A Bunch of Odds and Ends

Wow. It seems like I have gads of odds and ends items to share with you all. A few theme week items to wrap up:

First congrats to Kay from Texas who won the comment prize pack. Thanks for all your enthusiasm throughout the week Kay. I saw comments from you everywhere, but it was one of her comments at Beth Fish Reads blog that won her the prize pack.

I had a few people ask for the answers to the Positions Wanted contest. So, here they are:

1. Waitress and bartender...[Stacey Curtis]
2. Newspaper journalist with...[Gus Carpenter]
3. Experienced investigative journalist...[Carter Ross]
4. Got a pressing personal...[Henry Gamadge]
5. Landscape architect looking for...[Paula Holliday]
6. Artistic photographer with...[Lydia McKenzie]
7. Talented publicist who chucked..[Agatha Raisin]
8. Riding the range...[Amlingmeyer Brothers]
9. Experienced specialty cake decorator...[Piper Donovan]
10. Looking to expand current...[Annie Laurance]
11. Experienced European investigative....[Annika Bengtzon]
12. Fiber-loving individual...[Kelly Flynn]
13. Full-time investigative TV reporter...[Riley Spartz]
14. Museum curator with...[Grace Wheaton]
15. Experienced mother of nine...[Alafair Tucker]
16. Fairy-Tale Cupcake baking class...[Melanie Cooper & Angie DeLaura]

Prizes have started going out but I haven't finished them all, so if you haven't received yours yet, it's still coming. Thanks for your patience.

Tomorrow is your last day to enter to win a copy of Marcus Sakey's THE AMATEURS. If you haven't entered yet, don't delay!

Also, if you didn't see yesterday, you can enter to win one of three copies of Jonathan Hayes' A HARD DEATH, which I reviewed on Wednesday.

A reminder that the Spinetingler Awards are still up for votes through the end of the month. If you haven't had a chance to vote there, make haste!

And if you're eligible to nominate for the Anthony Awards and you haven't done that yet, the deadline for those nominations is also the end of this month. There's even an incentive for you to nominate. So, check that out here.

Speaking of Bouchercon, if you haven't made your plans for the convention, don't wait much longer. Rooms in the host hotel are limited. They are very reasonably priced, so you don't want to miss out on a room right there IN the Renaissance.

If you haven't checked out the attendees list for Bouchercon lately, stop over and take a look. This is going to be an incredible convention. If you've never been before, this is a great year to see what it's all about!

I've been exploring this site called Copia recently. I created an account and am discovering all the different tools they have available. So far I've started a discussion, started compiling my "library." I can review books, rate books. And one part I haven't gotten into yet is their read apps. The reader apps are supposed to allow you to take notes and share them with others. I still have a lot of exploring to do, but check it out if you have some interest.

Another blog you'll want to keep your eye on is the xuni.com blog. Some of you may know I am working with xuni.com's brilliant creator Maddee James. We'll be updating this blog as well as the xuni.com Facebook page with author website news. So like this week, we spread the news about John Connolly's upcoming Charlie Parker novel when it was added to the website and about a new site for Will Lavender when it went live. There are oodles of authors (like Lee Child, Michael Koryta, Sophie Littlefield) you can keep up to date with, so check out the xuni.com blog and like xuni.com on Facebook!

Whew. I think I got everything, but an hour from now I'll remember something I meant to mention. That's always how it works. I hope you have a great weekend. We'll be having a very rainy one here in Northeast Ohio, so I'll be getting a lot of inside work done, which also means READING. Happy Reading to you!