A Critter-inspired Giveaway!

This has been a fun blog week! Fist it started out by lil ol' me winning an ARC giveaway on PJ Hoover's blog for the book "Girl Parts" YaY! I love winning books.

And starting today . . . . Author Tina Ferraro is offering a Critter-inspired giveaway!!!

Tina is the author of "Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress," "How to Hook a Hottie," and "ABC's of Kissing Boys" Not to mention, she's also a sweet-cutie-patootie as well.



Go on over to Tina's blog to show some luv for Tina, Critter and St. Jude, and win a chance for a free book or a 1st chapter critique from a fabulous author on top of it all!


Don't forget to become of Critter on Facebook! Click here to go to his FB fan page.

whooo hoooo!

Critter and I met up with Jacqui Robbins at SCBWI LA. Here's Jacqui giving Critter some luv!

Critter has been to visit Jacqui Robbins in MI. She's starting to post about some of the Critter mayhem in her house. Plus, she called me a "cool person." I think I love Jacqui. (In a totally non-weird way, of course.) I tend to favor people who call me "cool"

anyway, Click here to see what Critter and Jacqui have been up to.

And while your waiting for Jacqui's posts, you might like to know that Critter is on his way to visit YA author, Tina Ferraro. I hear she's taking him to Vegas. whooo hooooo!

You never know who you'll meet. More SCBWI LA

Remember my crazy-canceled/delayed flight from DFW to LAX? ( previous post) Well . . . there's more.

You see, at first, when I got on the original (canceled flight) I was supposed to have a window seat. I ADORE window seats (despite the bathroom dilemma) I like the view and I like having a surface to lay my head and snooze. What can I say? A moving plane is like a rocking cradle to me.

Anyway . . .

I approached my coveted window seat. I saw a man, a woman then and baby. A cute, friggin' baby sucking on a pacifier (in my seat). uggggghhhhh!!!!

"Would you mind switching seats with me?" said the man.

Crap! Now I'll be sitting in the Hell-of-all-middle-seats! "Of course. It's no problem." If only I was the angel in my thoughts like I was the angel of my words.

I would've been a heartless soul to refuse. I couldn't. The angel of words won. The angel of thoughts repeatedly stabbed the back of my eyeballs.

So. I settled in between a nice woman and a young lad several rows back. (in the middle seat)

I blew up my inflatable travel pillow. Adjusted my i-pod. (in the middle seat) Did I mention middle seat?

The nice woman next to me snapped her head in my general direction and said, "Stop it!"

Stop it?

OK. So, I wondered if maybe Critter was up to some of his Critter-tricks. He's a bit ornery, you know.

But then she says (in the most adorable Texas twang) "I'm so sorry, hon. I'm not talkin' to you. My son is traveling with me and he's pokin' me from behind."

awwwwww! She was so adorable! I wanted to pinch her cheeks! But I didn't. I have some self control, don't cha'know.

"That's funny stuff." I replied. Truly relieved that I wasn't sitting next to a stuffity'uppity window-seater, and thankful for the comedy relief. I liked this woman from the very start.

But then, the flight was canceled.

We reboarded 3 (or more) hours later.

I sat next to the nice lady with the Texas Twang once more. But that was OK, because I already liked her.

We giggled at the loud-mouth braggard sitting in the row in front of us. What can I say? We were loopy from the plane delays and flight changes. We must've been easily amused.

I liked her, even though I didn't know her. We talked, but about nothing in particular. Simply pleasant company.

Fast forward to the hotel. . . .

I'm standing in line to check into my room for the SCBWI LA conference and who do I see? It's the nice lady with the twang from the plane.

"Oh!" She said, "If I had known you were coming here, you could've shared a cab with me and my son!"

Nice! Such a nice lady. Wow! We were at the same conference. How amazing. What a small world.


Fast forward once more to the next morning:
. . . I'm sitting in the opening session of the conference. The faculty of SCBWI is introducing themselves on stage.

