Need to giggle?

Super busy with editing and writing the Book Store Series, and entertaining my kid with all these snow days!! So I decided to just give you some random stuff I've found on the internet that will hopefully make you giggle or just think.


There are 18 different animal shapes in the Animal Crackers cookie zoo.

When glass breaks, the cracks move faster than 3,000 miles per hour. To photograph the event, a camera must shoot at a millionth of a second!

Cats can hear ultrasound.

Married men change their underwear twice as often as single men.

Percentage of bird species that are monogamous: 90. Percentage of mammal species that are monogamous: 3.

Armadillos can be housebroken.

Ants stretch when they wake up in the morning.

Slugs have 4 noses.

Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.

In 2003, there were 86 days of below-freezing weather in Hell, Michigan.

Giraffes and rats can go longer without water than camels.

It is illegal to frown at cows in Bladworth, Saskatchewan.

There are 240 dots on an arcade Pac-Man game.

Every time you lick a stamp, you consume 1/10 of a calorie.

Carnivorous animals will not eat another animal that has been hit by a lightning strike.

Mr. Rogers was an ordained minister.




Okay, I'm all done for today. Back to work!!!
Thanks for stopping by!!

Book Review!

Today's book is a Stephen King classic. I don't read or watch much horror because, well, I'll be honest: I'm a scaredy-cat. But I definitely have a much easier time reading horror than watching it, so although I only read it in the light of day, it wasn't too bad to get through this book.

                                                                                                                                                                                                            

If you couldn't tell, this is a vampire novel. I'm a big fan of Stephen King, I think he's an excellent writer, even if he does scare the crap out of me. I actually have a stack of beautiful hardcover SK books that I haven't even read yet because I'm a "buck buck" (chicken). Published in 1975, it comes long after Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897), and gives a modernized perception of vampires. On the other hand, it also comes long before Stephanie Meyers' 2005 popular series Twilight, which I believe ridiculously romanticizes vampires and fuels teenage lust and angst. 

This story is set in a small town in Maine, where a man goes back to his hometown only to have the town become overrun by vampires. It's spooky, but well-written and I loved reading it. I learned a couple of fun facts about this book as I was researching for this post, and here's a couple of cool things about it:

-It was made into a TV series twice; once in 1979 and again in 2004.

-BBC made it a seven part radio series.

-'Salem's Lot is shortened from Jerusalem's Lot because the publishers thought it sounded too religious.

-There have been several different covers, I picked this one because it's the cover of the copy I own.

-The original title was Second Coming, but King changed it because his wife said it sounded too much like a bad smut novel title.

That's all for today guys! Thanks for stopping by!

A Movie About Writing A Book!

I know I already have written about the Harry Potter books and movies, but last week I had a rough night of insomnia so I browsed through my Amazon instant videos looking for something to get me through the night. I stumbled on this jewel, and I'm thankful I did.

This is basically the story of how J.K. Rowling went from being a single mom on public assistance to a billionaire author. It's sweet and heartwarming, and I think many writers will appreciate her process and watching someone else in the same place you've been; brainstorming, writing for countless hours, and balancing family with getting your words to paper. I think a major difference that can make us all appreciate technology a little more is that she typed the whole first Harry Potter on an old typewriter. Remember those? I sort of wish I had one. I used to when I was younger, and there's something really poetic and nostalgic about writing something that way.

Anywho, that's my post for today, see you guys tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by!

Using 'review' options when editing electronically

To begin, I should clarify that I use Microsoft Word 2007 when I'm editing, and I'm thinking most people use Word or have it on their computers. I apologize if this doesn't apply to you for whatever you use, but I'm just writing for what I know.

*side note: You may want to pop open Word to play with the options I'm talking about.

When I edit, I use the "Review" tab at the top of the screen. It has your basic spelling, grammar, research, thesaurus, etc. to the left, but the stuff in the middle and to the right are what I use the most. 

