The End of a School Year

Friday is the last day of school here in Coweta County. It's the end of my daughter's kindergarten year. I know she has enjoyed her first year of school and will be looking forward to spending the summer playing and having fun. I couldn't help but think of Alice Cooper's song "School's Out For Summer" when I contemplated the end of Brenna's first year.

I remember when I was a kid that it seemed to take forever for summer to come. The school year seemed to take forever! Now that I'm all grown up time really flies by though. The wheel of the year seems to turn faster and faster as time goes by. Now holidays and birthdays seem to come around before I know it. I know that scientifically the minutes and seconds haven't changed at all. It's all in perception. Time doesn't actually pass by any faster, but it is perceived as passing more rapidly as a person gets older.

Summer plans aren't all that grand. There's no cash for a vacation (yet again) so we're not taking one. We haven't been on a real vacation since 2010 when we spent a week at Disney World in Orlando. We're working on saving money so we can go back though! We're all so ready to go back to Disney World.

It won't be a boring summer for our family though. We're planning on still having a good time, even though we're not taking a major family vacation. We're planning on visiting White Water in Atlanta and getting season passes if we can. We did last year and I'm hoping we can just renew them. Brenna loves White Water! That little girl would stay in the water all the time if she could!

Enjoy your summer. Even though you may not be taking a big family vacation, take some time to make the summer fun for the whole family. It's all about the memories you make. For example, I can remember being a little kid and going fishing with my dad. He'd get up around three in the morning, throw on clothes, and head for the lake. He'd let me come with him. I've never been a morning person so waking up that early was definitely not easy! More than once I fell asleep in the truck on the way to the lake. We'd reach the lake and he'd get his bass boat into the water. We'd climb in and set off for the best fishing holes before the crack of dawn. We'd stay on the lake all day long! It was just us fishing, talking, drinking sodas, snacking on Vienna sausages and sardines in mustard sauce, and having a good old time! We'd come back home telling my om about the fish we caught and smelling like the lake. Those are the kinds of memories that we want our children to have of summer vacations. I'm looking forward to making lasting, fun memories with my daughters as well!

Competition and Reviews

There are definitely reasons why Monday is referred to as "Moan-day" from time to time. Today was really rough. I'm hoping that things will be better tomorrow.

On a positive note, today was Field Day for my daughter's school. I remember Field Day! It was always so much fun! Our school split into two teams and the teams were pitted against one another. One team would win first place and the other would win second. We'd all go home with ribbons for whichever place our team won and we all had fun! I still remember the egg toss, the water bucket filling race, the tire race, and kickball. My absolute favorite was tug of war! There was a huge rope that in my elementary school eyes had to be a hundred feet long! Each team would grab either side of the gigantic rope and on the sound of the PE teacher's whistle we'd begin tugging for dear life. Somehow I always ended up on the second place team until my fourth grade year. That was the triumphant year when we finally took first place! I still have my huge blue ribbon showing that I was on the first place team. It was such a proud moment for me in my elementary school years.

My daughter didn't bring home any ribbons. I am guessing that everyone participates for fun now and not for the chance of winning first place. That is a bit of contention with me. In today's world children are given trophies for participation, not for winning. Don't get me wrong: I think it's great to congratulate everyone for taking part in an activity. There's something to be said for winning an award though. It's about showing that a little bit of extra effort can pay off. It's about going above and beyond to achieve a goal. And it's about the competition. Seeing who's going to win is a big deal!

See, this is a problem in the world today. Everyone's so afraid to step on the toes of another individual so they make everyone equal. Wait, wasn't that the goal of communism? Everyone was supposed to be equal? Well, we can see how well communism worked out, can't we? Yes, you're supposed to see the sarcasm dripping from that sentence. Competition isn't a negative thing. It can be made negative but the act of competing in itself isn't negative. Competition gives people something to achieve. It gives people a goal to reach. Look at the pro athletes. Michael Phelps and Kristi Yamaguchi didn't start out at the top. They had to work for it. They practiced. They honed their skills. They competed in tournaments and meets. What happened? They improved. They got better at what they do. Eventually they reached the top and earned those coveted gold medals. Competition makes people better.

Writing is also a competition. Think about it from this angle: every day a customer logs into Amazon to buy a book. They have the option to choose from thousands of books! Romance, mystery, children's books, and more...all available to them! Which books do they choose? Some come with a book in mind. Others are looking for something that comes highly recommended. Not every author has the status of a Nora Roberts or a Dean Koontz and have people googling their names on Amazon to see what they have written. Every author is in competition with every other author out there. For example, if a customer looks at three books by authors they've never heard of before how do they pick which book to buy? The answer lies in reviews! As a reader it's extremely important to leave reviews for the books you've read.

Reviews are gold for authors. It lets them know that someone's read their work. Good reviews are more like platinum. That means someone's read and enjoyed their work! Do you have a book in mind that you love dearly? Go to Goodreads, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble and leave a review. I guarantee you that the author will be ever so grateful that you did! Then another customer will come along, read your review, and might just buy that book because of how much you liked it and that you cared about it enough to review it. Trust me when I tell you that your review doesn't have to be a wordy work of art. My simplest review yet actually made it into a fellow author's blog! That surprised me but yet it pleased me. Even a few sentences about how much you enjoyed the book will make all the difference for that author.

