Friday's Celebratin' Time!

It’s Friday!!! That alone is reason to celebrate, and it seems like it’ll be an absolutely beautiful weekend here in the SF Bay Area.

But there are other reasons why I’m celebrating this week for VikLit’s Celebrate the Small Things.

* I’ve got a couple author interviews lined up for local newspapers (well, one is still in the works), and still have the live blog interview scheduled for July 29^th.

* Camp last weekend with my church’s singles’ group was very fun. The rafting was an all day excursion and was a blast. If anyone needs some lessons on rowing, I’m available. :) A couple of folks in my boat fell out once, but luckily I didn’t. After 5 hours, we were ready to head back to camp. My tent opened up to the river, and in the morning I’d have prayer time looking out. Here are some pics of the camp in Knight's Ferry, CA.

Looking out my tent door.
Riverside Campground
Knight's Ferry, CA

What a front yard!

Closeup of full moon at campsite

* I’ve slowly started working more on Anticipating Dawn, the sequel to Anticipation of the Penitent. After having those initial feelings of "this is not good enough", I think I’m getting back into the groove of writing and planning out the subplots. I’ve got a seemingly reliable CP for it, so I’ve really got to get crackin'.

* The print version of Salted With Fire is just beautiful. I wish I could get the format of the eBook exactly the same, but I think it’s quite decent looking as well. So happy!

* I've written my story for Write Club while at camp as planned. I have to say I love it and hope it wins at least a few battles. Can't give out any info on the story (the contest is blind), but wish me luck! The deadline is June 30th, so there's still time to sign up.

I’ll be visiting y'all as I can over the weekend. 

A Journal Dedication

This week's Journal Past Blast entry is very short. It was written during my second year in college, possibly during the fall of 1987. It was meant to be the dedication I’d write for my first book. Well, my first book didn’t have a dedication, and I had nearly forgotten about two of the people mentioned here. Funny how the memory works – or whether how someone or a time so important to you way back when has been forgotten.

Dedicated to Maggie, my sister, who’s the light in my life;

To Barry, who’s the warmth in my heart;

And to Dave, who had gathered my senses.

I do remember them now, and especially how Dave had given me some calming advice when I was feeling very down and embarrassed about something I did that I thought would not make a difference.

Until next week, when I’ll post something more personal that takes a little gearing up to share. 

Save-A-Word: I too can be in such a swivet + Write Club

It's Save-A-Word Saturday, the word and writing prompts lovers weekly blog hop.

Today's theme is: porch swings

My word today is: swivet: (noun) a state of nervous excitement, haste or anxiety; flutter

Here's my writing for this word: 

The way that child pumps that porch swing in such a swivet, makes me wonder about her to no end. She’ll be a scatter-brain her whole life if we can’t get her to calm down.

This weekly word lovers and prompt writers blog hop goes like this:

1. Create a lovely blog post that links back to The Feather and The Rose blog - our host.

2. Pick an old word you want to save from extinction to feature in your blog post. It really must be an old word, not just a big one. We are trying to save lovely archaisms, not ugly giants (for example, "Dihydrogen Monoxide" is not an acceptable choice). Luciferous Logolepsy is a great database of lovely words if you're having trouble coming up with something on your own.

3. Provide a definition of your word. Use your word in a sentence (or even a short paragraph) vaguely related to the theme we have chosen this week. You may also add visual or musical interpretations of your word or your sentence. In fact, add anything that moves your creative spirit.

4. Add your post to the linky list below (sometimes I add it later in the day). Then hop to as many other blogs as you can in search of as many wonderful words as possible!

5. Use as many of the words as you can on the people in your life. Do leave us a note or add something to your own post to let us all know what wonderful old word you whipped out to befuddle your friends and relations.

Now for another blogging thrill: Write Club

Fight Club was one of my favorite movies, so of course I had to look into what this Write Club from DL Hammons' Cruising Altitude 2.0 was all about. And then to hear that it's a flash fiction contest - no more than 500 words! Man, I've got to get my butt in gear and write something fast, because the submission deadline is June 30! If I don't get something written for this, I'll be hecka bummed.

But, it's not too late for you either. Click on the button or link above and join in.

A Happy Weekend Celebration

Oh, how happy I hope to be this weekend. It’s been a great, busy week at work, and on Friday evening (yes tonight), I’m leaving to go camping with my church’s singles’ group, which includes a day of rafting. I’m looking forward to it, but it also means I’ll be away from the internet for the weekend.  (Ahhhg! How will I survive?!?)

There is a lot I’m celebrating about this past week for VikLit’s weekly blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things.

First, on Saturday, my birthday, my family actually pulled off a surprise party. Do you know how hard it is to surprise someone on their birthday? They played there parts very well, and got me good. And Alison, my old friend from elementary school I’d recently met up with again, was there. It was truly a fun time.

Second, on my birthday, I published my second book, Salted With Fire, and it’s now up and ready on Amazon, Smashwords, and CreateSpace. The print book is more expensive than I’d like because of the color pictures, but the eBook is going for only .99 cents. I will hopefully be setting up a blog tour, and will be sending many of you an email sometime next week inviting you to host a day. In the meantime, share as you see fit. :) Here’s my blurb for the book:

Black magic, murder, insanity, humor, honor and devotion. Salted With Fire is a journey of flash fiction and poetry that shows my writing transformation from worldly to wanting to please God.

Flash fiction is my passion; poetry is my release. I love creating a complete story, with a beginning, middle and end, with twists, humor, drama, compassion and horror, all under 1000 words. Salted With Fire isn’t just a book of stories and poetry, it is my journey as a writer, from writing only for the mere joy of it regardless of the message, to writing stories that highlight God’s will for people, even if the stories themselves are not religious in nature.

Inside are fifteen flash fiction pieces and twelve poems with full-color pictures, and short Biblical discussions after each story.

Third, as I said initially, I’m going camping! Although I was raised in a family that went camping every summer, I’m not the biggest camping fan, but I do enjoy going camping with my singles’ group. This’ll be the third year we’re going, but we’ve never gone rafting. This will also be the first year that I’m not part of the leadership team, so I get to enjoy like every other camper.

Pray for our trip this weekend, that it’ll be fun, lots of fellowshipping, and great time with God. And I’ll be able to visit some of y'all's celebrations today, but the rest as soon as I get some free time when I get back home.