The Dream Launcher

A few weeks ago I received what I think is the coolest award ever.

The Dream Launcher Award.

The brainchild of Rena over at Doctor Faerie Godmother, the Dream Launcher was created to thank those who made a big difference in their blogging and/or writing world.

The Rules: Well there are none. This is an award to keep, pass on, or do nothing with.

However, I have many wonderful bloggers who have been soooo supportive along the way that I need to pass this on. So, a big heartfelt thank you to...



Amber at amberafterglow
Jenn Baker-Henry at  A Baker With An Appetite For Writing
Nicole at Ink & Prose
Sarah at Latte Tea Dah
Rain at Rain-on Sentence
Julie Fedderson at Gypsy in my soul
Carrie Butler at So, You're A Writer
Rena at Doctor Faerie Godmother

Some of you were my first blog visitors who not only left encouraging comments, but came back. Some of you have read my work and offered amazing feedback that has pushed and challenged me to grow and learn. Some of you are awesome cheerleaders whose enthusiasm and encouragement means more to me than you'll ever know. Some of you are all of these things and more.

So now this award is yours to do (or not do) what you will with it.

Happy Leap Year Everybody!

Win a copy of Born Wicked By Jessica Spotswood

Happy Monday!!!

Today I'm giving away a copy of Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood (which is an awesome book!!!)

This Giveaway ends Sunday, March 4th at midnight (eastern). You must be 13 years of age or older to enter and have a U.S. mailing address. You can enter below.

The Great Big Post of Questions

This time of year is always crazy in our house. My daughters' birthdays are 4 weeks apart and the majority of those weeks happen in February. And most of their friends seem to have birthdays in February too. And several of my friends welcomed little newborns this month.

So it's been birthdays and babies, and babies and birthdays.

And then on Saturday, I turned on my computer to see this...


So I texted my IT brother for help and he responded with this...


(and now you know how my First Campaign Challenge idea came about)

So needless to say between all the planning and parties and broken computers, I got a little behind on answering questions for all the tags I received.

So to catchup here are all 55 questions...

This set of questions is from Daisy at Fresh as A Daisy.

1. Favorite villain and why? Cruella Deville because her hair is cool
   
2. What's the last book you read? Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood
   
3. If you could travel back in time, where would you go and why? 1996 to tell a few loved ones how much they mean to me before it's too late.
   
4. Would you rather have an unlimited gift card to your favorite bookstore OR a publishing contract but never be allowed to read any other books? Give me the gift card.
   
5. If you were an animal, what would you be? A cat so I could sleep all day.
   
6. What's your very first memory? Reading the Little House books with my Aunt (she was only 5 years older than me so we grew up more like sisters)
   
7. Suzanne Collins, JK Rowling, Stephenie Meyer, Neil Gaiman, Judy Blume and John Green call. They all want you to come to their house for dinner, but all on the same night. Whose dinner invitation do you accept? All of them...we'll just have to move dinner to my house.
   
8. You discover a planet. What do you name it? Pluto The Sequel
   
9. What world/nation/city/place from a book would you most like to visit? Hogwarts.
   
10. Here's a million dollars. How would you spend it? *note, I said spend. It's a fantasy! No saving!* Books, books, and more books.
    
11. On which reality TV contest or gameshow would you be a contestant? Wheel of Fortune so I can spin the wheel.

And these are from Gina at This is Not Your Blog

1. What was the greatest live music experience you've ever had? Casting Crowns as the Iowa State Fair last year.
2. What was your worst date ever? The one where we joined up with his friends and went to a graveyard with a Ouija board.
3. If money is no object, what would your dream vacation be? A cruise around the world.
4. Would you rather live in a crowded city or small town? Small town.
5. Would you be willing to murder one innocent person if you knew it would guarantee an end to all world hunger? Wow...as much as I'd love to end world hunger I don't think I could ever murder somebody.
6. When did you last cry in front of somebody (who is not your partner)? Friday
7. Would you be willing to endure night terrors- every night- for the rest of your life if you were given vast personal wealth to use however you wish in exchange? No I value my sleep too much.
8. If you could choose the manner of your death- but not the timing- what would you choose? Something quick and abrupt that I didn't have time to dwell on.
9. Would you rather switch back to black and white TV with only five channels, or no internet? Black and White TV
10. If you could use a voodoo doll to hurt somebody, would you do it? Ha ha...maybe
11. What if the voodoo doll was only able to annoy them tremendously (for example: causes pervasive itching of genitals while in public, causes slight ringing in ears at nighttime, etc), would you do it? Ha ha...probably...hell yes!

