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!

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!

Quick Update

Happy Sunday everyone! Today's going to be a busy day for me. We'll be heading to my mother's house shortly to help her clean out her garage. She also has an above ground pool that we're going to bring back to our house and set up for the summer. It will be fun to have a pool this year! Honestly it gets so incredibly hot here in Georgia and a pool will be fantastic for the summer! I'm looking forward to being able to come home after work and float in it to cool off. I know my daughter will be in it from the time we get home until the sun sets!

I finished reading a really great book this morning as well and wanted to share it with you. Now, you know that I typically read romance novels. I rarely ever branch out of my little comfort zone. However, K.R. Morrison's Be Not Afraid is classified as a horror novel. There's absolutely nothing romance about it! This is a chilling tale of God vs. the vampire Vlad over the soul of a Christian woman, Lydia. Now don't get the image of Edward and Bella in your minds when you start considering Lydia and Vlad. They are far from that image! This book kept me on the edge of my seat from the first page to the last. I am truly looking forward to the next book in the series! You know, this may encourage me to branch out of my romance comfort zone more often. I'm looking forward to the next installment so I can find out more about how Lydia and her family deal with the frightening changes taking place around them!

I've still got some writing left to do on my Camp NaNoWriMo novel. I had a rather lofty goal of 75,000 words set for myself and I will most definitely not reach that. However, to get a true NaNo win you need to write more than 50,000. I've just a hair over 40,000 words right now. I can definitely make 50,000 by April 30. The book, Pagan Ways will not be complete then but I can continue working on it even after Camp NaNoWriMo is over.

I've got to go get ready and head for my mom's house now. Have a fabulous day and happy reading!

So Much To Do...

Hello everyone! I absolutely cannot believe that the month of April is nearly gone. Where does the time go? It's been a rather busy month for me. I've been working fervently on my Camp NaNoWriMo novel. I have a lofty goal of 75,000 words. I am knocking on the door of 40,000 as of tonight. Can I write 35,000 in eight days? I doubt it, but I'm not going to give up! We'll see how far I get!

Aside from my latest writing project I've really been spending a lot more time on my Facebook and Twitter accounts. I may have neglected the blog a bit while growing those two avenues. I'll strive to balance the social media a little better.

Balance. That's definitely something that's a struggle in the lives of people today. We work 40+ hours a week while juggling bills, savings, family, pets, and more. How do we all do it? Honestly, there are days when I wish we could just wind back time a couple hundred years to a simpler day. The rat race of today's world would be gone. However, I'd really miss indoor plumbing so it may not be the best idea. I just need to find a way to try to balance my life a little better. How many of us come home and feel so overwhelmed at the laundry, dishes, cooking, homework, and cleaning that needs to be done very night? Lord knows I do. I think if I could learn to not be such a perfectionist it would be a bit easier, but that just goes against every ounce of my being.

For example, weekends should be a time of rest, relaxation, and chilling out. For me weekends are a time to catch up on all the stuff I didn't have time to do during the week. This weekend my Saturday and Sunday are both completely planned out already. Somehow in the midst of my plans for puppy obedience class, cleaning out my mom's garage, moving the pool from her house to mine, catching up laundry, and shampooing my carpets I'd love to find time to do some writing. It's not going to be easy though but I will find the time. After all, if something's important enough you make the time.

Thanks so much for your understanding on my two week long absence. I know you have busy lives too. If you've got some suggestions that can help be better juggle my responsibilities, I'm game. Please share! I love feedback!