Oh, the Places I Want to Go

I love to travel. Love, love, love to travel. I love going new places, seeing new things, learning new history, and eating new food. New to me, anyway. When I was younger, I read about James A. Michener and how he researched an area before he wrote about it. His books Centennial and Chesapeake are two of my favorite books ever, and I wanted to be just like him when I grew up. 

So when I read that he would move to a location and live there for two or three years, getting to know the area, getting to know the people, the climate, understanding the weather and the culture, I thought how amazing that would be. That's what I wanted to do too! 

I wanted to live for a little while in a small town on the coast of Maine and spend another few years on the west coast in Oregon. I wanted to live in California and Vermont and maybe even travel to places more exotic. Of course, I didn't factor in money or how much I might miss my family. I just knew I wanted the experience. 

I've been lucky in my lifetime so far. I've traveled more than I probably should have been able to, but there are still places on my list that I long to see someday. I was looking up pictures for another project earlier and came across a few shots that stirred up that old longing. So today, in no particular order, I give you five places I want to visit. 

1.  Philadelphia, PA for all the obvious reasons. Or maybe they're just obvious to me. I am a history buff, and my favorite time period is probably the American Revolution. One of my dreams is to someday write the great American novel set around the time of the Revolutionary War. One of my favorite books in the world is John Adams by David McCullough, I've had the good fortune to visit Boston and Braintree and Quincy, MA, and I've paid a few short visits to Washington, D.C. (although I still haven't been able to see anything there.) but Philadelphia has so far eluded me. 

2.  Italy. Rome. Wherever.  I don't care what part of Italy I get to first, I'd just like to go. I have no particular reason for wanting to go, I just do. Okay, there's the obvious historical reason to want to visit, and it seems like the kind of place someone who loves to travel ought to go. It's the site of all the interesting stuff that happened during the Holy Roman Empire, the site of amazing architecture, art, and music. And wasn't Much Ado About Nothing filmed in Italy? Who wouldn't want to go there? 

3.  Hawaii.  I've never been. I think I ought to go, although, admittedly, after living in Florida for the past six years, it seems slightly less exotic than it used to. But it's still on my list and will undoubtedly remain there. I've read a few books set there and those add to the mystique. And, of course, there have been movies, but honestly, I think the appeal of almost anyplace I'd like to visit comes from a book. 

4.  France. Again, no particular reason, but it's France. Paris. The south of France. I read and loved A Year in Provence and ever since then I've wanted to ... you know ... spend a year or two in Provence. Then, of course, there's The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers and there's the food. I mean, I hear it's amazing. I'd like to find out for myself. And because having spent a long time working on my family's genealogy, I've learned that I'm related to various Kings Louis and Charlemagne, so it would be nice to visit the land of my people (as my granddaughter says.) 

5.  The Holy Land. Again, the land of my people -- which is pretty much true of everyone, right? It's the land of the descendants of Abraham (both branches of the family) and claimed by Christians, as well. So much interesting history has happened here -- and continues to happen. I'd love to see it some day. I'd love to visit the temple for which the Psalms of Ascension were written, to see the Mount of Olives, the Tower of David, and the Garden of Gethsemane. 

I'd love to stand on the Temple Mount and walk along the shores of the Red Sea. I'd just like to see it all, breathe it in, and gain a better understanding of the divisions that have existed between people for so many centuries. 

My wish list is much too long to share the whole thing, but these are the top five on my list. Do you have one? Where in the world would you like to go? 

Think Happy Thoughts

It's been a rough few days with emotions running high. Nothing huge. Nothing major. Just a few of those days run together. They haven't been all my days, either. But you know how it is when someone you love is having one of those days. It kind of becomes your day, too.

I had planned to blog today about something I encountered online yesterday that bugged me, but as my youngest daughter was hanging up from an early morning phone call, during which we had been discussing her no good, horrible, very bad day (before the day even really got started) she issued a challenge to me to blog about something happy.

Well, clearly, venting about my new pet peeve didn't qualify, but having had a few of those days in a row, I wasn't sure where to find something happy.

And then a favorite quote from The Tao of Pooh ran through my head, and I set out on a search to find it to make sure I got it right (because clicking around on the Internet is infinitely easier than searching through all of my bookshelves to find my copy of that tiny book.)

Of course, any time I delve into the mind of A.A. Milne, I'm fascinated and charmed and I very quickly find myself smiling. Even though it took forever to find my favorite quote (it doesn't happen to be everyone's favorite, I guess) I found some other charming quotes along the way.

This one, for example. Because if you can get past the personal frustration of being disorganized, which can frequently lead you to think you're not only having a very bad day, but you're destined to always have bad days because you just can't get it together, you might just realize that being disorganized can lead to having surprising discoveries ...

Like that purse you completely forgot you owned, or a favorite shirt found at the bottom of a pile of dirty laundry, or change you left in the pocket of a pair of jeans. Really, the discoveries never end.

Okay, some of the discoveries aren't all that great, but some are. That's the important thing.

