Coming Soon

Complete Guide to the LDS Lingo!

Paperbacks and People Watching

Now Available on Paperback!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00609IPO8

How exciting it was to hold it in my hands- to feel the smooth, glossy cover and see my words in print. This milestone in my life didn't come the way I expected it to, but it's exciting nevertheless. A dream has been realized, and I've joined the ranks of all the other courageous and slightly crazy souls out their who put their souls in print for others to peruse.

I knew I should be a writer when I was very young and realized that at least half of my awareness was always devoted to a different persona. Not in a schizophrenia kind of way, in an imagining I'm someone else kind of way.

For example, I'll take you to the other night when I went to see the off-Broadway Wizard of Oz production with my children. I'm enjoying the moment with them as their mom, relieved that they're behaving themselves. I'm also the cute usher girl flirting with the gorgeous guy taking tickets at the door. I'm a young girl a few rows down going to see a play with her boyfriend and his parents, looking nervous and clinging a little too tightly to his arm. I'm the conductor in the orchestra. I'm the attractive actor playing the Tin Man who looks a little too fondly at Dorothy.

When I'm in public, I am constantly watching people and projecting myself into their lives. I infer or invent feelings, motives, and desires into them based on their body language, dress, and expressions. I notice details about setting and mood that I'm sure most people are oblivious to. I feel like I'm weird, but only because I know very few writers. I'm getting to know more of them though, and they've assured me that while I'm somewhat unique, even among their ranks, we're all avid people watchers. So if you ever get a creepy feeling that you're being watched, there may be a writer around somewhere in the crowd of normal people.

These Happy, Golden Days

Last weekend, my husband and I enjoyed some time in a cabin on Lake Lucerne, near Eureka Springs, AR. My two sisters and their husbands went as well and we had a great time. Unfortunately for me, I had just put my book up for sale so I had a harder time relaxing than I otherwise would have. Unfortunately for my sister, Cara, she was the only one able to get an internet connection so I was constantly on her phone checking sales, facebook, and my Amazon page.

My husband and I were celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary. I was also celebrating my first ever book sales. I'm looking forward to celebrating many, many more anniversaries and hopefully many, many more book sales in my life. Of course, the golden days of celebration are few and far between. Most days we just have to put our shoulders to the wheel and do the heavy, gritty work that makes them possible. Marriage and parenting are at once the most challenging and most rewarding pursuits in this life. I have to say that writing is not far behind them. Marketing is turning out to be extremely challenging and I have yet to see if it is rewarding. Ugh! I'm going to stare at this picture for a while and try to relax again.

Published

It was scary to hit that button last night. Once you publish, you've put yourself out there for criticism and failure. On the other hand, if you don't try, you'll never know if you're any good or have any success. So, I took hold of my courage and clicked "Save and Publish."

It's too soon to know if people like it, but so far I've been overwhelmed by support from friends and family. I'm sending a heartfelt thanks to all of you.

I'm going to enjoy this ride, even with it's speed bumps and detours. Thanks for being brave enough let me take the wheel.

Stay tuned for giveaways and check out my novel, Aglow on Kindle and Nook.

http://www.amazon.com/Aglow-ebook/dp/B00609IPO8/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1319771304&sr=1-1

Read. Review. Repeat.

I read this the other day and it just resonated with me: "Author Jay Lake said: "Sadly, being a professional writer significantly interferes with my reading career."

I've always heard that to write well, you need to read voraciously. That's never been a problem for me. Until now.

I've been so obsessed with my own story that I've really only been living in the real world when I had to. Even when I'm doing other things, my brain is still partially devoted to the story. It's been a moment I wake up till the last fuzzy thoughts before sleep kind of thing. Even then I know my brain works on it while I'm asleep, because I've always got solutions for things when I wake up. Unfortunately, while I wait for my lovely, volunteer editors to get back to me, I feel totally lost. I'm still being mommy, wife, housekeeper, ect..., but that exciting world always on the edge of my consciousness has fallen silent while it speaks to other people.

At first, it was awful! Until I realized that I could read.

It has been fabulous to just enjoy reading again. And when I came to a typo or and badly worded phrase, I could just go one without fixing it. OK, sometimes, I mentally fixed it because it drove me crazy not too, but I was able to avoid this the longer I read.

Since I hope to get reviews on my book, I've realized that I should do the same for other indie authors. My first will be for "Deep Blue Secret", by Christie Anderson, which I finished reading yesterday. All right, I just flat out read it yesterday. Christie is a graduate from BYU and this is apparently her first book. I will be posting my review tomorrow here on my blog, and probably on Amazon and Goodreads.com as well.

Hoooo Hoooo loves the Holidays?

This month is turning out to be really cool...literally. It's been so nice to be able to go outside without sweating in .5 seconds! Since I was feeling angsty for fall, I bought a candle by Glade (Cashmere Woods) that I love. I used the same scent for fall last year. I loved it when my daughter got home from school and asked why it smelled like Halloween.

I was thrilled because I realized that my daughter's scent memories are being built. Someday, she will smell this scent or a similar one and think of happy childhood times.

As I've been working on Aglow, I've also used another scent to help me stay in the mood for Christmas. It's a balsam and pine candle that instantly gives me Christmas spirit.

This brings up a question I've been pondering as an author. Who enjoys stories that are set in a certain holiday? Do you like to read them all year, or just at that particular holiday? I'm considering the possibilities of writing a collection of short stories for all the major holidays. What do you think? I wonder what candle I should get to inspire me for the Fourth of July. Do they make a candle that smells like gunpowder?

Final Cover for Aglow!

Great color? yes! (My personal favorite)

Festive? yes!

Can you read the title when it's tiny? yes!

Does it reflect themes of the story? yes!

Do you like it? (There's a pattern here guys!)