Inspiration for the New Year

Here's a little inspiration poster my husband made for me. Thought you all might enjoy.




Here's to a new year of new wips, new deals, new characters, new fascinations, and new friends.

Holiday Top Ten

I had a fabulous time with family and friends last week. I thought I'd share a few of the highlights with you. Enjoy!



#10 - I got a lot of amazing gifts. I still feel like I'm 12 when it comes to presents, but this year I feel like I'm 12 going on 60. Out of all the amazing things I received, there is one item I'm super excited about. It's a hard boiled egg cooker. Eeyup. One of these little dudes -->

Totally stoked about this. Can't wait to try it. Will probably get off the couch and make some today, despite my hacking cough and marathon-running, basketball-dribbling nose.

#9 - My family comes from down on the farm. During the holidays, we whip out instruments, push the table and chairs aside, and dance in the kitchen. This time, all four of our newest "additions" (the toddlers) did the dancing while the adults clapped. It was one of the most precious things I've ever seen. They cut a rug to Candy Man, Salty Dog by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. I have video. It's priceless.

#8 - Looking at photos and listening to my 90+ year old grandmother talk about going steady with my grandpa. (They were both good-looking folks!) I hope when I'm that age, I'm still talking about Joel the same way, remembering all the little details of our dating years in Chicago, when the whole city was ours and nothing seemed to stand in our way.

#7 - GirlFest 2009, baby. Every year my friends and I get together for the holidays. We exchange gifts, play video games with the kids, and go out to eat. Last year we added a showing of Twilight, so this year, of course, we saw New Moon. I got Jill and Claire these shirts for Christmas, so they wore them to the film. Abby, who is not really a fan but just a really really really good sport, wore a Team Jacob wristband. I wore an olive green button-up like Bella wears in the Volturi scenes in Italy. Photos!


I don't think anyone got a photo of me in my Bella shirt, but it rocks, and it's almost exactly like this:



#6 - Making fun of New Moon. Since all of us had already seen the film, it was so fun to giggle and make fun of all the cheesy parts. There were a few times Jill wanted some peace and quiet to swoon, I think, but I went ahead and kept trying to make her laugh. That's me for ya. My favorite ad lib: You know how Jacob spends the ENTIRE film with his shirt off? Then at the end, Edward has his shirt off for mere seconds before Felix hands him a robe? I made Felix say, "Put this on, man, no one wants to see that." Then, next shot, Edward has the robe on, but it's falling open, still baring his chest. So Felix says, "Dammit man! I said cover up!" Again, priceless.




#5 - On the ride home, Abby asks, "What was Doogie Howser's name?" Yet another priceless quote. Laughter ensued, until we all realized she wanted to know the name of the actor. *sigh* Sorry we laughed hysterically in your face, Abs.

<-- That thar's Neil Patrick Harris!



#4 - Going shopping and out to eat with my mom. I picked her up from work early and we hit our favorite local Italian spot, Aldo's. Then it was on to shopping, where I scored two new jackets (some people love to buy shoes, I love to buy jackets), and lots of other awesome stuff (including my Bella shirt from above). Mom tried a Starbuck's mocha for the first time. Lot's of gabbing, lots of browsing, lots of handing out the greenbacks. All ingredients for a good time.


#3 - My 3YO niece, Emma, inquiring about my health = another priceless quote. She asked my mom, "Does my Aunt Manda have the chicken pops?"


#2 - Talking about poop at my dad's dinner table. Just so you know, this wasn't allowed when I was a kid, but I guess Emma is cute enough to be the exception to the rule. She loves EVERYBODY POOPS by Taro Gomi, and Joel asked her to tell us about it. (Thanks, Joel!) Hearing her say, "A one-hump camel makes a one-hump poop, and a two-hump camel makes a two-hump poop," was hilarity at its best.


#1 - The ride home. My husband grew up without a TV, so his entertainment knowledge is limited, to say the least. I love it when he's trying to remember the name of an actor or movie title. One of my faves from the past? He thought Wayne's World was called Where's Wayne-O? You can imagine the fun I have with him.

So on the ridiculously long drive home (through a snow storm), Joel couldn't remember the names of Rocky and Bullwinkle. By the time he finally got it right (with a few hints from me) I was in tears. Here are a few of his suggestions and quotes:

Buttwink
Buthwinkle
Perry Winkle
Mary Dingle
Bowinkle
"Bullmoose! And he has a squirrel friend... Bullmoose and Squirrel!"
"Boris and Merrywinkle! No... That doesn't sound right..."

