How We Met Bloghop

Melinda Dozier is hosting the How We Met Bloghop in honor of her sixteenth wedding anniversary. Isn't that sweet? Post, in one hundred words, how you met your signifigant other. Check out the other entries, (or go sign up!) here.

My husband’s sister and a friend of mine decided to fix Luke and me up. They invited us both down to the local bar and told him that I didn’t know he was going to be there to ‘check me out,’ we could just meet and it would be totally casual. They also told me that’s what they told him.

Seeing as he didn’t come and talk to me at all after we were introduced, I assumed he wasn’t interested. I probably would have left, but his sister told me he was interested-he was just scared to talk to me. He was shy. Cute! (I tease him all the time that if it weren’t for his sister we wouldn’t be together, so he should thank her all the time!)

We spent every day together for the next month and a half, at which point he was recalled. (Luke’s a former Marine.) He left two weeks later. He was gone for ten months, during which time I visited him twice and he visited me once.

He proposed the day after he got home. We got married three months later.

You're supposed to post a picture from around the time you met, but I couldn't find one. So I'm posting this one instead. :)

Flarkinghornswaggle!

Michelle Witte is having an awesomely fun contest on her blog. It involves faux swear words. (Now I am not good at making up words, but it was fun to try just the same.)  Michelle wrote:

In honor of the publication of my dearly beloved Craptastic Guide to Pseudo-Swearing, I am hosting a contest to spread the word about the book and faux-swearing in general. You could win some great crap that will be hard to find anywhere else.

And she's not kidding. She has some great prizes including a copy of her book, which sounds both interesting and flarking hilarious! ;) So go check it out!

WIP in Pictures

I've heard that some writers post pictures of their characters, either in their writing space or on pinterest, or wherever. I have never done this. I don't give a lot of physical description of my characters in my WIPs. Now, I have a pretty clear picture of what they look like in my head, but it would not have occurred to me to find a picture of someone who looks like them online and use it as inspiration.

Turns out, it's a pretty cool idea.

After doing a few blog hops that require pictures, I've learned how helpful this is! Having this picture of Emma Roberts really helps me picture how Sylvia would say something, what her expression might be, etc.



Sylvia

And I've never seen Emma Roberts in anything. It's not that I can picture how she says stuff. It's just that having this picture gives me a real, three dimensional image to think of.

I don't know. Maybe it sounds weird. What do you think? Do any of you get inspiration from photos of real people?

Girls Just Wanna' Have Fun Blog Hop

Today is the Girls Just Wanna' Have Fun Bloghop! Yay! A big thanks to Victoria and Jaycee for hosting this. You girls rock. ;)

The girls below are from my YA novella Flesh-Eating Zombies and Evil Ex-Girlfriends.

Gabby will be interviewing Sylvia.

These two were not best friends before they became locked in their high school,

trying to stay safe from zombies,

but they were 'friendly.' They are from a very small town where everyone

knows everyone. But they are happy they've gotten to know each other better!

I was going to play 'Everybody Dies Famous in a Small Town' but

I couldn't figure it out.

Sorry.

My computer kept freezing up when I tried.

So I gave up.

But here are the girls!

 

Sylvia

Gabby

Gabby: Okay, I have a list of questions here from Jaycee and Victoria. (Hey, did you hear about Victoria's big news? She's getting published by Curiosity Quills. Pretty awesome, huh?) Anyway, let's get started. First question: How would you describe Erwin?

Sylvia: Erwin is a good guy. Like an 'always tries to do what's right' kind of good guy. He can be frustrating as all hell, but he tries.

Gabby: That's it?

Sylvia: Um, yeah.

Gabby: Nothing about how you looove him?

Sylvia: What?! No. I mean, yeah, he's cute and all, but. . .Okay, you know what? Next question.

Gabby: Okay then. What turns you off from a guy the most?

Sylvia: Easy. Arrogance. I hate guys that think they are god's gift to, whatever.

Gabby: What attracts you to a guy the most?

Sylvia: I don't know. Intelligence. Sense of humor. Integrity.

Gabby: Abs?

Sylvia: Okay, yeah, that helps, too.

Gabby: Describe yourself in one word.

Sylvia: Practical.

Gabby: Wow. That's lame.

Sylvia: Gee, thanks a lot.

Gabby: I'd describe you as determined. Or fierce.

Sylvia: *laughs* Um, okay. I'll take fierce. That sounds a lot more interesting. I'd describe you as sweet.

Gabby: Aw, thanks Sylvia.

