Uncategorized

The Fabulous Blogosphere

We are part of a fabulous blogosphere. So many great people out there who are so generous with their time and resources. I just wanted to tell a few people in blog land thanks:

I won a beautiful wooden box from Vicki over at The Ron Empire Wants You! (She’s one of my wonderful CP’s who writes beautifully!) So, thank you!

I won a signed copy of The Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead from Tracy over at Forever Endeavor. I have five books to read before I can use it, but I’ve heard great things about it and am very excited. Thank you!

I won a $10 giftcard for Amazon from Racquel Henry over at Racquel Writes. She is pretty amazing, co-founding and co-editing her own magazine, The Black Fox Literary Magazine. Thank you!

Finally, I wanted to thank Martina and Lisa over at Adventures in Children’s Publishing who are hosting a First Five Pages Workshop. I was able to sneak in as one of the five entries for this round. Another round will be starting on March 12. Their critiques are so thorough! Definitely worth it. So if you care to, feel free to read the entries (I’m #3, wink, wink). And thank you, thank you!

Hope you all have a great Monday! And I hope you find someone to thank for something. 🙂

Speak up:

| TAGS:

Blog-fail and Cicada Killer Wasps

Have you ever had one of those weeks where you wake up and say, “Huh? It’s Friday? What happened to my week?!”

That’s me. Nothing bad going on. Just lots of distractions. In fact, did you notice I posted on Tuesday this week? Umm, yeah. I scheduled that for Wednesday March 1st. 😉

“What?” you ask. “Wasn’t Wednesday March 2nd?”

le sigh.

This isn’t the year 2012?

So since I completely forgot to post anything today, I’m going to break a rule and re-post one of my very first ever blog posts. I apologize for the length, but it’s a fast read. I promise. Hope you enjoy!

It was just a trip to the library:

30 minutes to get out of the house,
10 minutes there,
Then I was planning a leisurely 30 minutes to an hour choosing some books and movies, maybe reading one of them to the kids,
Then another 10 minute return trip.

Sounds so pleasant, doesn’t it?

Bad sign #1: Rain drops start falling the second we step out the door. I should have taken the hint, but no . . . we’re driving, I have an umbrella in the car . . . why should I let a little rain stop me?

So the kids jump in. Pop the car seat in, London buckles himself, but Brandt is our free spirit.

Me: Brandt, hurry and get in your car seat so we can get to the library.
Brandt: I don’t want to sit in that seat!

It starts to rain harder.

Me: You have to sit in that seat or we can’t go anywhere.
Brandt: I don’t want to sit in that seat!

It starts to pour.

Me: Please sit in that seat! Mama’s getting soaked!
Brandt: I don’t want to sit in that seat!
Me: AAAAAH! GET IN THAT SEAT NOW BEFORE ALL YOUR TRAINS GO TO TIME-OUT!

I’m soaked, Brandt’s crying, but the car is moving.

At the library, it’s raining pretty hard, so I pull out the umbrella, make London pinkie promise to share the umbrella with his brother and to wait right there while I get the stroller out.

Seriously, I looked the other way two seconds.

A quick search and I see them: the boys are having a total blast strolling through the parking lot, heads buried in the umbrella. After all, there are puddles to look down at. My heart stops, and I thank the heavens there are no cars or Child Services workers around.

Me: LONDON JOHNSON, GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT OR YOU WILL NOT GET TO CHOOSE A MOVIE!

sigh

The stroller’s out, I’m putting Khyah in. My two-year old tackles me.

Brandt: An ant! An ant! Mommy, save me!
Me: Silly boy, an ant can’t hurt . . .

Then I saw it. Not an ant. This was a Cicada Killer Wasp. Ever seen one? As long as my pointer finger. Striped like a bee. And they can apparently sting like one too. Eew!

London: [whimpering and holding the umbrella in front of him for protection] There’s two!

I noticed one crawl into a golf-ball-sized hole in the ground. Then I noticed all the other holes. There’s more than two! I wisely chose not to mention this to the kids.

Me: [struggling to keep my voice calm] Let’s hurry, boys!

I get Khyah in the stroller (sleeping sound as a rock), and usher the kids towards the entrance.