Or this one, which is my second favorite quote from A.A. Milne because it's one I so desperately need to remember. A life spent as a single mother working all the time and always feeling as if I was sprinting from one forgotten thing to another (or one thing I couldn't quite get myself to on time because of my day job), there were times when I really needed to just take a deep breath and remember that rivers are incredibly wise.

There is no hurry. We shall get there some day.

There's some real wisdom in this quote. Because, seriously, in this day and age, when it seems that everybody is busy talking at each other and very few people are actually talking to each other, it helps to remember that the other guy probably has a small piece of fluff in his ear.

In reality, that piece of fluff is probably a life just as disorganized as yours, and he's probably just as worried about what he's late for or who he's disappointing as you are.

It won't hurt to (again) take a breath and work up a little patience. I think most people would happily remove the fluff from their ears if we stopped getting irritated with them for having fluff in the first place.

I wish I had a nickle for every time in my life I've been caught up in worrying that a tree might fall down when I was underneath. I would be a rich woman, indeed.

It has taken a lot of time and energy and mental focus to occasionally suppose as Pooh does. Supposing it didn't!

It's good to anticipate problems to some degree, but it's not good to get stuck in an endless loop of problem anticipating. Yeah, today's tough, but supposing it gets better? And even if it doesn't supposing tomorrow is a great day? What then?

I think, like Piglet, I'm comforted by this.

And finally, my favorite quote:

Aren't you glad you stuck with me? Is that great, or what? The thing I've realized over the years is that, if I walk out the door feeling pretty sure than an Adventure is going to happen, one usually does.

Maybe it will be a happy Adventure, and maybe it won't, but Adventures almost always happen to those who are Ready for Anything.

So brush the honey off your nose and spruce yourself up as best you can. I hope your Adventure is wonderful and fluff-free!

It's all Greek to Me

Recently, I was treated to a surprise visit home for my mother's 90th birthday. It was an amazing gift and a fabulous 12-day trip that included not only a family reunion and Mom's birthday, but some quality family time and a trip to Bear Lake where I spent a lazy weekend on the water. 

While I was sitting at my mother's house one day, a phone call came out of the blue from a group at the University of Utah who were doing a study on the effects of gastric bypass on people over a period of years. Back in 2002 or 2003, I signed up to be part of the study in the control group--the people who did not have gastric bypass surgery. I'd gone in for a couple of in-hospital rounds of tests, done a few phone interviews and then fallen off the radar when I lost my Utah cell phone number a few years ago. 

My sister and I had discussed the study a day or two earlier, specifically since I haven't been able to get to a doctor for more years than I like to admit. (Don't ask. It's complicated.) 

Anyway, my sister encouraged me to call them while I was in town -- which sounded like a good idea, but I couldn't remember what the study was about so I had no idea who to even ask for if I did randomly call the University Hospital. 

But suddenly there they were, calling my mom's house to see if she had contact info for me -- while I just happened to be in town. Coincidence? I think not. As a result I got a lot of blood work done as part of the study ... 

Which brings me to the foreign language section of this blog post. Apparently, in the decades during which I haven't been able to visit the doctor, I have developed high blood pressure and type-2 diabetes. 

The high blood pressure isn't at a frightening number, and I know for a fact that I didn't have HBP during my last visit to the ER several years ago. The glucose numbers are a bit more concerning. 

And so I begin a journey into the unknown -- a world of concerns about blood glucose and blood pressure numbers that make very little sense to me at this point. Luckily, it seems (at first glance anyway) that eating a diabetic friendly diet is a lot like eating a Weight Watchers friendly diet, which I know how to do. The only real difference, is that the stakes are higher than they've ever been.  

So even though I don't understand a lot about where my numbers are supposed to be, I do know that they're much too high where they are now and there's only one thing I can do about it at the moment -- change my diet and add some exercise into my lifestyle while I'm trying to find some kind of medical care and researching as much as I can on my own. 

If any of you have tips on living with type-2 diabetes or diabetes friendly recipes, feel free to share. If I come across any I'll share. At least it will give us something to talk about! 

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photo credit: Automatic Electric Monophone 80 via photopin (license)

Ooma's Legacy

I got some news yesterday that made me very happy. It seems that my oldest granddaughter (the Princess) was looking for something to read the other night. She disappeared upstairs and came back down carrying The Secret of Red Gate Farm, one of my favorite Nancy Drew mysteries.

The book she found is a copy I left at their house when I was visiting during the summer. I came by it when my daughter found several Nancy Drew books in the trash outside the library one day. She'd been conducting Story Time and came across the books during clean-up. Knowing how much I loved Nancy Drew as a girl, my daughter rescued the books and brought them inside to me.

I took the volumes I didn't already have in my own collection and left the duplicates for the grand-girls, hoping that one day they would discover the joys of hanging out with Nancy, Bess, George and Ned and that they would appreciate the experience as much as I had.

