Toujou-ing through the ... Jungle?

So I got double duped into winning the Toujou Blog Award. As in, two people nominated me for it and as I consider them bestest friends, despite the generation gap and lack of physical connection, I shall concede to participate. And besides, when they lavish such praises on me (see below), how can I not participate? :}

From Charley: “Both on an off-line, she's one of my bestest friends-I-haven't-met-yet. We talk about everything, we laugh about everything, and even the figments of our imagination have started uniting in order to dispose of us when we're not looking. She's awesome.”

From Miriam: “She completely shredded my novel and prompted me to rewrite the whole thing, she’s always there with helpful comments when I’m going through a bunch of emotional poo, and she’s a not-at-all-calming influence on mine and Charley’s madness.”

The Rules:

1. If tagged you must tag five others, giving each a quick sentence as to why you ALWAYS read their posts, and tell them that you've tagged them.

2. If tagged you must post your five favorite words. I know, I know, most people do facts, but facts are hard to think of so...

3. If and only if you want to/can be bothered to/have time to you can put up five questions for the people you've tagged. If and only if you want to/can be bothered to/have time to you can ANSWER the five questions your tagger set. If you want to answer questions but your tagger left none, answer your own questions :)

The Famous Five

Okay, so I’m modifying this bit, since the people I’m going to make famous (wouldn’t that be a nice power to have?) are ones who mean so much to me that I don't want to bother them with this silly award. *grins*

Charley Robson – Ditto – basically what she said about me I can say about her. Someday we’ll meet, and I half expect our heads to explode and our characters to emerge from them to join forces and battle the evils that will come out after them. If this happens, I’m sorry world, because it’s likely to start Armageddon.

Miriam Joy – She talks about my shredding of her novel like a good thing, all the time. It boggles my mind, but I thank her for it. And though we don’t talk as much to each other as we talk to charley separately, when Charley goes on radio silence, we know we can talk to each other.

My Mom – She is my best friend, even when I was growing up (when she wasn’t having to be my mother, which wasn’t often because I was the best kid ever! *giggles*). When the rest of the real world doesn’t seem to be listening without judgment, I know she will.

My Hubby – He keeps me grounded in the real world, when my mind would much rather be flying free in imagination land. Yet, despite that, he’s been very supportive of my writing and helping me ‘gain space’, even if I have yet to figure out how to take a writing vacation.

Anne R. Allen – Not only are her posts extremely informative, especially for a newbie to publishing like me, but she’s the first real, published, author I’ve actually had contact with. She’s even commented on my Blogs, particularly the ones in which I’ve reviewed her books. She connected me with my first job in the publishing industry (more on that at another time). And is just all around funny, awesome, and stuff. *grins*

 

Quiz Me!

The questions from Charley’s nomination – too fun to pass up.

1.  Which fictional character do you think you're most like?

 - I used to think I was like Menolly from DragonSong, by Anne McCaffrey, but that was wishful thinking. The fictional character that is most like me, as I am now, is Kaylee from Firefly (and Serinity). I know it’s a TV series that didn’t last long (and movie), but she’s fictional, but her seeming spaciness yet competience when it comes to keeping the ship running, is like me, trying to manage my writing family and day job.

2.  What is your guilty pleasure?

- Writing pure teenage romance... and eating sweets. I do more of the sweet eating than I should. It’s probably the one reason I’m stuck at the weight I’m at.

3.  Name your three utter essentials.

- food, air and water. I know it’s a copy from Miriam, but no one can live without them, whether they want to or not. Once I have those, then I'll take my hubby, um... a well stocked Kindle, and some way to charge them both. *grins*

4.  Which famous person would you most want to kiss?

- My hubby, because he is famous in some circles (seriously I saw it happen – random dude from his company comes up to him and starts lavishing the praises, while my hubby has no idea who the guy is). Oh, you probably mean real celebrities, that anyone might recognize... well I’m sorry, but I’m a one guy girl and very happily taken. :}

5.  What would be the best ever present?

- Ohhh... tough question. I think a writer’s cruise with Miriam and Charley for fourteen days would be super cool – or winning enough money from the lottery to make that happen. I’m not picky.

Bonus Question (Courtesy a comment on Charley’s blog):

6.  If stuck on a desert island, and given a choice of a pointy stick, an automatic rifle with only one bullet, and a talking goldfish, which of these would you choose to help you get off?
- The pointy stick because it needs no refills and I prefer the quite solitude of my own monologue. Besides, the pointy stick has multiple uses and much easier to fix or replace than the other two. :}

Now what about you? Which would you chose? *grins* 

:} Cathryn Leigh

You Don’t Need Money to be a God...

