The Many Uses of Wordle

Okay, so as an author, I've known about Wordle for quite some time. I think I've even blogged about it oh, six years ago. Holy cow! I've been blogging for a long time. (The images aren't coming up on the post, but you can see my Wordle art for one of my books here. From 2008!!)

Anyway, there are many and varied uses for Wordle. Authors can take passages of their work and create art. I've heard of some people running their entire manuscript through Wordle to see which words are overused. The word that appears the most is the biggest, so this is a very visual tool to see if you overuse "just" or "so" or "because."

Not that I overuse those words or anything... Ha!

Here's one of mine, for an adult romance I'm writing right now.

Another idea I had was to create teacher gifts. I mean, it is getting near the end of the year (only 9 weeks left for me! NINE WEEKS!), and it's nice to give your child's teacher something at the end of the year.

Here's one I whipped up for my daughter's fourth grade teacher. It's not hard to get a class list of names and use your copy and paste feature. Type once, copy as many times as you want!

Yet another idea was to create an art print for your child's room. You can enter in the words you want to be the biggest, so it's super-fun to put in your child's name and all the things they like to do and create something visually. You can download your art and have it printed, framed, and hang it in their bedroom.

Here's one I did for my daughter.

The gift ideas are endless. New couple getting married. Grandparents. Family reunion. Retirement gift. Graduation gift. And on and on.

Wordle. It's a great tool -- and great fun!

Winners and Exciting Things!

Dude, there's so much to go with here, my head is spinning. Let's go with easiest first.

I offered a signed hardcover of POSSESSION as part of the YA Scavenger Hunt. That winner is: Jesse Grant! (Twitter handle: @j_grant93)

Yay, congrats! Send me an email at elanajohnson(at)gmail(dot)com so I can get your address and get this in the mail for you. Thank you to all who tweeted and participated in the YA Scavenger Hunt.

Did you see my secret content? Because I think it's pretty darn fantastic. It's a character readers will see in SURRENDER, the sequel to POSSESSION, which is coming on June 5, 2012.

His name is Cannon Lichen, and he's matched to the narrating main character, Raine Hightower. Both Raine and Cannon are part of The Insider's Case Files, a booklet you can enter to win by doing things from liking SURRENDER on Amazon to pre-ordering the book. Click HERE for full details and official rules.

Dustin Hansen is a genius, and the mastermind behind the art in The Insider's Case Files.

Did you see this? So exciting!

Christine Fonseca's TRANSCEND, pitched as Hamlet meets the Black Swan in this Phantom of the Opera thriller, in which a horrible accident leaves a young man abandoned and left for dead, his only link to sanity the love of his fiancee and the support of his best friend-an illusion that might just rip away the last shreds of his humanity and reveal parts of himself he'll wish remained buried, to Compass Press, in a nice deal, for publication in March 2013 (US).

Also, the INSURGENT trailer was released last week. I'm still such a huge lover of all things dystopian, and yeah. I can't help myself.



That rounds out my excitement for the day. I was going to do something else today, but I decided to put that reveal off until Wednesday... What's new and exciting with you?

Magic 8 Ball, Elana Style

Okay, so today I'm going to open up the blog. Ask me anything. About myself. About life, the universe, college football, whatever. As the saying goes in my family, if I don't know, I can find out in three days or less. *wink*

To get the (Magic 8) ball rolling, I'm going to tell you a couple of things about me you may or may not know. Maybe you're violently opposed to one of these and that will spark a question.

Music I listen to a lot. Thanks, Pandora.

• Taylor Swift - "Should've Said No" and "You Belong With Me"
• Jason Mraz - "I'm Yours"
• Matt Nathanson - "Come On, Get Higher"
• Kelly Clarkson - "I Do Not Hook Up"
• Adam Lambert - "Mad World"
• Ne Yo - "Mad"
• Jesse McCartney - well anything by JM. I mean, the station is named after him, so I think it's safe to say I like him. A lot.

Random Ish You Might Find Amusing:

• I eat those French fried onion things like potato chips. Garnish? I think not. More like meal. Yum.
• I wish Novak Djokovic would've beaten Roger Federer in the US Open on Sunday. Mostly because I like yelling, "Come on, Joker!" at the TV and one night of that was not enough.
• I don't like mushrooms in any shape, form or variety. Fungus? Um, no.
• I absolutely cannot stand how rain feels on my skin. I hate being outside in the bad weather. My son thinks I have a phobia of water. Yeah, my list of phobias is long, but it doesn't include water. We got into a big discussion about exactly why I don't like the rain to touch my skin. It ended with me saying, "It has nothing to do with water. There's no rational explanation. Drop it!" Then I realized that I am not a rational person. Son: 1. Me: 0, and possibly insane.

So...anything else you're dying to know? And not just about me. About anything. I have a Magic 8 Ball standing by. 

Your Life - 4 Sentences or Less

Go!


That's right. It's back to school time. So I want some concise getting-to-know you/creative writing time.


Topic: You
Length: 4 sentences


Here's mine: I would go into the wicked witch's house if it were made of red vines and caramel twix's, death be damned. I don't think there is a situation on earth that doesn't call for laughter. Fiercely loyal and too trusting are two of my personality flaws. When I'm home with my family--well, that's heaven to me.


Your turn!


Go go go!

Superior Scribblers

Hey, that could be the new title of my blog! I like the alliteration stuff, what can I say?

Ahem, anyway, I was graciously awarded the Superior Scribbler award by Nichole and Ali. Now Ali I know in real life; we get together every couple of weeks to make each other cry. That's called a critique group, in case you didn't know. They're totally different in real life, too. None of this online stuff where you can wipe the tears and no one knows. Oh no. This real-life critique group slashes you open and watches you bleed, then they laugh and feed you yummy treats. Good times.