In the center there is a little icon that looks like a pad of sticky notes (Post-Its). This is labeled "New Comment" and is used to be able to type in notes about what you are reading without interfering with the text within the document. You highlight the text you're talking about, or near the text, and hit the "New Comment" button. A column will appear to the right of the body of text along with a little box (mine's red, but I don't know if that's what color everyone else's are). You can type anything in the box/bubble. For example, as an editor I will write notes about character inconsistencies, if I feel like a change I made needs an explanation I will put it there, or even if I want to put a little note about the story (ex: I like this part! or I want to live in this house!). As a writer, you can use the comment box to make notes to yourself so they're easier to spot later on when you go back. For example, if you can't decide what someone's name should be or what color their hair is, you can highlight what you wrote, then put your alternative ideas in the box. 

You can also easily browse through the comments in the same part of the tab above by clicking the "next" or "previous" buttons, or you can "delete" a comment if you're finished using it.

The other main button I use is the "Track Changes" button. This allows me to show (in red or blue) the author what changes I've made to their piece. That way they can keep track of what was their original work and what I've added/deleted/changed. 

I don't use the "Balloons" button, but it seems to control what is shown in the boxes/bubbles on the right side of the page with the comments. Like I said, I never use it so you'll have to play with it if you think you need to change anything with it.

Another section has to do with changes, I never use that either. If someone makes changes to your document, you can accept and reject their changes accordingly using this section.

There are two more sections called Compare and Protect. The compare button gives you the option to compare an original with an edited copy. There's also a "combine" option, that will combine all changes within the two compared documents.

I never use the Protect Document button either because I'm not working in a space that is compromised to outside people (I work in my house. My son can't read and my husband doesn't want to, so I'm good there unless the cat has talents I don't know about.) This button is just a way to password the document so it stays safe.

I saved these next two for last because most people won't have them and I went super silly giddy when I discovered them. One is called "Ink Comment" and the other is called "Start Inking". You may or may not know that my trusty old laptop died at the end of last year, November or so, and my new dream laptop became my Christmas/Birthday present. My new LT has a touchscreen. So why are these two buttons so exciting? I can write on documents with my stylus!! The Ink Comment button pops a box up to the right of the text, just like the regular New Comment button does. But I can write in the box that appears! And the Start Inking button allows me to edit an electronic document the same way I would a paper one: with a red pen. And if you've been following me, you probably know by now that red-penning is my favorite!

I know that wasn't a super-exciting post, but hopefully it'll give you some idea of how I electronically edit. Also, writers might be able to use the comments to help them out along the way.

I've been writing a lot today, pushing forward with the Book Store Series. I'm at about 12,600 words at this point with quite a bit of story left to go. I'm getting really excited about this, and the possibility that I might actually be able to become a published author too! So while you all get to wait impatiently (I hope!) for every Thursday's posts, I have to keep myself quiet until I publish each section! I hope you guys like it, and like I said yesterday, if you show me that you've been reading all along, I'll reward you at the end! (Possibly with a signed-before-it's-released copy of the finished book???? Who knows?)

See you guys next week, have an amazing weekend!
Thanks for stopping by!

The Book Store Series, Part 8

To save me time and a little frustration, on all following Book Store Series posts I'll only be linking to Part 1 and the part previous to the post. It's just a royal pain to put all the links in and if you start at the first one, you can easily click through the whole series because I have been trying to go back and update previous posts with the link to the next part. (Um, if that made sense. I only had about 3-4 solid hours of sleep last night, so that could all be mumbo jumbo!)

Part 1

Part 7

Now, enjoy!

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I vowed to avoid the bookstore for a week after that, feeling the space was necessary for all of us to process. But Milo came to visit me a few days after Theo and I had our big fight. I had just gotten home from work, thrown my hair in a messy ponytail and I was wearing sweats and a t-shirt. I heard the knock and peeked through the peephole when I got to the door. Milo’s face filled the little glass bubble, and I let out a heavy sigh. For a split second I considered playing possum, pretending I wasn’t home. But I knew I’d have to face Milo sooner or later, so I might as well get it over with. I opened the door wide.

“Hi,” I said. He stood awkwardly, turning and squeezing his winter gloves in his hands, avoiding any eye contact. “Well don’t just stand there, come in.” I waved my hand towards the living room and he stepped inside.

I closed the door behind him. He paused for a second, then turned to me. “I really don’t know what to say to you Lily. I had no idea about any of it.”

“Come on,” I said as I led the way towards the kitchen. Milo took off his coat and shoes, then sat in a chair at the dining room table. I went about making some hot chocolate. “So you know everything then? About Lillian and the adoption deal and all that?”

