Truth Revealed

This is the second part to the Bold Faced Liar "Creative Writer" Award I posted on Friday. Did you guess right?

1. When I was sixteen, I was rollerblading at The Wedge, a skate park in Scottsdale, AZ. I lost my balance and hit a half wall, breaking my knee. I had to have surgery to repair it. Very painful. False. When I was sixteen, I did lose my balance while rollerblading and hit a half wall at The Wedge, but I didn't break my knee. Though from how much it swelled, you would've thought it was broken.

2. I love to cheat at cards. I rarely lose. False. I never cheat at cards, and I hate playing with people who do. And I tend to get a little obsessive about how the cards are dealt. You're messing with chance if it's not done the same way every time. The part about rarely losing, though, is true. My husband hates playing cards with me.

3. I have this pasted to my bedroom wall. Everyone needs a vampire to watch over them at night. False. Even if I wanted this on my wall, which I don't, my husband would never agree. Though it might be fun to put it up just to see his reaction. :)

4. The idea of dying an old maid terrified me, so I took the first opportunity that presented itself and got married at 19. False. My plan was to finish school, travel a little, and then get married at 23. I've since discovered that plans don't work for me. I did get married at 19, but I changed my mind at least four times before the big day. Poor guy. I did go through with it, because I knew it was right for me. I just wanted the timing to be more in line with my plan, dangit! In case you're wondering--best decision I ever made. We've been happily married for almost 15 years. Okay. Now I feel old. Next subject, please!

5. I posted yesterday (Thursday) about writing 3000 words on Wednesday with the hopes of not jinxing myself, only to spike a fever of 101 degrees shortly after hitting the publish button. I spent the rest of the day in bed. True! I will never post about my word count again! Just kidding. My husband had been sick for over a week, so I knew it was coming. The timing couldn't have been better though. :)

6. When I was a kid, I spent every summer on the swim team and scored several blue ribbons. False. Though I did spend every summer on the swim team, I never got first place. Usually just the honorable mentions they give out so everyone gets something. I've never been good at anything sports related.

7. I took five years of German in high school and college, earning all A’s. I now speak fluent German, even fooling some of the locals into believing I was German when I visited Germany three years ago. False. I almost took it in college, but the only classes were at 7:30 in the morning, so that idea disappeared pretty quickly. But I did take German for three years in high school, and I was pretty good at it. I got all A's, but not necessarily because I deserved them. My teacher loved me.

At the end of my junior year, I had a B in that class, because I never did any of my homework. Such a slacker. So I went to my teacher and asked if there was any extra credit I could do to bring my grade up to an A. Had to maintain that 4.0 at all costs. He told me to study hard, and if I got an A on the final, he'd give me an A in the class. So I studied hard and got a B on the final. He still gave me an A in the class.

I wish I'd retained more of it, but I still remember a little, though not even close to enough to visit Germany and actually speak to anyone. Except maybe to ask someone their name and where the bathroom is. Oh, and I can recite the entire Pledge of Allegiance in German, because that's useful when visiting a foreign country. And the only time I've been out of the US is our family trips to Mexico when I was a kid. Maybe someday. :) 

Thanks for playing, everyone! This was fun!

Award Friday

I am the worst at doing these award posts. Some of these I've had for a long time. I'm sorry I took so long to do a post about them. I just get so nervous picking people to pass them on to. I'm always afraid I'll leave someone out. And I'm sure there is someone out there who slipped through and didn't make it on this list. If you've given me an award and I missed you, please let me know.

Sunshine Award

Thanks to Stina Lindenblatt and Julie the Wife.

Rules to Accept the Award:

1. Put the logo on your blog or within your post.
2. Pass the award to 5 bloggers.
3. Link the nominees within your post.
4. Let them know they received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.
6. Share 5 things about yourself

I pass this one on to:

Ali Cross
C.K. Bryant
Elizabeth Mueller
Angie at Notes from the Writing Chair
Jackee at Winded Words

Stylish Award

Thanks to Kristin Rae and Michelle Gregory.

Rules to Accept the Award:

1. Put the logo on your blog or within your post.
2. Pass the award to 5 bloggers.
3. Link the nominees within your post.
4. Let them know they received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.
6. Share 5 things about yourself.

