September 13th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good morning! I received my confirmation for the Collingswood Book Festival in the mail yesterday. I was assigned slot 208. 208! There are going to be over 200 book related vendors at this show! I knew it was going to be big, but this isn’t big, it’s HUGE! So hey, if you don’t have plans for Saturday, October 11^th, and you love books, you should consider a trip to Collingswood, NJ. The street fair starts at 9:00, and I think it runs until 4:00.

Between Milford Alive on Saturday, September 27^th, and Collingswood, I knew I needed certain supplies – a folding table, a cart, and a tent – so I ordered them, but then I got to thinking that a simple white tent was too plain and I should jazz it up a little. So yesterday, I played around on VistaPrint and designed a banner. I thought I could hang it in the tent. What do you think?

I convinced my hubby to come and help me that day, and I think Dani will be coming too, so I thought we should all have matching t-shirts for the day. Yeah, I know, I’m a dork. Here’s what they look like. Again, what do you think?

I know I’m spending a little more than I should, and I’m going to have to sell a bunch of books to hit the break even, but all of the things I’m ordering can be used at future events. When I have smaller shows, I can attach the banner to the front of my table. Now that I have a tent and my own table, I can look into other street fairs; and the cart and my t-shirt can be used at every event I do. Logical or am I just justifying?

If you know “the real me”, then chances are you are friends with me on Facebook, so you know this story already. However, if you’re not, I’ll fill you in. We have a bit of a mystery going on right now in my town. On the 8^th, there was a big hullabaloo a few miles from my house. I’m talking the emergency vehicles blocking off the streets for several hours. Accounts from local residents confirmed a body was removed from the residence, the county prosecutor’s office was represented, and there was at least one FBI officer on scene, but in what capacity, it is not clear.

Here’s the mystery. There is not one shred of news about what happened. Please keep in mind, in our town if a car with a flat tire snarls traffic, it is news worthy and gets a mention. Some folks suggested that perhaps they were waiting to notify the next of kin or that perhaps the family did not want details revealed, especially if it was a suicide. I disagree.

If a person is murdered, it doesn't really make a difference what the family wants (not saying this is right, but it is a fact). Even during an "on-going investigation", details still slip out. It is the complete lack of details which is throwing up the red flags for me,and I'm sure others too. If the poor soul who passed away was just some joe-schmo, by either natural or nefarious reasons, there would have been no hesitation by the authorities to make some sort of statement, even if it was "we cannot comment at this time", but we don't even have that.

It's like the press has been issued with a gag order. There is no mention of the incident anywhere. Like MIB were called in, and everyone's memory was erased. Who was the person? What were they doing there? Did they belong there? What happened? Did someone do this TO them? Who was that person? What was their connection? Where either parties involved someone of importance? (Don't misinterpret that please, everyone is important - you know what I mean.) Maybe it's the writer's brain kicking in, but I think something fishy is going on.

I agree that IF it was a suicide, then it's no one's business, however, more times than not, those details do leak out as well - which IMO is sad. Regardless, even in those cases, a mention of "police activity at such-and-such address" does make the paper, even if there are no details. If they had done that, my imagination would not be working overtime.

All sorts of scenarios are playing through my brain - politician - clandestine meeting - homeland security - sleeper cell - the possibilities are endless. And IF this somehow did involve homeland security, we will never know. (Supposedly there were folks in plain clothes there that no one could guess their affiliation, and it all adds up to way too much activity for a suicide.)

What do you think? Does this add up for you? Perhaps a future foray for me can be a true mystery novel. Yes my novels now contain mystery and suspense, but…

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

Your Next Challenge is:

You are not allowed to read that…

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.

September 9th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good morning! Well we’ve had our fair share of excitement around here in the past sixteen hours.

I had to run to Costco yesterday afternoon to refill a prescription for Dani. When I placed the call for the refill, the automated response told me there were no more refills (the doctor goofed and didn’t count correctly, there should have been four more). I hit the button for them to call the doctor, and then thought nothing of it. When I picked up the last prescription, they didn’t mention there were no more refills. I handed Dani the stapled bag from the pharmacy, so I never saw the prescription, and Dani’s fifteen, she didn’t notice the handwritten note on the prescription stating it had no more refills.

