Thursday's Top Ten: Top Ten Favorite Quotes

Thursday's Top Ten - 

What are your Top Ten favorite quotes?

1. "Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right." Henry Ford

This is so true, and I've seen it in action many, many times. I've watched talented writers fall off the grid because they believe they can't write. I've seen less talented writers rise to the top because they believe they can. I've seen it happen time and again in other aspects of life, too. We are all too often our own worst enemies.

2. "Change your thoughts and you change your world." Norman Vincent Peale

This one goes hand-in-hand with the first quote. Our minds are amazingly powerful. Our thoughts and beliefs create our reality.

3. "Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe. " Voltaire

4. "I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear." Nelson Mandela

5. "You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure about you. We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us. " Marianne Williamson

How often I see people--especially women--downplaying their successes in order to come across as non-threatening. How often I do it myself.

6. "Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." John Adams

Truth is truth, no matter how we may feel about it. We cannot make a thing untrue simply by wanting it to be false. Neither can we make a thing true simply by force of will.

7. "A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read. " Mark Twain

8. "Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure." George Edward Woodberry

9. "Don't confuse fame with success. Madonna is one; Helen Keller is the other." Erma Bombeck

And finally, because it just cracks me up ....

10. "All right, then, I'll go to hell." Mark Twain

Happy Anniversary

This is going to sound weird. I know it is. But today is my aniversary. Not weird, you say? Okay, how about this? I was married (mumble-mumble) years ago today. We stayed together for 5 years, and divorced almost 30 years ago. Not weird enough for you? Okay, well, my ex-husband passed away almost 10 years ago. Not only are we not married, he's not even around any longer. Now what do you think? Before he passed away, my ex used to call me every year on this day to wish me a happy anniversary. At first his calls irritated me. Since we were at odds, the more irritated I became, the better he liked it. After a few years, I shifted from irritation to mere annoyance. That took a little of the fun out of the day for him, but by then I suppose calling me was a habit. And then, finally, when we were able to put the anger behind us and we became friends, the calls actually amused me. I'm not sure whether I'd think about the day if we'd chosen to get married in, say, June. But we got married two days after Thanksgiving, so when I start thinking Thanksgiving, I inevitably think wedding, and from there it's just a hop, skip and a jump to anniversary. Since he's been gone, I've taken over the anniversary wish department. I can't call him, but I do wish him a happy anniversary every year on this date. It seems like the least I can do, y'know? So Happy Anniversary, big guy! And Happy Thanksgiving!

Colorful Candy!

Today's theme is Colorful, so I'm sharing these pictures I took of a candy shop in Virginia City, Nevada.

Thursday Thirteen #8

Thirteen Things in My Life Beginning With "F"
(in no particular 0rder)

Just realized that I hadn't completely finished this blog post I started on Thursday -- so here it is, slightly late.

1. Florida -- which is where my daughter, her husband, and the Wonder Baby live now. It is also where I just came home from after a heavenly two-week visit. It is also where I am planning to move, just as soon as it's practical, despite the humidity and the bugs and the gators and the snakes and the bugs.

2. Family -- Top on my list of important things/people. Kids, the grandkid, my sister and brother, nieces and nephes, my mother. Dad too, even though he's no longer with us. Cousins ... Do I have cousins! Aunts. Uncles.

3. Friends -- Can't get through life without a few.

4. Fry Sauce -- without which I cannot eat french fries. For those poor souls who have no idea what fry sauce is, it's usually mayonnaise and ketchup, sometimes with a dab of barbeque sauce or something else to give it zing.

6. Faint -- A feeling I've been fighting for months until I finally learned that I was suffering from anemia. Now, after a month of iron supplements, I no longer feel as if I'm about to pass out all the time. I'd almost forgotten how it felt not to feel as if I was going down for the count.

6. Faith -- An element that's of ever-increasing importance in my life.

7, Freedom -- I don't think you can have a family member in the military without thinking about freedom .... a lot. I'm grateful for it. I thank our founding fathers for fighting for it. I thank my dad, my uncles, and my son-in-law for putting their lives on the line for it. I try not to take it for granted.











8. Father -- Mine passed away nearly two years ago, and I still catch myself wanting to forward an e-mail i think he might be interested in, or thinking I see him in a parking lot when I'm out running errands. I miss him.

9. Fiction -- Of course. I mean, it's what I do!!!

10. Firewalkers -- The name of the group of my closest friends, who are also a critique group on occasion. I say on occasion because I don't remember the last time all four of us were producing pages in a new manuscript simultaneously, and especially during the past couple of years of pregnancy, various battles with cancer, depression, and moving, nobody's been at the computer long enough to even e-mail, much less write. But we'll get back there. I have faith.

