Gone Shopping!

Hey, all!

Well, the Christmas Tree is officially up and the house is decorated. FINALLY!

I had a little bit of trouble getting into the spirit initially. I think it's because it's been so unseasonably warm.
But for someone who's been a bit of a Grinch, I sure bedazzled my house!! I had no idea I had it in me!:)

Anyhew, my church's Advent Luncheon went off wonderfully, thanks for asking. I actually had four women request my Caesar dressing recipe. Yes, it's THAT good.

So now, I'm off to get some shopping done...um, since I have yet to start.

Catch up with you all later.

How about you, is your tree up yet?

More Monday Musings

Happy Monday!
Hope all you Nano-ers are still plugging away! You're at the halfway mark!

And me? I'm still plugging away too--although at a much slower non-Nano rate. :)

In case you all are curious, I"ll share that I LOVE MY NEW HAIRCUT. Not really short in the back though. Just a tiny angle. It looks like Jennifer Anniston's hair when she bobbed it--here. Very happy!!

And here are just a few more of my thoughts for today:

1) Why do we still have Halloween candy in the house? We've been eating it everyday and it just won't disappear. (I'm afraid it will appear on my hips though)

2) Why does coffee out taste so much better than coffee at home?

3) I think I must have a very fragile body. I had just a smidgen of a sore throat yesterday and I had to take a nap after church and was pretty much down for the count all day. I had no other symptoms...

4) Leftovers stink. (Unless it's pizza or some kind of pasta)

5) Is it mashed potatoes or mash potatoes?

Yes, I know, my thoughts run pretty deep... LOL

Any thoughts (or answers) you'd like to share?
Do you still have Halloween candy left?

I'm Baaaaaack!

Hey, all!

I'm back from my little bloggie break and feeling recharged, relaxed, and re--ok, tan.
I was in lovely sunny Florida since Sunday!! Here to be exact: Bonita Springs.

We were visiting the in-laws at their vacation club condo and had a FANTASTIC time!
So fantastic that it was hard to leave 86 degree weather and come back to cloudy and cold New Jersey at a whopping 39 degrees.

What a slap of reality that was!

This post is brief since I'm still so tired and have done nothing with pictures in my camera yet. Why does traveling wipe me out all the time? It was a two hour plane ride (where I slept for half of it), I was mainly pool or beach side the entire vacation, yet I'm beat.
How does that happen?

Well, anyhew, I need to food shop today, go through the 500 (at least) emails I had while I was away, and visit all of you and see what I missed this week.

Anything exciting happen while I was away?

PS: For those of you concerned and/or curious, my P90x routine was hardly disrupted on my vacation. I was at the gym every day and ate extremely healthy.

PS2: A hardy congrats to all the entrants of the GH and RITA! The RWA will be announcing the finalists this morning! I hope my favorites and/or friends made the list. :)

Monday Musings

MOOD STATUS: "Distracted". Got behind on a few things I need to get done because I was sick last week.

WEEK OF P90X: Ten.

I really wanted to title this post "random thoughts"--but it didn't rhyme with Monday. So I had to get creative, hence the "Monday Musings". It sort of works. :)

Anyhew, as noted above, I'm a little distracted because I have so much to catch up on this week. So allow me to ramble (another word that doesn't rhyme with Monday) and clear my mind.

1) My neighbor offered to take my kidlet to the school carnival with his son on Saturday. I said, "Great!" My kidlet then came home with pink stripes in her hair and FIVE goldfish (really six goldfish but one died in transit)

2) I'm almost finished painting the kidlet's room. She picked two colors: blue and yellow. So I'm painting two walls Regal blue and two walls Daffodil yellow. It's going to looks super cute when I'm done.

3) I still can't taste anything. (because of my cold). The good news is that I think I lost a little extra weight as a result.

4) I skipped one day of P90x (because of my cold) But it was only Yoga, so I don't feel too guilty.

5) I love that new Secret Millionaire show.

6) I'm really excited because on Thursday I got TWO books that have been on my TBR list for ages.

