June 18th

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! Sorry folks, for the past few days I have been embroiled in two large projects, and for the first time, my blog was third on my priority list, but I just wanted to briefly check in so you wouldn’t think I fell off the edge of the earth.

I wanted to make one last push on the editing project I was struggling with, and I did manage to get some more finished, but I was not able to complete the assignment. I feel horrible about it. The book is really great, but I was having such a hard time focusing, that it took me an inordinate amount of time to edit each page properly. 

Honestly, I overextended myself, and my brain was fried. I should have never taken on the assignment, but the author is such a sweet, sweet man, and he is a talented writer, and I wanted to be able to help him out. Unfortunately, I let him down, and I let myself down. This is the first time I have missed a deadline, and I am more than a little annoyed with myself.

The other project was building another Indie author support network. I have roughly twenty folks in the group right now, and we are working together at getting all the kinks out for how the group is going to work, before we roll it out to other authors. Yeah me, the techno ditz, is trying to run an online group. Thankfully others in the group are tech savvy and are willing to assist.

On the home front, Lys arrived safely at my dad’s in Florida, Dani has finished school for the summer, and PJ just received notification he has made the Dean’s List again. Father’s Day was great. The boat only broke down twice while they were out, but the made it back to the dock in one piece, so it was a successful adventure. My garden is starting to look like a jungle, and I’ve been managing to keep my allergies relatively in check.

Okay, back to my projects. Hopefully I’ll be able to give you a writing challenge again by this weekend. Until then, I hope you have a wonderful day, and happy writing!

June 15th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! First and foremost, Happy Father’s Day to all the dads, and to those men who step in as dads for kids that aren’t their own!

I love my dad, but to be honest, he wasn’t around much. My parents separated when I was very young, and I really didn’t get to spend a lot of time with my dad (except for the couple of years I worked with him at his fish market). It’s okay, I adjusted. He’s just not a “hands on” family guy, some people aren’t, and I find that I’m happier now that I have accepted that. Please don’t get me wrong, my dad’s a great guy. I love my dad, and I know he loves me, but there were times while growing up when a girl needs her dad, and he wasn’t available.

Luckily for me, I was blessed with another man who treated me like his daughter. No, my mom never remarried. I’m talking about one of my best friend’s dads. He scolded me, praised me, gave me advice, let me cry on his shoulder, laughed with me (and occasionally at me), and told me I was “being a jack ass” whenever I needed it. He was also the first adult who ever told me he was proud of me. He couldn’t have loved me more if I actually was his own flesh and blood, so you see, I really did have the dad I needed while I was growing up.

He even loved my children as if they were his grandchildren. He would pal around with PJ – oh you should have seen the two of them go-cart racing down the shore, they were hysterical. He always had plenty of hugs and a lap for my girls to curl up on to feel safe and secure.

A dad doesn’t go by where I don’t miss him terribly. Unfortunately, cancer took “dad” in November, 2007, and on that day, right before Thanksgiving, the world lost a truly great man. Again, don’t get me wrong, he was far from perfect. There were times when he was a “jack ass” himself, but his big heart and goofy smile made it all worth it.

So to my real dad in Florida, and my “other dad” in Heaven, I wish you both a very happy Father’s Day. I love you!

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

Your Last Challenge was:

Use the following in a story: PLACE: a Library, EVENT: a power outage, SITUATION: you hear a scream

This was more than I bargained for. All I wanted to do was return a book to the library I had borrowed. I usually just drop it into the return bin outside, but I had forgotten to return the book before vacation, so now I had to go in and pay the fifty cent late fee.

Of course, I chose a day when just about everyone in town was at the library. I did not bother to look at the calendar before I left home, my only concern was to return the book before the fine went up to seventy-five cents. If I had looked at the calendar, I would have seen Gloria Grace, the famous murder mystery writer, was having a book signing, which meant the library would be a zoo. Ms. Grace always has a great turnout when she does her signings. How could she not? Not only are her books fabulous, she’s was born and raised in our little town.

I parked my car in the last available slot, tucked the book into my jacket, pulled up my hood, and sprinted through the downpour to the front door. When I made it inside, I was soaked from the knees down, and the hair which had escaped during my mad dash was dripping, but the book was safe, and that was all I cared about. There was no way I was going to shell out $28.95 to replace the book. It wasn’t really good.

I wove my way, through the throngs of people, to the front desk, avoiding the crowd gathered around Gloria Grace. I had signed copies of all her books, so there was no need for me to join in the foray.

I’m hopeless. I can’t write a short story to save my life. There was going to be lightening, the lights were going to go out, there was going to be a scream, there was going to be confusion, the lights were going to come back on, there was going to be more screams, and Gloria Grace was going to be dead on the floor – murdered like one of the characters in her novels.

Your Next Challenge is:

Summer has finally arrived…

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.

June 14th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! Sunshine, glorious sunshine! After five straight days of rain, waking up today to sunlight was a beautiful thing.

In the one break in yesterday’s down pour, I managed to weed my entire garden, and I planted more corn, onions and artichokes. The corn should have been in two weeks ago, so I’m hoping the weather stays mild into September so we can have some corn later in the season. I guess we’ll see.

I have a bumper crop of radishes. I’ve given two dozen away, and I’ve used a dozen myself already, but I still have a ton left. Other than using radishes in salads, do any of you have ideas of what else I can use radishes in? I’m open for suggestions.

