Test Post

Testing

Blogger Trouble

Maybe this will post. I've contacted Blogger and asked for help, but I'm having trouble getting any of my posts to publish. That's part of the reason I'm going to have a professional blog done next year! Anyway, I'm here, and I'll be back as soon as I resolve this issue.

Missed Opportunity...

I missed my chance to grab up BEYOND THE BOARD ROOM by Maureen Child on Saturday. I am smacking myself over and over. I hereby swear that I will get to the bookstore by Friday and buy this book! Maureen's books are a perfect way to de-stress!

Don't you miss an opportunity. Snatch up BEYOND THE BOARDROOM first chance you get!

I Wish I Had This Book Right Now!

I missed my chance to grab up BEYOND THE BOARD ROOM by Maureen Child on Saturday. I am smacking myself over and over. I hereby swear that I will get to the bookstore by Friday and buy this book! Maureen's books are a perfect way to de-stress!

Don't you miss an opportunity. Snatch up BEYOND THE BOARDROOM first chance you get!

Rinse and Repeat

Many years ago, we brought home a Nintendo game system. My oldest son loved SuperMario and would play it over and over.

I tried a couple times, but the game drove me crazy because I kept having to go back to the beginning and start over. I HATE doing stuff over. Heck, I rarely even re-read a book. Once I've read it, I'm done!

Except in writing.

My current book is wandering off the synopsis and trying to tell me something. I know this because I have probably written and tossed a 100 pages. Something is off and it's starting to dawn on me what it is.

I'm in the Middle of the Book Slump. The point in which it's slowing sinking into my brain what is working and what isn't. It's really crummy time of the year for this to happen, but there it is. I'm going to have to redraw some of the book then rewrite.

Once I figure out the problems, I'm actually fast at rewriting (usually). I tend to like rewriting because I'm getting it right. I get excited and don't want to stop until I get to the end. I'll do it as many times as it takes.

Unlike that Super Mario game. I fianlly just refused to play at all. Besides, my son kept beating me. Every Single Time!!!

So I'm going to spend some real time thinking this over how to fix the book (while Christmas shopping, baking, doing interviews...) then tackle start rewriting.

Okay time to confess--what do you do over and over until you get it right?

What's Hits Your Funny Bone?

I'm blogging over at MURDER SHE WRITES today about writing humor.

Which got me thinking--what's the funniest books you've ever read? I've read so many it's hard to think of one. I'm going to go with Susan Elizabeth Phillip's NOBODY'S BABY BUT MINE. A definite case of the jock vs. the brain. Both of them had preconceived ideas of what a jock and brain were, and it was hilarious to watch them find out the truth about each other.

You?

What's Sexy to You?

I'm going to do a workshop on writing sex and intimacy in January. Sexy is very subjective, of course. I saw James Bond this weekend--uhh, he's hot but his character didn't have enough layers to be really sexy to me (that's just me). So I have a couple questions:

1) What's sexy to you? (Everyone's going to say a sense of humor, but humor is subjective too. What KIND of humor? Private joke humor--which is more intimacy than sexy; or make me laugh after a bad day humor?)

2) What's intimacy to you?

3) What do you want to know about writing sexy?

Thanks! Any and all help is very, very appreciated!

A Thanksgiving Memory

The holidays are here. It’s a magical time when beautifully dressed families and friends gather around a gourmet feast to count their blessings in a stunningly decorated house.

Any one else out there laugh at those stupid commercials? Excuse me? How is it possible to shop (ugh, I’m a disgrace to my gender and hate shopping), wrap gifts, plan parties, clean, cook, decorate…all while looking soap opera glamorous?

I hosted Thanksgiving a few years ago. Everything was going perfect—right up until I pulled the turkey out of the refrigerator and realized I’d bought a 12 pound turkey. To feed over 20 people, most of who were my in laws.

Okay, fine, I admit it, I need glasses. But I think it should be a law that the weight of the bird is written in Large Black Marker. But I digress.

Back to dinner. I’ve made a lot of Thanksgiving dinners and I know two things: 1) 12 lbs of Turkey will not feed 20 plus people and 2) My lovely in laws will NEVER let me forget it.

My husband and three sons eventually stopped laughing at me and rushed out like men on a hunt to save the day. One of them snagged a turkey somewhere around the 17th grocery store he went to. We all rejoiced,

It was not a commercial perfect holiday. My in laws were a couple hours late and my sister forcibly removed the electric knife from my hand—but the truth is Thanksgiving that year was fun and memorable. The blessings from that day came from the blunders. My husband and sons immediately pitched in so that we all worked together as a family to pull off the day. Well okay, they laughed first, then helped. But the memories have built into a family story that will linger for years and years.

Would we have gotten that from a commercial perfect holiday? No. Perfection is boring. But mom screwing up the turkey and panicking? That’s some funny stuff of family legends.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I hope you all create some womemoriesmemoires this holiday season!