News, notes, and Norway!
First some YAYNEWS! My wonderful agentman has just sold UNHOLY GHOSTS, UNHOLY MAGIC, and CITY OF GHOSTS to Schibsted Forlag in Norway! I have no idea what the titles might translate to or when the books will be published there or anything else, but it’s awesome just the same. So I’m very excited.
Second, just a quick note re the blog. From now on, all links posted will open in a new window.
So. This is fun. Remember last week when I blogged about those two YADS? And basically just said hey, these sites don’t tend to work for me, because I don’t personally want to wade through slush? One of those sites took great offense, I guess, to the fact that I pointed out on AW that their stated goal of getting two thousand reviews for a book before it’s published is an extremely difficult one to reach (I assume that was the issue, since as far as I could tell they didn’t even see my blog post), and sent me a nice little email about it. Only, they didn’t actually email me about their site or why I was wrong about it. And it wasn’t actually a nice email. And they didn’t even mention their site. Instead they informed me that my writing “sucks shit balls,” that my books are dull and unoriginal, and that “you new authors” (I guess having only five years of being commercially published still makes me a “new author”) are “all the same” and don’t know how to tell a story “old school.”
Of course, since they apparently don’t understand what an IP address is or how one can be tracked through websites, I guess they thought this was a very clever little attack on me, sure to leave me crying into my pillow. Unluckily for them, I do know what an IP address is and how it can be tracked through websites, and so was able to identify them pretty much immediately, even between bouts of laughter and head-shaking at the feebleness of that attempt to upset me.
So, my initial “Sigh, people have tried this before and it doesn’t work” reservation about that particular YADS has turned into a much stronger “Avoid avoid avoid,” because rather than discuss the actual issue, they send childish insults through email using someone else’s name (they claimed to be “Jason Biggs”) or leave nasty comments on someone’s blog (not here, but a friend who participated in the AW thread got some fun ones). Which display site was it, you ask? Well, it wasn’t PUBSLUSH.
In other news…beauty news: I don’t know if any of you ever read Jezebel, but I do. And commenters there often discuss using the Oil Cleansing Method to wash their faces. Since we’ve gotten to England-a different climate-my skin’s been a little unhappy, as it often gets when seasons change, etc.; it tends to be a bit dry and quite sensitive anyway, and it hasn’t been a major problem, but enough of one that I was curious to try the Oil Cleansing thing, especially since A) I’ve seen so many people raving about it, and B) when we got here I decided to try a new cleanser & moisturizer, switching from the Shiseido stuff which served me very well and trying Fresh’s soy cleanser and a Murad moisturizer; neither of which I particularly liked. Well, I liked the cleanser okay (though it was awfully pricey for such a small tube; more expensive than the Shiseido, which was already not cheap at $35 or so for one tube, but which was a bigger tube and which required me to use such a small amount it was actually worth it; that one tube lasted me over a year and a half and there’s still a decent amount left). But it was my birthday so I decided it’d be fun to do something new. I definitely don’t like the Murad moisturizer, though. It made me feel greasy and heavy, like my skin was covered in plastic. Ick.
Anyway.
Google led me to an explanation/instructions on the Crunchy Betty website. I have some Argan oil in the house-I use it on my hair, and on my girls’ hair and scalp (especially because Princess tends to hav a dry scalp), so I figured I’d give that a try and see what I thought.
It was kinda fun. It’s so counterintuitive to deliberately smear oil all over one’s face, but it was actually nice. My face felt really good afterward; surprisingly clean, and no need for moisturizer. And when I mentioned the next morning to the hubs that I’d tried something different, he told me he’d thought I looked particularly glow-y when I woke up. Hmm.
The Crunchy Betty site also had instructions for cleaning one’s face with honey; in fact, she’d done a Honey-Cleansing Challenge. Well, why not give that a try? I had to head for the grocery store anyway, so while there I grabbed the rawest-looking honey I could find (which turned out to be Manuka honey, which has all these superspiffy healing properties and stuff) and decided to give it a go. And that….that worked amazingly well.
So now I’m on day 4 of washing my face with honey; I also tried mixing the honey with oil and mixing it with baking soda (those who know me know I’m a huge fan of baking soda as an exfoliant anyway). I tried the apple-cider-vinegar-as-toner on half of my face (because I tend to be acid-sensitive I worry about that) but I don’t see that it really made a difference; that side didn’t/doesn’t look or feel any better than the other. Yesterday I went out with no makeup and a salesgirl at the local granola-type store (Julian Graves was the place; it’s like a GNC) told me my skin looked “radiant.” It feels amazingly soft. It’s smoother than it was. Smaller pores. Since I’m so very pale I tend to be a bit blotchy, and that’s already fading big-time.
It’s only day 4, yes. But I’m going to go at least the full two weeks of washing at least once a day with honey, and using oil to remove make-up (I can’t get caster oil in stores here, so I ordered some online, along with some sweet almond and a couple of others; the store had a 4-for-3 deal).
Anybody want to play along?
Crunchy Betty also did a no-shampoo challenge a little while back. I use way too many styling products to consider that one, but I am thinking of trying it on the girls. Faerie had swimming at school yesterday so got another bath; since she’d just had one on Sunday I figured it was the perfect time to try it, since she really only needed a good rinse. So I “washed” her hair with 2 tsp. of baking soda dissolved in one cup of warm water, rinsed that out well, and then rinsed it again with about 2 tsp of apple cider vinegar in another cup of warm water. When he was blow-drying her hair hubs asked me what I’d done because her hair felt so soft, and it actually seemed a bit thicker, too. So maybe I’ll keep up with it. Anyone want to give that one a go?
So, to sum up:
*links will open in new windows from now on
*Norway!!
*Unprofessional YADS owners are unprofessional
*I’m washing my face with oil and honey, and you should try it with me.
Originally posted at Stacia Kane. You can comment here or there.