And this set of questions is from Jenna at Finding the Write Way

1. Redvines or Twizzlers? Twizzlers
   
2. With your iPod/MP3 on shuffle, what's the first song that comes up? Justin Bieber Down to Earth (Don't judge - I share an iTunes account with my daughters)
   
3. What's your least favorite book you ever had to read for school? To Kill A Mockingbird
   
4. You're the producer for turning any one book into a movie, which do you choose to do? Divergent
   
5. What's your favorite youtube video? I don't know...maybe one of those funny ones with kids and their dogs..
   
6. Who did you look up to when you were thirteen years old? my grandparents
   
7. Which food do you wish you could rid the planet of? Girl Scout Cookies (because they are too addicting)
   
8. Why did you decide to start blogging? To get over my shyness
   
9. Do you cry over books/movies/TV shows? All the time
   
10. What's one thing you believe in with all your heart? God
    
11. Flowers or chocolate? Chocolate

And this set of questions comes from W. Chaser

1. If you could be any fictional baddie who would you be and why? I'm still going with Cruella Deville because of her hair.

2. If you could go back in time and stop someone being born who would it be? Hitler

3. When do you get your most inspirational ideas? In the shower

4. If you had to live without either books or music, which would it be? Music

5. Who provides the most encouragement for your writing? My husband

6. If you could have one wish, what would it be? To be published

7. Do you remember your dreams and do they influence your writing? Sometimes and yes (when I do remember them)

8. What word do you frequently misspell? Separate...I always want to go with seperate

9. How much influence in your writing do you take from other people’s opinions? I try to take enough to make my writing stronger but not so much that I lose what makes it mine

10. If there is one book you wish you’d written, what is it? Well at the immediate moment it's Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood since I just finished Book 1 and I'd really like to know what happens next.

11. Starter or Dessert? Dessert

And these questions come from one of my favorite CPs Amber at amberafterglow

1. Pantser or Planner? About 70% Planner, 29% Pantser, 1% WTF-This-may-have-been-written-after-drinking-alcohol.
2. Favorite book, movie, and TV show?
Book-The Bible, Movie-The Lion King, TV Show-Roswell
3. Would you rather have free Starbucks for five years or free itunes for life? iTunes (I spend way more there than at Starbucks)
4. What inspires you more, music or visual (ie: photography, scenery, etc)? Music!!!!!
5. Are you also addicted to Pinterest? Not yet...haven't quite figured it out.
6. The question for the ages, Edward or Jacob? Charlie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
7. Would you rather be able to talk to animals or to be able to speak and understand any language? Speak and understand any language.
8. Would you rather be kidnapped by terrorists or abducted by aliens? Aliens (after all they may be cute..see favorite TV show)
9. What is the genre(s) that you write for? Young Adult
10. *Warning stolen question* If money were no object, where would your dream vacation take place? Cruise around the world
11. Did you cry in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part two? Was one of the times when Dumbledore asked Severus, "After all this time?" and Severus responded, "Always. " And if not, are you sure you have a soul? Yes...I think I bawled through most of that movie.

And the last (but not least) set of questions is from Rena over at Doctor Faerie Godmother

1.If your luggage got lost on vacation, would it ruin your vacation? No because I'd have an excuse to buy new clothes.

2. If you could publish any of your trunked novels right now, no questions asked, which one and why? Um, none of them because they are really, really bad.

3. Who is your hero? Who is your villain? Hero - my husband :) Villain - the insecure voice in my head!

4. Speaking of Villains, who is your all time favorite villain? Hair aside (ahem Cruella Deville), I will go with Voldemort this time for his neverending persistence.

5. Disneyland or DisneyWorld? Never been to Disneyland so I'll have to go with Disney World.

6. If someone told you that a book you hated writing would go on to be a bestseller for months, but in the mean time you had to rewrite it another 6 times, would you? Rewrite it...I just may fall in love with it during the process. Sometimes the best loves started out hating each other.

7. Kirk or Picard? (and I meant he Shatner Kirk. The Chris Pine Kirk is a whole new creature).Kirk

8. What was your favorite book in high school? The Talisman by Stephen King

9. Is there anything about your life that you would change? Nope

10. You are offered an opportunity at true immortality, do you take it? No

11. What is the hardest thing you have ever done in your life? My youngest had multiple health issues with her kidneys that let to a rather involved surgery when she was 4. There were a lot of options and alternatives and it was tough to always try to decide which would be the path for her.


