Posted by: Author | September 17, 2010

Friday Facts- September 17, 2010-Daughters of the American Revolution

In honor of the fact that today- September 17th- is Constitution Day and the fact that I am at a DAR conference in Orlando, I dedicate this week’s episode of Friday Facts to an organization that is near and dear to my heart. Of course, those of you who have had the privilege of hearing me rant about the latest job they’ve conned me into doing would be right if you were incredulous at the aforesaid statement.  But, it is true. I love what the DAR stands for and all the good it does. Not so much in love with some of the rigid women that belong to the group, but it takes all kinds to make a world.  Right?

Anyway, The Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in October, 1890 by Eugenia Washington, Mary Desha, Mary Lockwood and Ellen Hardin Walworth.  The Society was founded to foster patriotism. The requirements to join are to  be able to trace lineage to someone who offered aid or assistance to the cause of American Independence. That’s it. That’s the only criterion.

The organization does many wonderful things. It even sponsors six schools for children.  One that’s special to me is Kate Duncan Smith DAR School in Grant, Alabama. It makes a huge difference to a very rural area of the state.  I was the National liaison for the school for three years. The kids are great- they are all so grateful to the ladies of the DAR and they are a joy to be around. I am now on the finance board but they have meetings on Wednesdays and a five hour drive one way on  my lunch hour isn’t quite feasible.

DAR offers scholarships to college students as well as to members that want to continue their educations. We sponsor essay contests, food drives, send supplies to Veterans hospitals, send movies, phone cards and socks to the base in Germany where wounded soldiers are sent and a plethora of other things. Check out the DAR website if you’re interested in all the other things we sponsor and do in t he furtherence of patriotism.

This is a grand organization to belong to and I bet those four women from almost 120 years ago had no idea that what they created would take off and be so successful. I bet they’d  be proud.

Go out and celebrate today that we have one of the best countries on Earth to live in and they we have such a wonderful Constitution.

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Posted by: Author | September 16, 2010

On Anniversarys and Non-Romantic Dads

September 15, 1958, my parents married in Florence, Alabama.  My dad’s family was quiet, sedate and intellectual. My mom’s family was rowdy, boisterous and fun  loving. It was always an experience to visit the two sides and compare them. I’m lucky to have a mix of both. My parents are complete opposites. Complete.

When I called them to wish them a happy 52nd anniversary, my mother giggled and told me that my dad brought her breakfast in bed. Now, let me tell you, I’ve known my dad my whole life (yep, I have) and he is so not the breakfast in bed type. WAY off there. So, of course I said to my mom, “he did not.” I had to say it like three times before she confessed the truth. 

Here is the real story:

My mom was in bed and smelled bacon cooking. She got up and staggered to the couch in the den/kitchen combination room and laid down. When dad got done cooking the eggs, etc., he asked if she wanted to sit up and eat some.  She said yes and he handed her a plate.

Now THAT I can believe. He gets up at 5 am, she gets up at 8 am- He was hungry and cooked and offered her some when she dragged herself up! 

Can’t fool me.  I did inherit some intelligence.

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Posted by: Author | September 15, 2010

Wordless Wednesday

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Posted by: Author | September 13, 2010

Update on the Revisions

I am up to Chapter Nine on the historical novel in making revisions. I’m adding more descriptors and making it more historical- I was afraid on the first drafts to make it too history oriented but it seems I may have been too trusting of the reader’s knowledge of the time period. So, I’m adding more detail of 1920. 

I haven’t gotten the characters off the ship yet on the revisions but when I do, I’ll add more description of the NY Harbor of the era. I’ll talk more about the Statue of Liberty and  how the heroine sees the wharf and surrounding city.  I also plan more detail on her trip to Chicago and how that city looked at the time.  I had thought this might be boring for the reader, but it seems the editor that asked for the revisions wants that info in there. And I’m happy to do it. I love the era and have a ton of knowledge in the ole bean about it.  Just hope I’m not going overboard the other way now!  Dilemmas!

Chicago, circa 1920

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Posted by: Author | September 11, 2010

Feeling a Bit Relieved

I keep thinking the acquisitions editor at Siren Book Strand is going to call me or email me and tell me that they made a mistake in offering to publish Solo Honeymoon.  I know, I know, my para is a little noid. But you know, it’s hard to take in that someone besides family and friends thinks your story could be a saleable commodity.

I’m relieved to let you all know that on Friday, September 10, I got an invite to join the yahoo group for Siren Book Strand authors. So, I must be in, right? No mistake? Right?

To tide you over til January, 2011 when my book comes out, here is the site- pick out a story or two to make the time pass faster! http://sirenbookstrand.com/

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Posted by: Author | September 11, 2010

Puns

My friend sent me these puns – I  have heard some of them before but I thought I’d share them here. I’m a word hound and some of these are hysterical.  Sorry I can’t credit them but I don’t know where they came from before the email.

1. The fattest knight at King Arthur’s round table was Sir Cumference.  He acquired his size from too much pi.

2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to
be an optical Aleutian .

 3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.

 4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class, because it was a
weapon of math disruption.

5. No matter how much you push the envelope, it’ll still be stationery.

6. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.

7. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum
Blownapart.

8. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.

9. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into
it.

10. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

11. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

12. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the
other: ‘You stay here; I’ll go on a head.’

13. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.

