Confident or Delusional writer?

The Swivet had a link from Nathan Bransford's blog to J. A. Konrath's fantastic post about confident and delusional writers.

Into which category do you fall? =D

Write on.

Good News!

I've been wanting to share this news since I found out about it in November . . . and now I finally can!

This news is about the first (and maybe last) picture book I wrote.

What news? Go here to find out. =D

Can you believe it?!

Write on.

Contest

Carrie Ryan is having a contest and giving away copies of her book. Hurry on over and enter!

Carrie's contest!

 

Write on.

Novel Novel Review

It's that time again. Here's a quick reminder of my rating system

A+--I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend this book. In most cases, I passed it on to my teen.

A--I enjoyed this book and I might pass it on to my teen.

B--I liked this book, but probably won't pass it on to my teen.

C--I thought it was okay, but I won't pass it on to my teen.

D--I didn't like this book, and won't allow my teen to read it.

F--I hope I never have to go here. =D

I will give reasons for my rating in my review, but if you have any questions, please feel free to ask. If you find your book here, don't panic if I rate it below an A. These are my personal preferences and I'm only one small person in a large market. =D

Okay, now here we go.

In anticipation of reviewing the sequel, I chose an older release for my third review. In this case, I did not pass it on to my teen . . . he passed it on to me!

TUNNELS by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams

Rating: A

Age level: 12+

Like his father, fourteen-year-old Will Burrows has an obsession with archeological digs. When his father disappears, Will is determined to find him. With the help of his best friend, Chester, Will discovers a network of tunnels under modern-day London. As they follow the tunnels deeper and deeper into the earth, they discover a dark underworld. But the inhabitants don't want them there.

Will never dreamed his digging would unearth dark family secrets . . . secrets that should have remained buried.

I enjoyed reading Tunnels. The dark caverns of this book were filled with twists and turns that took me deeper and deeper into the story. I found myself completely submerged in the underground world and the lives of the characters.

It was a little slow going at first, and there were a few rough spots to get through, but this is to be expected when tunneling to avoid collapse later on. Once the story broke through into the underground it was fast paced and exciting with surprises around every turn. I am looking forward to the sequel so I can go "Deeper".

Write on.

Almost over

I'm so glad this week is almost over. I had a daughter (D2)with a broken finger, a daughter who had chest pain (D1) and had to go to the ER, and a son who has been sick the entire week (S2).

D2 is doing well, though she still has bouts of pain from her broken finger. D1 is fine . . . only some chest wall pain (but she's had open heart surgery so we have to get these things checked out). S2 has antibiotics to help him get rid of his bronchial/tonsillitis garbage.

So, I'm hoping next week will be better. I haven't been able to get any work/writing done. What have I been doing with my time (when I'm not waiting on kids)? Visiting blogs/replying to email/ but mostly, I've been reading. I should have some reviews posted soon. =)

 

Write on

D2 Update

We went to the doctor and he promptly sent us to the orthopedic surgeon who got us in right away. She looked at D2's x-rays and declared she did have a break along the growth plate and up into the bone. It's called a Salter-Harris fracture and it's at least a type two and possibly a three (the digital x-rays weren't very good).

She declared D2 WON'T have to have any surgery! YAY! Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

She re-splinted D2's finger and put it in a half-cast. We go back to the orthopedic surgeon in three weeks for a follow-up and they will x-ray her finger again to see how it is doing. She's in quite a bit of pain this morning and I'm not sure if she'll make it through school.

I'm going to give her some Children's Motrin after she eats some breakfast and we'll see how the day goes. And now S2 (son 2) is feeling lousy; coughing and he had a slight fever last night. So he'll probably be staying home today . . . which means I won't get any work done. *sigh*

 

Write on.

Weekend woes

This weekend we traveled to a family birthday party. Unfortunately, only three of our family members actually attended the festivities. Hubby, D2, and I ended up in the Urgent Care facility.

As Mr. Monk would say, "Here's what happened."

We were the first to arrive at the party. The kids were playing as the aunts, uncles, and cousins began to arrive. D2 fell and caught her pinky finger of her right hand in the hide-a-bed couch. She came to me with her finger at an awkward angle. I told her to have daddy (he's an EMT) look at it and he agreed with me that it was likely dislocated.

We decided to leave our other three children at the party with my mother and drive D2 up to the Urgent Care facility about 30 minutes away. Upon arrival, we waited for an hour before being seen (they were busy with lots of ski accidents). They took x-rays with their digital machine

and diagnosed her with a fracture (I think the doctor called it a Salter Fracture) of the lower knuckle on her pinky finger. Then the doctor said it was into the growth plate and would likely require surgery to repair. They splinted her finger to stabilize it

and sent us on our way with instructions to follow up with our local doctor (D2 has an appointment at 3:00 this afternoon . . . thank goodness our doctor is working today) and possibly make arrangements with a pediatric orthopedic surgeon.

We are hoping they won't have to do surgery (though that doctor thought it was inevitable).

So we missed the party, we're stressed out, and our plans for today are a bust. D2 is feeling okay and is managing pain with Motrin. She's nervous and concerned about the surgery possibility (doctor didn't know she understood what surgery meant so she freaked out when he said it), but over all, she's doing fine. I'm amazed because when I dislocated my finger, it HURT! But she's not complaining and hasn't had any Motrin since last night.

She did sleep in our bed last night so we didn't get much sleep, but it was a small price to pay for her to be able to relax and sleep.

So those are our weekend woes. How has your three day weekend been?

Write on.