Like the Weather

The Voices Are My Friends...

2011-12-11T05:08:00.001-07:00

*Waves*

Hello? Is anyone out there? I'm not sure anyone is, seeing as it's 5 A.M. on a Sunday morning and honestly I'm amazed I'm up. Not only that, but I'm coherent and WRITING! And I don't just mean this blog post, but like for reals writing. Well, rewriting, anyway, while I also jot down some thoughts on a new project. What is so amazing about this, you ask?

I'm NOT a morning person. Generally, it takes until about 10 A.M. or so for me to be fully functional. I can be awake, yes. But that's just going through the motions. So it would seem the whole thing people have been telling me that having your third kid really changes this is true: looks like baby boy's plot to convert me from night owl to morning bird just might be working. Although, as I type that, he's sleeping peacefully in his bed. It's like he woke up the voices in my head or something.

I suppose that's something I should be grateful for. It's been several weeks since I've worked on anything writerly. So maybe I shouldn't complain about the voices in my head? Nope, no complaints here. Those voices make being awake by myself since 3 A.M. less lonely.

So that's what's going on with me this morning.

What are you guys up to?

Random Stuff Friday

2011-10-21T09:00:00.000-06:00

1) I don't know where the rest of you are, and what the weather is like, but this year, we're having some sort of bizarro take on an Indian summer in Utah. I'm not diggin' it. We can't seem to find a good temperature for the house and I can't put away summer clothes and pull out autumn/winter clothes because there just isn't enough room for all that. *sigh*

2) In 6yo's 1st grade class, I learned they do this fabulous thing every month: Author Spotlights. Where, not only do they learn about the books an author writes, but about the author themselves. I love that her teacher does that and is helping them learn about the amazing people behind the books they love. This month they're learning about Eric Carle and really, who doesn't love THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR?

3) I have 11 books on my nightstand and 4 (I think) on my Nook that I haven't yet read. Not that I haven't read anything lately, it's just I keep re-reading the books I love and have not yet gotten around to new stuff. I feel like I'm not in the mood to be introduced to new characters right now. Like it might be just too much energy for me to become emotionally vested in their lives. Does that sound weird or am I just, yanno, a writer? ;-)

4) We've bought our treats to give away for Halloween, our decorations are up, costumes have been picked out and all we have left are pumpkins to purchase. Which leads to the question of pumpkin patch or grocery store? Husband doesn't want to go without me and baby, but I don't want to take newborn out yet. Thoughts?

5) I keep forgetting what day of the week it is. I guess that was one benefit of getting up and going to dayjob every day, right? I had to be aware of the calendar, if for no other reason, than to count the days until the weekend when I wouldn't be working, Lol!

Speaking of weekends, hope everyone has a great one!

Easy Peasy Recipe

2011-10-19T06:30:00.000-06:00

I'm blogging over at Pots 'n Pens today and sharing one of our family's favorite go-to easy peasy freezer meals, so swing over and see if you can save yourself some time too!

Legitimate Distractions

2011-10-17T06:00:00.000-06:00

I haven't posted for a while. Since October 4, to be exact. I double-checked to make sure.

I apologize to all of you for my lack of frequency and regularity in posting. There was a recent Nathan Bransford post regarding the whole blogging burnout thing, and I think I may be one of the many who fell victim to that. Plus, I've been a bit distracted.

Distractions come in all shapes and sizes and, well, this one had a very specific shape and size.

While I've been very honest about the fact that I have a general ADD affliction *oh look, shiny!!!* where was I? ... oh yes, I am easily distracted, but this was different kind of distraction. If you follow me on Twitter or we're friends on Facebook, you've already gotten the news, but the reason for my distraction?

Let me introduce you to the newest little Aphayrath.

The last few months have been anything but routine for us around here, and The Boy's sudden appearance last Wednesday, 3 weeks before his official due date, was, well, unexpected to say the least. (Traumatic would be a much better word for it, I think, but without any of the negative connotations...)

Anyway, we are all doing well and I hope you'll forgive me for my continued lack of regularity on the blog for the next few weeks as we adjust from being a family of 4 to being a family of 5.

Sometimes distractions are not a great thing, in this case, I don't think I could have asked for a better reason to be distracted :)

Experience: A Numbers Game

2011-10-04T07:00:00.000-06:00

Recently I had a conversation with a CP / writerly peep regarding a numbers game.

You see, this week's quote, I think is great and so, so true, but only in the right context. Because it does not state if the experience is GOOD or BAD. It's just experience and it is what you do with what comes from your experiences that make you who you are.

This numbers game we were discussing was in reference to the number of books a writer finishes before "the one." I mean, in some cases, you get lucky with the first. In other cases, it's number umpteenth. Regardless, it is the experience of writing each one. That being said, is each one getting progressively BETTER? I mean, I think we can all say that anyone can write a book, if they so choose. It's really not that hard, right? Some words, a few punctuations, not too much to it.

So really, experience, in my mind, means learning from your past and realizing what doesn't work (through the help of CPs and the generally awesometastic writerly community), and taking what you learn and applying it, right? Otherwise, aren't we just doomed to repeat history? Over and over and over again?

Personally, I look back to some of the stuff I wrote a few years ago and basically think to myself "OMG, I cannot believe I actually thought this was brilliant. What CRAP." And now, I'm a little more, hmm, this is a good third (or fifteenth) draft, but I'm still a ways away from it being really pretty and shiny.

What am I babbling on about? I guess I'm just saying that IMO, while experience gained through perseverance is a great thing to have, what you DO with the experience matters far more than just getting it.

What do you guys think?

Quote of the Week

2011-10-03T09:30:00.000-06:00

Random Stuff Friday

2011-09-30T06:30:00.000-06:00

1) I recently (as in, this past Monday) just moved into a new position at the day job (yay me!). More responsibility, more travel, a little more $ (we all like that!), and a lot more of me going "omg, what have I gotten myself into." So please bear with me if I seem a bit more scatterbrained than normal. Like this is possible or something, right? I'm just trying to figure out the new balance of things as they are, things to come and how all of this is going to land around me.

2) It's still September right? Like, until tomorrow? Yeah, I thought so too. So what the what is up with the stores already having CHRISTMAS stuff out? I mean, for reals? Like it's not bad enough that every store every where kicks up the carols and all that the day after Thanksgiving, but seriously? Husband hasn't even let me put up our Halloween decorations yet because "let's have a little respect for September" so I have to wait until Saturday, but big plastic Santa Claus is hanging out at Walmart with Rudolph and Frosty already? Are you kidding me? *steps off soapbox*

3) I've been terrible at commenting on blogs recently. For this, I apologize. However, in my defense, I have been reading, I just don't always comment because, sometimes what I was going to say has already been said. Multiple times. Or, I just don't have anything pithy and insightful to add to your otherwise profound and intellectually stimulating shared thoughts.

4) Kidlets and I went (with my dear friend Christine) to the Taylor Swift concert on Wednesday night and it was a great show. We've got some cute pictures that I can't seem to find right now, so I'll have to post those next week sometime. My friend Simon (aka Christine's boyfriend) was kind enough to chauffeur us to and from the show, so we didn't have to pay for parking OR fight the crazy traffic. This is the only way to do a concert at ESA, SLC people. Just saying.

5) This weekend is IT! I've been saying it for a little while now and timing just has not worked out. But this weekend is IT. I am planting my tulips this weekend or I'm just not going to let Monday come. *thought lightbulb flash* Hmm, not letting Monday come around. Maybe I won't plant the tulips and we'll just not have Monday. I'm sure most of you wouldn't mind that right? A super extended weekend to last, oh, say a week or something?

Well, have a great weekend - however long it turns out to be.

Sleep Deprivation

2011-09-26T06:00:00.000-06:00

I've not slept much the last several days. Sick kidlet will do that to you.

In the mean time, I've tried to be productive. I read-through my backstory and sent it off to a CP to see if I missed any details we'd discussed. I started my draft 1 of a previously drafted story, the last version of which should've been called something like, draft -237. And I've been very careful NOT to start typing any plot bunnies up because, well, I have writerly ADD and then my revisions and new drafts of existing projects and all that stuff would NEVER get done.

Oh, and I discovered a new show on Netflix: Life Unexpected. Yes, I know, to most of you it's NOT technically a "new" show, but I *gasp* don't watch much television aside from the news, and even that I catch sporadically (most news I get online). So imagine my sadness when I realized I discovered this angsty new show only for it to have already been canceled and there's only 13 episodes, total. Sad day *sigh*. At least that means I don't have to wait forever for the next season to come onto Netflix, I guess.

Why does this always happen to me? Well, probably because we have no cable at our house, no dish. We have very lacking basic television with Watch Instantly Netflix. I know, that's like a cardinal sin for a writer, right? No wonder half the time I feel so out of the loop when people talk pop culture. I really need to try to keep up better ...

So that was my weekend: sick kid, Life Unexpected, random writerly stuff. How was yours?

Random Stuff Friday

2011-09-23T06:00:00.000-06:00

1) It's Friday. In case y'all missed the memo. I guess that's not really a random statement, but I just wanted to reiterate it, hoping that as I enter into the weekend with 2 sick children and 1 husband who will be working all weekend, it will not be as bad as I think it will be.

2) My right foot is falling asleep as I type this. I hate that feeling, but at the same time, it's sort of reassuring that my limbs are reminding me, by tingling like crazy, that they are still there and functional and stuff. Right now the tingling is mostly closer to my ankle and on the top of my foot. I'm wondering if I keep typing about this, if my foot will realize I am blogging about it and quit the attempt to nap or if it will try even harder to fall asleep faster.

3) Husband and I went to the Sunflower Market this week. It's like a quasi-farmer's market sort of store, but anyway, they were filming "The Program" in the store and someday, sometime in the future, you may see us in the background of some show. We're not sure what show. We're not sure what channel, but we are future background tv stars.

4) I asked this question on Twitter and FB yesterday, but no one answered me and I actually wanted someone to give me thoughts. I was sad when no one said anything. Is that weird? I feel all lame for feeling like I was neglected because no one cared about my random question. I'm such a dork. So really, if you have thoughts, let me know.

5) A thought just occurred to me, and this is probably not one of those "Mom of the Year" thoughts: Sick kids require medication. That means they should sleep more right? Like, during the day? Maybe that means I can get some more done on my revisions. And with Husband gone and kids sleeping, that could mean I'd get lots of quiet sort of alone. Hmm, maybe this weekend really won't be as bad as I'm imagining. I can always be hopeful right?

All right, peeps. Hope everyone has a great weekend free of illness!

P.S. In case you were wondering, my foot chose to not fall asleep. I know it was all because I was blogging about it. It got self-conscious.

Oh, and one other note! I'm blogging over at Pots 'n Pens today, so go check out a fabulous interview with the lovely Tess Hilmo, get a tasty noodle recipe AND enter for a chance to win a personalized signed copy of her debut WITH A NAME LIKE LOVE!

It's A Start

2011-09-22T06:30:00.000-06:00

Thanks for the input, you guys! Apparently I'm one of the few who are a bit abnormal and don't write chronologically.

My brain doesn't think that way until way after the fact.

So I start, well, I just start with what I see in my head. And only ONCE has it ever been what turned out to be the beginning. When I write, it's like building a big giant puzzle with, say, a thousand pieces where you don't know what the picture looks like. While I've got about 200 or so laid out and ready to assemble, I'm still missing the other 800 pieces, right? Somehow, they hopped out of the box and skittered off somewhere to bide their time. So I work with what I've got until I stumble across another handful of pieces. And then another and another.

All these pieces come to me in what's basically a jumbled mess. As I piece together a little scene here and another one there, I start to figure out where they all tie together. It may be just one tiny little sequence association, meaning I'll have to figure out the big chunk between two parts, but it's something right?

It's a start.

And that's what I've learned through what you guys have told me and my experiences. Whether to start with a totally sucky beginning and then go back to fix it later or just starting with what you think might be the beginning and going from there, we just need to do what works for us. And as much as I wish I could be one of those writers who tweet things like "one more chapter to go and I'll be done with this draft!" I'm realizing I just need to accept that that's not me as a writer.

So I'm off to do some drafting (after I finish this revision from hell that I can't seem to get through) ... and hopefully I'll know what this puzzle picture looks like sooner rather than later :)

In the Beginning

2011-09-20T06:30:00.000-06:00

That Plato. He was one smart dude, right?

So the beginning ... always sucks for me. I never know where to, well, start.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Maybe because I've got about 10 storylines bouncing around in my brain and none of them have an actual "beginning."

But really, what constitutes a beginning when you first start? Is it your Once upon a time ... or the On a dark and stormy night ...

Or is it that little plot bunny that has gone from being just a cute little furry fluff ball to some sort of giant Easter basket carrying creature who drops eggs at random intervals in your brain causing you to forget what you're really supposed to be focused on. You know the one I'm talking about, the little rabbit that showed up and planted the seed of an idea in your brain. I don't know about you guys, but my plot bunnies do not leave me with directions saying "this is where you start." They leave me with "this is a perfect scene that should go on page 139."

Well, what do I do with that??

I've asked before and I'm going to ask again, because the thought fascinates me. Do you write chronologically? As in, you start with Chapter 1, page 1 (or what you hope will be a good ch 1/pg 1). Or do you do ... other? And if you do write chronologically ... how do you just know that's the place to start?

Beginnings. Like I said, they always suck for me, but I'm open to advice from anyone who's got thoughts on becoming a great beginner!

Quote of the Week

2011-09-19T11:07:00.001-06:00

"The beginning is the most important part of the work."

Plato

Random Stuff Friday

2011-09-16T08:47:00.001-06:00

1) It's only Wednesday night as I start my Friday post, but I had to get this down now because I didn't want to forget. Seriously, I do NOT live in the hood. Even if it totally sounds like there are gunshots going off outside right now.

2) It's September now and guess what that means? The tulip bulbs I bought can be planted now! Husband thinks I'm pretty insane since, you know ... I bought 2 packages of bulbs that combined have, oh, a hundred flowers. That's what you get when you buy from Costco. Go big or go home, right? And next spring, I'll hopefully have a little tulip festival right in my front yard!

3) 6yo tried out karate. We had some awesome back to school deal and she got to try out 2 private lessons and now we're "discussing" if she's earned it. One of the rules from the karate master who she was training with? No Fighting. The text message I got from Husband this morning: "Ugh. Kids fighting again." Not sure she's quite figured out this isn't going to help her cause.

4) My sister got a new computer. It's just a tiny little netbook, but it's given me gadget-envy. I want a new computer now. I've only had this one for a year and, well, as much as I love my Little Greeny, I'm about ready for a new one. Plus, I really want to get rid of our HUGE, OLD, LOUD pc. We can just use Little Greeny as the "family" computer. That's what I told Husband. He said something like "add it to your want list. Oh, and how's your Want Stuff savings coming along?" *sigh*

5) Husband's going hunting with a few buddies this weekend. One guy got the elk tag and the others are going along for moral support. Plus, the tag-guy is not exactly what I'd call a total sportsman. I think the last time he shot something hunting Husband and one of the other buddies had to take care of all the game-dressing stuff. Still, Husband's excited. And me? Well, turns out, other than margarita night I've had planned with some girlfriends for ages tonight, the kidlets and I have virtually no plans this weekend. And I'm actually pretty ok with that. :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

What's Your Random?

2011-09-15T07:00:00.000-06:00

I talk about myself a fair bit on this blog. My experiences and my strange and random life. But in all this getting back to blogging thing for me, I'd love to know more about you guys!

Are you writers who read? Readers who write? Lovers of books or just fascinated by my randomness?

Tell me a little about you guys!

What have you been working on?

What genres do you read and or write?

And honestly, a question I so need help answering ... what books do I NEED to get reading asap? I haven't read anything new in ages (though I did just get Maggie Stiefvater's FOREVER and couldn't wait to start the end of that trilogy - thanks Cole!).