And my favorite, which he exclaimed with utmost certainty:
"Chipper and Mooseminks!"



Merry Christmas everyone!

Run and Tell That

Hey y'all, I slammed two chapters down today. My reward? Watching Hairspray and gettin' down in my living room.

Just had to post my favorite song in the film for your viewing pleasure. (Disregard the subtitles, they aren't right.) I dare you not to tap your toes or groove in your computer chair.

Los Angeles, Interviews, and Melissa Gilbert

I had quite the week in California. Left Detroit with ice covering the car and after a full day of travel, stepped off the plane in sunny Orange County. It was 80 degrees. Heaven.

We stayed three days, which consisted of laughter with friends, baby holding and snuggling, hanging with all the Ford Fiesta Movement agents at the posh London West Hollywood hotel, attending an agent award ceremony where Husband and I won "best spoof video," hopping on stage to introduce the band Parachute to the Fiesta Celebration crowd, taking tons of photos, shaking lots of hands, and revealing the US Ford Fiesta to the media at the L.A. Auto Show. Watch the reveal here: 2nd video on the page.



Needless to say, it was IN. SANE. All of that while nursing my recovering back and battling some sort of bug that gave me a sore throat. I never knew social media could be so tiring.

While there, we met fellow Fiesta Agent Eric Rochow from Gardenfork.tv. He runs a website with how-to videos about cooking, gardening, and other eclectic DIY projects. Like how to make deep fried Twinkies. *drool*

I got to talking to Eric about web design, building an online community from the ground up, and then about self publishing. Some of you may already know that I self-published a cookbook (Lactose Free and Loving It!) to gain revenue for my parenting site pluggedinparents.com. I did it through CreateSpace which is a segment of Amazon.com. I did this right, folks. I used my design savvy to whip up a pro cover, had the content edited, and even spent agonizing hours creating my own index. This thing is as close to professional as you can get. I know "self-pubbed" is usually code for "not edited," but I'm a professional designer and editor, so hopefully my attempt passes muster. We hope to publish more in the years to come.

As I'm telling Eric about all this, he whips out his iPhone and this awesome Blue mic attachment and does an interview with me right there on the spot. So cool! Check it out here or download it as a podcast on iTunes here.

The great thing is, I don't really sound like a complete idiot. That's a major plus for me. Except, I think I refer to "lactose" as an enzyme a few times (lactase is the enzyme, lactose is a sugar), but that's neither here nor there. You won't call me on it, will you? It was my first live interview so I'm allowing myself a few foul balls.

Eric's videos are awesome. If you're into anything DIY, check out his site. Did I mention the deep fried Twinkies? You can also learn how to make a potato gun, how to start beekeeping, how to build a smoker out of Ikea products, how to bake artisan bread, and more. He's one classy guy. You just want to hang out at his place for an afternoon, drink a beer, and toss the stick with the Gardenfork labradors, Henry and Mij.

After another full day of air travel (with sinus pressure that resulted in temporary hearing loss, oh joy!), we were back home. The cat missed us so much he slept on my head that night. A day later we were still recovering when we realized we had tickets to Little House on the Prairie the musical and the show was starting in 30 minutes. I got a *tad* upset at the prospect of losing out on the show. We had 2nd row seats right in the middle--they were pricey! So we rushed into Detroit to the Fox Theater, no breakfast, no lunch, and got to the show a little late. It was still worth it!



Melissa Gilbert played Ma--how cool is that? Okay, maybe that's not so cool for you, but I'm a huge fan of Little House. HUGE. I even got teary-eyed when I realized something that had been a part of my childhood was now officially over. Melissa Gilbert is no longer Laura, she's Ma. It was hard to grasp the finality of it all. The thought that Little House would be an old show one day never crossed my mind. But my spirits were lifted when I saw so many little girls at the theater wearing dresses with their hair in pigtails. The books live on, folks. They'll never be old.

My love of theater and musicals ignited fully once again while there. I've been in so many musicals, both on stage and in the pit. Someday I hope to find the time to do it again. Love, love, LOVE being a part of a show.

In other news, I finished Robin Hobb's Assassin trilogy. I feel like a great weight has been lifted. This is why I don't read too much when I'm working on my own book--I get trapped in what I'm reading and can't get out until I've read the last page. Now I only have 2 weeks to finish my edits to meet my goal for the year. Hobb's books, I must admit, steered me away from that goal more times than I'd like to admit. But I'm done and my focus is back on my ms.

Well...

After I finish this post, that is. Ah, the life of a writer suffering from procrastination!