Peoples, It is time to think about the Annual Winter Celebration of your choice Secret Gift Exchange of Awesomeness. AWCSGEA for short, flows off the tongue doesn't it.

Join in the Ohhhing and the Ahhhing. The Squeeing and the Plotting. I want to use elfster again this year, so email me: b(dot)org(dot)msbelle(at)gmail.com if you are IN!

No real spending limit, whatever feels right. All best efforts to deliver main gift by 12/31.

Now I will earworm you - It's beginning to feel a lot like AWCSGEA!

It's National Punctuation Day, a topic I know is hot and beloved to many Buffistas.

I wrote a little post about it, iffn you want to go read and raise a glass about sexy, sexy punctuation: [link]

(There's also a newish post about how to get started on resume writing, for those who might need a little inspiration.)

5 people will be doing the gift exchange unless I get more emails. You know you want to. It'll make you more popular. All the cool kids do it. The first one is free.

So, I know I haven't been around much lately, but I wanted to pop in and share my kinda big news.

I'm getting married! He asked me last night, and I knew I'd be crazy to say anything but yes. He's the Batman to my Ladybug Girl (no really...there's a drawing to prove it), and I'm expecting a happily ever after. Who knew this girl would get a happily ever after? Actually, I think you guys did... And I finally believe you!

Us: [link]

Batman, Ladybug Girl, and Toto the Wonder Dog: [link]

The Ring: [link]

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

Time to delurk, people!

"Delurking 1: Because we don't always check our e-mail."

Stop by and say hello, whether you're a regular person or not. Also, take a moment to update your location on the map if you have moved recently.

Ok, peoples - Everyone who has emailed me abut being in the gift exchange extravaGANza (geeGAN for short) should have gotten an email invitation from elfster. Go in and set up your elfster account if you have not already done so. You need to enter an address so your gifter can see it, you can set it so only your gifter can see it. Fill out your likes/dislikes, make a wishlist, the whole shebang.

There is still time to get in on this, we will not draw names until sometime between 10/24 and 11/1.

I formally interviewed Amy Garvey, author of Cold Kiss. [link]

She could totally be a Buffista lurker, y'all!

Next Onerous Task Day: Wednesday, October 12th.

For those with writing and editing tasks, I'll further note that Erin is...

"...starting a weekly "Getting Shit Done with Wordslinger" Twitter thang, and my first day is Wednesday."

"It starts at 2 pm CST, and most people will post here, but if you want to post your accomplishments, or ask for a little gentle or harsh butt-kicking, I'm @Wordslingeuse, and the hashtag is #GSDwWS"

Let's get all the things done.

PROPOSAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Voting thread is now open to discuss the revisit, after moratorium, of this proposal by Pix.

Proposal:

To give people time to plan ahead and get the best rates on traveling, October will be our official persuade-n-post phase for the coming year's F2F. During each October, people may propose a location in the appropriate region of the country based on our normal rotation, sell us its fine qualities, research possible venues for hotel rooms/prom (preferably the same venue for both or within walking distance), and suggest up to two possible dates in spring/summer for our official annual F2F. The date(s) for each location are completely up to the proposer’s discretion.

At the beginning of November, we will vote on the proposed location/date combo. If the proposer offered more than one possible date, we will hold a second vote to pick a final date for the winner. Once the date and venue has been set, the proposer/organizer will book the hotel so we can begin the process of raising the necessary money and making necessary investments in tickets, corsets, and sparkly tiaras.

Since we have already missed this deadline for the 2012 F2F, this year we will propose locations from October 15-November 15 and vote right after that (this will avoid the holiday/finals issue, I hope).

Just wanted to spread the word that my college roommate (Stasia, who writes Writer on the Side) will soon be in the LA area to promote her YA, a novel in verse about dance (pubbing on my birthday no less).

Here are the details:

Thursday 20 OCTOBER - Mrs. Nelson's, La Verne at 5 pm Gretchen McNeil and Stasia Kehoe with special guest Elise Allen

Sunday 23 OCTOBER - Vroman's, Pasadena at 2 pm Allen Zadoff, Gretchen McNeil, Stasia Kehoe with special guest Elise Allen

All authors spent their teen years as performers and will talk about how these experiences found their way onto the pages of their novels. Gretchen McNeil is a voice actress and sings with the group Cirque Berzerk and Elise Allen “co-wrote” Elixir with Hilary Duff. Stasia says that both are absolute hoots and entertainment-industry insiders so the events should be fun.

X-posted with Literary

ETA: She does know about the Buffistas (and is a Buffy fan) so feel free to mention it.