Costco faxed the doctor’s office at 6:00 am and then sent an electronic script at 9:30. The doctor never responded. I get to Costco around 4:30, and there’s no prescription. We call the office and the answering service puts us on hold for TWENTY minutes. We finally get through and they said they will notify the doctor, but if we don’t hear from them in twenty minutes we should call back. Twenty minutes later we call back and are put on hold for another fifteen minutes. The answering service tries again. Half an hour later, still no response from the doctor. The pharmacist himself calls, the doctor still does not respond.

After two hours, I leave my number with the pharmacist, and ask him to call me if he hears from the doctor. Dani wasn’t feeling well, and she had homework to do. I couldn’t wait around all night, and I’m glad we left when we did, because the pharmacist never called, which means the doctor never called him back, so now I have to deal with that today.

Later in the evening, Dani sees a post, on some social media site, about a murder in our town. I jump online to see if I can find any information. Nothing. I posted a comment on Facebook to see if anyone else had heard anything or if it was just a hoax. As of this morning, there are still no details, and there is no breaking news story posted anywhere; but folks who live in the area do confirm there was a lot of police activity, a body was removed from the home, and the county prosecutor was at the scene, so it’s not looking good. Our sleepy little town just ain’t what it used to be.

Dani has been complaining about a headache since Friday night. She was at a friend’s house, lying on a pillow, on the floor, next to him while he was playing a video game. He jumped during the game and elbowed her in the head by accident. Today when she went to school, the gym teacher sent her to the nurse because he was convinced Dani has a concussion. She’s home now, laying down. I have to wait until 9:00 to call the doctor.

Also, I have to go to work today. RV has an 11:30 appointment, so I have to figure that into the mix. Then I have to run to Costco to hopefully pick up Dani’s prescription, rush home, make dinner, shower dress and (UGH) put on make-up, because I have to leave early to get to Princeton; the TV interview is tonight at 6:30. All of this on roughly three hours of sleep. Yeah, I’m going to look absolutely lovely on TV tonight.

Good grief! Between the lack of sleep, the stress of what’s going on with Dani, compounded with the stress of FTQ still not being finished and the publisher calling on Friday, I’m going to lose my mind. I’m in serious need of a nap, and it’s only 9:00 am.

Okay, it’s nine, which means I have doctors’ offices to call, so I should go. I hope you have a wonderful day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge is:

Use the following: An open window, A spilled glass, An empty bed

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 14th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

Happy Monday Morning! Even though it’s Monday, you can’t be too bummed when it’s such a glorious day. It’s over sixty degrees already, and the sun is shining. We are supposed to reach a high of seventy-seven today. {{{Clapping my hands.}}} *\0/* Doing a happy dance. *\0/*

It’s going to be tough to sit inside and writing all day, but I gotta do it. It was a busy weekend, and I didn’t get as much writing done as I should have. So today, I need to buckle down and crank out a few chapters. After I do, then I’ll take a little break and run to the grocery store – something else I never got to this weekend.

At least all I have to get is cold cuts, bread and milk. I don’t need to get any dinner items at all. Wanna know why? Because, somehow, at some point after I had gone downstairs to retrieve a Digorino’s pizza on Friday for dinner, the freezer door opened. I don’t know if I didn’t close it all the way, or if I had dislodged something, and after I closed the door, it hit it and opened the door. Several items thawed out completely, but were still cold, so I’m hoping they are still good. UGH! I hate when that happens!

I forgot to tell you yesterday about one other person I met at the Princeton Author’s Day. His name is Ravi, and he is a marketing guru. He has such fabulous ideas about how I should be marketing my books, and he is also looking to write his own book. He spent about twenty minutes chatting with Keith and me. This will be great, we can give Ravi tips and help with his writing, and he can give us tips and help us with our marketing. Man, I love networking and bartering.

After church yesterday, I went with Rebecca to the mall. Yeah, I know your saying, “Christina went to the mall?” because you all know how much I hate and try to avoid the mall at all costs. There’s a true glimpse into how much I love Bec, if I was willing to deal with a mall for her. Anyway, she is starting a new job, one which requires true business attire as opposed to business casual, so she needed to shop.

Since she hates the mall almost as much as I do, we decided to slay the beast together. Thanks to Macy’s, we had a productive day. We did find two tops in Lord & Taylor. Then we hit a couple of other stores with no success. We were about to give up, but I said, that since we were there, let’s just go to Macy’s. At that point we were both tired, and a little discouraged, but we trudged to the petite department.