I pass this on to:

Sarah at Falen Formulates Fiction
Heather at See Heather Write
Nicole at One Significant Moment at a Time
Karen at Novels During Naptime
Christine at Christine's Journey

From Me to You Award

Thanks to Natalie Bahm and Susan Fields.

Rules:

1. Tell seven things about yourself.
2. Pass it on.
I pass this one to:

Shrinky at Shrink Wrapped Scream
Julie at A Day in the Wife

I’m cheating and lumping all the “things about myself” for these three awards into one, so here it is. 5-7 things about myself:

1. I recently discovered that sometime in the last fourteen years I grew an inch and a half, and I am now a very tall 5’ 3”. I still need a step stool for a lot of things.

2. I am a master at procrastinating housework. Like loading the dishwasher. It takes maybe ten minutes, but I will put it off until the sink is overflowing.

3. I’ve gone back to school four different times, for four different degrees, but never finished. Maybe someday. :)

4. I love to eat lemons with salt. Bad for my teeth, but so yummy.

5. My very first car was a Buick Skyhawk with dolphins painted on the side, purchased with my own money, though the dolphins were a surprise from my dad.

6. The first piece of writing I ever got “published” was a poem I wrote in 10th grade titled “Down Yonder”. It was written as a joke and it was so very, very awful, but my English teacher loved it and put it in the annual school anthology. She also loved three-prong essays, so there you go. :)

7. The thing that excites me the most about living in Idaho is that I can grow bulb flowers here. I love tulips and hyacinths.

Silver Lining Award

Thanks to Tere Kirkland of the Lesser Key.

Just one rule: Pass the Silver Lining to 5 bloggers.

I pass this on to:

Michelle Gregory
Kristin at Kristin Creative
Susan Fields
Shannon at Book Dreaming
Patti Nielson

Quillfeather Award

Thank you, Nicole Ducleroir.

This award comes with the instructions to share with you how I like my eggs.

I like my eggs boiled and cut up on a piece of buttered toast with salt, like an open-faced egg sandwich. I know. I'm boring.
I pass this on to:

Stina Lindenblatt
Natalie Bahm

Bold Faced Liar "Creative Writer" Award

Thanks to Christine Danek and Jackee at Winded Words.

Here are the rules :

1. Thank the person who gave you the award and link to them.
2. Add the award to your blog
3. Tell six outrageous lies about yourself and One Truth.
4. Nominate six creative liars… I mean writers and post links to them.
5. Let your nominees know that they have been nominated.

I pass this on to:

Alex at My Muse is a Zombie
Tere at The Lesser Key
Sarah at Confessions of the Un-published
Aubrie at Flutey Words...
Courtney at Southern Princess
Roxy at A Woman's Write

Here's my list. Only one is true. Can you guess which one?

1. When I was sixteen, I was rollerblading at The Wedge, a skate park in Scottsdale, AZ. I lost my balance and hit a half wall, breaking my knee. I had to have surgery to repair it. Very painful.

2. I love to cheat at cards. I rarely lose.

3. I have this pasted to my bedroom wall. Everyone needs a vampire to watch over them at night.

4. The idea of dying an old maid terrified me, so I took the first opportunity that presented itself and got married at 19.

5. I posted yesterday about writing 3000 words on Wednesday with the hopes of not jinxing myself, only to spike a fever of 101 degrees shortly after hitting the publish button. I spent the rest of the day in bed.

6. When I was a kid, I spent every summer on the swim team and scored several blue ribbons.

7. I took five years of German in high school and college, earning all A’s. I now speak fluent German, even fooling some of the locals into believing I was German when I visited Germany three years ago.

Whew! That's it. If I've passed an award on to you, feel free to pass it on or just ignore it. It won't hurt my feelings, either way.

Have a great weekend!

Bloggy Award Time--See, I'm not a Total Slacker

I'm so late in posting these, but I have a few awards to be thankful for. :)

First off, thank you to Dawn Simon at Plotting and Scheming - My Writing Life for the Best Blog Award! If she hadn't given me the award, she'd be on the list of nominees, so be sure to check out her blog.

