The Weirdness Has Moved to a New Site

All good things must come to an end, but Random Acts of Weirdness are still happenin’ at my new place.

This is the final post at this site, so please hop, skip, jump, or beam over to LynnKelleyAuthor.com and sign up to continue following the Weirdness.

The new site is even weirder better. I promise, this is my last move - LynnKelleyAuthor.com.

Today - One-Day Freebie Promo - Children's Ebooks

We're still celebrating the launch of Emblazon's new site
and we've got some awesome freebies for you!

Today, August 1st, the Emblazon group of tween writers is offering numerous eBooks for free. Help yourself to as many as you'd like! Go to our Sizzlin' Summer Freebies HERE and get 'em while they're hot!

Do you enjoy audiobooks? Do you like Whispersync? If so, you might be interested in getting Whispersync for Curse of the Double Digits at the discount rate of $1.99 when you download the free eBook today, available on Amazon.

Although the group promo is for today only, Curse of the Double Digits will also be FREE tomorrow, Friday, August 2nd.

Please tell your friends about today's Sizzlin' Summer Freebies so they can get some eBooks for their kids, too.

If you know of any teachers or homeschoolers who use audiobooks so their students can listen and read along with eBooks or paperbacks, please give them a heads up. Today and tomorrow, they can get both the eBook and Whispersync (audio) of Curse of the Double Digits for $1.99. Free eBook and discounted Whispersync, how cool is that?

Also included in today's Sizzlin' Summer Freebies is Curse at Zala Manor, Book 1 in the fun, spooky Monster Moon mystery series.

Hop on over to the Emblazon site's Sizzlin' Summer Freebies page and load up on some great eBooks. Again, this is our gift to you to celebrate the kick-off of Emblazon's new website for tweens. Woot!

Don't you just love a good deal? Me, too! Doing a Happy Dance here!

Prizes! Celebrate Launch of Emblazon Website!

Come celebrate the birth of a new website called Emblazon! Together, our sparks will light up the lives of young readers. Help us blaze new trails and make a difference.

Emblazon Home Page

A wise person once said, “Write your name on the heart of a child.” We hope to emblazon our stories there.

My great-niece, Holly,a lovely tween.

Emblazon is a collection of authors–some indie, some traditionally
published–who have each produced at least one children’s novel. Our audiences range from fifth grade to young adult, but we have a particular focus on ages 11 to 14. Some call them upper middle grade; others call them low young adult. They’re somewhere in the middle and can lean either way. We call them Tweens.

Holly is an avid tween reader.

To celebrate our launch, we are giving away lots of amazing books! You can win signed paperback copies AND ebooks of stories written by our authors. 

Enter to win here: http://emblazoners.wordpress.com/rafflecopter-giveaway/

Enter the giveaway!

Please share our giveaway with anyone who enjoys a great tween read. Thank you!

Do you have a favorite tween book (ages 11 to 14)? If so, what is it?

Stay tuned every fourth Wednesday of the month for our Tween the Weekends posts, which focus on various aspects of tween books. The more people who participate in the discussions and info sharing, the better!

Note: This site will become inactive mid-August. Please follow me at my new digs at LynnKelleyAuthor.com.

Summer Book Crush - 99 Cents Each

Hot sun, hot sand, cool drinks, dark tans. Ahhhh. But your summer won’t be complete until you land a new BOOK BOYFRIEND, right? Lucky for you, we’ve got you covered! 

SUMMER BOOK CRUSH offers 50+ titles in many genres. This means 50+ chances to (fictitiously) fall in love. And the best part? Each of these gems is only 99¢, but for a limited time only. The SUMMER BOOK CRUSH event starts on June 26th and ends (yes, even the best things in life end at some point) on June 28th. So don't wait up! Mingle with our BOOK BOYFRIENDS and invite all your friends to participate too. There are plenty of BOOK BOYS to share!

Find your summer’s fling between the pages of a book. And don't stop on one - after all we have many BOOK BOYFRIENDS for you to mingle with.

I'm pretty jazzed that my children's eBook, Curse of the Double Digits, is included in this group of books. What a great price, 99 cents!

It's listed under "Juvenile" and "FIRST CRUSH: Could Chad Be Your Daughter/Granddaughter/Niece's Next Book Boyfriend?"

Enter Goodreads Giveaway
for a paperback copy of
Curse of the Double Digits
Ends July 7th

* HAPPY READING * HAPPY SUMMER *

Please note: I'm moving my site again, but this time it's permanent. I promise.

