egyptian goddess of magic, and a vase covered in hieroglyphics, said Morales.

“During the comprehensive operation, dubbed ‘Aureus,’ the agents carried out checks on 6,244 individuals, 8,222 vehicles, 27 vessels, as well as 2,352 inspections at antique and art dealers, auction houses and secondhand outlets. Checks were also stepped up at airports, land borders and ports in Europe,” according to Europol.

Most of Egypt’s major archaeological sites have been targeted for looting since the 2011 uprising toppled former president Hosni Mubarak. Thousands of ancient Egyptian artifacts, most of which were obtained from illicit digging activities, are now flooding the global markets, auction houses and electronic commerce websites.

In spite of the Egyptian government’s efforts to track smuggled artifacts inside Egypt and in auction houses abroad, the issue is still unsettled.

“During the past four years, Egypt has recovered over 1,600 artifacts and is currently working on other cases in many European countries,” Ministry of Antiquities’ Museums Sector head Ahmed Sharaf previously told The Cairo Post.

It is estimated that around $3 billion in Egyptian antiquities have been looted since the outbreak of the January 25 Revolution in 2011, according to the International Coalition to Protect Egyptian Antiquities, a U.S.-based initiative partnered with Egypt’s Antiquities Ministry.

Author: Rany Mostafa | Source: The Cairo Post [January 29, 2015]

Today's interview is with a writing duo. Yvonne and Sandy have written quite a few books together and while I've only read two of them so far, they have both been lots of fun to read, and exactly what I was looking for at the time. Lots of fun, a little bit of fluff and just overall enjoyable.

What is it like writing as a team? How do you get past disagreements on pieces of the story?

We've been writing as a team for over a decade, and it’s still fun. The toughest part is picking one of many ideas floating like balloons over our heads, and focusing on just one.

Over the span of 10 books, we’ve had to develop a three-stage technique to shoot down each other’s ideas in a way that isn’t hurtful:
1. Listen to the entire idea, nodding and smiling;
2. Offer lukewarm praise; and
3. Present new idea so obviously superior that the first one is instantly forgotten.

Seriously, though, you can’t get too attached to your ideas when you’re a team. You have to trust than another, better one will come along, because it always does.

How did the two of you meet? How did you decide to become writing partners?

We met as teens working in a public library. We were friends for years—and even roommates after college—and the idea of writing together never occurred to us. But one day, Yvonne went looking for a non-fiction book for her nieces to answer their questions about relationships with boys, friends and family. She couldn't find a book with the right, light-hearted tone, so she suggested we write one. That led to Totally Me: The Teenage Girl’s Survival Guide. It was a natural fit, since we've spent our entire friendship talking about relationships with boys, friends and family.

Have either of you written alone? Or written with a different partner?

We've only collaborated with each other. In some cases one of us has written “more” of a particular book than the other person, depending on our schedules. But we developed our voice together, so I doubt anyone could tell who wrote what. In fact, sometimes we compliment each other on our own lines, forgetting we wrote them!

What are the differences to writing alone vs as a team and what are some advantages/disadvantages to both styles.

A huge advantage to collaborating is simply the “we're in it together” feeling. It’s nice to share the highs and lows of publishing, and the weight of deadlines. The only disadvantage—other than the loss of full creative control!—is that you have two schedules to coordinate. We have other jobs and commitments and they don’t always sync up as we’d like.

Why Contemporary?

We started out that way and just kept going. Spending time with our teen friends keeps us grounded in the present and we’re intrigued by the challenges they face.

But to be honest, we have always wanted to give paranormal a try and soon... we will! Expect something a little different from Collins-Rideout in a few months.

I've heard talk that *Love, Inc.* is actually a series. Is there any truth to that rumor? If so, is there any information you can share with us?

Yes! We just released the sequel to Love, Inc. It’s called Trade Secrets, and it will soon be available across all electronic platforms. You can already find it on Amazon

Here’s a short overview:

Kali Esposito and her best friends Syd and Zahra revive Love, Inc. to help the lovelorn break-up, make-up or take-up with someone new. A die-hard romantic, Kali can turn the most socially-challenged clients into confident charmers and the “Kali Method” takes Love, Inc. to new heights. But when a competitor corrupts her method to turn regular guys into players, Kali must reclaim Love, Inc.’s trade secrets before every girl in Austin gets her heart broken.

