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The "Standard of Ur" from ancient Mesopotamia

The "Standard of Ur" from ancient Mesopotamia

17 September 2009

Second annual birthday bash contest



To celebrate turning 53, I’m holding a birthday contest again this year.

To enter, comment on this post by 11 p.m. Pacific time on Saturday, 26 September. Any comment will suffice, but if you need a topic idea, I suggest listing something you like about getting older.

Two posters will be chosen at random to win a book of their choice (up to a $20 value) by me or any author I will have interviewed here by the end of the contest.

Those authors (with links to their original interviews) are:

romance writer Karen White-Owens

horror writer Terence Taylor (New this week! See post of 15 September.)

Western writer Jack Martin

historical fiction writer Linda Weaver Clark (She is having a birthday contest too. Enter by posting at http://lindaweaverclarke.blogspot.com/2009/09/free-book-give-away.html.)

novelist DeAnna Cameron (GoodReads members can enter until 8 October to win The Belly Dancer at http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway.)

sword and soul writer Milton Davis

historical fiction author Dianne Ascroft

fantasy writer Leslie Ann Moore

historical and fantasy romance writer Jade Lee

historical fiction author Mingmei Yip

fiction writer Amy MacKinnon

historical romance writer Lynna Banning

mystery writer Ed Lynskey

mystery writer June Shaw

fiction writer Carleen Brice (NEWS: Orange Mint and Honey is being made into a Lifetime TV movie called "Sins of the Mother.")

fiction writer Therese Fowler

historical romance writer Jennifer Blake

romance writer Hailey North

historical mystery writer Laura Joh Rowland

humorist Christee Gabour Atwood

historical mystery writer Candice Proctor

speculative fiction and nonfiction writer Charles Gramlich

romance writer Farrah Rochon



18 comments:

Laura Drake said...

I don't understand why women bemoan getting older. Oh sure, the skin sags, and liver spots suck, but the perspective you gain is the best!
No more agnst when you walk in a room - am I dressed appropriately? What will they think of me? That constant underlying babble in your head quiets, and you can look around you and enjoy!
You can look back, and see yourself in the teens that slouch by on the sidewalk. At the same time, superimposed on that, you recognize that you're judging them like your mother would!
Taking it to a more macro view, history is no longer something in a book...you realize it's made up of everyday people, just like you.
I'm endlessly facinated by this.
Aint life amazing?

Charles Gramlich said...

I'll be turning 51 pretty soon so we are about of an age. Happy birthday to you.

Cool contest.

Laurie Bolanos said...

Happy Birthday, Shauna!
Okay, something I like about getting older?
I'm getting closer and closer to getting my 10% Senior Citizen discounts!

Farrah Rochon said...

Happy birthday, Shauna!!! One thing I've enjoyed about getting older is my growing disregard about how people view me.

Shauna Roberts said...

LAURA, I agree wholeheartedly. That's one of the things I've really enjoyed about getting older.

CHARLES, thanks for the birthday wishes and for entering the contest.

LAURIE, even though I don't consider myself a senior citizen, I go ahead and use those senior citizen discounts and actually get annoyed when I go somewhere where I'm too young to get the senior discount.

FARRAH, thank you. Yes, not worrying about how one looks to others is a great benefit of getting older.

Lana Gramlich said...

My favorite part of getting older so far was the hysterectomy. YEEEEEEEEE HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
(Happy impending birthday!)

Shauna Roberts said...

LANA, Hooray for freedom!

Barrie said...

Happy Birthday and here's to a year where all your wishes come true!

Tiffani said...

What do I like about getting older? I can be honest and cranky and say "not much," or I can be a little more open and say "Having my own say and making my own decisions is good. And being invisible to 16 year olds is even better!"

Tiffani

Shauna Roberts said...

Thanks for your good wishes, BARRIE.

TIFFANI, ditto to invisibility and making one's own decisions. And hey, being older gives you the right to be cranky!

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday, Shauna...welcome to 53!
What I don't like is that I seem to be inhabiting someone else's body, that doesn't want to do what I want it to anymore.
What I like is not having to feel like the fate of the world depends on what I do or don't do. Letting others take the lead and fight the big battles.

Peggy (just don't want to deal with creating a new identity)

David said...

My neighbor tried to persuade me that the great thing about getting older was the Denny's senior discount. The really bad part about the same thing is when you are not even asked if you are a senior, the 20+ somethings just assume you are senior.

Shauna Roberts said...

ANONYMOUS/PEGGY, I've mellowed out a lot since I was young, too, and am the happier for it.

DAVID, LOL. Your neighbor has low expectations. I'd say, rather, that when you get older, you're more likely to be able to afford to eat at good restaurants and not have to endure chain places and fast food anymore.

Dee Baughman said...

Happy Birthday Shauna. Being in our 50s is an interesting viewing point in life between youth and birth of the spirit. Enjoy, continue to learn, love, explore and share.

Leonard Pung said...

Age, for sure, has a physical component. Sigh.

But we choose how much and in what ways we age, as well. You, Shauna, and Ken, and I were all the seniors this year at Clarion - but we all went and had the experience of a lifetime - an experience that continues to this day.

And, after having seen photos of you in your belly-dancing regalia, and - Oh. My. God. - after having read your bonobo-synesthesia story (". . . and then I got bored and went to lunch.") - I know you are indeed young at heart.

Happy Birthday, Shauna!

Steve Malley said...

Oh, to be fifty-three again... today I feel quite a bit more than twice that! ;)

Shauna Roberts said...

DEE, thank you. You're right, this really is a good age for perspective on a lot of things.

LEONARD, I think the three of us taught the youn'uns a few things, while having just as much fun as them. Maybe more fun . . . no youthful angst to contend with. May you raft the white waters forever.

STEVE MALLEY, perhaps you're not getting enough chocolate in your diet? You are one person whose spirit, I think, will always be young.

Shauna Roberts said...

My husband has drawn the numbers from the hat, and the contest winners are commenters #3 and #4, LAURIE BOLANOS and FARRAH ROCHON.

Congratulations, Laurie and Farrah. You each won a book by someone I've interviewed.