Anything else wildly entertaining or just plain random you want to share? I'd love to get to know you guys a little better!

Not a Quote, a Question Instead

2011-09-13T09:06:00.000-06:00

This was supposed to post yesterday. Apparently I've been offline for far longer than I realized and have forgotten how to use just about everything. Ugh. Working on retraining myself. But anyway, think of this as waking up, thinking it's Monday, but really it's already TUESDAY so I totally just cut your week by a whole day. Cool? Yeah, I thought so too.

It's Monday. And I have no quote for you.

Well, that's not true. I've got lots of quotes, just none that felt right for today. So instead of some worldly wisdom from greater minds, you just get me. Hope you're not too disappointed.

I started this post last night and kept deleting it. Which is why it didn't post first thing this morning like it usually would if I was on top of my game and all that jazz. I just didn't know what to blog about.

I know I've been MIA for a while, due in some part to the dayjob, in other parts to being hit with what feels like every possible sickness / virus / ailment that could cling itself to me. But I've missed you guys.

I've been reading / blogging for a few years now, read lots on writing and books and authors and all that stuff. I don't claim to be an expert on anything, but like anyone else, I have my own thoughts on things. So why don't you tell me what you want, blog-speaking? Topic suggestions, book recommendations, random questions for me. I'm game.

Quote of the Week

2011-08-22T14:06:00.003-06:00

Sorry it's a bit delayed today, but you'll have to understand why. Remember on Friday how I said I had this nasty viral laryngitis? I thought an apt post to share would be all the yellow warnings that came on that one bottle ...

I'm a bit under the influence as I type this now, so forgive any rampant disconnections, non-sensical stuff. Have a lovely day :)

Random Stuff Friday

2011-08-19T08:00:00.000-06:00

1) Kidlets were sick over the weekend and I caught it. Or so I thought. Turns out... 2 dr visits, Husband telling me I looked like death warmed over, AND Bossman sending me home from work later I've got some "highly contagious, viral laryngitis that's 'going around.'" Throat's raw, can't stop coughing hurts to speak / eat / move anything above my collar bone. Suck. On the other hand, I got some kick-A drugs, the "controlled substance" variety that makes me feel way better, but maybe not a great thing to be under the influence of when parenting, Lol!

2) I apologize in advance in my posts over the next week or so, as I remain under a controlled substance's influence, are completely discombobulated.

3) We're repainting 3yo's room this weekend. Well, Husband is. We're tagteaming on the housework (as I'm able what with the sickies on me and all). I get to catch the family's laundry up and he gets to move furniture, replace a light fixture and repaint 3yo's entirely pink room. It came with the house when we bought it and we've just been putting it off. And now? It's been decided that it's time. And our little pink princess? We've discussed it and she's totally okay with painting it the "vanilla ice cream" color we've picked out.

4) Oh, another apology: to anyone I owe anything to. I'm a little behind because of all this sickiness and not wanting to spread this God-awful plague to the rest of the world. Soon as I'm out of quarantine, I'll get things sent.

5) All right, almost just hacked up a lung. Gonna take some drugs and head back to bed now.

Hope your weekends are filled with way more fun than mine will be.

Off the Beaten Path

2011-08-18T06:30:00.001-06:00

Speaking of the Scenic Route, I thought I'd just drop in a few pictures from the scenic route the family and I took over the summer when we went to visit one of my dear friends who is an awesome crit partner and AMAZING adult urban fantasy writer --Amanda Bonilla. (SHAEDES OF GRAY, Signet, is out December 6, 2011 and is available for pre-order it now!)

We had opportunities we wouldn't otherwise have had and both our families had a great time getting to know each other!

I would show you where we stayed, in this cute little 1975 nostaligic (flowered wallpaper, orange/green decor - very *ahem* vintage. It was awesome!) lakeside cabin. Husband was too excited by everything else, he forgot to take a picture of the outside of the cabin we stayed in, but here's a picture of a picture of it! Yep, that says May 10, 1917. And guess what? It looks EXACTLY the same on the outside. Well, except it's a dark red color, not the black and white, but you know what I mean. See, totally vintage. So cool!

This was the view we woke up to every morning, coupled with the sounds of boat motors and people wakeboarding and waterskiing

3yo discovered the way down to the dock, beach and lake pretty quickly after we arrived.

Besides the lake, we got to go out on ATVs - which we'd never been before. And we all had an awesome time!

The view from the top of the ATV trail we went on. Beautiful!

Husband (who is an avid outdoorsy-man - fishing, hunting and all that) got to go salmon fishing! And he caught enough for us to bring some fresh fish home too! Yummilicious (see last Friday's Lox post!)

We got to see wolf tracks! And Husband was too excited to remember to put something beside the track to really demonstrate the size, but that thing was close to the size of BOTH my hands open, palm up!

Fire Chief Juan took us on a fire station tour complete with checking out the ambulance. 3yo to the Chief: "I'm sorry sir, it's too late. I can't hear your heartbeat." Lol!

We went on a fire truck ride through the district.

Then came back and learned how to use the hose and foam spray the firefighters use. We may have a couple little firefighters on our hands...

...Or maybe not. They decided the best part of the tour was playing in the foam spray afterwards!

We picked deliciously sweet wild strawberries. They're tiny but PACKED with flavor.

Every strawberry I've had since then has been bland in comparison.

Thanks so much, Amanda, for letting us come to visit! We had a blast getting to know the family and I'm thinking our husbands may be BFF from here on out. You know, since they are already planning next year's trip out there!

So you see, sometimes, getting off the beaten path and taking the scenic route is good for the soul, the spirit and just plain fun. It lets you recharge and take a break from "reality" and all things that comes with. Doesn't hurt, either, when the place you're staying has NO internet except for what you can get on a little smartphone. After a while, that just gets annoying.

*Raises glass* Here's to summer vacations and scenic routes! Make sure you take some time once in a while to get off the beaten path. Wild strawberries and wolf tracks may just be around the next corner!

The Scenic Route

2011-08-17T08:30:00.000-06:00

Ralph Waldo Emerson said it best when he said "Life is a journey, not a destination."

Man had a point. Because really, what's the Final Destination for us all in life? Something involving a hole and some dirt, right? (or, if you're like a certain movie franchise where Death is the bad guy, you NEVER die... but that's a subject for another blog post)

It's taken me a while to realize that stepping back isn't necessarily a bad thing. There's been so much going on in the things I'm involved with, personally, writerly, dayjobbishly, you name it, that I found myself stretched too thin to do anything really well. It took a while to realize that stepping back and taking my time, reorganizing my priorities and realizing that it's okay to go slow some of the time.

It sure beats running yourself ragged and then not being able to do anything at all. Something so many of us forget, because we're too busy on that marathon that is parenting, writing, working, etc.

So to all of you who have also had what feels like one of the busiest summers ever, I leave you with this thought: someday on this journey, when you reach your Final Destination, chances are, your inbox (email, texts, twitter, FB... etc) will NOT be empty. So do you want to miss out on the scenic route now?

Quote of the Week

2011-08-15T08:30:00.000-06:00

"The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking places."

Unknown

Random Stuff Friday

2011-08-12T10:30:00.000-06:00

1) OK, I suck. Yeah, I know, it's been a while, but I can't help it. Well, I guess I can, but I've just not been able to get to the blog recently. There's just been so much going on with the end of the summer closing in, lots of things I didn't count on or plan for and I am so a planner that it's basically thrown my entire rhythm off.

2) I have a ton of pictures to share with you guys, but I can't seem to find the memory card they are all on. I was going to show you all the beautifulness that is where we went for our family vacation (to visit my dear authorly friend, Amanda "Auntie Mandy" Bonilla and her family). It was an amazing trip and the kidlets didn't want to come back, crying as we drove away. And in case you didn't already know, Amanda Bonilla has an amazing adult urban fantasy coming out SHAEDES OF GRAY (Dec 2011, Signet).

**UPDATE ... in a conversation earlier this week with 6yo regarding our next family vacation -

Husband: Do you want to go to Disneyland or Auntie Mandy's house?

6yo (no hesitation): Auntie Mandy's house!

End of conversation.

So clearly, you need to see the pics, because apparently Auntie Mandy's is even BETTER than the Happiest Place on Earth. I'll try to get some up next week!

3) Our bank recently updated their website. And it sucks. Like mucho suckage. It takes FOREVER to log in and I can't even figure out how to READ the damn homepage and NOTHING is intuitive and as we speak, I have a window that's been loading for about 5 minutes so I can try to figure out how I can see the balance in our accounts. Seriously, folks, only make the big webpage "improvements" if you're actually going to IMPROVE something. *steps off soap box* Rant over.

4) Our friend "El Jefe" made a comment to me earlier this summer that basically stated that you can learn how to do ANYTHING from YouTube. I'm not a big YouTuber, but I did take his advice and taught myself the basics of crocheting via YouTube, but that's not our big accomplishment for the summer. We love food at our house. (And thanks to the Pots 'n Pens blog, to which I'm lucky enough to be a contributor, I've had a great chance to learn more new recipes - go check it out if you haven't already. **shameless plug!**) Anyway, back to the food and YouTube ... THIS was the big summer achievement:

Homemade Lox! Husband did all the work, I just reaped the rewards of being the taste tester. Our relationship works out best that way most of the time ;) Here it is on a cracker with some veggie cream cheese, capers and red onions on top. YUM!

5) Guilt's rolling in. I owe some CPs revision pages and I should really get to work on those - soon as I'm done with day job stuff today. So I wish you guys much productivity or wordage or relaxing and enjoying one of the last few weekends of the summer. I got stuff to do. Or else someone's gonna come down here and kick my @$$

Have a great weekend everyone!

Oh and if you're still wondering, the bank page STILL hasn't fully loaded.

An Unplanning Experiment

2011-08-03T06:30:00.000-06:00

I'm a planner.

Many a friend will tell you (along with most of my family), I'm sort of a freak about my calendars and day planner and timelines.

But recently, with illness and exhaustion, day job stresses and life in general going a bit crazy in the Aphayrath house, I've not been able to maintain my freakish timelines I've laid out. And I'm not sure how I feel about that. Well, that's not true. I don't actually like it at all. Not one bit, honestly. I like my timelines and the accomplishment I feel when I hit a deadline, even if it is self-imposed. So working with no timelines has been a bit bizarre for me, an experiment in the unplanned.

Which is funny, because I'm a total pantser when it comes to writing. I've learned about myself that if I overplan a book - you know, outlining and all that - I get bored because I already know what happens, so there is less of a thrill for me in "unraveling" the story as it were.

As things slowly calm down, I'm taking the time to re-establish the planning portion of things that work for me as well as accepting that there are parts of what I do that I cannot plan for anymore (like, OMG, seriously? what happened to that character? how come she turned out like that???) and sometimes, the unplanned stuff is what makes my plans turn out just the way I want them to.

Are you guys life planners and pantser writers? Or am I just the only crazy one?

Quote of the Week

2011-08-01T06:30:00.000-06:00

"All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Random Stuff Friday

2011-07-29T08:00:00.000-06:00

1) It feels like it's been a while since I've done one of these, doesn't it? It does to me. I suppose that's what happens when I'm frantically planning for our family vacation, then off ON our family vacation, so it's about time right? And in case you were thinking that Idaho is only good for potatoes . . . ummm, nope. We had a super-fun vacation staying in a lakeside cabin and hanging out with some great friends. The kids didn't want to come back! 6yo was crying in the car as we drove away. Pics to share are soon to come!!

2) Is anyone else STILL dealing with allergies? Usually, my seasonal allergies are a springish thing and by the beginning of June, I'm all right. It's going to be August in just a few days time and I'm still sneezing up a storm! Ugh.

3) While we were on vacation, my little brother came over and watered our plants for us. He did a really good job, since we had a few that were still in pots that we didn't have time to plant before we left, and most of them are still alive! ;) ... Then he gave me crap for the weeds in our backyard, but after a rough negotiation, and the fact that he's 18 and unemployed, he's going to weed our patio for $20. I think I just got a pretty kick-A deal.

4) I have most of the furniture for my new office nook! Woohoo! (Thank you, IKEA!) You see, I did have a home office, and our kidlets shared a room, but 6yo decided as part of her whole "turning 6" thing, she wanted her own room, which was fine. But it also involved dismantling my office and that furniture was not going to fit into anything nookish. So now, in 3 boxes on our living room floor - to be assembled by Husband today!! - is my new desk and chair! I'm so excited. All that's left now is the shelves that are going on the wall above it to house my gazillions of books. There's some shelving weight limits I apparently have to go figure out ...

5) With the end of the summer came one huge success for us: 6yo is officially off training wheels on her bike! And she is trekking along so fast! It only took her about 4 hours to figure out most of the basics of balancing and by the next day, she was ready to ride by herself, no one helping to give her a push start! We're so proud of her and she's so excited to be able to go on bike rides with the bigger kids in the family now!

All right everyone, have a nice weekend. Cling to the last few weekends of summer and enjoy your sunshine!

The Beginning of the End

2011-07-27T08:00:00.001-06:00

I'm back!

Did you guys miss me?? Probably not, huh? Well, I DID miss you guys, but where we were staying was seriously limited on interwebzzy access and I just couldn't keep up with everything on my little phone. So if I missed something from you, I'm sorry. :( I did my best, but the middle of nowhere apparently doesn't really care much if you can't get interwebz.

Now that our family vacation is over, it really marks the beginning of the end of the summer for us. In less than a month, school starts (6yo heading to first grade! eek!!) and we will be back in our mostly routine life of school, work and home. *sigh*

Because of what we knew the end of our vacation would bring, I was on strict orders (from Husband and the friend we were headed up to visit) that "work" was not invited on this trip. By that I took it to mean day job stuff and I didn't even take my day job stuff with me! BUT I did take Little Greeny and got some revisioning done, though I kept being distracted by things like ATV rides, wild strawberries (omg! so so good!), lounging on the dock, learning to make posole, and LOTS and LOTS of good eating.

Speaking of food, I'm blogging over at Pots 'n Pens today, so swing on over for a peek at my vacation reading, a great YA Contemp book filled with nummy-sounding recipes!

MIA ... Time for some Vacay!

2011-07-19T16:26:00.003-06:00

I've been meaning to blog for the last week and clearly I've been terribly remiss.

Few things going on. Firstly, a sort of impromptu work trip to Mexico City that left me scrambling to plan my presentations, followed by me being completely exhausted from the trip. That led to a weekend full of family events and then FINALLY, the family summer vacation we've been waiting for for over a year!

So I will catch up with all of you on the flip side of the vacation because seriously, if you were waking up to this view every morning, I don't think you'd be all that interested in blogging either.

Peace out, yo! Just kidding, hold down the forts and don't have too much fun without me!

Quote of the Week

2011-07-11T07:00:00.002-06:00

"The use of travel is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are."

Samuel Johnson

Random Stuff Friday with A Couple Winners Too!

2011-07-08T09:00:00.000-06:00

1) I'm not sure if you're here to read my randomness or if you're really here because you entered a little contest Debbie CranberryFries and I kicked off a couple weeks ago. I seem to remember it included something like some cinnamon bears . . . and, oh yeah, A SIGNED ARC of the fabulous Brodi Ashton's EVERNEATH! Plus a second prize pack filled with all sorts of Everneathy goodies. So if you're name is LESLI LYTLE, come on, up! You're the next contestant on the Price is Right - oh, wait. Well, Lesli, you're our big ARC winner!! We'll be getting in touch with you for your shipping info. And because one winner is never enough, ALICIA GREGOIRE, you're the very lucky winner of some Everneathy stuff. We'd show you what's in there, but then we'd have to let Hades have you. We'll be contacting each of you for details! Congrats!!

