Sunday, October 17, 2010

Pleased to Meet You :) and A Contest!

Since today is my very first post (yay!) I thought I’d throw a little party to celebrate :D Check out the end of the post for details. But first things first….

Hi *waves* My name is Michelle. Nice to meet ya :D

I wanted to be a lot of different things “when I grew up” but looking back on it, being a writer was pretty inevitable. Books are my life and always have been. I’m perfectly happy spending long periods of time as a loner. I have a beyond overactive imagination. I love to get sucked into other worlds. I like to learn. I'm creative. I'm passionate. All of these things have been a part of what makes me ME since the day I was born. I think I've been a writer since the moment I took my first breath and maybe even before :) It's who I am. It's how I see the world. It's how I interact with people and with my environment.

Have you seen Beauty and the Beast (the Disney version)? I am soooo Belle. Seriously, it’s scary. I watched the movie with my daughter yesterday. Every time I watch this film, I’m reminded of the first time I saw it.

My whole family (parents, siblings, cousins, a couple friends) went to the theater. We filled up an entire middle row. I sat at the very end. The lights went down, the movie began, we saw the background story on the Beast….and then Belle wandered onto the screen, basket on her arm, nose in her book.

Every single one of the fifteen or so people in our group, in unison, leaned over and stared at me, laughing their heads off. And continued laughing through Belle’s enthusiastic bookstore visit.

Okay, so yeah, maybe you need a crow bar to get the book out of my hand…and maybe occasionally a trip to the bookstore (or office supply store, come to think of it) will make me go crazier than my five year old on caffeine, but hey, I am who I am. (My husband just did a full on snort at the word “occasionally.” So rude.) ;-)

My whole life I’ve had my nose stuck in a book. My mom used to find me sitting behind the couch with a stack of encyclopedias (which, fyi, are a lot more entertaining to read than one might think). I always, ALWAYS have a book. I never leave home without one :)

That insatiable love of reading turned into diaries filled with bad poetry and half written stories, and one day, several years ago, I typed the words THE END on a fully formed novel. And I was hooked.

What about you? Have you always been a writer, no matter what other professions you may have (or still do) worked in along the way? If not, what started the journey for you?

Contest Deets!

I'd love for all my new friends to meet my old friends, and according to my husband my bookshelves are in serious danger of collapsing, and we have no room for another one, sooooo, here's what I've come up with:

For every 5 new followers we get here at the Operation Awesome Blog, I will give away 1 book. Starting right now (with 153 followers), 7am PST going till 11:59pm on Sat the 24th. If we get more than 50 new followers, (because I don't know if I can bear to give away more than 10 books LOL), I'll throw in a $20 gift certificate to the online book retailer of your choice (B&N/Borders/Amazon).*

To Enter:

1. Be or become a follower at Operation Awesome.
2. Give me a shout out in the comments on this post or my post at my personal blog HERE.

That's it! :)

Winner will be announced next Sunday. Good luck!

*International entries are welcome. If an international contestant wins, I'll add $10 to the gift certificate instead of sending books.

41 comments:

Jemi Fraser said...

Terrific idea Michelle! Hope you get lots of new followers :)

I used to read the encyclopedia as well - my family thought I was nuts, but I loved it :)

Unknown said...

What a great contest and I just love the owl mascot. I'm taking your button.

CD

Margay Leah Justice said...

Just became a follower (I follow your other blog, too, Michelle). I like the looks of this one, so warm and inviting and I like owls! Good luck with it.
Margay

Michelle Gregory said...

hi Michelle, nice to see you here, along with Kristal and the other ladies. i'm a bookaholic too and hope to always be one.

Danielle said...

I'm Belle too! I remember seeing the movie for the first time and being ecstatic that there was a brunette disney princess who loved to read. I still watch it from time to time. I always wanted to be a writer, for as long as I can remember.

Mandy said...

I have always loved reading too (:

I follow here and your other blog (:

Anonymous said...

Yay!!! Fun, fun, fun!

I have always loved books. Didn't know I could write one til a couple years ago, LOL!

Deb Salisbury, Magic Seeker and Mantua-Maker said...

Hi Michelle! (waves) Thanks for running a contest. How fun!

We should start a Belle club. Oh, you did, right here! :-D

Michelle McLean said...

Yay! I'm not the only Belle :D Or strange child who liked to read encyclopedias LOL You know, it's actually surprising how many writers I've met who like to do this...interesting ;-D

Shooting Stars Mag said...

Welcome to the blog! I love Belle. She's probably my favorite disney princess. :-)

I follow,

Lauren
lauren51990 AT aol DOT com

Stephanie said...

Welcome!! Love Beauty and the Beast!! :) As a kid, one of my favorite places was the corner of my bedroom where my hot pink vinyl beanbag chair sat...that was my reading spot!

Kittie Howard said...

What a great idea for a contest. And you've got a lot of new followers (including me), yay!

Nicole Zoltack said...

I love Belle. Great contest.

Tessa Quin said...

Follower and I commented on Michelle's site. Just double-ensuring myself by commenting here as well! Can't wait to see Michelle in action here :)

Unknown said...

Welcome Michelle-my-Belle. You've found a home with kindred spirits here I'm sure. I mean, who doesn't love to read encyclopedias?

Anonymous said...