“I do now. I honestly thought you just looked like her. I see people who look a little like people I know all the time. I just thought you were mom’s doppelganger. It’s all so weird.”

I brought two cups of steaming cocoa to the table and set one in front of Milo. “What do we do about it? Does it change things?”

“I don’t think so. Our friendship happened naturally, if not awkwardly. We will get along, regardless of whether or not we’re related to each other. I don’t want it to change.”

“I don’t either…brother,” I said and kicked him under the table. “Wait, so does that mean we have all those years of beating on each other and teasing to catch up on?”

“Really? That’s what you’re taking from this? I thought we were doing a good job of that all along anyways.” He smiled and sipped his cocoa.

“How’s Theo doing?” I felt awkward asking, the anger still twitching on the surface of my skin. But if I wanted to keep the status quo of my relationship with Milo, I had to play nice. After all, it was his father. No. Our father. I erased that thought with a little shake of my head, filing it away for processing at a later time.

“He’s really upset. He feels awful about the whole thing. I’m not sure he ever thought he’d have to deal with this situation. He spends a lot of time at the store, long after we’re closed and before we’re open. Same as he did right after mom died. After... well, you know.” Milo wouldn’t look in my eyes. I could tell he felt ashamed for his dad’s actions.

“Milo, you can’t feel bad for something your dad did. Those were the choices he made, and none of us can change them. I am angry and hurt, but we’re talking about a decision made 25 years ago now.”

He nodded and said, “Times were different then. And how emotional dad must have been with mom taken away so suddenly. You sure seem to be taking this awfully well.”

“Yeah, that’s me; Logic Girl. Able to analyze any situation in the blink of an eye. Or at least over two or three days and a tub of ice cream.” I laughed at my divisive processing skills. The only way I could handle situations like these was if I tore them apart, bit by bit, and processed each detail individually. I guess that’s what made me a good accountant.

We were smiling, enjoying our cocoa, when we heard muted music. I Love This Bar by Toby Keith floated out of the pocket of my coat hanging near the door. Milo raised his eyebrows at me, but I ignored him; I was sure he’d give me a hard time about it later. I went to the coat rack and pulled my phone out, checking the screen. It read Sophie across it, and I answered.

“Hi Soph, what’s up?” I started walking back to the table, but Sophie’s voice stopped me in my tracks.

I could hear her crying on the other end. Through her sobs, she managed to tell me that she and Vin had gone to the bookstore. It was still closed, which was odd because Theo was supposed to open. Vin used his key to get in and they found a mess, but no Theo.

“I’ll be right there, Sophie, hang in there!” I put my phone in my pocket and got ready faster than I ever had, filling Milo in as I rushed him out the door.

There weren’t enough details, not enough pieces. I guess that’s why what happened next was so hard for me to handle.

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Stay tuned! I might just do an editing post tomorrow since yesterday's post was so lame.

Thanks for stopping by!

**P.S. If you've been reading all along, please leave a comment on this post every week. Even if it just says "ME!", there may or may not be a reward at the end of all this for being loyal readers. ;-)

Busy Wednesday!

So a full day of play dates and appointments made it impossible to put together a good blog today.

The good news is that I've written out a great outline for most of the rest of the BSS (The Book Store Series). It should last me a couple of months at the rate it's going, and could possibly be a publishable piece by the time all is said and done. Who knows?

I've sent out some feelers for some editing projects. I'm booked for May, but I could use some projects sooner than that, and I would love that!

Sorry, I have a massive headache so I don't have a lot for today. Next installment of the Book Store Series tomorrow!

Thanks for stopping by!

Book review day!

A book I've had for years, and forgot all about! I've been digging through my library, finding all sorts of old gems-some I don't even remember reading, so the next few reviews might be oldies!

Two sisters meet for the first time...at their father's funeral. One sister born with the noble Lawson name, raised in the privileged life Mr. Lawson could afford. The other sister was born a Farr, the love child of a passionate night. Now both daughters want the inheritance; a rich Texas wealth of oil and horses. But is finding out who was their father's favorite more important to these two? 

Sometimes a good old southern chick fight is all you need to stay entertained. Just kidding! I like the storyline, and I think the writing was fluid. I have read this book several times, but it's been a little while. Maybe I'll read it again. I'll just put it at the end of that ever-growing list!