Brandt stops dead in his tracks behind the van.

Brandt: I need MY stroller.
Me: You’ll have to walk this time.
Brandt: I need my stroller!
Me: I’m sorry. I can only push one at a time.
Brandt: [at the top of his lungs] I NEED MY STROLLER!
Me: Let’s hurry before the bugs get us!

I know, low blow. I don’t usually like scare tactics, but eew! You’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that it didn’t work anyway.

I start to walk and Brandt grabs onto the stroller, pulling back with all his might, screaming at the top of his lungs. Fortunately I am still stronger than my 2-year old, so I kept moving, dragging him along, and pointedly ignoring all the stares of the other patrons. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of entering before he had stopped screaming. Tile entry. Automatic second door. Very loud.

Brandt throws himself on the ground in a temper tantrum.

sigh

I’m starting to have second thoughts about this trip.

Me: Brandt! [in the most furious whisper I could muster] If you don’t stop screaming this instant we won’t choose any movies!

Amazingly, he stood up and stopped crying, but Murphy was not done yet: Khyah started crying. I still wonder how babies can cry so loudly.

Me: Let’s just return the books and go!

We rush to the book return, dump them in, and before I can make it out, London heads to the movies with Brandt in tow

I really should have insisted. But with the stroller moving, Khyah had stopped crying, and I thought, “Surely the worst is behind us. And we’re here . . .”

The library has a plethora of Thomas movies, and London is glibly looking at every one. Knowing Khyah won’t last long, I suggested one, which Brandt gladly took.

London: I wanted that one!
Brandt: [pulling the DVD in tight] Me have that one!
Me: Brandt already has it, so choose a different one.
London: But I want that one!
Me: If Brandt chooses it, you’ll get to see it too.
London: But I want to carry that one!

His voice is getting dangerously loud.

Me: Oh! Look at that! “The Best of Gordon”!
Brandt: Okay, London can have this.

He tosses the movie at London and snatches up Gordon.

Grab a few books on the way to the check-out, and we’re almost home free. London goes running toward the door . . . right through the unchecked-out-books alarm.

I held my breath, waiting for the alarm. . . . It didn’t go off. Finally! Something goes my way.

Just as the books are all checked out, Khyah starts to cry. I turn the stroller around, and Brandt pushed me out of the way.

Brandt: I want to push the stroller!

Khyah is quite loud by now, so I scootched Brandt to the side and hurried to leave.

Brandt: [throwing himself on the ground. Again.] I WANT TO PUSH THE STROLLER!
Me: Brandt, hurry! Let’s go home and watch the movie!

I push the stroller through the exit

Brandt: I WANT TO PUSH THE STROLLER!
Me: Hurry kiddo! Let’s go.
Khyah: Waaaaah!
Alarm: WEEOH! WEEOH! WEEHO!
Librarian: Excuse me ma’am, could you back away from the exit?
Me: sigh
Librarian: [slightly annoyed] Did you check out your books?
Other librarian (who checked me out): [also slightly annoyed] Yes!

After a quick check of my bag, the librarian sighs.

Librarian: I guess it’s not you [sounding disappointed]. The alarm must be broken. It will go off, just keep going.

Believe me I did.

Ten minutes later, we arrive home. I struggle up the stairs with the car seat, diaper bag, purse, and bag of books (all while London complains about how heavy the movie he checked out is). Stumble inside, set everything down, and notice there’s a message.

We never get messages. No one calls us since we’re so new here. Yay!

Message: This is the Library calling. Do your children own a copy of Polar Express? We believe you returned it to us with your library books. Would you like to come and get it?

Speak up:

The Final Answers

No, this is not a post about Jeopardy. Alas, just the final answers to the comments from my Tabula Rasa post.

Raquel Byrnes asked: Who is your dream publisher? If you could chose who would do it…who would you want?

I know this isn’t what you were asking, but any publisher who loves my work would be my dream publisher. There are a lot of great publishers out there, small, medium and large, and they all have place in this industry for the different things they do. I simply hope to work with people who are excited by my book.

The Golden Eagle, another 2-question comment, asked first: What’s one thing about writing that, before you wrote, you never imagined would come up? (Presuming you haven’t been writing since, you know, birth.)