2) In other, more random, stuff . . . a couple weeks ago I blogged about my nephew J3 (cousin's youngest son) saying that Reading is Boring. Blasphemy, right? I thought so too. Well, the other day my other nephew, J2 (J3's older brother), was sitting around in my parents' backyard with us, looking at some little American flags that came off my daughters' bikes. (They were decorated for a kiddie 4th of July parade we did for our family picnic.) Here's the conversation --

J2: Hey.
Me: What?
J2: America only has 50 states?Me: OMG, you're not seriously asking me this.
J2: I thought there was 55.
Me: How old are you again?
J2: 16.
Me: And you're really asking me this question?
J2: Really, I thought there was 55. Or maybe 48.
Me: *looks away, ducking head down*
My sister: Yeah, now you know why he failed 9th grade.

I still don't know what to say about this conversation, so instead, I'll leave you with this cute picture:Yes, those are the flags I mentioned above . . .

3) Did I tell you about this awesometastic new blog that I'm lucky enough to be a part of? It's over at Pots 'n Pens where you can meet some fabulous writers and get some tasty recipes! You can read all about writers and food and writers writing about food and did I mention the food? Yeah. Trust me, that's enough to get me anywhere most days :) and if you're interested in seeing where this all started, you can go check out Sarah Bromley's blog about how Pots 'n Pens was born!

4) At the day job, things are a-changin' . . . and as Bossman likes to say, "with all changes come opportunities." That's a code for us who have worked for him over the years. When he says, "I have an opportunity for you . . ." what that really means is . . . Guess what? There's more stuff we gotta get done and have I got "an opportunity for you." I'm in the midst of LOTS and LOTS of opportunities. Things that I'd avoided learning or even touching with a 10-ft pole in my near 6 years here, yeah, they're in my lap now. *sigh* . . . opportunities, man. They are EVERYWHERE! So needless to say, things overall have been CRAZY busy!

5) Two weeks ago today we were headed up to Rockport Reservoir (just up past Park City, UT) for some camping. On the way there, I got a phone call from my sister asking me "What is a good name for a boy dog?"

This is what, er, who she came home with on that fateful Friday:

Don't let the adorableness fool you. Inside, he's wolf, all the way. Even if he's only 15 lbs and a foot tall right now. Lol!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Fireworks and Real Days Off

2011-07-06T15:00:00.001-06:00

I realized earlier that I hadn't blogged yet this week. I even tweeted it. But still no blog topic that came to mind. So I figured, I'd blog about not blogging.

On Monday, I was going to be all cheesy and put up this quote:

"You gotta ignite the light
And let it shine
Just own the night
Like the Fourth of July"

- Katy Perry, Firework

But then ... I didn't. No reason. I just seem to be less onliney when I have real days off, it seems. By "real" I mean, days when I don't head into day job, days where I am not running through airport terminals to catch a flight here or there.

Just a real day off to be me, hanging with the family, being mom and wife and reluctant dog owner, wannabe gardener and sometimes-the-food-is-edible cook.

So maybe I was just owning the few days off I had, even if I've got a few more coming (in just 12 more days!! woohoo!!).

Hope everyone had a great time this past weekend, that things were chill and relaxed and you got to spend some time just hanging out.

Random Stuff Friday and #everneathARC Contest Extension!

2011-07-01T11:00:00.000-06:00

1) I was in San Jose for day job earlier this week and had a chance to come back on an earlier flight. It turned out to be the absolutely worst flight I've ever been on since I started traveling with day job. Turbulence from takeoff to landing - like the takeoff and landing were the smoothest parts of the whole flight! Makes me dread the next flight I've got to get on in a couple weeks. :(

2) So I know I've been a bit EVERNEATHy this past week, but come on! Have you seen the cover of Brodi Ashton's book? How could you not gasp at the beauty of this thing? Plus! How could you NOT want your very own??? Last night was supposed to be the end of the #everneathARC contest, BUT due to popular demand, the continued influx of entries, Deb bie CranberryFries and I decided to EXTEND the contest another few days! So NOW you have until Tuesday, July 5 at 5pm Mountain time to get your Tweet on! Go check out the deets HERE or HERE! And remember, if you don't win the #everneathARC, you could still get lucky and win yourself a whole load of EVERNEATHy goodies! GOOD LUCK! ( And big ol' fat thanks to Brodi for being such an awesome author support of the contest!)

3) It's the beginning of Independence Day weekend. I'm off work early today and then don't have to come back until next WEDNESDAY! Woohoo! Our big plans this week: the kidlets are going to be in a parade, big family barbecue and fireworks! Always a fun time. Good food, friends and family, and fireworks. That's what it's all about!

4) Also, if you all will remember my twitpic from earlier this week:
after 5 days of untangling on/off, I swear I'm making progress:I know, I could totally go buy another $2.99 thingy of yarn, but I'm finding this whole untangling thing a bit cathartic ... good thing I told Husband he wouldn't have a scarf until ice fishing season in January, so I've got some time to finish untangling!

5) Don't know about the rest of y'all, but I've got a 4 and a 1/2 day weekend this weekend :) Off mid-day today and not back in the day job until Wednesday! So don't forget to get all EVERNEATHy and enter the deadline-extended contest ... be safe on the roads / with the fireworks / working the grill ... and don't forget to have an absolutely awesometastical weekend!

Quote of the Week

2011-06-27T10:30:00.001-06:00

"Let's meet at that one place by that tree where we went that one time."

Jack
-EVERNEATH by Brodi Ashton (January 2012, Balzar & Bray)

What was that? What am I talking about? Oh, you haven't read part 2 of the exclusive Brodi Ashton interview to know why that's this week's quote. Well, what are you waiting for? You even still have a chance to win an ARC of Brodi's debut novel, EVERNEATH!! Click HERE for the details on how you can still enter to win!

EXCLUSIVE Interview & #everneathARC

2011-06-24T09:00:00.001-06:00

UPDATE: The #everneathARC Contest has been EXTENDED! For your chance to win, keep reading, but know that you now have until 5pm on Tuesday, July 5th to get your tweet on!

A few weeks ago, I had a Twitter conversation with a friend that basically ended up with me landing an awesome opportunity to FINALLY be one of the cool peeps to get an EXCLUSIVE! I mean, come on, who doesn't want one of those, right? And what did I get? Well, according to Michael of HarperCollins, I got the ever-amusing Brodi Ashton! Well, an EXCLUSIVE interview with Brodi, I mean. Along with Debbie over at CranberryFries, we were able to get some insights into Brodi's life, writing and the world of her debut novel EVERNEATH (coming January, 2012).

Ah, yes. EVERNEATH. What is it, you ask? Well, here's the lowdown:

EVERNEATH is partially based on the Greek myth of Persephone: 17-year-old Nikki's been banished to the underworld escapes to return to her former earthly existence with her family and boyfriend. The catch is that she only has six months in this real world before being sent back to Hades, this time forever.

Now if that doesn't sound like you need to CLICK HERE to go add it to your GoodReads, I don't know what does!

You're probably now at the stage where you're wondering, okay, so who is this Brodi character, anyway? Well, she, like about 2.7 million other people (give or take a 100,000) lives in Utah. She's married with two young boys who still have no idea why she's at the computer all the time. Brodi has a Bachelor's degree in Journalism from the University of Utah and a Master's degree in International Relations from the London School of Economics. Several times a week, you can catch up with her and her amusing antics on her blog HERE. And sometimes, if she's not around, her hilarious husband covers for her and it's worth keeping up with the blog just to read his posts sometimes!

And now on to the EXCLUSIVE! part 2. (You can find EXCLUSIVE! part 1 at CranberryFries!)

Me: So Brodi, can you share your favorite one-liner from Everneath?

Brodi: I love it when Jack says to Nikki, "Let's meet at that one place by that tree where we went that one time." And Nikki knows exactly where he's talking about. It really shows how much history they have together and how well they know each other.

Me: What was your first thought when you saw your cover?

Brodi: My first thought was pure joy, and then relief that I wouldn't have to be one of those authors who has to pretend she loves her cover. I absolutely love love love my cover! [Me too!] It's really what I had pictured, only way better because I'm not very creative.

Me: Does thinking about the upcoming signings and other public events make you nervous? Or have you not thought about the groupies and paparazzi who will be stalking you at said events yet? Oh, should I have not brought them up... ?

Brodi: Ha ha ha. For some reason, I have not been worried about paparazzi. Mostly I just hope at least two people turn up to my signings. And then I hope those two people aren't my husband and my mom.

Me: How has working with a "real-life" publishing house editor affected your writing? Do you drink more Diet Coke now than in the era BE (before editor)?

Brodi: I'm lucky enough to have the world's best editor by my side, Kristin Daly Rens. Seriously, I think she was recently voted "Smarted editor on the planet" and was awarded a golden burrito. She taught me (by force, which may or may not have involved a whip) [dare I even ask??] to never stop asking questions about the world in my book, and thus made it a stronger book. And she loves Diet Coke and cinnamon bears as much as I do.

Me: You're working on Everneath 2 right now, what's been the most challenging aspect of writing a sequel?

Brodi: The most challenging aspect has been trying to keep my focus when all this exciting stuff is... I HAVE A COVER! BECCA FITZPATRICK BLURBED MY BOOK! ARC's ARE ON THEIR WAY! ... Sorry... where were we?

Me: What, besides the cinnamon bears and Diet Coke, gets you "in the mood" to throwdown some major wordage and get the creative juices flowing?

Brodi: My friend and critique partner Bree Despain and I have been holding "Word Wars" on twitter where we write for an hour straight and then report back our word counts. It's all about getting as many words as you can, so it allows you to write crap, which is the first step toward writing awesome. Any writers can join in!

Me: And finally, with your books having Greek mythology in the roots, if you suddenly discovered you were a Goddess, what's the first thing you'd do?

Brodi: Easy. I'd cure cancer.
That's kind of boring, though, so how about I'd cure cancer, and I'd also give me the power of having acid for blood. So if someone picked a fight, and made me bleed, they'd be sorry.

Thanks so much for your great answers and giving us some insight into the book as well as you and your writing! So basically what it comes down to is, Don’t mess with the Diet Coke & Cinnamon Bears powered Goddess Brodi, or else you’re gonna be in big, BIG trouble!!

But WE are not in trouble and I know you’re DYING for this next part! … but before we begin, let’s check --

Do you have a Twitter account? Good.

No? Better get one asap or else you're gonna miss a chance to win your very own Brodi Ashton-signed and donated ARC of EVERNEATH! Here's all you've gotta do:

Go get the first half of the "OFFICIAL Brodi-approved #everneathARC tweet" from CRANBERRYFRIES’ #everneathARC post HERE

Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Okay, got it? We’re back now? All right.

Add that to this second half of the "OFFICIAL Brodi-approved #everneathARC tweet":

I want the #everneathARC NOW!!! (deets: http://bit.ly/fLhG0)

Now, put them together and go TWEET IT!!

Easy-peasy right? Of course it is!

Now, if you want some extra chances to win ... there's a few things you can do, and NO, you do NOT have to keep track of your points or come back to us with an email or anything like that. If you just do any of the following things, we'll take care of all the math, counting and adding and stuff for you!

+1 following either of our blogs (+2 if you follow both) - new and old followers, same number of points.

+1 commenting on either of our #everneathARC blog posts (+2 if you comment on both)

and the big one ...once the cover is revealed and available on the PageTurners blog you can get

+5 for changing your Twitter avatar over to the EVERNEATH cover and leaving it up for the next week! (we'll be spot checking - no work necessary from you other than the switch over)

And don't think the ARC is all we've got up for grabs! If that's not enough for you, there's an awesome second prize surprise basket containing oodles of EVERNEATH-y goodies! You won't be disappointed!

This contest is open to all US residents only (sorry international peeps) through Thursday, June 30 and we'll be announcing the winners on our blogs Friday, July 1.

UPDATE: The #everneathARC Contest has been EXTENDED! For your chance to win, keep reading, but know that you now have until 5pm on Tuesday, July 5th to get your tweet on!

And now that you’ve finally reached the end of this forever long blog post – hey, my name is Windy, I can’t help that I’m a bit long-winded, okay? – Click on over to the PAGETURNERS Blog for the big reveal of EVERNEATH’s breathtaking cover! You won’t want to miss it!!

Random Stuff Fri--er, Thursday

2011-06-23T09:15:00.000-06:00

1) I know, today isn't Friday, BUT you'll still want to come back tomorrow as the lovely Debbie -i.e. CranberryFries - and I have the fabulous opportunity to offer to you ... the very FIRST Arc contest for Brodi Ashton's EVERNEATH! Along with exclusive interviews with the Bro-meister, this contest runs alongside the cover reveal for EVERNEATH that will be hosted on the PageTurners blog! So I'll see you back here tomorrow, right? Right!

2)In other randomness, I confess, I forgot to blog last Friday and by the time I got around to realizing it, well, I couldn't remember all of the week's random stuff and I was distracted by life-ish things and just didn't get to it. I'm doing better this week, because, well, as I write this, it has just become Wednesday, which means, I'm trying to keep track of the random stuff that's going on. Yay for me! I know, this is weird to those who know me and know I'm a bit of an overplanner and a little Type A. But there you have it.

3) I've been saying I've wanted to learn to knit and crochet forever. I've taught myself how to do needlepoint pretty decently, and, well, that's about it. Unless you count coloring in the lines to be really crafty. But anyway, so my sister learned how, with some help from Mom and Dad. So then she tried to teach me. Apparently I was pupil # 3 to try to learn. I didn't do half bad, but pupil #4, well, just the fact there was a pupil #4 was surprising. So there I am, sitting on my parents' couch with my almost 20yo sister AND 18yo brother learning how to knit. In his words: It takes a REAL man to be willing to learn how, even if I never do it again. Which is true, to that. Because, yanno, my dad totally knows how to knit.

4) A conversation between Husband and 3yo after family dog (a 1 1/2 yo boxer) spastically ran through the house and knocked a bunch of stuff over while we were trying to organize food list for upcoming camping trip --
Husband: maybe we'll just eat Kentucky Fried Dog (yes, I know it sounds gross, just go with it)
3yo: Do you mean Lucy?
Husband: Yes. She's crazy.
3yo: We can't eat Lucy.
Husband: Why not?
3yo: She's a person too.
It was a little bit "aw, cute" and a little bit "how does this kid put this logic together??"

5) And since I started with bookish, EVERNEATH-y stuff, I thought I'd end with some bookish, EVERNEATH-y stuff: LAST CALL for UTAH Book Bloggers!!! If you're interested in the Locals Arc Tour please email me at windy.aphayrath (at) gmail.com by 5pm Mountain time on Friday, June 24!! .... For those of you who have already emailed / signed up way back when the first call went out - I've got you on my list and I've already contacted those of you who I needed additional information from. I will be emailing everyone over the weekend with more information!

Reading is Boring

2011-06-22T06:00:00.000-06:00

Over the weekend (thankfully BEFORE I got sick), the kidlets and I went to a family birthday party. Husband was off working and so we were free to party it up.

Well, this party went from a 9yo's birthday with pinata bashing to Glee Karaoke Revolution and ended with a very, very high spirited game of Catchphrase - like Charades, but where you can talk as well, you just can't say the "catchphrase."

Anyway, during this game, one of the catchphrases that came up was BEDTIME STORY. After the clues were solved for this one, my nephew (cousin's 15yo son), said "Mom, you never read us bedtime stories."

My cousin just shot her son a look. You know the one, that Mom-look? Yeah, that one.

Nephew then said, "It's okay, though. Reading is boring."

I nearly dropped the drink in my hand as I just stared at him. It was like a moment where everything around me just went eerie and quiet and I didn't even know what to say because . . . OMG THAT IS BLASPHEMY! HOW COULD HE SAY SUCH A THING?????