Speaking of sequels/series, are they harder to write than the first book? Do you *like* them or do you prefer writing a standalone story?

The challenge with sequels is trying to recap the first book for new readers without boring returning readers, who already know the back story. But on the whole, sequels are easier to write in that you’ve already developed the key characters, and their world. Our favorite book of all is the third book in the Vivien Leigh Reid series: Diva in Control. By that point, we’d hit our stride and could just enjoy getting poor Leigh into trouble. We’d still love to do a sequel to The Black Sheep. Judy is our most obnoxious villain ever—she deserves another outing.

What made you decide to self-publish Trade Secrets? Will you continue to self-publish all your future books? Will Trade Secrets also be released in a hard copy edition (I'd love to have a hardcover to match Love, Inc!)

It all started when Sandy bought a Kobo for her mom for Christmas... and kept it for herself. If a hard-core book lover like Sandy can fall for an e-reader, it can happen to anyone.

So we started researching e-publishing, and it just seemed to suit our needs. First, you can get books out faster. We have always wanted to write more than one book a year, and also, different types of books. Now, with e-publishing, it’s a lot easier to follow your heart—as long as you hire experts to rein you in! We’re pretty excited by this new opportunity and expect to e-pub our next few books. But we've been around the book biz long enough to know that you have to stay flexible.

If there’s enough interest in paper copies of Trade Secrets, we’ll look into making that option available.

Is there anything you can share with us about your current work in progress or upcoming stories?

We’re working on a bunch of projects right now, including a paranormal novel, and possibly, if people enjoy Trade Secrets, more from our Love, Inc. trio. It seems like their story wouldn't complete without another cycle of revenge hits, led by Sydney Stark.

We love hearing from readers, so please join us on twitter @collins_rideout or visit our websites: collinsrideout.com and loveincbook.com

Thank you both, so very much! I loved hearing from you and I'm definitely excited to read Trade Secrets! Hopefully, I will have a review up soon! I haven't had a chance to read the book yet, but I do have some copies to giveaway!! Yvonne and Sandy have generously offered copies of three of their novels as giveaway prizes! Enter below! The hard copies are US/CND only but the ecopies are International!
*edit — I can't believe I forgot the Rafflecopter widget! SO sorry! I will still allow those who entered through the comments to maintain that as their entry, because this is my error, but anyone entering now needs to use the widget!*

Normally Thursdays are Children's Books Thursdays (although I have not been so great at keeping up with this lately). In case you don't know what the reason for Children's Books Thursdays is, I wanted to explain it. For the past year I have participated in a program where I tutor two children three times a week for thirty minutes. I've worked five children this year, but the two I had this semester have really grown important to me. Today I am sad because tomorrow is the last day I'll get to see these kids and it is also my last day as a tutor. Next year I'll move onto my new job and leave behind the two jobs I've been working for what seems like forever. So today I thought I'd talk about the experience of teaching children to learn.

Tutoring is time consuming, and a lot of people don't put in the right amount of time. I often fall short myself. Choosing books for children is difficult, especially if the children are having a hard time reading. The books they "should" be able to read are too hard for them, but the books they can read aren't right for them because of the content. "The dog ran" is only interesting for awhile and then it becomes embarrassing. I learned how to read very early so I never experienced what the children I work with are experiencing. That is, I never experienced it in regards to reading, but I did experience it with many other things. Like math. And sports. And learning to ride a bike. I always say I can relate to the anger the students I work with sometimes have. If someone came in and said I had to do math for a half hour I'd probably be pissed too.

As difficult as tutoring has been though, it has been seriously rewarding. One of the children I tutored this year had difficulty reading even the shortest of words and now she has mastered the word "about." This may seem small, but after tutoring for a year I realize what a huge accomplishment this is! Another student I worked with wouldn't read pages that had more than one sentence on them. Now he reads pages that have paragraphs (although he does so begrudgingly sometimes). This is another huge accomplishment.