This past year, the Princess and I have read several books together in our own private book club. She would pick out a book at her library and I would get the same book from mine. Together, we raced through the entire Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, read a few Judy Moodys a couple of Junie B Joneses, and an Allie Finkle or two. We have a great time talking about the books over the phone or on the computer. I was secretly harboring the hope that we might add Nancy Drew to the mix, but hoping was as far as I'd dared go.

So this was the moment of truth. I wasn't sure how the Princess would react to the book since -- let's face it -- they were written a long time ago and some of the language is a bit dated. This child is only 8 but she's sometimes fascinated by things that other kids wouldn't look at twice, so I figured there was a 50-50 chance she might enjoy the book.

This evening, my daughter let me know that, so far anyway, the book seems to be a success. While reading before dinner, the Princess had gasped audibly twice and was completely ignoring her daddy (who was apparently trying to get her attention with a shoelace.)

I can't explain how happy that piece of news made me, but I don't think I really need to explain. Anyone who read as a child and who nurtures a soft spot for a favorite book or series of books will understand. I'm off to pull my copy from the shelf so she and I can read it together. I wonder if it's too much to hope that the Pixie will love them too...?

I Stand Corrected

Last fall while driving to dinner in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, some good friends and I fell into a discussion about TV shows we liked (or not). It soon became clear that I was the odd woman out. Everyone else seemed to love The Big Bang Theory. I told them that I used to love it, but lost interest when the female characters of Amy Farrah Fowler and Bernadette were added to the show. We talked about a few other shows, I think, but that's the only one I clearly remember. What I remember most was when one friend (whom I dearly love and deeply respect) said that it was clear she and I could never watch TV together.

That comment didn't shatter me emotionally or anything. I thought it was kind of funny, actually. But I didn't forget it, either. It's not as if it weighed heavily on my mind or filled me with guilt or made me regret admitting how I felt. It just came back to me from time to time, usually when I saw an ad for an upcoming episode of  The Big Bang Theory. 

I've never been one of those people who forms an opinion about something without feeling as if I know what I'm talking about. So when everyone around me decides to boycott a particular show based on what they think it's going to be, I watch a few episodes to find out exactly what it is before I start acting as if my opinion has merit. I try not to mindlessly follow trends, get caught up in the latest fad, or watch a show I think is poorly written, sloppily edited, and/or badly acted just because "everyone else" is watching it. I will confess to being irritated by trailers and ads telling me that "all of America" is talking about or watching something that clearly "all" of America is neither talking about nor watching. (Channeling my inner Sheldon here.) 

Because I'm not much of a joiner, I'm usually the last person I know to see a popular movie or read a bestselling book just because it's popular. I doubt you'll ever find me first in line to get tickets to anything. 

But I digress . . . 

A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with my youngest daughter during which she asked if I was caught up on Big Bang. I told her I was anything but caught up and, in fact, had missed several years of episodes. But again, the conversation with my friends loomed up in my memory and I decided that maybe I should try a few episodes to see if I really didn't like the upgraded cast or if I might (gasp!) have been wrong to quit watching so quickly. 

It took me a few episodes to really begin to appreciate the "new" ladies in the group, but I have to admit that after watching a couple of episodes after my writing day is finished, I actually like them quite a bit. I'm really not sure which relationship I like most.  A few days ago I watched an episode in which Amy Farrah Fowler referred to "Boyfriend/Girlfriend singalong night," and I've giggled about that on and off for days.  

I'm sure nobody has lost sleep over my opinion here, but when I'm wrong I like to say I'm wrong. So this is me, admitting that I was wrong. 

photo credit: Funky64 (www.lucarossato.com) via photopin cc

The Road to . . .

I have the very best of intentions. Really, I do. I begin every year vowing to be a better family member, a better friend, a better author. I vow to buy birthday cards for those closest to me and (better yet) actually mail them—on time! I know! The very concept leaves me breathless.

Every year I promise myself that I’ll blog regularly and fill the internet with witty chatter about my interesting life (the one I vow I’m going to have this year) and all my amazing activities (the ones I swear I’m going to actually participate in.)

And then reality sets in and 10 months later I’m looking at all the things I promised myself faithfully that I’d do this year, but haven’t, and I wonder what happened???

Sure, there’s work to do and books to write and the house to clean and the dog to walk and the cat to continually move from my lap to the floor so I can actually do all of those things. And there are illnesses and emergencies that get in the way. But not every day, and not all the time. So what happened?

I used to be one of the most prolific authors I knew. I was focused. Dedicated. Determined. That was okay, but I was also . . . rude. I rolled my eyes at excuses and thought that anybody could write three or four really good books a year if only they’d put their mind to it. I was convinced that anybody who was struggling to write must not really want to write.

Yeah. I know. I apologize to every writer in the entire world. I’m not joking.

I was one of those people you asked to take on a project because, as we all know, if you want something done you give it to a busy person. I worked three jobs at a time, or worked two and went to school in my spare time. I was a single mom, so raising the kids, running the house, keeping up the yard, and bringing home the bacon fell on my shoulders alone. I had to do it all, and I did. (Admittedly, I fell a bit short on some things. I mean, c’mon. It’s impossible to do everything well, right? Right? So let’s not talk about the yard, okay?)


