If you’re a regular reader of this blog you probably know by now that I make a bit of extra money every month by writing lenses for Squidoo.Com. What I’m making is not a living wage, but it is appreciated – very much so! Squidoo was originally created to have a venue for donations to charity, and many “lensmasters” (as we are called) are able to donate 100% of their earnings to whatever charities they like most. Others are actually earning enough to call this a great part-time job!

This last week there was a new type of Squidoo lens introduced: Twttrlists. A Twttrlist imports tweets on a chosen topic into a Squidoo web page (known as a lens). Of course, I wanted to choose writing as my topic… and so I created Great Writing Resources, Tips, Twitters & Inspirations. On that lens I featured lots of lenses written by other lensmasters, and they are all focused on various aspects of writing.

Two days ago I found out this was #1 on the Top 100 Twttrlists list. Today I was dethroned by a Kris Allen lens – but that’s okay – the Kris lens was done by a friend of mine, so I was happy about that too.

Today I discovered that there’s a contest going on for the next week. Squidoo Headquarters will give a free Kindle to whoever makes the 1000th Twttrlist lens. They’ll also give one to whoever makes the 2000th, 3000th, 4000th, and 5000th… the only catch being that this all has to be done within a week. The contest ends on June 5th, or whenever we hit 5000 TwttrLists, whichever comes first.

So, if you’d like to join Squidoo and participate in the great rush to build 5000 lenses (and possibly win a Kindle) please join, join, join! Also, if you do, please let me know (if you’re a writer or aspiring writer) so that I can feature you on my writing lens. Squidoo is a great place to write about writing, and to promote books.

Maggie Stiefvater is an urban fantasy novelist who is sponsoring a contest to promote her new novel, Shiver. Contest details are on Maggie Stiefvater’s blog.Shiver will be released this summer on August 1.

(Congratulations, Maggie! I know you’re excited!)

Here’s the official blurb about the new book:

“For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf–her wolf–is a chilling presence she can’t seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human . . . until the cold makes him shift back again.

Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It’s her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human–or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.”

You can pre-order Shiver now through Amazon.

To learn more about Maggie’s current contest see Crazy People! There are better ways to get ARCs. She’s offering ARC copies of Shiver and Lament (another novel she wrote,) and critiques.

Sounds good! I’m posting this in the hope my friend Kai Strand can win the contest! Go Kai!