Coming Soon!

Okay, maybe not SOON. Writing a novel always takes so much more time than I think it will.

I recently spoke with my agent, Amy Boggs, and we started planning what manuscripts I should begin working on next. I always have dozens of story ideas simmering in the back of my mind--but I can only work on a few at a time. Deciding which one to begin working on next is always a big decision. After all, it can take years to get a book ready for publication. If I'm going to be spending that much time and effort on a story it has to be one I really love. I currently have four novels I'm actively working on. That's right FOUR. And I am so excited about finally getting to write these stories which have been patiently waiting their turn! I've been creating characters, plotting out story lines, and creating new worlds. One of the stories has illustrations, so I've even started drawing again as well. It's been far too long--I'm really enjoying it. Telling a story in a visual format has its own set of challenges that are completely different from a novel that is only told only in words. Getting my brain around it can really push my creative limit at times. But it is so much fun to try something different!

Will any of these stories find a home at some publishing house in the near future--we will soon see!

Pirates Ahoy!

A bunch of my nephews and nieces came to stay for the weekend. After they'd all gone home, I went to clean up the mess in the toy room and this is what I found had been done to my pirate ship:

My pirates are gonna be living in high style now! I'm guessing one of my nieces got tired of the plain old boring dollhouse and decided to liven things up a bit. At least those scurvy pirates will travel in comfort as they plunder the seven seas. Do you think they have a doily for when their walking the plank?

Contest! With PRIZES!

Contest Now Closed



A friend of mine is putting on a great contest with lots of cool prizes! I'm one of the sponsors donating a prize. Click the link below to find out more.

http://windwaithemermaid.blogspot.com/2011/11/contest-with-lots-of-prizes.html

All Ready for Halloween!

I found this adorable Halloween bedspread for sale online and had to buy it. When I went to bed the first night, I quickly discovered the ghosts glow in the dark. How cool is that? And don't you love the matching ghost accent pillow? I'm all set for Halloween. Are you?

Book Trailers Are Hard Work!

This last month has been filled with a flurry of work while I and my family prepare to film the Forbidden Sea book trailer. Things are never as straight forward as you might think when filming. Especially when you have no budget to speak of. A lot of things don't come out exactly as you'd like them to--but then again pleasant surprises pop up along the way as well. People who have read Forbidden Sea will see right away that some literary license had to be taken with the storyline in order to condense it down into a trailer length plot that makes sense to people who have not read the book. We have Denn in a scene he was not actually a part of in the book, but it works better that way for the trailer. Adrianne does not have short hair like she does in the novel, but the girl who plays her is PERFECT for the part, so I figured it was a trade-off worth making. The actor who plays Denn is the real boyfriend of the young actress who plays Adrianne, so the chemistry between them is just right--and he definitely looks the part. We still have more filming scheduled for next weekend. I hope everything continues to come out as well as it has begun. I can't wait to see the finished product!

I So Wish I Had That!

Before you know it, Christmas will be upon us once again. So here it is.  A list of totally bizarre stuff you can buy online but probably never will. Someplace deep inside, though--you know you wish you could.

WARNING: Clicking on links below will take you to outside websites over whose content I have no control.

Glow-in-the-Dark Toilet Paper (you know you want it)
http://www.amazon.com/thu-GLOWROLL-Glow-Dark-Toilet/dp/B002VKDO1E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318475803&sr=8-1

Remote Control Wand (must have)
http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/home-entertainment/cf9b/?cpg=cj&ref=&CJURL=&CJID=1764687

Bacon Band-Aids (I kid you not)
http://www.whatonearthcatalog.com/whatonearth/Customer-Favorites_2AA/Item_Funny-Food-Bandages_CF2912_ps_cti-2AA.html

Food Face Plate (yes, you may play with your food)
http://www.whatonearthcatalog.com/whatonearth/Item_Food-Face-Plate_CE5342_ps_dpr.html

Skel-a-Gnome (hold me back)
http://www.whatonearthcatalog.com/whatonearth/Customer-Favorites_2AA/Item_Skel-A-Gnomette-and-Skel-A-Gnome-Garden-Sculptures_CF2993G_ps_cti-2AA.html

