Friday, November 8, 2013

"Oh, How I Miss You" Blogfest, Winners of the "Spirit of Christmas" Hop, and Star Wars VII Release Date!?


We've got a few things to cover before Thor soars his way across our starboard side this weekend, so let's get this party up and running!

Today is the "Oh, How I Miss You" Blog Hop, hosted by Andrew Leon, Alex J. Cavanaugh, and Matthew MacNish. It's an opportunity to let you favorite bloggers (who haven't posted in a while) that you miss their presence in the community and share which active bloggers you would miss if they ceased blogging altogether. Now's the time to let them know how much you miss and appreciate them, and here's a few awesome blogger buds of mine that this ship seriously misses:

Kate Coursey - I've made lots of writerly friends over the years, and then there are those who you hit it right off the bat with. It's been a while since Kate's sunny personality has graced us with a post, but she's been in India most of this year. Best. Excuse. Ever! Enjoy your time there, and get inspired for more writing adventures!

Jackson Porter - One of my youngest members, Jackson is a seriously talented writer who I know will make a splash in the publishing world one day. For now, he's working on graduating High School next year. Good to see his priorities are straight. You're awesome, Jackson!

Kevin Hiatt - I first meet this fine fellow at a LDStorymakers conference, and he's seriously one of the wittiest dudes I know. I also know that he's taking care of some things in the background, and I wish him well until he returns. Appreciate the smiles, Kevin!

And to those bloggers who I'd miss if they suddenly stopped (and there are many, many of them, so narrowing this is tough):

Michael Offutt - whose posts manage to be fun and thought-provoking while being completely random at the same time. Never stop what you're doing, dude. I'd have serious withdrawals!

Julie Luek - who has this incredible talent for being a breath of fresh air in the blogosphere, whose posts are often inspirational and she's not afraid to engage her audience with deep questions.

Alex J. Cavanaugh - who I'm sure is going to be on everyone's list, for good reason, since this man of ninja mystery is synonymous with superglue - or duct tape -  that holds this blogoverse together.

Thanks for hosting this fest, guys! It's heartfelt and appreciated. Now enough with the mushy stuff and let's award some people!

In addition to winning a free ecopy of The Spirit of Christmas, the following recipients will receive the following:

Ilima Todd wins a 50 page critique from Jennie!

Sheena-Kay Graham wins a 50 page critique from Jessica!

Pauline Creeden wins a $25 Amazon gift card from Kelley!

Jay Noel wins a $25 Amazon gift card from Me!

Elizabeth Seckman wins a choice of any of Cassie's ebooks!

Congratulations and a yuletide THANK YOU for helping us spread the word. Now let the money roll in so it can all go to a fantastic cause!

And just when you thought it was safe to go back into space ...

Time to let the fan boy out ...

It was just announced that the next installment of the Star Wars franchise, Episode VII, is slated for a December 18, 2015 release! I honestly have mixed feelings about this. One side of me is all ...

 "pew-pew-pew, slash, vharoom-vharoom, clash!"

But since Disney is steering this, the other side of me is all ...

"I'll, uh ... curb my enthusiasm a smidgen ..."

Not that I'm saying they can't come up with something great with the right story and team, but that seems down-right quick, don't you think? That and Disney's been a mixed bag of tricks lately ... either a very pleasant surprise (Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph) or an overly long head-scratch (Oz: The Great and Powerful, The Lone Ranger). Let's be honest, their live-action hasn't been their strong suit lately, but that could change. It's the only constant thing ... and there's a little Tom Hiddleston and Jennifer Lawrence in all of us, amiright?

Now you're just being weird and creepy, DPK ...

Okay, okay ... I'll stop (for now) ...

Thanks for stopping by! I look forward to checking out the blogfest posts all day, with a short Thor "break" later. Have a good one!

What are you up to this weekend? How's your NaNoing going? What bloggers would you/do you miss? Who's seeing Thor 2?

I'm David, and "pew-pew-pew, slash, vharoom-vharoom, clash!"

35 comments:

  1. Star Wars - I'm torn as well, but at the same time, I don't want to be dead before the finish the final three films.
    Congratulations to the winners.
    And thanks - appreciate that David! I live in the South, so it's definitely duct tape. That is the answer to everything here.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You narrowed your selection down well. As for duct tape - I was in the store the other day and saw some designer duct tape. They've literally got more patterns for it than wallpaper now. It just made me stop and giggle so much, and I thought, boy that could really come in handy. Wish I had thought of that!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I don't know how to feel about Disney and Star Wars--it'll definitely be interesting to see how it plays out. I know I'll end up seeing the film, which I guess is all Disney cares about in the end... But, until then I plan on enjoying some Thor and Loki :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I purposely left Alex off my list since that pick would have been an obvious one. Everyone would miss Alex!

    Lee
    A Faraway View

    ReplyDelete
  5. Woo-hoo! Thanks for the prize! We are trying to stay away from Thor until Thanksgiving week to see it with all my in-laws in Atlanta. It's hard, especially for this serious Tom Hiddleston fan. Thanks for the awesome gif to tide me over. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi, David, just a quick note to tell you I bought "The Spirit of Christmas."