The rules:

1. To accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his/her blog link.

2. Pass the award to other bloggers that you have recently discovered and think are great! Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

And the nominees are:

Teressa at The Chocolate Chip Waffle

L.T. Elliot at Dreams of Quill and Ink

Anissa at Anissa Off the Record

Melissa at Chasing the Dream

Second, Julie Dao at Silver Lining gave me the Kreativ Blogger award. I'm going to be lazy on this one and refer you to my previous post with all the rules and seven facts about me. Thanks, Julie!

Lastly, from Suzy Hayze at Tales of Extraordinary Ordinariness, I recieved the Honest Scrap award. Thanks, Suzy!

The rules:

1. List ten honest things about yourself.

2. Pass it on to seven other bloggers.

Here are ten honest things about me:

1. When I eat goldfish crackers, I like to pop them in half with my teeth, so I have two little fishies before chewing. Doesn't always work, but I still do this every time.

2. "Dork", "Nerd", and "Weirdo" are all terms of endearment at my house.

3. Other than my tennis shoes, every pair of shoes I own adds at least two inches to my height.

4. Going along with #3, my husband calls me a hobbit on a regular basis, and it's not because I have hairy feet. Yes, we have strange ways of showing our love around here.

5. I refuse to use internet/texting acronyms like LOL. It doesn't bother me if other people use them, but there's a part of me that feels like I'm giving in to some sort of evil peer pressure by using them.

6. I love to read. Not just books, although that is what I prefer. If I’m bored, anything will do, including shampoo bottles. It’s kind of fun trying to figure out the correct pronunciation of all the chemicals in the ingredients list.

7. One of my favorite lines from a movie is, “Your mother went to college,” delivered by Kipp in Napoleon Dynamite. I would try to describe the scene, but without experiencing it for yourself, you can’t truly appreciate just how hilarious it is. If you haven’t seen the movie, you wouldn’t understand. If you’ve seen it and still don’t understand, well, there really is no point in trying to explain.

8. The whole concept of using time travel to fix past mistakes makes no sense to me. Let’s take, for instance, the movie Terminator, followed by Terminator II and Terminator III, and now The Sarah Conner Chronicles TV series.

The basic plot is that in the future the world has been taken over by cyborgs, which stemmed from an artificial intelligence program that man created. One of the cyborgs is changed into a ‘good guy’ and sent back to the past to protect John Conner, the man who is the leader of the resistance in the future. Thanks to the cyborg’s presence, John Conner and his mother, Sarah, discover the cause of the future war, so they try to stop the creation of the source of the cyborgs, which in turn would cause the cyborgs to cease to exist, thus making it impossible for the time-traveling cyborg to go into the past in the first place. Ultimately, this would eliminate all of the events that led up to the destruction of the artificial intelligence. So, essentially, nothing would've been changed.

Are you following this?

9. When it comes to sports, dance or pretty much anything that requires even a small amount of coordination, I can confidently say that I’m very, very bad at it. In addition to that, I am continually running into things. I hit my arms on doorknobs, stub my toes on a regular basis, and hit my head on open cupboard doors (this is more of a height issue, but still relevant), just to name a few.

10. I totally cheated and stole some of these from a previous tagged post.

And the lucky nominees are:

Dawn Simon at Plotting and Scheming - My Writing Life

Michelle Gregory at beautiful chaos

Stephanie L. McGee at Chronicles of a Novice Writer

Natalie Murphy at The Sound of Rain

Julie Dao at Silver Lining

Stephanie Thornton at Hatshepsut: The Writing of a Novel

MG Higgins at MG Higgins

Thanks for reading everyone! Have a fabulous Monday!

Totally Random Friday

A few things today, in no particular order.

1. I still haven't received my ARC of Janice Hardy's THE SHIFTER. Boohoo. :^( Dang slow postal service. Maybe this afternoon? I'm about ready to go buy a copy and then maybe use it for a contest. Hmm. We'll see. I have a 40% off coupon for Borders that I have to use anyway...

2. Christine Fonseca has created a new blog called Growing Up Gifted. She's just getting started, but there's already great info there about gifted children. If you even think you might have a gifted child, it's worth checking out. Great insight there about how the gifted mind works.


3. Like forever ago, Stina Lindenblatt gave me the Premios Dardos award. Thank you, Stina. I'm supposed to pass it on to five other people, but I'm having a hard time narrowing it down. So, happy Friday! You're all winners!! Woohoo! :D


4. Susan R. Mills (formerly Lazy Writer) has a great post up today on her blog, A Walk in My Shoes, about marketing ourselves as authors. Definitely worth checking out.

