While I’ve know about #yalitchat for awhile, I just recently discovered the ning community. It’s flowing over with resources and info, you should check it out.

Speaking of YA, I’ve entered my first book contest over at Anna Staniszewski’s blog. She’s giving away SHIVER and THE MAZE RUNNER. Hurry, the contest ends tonight.

After reading Iain Broome’s article on it’s writery advantages, I joined the audio blogging community AudioBoo. While I may (more likely not) post audio snippets myself, I’m interested to follow & listen to other interesting people. Will be posting good feeds here as I find them.

Metainfo

Today I discovered Hipstamatic, a very fun camera iPhone app. As I stopped at a random parking lot to take photos and test filters, I thought it’d be fun to do a series of iPhone photo recipes. Most photos aren’t all that pretty straight out of the phone. They need a little help.

iPhone photo editing apps

Best Camera – $2.99. By far my favorite, it’s ability to stack, add, delete, and rearrange filters is truly amazing.

CameraBag – $1.99. Offering a nice selection of filters, Camerabag is great for creating a film like feel.

Photogene – $2.99. Unlike the others, Photogene lets you tweak your settings. Levels, exposure, custom borders – it’s all here.

Hipstamatic – $1.99. This app is a camera. No edits, no changes. Just pick your lens, film, and shoot!

(Read on for recipes!)

Metainfo

American Red Cross: text “HAITI” to 90999 and donate $10. Don’t think ten bucks can make a difference? As of Thursday afternoon, people had donated $5.1 million.

WorldVision: Online donation

View a full list of professional charities at Charity Navigator

Or bid on art, audio, or food at Help Haiti Fandom Auction.

Buy music and apparel from Gotee Records – 100% of the cost will be donated to Hands and Feet.

Metainfo

I have hundreds of photos sitting on my computer from the Grand Canyon. I edit them in bits and pieces at odd moments. All my trips are like that, I overwhelm myself with images that take a year or more to sift through. Still, today seemed like a good time to get started.

(Read on: more photos to see)

Metainfo

Two days and six phone calls later, the AndAnything conglomerate (including ReadWriteTweet, Deciduus, and various others) is officially hosted on a new server with much (much) better speeds and email management. Am very pleased. Between that, redesigning andany twice in four days, digging up some favorite quotes, and creating a new home for the poemtree project, there’s been much general busyness.

But while andany is finally sorted out, my book drama just gets worse. Not in writing. Reading.

The perfect story

After anything good, an amazing book, a heart-stopping game, an incredible movie, there’s almost always a lull in the normal, everyday enjoyment of fiction. Because how could anything be as perfect as that story? How could anything else make one feel so intense?

At the same time though, I’m dying for another story–a new world of people to be passionate about. So I pick up another book.

(Read more but be warned: sarcasm ahead)

Metainfo