11. Forgetfulness -- According to my kids, I have the world's worst memory. I think they may be exaggerating a bit ... but probably not by much :(

12. Forsythia -- One of my favorite bits of flora in the world. It blooms in early spring, and it's bright and cheery and full of hope and promise after a long, cold winter. When I was young and newly married, my then-husband planted three of these in the back yard where I could see them from the kitchen window.

13. Fuel Prices -- Ridiculous. Absolutely unacceptable. And since I'm not alone in this one, I'm not going to say much more.

Friday Fill-Ins #1

1. Seeing new things and meeting new people are the best thing about traveling. 2. I love a good warm blanket and thick socks when I'm cold. 3. I often use excuses to procrastinate things I really should be doing right now. 4. I'm reading a book I'm judging for Romance Writers' of America's RITA contest right now; I can't talk about it. 5. My kids' upcoming move to wherever the Air Force is sending them is something I dislike talking about. 6. When I visited Orlando I most looked forward to seeing Disney World. Yeah, I'm a Disney fan. I admit it. 7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to picking up the Wonder Grandgirl, tomorrow my plans include Christmas shopping for the holiday we postponed while Ian was deployed and Sunday, I want to relax until we go to my mother's for family dinner!

Weird Stuff

You Are Quite Worldly

You've done a good bit of worldly exploring, and you have an international perspective. And you're definitely looking forward to your future adventures abroad. You've got the passport, the desire to travel, and maybe even the language skills. Now all you need are the means!

How Worldly Are You?

Thursday Thirteen #7

Thirteen Things from My Life that Begin with "E" (in no particular order)

1. E-mail. I spend way too much time every day reading and responding to it, and yet I'd much rather use e-mail than to have constant interruptions by phone during the day. 2. Easy chair. Absolutely my favorite place to write. 3. Editing. Probably one of the most important parts of writing a book in my opinion. Creating is essential, of course, but the magic happens for me during the revision or editing stages. 4. Enchiladas. Cheese in flour tortillas. From Lorena's. M-m-m-m-m!!!!! 5. Epiphany. An integral part of any book, especially the ones I write. 6. Executive Session. I've been serving on a board of directors for the past three years, so it's become a part of my life. 7. Exercise. Not that I actually do any, but I spend a great deal of time each day avoiding it. 8. Exhaustion. A constant problem, probably because of my outlook toward #7 above. 9. Ex-husband. I had one for many years, but he passed away in 1999. 10. Extortion. Way back when I was about 20 or 21, a couple of idiots decided that my ex-husband and I must have had money. I guess he thought this because my ex's family owned a business that seemed to be doing very well. We received an extortion threat and my daughter and I went into hiding while the police set up a command center in my (very messy) living room. Eventually, the bad guys were apprehended and my daughter and I were able to come home again. Too bad the extortionists didn't realize that my ex's family kept us poor as church mice. It could have saved them 10-15 years. 11. Eyewitness. I was the eyewitness in a hit and run accident a few years back while driving home from a book signing at one of my local bookstores. 12. The Edgar Award. No, I don't have one, but I want one some day!!! 13. Editors. They're a very large part of my life and I've been truly blessed to work with some of the best.

Thursday Thirteen #6

Thirteen Things From My Life That Begin With "D"

in no particular order

1. Deadlines. For a writer, they're part of every day life, and they can be pure hell. Learning the discipline of writing is essential because there's nothing that can kill the muse faster than having to be creative on demand. But you know what they say . . . the only thing worse than having a deadline is not having a deadline.

2. Diapers. For eighteen years or so, these little things disappeared from my life. Now they're back, and I couldn't be more delighted.

3. Daughters. They're my kids and my best friends. They get me when no one else does. For every minute of grief or worry they've brought me, they've given me three minutes of joy.

4. Decorate. When I have the time and the energy, I love to decorate for the holidays. Unfortunately both of the above things have been in short supply the last few years. I didn't even bother putting up a Christmas tree last year -- and that's not like me.

5. Dreams. For most of my life, I haven't remembered my dreams. I suppose I did dream, but I never remembered what I dreamed about except an occasional recurring dream about being chained in a tower in a medieval castle. That dream is gone and now I dream about things like working for my old boss and frantically trying to get to work while something is obstructing my path.

