October 13th 2015

Hi, it’s Christina –

Dani's 1st day of work

Good Afternoon! No, I haven’t fallen off the edge of the Earth, there just hasn’t been anything I felt warranted an entire blog post. Today I will get you updated on everything since my last post in June, and then either tomorrow or Thursday, I’ll make the post I will be talking about in a second.

Doing what I love in my
happy place.

Let’s see, over the summer, DaniRose got to spend two weeks in Florida at her boyfriend’s grandparents’ house. Even though she’d never been away from home for that long, and other than getting attacked by fire ants, she did just fine. 

Liz teased that these were
our accommodations.

Lys and I took a couple of day trips to the beach while she was gone. Both Lys & Dani had summer jobs, but unfortunately for my writing, they worked the same days I did, and were off the same days as I was, so I did not write a single word all summer. (I elected to put writing on hold as opposed to burying the girls in the back yard because they kept disturbing me while I was trying to write.)

She took me to
Big Lots!

The end of June, I drove down to Greensboro, NC for a “girls weekend”, my first ever. On Twitter, I have become friends with several other authors, some of us are even in an anthology together which comes out later this week (I’ll tell you all about it when I know an exact date for the release). Well, one was flying in from California to visit family, another was flying in from Israel for business, and I said, “We can’t miss this opportunity to get together. Who knows if it will ever happen again.” Then sweetiepie Lizabeth Scott said, “Well, y’all just come and stay with me.” So we did! 

Not too shabby!

We had the most incredible time, and believe it or not, we actually got work done – exchanged best practices, taught each other marketing tips, even did some book formatting. I have no idea when the time will arise again when we can all get together, but I am fairly sure all of us will make a Herculean effort to make it happen again.

The "Haul"

The day after PJ's 25th birthday, My hubby & I, my father-in-law, PJ & Alex all went on a fishing trip. My goodness, we had a blast. I didn't catch anything, but everyone else did. Let me tell you, there was some good eating going on that night!

The kid's got a real
talent for decorating!

In August, my in-laws threw us a surprise 25^th Anniversary party. It was wonderful. Lys made a GORGEOUS cake for the event.

Right before we brought Lys back to college, we went and spent a few days at two different friends’ houses down the shore – I actually had a better time doing that then when we went on vacation. We brought along the game Cards Against Humanity and played at both houses. OMG, we laughed so hard, my sides ached.

On the ferry from NY to VT

Lys got off to college fine. She needed to be there a week early because she was a student ambassador (or something like that). The one bad thing was UVM’s move in weekend was the same weekend, so there were no hotel rooms available. I had to sleep on Lys’ floor – let me tell you, I am entirely too old to be sleeping on a floor!

What a LOVELY night
on Church Street

Two weeks ago we went back up to Vermont for Parents’ Weekend – again there were no hotel rooms available (for under $200), so we ended up staying an hour away. NBD, it was a lovely ride and we got to spend almost two days with her. We went apple picking, did some shopping, and a whole lot of eating. We had a wonderful time.

All throughout the summer, on weekends, I have been at Canterbury Tales Forever Book Shoppe in Peddlers Village, in Lahaska, PA doing book signings. I know I’ve said this a million times, but I really love it there. If you ever have the opportunity to visit, you should. 

My display at ShopRite

I will be there every Saturday & Sunday from now through the middle of November with the exception of October 24^th. On the 24^th, I will be at the Princeton Public Library for their Author’s Day, then on November 21^st, I will be at the Hillsborough Public Library for their Author’s Day, and that will be my final signing for the year.

I made 2 sets of these,
one for each auction

I have also had the opportunity to do a few charitable events. I did a fundraiser for ShopRite’s Partners in Caring. I donated baskets to the Hillsborough Woman’s Club Basket Auction, and well as baskets to help raise money for a young family who recently lost their mom.