Hmmm . . . this is perhaps the hardest question I’ve gotten. But I think I never imagined learning about the body’s reaction to certain kinds of deaths or diseases. Fortunately I have my personal research assistant (aka my husband) to help me out with these. It’s pretty weird to ask him questions about how quickly a dead body gets rigor mortis (a couple of hours in case your interested . . . and after about 24 hours, the rigor mortis clears up. Not something you see in the movies, eh?).

And question #2: And, was it awesome to have your picture taken with Oscar?

I just have to say that Oscar was such a pleasure to work with at that photo shoot! He knows all the tricks like putting vaseline on your teeth (though he did suggest adding a drop or two of green food coloring since my teeth were “way too white” according to him). Very pleasurable photo shoot. 😀

And finally, Connie Arnold asked: Do your children give you much input about your writing?

My children are still young enough that they don’t exactly give input. But they do give A LOT of inspiration! I’ve written several pictures books (still in the editing stages) that were inspired directly by them. Children definitely spew idea-fodder all the time.

So there we are, I’ve finally answered all the questions I received. Thanks again for the questions and for stopping in!

Speak up:

| TAGS:

Mystery Prize Revealed

The winner of my most recent License Plate Trivia contest, Stina Lindenblatt, chose the Mystery Prize. I wanted to make sure she got it before I did the big reveal, but it has arrived!

So are you ready? For those of you who don’t know, I love fairy tales. So when I found this, I was giddy with admiration for whoever thought of it. I knew I had to find a way to use it for my blog.

The Mystery Prize?

Stina has obligingly posted a couple of pictures on her blog, Seeing Creative. Plus, you get the total bonus that it was posted at the beginning of her Cool Links Friday post. Every week she compiles a list of all the best posts over the past week for people working on their writing craft. So while you’re there, check out her awesome blog or check out some of the great links she’s posted. You won’t regret it.

Speak up:

| TAGS:

The Rubber Gloves

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate doing the dishes? Well I do. A lot.

And my aversion increased ten-fold when I recently got what’s called “Acute Dermatitis” on my hands. Really, that’s just a fancy way to say that washing the dishes makes my hands blister and crack and bleed. Not fun.

For a while, I left stacks of dishes for my husband to do when he got home from work. But I hated that and felt horribly guilty because he has so little free time anyway. In addition, it turns out that I hate a dirty kitchen worse than I hate doing the dishes. It was a rotten dilemma, because Acute Dermatitis really hurts. It seemed like I couldn’t win.

I was complaining to my mom, and she said, “Well why don’t you just go buy some rubber gloves?”

It was an “Aha! moment” for sure. The thought had never occurred to me. Never. But it was the perfect solution—well, almost. Hiring a maid would have been the perfect solution, but this was a pretty darn good one (and much more based on reality).

No more acute dermatitis. No more dirty kitchen. Granted, I still have to DO the dishes (which are never ending!), but the gloves are new enough that they’re like a fun little toy. 😉 I almost look forward to it. Almost.

So this story is a little like life (and writing novels). We run into problems that seem unsolvable. We can’t think of any good ways to get past them. We feel stuck between a rock and a hard place.

But sometimes, all it takes is a willingness to look outside the box. Maybe they aren’t what we’d expect, but the solutions are there, ready to shock us with their simplicity.

When’s the last time you found an unexpectedly simple solution to a dire problem?

Speak up:

| TAGS:

More Questions and More Answers

Next batch of questions. I’m sure you’ve been dying to hear my answers. 😉

Lydia K asked: What interesting bit of history about yourself would no one ever guess, the first time meeting you?

Okay, I had to beg my husband for help on this one. Just before I got married, I wrote a French screenplay for an introduction to a literacy manual (French), and while it was edited down by the director, it was actually filmed. I own a VHS copy of it. 🙂

Colene Murphy asked: What is your favorite go-to book?

Though I haven’t read it in a while, Robin McKinley’s Outlaws of Sherwood is definitely my favorite go-to book (there are, of course, others). I had a big-time crush on Robin Hood when I was a teenager. We won’t mention the life-size poster of Kevin Costner as Robin Hood. But in my defense, it was a gift—I couldn’t very well turn it down! 😉

Christina Lee asked: Do you believe in Tabula Rasa?