If you enjoy my blog posts, please visit my new site

at LynnKelleyAuthor.com

and sign up in the sidebar to continue following the weirdness!

We're Moving!

Hello Friends! We're moving Random Acts of Weirdness to another site. 

Today's post: My niece's pet snake was issued a credit card! I hope you'll check it out and sign up to follow me at my new place.

http://lynnkelleyauthor.wordpress.com/2013/03/23/credit-card-issued-to-a-snake/

Hope you have an awesome weekend!

Am Recharging

I'm taking time off from blogging to 

rest,

recharge,

and

reconnect with people.

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening, that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. ~ Martha Graham

How do you recharge? Is there a secret you'd like to share?

HELP THE ELF: I Found Santa’s Missing Nice List!

Hi everyone! As you may remember, a few weeks ago PETE the Elf had a touch too much Eggnog at the Holiday Christmas Party and as he stumbled home, he lost Santa's NICE LIST.

The North Wind scattered the papers to all four corners of the world, and The Bookshelf Muse put out a call to help find them in order to SAVE CHRISTMAS.

Ever since I read about it, I've been on the lookout. And then today, EUREKA!

Yes that's right...I found part of Santa's missing NICE LIST. There it was, fluttering in the wind, half caught under the corner of my welcome mat. And shock of all shocks, I recognized the name, and I bet you will too.

Here it is below:

NAME: Robyn Campbell

LOCATION: Robyn Campbell (Putting Pen to Paper)

NICE LEVEL: 99%

NAUGHTY LEVEL: 1%

OBSERVATIONS: Robyn is not only supportive and kind to all, but she has a knack for lifting people's spirits and making them smile. Or laugh. Or dance a happy dance. She's been through one crisis or tragedy after another this past year, yet she still comes through for her family and friends, offering hope and kind words. Sometimes she loses her temper, though, and lets an "Oh, fiddlesticks!" slip out. We still love ya, Robyn! Mwah! Sugar pops and gumdrops!

RECOMMENDATION:     a) Coal                   b) Gift

~ ~ * ~ ~

Because poor Pete is dashing all over the place trying to hunt down the rest of Santa's missing Nice List, I decided to take care of this one myself. Robyn, I'm truly blessed to know you! Enjoy the gift I sent to your inbox. Wishing you and your family a bodaciously wonderful Christmas!

How about you, Readers? Is there someone you'd like to say Happy Holidays to or tell them how much they mean to you? Join us! There's plenty of time left before Christmas, and sometimes a kind word can lift someone up in a way they really need.

It's as easy as sending a free ecard or email note, posting on a Facebook wall, or sending out a tweet. So go ahead and spread some kindness and cheer!


 Photo credit:

assorted gold baubles (christmasstockimages.com) / CC BY 3.0

Test Run of My Story on Real Kids

I've been struggling to keep up with everything lately and have been scarce here. Thanks to blogger buddies like Bish Denham, I'm still plugging along. Bish invited me to guest post on her blog, and today is the day! 

Testing the work in progress of Curse of the Double Digits on a second grade class in 2008 made for wonderful memories in my writing journey. Please hop over to Bish's blog, Random Thoughts, to read about it.

Drawn by Bobbie Watkins, age 8
Cypress Elementary School

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up. 

                                                                                   ~Pablo Picasso

The children didn't have the benefit of seeing any illustrations when I read my manuscript to them. The teacher, Mrs. Kyle, had them draw their own!

My 'Reveal' By Diane Capri is Today!

Today I'm being featured on Diane Capri's blog, Licensed to Thrill. I'm stoked! She's a #1 Amazon best selling mystery and suspense author. Her weekly blog series, Diane Capri Reveals, has featured big name authors in her genre, such as Lee Child, Steve Barry, and James Rollins. 

I'm not in the same league as those awesome best selling authors, but I'm fortunate to be included in this current series where Diane is featuring new authors and new voices. So how cool is that? Please go to  Diane Capri Reveals to check it out.

Diane Capri

“Full of thrills and tension – but smart and human too.”
Lee Child, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author 

of Jack Reacher Thrillers

Diane Capri's books include: The Hunt For Reacher series, Jenny Lane series, and Judge Willa Carson series. 

Winners of CURSE OF THE DOUBLE DIGITS Announced

Who's feeling lucky today?

Photo by Roni Loren via WANA Commons 

Congratulations to the winners of the giveaway of my new children's book, Curse of the Double Digits!

Thank you to all those who entered the giveaway and helped celebrate the release of my chapter book.

