Wishes…

I wish all the time. I wish the house was clean. I wish I didn’t have to go to the doctor’s or get shots. I wish I didn’t have to change a poop diaper. I wish I was very well to do. I wish I could drive all the way to the beach without needing to stop 20 times so I could pee. I wish I had a little more me time in the day. I wish great things for my kids. I wish for so many things.  But in a day filled with wishes my cup of wishes is still empty unless I do something more than wishing.

Now I wish I had a cup of coffee.

Still very happy…

I have to start months ahead of this day in my history… It was Valentine’s Day and my future husband and I had been dating since Oct. He had been planning a special date for us. I had no idea just how special it was going to be.  Days The night before I picked out an outfit, and I planned how I was going to do my hair…

What I envisioned was near this…

Unfortunately my throat was really sore the day before and by Valentine’s Day I was sick as a dog.  I could only breathe with my mouth wide open, my eyes were extra watery, my nose was like a faucet someone had just left on, and I was flushed with a light fever… I was not a pretty sight. I looked like a sick cat or bunny. Reality sometimes bites.

My wonderful man wasn’t upset. He comforted me telling me that the next weekend we’d go out, and he still came over to visit with his sick girlfriend.  He brought me a massive purple ape, roses, a “bored” game, chocolates, and heart candy.  I made sure he didn’t sit near me, I love him and didn’t want to get him ill. I felt so awful killing our plans, but my immune system just wasn’t strong enough to fight off the black plague deadly flu nasty cold.

While I was sitting there blowing my nose watching a movie (I can’t remember what movie) something landed on my lap…

I was shocked! Did he really mean it? I turned and looked at him and asked, “Are you serious?”

INCOMING! Another candy landed on my lap, but he did not speak.

Like a deer in the headlights I was frozen in shocked. I didn’t know this was “the big plan” I crushed. Two more candies landed on my lap, a “Yes” and a “No” I had to decide… I looked at him from across the room and said, “I need you to tell me, in words, that you really mean this and it’s not a joke.” I didn’t think he’d play a prank like that, but really this is THE BIG QUESTION.
He FINALLY spoke, “It’s real. I am really asking you.”
I ate the “No” and put the “YES” on the arm of the couch. He looked at it and smiled. Then I grabbed it to put with the rest to save. I wanted to smother him in kisses and hugs, but I did not want him to get sick. So I sat there happy, but still unable to breathe through my nose.

Today my husband and I celebrate being married for a very long time. Ok not THAT looooong, but still it’s been a few.   My love for him has grown with every day of our marriage.

Happy Anniversary, to the man I picked to spend the rest of my life with. Thank you for sticking with me through the sicknesses as well as the health, all the great times and the hard times.  I hope that when death separates us we find each other on the other side. I also hope that’s in the very far future.

Note ~ Later on when we told others about the event I found out that because I was so sick he was unable to tell, at all, if I was happy, sad, or just plan shocked by the whole event. Poor guy, I was very thrilled.

Note note ~ Yes, I once had short hair and wore ankh necklaces. Hey, I was young once too.

When you wish upon a toad…

I don’t know if your wishes will come true or not, but what the heck?  I’m willing to try it. I wish for a bestseller, bazillion-mafillion dollars, and for the electric bill to be lower next mouth. Oh and for the baby to sleep in her crib ALL night long.

Anyone else want to see if the toad can grant implausible wishes?

Note ~ I think this is don’t-know-what-to-draw week. I took this idea from something I overheard about fairy-toads. I wish I could remember the who, what, when, where, why so I could give credit.

Note Note ~ August is our worst PG&E bill month, October and March are nice.

Note note note ~ But I’m not going to kiss a toad for a wish………………………………………… well, maybe for a bestseller. Just not the poison kind or the toads that make you see crazy things like Fairy-Toad-Queens.

We should never be held accountable for anything said before coffee…

I think this will speak for my morning…….

Midnight; I have engery...