7) We need to buy a new digital camera. I have one of those old ones with the postage size stamp screen now. I have it narrowed down to two. But there's a $200 price difference, and I'm torn. But we're going on vacation soon so I need to make a decision soon. UGH!

8) I missed a few days of writing last week (because of my cold) so I need to make those words up this week so I can still make my Book In Three Month Challenge.

Whew! That feels really good to get that all out.

How about you? Any musings or random thoughts you'd care to share?

A BAD Case of the Sillies

MOOD STATUS:
"Happy". Making some serious progress on my WIP. Who wouldn't be happy about that?

Well, at the risk of TMI (too much information), I just have to share with you anyway what’s been going on in my household these past few weeks.

My hubby and I have had a case of the sillies.


No, it’s not life-threatening and I’m sure eventually—like MONO—will pass. But there you have it. We have the sillies. What can I say? We like to laugh.
How did this suddenly happen you might ask? Well, it all started with a couple of boxes of Gleem toothpaste my hubby bought for the family.

Okay, I know I could stop right there, because me using Gleem toothpaste is funny in itself. I mean, who buys Gleem?


Well, apparently we do. It’s very inexpensive. But I digress...

So anyway, the hubby took the toothpaste out of the box and apparently just dropped it into the bathroom trashcan. He did not bend it so it would fit. He did not crush it. NO. There it was sticking up and halfway out of the trashcan like a huge straw. Now I, being the neurotic woman I am, finally couldn’t take looking at it any longer and picked it out, crushed it, and threw it away properly.


I know, hilarious. But stick with me.

Well, the hubby goes into the bathroom and notices that I couldn’t take how he threw out it out and makes a comment about how I mutilated his precious Gleem box. Which had me laughing.
But it goes on.


Unbeknownst to me, he picked the Gleem box out of the trashcan, flattened it, and left it for me to find—under my laptop to be cute.


Well, when I found it, I laughed and decided two can play at his game. So I hid it where he’d find it: his sock drawer.

Then he hid it for me in my makeup bag

Well, I hid it in his shower caddy yesterday. (you can see for yourself the silliness of this nature) The hubby congratulated me on that one, by the way. It really took him by surprise. :)



The beauty of this comedy is that we each find it every couple of days—and just when we’ve completely forgotten about that stupid toothpaste box, it shows up again.


Now, you may be thinking, Jennifer, you need to get more. There's no doubt about that. But I still have to say, it’s the cheap little laughs in life that I enjoy the most. :)


What about you?

Do you think you’re more of a serious person? Or do you get a case of sillies (like me) every once in a while?

Reading in the New Year

IN THE NEWS: Inmate sues the prison officials over rat bitten on his penis. (I'm NOT making this up) Read more HERE.
CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS STILL UP: Red Bells hanging on the lights over the garage. (Hopefully they'll come down today)

Well, since it's Martin Luther King Day--and the hubby and kiddo are home staring me down, I'll make this blog post brief. Briefer than usual...

I just wanted to let you all know that I broke a record (my own record, that is) for the amount of books read in a year. Last year, I read....57 books.

Cue the oooooh aaaaaahs...

Yes, I managed to read a lot. (For me.)
Yet, strangely enough, I have NOT picked up a fiction book yet and we're already half way through January. So what am I reading now? The very first book I decided to christen the new year with is: "We Are Not Alone: The Writer's Guide to Social Media" by Kristen Lamb.
I'm only about 2/3 through it but already I'm wondering where this book has been all my life and more importantly when I first entered onto the Internet. Interesting stuff!

I still hope to break my 57 book record this year despite my slow start. After all, you know what Stephen King says: "If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time - or the tools - to write. Simple as that."

Simple as that.

Do you know how many books you read last year? Do you want to read a certain amount this year?

A Little Holiday Extra: I don't know why this video cracks me up, but I never get tired of watching it.

CATS PLAYING PATTY-CAKE

Have a good holiday. :)

NEW Year NEW Goals!

