GONE FISHIN’

ONE WEEK ONLY–WE’LL BE BACK TO NORMAL BLOGS ON MONDAY, AUGUST 2ND

HOWEVER, WE WILL BE POSTING MINI “VACATION” BLOGS FROM RWA, SO DROP BY EACH DAY TO SEE WHAT’S UP

Since almost everyone from MSW is in Orlando for the RWA conference, we’re taking a week-long vacation for the blog. There will be mini updates from the road–random things we think you’ll enjoy.

Meanwhile, we hope you have an absolutely WONDERFUL week, and next Monday, the blog will return to normal scheduling with RWA news, a mini-workshop from Rocki and more contests!

Love to you all,

The MSW Crew

(Art credit: Michael Godard)

Here are a few winners from this week (and one from last week, I think, that I missed posting somehow!)…

Leslie Kelly’s winner of COLD SIGHT: CrystalGB.  She should email Leslie at leslieakelly@gmail.com. Congratulations, CrystalGB!

The winner of Jen’s $15.00 Starbucks gift card is ANNE! Congratulations Anne! Please email Jen at Jenapodaca@aol.com with your mailing address.

The winner of the dreamcatcher from Lori is Silver! Congratulations, Silver! — contact Lori - info@loriarmstrong.com

The winner of the Starbucks gift card and the signed copy of Laura Griffin’s UNSPEAKABLE is commenter #18 “Ladytink”. Please contact laura@lauragriffin.com to claim your prize!

Toni’s $50 Visa Gift Card winners… [EDITED TO ADD that the pre-paid Visa debit card site is a stupidhead and was a pain to try to use, so I can either change your card to a TARGET or AMAZON e-card, which you will get as soon as I see your email address, OR, IF YOU WANT A VISA DEBIT CARD, send me your snail mail address and I will get a gift card mailed out to you tomorrow. Sorry to be confusing. When I first checked the Visa site for this contest, I thought it would be easy. argh.]

Heather N (commenter #44), who was referred by Sierra Mienster (commenter #43)

and just for kicks and giggles, I dipped back into the random-bag-o-numbers for a third bonus winner and literally grabbed two numbers, so two more winners:

Terri Molina (comment #24)

Becky LeJeune (comment #18)

So four winners, whew! Y’all email me at toni@tonimcgeecausey.com and tell me the EMAIL ADDRESS where you want your online visa gift card sent, and I will order those this evening. Or, well, as soon as you get your names to me, if it’s later than today. (My superpowers sadly do not extend to ESP.)

Congratulations!

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Let’s talk tube.

Someone sent me a blog yesterday that was sprinkled with TV references, and I came to the realization that I don’t watch nearly enough television.

I know, I know. Americans watch too much TV. We’re melting our brains. Our children are turning into couch potatoes before our eyes, etc. But the thing is, there are households out there where TV just isn’t a big deal. My house happens to be one of them. And while there are definitely some good things about that, I can’t help feeling (occasionally) that I’m missing out.

So I set out to do something simple (or so I thought). Find a list of the top TV shows out there and pick one to start watching. I discovered this is tough to do. TV has become so varied and fragmented, and there is simply so much out there. It isn’t like 25 years ago when Thursday nights rolled around and half the people in America were glued to THE COSBY SHOW.

After scouring the Internet (okay, I only spent thirty minutes, but still), I realized a definitive list of “top” TV shows is hard to come by, probably because there are so many definitions of “top” and everyone wants a list that suits their own agenda. But here are some shows that I came across again and again:

TRUE BLOOD

NCIS

BIG BANG THEORY

CRIMINAL MINDS

30 ROCK

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS

BONES

HELL’S KITCHEN

AMERICA’S GOT TALENT

Is your favorite show on this list? Currently, the only show I watch on a regular basis is TOP CHEF, which always makes me hungry. I’m looking for a new show to fall in love with. Tell me about your favorite and why you like it so much.

Just for fun, I also poked around and found a list of top TV shows of all time. I’m a little skeptical because the list I found included CHEERS, MOONLIGHTING, and THE WEST WING (yep, agree with those) but also FELICITY (!?!). So who knows where these lists come from.

Anyway, tell me your favorite TV show, past and present, and be eligible to win a $15 GIFT CARD TO STARBUCKS, along with a signed copy of my new release UNSPEAKABLE.

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I am knee deep in a scene that is wrenching my guts out, it’s so heartbreaking, and I just realized it’s my Thursday… so let’s have some fun and cheer me up! I want to get to know you all better, and what easier way to do that than to ask some questions? And… to add some adventure to that idea, I came up with a game of tag. I have no idea if this will work, but what the heck, let’s try.

