I hope everyone had a great holiday and maybe got some downtime to be creative or just enjoy the company of friends and family. I had a bit of both and it was glorious!
I’ll be using this week to clean house (literally and figuratively) to set myself up for an awesome 2016, so the blog will be quiet until next Monday. I encourage everyone to take this week to reflect on what worked this year and what didn’t, and plan for the upcoming year accordingly.
True, this is not what I usually post about, but I wanted to get the word out to as many folks as possible (apologies if you follow me on various social media channels as I’ll be boosting this all weekend).
For the first time since it’s release in June, 2012, What to Feed Your Raiding Party (my comic book cookbook that challenges gamers to cook their way out of the fast food dungeon) is available at pre-release prices!
Of course, if you only read Scraps Of Life, you may not know much about my book. Here’s a video that a fan shot of me at last year’s Ancient City Con–it’ll give you the full scoop!
I generally don’t discount my products or services (I try to price fairly from the beginning) BUT I had to cancel a convention appearance for this weekend (with quite a bit of regret–I hate letting con staff and fans down!), leaving me with inventory that otherwise would be sold this weekend. I’m sure you see my dilemma.
But you totally get to reap the benefits of life getting the way of my plans:
And, if you know for sure that you’d like an Artist Edition (which comes with a sketch on the dedication page), go ahead and order it (for only $5 additional instead of the usual $10–that’s like getting the Artist Edition for free under normal circumstances) and if your book is the one that wins the upgrade, I’ll refund the $5 AE fee, so you’re not out anything!
This sale will run from noon on Friday, October 3 (i.e., right now!) until 6pm on Sunday, October 5 (all times EDT), but don’t wait–go ahead and place your order with the handy little button below! They make great gifts for the gamers in your life, cookbook collectors, friends and family away at college or in their first apartment and, yes, as much as we may be loathe to admit it, the holidays are right around the corner!
(Oh, hey, if you’re reading this via RSS feed, you might not see that there’s a shopping cart link in the post–make sure you click through to see it!)
And if this still isn’t the right time for you to order, would you at least mind sharing this link via twitter, facebook, or whatever your preferred social network is?
Thanks!
and now back to our regularly scheduled creativity…
And the winner is…
Congratulations go out to Maria S. for winning the Spicy Shelf giveaway!
No one got the exact right answer, 77 spices, but Maria was closest without going over at “65!” (Yes, she added the exclamation point, which I find totally charming.)
Watch your inbox, Maria, for the email asking for your mailing address & may you organize in good health!
Of course, if you didn’t win a free Spicy Shelf, don’t forget there’s still a discount code you can use for $5 off in the original giveaway post!
Random Acts Radio, the podcast companion to the webcomics Cocktail Hour and Where the Geeks Are.
While I wanted to begin this podcast back in May, when Cocktail Hour (nee Random Acts…) graduated from its terrible twos, there just wasn’t enough hours in the day to get everything set up the way I wanted. Over the last few months (and even before then, it’s been about a year since I came up with the idea) I’ve dithered about what format the podcast would take, the ratio of music to talk and the frequency of episodes. Finally I think I’ve hit upon the right mix. Random Acts Radio will be mostly music and at least loosely themed around the current topics one or both comics are currently covering. Themes are subject to interpretation, of course, and I reserve the right to branch out in order to fill the time or make better music selections. Each episode will have a target length of 1 hour, give or take a bit, and will be produced monthly at this point in time.
This is not a wholly original idea. Ever since my work computer was updated to OS X from the doldrums of 8.x (due to software incompatibilities) and I discovered the wonder that is iTunes and the beauty that is podcasts, I’ve loved the format but never thought I’d have any reason to put one together myself (after all, I blog already). Then I found the music podcasts like Reaching for Lucidity and KnitCast (both of which seem to no longer be updating, mores the pity) and was introduced to the world of independent pod-safe music. Finally, quite a while back another webcomic artist tweeted about listing a recommended soundtrack for some of her recent work and all the pieces finally came together.
I love music, always have. As an adult I really regret not taking my piano and guitar lessons more seriously as a child (but I try not to give my 6-year-old self too hard a time about it) but feel like I made up for that by truely embracing the bank-geek within during middle and high school (lower brass, represent!). A few years after high school I had a reason to purchase a baritone of my own but it needs dusting and oiling and, of course, practice after a few years of dormancy. I also own a 22-string lap harp that I’m slowly teaching myself to play little things upon. I’m resisting the urge to buy a guitar and take lessons again… maybe a keyboard would be better? But you won’t hear me playing on the podcast any time soon.
As much as I love to make music, I love listening to it more and always have the radio or iTunes playing at my desk while I work and frequently at home if I’m not using the television as background (it’s sometimes hard to write and work when I want to sing along, you know?). When I found out about the Podsafe Music Network (now mediaalley.com) and how much awesome music is out there that we otherwise might not know about, I considered it part of my duty to share some of these great artists and songs with as many people as possible. These podcasts are like a mixtape to my friends and fans, present and future, and I hope you like them.