Excellent question! After having kids, I absolutely do NOT believe in Tabula Rasa. BUT I love the idea of it, especially when I’m starting a new book.

Melissa asked: What’s your favorite book?

This is perhaps one of the hardest questions I know of. There are too many books I like to play favorites. When I was little, I would have said “Anything by L.M. Montgomery.” Then a little older, “Anything by Robin McKinley.” Then, “Anything by Jane Austen.” Yes, I’m an author reader. If I find an author I like, I devour everything they wrote. But I digress.

Perhaps it’s a cop-out, but here are a few of my favorites (in no particular order):

• Princess Academy, by Shannon Hale
• Pat of Silver Bush, by L.M. Montgomery
• Beauty, by Robin McKinley
• Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine
• Harry Potter (all of them . . . though I felt book 5 wasn’t quite as good as the others), by J.K . . . (Okay, it just feels silly to write the author here . . . it almost goes without saying)

Okay, I’ll end here, but I think one more post should do it. 🙂

Speak up:

| TAGS:

This vs. That: Washington vs. Lincoln Results

In honor of President’s Day, I bring you the results of the Washington vs. Lincoln debate. Thank you to all my non-U.S. visitors for putting up with my U.S.-centric question this last time.

So, of all my proposed debates, this has been the hardest question for me to answer by far. Actually, I’m still debating who to vote for as I write this introductory paragraph. But since I forced the issue, and I have no one to blame but myself, here we go:

Total votes: 22

George Washington: 5 votes; 22%
Abraham Lincoln: 14 votes; 63%
Both: 1 vote; 5%
All Presidents: 1 vote; 5%
Decline to vote: 1 non-vote; 5%

After the first few votes, I totally thought that George Washington would take it by a landslide, but the tables turned. Both men are fascinating in what they did as President of the United States. Great leaders in a time when we really needed them. And though Lincoln may have won this vote, I honor both of them. However, in the end, I voted for George Washington. I’ve read a lot more about him, and recently visited Mount Vernon, so I suppose I was biased. A couple of things I particularly admire about him are 1) his love for his wife, Martha Washington; and 2) the fact that he never asked the men who fought with him in the revolutionary war to do anything he was not willing to do himself. A true leader.

So a couple of quick facts about each. 

Washington: In his will, he granted freedom to all of his slaves, to take effect after Martha’s death (though Martha didn’t wait for her death to free them).

Lincoln: The observance of the Thanksgiving holiday began with him. On Oct. 3, 1863, he proclaimed that there be a national day of Thanksgiving on the last Thursday of November. He also was the first president to have a beard.

Okay, enough of that. Two great men. I admire them both. Now on to the next vote:

Speak up:

| TAGS:

Query Helps

Writing a query letter is never easy, but I’ve found several useful helps that I wanted to share. Most of you probably know of these, but just in case I ever lose my head, I want a record. 😉

The biggest help was Elana Johnson’s blog and her book From the Query to the Call. I stumbled upon her blog about a year ago, and she was just starting a series on writing a good query letter. I found her advice so useful at actually getting words on paper, that I purchased her book (which I still refer back to ALL THE TIME).

With all of Elana’s success, she now generously offers her book free to anyone who would like it. Don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s not useful. Seriously the best $8 I’ve ever spent—I’d still pay money for it. If you don’t have it, go get it post haste. You’ll find it on her website under the “Query to the Call” tab.

Another helpful blog is Janet Reid’s Query Shark. As a successful and respected agent, she breaks down queries that have been submitted by brave souls and points out what is and isn’t working. It’s a fascinating study. While you can submit your query, I’ve found it very useful to simply read through her past posts. You start to get a feel for what a query should be and what you definitely should NOT do. So go, and be enlightened.