There are 8 questions… everyone who answers them all is eligible for a chance to win a $50 Visa online gift card. (Winner’s name is going to be randomly drawn from all legitimate entrants, and the winner’s card is going to be ordered on Sunday–hopefully it will arrive in time for those of you who might be going to the RWA con.) HOWEVER… as an added bonus, if you send someone here and *they* play and then mention YOUR name… if their name is drawn, you also win. So that would be a $50 online Visa for each of you.

Here are the questions (some of which were blatantly borrowed from this site)–and please do elaborate! You never know… there might be a random drawing for those who go the extra mile.

Feel free to cut and paste these into your reply box below:

1 ) What was your favorite children’s book?

2 ) If you could live in any home on a television series or a movie or a book, which would it be?

3 ) What is your least favorite word? (Why?)

4 ) What is your favorite word? (Why?)

5 ) If you could have a super power, what would it be?

6 ) Name three of your favorite movies.

7 ) What is your favorite cookbook / cooking site — or — for the cooking challenged — your favorite restaurant?

8 ) What is a great book you’ve read in the last year that you don’t think enough people have heard about? (Doesn’t matter when it was published.)

9 ) bonus: Who referred you here for the contest? [You must name them here in the same comment as your answers for them to be eligible!]

Okay… go.

I’m in complete awe of Deb’s beautiful home renovations, so much so that I took a look around our place and started wondering if I ought to go searching for a paint brush. (It definitely helped when I saw that photo of her sweet beagle. As a fellow beagle owner, I consoled myself with the thought that no one who owns one of these stubborn, willful animals can be that much of a perfectionist – a few overturned trash cans cure that impulse fast!)

This little bout of house envy reminded me of something someone reminded me of at the National RWA conference a couple of years ago, and since we’re sharing tips this week, I thought it would make a good contribution:

“Everyone’s journey is different.”

This thought originates with my friend Lisa Hughey, who is very patient, since she has to remind me of it over and over again. Years ago, it was in context of raising our kids. Children do everything at their own pace, and they aren’t particularly bothered by it; it takes the interference of an adult to introduce the idea that they “should” be walking at a certain age, or talking or potty training or sharing or memorizing the alphabet. Babies don’t judge themselves inadequate because they roll over or grasp objects or say “dada” later than their peers.

I wish that we were all able to maintain that same sense of contentment about our adult lives. Especially us writers. We start by loving our craft, by finding joy in the words. As we start to pursue publication, we learn about the steps in the journey and how long they typically take, and we begin to compare ourselves to others.  We discover that the average author writes for x years before publication, or submits y queries, or completes z manuscripts – and if we take longer, we begin to consider ourselves failures.

(Just as dangerously, if it takes us less time, we may start to believe we have something special – a lucky star or a particular gift – which sets us up for disappointment later.)

My journey was a long one, but I was lucky – I had Lisa to remind me that everyone’s experience is unique. She and my other critique group friends never allowed me to whine too long, reminding me that my priorities, family demands, goals, tolerance for disappointment – all of these were unique to me, and that my path would be unlike anyone else’s.

This is one of my favorite things about conference: hearing others’ stories. Whether it’s a new writer who’s attending her first conference and still working on her first manuscript, or a NYT bestseller who’s got dozens of books to her name, I love to hear about the journey – the joys and disappointments, the wrong turns and obstacles and what it felt like to arrive at the destination.

At conference, I think the greatest sins are envy and pride. (Well, gluttony is a whole other story, as a few dear friends who shared a dessert tray with me last year can tell you!) Envy steals our excitement, making us focus on other people’s experiences without knowing their full stories. We fail to celebrate our own successes and milestones when we direct our focus on what other people have accomplished.

And pride – well, I think it’s the flip side of the all-too-common currency of insecurity. We brag when we are afraid our accomplishments don’t stand on their own. We feel the need to remind others of our sales, our awards, our numbers only when we are afraid they don’t measure up – or that we ourselves don’t measure up. Some of the most memorable people I have met at conference were memorable long before I found out that they were popular authors or well-regarded editors or savvy agents – they stood out in my mind because they were charming or kind or witty.