5. Tere Kirkland (formerly TereLiz) of the The Lesser Key has a great contest going on. You could win a copy of Jessica Verday's new novel THE HOLLOW.

6. I'm often inspired by other bloggers for my posts, but today someone was inspired by me. :) I know. I can't believe it either. Yesterday, we talked about whether you should wait to query your first novel until the second novel is done. Roni at Fiction Groupie has a great post today expanding on that. And she has some very good reasons to wait.

7. In an effort to keep my personal life personal and protect my kiddos, I'm making my family blog private. If you're interested in having access to that blog, leave your email address here, and if I know you, I'll invite you. :)

8. I came across this video, and I thinks it's just incredible and had to share. These amazing little girls are 6, 7, and 8 years old.


Happy Friday, all! Have a fabulous weekend!

It's Cool to be a Nerd

I was given the Word Nerd award aka the Awesome Writer Friend award, by my super awesome crit buddy and friend, Rebecca Knight. Not to downplay the other awards I’ve gotten, but this is the COOLEST AWARD EVER!! She made it especially for me, so how could I not see it that way? Thanks so much, Becca! I would totally give it back, if I could. You're the absolute coolest! :D (BTW, Becca, I don’t think it’s ugly at all. Looks very retro. And retro is cool. Trust me. I know cool. ;) Plus, that chick looks just like me.)

Okay, so I’m kind of glad I can’t give it back, because then I would have to choose between my two best writer friends, and that would suck.

So, are you all curious who the recipient will be? Or did you skip ahead? Here goes. Are you ready? Huh, huh? Okay, I’m done being annoying. :)

I would like to bestow this lovely award upon Miss TereLiz of The Lesser Key. Thanks for all of your amazing help and for being such a great friend! My book wouldn’t be as close to perfect as it is, without your help. ;D

Now, there are no hard and fast rules attached to this award, but feel free to pass it on to the Word Nerd of your choice, and spread the nerdy love. :D

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know... and More

I’m feeling pretty special today, having four nominations for this lovely award. Thanks so much to TereLiz at The Lesser Key, Jenna Alexander at Turn the Page, Mandy at The Keyboard, and ElanaJ at Elana Johnson, Author. You guys are all awesome!!

First off, the rules. You know how I love rules. ;) These rules apply to all those who receive this award.

1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might not know.
5. Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they have been nominated.

Now, all the incredibly interesting info you never wanted to know about me. :D

1. I love paper. Not so I can use it for anything. In fact, I feel a little sad if I have to cut it up. My favorite is plain white paper with no lines or holes. The thick stuff they use at the copy store that feels almost polished, that’s the best. And Bristol board. Love that stuff. I do use the white paper for drawing, as long as it’s not flawed. The other paper (i.e. scrapbook paper), I just like to have. Looney, I know.

2. I also love brand new markers. There’s just something about that clean line of ink. This goes for pens too. I only like to write with gel pens.

3. I like to collect the brown recluse spiders (photo here) and wind scorpions (aka camel spiders or sun spiders) I find around our house and property and keep them in jars. I don’t know. Science project? We’ve found over thirty brown recluses and six wind scorpions since we moved here.

4. I have over 800 fonts installed on my computer, and I’m always on the lookout for more. They’re fantastic for jazzing up my query letter. :D I’m kidding! Calm yourselves. I like to do word art.

5. Someday, I would love, love, love to learn blacksmithing and welding, so I can make awesome metal sculptures that have no other purpose than to look pretty. I’d also love to learn how to blow glass. Sometimes, I just like to know how to do things. Just because.

6. I met my husband, Jason, at a Beastie Boys concert. He had blue hair and an eyebrow ring. This may not seem that shocking, but for those of you who don’t really know me, this did not jive with my super good girl persona. And I almost ended up at the concert with another guy, Bob—some names have been changed to protect the innocent. :) When I found out Bob was going to ask me, I bought my own ticket so I wouldn’t have to be his date. I even got a ride to and from the concert with Bob. My best friend sat in the back seat with me, and we talked about Jason all the way home. Probably the cruelest thing I’ve ever done. Not my proudest moment. For some reason, Bob never called me again. Hmm. ;) It all worked out though. Jason and I were married five months later, yes five months, and have been very happy for almost fourteen years. Man, I feel old.