Last Friday, I was asked to be a speaker at SheTalk. SheTalk is an event Tara Wattal, a high school junior and Girl Scout going for her Gold Award, started. She had community role models come in and do inspiration talks to girls roughly in the 8 – 14 year old range, and she asked me if I would be one of the speakers (this is the event I was telling you about at the beginning of this blog). 

After each speaker, the girls did an activity based on either the speaker herself or the message. When I was done yacking, I had the girls do a ten minute writing prompt. When they finished, I collected all the papers and told them their stories will be published on my blog. Well, there were a whole lot of girls at the event, and several of the parents took up the writing challenge as well, so I am currently transposing all of the submissions. As I said, I’m hoping to have the post up no later than Thursday. The girls did a wonderful job. I think you’ll enjoy seeing what they wrote.

Okay, so now you are all up to speed on what has been going on in my life since the cruise. To be honest, other than my post later this week, I don’t know when the next post will be. I don’t think y’all want to hear from me all the time, so I think I should hold off until I have something interesting to tell you. Now, if I’m wrong, let me know, and I will reevaluate my thinking.

Until next time – I hope you have a WONDERFUL day & Happy Writing!

April 13th 2015 Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

Good Morning! It’s been eons, I know, sorry! With our anniversary, my birthday, our celebrations, and then a house full for Easter, all in under a week’s time, I needed a few days to recover. My brain and my body were fried.

I am hopelessly behind on Camp NaNoWriMo. I checked this morning, and at the rate I’m going, I’ll hit 50K on January 16, 2016. LOL! I need to figure out how to get my butt in gear.

Kobo is still giving me fits. There tech team won’t even respond to my issues now. Corporate Blues STILL isn’t up on their site, even after I went back, deleted what I had, and started from scratch. I have given up on them. A Second Chance & Taking Chances are up there, and I’m just going to forget about them. If they sell, great, if not, I’m not going to lose any sleep over it. Kobo is only one of many sites. I know one thing for sure, I won’t be generating any traffic their way until they fix their issues.

I will have a good chunk of time to write today after I return from a funeral. One of my friends, Sally, she was only 58, wasn’t feeling well right before Christmas. She thought she’d been fighting a cold, which then had turned into pneumonia. When she continued to get worse instead of better, even with medication, they ran some tests. Turned out she had stage 4 lung cancer.

She kept this information pretty much to herself. She didn’t want anyone to know or treat her differently. She wanted to be remembered as she was. That’s why, when I got the news on Saturday, it was such a shock, then I had the unfortunate displeasure of making several phone calls to relay the news. God, I hate doing that! The thing is, after I say one or two words, the person on the other end of the line invariably asks me, “What’s wrong?” Apparently, I’m not the best at concealing my emotions. I guess I’d never make it as an actress, huh?

My brain can so completely understand her decision, but my heart wishes I had one last time to tell her how much she meant, how much she was loved, and how much she’ll be missed. I was having a really hard time with that yesterday, but when I saw her at the viewing, that all went away. As strange as that sounds, I have to smile and think – typical Sally, always trying to make those around her feel better.

I was sad, heartbroken even, as I approached the casket. Then I looked down at what used to be my friend, and I felt nothing. It wasn’t her, just a shell. Then images of her flashed rapidly through my memory – her laughing, being silly, making a funny face at me in church while I was trying to sing in the choir, giving me a hug – and that’s when I knew she was still right there, with us all.

I may not be able to pick up the phone and call her anymore, but I can think about her and fondly remember the memories we made, and that will have to do until I get to see her again.

Okay, I have to go get ready. I will try to be more diligent with the blog posts. Chat with you soon.

I hope you have a fantastic day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge is use the following:

If only I had more time…

You have ten minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count, and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

April 2nd 2015 Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

Good Morning! Okay, I’m sore! I mean, really sore.

There I was, after I came home from work, minding my own business, sitting at my laptop, replying to Facebook and Twitter birthday and anniversary well wishes, all prepared for a quiet evening at home, when my youngest cherub decides I need to go bowling for my birthday. Bowling? I haven’t picked up a bowling ball in almost ten years. Lord have mercy!