 

1:00am - A little sleepy, but she'll pass out soon...

 

2:00am - Ok, maybe a bottle will help...

 

2:01am - Fingers crossed...

 

3:00am - Can't... go... on.... Need... sleep.........

4:00am - ZZZzzzzzz (hubby walking her)...

 

I haz sleep...

NOOOOOOOOO!!!

So the first words out my mouth this morning were, “I will kill you ‘til you are dead.” It was directed to our beagles… which I would never do, but UGH……. Sleeeeeeeep…

NOTE ~ I can no longer nurse by doctor’s orders.
NOTE NOTE ~ I do love our dogs, but……..

 

I haz coffee but no sleepz...

 

 

The Family Portrait…

Since we’ve had the baby we haven’t had the chance to go get a family picture taken.

When we get the chance I hope it looks like this…….

BUT I do live in reality so I am aware that more than likely it’ll look like this…

NOTE ~ Thank you JC Little for inspiring me to draw again. 

NOTE NOTE ~ I had fun drawing the last time so why not do it again.

NOTE NOTE NOTE ~ I decided I’m going to *try* and not let the gremlins do what they planned and stop me from blogging.

My first book, The Flowers and the Flowers…

When I was 6 years old there was nothing I wanted to do more than to write.  I wrote a book called The Flowers and the Flowers.  It was all about flowers.  We were living with my grandparents at the time.  My grandpa had a big garden in his yard.  One day I went outside with him and looked at all the lovely flowers.  He told me all of their really long names and I got a little overwhelmed.  I told my grandpa that I was going to write a book for him about flowers.  He told me that as long as I didn’t pick any, he would be happy with it.  I wondered back in to the house.  My grandmother gave me some typing paper, I grabbed my crayons and I went into the back of the house.  I sat on the floor at the foot of the bed in the pink bedroom while my mother unpacked and I enjoyed writing and drawing.  When I was done I told my mother that I was going to be a ‘book writer’, I was corrected and told ‘author.’  I didn’t like the name out of fear of someone thinking I was changing my name to Arthur.  I called it a ‘book writer’ for many years before I would finally say, “I want to be an author.”  Looking back on it now, I think that everyone thought I just liked the flowers, and although I thought they were nice, I just wanted to write a book.

Skipping ahead now to when I was 10-11, a few friends and I decided to write a sequel to Stand By Me (the movie).  I didn’t know about laws, copyrights, and such at that age. We worked on the outline together and I was supposed to fill in everything else (write the main story) and they were going to take turns adding to it when they read it.  Anyway, I filled about 3 note books full of writing before one of the other girls wanted to borrow it, so she could see where we were, and I never saw it again.  I was sooooooo bummed.  We were sure Hollywood and Stephen King were going to love it.  I was so very naive.

Fast-forward about 3 years. We were moving back in with my grandparents.  I was bored… very bored… So I wrote about 6-9 comic books on an art pad my Aunt Barb gave me. In truth these were funny and good.  About 9 years ago I ran across them and laughed my butt off.  I wrote them in comic book format but like a very large comic strip.  I had read several comics by 13-14 so I knew how many pages they were.  I had 5 to 6 main people in the story.  I don’t want to say too much here because if I can find them I will share them.  The art work is a little on the blah side but the main people don’t vary too much from frame to frame.  I really had fun with it.

When I was a sophomore in high school I had a teacher who was mad at me for having “Too much imagination for creative writing.”  Somehow I was skipped over when the “tell’em what you’re going to tell’em, tell’em, tell’em, tell’em, tell’em what you told’em” speech happened so I was writing stories, not papers.  When I found out the formula all was great. But I still never understood why they called the class ‘creative writing’ when it was anything but.  I wanted to be creative when I wrote and I wanted to write stories.