MOOD STATUS: "Upbeat". I love to make a list of goals!
FAVORITE CHRISTMAS GIFT: The Griddler by Cuisinart.

Hi, all! Yes, I'm still alive. I just took advantage of a nice loooooong holiday break complete with skiing, eating, sleeping, baking and FUN.

I'm spoiled like that. :)

Anyhew, I missed all of you! Truly! And I hope you all had the very best Christmas and New Years. And speaking of New Years *cough cough* ... it's that time again. (Beyond remembering to change the year on all the new checks you'll be writing)

It's that time of year of resolutions and/or GOALS.

I'm not one to really hop on the bandwagon of New Years resolutions but I do believe it is an inspiring time to take stock of the past year and decide if you want to stay the course or make a change--personally and professionally.

I've been doing some hard thinking (scary, I know) but I've decided to do make a few changes in my own life this year. Want to know what they are? Oh, good! Because I was going to tell you anyway! And here goes...

PERSONAL GOAL:

Last year I made the decision to start running, drink more water and eat more organically. I'm glad I did because I more or less was success the whole year with that.


This year I getting a little nutty--er, aggressive. The hubby and I are doing the P90X workout regime starting...today! I admit, I'm a little nervous about this thing, but the hubby said if I stuck to it and did the whole 90 days he would offer an incentive--meaning new curtains in my dining room and new counters in my kitchen.

That was all I needed to hear. Bring it on!



PROFESSIONAL GOAL:

Last year I had a vague goal of trying to become more disciplined in my writing. Um, yeah. Unfortunately, vague goals are just that. VAGUE. So there was little accomplished on that front. Although I give myself an A for effort. :)


This year I'm getting more aggressive. (For me, anyway)
Some of my critique partners and I will be doing a Book In 3 Months writing challenge in Feb. for a new story I'm plotting. My other goal is finish my manuscript Kissing Kendall. Both books I plan to have done and submitted by the end of the year.

See? A concrete goal. MUCH better.



Woo-hoo! I'm excited for this year already!
How about you?

Have you mapped out any goals for yourself--personally or professionally?
Do you like to make goals for the new year?

(PS, what was your favorite Christmas gift you received?)

O' Christmas Tree

IN THE NEWS: German police find pot plant adorned as Xmas tree. Read more HERE.

GIFTS TO BUY: Still 5 (but going shopping again today)

So the Christmas tree went up the other day. <-- This is it in all its splendor. It's actually late for us in getting the Christmas tree up. I like it up and decorated as soon as humanly possible after Thanksgiving.

I'm one of those people who move right into the next holiday. But I don't like my holidays to cross over. For example:No turkey talk until after Halloween. And of course, no Christmas music until after Thanksgiving.
Let's keep our holidays straight, people. :)

But anyhew, back to the Christmas tree... It's fake, yes. Allergies and my vacuuming obsession keep us from getting a real one. But one of the little traditions we do (for our fake tree) is buy an ornament from wherever we've visited that year. We didn't really take any major vacations this year but we did got to Boston to take the kiddo to a Red Sox game
<----
Thus the ornament of Fenway Park here.

-->this little gem is from our trip to Atlantis in the Bahamas a few years ago.

<--

Disney

-->this one I just threw in because the kiddo made it out of an old CD and I thought it was neat. :)

That's it for me this Friday. I'm off to shop in about an hour and then will stop by the rest of your blogs to catch-up later.

PS. Erin Kern was sweet enough to want to interview me today. So stop on by if you get a chance. No giveaway. Just random pointless info about myself. :)

How about you?

Is your tree up yet? Real or fake? Do you collect ornaments or have any special traditions with them?

Coming out of the Dark Ages

IN THE NEWS: Man who allegedly shot at his TV because he was upset about Bristol Palin being on “Dancing with the Stars". Read more HERE.