    ReplyDelete
  7. OH thank you so much for saying that, David. LOL my posts are completely random but I struggle very hard to stay on topic. I suffer a lot from shiny object syndrome. One minute I want to talk about stocks because they're exciting and the next minute I want to talk about what's going on in the Walking Dead, and then suddenly my attention is diverted to a new SyFy series called Helix. It's all just a hurricane of stuff going around up there.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I am not holding my breath when it comes to the next Star Wars movie.

    I think everyone out there would miss Alex the most.

    ReplyDelete
  9. There are so many bloggers I miss already! But Alex and Michael would be terrible losses if they ever stopped posting.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I'm enjoying the blogfest and hearing about a few cool bloggers I haven't met before. Not seeing Thor until Monday but I'm excited.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Another Star Wars ... I hope they get back to their roots and put out a good ol' fashioned Sci-fi classic masterpiece!

    ReplyDelete
  12. NOoooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
    They can't release it in December! That's so... WRONG!
    Star Wars invented the May release! How can they be planning for December?
    I'm having a crisis now.

    Your equating of Alex with tape has me thinking of band-aids and how you would remove an Alex? Slowly or rip it off quick?

    ReplyDelete
  13. I hope we're lucky enough to see Thor this weekend--fingers crossed!! Biting my nails for the DVD release of Man of Steel. My oldest child is a super obsessed Star Wars fan and he too is worried about Disney being the bucks behind the bang. If they botch it, it will be there biggest mistake ever. SW fans will curse them to the grave!
    By the way love the blog background! It's awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Those are some great blogs/bloggers you've mentioned!
    Congrats to the winners as well!
    I'm excited about Star Wars as well but then I think... "Really? Another one?"
    Thanks for stopping by today, it has been a long time. It's nice to catch up.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Congratulations to the winners. I think you're right - Alex is on a lot of lists!

    ReplyDelete
  16. I miss Kate too! These are some great ones, David.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Michael, Julie and Alex are such great choices. I would miss them all. Congrats to all the winners.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I cannot believe I haven't visited you before, I think Star Wars is going to be BETTER THAN EVER. Disney has gotten way more sophisticated about when to leave things alone, and just give them a lot of leeway and carloads of money! So let's hope! Nice entry! jean

    ReplyDelete
  19. Thank you for the nod. I have been posting about once a week, but have had to cut back a little due to some family stuff. But how sweet that I would be missed! Thank you. (And I've been a little slow getting around to visit blogs because of aforementioned family stuff.) You picked out blogs I very much enjoy as well. Thanks for the virtual hug!

    ReplyDelete
  20. I'm really looking forward to seeing Thor.

    www.modernworld4.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  21. I don't knooooow about Star Wars! I think my reaction to it was about the same as yours. I remember when I first heard about Episode I, I was like can't wait can't wait can't wait!, and that's a little how I feel now. But I don't want Episode VII to mess up a Very Good Thing. We KNEW what the end result of Eps I, II and III were going to be; VII is truly uncharted territory.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Aloha Sir Dave,

    Fine choices - only I left Alex off mine, cos he knows I already think he is the bomb-diggedy-bomb!

    Wow, Star Wars will be release in more than a year... wow... the fans are going to be hungry :)

    have a great week and stay writerly, my friend :)

    ReplyDelete
  23. It makes me nervous. Episode VII is either going to be really good or really bad, and either way it's going to blow up the fandom.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Congrats to the winners and thanks for the fun blog hop!

    ReplyDelete
  25. I'm a winner!!!!! Thank you thank you thank you!

    I'd miss the same three blogs you listed. Love all three of them. And hey, I liked Oz!

    ReplyDelete
  26. Big congrats to the winners. And, yeah, Episodes 1-3 were way less than impressive and inconsistent with Episodes 4-6 as well.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Hi, David, I see we chose some of the same people we'd miss if they stop blogging. Not familiar with some of the folks you mentioned.

    Congrats to all the people who won in the hop.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Yes, it'd be so sad if Alex stopped blogging. There are a lot of people who I miss that aren't blogging anymore or very little.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Thanks for pointing me toward all those incredible bloggers! Have a wonderful weekend. :)

    ReplyDelete
  30. Oh I'd miss Michael, Julie, and Alex too! So many awesome bloggers that it makes me feel great to just be apart of it. Star Wars? WOOT! I can't seem to curb my enthusiasm. (:

    ReplyDelete
  31. I saw Thor yesterday and really enjoyed it. I watched it in 3D and I am not sure it was worth the extra money, but I would definitely recommend seeing it at the movies.

    Going now to check out your mentions... they look very interesting:)

    ReplyDelete
  32. There are so many cool bloggers out there. I was so surprised by how supportive the blogging community is. I'll have to check out some of the blogs you named. :)

    ReplyDelete
  33. That's a cute little blogfest, and good luck with the Spirit of Christmas!

    I hope Disney doesn't go the wrong way about the new Star Wars movie, because I know a lot of people won't be happy if they do. Enjoy Thor 2!

    ReplyDelete
  34. Totally agree on Tangled - it's one of my fave movies - and what little I saw of Wreck-It Ralph was cute as well, but I haven't seen the whole thing.

    Checked out some of those blogger friend links. :)

    ReplyDelete
  35. What a very thoughtful blog post! Kate Coursey is one of my favorite people, and I miss her blog posts, too. <3

    ReplyDelete