Food Jewelry (Can you smell the bacon?)
http://www.whatonearthcatalog.com/whatonearth/Shop-By-Theme_4AA/Odd-Bizarre_4BY/Item_Skillet-amp-Eggs-Earrings_CH0342_ps_cti-4BY.html

Peace Sign Toaster (All I can say is--WHY would you ever want one of these?)
http://www.whatonearthcatalog.com/whatonearth/Shop-By-Theme_4AA/Odd-Bizarre_4BY/Item_Peace-Sign-Toaster_CH1192_ps_cti-4BY.html

Flavored Dental Floss (Eeeew!)
http://www.whatonearthcatalog.com/whatonearth/Shop-By-Theme_4AA/Odd-Bizarre_4BY/Item_Flavored-Dental-Floss_CE5402G_ps_cti-4BY.html

Darth Vader Lamp (Uh--okay . . .)
http://www.thingsyouneverknew.com/product/star+wars+darth+vader+character+lamp.do

Nose Gel Dispenser (not even going to comment)
http://www.shopgadgetsandgizmos.com/product/18294/?gclid=CMLT1aPj5KsCFQgaQgodoguCHA


I know what I'm putting on my Christmas list this year . . . how about you?

A Halloween Treat

It's Halloween time once again and I thought I'd post an appropriate link to celebrate. Usually when you think of haunted houses, you think about scary stuff. But the cute ghosts of the world have a right to haunt houses too! For anyone who likes their ghosts adorably cute and not so scary, check out the link below to find out all about Whispia--possibly the cutest ghost in the whole world.

http://hauntlinginmyhouse.blogspot.com/

P.S. I predict that glow-in-the-dark dolls are going to be all the rage this year.

Absolutely Fascinating Part 5

Yes, it is that time once again. The time when I give you a peek into some of the strange and bizarre things that go on in this world. As a  librarian, I have uncovered some absolutely fascinating but completely useless knowledge over the years. If you want to entertain yourself for a while try looking up information on the Internet about these bizarre but oddly enthralling subjects.

WARNING: Clicking on the links below will take you to outside webpages whose changing content I have no control over.  Click at your own risk.

Virtual pop stars? 

I kid you not. These girls don't actually exist. The holographic singer's voice is even synthesized.That's right, that is actually a computer singing, not a human being. And she's got a sold out concert in L.A. this coming Monday, right here in the USA. Just a little too freaky for me.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2011/07/01/lah.japan.cg.video.star.cnn?hpt=hp_c2

And this leads us to . . . 

The Uncanny Valley

This is a psychological fear of something that looks human but isn't. We humans tend to feel uncomfortable or even fearful when a man made object gets a little too human looking, but isn't quite the real thing. Example: ultra realistic robots, CGI, or even dolls. (Think wax museum.) Something seems just a tiny bit off to us when we look at them and this triggers fear. Scientists have tried to study this phenomenon for years. Watch the video below to see some great examples of this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNdAIPoh8a4 

Think of all the people who are terrified of dolls--or clowns. That's the Uncanny Valley. Freaky, huh?

Almost as freaky as . . .

Training Your Goldfish to Do Tricks

I saw the guys on Mythbusters attempting to train goldfish once. To my amazement, it actually worked. I've had lots of pet goldfish in my life--none of them did anything like the ones in the video below.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_Iznh9VbsY

Distorted Beauty Perceptions

This video shows the way society has distorted our perception of beauty. That gorgeous woman you see on the billboard, she doesn't exist. So why do woman spend so much time and money trying to look just like her? It just shows how much we've all bought into the myth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhgoGfnD8sc

If you are interested, here are links to past Absolutely Fascinating posts with even more strangely curious stuff to read up on:

Absolutely Fascinating Part 4
Absolutely Fascinating Part 3
Absolutely Fascinating Part 2
Absolutely Fascinating Part 1

Snorting Dog Video

I can not stop laughing every time I see this video so I figured I'd better share. For those who need a good laugh, click the link below. I think the news crew's reaction is almost as hilarious as the video they are watching. You can even hear the camera crew in the background busting a gut and trying so badly not to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9XKo1UaeEo


You have to watch it more than once to get the full gut busting effect.