...You just need to be (no not a doctor, it costs a lot of money to earn that degree); a writer. You read me right. It doesn’t take any money at all to start writing. A walk to the local library, plop yourself down at the public computers and start typing. There are free writing sites out there (my favorite is Protagonize, of course). Or you could sign up for free e-mail and send the story out to the ones you love. But, either way, it’s totally free to dish out agony and pain on the characters you create.

Of course being a writer comes with its own pit falls. If you’re doing it like I do, your characters start to live inside your head and you’ll find yourself talking to them at odd moments. Worse yet they could take over you words and you might blurt something out. I’m serious. Charley’s characters took over her blog once to plead for help.

I haven’t had anything so drastic happen. I prefer to be a benevolent Goddess and love dishing out happy endings. Not ever afters mind you, those are simply unrealistic, but what they call in the Romance industry ‘happily for now’ – my life is full of those moments so I share with my characters, the good guys at least. They in turn protect me from the evil nasties I’ve begun to create.

It’s quite fun, actually, to see my character come to life and grow into their own persons. Plus, it’s a lot less stressful than raising my kids.  No one will accuse me of child abuse if I stuff a character into a bunker only to fill it with rotting vegetable stew. Not to mention those great character conversations that happen between me and Charley.

Of course, she’s like me so she doesn’t think I’m crazy for it. In fact I blame her for my characters becoming so vocal and active. Now I find them watching through my eyes and making observations about the world I live in. Sometimes keeping those thoughts to myself hard because... well, here’re two examples from Rachael.

Example 1

My hubby and I were watching Firefly, I can’t remember the episode now, but Rachel grins at me from inside my skull.

“I like him,” she comments as Captain Reynolds kicks the bad guy into the running engine because he won’t take the Captain’s message back to his nefarious boss.

Of course, she would like Mal. Though I created her before I ever say Firefly or Serenity, Rachael is a female version of him. She runs her ship without a crew, though... Or, she did until I decided to reunite her with her hodge podge family. Don’t let her grumbling fool you, she loves them and woe to anyone who tries to mess with them.

Example 2 (links in this example are 'not safe for work')

My hubby and I got cozy and started watching Diary of a Nymphomaniac and Rachael saunters into my brain.

“That’s what I am,” she states, indicating the main character with a smirk.

I think my jaw must have dropped, even if I didn’t say what I wanted to. I mean,

I’d known she was an adrenal junkie. And sure, she was a saucy minx and liked sex, but a nymphomaniac? That threw a wrench into the works on the loving romance I was hoping to write in there. Michael might never get over his depression now!

Yes, us writers may be the Gods of our creations, but our characters will assert their individuality. Of course if they annoy us too much we can alter their stories to add more physical or mental anguish. However, these are probably thoughts best not said out loud because, as Miriam so nicely blogged about, you might have to tell the police: “I’m Not a Psychopath. Honest!”

Have you had any moments like that? I told my hubby about a couple and decided not to tell him anymore. I love the dear man and don’t want him to think I‘m crazier than he already does. Not to mention he’s currently my best editor... when I can get him to edit my stuff!

*Giggles and Grins*

:} Elo / Cathryn

P.S. I’d like to thank Tammy J. Patton, whose comment on Anne’s blog about Writer Myths for the inspiration of this post – even if it took me a month to write and post it. {:

A Map is All You Need!

No fantasy book is complete without a Map. It’s your invitation to go places, and explore. Not to mention it is very handy for making sure it takes the proper amount of time to get from point A to point B... something I am a little, erm, obsessive about.

So how does one go about making a Map? Good question! I suspect I might enroll myself in some cartography classes (or hire a cartographer) eventually, but for now, this is how I'm going about making the map for my Phoenix Trilogy.

Rough Sketch

It all started with an idea. I wrote the very first book with no map at all, but when I got to revising for posting on Protagonize I needed a map to figure out timing. So, I made this rough sketch of what I thought Vervell and part of Azure looked like.

When I got to revising the second book, I needed something more. My map had no scale, and I needed more detail. Thus this, my second, and more detailed, version was born!

Detailed Sketch

Then I got into these whole world building exercises and found a link to some web pages about building a planet, which emphasizes there really aren’t planets of sand or forests or ice (Bonus 1).