And Nichole lives right here in my own city and we haven't met. She's married to the brother of one of my good friends from work, though, so it's almost like meeting. And we like to follow each other around to local hotspots without the other knowing, so that's like meeting too. Right?

Yeah, sure, let's go with that.

Anyway, they both gave me the Superior Scribbler award!




This one has rules, and you should know how I feel about Rules, I think. I usually don't follow Rules very well; in fact, I wrote an entire book about a girl who breaks Rules like it's the latest fashion. So yeah.

But this time, I did. So there. Here they are:

1. Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass The Award on to 5 most-deserving Bloggy Friends.


2. Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author & the name of the blog from whom he/she has received The Award. (Nichole and Ali, in case you missed in amidst my rambling about real-life people and bleeding and yummy treats.)


3. Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog, and link to This Post, which explains The Award.


4. Each Blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit this post and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List. That way, we’ll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives This Prestigious Honor!

5. Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog.


Okay, so I did all that. You wanna know who I've chosen for the Superior Scribbler?? Do you? Okay, okay. Remember that I could only pick five. I think you're all fantastic and deserving of an award. I chose the people who have made a huge impact on me as an author.

Suzette Saxton
H.L. Dyer
Carolyn Kaufman
Mary Lindsey
Christine Fonseca

Thanks to everyone who supports me and provides encouragement here on the blog. Have a great weekend!

Call For Shorts!

Okay, people. Here's the deal. Several of the awesome blog chainers and I have teamed up to write a short story according to a prompt. We're doing something similar to this post. I'm going to pick the topic this time, and the goal is to get this, write! This is a call for writing from anyone, anywhere, any time this month.

May's topic: flowers. You know, that whole April-showers-bring-May-flowers thing. Well, where I live, the weather in April has been uber-crazy. Snow, rain, sunny, cloudy, you name it, we had it. And holy wind, Batman. So I don't have many flowers as of yet, but that's the topic none-the-less.

Rules: It's a short story. 100 words, 500, whatev. Post it on your own blog sometime this month (inviting others to write according to the prompt) and come back here and let me know when you post so I can read yours. Your story has to have flowers in it somehow. Any which way.

Here's mine to get you started. (<600 words)

There's no link salad, but if you want to link to mine, that would be awesome. I'll collect the links and post them at the end of the time frame.

---------

I see the rose from down the hall. A red rose. Of course. Xan always gives me a red rose on Fridays. It used to be sweet, but now it’s just old. At least if it was yellow or pink it would show that he’s given it some thought. As it is, it’s just Xan stealing from his dad’s florist shop once a week.

“Thanks,” I say, taking the rose by the thorny stem. I twirl it, wondering how I’m supposed to put my backpack on while holding the flower.

“Where do you want to go?” Xan asks.

I shrug, imagining stabbing myself with the pointed stem. “Wherever.”

He smiles and lifts my chin so I’m forced to look into his dark eyes. “I hate deciding.” That’s Xan-code for hurry-up-and-pick-somewhere-or-I’m-not-taking-you-out-tonight.

“Olive Garden?” I say it like it’s a question.

“Sure. Let’s go.” Xan walks down the empty hall. I guess it is sweet that he waits after school while I go to my debate meetings.

In Xan’s car, I lower my window in the April evening. Reds and oranges color the sky as the sun sinks behind the mountain. Xan rolls down his window and turns up the music until it blasts above the rushing air. He puts his hand on my leg just as I set the rose on the floor in the car.

He asks me something I can’t hear above the music and wind. I glance at him. See something silver just before it slams into the car.

Something electric buzzes around my head. Allergic to bees, I jerk away. A hot pain shoots through my neck, making my throat burn. I try to lift my hand to swat the bee away, but it only gets louder, and I can’t move my arm. Something very heavy weighs it down.

The heat mixes with the floral scent of the rose, radiating off the ground in waves. New smells mingle with the fear and sweat and dust.

Blood. And smoke.

Flashes of light beam through the darkness. Red then blue. Red then blue. White light stays still, focusing on one spot. Sounds exist far away, shouts and cries. I feel the ground beneath my back. Hard and sharp, with lots of little bumps. Warm. Too warm. And sticky.

The white light shines on me, blinding me, even though my eyes are closed. I feel nothing else.

Red then blue. Red then blue.

A white, hot poker enters my head.

Voices argue around me.

The pain recedes as I stand up. Everything is black and white or shades of gray. Xan’s on the ground, his beautiful skin pale, deathly white against the black asphalt. He doesn’t look solid.

Two very solid men work around him, plunging tubes and checking vital signs. Pools of blood flow in black, oily puddles. Smoke still wafts from the demolished front end of Xan’s car.

I look for myself, but my body is already gone. Dark stains litter the road. I look up, wondering if the sky is always this black after death. The sun hangs just above the mountains, an orb of bright white. There is no color here.

I am dead.

I turn, and there stands Xan. His dark hair falls across his transparent forehead in inky streaks.

He’s holding the red rose. The crimson of it stands out against his alabaster skin and black clothes.

----------

And go!

My Twitter Mosaic

I'm not really sure what Twitter is yet. But it was in Entertainment Weekly, and I'm on there tweeting away.

I'm a lurker. For real. You should totally follow me on Twitter. Sometimes I say funny things or post updates of my writing life.

But then I stumbled upon something distraction-worthy. My own Twitter mosaic. This is gonna blow your mind, people.

Get your twitter mosaic here.

Are you Mindless yet? You should be. This is Mindless Musings, after all. Those are my followers on twitter. Aren't they so pretty? Are you on there? You should be. Yes, yes, you should.