After some googling, I found this link. At first I thought the guy who wrote it was trying very hard to sound like a crazy person. But he's not! (Or I got the wool pulled over my eyes.) It just blows my mind that there are people out there who not only think like this, but put it on the internet! [It's about Harry Potter breaking the 10 Commandments.]
I want to laugh, but I'm too stunned.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Waiting for babies and book news
Just to clarify, when I sent off my manuscript to NYC, I was not pregnant. Now, I am fat and the baby kicks and could nearly survive outside (with the aid of plastics)! So is it weird, or funny, or just plain normal for a human being to be created and developed before hearing from a publisher?
Don't get me wrong: I am not annoyed or angry with the editor. In fact, each morning I hope he'll call! I am just dying to know if my book is "worthy" or not. And I'm afraid that if I don't get a call before I see him in person next month, I'll end up getting sorely disappointed in person. And I'd rather find out any bad news while I'm at home, away from public eyes and ears.
Don't get me wrong: I am not annoyed or angry with the editor. In fact, each morning I hope he'll call! I am just dying to know if my book is "worthy" or not. And I'm afraid that if I don't get a call before I see him in person next month, I'll end up getting sorely disappointed in person. And I'd rather find out any bad news while I'm at home, away from public eyes and ears.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Trip to England--Part Two
I haven't downloaded all the pics yet, so you'll just have to deal with what you get! :-)
The first thing we did in England was check out the playground, naturally:
Then we walked around the RAF base and saw the famous Priory, which is reportedly haunted. (Aren't all old English buildings?) We would have eaten dinner there, but we couldn't find a babysitter and the Brits aren't as easy-going about bringing kids into nice restaurants--not that we wanted to try that!
Next to the Priory was a dumpster with an old tricycle next to it, which Elizabeth saw instantly. We "borrowed" it for the whole time we were there and then dropped it off at the dumpster on our way out. (She wasn't happy about that, and in fact, this morning the first thing she said was, "I want bicacle."
Next, we went to a safari park in which you drive through the exhibits. And yes, that is a monkey, and it's sitting on the moonroof of our car.
And at the same safari park, we got a little bit closer to some tiny monkeys:
Now, the rest of the pics are on another card which will take eons to download as Jim was a bit trigger-happy with his new camera. (We must have thousands of pics on it!)
And for those interested: we are having a boy. :-) I'm very happy to be having one of each, but now I'll have to search out for a new name. "Penelope" just won't do now, will it?
The first thing we did in England was check out the playground, naturally:
Then we walked around the RAF base and saw the famous Priory, which is reportedly haunted. (Aren't all old English buildings?) We would have eaten dinner there, but we couldn't find a babysitter and the Brits aren't as easy-going about bringing kids into nice restaurants--not that we wanted to try that!
Next to the Priory was a dumpster with an old tricycle next to it, which Elizabeth saw instantly. We "borrowed" it for the whole time we were there and then dropped it off at the dumpster on our way out. (She wasn't happy about that, and in fact, this morning the first thing she said was, "I want bicacle."
Next, we went to a safari park in which you drive through the exhibits. And yes, that is a monkey, and it's sitting on the moonroof of our car.
And at the same safari park, we got a little bit closer to some tiny monkeys:
Now, the rest of the pics are on another card which will take eons to download as Jim was a bit trigger-happy with his new camera. (We must have thousands of pics on it!)
And for those interested: we are having a boy. :-) I'm very happy to be having one of each, but now I'll have to search out for a new name. "Penelope" just won't do now, will it?
Monday, June 30, 2008
Trip to England--Part One
It was a windy night when we got ready to fly to England via Germany. Here's Elizabeth, preparing for lift off.
After an hour or so of flying, she finally nodded off. We were on a C-17 cargo plane, sitting on canvas jump-seats. In a way, it was nicer than flying commercial b/c no one minded her crying--they couldn't hear it over the plane itself!
It got very cold, so we tucked her in and then laid several blankets on the metal floor so that we could take a nap.
Jim woke me up by putting Elizabeth on my lap. I was soooo tired! (And shivering.)
We arrived in Germany on Sunday morning, and Elizabeth promptly found a clover patch of flowers.
We tried to go off base and "see Germany," but we happened to be in the country, and there wasn't anything near the base at all, except cows and corn. We did walk off, but there weren't any sidewalks and the stroller was in the path of too many fast cars, so we reluctantly turned back and had to eat at the German restaurant on base. (I think we were the only non-Germans in there b/c we got stared at quite a bit.) Jim got a good beer, which I tasted. Yum!
Monday afternoon we caught the flight to Mildenhall, England. It was only an hour, and Elizabeth slept the whole way. My friend picked us up and on the way to her house I tried to shake off the jet-lag and open my eyes wide to the passing scenery, which was hard since it passed by so quickly. After getting acquainted with her cat, we settled down and prepared for our real trip, England.
