And I'm An Award Winner - Again...

It's only to be expected, right? I mean, I am wonderful...Oh, wait, I just 'said' that out loud, didn't I? Well, it's  a good thing y'all know I'm a kidder!! :)

Suzanne Purvis, another writer, nominated me for the Versatile Blogger award (thank you, Suzanne!!)

Now on to the rules to the nominees of this award:
1. Nominate 15 fellow bloggers for The Versatile Blogger Award - done
2. Add an image of the Versatile Blogger Award - done
3. In the same post, thank the blogger who nominated you in a post with a link back to their blog - done
4. In the same post, share 7 completely random pieces of information about yourself - done
5. In the same post, include this set of rules - done
6. Inform each nominated blogger of their nomination by posting a comment on each of their blogs - done

Seven Completely Random Pieces of Information about me
1. The beach is my absolute favorite place to be...which is probably why beaches show up in my books. A lot.

2. I love, love, love Cadbury Caramel Eggs...so much that I stock-pile 'em every Easter season.
3. I people watch. Everywhere. Any many people I've watched are in my stories (she says in a sing-song voice)

4. I have two Christmas decorations that stay out year-round - a Jim Shore 'nativity' and a snowman which reads 'just believe'
5. Music boxes - the more ornate or weird the better - give me heart palpitations
6. I believe spiders and other creepy crawlies should be obliterated from the Earth
7. The beginning of new projects - quilting, writing, you name it - is the most exciting time for me


Nominees for Award (in no particular order)

1.  Calisa Rhose
2.  Donna Shield
3.  Stephanie Ingram
4.  Jill Kemerer
5.  Christine Bell
6.  RG Senechal
7.  Liz Flaherty
8.  D'Ann Linscott-Dunham
9.  Constance Phillips
10. Shawn Dalton Smith
11. Ayda Recknagel
12. Leigh Caron
13. Jenna Rutland
14. Sloan Parker
15. Deanna Wadsworth

This was so fun...I wanna get another award now. I know, award-ho here.

Rebound Time...

Unless you've been hiding under a rock for the past 36ish hours you know the New York Giants won Super Bowl XLVI on Sunday night. The Patriots lost. No, this isn't a game-recap post, it's a what-can-we-learn post. And not just about football. One of the best articles I've read about Patriot's QB Tom Brady's reaction to the Super Bowl loss is here. Go read it. I'll wait.

Wowza! You're a fast reader.

I think what gets me about the article - and I'm not a Patriots or Brady or Belichick fan at all - is the reaction to that loss. Because we've all been there. We've entered that contest or sent off that manuscript to an editor or agent thinking we had it. There were four minutes left, we were ahead, we had the ball.

And then the unthinkable happened and we were left starting at the proverbial locker wondering what we'd done wrong. The thing is, it isn't always just one thing. It can be a number of things up to - and possibly most important - that the job of an editor or agent is to reject 90-something percent of the submissions they receive. Not because they're mean spirited. Because of the sheer number of writers out there who want their shot at glory - just like we do.

So I think the key is not the getting discouraged part of losing. I think it's the getting up, getting back to work and doing the job. No, Tom Brady isn't back on a football field today. But right after the game, he picked himself up, dusted off and went about his business - he fielded questions from reporters, gave the interviews. Just as when we get kicked around we have to go back about our business. We have to take a hard look at that manuscript that didn't make the cut - what can we improve? Or do we move on? What can we learn from this loss that will push us farther ahead next time we're on a decision-makers desk?

What do you take away from the losses that puts you ahead the next time out?

What a Great Surprise!

So I'm usually a Tuesday/Thursday blogger (although this week was wrecked because of a cold and flu outbreak here at home!)...but I just had to post today because...

The lovely and talented Calisa Rhose has bestowed upon me a great honor - a blog award!

The Liebster Blog Award originated in Germany. Liebster means dearest or beloved, and Liebe is love - and, yeah, I'm feeling the love today, thanks to Calisa. And now on to what I need to do in acceptance of the award: pass it on! I've listed five other bloggers, who I follow and chat with and generally rely on to keep me on the straight and narrow...even if it curves from time to time.