Tutoring has also taught me the importance of literacy especially in regards to children. I knew how important reading and writing was to me, but working with kids has made me realize how important reading actually is. Especially in today's world where we are constantly being bombarded by text. Emails, ads, signs, texts, newspapers, websites, and on and on and on. We're reading constantly, yet there really are a great deal of children struggling with reading. And this is just in the US, children's literacy is a much bigger problem on a national level.

There is another purpose to this post, possibly a more fun purpose. Since I'm done tutoring this week I want to change my regular Thursday post and I'm looking for ideas. Is there a meme or weekly post you'd like to see on English Major's Junk Food? If you have any idea let me know!

This week, Ruth's question to Weekly Geeks concerned how we stay organized and inspired in our reading and blogging:

Book blogging, as a concept, is essentially pretty simple: If you have Internet access and an opinion about a book, you can be a book blogger. However, actually maintaining a book blog is much more complicated -- our blogs are labors of love that require a lot of time, energy and devotion. For this edition of Weekly Geeks, I want to focus on the little things that make your blogging and/or reading life a bit easier. Do you use sites like GoodReads, LibraryThing or Shelfari to organize your books? Do you swear by Book Darts? Couldn't live without your Book Buddy? Love connecting with other bloggers on sites such as Twitter? Tell us about what makes your blog tick. Is there something specific that keeps you organized or inspired?

There was one very popular response about a source of inspiration: other book bloggers! Getting ideas about what to read next, exchanging comments about what we've read and written - it seems like it always comes back to community.

Geeks shared some of the practical things that keep their blogging and reading going, too. I'm always impressed to see how many book bloggers track their reading activity on spreadsheets. I'm an accountant in my non-blogging professional life, and I work with spreadsheets all the time - and yet it never crossed my mind to use them in connection with my reading! (There's the "inspiration from other bloggers" kicking in.)

In addition to spreadsheets, the online-library websites are very helpful too. Suey of It's All About Books and Sarah from Puss Reboots are both active GoodReads users, while Trisha of eclectic/eccentric and Jennie at Biblio File organize their books with LibraryThing.

On the blogging side of things, Kerrie of Mysteries in Paradise is a fan of XnView image software for online editing of pictures for her posts. Erotic Horizon composes posts using Windows Live Writer and then pastes them into her blogging software, and finds a lot of inspiration and advice in the Book Blogs Ning group.

Thanks to everyone who shared "tools of the trade" this week! There will NOT be a new Weekly Geeks theme posted this weekend because the 24-Hour Read-a-thon is going on all day tomorrow. But please don't forget to check back for a new WG next Saturday, October 31...will it be something Halloween-themed? You'll have to come by and find out!

VIA 4 Planets Converge in Night Sky. Impending disaster?

Weekly Geeks assignment 2009-04 was the brainchild of Chris of Book-a-rama. Inspired by our founder Dewey's passion for knitting, Chris wanted to know about our passions aside from reading and blogging:

What are you passionate about besides reading and blogging? For example, are you crafty (knitting, woodworking, scrapbooking, model building)? Do you cook? Into gaming (computer or board)? Sports (player or spectator)? Photography? Maybe you like geocaching, rock climbing? Or love attending events like renaissance fairs, concerts? Music? Dancing? You get the idea.

Tell us why you're passionate about it. Post photos of what you've made or of yourself doing whatever it is you love doing.
Chris also asked us to share outside links ("tutorials, recipes, YouTube videos, websites, fan sites, etc, anything that will help us learn more about your interest or how to do your hobby") related to our passions, and to visit other Weekly Geeks to learn more about their passions.

Bogsider at Lous_Pages wondered whether she had an answer to this question at first:

Passionate is such a big word. But then again, I do know that I do not have to take the meaning literally and that if I translate it to something like "what are your other interests" it applies (and appeals) more to me. I can see the gap between being passionate about something and having an interest in something. But taken literally, I am not red-hot with passion over anything. But I am interested in a lot of things, and definitely, I feel more interested in some things over others. And there are of course things which I am very interested in and spend a lot of time doing or thinking about. Surely.

Framed in those terms, Bogsider did have some passions to share. She is close to completing a master's degree in Egyptology, an interest which allows her to pursue two other favorite activities, photography and travel. Photography is a hobby mentioned by several other Weekly Geeks, too. A few folks, like work their photographs into another one of their passions - scrapbooking, either traditional, like Erin at Crazy Comma Momma, or digital, like Tasses of Random Wonder.

