Confident or Delusional writer?

The Swivet had a link from Nathan Bransford's blog to J. A. Konrath's fantastic post about confident and delusional writers.

Into which category do you fall? =D

Write on.

Good News!

I've been wanting to share this news since I found out about it in November . . . and now I finally can!

This news is about the first (and maybe last) picture book I wrote.

What news? Go here to find out. =D

Can you believe it?!

Write on.

Contest

Carrie Ryan is having a contest and giving away copies of her book. Hurry on over and enter!

Carrie's contest!

 

Write on.

Novel Novel Review

It's that time again. Here's a quick reminder of my rating system

A+--I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend this book. In most cases, I passed it on to my teen.

A--I enjoyed this book and I might pass it on to my teen.

B--I liked this book, but probably won't pass it on to my teen.

C--I thought it was okay, but I won't pass it on to my teen.

D--I didn't like this book, and won't allow my teen to read it.

F--I hope I never have to go here. =D

I will give reasons for my rating in my review, but if you have any questions, please feel free to ask. If you find your book here, don't panic if I rate it below an A. These are my personal preferences and I'm only one small person in a large market. =D

Okay, now here we go.

In anticipation of reviewing the sequel, I chose an older release for my third review. In this case, I did not pass it on to my teen . . . he passed it on to me!

TUNNELS by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams

Rating: A

Age level: 12+

Like his father, fourteen-year-old Will Burrows has an obsession with archeological digs. When his father disappears, Will is determined to find him. With the help of his best friend, Chester, Will discovers a network of tunnels under modern-day London. As they follow the tunnels deeper and deeper into the earth, they discover a dark underworld. But the inhabitants don't want them there.

Will never dreamed his digging would unearth dark family secrets . . . secrets that should have remained buried.

I enjoyed reading Tunnels. The dark caverns of this book were filled with twists and turns that took me deeper and deeper into the story. I found myself completely submerged in the underground world and the lives of the characters.

It was a little slow going at first, and there were a few rough spots to get through, but this is to be expected when tunneling to avoid collapse later on. Once the story broke through into the underground it was fast paced and exciting with surprises around every turn. I am looking forward to the sequel so I can go "Deeper".

Write on.

Almost over

I'm so glad this week is almost over. I had a daughter (D2)with a broken finger, a daughter who had chest pain (D1) and had to go to the ER, and a son who has been sick the entire week (S2).

D2 is doing well, though she still has bouts of pain from her broken finger. D1 is fine . . . only some chest wall pain (but she's had open heart surgery so we have to get these things checked out). S2 has antibiotics to help him get rid of his bronchial/tonsillitis garbage.

So, I'm hoping next week will be better. I haven't been able to get any work/writing done. What have I been doing with my time (when I'm not waiting on kids)? Visiting blogs/replying to email/ but mostly, I've been reading. I should have some reviews posted soon. =)

 

Write on

D2 Update

We went to the doctor and he promptly sent us to the orthopedic surgeon who got us in right away. She looked at D2's x-rays and declared she did have a break along the growth plate and up into the bone. It's called a Salter-Harris fracture and it's at least a type two and possibly a three (the digital x-rays weren't very good).

She declared D2 WON'T have to have any surgery! YAY! Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

She re-splinted D2's finger and put it in a half-cast. We go back to the orthopedic surgeon in three weeks for a follow-up and they will x-ray her finger again to see how it is doing. She's in quite a bit of pain this morning and I'm not sure if she'll make it through school.

I'm going to give her some Children's Motrin after she eats some breakfast and we'll see how the day goes. And now S2 (son 2) is feeling lousy; coughing and he had a slight fever last night. So he'll probably be staying home today . . . which means I won't get any work done. *sigh*

 

Write on.

Weekend woes

This weekend we traveled to a family birthday party. Unfortunately, only three of our family members actually attended the festivities. Hubby, D2, and I ended up in the Urgent Care facility.

As Mr. Monk would say, "Here's what happened."

We were the first to arrive at the party. The kids were playing as the aunts, uncles, and cousins began to arrive. D2 fell and caught her pinky finger of her right hand in the hide-a-bed couch. She came to me with her finger at an awkward angle. I told her to have daddy (he's an EMT) look at it and he agreed with me that it was likely dislocated.

