Clarifying things

Some of you might remember the old days. The days of when all of this *motions to blog* was on a Google Doc. And there were no hand-drawn stick figures, no spreadsheets (le gasp!) and most of the books were my own. They were also the days of fewer rules and regulations, cause, well, we didn't need them. ARCycling was black-and-white-TV simple.

It is less so now.
Now I get people asking me all of these complicated questions that I don't know and I look to the boss for answers... only to remember *I* am the boss. Oh dear.
So after some hashing out and getting opinions, here are the clarifications. They are not rule changes, exactly. Just clarifications.

1) The Two Week Time Out. This is important, guys. During an ARCycling session a blogger, teacher, librarian, etc. gets the option of getting TWO books. When you are confirmed for those two titles, you go into Time Out. Time Out means you are suspended for the next two rounds of ARCycling. This is to give other bloggers, teachers, librarians a chance at the goodies AND to make sure no one is just grabbing blindly and not reading what they get, because that entirely defeats the purpose of this program.

2) Two Session Time Out and the getting of one book.
After MUCH hashing out and mental debate, this is what I've come up with. If in one session, you only get one book, you are available to get a book the following session. If you don't find anything you want in the second session, then you automatically get put on Two Session Time Out, after which, you are free and clear to get 2 more.
Basically, we need to have some kind of expiration date here. Cause this whole "I got a book three weeks ago, does that mean I can get one or two now?" question was baffling my brain. And it's one tired brain that not even multiple spreadsheets can sometimes advise.

Half-Requesters from the August 12th session still have the next session to get one more.
HOWEVER, since it's my bad I didn't figure this out sooner, there are 4 people from the August 5th session that this will not apply retroactively for. You will get the August 19th session as your last chance and then you will go on the Two Week Time Out. If you think you are one of those four but unsure, PLEASE email me or tweet me!!
Those of you from July 29th are in the clear anyway.

I know, this is all so confusing, but it has to be done. If you read through this and actually understood it, go get yourself a cookie or something!

3) #3 is not a "rule", so it is a general note.
And it lightly alludes to the no "blindly grabbing" mentioned in #1. But the whole purpose of this blog is to continue promotion of a book. And if no reviews are produced from this effort, then I'm wasting my time and money. So while I can't really require everyone to review the book they get, I'm sure happy when you do. It'll automatically get you listed on the front page of this blog FOREVER (no, really) AND I will tweet it a lot. However, if I happen to notice you are a faithful ARC Requester and receiver, but have never reviewed anything, that will make me very not happy. I can't quite say what will happen when I become not happy over this because so far no one is in danger of it (and we've only done three sessions on the blog!), but I feel like I should go ahead and mention it while I'm talking rules and clarifications and such.

4) Actually, #4 is a note/update and not a rule either.
Package deals! What are they? They are two books that cannot be requested separately and they count as your two books for the session.
This and more questions are answered in the newly acquired FAQ section that you can find at the bottom of the page here.
There's also a super small FAQ for Donators at the bottom of the page here.

Okay. That's all I got for now. If you have ANY questions, which OMG, you really shouldn't, but if you should see through my woven logic and find THE ONE THING I didn't answer, please comment on this post and after I get done smacking my head, I will answer it.

A giveaway? Yeah!

Why? Cause you all are awesome and when I get donation from a blog that has like 50 followers I want to hug everything in the book world.

However, I have ulterior motives.

So some of you smart people might have noticed that I finally created a separate email for this blog. ARCycling@gmail.com Believe me, it will help ALL THE THINGS.

But, I've gone one step further. I've decided to create a Twitter for this blog. Why? Cause I tend to tweet about a lot of things that are not ARCycling-related. Like my strange obsession with bagels. Or my love for French Press coffee. Or writing, revisions, or general commentary while in the stages of writing or revising. Or when I live tweet my Lord of the Rings marathon with my own extremely nerdy commentary. Or whatever strangeness I will get myself into in the future. Point is, some of you might not want to read all of that. So, here is the ribbon cutting of:

http://twitter.com/ARCycling

Don't get me wrong! I will still tweet an obnoxious amount on my personal Twitter about ARCycling, but all official tweets will also be on @ARCycling.