Well, I'm finally using my IPad for something other than a giant IPod. :)

The thing is we got the IPad originally for music. Long story short: we got speakers put in our kitchen, sun room and deck. With the whole setup we can now control what music is being played in different areas of the house as well as control the TV --all from the IPad. (I know it sounds like I'm technologically advanced but I just nod and shake my head when I'm at the audio store)

Anyhew, when I finally had the time to play around with the IPad, I kind of looked at it and scratched my head then asked my hubby where the manual was. I just got "a look" when I posed that question. Apparently there is no manual. Well. Who knew?

All I really wanted to do figure out how to read an ebook. (baby steps)

I do have a SONY e-reader. But then the other day I heard about some of the great free Kindle book deals you can take advantage of if you have a Kindle--or a Kindle app. so I put two and two together and downloaded the free app onto my IPad and voila! I had an ebook within seconds.

WOW. It was a scary it was so easy.

Who knew I was living in the Dark Ages with my old SONY non-wifi reader? Gosh, the IPad was SO much simpler. Life begins today! Well, life really began yesterday when I actually downloaded and started reading the book. But you know what I mean. :)

I can't really tell a difference as far reading off the IPad vs my old SONY reader. I've heard it's not as good as the actual ebook readers. But I can adjust the tint and font pretty easily and have it down to where I find it really comfortable. I'll let you know if my eyes start to bother me. But so far so great.

Now I'm looking into apps that I can download so I can actually do edits on my IPad. I'll let you know how that goes. I know I'm a little behind the times, but I'm slowly getting there.

What about you?

Are you in the know with all the applications and downloads you can use for you IPad or laptop, or are you living in the Dark Ages like me?

What are your favorite apps?

Halloween Recap

IN THE NEWS: Oops: Accused Fla. bank robber dropped wallet. Read more HERE.

Halloween was good but...unusual this year. In fact, I think it was one of those rare days where we actually celebrated THREE holidays in one. Yes, it's true. The in-laws are leaving for Florida soon but they wanted to have a big turkey dinner together before they left since they won't be around for Thanksgiving. So we celebrated Thanksgiving on Halloween.

But since it was Halloween and trick-or-treating started at 5PM, my mother-in-law had to have dinner early. Way early. Like...1PM early.

Or what I like to call linner.

The in-laws usually come back for a brief time for Christmas but this year they're not going to do that so they gave each of the grandkids one Christmas gift to open up. Thus, the third holiday was celebrated that day. A new record. :)

The actual Halloween trick-or-treating was great. In my neighborhood all the kids gather for one group picture before they're off. All the dads walk together and chaperone the kids while the moms have candy duty. The kids trick-or-treated for maybe an hour and half but still managed to get a ton of candy. Then they (meaning kids AND dads) were pooped so we all ended up getting together at one of the neighbor's houses and had a impromptu party, which ended at 8PM since it was a school night. Too fun!

Here's a pic of everyone: (my kiddo was Hannah Montana)



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In other news...

I just got a review from Booklist for Georgie on His Mind that totally made my weekend. In case you didn't know, Booklist is the magazine put out by the American Library Association. Here's a brief snippet of what it said:

From Booklist
"It’s the mature way Walt responds to Georgie’s shenanigans that make this romance a standout. Shirk’s novel is as breezy and charming as Georgie’s seaside surroundings, and her sweet love affair with Walt will linger in the reader’s mind long after the tale is told."
--Courtney Jones

*sigh* What a nice surprise!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oh and one other minor bright spot this Halloween was the "trading" of the candy that went on between the kids after trick-or-treating was done.

Kudos to my kiddo for making a sweet (no pun intended) trade of a giant Willy Wonkers Laffy Taffy for a giant Twix bar (my personal fav). Good girl!


What's your favorite Halloween candy?

Wiggle Room

MOOD STATUS: Happy! Kidlet has her school Halloween parade and class party today! (Always a fun time--even for the moms)

Good news! I finished my outline for my new work-in-progress: Kissing Kendall.

I don't know why but I always begin outlining at different points for each book that I'm writing. For this new wip, I began to outline after I had three chapters written.

