Savvy Verse & Wit HAS MOVED

Please update your feed readers to http://savvyverseandwit.com or http://feeds2.feedburner.com/savvyverseandwit/YMAQ

Thanks, everyone.



FTC Disclosure: Clicking on title and image links will lead you to my Amazon Affiliate page; No purchase necessary, though appreciated.

© 2010, Serena Agusto-Cox of Savvy Verse & Wit. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Savvy Verse & Wit or Serena's Feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

My Scene of the Blog

Have you ever been over to Kittling: Books?  Well, now's your chance to not only check out a new blog, but also see where I blog!

Yes, I'm featured in today's (March 31) Scene of the Blog feature, which takes readers on a journey through a new blogging space each week.

You'll get to see where I read, where I post, and more.  I hope you'll pop over and check it out.  I'll be monitoring the comments all day and chatting with everyone who stops by!

FTC Disclosure: Clicking on title and image links will lead you to my Amazon Affiliate page; No purchase necessary, though appreciated.

© 2010, Serena Agusto-Cox of Savvy Verse & Wit. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Savvy Verse & Wit or Serena's Feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Dewey's 24-Hour Read-a-Thon is Back!

April 10, 2010, at 8 AM EST is the start of Dewey's 24-hour read-a-thon!

I'm not sure how much of the 24-hour period I will be reading, but I did sign up to Cheer this year for at least an hour.  I figure that would give me a much needed break from reading.  It could end up being more than that, but I only wanted to commit to 1 hour since I've never done it before.

What books do I plan to read?

Poetry....lots of poetry!  Why?  Because it's National Poetry Month!

1.  Stroke by Sidney Wade
2.  The Wrong Miracle by Liz Gallagher
3.  Your Ten Favorite Words by Reb Livingston
4.  The Guilt Gene by Diana Raab
5.  The Niagara River by Kay Ryan
6.  Questions of Fire by Gregg Mosson

And maybe these books:

1.  Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
2.  The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
3.  Even the Dogs by Jon McGregor

I hope you will enjoy the inaugural National Poetry Month Blog Tour this year in the midst of your read-a-thoning!

What do you plan on reading?  Will you be cheering?  How do you breakdown your time?

FTC Disclosure: Clicking on title and image links will lead you to my Amazon Affiliate page; No purchase necessary, though appreciated.

© 2010, Serena Agusto-Cox of Savvy Verse & Wit. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Savvy Verse & Wit or Serena's Feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Call for Bloggers to Celebrate National Poetry Month in April

****Sticky Post****

Anyone who reads my blog knows that I pull out all the poetry stops in April, and this year is no different.

April is National Poetry Month and to celebrate this year, I'm calling on my fellow bloggers to participate. I need at least 28 of you to sign up this year and celebrate the genre.

I want to assign a different day to each blogger who signs up. On your day, I would like you to either review a poetry book, host a guest post from a poet, profile a poet, interview a poet, or any other post that highlights poetry, poems, and poets. If you want ideas, I have plenty...just ask!

It would be great if you have a topic in mind ahead of time so there aren't any duplicates. I want this project to be as diverse as possible.

What you need to do is fill out the google form below (I added a Weblink to the form for those who can't see the embedded form), and I will contact you with your date assignment for April, and all that I ask is that your post is up at least before Noon. Signups close on March 27. I will assign dates as I go along, so they will be doled out on a first-come-first serve basis.

Tim O'Brien Returns to Washington, D.C., Tonight

Vietnam War literature has become more prominent on the blogs thanks to the War Through the Generations Vietnam War Reading Challenge this year, and in conjunction with that, I'm hopeful that anyone in the D.C. area will drop down to Politics and Prose this evening to see Tim O'Brien, an acclaimed writer in the genre.

Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried turns 20 years old, and to celebrate, O'Brien will be in Washington, D.C., at Politics and Prose to give a reading and celebrate the book's place in publishing history.  The reading will begin at 7 p.m. on March 24.

O'Brien also is slated to talk about the 20th anniversary edition of his short story collection on NPR's Talk of the Nation on March 24 as well.


FTC Disclosure: Clicking on title and image links will lead you to my Amazon Affiliate page; No purchase necessary, though appreciated.

