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Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Happy Happy Everyone!

With Christmas looming (and my birthday) I will be taking some time off from the blogthing until after the holidays. Which basically means more time with the kids, hubby, cats and coyotes. Yes, I said coyotes. They live outside my window and pretty much run amok every single day. I love seeing them, their winter coats are poofy and soft (at least I imagine they are) and they seem to enjoy winter more than I do.


But they also scare me. A lot. Don't they look scary?


Oh! And, yes. It does suck sharing your birthday with Christmas Eve, mostly because Christmas Eve doesn't share very well.

But after the holidays I will be back to blogging with a vengeance. I'll be working on edits and we all know what that means...I'll need some distractions.


So Merry Christmas to all (who celebrate) and a Happy New Year!


Here's a photo of our Christmas tree before Kid #2 decided to redecorate. He didn't think all those balls were necessary so he, um, got rid of them.

Monday, December 20, 2010

WOOHOO!

Just thought I'd stop in and share some fabulous news! My critique partner and fellow Apocalypsie, Susanne Winnacker, just sold her book! Again!

Here's the PM announcement:

Susanne Winnacker's THE OTHER LIFE, in which a girl leaves a sealed bunker after years in hiding, only to find Los Angeles devastated and haunted by humans infected with a mutated rabies virus; struggling to save her family, she falls for a boy-hunter who is both their saviour and greatest danger when his desire for vengeance threatens them all, to Robin Benjamin at Marshall Cavendish, for publication in Fall 2012, by Sarah Davies at the Greenhouse Literary Agency (NA).

This book is sooo intense. No really. While I was reading it I had to get up and walk around the room, just to calm down! That's a true sign of a great book, people!

YAY SUSANNE!! Can't wait for book 2! So... get back to work! No celebrating for you!

2012 is going to be a great year for books! I just know it!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Books I Can't Wait To Read Part 2

Today is my sister Lori's birthday! Happy Happy Lori!

AND!! Kid #2 turns 18 months!

18 MONTHS!! Wow. A lot can happen in 18 months. For instance Kid #2 learned to crawl, walk, talk, eat and scream in that short amount of time. And boy can he scream. In fact he practices every day. He enters each room with a scream and a smile.

It's a good thing he's cute.

So... with a bunch of holidays dotting the calendar this month I've decided to give the gift of book recommendations! Aren't you excited?!

YEAH BOOKS!

1. Matched by Ally Condie
Now I know y'all have heard about this book. I mean, who hasn't? And, yes, it's definitely worth it. All that hype. All those days of waiting. It's finally out so go get it!



2. Jane
by April Lindner
A modern remake of Jane Eyre? For real? Yes, please!
Haven't read it yet but it's on my Christmas list. And I've been good. So...




3. Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly
Another one on the list. Can't wait to read it! Love the cover!




4. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
Yes. It's totally on the list. And!! The author has blue hair!
Tangent alert: Once when I was at the mall with Kid #1 she turned to me and said, "Mom, that girl has blue hair." And I said, "yes, she does."
Then Kid #1 said, "but why does she have blue hair?" And I said, "because she likes blue hair." And Kid #1 said, "okay." And that was that. But secretly I wanted to say, "because blue hair is cool."
(It wasn't Stephanie Perkins BTW)

And now I must go and eat cake, because that's what you do when someone you know turns a new number.

OH! And go check out the new look over at the Apocalypsies blog!

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Free Books!

Hey everyone!

Just stopping in to send you this fabulous link to my amazing critique partner's blog. Oh. And she's also a fellow Apocalypsie. She's giving away free books!!! Nothing better than that, right?

So hop on over!

Did I mention free books?

Yes?

Oh good.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

What I Want For Christmas

When I was ten I wanted a Cabbage Patch Kid. And I asked Santa for it. Over and over again. I sat on more than my share of Santa laps that year. I was determined to get that doll.

And thanks to my sister, I got it. *waves at Lori*

Or was it Santa? Hmm.

