Awards and Announcements

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

There are a ton of things happening lately, plus I've received a bundle of awards. So, please bear with me while I share all this amazing information with you. I'll start with announcements.

As you can see a little to the north, I already have a book cover for my adult contemporary romance story, The Trouble With Tomboys, which will be published by the glorious Wild Rose Press! WOW. It's surreal to actually see the faces of my characters. My editing process seems to be going at warp speed, so I have a feeling I'll be able to share a release date for this book with you in only a few months...if not sooner!

For my YA Romance, The Stillburrow Crush, I have a WIDGET up (as you can see to the LEFT there), showing the countdown to the release of my first book...right down to the very second. There's another big WOW in my writing journey. Oh, and feel free to share the widget with whomever you like!

The cover of The Stillburrow Crush was shown on The Story Siren's blog. I'll be giving away free goodies there after the new year. Plus, I'll be donating a copy of my book to The Princess Bookie Blog, for their "Around the World 2010 Debut Author Challenge." You might want to check that out.

Then...I've got a blog interview in the works for the end of February, plus I'll be interviewing the amazing romantic suspense author, Nancy J. Parra, at the beginning of February.


In other people's news, My wonderful critique partner, Claire Ashgrove, had her second book (ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS...IS BIG BLUE EYES) released last week from The Wild Rose Press. Big round of applause for her.

Then, Heather Snow--from my writing group--recently started her own blog called Heather's Historical Hodgepodge. I'm already an avid fan there. She posts every Tuesday, if you're curious.

And the biggie: Tess Hilmo, a blogger buddy of mine, just announced she sold her first book, With A Name Like Love, to Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Did you hear that??? Farrar, Straus & Giroux!!! I'm so in awe.


Now for the awards.

Loyal Friend Award


I received the "Loyal Friend" Award from Robyn, over at Putting Pen to Paper. Thank you so much, Robyn! You're the sweetest!

Who Loves you Award


Then, or maybe it was before that, I received the "Who Loves You" Award from Laura Gerold, over at Laura's Reviews.

Super Comments Award


And both Laura and Robyn bestowed "The Super Comments" Award on me sometime during all that. Thank you, thank you, guys. You're truly TOO good to me.


And finally, Tricia J. O'Brien at her blog, Tailspinning passed the "Honest Scrap" Award to me at the end of November. For this award, you're supposed to tell five to ten "honest" things about yourself and then pass the award along to five to ten other bloggers for them to do the same.

I think I'm already taking up too much time and space here, so I'll do all the award passing along later (probably after the new year) and share some "honest" things about myself then!

So...Until Thursday. See you guys later!

Christmas Jokes

Monday, December 7, 2009
Time to celebrate Christmas (I can't believe it's only 18 days away). I'm starting off my season with a couple of corny jokes.

Why does Santa have 3 gardens?
So he can hoe, hoe, hoe…


What Christmas Carol is a favorite of parents?
Silent Night…


What do snowmen eat for breakfast?
Frosted Flakes...


Knock Knock
Who's there ?
Donut
Donut who ?
Donut open till Christmas…

What do you get if Santa goes down the chimney when a fire is lit?
Crisp Cringle...


How do sheep in Mexico say Merry Christmas?
Fleece Navidad...


What do you call people who are afraid of Santa Claus?
Claustrophobic...


What does a cat on the beach have in common with Christmas?
Sandy Claws...


Why was Santa's little helper depressed?
He had low elf-esteem...


What did the bald man say when he got a comb for Christmas ?
Thanks, I'll never part with it…

How long does it take to burn a Christmas candle down ?
About a wick…

Why are Christmas trees like bad knitters ?
They both drop their needles…

Knock Knock

Who's there?
Rudolph
Rudolph who?
Money is the Rudolph of all evil…

11 Weeks to GO

Thursday, December 3, 2009
It seemed like only yesterday I was thinking, "I'm almost eleven weeks along. Can't wait until I'm eleven weeks pregnant," and now there's only eleven weeks left. Wow. It's so close, yet so far away, I think the anticipation might kill me. Even the hubby is getting curious about our little one. The other day he mused, "Think she'll be blond [like him] or brunette [like me]?" The question made me all warm and bubbly inside, glad he's as excited as I am.

I've entered my third and final trimester and I've finally started a journal-type thing for the baby, even titled it "Letters to Lydia." One of my great blogger buddies...I think it was Tamika maybe...made the suggestion to write letters to her, so I've been doing that for a month now. I had no idea writing a few letters could be such an emotional experience. But sometimes I get weepy-eyed just telling her how much I already love her and sharing current experiences in my life (yes, the hormones are definitely working!).

On the statistics side of things, I had another sonogram last week. She is a whopping two pounds and six ounces with a 145 heartbeat (which is perfect). Her current home measured 26 centimeters, which is pretty much on target, and I only gained one pound in three weeks!!! Of course, I had this doctor's visit the DAY before Thanksgiving, so who knows how much I put on since then. Sigh. If you can't tell, I was worried I was going to gain as much this month as I did last month. It's nice to learn I was wrong.

I've provided pictures of both me and Lydia for you to see. Too bad mine's a bit blurry (hee hee). The little princess was too busy wiggling around to stay still a second and pose for her shot, so they didn't come out too well either. This one is a side profile of her face with her head at the left side and her staring up. Her hand is up by her mouth (ironically enough, her feet were up in that area too). In the second shot, I circled her head in yellow and her arm in red--maybe that'll help you see her better. The doctor showed us her mouth, nose, and eyelashes (there was no cleft above her lip either, yay!) and he kept saying, "She has a pretty little face," which I totally appreciated.

She's currently breech, but she has eleven weeks to flip in the right position before she's born. But other than that, all is well, and I'm happy and satisfied!