Burris on Rejection

This illustration was done by the amazing, talented, super duper cool, Priscilla Burris.

I was lucky enough to hear Ms. Burris speak at an SCBWI

conference a couple of years ago. She was absolutely wonderful.

I have been following her ever since.

(She wrote that that Otto is holding his rejection letters.

See, we all get them.)

Her blog can be found here.

Check her out. You won't regret it.

If you are ever in need of a pick-me-up, just look to her.

My baby girl is nine months old today. (And she's sick, poor thing.)

Next fall my oldest will be in second grade, and my son starts kindergarten. I'll have only two at home. Just think of all the writing I should be able to get done.

Of course, one of those is Catherine. And she's a runner.

In fact, she just ran away and hid because she doesn't want to put her pull-up back on.

I better go.

Happy weekend everyone, and Happy Father's Day!

Query Critique

Hey all, my query is being critiqued by the awesome Kelley over at Falling for Fiction. A big thank you to Kelley! And if you have a chance to hop over and put in your two cents, a big thank you to you, too! I would love any feedback you could give me. Be honest, be brutal. I can take it. ;) Thanks!!

Caption Contest Winner!

Well you guys were all very funny! It was a lot of fun reading your captions. In fact, they were so good my sisters couldn't agree on a winner! So I made my husband break the tie. But he decided that the runner-up should get a $5 gift card, because it was so funny, too. :)

So. . . The winner is Cassie Mae!

Nephew: And they just snipped the tip right off!

Daughter: Whew! I don't have one of those.





And the runner-up is Kelley! :)

Thanks everyone for playing! Cassie and Kelley, email me rachelmarybean(at)yahoo.com and let me know if you want Amazon or B&N.

Caption Contest & Giveaway!

So I meant to do a contest or give away when I hit 100 followers, but those who know me well know I am a bit of a procrastinator.

Then I thought I'd do it at 123, 'cause, ya' know, that's cute and all. But I missed that, too. So I'm doing it now before I forget again. :) Fair enough?

I wanted to do something fun, so I decided to have a caption contest.

I posted this picture of my daughter and my nephew on FB and one of my sisters

said it needed a cute caption. So I am turning to you fine people.

Post your captions in the comment section,

I will have my sisters decide on a winner.

The winner will receive a ten dollar gift card to Amazon

or Barnes & Noble.

And (if they want it) a query and three chapter

critique from me.

I am no expert on these things, so I will not be offended if you want to pass on the critique.

However, I can give you the opinion of an avid reader, plus, I've learned a lot

this past month working with an editor on my short story.

So put on your thinking caps and let's see what you can come up with!

Oh, and Daisy at Fresh as a Daisy has an awesome give-away

going on. Check it out here.

Thanks everyone!

IWSG: Revisions are Hard

First Wednesday of the month is when we post for the Insecure Writer's Support Group. This is a phenomenal group, created by the amazing Alex Cavanaugh, where writers hop around and encourage each other. Because, as it turns out, we all seem to feel like we can't do this from time to time.

I had  an "I can't do this!" moment a couple of weeks ago. I was working on revisions and I just couldn't make things sound the way they were supposed to. I got very frustrated. I asked myself, "what have you gotten yourself into?" "Why did you think you could do this?"

But you know what? After ranting to my poor husband about what an idiot I was, I got back to work and I kept on working until I was happy with it. Then I stopped hating myself, took a deep breath, and laughed at myself for panicking-like a big idiot. ;)

So keep working through those "I can't do this" moments. Because if you do, then you can. :)

To find the rest of the IWSG posts click here.

2222: The Zombie Apocalypse!

Did I mention it was a zombie love story?

During the dance number. Yes, there was a dance number.
And if you are wondering why they have Styrofoam on their heads,
it's to protect them from the zombie radiation.

Zombie kick-line!

From our award show the next weekend. (That's me on the right.)
Don't they look nice un-zombiefied?


It was a fun show with a great group of teens. These kids rock!

 A great big THANK YOU to Cassie Mae and Jaybird for these awesome awards! If you aren't already following these girls, you should be. Seriously, you should be. They are hilarious!

Now to pass these awards along:

Danielle B. at Entertaining Interests
Laura at Pepper Jack
McKenzie at The Ubiquitous Perspective
Allison at Geek Banter

Keep an eye out this week for pictures from the high school spring play I directed, 2222: The Zombie Apocalypse There will also be a give away soon! Yay! Lots of fun things. :)

(Okay, not sure why the blogs above are showing up in different colors, but they all have clickable links, just so you know!)