Thanks for stopping by!

Autobots.... Rollout!

We just watched the third movie of this trilogy, so I thought I'd put it in the blog. I'm going to have to start keeping a list of movies I've reviewed, I can't remember them all now!

The first Transformers movie was awesome. My son loves transformers in general, and fell in love with this movie when it came out. It's humorous, has a decent story and there are lots of explosions.Then they did the second one, and that was pretty cool. I liked the locations in the movie and the storyline wasn't too bad either. Then they made the third one, with no Megan Fox. We went to the drive-in to see it for the first time, and I fell asleep. Since then, I still don't think I've seen the movie all the way through. And now the rumor is that they're making the 4th one; no Megan Fox, no Shia LaBeouf. I think my husband is boycotting it.

All in all, there's tons of action and things blowing up and some machine-on-machine violence. It's a decent movie if the testosterone is outnumbering you and the boys are forcing you to pick something "good" to watch with them! Like I said, I liked the first two, but really don't care about the third one.

Thanks for stopping by!!

The Truth About Writing: Through My Eyes

Today I want to talk about the truth in writing.

Several years ago, I met Kevin Caraccioli, writer of Sail Away and Fly Away, both from the series of The Adventures of Kevin Bonbevin. He was signing his books at a local book store. At the time, I was attempting to find my place in the literary world, and I was fumbling with being an author. As I was getting a book signed for my niece, I asked him, "What advice do you have for an aspiring author?"

The response he gave me will be forever ingrained in my mind, and I hold on to this concept on a daily basis.

"Don't write for anyone else. Write for yourself."

I've thought long and hard about this idea many times. It's easy to get caught up in What's popular right now? and  What can I write that will sell with the general population right now? But that's the wrong way to go about it. If it's in your heart to write a love story or a Christian story about getting closer to God, do that. Don't write a vampire story because that's what's popular. Don't write about time travel because it will currently sell more books. Write what's in your heart. Write the story that your imagination builds, and let that be the writing that shines through. Those will be the well-written, captivating stories. Not the ones that are forced to appeal to the current popularity contest.

I recently received a strange email from someone I reached out to about editing their work. The response I got was strange, and to me, screamed of greed and disrespect for the process. They asked me to edit a sample of work that was old, poorly written, and not even a piece of their own work that they were interested in publishing. (Let me be clear, I will edit whatever anyone wants/needs me to edit. That's not where my problem lies with this situation.) They told me that they would only pay me my rate (or even lower!) for a heavy copyedit if I had ties with NYC big name publishers/agents.

I'm sorry, but that's just not how it works. It's okay to pay someone to edit your piece before you turn it in to an agent, simply for the means of turning in something more appealing to a bigger publishing house. This leads to a greater chance of someone picking up your story, and that's fine. It's not okay to agree to pay the editor's asking rate only if said editor has high profile connections. It's not okay to focus only on making money and step on whoever you can to get the wealth you desire.

I've read a lot of blogs, articles, watched videos, and done a lot of research about the entire process; editing, advertising, book cover art, traditional publishing vs. self-publishing, and more. I feel that I have pretty good base knowledge of the industry. I'm not an expert, but I'm well-informed and that makes me grateful that I can make intelligent decisions about who I edit for.

I've read lots of interviews/blogs/etc. of other freelance copyeditors, and there is one recurring theme that I can completely agree with: Getting good quality literature out for the public to enjoy is a top priority.

Notice that it doesn't say: Make a big paycheck. Be famous. Make other people famous.

Here is an excerpt of the letter I sent back to this author:

"I am not in the business of hurting feelings or bullying, but I am also not in the habit of coddling, skirting issues or paying lip service. You will always get an honest opinion and helpful advice from me, no matter what. I do not see editing as merely a source of income, but as a way for me to help authors get their stories heard, cleanly published, and to make sure your image is treated respectfully. 

... copyeditors will be your bread and butter. Specifically, editors such as (but not limited to) myself. I specialize in indie, small-time, hard-working authors. I'm not in it for the big check. I'm in it because literature is important, and bringing good literature into the world should be so much more emphasized than it is. A professional, hard-working copyeditor will not only cover grammar, spelling, sentence structure, etc., but will also show you holes/gaps in the story, be sincere and impartial to content (Is it boring? Does it make sense? Are the characters developed well? Does the story move too slowly? and so much more), and ought to be able to help you strip down a story to bare bones if need be and rebuild it strong and well-written."

