I'm On Blog Vacation in Snowy Northern Colorado

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season and that your 2012 is the best year ever. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and a very Happy New Year.

Wednesday Scramble

What I'm Reading

The Dance of the Electric Hummingbird, a memoir by Patricia Walker. And I'm enjoying every minute of it.


Blogging from A to Z Challenge April 2012

Arlee Bird has a new badge on display for the 2012 challenge at the dedicated blog: Blogging from A to Z April Challenge Blog. It's time to start thinking about whether you'll participate or not this year.


My Blog Vacation

I'm starting my vacation tomorrow and won't be back on a regular schedule until Wednesday, January 4th. I may post a photo or a short post here and there, and I'll work on getting my 2012 guest list in my sidebar.

Mostly, however, I'm going to entertain company for five days, read a lot for fun, and maybe even go to the movies. If I get bored, I can get my calendar organized for a new year of blogging and writing and submitting.

And this afternoon, I'm spending 90 relaxing minutes on my massage therapist's table, getting rid of all the kinks in my muscles I accumulated while moving furniture and books and cleaning house. Life is good.


My Wishes for You

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season and that your 2012 is the best year ever. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and a very Happy New Year.

Chiseled in Rock Tuesday: Revisiting Ways to Relax

Once again I'm at Chiseled in Rock where I'm replaying my Ten Cheap Way to Relax When You Have Too Much To Do. I hope you'll drop by and add your suggestions for de-stressing.

A Breakthrough Monday

Hi everyone. I'll be visiting Stephen Tremp today at Breakthrough Blogs with a post about one tiny aspect of book promotion: the necessity of learning to read your work aloud. Hope to see you there.

Five Things You Didn't Know About Me

These are shocking, I know. But the truth has to come out some time.

1. I once performed with a belly-dancing troupe. The keyword there is once. I was embarrassed and chickened out after one performance and quit. However, the training does make one very fit and graceful (which I actually was about thirty years ago). Learn some basic moves by watching Arabic Belly Dance for Beginners on You Tube.

2. I studied piano for nine years. I still can't play worth a darn. I do have a keyboard, and I do plan to start playing again...soon.

3. One of my hobbies is crochet. I've crocheted nine afghans from the identical pattern using different color combinations each time. Also four shawls using the same pattern but different colors. Also baby blankets I give as gifts or donate to Project Linus. Contrary to popular opinion, crocheting while I watch television does not inhibit snacking.

4. When I was a clumsy short kid (who wanted to be a ballerina), I took tap dancing lessons. For one year. That's all the dance instructor could stand. I didn't like it much either. After watching a few elder gals in the local S.O.A.P. (Slightly Older Adult Players) shows dance with energy and enthusiasm, I wish I had tried harder.

5. My current favorite book of all time, which does change from time to time, is Wind in the Willows. First published in 1908, the book is about true friendship.

"When Mole takes a break from his cleaning and wanders down to the river bank, he meets the Water Rat and a friendship is instantly formed. The two, together with Badger, spend a glorious summer messing about on the river, picnicking on the bank, and taking life easy. But when their hapless friend Toad gets into a spot of bother they dash to his aid. Soon the four friends are fighting to save Toad Hall from the dastardly stoats and weasels."

There you have it. Now hit that comment box and reveal something fun about yourself.

30 Second Elevator Interview by Stephen Tremp, Guest Blogger

My guest today is Stephen Tremp, an author and blogger I "met" way back when I took Dani Greer's online Blog Book Tour class. Stephen is using his knowledge of technology and the sciences to write a cool thriller series featuring physics professor and discovery-seeker Chase Manhattan. It's all about a scientific breakthrough in the science of wormholes. The first book in the series was Breakthrough. The second book, soon to be released, is Opening.

Steve, welcome to my blog.

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30 Second Elevator Interview by Stephen Tremp, Guest Blogger


Hi everyone. As always, thanks for stopping by. Here is a fun little exercise I learned from one of my Yahoo! Writer's Groups. You can do this in your spare time (what's that?).

