December 20th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

Good Morning! So the cookie exchange last night was a total bust. For the few folks who came, we divvied up the cookies, handed out the recipe cards, I sent them home with the grab bag gift they showed up with, and we never even bothered with the game. We just sat around the kitchen table for an hour and chatted.

They did get to sample the cookies, and I made a batch of homemade Irish cream. It was a bit of a heavy pour, so I’ll have to cut it when I make the next batch and combine the two. If anyone is interested in learning how to make your own homemade Irish cream, send me a message and I’ll send you the recipe.

Yesterday was a banner day. I hit my goal of 500 “likes” on my Facebook author’s page. Wooo Hooo! Then I surprised the 500^th person with a copy of A Second Chance. One of the other fans of my page made a real push with her friends to try to get me to my goal, and I sent her a book as well. I had every intention of doing this from the start, but I didn’t want to say anything just in case I couldn’t figure out who was number 500.

December 22^nd through the 24^th I am offering the Kindle version of Taking Chances for FREE. So if you need a last minute stocking stuffer, here’s your chance…you can’t beat the price…. Just go on Amazon.com to download.

 

Now that I have hit my goal on Facebook – THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH – I need to figure out how to do the same on Tumblr. I currently have 2 followers on Tumblr. So if you have a Tumblr account, please look me up.

Twitter, on the other hand, is a whole different beast. ¾ of the folks who follow me on Twitter do not follow me on Facebook, which is confusing to me. But then again, for some reason Twitter confuses me in general. I still haven’t figured out how to properly use a hash-tag. I wish one of you would give me Twitter 101. #ineedhelp – Was that right??

Today I am locking myself in the basement. I need to find those Monty books I purchased for my great niece and for my cousin’s daughter, and I need to start wrapping. UGH! My LEAST favorite part of this holiday. First I have to drive Dani Rose to school. She has a bunch of gifts for her friends, and there is no way she’d be able to navigate on the bus with them. Why do I have a strange feeling I’ll be getting a text around two asking if I would pick her up from school as well? Hmmmm…

I hope you have a great day and happy writing!

 

Your Last Challenge was:

In the heart of every human is their desire to leave their mark upon this world; a piece of them to be remembered once they are no longer here. What mark have you left or would you like to leave?

This prompt really made me think. Some of you might have thought my answer to this challenge would have been an obvious choice, but after much contemplation, it really wasn’t.

As an author, I could say my legacy is the books I write, but I don’t feel that way. Sure I write stories which give my readers a momentary escape and some enjoyment, but they are not really a measurable “mark” on the world, even though they will still exist long after I am gone.

The true mark I have left are my children and their ability to make the world a better place – by being the COO of a company; by being the one who helps to stop a serial killer; or the one who, with the aid of her canine partner, saves someone. Yes, my real “mark” upon this world was bringing three gifted, talented, amazing children into it.

 

Your Next Challenge is:

 

You are sent back to earth as one of the seven deadly sins in human form. You can pick whichever sin you would like, but you must describe yourself without actually saying which sin you are – let us try and figure it out.

 

You have 10 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.

December 19th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

Good Morning! The blog is going to be short and sweet again today. Getting my Christmas cards out yesterday consumed much more of my time than anticipated. At one point I was about to take my printer and toss it in the dumpster, it was giving me such fits, but I finally got it to print. However, four hours of frustration was not in my budgeted time, so I really have a lot left to do to get ready for tonight’s cookie exchange. Typical me, rushing around like a chicken with her feathers on fire, the day of an event. Some things never change.

Okay, right to the challenges. Wishing you a joyful day and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

English is a funny language

I do not envy folks who need to learn our language. It is difficult even to people who were born speaking it. For every rule, we have an exception, and sometimes words are completely illogical. Here is an example, the simple and innocent looking word “of” There is no “v” in word, yet it is pronounced “ov” or I guess more correctly “uv” – why isn’t it pronounced ahf (to differentiate it from awff)?

Then there’s Arkansas (r – can – saw) and Kansas (can-sas), does this make any sense? If underneath can be a word, why can’t infront be one as well? Why can’t “alot” be a single word as well? Oh, and we cannot forget to, too and two – seriously we need three word, all pronounced exactly the same, which have three different meanings? Why do we pronounce “one” and “won” the same? And what about “tear” – hmm, did I ask about a word which meant you ripped something, or was I asking about a drop of water leaking from your eye? Did someone just get too lazy to give each meaning their own word?

There are also things like bare/bear, dear/deer, brake/break, there/their – awe heck, I could go on all day. Is it a wonder why English is such a pain to learn?

Your Next Challenge is:

In the heart of every human is their desire to leave their mark upon this world; a piece of them to be remembered once they are no longer here. What mark have you left or would you like to leave?

You have 10 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.

December 16th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina – 

Only nine days left until Christmas, and I’m starting to stress over how much I still have to do; and I won’t get much accomplished today either. At ten, I’m supposed to be at the Somerset County Home for Temporarily Displaced Children wrapping donated gifts. Hopefully I’ll be finished by two. Actually, I have to be finished by two so I can make it in time to pick up my daughter when she gets home from school and get her to her chiropractor’s appointment. I’ll have just enough time to pop a chicken in the oven before we leave so we’ll have something for dinner tonight.

Yesterday’s cookie exchange was postponed to Thursday night. Even though the roads were clear, my driveway was not, and it was far too dangerous to allow folks to try and walk on it. We couldn’t get the snow blower working, but I doubt it would have mattered anyway because the snow was probably too icy to blow.

My husband started shoveling by hand around noon. By three, he was about half way down the driveway when a truck with a plow on the front pulls up and the driver yells, “Get out of the way, I’m tired of watching you.”

My “big brother” Kenny drove by on his way to plow out his sister Sharon’s drive and saw my husband shoveling. After he finished his sister’s house and was headed to the next place he had to plow, he saw my husband was still shoveling and pulled in to the drive. He could have just driven past the house, gone on to the next appointment – which he was late for, and we would have never even known he was in the area; but he didn’t. How sweet was that? So, Kenny Ball, you are my hero of the day!

Okay, as I said, I have TONS to do, and I would like to get a jump on them before I have to leave, because from 9:30 on, my day is pretty well shot.

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

Your Last Challenge was (I thought this one would be a quick one for you):

 

Since this has inadvertently become the season of wishes, tell us your one most outrageous wish from Santa, one you know would never happen, but it is still fun to wish for…

 

Have any of you heard of the band Trans-Siberian Orchestra?  They are this group who do the Christmas classics as well as Tchaikovsky on electric guitars, keyboards and such. Trust me when I say, even your kids would love classical music if they heard TSO playing it. They are incredible and they put on an amazing show. I have been to a couple of their concerts, and I can’t wait to see them again when I can afford the tickets.

Anyway, their first album was Christmas Eve Sarajevo, and the title song from the album is the first thing I put on to get me in the Christmas spirit. It is a powerful piece, and it has always been my secret wish to someday be allowed to conduct it. Actually, I don’t know how “secret” my wish really is, because EVERY time it’s played, I can’t help but conduct – even with full gusto when there’s no one there to watch.

Your Next Challenge is:

 

Write a story containing the following three things: A Gingerbread Man, Candy Cane(s), the Police

 

You have 10 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.

December 15th

Hi, it’s Christina – 

Good morning! The blog is going to be short and sweet today, and there won’t be a writing challenge because I still have a whole lot to do.

I won’t know until the sun comes up what it looks like outside to determine if the cookie exchange is still on or not. From what I can see, things are not looking good. PLUS, my husband can’t get the snow blower going, and I don’t want him to have to shovel the walk and the driveway by hand. It’s too much work with six inches of snow and a layer of ice on top.

I have an update for you. So, the good news is, I was accepted by the publisher in New York. The bad news is, I read over the contract he sent, and I’m not going to accept. I won’t go into details, but it just wasn’t right for me. Oh well, maybe next time.