© 2010, Serena Agusto-Cox of Savvy Verse & Wit. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Savvy Verse & Wit or Serena's Feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Sneak Peek of Fireworks Over Toccoa & Giveaway

I recently received Fireworks Over Toccoa for review and just started reading it.  But I wanted to alert you to a sneak peek of the book and a giveaway.

Here are the details:

Before March 30, visitors to the book's Web site can enter to win one of 300 copies of the book or the grand prize romantic picnic basket with caviar, crackers, cheese, cookies, chocolate, and more.

On the site, readers will find an audio excerpt of the book, an online written excerpt from the book, and a letter from the author Jeffrey Stepakoff.

 FTC Disclosure: Clicking on title and image links will lead you to my Amazon Affiliate page; No purchase necessary, though appreciated.

© 2010, Serena Agusto-Cox of Savvy Verse & Wit. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Savvy Verse & Wit or Serena's Feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Looking for Sponsors

As you all know, I work on a per article basis as the D.C. Literature Examiner.  Not only do they have a referral program (Thanks, Marie, for signing up), but they now have a sponsorship program for local examiners. 

Anyone interested in sponsoring me?  If you are, just visit the site and follow the instructions.  Once you sign up, you get a 300 X 250 ad space on my site.  What could you use the space for?  Advertising products, services, your blog, your blog events, and more.  Prices start at $29 and you can upload your own JPG or Gif advertisement or create one from the templates available in a wide variety of categories.

I'm sure you want to know what I get out of the deal.  My pay rate increases for sponsored articles about local events, authors, and books, which will make it easier for me to get to more local events and provide even more content for subscribers and all of you.

***

Thanks for reading this blog post, though traditionally I don't talk business and advertising here.  I hope you've been enjoying the recent content at the blog and D.C. Literature Examiner.  I'm sure Anna would love a sponsor too for her Baltimore Literature Examiner page as well, but she's too shy to ask.

Name Your Favorite Detectives and Win

Jen at Jen's Book Thoughts is hosting Detectives Around the World between April 11 and April 17 (mark your calendars), and as part of the fun, she's holding the World's Favorite Detective Tournament.

First, I wanted to let you know that I am excited to be one of the many participating bloggers in this event and that I am psyched about my detective -- Dr. Alex Cross, a Washington D.C. cop, psychologist, and FBI agent created by James Patterson.

These are the other participants:

Skrishna's Books - Vish Puri (India)
Booking Mama - Flavia de Luce (England)
Beth Fish Reads - Cork O'Connor (Minnesota)
Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'? - Kelly Jones (New England)
Jenn's Book Shelves - Archie Sheridan (Oregon)
My Friend Amy - Shunsuke Honma (Japan)
Word Lily - Armand Gamache (Canada)
Literate House Wife - Grijpstra/Gier (Amsterdam)
Lesa's Book Critiques - Gastner (New Mexico)
The Drowning Machine - Thomas Black (Washington)
A Few More Pages - William Monk (England)
Stumbling the Walk - James Crumley (Montana)
L.J. Sellers Blog - Kristin Van Dijk (Texas)

SuziQ Oregon -  Simon Serrailler (England)
Bermudaonion's Weblog - Kinsey Milhone (So. California)

Char's Book Reviews - Wade Jackson (Oregon)

Books Are Like Candy Corn - Kimo  Kanapa’aka (Hawaii)

Book Chase - Omar Yussef (Gaza)

Each of us will be reviewing one book featuring our chosen detective and providing one post on setting.  Guest posts and other fun activities, including a scavenger hunt, are being planned as well.  

There is still time to participate, Jen is accepting other blogger participants through March 28.  All you have to do is email her your top three detective picks (who have to be cops, FBI, licensed PIs -- not amateur detectives and sleuths) and she will give you your top pick so long as no one has it already.

Voting in the World's Favorite Detective Tournament begins March 5 and will continue each week thereafter until the top detective is selected.  Check out the list of 64 nominated detectives, but don't worry Jen will provide you with links to information about them so you can choose wisely.  And yes, there will be prizes.

I hope you will join us in one form or another.

***
As an aside, I've been scarce on the blogs since my cousin came to visit, but I'll be making the rounds soon.

AWOL; I Have Visitors...

I'm going to be a bit AWOL while I have my cousin visiting with her girls.

Don't miss me too much!

But. . .