Make a keyword list. Then make a book synopsis using lots of those keywords. In fact, for fun, use them all! But NO MORE THAN THREE SENTENCES. Yes, that's right. Your book in three sentences. It may be the worst synopsis/blurb you've ever written. See if you can make us understand what the heck your book is about.

Here's my blurb I made from my list of key words:

A scientific breakthrough in Einstein-Rosen Bridges, or wormholes, is stolen by a group of misguided M.I.T. graduate students who wish to usher in a global science-based oligarchy leading the way with breakthroughs in physics, biochemistry, and nanotechnology. As the death toll mounts, Chase Manhattan and a multi-faceted cast of characters must battle this skilled team of killers on both coasts in a desperate race to control or destroy a discovery which threatens life as we know it. Greed, betrayal, murder, mayhem, spiritual contemplation, and unconditional love define the power-play struggle in this fast-paced suspense thriller of technology gone too far.

* Battle
* Betrayal
* Biochemistry
* Breakthrough
* Chase Manhattan
* Death
* Desperate race
* Destroy
* Discovery
* Einstein-Rosen Bridges
* Fast-paced
* Global science-based oligarchy
* Greed
* Killers
* M.I.T. graduate students
* Mayhem
* Multi-faceted
* Murder
* Nanotechnology
* Power-play struggle
* Physics
* Science
* Spiritual contemplation
* Stolen
* Suspense
* Technology
* Threatens
* Thriller
* Unconditional love
* Wormholes

Feel free to leave your three sentence blurb (no matter how good or bad it sounds) or other exercises you use in the comments. Have a great week.

If you think this post is worthy of Twitter or Facebook, please select the appropriate icon below. Thanks!


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Thanks, Steve, for the fun exercise. For those of us who might need to give an elevator pitch from time to time, picking the key words from our novels and putting them together in the way you've demonstrated looks like an excellent technique.

To learn more about Steve and his science thrillers, visit his excellent Breakthrough Blogs. He can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

Wednesday Scramble

Tomorrow's Guest Blogger

Stephen Tremp, author of the science thriller Breakthrough and the soon to be released Opening, will be my guest tomorrow with a great exercise to help you hone your skills at writing elevator pitches.


My Most Recent Purchase for My Kindle

I just bought Back in the Real World by Colorado author Cara Lopez Lee and Ed Turner. Here's the description:

"Kim Mancini has forgotten the day her Vietnamese mother gave her up to save her from persecution as the half-black baby of an American soldier. Vietnam war veteran Michael Frost can never forget the day he led his squad into a fatal mistake. Decades later, their pasts are tormenting them and tearing their families apart. When Frost’s old chaplain dies, he must confront his war buddies and the mistake he has failed to put behind him. When a coworker attacks Kim, it brings back memories of a childhood mired in violence and its consequences. In Back in the Real World, two survivors of war find themselves on a collision course with the past. Facing that past may be their only path to redemption."

What I'm Reading Now

I'm enjoying The Glass Castle, a memoir by Jeannette Walls. I'm finding it very hard to put down, and I hope to finish it tonight.


25 Things Writers Should Know About Rejection

This blog post about rejection was linked from Janet Reid's site, but the original post is at terribleminds.


What's Going On At My House?

Mostly cleaning and furniture rearranging in preparation for company. Yesterday (at least it seemed like yesterday) I thought I had all the time in the world, like a month or more. Now I suddenly discover my company will arrive in only nine days. How does this happen?

Chiseled in Rock Tuesday: An Article on Getting Ideas from Author Pam Nowak

If you've ever wondered how some writers get their ideas, here's how Pam does it.

Today's post over at Chiseled in Rock is a reprint of an article from the Rocky Mountain Writer, the newletter for Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. Award-winning author Pam Nowak is published in the historical romance genre, and she has long been an active member of RMFW as well as conference goddess for Colorado Gold held in Denver in September.

See you at the Rock!

I Was Just Thinkin'...