Who do I see introduce herself as one of the faculty authors? You guessed it!!!! The nice lady with the twang, the one who sat next to me on the plane and whispered "stop it!" in my general direction (although not directed to me)

We spoke several times throughout the conference. Her name is Jill S. Alexander (BTW) She's sweet as pie. I swear, children's literature people are the nicest people on the whole entire earth!

Consequently, I bought her book, The Sweetheart of Prospect County, and I read it in 2 nights. That's a big deal, seeing that I read it during the conference. They keep you going at conferences like this, so it was no easy feat to stay up in order to read a book. However, I read Jill's book. I laughed. I cried. I stayed up way later than I should have. As a matter of fact, I bought a book for myself and I bought an extra to use as a book giveaway, here! On my blog! Might I dub Jill as the Sweetheart of Children's Literature? She deserves it!

Prepare for a book giveaway! Not today, but in the near future.

Not only has Jill agreed to do a future interview, but she will also be a Critter host as well. Stay tuned.

More to come.







Here's a picture of Jill, Critter and her debut novel, The Sweetheart of Prospect county.

I'll blog more about the book, but for now, I have to marvel at our unique meeting. How often does that happen?

I'll tell ya . . . it made the flight delay well-worth it. If you're ever going to get stranded in an airport, Jill is the lady to get stranded with! :0)

The way things work out sometimes . . . it's amazing!

Critter saves the flight from DFW to LA!: The great SCBWI, LA adventure

Our flight was early. Critter is coffee-mad. Can you imagine drinking a cup full of coffee that is 98% of your height? But critter did it. And it paid off. (Critter likes mocha) We had no idea what was about to challenge Critter's energy level.

Our connection in Dallas was delayed as a result of mechanical difficulties. Annoying and yet, I prefer delays over crashing. Crazy. I know. I'm weird that way.

Three hours, two cups of coffee, 8 1/4 cranky employees, two tram rides and three gate changes later . . . we were on our way to LA. Seriously . . . picture 150 people being herded through an airport, parting escalators Exodus-like, complaining that our time was being inconvenienced as opposed to risking our lives in a plane crash.

You might think people would be cranky during a circumstance such as that. No need to worry. Critter saved the day. He pulled his guitar out of his backpack and led the entire flight in rounds of campfire songs and bad 80's ballads and supervised line-dances.

Everyone agreed. It was the best flight they had ever taken. Some airline employees were ready to quit their jobs and join a circus. But Critter's enthusiasm reminded them of what was really important in life and dubbed it as the best work-day EVER!!!!

Yay, Critter saved the day!

Foam board is truly amazing. Isn't it?


Critter was pretty tuckered out after all of that rabble-rousing. He needed to kick back when we finally checked in. Here's a picture of Critter chillin' with his i-pod. (He likes Toby Mac)

This is Critter chillin' on our balcony.

You can become a fan of Critter on Facebook by clicking here

More Critter in LA stories to come . . . .

Critter's last days in the Virgin Islands

Bish has posted pictures of Critter's last days in the Virgin Islands. Go on over to her blog and check him out by clicking here! He even got to drive a boat!

I had Bish send Critter back to me because I'm taking him to SCBWI LA next week to be my date. (shhhh! don't tell my husband.) More updates to come!

Ella's Tiger Tots Tournament 2010

What summer activities inspire your imagination? I'm having the bestest summer!!!! Part 1

What inspires your imagination on summer vacation?

OK, I've had 3 young children in my life for 8 years now. It's great, it's wonderful. I love being a mom. But it can also mean no time for breaks. Vacations and holidays are more work than usual. Full time moms don't get vacations. They just get more work. At least when they kids are in school, I can have a few hours to get things done around the house. When they're home . . . that just means more messes are being made for me to clean up. I can't keep up. I love being a mom. I hate the whirlwind housekeeping. I love spending time with the kids, but I hate how responsibility to do what I'm "supposed to do," gets in the way of enjoying of motherhood.