But for the past few years I’ve felt as if I’m on the proverbial road to hell and that road really is paved with my good intentions. Somewhere along the way I hit the wall. I spent so long burning the candle at both ends that, apparently, the ends finally met in the middle.
I also encountered a few very challenging life experiences, a couple of which shattered my entire world. It has taken me a long, l-o-n-g time (and a whole lot of prayer) to find my way back from those. Back in my “everybody can write if they really want to” days, I didn’t factor in those earth-shaking, rock-your-world, leave you empty and shaking in the corner things that eventually happen to all of us.

I’ve always been an avid list-maker and goal-setter. But now, instead of producing long lists of tasks I’ve accomplished every day, I find myself staring at long lists of tasks I haven’t managed to complete. Lists are no longer my friend, they’re my guilty conscience.

But no matter how it happened, it’s way past time to get back on track. And I mean it this time.

Maybe I can’t fill the internet with witty chatter about my interesting and varied activities, but I can be honest about where I am and what I’m doing to pull myself up by my bootstraps.

Today I’m going to declare a dream and write it down with a date. My plan is to read through the very first book I ever wrote, which is also the first book I sold way back when. I recently got the rights to that series along with the rights to a few of my romances back from my publisher, and I’m going to release them all in Kindle format. That’s my big dream, but let’s take it one at a time.

Dream: Start with No Place for Secrets.

Date: Publish the book by October 31, 2013. That makes it a firm goal.

Steps: Since this book was written back in the olden days, everything after the first draft was done in hard copy, so the manuscript on my computer needs some work before it matches the finished product. So my steps are to read and polish one chapter at a time and celebrate the tiny victories along the way.
I remember this from back in the day: celebrating a small victory leads to more small victories. Repeatedly beating oneself up over small failures leads to inertia.

Action: Well … that’s pretty obvious. Now that I have my Grand Master Plan, I have to do the work. My plan is to track the steps here on my website, chapter by chapter, to keep me accountable. Steps + Action.
As for those birthday cards … my oldest niece has a birthday coming up later this month. I could wait until the beginning of the year and start over then, but why wait? I say, begin right where you are.

To Buy or Not to Buy

I've been browsing the free books available for Kindle and Nook lately. I've picked up a few along the way, which is great, but mostly I've been learning about my buying habits as a reader. I've learned, for example, that sometimes even a big fat nothing is more than I'm willing to pay for a book. That seems a bit odd, even to me. I mean, I'm a book addict. Big time. You'd think I'd happily score every free book I could get my hands on. And yet I don't.

Here's what I've realized about what attracts me to a book and what puts me off. Okay, mostly what puts me off. As a bona fide book addict, I'll admit that if it doesn't put me off, it can be counted as attractive to me.

1. Covers do matter. Unless I recognize your name, if your cover was obviously put together on your computer using Paint, I'm probably going to pass. That's not a guarantee, but it's a high probability. Likewise, if your cover is obviously a generic cover you've purchased from someone else, I'm likely to pass. The probability of this is lower than it is for the Paint cover, or a cover without graphics, but it is likely. The good news is that in the case of a generic paste-in-your-title-and-name cover, I may click through to read the back cover blurb if it appears to be in a genre I like to read, but unless the cover copy really grabs me, I'm probably still going to pass. Yes, it's true that you can't (always) judge a book by its cover, but the fact that this saying exists at all is proof that a lot of people do.

2. Your cover copy matters. A lot. If your cover copy is poorly written and/or grammatically incorrect, it's a definite pass for me. I might be a book addict, but I'm a demanding reader. Back before I knew the industry lingo, I would frequently stop reading a book if the writing felt "obvious" to me. That's the term I used then. Now I realize it's a combination of several things including telling more than showing, heavy-handed emotions, purple prose, and author intrusion. But before I even get to that point with your book, you have to convince me to read page one. If it's obvious to me from the cover copy that you don't know how to use the language, that you don't understand basic grammar, or that you don't know how to edit your own work, I'll skip right past your book and never look back.

3. Titles matter. One of the reasons publishers have marketing departments is to create titles with appeal to many readers. Appeal that we, as writers, don't always understand. For most of us, marketing is not what we're good at, even if we think we are. Too many of us come up with titles we think are amazing, but in reality they're quite generic, uninteresting, and unimaginative. Oh, we think the title is appealing. We might even think it's unique. We wouldn't put the thing on our book if we didn't. But I have discovered that if your title is something like Tripping and it's book 1 in the Tripping Series, and especially if your protagonist is named John Tripping, I'm likely to pass on the book even if it's free. Why? Because I've realized that  if your title and your series are the same -- and especially if you've used the same word three times -- I come away with the impression that you're not very imaginative. Is this true of you? Maybe not. But that's my first impression.