Okay, so what about this aforementioned giveaway? Well, here's the SCOOP.

The first thing that everyone should know is that this giveaway is open to EVERYONE. Everyone! Writers, bloggers, authors, teachers, librarians, book fans, coffee fiends, doughnut lovers, whoever!

EVERYONE.

For something this epic I went digging into the depths of my piles. If you aren't picturing a Scrooge McDuck-like set up, then you're picturing it wrong. Cause it's kind of like that. Now, here is what I unearthed.

Prize #1

A signed and doodled on ARC of Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi.

No, really. I got this ARC before they had finalized the cover art and when I met the lovely Tahereh, she drew Juliette on the cover. If you don't believe me...

Sorry for the crappy photo. I don't have Photoshop on the new computer yet. I am limited to a cellphone and my cleverness. Or... lack thereof.















Prize #2

A SIGNED ARC of Such Wicked Intent by Kenneth Oppel.

Prize #3
A SIGNED ARC of False Memory by Dan Krokos.
*I should say, he signed while we were talking about hair braids and felt his signature was a little sloppy so he wrote an apology beneath it. I feel I must explain this. And yes, hair braids.

Prize #4

A SIGNED ARC of Forever by Maggie Stiefvater.

Prize #5

A SIGNED ARC of The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater.

Prize #6

A SIGNED hardback of Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley.

Are you freaking out? A little at least? Maybe? I hope so.

It's easy. All you really have to do is be a follower of this very blog. Easy, right?

Want a +2? Follow @ARCycling on Twitter.

Want a +1? Comment with your most anticipated upcoming ARC.

Want another +1? Tweet about the giveaway and be sure to use the #ARCyclingGiveaway hashtag.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

How I almost lost everything...

That title might be a slight exaggeration, but it was how I felt at the time.

As well as being a ARC-shlepper, I'm also a writer and currently use Google Docs to share writing work with my critique partner. I also use it heavily for this blog. It's where I keep the list of all the ARCs, the names of all my past Requesters, all my Donators. Basically all the current information ever.

So, when my Java quit working while looking at revision notes, I freaked out a lot. But then in an attempt to maintain a certain level of calm, I rationalized and figured: "okay, okay, this is okay, I can get the notes from another computer and put off buying a new laptop for a few months".

Then I remembered ARCycling. And freaked out all over again. No, really. I was talking to my dad at the moment, he can verify my utter freak out over it.

A few cuss words and tears later, I came to the grim conclusion I needed a laptop and the inevitable could not be put off any longer. The next day I went to the Apple store and purchased a 13" MacBook Pro. Say hello to Vera (named after a Firefly/ Jayne reference).

Anyway, I felt I should share this with all my lovely followers, so all of you know that I am nothing if not dedicated to this blog. The writing could have been worked around, the blog forced my hand. See you Sunday evening as planned!

A schedule? Maybe.

So it has been suggested to me that I should announce a schedule of sorts for when ARCycling will be open. I think this is a good idea. The only if-y thing is that my life is a bit... chaotic? at the moment, making said schedule hard to pin down.

Here's what I have been able to figure:
- I need to devote a good 2 hour + time frame for it. As soon as I get an email request, I take it off the spreadsheet and update. It can't easily be done remotely (aka my Android phone) I know, I've tried. Then of course, there's the keeping it open for a few hours-ish to consider. AND then the packaging which I do immediately. All in all, it's a brief, but intense, work period.
- Weekend afternoon/ evenings are usually pretty good for that kind of time commitment.
- WHICH weekend afternoon/ evenings is not a concrete thing forever and ever.
- But let's go ahead and commit to Sunday afternoon/ evenings for the moment.

There you have it. In case you are wondering, Sunday afternoon/ evenings (I'd go ahead and prophesize it'll open sometime between 4p - 6p Central Standard Time) and stay open at least 2 hours. Always, always check my Twitter @JustlyJennifer for updates and when EXACTLY it'll open!

And while I have your attention, I'm working on creating a Twitter just for ARCycling. That way you don't have to see my ridiculous live tweeting of a Lord of the Rings marathon or my obsession with coffee or any cute cat pictures in your feed. Unless you want that awesome variety, in which case, keep following me at @JustlyJennifer