So, in the past years, summer vacation wasn't exactly a vacation for good ol' worn-out mom.

HOWEVER! This year is so much different. The kids are more independent, not as whiny, which means we can go more places and actually enjoy them (mostly) tantrum free!!!!!

So far, this has been the most enjoyable summer that I've had in a long, long while. I must add, since this is a writing blog, writing IS related to my bestest summer in a long long time. You see, I find that my creativity is spurred by new experiences along with being able to mentally digest them. I've been able to do that this summer. whoooo hoooooo! New things! Time to think! *insert happy giggles here*

There's stories, stories everywhere! I've done and seen several things this summer that have inspired my imagination. I'm sharing them here because I know my dear, sweet blogger friends will understand. You guys are great!!!!

Here we go! But this is just one summer-fun-thing. More is to come.




The lighthouse in the background is on Cape Look Out, NC. My oldest daughter learned about the lighthouses in NC ( our home state) in school this past year, so we surprised her by taking her to see her favorite. (she hugged us when she realized where we were! Good parent points acquired.) It's a remote island. Hardly anything is there. Just a light house, keepers quarters that doubles as a museum and walkways to allow visitors to walk among the island w/o disturbing it's natural surroundings. There are no restaurants, no shops. Only park rangers and visitors who come by boat. Guests are told to collect their own trash, since there is no trash pick up. Boaters anchor on the sound side of the island. There were at least a dozen private boats idle on the waters when we arrived.

Our ferry captain instructed us to remove our shoes in order to disembark in the 5 inches of water to get to shore. It depends on who you are. Maybe that sounds like a nightmare to some. To me . . . it was awesome!!!! I love getting away from the tourism, the cookie cutter money pits. Something more natural. Give me sand in my toes, even in my hair! Let me not care if I have make up on! yippeeeeee! FREEEEEEEEDOM!!!!!!!

Anyway . . . the picture above is my youngest daughter holding a conch shell that I found while swimming off the coast of Cape Lookout. I've never found a complete shell of this size anywhere! EVER! I was so excited! Once I found it, it was like a drug. I was determined to go back in the water and find at least 2 others (so each kid could have one) Unfortunately, after thinking I found another shell, only to have it pinch me on my little toe (it was really a crab) Owie! I kept searching. But when the rip tide started to pull me in, plus time for the ferry back to the mainland grew closer . . . I had to concede. One shell was all I could have (for now) But I was happy. Mark this as a highlight of my trip. But one day I'm going back to Cape Lookout, just so I can find more conch shells. :0) No kidding. You have no idea how many shells I collected as a kid. None even close to the size of this mack-daddy! I want (need) to go back. Large shells will be mine! Mine I say! Mwa-haaaa-haaaa-haaa-haaa!

This is my family standing in front of the "ferry" that we took to Cape Lookout. Can a 13 passenger boat really be called a ferry? I'm thinking it should really be called a "cash cow"

See the horses in the background? Those are wild horses on Shackleford Island. Those are Spanish horses whose ancestors were shipwrecked in the 1500's and have survived on the island ever since. Our Ferry captain, Captain Calico Jack, made sure to drive us close to the horses before taking us to shore on Cape Lookout. Thank You Calico Jack. Thank you for not just being concerned about time and schedules. Thank you for diverting from your route so we could have a memory! I've never seen wild horses in their element before. What a story! Surviving remnants from a shipwreck in the 1500's. How have the horses been able to survive? What happened to the people who were transporting them? Stories . . . stories . . . everywhere. I want to know! I guess I'll have to go back for research sometime too. Not just conch shells.

There's been so much, this summer. But it's too much to share in one blog.

Thanks for reading about one of my great summer memories. Now let me hear about yours.

I want to know. What summer activities have inspired your imagination? Past or present.