I make her call the closest bowling alley, thinking (praying) they were going to tell her sorry, it’s Wednesday, they have leagues all night. No such luck. They tell her first come, first served. So when my hubby got home from work, off we went.

I did manage to find his bowling ball bag in the garage, but mine must be somewhere buried deep. Oh joy, rented shoes and a lane ball. This just keeps getting better.

We get there, and all the non-league lanes are full, but there’s full alley open bowling at 9:30. Woo Hoo! The kids know I go to bed early, they won’t make me stay up. It’s my birthday. They have to be nice to me on my birthday.

“So why don’t we go have dinner first, and then come back for bowling?” My husband suggests. And I married you why? I paste a grin on my face, and drive to Carrabba’s. Their bread was eh, nothing like the bread at Uncle Vinnie’s, but other than that, dinner was fine.

Just before nine, we head back to the bowling alley. Some lanes have opened up, so we can get on early. Hot Dog! Let’s bowl our game and then we can go home.

 

“So you would like the special, right? Bowl all you want until 11:30, for only $15 a person.”

At this point I am convinced the entire universe is plotting against me.

My hubby hands over the $60, the helpful man behind the counter hands us three pairs of the ever fashionable red, white and blue bowling shoes (Paulie’s were in his bowling bag), and we head off for a ball hunt, or in my case, a left handed wind shifter. I had tried several on for size and decided a 10 was too light and a 12 was too heavy; a far cry from the 15 I used to throw when I was on a league, back in the day.

Balls at this alley range in weight from 6 – 16, and in finger hole size XS – XL. Believe it or not, I actually saw a 15lb ball with XS finger holes – who’da thunk it?

I didn’t think I was looking for something unreasonable. I wanted an 11lb ball with medium holes – middle weight, average size. It took looking in every ball rack along one side of the alley before I found what I was looking for – and it was even in my favorite color – Bonus! Okay, maybe this is a sign the night won’t be a total disaster.

Randy, Dani’s boyfriend, is up first. He throws his ball, a couple pins go down. He’s thrilled because he’s only bowled a few times in his life. The second ball gets him a few more, and then it’s Dani’s turn. She doesn’t get double gutter balls, so she’s pleased.

Now it’s my turn, and the brain had gone into overdrive – Don’t fall, Don’t twist your back wrong, Don’t drop the ball. Sure enough, there must have been something on the bottom of my shoe, because I couldn’t slide, stopped abruptly, stumbled, BUT did not fall, nor did I tweak my back. There is a God! I walked away from that frame with an eight – not great, but not embarrassing.

Paulie gets up, and throws a strike. Seriously? The man hasn’t picked up a bowling ball in fifteen years at least. Oh, this is going to be a LONG night.

 

He finished the game with only one open frame and a score of 153. Randy didn’t break 100 all night, Dani hovered around 100, and so did I. For me it’s frustrating not to do well at something you used to be pretty darn good at.

When I was bowling in a league, I had a 163 average, so the 112, 104 & 97 I bowled bruised my ego a bit, but I was relieved to find out, I could still bowl. This was the first time I had gone since my last back surgery, and I was truly concerned I wouldn’t be able to do it. By the end of the night, I was tired so I wasn’t throwing the ball correctly, but I had loosened up and my form was returning.

It gave me hope, that with some practice, I would actually be able to bowl again. Paulie and I used to have so much fun bowling on the league, and now, maybe it can be something we’ll be able to do together again.

Next time though, I will have my own shoes – the lane ones hurt my feet and gave me a blister - and I will start with one or two games, not three. My legs are really sore. My back is a little sore. My thumb nail shattered and has broken off below the quick, so that’s sore. However, it was all worth it because we had a blast. It was the best birthday in a long time. I only wish PJ, Alex and Lys could have been there to share in the fun, then it would have been perfect.

I hope you have a fantastic day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge is use the following:

“You thought I would bring you into the Tunnel of Love to corrupt you?”

Bonus points if you use it as either your first or last sentence.