4. First impressions matter. I wish they didn't, but they do.

5. Price matters. Yes, I know we're talking about free books here, but I've identified another knee-jerk reaction when I'm considering whether to click through and "buy" a book for nothing. I have realized that I am much more interested in a free book if the original cover price is listed as $5.99 or higher. If the cover price is $12.99 or $14.99 I'm almost giddy over the chance to get it for nothing. If the original cover price is $2.99 -- or worse, $0.99 -- my initial impression is that the book probably hasn't been professionally edited, which means the writing is likely to be "obvious" and I'm not interested. Is this always true? Maybe. Maybe not. I'm not talking about reality here. I'm talking about my initial reaction to what I see on the screen.

I don't know if any of this matters to you, but it gives me a lot of food for thought. I haven't yet put any of my own backlist out there in e-book format, probably because life got really hard a couple of years ago and I'm struggling just to catch up with where I'm supposed to be. But I've been thinking about re-releasing my backlist and one of these days I'll probably do it. And that makes what I'm learning about myself and my buying habits, my reactions to other peoples' books, very interesting to me.

And now I'd love to hear from you. Am I the only one who passes up what might be a perfectly good book based on first impressions? I'd love to know what attracts you (or doesn't) when you're trying to decide whether to click on that free book.

Thursday Thirteen: Websites

I ran across a blog meme the other day that prompted participants to list ten things they wanted to change about themselves. Now, I'm all for taking a good, hard look at myself. I do it too much, actually. But then I clicked on one of the links and read someone's blog containing five answers followed by a note that s/he was too depressed to continue and I thought wait a tick!  There's something wrong here!

There's enough negativity in the world. Too much, actually. There's always someone or something just lying in wait, ready to knock us down. So I decided today to list 13 places on the internet that lift my spirits when I click on them. After you've checked out my list, I'd love to know what sites are on yours. 

1. Operation Beautiful. The mission of Operation Beautiful is to post anonymous notes in public places for other women to find. The point is that we are all beautiful. 

2. Prettybooks on Tumblr.com. A collection of quotes, images and book reviews. The images make my heart happy.

3. Whitley Phipps singing "It is Well With My Soul" on YouTube. This is a relatively new song to me, but it struck a chord with me immediately. No matter how bad the day is going, if I listen to it, my spirits lift. It's not just the song that lifts me. The story he shares gives hope, especially when he says, "It is in the quiet crucible of your personal private sufferings that your noblest dreams are born and God's greatest gifts are given in compensation for what you've been through." 

4. The Happy Writer. The writing life is a hard life. Staying positive is freakishly difficult. Go here. Be Happy. 

5. 1000 Awesome Things. This blog, updated every weekday, reminds me to find joy in the little things, whether it's #299: Finally pulling out an ingrown hair or #899: The smell of frying onions. 

6. Christian the Lion. This isn't a website, but it's a wonderful video. If you haven't seen it yet, rush right over. If you have, watch it again. It makes me happy every time. John Rendall and Anthony Bourke bought Christian as a lion cub from Harrods in 1969. They raised him in their London home for several years, then set him free to live in the wilds of Africa. A year later, against advice from experts, John and Anthony traveled to Kenya, hoping to reunite with their old friend. "They" said Christian wouldn't remember.

7. Gives Me Hope. The optimist's answer to FML. Some of the experiences people share are big -- dealing with cancer or grief. Some seem small -- one woman paying another's bus fare. But all give hope and light in a world that seems to be growing increasingly dark. 

8. Greater Good Network. Their websites bring together communities that care, giving all of us the power  to make a difference in the world with simple, every day actions. 

9. The art work of Liz Lemon Swindle. It always touches me. At this stage in my life, I'm really touched by Mother

10. Poetry.com. For me, words can be soothing. Words used beautifully, succinctly, correctly, are like music to my soul. 

11.Military Homecoming videos on YouTube. Is there anything better than seeing spouses and children surprised by a returning soldier? I start sniffling within seconds. So touching. 

12. 365 Project. The 365 project is a photography project where you document a year of your life by taking a daily photo. I'd love to join in but my camera was ruined in a downpour last year and I haven't been able to replace it. The shots I get with my old camera phone just aren't that good. 

13. Bible Gateway . A searchable online Bible in over 50 languages and 100 versions, featuring a verse of the day. 

You may not like all 13 of my choices. You may not like any of them. But they're the places I go when I need a lift. Now ... what are your favorites?

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Ten Favorite Photos

 

Ten favorite photos in no particular order

Copyright Stholen Moments Photography

This one pretty much speaks for itself 

 

 My dog's first experience with a real body of water. 

Home from deployment. 

 

 

Big Sis and her friend Benjamin

Vanessa and me on the way home from Jacksonville

Sunrise on the Isle of Palms

Copyright Stholen Moments Photography

Riding on the Polar Express -- arriving at the North Pole

 

Taken on our last Pioneer Day in Utah

Why I had a little trouble working while living with the grandkids! 

This was the view from my "office." 

Stony Stratford Strikes Back!