You can help break the tie!

A Novel Menagerie's Beautiful Baby Contest has gone to a tiebreak, and Charlee is up against some stiff competition.

He's tied with Milou from Bermudaonion for Best Dog!

I urge you to vote for this cute pup, who is not quite a pup anymore. 

VOTE NOW!

You Can Break the Tie! Vote Charlee

A Novel Menagerie's Beautiful Baby Contest has gone to a tiebreak, and Charlee is up against some stiff competition.

He's tied with Milou from Bermudaonion for Best Dog!

I urge you to vote for this cute pup, who is not quite a pup anymore.

VOTE NOW!

2010 Split This Rock Poetry Festival in D.C.

MARCH 10-13, Washington, D.C. will host the Split This Rock Poetry Festival, which brings together poets and activists to speak out on the latest issues facing our nation.  This year, there's a lot to discuss with two wars, an economic crisis, and more.

The festival features readings, workshops, panel discussions, and other activities and it is a mix of performance, poetry, and film.  I've never been to this event, but this year I received a scholarship to cover the registration cost of $75, which is the early bird price through Feb. 20, 2010.  So if you'd like to go, register TODAY!

For information about the scholarships, go here.

Check out the schedule, which is being updated regularly.

I'm really looking forward to these panels:

1. The Public Role of Poetry: How to Build a Poetry Reading
2. The Care and Feeding of the Rural/Small Town Poet-Activist
3. Women & War/Women & Peace: International Voices
4. Warriors Writing: Teaching Creative Writing to War Veterans
5. The Peace Shelves: Essential Books and Poems for the 21st Century (which features my Suffolk University Advisor Fred Marchant; He now directs the Poetry Center, which emerged after I graduated from undergrad)
6. Cross-Discipline Collaboration: How Writers and Artists are Working Together to Push Boundaries and Engage the Public
7. Giving Voice to the Silence/d
8. What Makes Effective Political Poetry? - Editors' Perspectives
9. Split This Rock Panel
10. The Poet as Historian in the 21st Century: A Rare Opportunity in Difficult Times
11. Fatty Girls, Imaginary Cocks, and Vaginas Built Like Bookstores: A Workshop on Writing the Activist Body

I probably won't get to all of these panels since some of the times overlap, but you can bet I'll be blogging about the festival and showing you some great photos.

Did I forget to mention that Bruce Weigel will be reading.  There are individual reading tickets available for $8 as well, so even if you want to just attend a reading, you can!

This also marks the first time I will be visiting the U Street Neighborhood and its cool venues.  One of those venues is Busboys and Poets, which I've been dying to get to!  Thankfully, there is a great list of venues and directions on the festival Website.

OK, I've left out the best part of the festival -- besides the panels and the readings -- THE BOOK FAIR!  Not that I need more books, but it will be good to check out new-to-me poets and their books, and maybe break that book-buying ban!

Now, I don't consider myself an activist poet, but I've always admired their work and would love to take this opportunity to learn more about them.  I hope some of you in the D.C. area will join me.  It's bound to be a lot of fun, and there is an end-of-festival party!

What panels would you like from the list?  Which ones do you think I should attend?

Guest Review of Going After Cacciato

Today on War Through the Generations for the 2010 Vietnam War Reading Challenge, Mary Simonsen, author of Searching for Pemberley (click for my review), is guest reviewing Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien.

It's an opportunity for everyone to check out a great book and review.

I hope you will all stop by.

FTC Disclosure:  Clicking on title links will bring you to my Amazon Affiliate page, no purchase necessary.

Shamless Plug: Vote for my Beautiful Baby, Charlee

Everyone knows I love my dog...don't they?  Well, you should.  Anyways, A Novel Menagerie is hosting another 2010 Beautiful Baby Contest and there are a ton of entrants in the competition.

How can Charlee compete without votes from you, especially against the dynamic cat duo of Emmy and Finn from Presenting Lenore and Milou of Bermudaonion?

Can't keep Charlee away from that snow.


Here's what I had to say about Charlee for the contest:

Name:  Charlee (with two e’s because he wants and needs to be different)
Breed:  He’s a Keeshond, not to be confused with a little Pomeranian or a Chow Chow, and believe me that has happened.
Age:  He’s 12 going on puppy.
Gender:  And obviously from these pronouns, you’ve deduced he’s a boy, though he is neutered.

