Writerly Wednesday ~~ Christian Fiction Agent

Happy Hump-Day fellow blogging scribblers! If you're interested in getting the scoop on which agent wants what, check out Chuck Sambuchino's Guide to Literary Agents blog. 

Yesterday's showcased agent was Steve Laube who seeks quality Christian fiction and nonfiction. If either of those is your genre of choice, go read his specs.

Happy hunting and lotsa huggage!

WHO DAT?!!

In case you're not familiar with our famous Saints chant, here it is in full~~

"Who dat? Who dat? Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints? Who dat? Who dat?"

Wikipedia says the chant originated in minstrel shows and vaudeville acts of the late 1800s and was then taken up by jazz and big band performers in the 1920s and 30s. Staged minstrel skits had frightened black people saying "who dat" when they encountered a ghost...then the "who dat"..."who dat say who dat"...skit would play itself out. Even the Marx Brothers had a "who dat" routine.

You can hear my #1 favorite singer Aaron Neville (backed by Saints team members) singing a combo of Who Dat and When the Saints Go Marching In on GrooveShark.

So if you missed the Saints/Vikings game last night, you missed a real nail-biter and a chance to have your ears ringing with Who Dat?! The Super Dome was more packed (71,000+) than it was when it housed Katrina refugees. The blizzard of confetti at game's end was something never before seen, and Saints fans were frenzied! 

Yeah...we're now on the way to the Super Bowl...AAIEYYYYEEEEE...to face off with native son Peyton Manning's Colt's!

In overtime, the Saints won the toss allowing kicker Garrett Hartley to make a 40-yard field goal which triggered a stupendous all-night party in the City of New Orleans. And the party will continue through Feb. 7 when the Saints go marching in to Miami!

Saints head coach Sean Payton said, "This is for everybody in this city. This stadium used to have holes in it, and used to be wet. It's not wet anymore. This is for the city of New Orleans." QB Drew Brees gave Favre due respect. ""He's a warrior, he always has been, I remember watching him in middle school. He battled, he is a competitor and he fought to the end, their entire team did. It was a hard fought battle I am just glad we came out on top in the end."

So, say it with me friends~~~WHO DAT?!

**Read full game scoopage at Reuters.
*AP photo

Three-fer {Friday Foibles, Boo & Thib, Politically Incorrect Joke}

It's a rare day when I come across a joke that can be transformed into something that fits our Cajun bad boys Boudreaux & Thibodaux, shows the foibles humans are capable of performing, AND may be offensive to several different groups of folks at once. *grin* (Apologies in advance. It's just a joke...go ahead and laugh!)

Well, today's your lucky day if you like a bargain. Here's a three-fer to get your weekend started...

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Back when Boudreaux was a young stud, he decides to hop a plane to visit some transplanted Cajun friends in California. The plane passes through a severe storm. The turbulence jostles Boo's carry-on full of hot sauce, coffee, pralines and other homegrown goodies he is toting to his pals. Things go from bad to worse when one wing is struck by a fierce bolt of lightning.

A woman passenger seated near Boudreaux loses it completely, stands and screams, "I'm too young to die!" Then she yells, "If I'm going to die, I want my last minutes on earth to be memorable! Is there anyone on this plane who can make me feel like a woman?"

There is momentary silence while everyone stares at the crazed and desperate woman. Then Boudreaux stands up. He is tall, handsome and built like a rock. His dark brown hair grazes his strong shoulders and his hazel eyes twinkle. Boo takes off his seatbelt and walks up the aisle toward the woman passenger, easily balancing as the plane sways and bucks. He slowly unbuttons his shirt and locks eyes with the now-silent woman. The other passengers are mesmerized and stare on, suddenly forgetting the dangerous conditions of their flight.

When Boo gets to the last shirt button, he yanks off his shirt and his muscles ripple. The woman (and several others nearby) gasp. In a lovely Cajun accent, he slowly speaks.............................

......"Mais sha, iron dis (this)....den (then) get me a beer!" 

 

 

 

 

 

 

arrow photo by the other Martin Taylor  

plane photo by rick

Writerly Wednesday ~~ Pen to Press Conference

Hey friends. Hope your writing projects are cooperating with you and things are going swimmingly.