Today I need to do a little running around. I got my hubby boat shoes for Father’s Day, but I think I picked up the wrong size. My Kohl’s doesn’t have any more, so I’m going to take a ride into Flemington to see if that Kohl’s has them. 

Then I’m going to run over to my in-laws to pick up the raspberry bush I bought last week and left over there so it wouldn’t fry in my car (then promptly forgot about). After, I’m headed to ShopRite to pick up steaks for tomorrow’s barbecue.

Okay, let me go so I can get everything done. I hope you have a wonderful day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

A Game of “Follow the Leader” gone awry.

“Charlie, have you lost your mind? I’m not going in there!”

“You have to Gina. I’m the leader, so you have to follow me. Those are the rules.”

“I don’t want to play any more.”

“Nuh uh. I followed you when you were the leader. I did what you did. Now it’s my turn.”

“But Charlie…”

“You have to play fair.”

“But Charlie, it’s dark and wet and scary in there.”

“Scaredy cat. Scaredy cat. Gina is a scaredy cat.”

“I am not, but mom wouldn’t like it if we went in there.”

“Well I’m not going to tell mom and neither are you, unless now you’re a tattle tale as well as a scaredy cat.”

“I don’t care what you say Charlie, and you can call me whatever you want, but I’m not going in there. It’s not safe. I’m going home, and if you were smart, you would come too.”

Your Next Challenge is:

Use the following in a story: PLACE: a Library, EVENT: a power outage, SITUATION: you hear a scream

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.

June 13th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! Good Grief, I had to go back a week to find the last challenge. YIKES! I’m such a slacker.

Honestly, I’m not. I have been working on a new marketing project for the past two weeks or so. I found this Indie Author support group and they give you ideas on how to promote your books in various ways. I decided to pick one and focus on it for a little while.

The one I chose was Goodreads. Goodreads is a site for avid readers, but it also has a section for authors as well. I have been an author on Goodreads for over a year now, but I really did not know how to utilize the site to help me promote my own books. This group has showed me how.

Goodreads has a feature called Listopia, which is a place where you can list books which fit a certain criteria. For example, Taking Chances went on the “Napoleonic War Fiction” list, because a good chunk of it featured the Battle of Trafalgar and Lord Nelson. I then let people who have read Taking Chances know it was on the list, and I asked them to vote for my book (and to join Goodreads if they hadn’t already). Several people did as I asked, and now Taking Chances is rated #1 in that category. Hopefully, now that it is #1, more people will see the book and want to read it.

It’s really a simple process and hopefully it will bump up my sales. If any of you are interested in checking out (and voting for) any of my books that you have read, please sign up for (or in to) Goodreads. Go to my author’s page; scroll down to where my books are listed; click on the book you’ve read; scroll down to where it says “List with this book”; click “more lists with this book”, and that will bring up all the lists that particular book is on and where it is ranked on the list. You can click on each individual list and vote for my book.

While you are there, if you can give my book(s) a star rating, and if you have time a review, that would be WONDERFUL. Now, if you have not read one of my books yet, you can add it to your “want to read” list, and that would help my rankings as well. The publishing world is a harsh and difficult world to survive in, so I am not above begging for ratings and reviews. Every little bit helps, and I would welcome all the help I can get.

Not only have I added my own books to lists, I have gone in and made sure all the indie books I have read have reviews, ratings and votes. I have also found a TON of books which looked really interesting and I have added them to my “want to read” list. I figure I’ll be busy until 2025 provided I don’t add any more books to my list. LOL. (I did not take the time to review or vote on books like The Hunger Games, even though I gave it a 5 star rating, because let’s face it, it doesn’t need my help in the ratings where Indie authors do.)

It’s funny, because I added my books to the list, but then I needed to “check out the competition”, so I took a look at other books on the list. Yeah, you guessed it, several are now on my “want to read” list. It’s all good though. Occasionally I stumbled across a list which fit a book which wasn’t mine, so I added it (ie: Keith’s book Man Hunt was placed on a Horror list, and Linda’s book The Bench was placed on the Cozy Mystery list, or Julien’s Flower of Heaven which went on a Paris Mystery list). I also actively sought out other book lists to add Cherrye’s Teacher, Teacher, and Heidi’s Elements of a Broken Mind (books I edited). I’m all for spreading the love. J

Okay, it’s time to get to the long overdue challenge. I hope you have a fabulous Friday, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

“Curtains Emma. I said please hang the curtains out on the line, not the kittens out on the line! Lord child, sometimes I just don’t know where your head is.”

“I was just playin’ Mamma. I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t hurt those poor babies did you?”

“Oh no Mamma, I could never do that. In fact, I think they kinda liked it. They all crawled into little balls and settled down for a nap in the stockings. Look Mamma, they’re all asleep.”

Mamma shook her head. “You are going to be the death of me yet child. Where do you come up with these things?” Emma shrugged her shoulders but did not offer an explanation. “Come on Sweetheart, take the kittens down off the line and I’ll help you get the curtains up. We have to hurry or they’ll never be dry before sundown, and I don’t want to have to wash them again.”

“Okay Mamma, I’ll hurry.”

Your Next Challenge is (from the writing group):

A Game of “Follow the Leader” gone awry.

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.