My last wip (Sunny Days for Sam *currently under submission*) I didn't outline until I hit chapter seven! Weird, huh?
But that's the point where I stopped and figured out how I was going to take them to the ending and wrote an outline from chapter 7 to chapter 12. I pretty much stuck with I outlined then too.

For Georgie on His Mind, I outlined from about chapter two to the end. Only I allowed myself A LOT more wiggle room since I outlined it so much earlier.

Actually according to original outline, my hero's ex girlfriend came back to town. (Huh. That didn't happen) Also, in my original outline there was supposed to be an armed robbery at the pharmacy toward the end of the book! (Wow, that didn't happen either. Hmm... but the pharmacy did have some condoms stolen) :)


Hmm...I see a pattern with outlining early. I tend to give myself MUCH more wiggle room in the story plot. So it'll be interesting to see how much I follow from this new outline.


So why bother outling early? Well, I'm just anal enough to want some kind of map or direction in my writing--even if I don't bother following it exactly. I'm more of a visual person and I NEED to see it play out on paper in front of me. Once I'm satisfied with it, I can write and change things as the mood strikes. But it's always nice to have something to fall back on in case I get stuck.

How about you?
Do you follow your outlines perfectly or do you allow yourself a lot of WIGGLE ROOM too?

Back from DC!

MOOD STATUS: "Exhausted". Very little sleep and lots of walking on this recent weekend trip to DC.

Hi, all! Thank you so much for stopping by Diane Estrella's blog for a chance to win a copy of my book. She will have the results of the book win and all the other winners of her giveaways over on her blog today. :)

Friday, after I posted on my blog about her contest, I left town on a little trip with a few of my friends and their hubbies. (This was a no kids weekend trip) Last year we went to Boston and this year we decided to give Washington DC a whirl.

The last time I was in DC, I think I was in 6th grade so it was nice to get back and see the sights. We stayed in the Georgetown area and that's where all our dinner reservations were. My favorite was the Peacock Cafe. I'm still thinking about the food I ate there. It was THAT delicious!!

We got into Georgetown late so we just walked around the shops before dinner. Saturday we were able to do the bulk of sightseeing in the monument area. Our first stop was Arlington National Cemetery. Believe it or not, I had never been there or had seen the changing of the guards before, so it was really cool to be able to do that. Then we needed o grab some lunch so we were told (by many people we asked) to go to Chinatown.

Fine. So we jumped on the Metro. Well, we did that and then... yada yada yada my friend is asking the Pentagon police to call us a taxi. LOL

Long story.

Just know there were lots of Metro delays, lots of escalators and somehow we ended up at the Pentagon--which was completely deserted. (The area around it too) Very weird.

Anyhew...after all that, we finally made it to Chinatown and decided to go into an Irish Pub. We ate quesadillas there. (Does anyone else find humor in that?) :)

After lunch we went to the Holocaust Museum. Oh. My. Gosh. What can I really say about that? I would have liked to have spent more time in it. It was incredibly moving. If you're ever in DC, this is a MUST SEE.

I did want to see the Lincoln Memorial again but there wasn't enough time in our schedule. Obviously a day and a half isn't enough to take in the sights. Next time, Abe.

Basically, the purpose of the trip was to just have a nice couples' weekend, hang out, see some sights and enjoy some nice meals with each other. But we did manage to catch of the "night life" in DC too.

I have quite a few stories, but I'll tell you just this one: We decide we all want to go dancing. So my friend looks up and sees a club called Midtown on the second floor of this building. The music was really pumping. Sounds great, right? But the catch was there was a LONG line to get in.

In fact, it's just like what you see in movies and TV when you think about a NYC club with the velvet ropes and people waiting to get in. Well, we reluctantly got in line. But we're only there standing for about 30 seconds then all of a sudden a guy all runway-suited-up with the earpiece and all (just like TV!) approaches us. He asked us how many were in our party. So we tell him six and then he tells us to follow him. He led us behind the velvet rope and right up the steps of the club and didn't charge us any cover either. It was so cool!