You have ten minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count, and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

Quote from Lizabeth Scott’s A Star for Annie. Available now in just about every ebook format you can think of. Hey Lizabeth, I think I may have to disqualify you from participating in today’s challenge. Sorry.

April 1st 2015 Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

Good Morning! Today marks the 50^th April Fool’s Day I have been on this planet. It’s amazing how much this world has changed in half a century! I don’t miss having to be tethered to a wall in order to talk on the phone, nor do I miss having to get up to change the channels on my TV (having the pictures in color has also been a bonus), but there are things I do miss.

There’s a lot to be said about the way we grew up – playing outside all day, riding our bikes with the wind blowing through out hair, drinking out of the garden hose if we got thirsty, things kids nowadays have no knowledge of. I guess we’ve just got to take the good with the bad, right?

Last night my husband and I celebrated our 25^th wedding anniversary with dinner at UncleVinnie’s Clam Bar, on Somerset Street, in Raritan, New Jersey. If you are ever in central New Jersey, I HIGHLY recommend a stop there – and this is coming from a total seafood snob. While I was growing up, my father owned seafood shops and restaurants, so I know what fresh seafood is, and I know when it has been prepared correctly. Let’s face it, bad seafood could put you in a world of hurt.

You won’t have to worry about that at Uncle Vinnie’s. The stuff is practically flopping on the plate. I have a favorite dish at Vinnie’s, and even though it’s not always on the menu, they still make it for me. I get pan seared sea scallops in a pink brandy cream sauce, which is absolutely TO DIE FOR, and as luck would have it, they also had asparagus. Now asparagus has never been my first choice of vegetables, heck, if I was honest, it’s not my 10^th choice, but Vinnie’s is delicious. It’s fresh, pencil thin, and still has a crunch to it, and it is the perfect pairing for the scallops.

The owners and staff over there are such dolls, each and every one of them. Paulie and I were there for over two hours last night – ten minutes of which went for waiting for a table, because even on a Tuesday night, the place was PACKED – because we were chatting with the staff. They were all blown away we chose to celebrate such a milestone with them. In my mind, there was no place I would have rather celebrated – yeah, the food is THAT good.

Today also marks the beginning of thirty days of insanity. It’s camp NaNo time again, and that means I’ve got a month to get 50K words down on paper… er… laptop. (Another huge change brought about in the past half century.) My goal is to finish up the started projects I have going, but some characters are invading my subconscious, so I may very well end up spending some time with them as well. The trick this time around is going to be keeping up with my Twitter account as well as my blog, and still carve out time for actual writing. I guess I can sleep in May…

On that note, I should probably get going. Oh wait, I can’t go yet. I forgot to tell you that A Star forAnnie is now LIVE! Go check it out, and check out all the other books by Lizabeth Scott.

Okay, now I’m really leaving. I hope you have a marvelous day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge is:

How things have changed…

You have ten minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count, and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

March 31st 2015

Hi, it’s Christina –

Good Morning! Today’s blog is completely personal. It has NOTHING to do with writing, marketing, books, Tweets, there won’t even be a writing challenge today. So, if you want to stop reading now, I totally understand.

(The photos are not quite synced up to the paragraphs, but you'll get the idea.)

Yup, these were like mine - not that I
would be photographed in them.

Picture if you will, it’s 1978, the height of loud bands, lava lamps, psychedelic posters, and “what was I thinking?” fashion. Now imagine a twelve year old girl with rose tinted coke-bottle glasses, frizzy dark red hair, not the clearest skin, and a big mouth, trying to navigate her first day of middle school in a brand new town.

My glasses are in my lap.
If you look close you can
see the dents from them on
my nose.

Got the image? Not overly appealing is it? Fast forward to ninth period, the last period of the never-ending school day, and it’s gym class. Gym class where for the very first time you were required to change clothes, in a locker room, in front of roughly forty, not so nice, cliquey girls who have all known each other since pre-school. (Back then you were born and raised in our small town, and if someone new moved in, they must have been an alien from outer space.)