After about five minutes of looking around, we gave up, partly because the foul odor in the department. I swear it smelled like someone had peed on the floor, it was disgusting. We were walking out, when something caught my eye. I pulled out a few tops, Bec tried them on, found one she liked and purchased it.

So now we were done, and headed home. We walked a little further, and something else caught my eye. I pulled down two more tops for Bec to try, and that’s when she remembered the brand name of some tops she liked. We asked the sales lady where those tops were located, and she sent us to another department. Pay dirt! Not only did Bec find several more tops she liked, I found a top for Easter, and for only $22. 

Oh, by the way, the one I got at Kohl’s did not look right, and it’s going back, so I ended up wearing an oldie but goodie to the PPL Author’s Day. (I still haven’t received any pictures from the day, as soon as someone sends some, I’ll post them for you to see.)

I also splurged a little. Vera Bradley sent me a 40% off coupon in the mail, for my birthday, and since my current pocketbook has seen better days, and I had some money from my mother in law for my birthday, so I indulged. I got the “Mandy” bag in “Petal Paisley” and a wallet to match, since my wallet’s pretty shot as well. It’s been a while since I have treated myself to something frivolous and pretty, so I’m a happy girl.

Okay, enough of my “warm-up”, time to do some “real” writing. I hope y’all have a wonderful day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

A reunion they’ll never forget…

‘Twenty-five years, where had the time gone?’ was a common phrase heard from the 1989 Culver High School graduates, as they reminisced with old friends, or gave fake smiles and platitudes to their old nemeses. The former “nerds” and “unpopulars” gloated and berated the former “jocks” and “populars”; the guys were all fat and bald, and the gals were funding either Miss Clarol, a plastic surgeon, or both, while they had all become one of the “pretty people” or incredibly wealthy.

As nostalgic music began to play, the dance floor filled, and only a few grimaced or commented on how terrible music from the eighties had been. The houselights dimmed, the mirrored ball began to rotate, laser lights began to bounce around the room, and the fog machine’s mist blanketed the dance floor. The conversation was loud, the music was louder. Then, above the cacophony, a scream silenced the room.

The crowd parted. Someone brought up the houselights. There, lying in the middle of the dance floor, blood trickling out of his nose, ears and mouth, was Jeff, the Raging Rooster’s star quarterback, the kid who had lead Culver High to back to back state championships in ’88 and ’89. He was motionless and most assuredly dead, but how? He was drinking, laughing and dancing just moments before.

Your Next Challenge is:

Does this taste funny to you?

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.

April 11th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

Happy Friday! Well, yesterday’s Kohl’s trip was a big flop, for me at least. I did pick up one top, but I saw it as we were about to leave, so I haven’t even tried it on yet. I have no idea if it’s going to fit, look right, or if I’ll be returning it. If I decide to keep it, I’ll be paring it with one of the dozens of pairs of black pants I already own.

Oh well, guess it just wasn’t meant to be. However, I did manage to get stuff for my kids, so Easter Basket shopping is finished. It’s crazy, when all is said and done, it’s over $150 per basket. How did this get so nutz? The sad part is I really scaled down this year. Each kid gets a basket, with candy, a movie, and some little tchotchke. Then the kids each get a dozen eggs to hunt for, and inside of the eggs is either $1 or a slip of paper which tells them to pick a gift. In the past, gifts have been toys, games, clothes, shoes, movies – nothing really over $20, but multiply it times three, and now four because my son’s girlfriend is in the mix, it adds up quickly.

I think it may be time to stop Easter baskets for PJ, then when Lys hits her twenty-fourth Easter or is living too far away that she won’t make it home for Easter, cut her off, and finally Dani whenever she flies to coop. The only reason I’ve kept PJ and Lys in the mix this long, was to be fair to Dani. Having an Easter egg hunt by yourself, isn’t a whole lot of fun. The thing is, I have always been a stickler for treating my kids exactly equal. If I get something for one, I get something for the other two as well. Then again, PJ had eight Easters before Dani was even born. I don’t know. I guess we’ll see if I can actually go through with it when next Easter rolls around.

Today is going to consist or a little running around, packing my stuff for the fair, and hopefully a whole lot of writing. So, I’m off to go make lunches, and then I’m hitting the keys. I hope y’all have a fabulous day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

(S)He was just the gal/guy next door…

In 1978, my mother and I moved to a townhouse, in a sleepy little farm town, in central New Jersey. Two doors down from me, lived Robbie, who was a year older than me, and his sister Mandy, who was a year younger than me. We became friends. I would go over to their house quite often. Their parents were some big-wig executives at some huge company, but other than that, I didn’t know much about them. The mom was always nice to me, and the dad was polite, but a little strange. I didn’t think too much about it, because at twelve years old, there were many adults I thought were a little strange.