We felt like total rock stars. :)

What a great time we all had! But I need to go back to Dc and bring the kidlet--when she's a little older. :)

Oh, and they had this place called Georgetown Cupcakes in Georgetown. Every time we passed by it--no matter what time of day or night--there was a line outside the door. (What is it with DC and lines?) Anyway, Sunday before we went home we bought a few boxes of cupcakes to take home.

PS: They were definitely worth standing in line for. :)

No writing for me today. It's all about unpacking, laundry, and catching up on emails.

What did you do this weekend?

When was the last time you went to Washington DC? What's your favorite place to visit there?

Not Liking the Award Winning

MENTAL STATUS: "Groovy". Feeling great! Thanks for all the get-wells. :)

So last week, we had a little discussion about books in my critique forum. None of my crit partners are on GoodReads so we were recommending books to each other and talking about books we were disappointed in.

After one of my crit partners talked about how much she disliked this one book, I decided to do her the biggest favor ever and recommend a great one. A book I knew for sure she would love as much as I did.

However, it didn't go as well as I had hoped...


Me: Oh, you didn't like ABC book? Yes, not her best, but you should read XYZ book because it's really cute and even won a RITA.


Her: XYZ book? Is that the one with the hero who is A and the heroine who is B? Yeah, I read that already. Hated it.

Me: (scratching head and squinting at the screen. She couldn't have written "hated it". No. She must have misspelled "loved it") Um, are you sure we're talking about the same book?

Her: Yes. I'm sure. Hated it.


Me: (cringing again at the word hated. How can that be? This book won the RITA for goodness sakes!) Um, but didn't you like it when the heroine met the hero and---

Her: NO.

Me: B--B--But...

Her: Trust me, Jenn. Read it and didn't find it amusing at all.

Not at all?

My poor critique partner had to put up with at least five more minutes of "Really?" "Are you sure?" "Not even when this and this happened?" "Are you pulling my leg?" "Really, really?"


Because obviously if I loved a book and it won the RITA, wouldn't it stand to reason that she should love the book too?

Well, of course the answer is no. Everybody has different tastes.

I don't know why at the time I couldn't wrap my mind around that fact. (Actually, I'm still shocked. LOL) But just because a book wins an award--even if it's the BIGGEST award for romance writing ever--it doesn't automatically guarantee a person will love the book. (For those of you who don't know, the RITA award is the equivalent to the Oscar for romance writing.)


And for the record, I, personally, have never disliked a book that won a RITA. Nope. It's never happened. But I have disliked many movies that have won Oscars...

Here are a few:

American Beauty totally didn't get what the hype was about this one

Fargo I was NOT amused by this film at all. The acting was excellent but the story horrified me.

Leaving Las Vegas Holy Snikes! Nicolas Cage played an alcoholic and I was ready to start drinking halfway through this movie too. TOTALLY depressing.

Those are just a few examples of award-winning movies that everybody else seemed to love and gush over and I DID NOT. Just another prime example of how subjective books, movies and art are. One of these days, I will remember that. :)

How about you?
Did you ever dislike a book that won a RITA or some other kind of award?
Have you ever disliked a movie that won an Oscar?

Marathon Results!

IN THE NEWS:Pet alligator seized from liquor store in NY. Read more HERE.


Well, the hubby didn't stroke out. In fact, he did FANTASTIC in his first half marathon! Especially when you consider he was facing 30 mile/hour winds for the last 3 mile stretch. (brutal! I could barely walk let alone run in those conditions)

He paced himself with one of our friends and they both ended up finishing in 1:58: 43. So they definitely met their goal and finished in under two hours!!

PS. He was number 149 out 327 runners. So I thought that was great too!

They didn't know I was going to show up in the middle of their run to cheer them on and I managed to catch them before they went over the bridge and on their way back (which was about the 4 mile mark of their run). I brought a spoon and pot lid and was yelling and banging on it, which totally embarrassed the kidlet. But hey, she'll live. :)

I even brought my lid and spoon to the finish line too. One of the women doing the timing turned to me and said, "Wow, this is great! I love a cowbell at the end!" I held up my spoon and lid and she started cracking up.
She really thought I had a cowbell. LOL

It was a totally fun day (for me not the runners). Then we ended up hosting an after party at our house, which is the reason for the short post. The house is trashed.