One of the other points in the world building was that maps don’t have to be free handed. One way is to trace old maps, so I bought myself a World Atlas. I wish I could have the one I used to pour over when growing up, but the one I bought isn’t bad. It’s on the environmental side, but that means it has useful world maps, that show currents and climates.

Then I got to talking with Charley. We’ve always had a sense that our Phoenix and Aeserion trilogies take place on the same world. Both trilogies are set in a similar era of human evolution. And then there was the character invasions of each other’s plots in the third books, without thought to continuity! Anyway, I offered to layout her world of Cumnor and my world of Videra on one map.

Charley's Sketch

So this April, after Charley sent me this lovely sketch, and a barrage of email exchanges, I got out my tracing paper and atlas. Using one of the world maps, I began tracing land boarders and country boarders, mixing and matching, reversing and inverting, until I was relatively happy with the result.

After some more e-mails and some reconsiderations of the amount of water necessary, I finally have... The Map!

I’m still figuring it out – I’ve got the currents (dark blue lines in the ocean), mountain ranges (the grey/silver lines on the land), and major lakes and rivers (landlocked blue obviously). Now I need to work on climates and vegetation cover.

The Map!

Cumnor is solely Charley’s territory. She is the overlord supreme and is tackling at least four countries with, I don’t know how many, deities. (Bonus 2)

Videra is mine. Since Sarah’s from the USA Midwest, I felt the need to turn her world even more upside down, so Vervell,  Azure and the Areni Plains are actually located in the southern hemisphere and a mirror image from before. I, however, have stuck with two Gods for the entire continent. (Bonus 3)

The Pontus Isles, and Draconia are collaborative territories. They may or may not feature in our novels. Yet, they are there, just waiting for a mischievous Demi-God (or two) to set things in motion. The lonely Apanati Islands, however, are mine. I have a lament to write, which I intend to set there. (Bonus 4)

BONUSES

Now if you’ve been wondering what those Bonuses are... Well they are questions for you to answer.

1. What is the names of the ‘planets’ I reference and what universe do they belong to? – 4 possible points
2. Where is the Errion and Skatha Peninsula located, and what parts of the world did I use for this continent – 2+ possible points
3. Where is Azure, Vervell and the Areni Plains located and what parts of the world did I use for this continent? – 2+ possible points
4. What parts of the world did I use for these Island groups? – 4 possible points

E-mail me your answers (elorithryn at gmail dot com) by June 1st. The person with the most points gets to choose one prize from the list below. I’ll let you know the results in my June 6th post, though I'll e-mail the winner asking for their preference.

• A scaled sketch of your map
• Editing on up to 2,000 words of prose
• A guest blog post on you blog (you pick the topic)
• Post as a guest on my blog
• Pick a topic for me to blog about

Tag! No Backsies! Please...

Well I’m out here in sunny Florida, enjoying the warm weather and recuperating from a friend’s wedding (three nights of parting – I can’t do it as easily as I used to). Anyway, earlier in the week/last week maybe, Miriam decided to tagged me with a blog chain letter. Normally I ignore chain letters, but I’ll go with this one as it makes my life a little easier. AS I said I’m on vacation at the in-laws with the kids. So, here are...

The Rules

1. You must post the rules – check
2. Post eleven facts about yourself on the blog post – Do I have to?
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you’ve tagged. – Really? I make no guarantees on the quality of the questions.
4. Tag eleven bloggers, however, you can break the rules and tag fewer  people if you want. Make sure you hyperlink their names/blogs. – I’m going to do less, that’s for sure.
5. Let them know you’ve tagged them! – Right. I’ll do my best.
6. Have fun! – Um okay. But isn’t that what my vacation is for?

Now for the ...

Eleven Facts

1. I got braces the summer before Fifth grade (year 6), right before I participated as a Dragon in a mummers play, at Pinewoods Dance Camp (Family Week).
2. The year before that I got bifocals due to a stigmatism in one eye that made it hard for me to refocus from near to far and back again (I refused to wear them and didn’t start wearing glasses full time until college).
3. I married my third boyfriend, whom I also consider my first.
4. I think my kids handpicked the genes they got because there’s no way randomness would have created two such adorable kids from my hubby and I.
5. I believe in Unicorns.
6. All the surgeries I’ve had were related to my mouth – a gum graph, removal of six teeth (including two baby teeth that hadn’t fallen out yet), a root canal, and wisdom teeth removal.
7. I’m having a hard time thinking of eleven facts.
8. I had to be dragged from my laptop to go take a walk with my daughter this afternoon, as I’m still trying to recover my ‘quiet time’ I could use a day by myself.
9. TV is a major distraction for me. I have a very hard time ignoring it, even when the volume is off, the images will still attract my eye. There is no way I can go to sleep in front of it like many people I know.
10. I’ve sewn my thumb with my sewing machine once, but I didn’t have to go to the emergency room.
11. I stepped on a rusty nail two weeks after I’d gotten my tetanus shot, which was also two days before I went to Summer camp for two weeks.