1. That I should take more than a week off from blogging during the holidays,

so I'm going to be on blog-holiday from Wednesday, December 22 through Tuesday, January 3rd (although I'll have something short and sweet at Chiseled in Rock on the 2nd).


2. That I've let my To Do List grow too long again,

so I'm going to cross a few things off. I didn't say I was going to do the tasks, I just said I was going to cross them off the list. With a red pen.


3. That I'm dying to get back to my NaNoWriMo novel even though I have tons of stuff to do before my company comes on the 23rd,

so I'm going to treat myself to a whole weekend of writing time on Saturday and Sunday.


4. That I don't play any of my CDs anymore,

so I'm going to spend an hour or more each evening in my thinking chair listening to great music. I'm going to start with the score of Phantom of the Opera.


5. That my office still looks like it was rifled by a team of burglars looking for my stash of dark chocolate,

so I'm heading for Office Depot this afternoon to finally purchase the needed storage shelves.


6. That I haven't fixed homemade pizza for ages,

so that's what I'm fixing for supper (with onions, mushrooms, spinach, and two kinds of cheese).


7. That I haven't finished my Christmas shopping,

so there are quite a few people who are going to get gift cards this year. I'm fine with that. :)

The Winner of the 2012 Writing Planner is...

The winner of the 2012 Writing Planner
designed by Northern Colorado Writers Director Kerrie Flanagan
and featuring the drawings of April Moore
is


Kayelllae

otherwise known as

Kristy Lantz Astry


Congratulations, Kristy

Getting the House in Order

Today

The new kitchen floor has been installed and now it's time to put the house in order. The first thing on the agenda is to go buy more shelves for my office closet and the kitchen pantry. The urge to organize is now stronger than the urge to write, so I need to seize the day. The urge to organize never seems to last very long.

Around noon Mountain Time I'll select the winner of the 2012 Writing Planner designed by Northern Colorado Writers Director Kerrie Flanagan and illustrated by the NCW Visual Designer, April Moore. You need to go back to Monday's post to enter. Sometime this afternoon I'll post the winner here.


And A YA Book Recommendation

If you have a YA fan to buy a book for this holiday season, I'd like to recommend the new sci fi novel from Amy Kathleen Ryan, Glow (the first book in the Sky Chasers series). Amy is an excellent writer, and your YA reader doesn't need to be a big sci fan to enjoy this one. (Note to the gift giver...you might want to read it before you wrap it up.) Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks it's a good story. There's a buzz, and the online bookseller rankings and reviews tell the tale.

Four Little Words by Sharon Ervin, Guest Blogger

Former newspaper reporter Sharon Ervin has a degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. She writes in several genres, but I first met her (virtually, of course) when I discovered and read her Five Star mystery, The Ribbon Murders. Her most recent tale of mayhem is Candlesticks, a Jancy Dewhurst Mystery.

Welcome, Sharon.

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Four Little Words by Sharon Ervin, Guest Blogger



Four little words launched many writers, including me. Those four little words still make me tingle.

Daddy worked nights. Evenings when he was home, he read to me. A first child gets attention from parents that later offspring do not. Back then, being read to was one of those advantages.

I remember sitting on Daddy’s lap and, later on, snuggled close beside him, pointing out words I recognized before I could actually read. I could recite “The Night Before Christmas” before I was five, a result of Daddy’s reading it over and over again.

He and I went downtown by ourselves one night, to the massive, art deco Oklahoma City Library. I still remember the hush and the rich, mingled fragrances of polished oak and books. The rooms had high ceilings and ladders that gave patrons access to the upper shelves. Waving his hand, Daddy said, “See these books? They all belong to you.”

I would have to read fast if I were to get through all “my books.”

Volumes in the children’s area welcomed me. I belonged there. Books became my friends.

Mother and Daddy divorced when I was was ten. My sister was seven. Both of my parents remarried and had other children. Busy, they didn’t take time to read to my siblings, but I did. I introduced them to libraries as I was introduced, and saw that they had library cards and visited regularly.