Why He’s So Loved:        I’ve included my favorite photo of him from this winter’s snow storm in his new outfit.  He just loves snow…eating it, tumbling in it, catching snowballs in his mouth, which leads to eating them, and just running around in it.  He’d live in the snow if I’d let him, but its too darn cold.  I’ve had him since I was a pup when Anna and I were in college and just had to get a dog because we were never getting married and would be old maids anyway.

Go check out the competition and vote for Charlee anyway!

Cathy Buchanan and Saving Niagara Falls

I recently received an email from Cathy Buchanan, author of The Day the Falls Stood Still (click for my review), about the movement to stop high-rise development on the green spaces of Loretto Academy.  Here's what she had to say.  I urge you to all consider the issue, get informed, and participate.

Lots of you know I’ve helped found Friends of Niagara Falls, a non-profit organization working to preserve the environment and natural beauty of Niagara Falls.  Our first task is a big one: stopping the high-rise development planned for the green space of Loretto Academy (yep, it’s the convent school where The Day the Falls Stood Still opens in 1915), located atop the bluff adjacent to the Horseshoe Falls.

The treed grounds of Loretto frame the falls in nature, a much more fitting backdrop to a natural wonder of the world than a wall of hotels. The high-rises will cast shadows on the parkland surrounding the falls and the falls itself and are expected to increase the number of rain-like days at Niagara Falls, as has been the case recent high-rise development.

Please show our government your opposition by signing the Friends of Niagara Falls petition. http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/stopthewalls/

To get informed and get involved, visit http://www.FriendsofNiagaraFalls.org/

Please pass these links onto friends and family.

Thanks, 
Cathy

FTC Disclosure: Clicking on title and image links will lead you to my Amazon Affiliate page; No purchase necessary, though appreciated.

S-N-O-W

Where's Charlee?  I think he's buried in the snow!

We took a little drive today after the streets were relatively clear and the snow stopped.  Looked really pretty, but there is a ton of snow out there.

Here we are hanging out in a parking lot with tons and tons of snow, if you don't believe me.

What have you been doing this weekend?

Savvy Verse & Wit, Wikio Exclusive

Good morning, everyone! I've had my site on Wikio for less than a year, and they kindly informed me that my site has steadily moved up the ranks!  I cannot believe it, and it is all thanks to you my lovely readers!

Wikio was kind enough to even let me have an exclusive and release their February Top 20 list of Literature Websites a few days early.  Please check it out!  For more information about Wikio, go here.

Also, if you enter your information in the Google form below, you can win a book of your choice from the following:

1.  Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran
2.  Loving Mr. Darcy by Sharon Lathan
3.  Little Bird of Heaven by Joyce Carol Oates
4.  The Reluctant Widow by Georgette Heyer
5.  Little Stories by Jeff Roberts
6.  Gold Dust on his Shirt by Irene Howard

Deadline is Feb. 19, 2010, at 11:59PM EST

1 Nathan Bransford - Literary Agent 2 Janet Reid, Literary Agent 3 Maud Newton 4 Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog 5 Rachelle Gardner, Literary Agent 6 Wild Rose Reader 7 The Best American Poetry 8 Black-Eyed Susan's 9 One Single Impression 10 LEMON HOUND 11 TLC Book Tours 12 The Written World 13 Editorial Anonymous 14 A Newbie's Guide to Publishing 15 Writer Beware Blogs! 16 Conversational Reading 17 HipWriterMama 18 Savvy Verse & Wit 19 Enchanted by Josephine 20 Fantasy Book Critic Ranking by Wikio

Vietnam War Reading Challenge Update, and More

War Through the Generations is now focused on Vietnam War-related reading.

And we had a guest post from Shannon of After the Fire Came a Gentle Whisper about her feelings on Vietnam War literature and what it means to her.  If you haven't checked out the guest post, you should.  It just might inspire you to join us this year.  You should also check out Shannon's blog.

Some participants are so on the ball, they've already started sending us their review links; check out the first few reviews -- My Detachment by Tracy Kidder and In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O'Brien.  Other book review links will appear on the Vietnam War Book Reviews page as well as on the main blog pages.  There are many more reviews from participants filtering in, but right now we're staggering those posts.

