Have you been over to my Web site lately?

If not, you should check it out…I've got some new stuff over there.

1. My Immortalize Your Friend in a Book Contest. What are you waiting for? How many chances do you have to be in a book? Check it out and nominate a friend, and maybe you'll win too.

2. Free stuff! Bleeding Dusk bookmarks for the asking–just send me an email at bookmarks at colleengleason dot com (don't forget to include your snail addy) and I'll ship some off to you. Even if you're overseas!

3. And this is the best part…Gardella Chronicles desktop wallpapers. Very cool and slick. I've got The Rest Falls Away on my laptop, and The Bleeding Dusk on my desktop. (Hmmph. I think I need a third computer.)

4. Oh, no, wait, this is the best part: A sneak peek of The Bleeding Dusk is finally posted on my site. Stay tuned for a full chapter excerpt coming soon!

Have a great weekend! 

Okay, I tried. It doesn't really work, but I tried. Happy TGIF anyway!

I thought it might be a fun way to show you my new t-shirt design, in honor of The Bleeding Dusk. I absolutely love it, and am sending out a big fat thanks to the NAL promotions department for coming up with it (after many, many iterations).

What do you think?

I'll probably do some on black, as shown, and maybe some on a dark or heathered purple.

And that gold…that's going to be a metallic gold, not that flat-looking color you see on the screen.

Cool, huh? 

Why is it that whenever I do a perfect job of parallel parking, no one is there to witness it?

And whenever someone's in the car with me (Tammy!), I screw it up like crazy?

I'm a great parallel-parker! I do a perfect job 90% of the time–just not when anyone's there with me.

Hmph.

So what's your talent that no one ever gets to see?

We haven't done this in awhile, so it's time to come clean again. 'Fess up! Have you ever….

…lied to a cop who pulled you over for a ticket? 

In other words, made up a good story for why you were speeding/driving recklessly/etc.?

And did it work? Did you get off? 

I was sitting around with a bunch of people last night, and somehow we got onto stories–or, rather, they got into stories–about how, when they were young and foolish, they (or people they knew) would scam free food from pizza delivery people, drive-thrus, etc.

So, time to 'fess up: Have you ever, when you had the munchies and/or were a starving college student and/or it was late at night, scammed for free food in any way…

such as….

…calling a pizza place and saying "Where are you guys? It's been three hours! Where's our pizza?" when you hadn't ordered anything, or

….driven through a drive-thru, preferably Taco Bell, near closing time, and giving a really long, complicated, indecipherable order through the speaker so that the person on the other end has no idea what you're saying…repeat the same or similar indecipherable order (throwing in a few recognizable words like "cheese" or "hot sauce" every so often) in great annoyance because the drive-thru personnel doesn't understand….at least two or three times, until the person inside gives up, waves you through, and hands you a big bag of food because they have no idea what you ordered, or…

…waited in the college dorm parking lot for the pizza guy to take a pizza into the dorm, and while he's gone, snatch a pizza or two from his unlocked car, or….

…ordered a pizza, took two pieces out and put them under the toaster oven or in the broiler to "burn" them, call the pizza place and complain about your burned pizza so they deliver a new one to you (actually, this scam didn't work, or so the story-teller told us)….

So. 'Fess up: didja? Didja get caught? Didja feel guilty?

Or…were you ever on the receiving end of such a scheme?

(As for me…I can say with a clear conscience: No, to all of the above. Honest.) 

…Oh, and by the way, next Friday, I'm going to start a new feature on the blog here called Readers Ask. For more info, check in the sidebar. (I was going to do it today, but I liked this post idea better.)