7. I don’t like change, unless it’s something I can control. Then I will most likely change it every few months. Like how my furniture is arranged in my living room or my blog background. And I’m not totally loving the new background, so that will probably be changing sooner rather than later.

If you’re dying for even more useless info about me, I did this once before. You can find it here.

And now for the nominations in no particular order:

1. Tricia J. O’Brien at Talespinning
2. Lazy Writer at A Walk in My Shoes
3. Lady Glamis at The Innocent Flower
4. Tabitha Bird at Books, Bubs and Writing Blabber
5. Megan Rebekah at Megan Rebekah Blogs.…and Writes
6. JosiahsMommy at Confessions of a First Time Mom
7. Rebecca at Sometimes Helpful Nonsense

Thank you all for being fabulous! Happy Thursday!!

Still Slacking...

My husband and I recently discovered we can watch Netflix through the Xbox. Then we discovered that we can watch Lost on Netflix. Now, I'm totally addicted. It's seriously cutting into my time, but I just can't stop watching. Like I needed another time suck. Oh well. At least this one has a stopping point. :D

On top of that, I'm super busy this week, so I don't know how much I'll be on, but I wanted to say thank you to JosiahsMommy for the One Lovely Blog award she gave me a few weeks back. And apologize for being a total slacker and forgetting about it. Thanks for thinking of me! You're awesome!

Dare To Be Great!

I was given this fabulous award last week by my lovely bloggy friend, Tami. If you haven't done so yet, head on over and check out her blog. She always has amusing and inspiring posts. Thanks, Tami, for all your incredible support! You're a sweetheart!

And since she didn't list any rules, I'm going to follow her usual example regarding awards and pass this on to all of you. You guys are all amazing, and I think it's great the way we all support each other. So, take it, if you like, and pass it on as you see fit.

Happy Thursday!

Superior Scribbler Award

I was awarded the Superior Scribbler Award by my super awesome crit buddy and one of my favorite people ever, Rebecca Knight. Her blog is a must read, so check it out. Thanks, Becca! You’re the coolest!

Here are the rules:

1. Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass The Award on to 5 most-deserving Bloggy Friends.

2. Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author & the name of the blog from whom he/she has received The Award.

3. Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog, and link to This Post, which explains The Award.

4. Each Blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit This Post and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List. That way, we’ll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives This Prestigious Honor!

My five picks are:

1. Danyelle - Myth-takes

2. Suzanne - Tales of Extraordinary Ordinariness

3. Tami - Diary of a Mad Woman

4. Jessjordan – Say What?

5. Lori – When We Listen

All have fabulous blogs, and I am repeatedly inspired and amused by their posts.

One Lovely Blog Award

You’re all probably sick of hearing about my WIP. I know I am. I just want to say that all my revisions are finally done, and after a little tweaking of my synopsis, I think it will be ready to go. Yea! Thanks for all the supportive comments. You guys are awesome! If you want to read my first chapter, you can check it out here.

On to more important things…

Almost a month ago, the very sweet Danyelle nominated me for the One Lovely Blog Award, and being the slacker that I am, I’m just now getting around to posting about it. First of all, thank you, Danyelle! I love your blog and the encouraging words you always have to share. I’d nominate you too, if you didn’t get to it first. :)

Now for the nominees:

Becca--For her upbeat posts and super-positive attitude in the often negative world of publishing. And she’s one of my awesome critters, so she gets bonus points for that. :)

TereLiz--Her blog’s only been up a couple of weeks and she already has fifteen followers! Also, she's another of my awesome critters.

Sara--For her post on writing a synopsis. The first one I’ve read that wasn’t totally intimidating, and it finally motivated me to write mine. Yea!

Elana--I know she already received this award, but I love her blog, so she’s getting it again.

Jessjordan--For making me laugh on more than one occasion.

Tori--For being a better friend than anyone deserves, and for trudging through the extremely awful first draft of my novel and still telling me she liked it. :)

Cheryl--Longtime good friend and all around great person. Also, another of my awesome beta readers.

Jill--For understanding and laughing at all of my jokes, even the ones that aren’t very funny.

The support of friends is invaluable on this daunting path to publication. I couldn’t do it without all of you! Happy Tuesday!