But it was worth it. :)

Did you do anything exciting this weekend?

The Little Things and other Things

IN THE NEWS:Nebraska's 'toilet-paper bandit' pleads guilty. Read more HERE.
RECENT IPOD DOWNLOAD: "More than This" by Roxy Music.

Hey, all! Right now I'm in the writer's cave so if I've been a little MIA, you know why.
But I am around...

In fact, I'm around in my local library to be exact! I went online to my library to see if a book I ordered was in and then --since I was there at my computer already, mind you--decided to see if MY book was there. And it is! In fact, my lovely library ordered two copies, which was a nice surprise. One is out (thank you for reading!) and one was listed as "displayed".

Hmmm...displayed?

I was intrigued so needless to say. So I hightailed it on over there. And this is what I saw:

(FYI mine is the lime green cover on the right)






Two books away from Sophie Kinsella!

How cool is that?








Keep in mind it was not easy to whip out my camera phone and take these pictures, especially since this table is smack dab in the middle of the library.

By the circulation desk.

By the front doors.

With tons of people passing by giving me strange and somewhat pitying looks.

But it was worth the embarrassment for this fun blog fodder. :)

(Sometimes it's the little things.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, enough of that. Onto other sundry things...


Like the Harlequin/Mills & Boon NEW VOICES contest. Alas, the contest is now closed. But if you are a romance writer and ever thought about writing for Mills & Boon, I suggest you take a look at the entries and READ. On September 27 the TOP TEN list will be decided by expert judges. So I think it is worthwhile to take a look and see what entries are drawing their attention.

It's almost like a reality show where they're picking the NEXT ROMANCE AUTHOR. Pretty cool, so check it out!


That's it for me.

Did you enter the New Voices contest?
Have you entered any other contests lately?

Do You Own Your Talent?

MOOD STATUS: "Jealous". Hubby ran 11.2 miles yesterday morning. He's totally smoking me in running.

RECENT IPOD DOWNLOAD: "Glitter in the Air" by Pink

If you’re Christian, you already know that in the New Testament there is a parable about a rich man about to embark on a long journey, so he entrusts three of his servants with “talents” of money.

Remember that one? No?

Oh. Well, the first servant is given five talents, the second is given two, and the last is given one talent. The first two servants immediately put their talents to work and increase their owner’s investment. However, the servant who was given only one talent becomes afraid to lose his master’s money and buries his talent in the ground.
Needless to say, when the master comes back from traveling, he is NOT happy with that last servant.

Ok. So why am I throwing a Bible lesson into my post?

Well, recently my friend gave me a passage of a book called Simple Abundance for me to read. I found it very interesting, so I thought I'd share it with you since it's a great way to kick off a Monday.

In the book the author writes about that parable like this:

“This is a parable about creative risk. We feel sorry for the servant who buried his talent because, as Elizabeth O’Connor points out, ‘his cautious, protective measures seem very reasonable.’ The master comes off as a thug, throwing the poor soul into darkness without comfort or pity just because he’s played it safe. Since most of us DO play it safe, this story makes us very nervous.

It’s meant to.

Many of us squander precious natural resources—time, creative energy, emotion—comparing the size of our talents to those of others.”

This has really made me look at my writing and how I work in a different light. Sometimes I can get caught up with what is popular instead of writing what I write best. Other times I don't treat my writing time as precious. I waste time instead.

So I encourage you to take some time out and think about your writing gifts too. Don't compare. Acknowledge those God-given gifts you were given.

Own them.

Then be willing to invest in yourself.

Remember as Sarah Ban Breathnach writes, “Playing it safe is the riskiest choice we can ever make.”

