Wreader Fun

This past Tues, I went down to North Dakota on a variety of errands which included picking up my mail, mailing my partial, doing a recce to Prairie Junction and visiting the library. Why did I drive 1.5 hrs to use a US post office? When I need to order supplies that will fill a large box or two, such as Sunday school supplies from the Christian Dollar Store in Zanesville, Ohio, I'll pick a calendar date for about a month in the future and start my list: Shipping: I'll do all the on-line ordering that I've saved over the past few months and send them to my Noonan, ND post office box. This saves shipping costs. Yes, I pay taxes when I take them across the border, but that's okay with me because the taxes aren't nearly as much as the S&H charges would have been. Mailing SASE: I had a partial manuscript of An Outlaw for the Lady to send out to the editors of Steeple Hill in New York. I needed a SASE (Self Addressed Stamped Envelope). The reason it has to be SASE ...

(In a deep echo voice) And now, for the on-going story of ‘My Hand’s Gonna Explode!’... Harlequin Romance author, Donna Alward came up with a ringer – Holy Hematoma ! (I wish I’d thought of that) Good going, Donna. Yesterday morning, the swelling had gone done considerably but my hand now had a distinct blue tinge. I forgot to put ice on it (tsk, tsk, tsk) and after posting a couple emails, took a 2 hr drive to the beautiful state of North Dakota. I picked up my mail, sent off my partial of An Outlaw for the Lady to Steeple Hill in New York, and visited the local library. I love the Divide County library. They have a section of books where you bring some in and take some home. All free. Take what you want to read. I brought about 18 in and picked out 15 to take home including a nearly new copy of The Rustler by Linda Lael Miller which I believe is the current book she’s promoting. Yippee! Anyway, did you get that part about sending out the partial to Steeple Hill? Yeah? Okay... By ...

So, guess what happened to me on the way to my bedroom? Before your mind goes into overdrive, let me tell you - I burst a blood vessel in my hand. How? I’m glad you asked...because I love to swing my arms while I walk. This alone isn't that dangerous, but when your hallway is filled with bookshelves, it can be hazardous to your health. Let's just say a bookshelf got in the way of my swinging arm. But, I'm so used to it, that after shouting a word that's better left in the bathroom, I kept walking. Now, picture this: It's an hour later and I'm sitting at my laptop typing. My hand is itchy. I ignore it. It starts to feel...funny. I rub it. Mercy! Somethings wrong! I look down at my hand and I've got a humongous blue lump ready to burst! I show it to hubby who looks stunned but then kicks into his First Responder persona and starts to question me. I'm now back in the bedroom trying to find matching socks so I can head into the nearest medical clinic. Hubby ...

For you writers out there, here are 3 writing challenges/contests going on now in order of deadlines: http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/ Rachelle Gardner, Literary Agent: Showing VS Telling mini Contest. 25-75 words. Entry to be posted as a comment. Deadline Wed, Oct 22nd. Prize: "Winner can choose an evaluation of ten pages of their work, or a $20 Amazon gift card." http://community.eharlequin.com/forums/write-stuff/writers-challenge-4?page=8#comment-112343 Writer's Challenge - click Current Challenge for more info. Max 1000 words. Entry to be posted anytime between the morning of Oct 30 until midnight Oct 31st. Prize: Peer recognition http://scrollsquirrel.blogspot.com/2008/10/october-2008-prompt.html Love Inspired author, Cheryl Wyatt's monthly Prompt Contest. 500 word scene. Deadline Oct 31st. Prize: Free Steeple Hill book So there you go - 3 small contests you can enter to sharpen your writing skills. The first 2 will give you confidence of putting your wor...

