PEOPLE LIKE ME - released!

I think I've mentioned this on the blog once or twenty times, but just in case you forgot...I have a super-duper-awesome-fantabulous critique author. And she's published a short story collection just in time for Halloween!

PEOPLE LIKE ME & Other Stories by DT is a collection of eight supernatural and paranormal short stories featuring zombies, reapers, ghosts and vampires.  I've read them all. I've critiqued them all. I heart them all. And I'm telling you now...not only is Danielle a master of the shin-kick, she also knows how to chill you to the bone with her writing.

Be completely and totally awesome and check out her work.  The e-book is only 99 cents and she even has paperbacks on sale for less than ten bucks. It's a bargain, people! And then, because you loved it so much, tell your friends to read it too.  :)

The e-book is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
The paperback is available on Amazon.

And the waves crashed upon the shore...

This past weekend, I got this nifty, original thing called a vacation WITHOUT kids! I've had a week without them before, but this was the first week when I wasn't at home while they were gone and let me tell you moms/dads...I missed those boys, but it was so worth it! Pure and utter relaxation for the first time in forever. I knew my boys were in good hands and all I had to do was relax, sunbathe, and drink cocktails. Completely Fabulous. 

Course, the drive in to Myrtle Beach was a bit wet. 

 But the moment we got within 15 miles of the shore, things started to clear up...

Then, once we got on the main strip, I pointed out the hotel to my sister. "There, that's it....Crown Reef".  She parks, we go inside, I try to check in, and the lady can't find my reservation. I give her my name, my reservation number, and nothing comes up. I look back down at my confirmation...and it turns out I'm at the wrong freakin' hotel! Typical me. So we get back in the car, drive 4 blocks to the right hotel and finally get up to our room. I loved our view...

First thing we had to visit...Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville for what else??  MARGARITAS!!

We also visited a few other (drinking) establishments, including our hotel lobby bar, where my brave sister sang karaoke twice and even pulled me up with her (after many many drinks) to sing for a third time. She's a singing machine, folks.

One major reason we took the trip was to see my best friend from college get married. It was a beautiful ceremony...and the cupcakes were divine :)

And while we didn't get to lay out and tan too much, I reveled in the beauty of the waves as they crashed up on the shore, took comfort in their gentle nudges of calmness, and delved into their healing powers of non-kid sanity.   I came away with one conclusion: the beach is my prozac. Now I only need a doctor to prescribe a permanent move. 

And on a side note...writing in the dark, with nothing but the light of your laptop screen and the sand between your toes, to the sound of waves crashing is the most WONDERFUL way to write. If you ever get a chance to do that...DO IT! 

Banned Books Week Giveaway & Blog Hop

It's Banned Books Week!

September 24 through October 1 

It's the week when we formally recognize and speak out against banned and challenged books. Why do I think we shouldn't ban books?  Because it's hard enough to get kids to read at all...why would we start taking their choice of what to read away? There are TV shows, movies, video games that I would never let my children watch/play, but I would never try to start a movement to ban them from other kids. The authorities simply put a rating on them and let the parents have the final choice. Books should be no different. When I was teaching, I had a difficult student. He had a hard life at home and always seemed to have a chip on his shoulder. Books about chocolate fever and bubblegum capers weren't going to draw his attention. He needed a book that applied to him, showed him that his life wasn't that unimaginable, and even more important, showed him that even what he was going through was something he could overcome. Books like the Hunger Games can show kids that even though they are young, they do have a voice and they can be strong and stand up for what they believe in. How dare our "authorities" tell our children they can't read a book about tough times and drugs and real life, but then support their very near and possible future involvement, at the tender age of 18, in a deadly and violent war fighting overseas. If we can send kids to war, and let them play video games that are far more graphic than any thing I ever played as a kid, then by goodness, let them choose what they want to read. It's words, not the end of the world. 

In order to show my support of Banned Books Week, I'm having not just 1, but 2 giveaways! And I'm not the only one having a giveaway this week...there is a whole slew of bloggers supporting Banned Books Week. Go to I'm a Reader, Not a Writer for quick, easy links to all of the other 200+ bloggers participating.

This week I'm giving away two paperbacks that are often challenged in the schools:

The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler - WINNER OF A MICHAEL L. PRINTZ HONOR! Fifteen-year-old Virginia Shreves has a larger-than-average body and a plus-size inferiority complex. She lives on the Web, snarfs junk food, and follows the "Fat Girl Code of Conduct." Her stuttering best friend has just moved to Walla Walla (of all places). Her new companion, Froggy Welsh the Fourth (real name), has just succeeded in getting his hand up her shirt, and she lives in fear that he’ll look underneath. Then there are the other Shreves: Mom, the successful psychologist and exercise fiend; Dad, a top executive who ogles thin women on TV; and older siblings Anaïs and rugby god Byron, both of them slim and brilliant. Delete Virginia, and the Shreves would be a picture-perfect family. Or so she’s convinced. And then a shocking phone call changes everything. With irreverent humor, insight, and surprising gravity, Carolyn Mackler creates an endearingly blunt heroine whose story will speak to every teen who struggles with family expectations - and serve as a welcome reminder that the most impressive achievement is to be true to yourself.

and...