Not really my gym class, but you get
the picture

Thanks to thirty second changing abilities as the rest of the girls made their way to the gymnasium, I was able to survive the ordeal without having to crawl under a rock. So there I was, sporting terry cloth short-shorts, a matching (fabric wise if not color wise) shirt, knee high tube sock – complete with three stripes (two weren’t cool), and brand spanking new, could be seen from space, white Keds (we couldn't afford Adidas). Yup, I was the fashion plate.

I manage to make it to where everyone else was seated, thankfully without tripping and landing on my coke-bottles, and sat – slightly off to the side because of course no one would make room for the new girl by them – and I observed the class. My first thought was, wow some of these kids are big. Little did I know at the time, we were the only mixed grade gym class.

The gym teacher voice boomed through the room, causing a burning behind my eyes. I had never in my life seen such a large, frightening woman. She reminded me of Bela Karolyi in drag. I prayed the gym floor would open up and swallow me whole.

Then, because I was too busy being terrified, I completely missed what the Amazon said, and had to scramble to catch up with the class. Thank God she hadn’t scared my deductive reasoning abilities out of me, and I was able to properly line up with the other girls on the north wall of the gym. The boys were line up on the south.

The lines began to move eastward along the walls, then turned toward the middle where each boy and girl was paired up. As I shuffled forward, I kept eyeing the door on the east wall, and wondering if anyone would notice if I slipped out, but a move so bold would have required courage, and after the day I’d already endured, bravery was in short supply.

As luck would have it, the string of boys my age ended a few girls before me, and I was paired up with one of the ninth grade boys. He was taller than me, which wasn’t a difficult thing to be, I believe the proper word back then was husky, and was turning several shades of red. Okay, he may be older, but he wasn’t liking this any better than I was, so at least I had someone to hopefully commiserate with.

Next the Amazon with the megaphone voice started barking more orders and I began to wonder if they spoke a different type of English from my previous New Jersey town. My confusion must have shown on my face, because the guy next to me, mumbled something. As much as I hated to, I had to ask him to repeat what he said. For a nanosecond, he looked me in the eye, blurted “Square Dancing” then looked away.

Cheri took this picture of us

Mother of God! This is gym class! We’re supposed to be playing kick ball or dodge ball or having scooter races, not square dancing. What kind of cockamamie town did my mother move me to? That door along the east wall was looking better and better.

We were herded into groups of eight, and told to square off. Obviously I was the only one in the room who had absolutely no clue what I was supposed to be doing. My only consolation was none of the other kids looked all that happy about having to dance.

One of many parties at my 1st
apartment

The music began, the Amazon began to squawk out commands, and everyone obeyed, except me. My partner took pity on me and dragged me along through the steps. When the time came to promenade, and I had to take his hands, I was met a with sweaty, clammy, mess. As nervous, and as embarrassed as my painfully shy partner was, he was still trying to help me.

Well, we made it through that God awful day, and the next three weeks of square dancing. By the end of it, we had become friends. He would look in my eyes when we spoke to each other, and his hands were dry when we needed to promenade.

Since he was in 9^th grade, and I was in 7^th, that 9^th period gym class was the only time I would get to see him. Then June came, school was out, and the next year he was going to the high school. I would probably never see my first friend in my new town ever again.

Fast forward to August the following year, to the summer between 8^th and 9^th grade. I have made a very best friend, Cheri, and she played a saxophone, and was going to be in the high school marching band. Since the two of us were inseparable, I went with her to band camp at the high school. I sat on the sidelines, watched, and fell in love. Yup, I’m a total dork, but I thought marching band was the coolest thing in the world.

Believe it or not, this picture was taken
right before I got ready for the date.
Check out our wallpaper...

The only problem was, I didn’t know how to play an instrument, I couldn’t read music, and I was fairly certain I had some form of impairment because right & left confused me to no end. The band director didn’t have an issue with all my shortcomings, and even helped me to decide on an instrument. So my entire freshman year, I went to every band practice, every game, and every competition, even though I was just learning how to play the flute, and everyone else in the band had been playing since 4^th grade. I had some serious catching up to do.