A Passion Most Pure (The Daughters of Boston) by Julie Lessman 2008 Revell Books This book is 2008 Top 10 material. I loved it. With vivid descriptions, heart hammering emotion and the most passion I've ever read in an inspirational book to date, Julie Lessman has written a book that mirrors real people with all the faults God bestowed on us. I usually don't like books where either main character has another love interest because I only want to know about what happens between the hero and the heroine. But in this book, it's a major plot development b/c the hero is courting the heroine's sister. The hero, Collin McGuire is a nice, handsome fellow but I don't like the way he treats women. He's no angel and if you're wearing a skirt, watch out, you're fair game. Not exactly hero material. He does have one redeeming feature...much to his chagrin...he can't forget Faith or her words. Too bad she won't give him the time of day. Actually that's not ...

Courting Miss Adelaide by Janet Dean Love Inspired Historical #16 - Sep 08 Please excuse me while I wipe the tears off my laptop and clear all the used tissues away. There, that's better. This book certainly was a surprise. For all you ‘peekers' out there on eharl - yes, I read the blog posts where you say you read the end of the book first - well, you'll want to jump on this one b/c the last few pages pack a punch. That's not to say the rest of the book is boring - far from it. In this debut novel, Janet Dean gently lures us into her story, dropping crumbs that we eagerly snatch b/c although we know how it's going to end, we want to enjoy the awakening attraction, the kisses, the bickerings, and the distrust the two main characters must endure before they realize nothing else matters except their faith in each other and in God. It's 1897 and milliner Adelaide Crum is a 31 yr old spinster. She could've married years ago but refused to settle. It seems like s...

Okay, so here are the photos of my recent sojourn to Thunder Bay, Ontario. Thunder Bay is known as the Land of the Sleeping Giant and this photo of him was taken from Crescent Park on High Street. You can see the calm harbour in the foreground with the rough waters of Lake Superior behind the breakwater. This pic is what you see on the right side of the Port of Thunder Bay. It's rare to look out over the harbour and not see a freighter. I spent many years of my childhood in this city which is a combination of the Port Arthur and Fort William. I remember when the twin cities amalgamated back in the late '60s. I was in Thunder Bay to visit my mom and my other relatives. My mom's parents were both from Finland and came to Canada as young adults. Thunder Bay has a huge Finn population and one night, we went out for supper at the Finlandia Club where Finnish cooking is their specialty. From left to right: Torsti (Mom's hubby) Mary (my mom) Uncle Paul (Mom's bro) Nancy (m...

You can't know the jolt that shoots through your system when you read those words, 'You've Been Tagged' unless you've actually been tagged. I was. I wasn't even back home from my trip to the ACFW conference when Margaret Daley sent me an email telling me the good news. Except I didn't know what it meant. Sure, I've read other people being tagged over the last 18 months I've read the blogs and joined http://www.eharlequin.com/ but I'd never been tagged so I never cared. Once I became IT, I went to Margaret's site at http://margaretdaley.blogspot.com/ to see what it was all about. Hmmm. It didn't look too bad. I noticed she also tagged Debby Giusti at Craftie Ladies of Suspense which is another of my favourite blogs, so I went to http://ladiesofsuspense.blogspot.com/2008/10/ive-been-tagged.html and checked it out. I think I get the picture. Hopefully by the time I finish this post, I'll have picked out 6 people who will be thrilled t...

The Magic of Christmas - Harlequin Historical Western Anthology 2008 My Rating: Great! - 4 ½ stars (a keeper) Fantastic Christmas stories. I loved them. This book has 3 emotional Christmas novellas, all of which appropriately involve infants. Of the 3 authors, 2 of them - Cheryl St. John and Victoria Bylin - are favourites of mine. I will buy books from these 2 women on sight without even reading the back cover. And, their novellas in this book have reinforced my opinion of their writing. The first novella, however was written by Carolyn Davidson. a new author to me. I have to say I wonder what the editors were thinking when they put her novella first in this anthology. Why? Because I expected something Christmassy with love and forgiveness - especially after looking at the gorgeous cover with a young couple holding a baby. But, the first novella starts with disease, death and was depressing to me. I actually wondered why I was reading it. But, I was sent the book to review and like I ...