Won't You Be My Neighbor?

People come and people go but a neighborhood is more than comings and goings. It's a community of people who care about each other and go out of their way to get to know one another. One way that our neighborhood does this is by hosting Welcome to the Neighborhood parties and Christmas Cookie Exchanges. There are other ways too but here are a few pictures from one party where we welcomed Jen, John and Jackson.

These cyber neighborhoods are important too. We make friends and get to know one another over the net. So, grab a cup of coffee and sit and share some news with me. I've got a variety of posts to share with you. Hope you enjoy your visit into my on-line life.

Self-Editing Help - and other useful links

Here's a great post from Kelly Mortimer with a lot of helpful writing information. You can read the entire post here.

And if you want to find topics to write about, here is a list of 7 ways to track trends. Thanks to Writer's Digest. Check it out here.

Here's another useful link to read: Face-to-Face with an Agent, from Writer's Digest. Read it here.

Here's one more great post, which gives a list of agents accepting queries from children's literature writers, which was current as of March of '08. Check it out here

VIOLET RAINES ALMOST GOT STRUCK BY LIGHTNING

Violet Raines Almost Got Struck By Lightning
By Danette Haworth

I read this book Saturday night and thought it was super cute. I loved spunky Vi. And with the teaser on the jacketflap, of coral snakes and alligators, who wouldn’t want to read Violet Raines Almost Got Struck By Lightning?

It was 162 pages of awesome attitude twirled into a fun-filled story.

I enjoyed the fish fries, which brought back childhood memories for me. My own Dad hunted and fished to feed us kids. With 9 of us, he had too. But, I hated watching the fish get cleaned, just like Melissa.

I could totally relate to Vi’s jealousy. When I grew up with my best friend, who lived across the street, I too, just like Vi, was jealous whenever new girls came into the picture. I felt left out some times but never considered how my friend felt, when I was hanging out with my sisters and brothers or other friends.

I especially loved Vi’s word collection. Taradiddle, magniloquent, jubilant, and serendipity were all great, but my own personal favorite was a word my mom and grandma used to use all the time: persnickety. Now, isn’t that a cool word for a kid?

The tree cave was a cool idea and the bridge crossing was always hanging around in the back of my mind.

All around, a very fun story.

WOGGING INSTEAD OF BLOGGING this morning

This morning (Sunday 9/7) my sister and I did the Pints to Pasta, 10K run. Okay, it was really more of a wog (Walk/Jog) than a run. But it was over six miles and we finished! Plus, it helped raise money for two wonderful causes:

1) Raphael House, this agency offers domestic violence intervention for women and children made homeless by domestic violence.

Read more about it here:

And,

2) The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training

Read more about it here.

We finished and rushed over to watch my niece compete at skating. Serena took third place. She was skating to Van Helsing. We call her a Fanpire, especially after reading the Twilight series.



Then it was off to dinner for my son’s (Jake) and daughter’s (Kara) birthday party. It was a Thai dinner and then cake and ice cream at home with MacKenzie playing Happy Birthday on the violin.



It was a busy day.



Hope you all had a fun filled and eventful weekend.

T-Mobile Isn't the Only One With a Fav-Five

Top Five Energy-Saving Tips

1. Turn thermostats down by 3 to 5 degrees on your furnace and water heater. Yes, this may mean wearing more clothes in the house. That's one of things they're for. And if you can't hold your hand under the hot water, it's too hot!

2. Turn the heat down further when you leave the house for the day, and turn it down when you sleep at night. If you have a programmable thermostat, even better - you can program it to do this for you, and set it to bring the heat up before you get home and before you get up.

3. Get your furnace tuned and cleaned every other year; replace the air filters at least annually if not seasonally. Make sure heating units or registers are free and clear. There's no sense in heating the back of the couch.

4. Next to space heating, water heating uses the most energy. Wrap your water heater with insulation. Wash your clothes in cold water. Consider whether it's necessary to shower every day (Heresy!), especially in the winter. Take shorter showers when you take them.

5. Turn off the lights when you leave the room, even if it's just for a moment. In rooms with track or recessed lighting, where multiple bulbs go on and off from a single switch, consider removing some bulbs or lowering wattage.

Contest: Win a Mentorship Program for One Lucky Winner

Mortimer Literary Agency Announces its Yearly Mentorship Program. I received this information via Kelly Mortimer's newsletter:

"And awaaay we go! I'm ready to tell y'all about my mentorship program, started because I'm mental. I wanna help writers. I can't help everyone, but I can help ONE. It could be you.

You'll get more details later, but here's the overview.

I'll choose a writer and starting with chapter one of their finished manuscript, help them transform the work with the end goal being a contract for representation and the sale of the manuscript.
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The mentorship program isn't meant for those with one foot in the door, but for someone with a great idea or voice, that ain't getting' pubbed until they learn all the fun rules we have.
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The program is open to the first 100 applicants who satisfy the requirements TO THE LETTER. If ya can't follow simple directions, ya need more help than I can give.
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I have a lot of friends, and I wanna keep it that way. I'll be judging blind. Your application will go to someone else, contest style. The only info I'll receive will be the genre and word count. Sooo, you haveta send something unrecognizable to me. Something you haven't submitted before.
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You'll need to send the app form, one page of your manuscript (250-words computer program count, 250 words in Courier New font, or 300 words in Times New Roman font), and a one-page essay on why you should win the mentorship. If ya give me any clues to who ya are, you're outta there!
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I'll be accepting the submissions from October 1-31, 2008. If ya send your app in a minute before, you're outta there!
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The actual program will start in the second week of January."

That's a direct quote

PAX - My sons went to the Penny Arcade Show

On August 29, 30, and 31st Luke and Jake went to Seattle to the Penny Arcade Conference you can read more about it here. Luke spent a lot of his time playing video game challenges and finished 8th.

Jake ran around and checked some of the stuff out, when he wasn't cheering for his brother. He even met Felicia Day who played Vi on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series.

Jake and his buddy Aaron had their pictures taken with the star.