I'll post those pictures tomorrow. Which, by the way, is also the day we find out what the baby's gender is.
After an hour or so of flying, she finally nodded off. We were on a C-17 cargo plane, sitting on canvas jump-seats. In a way, it was nicer than flying commercial b/c no one minded her crying--they couldn't hear it over the plane itself!
It got very cold, so we tucked her in and then laid several blankets on the metal floor so that we could take a nap.
Jim woke me up by putting Elizabeth on my lap. I was soooo tired! (And shivering.)
We arrived in Germany on Sunday morning, and Elizabeth promptly found a clover patch of flowers.
We tried to go off base and "see Germany," but we happened to be in the country, and there wasn't anything near the base at all, except cows and corn. We did walk off, but there weren't any sidewalks and the stroller was in the path of too many fast cars, so we reluctantly turned back and had to eat at the German restaurant on base. (I think we were the only non-Germans in there b/c we got stared at quite a bit.) Jim got a good beer, which I tasted. Yum!
Monday afternoon we caught the flight to Mildenhall, England. It was only an hour, and Elizabeth slept the whole way. My friend picked us up and on the way to her house I tried to shake off the jet-lag and open my eyes wide to the passing scenery, which was hard since it passed by so quickly. After getting acquainted with her cat, we settled down and prepared for our real trip, England.
I'll post those pictures tomorrow. Which, by the way, is also the day we find out what the baby's gender is.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
England
I'll write more later, but Jim, Elizabeth,and I finally arrived a few nights ago, via Germany. We took a military hop--it took us three days of travel to get here, but the flights were free. :) Now we're staying with a friend of mine and getting to know the region she lives in. Taking lots of pictures... so when we get back to Maryland, whenever that may be, I'll post everything and show you what we did!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Starting over--with a disaster!
It's a good thing. No, really. The past several weeks I've been sinking lower and lower, wondering if I could still write anything that wasn't wholly bad. Not only could I not get myself to sit down and write, I couldn't even think past the first chapter while I was housecleaning (which is when I do an awful large percentage of my plot-planning).
But Emily saved me. Or, rather, L.M. Montgomery did. Reading the Emily books brought me back to myself and what I always believed I could achieve. Emily writes a lot, and I wasn't writing anything, so I felt just a bit ashamed. When I finished the third book yesterday (I could not put it down), I could feel my new story growing beneath my consciousness. It was a wonderful feeling. Not quite the "flash" that Emily gets (I don't think I've ever had one of those), but a faint scent of something brewing in my soul, something that I could write out, something I could make live.
So after I dropped Elizabeth off at her once-weekly day-care, I sauntered into the library. First, I browsed the kid's section, as always. The librarian there was happy to see me because the poster is out about my teen writing workshop I'm doing in August. (More info--and a picture--on that later.) It was just so cool to see my name on a huge poster calling on teens to submit their stories and sign up for the class. I think, perhaps, it just helped a bit because after that I sat down in the much-quieter adult section at a desk that faced outside. And I wrote. But more than that, I jumped in. Any of you who write know what that means. I found the voice, I found the beginning, I found out who Ali is and what he wants and what he accidentally does (that's the "disaster"). Suddenly, I was a writer again and I was seeing, in my mind and soul, a story that is true.
Now the challenge is to write it out, so wish me luck and perseverance.
But Emily saved me. Or, rather, L.M. Montgomery did. Reading the Emily books brought me back to myself and what I always believed I could achieve. Emily writes a lot, and I wasn't writing anything, so I felt just a bit ashamed. When I finished the third book yesterday (I could not put it down), I could feel my new story growing beneath my consciousness. It was a wonderful feeling. Not quite the "flash" that Emily gets (I don't think I've ever had one of those), but a faint scent of something brewing in my soul, something that I could write out, something I could make live.
So after I dropped Elizabeth off at her once-weekly day-care, I sauntered into the library. First, I browsed the kid's section, as always. The librarian there was happy to see me because the poster is out about my teen writing workshop I'm doing in August. (More info--and a picture--on that later.) It was just so cool to see my name on a huge poster calling on teens to submit their stories and sign up for the class. I think, perhaps, it just helped a bit because after that I sat down in the much-quieter adult section at a desk that faced outside. And I wrote. But more than that, I jumped in. Any of you who write know what that means. I found the voice, I found the beginning, I found out who Ali is and what he wants and what he accidentally does (that's the "disaster"). Suddenly, I was a writer again and I was seeing, in my mind and soul, a story that is true.
Now the challenge is to write it out, so wish me luck and perseverance.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
my name
Hmm, only 3 is good. I wonder if the others pronounce the surname the same. It rhymes with "dough."
If I hadn't given up my maiden name, though, I'd be sharing it with 135 other people!
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