Tag Archives: Books

On the horizon

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There’s a long list of exciting things on the horizon. We’re buying the cottage for our country property and I’m waiting for the proof of Ruins of North Texas to arrive.

I have some cool stuff in the works to include giveaways (squeee!), cookies – yes, I said cookies – and more books to publish. And in the midst of all that, there’s regular life.

We painted the living room this weekend:

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It’s a very lovely green and brightens the space. We find ourselves commenting on our mutual love of the new green shade and now we have two other rooms to paint. But, as with everything we do, the painting went off without a hitch and without a fight, and we laughed the entire time.

Tonight was also Open House for the Minty Ninja. I had two realizations: 1) The ninja is much taller than most of her peers, and 2) I’m one of those young, hot mamas, relatively speaking. We live in a small town, but wow most of the parental units are older than I am. I’m used to being the median age for elementary kids’ parents, but in the new school, that doesn’t seem the case. Not that I’m complaining.

There’s the usual: friends coming and going, work drama and successes, family in town – we seem to be inundated with all of our soldiers lately, which is pretty great – and a music festival this weekend.

Life is great.

Words for Chocolate: A Valentine’s Tale

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So I posted a bit about this on my Book of Faces page, but I have to tell the full story here of my little one and her love of books – because you need to hear this story. And because it makes a Mama Writer’s heart proud.

I recently turned 31 (yay me!) and my sweet grandmother sneaked a Target gift card into my birthday card. She’s a sneaky sweet old lady. So anyway, Mike was out of town last night and, me being my irresponsible self, I hadn’t eaten any lunch and had no plans for dinner. And then I was struck with an idea!

I picked the Minty Ninja up from school and we went home for a bit so I could get some work done before going out for a very early dinner to one of her favorite places to eat:

After [early] dinner at Chili’s, I asked MN if she’d like to accompany me across the street to go shopping. Of course she’s always down for shopping, especially when we go to Target. “I love Target!”

Ha! No, that’s not me. I’m neither that svelte nor that posh when discount store shopping. Anyway, I went to go blow my b-day money on fun stuff. I got earrings and sparkle bracelets for our German Sparkle/Mardi Gras/Chinese New Year/Laser Party party this weekend.

I also found this:

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That’s right! It’s a pink (!!!) clutch with Brainy Babe glasses on it, reminiscent of my publishing logo:

Brainy Babe Micro Pub Logo copy

Yay! Total win. But I digress.

So while at Target, I decide to stop by the book section (surprise). I picked up Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger and I’ll have a review of it up soon on my GoodReads page, but while walking around, MN found a display for the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books.

I think a chorus of angels sings in my daughter’s head the second she sees one of these books. I mean, seriously. She becomes entranced by the mere sight of them; stops dead in her tracks and practically starts salivating. So we started talking about them and she tells me all about the volumes she’s read – about 3 of the 7 – and then she tells me which ones she owns a copy of. Of course I already know this since I’m the one who bought them for her, but I’m not going to squelch book excitement for anything.

In the course of our discussion, we determine that she neither owns nor has read the third book in the series Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw.

The Last Straw (Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Book 3)

If there’s one thing I can’t resist, it’s indulging my kiddo’s love of reading. And, well, they’re all of $10 (oh, I’m sorry, $9.99) each so I looked at her and asked, “Do you want this for an early Valentine’s Day gift instead of candy?” I was going to spend at least that – if not more – on chocolates I was just going to eat half of anyway.

“Oh yes!” She says and jumps on me to give me a hug. “I can have candy any time. I love these books!”

Then she started talking about making a shelf in the library dedicated to her copies of the Wimpy Kid books, and I told her that we certainly have room and she should do it. She carried the book through the store and lovingly laid it on the conveyor belt at checkout. Once it was in the bag – along with my b-day swag – she picked it up so we’d be sure to get it, and she even started reading it when we were in the car.

I don’t know what it is about these books that she loves so much, and I know she’s not the only kid who’s mad for them, but they’re like literary catnip for her. There will be plenty of times to come during which she’ll be forced to read Dickens and Melville and Willa Cather and the other snooze-worthy classics. Why not give her that angelic chorus now? Or, you know, trumpets:

Short Story Anthology

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I’m going to pull my short stories, flash fiction, and some poetry into an anthology, but I have space for more stories. So, I turn to you, Online Audience of Awesomeness.

Here’s what I need from you:

1) A story prompt, title, or idea. This can be:

  • An object you want me to include in the story (the odder, the better…like a possessed toothbrush or something)
  • A place
  • A list of things you want included (see the goldfish post for an example)
  • A title
  • A character idea
  • Anything else!

2) That’s it!

Oh, and let me know how you’d like to be credited with the prompt idea. If I use your submission, I’ll include your name in the acknowledgements.

 

Craptastic Paranormal Romance

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I was at Half Price Books today, shopping for my kiddo–she devours books, but only the slightly silly kind. Anyway, the YA books–yes, she’s seven and is reading YA–were adjacent to the Teen section, which (surprise, surprise) was adjacent to the paranormal romance section.

This, in turn, reminded me of a conversation that Mike and I had recently. He recommended that I pick up a volume from a specific paranormal romance author (no, not Stephenie Meyer). He told me straight off that I’d hate it, but since Wake of Darkness fits into that category, I should be aware of the other writers in the genre. He’s right, I know.

First I walked down the fiction aisles, hoping beyond hope that her books would be there.

No dice.

I wandered back over to the romance section, and there they were: Book after book of trashy vampire porn.

Yeah, I couldn’t bring myself to buy one.