Follow Friday and some amusing links

Let's take care of business, then we'll check out some amusing and informative links from this week.  Because I live to be amusing!

This week's question is:What moment has validated you and made you feel like a writer? If it hasn't happened yet, what do you think it will be?
Please join me in welcoming VK Tremain with this weeks answer.

There were a few things that combined made me feel like a writer; however, it all started when I sat down at the computer and wrote the first words of GIFT OF BLOOD. The act in itself was so fulfilling and addictive that I began to identify as a writer. As my story continued to develop, my character's world followed suit, and their voices in my head urged me to write on.My addiction grew with each word I typed. The nail in the coffin was when I started my VK Tremain Facebook page, blog, and Twitter account. By that point I already acknowledged myself as a writer, but through social media I put myself out there. The public would see me as a writer, and I risked rejection and disinterest. To my delight, the opposite happened. I was encouraged! For that, I have to thank the members in the HP Writers Group, who are awesome and wonderfully supportive, as well as the incredible feedback through blog comments and my Twitter and Facebook friends. After so many years of searching, I had finally found my path in my life.I am content even if I never reach celebrity status or get offered a publishing deal. I am a writer because, quite simply, I write. Some of my earliest memories consist of me curled up, lost in a paperback. My dream is that one-day I will have the honor to pay it forward and give that feeling to other readers. Whether I ever get paid or not doesn’t matter. I write for the love of my characters and for the world that I have created. I write for self-expression, and I write to entertain. Hopefully, one day, I will get that big paycheck that everyone thinks writers receive. I will live in luxury, sipping martinis in my beachfront property as I tap away on my laptop. Hey a girl can dream, right? But in the mean time all I want is to share my love, passion and creativity.I can't imagine not writing now; it’s a part of who I am.

Julee here.  What moment validated me and made me feel like a writer?  I honestly don't know--I've written since grade school and written novel-length romance on and off since 1991.  I think it was the judge from Romance Writers of America (back when they did such things) who gave me her agent's name and address.  Now, if I'd only followed up on it.  But, like V.K., it's a part of who I am and I want to share my stories. 

So, would you like to join the Blog Hop?  Here are

The rules

1. Follow this blog.
2. Follow Elizabeth Sharp, the originator of this hop http://somesharpwords.blogspot.com/
3. Follow the featured author of the week, VK Tremain  http://vktremain.blogspot.com/.
4. Go to Sharp words and copy the image code found there and paste it in your blog. Add your name to the link at the bottom of the post while you are there.
5. Copy and paste the rules in your blog, as well as this week’s question.
6. Answer the question
7. Follow, follow, follow. This is about networking, people, making connections with people in your community. So talk to us. We don't bite!
8. If someone stops by, says hi and follows you, the polite thing to do is follow back.
9. Comment here and introduce yourself and you just might find a new follower or two.

It's fun and I've met some great folks!

Now, the first link is to an essay on the Writers Beware! site by Victoria Strauss for those authors lucky enough to get invited to sign a contract with an agent. 

http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2011/04/interminable-agency-clause.html

Even more information is included in the amazing Kris Rusch site:

http://kriswrites.com/2011/05/04/the-business-rusch-advocates-addendums-and-sneaks-oh-my/

Here's the link for the equally amazing Neil Gaiman's recent trials with a Wisconsin legislator who doesn't understand the concept of a speaker's fee:

http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2011/05/neil_gaiman_matt_dean_pencil_neck_weasel.php

and the link for the New York Times article on the sort of apology.  *sigh*

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/05/legislator-apologizes-for-calling-neil-gaiman-a-weasel/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Finally, happy Mother's Day for all of you out there.  I am only a mama cat and my mama, Clara Maude, passed in March of 2004, but I'll fix something for my mother-in-law, because she's a great lady.