Guinea Pig Surprise - The Surprise

Be sure to see  Episode 1 - The Plan and Episode 2 - One Week Away

Guinea Pig Surprise - non-writing post

Who knows, it could lead to a picture book. LOL

Continue to Episode 2 - One Week Away

Hiking Up My Socks

I decided to hike up my socks and get to work polishing a picture book manuscript I have been working on-and-off for a long time.

So, last week I pulled it out of the draw and something interesting happened. That same day I had two different volunteer groups come to me and basically say, 'We'd like to use your writing skills. Can you help us? Would you write..." I don't mind helping and of course I said 'yes' but I find it funny that these requests come to me as soon as I decide to put all my focus on one of my bigger personal writing projects. My analytical mind now starts to wonder why this has happened and if there is a bigger meaning?

I think the bigger meaning is, 'you need to write...more...now.' I have finished one of the requests already and the client was very happy. Surprisingly, it wasn't as tough as I thought it was going to be. The other project will not happen for a while.

For now, I am looking to submit some smaller works, mainly poems, to magazines and web sites while I continue to work on my picture book manuscript and get it agent ready. Yay me!

More Than One Way To Make A Difference

I'm very pleased with myself. Yesterday, I submitted forms to participate in a Habitat For Humanity project.


Photo by Suat Eman

I would have liked to participate in the actual build/construction part of the project but there are a few things preventing from doing that this year. What I didn't realize is there are so many other areas where help is needed to make a build successful and fortunetly I have skills in some of these areas. I have volunteered to participate in the newsletter, project website and the project promotion. I have done a lot of work on newsletters (Duh, I'm a writer and I was the editor of the Perspectives Newsletter) and websites, so I am hoping I will be called upon to help develop these areas. I'm not too sure what will be involved with the project promotion but I'm interested in learning.

I'm very excited to help make a difference and can't wait to get started. If/when I get contacted to participate I will be posting here and add the label "Habitat For Humanity."

I Met Lesley Livingston, Author Of DARKLIGHT

Today I got the privilege of meeting Lesley Livingston, author of WONDROUS STRANGE, at a local Chapters promoting her new book DARKLIGHT.



I recently bought both of her books and after hearing the excerpt she read today, I cannot wait to read them.



If her books are half as good as she is friendly, then I'm sure I am really going to enjoy them.



For now, I will leave you with some pictures from today's event and report back once I've read her books.



*Thanks to my 7 year old son for taking these pictures. Great job!*

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year and welcome to 2010!

2009 was good to me. I was so close to getting my first picture book published. My manuscript was one of six manuscripts to make it to the final round in selections at a small publishing house. Unfortunetly, they only publish one children's book title a year and regretably the couldn't take mine. What a rush to be so close!
I participated in 3 writing challenges: NaPiBoWriWee (May 1-7) where I met some wonderful writers, PiBoIdMo (November) where I won a draw and had 5 of my ideas reviewed by an agent (more on that in another post), and NovPAD (November) which I completed but did not polish my poems for the final Chapbook submission (though there is still time.) And though I did not submit my writing to many magazines or publishers this year I did have a sci-fi poem published in the printed issue of Scifikuest (I hope to receive my November contributor's copy soon.)


This year, though I am back at my full time job after being on a 1 year maternity leave, I plan to participate in all of those challenges again. I'm editing the manuscript that was so close to being published and plan to submit it as much as possible to those publishers that are a good fit for the book. I'm very pleased with the changes I have made to it and I'm more confident than ever. I have my ideas from PiBoIdMo ready for NaPiBoWriWee which will be the only time I write new picture book manuscripts this year. The rest of the year I will polish the manuscripts I already have and write articles for children magazines. I will maintain my blog on my thoughts, progress and general happenings in my day to day life.

I hope you have a wonderful New Year and you will come back to visit me here to see my progress and share your comments with me.

All The Best. CHEERS!

Mahna Mahna

This made me laugh as a kid and it still does so I am going to share it with you.

My Name In Print

It's November which means a new issue of Scifaikuest and this one has my scifi tanka in it!
I do not have my contributor's copy yet but there is a picture of the cover of the new issue from their website.



Take a close look at the bottom of the cover. See all those names? The last one is mine! I like seeing my name in print...or at least a picture of the print in this case. Can't wait to get my copy to see my poem in print as well. Issues can be ordered at http://www.genremall.com/zinesr.htm#scifaikuest

I Love Halloween - Some Pictures

I would like to share a few Halloween pictures with you.

I was at the grocery store yesterday (30th) and all the Halloween items were on sale. I fell in love with this welcome mat and just HAD to buy it.



I also picked up 2 pumpkins yesterday. One for me and one for my son. They were the last 2 'good' pumpkins left. I knew there was a pumpkin shortage because of all the rain but I didn't think it was THAT bad. I'm glad I didn't wait until today to pick them up. Anyway I carved mine last night and I designed it for my (almost) 1 year old daughter.


I made the template myself and carved it myself.

I wish I could find pictures of my jack-o-lanterns from previous years. I did a really awesome Tigger one year and another year I did Dora and Boots.

I Love Halloween!

Geeky/Halloween Pumpkin Template

I've entered a geeky pumpkin template design at ThinkGeek.com I am not an artist but I thought I would take a crack at it and here is the result. This brain is both geeky and Halloweeny.

Click on the image for a full page view.

My Sister and Take Pride in Pickering Day (Environment)

Once again my sister, Margo, is in the news. She led a group of volunteers in planting over 600 trees and other vegetation as part of Take Pride in Pickering Day. She is an employee of Ontario Power Generation.

