Merry Christmas, Internet!

My 3 year old son is OBSESSED with Rudolph, who he affectionately calls "Rudoll" (making me think that Santa's lead reindeer is somehow a cast member from that Nazi movie that Brad Pitt starred in). Anyway, I was looking for a cute RUDOLPH picture, and I stumbled across this little comic, and thought it was funny. COME ON, PEOPLE, I live in Georgia, where kids are taught to hunt straight out of the womb (and equipped with Skoal and muddin' tires for when they get their driver's license). What did you expect?

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year. Be safe if you're traveling, and I'll see you back here on January 3rd!

Grab A Cupcake and Weigh In...With Your Opinion, That Is

It's National Cupcake Day!

I love when they give special days to the most random things, like National Talk Like A Pirate Day. If I knew all of your addresses I would send you each a dozen of these, my favorite, RED VELVET cupcakes. Mmmm, can't you just taste the cream cheese frosting? (No, I don't know what my obsession is with sweets lately either. It COULD possibly be that since my husband is a teacher he brings home a boatload of homemade sweets almost daily during this time of year. I'm not complaining...at least I won't until I can't button my pants.)

Now watch how I tie this into writing. Ready?

What is your go-to food for snacking while writing? Mine is usually a bag of chips or something salty (of course, not as of late) and a GINORMOUS caffeinated beverage (preferably a Coke from McDonalds). Perhaps chocolate? A glass of wine? Both (nothing wrong with that at all!)? I always like to find out more about my readers and fellow writers!

Happy Writer Wednesday, everyone. Now go grab a snack and get back to work!

Is It Too Early For Memory Loss?

Internet, I'm going to let you in on a little secret: I'll be thirty before the New Year.


Why would I be bringing attention to this fact? Because it could possibly explain why my brain seems to have been replaced by figgy pudding (which, I have never in my life tried, nor do I ever plan to). I literally don't even know what day it is anymore. Which is, by the way, why I am posting Mommy Monday on a TUESDAY.

People say things to me like, "Oh, thirty is the new twenty!" These people, I believe, are the same people who say, "Forty is the new thirty!" or "Fifty is the new forty!" or "You know they make hair dye to cover that, right?" NOT HELPFUL. I'm just going to put my big girl pants (with my Spanx underneath them, thank you very much) on and face it:

I am getting old.

And before you go telling me your age, and how if I think thirty is old then I think YOU must be REALLY old because you're (enter any age here older than thirty here) and I shouldn't be complaining, remember, if you will, the imminence of YOUR OWN 30th birthday. Did you have that perspective? Then do me a favor and let me have my moment, hm?

See, I've got the grumpy old lady thing DOWN! Now somebody give me a hand putting on my pantyhose and shawl so I can go to the grocery store and stand in the middle of the aisle and NOT MOVE for the woman with two screaming children behind me. If I can't hear them, they don't exist! :)

You Too Can Survive The Holidays

There seriously should be a self help book for getting through the holidays. Maybe I'll write it one day, you know, pending I actually SURVIVE this Christmas. It'll be like an advent calendar combined with a weight loss program and filled with daily reminders TO NOT KILL SOMEONE.

Ahem.

Something that has made the craziness of this Christmas season just a bit more bearable is the Portable North Pole . You can go to this site and design a custom message from Santa to your child. It even allows you to enter specific information like behaviors you've had them work on this year (we set ours so Santa would see that we've had our boys working on being nice to one another), your child's age, and even what city you live in so that it show's Santa's sleigh route on a GPS screen. Needless to say, it has been a total hit with our kids. Our three year old, Tyler, has watched his EVERY DAY.

So go make a message for your kid from Santa. Then sit back and sip your spiked eggnog, and watch as your children squeal with delight.

Have a great weekend everyone. I'll see y'all here on Mommy Monday, unless of course, I get into a fight while Christmas shopping at Target and decide to deck something other than the halls! and we'll talk about baking cookies, or as I like to call it BUYING COOKIES!

Hitting the Wall

I had really good intentions to get a decent Writer Wednesday post written this week. I sat down to write it a dozen times, and got distracted EVERY time. Do you ever have days (or even weeks) like this? It could just be the holidays making me crazy, but I cannot seem to get my act together when it comes to stringing words together. Not for this blog, and certainly not for my manuscripts. What's a girl to do?

What do you do when you feel like you've hit the creative wall? Do you power through, or do you give yourself a break?

I'm off to find some Oreos. I have a feeling they will greatly help my situation. If you disagree, feel free to keep that information to yourself. ;)

Meet Santa's Younger Brother

Internet, meet Junior Claus.

Junior Claus

Junior is Santa's younger brother. He was unceremoniously dropped down our fireplace the other evening along with a note to our boys explaining who he is and where he came from. Apparently, Junior has been getting into too much trouble up in the North Pole, so Santa dropped him off at our house so we could keep an eye on him (because Santa thinks I have time to keep an eye on ONE MORE TROUBLEMAKER?! Seriously, Santa. You better make the present a good one this year.).

Junior has also been instructed by Santa to keep an eye on our boys, and report back weather they've been naughty or nice. If Junior does not complete his task, he will not be allowed to ride back to the North Pole with Santa on Christmas Eve.

The kids absolutely love Junior. The first thing my oldest son said when I woke him up this morning was, "Can I go find Junior?" Junior was hiding in the kitchen after trying to pour himself a bowl of cereal. The kids thought this was absolutely hilarious, and they can't wait to see what other silly things Junior does.

Junior loves "Frosted" Flakes

I cannot take credit for this idea. I was inspired by the Elf on the Shelf and Elf Magic dolls. Because December snuck up on me this year, I wasn't able to get the elf in time, so I got Junior from the grocery store in the middle of buying bacon and yogurt sticks. Improvisation is a mother's greatest weapon, people. That, and "Because I said so."

Because I Don't Really Cook

I don't usually tune in to Rachael Ray's talk show to see what meal she's cooking up, because, well, I don't cook all that much. I mean, I'm not completely inept...I make a mean fajita. But yesterday, I was flipping through the channels while folding laundry and came across her show. The first thing that grabbed me was that she had Stefan (Paul Wesley) from The Vampire Diaries on (go ahead, I'll give you a moment to daydream about Damon (Ian Somerholder), because you know he's the real reason we all watch TVD, am I right.).

Then, she had on this couple, Suzanne Cleary and Peter Harding, who are hand dancers. Sounds strange right? It is, but it is also incredibly awesome! Apparently, they are a YouTube sensation, and if you take the two minutes to watch this video, you will see why. A-mazing. It's like Riverdance, but with their hands!!!







Happy Weekend, Everyone!

Who Do You Write For?

What's selling? What's hot? Are you wishing you were a delinquent reality star just so you could get a foot in the door for a book deal? How much are you willing to change in order to please the industry?

At the writer's conference I attended, I had an editor tell me that my type of book isn't selling, and I had an agent tell me to change my title, yet she requested a full manuscript. A little bit confusing? I think so. There is so much subjectivity out there it's scary. So who do we listen to?


I would imagine that if you're an unpublished author you would move heaven and earth to please an agent or an editor (I changed my title, by the way). But what about those who are already published? I wonder if they feel the pressure to bend to please the industry professionals as much as someone who is trying to get that foot in the door.

What do you think? Should unpublished authors do "whatever" they're told to please the industry? Published authors, do you still feel the pressure to change everything you're told to?

*Photo courtesy of Google Images