If you have any guest post ideas that you'd like to run by us, feel free to email Email Us.

Finally, the winners among the WWII Reading Challenge Participants have been announced.  Interested in seeing who they are?  Check out the list.

My First Bloggiesta!

Welcome to my first Bloggiesta!  I've decided to sign-up and makes some progress on this blog and War Through the Generations.

For the War blog, here are my goals:

1.  Get the initial Vietnam War Reading Challenge reviews posted.
2.  Link the books on the WWII list to the Amazon Affiliate page to hopefully generate money to pay for giveaways and shipping.
3.  Add books to the recommended reading list for the Vietnam War Challenge (though I think this will be ongoing)

4.  Check on our guest post submissions for the Vietnam War Reading Challenge
5.  Back up the blog

For this blog, here are my goals:

1.  Add a copyright to my feed (which I just did earlier today--so let's check this off the list)
2.  Rearrange sidebars to my satisfaction
3.  Ensure all challenge reviews have the appropriate challenge tags, images, and links
4.  Make sure that all challenge book reviews are linked on appropriate challenge pages
5.  Organize Google Reader and makes sure all Vietnam War Reading Participants are in their own folder
6.  Update my spreadsheet of ARC and review books and take stock
7.  Think up some article ideas on writing and editing
8.  Comment on as many posts in my Google Reader as possible
9.  Make sure to post at least the first Virtual Poetry Circle post of the New Year!
10.  Backup the blog

I hope I can accomplish at least some of this over the weekend.  If I even get just the War blog stuff done, I will be happy.

Thanks to Natasha of Maw Books for hosting.

I think I'm going to update this post as I go through the Bloggiesta, so you'll see more cross-outs as I go along. 

***Update at 6:30PM***


I spent about 1 hour before my nap working on sidebars, woke up at 5PM, and have been working for 1.5 hours on backing up the blog and getting the next Virtual Poetry Circle post ready.  Including the time it took me to read and understand the mini-challenge about adding the copyright to my feed earlier in the day, I've spent about 3 hours on bloggiesta so far.  


I've started updating the WWII Reading list with affiliate links, but I need a break...so that's 3.5 hours on Bloggiesta so far.  How are you doing?


***Update 1/10/10***


I've made significant progress during Bloggiesta!  I've been working on linking the WWII recommended reading books to the Amazon Affiliate page, but this may be a long-term project as it gets tedious and tiring.  


I have checked on the guest posts for the 2010 Vietnam War Challenge and will be drafting the review posts we have thus far from our participants.


In total, I'm up to 7.5 hours spent on Bloggiesta.


Yes, I'm back again and I think I'm done for the rest of Bloggiesta because I want to read some more of my books that are calling to me.  I've spent a total of 10.5 hours on blog stuff, and I think that's pretty good for my first crack at it.  Some of these projects will be ongoing.  


Have fun everyone!

D.C. Literature Examiner Goodies

I know we've all be busy with the holidays and reading our new books.

I've been busily interview poets and authors on D.C. Literature Examiner again.  You knew I couldn't resist.

Please check out my latest interview with Poet and Musician John Amen!  We talk about his writing habits, his thoughts on how music and poetry are similar, and what poets he recommends.  Check out the interview here and here.

One of his books, More of Me Disappears, made my 2009 top poetry books list.

I've also had the pleasure of talking about John Shors', author of Dragon House, charity efforts in providing books to street children in Vietnam.  If you'd like to see how well his project has gone or how his book sales are connected to the charity, please go here.

Finally, I had the pleasure of interviewing Into the Beautiful North author Luis Alberto Urrea.  We discuss how movies influenced him, particularly with this novel, his writing, his playlists, and more.  Don't forget his recommended reading.  Check out the interview here and here.

Urrea's book made my best of audiobooks for 2009!

I hope you'll be checking these interviews out in your down time.

2009 WWII Reading Challenge Giveaways

The 2009 WWII Reading Challenge at War Through the Generations may have ended on Dec. 31, 2009, and given way to the 2010 Vietnam War Reading Challenge (signups are still open).

But the fun doesn't end there for our 2009 WWII Reading Challenge participants!

We've got giveaways for all you who participated and even if you didn't complete the challenge, there is an opportunity to win books.

The best part is that these giveaways are international.

Want to know how to enter?  GO HERE.