For the news article see:
http://www.newsdurhamregion.com/article/138577

Fun Halloween Last Year

I love Halloween. I guess it is the fantasy of it all. Dressing up, pretending you are someone else, decorating the house and creatively carving the pumpkin. Hmm, I'll have to see if I can find some picture of the pumpkin carvings I have done in previous years and post them. I've carved Dora and Tigger without a template. But that's not what I want to share with you today.

Last year, when Halloween came around, I was 18 days from having my 2nd child, however that didn't stop me from joining in on the festivities. My day job workplace had a Halloween costume contest.

I look fat...

... Oh wait, I'm 8 1/2 months pregnant.


There were quite a few chuckles and laughs that day. I tied for 2nd place and was beat out by a girl who dressed up like one of the Trailer Park Boys. She deserved it though because you had to take a double look before you realized she was a girl.

Again, this year, I have plans to dress up but you'll have to return to blog to find out what I/we dressed up as and for pictures of carved pumpkins.

BOO!

Creepy Crawlies Don't Creep Me Out Except For...

I don't get creeped out very easily by bugs and crawly thing.

I have a 6 (almost 7) year old son who is constantly showing me insects and other creatures he has found. I bait hooks and unhook fish. They don't creep me out. (This picture was from summer last year when I was pregnant)

I have a lizard that eats live crickets and wax worms. I can hold him and pat his little head. He doesn't creep me out.

A spider web full of little bugs and the spider, currently not in the picture, doesn't creep me out.
I have even touched hissing cockroaches. (Psst. It doesn't creep me out)

Centipede. CREEPS ME OUT!

All those little synchronized legs moving as it travels across the ceiling at lightning speed. Just looking at the picture makes my shoulders go up around my ears and my spine tingle as if this freaky insect is crawling down my back. Every time I walked under it I thought it was going to jump on my head. I'm so glad my camera has a good zoom feature.

Update - Please let Amigo be okay.

Good news - Amigo, the leopard gecko, is ok. He must have been too cold to move. I just checked on him and he has moved and is now in s different position. Whew! When I spoke to him he looked up at me as if to say, "What? Quit bothering me Crazy Lady I'm trying to sleep."

Please let Amigo be okay.

I noticed this morning Amigo's light was burnt out. For those of you who don't know Amigo is my very loved leopard gecko.


The light was on yesterday and it's not unusual for the light to burn out and not be change for a day (I'm not sitting watching him 24/7). At this point it's been less than 24 hours the light has been burt out. I changed the bulb but Amigo didn't move. I called him, blew on him through the hole in the rock he lived in and shook the terrarium lightly. He didn't move. I didn't open the terrarium or touch him for two reasons.

1) I didn't want to frighten him and
2) I want to believe he is okay.

I think he wasn't moving because he was too cold and he sleeps during the day anyway. I'll let the bulb warm him up and check on him later. I feel slightly sick in my stomach. I'll update the blog when I figure out his status.

A Face In The Clouds

Yesterday we had a thunderstorm.......again.
On twitter Inkyelbows made a good point - Rain is a good reason to stay inside and write more.

I took some pictures of the clouds before it poured.





This one looks like a giant face. Can you see it?


Another wonderful thing about the rain is it makes the flowers grow. I am an expert at making flowers crunchy brown by planting them and forgetting them. The rain has made me look like a seasoned gardener.

McDonalds' Misprint?

McDonalds' Misprint? Probably not but here's the story.

Yesterday, I decided to treat my son to McDonalds for dinner. When we visit McDonalds get Happy Meals together and compare toys and, of course, when we're done I usually let him have my toy. As you may already know, McDonalds is celebrating the 30th birthday of the Happy Meal.

Now, here's the strange thing that maybe someone can explain to me. On both the Happy Meal boxes and the Teenie Ty toys we got in the Happy Meal have a logo that reads “15 YEARS OF HAPPINESS.” There are 15 toys in all and you have to find 15 hidden gifts in their puzzle on the box. Obviously the Happy Meal is older than 15 because I remember having one as a child and lets just say not in my I'm 20s anymore.

I've searched the interenet and cannot find anything about McDonalds and 15 years. I've searched ebay where some people are already selling the toys and all of their toys have the same birthday logo but their's reads 30 years. Also, someone had the full collection of all 30 toys on ebay.

The Happy Meal Box. Note the logo on the left side.


The frog still in the package. Note the logo in the upper left corner.


The hamster toy. Note the logo on the tag. You might have to click on the picture to see a larger picture.


What is celebrating 15 years? Why isn't it 30? Is this a drastic misprint? Any thoughts?

Would You Like Dessert, Um Desert, I mean Dessert?

No, I'm not MIA. Just been a little busy. With the kids home and their summer events, doctor appointments for my daughter (you have to follow me on twitter to find out what is going on there,) and family wanting to see the kids (and us wanting to see them too,) I've been a little busy and tired but loving every minute of it. Oh AND I have completed and new picture book manuscript and currently working the cover letter. Yes, I didn't forget about writing.

Today I want to talk about something I love....desserts.
I used to have trouble remembering how many S in the word. I don't enjoy eating deserts, the sand is too crunchy in my teeth. But if I was eating deSSerts I would want to have 2 and that's how many S are in the word. I know it is I little cheesy but it works and it's fun.

What words do you have a problem remember how to spell?
What do you do to remember how to spell certain words?

Hail, Hail The Teeth Are Here

Here are 2 pictures I took yesterday I thought you might be interested in.

First, here is the "lovely" weather we have been having this week. Yes, that is hail.


Second, and most important, here is a picture of my 7 month old daughter's first teeth.

Orange Lily

lilly1
Originally uploaded by MadelineB2009

This is one of many photos I took of a beautiful orange lily I bought. I just thought is was so lovely. Click on the picture for a larger view and to see some of the other photos I took.