And I stand behind those statements 100%.

So to summarize today's post: Write from the heart. That is where the best stories lie.

Thanks for stopping by!

The Book Store Series, Part 7

Here it is!!
If you've missed any:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

__________________________________________________________________________

The vague stories about Lillian Trussman were pushing that prickly detective feeling in the pit of my stomach. I pursued answers as subtly as I could, but with little success. I spoke with my mother about spending so much time at the book store, but she always seemed to change the topic or give me a bored-sounding “mm-hmm” or “yes honey”. I decided the direct approach, as always, would be my only option for getting what I wanted. So I asked Mr. Trussman if he’d come to my house for cocoa one Sunday morning.

He was delighted that I asked, and it was sunny but frigid the morning he knocked on my door. I had bought a special decadent cocoa for this particular occasion, forgoing my usual plain old Swiss Miss. We settled in at the kitchen table and, par for the course, I dove into my interrogation.

“Theo, I’m glad you came over to spend some time with me. I have some questions and I absolutely need answers or I’m going to go crazy.” I regarded him cautiously, looking for any indication that I should stop my line of questioning.

He nodded slightly and I continued. “When I asked Milo about his mom, he said that I remind him of her. Do you think so?”

“Yes, yes I do. You even look a lot like her,” he replied, then tipped his mug for another sip.

“Do you have a picture of her?”

Theo hesitated, but reached into the back pocket of his trousers and pulled out a brown leather wallet. He flipped it open and took out a worn picture with some of the edges folded, the layers of paper separating. He looked at it for a while, then handed it to me.

I glanced down and what I saw baffled me. It was like looking at a picture of an older version of myself; green eyes, auburn hair, fair skin. I looked up at Theo, desperate for an explanation, but all he did was sigh.

“Oh come on, Theo.” I held the picture up next to my face. “This time, tell me the whole story.” I set the picture down in front of him.

“Okay. I suppose that you have become much too curious to hide this any longer. What I am about to tell you is going to change our relationship forever. Are you certain you are ready for this?” He stared at me, glaring into my eyes, looking for any sliver of doubt. But he found none.

“I need answers, Theo. I care about you no matter what you have to say to me.”

“Well, we shall see when all is said and done.” He shifted in his chair and leaned toward me. “Lily. Sweet, sweet Lily. The woman in the picture is your mother.”

I inhaled sharply, gracefully choking on my own saliva as I did so. When my coughing and gagging fit was over, I stared at Theo. “Are you sure?”

He nodded and said, “One hundred percent positive.” He sat quietly, graciously giving me time to process, to collect my thoughts.

I felt my eyes widen and my jaw drop as something dawned on me. If I had been in a cartoon, you’d have seen a light bulb pop on over my head. “That means… Vin and Milo are my…”

“Brothers!” Theo said cheerfully. His facial expression sobered when he looked at my face and saw what I was sure was shock and confusion.

“Do they know who I am? Do they still think I died in childbirth? I’m assuming that I was that baby, right?”

“No, the boys do not know, not for certain anyways. But they are starting to ask questions as well. And yes, you are the baby in the story we all tell when the topic arises. Lily, I was in a miserable place when Lillian passed. When I looked at you, all I could think about was how she was gone. I blamed that innocent little baby. I know that it was ridiculous and I realize now how awful I was for giving you up instead of facing the pain and forging through it. I had become friends with a man who had a family of all boys and whose wife could no longer bear children but wanted a girl. The rest is, well, you know.” He sat back, waiting for my response.

“Parker Stone, my dad… you were his friend? You gave me to my parents because you were too sad to keep me around? Then they must know about the stores…” I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear more, but that had been the reason I invited him; information.

“Well, yes.” I saw Theo’s face turn a deep crimson, and he bowed his head. “They funded all that I needed to start the first book store in exchange for your adoption. I made my dream come true and crushed yours all at once.”

