HOURGLASS by Myra McEntire

When I first heard about this book a few months ago, it flew to the top of my TBR list. I've always loved anything with time travel and pretty covers, and this had both.

And then I learned it came out on June 14th. Problem.

I had planned our family vacation from June 9th through June 20th. Now this vacation was a road trip.  We drove from Minnesota, to Ohio, to Washington D.C., back to Ohio, and then home again. Lots of driving.  Lots of time in a car.  And since the husband doesn't like my driving, it usually means a lot of reading time for me.  I had several good books ready for me to devour on my Kindle.

But I really wanted to read THIS one.

So I did something I usually don't do and pre-ordered the book from Amazon.

Problem solved.  Or, so I thought.

On the morning of June 14th, I woke up with a smile and fired up my Kindle.  Then I learned that the Washington D.C. hotel we were staying at did not have free Wi-Fi. And my Kindle did not have 3G. And the cost to use the hotel's Wi-Fi was as much as the book itself.

So I had to wait. But it was worth it. And here are seven reasons why:

1. The Cover. Okay, okay, you shouldn't just a book by its cover, but when it comes to Hourglass I say you should. The cover is beautiful and unique - like the story itself.
2. The Romance. Sparks flying. Kissing. More sparks. More kissing. Lots of sparks. Lots of kissing.
3. The Time Travel. Since Jude Deveraux swept me away with A Knight in Shining Armor, I have read every time travel type romance book I can get my hot little fingers on. I thought I had read it all. Until Hourglass that is. The unique spin definitely sets it apart from other time travel novels. Loved it.
4. The Relationships. Maybe it's because I have a brother of my own that I love dearly, but I really loved the scenes with Emerson and her brother, Thomas.
5. The Heroine. Emerson says early on that her "edit button is broken".  I loved that line!  I also love people like Emerson, who tell it like they see it. Emerson was strong, witty, and easy to relate to.
6. The Chapter Length. The chapters are short.I kept telling myself one night "just one more chapter--it's short after all- until I found myself finishing the book at 3 a.m. I love books that keep me up all night (although my body would disagree the next day).
7. More!  Although I found the ending quite satisfying, there is going to be a sequel. I can't wait to read what happens with Emerson and Michael next.

Feeling Spacey

So recently while working on polishing on my manuscript it has come to my attention that I used the space bar over 5000 more times than I should.

Nope not this space bar.

It all started back when I was 12.  The year I asked my parents for a typewriter for Christmas.

Ask and you shall receive

Okay truthfully it looked more like this..

I had grand visions for that typewriter. I was going to produce a masterpiece, a novel that publishers would be beating down the door for. I was going to be a child prodigy, an author by 13.

Instead I produced a lot of pages with the words "Chapter One" and nothing more.  I never finished a book on the darn thing. I don't think I ever made it to page two.

But I did learn to type on it. And I was taught every time a period is typed, it must be followed with two (that's right - 2) presses of the space bar.

Then a little birdy told me that rule had changed.  Now there is only one press of the space bar following a period.

I checked it out.

It's true.

Grammar Girl says so. Right here.

So tonight I spent 3 HOURS removing extra spaces at the end of each sentence. Truthfully, after about 2 hours and 45 minutes of fixing about 1200 of them manually, I realized that I could do a "Find and Replace" on ".  " for ". " 

Now back to editing the bigger stuff...

My Awkward First Time (Blogging that Is)...

Okay so I've been blogless until now, and it was highly recommended I change that.  So, here I am.  Up until now, I have resisted joining the blogging world until now for two very big reasons:

1. Although I love to write, I am deathly afraid of the idea of having to come up with something interesting to write several times a week.
2. I'm pretty sure the only follower I'm going to get is my mom...and I'm not entirely sure she'll even read it.

 I still fear those things, but I'm plunging ahead anyways.

My story begins many many years ago. ( I'm not saying how many!)  The first book I remember falling in love with was a Ding Dong School Book by Miss Frances called I Decided.

I made my parents read and re-read this book so many times.  It's about a little girl out shopping with her mom who allows her to choose something for herself as a reward for being so good.  After three different choices (and a lot of thinking), the little girl decides that what she wants most of all is a book.

I could relate.  I was the child who asked for books for birthdays and Christmases.  I was the girl who loved going to the library.  Even as a teenager, my nose was always buried in a book.

I read my way through Ramona Quimby, the Little House books, Anne of Greene Gables, The Babysitter's Club, the Sunfire Romances, Sweet Valley High, and more.  When I was 12, I discovered the Diary of Anne Frank and longed for more than just the latest happenings in Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield's world. So, I started sneaking my mom's romances.

16 year old me reading Sidney Sheldon

It was during those years I read A Knight In Shining Armour by Jude Deveraux.   I couldn't get enough of time-travel or paranormal romance.

Writing was just a natural extension of my love for reading.   My childhood is riddled with journals, notebooks full of poetry, and many many pitiful attempts at writing a novel.  I knew without a doubt that all I wanted to be when I grew up was a writer.

Then I grew up.  I met my husband.  I had two daughters.  And somewhere between the bills and the diapers, my dream disappeared.   But not the stories. Not the voices.  They arrived in whispers in the quiet moments just before I fell asleep at night, in the tune of a random song on the radio, and in the wind as it whipped across my skin whenever a storm blew in.  They were there just waiting for me to reach out. And sometimes I did.  I read writing books.  I made several false starts.  I even took a writing class.   But nothing ever came from it.

Then three years ago I found myself at a crossroads.  Out of the blue, I recalled that first childhood book I had loved and I felt like that little girl again.  I needed to make a decision.  So I did.

I decided.  I decided to go for it.  I decided to make the time.  I gave up the tv programs, the facebook games, and nights out with friends.  I read dozens of books on the craft.  I wrote.  I researched.  I wrote.  I googled everything.  I wrote.  I stalked author blogs, agent blogs, etc.  I wrote.   I lurked on all the writing forums.  I wrote.

After three manuscripts (two were buried very very deep), four months of revisions, and countless hours of studying up on agents, I am nearing the querying (and rejection) phase.  And I'm scared out of my mind.  In my everyday world, my friends are wrapped up in their love lives, having babies, or their latest diet.  The writing world is a foreign and uninteresting concept to them.  So this is me, jumping in, hoping to reach out and find others who understand.

So Hello Blogosphere!   I am happy to be here.

P.S.  This first post is wordy and probably sucks.  I apologize.  Like a first draft, it can only get better from here :)