If you were one of those servants, which one would you’d be? Have you buried your talents? Do you think you've invested enough in them?

Bloggie Update

IN THE NEWS: Pa. man, 78, rides roller coaster 90 times in day. Read more HERE.

Hey, all!

I have bad news. Sort of. Well, not really.

I'm taking the week off. Yay!

As a result, there will be no Writer Routine Wednesday this Wednesday. Boo!

But I'm not going offline entirely and still will be able to visit my favorite blogs. Yay!

Then I'll be back here next week! Boo--

Hey, who's booing me?

Anyhew, hope your summer is still going strong. (Mine is)

Enjoy your week!

This, a Winner, and That Part 6

MOOD STATUS: "Stressed". VBS starts next week and I'm still ill prepared to teach it. Plus I'm behind on a few deadlines. Wah.


Thanks so much to everyone who stopped by Writer Routine Wednesday to say hi and hear about Holly's writing routine! What a fun day! (and what a great promo for Taco Bell) LOL

But, yes, now the important part: the book winner. :)

The winner of Holly Jacob's book UNEXPECTED GIFTS is...


LORRAINE NELSON!



Congrats!!


Please e-mail me the address you would like the book to be sent to and I'll get it to Holly.


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And now for the this and that...


I am now the proud owner of an IPad. Yes. You saw right.
I now have an IPad.
Unfortunately the only thing I've done with it so far is log my ITunes account onto it. And then I couldn't get out of it once I did it, but then my 8 year old kidlet came over and easily showed me what to do. (Uh, that didn't make me feel too old) LOL!



Also, I will be blogging at the Samhain blog tomorrow. About what, I have no idea. I guess we'll all be suprised. LOL. Stop by--if you're around.



And that's it for me. Don't forget to stop by next Writer Routine Wednesday, where you'll get to meet another great author and hear her routine. :)

Have a great weekend!

This, a winner, and that...

MOOD STATUS: "Nervous". Need to give a talk tomorrow on Intentional Living for my church's women's coffee. (At least I know it won't be a rough audience) LOL!

A big Thank You to everyone who stopped by and visited guest author Gina Ardito as she talked about her typical writing routine!

And now for the really good stuff--AKA the winner of her book.

Congrats to Terri Tiffany! Woo-hoo!

Please e-mail me and send me an address you would like the book mailed to!
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In other news, my daughter's class is involved in a special project to raise money to help the manatees. I think her class raised enough money for each child to be able to adopt one. My daughter's drawing was chosen as the one to put on all the fundraising items, like tote bags and stuff.


Here it is:

Cute, huh?

Also, it was my 15th wedding anniversary yesterday, but the hubby surprised me with flowers on Wednesday.

Aren't they beautiful?

And that's it for me. Now I must rehearse my speech for tomorrow's church talk and then I'm going to totally VEGE the rest of the weekend.

Hope you enjoy your weekend!

An Unplug and some thoughts

IN THE NEWS: Vet says NY dog needs Viagra for heart condition. Read more here.

Well, it's that time of the month... to UNPLUG from all Internet distractions and get some serious writing done.

I won't even be on Facebook or Twitter this week, which will be almost painful. But it needs to be done. I will, however, be checking e-mail and into my critique forum.

BUT THAT'S IT!!!!!!!!!

So if you see me in cyberland, you have permission to slap my hand or yell at me. (Or just nicely remind me to get off the Internet)

I'll leave you with a few thoughts though since it's 12:45 AM, I'm not asleep, and I'm feeling chatty:

** My jeans are loose on me. I think it's those spin classes.

**The kidlet went to a birthday party at a bakery and got to make her own doughnuts. She brought home three just for ME.
Uh, thanks?

**It really stinks to not be able to go to sleep

**Watched Extreme Home Makeover tonight and cried. Big surprise, right? Do they ever make a dry eye episode?

**Thinking about breaking down and buying "Telephone" by Lady Gaga for my Ipod.

I could go on, but I think it's the lack of sleep that's making me extra punchy. :)

Have a great week and see you next Monday!