Our engagement picture

Back to August and band camp. Yup, you guessed it, my square dance partner, was in the band. He played trumpet. The friendship proved fortuitous, because whenever the freshmen were told to do any of the grunt work, he, an upperclassman, would say "not you two" to my best friend and me, and we’d be able to avoid the abuse.

Over the next few years, we were in the same circle of friends, so we were together quite often. His best friend, Kevin, “adopted” me as his little sister, and me, an only child loved having a big brother. Kevin and I were inseparable as well. We were best buds, but that was all, just best buds.

March 31, 1990

June of 1982 rolled around, and Kevin and my square dance partner, Paul, graduated high school. Kevin went off to the Marines, and my partner went to community college. Kevin would write me every day, and come to visit whenever he was on leave. During one of those leaves, my friend Lisa confessed to me she had a huge crush on Kevin, and begged me to set them up. Being a good friend, I did.

BUT, my “brother” had a stipulation. He would only go out with Lisa if we went on a double date, with Paul. I loved Lisa dearly, and I loved my “big brother”, and I KNEW they would be perfect together, but there was no way in H.E. double hockey sticks I was going on a date with Paul. Paul, my “brother’s” best friend, Paul the trumpet player, Paul, my square dance partner; he was a friend and nothing more, and I had seen him exactly once since he graduated high school.

Our 1st addition - PJ

Lisa’s tears had me relenting, but believe me, she got an earful the whole time we were getting ready. Whatever, I could live through a movie and then getting some ice cream at Bricken’s afterwards, but that was it. Deal done. Obligation complete. Lisa and Kevin would be together, and I could go on my merry way.

What do they say about best-laid plans?

St. Maartin - our 1st "Why the heck
did we get married?" weekend.

Well, twenty-five years ago today, I married Paul. Paul, my “brother’s” best friend, Paul the trumpet player in the marching band, Paul, who with the aid of my “brother”, dragged me, kicking and screaming, into the back (3^rd) practice room in the band room and proceeded to give my sixteen spanks on my 16^th birthday, Paul, my 7^th grade square dance partner.

Our family grew...

Over the past thirty-seven years, we have had good times and bad. We’ve laughed, cried, and fought – it gets real ugly around here when the Giants play the Cowboys. We moved from an apartment to a condo to a house, and we managed without killing each other. We survived raising three children. He puts up with my strong personality, my less than June Cleaver housekeeping skills, and my harebrained ideas.

... and grew

We are still polar opposites, and we don’t see eye to eye on much, yet somehow we’re making it work. I give full credit to our “Why the heck did we get married?” weekends. Every 12 – 18 months, since our son, our first born, was two, Paul and I spend a long weekend away, just the two of us. Our friends and family teased us about this, but now, twenty-five years later, most of them understand how important those “us” times were.

Now, as our last little chick starts to prepare to leave the nest, we know when she’s gone, we’ll still be okay. We will find things to do together, because even after all these years, we still like each other, we laugh together, and we still enjoy each other’s company. A rare and beautiful gift for sure, and with God’s grace, I will be able to do this same type of blog post when we are celebrating our 50^th Anniversary.

Our 1st WtHDWGM? weekend

Okay, just to tie up some loose ends for you, before I go. 1) “The Amazon” – actually turned out to be one of the nicest people, and now as an adult I realize she’s not all that large – 5’9” perhaps. 2) Square dancing ended up being one of my favorite gym activities, though they no longer have it as part of the school curriculum. 3) Although I don’t get to see her ever, I’m still friends with Cheri, and she was even one of the bridesmaids at our wedding. 4) Lisa and Kevin ended up getting married, but unfortunately it didn’t work out, but they have two beautiful daughters and they remain good friends. 5) Our next “Why the heck did we get married?” weekend is going to be the first week in June, a cruise to Bermuda, an anniversary gift from my mother.