6. Dogs ... of course. There's Angel, my poorly socialized dog with ADHD and OCD. Those of you who hang around here a lot know that I blog about her occasionally. And there's Sammi (no relation) who is my oldest daughter's dog and who currently lives with me. She's a noisy "little" thing (little only by comparison to Angel who, I swear, is part giraffe, part gazelle, and part kangaroo) who barks every time a leaf moves on the street and refuses to take treats when you're leaving the house because ... well, because you're leaving. As if not taking the treat will make you stay, I guess. I'm really not sure what goes on inside her head.

7. Dance. When I was a little girl, I wanted to be a professional dancer. More specifically, I wanted to be a June Taylor dancer, but I don't think I ever confessed my professional dance aspirations aloud, and I think they died away somewhere before I was 8. Besides being a novelist, being a June Taylor dancer is the only thing I ever really wanted to be when I grew up.

8. Dad. I have one, as do all of you :) Mine passed away on October 6, 2006 at the age of 82. He was a World War II Veteran who loved the great outdoors and dreamed of being a Park Ranger when he was a young man. He grew up on a farm and spent so many hours working in the fields, he almost didn't graduate from high school. That near miss bothered him his entire life.

9. Daydreaming. I'm all for it, and I'm lucky. I'm a writer. Daydreaming is my job!

10. Dictionary. In 7th grade, I made a poster that was supposed to read "How To Develop your Mental Abilities." I misspelled two words on that poster, so it ended up reading "How to Develope your Mental Abbilities." Not only did the other kids in my class make fun of me, but the teacher did too -- and this right after she laughed at me because I didn't know how to spell marijuana. (This was before it was a household word where I lived, and I was absent the day we learned what it was.) This all happened the year after I had Mr. Graybill, the world's most obnoxious teacher, in 6th grade. Mr. Graybill made the leather wallet I was crafting for my dad (see above) a public example of how not to do leatherwork. The public humiliation I felt over that stupid poster nearly did me in, but I became best friends with the dictionary that day. After that, I could out-spell almost everyone I knew. Even my Straight-
A Sister -- the one who graduated 3rd in her class -- asked me how to spell words.

11. Deployment. As some of you know, my son-in-law is currently deployed with the Air Force in the Middle East. He's willing to be there because he believes that if we don't fight them over there, we'll have to fight them here on our own soil. All I can say is, war looks a whole lot different when it comes knocking on your own front door than it does when it's an abstract principle.

12. Dishwasher. It's my favorite modern convenience.

13. Down East. Where I wish I lived!

Unconscious Mutterings

I say ... and you think ... ? Crook :: I am not a .... Career :: Ah...something I spend a great deal of time thinking about. Freckles :: Angel Kisses Scramble :: (d) eggs. My granddaughter's favorite breakfast these days. Mistake :: Everyone makes 'em. Telephone :: Number. For some reason, I have a really good memory for telephone numbers -- or I used to before the day of speed dial. It used to be that I could hear a number once and remember it for years. Now ... not so much. Thank you :: Card. Something I never, never, ever remember to send. Obstruction :: Blockage. 24/7 :: Hmmm. The first thing that came to mind was the TV show 24, which I'm slowly catching up on, thanks to Netflix. I resisted watching this show for a long time. Now, though I still find things to make fun of from time to time, I'm kinda hooked. SciFi :: Friday. One of my cousins has a husband who regularly hosts SciFri Fridays at his house. He and his buddies get together, eat, and watch .... whatever they watch.

Fridays Feast

Appetizer: When was the last time you visited a hospital?

October 6, 2006 - the day my dad died. No, wait! I went back to the hospital where Abigail was born a couple of months ago to visit her primary care nurse from the NICU.

Soup: On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how ambitious are you?

Tough question! I think I'm around an 8.

Salad: Make a sentence using the letters of a body part. (Example: (mouth) My other ukelele tings healthily.)

Tongue: That Ocelot Needs Glue Under (its) Eyes

Main Course: If you were to start a club, what would the subject matter be, and what would you name it?

Well, I have started a club once in my life, so I can answer this question with some authority! I was about 10 years old -- maybe even younger -- and I started a club called AGFA which stood for .... wait for it .... American Girls For Albertsons. Oh yeah. It was a hot, happenin' club, I can tell you! I think there were two or three of us in it, and we rode our bikes to Albertsons a couple of times.

Dessert: What color is the carpet/flooring in your home?

Tan

Thursday Thirteen #3

Thirteen Things From My Life that Start with "A"

(In no Particular Order)

1. Apple peeler/corer. I don't use it as often I'd like to, but it's pretty much the coolest thing ever.

2. Afghans I've crocheted. I don't even know how many there are, but it truly is something I love doing. I make them and keep them, make them and give them away. It's soothing to work on them, I guess.