Robbie and Mandy only lived next door to me for a few years before they moved to a much snootier town a little further north. After they moved, I never saw or heard from them again. Then, in the early 90s, pictures of Robbie and Mandy’s parents are plastered all over the news. I thought I was going to be sick. I called my mom and yelled at her to turn on the news. There were our old neighbors, people I had sat down to dinner with, being held responsible for the kidnapping and death of an executive.

It still makes me a little ill thinking about it. Sure, the dad was a little odd, but a murderer? They were just the family next door.

Your Next Challenge is – again stolen from my Tuesday writing group. This is a random line, from a random book, selected off the library’s shelf. You must use the line in your story. Bonus points if you can make this the last line in your story. More bonus points if you can identify the line (no fair Googling it):

“There, old gent, there’s a drop of something to cheer you up.”

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.

October 23rd Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina – 

There were twelve of us at the writer’s group last night. Well, I should say twelve of us who stayed. One lady left before anyone even said a word to her, one gentleman left when he realized the group was not a workshop and not really what he was looking for, and the third gentleman left when he received a text telling him there was a family emergency. He left part way through the first prompt, but I think we may see him again in the future.

We tried something a little different last night in the writing group. Instead of doing one ten minute prompt and then sharing what we wrote, I had the group do four ten minute prompts in rapid succession and then we discussed them. I figured by putting all the prompts together, and not breaking in between, we could keep the flow going.

I think it went well, but if I do this in the future I will only have three prompts in the beginning and not four. I felt bad for the folks who were actually writing and not typing. Their wrists must have been sore after forty straight minutes of writing.

Finally we ended with one fifteen minute prompt and then another discussion, so it would only be sharing time and not writing time which was interrupted by the “get your junk and get out” announcements kicking everyone out of the library. Turned out the first announcement came really late and we had just finished the last reading.

I did cheat and use yesterday’s writing challenge as one of the prompts last night, and I pulled the others from previous blogs. Some were received more favorably than others. Oh well, I tried. You are not going to be able to please everyone all the time. It gave me a feel for what it will be like to run my own group. It is going to be difficult to come up with multiple prompts on a weekly basis. I only have so many in reserve. I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

I did receive an email reply from the FBI with a request for more specific information, so I will be working on that today. I was shocked at how quickly I receive a response, so if the next response comes just as quickly, I will be able to finish Corporate Blues by the end of the month.

Okay, I am going to go take some sinus medicine before the pressure makes my head explode, and then I’m going to start the email. I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday, and happy writing!

 

Your Last Challenge was:

Write a letter from your future adult self to yourself as a teenager.

Knowing me, and obviously I do, you are not going to believe this when you find it, but it’s real. For reasons I cannot get into, I was given the opportunity to give my teenage self some advice. Advice YOU MUST LISTEN TO.

I know you still are thinking this is a bunch of crap and either Cheri or Lisa are playing a trick on you, so I am going to tell you things you know you haven’t told anyone. Like when Toby snuck back to our house after he walked Lisa home; his excuse was he forgot something, but what he really wanted to do was kiss you.

And then there is the coffee can under your bed that holds all your money and your Marlboro reds, which you should really give up now, because we are still struggling with them in the future. They were a stupid thing to start, and why? To impress Sue? Let me tell you now, she turns into a good for nothing white trailer trash, piece of dung, who ends up O.D.ing before she’s thirty. She’s not someone you should associate with. And while we’re at it, when she asks you for $50, don’t give it to her. She is not getting her sister a graduation gift; she uses the money to go from pot to the harder stuff.

Do you believe me yet? I hope so because here is the reason for the letter. I know you love Paul, and he does turn out to be a wonderful husband and father, but don’t give up the Air Force Academy for him. You are intelligent and gifted and talented, so you do turn out fine, but not going to the Air Force is the one regret you will carry with you for the rest of your life. Paul loves you, really loves you, and although he will be sad while you are away, he will wait for you, and you will get married, have three beautiful children, and have a wonderful life together.  

Your Next Challenge is:

 

 Write a story using the following three words, Lily, Anger, Murder

 

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.