I'd like to thank the "Academy"...oops. Not an Oscar? Close enough!

Wow! I'm so honored...seriously! I blog like every third Saturday on the fifth odd month of an even numbered year. Yep, that often! (Sorry my dear, sweet followers). I try to do more, but when I decided I had to put my butt in the chair and finish the edits on Designer Genes if I wanted to release it in April, everything else had to be shelved. However, my dear friend, life coach, talented author, and all around beautiful person Sandy Rowland, http://sandylrowland.weebly.com/index.html isn't about to let me slip behind the curtain and watch from the sidelines. She's nominated my blog, such as it is, for The R.E.A.L.I.T.Y. Blog Award! As part of my thank you, I'm paying it forward by announcing her book "Conquered" is FREE until this Sunday! Of course it's the welcome mat to Apollo's Gift (the cover alone is a present). Here's the links to both.

http://www.amazon.com/Apollos-Gift-Greek-Gods-ebook/dp/B00B4ES4SQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1358922360&sr=1-1&keywords=Apollo%27s+gift+by+Sandy+L.+Rowland

           

http://www.amazon.com/CONQUERED-Kivronian-Vampire-Series-ebook/dp/B008GTHGTA/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1355242952&sr=1-1&keywords=conquered+by+sandy+l.+rowland

Okay, now onto the purpose of this blog. (There's a purpose? You're not just blindly walking an endless word path into utter nonsense? Well, maybe.)  This award comes with a list of rules:

Visit the blog of the person who nominated you, thank them, and acknowledge them on your blog.

Answer the questions below and nominate up to 20 bloggers whom you feel are awesome and deserving of notice. Visit their blog and let them know.

Cut and paste the award to your wall. (check out the upper left hand corner...I'm such a techno spaz!)

The questions: (Uh-oh. This is where I have to expose a bit of real self. Now would be a good time to check out Sandy's books)

If you could change one thing, what would you change?


I wish I hadn't wasted so much time in life trying to please others and fretting over their opinions. I still struggle with insecurity and the fetal position is my "comfy curl." The decision to become a writer professionally is probably the most life altering change (next to menopause) I've undergone. I wish I'd made the decision ten years ago. I've missed out on a lot of years of that inner joy a writer feels when they pen "the end" to a story.

If you could repeat any age, what would that be?

Okay, I've regained self-composure, changed my pants and the hiccups are almost gone. Seventeen with the knowledge I have now. There's a couple of bitches I'd love a chance to teach a life lesson, not to mention a couple of boys I'd like to hear sing soprano.

For real? Forty-five. The kids were grown, my first grandchild had arrived, and I felt physically and mentally sound. Of course that all changed at age forty-six (see paragraph above). Insanity is now my reality.

What is the one thing that really scares you?

Dogs. My fear of the canine species is paralyzing. I was mauled as a child and the psychological scars are deep. In this case, "size" doesn't matter. Yes, I've always had a dog (my own did not attack) and currently have a loveable black Lab, but he's the only one who doesn't lift the hairs on my neck when I see him. I literally froze in the middle of the road yesterday when I spied a Pitbull running loose near my car. If the owner hadn't caught it and put it in their car, I would have fainted and been ran over. Two cars were stopped and honking. I didn't hear them.

On a more personal level, I fear failure, and not just professionally (although I wonder sometimes if I'm going to make it). I worry I'm not the best wife, mother, daughter, paralegal. I do know I rank *5 stars* in the grandma department, but they're still young and impressionable.

If you could be someone else for the day, who would it be?

In spite of my quirkiness, I really like myself. After all these years, I can honestly admit to liking the person who stares back at me from the mirror. She's aged a bit, put on a few pounds, but has great hair. And a sense of humor. She makes me laugh when I feel like crying. It's taken me a while to get to a place where I accept myself the way I am, flaws and all.

If I truly had a fantasy 24 hours being someone else, I'd probably pick Nora Roberts or Stephenie Meyers and make sure all royalties for that day went in MY account!