Since that magical Christmas I haven't asked for much, just some clothes here or there or a pair of super cool boots. (One can never have too many super cool boots)
And then a few years ago when friends and family asked, "What would you like for Christmas?" there was only one thing I wanted.


Well Christmas came a bit early for me this year.

I still have to remind myself that it's true, someone really does want to publish my book.
My husband also has to remind me. Whenever I find myself drooling over other author's success stories he patiently waits for me to finish and then he hits me over the head with something slightly heavy (he doesn't want me to get a headache or anything) and says, "You do realize you got a book deal, right?"

So what do I want this year?

Faith.

Does anyone know of a store that carries that?

Cause now that my dream is no longer of the pipe variety I've lost a bit of faith. Faith in myself, faith in my writing. Faith faith faith. I am without it.

I've been avoiding my WIP like it's contagious. I find every other word I type is either ridiculously cliche or spelled wrong. My dictionary widget is so tired it takes a second or two to appear on my screen. I know it's also wondering how I got a book deal.

And my revisions haven't even arrived yet!!

Perhaps I need to visit Santa again.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Book Review!

Hello!

I'm not sure if you've looked out your window lately but it's December! And with December comes snow (sometimes) and a few holidays, but most importantly...my birthday!! Yippee!!


So I just finished reading the most amazing book. Yep. You guessed it. The Space Between Trees by Katie Williams. And I'm still thinking about it.

I don't know anything at all about the author but she's pretty much got us all figured out. Her MC's observations are so sincere and real that I have to keep reminding myself that she is a character in a book. She doesn't exist. I can't run over to her house and give her a hug or invite her over for a slumber party.

In the beginning she kinda freaked me out. She's friendless and lonely and I was nervous she would break my heart. I worried her new friends would ruin her or change her. But she has this inner strength that made me realize she doesn't need anybody.
She just thinks she does.
And I can't get over the cover. I have to admit the cover alone would have called to me in the bookstore.
It's that cool.
So run on out and pick up this book, or order it, or download it. Just do whatever you do to get the words in front of you. NOW!
Seriously. I have to say I wish I wrote like Katie Williams. Or at the very least I wish I thought like her.

And stay tuned for the next book review! I've been waiting for this book to come out for like forever, although it feels like a lot longer than that.
So off I go to read Matched by Ally Condie.

It's gonna be good. I can feel it!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

A Room With A View

Hello all. It is a rainy and blustery day here on the East Coast. So blustery in fact that it sounds like a dozen angry monsters are trying to get inside my house and when we pretend they aren't there they shake the windows and the doors.

But don't tell my daughter. She thinks it's the wind.

And the power keeps threatening to go out. Not so sure I'm cool with the whole power outage thing. I mean right now it's a mild 50ish degrees outside but come sundown that will be a changing.

no power + sundown + angry monster wind outside = no sleep for Shari

A good day to write? Yeah, probably.

Right after my daughter and I sit down and update the Santa letter. You see, some things have popped up on her radar lately while other things that were desirable a few weeks ago are no longer, well, desirable.

So...a new Santa letter must be written.

And in case you all were wondering, it will go something like this:

Rapunzel baby doll
Rapunzel barbie-sized doll (easier to hold when playing with the Rapunzel tower)
Rapunzel tower
Rapunzel guy (Flynn)
Rapunzel horse

Yep. You guessed it. We saw Tangled last week.

At this point if they advertised Rapunzel food we'd be adding that to the grocery list. And Kid One would be eating it at every meal.

Sigh.

So recently my husband, who has spent many many dollars on photography equipment, discovered a new iPhone app that turns your crappy iPhone photos into not so crappy retro looking photos. And he's hooked. No longer is he carrying around interchangeable lenses and heavy camera bodies. Nope. Just an iPhone.

I thought I would share a few.

This is the view from my writing desk:





<-Summer Fall ->









And yes. My view sure does help when I'm stuck inside my head and I really need to think a scene through before I attempt to type it.
Sometimes I turn some music on and while Kid One and Kid Two dance around I stare out the window and tell myself a story.

Take that writer's block.

But today when I look outside all I see are raindrops and, you guessed it, angry monster wind.