3. Abigail. There simply are no words to express how much I adore this child. It's like the love you feel for your own children ... and more .... no, not more. That's impossible. But it's different. It's HUGE. An amazing kind of love.

4. Apples -- but not all apples. Only crisp, sour apples. Granny Smith are good. Red Delicious are usually too mealy. Braeburn can be good . . .

5. Angel. I got this dog for my daughter after an illness. The dog was supposed to help her heal. Well, she did her job, and then my daughter got married and moved out, and Angel stayed with me. And now, even though she drives me crazy and still goes bonkers and leaps around the house, and jumps down 5 stairs at a time and sails over an 8 foot fence without even breathing hard, she's still one of my favorite things.

6. Autumn. It's the time of year when I was born, and I think it's my favorite time of year. I love the cool nights, the moderating temperatures in the day, the leaves as they change colors, the smell of the soil, the sound of leaves underfoot as I walk. I love Halloween decorations and school bulletin boards, and gourds and squash. I just love it all.

7. Answering Machine. It's a lifesaver when I'm working.

8. Anne Tyler. I love her books.

9. Alaska. I went several years ago and had a wonderful time. The scenery is amazing and the people fascinating. I hate the signs documenting how many moose have been killed along the highways. It's sad. Beautiful land. Everyone ought to go once.

10. Arkansas. It's where my dad was born.

11. Austria. It's on my list of places I want to go.

12. Acadia National Park. One of my favorite places on earth.

13. The Air Force. It's not exactly one of my favorite things at the moment, but it's a large part of my life, and I'm SO proud of my Senior Airman son-in-law. He's being deployed in just 4 days, so if you can spare prayers for one more soldier, please add Ian to your list.

I'm frantically trying to put the finishing touches on book #4 in the candy shop mystery series, so I'm not going to take time to blog today. I found this map, though, that I thought was kind of fun. Which Canadian provinces have you been to? I've visited Alberta, New Brunswick, British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Quebec. create your own personalized map of Canada or check out ourVancouver travel guide

Thursday Thirteen #1

Dumb Utah Laws

It is illegal to detonate any nuclear weapon. Apparently, you can have them (is this true?) but you just can't detonate them.

Birds have the right of way on all highways. (Which may explain why my daughter used to always yell at me for almost hitting birds!)

It is against the law to fish from horseback.

When a person reaches the age of 50, he/she can then marry their cousin. (Oh my.)

It is illegal not to drink milk. (I may be in huge trouble.)

In Kaysville, you must have identification to enter a convienence store after dark.

In Logan, women may not swear.

In Monroe (there's a Monroe here???) daylight must be visible between partners on a dance floor. Hmmm. What happens if you're dancing at night???

In Provo, throwing snowballs is gonna earn you a $50 fine.

In Salt Lake City, it's illegal to walk down the street carrying a violin in a paper bag. I can't even imagine what would prompt lawmakers to put this one on the books.

In Trout Creek, it's illegal for pharmacists to sell gunpowder to cure headaches.

A husband is responsible for every criminal act committed by his wife while she is in his presence. That seems only fair since so many of them also consider themselves responsible for every good thing their wives do.

It's against the law to hunt whales. So darned inconvenient when you're living in a landlocked state!!!!

DEADLIEST CATCH

I have a new obsession. Well, not obsession, really. I'm not actually obsessed. I'm fascinated by the show "Deadliest Catch". While I could never, ever put myself on a fishing vessel out in the middle of the Bering Sea (or anywhere else, for that matter) I watch eagerly (and a bit breathlessly) while the good captains and their hearty crews risk life and limb every Tuesday night. The show is narrated by Mike Rowe (of "Dirtiest Jobs" fame) and features several ships each season, highlighting their trials with the weather, the hard work, and greenhorn deckhands. I can't say that I have a favorite from among the captains. They all have different personalities and management styles, but I have to admit that I smile at the series of bleeps each time they cut to Captain Phil's boat, F/V Cornelia Marie. Jonathan and Andy on F/V Time Bandit, take their fishing very seriously, but it seems that they also love to laugh at life. Sig (F/V Northwestern) is a hard-nosed Norwegian captain, who runs his ship with an iron fist, but he also knows how to have fun when the time is right. I'm not sure what it is that draws me to the show -- the personalities of the men who put to sea or the never-ending challenges created by the weather. Maybe it's a bit of both. All I know is, it's the one show currently on my "can't miss" list.