The first book in one of my favorite series reads of all time....The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman-In a landmark epic of fantasy and storytelling, Philip Pullman invites readers into a world as convincing and thoroughly realized as Narnia, Earthsea, or Redwall. Here lives an orphaned ward named Lyra Belacqua, whose carefree life among the scholars at Oxford's Jordan College is shattered by the arrival of two powerful visitors. First, her fearsome uncle, Lord Asriel, appears with evidence of mystery and danger in the far North, including photographs of a mysterious celestial phenomenon called Dust and the dim outline of a city suspended in the Aurora Borealis that he suspects is part of an alternate universe. He leaves Lyra in the care of Mrs. Coulter, an enigmatic scholar and explorer who offers to give Lyra the attention her uncle has long refused her. In this multi-layered narrative, however, nothing is as it seems. Lyra sets out for the top of the world in search of her kidnapped playmate, Roger, bearing a rare truth-telling instrument, the golden compass. All around her, children are disappearing as victims of the so-called "Gobblers" and being used as subjects in terrible experiments that separate humans from their daemons, creatures that reflect each person's inner being. And somehow, both Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter are involved.

To enter this giveaway, fill out the form below and leave a comment below of your opinion of banned books. I also ask that you share this giveaway with others on twitter and/or facebook as well. Thanks and good luck!

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This giveaway has ended. Thanks to everyone who entered! I'll announce the winner soon.

Scientific Adventures

Science was never my forte. I liked Biology (actually I just liked animals), but chemistry, anatomy and physics were a huge challenge for my simple brain. I should have liked Science because the questions had definite answers; there was a right and there was a wrong. My brain just couldn't process the reasoning. And it still can't.

Hence my current problem. In Kentucky, fourth graders are tested in Science. Because of the low reading and writing statistics for Kentucky students, kids get basically no science background before their fourth grade year. It's at that time that teachers proceed to cram 23 units of science studies into the kids' brains in a matter of 8 months. In 5 weeks (1 hour a day), they have already covered scientific theories, fossils and earth formations, and weather. What I've realized is that my fourth grader has about as much scientific processing ability as I have. Poor kid. Each night we have to spend 45 minutes to an hour revisiting all of his science lesson for the day and yet, he's still failing his tests. So, when he came home with a science project assignment, I was bound and determined he was going to do well.

The assignment?  Build a weather measuring device and write a one page paper describing what it is and how it measures weather. A creative project and a writing assignment?? SCORE!

First thing we did was decide a project. Caleb went with a Barometer ( like above). We obviously can't make it that way, so I did the next best thing... googled it! Turns out that all we needed was a jar, a balloon, rubber bands, straw, tape, cardboard, and a marker or pen. Easy enough. Now, I could go into detail and tell you how to make one (which I strongly recommend you do because it was easy and fun and really educational), but I think I'll just let this video do it. It was super easy to follow...





Another great resource (which is how I found the video) is at Wikihow.

And when all was said and done...here is what we came up with.

Now we can track where the straw points each day, keep it on a chart and then use the data to start making predictions. And it actually works!  Genius!

Now, go make your own Barometer and learn about air pressure with your kiddo.

A toast to social media reality

(all in good humor)

Substitute "Facebook" with "Twitter", "Tumblr", "Link-in", "Google+", "Blog", etc and so on....and you have just about everyone on your social media network covered. Cheers!

Aliens and Editing

Netflix is evil.

It's the one place you can watch an entire series start to finish via instant streaming through your Wii and it be non-commercial, non-sticking, and constantly queued-up. Current TV series obsession of choice? Roswell circa 1999-2002

It's like an overemotional "Party of Five" TV show, but with supernatural aliens and such. Makes for excellent writing/editing inspiration. At least that's what I tell myself. Mainly because I'm supposed to actually be editing right now.

I'm on draft 3 of project code name MM with an current-draft-editing-goal-date of September 20th. I'm trying some different stuff with this draft, adding more dialogue exchanges and even playing with major plot points, including a major antagonist change. It's almost like a rewrite, and that's scary, but I want the strongest story I can make and sometimes that takes time (and tons of patience and guts and insanity).

So with that, I'm setting a huge goal for this three-day weekend. I'm currently 50 pages in, editing-wise, and my goal is to edit an additional 100 pages before the end of Labor Day. That'll put me halfway through my editing goal and give me a huge jump start on my deadline. It'll be a twitter #amediting weekend for sure!  Well, in between my Roswell breaks, that is...

Do you plan to make this a working weekend too?