I get that reading's not everyone's fave activity. I do, really. Like Husband? He's a very specific kind of book guy, otherwise, he's a magazine guy all the way. BUT, he will always read to the kidlets and always supports them in their reading (or attempts at it - they are only 3 & 6, after all).

When I was little, my parents weren't really read-to-me types. One reason: English is not their first language and they had a hard enough time with general communication, let alone trying to understand all the nuances in children's storybooks. BUT, they were ALWAYS supportive of my reading, taking me to the library whenever I wanted to go, even signing me up for those kids' book of the month clubs.

And now, both Husband and I LOVE LOVE LOVE that our kidlets enjoy books. That in most cases, they'd rather read a few pages of Harry Potter together than watch the movie. (It may have something to do with 3yo being afraid of Voldemort, aka "The Flat Nose Guy.") But still.

Okay, I'll get off my ranty soap box now. But a quick question for you guys: How have you guys fostered reading with the kids around you, whether they are your own or just ones you borrow from time to time?

(Belated) Quote of the Week

2011-06-21T09:30:00.000-06:00

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go."

Dr. Suess

Popcorn and Pots and Pens

2011-06-16T11:00:00.000-06:00

It feels late to be blogging - well late in the day for me. I mean, it's nearing lunch time and . . . well, the whole food thing might be why I felt like blogging right now. You'll get where I'm going in a sec, I swear!

Firstly, I took yesterday off because the big kidlet turned 6. And what did the officially 6yo want to do? Go see Kung Fu Panda 2.

And eat an entire large tub of buttery popcorn, washed down with orange soda. Yeah. It was a good day.

Now secondly, since I started with lunch, went off on buttery movie theater popcorn . . . this leads me to some Pots. And some Pens.

The fabulous Cole Gibsen and several other blogging writers (yours truly included) are looking to launch a fun new blog stop called:

The blog's going to have writerly stuff, and foodie stuff, including things like our favorite recipes, what our characters are eating, author / agent / editor interviews involving their favorite foods and recipes and . . . well, if it involves food, I'm sure one of us will throw it up there.

We're still looking for contributors, so if you write and you like food and you like to write about food, well have I got blog for you! So if you're interested in participating, you're welcome to shoot me an email at windy (dot) aphayrath (at) gmail (dot) com . . . OR you can email Cole directly at cole (at) colegibsen (dot) com!

Possession Winners!

2011-06-14T09:00:00.001-06:00

I love these posts!

You know why?

Because SOMEONE - in this case SOMEONES - are getting signed books!

Last week a whole bunch of you guys joined in with Nichole, Ali and I on a bloghop on June 7 to help launch POSSESSION by Elana Johnson.

Through the wonders of Random.org (and verification bloghop posts were up), the three winners of the signed copies of POSSESSION are:

Amy McBray
John Sankovitch
Rachel Morgan

Congrats you three! Keep an eye out for an email to come from one of us for your info so we can get the books sent out to you!

And if you DIDN'T win ... you've still got a chance to get some personal Elana-time! There's still time to enter to win this awesome prize! All you have to do? Send a copy of the receipt from your POSSESSION purchase to windy (dot) aphayrath (at) gmail (dot) com! You've got until the POSSESSION Virtual Launch on Thursday, June 16 (at 12:00 pm Mountain time) to get these in! I know you've already bought your book(s), so why haven't you sent me the receipt yet???

Quote of the Week

2011-06-13T09:30:00.000-06:00

"All things are difficult before they are easy."

Thomas Fuller

Random Stuff Friday

2011-06-10T08:30:00.000-06:00

1) I really need to capture a vid of my kid brother jamming out that horrendous "It's Friday" song, seeing as that's the first thing I thought of when I started this post. Every time I say something about Friday, he busts out in the chorus of that and it's hilarious! Regardless, it IS Friday and I'm so glad. It feels like it has been a long, long week. Even if I had yesterday off ;)

2) So every year, between Mother's Day and Father's Day, well, things at this Aphayrath house are jam-packed! We've got 3 birthdays (the 2 kidlets & mine, the parents' days, our wedding anniversary), and then this year we had to add to that 4 graduations (1 college, 3 high school), a family wedding and, of course, a lovely friend's HUGE book release & launch party (*ahem* Have YOU picked up your copy of Elana Johnson's POSSESSION yet?? Well, have you??).. and well, yeah, it's been a busy 6 weeks or so. Just listing it out makes me want to crawl back to bed and take a nap.

3) I'm writing again. Woohoo! After a long and unexpected hiatus, it feels so good to get new, albeit crappy, words down again. Love this feeling and have missed it so, but the break was good, I think.

4) We've lived in our house for 4 years now and finally, FINALLY, we've gotten to some MAJOR yard work. In the last couple of weeks, Husband and a couple of his buddies rented a chainsaw from Home Depot and chopped down 2 obnoxious trees that I've totally hated since the first summer after we moved in. One was a nasty tasting purple plum tree with a mean ol' robin that would dive bomb you if you got too close, and the other was a tall flowering shade tree that while the flowers were pretty, they smelled sort of like dog poop. And we have a dog, so I know that smell. GROSS! So yay! Every time I look at our yard now I feel a bit more Zen.

5) And lastly, if you're a local Utah blogger (reader / writer / general supporter of all things wordish) I've still got a few spots open on the locals ARC tour of Brodi Ashton's EVERNEATH (Winter, Balthazar & Bray). Email me at windy (dot) aphayrath (at) gmail (dot) com if you're interested. Spots are filling up fast! - to those of you outside of Utah, I know Brodi's going to have ARCs out with some of the other tours, so keep an eye out!

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

#POSSESSIONparty!

2011-06-08T09:00:00.003-06:00

Guess what today is kids? Yes, yes, it's another day of this almost all POSSESSION week!

And for those of you lucky enough to live in Utah, or who were feeling particularly travely and came to visit ... tonight is the launch party for Elana Johnson's book POSSESSION!

Here are the deets:

Come Join the Resistance!
POSSESSION by Elana Johnson
Launch Party at 7:00 PM
The King's English Bookshop
1511 South 1500 East
Salt Lake City, UT 84105

And a little birdy told me the bookshop has a limited number of copies of the book available for purchase there, so come early!

If you're not able to join us in Salt Lake, well, keep an eye on Twitter and #POSSESSIONparty for live-tweet coverage of the party and maybe, just maybe, there could be some freebies in there for you too!

So if you can come, please do! There will be lots of book bloggers and writers and you may even run into a few familiar names who you can finally say "holy, wow! you really do exist!" to! - I know I've done that more than a few times ;)

See you at the party!

Broken Rules: A Possession Bloghop!

2011-06-07T09:30:00.001-06:00

Happy Book Birthday, POSSESSION !

And of course, in honor of this grand occasion, we (Ali, Nichole and I) are along with a whole bunch of Baddies ;) are blogging about a time when we broke the rules! It's not too late to jump on the bloghop and add your blog to the list below and get something posted today - you could win a signed copy of POSSESSION! Or you can send one of us a copy of your receipt from your POSSESSION purchase and get entered to win some personal Elana-time! (All the details can be found HERE.)

So then, on to the rule breaking!

Back in the high school days, I honestly was the ultimate Goodie. I didn't break the rules. I did what I was supposed to do and called it good. There was no questioning and only a little bit of wondering what I was missing out on. I'm from a pretty traditional Laotian family and with that came crazy strict parents and lots and lots of family obligations. Friends they would approve of, and never, never did I just "go out" because, well, that's just not what Goodie girls did. I just did what I was supposed to and called it a day.

Flash forward to the following spring ...

(And yes, I realize technically, I was 19 and an "adult" but really, I still lived at home and honestly - in most Laotian families, age doesn't mean much) ... I'd started hanging out with a different crowd, made some new friends and some of them had some pretty colorful histories.

Within a couple weeks, every rule my parents had ever sent flew out the window, shattering as they hit the ground twenty feet below.

I was staying out all night. Coming home just as the sun was coming up and my parents were leaving for work.

I started dating a guy who, although really nice, was involved in some pretty shady stuff.

And I was spending so much time when I was usually with my brother and sister with these people who, at any point if a member of law enforcement came in, would probably have gotten us all arrested for one reason or another.

The thing here that was hard, was that beneath their activities, most of these people were really nice people. I liked them, as people. Maybe not everything they did, but isn't that always the way it is?

In the end, I got tired, bored, whatever you want to call it, and I walked away from the hanging out at all hours of the night. School priorities and finals came around and honestly, there's only so much of sitting around doing nothing a person can handle before you start to think, "yanno, I could be home sleeping."

I think my biggest lesson here is something that reaffirms a lot of other lessons that we've all been taught. You never really know people until you get to know them. So 1) Don't judge others. 2) Treat people with respect. 3)Always remember the Golden Rule.

P.S. As for the guy I was dating? Because we all know that's where most of the curiosity lies ... Well, his decisions changed a lot of his life and years later, I heard from him after he was released from prison. He found me on Facebook. (True story, I swear!!) It was a very thoughtful and sincere letter filled with apology and regret, as well as hope that he'd be able to get his life turned around and wishing me the best in mine. We're FB friends now and that's about the most contact we have, not for any real reason other than we're just very different people from who we were back then. And lesson 4)? Regardless of how you feel or what you think, people CAN change - they just have to want it and need to have the right motivation.

Your turn! What rules have you shattered??

Quote of the Week

2011-06-06T08:15:00.002-06:00

"Civilization had too many rules for me,

so I did my best to rewrite them."

Bill Cosby

And just a friendly reminder! The ever-lovely Elana Johnson's debut POSSESSION releases TOMORROW - have you added yourself to the bloghop and pre-ordered your copy of the book yet? Remember, this gives you a chance to win a signed copy of the book or maybe even some personal Elana-time! Check over HERE for all the details!

Random Stuff Friday

2011-06-02T21:54:00.006-06:00

1) Holy crow, it's been a while, hasn't it? I swore I was gonna get better at blogging more regularly and then ... well, 4 graduations, 2 birthday parties, revisions, new wips and ... yeah. The list goes on and on. Anyway, I'm back now and--

*** WE INTERRUPT THIS BLOG POST WITH AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE: Tuesday, June 7th we will all be wishing a Happy Book Birthday to POSSESSION, the debut novel from the one and only, Elana Johnson and lucky, lucky you could have a chance for some personalized Elana-time! This contest is open from now until Wednesday, June 15th and all winners will be announced by Elana on Thursday, June 16th. For complete details ... CLICK HERE!!! *** WE NOW RETURN YOU TO YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED BLOG POST ***

2) My baby brother graduated from high school this week (yeah, he's the tall one in the middle in case you couldn't tell by the cap & gown) and we're all so proud of him! And the best part about his graduation? I don't HAVE to go to another graduation for at least 2 years (depending on how long he and my sister decide to take until they graduation college!). It's the little things I tell ya!

This is my cute family: Dad on the left, my younger sister, baby brother, me and Mom.

3) Speaking of graduations, 5yo who will be 6yo as of the middle of this month has now graduated kindergarten. It's bittersweet, as a mom. I'm proud of her and she loved school and I hope that continues, but she's growing up SO fast, I almost started crying the other day. I know, lame and emotional, but I bet the rest of you moms out there totally know what I'm talking about. *sniffles*

4) I'm seriously considering shelving a project I've been working intensely on for the last year and a half. Over the past several weeks, I've just fallen out of the mojo of the story and I cannot seem to get a firm grasp on the characters' voices right now. I'm having a tough time with this because, well, despite having "fallen out" with the story, I still really love it. What's a girl to do?

5) Rain, rain, go away, come again another day . . .

Possession: the Bloghop & Contest

2011-06-01T07:00:00.005-06:00

**Sorry I've been a bit MIA - things have been crazy busy - but man, have I got a reason to be back in the saddle now!**

The day is almost here, and unless you've been living under a rock or in a really deep, dark hole, you know I mean POSSESSION is almost here!

There's a flurry of ways for you to participate in the fun and win a SIGNED copy of the book or other uber-cool prizes, so you are NOT going to want to miss this week in the blogosphere!

Nichole, Ali and I are hosting the first contest and it comes in 2 parts - and you know what that means right? More chances to win!

PART ONE: Join in the bloghop by signing up today, or any day between now and next Tuesday, June 7th on any one of our blogs. Then, on June 7th, POSSESSION's official book birthday, post on your blog about a time when you had to break the rules for the greater good. 3 lucky winners will receive signed copies of POSSESSION!

PART TWO: Anyone who pre-orders a copy of POSSESSION between right this moment and June 7th, will be entered in a drawing for an awesome prize of your choosing. What are the choices you ask? Well ... you'll get some one-on-one time with Elana and you get to choose what that time is used for! A query crit? An online chat? A Skype session? Yep, totally up to the lucky winner!

Feel free to advertise this contest on Twitter, your blog, Facebook, or even by skywriting if you want! The more entries, the more fun!

Good luck to everyone!

Oh, and P.S. All winners will be announced on Wednesday, June 8th! ***UPDATE: The contest has been extended an extra week!! You've got until Wednesday, June 15th to enter and Elana herself will announce the winner on Thursday, June 16th!***

Quote of the Week

2011-05-23T08:30:00.000-06:00

"A true friend never gets in your way, unless you happen to be going down."

Arnold H. Glasow

Random Stuff Friday

2011-05-20T09:30:00.000-06:00

1) It took until Thursday for me to realize I hadn't blogged all week. Not even a quote! I'm sorry guys. After the Great Blogger Crash of Friday the 13th coinciding with Sarah Dessen Day (at least in my world) , along with a weekend filled with family and friends and little kids birthday-ing, well, things have been a bit crazy.

2) Speaking of Sarah Dessen Day ... so she was here last Friday at The Kings English in Salt Lake City and it was probably one of the BEST Friday nights ever! She's one of my heroes, you see. A queen of contemporary YA and such a sweet, Southern gal. I'll have my pictures up next week to share!

3) See, now I feel like I need to have 2 weeks worth of random stuff to share, except, I can't remember all the random stuff from last week and even this week's stuff is a bit overshadowed by the INSANE hailstorm that pummeled our house last night. To the point where 5yo woke up and yelled "Mommy! The house is going to fall down!"

4) While the weather may not be cooperating with the whole summer thing, the office is! I came in this morning to an email from Bossman saying we're starting our summer hours next week. What does this mean, you ask? This means, we work a little extra Mon-Thu and get half day Fridays every week! I'm so in.

5) And lastly, I thought I kicked my coffee habit. I hadn't had any for a good long while. Then, at our Laos New Year Festival about three weeks ago, my mom and aunts had a booth selling food, Thai tea and iced coffee and I had a little. Now I feel like I need some every day, though I've been good and have only given into the craving about 3x a week.

*raises cup of iced mocha* Hope your weekend is sunny and bright! (Hope mine is too!)

What's Up?

2011-05-11T09:00:00.002-06:00

It's Wednesday. And I thought I already had a blog post ready, but . . . apparently not.

So bear with my ramblings, his week's a bit crazy for me. One of my colleagues is leaving the company and we have to figure out who and what is going to happen with her work, the little kidlet is turning 3 and having a big family / some friends party on Saturday that I'm totally NOT ready for (as in, I sent out a text message giving everyone a heads up, but I only JUST got the actual invitations in the mail yesterday - pathetic, I know), we've got so much laundry to get done I feel like the mountain of it is going to swallow me whole, and that's just some of the RL stuff.

If we're gonna talk writing, well . . . I've got revisions to work on for wip#1, an overhaul and rewrite of wip#2, and the sort-of-outlined-but-not-really wip#3 characters won't quit talking to me!

Enough rambling and ranting though.

On the bright side, we've got some spring showers right now, but temps are supposed to go as high as 79 this weekend. 79! Yay to warmth and sunshine and summer dresses! Hmm, maybe that's why the characters of wip#3 are talking to me. The story takes place over a summer and, well, they can FEEL the temperatures rising too!

