Sub-Sections

Tomorrow my speech team competes at sub-sections and I am very excited. :) This is my twelfth year coaching speech. I have taken at least one kid to State nine of those years. I have worked with some immensely talented kids. (Young adults.)

That said, this is, as a whole, the most talented team I've ever had. Which is why I am so excited. I think we will have a good crew going on to Sections after tomorrow. It should be a very fun day. Then, the Saturday after Easter, we will get to see who's going to State. And I have pretty high hopes for that, too.

And the best part of all of this is, none of them are seniors! I get to have them all back next year! Color me happy.

So wish us luck. :) And I will wish all you who are participating in the A to Z challenge good luck, too. I am looking forward to it. (Reading all of your posts, I'm not participating.)

April is crazy busy for me. Speech is wrapping up and I just started Spring play practices. So I think I will be taking April off from blogging. I will still be around on your blogs, though, so I'll see you there!

Misadventures

Today, as I was getting my two-year-old ready to get into the tub, I pulled off her shirt to discover a blue marshmallow stuck between her shoulder blades.

Catherine is always making me laugh. I decided to re-post a list of her misadventures from 2011, because when I posted it the first time no one was following me yet. :)
Here it is:


My two-year-old, Catherine, is what I call mischievous. (My husband calls her evil, but I prefer mischievous.) She started walking at eight and a half months and has been on the go ever since. I had a friend tell me I could devote an entire blog just to her antics, and she is probably right. For now I have decided to make a list of ten of the more memorable things she's gotten into this year.

(I do have one honorable mention that didn't quite make the cut. About a week ago she pulled the needle out of the almost-done baby blanket I was knitting for my sister who was due yesterday. Unfortunately, it will not be done when her little boy arrives.)

Doesn't she just look like trouble?

Catherine's Top Ten Misadventures of 2011

10: Unraveled an entire roll of toilet paper and put it in the toilet, which my poor husband had to scoop out.

9: Painted her face black with my mascara.

8: Dumped an entire bottle of laundry detergent all over the laundry room floor. At least the towels used to clean it up were ready to be thrown right into the wash.

7: Tried to run down the stairs at Grandma's, resulting in a mild panic attack for Grandma and a chipped tooth for Catherine.

6: Tried to go fishing in the fish tank much to the chagrin of our angel fish, Superhero.

5: Dove into the bathtub head first in her pjs while I was washing my hair.

4: Poured baby powder all over the bathroom, and herself. I came in to find her naked in the bathtub, completely white.

3: Came into the living room carrying a raw egg yolk in the palm of her hand. The rest of the egg was in the dining room, and I'm still not sure how she got the yolk out without breaking it.

2: Put toilet paper into my friend's bathroom sink, then turned the water on and nearly flooded the bathroom. (Her sister caught her before it got that far- just before.) This is high on the list seeing as it was at a friend's house and therefore that much more embarrassing.

1: Fell out the living room window. Okay, this one was on my husband's watch. He says he was right in the room talking to our son, Johnny, when he heard a crash, turned around and saw the screen and the child missing. He freaked out, Johnny, however, apparently didn't miss a beat and kept right on telling his story.

I realize this probably makes it sound like I really don't watch my kids, but I do! Really! Catherine is just always on the go and with the addition of Margaret into the family it is just not possible to keep an eye on her every move. So far she has not had any major injuries. No cracked skulls or broken bones, so I'm calling it a win.

Busy Busy

This morning I took four kids shopping, by myself. This afternoon I'm showing in my first horse show in two years. Tomorrow I'm taking some incredibly talented teens to a speech meet. Sunday I'm heading back to the horse show.

Spring is busy around here. Wish me and my speech kids good luck. :) I'll be back to blogging regularly again soon.

In the meantime I am very much looking forward to every one's A to Z posts. I think you are all very brave and I can't wait to see what you come up with! Good luck!

Escape to the Country

Hello all. I haven't been around much lately, and I've missed all my blog buddies, but my seven-year-old called me out on being on the computer too much. Oops. Between writing, revising, and blogging I guess it had been a bit much and something had to give. Especially because I am also busy coaching Speech and our high school Spring play is starting up and I direct that as well. So, I am sad to say, I will probably continue to not be around for a little while here.

But. . .I had to get on to share something really cool. The cover of Patsy Collins' book, Escape to the Country. If you don't already follow Patsy's blog, you should. Click on her name above to get there. She is so sweet and incredibly supportive of other writers.

And here is the cover:

Isn't that lovely? I just love her purple tights. :) And you can read her first chapter here. How awesome is that? It comes out on March 30th. I'm excited. :)



As I said, I will be a bit scarce for awhile, but I will be having a giveaway for reaching 100 followers. I'm very excited and want to give you all a big thank-you! If you have followed me and I have not followed you back, it is because there is not a link to your blog on your profile. Leave a comment and let me know how to find you. Thanks!

