My So-called Teenage Life Blog Hop

Today I am joining this fabulous blog hop hosted by Andrea of Maybe It's Just Me, Christa Desir and Amy Sonnichsen.

We are supposed to post an old entry from our teenage journal, but alas, my old journals (which are embarrassingly hilarious) are all buried in a box in my parents home (a couple of states away). Yeah, I should probably finish moving my stuff out of my parents' house now that I've been married over 11 years.(!!!)

But since I haven't done that, I'm posting a journal entry from pre-married life. I read through these with hubby, and they are also quite embarrassingly hilarious. So sit back, enjoy, and maybe blush once or twice for my former self. :) [Note: The ellipses are all in the original text. No skipping here. I just really liked ellipses.]

2/22/00 -- I went skiing, for the first time this season, yesterday with M-- (bro.). We went to Beaver Creek up in Logan. It was okay . . . except that it got really hot and the snow got kindof slushy. The first time down I did a major face plant. I still have a sore neck. :x Later in the day, M-- took a bad fall and I think he got a mild concussion because he lost his short term memory. It was kindof scary. It started with: "Wow, I can't remember how I crashed. Which lift did we go up last time?" How did I fall? . . . Oh, well which lift did we got up last time? . . . " etc. I decided that we should go home.

You know, so much has happened yet I don't want to go back and relive it all right now. . . . I got a guitar for Christmas.

 9/10/2000 - S-- told me that on both Friday & Saturday he wanted to come over with his engagement ring and propose on the spot. He said he decided he could give up chocolate for me and that even the cooking thing wouldn't bother him, but that he didn't want to lose my friendship over chocolate (that had been one of his concerns). He did say, however, that he couldn't give up hunting. :) Funny boy. If only it were as simple as that. He invited me over and offered to come over, but I told him "no."

I can't tell you how tempting it is. First, I really do care about S-- and I am really attracted to him. The thought of leaving the whole dating scene is very tempting, and then I wouldn't end up as one of those old maids to whom everyone always gives those sympathetic looks. But, unfortunately, I just don't feel good about it. I don't know if it's just silly fears or not, . . . Anyway, so I have to admit that my first proposal wasn't at all like I imagined. It feels nice to know that someone cares about me that much, but it feels awful having to tell him that I don't feel the same way.

4/23/01 -- Oh! One thing I forgot to write is that X-- told me that he had been interested in asking me out right when S-- and I started dating. He told me that he was just getting ready to make his move when the whole S-- thing started. He said he was really jealous and it was like an extra twist to the heart that S--'s real name was [the same as his]. This might sound awful, but I was glad to know that it made him jealous. It's always interesting to hear things from a different perspective.

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Okay, I'm sure that's more than enough. Oh, the drama! I just want to smack myself sometimes. Ya think it was a concussion? Just because he lost his short term memory?!!! But hey, I got a guitar for Christmas. :)

And gosh, my view of "old maids." I was how old? I think I read too much Anne of Green Gables growing up.

But oh the, "interesting to hear things from a different perspective" bit. Interesting indeed, My Former Self. Interesting indeed. *Shakes head*

Have a great day ya'll!

Interview with Leigh T. Moore and a Giveaway!

So Leigh T. Moore's book, The Truth About Letting Go has been out a couple of weeks and is doing awesome! Read all about it HERE.

So what else is there to do but have a giveaway? Hurray! *throws confetti* One lucky commenter will win a copy of The Truth About Letting Go, just let me know in the comments you're interested, and leave me a way to contact you.

Last day to enter is March. 24, and I'll post the winner on Monday, March 25^th. Best of luck!

In the mean time, since I already interviewed Leigh HERE, I let my 3-year-old do the honors to give you a fresh perspective on this amazing author. :)

Girlie, take it away!

Girlie: What is your favorite color? Mine is pink.

Leigh: I'm imagining us sitting at a little white tea table with a few stuffed animals joining us. I'm very big, and I've got my pink boa and tiara on... 

(sips tea) I like pink, too. When I was little, purple was my favorite color, though. You can be Pinkalicious and I can be Purpleicious. Is that OK?

Girlie: Will you sing me a song? OR Dance with me! I like being a ballerina. How do you like to dance?

Leigh: I don't dance super well. My dancing takes special medicine, otherwise I look like Kookoo the Bird Lady from Freaks.

Girlie: Let's play magic wands! Mine turns people into stones. What does yours do?

Leigh: Stones! Goodness.

 

Me: Yup, it's true! I've totally been turned into a stone like 4 times just in the past week. Crazy.

 

Leigh: Did I mention I really like this tea? And that's a lovely dress you're wearing. Umm... what if my wand turns people into fairies? That's fun, huh? 

Me: If I don't hear from you in a while, I'll confiscate Girlie's wand. See if I can figure out the reverse spell! ;)

Girlie: If I'm the princess, what does that make you?

Leigh: I guess I'd have to be either one of those little birds that help you get dressed or a mouse... I'm glad I'm not the step-mom or anything. They're always bad. 