To accept this award, the recipient will:
- Thank the person who gave it to them and link back to that person’s blog - (done!)
- Copy and paste the award to their blog - (done, check the sidebar)
- Choose 5 blogs to award in kind, and break the news by commenting on those blogs - (listed below)
- Hope those people pay it forward in turn by accepting and awarding “The Liebster Blog Award” to bloggers they’d like to honor - (I'm sure they will - they're my friends, after all)

And, without further ado, the five bloggers I'm awarding the Liebster to:

Liz Flaherty
D'Ann Linscott-Dunham
Constance Phillips
Shawn Dalton Smith
Ayda Recknagel

Sometimes You Just Need To Read

I've been feeling a little...overworked, lately. Not because I actually *am* overworked - oh the joys that will bring. And I'm so not kidding. I dream of days when I have fiction deadlines to meet and I'm trying to squeeze out more time to work on my stories. Seriously. Dream of it. But still I've been feeling drained and overworked and generally blechy.

So over the weekend I took some 'me' time. With the family right down the hall. Buried my nose in a book or three and just read. Yeah, I broke to play with the kiddo, make meals (or at least call in the orders) and talk to my husband. But mostly, I read. I escaped into some of my favorite authors. Journeyed into a few happily ever afters with some great characters.

And my mood changed. Yeah, I'm still feeling a little stressed because, in addition to the fiction and non-fiction I'm now a fitness instructor (deep water running and water aerobics at our Y) two nights each week. But I realized halfway through the second book that I hadn't been reading. Yeah, I'd skimmed a few articles and looked at some pictures in magazines, but I hadn't sat down with any books since...well, before Christmas.

For me writing - whether nonfiction or fiction - is tied in to reading. When I'm reading it makes me a better writer. I see connections between characters and plot that I don't always see when I'm so focused on writing that I'm not taking the time to read and enjoy other stories.

Do you find that to be true?

Going Back...To My Own Piece of Hollywood

So last spring I made my first foray into Los Angeles. Before that I'd only ever been as far west as Nevada. It was a really quick trip smashed into our Vegas/Anniversary get-away. But it was perfect. Sure we were in a luxury bus for four-ish hours as our driver (literally) sped us to L.A. Sure, I thought one or twelve of those drivers might actually cause an accident that might kill me. But it was still breathtakingly fun. Went to the Hollywood sign, wandered all over Rodeo Drive and Melrose, saw Santa Monica Pier...all the touristy things you want to do.

And then I realized we have a little bit of Hollywood right here in Ohio - in the form of a prison. The Mansfield Reformatory to be exact - the real-life prison where Shawshank Redemption, scenes from Tango & Cash and Air Force One were shot. Just after the Hollywood trip, we headed down there for a murder-mystery night with some friends. We all joked about going to prison to have some fun before we actually drove through the gates...but driving through? Yeah, that made it a little more serious. Of course, we still joked about it. As you do.

Unlike many other prisons, the Mansfield Reformatory doesn't have cells facing one another; if you're in a cell, you're facing a rock wall. No windows. The exterior, barbed-wire-topped walls have been torn down, paint is peeling from the bars, and no prisoners have been inside the walls since the 1990s. And yet there is still a feeling of lonliness and loss inside. Solemnity that even the silliness of the murder-mystery (there were a lot of jokers in the crowd) just couldn't cut through. I can't imagine what it would be like for actual prisoners. Which brings me to books and atmosphere, which is a part of setting. The part of setting that I usually don't get right right away. My books are mostly fun and a lot flirty, but there still needs to be an atmospheric undertone...just like the undertone of the prison was still there on our fun date night.

In fact, we had so much fun, we're doing that night over (with a different murder-mystery!) in a few weeks...and I'm sure the jokes will be just as seriously funny.

Another thing that really caught my attention - and had me reaching for my notebook and pen often - were the non-prison events held there. They host weddings, receptions, ghost hunting, haunted houses...the list goes on. And I thought, what an interesting kind of place to set a romance novel - not my usual contemporary books, but something different. I've had about twenty ideas hit me since that night, and now that we're going back those ideas are cropping up again. Yes, I'm making notes. Most will probably remain ideas, but I'm hoping that one might be something more....

What about you? Where do you get your ideas?