I’ve always wanted to be an author.  There were years upon years when negative people told me that I couldn’t, I was young and trusted them.  I stopped tell people what I wanted to be and started telling people what I was told I could do and what I was told I wanted to be.  When I was 25 my ex-husband, who was my ex-husband at the time, told me that he knew I could be an author. He said that he knew that’s what I really should be.  He wasn’t my friend, he wasn’t someone who cared about me, but he knew me, and when he said it I knew one day I would write.  I didn’t know what would finally push me, but I knew I would write.  Then with the support, love, and constant encouragement (plus treats) I get from my husband I feel I was and am strong enough to do this.

Follow your dreams and don’t let anyone hold you back.  If you want it bad enough you will find away.  There are armless artists who use their feet or mouth to paint and draw, there’re dyslexic and autistic writers, there are one armed mountain climbers, and if no one else in this world has faith in you, I do.  If we can fly in the air, survive underwater, and be shot into orbit, your dreams might one day be a reality.  The only people I don’t have faith in are the bullies; the ones that bring us down so they can feel better and stronger.  I pray for them to grow past who they are, but experience has taught me too, I have no faith in them.

{insert shameless plug here}…

When is plugging your book too ‘used car salesman’ like?  This is a tough question that most of us authors deal with on a regular basis.  Most of us have read articles that say things like, “Don’t just say ‘my book’ always say the title and say it as often as you can”  “Advertize on every site you can think of”  “Mention your book everywhere”  “Bring it up in every conversation that you possibly can”  “Be seen reading it… everywhere”  “Brag”  “Boost”  “Show people a copy”  “Never go out without a copy”  “Always type, write, use your full name whenever and wherever possible” and many more things similar to all of these.  I try to leave my name and a nice link to my blog or website’s and on people’s blog because most sites offer a link back if wanted.  I figure since the feature is subtle and they’re for all of us to use… why not?  But I’m not very good at always bringing up the title.  And I don’t feel comfortable parading up and down the mall with a flag with a picture of my book taped to my back, while my book is in one hand and I’m yelling from a bullhorn in the other, all the while demanding that people read it.  That would get attention, but it’s just not me.  As a matter of fact, I just told some of my friends and the other good friends don’t know yet.  Why?  Because I don’t feel comfortable rubbing what I’ve done in other peoples faces.  And I’m writing this blog because I feel like I just used a famous person’s thread to shamelessly plug my book… but now I feel shame.  I feel guilty, even though it was slightly relevant, I still feel like I shouldn’t have even commented on their Facebook thread.  So when, where, how, and who do authors use to drop their name in the bucket with all the other authors out there?  I wish I had an answer we could all use.  I know that I don’t want to lose my tact, grace, and dignity plugging my book and I feel like there should be a nice way to properly advertise to others without feeling dirty.

Things I can do that don’t make me feel gross…
1. I leave comments or blogs with a link back to here
2. Talk about fellow authors work (I like this one, some books out there should get read)
3. Post on my own site and blog
4. Read my book in waiting rooms (why not, I read other peoples)
5. Have the title engraved on my license plate frame (I’d rather that than any other add)
6. Advertising in magazines and announcing in the local paper
7. Reviewing other’s books (I haven’t done this one yet)
8. Make a hoodie (or t-shirt) on Café Press or Zazzle with the title of my book on it (did that last night)
9. Donate a copy to the library, or multiple copies to multiple libraries

Who, what, when, where, and how do you feel comfortable plugging you book?  Also, please feel free to leave any and all shameless plugs in the comments to this post.

I’m an author, Jim, not a used car salesman! < — Shameless reference to Star Trek

FYI ~ The Strongest Fire: Book One of The Vampiress Sagas is still being sold for a very reasonable price on B&N and Amazon.