With television and all the electronic devices today, most busy parents don’t read to their children. Kids develop their love of words and reading by other methods...or not.

My growing up families and, later, my own offspring, moved around the country. Uncertain at first in a new place, we learned to feel at home as soon as we found a local library. Antiquated or thoroughly modern, libraries were familiar, still often smelling like polished oak and books.

My husband and I and our four children, and now their children, are active library patrons. One son who lives away, enjoys online access and e-mails us from his neighborhood library.

Grandchildren, not only check out books, but they borrow CDs and DVDs from their libraries. Like their parents and grandparents, they have learned that all the materials and the expertise available at public libraries belong to them, and they make good use of their access.

This love of books and libraries and reading began as I snuggled in my Daddy’s lap all those years ago. He often began our sessions together with those four little words I grew to love.

Those words still make me smile and provide a warm glow. Most of us know those words, have heard them all our lives. They are: “Once upon a time....”

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Sharon, thanks so much for sharing your story with us today. Those of us who love books and grew up hoping to read all the books in the world understand just what those four words can mean.

You can learn more about Sharon and her books at her website or her Amazon Kindle page. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.

Wednesday Scramble

Tomorrow's Guest

Sharon Ervin, author of mystery and romance, is scheduled to be my guest this week. Check out the list of titles and the cover art at her website.


What I'm Reading

Dan's War, a techno-thriller by Northern Colorado writer Milt Mays.


2012 Writing Planner Giveaway

I posted this giveaway on Monday and residents of the U.S. and Canada have until Friday noon (U.S. Mountain Time) to enter. Go to Monday's post and leave a comment.


This Week at My House

I'm expecting a crew to show up bright and early tomorrow morning to put down my new kitchen floor. Unfortunately, I'm not even close to being ready. My husband and I have more stuff to move out of the pantry, I dismantled the breakfast nook but need his help to carry the table and benches into the dining room, and I want to clean the oven. There's more, but I won't bore you with the details. If I'm missing from blog world, Facebook, and Twitter today and part of tomorrow, you'll know why.

On top of that, an evil monster attacked my laptop Monday evening and it has been seriously injured. I must find time to work on eradicating the demon, even if it means beating it to death with a hammer. Maybe Friday.

Chiseled in Rock Tuesday: What's New from Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers?

Yep, I've hopped over to the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Chiseled in Rock blog to bring you another "What's New?" feature. This month I have two new releases to report...one from the erotic pen of Thea Hutcheson and the other a thriller from Robin Perini. You should drop by just to look at the eye-catching cover art.

And while you're here at my blog, don't forget to enter the 2012 Writing Planner giveaway I announced yesterday (Monday). Just scroll down and leave a comment to enter.

The 2012 Writing Planner Giveaway

I have a beautiful 2012 Writing Planner from the creative mind of Kerrie L. Flanagan, Director of Northern Colorado Writers. This year, the planner is enhanced by the addition of drawings by NCW's Visual Designer, April J. Moore.




This planner is a calendar (full-month pages as well as weekly pages), a goal-setting tool, a query/submission tracker, and a motivator (writerly quotes).





You know I always make my giveaways easy. The only thing you need to do is leave a comment, and make sure your e-mail address is either in your Google Connect profile or in the comment.




This giveaway is open to residents in the U.S. and Canada. The deadline for entry is Noon, U.S. Mountain Time, on Friday, December 9th.

The Winner Is...

The winner of the book giveaway from Carolyn J. Rose
on Thursday's guest post

(a copy of A Place of Forgetting)


is


Jacqueline Seewald

Congratulations, Jacqueline

Christmas Holds a Special Place in My Heart by Natasha Wing, Guest Blogger

Very special guest and Northern Coloradoan Natasha Wing is the author of a whole bunch of "Night Before" books for kids. Since tomorrow is Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day, I'm especially happy to welcome Natasha with her recommendations for your holiday book shopping trips, especially her favorites for the Christmas Season.

