It has been a long week already - and it's only Tuesday. I don't think I'm going to get a Thursday Thirteen posted this week because I won't have time to get to other blogs and I hate to post one and not visit others.

With the hubby out of town, and us down to only one car (with three drivers left at home), it's a little chaotic at home right now. Yesterday I stayed home from work with a migraine. Today I am telecommuting, which made it easy for the son to get to his dental appointment. Tomorrow, he's on his own. I have to go into work. Thursday will be another tricky day - I have to go into work, but daughter has a doctor appointment. I'll let you know how we work that one out - although I think it will involve me carpooling with a co-worker and being picked up later for a lunch appointment. Friday - I took the day off. But, I still have a boat-load of stuff to do that day because the Church Youth Group is kicking off it's 30 Hour Famine/Youth Weekend that day.

What, you might ask, is the 30 Hour Famine? It's too long to explain in one fell swoop, but you can go to the website to get the whole story. But, here's a short explanation:


The 30 Hour Famine is an international Youth Movement sponsored by World Vision to fight hunger. It is done on specific dates by youth groups (not just ones in churches) all over the world. I just recently learned that in Australia, the youth do a 40 Hour Famine. This year will be my youth group's 6th year participating. The national dates were in February and April, but we couldn't do it then and the kids did not want to miss it - they look forward to it every year - so we are doing it this weekend.

In addition to raising funds (the kids get pledges for every hour they go without food - suggested donation is $1 per hour), and we do a service project that will impact hunger in our local area. This year we are doing a food drive for one of the busiest food pantries. Last year we had a table set up in the lobby of a local supermarket to solicit donations and provide education and materials. It was fun, but very tempting because we were fasting - and they set us up in front of a display of cookies and candy!





We don't raise a lot of money (usually around $3,000), but the kids enjoy knowing that their efforts go to help others and that's $3,000 more than we would raise if we did nothing.

So, the kids (and me) will start fasting at 2 p.m. on Friday and go until 8 p.m. Saturday without food. We are allowed to drink juices. sports drinks, and water. On Saturday morning we will do our food drive. Then Saturday afternoon the kids will have time to chill (we spend the entire weekend at the church), then in the evening we will put the finishing touches on the next morning's worship service - which we are leading. It makes for a full weekend to do our annual Youth Service at the end of the Famine weekend, but it's the perfect tie-in.

So, if I don't get out to do a Thursday Thirteen - now you know why.

Labels: 30 Hour Famine, Youth

Just this past weekend I finally took the plunge and let my website go live. I've been building, playing with, and tweaking it for months - literally. So, now that it's out there, I've got my eye on my own domain and everything, but the one I'd like is taken so, please take my poll (top right side) and tell me what you think. In the meantime, here are 13 reasons I finally took the plunge.

1. I now have four books out, with another one due out in August.
2. I love my blog, but I can't put everything on it without it getting too cluttered.
3. I've tried to avoid putting everything on my blog, but that means that announcements and other things don't get out.
4. People keep asking me if I have a website.
5. I want people to be able to find out what they might want to know about me, my books, and my publishers.
6. I need something to put on my business cards.
7. I wanted to showcase my books.
8. I wanted people to stop asking me if I have a website.
9. I want to put up more information on my books; background, characters, etc.
10. I want to be able to change information to keep it more current.
11. I'm trying to teach myself HTML and having a blog and a website will give me something else to mess up as I experiment.
12. People kept asking me when I was going to get a website.
13. And, finally, I just got tired of people asking me if I had a website.

Labels: Thursday Thirteen, website

Announcing my new website! Please check it out and sign my Guestbook. I'm still learning how to put things together, but I hope to get more comfortable with it soon. In the meantime - check it out and tell me what you think.

My Website

Labels: website

Two weeks ago, I gave you 13 of my favorite poems and Fairy Tales and promised Nursery Rhymes the next week. Since I deviated last week, I thought I'd do it this week. So here are
To keep it from going too long, I'll only put the first stanza if there are more.
DISCLAIMER: These are some of the ones I learned as I remember them - I'm sure others may have learned them slightly differently.

1. Mary Had A Little Lamb
It's fleece was white as snow
And every where that Mary went
The lamb was sure to go.

2. Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn
The sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn
Oh, where is the boy who looks after the sheep
He's under the haystack fast asleep.

3. Old Mother Hubbard went to her cupboard
To get her poor dog a bone
But when she got there
The cupboard was bare
And so the poor dog had none.

4. Old King Cole was a merry old soul
And a merry old soul was he
He called for his pipe
And he called for his bowl
And he called for his fiddlers three.

5. Sing A Song of Sixpence
A pocketful of rye
Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie
When the pie was opened, the birds began to sing
Wasn't that a dainty dish to set before a king?

6. Jack Sprat could eat no fat
His wife could eat no lean
And so, between them both, you see
They licked the platter clean.

7. Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town
Upstairs, downstairs, in his nightgown
Rapping at the window, crying through the lock
"Are the children in their beds? Now it's eight o'clock."

8. Ring Around The Rosies
Pocketful of posies
Ashes, ashes
We all fall down.

9. Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again.

10. Georgy Porgy, pudding and pie
Kissed the girls and made them cry.
When the boys came out the play
Georgy Porgy ran away.

11. Little Jack Horner
Sat in a corner
Eating a Christmas pie
He put in his thumb
And pulled out a plum
And said, "What a good boy am I."

12. There Was A Little Girl
Who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead
When she was good, she was very, very good
And when she was bad, she was horrid.

13. Lucy Locket lost her pocket
Kitty Fisher found it
There was not a penny in it
But a ribbon 'round it.

Labels: Nursery Rhymes, Thursday Thirteen

The reviewers at Romance Reviews Today have named THE IMPORTANCE OF ALMACK'S as Best Regency Romance of 2007

Now, I have been having a wonderful time digesting this news, but I'm beginning to worry that even though I know I need to work on my writing, I'll never write another book as good as Almack's. It's a daunting proposition, but I hope I'm up to the challenge because I love writing and couldn't imagine what I'd do without that creative outlet. And, as a still relatively new person to the world of publishing, I'm still trying to find a niche for myself.

I will continue to write traditional Regencies (read: no sex) because that's where my heart is, but I have truly enjoyed writing my Inspirationals, too. I think God has laid a charge on my heart to continue to reach out to others through my writing.

Will I ever get a NY contract? Who knows. But for now, I'm enjoying the blessings and the ride.

Labels: Award, The Importance of Almack's, Thoughts