I stood and pushed my chair back, making a horrible scraping sound across the floor. I walked toward the balcony, grabbed a blanket off the back of the sofa on my way, slid open the doors and walked through. I closed the door firmly behind me, making the point that I wanted to be alone. Thankfully, I remembered to close the storm windows in my enclosed balcony before the snow hit, and I was well protected from the storm. I turned on the heater that I kept there, and curled up on a chair near the vent. I drew my knees to my chest, wrapped the fleece blanket around me like a cocoon and looked out at the swirling snow. Although it was mid-morning, the dark storm clouds made it feel later.

The noise in my head was unbearable. I pressed my fingers to my temples, somehow thinking that I could push the thoughts into order from the outside. They whipped around, mimicking the wind that was threatening to burst through my windows, a flurry of emotion spiraling through my brain. I took a few deep breaths, closed my eyes, and rested my forehead against my knees.

After some time had passed, I heard the scrape of the sliding door on the track. Theo walked through and, after closing the door behind him, sat beside me.   

Theo spoke, “I have no words I can say that will make you feel better. But please know that I love you, and I am happy to have found you. I cannot wait to see what the future has in store for you.”

I looked up at him, tears streaming, and said, “You are a liar. You need to leave now.”

He stood and started to open the balcony door. He turned to me, eyes watery. “I know that you are angry now, Sweet Lily, but please do not be mad forever. Come and talk to me when you feel up to it, I will miss you too much.”

“Don’t call me Sweet Lily! Get out!” I shouted at him. I held back the tears, giving Theo the angriest face I could muster. He made his way through the apartment, bundling up with his head drooped, and when I heard the door to the apartment click closed, I let the real sobs begin.

At some point during the afternoon, I had moved myself from the balcony to the living room, stopping only for wallowing supplies in the kitchen on my way. I sat on the couch, some Hugh Grant movie playing, eating ice cream out of the carton. I was pouring chocolate syrup directly into the bucket, eyes puffy and red, a couple of sprinkles stuck to my shirt. That’s how Sophie found me, spoon in one hand and chocolate syrup in the other.

“Ooooh, my God, Lily. Put down the syrup.” She walked to the couch and took all the junk food away from me. She sat beside me and handed me a tissue. “What happened? Theo came to the shop and was crying. He asked if he could talk to Vin and Milo alone. They closed the shop. What is going on?”

This led to another round of sobbing, sputtering attempts to explain to Sophie, and finally calming down enough to talk without involuntary hiccups and shuddering. After I finished telling her how my morning had gone, she hugged me tight, and we sat for a while just like that.

_________________________________________________________________________

That's it for today. Stay tuned for some great posts in the next week or so.

If you'd like to move on, here's Part 8.

Thanks for stopping by!

Editing Etiquette

It's Wednesday, and that means editing info day!!

Today I'm going to talk about story consistency. If you've read my previous editing posts, you'll know that there are different levels of editing, from just basic spelling/grammar up to line editing/heavy copyediting. A good heavy copyeditor is going to watch for holes or gaps in your story line as well as covering the basics. As I will always say, editors are human, and although we may miss a thing or two here and there, we are detached enough from the story to point out problems in the plot, the characters, the settings and more.

If you're serious about writing and publishing your work, I suggest keeping a notebook with details about your characters, their background and their relationships. You can set it up like an outline (remember learning how to do those in high school English? Yeah, most people don't-unless you're an English nerd like me), or you can just make a list. You have to do whatever you feel comfortable with and whatever is going to help you keep your story as consistent as possible. For example:

Molly Brown-blonde hair, 25, green eyes, Betty's daughter, Greg's daughter
Betty Brown-blonde hair, 47, blue eyes, Greg's ex-wife, married for 20 years

....and so on. If you do this, when you're 17 chapters in and you can't remember if Betty and Greg were married for 15 years or 20 years, you can just flip to your notebook. This saves loads of time trying to scan through the early chapters trying to find the information within the story.

If you have a perfect memory, great. That's awesome and kudos. But if you're like me, and life invades your brain when you least want/need it to, you have to keep track on paper so everything is straight. I might not have a great memory, but when I read a book and there is a gap in time that's unaccounted for or if someone's hair color, dialect or personality changes (incongruent to the story), it can be distracting. Sometimes, it can be distracting enough to change your opinion of the book overall.  Something so small can really change how people feel about you as an author and about your story. These people can then, in turn, leave you bad reviews and tell people they know about how you couldn't keep your facts straight. You definitely want to avoid that!