The Night Before the Night Before Christmas and other books listed can be purchased from online retailers and from many of your local chain and independent bookstores.

Thanks for joining us today, Natasha.

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Christmas Holds a Special Place in My Heart by Natasha Wing


Christmas holds a special place in my heart – partly because there are two Christmas books that influenced my writing career.

The first one is The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg. I was browsing at a Christmas bizarre in Phoenix when I came across a book with a captivating cover of a locomotive in the snow. I picked up the book and flipped through its pages, and like a slow-motion dream, people around me disappeared into a blur then a sparkly white light enveloped me. I remember standing in silence, totally in awe of the book, and declaring that I wanted to make this kind of magic for kids. That’s when my path toward writing and publishing children’s books began.

The second book is The Night Before Christmas. As a child I loved that poem. And when I got the idea to write an Easter book, I wanted to pay homage to The Night Before Christmas and wrote my Easter story using the same storytelling structure except that I put my own twist on the holiday. One book grew into a 15-book series and for that I am thankful because my Night Before books enable me to continue to write for a living. There are hundreds of versions of this story, but I am recommending The Night Before Christmas: The Classic Edition by Charles Santore since it contains the original telling and spelling of the story as it was first published in 1823.

Books have brought magic into my life – as both a kid and an adult. This Christmas, you can bring a little magic into a child’s life by giving a book. Here are a few that I thought would make good gifts.

I have read countless children’s books over the past 20 years of my writing career, so it is impossible to narrow down a list of my favorites. But let’s start with two books about…books!

It’s a Book by Lane Smith is about a jackass who is curious about monkey’s book and asks what the book does and how to use it. It’s a comedic commentary on technology that adults will get a kick out of while kids will enjoy the funny exchanges between the jackass and the monkey.

For kids who have advanced to easy readers, another funny book about books is from the Elephant & Piggie series by Mo Willems called We are in a Book! Elephant and Piggie think they are being watched. And they are – by the reader of the book! They play with the reader and dare him to say a word that sets them into giggle fits. Their silliness will tickle the reader as well.

One of my favorite book characters is Fancy Nancy. (I must admit I am showing a touch of bias because the author, Jane O’Connor, is my editor for my Night Before books.) What I particularly like about this series is that Fancy Nancy is cleverly teaching children to improve their vocabulary. Plus I love the fanciful illustrations. These books make for easy pairings with other fun gifts such as a tea set, boas, tiaras and oo-la-la! Girls will love playing Fancy Nancy. Jane O’Connor has written a bazillion Fancy Nancy books, but I suggest if your child has not been introduced yet, start with the first one.

For the artist in your family – or the child who is worried about making mistakes- Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg is a reassuring board book about how what first looks like a mistake or oops is really part of a creative masterpiece. Pair this book with a paint set or craft paper to inspire your child to create his own beautiful oops.

For a multicultural twist on The Twelve Days of Christmas, there’s Pinata in a Pine Tree: A Latino Twelve Days of Christmas by Pat Mora and brightly illustrated by Magaly Morales. The book includes a glossary and a song so the whole family can sing along. It’s always fun to discover how other people celebrate holidays, and this book offers a joyful peek at the Latino culture.

Because Fort Collins is a dog-loving town, I am highly recommending a book for pre-teens, teens and grown-ups, too – A Dog’s Purpose: A Novel for Humans by W. Bruce Cameron. It’s about a dog that is reincarnated several times and each time brings a piece of its past life into its new life. You see how a dog views its surroundings and human behavior. But most of all, you are moved by a dog’s devotion to humans. It made me smile. It made me cry. But if you know a dog lover and want to give a heart-touching present, there’s nothing better than a good dog story.

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Thanks again, Natasha, for your recommendations. I know just the kid for It's a Book...and just the grownup for A Dog's Purpose.

For more information about Natasha and her own books, visit her website. She blogs at Natasha's News where she's currently doing a series on awesome books from awesome Colorado writers. You can also find her on Facebook.