Yay! Belle was one of my favorite Disney princesses. :)

Michelle McLean said...

Aw, I've gotten such a warm welcome here. You guys are blowing me away :) So happy to be here :)
And yay!! More Belles and encyclopedia lovers. *happy sigh* Y'all are awesome :)

(Wren, one of my uncles was in a Beatles cover group when I was little...he'd always sing their Michelle My Belle song to me :) Your comment brought up some song session memories) :D

JJ said...

Hehe yea I get just as excited as Belle over bookstores!

Anonymous said...

I've become a new follower on both this blog and your personal one, and I'm really excited to read your posts! I love writers... because even though we may write completely different stories, we're all little Belles inside. :) I just love it!
And thanks for the opportunity to win some books. That's just the icing on the cake!
Put it on Paper

Rachael Harrie said...

Hi Michelle. I'm an old follower of OA, will pop over to your personal blog to check it out :)

Rach

Pam Harris said...

Nice to meet you, Michelle! I'm an old follower, but I hope you all get tons more. I heart this blog. :)

Kristi said...

I've always been a book addict and a scribbler! I'm an old follower of your blog and a new follower of this one!

Grandpa said...

Hi Michelle, thanks for following me - I'm not exactly a writer, just write for my blog, but I enjoy being in the company of writers.

Awesome place you have here

Denise Covey said...

Hey Michelle, this is such a spunky blog. Glad to follow. You sound like you're having a ball. We're all with you re reading and books. Just can't get enough, as they say..:)

Angelica R. Jackson said...

My husband and I met while we were working at a bookstore (and to prove how sexy bookgeeks are, I dated 2 others before I got to him), so we both have the disease. We tend to give them to all the nieces and nephews as presents too (with the added bonus that you can ship them cheaper by media mail). Most people when they come to our house say, "You have a lot of books--" the cutoff is because they've gone from one room to another and realized the first room was just the fiction.

Michelle McLean said...

And this is why I love hanging with writers so much :) Makes me feel right at home :)

@ Angelica LOL Oh that is so cool :) One of my favorite movies is The Mirror Has Two Faces...and one of the reasons I love it so much is they way they have their apartment decorated...their bookshelves are so full they just have random stacks of books all over the place :D

I don't have a whole room dedicated to fiction but I do have a separate non-fiction bookshelf...well two bookshelves...the rest are fiction divided between children's books (those closest to the kids' room), my personal long time favorites (in my room), and then the other ones I love but haven't been with me long spread throughout the rest of the house :)

Toni Kerr said...

Yeah, Michelle! I'd follow you anywhere. Well, almost. ;-) Operation Awesome looks like a cozy place to be. Cheers!

Angelica R. Jackson said...

Yeah, fiction is in the dining room of all places, along with a smaller bookshelf with cookbooks and health books. Most of the non-fiction is on the 7-ft bookcases in the family room. Young adult is in the hallway near my office. But the books seem to reproduce on their own, and we find little piles of them next to our chairs on a regular basis.

Alissa said...

I'm like you. I've been a lifelong reader and writer. In desperate times I'll read anything that's around including really non-interesting things like the back of a cereal box. I can't help myself!

Mary@GigglesandGuns said...

Been writing since the pencil made words. Didn't know there were actual genres until later though. I wrote whatever was in my head and enjoy writing non-fiction as much as fiction - and even mixing the two.
Love the blog and ALL your buttons. I especially love the imagination one.

Michelle McLean said...

ha! Alissa, I do the same thing. I try to be social during meal times, but it's hard to sit there and not be reading. So if it's just me, I grab anything handy...the cereal box, old receipts, instruction manuals...anything that is handy :)

Hi Mary! Very nice to meet someone else who writes both fiction and non-fiction. I haven't met many people who do and it's always a pleasure to find a genre jumper :)

Cinette said...

Glad to have found this site. Contest or not, I'm staying!

PinkStuff28 said...

Nice to meet you Michelle !

Great Idea !

I'm a follower at your blog and this one :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Michelle. I just can't resist contests.

Signed up as follower and commenting.

Ishta Mercurio said...

Hi there! New follower here. And this is a great idea! Thanks for the giveaway! In case I win, I'm international - I live in Canada.

Shallee said...

Great contest! And great blog, too!

Unknown said...

Hi Michelle! I am guilty of book hoarding as well, lol, but I have trouble getting rid of them! I lent someone a book I love a few months ago and don't think I'll get it back, and I have to buy it again even though I may not read it again. It's an illness! Lol... :)

Jamie Manning said...

Thanks for the contest...now I'm a dual follower of you! (umm, is that bordering on stalkerish?)

Michelle McLean said...

Dangerous - I do the same thing LOL though I will usually only rebuy if it's one I love...I try to contain myself :D However, this is why I sometimes end up with several copies of a book...because someone will return one I had given up hope on.

I do, though, sometimes buy books based on the hype and then end up not getting through them for some reason - so I have several brand new books that hopefully someone else will love :)

Michelle McLean said...

LOL Jamie - I think you're okay. The one time where following someone everywhere is not only acceptable but encouraged ;-)

Lover of Paranormal said...

Awesome way to gain new followers! Looking forward to your blog posts!
Jessica
JessEmilyZack(at)yahoo(dot)com