Wednesday, July 7, 2010

I Won't

I won't gush I swear I won't, but something funny did happen yesterday. I wasn't too worried when I actually wrote yesterday's post (right when I got to work at about 5:50 AM) but then by noon there were only two comments ... and I started trippin!

Go back here and read my comments from yesterday for a little more insight but basically blogger had broken or messed up for whatever reason and the comments simply weren't showing up yet. Then at about 12:30 I realized what a knucklehead I was being when all the comments showed up and everyone basically confirmed that I was acting a fool. It was all pretty silly but I do have to say it feels good to know that people do read and do give a shit. I know I certainly do. So thanks.

Then last night when I got home I found this potentially awesome but initially strange email in my Gmail inbox, from Noah@Lukeman.com:

I thought you might like to know that over the last several months I have made available (and continue to make available) much free information to help the writing community:

* My book, HOW TO WRITE A GREAT QUERY LETTER, is available as a free download at www.writeagreatquery.com

* My blog, ASK A LITERARY AGENT, is filled with valuable advice to help aspiring authors in their careers. Feel free to visit it, and to ask any general questions you may have about writing or publishing www.askaliteraryagent.com

* While there, you can also sign up for my free monthly ezine, which is filled with unique tips for authors.

* I have made available over 100 free pages of excerpts from all of my books (including THE FIRST FIVE PAGES, THE PLOT THICKENS, A DASH OF STYLE and HOW TO LAND (AND KEEP) A LITERARY AGENT) at www.noahlukeman.com

* And feel free to follow us on twitter: www.twitter.com/lukemanliterary

Best wishes,

Noah Lukeman

____________________
Noah Lukeman
President
Lukeman Literary Management Ltd


At first it totally looked like spam but after investigating it a bit I think it may be real. The only thing is I have no idea how he got my email address as I don't believe I ever queried him. No matter, I'm going to look into it more today because if it's true that's pretty cool and these may be some great tools for writers. If it's not, whatever.

Has anyone else out there received an email like this?

And in other, totally unrelated news I am currently reading three novels. The first is the Celestine Prophecy, which I first read in the 90's when I was young and impressionable. I realize that originally this book was supposed to forward a kind of new age agenda, but if you take it at face value and just consider it a fictional adventure it's not a bad story.

The second is The Ranger's Apprentice, which my daughter loaned me, and which is a sort of unique blend of high fantasy and young adult. I'm only two chapters in but so far it is pretty good.

Third my colleague at work has loaned me his copy of The Girl Who Played with Fire, Book II of the Millennium Trilogy, which I have blogged about before. I read the excerpt at the end of the first volume, which was chilling, and now, even though I don't know about all the hype connected to these books, I am excited to get into this one.

So there you have it. I'm over my irrational fear and self loathing from yesterday and I promise not to jump to conclusions when blogger breaks down in the future. What's up with you all?

UPDATE EDIT: I looked into the email and it's not spam. Check out some of those links for great writing resources from Noah Lukeman!

21 comments:

Matthew MacNish said...

I forgot to mention that yesterday's post ended up with 40 comments! That's more than I have ever had on a single post if you don't count Friday guest bloggers. Thanks all.

Slamdunk said...

Sounds like a positive email. Yeah, blogger was on the fritz yesterday morning.

Ted Cross said...

Blogger IS doing weird things with comments for some reason. That Lukeman thing is strange. It doesn't seem like spam, but it would feel better to me if it had something personalized to show me that he had checked my blog. Nathan has done that, and I really appreciate him taking the time.

S.A. Larsenッ said...

Glad things came around for you. I have received an email similar to that. I can't remember the guys name, though. I'm hoping to flush out my over 600 emails this weekend. If I find it, I'll let you know.

Bryan Russell said...

Want to know the weird thing? I'm actually reading one of Noah Lukeman's books right now (A Dash of Style). Funny.

Kind of neat if he checked out your blog. Word is getting out there...

Matthew MacNish said...

Bryan, wow. Do you think he found my email because he visited my blog? It is possible. Holy crap that would be awesome. His email was definitely related to the main topics of this blog thing here. Hmm ...

Stina said...

I got that email too, but that's because I registered for his newsletter a few months ago. I even have two of his books, so the email didn't freak me out. I can see, though, why you were concerned, Matthew.

I was getting frustrated yesterday when I was leaving comments and they vanished. And people left me comments (which go to my inbox), but they weren't showing up on my blog. If it hadn't been for Twitter, I wouldn't have realized everyone else was experiencing the same problem.

Joanne Brothwell said...

Hey Matthew,
I've never received an email like that, but if I did, I'd freak!

I'm glad I stopped by your blog today because I experienced the same frustrating thing with blogger yesterday and didn't know why.

JE said...

I'm reading Noah's book "The First Five Pages" right now. That's freaking awesome! Getting an email like that is pretty cool, Matt. Pretty cool indeed. ;-)

~J

About Me said...

Matt, I also heard that blogger was being weird. It has its hiccups.

I purchased The First Five Pages and intend to read it along with the other writing books I have before querying.

Melody said...

RANGER'S APPRENTICE!!!
You won't be disappointed, I hope. I love those books.

Elana Johnson said...

I get all my comments in my email, so even though they weren't on my blog, I knew I was getting them.

And I got that email from Noah. I downloaded his book on query letters, so that might be why he has my email.

Christina Lee said...

How very strange! I actually own his First Five Pages book and it's pretty good! Yeah blogger gave me headaches yesterday too!

Jemi Fraser said...

Blogger and Tweetdeck both stopped working properly on me yesterday. But Blogger likes to drive me crazy, so I assumed it was just me :)

I've got Ranger's Apprentice in my TBR pile - it's supposed to be great!

Sarah Ahiers said...

i get random emails like that occasionally as well.

Zoe C. Courtman said...

Now that's an interesting email. And how freakin cool would it be that he got ur email from your blog?? Keep us posted on any other cool haps like that! Also, over on my blog today, I issued an open invite to any Georgia-area bloggers that we interact with. I'd love to put together an evening out so those of us in or near Atlanta could meet up and hang out over drinks one night next month. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Blogger had issues yesterday. You should know we wouldn't all ignore you!

And perhaps they got your email from your profile here?

Stephanie Lorée said...

I got some more comments/traffic to my blog as well. WOOT!

Also, Noah Lukeman writes GREAT books on the craft. His "The First Five Pages" rocked my grammatical world.

Tahereh said...

hehehe so happy you had a lovely little surprise despite the blogging glitch!!

it can get scary when you have no idea whether or not people think your posts are crazy.

Creepy Query Girl said...

OMG- I read the Celestine Prophecy like three times throughout adolescence. I haven't thought about it in YEARS until you just mentioned it. Yeah, it was a good story from what I remember. Sorry about the comment trouble- but it all turned out right in the end:)

Matthew MacNish said...

Anon, I love your shoes (and goods)! Thank you!