Catching Up

It's Wednesday, the day I get to spend with our little miracle baby. The best day of my entire week. So while I'm trying to work past the block in my head that's keeping me from working on the next scene in my current work in progress, I'll do my best to catch up a little on the blog.


I'm ashamed to see that it's been over a month since I last posted, but in my defense, I did have a rough time on the Internet last month. Thanks to ISP issues, I ended up spending over 3 weeks without any access to the Internet at all -- which nearly drove me crazy! Once I finally got reconnected to the world, I discovered that the provider I was using for the e-mail accounts at my website had been bouncing e-mails indiscriminately. I still have no idea what I lost in the process, but I've at least successfully managed to change providers and fingers are crossed that the problem is behind us!


If anyone has e-mailed me in the past month or two and I haven't answered, it's probably because the e-mail got shuffled off into some remote area of cyberspace.


Little Miss Abigail had a check-up yesterday, and she's all the way up to 14 pounds 14 ounces and ready to start eating baby food. She'll have her first taste of food that's not formula or rice cereal this afternoon when her dad gets home from work, and I get to be there. I'm so excited, I went to the market at 7:30 this morning to load up on carrots, squash and sweet potatoes. I'm almost sure there's something a little weird about a grown woman getting that excited about strained carrots, but what can I say?


I'm thrilled to hear that Rosie is leaving The View. Not that I'm a View fan. In fact, I rarely watched it before Rosie joined the cast. Then I watched one day after Rosie came along, and the best thing I can say about it is that I was fully awake by the time the show was over. The only other thing I'm going to say is that it's a very bad idea for anyone in the public eye to start believing their own press and the people they pay to tell them how incredible they are -- something Rosie has obviously done. Everyone's entitled to an opinion, but in Rosie's world it seems that anyone who doesn't share her opinion is evil in one way or another. I don't know, folks. I think she's losing it, big-time.


Anyway, now that she's leaving, I can go back to being a non-watcher, which means I can stop shouting at my television every weekday at 11:00. And that, in turn, makes me feel a whole lot better about my mental stability.

What Famous Work of Art Are You?

You Are Best Described By...

Meditative Rose By Salvadore Dali

What Famous Work of Art Are You?

At least that's what I am today. Right this minute. Yesterday, I was probably more like Picasso's "Woman With A Blue Hat"

It's been a lazy day around here today. My oldest daughter is living with me again for a little while, and we stayed up way too late watching a movie. "A Bug's Life," no less. I'm not going to deny that I love the occasional Disney movie, but the reason we chose "A Bug's Life" is not because of the cute little ants or the colorful artwork. We chose the movie because my daughter is a huge fan of Kevin Spacey and after seeing the rerun of his recent interview on Letterman, that movie (even though it's not the only Spacey film she owns) went in the DVD player.

Anyway, a late night on the anthill meant that I woke up a little foggy-headed this morning. Spent an hour reading from THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, which is the summer selection for my book club. We always take a three-month hiatus in the summer because everyone's too busy to get together, and we choose a long book to read since we'll (in theory) have enough time to read it. Usually I put off starting the book until about a week before our September meeting, so the fact that I've already started reading in August is terrifically meaningful.

Since then, I've spent most of the day revising four chapters of my current work in progress, Book #3 of the Candy Shop mystery series, PEPPERMINT TWISTED. The good news is that I'm finally starting to feel the rhythm of the story, and that's always a good thing. Until the rhythm is in sync, everything I write is just so much dreck. When I'm chopping away at the story, writing 100 pages of what the story isn't to find one page of what it is, I envy those writers who begin a new project and charge ahead for the first hundred pages. I think how nice it would be to write smoothly on a new project, to be excited to figure out where the story is going, to have words, scenes, and ideas spilling out of my head almost more quickly than I can get them down. (I don't think that's how it actually works, but it's my fantasy and this is my blog.)

Far from gliding through the pages without effort, I hack my way through every sentence, feeling about as capable as an artist who's been asked to carve an intricte glass figurine using a machete. This goes on until the characters finally agree to wake up and come to life for me. Luckily, once that happens everything changes. Then I get to drop the machete and take up my fine, delicate tools because I become a bystander, a writer lucky enough to listen in while the story unfolds around me.

I don't mean that the book just pours into my head and out of my fingers in one smooth movement. It's not a miracle or anything. Or maybe it is. All I know is that the hardest work I do on any book is chiseling my way into the heads and hearts of the people I'm writing about. And that I routinely pick such stubborn characters to work with, there's a whole lot of chiseling to do. :)