Kate Diamond, aspiring author and fellow Greater Seattle RWA member, is blogging and playing tag over at her blog.

The Rules:

Link to the person who tagged you. (Check, double linkage!)
Write down six things that make you happy. (Check see the list below, in mostly no particular order.)
Post these rules. (Check)
Tag six others. (Check! x6)
Notify me that you’ve tagged six others–or not. (comments on all of your blogs, check!)
AND please check out the websites of the folks I TAGGED — see the links below

Six Things That Make Me Happy:

1. Cuddling with my sweetie and my cat
2. Listening to my sweetie laugh in his sleep
3. Hiking in the great outdoors
4. Browsing bookstores and buying book
5. Sharing my love of reading (aka pimping books)
6. Knee-high stripped socks

Here are the folks I’ve TAGGED, in no particular order!

1. Christine at The Happily Ever After
2. Tracy at Tracy’s Place
3. Katiebabs at Babbling About Books
4. Nicola at Alpha Heroes
5. Little Alys at For Peaceful Days and Dreamy Nights
6. Bridget at Good and Bad Books

More Romance Laughs from the Fail Blog!

5 Years Ago Today

We love heroes. Hot ones (Sam Starrett). Ugly ones (Stan Wolchonok). Alphas (Tom Paoletti). Betas (um….Dave Malkoff???”). Tortured ones (Robin Chadwick). Charming ones (Jules Cassidy). Bring ‘em on. We love them all, whether they be saving the world from terrorism, cutting a swath through Almack’s or staring down the darkness of their dark vampiric soul.

This holiday reach out to our real life heroes and share your appreciation for all they do to keep us safe and protect our right to read salacious books and talk about them on the internet. God bless America!

Holiday Mail for Heroes
Holiday Mail for Heroes is a partnership between the American Red Cross and Pitney Bowes to deliver one million holiday cards to American service members, veterans and their families in the United States and around the world. Make holiday cards and send them to the address provided by December 10 (one week from now)

Holiday Mail for Heroes
PO Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456

Let’s Say Thanks
The mission of Let’s Say Thanks is to provide a way for individuals across the country to recognize U.S. troops stationed overseas. By submitting a message through this site you have the opportunity to send a free personalized postcard greeting to deployed servicemen and women. The postcards, depicting patriotic scenes and hometown images, were selected from a pool of entries from children across the country.

All you have to do is visit the website, click on your favorite design and either select the message that best expresses your sentiment or draft a personal note. The postcards are then printed by Xerox and mailed in care packages by military support organization Give2TheTroops^®.

Just for Fun: Take the Quiz

My answer fits me pretty well, except I’m not sure “good natured” is quite the right description. “Moody as all get-out,” maybe.

You are a Swan! (your score: 26)

Characters: Tereus, Kalia in the Aspect of Crow trilogy

Powers: Foretelling future through dreams, dream-walking

Swans are idealistic, open-minded, and passionate. Your good nature often leads people to think they can take advantage of you, but they should be careful—beneath that serenity lies a fighting spirit. Your love is fierce and unconditional, fueled by the certainty that it should last forever.

Best matches: Wolves, Horses, Otters

Watch out for: Cougars, Foxes, Hawks

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K0iJV2wLuM]

American Title V Finalist Marie-Claude Bourque shares the six books she would bring if stranded on a desert island. Ms. Bourque’s book, ANCIENT WHISPERS, is a dark paranormal romance that reunited two star-crossed lovers from Acadian legend, inspired by a poem by Henry Longfellow.

If you haven’t yet, please stop by and vote in the American Title V contest. The current round, which judges best first line, is open until November 24th.

1. visit http://www.romantictimes.com/news_amtitle3.php
2. email votes@romantictimes.com with the title “ANCIENT WHISPERS” in the subject line

Here in Seattle we are all about the NaNoWriMo. Our region has been the first place winner for most words written in both 2006 and 2007 and are on track to win again this year. That’s right- we are #1 in the whole entire WORLD. Mwuhahahahahaha!! Our mascot is the ducks, something long and convoluted about hydrophobic ducks that you can read about here. We try to put a duck into our NaNo stories and bring them to write-ins. I bought mine at Archie McPhee this week: Pink Devil Duckie.

Pink Devil Duckie, you’re the one,
Making writing lots of fun,
Pink Devil Duckie, I’m awfully fond of you.

Everyday when I make my way to the laptop,
I find an evil fellow who yells and bellows, and words jump
Onto the page.

Pink Devil Duckie, you’re so fine
And I’m lucky that you’re mine
Pink Devil Duckie I’m awfully fond of you.

I’m behind in my NaNo word count, as you can see from the sidebar. At the end of today I should be at 11,669 words, and so far I’m only at 8,201. Next week I’ll be living in a hotel in San Francisco, hopefully writing my arse off.

PS: if you’re in San Fran and you wanna meet up for coffee and gush about books and writing, let me know!

Romance-related fun from the Fail blog: The knight’s three-handed virgin mistress

Stop by the Desert Island Keeper blog today for an interview and contest by SHOMI author Michele Lang. Enter to win a signed copy of NETHERWOOD and have your avatar appear in the short story Ms. Lang is writing!

NETHERWOOD

THERE’S A NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN…

And her name is Talia Fortune.

Her mission: capture the cyber outlaw, Kovner, who has smashed the computer interface on the offworld colony of Fresh Havens.

His Sherwood: the sentient Gray Forest, where he and a band of rebels hide from a deadly menace.

Kovner has discovered a dangerous secret that threatens Talia’s world and everything she thought she knew about herself. He and the answers await her, hidden in the Gray Forest, in a reality beyond everything she’s ever known. Her future lies in NETHERWOOD….