If you're still reading, thanks for sticking around! And thanks to all the lovely bloggers who tagged me with such awesome (and sometimes difficult) questions. Hmmm...now I must come up with some of my own.

First Campaigner Challenge

And for the rules...

Write a short story/flash fiction story in 200 words or less, excluding the title. It can be in any format, including a poem. Begin the story with the words, “Shadows crept across the wall”. These five words will be included in the word count.

If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional), do one or more of these:

• end the story with the words: "everything faded." (also included in the word count)

• include the word "orange" in the story

• write in the same genre you normally write

• make your story 200 words exactly!

And for my story..

“Shadows crept across the wall—“

“You can’t be serious,” I said.

“Huh?” Wyatt looked up from his paper.

“You can’t seriously mean to start out that way.”

“Why not?” He pushed his thick glasses further up his nose.

“It’s boring. Like starting out with It was a dark and stormy night.”

“But I like this beginning.”

“It sucks. And being the little brother of yours truly in Mrs. H’s AP English class means that you cannot suck. How about starting with something wild, like Two kangaroos jumped across the Australian Outback.” Wyatt rolled his eyes, pushed back his desk chair, and stood up.

“I’m getting something to drink,” he said.

“Bring me something too,” I called after him. “It’s going to be a long night.”

He returned moments later with two glasses of orange juice. I took the one with more juice and gulped greedily.

“Okay,” I said wiping my upper lip, “Now I was thinking…” But I couldn’t remember what I was thinking. My head felt heavy and light at the same time, like an air-filled bowling ball wobbling on my neck.

“What did you put in this juice?” I asked, but before he could answer everything faded.

21 Questions

Just a few days into the campaign (for me anyways) and I'm already "it" several times over in the 11 Questions game going around. Growing up I was always the slow kid on the playground who was easy to tag so this is eerily familiar to me.

I'm planning to answer all the great questions, just not all in one post (I don't want you to get sick of me). So for now here are the questions from my first two tags.

These are from Sarah over at The Trewand Pen.

1. What setting best describes you?
Where I live in the good ol' Midwest. I don't stand out like a big city. I lack the beauty of the mountains and the drama of the oceans. But if you stick around long enough, you'll find I'm not that bad.

2. What was your favorite childhood book?
I Decided by Miss Frances. There's a girl in the book who goes shopping with her mom and must decide between a toy, a doll, and a book. She picks the book. Smart girl :)

3. What genre(s) do you write?
Young Adult. I would like to give MG a try too.

4. Besides reading and writing what are at least two of your favorite pastimes?
There's more to life than reading and writing???? Really??? Um...er...does playing Bejeweled and watching Vampire Diaries count as pastimes?

5. What is the coolest/strangest thing you've ever done?
A few years ago while on a cruise in the Caribbean a waterspout hit our ship. My husband and I watched the whole thing from our balcony. It only knocked around some deck chairs and dropped a lot of water, but after living in the midwest all my life where I'm used to the constant storm warnings all summer long, I find it ironic I had to travel over 2000 miles to finally see a tornado up close.

6. Whose writing inspires you the most and why?
I don't think I can pick just one. From Laura Ingalls Wilder to Stephen King to my kids, I have been inspired by so many.

7. If any character from any book could be your best friend, who would it be?
Luna Lovegood.

8. What is your favorite book/author/tv show?
Book - The Bible/Author - JK Rowling/TV Show - Roswell

9. If you could be invisible for one day, what would you do?
Drive around by myself in the car, go visit my friends and family and move stuff around...in general I'd try to freak everybody out.

10. What famous person (dead or alive) do you consider a role model for your own aspirations?
I can't just pick one. I'm a sucker for stories of authors who never gave up...John Grisham, Shirley Jump, JK Rowling, Kathryn Stockett

11. Is there anything else we should know about you?
I like syrup on my eggs

The next set of questions are from Julie Daines.

1. Hero or Villain?
Hero...because you know they're gonna win.

2. What is your least favorite part of writing?
The first draft. Seriously hate it. Everything comes out like verbal vomit (and I hate vomit).

3. Who has influenced your writing the most?
My family

4. What is your favorite climate?
Warm and sunny and no snow!!! Oh why do I live in Minnesota?!

5. What kind of stories do you love?
Stories that make me laugh or cry (or both!). The ones I can't put down, am sad to finish, and I find myself thinking about long after I read the last page.