Oh, and let's not forget what Friday is. Well, for some, I guess it's just Friday, other's it's Friday the 13th. For me? It's what I have officially deemed SARAH DESSEN DAY! She'll be in Salt Lake on tour for her new book WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE. I'm so so sooooooo excited. My sister and one of Husband's cousins (both still teens) are going with me and I think my fangirly-ness might freak them out a bit, but yanno, I don't think I care. IT'S SARAH DESSEN!!!!!!

In the meantime, until SARAH DESSEN DAY arrives, I suppose I better go prioritize or something. Maybe I'll make a list. I do love a good list.

How about you guys? What's up on this springy Wednesday?

Quote of the Week

2011-05-09T09:00:00.000-06:00

"You can't always get the perfect moment. Sometimes,

you just have to do the best you can under the circumstances."

Sarah Dessen

Random Stuff Friday

2011-05-06T09:00:00.000-06:00

1. Okay, hi. I meant to write this yesterday after I'd collected a week's worth of random stuff, but then ... well, Husband was home and we watched Sons of Anarchy on Netflix instead.

2. Speaking of Sons of Anarchy ... it's an HBO series (I think), so with it comes all the HBO-ness of the show, but that aside, (and one of my dear friends told me this way before I watched it) holy Samcro, this show has fantastic writing, an amazing cast of dynamic characters ... and Jax ... well, isn't he just one of the hottest bad boys with a heart of gold out there?

3. Now then, moving on. I have this kidlet birthday party dilemma. We have a 2yo and 5yo, who will - in the next 45 days - both be turning into 3yo and 6yo respectively. That's not the dilemma (though with the tantrums, sometimes I think it is). The dilemma is the type of birthday party to throw. At home birthday parties are fun and can be low key and your guest list doesn't have to be too limited. Location birthday parties (i.e. Chuck E. Cheese, anyone? ... etc) are easy - no stress over house cleaning, decorating etc. The problem? Well, my family is chock full of kidlets in the same age bracket as ours, but Husband's family has only 1 kidlet under the age of 10, the rest of them are in high school and older. If we do a kidlet party, then Husband's family is virtually excluded. If we do an at home family party, well that's just exhausting and a million people to feed ... because we are both really close to both our extended families so they would all be invited. So what's a girl to do?

4. On a completely separate note ... Sarah Dessen is going to be in Salt Lake City next week. Can I just say she is amongst the several proverbial yardsticks by which I measure myself? She's so kickass and I've been reading her books for years and am uber-excited to meet her! Anyone else in the area planning on going?

5. I have really white legs. Like, they do not tan, they do not burn, they're just a not so healthy looking, very very pasty white. Year round. This is why if you've ever met me, you'll notice everything I wear - even in the summer - is at least mid-calf in length. It's not because I'm that modest. And yes, I know tanning, tanning. I'm sort of paranoid about sun exposure, so, yeah. Tanning has never really been for me. But! Yes there's a but here ... this year I've already seen so many super cute little sundresses that I've caved. No, I'm not laying out or going into the tanning beds or spray tan booths. I've started using the not as harsh Jergens Natural Glow. It's only been a week, but wow, I'm not nearly as pasty as I was. Plus, it's a nice moisturizer and I can just sunblock over it - again with the sun exposure paranoia.

I'm off to do some sundress shopping this weekend, in the hopes that it will help keep the weather warm and chase away the lingering bits of winter that seem to be clinging on. Have a great weekend everyone!

Sleepless (sort of) Night

2011-05-05T06:00:00.001-06:00

It's just after 1 A.M. as I write this blog post, having just been awoken for the umpteenth time by our almost 3yo. This is what happens when you have a toddler who doesn't like the whole "Your room is over there, this is my room. can i have my bed back?"

Anywho, this is the third night in a row that I haven't slept very well, so instead of lying in the dark not sleeping, I figured I'd turn on my computer and, yanno, do something. But what??

Firstly, I realized I hadn't written a blog post yet, and I'm trying not to be too much of a slacker on this attempted comeback from the grips of not so fun illness. So here you are. Second, I know I could always read to try to go back to sleep, I mean, I have a stack of books on my TBR pile, but nothing was really screaming out at me and I'm one of those people who need to be in just the right mood to read. And well, that leaves me here. Staring at this blog post wondering what I am going to do to try to get myself back to sleep.

Oh, and I'd write or revise or something, but my brain's at that point of exhaustion where thoughts may or may not be completely coherent and I'm not sure how functional my eyes really are right now - things are still a little fuzzy. Though that could be a really interesting beginning of a new story, hmmm . . .

So what do you guys do when you can't sleep?

Read? Write? Revise? Eat? Watch TV? Stare at the abyss-like blackness of your dark ceiling until the shadows swallow you up?

An Unplanned Break

2011-05-03T06:00:00.001-06:00

So, as I quoted on Monday, Hi! *waves*

I feel a little guilty about having completely dropped off the grid with no warning, but sometimes that's just the way things go, right?

I've been sick for a few weeks and it's totally thrown me for a loop. But I'm finally getting better and starting back in on some reading, some writing and hopefully I'll be back to blogging a bit more regularly.

Oh, how I have missed everyone, I must say. I've tried to keep up where I could, when I had time and attention span. So if I've missed you, I apologize and hope to be around a bit more.

Something one of my friends said to me really hit home as I've been dealing with this whole lack of blogging, no attention span and feeling like crap stuff, and that is, sometimes it just becomes too much and you have to just stop. I knew if I wrote a blog post saying I was taking a break, I'd end up not taking a break out of guilt, but mostly I didn't even have the energy to write that simple blog post. Sort of sad and pathetic, I know.

Sorry for the ramblyness of this post, I'm still working on getting my bloggerly groove back! Have a great day!

Quote of the Week

2011-05-02T06:00:00.001-06:00

"Hi. How ya' doing?"

Flynn Rider (Disney's Tangled)

Quote of the Week

2011-03-14T08:30:00.000-06:00

Fall seven times, stand up eight.

Japanese Proverb

I Need Help

2011-03-08T08:30:00.000-07:00

No, seriously.

Over the course of the last couple/few weeks, I lost this:

Does anyone know how to find it once you've lost it?

Better yet, once it's found, does anyone have a good technique to KEEP it? Because lately, I've been like this:

Help!!

Quote of the Week

2011-03-07T07:30:00.000-07:00

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue to that counts.

Winston Churchill

Random Stuff Friday

2011-03-04T08:30:00.000-07:00

1) Finally am starting to feel better now. Hopefully the weekend will give me a chance to get all back to normal, bloggerly speaking. I've been playing catch up for the last week and a half and I hate feeling like I'm falling behind on everything.

2) I've been having some Twitter issues of late and I've found it thoroughly annoying. For some reason, my Twitter/Tweetdeck disconnected itself from Facebook and now my statuses don't flow through. I've done everything I can to fix this, so if you think you can help me ... please? HELP? ... in the mean time, I've resorted to using the Selective Tweets app, which is a pain because I constantly forget the #fb.

3) OK, again ... sorry sorry sorry to all my bloggerly friends who don't live in Utah and want to participate in Brodi Ashton's EVERNEATH ARC tour. I just don't have the bandwidth to go beyond Utah and I'm coordinating everything with Brodi ... so yeah. Sorry. I don't mean to exclude anyone, I just cannot logistically handle that and, yanno, have a life too. Forgive me? Please? Maybe I need to bribe you with prizes for forgiveness? ... hmmm ... I feel a contest coming ... stay tuned .....

4) I don't mean to sound mean here, I'm just repeating a child's observation. The other night after dinner, the kidlets were having Girl Scout Cookies for dessert and 5yo picked up the box of Thin Mints and said, "Mommy, how come if these are Girl Scout Cookies there are only boys on the box?" This was the side of the box she pointed out to me.

5) Finally bits and pieces of spring are starting to appear at our house so you know what that means ... yard work! I probably sound way more enthusiastic about this than I should, but really, Husband and I have some plans for this year that include cutting down up to 4 trees, finally getting a half-decent flowerbed in, AND finally killing the overgrown hydrangea bushes in the backyard (inherited from previous owners). Lofty goals, but I figure, we've got about 6 months to get all this work in, so good luck to us!

Happy Friday everyone and have a great weekend!

Everneath in Utah

2011-03-02T10:00:00.003-07:00

I apologize in advance to those who don't live in Utah. But to those who do ... have I got an opportunity for you!

In January 2012, a little book written by a little author from our fair little state will be released. Her name's Brodi Ashton. Ever heard of her? Yeah, apparently she's also sometimes referred to as #1 Crazy by her loving crit group. Anyway, Brodi's got this little book coming out next January called EVERNEATH. Here's the blurb of it I stole from her blog:

EVERNEATH is partially based on the Greek myth of Persephone: a 17-year-old who's been banished to the underworld escapes to her former earthly existence with her family and boyfriend. The catch is that she only has six months in the real world before being sent back to Hades, this time forever.

Sounds interesting right? Yeah, I thought so too. Well, when this tweet came through my timeline:

I replied and asked Brodi if she'd considered doing an arc tour. More specifically, a locals arc tour just because there are so many writers and book bloggers here and maybe we could stretch one arc a bit further. Some gears started cranking, someone was *ahem* volunteered ... and Huzzah!

If you are a writer / book blogger and are interested in an opportunity to read EVERNEATH before it's released, here's your chance! Brodi's generously offered to donate an arc to the cause and this copy of EVERNEATH will be getting a grand tour of Utah, via bloggers.

There will be some fine print details to come around regarding reviews and time you can keep the book, etc, but if you're interested, please email me at windy.aphayrath (at) gmail (dot) com or leave a comment below with your name, email and city so I can start the organizing!

Also, Brodi's going to be at the Utah Book Bloggers Social on Saturday, March 5th. You can get my contact information from her there also!

UPDATE (12:12 pm): Please make sure you are leaving me an email address or some way of contacting you if you leave your info in the comments below. If your profile isn't setup for email responses, I have no way to reach you and won't be able to add you to the list!

Quote of the Week

2011-02-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Random Stuff Friday

2011-02-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

1) I'm still sick. Sorry if I've been MIA in blog commenting. I've been hacking up lungs and what not.

2) It's just recently occurred to me that it has been 10 1/2 years since I was in England (for a school trip). I still talk about it like it was just yesterday. I feel old. Thanks to the CP who had to ask all those Stonehenge questions. And I swear, I'm totally not that old.

3) Earlier this week, I *ahem* admitted to a bit of Bieber fever. I'd like to qualify that statement and remind everyone that I have been heavily medicated for the past 14 days or so due to illness and ... yeah. And seriously? It's not my fault that Glee decided they needed to sing Bieber. Besides, I have to say, the kid did an excellent job getting all sorts of shot up on CSI ... just saying.

4) I'm just throwing this out there today, but I'll be putting up a full-on blog post about this in the coming weeks, but if you're a local (to me), meaning that you live in Utah, I'm helping the ever-awesome Brodi Ashton with organizing a "locals" arc tour for her book, EVERNEATH (January 2012). If you're interested ... details are soon to come!

5) There's a hair appointment with my name on it tomorrow morning. I'm trying to decide how to also cram in a trip to Costco, getting new tires for the car, other grocery shopping and maybe a movie with the kidlets all into tomorrow. It's gonna be a busy weekend!

Happy Friday!

Quote of the Week

2011-02-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

On this wintery Presidents' Day (which some of us do not get as a holiday - *gasp*) I hope all are staying warm and those of you who are off? Relax for me too, okay?

Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air.

John Quincy Adams

Random Stuff Friday

2011-02-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

1) Being sick totally sucks.

2) It was starting to warm up and feel like spring around here and suddenly... BAM! Wednesday night into Thursday the wind picked up something fierce and the snow swirled around so much you could barely see. And now, it's all nice and sunny again. Ahh, to live in a place where Mother Nature is a bit schizophrenic. Always interesting.

3) I'm hoping this weekend's weather is nice, though. We've got an old overgrown plum tree we want to get cut down before the mama robin who uses it as her summer cabin returns and sets up her nest. I don't know where she'll take her summer vacations once the tree is gone, but honestly, I'll be happy to be rid of her. She is MEAN! Like, dive bomb you because you got too close to her tree even though your car is parked beneath it mean. It's scary.

4) Saturday is my grandma's birthday. We're not really sure how old she is. And we're not really sure what day in February her birthday actually is. This isn't because she's one of those old women who have fibbed about her age until no one remembers the number. This is because she was born in Laos a long long time ago. And in Laos a long long time ago they weren't so great at record keeping. According to our guess of her age, I think she's going to be 74. My mom just turned 50. And has 2 older sisters. So really, I'm not sure if that's an acc

urate age for my grandmother to be. But we'll just go with it. It's not like anyone can tell us we're wrong, right?

5) So remember two Fridays ago when I posted about 5yo's "accidental" drawing on her pants? I thought that was a little funny. Well, I do you one better today. When I went to pick her and her sister up from my parents' house (where they stay on my parents' days off), I saw this:

And no, I'm not laughing. That's right. That is 5yo's arm with what looks to either be the first part of a phone number (of possibly some super-hot 6yo?), or the entirety of some kind of inmate number. Apparently, when my child is bored, she's decided that giving herself something akin to prison tattoos - with a Sharpie, no less - is acceptable. Let's just say, there will be a great deal of long sleeve wearing for the new inmate at the Aphayrath Correctional Facility.

I'm off to figure out how to scrub permanent marker off her arm. Open to any suggestions! Hope everyone has a happy weekend!

Breathless Tweets

2011-02-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to get to the bloggy world this week, but I've been sick. Really sick. Like, the flu coupled with a walking pneumonia, sick. So I'm sorry if I haven't commented recently.

And I'm sorry if I owe you pictures from last Saturday's awe

someness that was the Breathless Reads tour. I haven't even downloaded them from my camera yet. I've been so meaning to tell everyone about the awesome time

we had there. But alas, that will have to wait.

In the meantime, you can relive my fun at the Breathless Reads tour in a very abbreviated tweet version.

And in case you were wondering, @ElanaJ did eventually make her way back to me and the stash of 21 signed books which we then stealthily lugged all the way down to the P2 level of the Salt Lake City library parking garage. I think we also burned up all the calories from the pizza lunch we had that day too.

I think there's one stop left of the Breathless Reads tour - February 25 in Raleigh, I believe. If you get a chance to go, this is one event you don't want to miss and I'm just glad we were lucky enough to get to be one of the cities they stopped in!

You've Been MATCHED!

2011-02-15T12:00:00.001-07:00

Happy Day After Valentine's and ...

Congrats to Marquita (KeeKee) Hockaday!

You're the lucky random winner of the fabulous Ally Condie's MATCHED!

And because I was lucky enough to get to see Ally again for the Breathless Tour, you ALSO get a signed bookmark!

Email me at windy.aphayrath (at) gmail (dot) com and we'll work out all your shipping details :)

Quote of the ... Day

2011-02-14T06:00:00.003-07:00

Without Valentine's Day, February would be... well, January.

Jim Gaffigan

Just thought I'd try to keep things in perspective on this sort of holiday day! (It only really counts as a holiday if you get the day off from work.)

Oh! And don't forget! If you haven't entered to win a signed copy of (the ever-awesome) Ally Condie's MATCHED - with MATCHED-ing signed bookmark - go HERE and enter. RIGHT NOW!!

Random Stuff Friday

2011-02-11T06:00:00.003-07:00

1) While it is pretty awesome that we've got 5 kick ass YA authors in town for a signing tomorrow, I'm not so sure this is gonna be good for my shoulders / back. Do you know how heavy that many books is?!?! Take into account the ones I'm getting signed for myself, a couple few for good friends who couldn't make it and then a few that may *ahem* show up on here for, yanno, one reason or a *cough* contest *cough* another.