Barnes & Noble Link

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Strongest-Fire/Sarah-Winters/e/9781440183218/?itm=2&USRI=the+strongest+fire

Amazon Link

The Strongest Fire: Book One of The Vampiress Sagas: Sarah Winters: 9781440183218: Amazon.com: Books

For those who read wish lists…

I was once pestered and bothered about what I wanted for Christmas.  I never ask for anything because I’m very content with all I have.  But a dear friend and a few others would not leave me be one year.  They asked me to make a list of the top 5 things I really wanted for Christmas.  Because I didn’t want them to waste their money on me and because I felt I needed nothing I came up with this list…
1. A pocket of endless twenty dollar bills.
2. A real fairy.
3. A life-size castle (tax free) with a massive amount of land attached.
4. To wake up 20lbs lighter without having a sickness, amputation, or liposuction … just to wake up naturally thinner.
5. For everyone in the world to be happy, healthy, and love each other.
I have added a few things to my list over the years and randomly pick one when someone asks me what I would like…
6. The winning lotto ticket, but no losing ones since that’s a waste of money.
7. For everyone in the world to treat others how they want to be treated.
8. For all lost, kidnapped, and missing children to return home safe.
9. For me to not have to look up how to spell “neighbor,” “definitely,” or “torture” every time I want to use them.  I have no idea why these words are hard for me but I would love to spell them right.
10. A 2006 Alpha H1 Hummer.  Those babies cost about $400,000 when they were new and are supposed to be the best.
Of course I do have a new wish right now (as everyone knows) … I would love for The Strongest Fire to be out before Christmas.
So there are a few things on my list that are a little selfish.  But the top three I truly hope for are number 5, 7, and 8.
I would love to read other peoples wishes, so if you have any you’d like to share, feel free to list them.    Or if you have any cute ones from your children, or ones from when you were a child… those always warm the heart.
I just love wishes.

 About the book.  I just opened an e-mail that said…

“Hello Sarah,
Our print data specialist informed me that there has been a back up at the printer for title to go LIVE, so there has been a delay in getting your book files set up.
I am very sorry for this, and wanted to let you know that I am in discussion with your book consultant about expediting your shipments and getting the books to you as soon as humanly possible once the files are set up.
Your book consultant, XXXX XXXXXXXX, will be contacting you very soon regarding your timeline.
Once again, I am very sorry for this delay; thank you so much for your continued patience, and I hope you have a wonderful day.”

I will let everyone one know what is going on, when I know what is going on.

I typed all of this very early yesterday but never got around to posting it.

Noted; one of my biggest flaws is I’m impatient…

I’ve been waiting to write a blog for when my book is finally released.  Still it is not out.  I know I was told “before Christmas,” but I was also told not to be too shocked if it was before Thanksgiving.  But that was a little iffy.  So now I’m waiting and hoping that it comes out soon.  The book missed “Black Friday” and the book missed “Cyber Monday,” both dates I was really hoping to make.  All I can see being done right now on MyUniverse is “Checking for Indexing” which, in all truth, I have no idea what that means.  I just know that I have been told it means I’m near done.  It has said that since the 16th of Nov.
So this is just a quick blog to say that I have not forgotten about my blog.  I’ve been keeping busy so I don’t stress and worry about when The Strongest Fire will be out.  In keeping busy I am done with my shopping.  Anything I buy at this point is just a bonus.  My little one asked for a few books, so I might jump on Amazon and see if I can find them.  Then I’ll just buy my oldest a few books when I do to make it even.
Here is a link to what I want…

http://sagas.is/vara.php
 
I’m not going to get it, but a girl can dream.  I also want a real *fairy, the **big winning lotto ticket, a castle (tax free), my book to be a big success, the world to be peaceful, happy, and healthy, to finish writing my 3rd book soon, and many other dreams to come true. 

*I really like the color purple, but any color of fairy will work (just incase Santa is reading this).
**The winning lotto ticket only costs $1 so I don’t see this as too foolish of a gift, but I don’t really want anyone to waste the money on a losing ticket since that won’t do anyone any good.

P.S. And Santa, if you’re reading, I’ve asked every year nicely… Can I please have a pocket of endless twenties?  I’ll use it for good things.