I Am Almost Afraid to Ask

J.K. Rowling is going to make some kind of earth shattering announcement in six days time. What kind of announcement? I have no idea and I'm almost afraid to ask. Is she about to start a whole new series of books--nothing to do with wizards and magic? Or is there going to be more Harry Potter books?  I LOVED the Harry Potter series, but I'm not sure how I would feel about more of them. I felt it ended just right. A whole new series might be fun, though! Then again, maybe she's figured out when the world will end and wants to share this inside info with the rest of us. You never know. We will soon see. Click here to see the countdown.

Insanely Tiny Miniature Sculptures

As a miniature collecting enthusiast and a tiny sculpture artist myself, I can't help but be in awe of all things itty bitty. Like Willard Wigan, micro sculpture artist extraordinaire.His works are so small he has to sculpt them in between heartbeats so his hand will be steady. Click here to see some of this amazingly talented artist's miniature works of art which are currently up for sale. Click the title of each piece to see a picture. All his sculptures come with a magnified display so you can actually see what it is you bought.

How I Spent My Weekend

My puppy had an accidental run in with a three-year-old this weekend. A running child not paying attention to where they were going--a teeny tiny dog that happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time--need I say more? We spent all Monday morning in surgery trying to fix that broken leg. She's now home recovering from the whole ordeal.

Poor, poor Baby!

A Kid History

Okay, I haven't laughed so hard in a very long time. Had to share these hilarious videos. Click the links and laugh till you cry.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80entLldZOg&NR=1&feature=fvwp


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVlaZfLlWQc

It's All Nancy's Fault

I stayed up way too late the other night. I was caught up playing the newest (and by far, the creepiest) Nancy Drew computer game Shadow at the Water’s Edge. I admit I am completely addicted to these games! There are currently 23 titles in the series and I own them all. This particular adventure takes place in a haunted Japanese inn. Is the place really haunted or is someone trying to close the place down for their own evil purposes? I’d keep telling myself stuff like: I’ll go to bed as soon as Nancy gets someone to translate that mysterious Japanese news article that nobody wants to talk about. You know, the one Nancy found hiding behind the backing of the haunted painting that fell off the wall and nearly scared Nancy (and me) to death. But by the time I’d have that one figured out some new mystery would have surfaced. How can I possibly go to sleep before I know what the ghostly voice on the EVP recorder said? But Nancy can’t get to the recorder’s docking station to finally play the recording because someone is standing right next to it who might overhear. It goes on and on—which is exactly why it is so much fun. And why I didn’t get to sleep until after midnight.

I love when that happens.

The best part of these games is the different ways they can end—really abruptly. Like if you pull the emergency break while a train is in motion and get Nancy knocked out cold. Or if you accidentally burn your hotel to the ground by forgetting to unplug the iron before you leave. Or my personal favorite—getting caught breaking into somebody’s office or apartment while looking for clues. In Phantom of Venice Nancy actually has to hide in a cabinet to avoid getting caught and if you don't get her in there quick enough--it is game over.

So for those of you who need a little more mystery in your lives, you really should try one of these games—just not right before bedtime. All Nancy Drew games are not created equal though, so here is a list of some of my favorite adventures.

Shadow at the Water’s Edge (Don’t look in the bathroom mirror—trust me on this one)

Curse of Blackmoor Manor (Also very scary)

Phantom of Venice (Nancy’s not-so-secret admirer had me laughing)

Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon (The Hardy Boys are in this adventure)

Legend of the Crystal Skull (Don’t tap on the creepy jar in the curiosity shop too much.)

Danger on Deception Island (Always check the expiration date on your mayonnaise.)

Secret of the Old Clock (Nancy’s first adventure)

Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake (Ghost dogs with glowing eyes—what’s not to love?)

Message in a Haunted Mansion (Did I mention that I like the scary ones?)

The Final Scene

Secret of Shadow Ranch (virtual horseback riding!)

You’ve got to try at least one!

Only in the Library

I looked up from my work today to find a little boy standing in front of my desk. He couldn't have been more than four years old at most. He shook his head sadly and gave me the most sorrowful and repentant of looks I've ever seen.

"I ran in the library," he whispered to me as if confessing the most grievous of sins.

"I'm sure you won't do it again," I said solemnly in return. He nodded slowly and then walked away.

If anybody else needs to unburdon themselves, I'll be in my librarian confessional from noon to nine tomorrow. : )