What was that?!?? You haven't entered to win a signed copy of Ally Condie's MATCHED yet? Well what are you waiting for?!?! Run ... er ... CLICK HERE! I bet there will even be cupcakes in it for you!

2) So for the first time since I got it (back in June) Captain Nook's battery is about dead. And low and behold, what do I discover? I can't find the freakin' charger cord. Great. :( Good thing I have to go hit up B & N anyway.

3) I have self-imposed deadlines from now through the end of June for writerly stuff. We'll see how this pans out, seeing as it involves writing lots of "first three chapters" and, uh, I am not one of those people who actually writes chronologically. And also lots of outlining and I am so totally an organic writer. This should be interesting.

4) Oh look! While Captain Nook's charger cord has gone missing, I just found the charger cord for my bluetooth headset. The universe is totally toying with me.

5) When I was little my mom and I used to go to the little Asian store and she'd rent VHS tapes of Thai la khons aka soap operas. This was like, a weekly thing so she could watch her shows. This has been going on for years. Well, she recently discovered she can watch the la khons on YouTube. It's like a mini-Netflix for her, but without the $9.99 fee. Great, whatever. Except now my siblings are kickin' themselves for introducing her to this. Why? Here's my sister's tweet from last night:

Yes, she's gone psycho because my sister's laptop wouldn't turn on so she could use it to watch the la khons on YouTube. Forget that my sister was doing her homework at the time ... what's this world coming to?

I better go let my mom know her la khons aren't leaving YouTube any time soon and my sister probably should finish her homework. Have a nice weekend everyone!

It's Almost Friday

2011-02-10T08:30:00.000-07:00

I meant to blog yesterday. But I got tied up with some other stuff and, well, it didn't happen. I meant to write today's blog post last night and, well, that didn't happen either. It's just been one of those weeks.

So instead, let me leave you with this:

Happy Almost-Friday!

Cupcakes and A Perfect Match(ed) Contest!

2011-02-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

Do you know what day it is? Tuesday. That's right. And do you know what's in six days?

Husband would tell you that it would be Monday. And I actually agree a little bit, it will be Monday. But not just any Monday. It's Valentine's Day and in honor of that, I've decided that today is pre-Valentine's Treat Tuesday!

So to start off ... let's treat ourselves to some festive cupcakes. Go ahead, help yourself.

But that's not all!

From what I hear ;) ... Valentine's Day is a bit about that thing some people call love, right? So it's no wonder when people find their perfect match, they want to celebrate it with lots of treats and conversation hearts whispering sweet nothings to the taste buds.

Well, here's a perfect match for you for this upcoming Valentine's Day: your very own signed copy of Ally Condie's MATCHED!

As usual, the rules for entry are simple*: be a follower and comment on this post, telling me about how you found your perfect match - or who you think your perfect fictional match is.

And, of course there is always a little bit of fine print. I mean, this is a contest after all!

If you tweet, facebook or blog this contest and come back and let me know, I will totally give you extra entries for each. :)

Due to shipping charges, I'm limited to running this contest for the peeps in the U.S. and Canada only. Sorry if you live beyond those countries. As soon as that tree growing money sprouts up in the backyard, you guys are totally in!

The contest is open through . . . you guessed it! Valentine's

Day! (In case you live under a rock, or don't believe in Valentine's Day or something, that would be Monday, February 14.)

Good luck! Spread the word! Spread the love!

Quote of the Week

2011-02-07T06:00:00.001-07:00

You must stay drunk* on writing so reality cannot destroy you.

Ray Bradbury

*throwing in some vodka, wine or a glass of whatever's on tap doesn't hurt either!

Random Stuff Friday

2011-02-04T06:00:00.001-07:00

1) I don't drink much soda. A couple times a week if that. But the other day Husband bought me a 2-liter of Pepsi (the hard stuff - full-fat!) and a bottle of Rose's Grenadine. Put them together and you get the BEST cherry Pepsi EVER. Top it with a little maraschino cherry and wow. Deeeeeee-lish!

2) Going through the wash this is what I discovered in 5yo's hamper:

She said she "accidentally" drew on her leggings. I guess the marker also "accidentally" drew the arms and legs and heads on the square little bodies too.

3) I'm waiting waiting waiting. And I decided to give myself a bunch of self-imposed deadlines to distract me. Then I talked to one of my friends who showed me the error of my ways. Not that self-imposed deadlines were bad. Just that I was giving myself deadlines to things that maybe weren't what should be deadlined. *opens dayplanner* I must regroup now.

4) This week was our team meeting at the day job. Normally we're a pretty virtual team. About 20 of us work together, sprinkled across eight locations all over the world. It's nice to see everyone, but at the same time, it is freaking exhausting to manage all my regular day job stuff on TOP of the info-dump that comes with a week of all day meetings. My brain feels like mush.

5) On a completely separate note, I just needed to see this again.

*deep breath, crosses fingers and waits* (Because I TOTALLY believe in the power of the FB cookie. Don't you?)

Have a great weekend everyone!

A Pretty Possession

2011-02-01T06:00:00.003-07:00

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to get my hands on this:

Isn't it pretty? Yeah, I think so too. So anyway, thanks to Elana for giving me an opportunity to read this before it's June 7th release.

In case you've been living under a rock or something and need to know what POSSESSION is all about, here's the blurb straight from Elana's blog.

About POSSESSION: Vi knows the Rule: Girls don't walk with boys, and they never even think about kissing them. But no one makes Vi want to break the Rules more than Zenn...and since the Thinkers have chosen him as Vi's future match, how much trouble can one kiss cause? The Thinkers may have brainwashed the rest of the population, but Vi is determined to think for herself.

But the Thinkers are unusually persuasive, and they're set on convincing Vi to become one of them...starting by brainwashing Zenn. Vi can't leave Zenn in the Thinkers' hands, but she's wary of joining the rebellion, especially since that means teaming up with Jag. Jag is egotistical, charismatic, and dangerous--everything Zenn's not. Vi can't quite trust Jag and can't quite resist him, but she also can't give up on Zenn.

This is a game of control or be controlled. And Vi has no choice but to play.

Now, I haven't done many book reviews on here lately. Partially because I just haven't and the other part because, well, I haven't had a whole lot of time to read. But when the opportunity to read POSSESSION presented itself, I could not pass that up. I had to make time to read it!

Many who know me know that dystopian's not really my thing. I've read a couple here or there that I've really enjoyed, but like, I have yet to read HUNGER GAMES. *ducks flying tomatoes* It is in my TBR pile, but yeah. Anyway, so POSSESSION.

Add this to the ammo trying to convert me to be a dystopian reader! Elana does a great job with the world-building, the sci-fi was just enough without going over the top and making me lose interest (yanno, not being a sci-fi fan), and the storytelling sucked me in, making me feel so much of what Vi is going through. . And the characters, oh, the characters. Vi's just snarky enough to still be likable and when it comes down to it, she is such a girl :). Jag, he's a Bad boy - what's not to love? And Zenn, just trying to be Good. *sigh*

The entire premise really made me think about my own life and who's really in control. Me? Or is everyone around me really in control and just making me think I am.

Not on your to-reads yet? Go add it. Now.

Happy Reading!

Quote of the Week

2011-01-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

"Confidence is in preparation. Everything else is beyond your control."

Richard Kline

Random Stuff Friday

2011-01-28T06:30:00.000-07:00

1) I am sucking at blogging the past couple weeks. This leads me to say I will commit to blogging twice a week at a minimum. Mondays and Fridays. And the days in between? Well, if I remember. Or have time. Or have time and remember. Basically, sorry if I'm sporadic. Things have been hectic I will work to be better. But yeah, Mondays come by for a quote. Fridays swing by for randomness. And every day in between, just stop by. No guarantees there will be anything more than pictures of cupcakes or cute baby animals, but yeah. You'll still come visit, right?

2) I thought taking time off after a major revision would be good for my health. It sucked. My brain nearly exploded from the lack of creative outlet. Decided that wasn't a good plan. So I'm writing again. Or rewriting at least. I didn't realize that the creative outlet thing would cause me serious physical pain. Brain explosions are bad, so listen to your body, people. If it is telling you that even though you're fried from writing, rewriting, revising and rewriting again the same project

a million times. Just listen. It's better than a brain explosion.

3) I just had a friend offer to write blog posts for me when I'm not able to. But he wants to do it anonymously. I told him I didn't want him to sue me for copyright issues. He said it wouldn't be the first time he mystery blogs. I have decided that I'm giving him the code name Janonymous. It has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Yeah. I thought so too. So you may see periodic blogs from Janonymous now and again. Just forewarning you. He talks about fishing a lot.

4) So Skins is this "new" show on MTV. We don't actually have cable (I know! Blasphemy!). I found out because I saw the commercial for it while I was watching Teen Mom 2 in a hotel room on a business trip a couple weeks back. Skins is not new. It is a BBC show that MTV has remade. Husband and I watched it on Netflix. And you know how when there's nothing wrong with the original, you just shouldn't mess with it? Yeah. MTV, really ... you just shoulda left this one alone.

5) I had a dream the other night that I went to go see Harry Potter 7 part 1 (No, I have not yet seen it,

I think we might be going this weekend.). It was my brother (18yo), sister (19yo) and me. And sitting right in front of us? J.K. Rowling. That's right. Literary royalty right there in front of me, sitting between her kids. Here's what happened--

Me (hushed whisper): OMG! You guys! That's J.K. Rowling!

Brother: Shhhh!

Me: But that's J.K. Rowling!

Sister: Don't do anything embarrassing okay?

Me: But that's J.K. Rowling!

J.K. stands up and heads down the steps, the lights of the theater coming on and spotlighting her as she walks, possibly going to concession stand. Or bathroom. Or just on a casual stroll around the theater as the movie based on her book plays in the background.

**my stack of HP books magically appears beside me--I didn't even have to Accio them**

I stand up and start to follow J.K. with my books.

Sister: Where are you going?

Me: Hello!?!?! That's J.K. Rowling!

Brother: OMG, I don't know you. *ducks down, pulls up hood, pretends he doesn't know me*

I rush off to the fabulous Ms. Rowling and beg for her autograph. She's lovely. Tells me about how she takes her children to see the movies in random non-huge cities so they can enjoy the films without being mobbed. I tell her what a great idea that is. We chat. Not so much on writerly things, but on mother-ish things. I'm an even bigger fangirl now.

*Wakes Up*

Me: Oh no! I'm late for work.

Husband: That sucks.

Me: J.K. Rowling is so normal!

Husband: What the ?

*Runs off to work*

And for reals, I'm off to work now :) Have an abfab weekend, peeps!

Quote of the Week

2011-01-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

"Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy."

Norman Vincent Peale

Random Stuff Friday

2011-01-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged since Monday and I think it has something to do with the fact that I blogged EVERY DAY last week. It threw me off.

Anyway, it's Friday - THANK GOD! This has felt like the Longest. Week. Ever! And that's despite the fact I was able to take Tuesday off from the day job!

1) So yes, Tuesday was my 3rd day of this last weekend. It was supposed to be Monday, but Bossman needed me for a special project, and, well, he does sign my checks. That ended up making this week, Tangled Tuesday for me and the kidlets. Have you seen it? No? Seriously, you need to go see it. One of the best Disney princess movies EVER. No joke. I'm not exaggerating. Really. Go. Now.

2) Speaking of kidlets - for those of you with one or two or ten or whatever ... why, oh why can a child's room NEVER stay clean for more than 2 1/2 minutes? Really? It's killing me. That's all.

3) School mascots come in all shapes and sizes and creatures and sometimes, I wonder who on earth was the mastermind behind some of these creatures. Some are not so bad. My alma mater was the home of the Grizzlies. In the general area, there's also Silver Wolves, Jaguars, Cougars, Hawks, Bengals. So a whole zoo of animals. Then there are Miners, who are pretty rough and tumble and can totally hold their own. But then there is this one school whose mascot is the Beetdigger. Really? I know it dates back, but really? That means they call all their girls' teams the LadyDiggers. Really? Maybe it's just me. Sorry if you're a Beetdigger, know a Beetdigger, were a Beetdigger. But ever since I was 10 and knew that was a mascot, it seriously just made me say "what were these people thinking?" Again, sorry if you're a beet digging fiend, but I really wonder how a beet digger would fair against say, I don't know, a Bengal tiger or a Grizzly bear. Just saying.

4) My brother recently upgraded his phone. This is his new phone. I have severe phone envy.

5) I hate laundry. I don't use that term lightly, either. It's on the list of "bad" words at our house, but seriously, laundry is the bane of my existence. Why? Because it is NEVER DONE. And if you put it off, it becomes like the blob that ate Milwaukee or something and just grows exponentially taking over your entire life. Speaking of which. I must go try to catch up on our laundry now. I know, fun start to the weekend right? Bet you're jealous.

Wishing you a laundry-free weekend everyone! Have a great one!

Quote of the Week

2011-01-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

"All human wisdom is summed up in two words - wait and hope."

Alexandre Dumas Pere

Random Stuff Friday

2011-01-14T08:30:00.001-07:00

I don't know about you, but I am almost post-it noted out. Almost.

Hopefully there was something in my post-it notey ways that was helpful to you this week, even if that helpful thing was that one can never have too many post-its.

I'm sorry for being a bit off the grid this week. It was completely unintentional. When I travel for the day job, things can get a little crazy.

1) Speaking of traveling for the day job . . . on Monday I left Salt Lake City in 16* weather and they had to de-ice the plane twice before we could even take off. And then I get to San Jose and what? I could see my breath! It was cold out there (and I know freezing cold on the East Coast too). I felt totally jipped. I mean, I did not head out to California in January to still be cold!

2) After I came home from San Jose, I saw the pile of mail sitting on my home office desk and made a new resolution for this year. Didn't I tell you I sort of add and tweak as I go along? So this new resolution? Stay on top of the mail pile. Of all that is holy, it is pretty crazy to come home from a week away to find a MOUNTAIN of mail on your desk. Yes, Husband could've gone through it, but I'm a bit Type-A about some things, so he just sorts out the junk mail. And we don't get a whole lot of imperative mail (most things are electronic), just things that need to be filed away. Still, it's a lot of filing. I do NOT enjoy filing.

3) Our Christmas tree is still up. I know. I'm lame. But it will be taken down this weekend. Not that it's any excuse, but this is what happens when you have 2 small children, a full-time day job that sometimes requires travel, and you're a writer. One of my friends said if I threw some hearts up on there, I could probably just call it a Valentine's tree and that will give me another month to get it put it away. I like the way she thinks.

4) I'm a planner. But I also am not entirely opposed to spontaneity either. Last night I was trying to plan a summer trip to go visit a friend. She's not a planner. This will be interesting ... Lol!

5) It's Friday. I just wanted to reiterate that fact. Also, 5yo doesn't have school on Monday and Tuesday. We've decided I'm taking a 1/2 day off on Monday so we can take a family trip to see Tangled. There is much little girl excitement at our house.

That's it for now... have a great weekend everyone!

Post-It Revisionocity: Step 4

2011-01-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

Dut, dut, dut, daaaaaah

All right, so we've gone through the manuscript, making the revisions applicable to each post-it, right? Right.

And you didn't remove the post-its yet correct? Okay.

We interrupt this blog post with a very important service announcement:

By the time you've gone through and revised according to post-its, it will have been several days, if not weeks, that have passed. If it isn't, take a few days, maybe a week off from the manuscript anyway. You want to be able to review your newly revised sections with fresh eyes. Or as fresh as possible depending on what your timeline is. DO NOT rush if you don't need to. Seriously, publishing is NOT going anywhere. Just saying.

No we return you to your regularly scheduled blog post.