The last link I want to share is QueryTracker.net. Not only can you sign up for a free account (they have Premium accounts you can pay for if you want to do more) that will track all the queries and submissions you have sent with the dates and names of the agents or publishers, but they have the Query Tracker Forum as well. You have to request an account for the forum in addition to the QueryTracker.net account, but it is well worth the trouble to do so. Here you can connect with other writers and also receive feedback on your work. They have forums for giving and getting critiques on query letters, the first five pages, as well as the synopsis. They have a forum for any questions you may have about the query process and they have forums for about anything book related you could want.

The forums at AbsoluteWrite.com are similar in nature, and also very useful. (So I lied about querytracker.net being the last link.)

There are many other helpful sites and blogs when it comes to querying (see Matthew Rush’s blog The Quintissentially Questionable Query Experiement, for example), these are simply the ones that have been most helpful to me. In the comments, feel free to share sites and blogs that have helped you the most with writing your query.

And best of luck to all of you working on writing a query letter!

Speak up:

| TAGS:

You Asked for It!

Thank you for all the questions! I appreciate your patience with my brief episode of Tabula Rasa-itis. So here we go:

Justine Dell asked: What is your biggest fear? And don’t say something lame like spiders or something.

It’s a good thing you clarified, because I TOTALLY would have put spiders. 🙂 But beyond those, I would have to say my biggest fear is split in two:

1. Losing any member of my family. (But whose isn’t, right?)
2. That my best won’t be good enough . . . whether in writing, or raising my family, or whatever.
3. Have you noticed that I really like lists?

Joanne asked: If you didn’t write, what would you do creatively?

Hmmm . . . this is a hard question because there are so many ways to answer it. I actually love music and play the piano and (dabble in the guitar), but I don’t have the discipline to practice enough to become good. So while I’d do it for fun, I don’t think it could ever fill in for writing.

And I’ve always wished I had any talent in illustration, but alas, ’tis not my lot. BUT, if we’re talking about an imaginery world here where all things are possible, then this would be it. I’d be an artist for sure! Oil paintings and maybe water colors. 🙂

Stina Lindenblatt, after acusing Justine of cheating, asked: What is the thing you like best about writing fiction?

Honestly, it’s getting lost in another world. I’ve always been a daydreamer (and I was master of doing it without getting caught in school), so I suppose it was a natural shift to write fiction. But who doesn’t want to escape their reality at some point for a more exciting place where you are important or even essential to the well-being of the world? The possibilities are endless! It’s why I’ll be writing for the rest of forever even if I never do get published.

Jackee took the liberty of asking two questions (such presumption!): What would be your ideal writing life?

I’m a little torn about this question because my ideal writing life would probably exclude all of my current life. But see, then it wouldn’t be ideal anymore. So trying to strike a balance . . .

• I would have a cute little writing office with an ocean view.
• My children would wait patiently while I finish that chapter.
• The day would have something like 26 hours in it.
• I’d have a water cooler next to my desk.
• A fresh platter of chocolate-covered strawberries would be brought in by the maid at the tinkle of a bell.
• The laws of science regarding calories and weight gain would not apply to me.
• The maid, of course, would keep the house sparking clean, AND cook deliciously healthy meals for my family.
• I could go on for a while, but I might start to despise my life or something, so I’d better stop. 😉

Question #2: When did you first know you wanted to write? (But not necessarily get published).

I think the first hint that I enjoyed it was in High School. I sent an outline for a Disney-ified version of The Pied Piper to The Walt Disney Co. 😀

Oh, yes I did. I knew nothing about query letters or anything, and I didn’t even want to get paid. I just wanted my idea to be the next Disney animated feature-film. I still have the response they sent stating that The Walt Disney Co. does not read outside ideas. My un-read letter was included in the package. Really, I’m quite proud of my first rejection. 🙂

So I have this personal rule about long blogs . . . I try to avoid them. And this is getting long, so I will have to respond to these in batches. No worries, if you asked a question, I’ll link back to your blog (if I have your link) and respond. I promise.

Speak up:

| TAGS:

Darling Husband’s Guest Post

As a special Valentine’s Day treat (for me), my Darling Husband has laboured over a blog post to give me a break. It took some doing, but I finally convinced him to let go and let me post it. 😀

Well, I digress! To my wife my best gift is my love for you, Je t’aime, and to my children, I love you! 

Speak up:

| TAGS: