May 25th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! Even though I slept in, I have been up for four hours now, and have managed to get little accomplished. I did do a grocery run, so that’s something at least. We are going over to my friend Sharon’s today, and she asked if I would make baked beans. Sure, no problem, it’s just I didn’t have anything in the house to make baked beans.

No big deal, off to the store; but then I think, since we’re going back on Monday as well, I should probably do more than make baked beans, so I picked up the stuff to make macaroni salad, and the stuff to make cream cheese brownies.

Then I noticed soda was on sale for $1 per two liter bottle. Well, with two big parties coming up, I thought it would be smart to pick it up now, while it was on sale.

I figure if I get the stuff slowly over the next twelve days, it won’t be so stressful. Folks should be getting their invites on Tuesday and Wednesday, and I’m sure some of them will offer to bring something, so by next weekend, I should be able to get my brain around everything, and be able to figure out which blanks I’ll need to fill in for both parties.

Okay, the house won’t be quiet for much longer, so I should get some more editing done. I hope you have a super day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

Cassiopeia was an odd duck; but then again, who wouldn’t be, saddle with a name like that, in this day and age.

Good grief. Well, I guess there’s a first for everything. I am drawing a total blank for this prompt. I thought it would be a good one, but I’ve got nothing. Well, maybe not nothing. Random thoughts of a mousy, quiet, bookish girl, without many friends, but other than that, it’s a total blank. The name I chose was a character from a show I LOVED from the late seventies, early eighties – Battlestar Galactica. Cassiopeia was the sister of Apollo, played by Richard Hatch, who I had a serious teen crush on. All of my other friends were in lust with Starbuck, played by Dirk Benedict, but not me. I fell for the hunky brunette.

Oh well. Hopefully tomorrow’s challenge will yield better results.

Your Next Challenge is:

Who says you’re too old for…

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.

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Princeton Author's Day - From 1 - 4 Today. I hope you can come!!

February 19th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

Well, it took until almost the end of February, but I’ve finally caught a cold. I should have known I wouldn’t make it through the season unscathed. Sneezing my head off, scratchy throat, itchy ears, the works. Glad I bought some OJ when I was at the store. I also have lots of tea and honey, so I should be good. However, you should consider this my disclaimer if I produce sub-par challenges and responses for the next couple of days. LOL.

The other day I saw something interesting another author was doing on their Facebook page, and I think I may give it a whirl on my own page. She posted a picture and asked her readers to describe the scene in three words or less. It really made you think, and some of the responses were amazing. Since so many of you are still too shy to take up one of my ten minute challenges, this may be the perfect way for you to participate (although I am still holding out hope that more of you will reply to the challenges – especially with all the new authors who are following my page).

The Valentine’s sale of A Second Chance & Taking Chances went really well. February’s book sales have been the best ever, and it did boost my ranking for a few days. However, now that the sale is over, the rankings are slipping a little again. If you were one of the folks who took advantage of the sale, thank you, and if you have read the book(s) and have a few minutes to post a review, it would be greatly appreciated.

Since the sale was a hit, I think I will be doing one for St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day, etc. I need to read the rules again for the new KDP program to see how often I am allowed to run a sale. I think offering the books at a sale price yields better results than offering the book for free. Folks tend to think if the product is free, then it can’t be of very high quality, and that is DEFINITELY not the image I want to portray.

What are your thoughts? Are you more likely to pick something up if it’s on sale for 60% or 80% off, or if it’s offered for free? Do you think “free” must have some kind of catch? Do you automatically think if it’s free, then there must be something wrong with it? Do you feel more obligated to read the books you actually paid for, and chose them first over the ones you downloaded for free? Are you more likely to post a review for a book you paid for? I really hope some of you chime in here, because I’d love to hear your opinion.

Oh well, I’m running out of steam, and writing when you’re sneezing every ten seconds is not fun, so I’m going to sign off. I hope you have a wonderful day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

Find a penny, pick it up, and all the day, you’ll have good luck…

Old habits die hard, and some will never go away. I brought my teenager to the mall the other day, and she damn near had a heart attack when I stopped to pick up a penny off the ground. At her horrified expression, I recited, “Find a penny, pick it up, and all the day, you’ll have good luck.”

To which she replied, “God Mom, I’ll give you a penny if you want one so bad.”

“Ah, but if I simply took a penny from you, it wouldn’t be lucky.” That got me an eye roll and me walking about five paces behind her as she tried to disassociate herself from me. I just smiled, chuckled and tried to keep up.

At fifteen all she could see was her old mom embarrassing her in public. She wouldn’t be receptive to the story of how my grandfather and I would go for walks, and if we ever found a penny, he would stop, pick it up, polish it on his sleeve, hand it to me and recite the same words. True, way back then, a penny meant I could get a piece of gum or candy from the candy store, so finding one had a direct and immediate impact. She wouldn’t find it amusing that we always seemed to find a penny during our walks or that one time I caught my grandfather purposely dropping a penny so we could “find” it.

No sweet girl, it’s not the penny I want so bad, it’s to remember my special times with my grandfather. So sweetheart, I’m sorry if it embarrasses you, but your old mom will never stop picking up pennies she finds.

Your Next Challenge is:

Write a story containing the following: The moon, a telescope, crickets

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.