Sunday, March 30, 2014

Have you entered to win a Kindle Fire HDX?

I'm on deadline and trying to get a book finished. My son and I arrived home from his Sectional Meet last Sunday, and I buckled down. I haven't been online much or blogging. Sorry. With everything going on in my life, I fell behind on my word count and trying hard to get caught up. I posted about this contest earlier this month, but wanted to mention it again because there are only two days left to enter!

This month I'm taking part in a Kindle Fire HDX Giveaway! (or if preferred the winners can choose a $229 Amazon Gift Card or $229 in Paypal Cash.)

Use the following link and scroll down until you get to the rafflecopter entry form:
http://www.iamareader.com/2014/01/march-kindle-fire-giveaway-sponsor-sign-ups.html

There's also a second giveaway (same prize) if you have a blog and post about this. Info for that is on the link above. You can enter until March 31, 2014.

Good luck! I hope one of you win! If you do, please let me know. Thanks!

March 2014 Kindle
Win a Kindle Fire HDX, Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash ($229 value)

This is a joint AUTHOR & BLOGGER GIVEAWAY EVENT!

Bloggers & Authors have joined together and each chipped in a little money towards a Kindle Fire HDX 7".

The winner will have the option of receiving a 7" Kindle Fire HDX (US Only - $229 Value)


Or $229 Amazon.com Gift Card (International)


Or $229 in Paypal Cash (International)




Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Hump Day

Another week, another swim meet. My son and I will be heading north tomorrow to attend the PNW Age Group Sectionals. He qualified in two events (100 Back and 200 Back) so that means I will have a hotel room and lots of time to write. I plan to watch him swim then leave him with the team and get work done. I can't wait!

Of course, that means doing loads of laundry and folding today. I can now see the carpet but have at least three more loads I need to wash. I found piles of towels in the kids' bedrooms. I don't know why they can't go straight from swimbags into the laundry hamper. Oh, well... At least I know where they all went.

What are you up to today?

Monday, March 17, 2014

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Are you wearing green?

Rose woke up wanting to know if the leprechauns had been by yet. When the kids were younger we used to make traps for them. Those little sly ones never got caught but they would leave gold chocolate coins inside the cages!

Hubby took this at the start of the run.
Yesterday, my hubby and two younger kids participated in the Shamrock Run in downtown Portland. They had fun in spite of the ran at the start!

Very proud of the kids who do not run regularly. They did very well. Finn came in 334th overall out of 10K runners. He was 28th in his age group!  Hubby said he just sprinted away from them once the race started. Finn said he followed a guy who looked like he knew what he was doing to get around the slower crowds, then ended up running with a guy in his mid-twenties who encouraged him on! That was both kids' first 5K run! I hope they want to do more.

Hope you have a great day! Any big plans for today?


Friday, March 14, 2014

Friday Links!

Crazy, unexpected week. Needless to say I haven't been blogging or writing. All I want to do as soon as I finish the final things on my wish-this-hadn't-happened To Do list is sleep. If you know me and where I live, you can figure out what's been going on.

Next week is not going to be pretty trying to catch up on all those words I've missed this week, but I had no choice. Sigh...

Here are some links for you. This is about all I can manage:

1) How would you like this "kitty" to pay you a visit while on a photo safari? Pretty cool and a once in a lifetime experience. Luckies! Click here to go to viralnova.com.

2) I'm a fan of Dave Ramsey's get out of debt snowball plan and his budgeting approach, but I thought Couponing To Disney's method is pretty cool to save up for something specific.  The best part is it's free. No books to buy. And lots of cute downloads to create your budget binder, coupon binder and Christmas binder.

3) I love the movie FROZEN, and I got a chuckle from this honest movie trailer:



Hope you have a great Friday! I'll be so happy to have hubby home this weekend and this week behind us!

Monday, March 10, 2014

RCRW Mini-Con

Hubby didn't like my short hair so I let it grow out!
This weekend I spoke at the RCRW Mini-Conference. Here's a picture of me right before my workshop Taking Your Writing to the Next Level started.

I don't get to many RCRW events. I haven't been to anything since the all-day intensive with Donald Maas a year ago. But it was fun to catch up with friends and meet new ones like author Carol Ross who's debut novel Mountains Apart  is out this month with Harlequin Heartwarming.

This was my first presentation in a long time. How long? I'd never used Power Point to make one before. Needless to say I was nervous. But the talk went well. I used examples from critiques I'd done over the years. I showed the before, asked the audience to use whatever technique I was discussing to revise the work, and then showed the published version. Big thanks to past and current critique partners Virginia Kantra, Terri Reed and Jennifer Shirk for giving me permission to use their stuff! After the conference, I went out to dinner at Stanfords with four authors who I've known over sixteen years. It was really fun to catch up with them and what's going on with their writing careers.

I hope you had a nice weekend! Today is the anniversary of my beloved Rocket crossing the Rainbow Bridge. It doesn't seem like that long ago, and I miss him so much. I'm going to enjoy the quiet house, cuddle with my fur babies and try to get some writing done. What's on your agenda for today?