If What You Ate Affected What You Wrote by Carolyn J. Rose, Guest Blogger

My guest today is Carolyn J. Rose, the author of 11 novels including A Place of Forgetting, a story about love, war, betrayal, and Thoreau, set in 1966. A cozy mystery, No Substitute for Murder, is due out soon.

Carolyn grew up in New York’s Catskill Mountains, graduated from the University of Arizona, logged two years in Arkansas with Volunteers in Service to America, and spent 25 years as a television news researcher, writer, producer, and assignment editor in Arkansas, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington. Now getting her quota of stress as a substitute teacher, she lives in Vancouver, Washington, and founded the Vancouver Writers’ Mixers. Her hobbies are reading, gardening, and not cooking.

I'd like to add that Carolyn has a wonderful sense of humor, and she demonstrates it well in today's post.

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If What You Ate Affected What You Wrote by Carolyn J. Rose, Guest Blogger

“You are what you eat.”

My grandmother used to tell me that. Maybe yours did, too. Or maybe you heard it in a health and nutrition class.

When I was very young, I worried that I would literally turn into my favorite foods: spaghetti, cauliflower with cheese sauce, baked potatoes loaded with sour cream, garlic bread, cashew nuts, and black olives. I feared I’d wake up some morning with spaghetti for hair, a body like a loaf of bread, a potato on my neck, cauliflower for ears, olives for eyes, and a cashew instead of a nose.

I was relieved to learn what the saying really meant, but not relieved to realize that if I couldn’t cut back on my favorite foods, I’d be pudgy for the rest of my life. (For the record, in my 30s there was a three-year window when I was, according to accepted weights and standards, Not Pudgy. The rest of my life I’ve lived a few pounds over the line into Pudgyville.)

Recently, as I sat down to a salad with just a mist of dressing and a couple of tasteless crackers, I thought about that old saying and how interesting writing would be if we could use food as more than physical fuel and emotional sustenance.

What if what we ate influenced what we wrote?

And what if we could channel and direct that influence?

Let’s say I wanted to write a tense scene filled with biting dialogue. I might heat up a bowl of super-hot chili and sprinkle on cheese to bind it. Hot and sour soup might work as well.

If a scene called for light and witty dialogue, I might dine on sparkling cider, fluffy biscuits, and whipped butter.

For a scene set in the dead of winter, I’d sacrifice myself to a tub of vanilla ice cream. For a midnight setting, a double chocolate cake. For noon, maybe lemon meringue pie.

For a scene dense with backstory and characterization, I’d go for something meaty, perhaps a pot roast with potatoes or a plate of turkey and stuffing, or even that bowl of oatmeal my grandmother always swore would stick to my ribs.

For fast-paced action, perhaps a bowl of prunes and bran flakes.

If the food-for-fiction theory worked for scenes, the sky would be the limit in applying it to complete works.

If I wanted to write a short story, I’d eat only drive-through-diner food. For a novel, I’d whip up a seven-course dinner.

I might eat specific foods for specific genres.

For science fiction, Moon Pies and Starburst, Milky Way and Mars Bars.

For romance, I might dine on candy hearts, honey, and champagne.

For humor, a bowl of nuts.

For mystery, I could order off the menu at my favorite Chinese restaurant, picking numbers at random without peeking at which dishes they matched up with.

Eating those dishes without asking about the contents, however, might be too much of a challenge for this Virgo.

If this blog got you thinking about how you’d fuel your fiction, and if you’d like to get your name in the drawing for a book, stop by and leave a comment. I’ll get back to you soon. I’m working on a scene set in Hawaii and I just made myself a Lava Flow and opened a can of macadamia nuts.

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Carolyn, thanks so much for being my guest today. And an extra thank you for giving away a copy of A Place of Forgetting.

Everyone, be sure to leave a comment if you want to be entered in the drawing.

To learn more about Carolyn and her books, visit her Amazon Author Page or the Deadly Duo Mysteries website.