In between sentences in my current work-in-progress, I've been wondering what to blog about today. Yeah, I've been working on my list of 100 Books I Want to Read, but I don't plan to subject you to 100 uninterrupted days of me thinking about my massive TBR stack. I swear!

I was having a little trouble coming up with a topic that knocked my socks off ... until I saw this article scroll past.

First, major kudos to the folks in Stony Stratford for caring enough about the library to do this. It's amazing. At first, when I saw the image of the completely empty library, my heart sank. I thought the shelves were empty because the library was closing. But as I read on and realized that the library was completely empty because people in that village checked out all 16,000 books in the library to protest the possible closure, I experienced a huge feel-good moment.

I love the library, and have since I was a little girl when my mother took me there. I still remember the thrill of climbing the metal stairs into the Bookmobile when it came to my school and the joy of walking up and down the stacks, looking for books I wanted to read. The library meant that no matter how much money we had or didn't have, I could always get a book. The library meant that I could read thousands of books if I wanted to, and the only thing standing in my way was how fast or slow I read the books I had.

Librarians knew and understood the books. If I liked this, they could recommend that. If I couldn't figure out the Dewey Decimal System, they showed me where to find the book I wanted. As I grew older and my book needs changed, I discovered that the library meant even more than just good books to read. It means research materials, access to old newspaper archives and past issues of magazines. And if I needed a book that I couldn't find on the shelves, all I had to do was request the book and my library would get it from another library.

Sadly, that service is no longer available to me due to budget cuts. I'm not pointing fingers here or trying to place blame. There's entirely too much of that in our society already, and my thoughts today aren't about who's responsible and who's not. I just wish that more people valued books. I wish more people would realize how amazing the library is. I wish we'd put our money where our mouths are. When we claim that education of our children is important, let's not take away their ability to find a book to read, even if their parents don't have money or their parents don't especially like to read. (That's another thing that makes me sad, but it's a topic for another day.)

Everyone I know is struggling in this economy. There's not as much money for entertainment and travel. Food budgets are being slashed and people are downsizing. But at the library, you can always get a book to read. Even in my small community, where services are being cut, I can still access any book in the county-wide system, and they still provide monthly e-mails about the new books they've put on the shelves every month.  And that's a good thing.

Have any great library memories or just thoughts about their status in the current economy?  I'd love to hear what you think.


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from the blog On My Mind Today

Camouflage and Christmas Lights

I'm thinking a lot about my son-in-law who is deployed right now in the Middle East. His birthday is in just a few days and Christmas is a few days after that. He's there doing his duty. "Getting in the game," as several military men I've talked to recently call it.

My daughter and her kids are here "in the game" in their own way. Last night, my daughter sang "I'll Be Home for Christmas" for her church Christmas program. It was very difficult for her to do, and she didn't make it through without choking up, but the entire congregation was on their feet when she finished. My 3-year old granddaughter is deeply concerned that baby calves in Farmville are put with the "daddy cows" which, of course, is where she wants to be -- with her daddy.

This holiday season, please keep our military families in your hearts.



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from the blog On My Mind Today

Honor our Military Families

This is too important not to share. Read the full text of Dr. Biden's blog post

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from the blog On My Mind Today

Do you Feel Lucky? Well, do Ya?

I don't enter many contests, whether they're writing contests or author contests, or name that tune contests, or any other kind. I'm not sure why. People tell me I have a strong competitive streak, and I'm reluctantly beginning to acknowledge they may be right. I'm not sure why the concept of being competitive packs such a negative connotation. Our country was built by competitive people. The American Dream is all about being competitive. But somewhere along the way, we began to lose sight of just what made us great. 

I'm not sure how or why it happened, but in the past few decades "we" started to think of competition as negative. Anyone who showed signs of being competitive was wrong--unless they were an adult male athlete. Then it was okay, I guess.  But heaven forbid we should teach our kids that there are rewards in this world for making the effort, and that life rewards action, not intentions. The collective "we" decided, in our infinite wisdom, that our kids' feelings were far too tender to survive not being the best, and we set about giving trophies to everybody for everything they ever did. I'm sure there are other components to the cultural cocktail we've been downing for the past 30 years or so, but the result is a society fueled by an attitude of entitlement. 

But I digress (as I often do.) This blog isn't about that.  This blog is about the fact that the other day, as I was writing away on my romantic-suspense-in-progress, a Tweet came in from the Attorney General of the state where I live. I'm not sure how he saw my name or why he started following me, but I decided turn-about was fair play, and I clicked the button to follow him back. Being the polite Tweeter I am, and all. 

Anyway, he sent me a nice, polite note about how he's running for senate in 2010, and I said, "aha! No wonder!" because, after all, my Tweets are hardly the thing a state's attorney general might want to be reading in the course of his day. 

Tuesday's Tweet from the AG contained a message about a trivia question of the day and announced that the winner would win an autographed cap. Boy howdy! My competitive nature clicked on before I could even fully absorb what the message said. I mean, nothing against our illustrious AG, but really, I don't wear caps much (or ever) so, you know, an autographed one isn't exactly the sort of thing I fall all over my feet to get. 