Friday, March 07, 2014

Haircut and unexpected news

Yesterday, I paid a long-put-off visit to my hair stylist. I've been letting my hair grow (total excuse, I now) but "my" things always come last, either due to time or budget. When I arrived, I noticed a new person behind the desk. I thought the regular receptionist, Brandy, must be on vacation. 

The next couple hours were spent catching up with my hair stylist while she highlighted and cut my hair. She's been cutting my hair since spring 2011. I know the exact date because I'd been named a RITA® finalist that year and needed a haircut before having an author picture taken.

In a panic, since my hair hadn't been cut in a while and I was wearing ponytails, I drove down a street pulling into every hair salon I saw. No one had any appointments. By the time I hit the next shop, my third or fourth, I was thinking I was resigning myself to a cut at one of the strip mall places where you don't need an appointment, but you also aren't sure what you'll get. That freaked me out given this picture would be flashed on a big screen in front of oh, about 2000 romance authors.

The receptionist, a nice woman named Brandy, at the salon was so nice. She could see I was in a bit of a panic and told me everyone was busy at the moment, but if I could come back in a couple hours a stylist named Melody could see me. I was torn, because I just wanted to get my hair cut, but she assured me Melody was great. So I called hubby to make sure he could cover kid pickups and drop offs then took the appointment. I've been going their ever since.

So yesterday, after my hair was finished, I went up to pay. I noticed a piece of paper taped by the reception counter. I started to read and my heart dropped to my feet after the first couple of sentences. The letter was about Brandy who'd died a couple days before Christmas. She was only 41 and died like my friend Bud had right before Thanksgiving, suddenly without warning, leaving a huge gap in the lives of her husband, daughters, coworkers and friends.

I only saw Brandy a few times a year, but she always remembered me and would have biggest, warmest smile on her face. She went out of her way for me because I'm not the kind of person who schedules things way in advance. I would wait until I can't stand my hair anymore and want it done as soon as an appointment was available. When I had shorter hair the last couple of years, I was in there more often. One time, I called a few weeks ahead of time to book an appointment. I think she was stunned!

If anything, this is another reminder, a brutal one at that and I really don't need anymore, to embrace life. Don't leave words unspoken or deeds undone. You really don't know what might happen tomorrow.

xoxox





Wednesday, March 05, 2014

Want to win a Kindle Fire HDX?

This month I'm taking part in a Kindle Fire HDX Giveaway! (or if preferred the winners can choose a $229 Amazon Gift Card or $229 in Paypal Cash.)

Use the following link and scroll down until you get to the rafflecopter entry form:
http://www.iamareader.com/2014/01/march-kindle-fire-giveaway-sponsor-sign-ups.html

There's also a second giveaway (same prize) if you have a blog and post about this. Info for that is on the link above. You can enter until March 31, 2014.

Good luck! I hope one of you win!


March 2014 Kindle
Win a Kindle Fire HDX, Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash ($229 value)

This is a joint AUTHOR & BLOGGER GIVEAWAY EVENT!

Bloggers & Authors have joined together and each chipped in a little money towards a Kindle Fire HDX 7".

The winner will have the option of receiving a 7" Kindle Fire HDX (US Only - $229 Value)


Or $229 Amazon.com Gift Card (International)


Or $229 in Paypal Cash (International)




Monday, March 03, 2014

Splish Splash Swim Championshps

My 13 year old son and I drove to Corvallis on Thursday. The Oregon State Swimming Championships started that afternoon and went on until Sunday! We had a great time!

Some ask why the entire family doesn't go. Well, first, school on Friday for the other two. The youngest started Spring Soccer season so had two games this weekend. And finally, I love having the one-on-one time with Finn.

During the meet, he's with his team. I see him swim, but that's about it. Afterwards, I get him all to myself. Meals, hanging out. It's wonderful. This has become our same time next year! We stay at the same hotel, in the same type of room (jacuzzi tub in the living room which he likes to use after a long day of swimming) and we have a routine down.

The biggest change this weekend happened Saturday night. The past two years we've gone to Mass then headed to the pool to cheer on his teammates in Finals. Well, this year, he made finals with a Sectional cut time in the 100 Back. He went into the finals in the 8th position. Someone scratched so he moved up to 7th. During the race he dropped more time so placed 6th! Not bad for a kid who was seeded much lower and not expected to make finals!

He had a great weekend, scoring points for his team in the 100 back and the mile, and swimming personal best times in all six of his individual events. One of the best parts was seeing his team do amazing as well. Last year, they placed 13th with a handful of swimmers. This year the were 3rd in the team competition with a team of 25. Woo-hoo! Way to represent!

Needless to say, a fun weekend. I managed to get a little writing done and a lot of reading! Took advantage of the down time between events. Now to get back on track until we have to do this all over gain in a couple of weeks for Sectionals. We thought he'd just be racing the 200 Back on Sunday, but now he's got the 100 Back on Friday! A good thing I made reservations for the entire time, though I'm thinking he might want hubby to take him so he gets some one-on-one time with him. Guess we'll see!

What did you do this weekend?