Girlie: I like to cut things up and play with glue. What do you like to do?

Leigh: You know what's fun to do with glue? Put squiggly shapes on construction paper and then dump a bunch of glitter on it and shake it around. It's real, real messy. Ask your mom to show you how to do this... LOL! :D

 

Me: Um, thanks a LOT!

Girlie: I can write the letter K. What can you write?

Leigh: Now that I'm big, I can write most of my letters. But you know which one I still can't write? Cursive Q. That's hard for me. Oh, and cursive Z. You'll probably do those really well. I still have to make those in print.

Me: Okay, I have to intervene, because this is my blog after all. Last question:

 

What would Ashley's personalized license plate be? Colt's? Jordan's? 8 letters for each. Go!

Leigh: You know I HATE this!!!

 

Me: Bwah ha ha! I am evil incarnate. :)

 

Leigh: I'm not good w/personalized plates. Urgh... umm... do they have to be 8 letters?

 

Me: Okay, okay, you have UP TO 8 letters.

 

Leigh: OK, here goes...

Ashley would be  REBLREBL (I'm thinking "Rebel Rebel"--like the David Bowie song... does this look like Robble Robble?)

Jordan would be HAVEF8TH (That's not very good. I know.)

Colt would be L8TRDUDE (OK, his would be cooler than that, but I actually knew a guy who's plate was that... LOL!)

Me: Awesome plates! REBLREBL totally came across right. :) Now aren't you all wishing you could sit down to a tea party with Leigh, wearing a pink boa and a tiara? I know I am!!

 

Thanks for visiting with us, Leigh! And the rest of ya'll, don't forget to mention in the comments if you want a chance to win Leigh's latest.

We are Gladiators!

I got a little crazy this weekend and did a mud run with one of my CP's---Tessa, from over at Ink & Angst.

We couldn't help comparing the whole thing to writing. The obstacles you face that sometimes seem impossible. (Finding time. Filling plot holes. Revising. Revising again. Revising AGAIN).

But then you manage it, even though you were sure you couldn't . . .

But sometimes you hit an obstacle that you just can't overcome (totally did NOT make it up that rope) . . .

So you have to find a different way around. And it's not what you planned, but it's OKAY. It works. Until finally you come into that home stretch.

And you may be a little covered in mud, and different for your experience . . . wiser. But you did it! You wrote a book! And it's doggone something to be proud of.

So what did ya'll do this weekend? :D

Twitterpated, Part 4

So I know you've all been dying for more about my mistakes on Twitter. I'm realizing I may have to do this one mistake at a time, because apparently I'm a bit long winded. But hopefully this will help any newbies to Twitter have a smoother time of it. Maybe it won't take you A YEAR (!!!) to figure it out.

My Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Mistake #1:  When I set up my account, I followed only a select few tweeps. My reasoning was that I didn't want to hear a bunch of random comments from people I didn't know.

Umm . . . so that's pretty much what Twitter is. But there are the good kind of stranger-tweeters and the bad kind. I think you will learn pretty quickly which is which.

So here are my suggestions about who to follow (speaking as one writer to another)

1. Agents: Summer Heacock (aka @fizzygrrl) has made this easy for you. I present Agents-to-Follow Cheatsheet 1 and Cheatsheet 2. You might even want to create a list of just agents so you can see what they are tweeting at a glance.

2. Editors: A couple of my favorites include: @the_SDB, @StacyAbramsEdit, @CarolineAbbey, @MKCastellani, @EgmontUSA, and I could go on. My focus is MG, but find the editors that work on the stuff you write. GalleyCat gives a long list of tweeting editors here.

3. Industry Groups: This would include publishing companies, writing magazines, and any group that might give information you're interested in. Twitter can help find the bulk of these.

4. Blog Friends: Gosh, I hope you know who this is for you. ;)

5. People who interest you: Heck, if you think Ryan Gosling is the bomb, follow him. Maybe Honest Toddler is your thing. Go for it!

6. People who follow you: This is the trickiest group. I know that most people who follow me do it to get a follow back. But that doesn't mean I have to give it. Usually, I glance through their tweets and see if they are a real person or just a tweeter of spam, then make the call. I know some people who only follow people they know. But I have met some cool people by taking a chance

7. Family/Friends: So no one in my family tweets, and very few of my real life friends do. And I'm okay with that. I use twitter as a tool in my writing life, and reserve Facebook for my family and friends. But if you do, you might want them on your feed. Your call. Just remember who follows you when you tweet. If you wouldn't want your mom to read a tweet, better not tweet it.

(And actually, that might be a good rule to live by whether your mother is on Twitter or not.)

So there it is. In a nutshell. My suggestion is that you take some risks. Try following some new people. The thing to remember? YOU CAN ALWAYS UNFOLLOW SOMEONE. If you don't like someone's tweets, unfollow them. And if they unfollow you back, so be it.

Twitter is a tool, and you should play around with it until it works for you. And for all you experts, how do you decide who to follow?

Next Twitterpated installment? What to tweet . . . and what not to.