And now I must...

Answer the Questions Posed for Me

1. What is the largest object to the right of the computer or other device on which you are writing this? – A restaurant sized red wine glass. Hey I’m on vacation. At home It’d be a china hutch.
2. What was the last book you read? (Not finished. Just read.) – Anca’s Story, which is very emotional (I’ve cried nearly continually since chapter 3), and very awesome.
3. Do you name inanimate objects? Yes, I mean who hasn’t named a stuffed animal!
4. What was your response to receiving the message that you’d been tagged? (Be honest.) – Not again! / Do I have to? Or something along those lines.
5. Do you have any pets? – Not yet, but there is a dog in our future, and  maybe a cat.
6. How many projects do you have going at the moment? – Do I really have to count, because it will probably depress me? I’ve got at least three writing/revising projects. One critiquing project and then there’s the sewing projects that are progressing even slower.
7. What are you supposed to be doing instead of writing this post? – Nothing, as far as I know, maybe socializing, but I’ve no interest in watching TV. I hate TV, it always takes up more time that you want it to.
8. How long have you been blogging? – Good question, I’ll look that up as soon as I go to post this, but definitely less than a year. Yup, it will be a year come mid June.
9. Do you play any musical instruments? (Vocals count.) – Not officially, but I do sing to my children every night, using songs I learned from chorus.
10. What is the last piece of orchestral music you listened to? – I have no idea, but it was last week on the XM radio.
11. What is the oddest objects you can see right now? – A cookie tin being used to hold my nana-in-laws medication (it’s a big cookie tin and a long medication list). Though I suppose the bear rug/wall hanging that’s ‘sitting’ on the antique couch might be weirder.

Now I need to write my own...

Questions

1. What was the last drink you had, or may be drinking right now?
2. What is your favorite food topping?
3. Do you prefer dogs or cats, and if neither, then what?
4. How far are you living from where you were born?
5. How many places have you lived for more than one year?
6. When you write these questions, will you tailor them to the recipient(s)?
7. What would you do if you found a bear rug in your living room?
8. If you could ‘live’ one book (or movie) what would it be?
9. What’s the best gift you’ve received so far?
10. Pick one location that you would love to drop everything and go visit?
11. What do you think should be everyone’s top priority?

Whew and now I must find some people to pass this off to. I can’t do Miriam, since she tagged me. Out of fun I’ll do Charley so she can be double posted and then... Naw, I won’t bother anyone else.

Just an FYI, I think this may be the last ‘chain blog’ I do.

:} Cathryn Leigh

Strong Inspirations

Inspiration strikes in odd places. Today mine came from by Sierra Godfrey’s blog post on Woman’s History Month. She asked that we think about women in our lives and be thankful for them.

I’m going to be thankful for the strong women, who aren’t necessarily in my life, but they’ve influenced it beyond a doubt. I’m not talking fictional people, or authors.  Charley R. already posted what amounts to my Ode to Anne McCaffrey *grin* these are the women whose genes I have running in my system.

These are the women of my previous generations that have inspired my character to be the women they are. And they all funneled through my mother and into me. I’m sure my dad’s side of the family had its share, seeing as my Abuela was a Missionary down in South America. I just happen to know my mom’s family a bit better.

My Mom:

• It might have taken her a bit to get through the divorce and find a proper mate, but she did it. More than that she took up the back breaking work of cleaning houses to put food on the table and clothing on my back.
• She never gave up her dream of graduating college either. She beat me to it too. She walked down the aisle to get her Bachelors the week before I did.
• She’s my real life Cinderella, with a closet of ball gown to prove that finding your Frog Prince isn’t always that easy. (What? My step-father happens to be a French Swamp Yankee, and they both love my analogy).