Unless, apparently, I'm sitting at my desk on a Tuesday morning dragging words out of my pores with tweezers in an effort to make my daily page quota. Apparently, under those circumstances, I'll trip all over myself to zing back an answer.  

Which I did. And then reality clicked on, and I laughed at myself because, really, I had no idea what I'd do with an autographed baseball cap.  

I told my kids about it, and we all had a good laugh, and that was that. 

Until Wednesday morning when I logged into Twitter and discovered a message that said "Congrats! @SherryLewis...." and went on to leave the impression that maybe I had won the trivia contest. I wasn't sure. The message wasn't completely clear, so I had another good laugh and went to work on my synopsis. 

A few hours later, when the synopsis bogged down in mud, I decided I really should follow through and fhind out whether I really won or not, so I sent Mr. S a private message and asked if his congratulatory message meant that I won, or if I was just one of many who sent in the right answer.  A few hours later, back came this message:  

You are the winner!! You get the cap! .... Congrats!

As you can imagine, this news was just too splendid to keep to myself, so I once again went through the round of phone calls with my kids. My youngest asserts that she should get custody of the cap for 6 months out of every year since she provided moral support in the early hours of the contest process.  

I contend that since the contest was apparently somewhat controversial (the AG/candidate is awarding a second hat to someone who might have beat my time, but who missed the win on a technicality because the park's name was changed 10 years into its history) the value of my winning cap has increased exponentially, and it's now way too valuable to entrust to the USPS or some courier service.  

But again I digress.  

Because I realized last night that this is my second contest win in just a couple of weeks. I was kicking around online one day and decided to check out my friend Michelle Monkou's blog. Lo and behold, she was holding a contest to celebrate her book Trail of Kisses. The prizes were goodies she'd picked up on a recent trip to England, and I thought what fun! and entered with a little "essay" about my critique group. A few days later, I found out that I'd won the random draw, so besides my autographed cap, I also have an autographed cover flat, a cotton tea towel featuring Warwick Castle (built in 1068) in Warwickshire, England, and a 2010 calendar from Stratford-on-Avon and Shakespeare's home heading my way.  

Is it any wonder I'm feeling lucky?  I wonder what's coming next??? 

_______________________________Copyright © 2009 Sherry Lewis

Writing: A Magical Journey

I'm going to take a minute to plug my local chapter's upcoming conference for writers -- and not only because I'm going to be there, or because I'll be giving a workshop during the PAN/PRO sessions on rediscovering the joy of writing. I'm going to plug the conference because it's always a good time, always informative and, once again, this year's line-up of speakers is stellar. Besides that, Park City is an incredible place to be at any time of the year. Hope to see some of you there! _____

“Writing: A Magical Journey”

~~Romance in the Mountains~~ 2009 Heart of the West Writing Conference Romance Writers of America® Utah Chapter

October 9 & 10, 2009 at The Lodges at Deer Valley in Park City, Utah

Featured Author and Keynote Speaker Rachel Gibson New York Times Bestselling Author 2009 RITA Award Winner for Best Contemporary Single Title Romance Four of her novels were named among the top ten favorite books of the year by Romance Writers of America. Some of Rachel's other awards and achievements include The Golden Heart award, the National Reader's Choice, Amazon Editor's Top Pick, Publisher Weekly's Quill nominee and Borders bestselling romantic comedy for 2006.

Awards Luncheon Keynote Speaker RaeAnne Thayne Author of more than thirty books for Bantam Loveswept, Silhouette Intimate Moments/Romantic Suspense and Silhouette Special Edition. Awards include: 2009 RITA Finalist, and two previous RITA nominations.

Featured Editor Amanda Bergeron Avon Books, an Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Amanda Bergeron joined Avon in Fall 2008. Along with Executive Editor Erika Tsang and Editor May Chen she has worked closely with authors such as Lynsay Sands, Jeaniene Frost, Loretta Chase and Anna Campbell. She is looking to acquire all genres of romance, particularly Regency historicals and dark paranormals, as well as commercial women's fiction. http://avonromanceblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/four-things-amanda-bergeron.html

Featured Agents To Be Announced

Conference Registration is open between April 15, 2009 and October 6, 2009***

See Conference Highlights for details on: PRO/PAN Workshops Conference Schedule Pitch Appointments Author Panelists Extra Meal Tickets Miscellaneous Information

Authors Participating in Booksigning

Conference fee is $149 for URWA members and $165 for all others. To register, complete the online registration form. You may either pay via PayPal or check. Please see Registration and Fee Schedule to sign up. -OR- Make check or money order payable to: Utah RWA Mail check with a copy of your registration to: Utah Chapter of Romance Writers c/o Heart of the West Conference P.O. Box 997 West Jordan, UT 84084