Some editors will also map out the story when they're working on a project. This is something I've been trying to train myself to do. I keep trying to tweak my process so I can be as efficient and thorough as possible.

So today's lesson: Keep your facts straight!!

Thanks for stopping by, and tune in because tomorrow is the 7th installment of the Book Store Series. I've been working hard, and it's been quite the long couple of weeks trying to work out all the kinks and dealing with life in between. See you tomorrow!

For Disney Fans...A different view of Walt

To be perfectly honest, I'm a Disney addict. I have been to DisneyWorld many times, I love Disney movies and characters, and I will always be a kid at heart.

I read this book, initially to learn more about the man who created the world I love so much. What I got was quite surprising!

Now, I can't verify that all the information in this book is true, but I can tell you it's very interesting. There are some personality traits about Walt that we maybe didn't know about. This book shows a different side to the person we would assume was filled with rainbows and sunshine. Turns out, old Walt had a little bit of a temper. There's also a little history of the theme parks and movies. It's not a very long book, and easy read. Check it out if you want, I found it very interesting!

Thanks for stopping by!

P.S. This is my 70th post!!!!

There is no spoon.

Today's movie is one I'm sure most people have seen.

These movies are tiny bit freaky. I love Keanu Reeves, so when Matrix first came out, I gave it a shot. I find it to be an interesting take on the state of the human race. If you really want to scare the crap out of yourself, sit and think about this question: What if nothing we know is real, and we are just pawns in some other species' game? What if we are the mice in the maze? Regardless, over the course of the 3 movies, there are decent graphics (for the time), steamy sex, epic battles and cool machines. Love story mixed with war, and there you have it in most basic description. 

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Did ya miss me?

Wow, it's been since Tuesday that I've posted???
I stink.

Well, it's been a rough week; been battling a nasty sinus infection, had an almost car accident that messed up my neck and back a little bit, and had some lovely anxiety complications along the way too. I'm dandy now: heat on the muscles, taking some meds, resting and drinking Gatorade- all the proper sicky things to do.

I've also been a little MIA this week because I just finished editing Revelation: The Phoenix Project Book 3. It's going to be amazing! I'll review it once it's been released, and I know followers of the The Phoenix Project will love this new part of the series.

And finally, I've been working on the Book Store Series. As of this post, the entire story from top to bottom is about 7,800 words. That's 7,500 more than I thought it would ever be, so I'm pretty excited that now I'm on a little "hiatus" until my next project, I can focus on that and start picking up the pace with the story line.

So that's where I've been & what I've been up to. I don't like taking breaks like I have, but it was all with good reason and I'll be coming back on track soon enough!

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Laughing is great for the soul

This is a really funny book that I forgot I even had. I was cruising through my Kindle and found this little gem.

This book is just plain hilarious. It's a book of lists of things like people you wouldn't want to sit next to on a plane, worst nicknames, five ways to lose an eye, etc... they're just silly and funny. 

Example: 

Bizarre hobbies

-Orville Hoffman breeds and trains fighting slugs

-Homer Bentwell photographs stains on hotel mattresses. He has over 3,000, most of which resemble celebritites.

-Yolanda Brown is an extreme piercing enthusiast. She has 350 pieces of metal in her body, she's been struck by lightning 3 times, with the last time fusing her nose ring to her upper lip stud and making her nipple rings glow red. 

-Bob Anderson likes to eat fried liver, baked beans, sauerkraut, eggs and warm beer and then fart in crowded elevators, using hidden cameras to record the reactions. 

You'll just have to read the book to find out the rest!

I thought I would give you something positive and goofy. When things get busy and crazy, and life seems hard, confusing or just plain suck-o, it can be good to let go for a little bit, even just in the midst of reading a book.

At the time of this blog, it's $7.69 on Amazon, but I got it when it was on the free list for a while, so you might want to keep a watch on it.

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Steve!! Shrimpanzee!! Steve!!

Adorable movie day!

I love this movie! I loved the first one, so I was looking forward to seeing this one. I don't think I reviewed the first one, but you should definitely see that one too if you haven't. I love unique stories and this one is definitely in the 'strange and silly' category. Great movie for a movie night with popcorn and snuggling on the couch with blankets and cocoa. Definitely have some snacks on hand, this movie will make you hungry!!!

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