Enjoy Chapter One of Escape to the Country!

Interview: Annalisa Crawford

Today I am interviewing Annalisa Crawford, author of the very touching novella Cat and the Dreamer.



 

Thank you Annalisa, for doing an interview. :) I want to tell you, I really enjoyed the book. It is beautifully written. Let's jump into the questions, shall we?

Thanks for asking me! And I'm so glad you liked it.

The book is about a woman who survived a suicide pact as a teenager. What made you want to write about this subject? I've always tried to find slightly unusual topics to write about - it keeps me interested - and I love exploring the psychological aspect of people. With the suicide pacts, in particular, there was a spate of them in the news, and I wondered what would happen if one of the pair survived. The idea grew and fitted together with another idea I was toying with - the vivid imagination.

Are you a plotter or a pantser? A pantser. Stories tend to come to me as a whole -I had the ending of this story just as clear in my head as the beginning - and then I fit in the bridging scenes as they come to me. Mostly that happens out of sequence, and there's a lot of re-writing to be done.

Are you a day dreamer like Julia? (I am!) Yes, definitely. I always have been - it's a great source of ideas! It's probably why I started writing in the first place.

Have you ever had a 'Cat' in your life? Luckily no. Cat just appeared whole one day, perfectly horrible.

What's been the best part of your writing journey so far? I think, right now. I've been writing and submitting for just over twenty years - I had my first short story published when I was 20. Even with work, and getting married and having kids I'd write, but only get a short story published every couple of years. My writing career never really took off, and I could never be sure how many people were actually reading those small press magazines. Right now, I actually feel like a writer!

Warning! Spoiler Alert, read on at your own risk.

A story like this can't realistically be wrapped up perfectly in the end. Julia has real issues to deal with, but was it tempting to give her a perfect, happy ending? No, because I had the ending in mind before I started writing. I re-wrote the ending a lot though, trying to get the right balance between too realistic and too depressing. I hope I got it right.

I thought you left the ending somewhat open to interpretation. Was that your intention, or is it just my wishful thinking? (I wanted the happy ending.) ;) It was definitely my intention to leave it open. I love fiction that makes me think, so that's how I write. I know what really happens, but I'm not saying :-)

Is there anything else you'd like to share with us? Ooh no, my lips are sealed!

Thanks for visiting us today, Annalisa! Readers, this is a lovely book and I definitely recommend it! 

WiP: The Movie WINNER :)

Thanks again to Kyra Lennon for co-hosting this with me! You are awesome. :) Also, thank you to everyone who participated. It was so much fun to check out everyone's entries. You people are so creative. I was very impressed with the amount of work people put into this. I hope you all had as much fun as I did. :)

And now for my winner. . .Clare Dugmore!

Clare, email me: rachelmarybean at yahoo.com And congratulations!

Check out Kyra's winner here. Have a great week everyone! And come back on Wednesday for my interview with the fabulous author, Annalisa Crawford.

WiP: The Movie

A BIG Thank You to Kyra Lennon for hosting this with me! (Honestly, she did most of the work.) You rock Kyra!

So here's my story. :)

Flesh-Eating Zombies and Evil Ex-Girlfriends:

The Movie

First we need Erwin, he's the star afterall. This was hard for me. The problem was that all the guys I found were just so pretty. Not that I always hate pretty guys, but Erwin is not a pretty boy. This guy is the best I could do.

Next we need Sylvia, who is fairly kick-ass. (No, she's not the evil ex-girlfriend.) ;)

I think Emma Roberts totally looks like she could be sweet, or she could beat the snot out of you, depending on her mood. :)

The ex, Natalie, would look more like this girl:

Lastly, I wanted to cast Amy, the poor little seven-year-old Ewin and Sylvia are trying to protect.

Wouldn't you want to protect her from a herd of zombies?

And, of course, there are a whole lot of these guys:

(There were photos of actual people as zombies, but they were too scary. I must admit, if my book ever really became a movie, I might be too scared to watch it.)

Now for the song. I chose Parkway Avenue by The Gravities.

I realize you probably won't click on the link, which is fine, so I will tell you a bit about it.

First, The Gravities are my favorite little-known band.

(Odd fact: The lead singer, Dan Conway, is the cousin of John Conway-the keyboardist for The Bravery.)

This is a beatiful song about not being as over your ex as you thought you were. Which is a problem Erwin has in the book. A line from the chorus:

"I thought that I was over her, but she just looked so beautiful today."

Okay, you really should click the link and listen to it, 'cause it's pretty great. Listen to 'Beautiful Houses' while you're there, too. ;)

Now I can't wait to check out everyone else's!