6. What kind of stories do you hate?
Stories I can't relate to. Stories I can't get into or lose myself in.

7. If you wrote an autobiography, what would it be called?
Random Craziness

8. If you could put yourself in any book, which would it be?
Any of the Chronicles of Narnia books.

9. If you could time travel, where in time would you go?
To 2015, well the 2015 in Marty McFly's timeline. I want flying cars...and a hoverboard.

10. What is your favorite TV show?

Currently Airing - Once Upon A Time. Long Gone - Roswell.

I will post my questions and tag everybody and then some back in my next post. Now to come up with some questions that nobody has asked yet...

Here I go again..

Last year I joined the Writer's Platform-Building Campaign over at Rachael Harrie's blog and had a blast. I wasn't quite sure I was going to do it for this go-around, but thanks to one of my CPs who decided to join in I thought I'd jump in again with her.

Looking forward to campaigning again!

If you're not participating yet, it's not too late to join in. Head over to Rachael's blog and sign up before 11:59 EDT tonight.

Mastering Revisions

So far, my blog posts in 2012 have been sparse. With good reason, of course.

I've gone back to college...well, no, not really. But some days it feels like it. I'm determined to learn everything I can about revision and (hopefully) bring my writing to a new level.

So, I've been immersed in just about every online class, workshop, and/or book I can find on the subject. Some of my favorites so far:

1. Margie Lawson's Deep Editing Lecture Packets and Online Classes. I've read through the lecture packets and now I'm taking the online class. It's definitely a lot of work, but well worth it. I can see my writing improve drastically.
2. Holly Lisle's How To Revise Your Novel. Another intense course that's helped me identify (and fix) what wasn't working in my WIP.
3. Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King. I think I've read this book about a dozen times now and seem to learn something new with each pass.
4. Revision and Self-Editing by James Scott Bell.
5. Darcy Pattison's Fiction Notes which contains a wealth of information on making your novel stronger.

So how do you revise? Any favorite books and suggestions that helped?

Feeling Green

Sadly, I haven't blogged in weeks, but I'm happy to be back just in time for another post for the Insecure Writer's Support Group.

While I've been neglecting my blog over the past few weeks, something very exciting happened...I became an aunt to an adorably sweet baby boy.

I love babies. And since I'm done having anymore of my own, nieces and nephews are the next best thing. For seven long years, I've been anxiously awaiting this moment...

So, last year when my sister-in-law whispered in my ear they were trying for a baby, I was elated.

And when she announced her pregnancy last June, I was overjoyed.

But then in October as she revealed baby's gender, I found myself faking a smile as I swallowed something bitter and acidic that burned it's way down my throat and twisted through my gut.

Jealousy. I was jealous because she was having a son and I never will.

Crazy, I know. There are lots of moms out there who would love to have a daughter—and I am blessed with two of them. There are lots of moms out there who would give anything to have a child, and my heart breaks for them. So what was I doing turning green over something so petty?

For me it went a tad deeper. You see, both of my pregnancies were plagued with issues, from personal to health problems, they were nine long months of stress and anxiety. And then there were the years of fertility struggles and the painful miscarriage that separates them. And I'm not even going to get into that whole labor and delivery part. For my sister-in-law, pregnancy was easy and joyous. She wanted to get pregnant, she did. She wanted a girl, she got one. She wanted a boy...well you get the point.

And so there I was, last October, comparing my hard path to having children to her easy one. And the insecurities came...Why does she get it so easy? Is it because I'm not as good a mother, or I'm not as healthy as her, or I'm not deserving...

This happens to me in writing too. There I am struggling along with novel attempt #137, when out of the woodwork somebody lands an agent and major book deal on their first try. And although at first I'm overjoyed and inspired by their success, those jealous insecurities like to force there way out...and then I find myself crying Hey wait, no fair! Why do they get all the breaks?

But deep down I know that just because somebody else's road seems like it was easier, it doesn't mean it was. And just because mine seems harder, it doesn't mean I'm any less than somebody else. Our journeys are just different.

And so on that one October night last year, I had to remind myself of that. To stop comparing and enjoy the road I'm on—the one filled with Disney princesses, sisterly chats, baby dolls, iCarly, Justin Bieber, and lots of pink. And yeah, I'm loving it, every moment of it.

Because once I remember and appreciate the uniquess of my path, I can get back to the stuff that really matters.

Such as being truly happy for the new parents...

And being truly happy for the writer who just sold their book....

And being a mother to two awesome girls...

And an aunt to one adorable little boy and his proud big sister...

And being the writer of that one story that only I can tell.