Now, we're going to start back at PAGE 1 (or wherever your first post-it is).

STEP 4: a) Read through the newly revised section and decide if you approve / need to do anything else. If you approve, go to STEP 4: b). If you don't approve, go to the next post-it with this step.

STEP 4: b) Accept changes.

STEP 4: c) REMOVE (woohoo!) the post-it and stick it on the wall / window / your first born - wherev -optional - STEP 4: d) Determine what the best organization process for you to see the changes you've made. Is it by topic? In chronological order? Totally up to you.

And here is really where you Rinse and Repeat. So you go through this step for EACH post-it through the entire manuscript.

When you've done that, then .... TA-DAH!

You're wall may look something like this:

And your manuscript should be ready to send off to crit partners - HURRAH! HUZZAH! and now you can say .... Good Night! Maybe go find yourself something to eat since I know you locked yourself in a room for the last several weeks with only coffee. Personal experience tells me that food tastes really good when you can think about something other than revising. Just saying.

And then you get your crits back and the whole process starts all over. Well, maybe not exactly this same process, but you get the idea.

A couple side notes ...

***I don't generally print out my whole manuscript for every round of revisions. It's only about 2 or 3 times during the course of the entire revision process depending on how major the revisions are.

***I try to take a couple weeks off in between revision sessions - by that I mean a couple weeks off after I've gone through and accepted a whole set of revisions before I'll start in on another round.

***Take a break in the midst of all the revising is not a bad idea. Sometimes even just a few hours away will help clear your head.

***Your crit partners are invaluable every step of the way. Bounce ideas off them, vent to them, cry to them.

Hope this series of posts has been helpful for you to see what my process is. Take what you want from it, leave the rest. And good luck on your post-its!

Post-It Revisionocity: Step 3

2011-01-12T06:00:00.001-07:00

Hi! I'm back.

Are you? Got your manuscript all post-it noted? All right, let's get started then.

So where were we . . . oh, yes. Step 3.

You need your post-its, manuscript and your computer for this one.

Step 3: a) Flip to the first post-it note in your manuscript.

Step 3: b) Read your post-it note and determine a few things:

Can you read what you wrote? This is really important because, yanno, it's sort of helpful.
Do you think the thought you had initially is still the direction the manuscript should go?
Do you even remember what you were thinking when you wrote this note? Also very helpful.

Step 3: c) If you answer yes to all of the above questions then turn on your track changes and MAKE THE REVISION! (woohoo! yay! finally!) - but do NOT remove the post-it, I'll explain why later.

And no, it's not later yet.

So have at that manuscript! Hopefully you can read all your notes and remember all you were thinking when you wrote them.

Check back tomorrow for the last step of my Revisionocity process because, nope, I'm totally not done yet.

Post-It Revisionocity: Step 2

2011-01-11T06:00:00.003-07:00

You printed out your manuscript.

You read your manuscript.

Now what?

Step 2: a) GET the sticky notes.

I try to be consistent with size if I am focusing equally on everything. If not, then I might use smaller ones for low priority thoughts. Bigger ones for higher priority.

Step 2: b) Identify the WHAT you want to focus on and make sure you have enough post-it colors.

This is one of the THE most important things about this revision process. (Given my love for the post-it, you didn't think I would make them inconsequential to this process, did you??) This will help you sort out what it really is that you need to work on. Make sure you have enough post-it notes to cover off all your key revision points.

You might want to write yourself a little legend so you don't forget what key focus goes with each color. I recommend sticking them in a row on your desk or your wall or your first born or something. Just make sure they stick.

Super Sticky post-it notes are very effective for sticking. Just in case you were wondering.

Step 2: c) Go back through your manuscript now, and stop at each * you marked. Identify each one with the color post-it note focus it goes back to. Also, jot down any initial ideas you have to go with this * & post-it.

Rinse. Repeat.

Just kidding.

Just repeat Step 2c.

I'll wait.

Well, actually, you do that. I'll be back.

While I'm gone, anyone want to share what your favorite revising office suppliers are? Is it the perfect pen? The ever-popular post-its? Or something else?

Post-It Revisionocity: Step 1

2011-01-10T06:00:00.003-07:00

Last Thursday I mentioned my revision process. And I was surprised by the number of people who were interested in what that process is.

I don't talk much about the way I do things because, well, it's the way I do things, it's what works for me and not necessarily what will work for you. With that in mind, though, maybe you can find something in all this revisioning talk to help you with the way you do things.

Remember this?

All right, then. Let's talk about how I got there, yeah? Yeah.

Your book's written. Awesome. Feeling accomplished, yes? Me too. Sending it out to the crit partners so they see your genius, right?

And then you get all the feedback from them and you realize ... your genius may be hidden. Beneath lots of "the"s, "that"s, "just"s and the like. Oh, and maybe you can't have the unicorn rescue the princess off the hot air balloon because, well, that might not end so well.

Now we're revising right? So what do you do first? Well, I don't know what you do first, but for me ... it's

STEP 1: a)Print the manuscript

I know, I know, this is a day and age when we are trying to "Save the planet!" and "Conserve the energy!" and "Quit chopping down trees!" I get that. So firstly, I use recycled paper. Secondly, I print everything possible 2-sided. And thirdly, when I'm all done with the pages, I recycle them.

Got your manuscript printed out? Okay, good.

Now,

STEP 1: b)Read it.

This is the first read through I do. I usually keep a blue or purple (or some color other than black) nearby to put a * where I think I might need to do some work. I try not to think too much about the WHAT I might need to do. That's for later. This read through is for plot and pacing and anything huge and gaping that I can use my 2yo, and on occasion my 5yo, to plug up.

This always takes me a few days. Up to a week or so depending on what's going on at home / day job / life ... you know. So while I give you guys until ... oh, tomorrow, to read your manuscripts and catch up to where I'm at in the process, who already prints out their manuscript for revisions?

What's your Step 1?

Random Stuff Friday

2011-01-07T06:00:00.001-07:00

And welcome to the very first list of random thoughts for 2011. Are you stoked? Yeah, I thought so. Me too. Why? Because I've been so filled with randomness for the last couple weeks and I didn't have anyone who would truly appreciate it.

So here goes. But don't set your hopes too high. No guarantees on how exciting or random these thoughts may actually be.

1) So I watched Eclipse with the fam the other day and I think 5yo's comment is the one that resonates the most of all that we said/thought during

the movie: "That vampire has a hairy chest." And you know, it's funny she points that out because I have made that observation before (like when I watched New Moon). And I think I was just obsessed with the hair (pieces) in this movie. Like how come Jasper's formerly pale blonde hair is now golden curly locks, like he should be hanging out with the three bears or something? Luckily, Alice is still awesome, so that made up for a lot of the bad hair. Also, there was still lots of ... "omg, that's SharkBoy!" but that's a conversation for another day.

2) Holiday cards are still coming in the mail. I don't necessarily call them Christmas cards because we have a couple friends who send New Year's cards. Which is cool. But yesterday when I opened one ... holy crap, I got a paper cut! Oh how a paper cut can cut my productivity in half. It's in a weird place on my right pointer finger. I'm right handed. This causes much maneuvering and careful typing and writing. It sucks. My brother and I decided that a death via paper cuts would be one of the most horrific things in the whole world.

3) Speaking of the mail. Look what else came:

I won SUBJECT SEVEN off Solvang Sherrie's blog and ElanaJ was kind enough to let me have a chance to read POSSESSION before it's released in June. Who's jealous? Go on, admit it. I know you want to. :)

4) As I type this, it is 14* outside. I know that's not as cold as some places where you guys live, but I also know that is still pretty FRIKKIN' cold! It's no wonder I own so many sweaters.

5) My brother's a big fan of YouTube. So's my sister. And so are the kidlets depending on what's playing. Here's the last video that had 2yo, 5yo and me laughing so hard we were crying. And my sister and brother laughing so hard at us. I dare you not to have a giggle fest! Oh, and it's better if you watch it in full screen :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Post-It Love

2011-01-06T06:00:00.001-07:00

UPDATE: I've had lots of you ask me what my process is and what all the post-its are etc ... so I came up with a plan. Stay tuned for more deets next week!

I watched Eclipse the other day.

And when I was done watching it ... I couldn't even come up with anything witty to tweet. So I just went off to work on my revisions.

Working on revisions reminded me about something I love: office supplies. Specifically, I really like post-it notes. Like, really. For the last round of revisions on one of my projects, I was doing some work around 5 specific points. Lucky me, I had 5 post-it note colors. Woohoo!

After some bonding with my printed out manuscript, during which I learned that when they say post-it notes are "super sticky" they're not jok

ing, this is what my office wall ended up looking like at the end of those revisions.

This was a new process for me, but I really liked it. And it worked well to keep my thoughts organized by key points or characters. Color-coding works, people!

So what's your revision process? Any easy-peasy tips to make things go smooth and easy? Yeah, I was just joking about that last part.

Evolution of Resolutions

2011-01-04T06:00:00.000-07:00

It's a new year and I see you over there, going over your list of resolutions. Trying to figure out if what you have on the list are the "right" goals. Reflecting on all that's come to pass over the course of 2010 and trying to decide if you accomplished all the goals you had this time last year.

Personally, I'm one for the evolution of resolutions. Wow, that sounds way smarter than I intended. What I mean to say is that I don't usually sit down and make an entire list of goals at the start of a year. I usually have a few goals that are carryovers from the year(s) before and then as the new year progresses, I add to my goals list.

It's my process and it works for me.

Which, come to think of it, is also how I approach my To Do list. Hmmm, maybe this is why the To Do list is never done . . .

Do you start the year with a list and stick to it? Or do you add to or update your goals throughout the year?

Does your To Do list seem to grow more often than shrink too?

Quote of the Week

2011-01-03T06:00:00.001-07:00

"True happiness consists not in the multitude of friends, but in the worth and choice."

Ben Jonson

Looking forward to a great year with great friends! Look out 2011, here we come!

Random Stuff Fri... er Wednesday - Christmas Edition

2010-12-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

Things have been crazy for the last week and a half. I apologize for my incommunicado-ness. We recently suffered a death in the family, followed by a death in the family of some close friends and needless to say, I've been pretty tied up.

That being said, I have decided that despite how much I love hearing from you guys via blog comments and getting those emails in my inbox letting me know you find my randomness even a little bit amusing, I just have too much to catch up on for the holidays and also too much to just keep up with for the next couple weeks after having spent the last week and half on other things, so I am bowing out of blogging for the remainder of the year today with these last bits of randomness. (And omg, that is a holy mother long sentence, but I can't even think enough to fix it, so please forgive me that too, okay? It is the holidays, the season of giving and forgiving right? Okay, cool. Thanks!)

So anyway, where was I? Oh, yes. The randomness. Here goes!

1) My holiday from work started as soon as I was done with my work on Thursday afternoon. It was about 4:00 PM. And I was totally on vacation, I swear. You know, even though I was working on Friday morning. And Monday afternoon. I was still, totally on vacation. However, my boss rocks and so he said that I could carry my time I ended up not using this year to next year, so woohoo! I get extra vacation next year.

2) The whole month of December, 5yo's kindergarten class had Holiday Readers come in to read to their class. Different parent and grandparent volunteers read all sorts of winter and holiday stories to the kids and one of the kids in the class (w/teacher's & other parent's help) was even able to get her Dad, in the military and currently stationed in the Middle East, to read them a story via Skype one day! I think it's an awesome program and as soon as I'd worked out when my "vacation" was supposed to be, I totally signed up. So on Monday (before going into work) I read a cute little book called A WISH TO BE A CHRISTMAS TREE to 5yo's kindergarten class. It was super fun and I wish I had the opportunity to volunteer more at the school, but it doesn't work so well when you're a full-time working mom whose hours overlap school hours. *Steam roller of guilt drives by and smushes me*

3) That being said, I also volunteered for the 5yo's Christmas party at school. Yes, they had a Christmas party, not a pc "holiday" party. The over-PCness of everything sort of irritates me. I mean, most holidays nowadays are so commercial that unless you go overboard stressing the religious parts of things, kids aren't going to notice anything if they aren't a part of a particular religion. At least not until they are older. And making a big deal out of things just confuses kids more in most cases, I think. Okay, that's my 2-cents on that subject. I actually meant to use this point to talk about the Christmas party. It was fun. I love getting to be a part of the class activities and it's amusing just to watch 5yo's awesome teacher have this perfectly organized chaos. She's amazing and I am so glad she is 5yo's teacher!

4) So speaking of yesterday, 5yo had her first experience of the alarm clock not going off on time. Well, that would be because someone (*raises hand* yes, me) forgot to turn my alarm clock on - hey, I'm technically on vacation! - and we ended up runningrunningrunning and got her to school just in time. Barely. But for once, she was up and dressed and eaten and everything without any whining or dawdling. I'm thinking I might fake the alarm being turned off thing just to get her going this smoothly every morning. Is that mean? Probably. That doesn't mean I won't do it. #iamameanmomsometimes

5) This is sort of a poll question. Currently, all the presents under the tree are for other people. Same thing as what happened last year. Last year it was because we got the kids one big present: a play house to share. Some assembly required on Christmas Eve. This year, they each got separate presents, but they are also "some assembly required" gifts. Which means we will be up on Friday night putting things together. That being said, when do you think we need to start making sure gifts are under the tree from us separate from Santa so they don't start to put 2 & 2 together that we just might be Santa because all the gifts show up at the same time? That's not to say we are Santa, of course. Because, dude, he's totally real and if you stop believing, I'm telling you now, you're not getting any presents. Oh, yeah, kidlets are 5 & 2 right now. Let me know what you think.

All right kiddies. I want to wish you and yours happy and safe holidays filled with good food, good friends/family and lots of good times. Happy Christmas and New Year and I will see you back here in January.

xoxo!

Quote of the Week

2010-12-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

"One always has time enough, if one will apply it well."

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Random Stuff Friday

2010-12-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

It's Friday. Who's ready for the weekend? Yeah, me too.

1) Don't you hate when you wake up one morning, think that it's say, Thursday, but then it's really Wednesday and your week automatically got a day longer? It was one of those weeks.

2) Took the kidlets to the dentist yesterday. We have an AWESOME pediatric dentist (anyone in the South Valley of Salt Lake County need a referral? Let me know!) and 5yo loves going there. The walls are all jungle themed and there's TVs in the ceiling and there's prizes at the end. What's not to love? Well, it was 2yo's first visit. She started out well enough, excited for a prize and to watch ceiling TV. She even let the hygienist clean her teeth. Then it was time for the dentist to check her teeth and oh my holy . . . she was NOT having any part of that. Little did she realize, that her screaming and crying was actually quite helpful in keeping her mouth wide open for the doc to check things out. A new Pooh Bear toothbrush and a Princess flosser later, she's totally fine. Kids, they recover quick. Oh, and we emerged VICTORIOUS--no cavities for either kidlet! Woohoo!

3) I love post-it notes. Right now I'm staring at a wall of post-it notes in 5 different colors as I work through a revision project. Sharing the wall with my post-it notes?

Yep, that's Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and the rest of the good guys.

Autobots, roll out. Transformers, more than meets the eye.

4) While I hate that people in Utah cannot seem to remember how to drive in the snow through an entire winter, and they have to relearn every time it snows, I wish it would snow again. All the snow on our lawn has melted and now the dead grass covered in dried pine needles is not looking so hot. If it doesn't snow soon, by Christmas would be great. We're all "dreaming of a white Christmas." Not a brown one.

5) My TBR pile is so big, I think it's been deterring me from reading. Like, I think the books are multiplying on their own and soon the pile is going to overtake me.

Sorry for the post of boringness today. I'm writing this really late and my eyeballs are starting to hurt and stress has been wearing on me. Having a hard time stringing many words together to make up something sensical.

Have a good weekend!