I hate computers. For some reason I can't get the linky thing to work. (I did it before.) Grr. So, here's the link to the links. Sorry about that. :(   

Short Post

I thought I'd start by sharing a happy March picture. :) This was done by children's book illustrator Priscilla Burris.
                                            

I wanted to give a little reminder that WiP: The Movie is tomorrow. Click here to get all the info and sign up. It's going to be fun! :)

I just have to say, I can't believe I am getting close to 100 followers. (I'm at 94.) This is seriously 92 more than I ever expected. (Catie and Anna, in case you were wondering, you are the two who were expected.) ;)

When (if, who knows, maybe I'll just stop here) I reach 100 I plan to do something fun. . .Of course, I don't know what yet. Any ideas?

For now, I am looking forward to tomorrow's bloghop. See you then!

Insecurities

It's time for The Insecure Writer's Support Group. If anyone reading this doesn't know what that is, it's a wonderful group started by the marvelous Alex J. Cavanaugh. We post on the first Wednesday of the month, then hop around and support each other. If you are not already a member, I highly recommend you go here and join.

My writing is in pretty much the same spot as it was last month. I am working on editing the YA and writing the MG. So, today I've decided not to post about an insecurity.

Trust me, I have them. I have a lot, and they are crawling all over pretty much every aspect of my life, not just my writing. But I've been in a pretty good mood lately and I don't want to focus on the negative.

I want to get published some day. I want it like crazy, and I will continue to work hard at getting there.  But if it never happens for me, that's okay, too. My life is pretty darn good, even if I don't have my own book on my bookshelf.

I enjoy writing and I will probably keep doing it forever, even if I am the only one to read it. Well, me and my family, who is stuck reading it whether they like it or not. :)

So that's it for today. Don't forget that WiP: The Movie is this Friday. Go sign up, it's going to be fun! :)

The Lucky Seven Meme

I was tagged by Jaycee DeLorenzo for the Lucky Seven Meme. Jaycee came up with this very fun game, plus she says it's good luck. And, in the words of Michael Scott, "I'm not superstitious, but I am a little stitious."

Here are the rules:

1. Go to page 77 of your current MS.

2. Go to line 7.

3. Copy down the next 7 lines - sentences or paragraphs - and post them as they're written. No cheating.

4. Tag 7 authors.


5. Let them know


So I cheated a little bit. (Sorry.) But I really wanted to share something from my MG this time, instead of the zombie book again. (And it does say your current MS, and that's my most current.) The problem is, I haven't actually written 77 pages yet. So I took from page 17 instead.

"You must sleep now, child. I will be back tomorrow night.”

“Wait! You haven’t told me anything yet. You said you could help us!”

“Don’t eat the sugar. I know how tempting it is, but you must resist. I will tell you more tomorrow.”

And with that she was gone. She scurried through a small hole in the wall and disappeared. I didn’t even know who she was.

And that's it. :) Now I get to tag seven people. I'm going to try and tag people who haven't already been tagged. If I don't succeed, sorry.

Tag, you're it:
Ashley Nixon
K.D. Storm
Debi O'Neille
Leigh Covington
Johanna Garth
Ellen Brickley
Elizabeth Seckman

Good Day Sunshine :)

I want to give a big THANK YOU to Kyra Lennon at Write Here, Write Now for these beautiful awards. :)



There are some rules for accepting them, (of course.) I have to answer some questions and then I get to pass these lovely awards on to others. (My favorite part.) :)

1. Favorite Color? Blue
2. Favorite Animal? Horses or dogs, they're both great.
3. Favorite Number? seven
4. Favorite (non-alcoholic) drink? lemonade
5. Facebook or Twitter? Facebook, haven't tried Twitter yet. 
6. My passion? Writing and riding. 
7. Getting or Giving presents? I love picking out gifts for people. :)
8. Favorite pattern? I'm going to say polka dots, even though I don't actually wear a lot of polka dots. I really do like them. :) 
9. Favorite day of the week? Thursday right now. My husband has it off, plus there are lots of fun shows that day. :)
10. Favorite flower? Lilacs

Okay, the first person I'd like to give these to is Patsy Collins. She's amazing, and I thought these awards are particularly perfect for her because she: 1. Is getting her book published. Yay for Patsy! and 2. Posts contests for other writers all the time, helping them to get closer to making their dreams come true as well.

I'd also like to pass these on to:
Annalisa Crawford, whose novella, Cat and the Dreamer, I am currently reading. (It's great, by the way!)

Susanna Leonard Hill, whose picture book blog is amazing and so helpful for writers.

Hope Roberson, who is a talented writer and has a great list of blog links up right now, helping out her fellow bloggers.

Victoria at Twenty Something Fiction Writer, whose great personality shines through on her blog. She is so much fun!

And don't forget to check out our blog hop WiP: The Movie!