Armchair BEA: Introductions First!

I was hoping to attend Book Expo America this year, but unfortunately I wasn't able to make it. But for the last several years I have participated in Armchair BEA, a virtual conference for book bloggers who can’t attend Book Expo America being held in New York this week. 


Every day this week, I’ll post according to the daily themes given by Armchair BEA. Bloggers will then visit each other's blog and comment, which by the way, is an excellent way to network. I met most of the bloggers I know through Armchair BEA. So make sure and stop by the Armchair BEA and participate by visiting the list of blogs participating that are listed on the linky at the Armchair BEA website. Introduce yourself at each blog and leave a nice comment. Perhaps, they will reciprocate and come visit your blog as well.

Everyday this week, there is a new theme for bloggers to post according to. Today’s theme is “Introductions First!” Participants were given a list of 10 questions and asked to answer 5 of them, so that we can all get to know each other a little better. So here’s the five I chose to answer. 

1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself? How long have you been blogging and why did you get into blogging?

I'm Lena Sledge, author, writer, publicist, speaker and of course....blogger. I'm the publicist for the Alabama Writers' Conclave, one of the oldest writers' organization in continuous existence in the United States. I wrote a short story collection titled, If I Had My Way. It was released in February of 2012. It has done well. I'm very proud of my work and it was great to have my blogger friends discuss my book on their blogs and leave Amazon and Barnes and Noble reviews. I've also had my work in several anthologies. I started blogging because I wanted to share writing resources with newly published authors like myself. But I initially started blogging about books that I had read from my personal home library and from there my blog took on a life of its own. I hope to have my blog become a site for writers to find resources that may help them find what they need within the literary world and to share great books and bookish news for my book lovers and readers.

2. What book am I currently reading?

"Home" by Toni Morrison.

3. What is my favorite feature on my blog?
My favorite feature is Author Interviews, Giveaways and Writing and Blogging Resources.

4. My favorite post that I would want everyone to read?
It would be three posts actually, Top 25 Blogs for Writers, Armchair BEA (Building and Nurturing Relationships and Top 20 Sites for Free eBooks.

5. If I could eat dinner with any author or character who would it be?
In my fantasy, I'd have a luncheon with Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison and Nikki Giovanni.

Feel free to participate and answer my five questions in comments or direct me to your blog post discussing your five questions for Armchair BEA.

Tomorrow's theme is Giveaways and if you've visited my site before, you'll know I LOVE giveaways! Matter of fact, I'm running one now for a $25 Amazon Gift Card or up to $25 in book purchases from the Book Depository. So scroll down to enter or click My Favorite Reads Giveaway.

Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to meeting and networking with you all. Happy BEA!

In Review: Best of Lena's Blog 2011

I'm grateful to see another year. I am also thankful for the wonderful posts and participation from other bloggers and readers. So I decided to make a best of post of my year in blogging. Almost one year of blogging! I am amazed at what I learned. So here are some of my favorite posts, and yours too according to my analytics. I chose them based on your page views, comments and a few are just my personal favorites. Enjoy!

Lena's Tidbits

• Top 25 Blogs for Writers
• 10 Do It Yourself Book Gifts and Ideas
• Interesting Facts About Authors and Books
• Best Gift Ideas for Book Lovers
• Writing Habits of 21 Famous Authors
• Could You Write Over 700 Books?
• 5 Things I Learned From the Smurfs
• And Tango Makes Three: Banned
• May 21st, The Rapture: The World is Ending, So Here's What You Need to Read
• My Lordt Hammercy Moment

Author Interviews

• Nikki Giovanni Interview Part 1
• Nikki Giovanni Interview Part 2
• Nikki Giovanni Interview Part 3
• Donna Hill Interview
• Meet Bestselling Author R.M. Johnson

Book Reviews

• Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• The Help by Kathryn Stockett
• Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
• Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

Memes

• Friday's Free Ebooks
• Wordless Wednesday: Freedom
• Top Ten Tuesday: What Book Would You Reread?

Guest Posts

• Author Wayne Zurl
• Author Barbara Kyle
• Author Katina Walton: Book Review of How To Get Out of Your Own Way by Tyrese Gibson

Contest/Giveaways

• Lena's Kindle Touch Giveaway
• Spotlight and Poetry Contest
• Spotlight Poetry Contest: Day 3

Do you have a memorable post from my blog?

Top 25 Blogs for Writers

Most of you know that I have a passion for writing and that I have a few books being released soon. But I wanted to share some of the resources I use as a writer, especially other blogs I frequently visit that are geared towards providing writing resources for creative minds. Hopefully it can be of use to an aspiring writer, author or blog reader. So here they are, my top 25 blogs for writers. Plus, two bonus blogs I just had to squeeze in there. They are listed in no particular order.

• Allison Winn Scotch (formerly known as Ask Allison, site provides publishing and marketing info)
• Apostrophe Abuse (teaches the correct way to use an apostrophe)
• A Writer's Life (from the writer who created the books, the TV show Monk was based on)
• The Beacon Blog for Writers (resource for writers to help them get published)
• Cat's Eye Writer (for bloggers who write and writers who blog)
• The Creative Penn (provides resources for writers to write, publish and sell their books)
• Evil Editor (provides tips on defining your craft with better editing skills)
• Flogging the Quill (how to pursue the art and craft of compelling storytelling)
• Grammarphobia (readers ask grammar questions and get responses)
• John Baker's Blog (an author blog, has some great resources on writing)
• Kim's Craft Blog (tips about constraints and creativity, including memoirs, fiction & creative writing)
• Make a Living Writing (shows writers how to make a good living with their writing)
• Paperback Writer (writer of forty-five novels in eight genres, she talks about writing and her life)
• The Plotmonkeys (several bloggers talking about books and their lives)
• Scott Berkun (bestselling author and public speaker, share writing techniques for creative thinking)
• Six Sentences (write in six sentence exercise, and you can submit your own)
• Storyfix (tips to get serious about writing and writing stories that attract readers)
• Time to Write (inspiration, ideas and tips for aspiring writers, writers and creative people)
• Wordplay (provides resources to help aspiring writers become authors)
• Wordswimmer (insights into understanding the writing process)
• Write Anything (inspiration, motivation and writing challenges)
• Write Better (tips on communication, business writing and creative writing)
• Writer Beware (a publishing industry watchdog that helps writers avoid scams, pitfalls and schemes)
• Write to Done (effective ways to write better)
• Writers Write (resources about writing, books and publishing)
• Writer Unboxed (blog that dissects books and finds out what makes them great from a writer's view)
• Emerging Writers Network (info on how to work towards succeeding in writing

Do you visit any of the blogs on the list?

Do you have or know

 a blog I can add to the list?