November Website Updates

Welcome to November!

It's a special month on the Playground because November is our birthday month! Can you believe we're four years old? We're so appreciative to everyone who's making this journey with us (and making it so much fun)! To celebrate, we'll be hosting a blog party on Friday, November 13th and we hope to see you there. As always, there are presents for our Honorary Playfriends, so be sure to come by for a chance to win.

But if that's not enough, we do have other things to keep you occupied this month.

Samhain author Vivi Andrews joins us in the Sandbox to talk about paranormals and staying warm in the winter: www.writingplayground.com/sandbox.html

As we get closer to the end of 2009, Diane O'Brien Kelly is back with another tax tips article - this time about all that glamorous travel - in School: www.writingplayground.com/school.html#tax2

Speaking of travel, we recommend Nicola Marsh's TRIP WITH THE TYCOON as well. Just don't read while hungry. : www.writingplayground.com/school.html#tycoon

In addition to our birthday party, we have some great guest bloggers lined up for November. Historical author Annie Burrows visits on 11/3; Romance author Donna Alward takes over on 11/11; Modern Heat author Heidi Rice comes back again on 11/16, and our chapter-sister Debra Webb joins us on 11/30 for the start of Guest Blogger Week.

Angel will be off guest blogging on the Ruby-Slippered Sisterhood on 11/23(www.rubyslipperedsisterhood.com) and the Problem Child will be at Tote Bags and Blogs on 11/17 (http://authorsoundrelations.blogspot.com/). We hope you'll come by and say hi there as well.

We also have to announce our winners of the Not So Scary Halloween Contest! Grand prize goes to Chris Jones of Texas and the runner up prize goes to Laura McIntyre of Oregon. Congratulations! (And as a bonus, the prizes have already been shipped - Smarty Pants is ahead of the game for once!)

We hope you enjoy the month of November on the Playground as much as we will.

Pimping at its Finest

This is the 2009 Bylines Writer's Desk Calendar. It's a good calendar for writers because it has lots of extra stuff -- a place to track monthly goals and tasks, a submissions tracking page, pages to log in writing-related purchases, a page for writing-related car mileage, and several pages of good websites for writers.

It also has me in it. :-) 2009 is my second year to be in Bylines. And as soon I get my comp copy, I'll look for the 2010 submission guidelines and shoot for number 3.

According to Sylvia Forbes, the Bylines publisher, this year's Bylines includes writers from 29 states and 5 foreign countries (China, Tasmania, Ireland, Great Britain, Canada).

The "celebrity desk" on the cover of Bylines 2009 is Mark Twain's. He used this desk for much of his writing and it is on display at the Mark Twain Museum in Hannibal, Missouri. Mark Twain was also one of the first authors, perhaps even the first (as he claims), to use a typewriter in his writing. A photo of one of his typewriters can also be found inside the calendar. Ms. Forbes is calling the 2009 calendar the "Mark Twain" edition because all the photos inside other than the photos of each contributor relate to him in some way.

If you're interested in getting yourself a Bylines calendar (and I get nothing if you buy one) you can learn more here: www.bylinescalendar.com . The site will also have submissions info for the 2010 calendar.