We decided to leave our other three children at the party with my mother and drive D2 up to the Urgent Care facility about 30 minutes away. Upon arrival, we waited for an hour before being seen (they were busy with lots of ski accidents). They took x-rays with their digital machine

and diagnosed her with a fracture (I think the doctor called it a Salter Fracture) of the lower knuckle on her pinky finger. Then the doctor said it was into the growth plate and would likely require surgery to repair. They splinted her finger to stabilize it

and sent us on our way with instructions to follow up with our local doctor (D2 has an appointment at 3:00 this afternoon . . . thank goodness our doctor is working today) and possibly make arrangements with a pediatric orthopedic surgeon.

We are hoping they won't have to do surgery (though that doctor thought it was inevitable).

So we missed the party, we're stressed out, and our plans for today are a bust. D2 is feeling okay and is managing pain with Motrin. She's nervous and concerned about the surgery possibility (doctor didn't know she understood what surgery meant so she freaked out when he said it), but over all, she's doing fine. I'm amazed because when I dislocated my finger, it HURT! But she's not complaining and hasn't had any Motrin since last night.

She did sleep in our bed last night so we didn't get much sleep, but it was a small price to pay for her to be able to relax and sleep.

So those are our weekend woes. How has your three day weekend been?

Write on.

King Cake Party Day!

The dough for the King Cake is rising! I wasn't sure it would do well since it is a cold, rainy/snowy day today. But I did turn my oven on (to warm) in an effort to help heat the kitchen and make the dough rise.

So, the party will go forward today!

I didn't find a little doggie or baby to put in the cake so I decided to use a glass bead instead. I found some nice purple, green, and gold ones to stick with the traditional King Cake colors.

So I will wash one of these beautiful beads and put it in the cake. Maybe one of the prizes I'll send the winner will be a bracelet or necklace made with the bead from the cake. =)

So, when the cake is done, I'll be back to post the winner!

ETA:

Okay, so the cake didn't turn out too well (I had to go get kids from school during the process and it didn't quite get done. But we went ahead and did it anyway! So, here's the cake.

My son is putting the names in because I knew the general area where the beads were and didn't want to be accused of playing favorites. ;-)Here are all the names in place:

Then I cut the cake with son telling me where to cut. So here's the cake all cut.

Then we started cutting into smaller pieces because I couldn't handle the huge chunks as they were.

I started over in Amandamarrone's section because I thought the beads were over there. Apparently I was wrong when I said I thought I knew the general area of the beads. *blush* The beads were not there.

Then we moved to Whitehousemom's section as I was sure they must be there . . . but again, I was wrong.

So the next section over was Robinellen's. You'll notice in the above picture that her name is in the yellow section with a bit of green on the edge. I thought the beads might be in the yellow section so I started on the far side. I was wrong again. This isn't my night!

Son suggested I move to the piece with the bit of green.

And there they were! Son gave the thumbs-up sign. He moved the name over to the green part of Robinellen's section because we had destroyed the yellow part trying to find the beads.

By the way, the stuff in the middle of the cake is cream cheese filling, not raw dough (the top of the cake is done, it's the bottom part that didn't fare so well).

Anyway, Congratulations Robinellen!

Dang girl, you are on a roll! I'm not sure what I'll send you yet, but you know I'm good for it! =D

And now, you get to host the next KING CAKE PARTY on your blog! So everyone keep checking Robin's blog to enter her King Cake Party!Thank you all for playing and I hope you have a great night.

Write on.

King Cake Party Delayed . . .

I did not get time to make the cake today. I WILL make it tomorrow and the five who entered (here and on my other blog) are entered. If you didn't get an entry before now, it's too late. Sorry. :(

I could draw names out of a hat, but I really want to do the cake. So, please be patient and the winner will be announced tomorrow.

Write on.

Valentines Day Contest Winners!

Thank you to all who entered the Valentine's Day Contest. We have our winners!

After putting the names in an M&M's bag (because it was empty and within reach), I shook it up, and drew the names of the lucky winners.

 

The grand prize of a $25 Amazon.com card, a $50 Rim Treasure Trove.com gift card, and the loot pictured below

goes to robinellen!