When they're not holding a book, Weekly Geeks seem to like using their hands for needlework crafts like crochet and cross-stitch are popular. Knitting is a favorite pastime of Julie from Booking Mama, while Yati of "Fiddle-de-dee's not English" is one of the Geeks who enjoys patchwork and quilting. Some geeks express their creativity through drawing and painting, like Claire at Kiss a Cloud and Sarah from Puss Reboots, and Care of Care's Online Book Club makes mosaics.

But even though they love to read and blog and be creative, Weekly Geeks like to get outside once in a while too. Some Geeks enjoy working in their gardens. Some enjoy working with animals, like Wendy of Caribousmom and Bookish Ruth, while Gavin of Page 247 is a volunteer Beach Naturalist. One Weekly Geek, UnfinishedPerson, is preparing to run his first marathon this summer.

And every now and then, a Geek likes to come out from behind her books and entertain people. Ali of Worducopia sings with a choir, and Joanna from It's All About Me performs in plays and musicals.

Weekly Geeks are definitely more than just bookworms!

I was initially intrigued by the total lack of fear people feel when dealing with total strangers on the Internet. In their blogs they reveal their most intimate secrets and speak of their darkest fears. In their interaction with other internet users they go to dating websites, ending up becoming best cyber-buddies with people they had never met not even heard of. Some even send intimate snaps of themselves and arrange to meet for drinks with people who might so easily be the worst kind of cyber stalkers. In short, the vast majority of cyber-strollers feel comfortable revealing everything about themselves, including their most secret phobias, to the worldwid(spider’s?) web.

Scary. Very scary.

Over the past few years there have been countless instances of young girls being tracked on the Net, then assaulted, sometimes even murdered. Lonely young men and women trying to find partners have been targeted too. But still there exists and feeling of security because ‘the foreplay’ exists via a computer screen and a keyboard. Few care to think where this may lead. Most use any caution whatsoever. There’s no awareness of the pedophile, the rapist, the madman, the murderer in the next street, connected via an eerie cyber world.

That’s what drew me to writing ‘Worst Nightmares’. What if there was the most cruelly efficient psychopath somewhere ‘out there’ trawling the Internet for victims? What if what gave this sociopath a buzz was, while masquerading as an amateur psychologist, ready to help cure those suffering from chronic terrifying nightmares, his real aim was to have nightmares revealed to him by those in the grip of horrific phobias so that he could track each of them down and visit their worst nightmares on them in some dark and private place; magnifying the key elements of the nightmares a hundred fold?

Of course, this theme is only one of many that make up the fabric of my novel, ‘Worst Nightmares.’ It is also a tale of a decent man that makes one error of judgment that proves to have a terrible domino effect. I pose the question; which of us has the courage to tell the absolute truth when everything is on the line; a relationship, a career, a marriage, the safety of those dearest to us. Because it’s only when we are tested that we find what our true moral metal is. Would you kill without hesitation if your child was threatened? If your family had no food, would you steal rather than watch your children go hungry? One lie is all it takes to cause us to slip off the high moral ground.

Shane Briant 2009
www.worstnightmares.net

Having recently been told that I'm odd because I'm not terribly interested in author interviews I've started to ponder whether there are two types of readers...those who stick to the books versus those who like to know more about the author's background, thoughts, motivations and writing process.

So, what about you?

• Do you seek out interviews with authors of books you've enjoyed? Why or why not?
• Do you interview authors on your blog? If yes what did you gain from the interview process? If no is it because you don't want to or because you haven't felt able to ask an author yet?
• Do you subscribe to the blogs of authors you like? Which ones? All the authors you like or only certain ones?
• Do you track down author websites or look for biographical information about them elsewhere? Would you skip reading a book if you couldn't find out anything about its author?
• Have you hosted an author on a blog tour? Was it someone whose books you already read or did it introduce you to a new author?

I'll be talking about being odd at Reactions to Reading

YAY!!!!

The anger of Ashley is over!!:) Thanks to how AWESOMELY AMAZING Rie @ Mission to Read is, I am now — basicallyamazingashley.com!!

Now I just get to hope that things run smoothly and my blog doesn't disappear into a vortex of doom.:)

Ashley is now experiencing MUCH anger. Seriously. I have no idea when this is going to change now. Or even IF it will. Because this process is exactly why I NEVER make these kinds of changes. Anger in my face.


So, I've been thinking about buying my domain name for a long time now. (Like, a very long time.) But, I am terrified and resistant to change in my online stuff. I don't mind changes in my real life, but changes to websites I use makes me irrationally annoyed. And, I'm absolutely terrified that buying my domain name is going to send my blog into a seething black internet vortex of suck...


BUT.


It IS something I've wanted for a while, and a good move for blogging and, if I'm being honest — it's going to make me feel cool. SO. With the help and (mostly) gentle prodding of the marvelous Rie from Mission to Read, I have decided to finally buy it.


Yay!!:)


So, I'm probably going to just let it settle for a day or so, make sure nothing is being eaten inside.


But minutes after this post goes live, I will be basicallyamazingbooks.com!!:)


BooYa.

It's Back! The Second Incarnation of the Award Winning Reads Challenge is here! Who else is totally excited for this?! I know it can't just be me!!:)
Last year, Jacinda and I hosted this reading challenge from May through September. And it rocked. I have personally been meaning to read all the Newbery and Printz books for years. And I've found some absolutely phenomenal books because of it. (Umm hello and thank you — Jellicoe Road, my absolute most favorite book ever.) And last years challenge gave me the motivation I needed to pick my list back up and get reading. (I think I read 16).
Because it was so awesome last year, Jacinda and I decided that this year, it would be a year long challenge of awesome (with extra awesome during the months of the original challenge).
My goal for this year is even bigger. I am so close to finishing both award lists. (Just the winners, not the honors). I only have 4 Printz winners and 13 Newbery winners left to read (including the 2012 winners to-be-announced). I would love to finish these lists next year.
So that is my goal. But I would like to read more than only 17 of the books on the list, so my official goal is going to be 24. That's only 2 a month, totally do-able.:)
To see the books on either list that I've already reviewed on the blog, you can click the corresponding tags below
Newbery Award
Newbery Honor
Printz Award
Printz Honor

And now — Onto the rules!:)

This week’s Weekly Geek was very mysterious. Kristen and Chris challenged us to talk about favorite mysteries and detectives, or to even create a TV show or movie from a favorite mystery story or character. Here are a few of this week’s Geeks:

Gautami tripathy talked about all the mysteries she has loved.

Kerrie created a beautiful Wordle.

CoversGirl traces her love of mysteries back to Nancy Drew.

Rikki focused on Lord Peter Wimsey.

As usual, a big thank you to all of our participants!

Also, if you haven’t already heard, there are two upcoming events in the world of book bloggers:

Book Blogger Appreciation Week will be September 14-18.

The autumn 2009 Read-a Thon will be October 24-25.

Check out their websites for details on both of these fabulous events!

This week's Weekly Geek is inspired by Dewey's Knit-a-Long, a mini challenge of Dewey's Reading Challenge. Dewey had other passions besides reading and blogging. Knitting was one of them. This made me think, what are the Weekly Geek's other passions?

#1. What are you passionate about besides reading and blogging? For example, are you crafty (knitting, woodworking, scrapbooking, model building)? Do you cook? Into gaming (computer or board)? Sports (player or spectator)? Photography? Maybe you like geocaching, rock climbing? Or love attending events like renaissance fairs, concerts? Music? Dancing? You get the idea.

Tell us why you're passionate about it. Post photos of what you've made or of yourself doing whatever it is you love doing.

#2. Get us involved. Link to tutorials, recipes, Youtube videos, websites, fan sites, etc, anything that will help us learn more about your interest or how to do your hobby. Maybe you'd like to link to another hobbyist whose work you admire or tell us about a book or magazine related to your interest.

#3. Visit other Weekly Geeks. Link in your post to other Geeks who've peaked your interest in their passion. Or maybe you might find a fellow afincionado among us, link to them.

For #3, you'll probably have to come back after other Weekly Geeks have posted.

You can really get creative here. Have fun!