Jeri Smith-Ready

Lend a lass a hand!

Hey, Shade fans! If you loved Zachary Moore, and enjoyed learning about him and his proud, beautiful nation of Scotland, then I have a mission for you....

Sya Bruce of Mountains of Instead was my go-to girl for All Things Scottish during the writing of Shift and Shine. She wrote to me after reading Shade to tell me she loved the portrayal of Zachary, so, being an opportunist eager learner, I asked if she would read the manuscript of Shift and tell me what I got wrong (and right) about his character. She had many insights and suggestions, including a few slang terms I otherwise never would have learned (or believed).

In Shine her aid was even more invaluable as Zachary returned to his hometown of Glasgow (of which I was given a lovely tour by Fraser McFarlane of Street Spirit Photography). She patiently explained things like the Scottish educational system, and taught me a few Scottish Gaelic phrases.

In January, she co-hosted the Team Kilt Burns Night event, moderating the "Ask a Real Scotsman" chat with the aforementioned Fraser. They also held a blog-post duel on which city is better,  Edinburgh or Glasgow.

She's done so much for Shade readers, and now it's our turn to help her!

Sya has made it to the final round of Mira Ink's Blog Ink competition. The incredible prize is a one-year contract to be their in-house blogger. That's a JOB, lads and lasses. A job blogging about BOOKS.

According to her BlogINK post at YAckers, to win she must:

1. Create a video blog (which she did--it's charming and features a BOOK FORT. See below!).

2. Share it far and wide with a MASSIVE social networking campaign. Which is where you and I come in!

Please please please with sugar and kilts on top, help me spread the word:

• Watch the video (see below).
• Go to its YouTube page, "like" it, and leave a comment.
• Tweet it! Something like...

See @Splendibird's pure brilliant book fort at http://youtu.be/aU8716bqZ7s #blogINK @MiraInk #teamSplendibird

...would be very nice. Feel free to use your own words of awe.

• Share it on Facebook.
• Post it on your blog or tumblr.
• Reblog Zachary's tumblr post about it (featuring a lovely pic of Sean Faris in bed, the one from the Kilt & Keeley caption contest).
• Repin my Pinterest post.

If I had a book fort, my cats would knock it down faster than you could say, "No! Misha, no! Bad cat, don't--hey, Twinkle, don't you--watch it! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

But wait--maybe I could build a NEW BOOKSHELF out of books! Then they'd all have a home amongst their own kind. Not that wooden shelves aren't made from the same substance as paper books, but...

Where was I?

OH! When Sya's vlog gets 300 views (and 400, and 500, etc.), Zachary and Martin will each tweet a snippet from their 2013 novella and short story, respectively.

[EDITED TO ADD: WOW, since I scheduled this to post last night, the video has gotten another 100 views and is currently at 385. So look for snippets as soon as I feed the cats and get my breakfast!

EDITED AGAIN TO ADD: Here are their snippets. She's over 500 views now, which means Martin and Zachary will be posting a dance video Friday morning when "they" wake up (which mysteriously is always 5 hours after I wake up, what with the time difference between here and Glasgow. They're teenage boys, they sleep late.)]

But don't help Sya because of this wee incentive. Do it because she's an amazing blogger who shares her love of books in an eloquent, thoughtful way. Her reviews are among the best I've ever read, and Mira Ink would be lucky to have her.

I know I am.

Labels: research, SHADE series, TeamKilt 2012

• posted by Jeri @ 8:30 AM
• 4 comments