Oh, snap, I nailed it!

I did it! I did it!

I figured out how to get my blog on the index page of my website!

And my website is coming along, too. Feel free to poke around.

So at some point I have to start migrating my blog over there. I hope it won't be too annoying if I blog there and post a link here. That way, those of you who are -- wow, the hearing just cut out in one of my ears, is that normal? -- those of you who are handy-dandy and switch your RSS feeds right away can just make a clean break from good old Slightly Savage, and those of you who are slow and/or stubborn and/or busy (too busy to mind your blogroll? I doubt it!) can have the constant pounding reminder for a while.

I'm a little wired, because, frankly, I can't believe I actually did it.

This calls for a list.

Things That Make Me Happy:

* That selling my book has made me a better reader. The fantabulous Bella Stander, with whom I had a very nice session when she was in LA in January, strongly suggested that I make it a point to start reading some actual, you know, young adult novels, since I was so intent on writing them. That, and finding great writing resources online (like The Debutante Ball and Backspace) have opened my eyes to current book releases. I have read a lot of books this year, and since, next to spoiling my dog and writing, I love reading, I am ever-grateful.

This is a weird list.

Other things that make me happy:

* We're going to the beach on Sunday, and I love going to the beach.
* This dog show, which started off a little rocky, is winding up nicely.
* I'm going out to dinner in a few minutes to a restaurant I love.

And here's a big one...

* I turn 30 on Tuesday. Yeah. And I haven't even made arrangements to spend the weekend inside with all the shades drawn. I was not nearly so zen about aging just two years ago. I consider this great progress in my journey to achieving maturity.

Also, at the beach, I get to see a 13-year-old girl who is super cool and fun, and I get to tell her that one of the main characters in my book has the same name as her (she?).

I'll be quick: hilarity.

Love these.

If I opened a gift at Christmas from my family and saw one of these, I would totally and completely fall for it.

Excellent time killer...

From another blog, but I'll be damned if I can remember which one, I found a link to this site, which is a listing of the best, worst, funniest, and most notorious retractions and corrections throughout the various media outlets. I also recommend checking out last year's list (there's a link in there somewhere).

But I must, must, must, link directly to this video, in which a reporter sits a man down and interviews him as an expert on the topic without realizing that he was not the expert. He shared the same first name as the expert, but he was actually there for a job interview. The guy's expression is freaking priceless, as are his answers to her industry-related questions.

Enjoy!

Random

To atone for the sadness of this day, I am going to write a haiku.

Something in fridge stinks:
Smells like a pile of dookie
Hurry, close the door.

Also, the results of the 2006 Bulwer-Lytton "bad first line of a novel" contest are up:

http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/

A couple of favorites:

"It was a day, like any other day, in that Linus got up, faced the sunrise, used his inhaler, applied that special cream between his toes, wrote a quick note and put it in a bottle, and wished he'd been stranded on the island with something other than 40 cases each of inhalers, decorative bottles, and special toe cream."
Chris Harget
Campbell, CA

"Gripping his six-shot Colt Python with 8-inch barrel and Royal Blue finish, and tightening the straps on his Paratec Speed 2000 parachute, Jake leaped from the left aft hatchway of the tumbling, green-and-silver, twin-engined Embraer Lineage 1000, which had seating for nineteen passengers."
Johnathan Munroe
Halifax, NS

"When Debbie decided that Salt 'n' Pepper Beard was the most attractive pirate on the ship, she realized that choosing him was due to the advice of Sylvia, her new Life Coach, to be realistic about her own age and to open herself up to romance where it lay, unlike the troublesome past where she would have wished that only the younger pirates take advantage of her."
Jim Guigli
Carmichael, CA

"Lisa moved like a cat, not the kind of cat that moves with a slinky grace but more like the kind that always falls off the book shelf when he's washing himself and then gets all mad at you like it's your fault (which it wasn't although it probably was kind of mean to laugh at him like that), although on the bright side, she hardly ever attacked Ricky's toes in his sleep."
Debra Allen
Wichita Falls, TX

"Despite the vast differences it their ages, ethnicity, and religious upbringing, the sexual chemistry between Roberto and Heather was the most amazing he had ever experienced; and for the entirety of the Labor Day weekend they had sex like monkeys on espresso, not those monkeys in the zoo that fling their feces at you, but more like the monkeys in the wild that have those giant red butts, and access to an espresso machine."
Dennis Barry
Dothan, AL

That's all I'm going to post here. I highly encourage the reading of the whole list. Also, last year's winners:

http://www2.sjsu.edu/depts/english/2005.htm

With my personal favorite:

"Captain Burton stood at the bow of his massive sailing ship, his weathered face resembling improperly cured leather that wouldn't even be used to make a coat or something."
Bryan Semrow
Oshkosh, WI

And that's all for now.