Save an author. Leave a review!

The Search for Mrs. Claus - release trailer

The Search for Mrs. Claus Trailer

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms out there! Today is your day! Enjoy it! For my Mother's Day, yesterday I gave myself a little present. I never go to a hair salon and get my hair done. I've pretty much had the same hairstyle for most of my life. I decided to change things up a bit. I had a foot of hair cut off yesterday! I'll be donating it to Locks of Love, an organization that makes wigs for children with cancer.

There's the foot of hair I had cut. Wow! After it was cut I couldn't believe how much lighter me head felt! You really don't realize how much your hair weighs until it's not hanging on the back of your head anymore. I also got some blonde highlights to brighten up my hair. What do you think of the finished product?

Here's the back view.

And Here's the front view.

This was a really big deal for me. Honestly, of all of my physical attributes my hair was the one that I liked the most. Cutting it off was a bit scary! Yet, when she brought the scissors over I didn't even flinch. I think I was ready for a new me. I wanted to have a more professional appearance when I had my new author photo taken and my previous hair was...less than professional in appearance. My new do is much better suited for professionalism!

I was really surprised at the difference! So far I like it! Take today and do something special for yourself. Enjoy the day with your families!

44 Days and Counting!

Happy Tuesday friends! Take a look above. Santa Claus is coming to town...or at least the tale of how he met and married his bride is! He's given me an early release day present: a countdown clock for the blog! This way everyone can see how much time is left until the release day of The Search for Mrs. Claus!

Thinking back on the writing of this novel I am reminded of the Christmas presents that I've received over the years. I can vividly remember the Christmas when I got my ten speed mountain bike! I was nine years old and I'd been asking for a ten speed for a while. My mom advised me to be really good and Santa Claus might bring me one for Christmas. Well, Christmas morning arrived and I woke up and hurried to wake my parents! See, there was a rule in our house on Christmas morning. Parents had to see the presents first. Otherwise, everything disappeared. I was always terrified of my presents from Santa being magically whisked back to the North Pole if my parents didn't see the gifts first so I always ran to wake them up on Christmas morning. My dad went out into the living room and turned on the Christmas lights. He then called me to come on in. I ran into the living room and a huge grin spread across my face when I saw that gorgeous black ten speed sitting beside the Christmas tree! Santa came through on his promise and I couldn't wait to get outside and start riding that amazing new bike!

Tell me about your most memorable Christmas gift. What really sticks out in your mind as a special present?

Pagan Ways is finished!

Today I sat down and wrote the ending of Pagan Ways, my Camp NaNoWriMo novel! It really made me feel good to get the ending down on paper. It's been in my mind for a while but today the story just basically write itself. I love it when I'm so into what I am writing that the word flow so easily!

Blythe Barton, a writer for a local magazine, is asked to write an article about real witches for an upcoming Halloween issue. As a Christian Blythe feels very strange about researching the pagan ways but reluctantly agrees to do it in order to earn a promotion. She meets with a local potter and Wiccan, Rick Conrad, who agrees to give her an interview if she will agree to study his religion for a few months to fully understand why pagans believe what they believe. She agrees and Rick, along with his high priestess, Arden McMurphy, begin teaching Blythe about their religion. Arden's distrust in Blythe combined with growing feelings Blythe has for Rick complicate matters and could bring problems for Arden's well established coven. Will Arden's past, Blythe's future, and Rick's love all come together for the mutual benefit of all or will their own wishes break apart the coven for good?

This novel is very personal for me as it highlights some aspects of my own life. In fact, I've put my own wedding picture from my marriage to my second husband in the temporary cover art that I designed tonight. The temporary cover art is above and I hope you enjoy it!

Now that Pagan Ways is finished it's time to concentrate on the preparations for The Search for Mrs. Claus that will be coming out on June 20! Stay tuned to this page for more information on this fun, magical novel and to get into the Christmas spirit a bit early!

Getting rewards!

I have a daughter who just turned six. She's absolutely hilarious! She's a lot of fun but is also rather strong willed and likes to do things her own way. That often presents a bit of a problem in school. Her kindergarten class utilizes a behavior chart based on the colors of the rainbow. Everyone starts the day on green. As your behavior improves throughout the day you can move up to blue, purple, and pink. Pink is the top of the behavior chart. If you misbehave you move down to yellow, orange, and then red. Red is not good and often results in a note home from the teacher.

Throughout the school year it's been a real challenge for my daughter Brenna to get green or better. However, this week she really nailed it! On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday she brought home green. On Thursday she brought home blue. And today she brought home purple! She improved throughout the week! I'd told her this morning if she managed to bring home purple we'd take her roller skating tonight. Well, here we are at the skating rink and she's having a blast, as you can see from above!

Am I skating? Not on your life! With my balance issues I'd fall flat on my face out there. But that's all right. They have WiFi here so I can chill, read, write, or whatever I want to do while she skates and had a blast! It's good to be able to reward your kids for a job well done. Brenna definitely deserves to have a fun night tonight for doing so wonderful this week in school! I'm so proud of her!