I can personally vouch for friend Deb LeBlanc's conference coming up this summer. Instead of telling you about it, and how much I enjoyed and gained from it...here's the official scoop. If you've got a manuscript in the works, consider heading on down to New Orleans!
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2010 Pen to Press Writers' Retreat        

This is a one of a kind writers' retreat you simply can't pass up! Come excited and leave inspired, ready to improve your writing and get that manuscript published!

Pen to Press Retreats are five intense, hands-on, inspiring days that teach participants how to shape and present a saleable manuscript. You'll learn in a variety of settings, from workshops to one-on-one mentoring sessions to seminars. To that end, you will write and revise, have portions of your manuscript critiqued, and revise some more. This is a remarkable opportunity to transform your writing!

To top it off, throughout the last two days of each retreat, all of our participants are given exclusive, one-on-one time with agents and editors to whom they can pitch their work.

With this retreat under your belt, who can stop you?
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Participants will be assigned to a class of 20 and a team instructor. (Our instructors are all successfully published authors, many New York Times and U.S.A. Today Best-sellers, award-winners, and all are excellent teachers.). With this group, you will spend five days working on specifics to improve your manuscript. During classes and panel discussions, you'll learn details about characterization, plot, dialogue, pacing, voice, marketing, pitching, contract negotiations, etc., all of it geared around your specific work.

Agents and editors will be on hand the last two days of the retreat, and they'll be there to spend one-on-one time with you, our participants . . . writers who now have a polished pitch for a promising work!
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The dates for the 2010 Pen to Press Writers Retreat are May 25-29, 2010, and the location will be in beautiful downtown New Orleans, Louisiana.

Interested writers must submit a two page synopsis of a completed novel or novel in progress along with the first five pages of that novel. From those submissions, a maximum of 160 participants will be selected.

To find out more about the 2010 Pen to Press Writers' Retreat, visit our website at www.pentopressretreat.com. There you'll find in-action videos and testimonials from past participants. So jump on over to the website and have a look. And we hope to see YOU at the 2010 PPW Retreat!

http://www.pentopressretreat.com/

Rose & Thorn Winter Issue/Friday Foible ~~ Declassified Classifieds

Before we get to our TGIF fun, I hope you'll look over our winter issue of Rose & Thorn Journal, hot off the press today! We're *really* proud of the art, prose and poetry. Comments always welcome. [Be sure to read fellow blogger Deb Schuka's most excellent prose piece -- Green Tears!]

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What economic downturn??? There's all kinds of job opps out there~~~

Shoveling Out!

Hey y'all! Boy have I missed you and keeping up with what's going on in your lives, with your writing, your holidays, this crazy cold weather we're having, and all manner of things.

With the help of the shovel over there, I *think* I've just about dug myself out of life's avalanche which has had me buried for the last weeks of my unexpected absence from the Blogosphere and Twitterville. Whew! Won't go into details (everybody's got their own set of problems), but I do want to say THANKS SO MUCH for your emails checking in to see if I'm okay and sending well wishes. I always knew y'all were the real deal, and I really appreciate your friendship and kindness.

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We've been working hard to get our winter issue of Rose & Thorn Journal out this Friday, so I hope you'll sign up for the quarterly newsletter (which is tres beautiful) so you'll get a reminder when new issues come out. Lotsa beautiful poetry, art and prose to warm you up this frigid winter season...so go sign up, ya hear? It's super quick & easy.   :) 

The new R&T blog features writerly stuff on Wednesdays, so add that to your hump-day To-Do list! Today there's a really interesting interview you writing people might enjoy. Here's a blurb: "Brian Wilkins is the editor of Scarab, a literary magazine for the iPhone." How cool is that concept? And there's also an interview with Kristina Darling that went up last week which gives readers a peek into the processes and thoughts of a poetry & prose writer.

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I'm going to be on a shortened posting schedule for the time being, which will give me time to visit your blogs. I'll put up weekly recipes (good, cheap, easy), writerly nuggets of all kinds, and fun foibles & jokes as I find 'em.

Love to all y'all. It feels great to be back!

Photo by pictureperfectpose

Blue Moon and Cactus Blooms

May your 2010 be full of blue moon surprises 

and wings to soar over any problem that arises.

Kind family hands that hold your heart dear,

days of gentle rains and golden sunrises.

Luminous wild blossoms of all sizes,

loving good friends both far and near.

These things and more I pray and visualize

for you - gifts of the spirit in this new year.