And our first prize of a $25 Rim Treasure Trove.com gift card and the goodies pictured below

 

goes to Amy D.

Congratulations Robin and Amy! PM me with your addresses and I'll get your fun stuff shipped out Monday.

Thank you all for entering and while you're here, please enter the King Cake Contest for more fun goodies and a chance to host a King Cake party on  your blog.

Write on.

Last chance to enter!

This is the last reminder (really, I mean it) for my Valentine's Day Contest. The deadline is Saturday, February 7th at 6:00pm (Arizona time). That's tomorrow! So get your entries in if you still want to enter for the fabulous prizes.

Hurry, time is running out! I'll post the winners Saturday evening after I draw them. Good luck to everyone!

Write on.

King Cake Party!

Are you ready to party? It is KING CAKE DAY! For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, here's the slice. Inside the king cake is hidden a plastic figure of a baby (or sometimes a pecan or whatever). The lucky person who gets the baby/pecan/whatever in their slice of king cake is the winner.

There is a catch though . . . if you get the baby/pecan/whatever, you have to host a party on your blog and offer some sort of fabulous prize(s) to the winner.

I was lucky enough to get the pecan last week on afraclose's blog so it's MY turn to host a party.

What do you win?

Yeah, I'm not sure about that yet, but I promise it will be something good. I'll send you a package of some sort with lots of fun stuff inside (maybe even a book or two).

 

(cake pictured is only a representation and is in no way meant to imply the actual cake will look like this)

Are you ready to put your name in for a slice of the cake? It's simple, all you have to do is leave a comment in this post. Yep, any old comment. Before I cut the cake, I will assign a slice to each person who comments (yep, I'm going to make a cake and everything). On Sunday I will cut the cake and announce the winner!

So, go on, leave a comment and see if you are lucky enough to get the baby (or whatever I put in there).

Write on.

Four on Thursday

I was going to post a review today of a recent title I read. I will, but not in this post. This post is reserved for some good news.

Okay, don't get all excited, it has nothing to do with writing. This is on a more personal type note. =)

Today, my Toy Fox Terrier, Jewel, had puppies! There are four of them. Two girls and two boys. The two girls were born first, then the two boys. They are all doing fine. And now for the pictures. =D

So, I did get my book review written, but no other writing.

Write on.

Looking back

Today Robin posted some pictures of her adorable kids as she remembered their younger years. This got me thinking about my writing.

What?

Yeah, I know, but bear with me here. =) I thought about how good it can be to look back and see how far the kids have come since they were born. And I think it's the same with writing.

I don't know about you, but I saved copies of my early drafts. I think it might be a good idea to take a moment and look back at those first writings to see how far my work has come.

What comments would I make to the author of that first draft were I doing a critique? Were there some good moments in there that have since been cut? How horrible is this first draft, really?

So today after work, I will be looking back at my first draft and answering these (and probably other) questions. I think it might be a good exercise for each of us to stop a minute and look at how far we've come. Whether published or unpublished, I bet our work has changed since those first drafts. Please, join with me in looking back and then leave a comment to let us know how far you've come.

Write on.

I have to write and contest stuff

As I caught up on blog posts today, I came across

janel_harrison

and her inspirational post for the day. She inspired me with the following:

"A Circle of Quiet" a memoir by Madeline L'Engle
"I had to write. I had no choice in the matter. It was not up to me to say that I could stop because I could not. It didn't matter how small or inadequate my talent. If I never had another book published, and it was very clear to me that this was a real possibility, I still had to go on writing. I'm very glad I made this decision in the moment of failure. It's very easy to say you're a writer when things are going well. When the decision is made in the abyss, then it is quite clear that it is not one's own decision at all."

This revelation came to her after she had cried over a rejection on her fortieth birthday. She had endured 10 years of rejection. As we all know, her story had quite the happy ending!
This is a good summation of how I feel. Thank you, Madeline L'Engle and thank you, janel_harrison for sharing this with us.
In other news, I will be hosting a King Cake party on this blog at some point during the week. Why? Because I got to be the lucky winner of the baby (or in this case, pecan) onafraclose's blog! YAY!! So check back for that. Also, there is still time to enter my Valentine's Day contest contest.

Write on.