My Grandmother (mother’s side):

• Oh Nellie, where to begin with her? Anyone who has read my collaborative story, Faerie Bound, on Protagonize, will know Haddie. Haddie pretty much is my grandmother. She was vocal in town hall in her day, she raised six boys with my mom’s help and raised hell with anyone who might cross her.
• Case in point – She became a Court Advocate for abused women, taking up a position in the court that served the town she raised her boys in. Sometimes the abusers would try to approach her desk (located in a hallway mind you) to harass ‘their woman’. Well the moment my grandmother caught their eye they’d be all ‘yes ma’am’ no ma’am’ ‘I’ll just be going now Mrs. B.’
• In fact I could give you all sorts of anecdotes about her. Some good some bad. Maybe on another day.

My great-grandmother, (mother’s, mother’s side):

• I actually got to know her as the little old lady who made yummy donuts and collected bells.
• She sang in the choir and held faith fast, despite an abusive husband.
• She stayed independent in her own home, up until the last few years.
• As I love telling people, she camped out with the girl scouts until she was 76 at which point she declared sleeping on the ground wasn’t good for her back.

My great-grandmother (mother’s father’s side):

• I’ve only heard stories about her, but she sounds pretty amazing.
• For one she was a trolley car conductor in Maine. We’re talking turn of the last century people (1920s/30s)! That’s a pretty amazing job for a woman to have back then.
• When she separated from her husband, whom she never divorced, she bought the house across the street from his and cleaned houses to support herself and her boys and a couple nieces and nephews.

How can I not write strong female protagonists when these women are in my blood? What about you, is there someone, or a group of someones who have influenced you?

:} Cathryn Leigh

Pocketful of Sunshine

Pocketful of Sunshine clip from “Easy A“, a great flick about thinking before speaking and the power of the rumor mill. I can get that song suck in my head without hearing it though, but I don’t mind. It’s a great song, very catchy. Someday I ought to fully listen to the lyrics just to make sure I agree with them (for the most part) there are a lot of songs out there I start singing to an then go blech.

Oh well. Today’s post is dedicated to an award I got nominated for by my good friend Miriam. She may want to take it back when I return her novel, Watching, at the end of the month. I’m currently sinking my editing teeth into it and I’m being ruthless! Seriously I’m amazed at all the red I’ve put on it and I’m not even paying attention to grammar or spelling (they are not my forte).

Anyway before I procrastinate too long, here are my answers from the Comfy Chair of the Spanish Inquisition. :}

The Sunshine Award 

• Thank Miriam, whonominated me: So thank you Miriam, may your blog resound with the words of a thousand viewers... or something like that.
• Favorite colors: Purple, royal purple that is, the kind they used to make from snails shells.
• Favorite animal: Unicorn, which in my mind, is not an imaginary beast, but that’s another story all together.
• Favorite number: 42, seriously that has to be obvious!
• Favorite drink: Hot chocolate, the rich creamy kind with whipped cream and chocolate shavings... nom nom nom
• Facebook or Twitter: Facebook: Twitter is too fast for me. I tried and gave up. No time for it right now.
• Your passion: Writing is the first thought that comes to mind, then reading, dancing and creating.
• Giving or Receiving: Well now it depends on the situation. Giving a well thought out gift gives just as much joy as receiving the well thought out gift. And seeing kids faces light up at Christmas time is seriously awesome...
• Favorite pattern: A natural one... Twills are kind of nice though, simple yet elegant, erm... *shrug*
• Favorite day of the week: Tough one and it’s a toss-up between Monday and Friday. Hey I look forward to the week and Weekend! *grin*
• Favorite flower: Crocus, they are a symbol that spring is coming (despite the snow flurry on Monday).

So there you have it, and I suppose I’m supposed to send this out again... Any volunteers? :}

If not I pass it on to Charley R, because she never fails to make me smile at least once a day in one of our many conversations... And To Marc / Eloosive because he’s slowly but surely making his way through my Phoenix trilogy and I love his Daily Writing Practice Blog. :}

:} Cathryn Leigh

Hearts, Ghosts, and War, Oh My!

I read “Water’s Purple Heart” by Catherine Ryan Hyde in about two weeks. That’s a slow pace compared to some people I know and how fast I used to read, but I’ve got a lot more responsibilities than I used to. That’s why I left the book at work until last weekend. Then I devoured the remaining two thirds on Saturday, snacking on it here and there until I got to gobble it up as dessert after the kids were in bed.

The book was an easy read with it’s simple and yet poetic prose... Okay maybe not poetic, but succinct or concise sounds too cut and dry (and makes me think of the documents I write and review at work). But what is poetry anyway but lyrical prose striving to be succinct and precise, but in a pretty. So yes, in my mind the prose was poetic. Not once did my eyes wander ahead trying to skip dialog or descriptions.