And my nominations are:

Calisa Rhose
Sonya Weiss
Suzanne Lilly
Brenda Maxfield
Sandy Bruney
Lynn Lovegreen
Ruth Casie   



Thanks for stopping by and my nominees...thanks for playing along. Do stop by and visit their sites. They've all got great stories to share!  Have a great weekend.

TAGGED - "LUCKY SEVEN"

   A friend and great author, Tiffinie Helmer, has tagged me for "Lucky Seven." The rules of the game are as follows:

1. Start on the 7th line of the 77th page of your manuscript, and copy the next 7 lines to post.
2. Tag 7 other of your blogger friends to do the same.

It's a fun way to get a glimpse of an author's work, plus get to know a few of their favorite blogs to follow.  So here's my 7 lines from page 77 of Riley's Pond, my soon to be showcased young adult romance, told through the eyes of the boy who survived it.

"Funny Mom. Can't a guy get a little religion without it being national news?"

Jaxson looked up from his breakfast, visually checking off my attire. "Well, whoever she is, she's got your nuts in a vise if you're going to church."

"Jaxson!" Mom scowled. "Wouldn't hurt you to get your 'nuts' tweaked if it got you inside a chapel."

"MOM!" Jax and I cried in unison, shocked. She never called body parts by proper names, let alone slang references. In fact, if Mom had her way, we'd never know we had a penis.

She held her hands up and talked to the kitchen ceiling. "Why couldn't you have given me one girl?"

Scene set up:  Riley's new girlfriend and keeper of his lustful heart, is spending the summer with her grandmother who lives next door. Apparently, Granny, who we all know grandmother's have an instinctive seventh sense above motherhood, catches sight of a "hickey" placed very close to her granddaughter's heart, and decides "hell fire and brimstone" is what Taylor needs, not Riley, at least for twenty-four hours. Riley, on the other hand, is not about to sacrifice a day without Taylor and figures Grams won't kill him inside God's house. However, being only seventeen and on hormonal overload, he's ill-prepared for the "granny war" that attacks once "amen" is said.

Hard to tell much from seven lines, but hopefully, you get a "flavor" for the tone of the story. I love writing dialogue as a way to "color" my character's personalities, and Riley's Pond is chuck full of colorful characters. So? You're opinion? Something you'd read if you were seventeen again (or still are mentally, like me)? It's all right. You can be honest, just remember, Google-Earth will help me find you.

So, I now pass the challenge of the Lucky Seven to the following, whom I hope you'll pop over to see. They may kill me, but this is a way to say you're "IT" and let everyone get acquainted. Besides, it eases my guilty conscience somewhat for promising to do guest blogs, which I have not. Oh well, I promised my husband sex twice a day every day of his life when we got married. Ask him how that promise is working out.

  Calisa Rhose, author of Home, at www.calisarhose.wordpress.com

  Christina Wolfer, author of The Daughter, www.christinawolfer.com

  Doree Anderson, author of Waiting, who will kill me for this, but now she can use Lucky Seven as a way to tout her newest release at www.doreeanderson.com

  L.L. Muir (Lesli Muir) and yes, I have a death wish for tagging her, but she's got some great stories and this is the one I'm in the middle of right now and loving. Author of Somewhere Over the Freaking Rainbow check her out at http://llmuir.weebly.com

  P.J. Sharon, author of Savage Cinderella, her latest accolade, at http://circlepad.com/pjsharon
  Sandra Bruney, author of Plotz, and about to release The Lunch Club http://www.sandrazbruney.com

   Ruth A. Casie, author of Knight of Runes, and I'm thrilled also the soon to be released sequel www.ruthacasie.com


Also, because she so "graciously" sent Lucky Seven to me, please check out Tiffinie's website. Her newest book released today, Moosed-Up. She's also from my favorite state, Alaska and the pictures on her website are hers.

  http://tiffiniehelmer.com

Thanks for stopping by and I hope I've introduced you to some new favorite authors. If not, don't kill the messenger (many have tried and failed because...here I am). Later!