Receiving the Emma

I love going to RWA's national conference each year, and when I'm not able to go -- usually for financial reasons -- I spend the entire week feeling very sorry for myself. I love meeting up with friends I only see once a year, meeting my editors face-to-face, participating in the Readers for Life Literacy Autographing, and attending workshops when I can. I love travel, and enjoy visiting new cities or going back to places I've been before. This year, I had a special reason to attend the conference. RWA's Board of Directors voted to present me with the Emma Merritt Service Award, which is presented for: "the accumulated body of work a member has contributed as a volunteer to RWA.The award is not only for service to individual chapters, but is intended to honor major commitments of service to RWA. A member may receive the RWA Emma Merritt Service Award only once in a lifetime." To say that I'm deeply honored is a serious understatement. Even though RWA President Diane Pershing notified me of the board's decision in March, I'm still shaking my head in disbelief. My friend, Jude, managed to snap this picture as I said thanks to the luncheon crowd (that gold blob in the lights is me.) And tonight, as I try to decide on the perfect spot on my office wall to hang the plaque, I want to say it again. Thank you! _______________________________ Copyright © 2009 Sherry Lewis

Houston: We Have a Problem

Hurricane Ike hit the Houston area more than a week ago, and most of the country has moved on to more pressing matters. It's to be expected, I suppose. After all, there are a dozen other things out there hovering over the entire country, threatening storms of a different kind. But I have friends in Houston, and the corporate office of Romance Writers of America is located there, so I receive updates several times a day. Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in Houston still do not have electricity. At last count, the number of individual accounts still without power was 757,000. That's accounts, not people. Put just 3 people in every location, and we're talking about well over 2 million people still without power. In many locations an "open grocery store" means that someone will walk you through with a flashlight while you grab a few things (what things there are) from the shelves. Yesterday, my friend Allison saw a sign at her local grocery store that announced they now had fresh meat and dairy. People are still cooking on camp stoves outside and living on whatever they had in their cupboards when Ike hit. And now, to add to the power outage issues, the temperatures are rising and mosquitoes are infesting the area. My friend Donna sent me some pictures this morning of the devastation. I wish I could share them with you, but they're copyrighted and I respect other people's copyrights the way I hope people will respect mine, so I won't be posting them here. Some of them were too disturbing to share anyway. And most of us probably don't want to know what happened in the cemeteries, anyway. I suppose we might all be paying attention to what's happening in Houston if the economy weren't crumbling right in front of our eyes. We'd all pay attention if the people of Houston had climbed onto their roofs and waited for us to rescue them. And I'm sure the media would be tossing footage of the economy and the election into the trash can if this had happened in NYC. But Houston is our country's fourth largest city, and what happens there is going to impact all of us in the very near future. If the human aspect of the story doesn't move the media, then perhaps the economic impact will. Because if power isn't restored so that people can return to work soon, we're all going to wonder what happened to our gas supply.

I Raise My Glass

Thinking About the Year Gone By

Two days until 2008? Good grief! Where did this year go? My mother used to tell me that the years seemed to pass more quickly as she got older, but I didn't realize it would be like this! The year 2007 hasn't been the worst year of my life, by any means, but I won't be sorry to put it behind me. I'm determined that 2008 will be a much better year. A much, much better year. I'm due. 2004 was the year my daughter began a very difficult battle with depression. In early 2005, she bottomed out and we spent the rest of the year recovering. By the end of that year, she was doing well enough for me to have a little mini-breakdown of my own. I'd just started dragging myself out of that when she decided to get married. After a whirlwind of planning on a shoestring budget, we had the wedding, and before we even had time to catch our breath, Abigail was born 13 1/2 weeks early. We spent the rest of 2006 keeping vigil in the hospital, and finally brought our baby girl home at the very end of the year. So along came 2007, and all should have been well, right? Except that after three solid years of difficult times, I really crashed and burned. I could have kept this blog running day and night as I chronicled my own battle with depression, but breathing and staying awake took all the energy I had on most days, and besides, it would only have depressed you. For me, 2007 was all about recovery -- which is good. At least things didn't get worse. You'll agree, won't you, that I'm due a good year? That's the only resolution I'm going to make. To be myself again. 2008 is the year I get my life back. It's the year I get my muse back. It's the year I get my drive and ambition back. I just hope I recognize myself when we meet again after all this time :)

Thursday Thirteen #7

Thirteen Pictures I'd Like to Cross Stitch

I'm taking the lazy woman's approach this week since I'm so far under the gun with deadlines and stuff. Sorry I couldn't be more creative. 1.

2 & 3. My niece, Heidi, has made stockings for everyone in her family, for her sister, her brother-in-law, and her niece and newphews. The stockings look so cool hanging above the fireplace, I've decided I'd like to make some, too. 4.

5, 6, 7 & 8. I love old-fashioned samplers, but I don't think I've ever stitched one. (I haven't yet kept any of my cross-stitching. I give it all away, so I can't remember everything I've done.) Anyway, I found this set of four and fell instantly in love :) 9. It just looks so peaceful. 10. 11. 12. 13. Have I mentioned that I love holidays? No? Well, I love holidays. If I had the time, energy and money, my house would be decorated to the hilt for every one of them throughout the year!