Walter, the central character in “Walter’s Purple Heart”, is trying to come to grips with the fact he’s dead and life moved on without him. Killed at the end of World War II, he’d left his mother’s lemon pie and a fiancée to enlist with his best friend Andrew. Reincarnated in Michael, a twenty-one year old drifting pot-head, Walter manages to reconnect with Andrew and Mary Ann (the fiancée). Together the four of them sort out Walter’s life, death, and the feelings he hadn’t quite worked out.

Amazingly enough I finished the book right at bedtime, with my husband’s head on my lap. (Poor guy was exhausted from riding his dirt bike - fyi, the link is a video.) It was quite fitting, given the theme of love that ran through the book. (Real love too, not that stuff they try to pass off as love these days.) I definitely like this book. There are so many things in it that I can relate to.

• Walter / Michael’s different ways of feeling love – I’ve been through the transition of I do this because it’s expected to needing to hear my loved ones voice at least once a day.
• The Purple Heart – my grandfather earned one, but he never talked about it. My grandmother had to eves drop on his conversations with his army buddies to figure it out.
• Walter’s love of lemon pie – my grandfather's mother was a working woman (in a time of few) and to show her boys love, she'd stay up late and bake. My grandmother continued baking for my grandfather, though it was slowly killing him, because that's how he understood love.

Anyway, the book is sadly out of print (maybe she’ll get around to an e-book?) but if you go to her website page for it, she’s got some links to where used books can be found. Catherine Ryan Hyde is also the author of that amazing story “Pay It Forward”. I’ve seen the movie, now I feel need to read the book.

And since we’re on the topic of books, Charley R put up my guest post on her blog, Leaning Tower of Plot, yesterday. It’s all about the books I grew up with and how they’ve influenced me as a writer.

:} Cathryn Leigh

Squealing Until the Cows Come Home

What IS that Noise?

This week has certainly very squeal-tastic for me. Gosh I’m not sure what order to put them all in. I think it all started with Anne’s blog last Sunday, snowballed over to Mark’s announcement (which I read twice once on MWi and once on Sapphicscribe), and tumbled into a snowman with Saffina’s Musings and The Stone Church News.

·         Two Sunday’s ago I entered a contest on Anne R.Allen’s Blog to win a sighed copy of “Walter’s Purple Heart” or a signed copy of “Pay it Forward” both by Catherine Ryan Hyde. This weekend I discovered that I’d won “Walter’s Purple Heart”. OMG SQUEE! This squeal lasted the longest as I not only did so in my responding e-mail to Catherine, but also in instant messaging to Charley, on Charlie’s post to my facebook wall, in an e-mail to Charley (I hope her eardrums are okay) and finally on Anne’s Blog where she announced the winner.

·         Both Mark’s Blog and Saffina’s Author Blog announced what’s going on with MWiDP. I was so excited I wrote a poem for a comment, because, OMG their publishing venture looks super sweet. So sweet that I’m tempted to ditch the whole query process and just go Indie with them. But that’s not the only thing that made be squeal. I’m also squealing because I can’t wait until “St. Malroy’s Forever!” is published by MWiDP . Which my favorite peeps Miriam and Charley are helping to write!

·         A couple weeks ago Saffina stated she was “Banningthe Bull” on her personal blog. I took a deep breath and offered to give her an excerpt from what, I hope, will be my premier novel. In her most recent blog post she mentioned me as being “adorably excitable”, along with the fact that I’ll be first of her Illuminating Indies series, January 28th, 2012! SQUEEEEE I’m chewing my nails right now as I await my hubby’s review of what it going to be posted.

·         On the smaller scale, I wrote an episode for my church’s newsletter, but hadn’t hear a word as to wither or not it would be included. Lo and behold I received my copy of The Stone Church News,January/February 2012 issue and found it; one whole glorious page (no. 14) dedicated to my story! *giggles* On Sunday, one of the parishioner said he liked it and asked if I was a writer. I very proudly stated – Yes, though I’m not published yet, but I’m working on it. I also got two thumbs up from our priest as passed by my Sunday School class, though that could have been about anything!

So there you have it. I’m squealing yet again just writing and posting this list. It’s been an exciting week! Gosh if you could just see the jitters in my hands. Yup, I’m totally feeling adorably excitable now, even if my hubby might not like the phrase so much. (But you know what, sometimes it fits him too. *wink*)

:} Cathryn Leigh

P.S. You may also have noticed I've tweeked my look and started to add pages. Exciting huh! :}