Random drawings were held for anyone who left comments on the blog posts by Robyn Campbell, Maria Toth, C. Lee McKenzie, and yours truly.

I'm old school. 

At the Tuesday writers critique meeting, Cindy Green 

gave each member a plastic pumpkin filled with goodies. 

So I stashed the goodies and used the pumpkin for the drawings. 

Now I know why bloggers use those high-tech raffles!

Oh, well. The old fashioned way still works, so woo hoo!

First, we'll start with the winners from Robyn Campbell's 10-10-12 post on Putting Pen to Pencil:

Sharon Mayhew - Signed paperback
Susan Kaye Quinn - eBook

Next, the winners from Maria Toth's 10-10-12 post on A Writer's Life of Scraps & Scribbles:

Yvette Carol - Signed paperback
Melissa Bowersock - eBook

And now, the winners from C. Lee McKenzie's 10-29-12 post on The Write Game:

J.L. Campbell - eBook
Medeia Sarif - eBook
Rilla Jaggia - Signed paperback

(There are three winners because J.L. Campbell lives outside the U.S. and Medeia Sarif requested an eBook, so I drew a third name for the paperback.)

Last, the ten winners who left comments on my blog posts:

Ebook:
Julie Glover 

Marcy Kennedy 

C.M. Brown

Bish Denham

Stephen Tremp

                                    

Signed Paperback:

Tammy Theriault

Hobo Annie

Christina Farley

Jennette Marie Powell

Louise Behiel

I need the addresses of those who won paperbacks. If you're an eBook winner, please contact me at Lynkelwoohoo at Yahoo.com and I'll give you the info for your free copy. 

Again, thank you to all who participated and made my book launch so much fun. I wish everyone could have won, but, alas, that's the luck of the draw.

Are you lucky when it comes to random drawings or playing Bingo, dice games, board games, or gambling? 

“Dieting is the only game where you win when you lose!”

~Karl Lagerfeld

Costume Mishaps - Parenting Plights & Delights

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is a big favorite for kids. They get all hyper and drive their parents bananas. All the excitement of finding a costume and gathering a stash of free candy - woo hoo! 

I guess I never outgrew the crazy get-ups. 

Sometimes it's not all it's cracked up to be, like when something goes wrong with a costume. 

I have bad memories of Halloween when I was in kindergarten and dressed up as a witch. I wore one of those cheap masks with an elastic string to hold it on. Our class paraded single file down the school corridors and through other classrooms. Johnny, the kid behind me, kept pulling and twanging that elastic string so it hit the back of my head. Nonstop.

I cried and cried, but he wouldn't let up. If only I'd had a broom stick...

One Halloween when my son was seven or eight, he wore a California Raisin costume. They were a hit back in 1986 or '87. Here's a video of a big kid wearing one:

The costumes were popular because of this funny commercial: 

My son thought he had the best costume in the neighborhood, until he walked into a tree and was knocked flat on his back. It was hard to see out of those little eye holes, especially at night. 

A few years later the school banned masks for Halloween parties and parades because masks make it hard for kids to see where they're going!

I think my favorite costume mishap story is from my writer friend, Hobo Annie. She left this comment on my post on October 10th:

"Once a friend and I had to be witches in a play, so we put green food coloring in base makeup. Worked great for the show...but we had to go to school with green-stained faces for a week!"

This is Annie Howland nowadays.
 The green food coloring incident
happened back in high school.

Psst: Just in time for Halloween, she released a new Kindle book, 

Stirring Up Spiders,

a collection of dark tales for grown ups. 

You can find it here.   

Jerry Seinfeld reminisces about one of his childhood costumes: "Then, finally, the third year, begging the parents, I got the Superman Halloween costume... Remember the rubber band on the back of that mask? That was a quality item there, wasn't it? That was good for about 10 seconds before it snapped out of that cheap little staple they put it in there with."

Hmm, I wonder why that stupid rubber band on my witch mask held up so well. Figures. 

Do you have any costume-gone-wrong stories? Bad memories or disappointments from trick-or-treating, like poor Charlie Brown who always got a rock tossed into his bag instead of candy?

Do you have a parenting or grandparenting memory

or another story you'd like to share? 

If you're not a parent, memories from your own childhood count, too. 

Warning: I might feature your story in a future post. 

(Names can be changed to protect the guilty!)

I'd like to thank all those who have shared their stories. 

These posts wouldn't be the same without your input.

If you don't want to leave a comment but would rather contact me by email, 

you can reach me at: lynkelwoohoo at yahoo dot com.