Quote of the Week

2010-12-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

"It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed."

Theodore Roosevelt

Random Stuff Friday

2010-12-03T08:30:00.000-07:00

Did you miss me last week? You don't have to lie, I know you were out there, huddled in the freezing cold with the masses a week ago, trying to buy that digital doohickey and what not. I'm not judging. Personally, I was sleeping.

Anyway, so there was a lot of random stuff that happened in the last couple weeks.

1) Britney Spears. 5yo and 2yo have recently discovered the wonders of old school Britney Spears. I'm talking, the ". . . Baby One More Time" days. After careful consideration, I've decided, you know, it's all right. Britney Spears to my girls is sort of like Madonna was to me. Though, I think I may have to limit how much of her later stuff they have access to. Lol!

2) Utah vs. BYU. I bleed red. 'nuff said. Las Vegas Bowl, here we come!

3) It's been so cold lately, I want to bring back the warmth of summer. But keep the snow. I like the snow. Is that weird? Yeah, probably. So instead, I'm going to make funnel cake. Yes, that's exactly what I'm going to do. Well, not right this second, but this weekend.

4) Kidlets and I have a little manicure ritual that we do about once a week where I paint their nails and then they help me pick a color for mine. Because the girls are 2 and 5, I'm not really down with spending buckets of money on the "good" nail polish, so I buy the $1 or less kind. So the other day I had this awesome midnight blue color on - barely did my nails the night before. I did some dishes one morning, then went to take a shower and my polish was already chipped! Then I looked closer and the polish was coming off in sheets! I could PEEL off my nail polish. Yuck. Husband saw this and told me I was no longer allowed to buy the cheap polish. I had to spend at least $2 a bottle. I'm not sure what to make of it if he thinks the $2 kind is the "expensive" nail polish. I just thought that was funny.

5) Have you ever seen River Monsters on the Discovery Channel? It's basically a fishing show, but it's about all the different kinds of crazy fish that live in fresh water and have been known or rumored to attack / eat people. So we went to the aquarium last Sunday and saw some of these fish there! It was wicked cool. Besides the arahpaima and piranha, we saw a giant anaconda, an octopus, jelly fish, touched sting rays, had birthday cake and went home with two new (stuffed animal) pets ... a baby penguin now named " ", and a baby turtle named "Tuck" like the little turtle on Wonder Pets. What? You haven't seen that show either? Ah, well, that will have to be its own point on another random list.

Anyway, hope everyone had an awesome week and an even more awesome weekend to come!

I'm heading up to Salt Lake City with some writerly peeps for Ally Condie's MATCHED launch party tomorrow, so if you're going too, let me know so I can keep an eye out for you!

Too Much Fabric

2010-12-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

I've been working on the first draft of a new wip for a while now. A long while. Like, at one point I wondered if the book had an ending and a friend on twitter deemed it:

Yeah, that is how long it is. In word count, you ask? I stopped counting after I hit 100k. It's a YA Contemporary. I KNOW that it is way too long. But I couldn't help it. There was some sort of bizarro word vomit situation going and, well, ta-da! I ended up here.

However, in my defense, I'm one of those people who think that it is way easier to cut than add. Plus, I sort of feel better about myself when I can slim down an ms, instead having to figure out the best places to let it out.

Example: Say you buy an amazing dress online. You never got to try it on and they don't have any clear sizing information, so you just wing it. Plus, they have in bright red bold flashing letters that there is a strict no returns policy. But this dress is so amazing you HAVE to have it. You go to order it, there's 2 sizes left. The first is one size too small. The second is one size too big. Which do you buy?

If you ask me, I'd take the one too big. Why? Because it is way easier to take something in, remove the parts that you don't need, than to get the smaller size and hope that it fits, thinking that you'll worry about adding more later. Plus, you know, when I have to get something taken in, well, it's quite a boost to the ego. ;)

That's just how my brain works. That and I am apparently VERY long winded and needed more than 100k words to tell you about carnival rides.

So do you go with too much, too too much, or whatever you think is just right?

Farming for Time

2010-11-30T06:00:00.000-07:00

I have a confession.

A few months ago I quit playing all the Facebook games. Cold turkey.

And now. With a nice hot and juicy turkey heading toward me, I felt like I needed to confess something: I fell off the wagon.

Yes, that's right. I'm playing those time-sucking games again. And then some. But here's the thing. You expected the "but" right? Because when have I not had a very valid and legitimate reason behind anything?

Well, there was some time over the course of this last year that I was not in the best of health. During this time, I worked 100% from home when I could even work and I did 0 traveling. Which we all loved.

In the last month or so I've started traveling again and kidlets are none too pleased with my going MIA after 7 straight months at home. So the remedy?

Facebook games. You see, I play these games with my two little chickadees.

Petville is all 5yo and Happy Aquarium is 2yo's "pet fish"

Farmville, though, is where we have the most value and I'll tell you why. Each kidlet has a pet dog on the farm. They help me manage and decorate and all that. When I have to leave for a trip, we count out how many days I will be gone and we plant crops accordingly. The kids pick out what plant and where on the farm we plant it. And then while I'm gone, they go "take care" of the farm via my sister's / husband's / brother's FB accounts.

And then, the reward for being patient and as good as possible while I'm gone? We get to harvest crops when I get home! It's an easy, free and fun way of spending some extra quality time with the kids right after I get home and it doesn't take very long nor is it difficult.

It has really helped our little family sort out the time thing, because most little kids have a hard time defining the time concept anyway.

So yeah. That's my confession. Quality time with some Facebook games on the side.

Do you guys have creative ways of helping your kids cope with different things? I'd love to hear them!

When I leave for a trip,

Quote of the Week

2010-11-29T10:00:00.000-07:00

"The best preparation for a better life next year is a full, complete, harmonious, joyous life this year."

Thomas Dreier

... Just something to keep in mind year over year, before you start thinking about New Year's Resolutions...

Revisiting the Mayo Jar and Coffee

2010-11-25T06:00:00.001-07:00

This was something I originally posted back in December of 2008. My blog was a lot different back then and I know I didn't have all the peeps I have now. So I just wanted to share this with you guys again, something to consider with Thanksgiving and the rest of the holidays coming.

I'm thankful to have all of you in my life even if it is mostly in a virtual way. I've found support and motivation, comfort and inspiration from everyone at one time or another and I know I will never be able to thank you enough.

I'll be back next week.

Hugs, and Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Thankful Thursday.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

When things in your lives seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous "yes."

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things--your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions---and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.The sand is everything else---the small stuff. "If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life.

If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you. "Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first---the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked."It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."

Look Around

2010-11-23T06:00:00.001-07:00

When I first read this week's quote, I flipped past it, thinking I cannot have a quote about birth and death the week of (American) Thanksgiving!

Then I went back. And realized it was the PERFECT quote for the week.

There is so much that goes on in our day to day lives that really, we tend to forget that somewhere in there, stopping to enjoy what's going on around us is not a bad thing.

Okay, so your first draft sort of sucks - guess what? You're so totally not alone.

And you got a rejection letter too? I'm totally with you.

Car trouble? Yep.

Bad hair day? OMG, who hasn't??

But really, that's all sort of trivial in the grand scheme of things. Before you let something like uncooperative hair, a sink full of dishes or yes, even a rejection letter, ruin your whole day, week or even month, take a step back and look around.

I'm betting that after a deep breath, a hot bath and a nice cup of tea (Earl Grey for me, please), you'll see the good that's around you and you'll see how much MORE of it there is than you realized.

Quote of the Week

2010-11-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

"There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval."

George Santayana

Random Stuff Friday

2010-11-19T00:30:00.001-07:00

Okay, hi. It's Friday already. I am writing this post and it is 12:14 AM and I have not yet gone to sleep nor have I done any creative writing. I don't like this feeling.

What have I been doing instead of working to finish my almost-finished wip? Day job stuff. It involves lots of spreadsheets with a bazillion lines. My eyes hurt. I might just type up the rest of this post with my eyes closed and see if that helps.

1) We had our family pictures done about a month ago and I just finally figured out which prints to order and which images to get on the CD. Anyway, I love Joanna Taylor. She knows exactly how to catch our family's whole personality on film. Plus, she's one of my oldest friends. By that I mean I've known her for forever, not that she's old. (Just making it clear, Jo.) If you want to see why I am gushing so much about how talented and wonderful and superawesometastic she is, check her out HERE I am so excited to get the pics and get our Christmas cards done!

2) Yes. I did mention Christmas already and it is not even Thanksgiving yet. Can't help it. The ads are already talking about Christmas lists and the stores have decorations out. The radio is playing Christmas songs and, well, it is what it is. The sad thing, Thanksgiving is my FAVORITE holiday. Why? The food. What can I say, I'm an easy girl to please. So you spend all that time in the morning cooking and stuff but then, the rest of the day is eating. Hanging out. Eating. Watching TV. Eating. And if you pay any attention to my Twitter feed, you'll notice, I tweet about food. A lot.

3) Speaking of Twitter, I love it. I know some people don't get it, others don't care for it and others still hate it, but I think it's because you have not learned how to appreciate it yet. So it has been suggested *ahem* to me by a few peeps (or tweeps in Twitterese), that I do a Twitter series on the blog. I'm working on it. Give me a couple weeks. Thinks have been super crazy at the day job and that's sucked up most of my brain power.

4) I use Excel. A lot. Like, a bajillion lines on a gazillion worksheets that link to a zillion other workbooks. After a few days staring at this stuff, you forget which way is up. Sorry if I sound more rambly than usual. That's been my life lately.

5) Thank you to Arctic Circle and the $.99 rootbeer float you made for me tonight to help me make it through Thursday evening all the way to Friday morning. I couldn't have done it without you. It's the little things, I tell you. The little things.

Happy Harry Potter Weekend Everybody! In the words of my 2yo waving her magic chopstick: Expecto Patronum!

P.S. I typed most of this post with my eyes closed and that helped a bit. But then, I had to open them to put in the links. But anyway. Wingardium Leviosa and what have you. Night. Er... Morning. Well, oh, nevermind. Let's just go with Peace Out.

A Journey

2010-11-17T06:00:00.002-07:00

I think it's safe to say most of us have been trudging along in this publication journey for a while now. It's the "a while" part that is open to interpretation, right?

There are all those success stories we hear, the ones where an author's written a book in just a few weeks that led to a multi-gazillion-dollar-deal, complete with glitter and sprinkles and loads of chocolate flavored confetti falling from the sky.

And then you think, dude, I could totally do that.

You scribble your book down. Jump on what you think is the Amtrak train straight for NYC where you just know your book is going to get an agent-editor-multi-bazillion-dollar (bigger than gazillion, you see) - deal and you'll have a parade and instead of throwing out candy to the masses you will throw chocolate covered words to help other writers achieve their dreams.

But. (Did you expect there not to be a "but?")

The train stops. You get out. And this is so not NYC.

You stand on the platform. And Platform 9 3/4, it's not.

You look around. Yep, still an Amtrak. In your hands, yep, still holding your gonna-be-a-NYT-bestseller. So you go over to find the conductor to get some information. And what do you learn? You've landed in Editsville. The conductor hands you a map and you see that this train stops in Editsville, Revision City, Rewriteston, Letitstewabit and then loops back around to Editsville again.

You've just missed the connection from Editsville to NYC.

The conductor asks, "Didn't anyone tell you that?"

You say, "Uh, no."

The conductor just shakes his head in apology and ambles away.

You stand there thinking, Uh, this is so not the trip I was planning. And then you look at your ticket. Everything looks okay and then you see some fine print beneath the destination.

Amtrak: Home to N

with stops

With stops?!?!?!? You have a WTF moment. As in, Ms. NYT Bestseller just wrote her book in three and a half days and wtf, she is on the NYT Bestseller list and I can't even catch a freakin' break! Don't these people know I am the next (insert trend of your choice here). [You can insert lots more expletives, if you'd like. The moment is rather fitting.]

So your choices? Sit around Editsville eating weird Chocofake Rejection bars or you get back on the train. When you arrive in Revision City and are frustrated. Your options here? Sit around and eat the new White Chocofake Hopeless bars, or get back on the train. As tasty as that sounds, I'd vote the train.

Frustration turns to anger. Anger turns to resolve. And somewhere between Revision City and Rewriteston you break out your soon-to-be NYT Bestseller. You read through your ms as you chug along on the train. You find improvements you can make. You run into some peeps and they help you make it even better. So then, when you notice you've arrived in Editsville (umpteenth loops later) you realize something: You're in the right place. It's the right time. And you can get on the right train! And then you remember to check your ticket for the fine print again, just as the train pulls away from the platform.

Amtrak: Editsville to NYC

with stops

Great. What'd you think? That this whole getting published thing was easy???

~ * ~

All right, that was my so totally long-winded way of saying that while we hear lots and lots of success stories about those people who landed huge deals or seem to "have all the luck in the world," guess what?

We have no idea what their Amtrak ride was like, or how long it took, or what kind of an emotional rollercoaster it was. Okay, that's not entirely true. We get a reader's digest version of what they've lived through. Usually it's been edited to a significant degree, because no one wants to hear the crappy parts of the story, but what it comes down to is that everyone's journey is different. And sometimes it's hard to remember that.

Yes, we get frustrated, we get jealous. Yes, I said it. You don't have to deny it. But that's a post for another day. Like maybe tomorrow.

So yeah. Remember, we're all on a train. Sometimes people jump on and off, but each of our individual tickets is completely unique. Sort of like the tickets the kids get on the Polar Express.

Success via Daily Pep

2010-11-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

I thought I had a blog post all ready for today.

I thought wrong.

However, I did get an email from a peep that led to a phone call that led me to want to write a post about success. And how some successes come quickly and others, well, do not.

But as I went through my blog roll, I found someone else had articulated my thoughts for me.

So hop on over to get some Daily Pep for Writers from Samuel Park and you'll know what I'm talking about.

Quote of the Week

2010-11-14T09:00:00.001-07:00

"No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made. Destiny is made known silently."

Agnes De Mille

And Random Stuff Friday Is Back

2010-11-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

And more random than ever! Well, maybe not, but this week's title seemed a bit unfinished.

Anyway, obviously from this week's posts you could tell I'm back. And have I got some random stuff to share with you.

1) I went to a conference for the day job out in New York 2 weeks ago. Whenever you tell people you're going to New York, I've found they immediately think of New York City. For some, reasons are obvious, for others, I think it's just because it's a freaking gigantic city. But I sort of feel bad for the rest of the state. It's like they don't really exist because people are too focused on NYC. P.S. I was in Palisades, NY. Honestly, more New Jersey than New York, but not according to the official address.

2) My cousin got a new cell phone. The Droid X, I believe. It's big. And heavy. It does a bunch of cool stuff though, and she really likes it, so yay for her. But it just made me laugh at how the whole cell phone thing has come full circle. From being big and heavy to downright tiny (anyone remember the LG Juke?) and now we're back to the big and heavy. I realize, a lot of this has to do with phone capabilities, but it still makes me laugh a little.

3) There are 2 things that seem to be everywhere in Utah. They all seem to have sprouted up in the last couple of years and now you can't throw a rock without hitting one of them: build your own fro-yo places and sushi bars. Just an observation.

4) I'm so looking forward to the weekend. We've been

doing some house cleaning and sorting out things to donate, etc. I feel so ... Zen when we get rid of stuff and vacuuming, man, that's like the perfect Zen-tool. It totally "sucks" all the bad energy away. I know, I'm a bit of a weirdo when it comes to this, but honestly I don't have enough time to do as much cleaning as I'd like. I have to schedule it onto our family calendar just to make sure we can block out time. I know, a little crazy.

5) The University of Utah football team plays Notre Dame this week. Tomorrow, actually. And last week, well, they had a bit of an off game against TCU. So I'm wishing them much luck this week. GO UTES!!