Okay, the kitchen looks like a bomb blew up in it. I still have to get the chocolate on the Venetian layered cookies. The wall heater in the family room went kaput so my husband had to rip it out and put in a new one, so that room is a mess, and I still have all the set up to do, so I better run.

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

December 14th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina – 

I survived, but man I’m wrecked today. We didn’t get home until almost eleven last night, and although I went right to bed, I still needed to unwind for a little while. I’m pretty sure I was asleep by midnight. I am getting too old to handle 21 hour long days! However, for several reasons, I’m glad we did it all in one day.

Yesterday was so cold and so windy in Burlington, but compared to today, they were having a heat wave. Right now, at Lys’ school, the actual temp is -1 with a wind chill of -12. If we had left this morning, we would have been well on our way before it started to snow up there, but we would have probably hit snow in New York and then had to white-knuckle the rest of the way home.

I was shocked. We actually have more snow on the ground here in New Jersey than they do in Vermont; and YIPPIE, we are getting more today. It’s supposed to start snowing here around two pm and go until six, with a predicted accumulation of two – four inches before it turns into sleet and freezing rain. Oh what fun.

Not for nothing, but I’m not going to tonight’s church Christmas party in the mess. They will probably postpone it to next Saturday, but we won’t be able to make it because the 21^st is my husband’s office Christmas party, and there is no way we would miss it. It’s funny, my husband has been with his company longer than all the other employees, except Cindy the office manager, have been alive. The only people who have been with the company longer are the two owners, George and Scott. This will be the thirty-first Christmas party my husband and I will be attending with the company. Heck, we’ve been to more than the owners’ wives.

The forecast has bought me more time today, because now with me not going to the party, I no longer have to spend a couple of hours making appetizers and I can focus on making cookies. Then there’s the other side of the coin; because of the forecast, my cookie exchange may very well get cancelled. Well, I won’t cancel it per say, but chances are the turn out will be small, which is a bummer. It’s the same amount of work for five guests as it is for twenty-five guests, and it’s not as much fun. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Okay, I’m running out of steam, and, snow or no snow, I have a ton to get accomplished today. I hope you have a wonderful, warm and safe day, and happy writing!

 

Your Last Challenge was:

 

My life is a (Sit-com, Drama, Soap Opera, Broadway Play, Reality TV Show, Musical, whichever) and why.

 

Is it a bad thing to admit my life could fit into all these categories? Well, maybe not a Broadway play… but then again, my life can be quite a production at times; so yes, I guess, even a Broadway play. The more I ponder the question, the more I believe everyone’s life would be a combination of all of them, and I may not be that strange at all.

Think about it. Heaven knows, everyone’s life has moments of drama – a battle between parent and child, a friend or loved one receives a bad diagnosis, someone passes away, someone loses their job. On the flip side, we all have our sit-com and reality tv moments as well where something so strange or unexpected happens, you just have to laugh. The soap opera moments are when you can say “You just can’t make this s**t up”, and the musical is the times when you heart just wants to sing.

So see, we can easily have all the elements in our everyday life which would fit into any and all of these categories. The trick will be figuring out how to have it less drama and more musical…

 

Your Next Challenge is:

Since this has inadvertently become the season of wishes, tell us your one most outrageous wish from Santa, one you know would never happen, but it is still fun to wish for…

 

You have 10 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.

December 11th

Hi, it’s Christina – 

Just a quick post today and no challenge – sorry. I spent my extra time this morning trying to drum up more “likes” for my author’s page in hopes of hitting the 500 mark by Christmas.

I have to leave in a few minutes so I can get my car serviced before my trek to Vermont on Friday, and while I’m out, I need to swing by the chiropractor then pick up some of the last items on my Christmas list and stuff for Sunday’s cookie exchange at my house.

When I get home, I need to pack away all the Christmas decoration boxes, clean up the house and begin prepping for the Cookie exchange – get all the stickers for the cookies written, print out the tickets for the drawing, wrap the grab bag gift, print the recipe cards, and make the door prizes.

YIKES! I have an awful lot to get done before Sunday and before Christmas. I don’t have a single present wrapped yet. So, I’m out of here. Have a wonderful day & happy writing!!