14.  A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: ‘Keep off the Grass.’

15.  The midget fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at
large.

16.  The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.

17.  A backward poet writes inverse.

18.  In a democracy it’s your vote that counts. In feudalism it’s your count that votes.

19.  When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.

20.  If you jumped off the bridge in Paris, you’d be in Seine .

21.  A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at him and says, ‘I’m sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per
passenger. (THIS ONE IS MY PERSONAL FAVORITE)

22.  Two fish swim into a concrete wall.  One turns to the other and says
‘Dam!’

23.  Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the
craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can’t have your
kayak and heat it too.

24.  Two hydrogen atoms meet.  One says, ‘I’ve lost my electron.’ The other
says ‘Are you sure?’ The first replies, ‘Yes, I’m positive.’

 25.  Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root  canal? His goal: transcend dental medication.

26.  There was the person who sent ten puns to friends, with the hope that at
least one of the puns would make them laugh.  No pun in ten did.

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Posted by: Author | September 10, 2010

Friday Facts- September 10, 2010- Seances

I’m not an expert by any means about seances. Not at all. But this is Friday Facts and I’m editing my historical novel that is set in 1920.  If you didn’t know, seances were all the rage in the late 1800s and early 1900s. There were mediums all over England and other countries. There was a huge effort to communicate with the dead. Houdini partook in this activity and promised his wife that he’d try to contact her after his death. They even had a code set up so no false mediun could scam them. As far as I can tell from my research,  he was never successful in sending a message to his wife.

One of my favorite writers, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was also a fan of the seance. He was a very popular writer in his time, writing books, selling stories in serial form to The Strand magazine, and of course we all know of his famous consulting detective, Sherlock Holmes.  Sir Arthur had many seances at his home due to his fascination with the after life. 

It was a popular way to entertain in those days. There were even demonstrations in large theatres. It’s a fascinating subject and I think it would be cool to integrate a seance or two into your writing. I know I have one in Redemption for the Devil and it plays a role in the heroine realizing she loves the hero. So, research this phenomenon yourself and use it in a story sometime. Lots of potential in such a plot point.

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Posted by: Author | September 9, 2010

Plugging Away

I’m working on edits for the historical called Redemption for the Devil on which I have a re-write request from an editor. It is slow going but manageable. Have edited three chapters as of last night and have added 3500 words.  I have twelve more chapters to go.  Taking it slow and doing one a night-

Woke up with an awesome idea for a story but no time to write it and the other dilemma is I can’t decide if the character I “saw” is a man or a woman. Time for the subconscious to work on that one a bit more.

To continue the celebration that I have a book coming out from Siren-BookStrand in January, here are two pictures my sister took in Italy of some yummy grapes from a vineyard.  A vineyard plays a pivotal role in Solo Honeymoon.

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Posted by: Author | September 8, 2010

Wordless Wednesday

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Posted by: Author | September 5, 2010

Aura Color

Learned something new last night at the Ghost Hunt at Pensacola NAS lighthouse.  This was my third time to go to these haunted expeditions. I usually get a feeling of nausea in the first basement and smell cigar smoke.  This time, the nausea started on the front porch- right after I went in to the ladies room and came back out.  The nausea lasted until we went upstairs to the old keeper’s quarters in the actual lighthouse.  It was oppressive in there and my chest felt heavy and I was still nauseated. Suddenly, I felt a swish of cool air waft by me and asked Robert, one of the men with us, if he felt it, too – he did.  He’s very in tune with the spiritual world and actually could see the ghosts. 

A few minutes after the cool breeze across my legs, I suddenly felt good.  The nausea was gone and my chest felt light. It was a striking difference in feel- it was like a weight had been lifted off me. Robert said the little girl, Lizzy, had left the room.

So, I bebopped down the stairs and back to the other side of the house into the second basement. I remembered last time feeling oppressed in that room but I was feeling so good about the nausea being gone, I floated down there without a care in the world.  I stood there for less then 5 minutes and then my whole being felt in chaos. The entity down there is supposedly evil and I felt it in my heart but  I also felt pity and sadness. The nausea was back full force and then, I started to cry. It was a feeling of being at war with myself.  I had to get out of there- right behind me was another friend that had gone with us, Kelly.  We both felt the evil- but she didn’t feel pity, she just felt his hatred. 

When we got upstairs, her significant other, Robert, was seated on a bench. I asked him why he didn’t go down and he said he knew there was evil there and chose not to partake. WILD.  He then had Kelly stand and he put his hand on her head and his other hand on her back and breathed with her for a few minutes. She felt better after that.  My heart was still in knots and he offered to do the same for me and I said yes. 

While he had his hand on my head, he asked me if I liked lavender. I said I hated the scent. He said he meant the color and I said yes, I love the color.  Once I was settled down, I asked what he meant about the lavender comment.  He told me my top aura was lavender.

So, being the naturally curious person I am, I looked up what that means.  Various websites discuss aura colors.  Here is what one said about lavender: 

People whose strongest color in the aura is lavender are the ones who have very vivid imagination and they also have some psychic abilities.

They are usually less active and more immersed in thinking about their goals and imagining how they can accomplish their goals.

Does that sound like me? Yep, I think so. 

Here is a chart I found:  Very interesting.  I’m very intuitive, too.  This is a neat area that I’ve never explored.  Sure would like to spend some time with Robert and pick his brain- intriguing.

My friend, Runere, saged me after it was over so nothing would follow me home. I appreciated that.  AND I never did smell any cigar smoke this time. Wonder why?

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