There is certainly a place for pride – I’ve never stood taller than when I got to wear my PAN ribbon on my conference badge for the first time – but none of my favorite conference memories hinge on where I was in my publication journey:

• The first-night slumber party when my friends and I all gather with our programs and circle all the workshops we can’t wait to attend
• The “snack buffet” assembled from everyone’s must-have treats from home – Luna bars for me, chocolate for LGC, wine for Lisa (oh, okay, wine for me too!)
• Borrowing accessories and makeup for the awards ceremony, just like I did with my college roommates
• Cheering on members of San Francisco RWA chapter who are nominated for the Golden Heart and Rita

I hope these things never change, no matter where our journeys take us.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Last week I somehow failed to post the winner of the $15 Starbucks card. It’s Lee!  Please send me your snail mail address so I can send it along to you. I’m going shopping at the literacy signing for some books to get signed for the blog, so check out my future posts for some fun giveaways. Meanwhile, hope to see some of you in Orlando!

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I hope I don’t bore  you today, but I’ve been promising for a while to show pictures of the work we’ve done on our house. We’re about 95% finished and I am so, so, so glad. I’ve spent the past three weeks painting the entire interior of the house and then I tiled the kitchen backsplash. Cut every single piece with my own two hands and the wet saw, of course. As you know, we bought this 110 year old mill house two years ago. It has been a long, hard road but we’re very pleased now. The siding is the original siding. My husband spent an entire summer prepping to accept paint. We removed two layers of “other” siding before we found the original stuff! The historic sign designating the home as being on the National Registry of Historic places is in the front yard. This very week historic street signs are going up on all the village streets. We’re so proud.

We took out the wall in the front two rooms downstairs, making it a living room and dining room combination. The color is Baked Scone and we love it. I still don’t have curtains. There’s a lot of decorating type stuff I still have to do. And, by the way, I’m no photographer. I used to be pretty good at snapping photos but I lost that skill  somewhere. We couldn’t save the original floors downstairs, so I found this amazing red pine (50% harder than white pine) at Habitat. I later discovered that in the US we depleted our resources of red pine years ago and it has to be imported from Canada or Europe. I bought this brand new, still in the box at Habitat for 1/4 of the regular price.

I know I’ve mentioned the kitchen before! All cabinets were purchased used from Habitat. Someone had yanked them out of their kitchen and I was lucky enough to get them. We took all the pieces apart and resized them to fit our needs. The stainless steele appliances were all purchased at remodeling sales (folks who just wanted something new). The tumbled marble tile for the backsplash was purchased at a surplus warehouse for about a fifth of the price. And, lastly, my treasured granite…I stalked a stone guy until he had the “remnants” at his shop that I wanted. I got the granite, cut, polished and installed for half the usual price! Oh, and it doesn’t hurt to have a hot daughter. The guy was young and handsome. I took my daughter with me to pick through the remnants  :  )

Our first order of business when we bought the house was to put in a usable bathroom on the first floor (I didn’t take photos of it–it’s just a bathroom) and a workable kitchen until we could create a true kitchen. So we did a mudroom/laundryroom. It served as our kitchen until we finished the other one–more than one year!

On to the second floor, folks. Like the first, the second had four large rooms. One we kept as a bedroom, the one next to it became my office (the stairs come up into my office). My beagle is usually right where you see him in the photo when I’m working. My maltese is generally on the little couch next to me. The framed photo you can see on the wall is my very first Colby Agency cover. I promise the walls are not orange (they just look that way because of my poor photography skills). They’re an old world gold.

 The front two rooms we turned into one large space and then we carved closets for both bedrooms as well as a large bath from the space.  The french doors lead from my office to my bedroom. (the previous photo with the beagle is the wall directly opposite the french doors) The doors I found at a junk/antique store. They’re from the ’30′s and are still a work in progress. What you see is just the primer coat but they’ll eventually be shiny white. The owner started out wanting $275 for the doors, I got them for $150! The extra bedroom is the Sugar Berry color. Pale, pale pink that has a lavender hue when the light hits it just right.

My bedroom is a Fox Blue. The heart of pine is the original on this floor. It creaks a little but we don’t care. All closet doors were purchased for next to nothing at Habitat. My favorite room, the second floor bath, is a combination of great finds. The clawfoot tub we discovered for $150. My husband refinished the interior with a $50 kit and I did the exterior with a can of hammered copper paint from Wal-Mart ($10). The vanity is an old dressing table I found at a yard sale for $25. The sink a Lowes clearance item ($20). The faucets for both the tub and the sink were ebay finds. The tile, from the surplus store. The wall color is Bridal Rose. I love it! All the ceilings in the house are painting the same color as the respective room, except at 25% of the color value.

Then came the attic! We knew the space up there was enormous but we just weren’t sure we could tackle the job. It included adding another staircase (I figured out how to measure and cut those stringers myself!); adding a new support system for the floor; insulating the heck out of everything!; all the electrical; the plumbing; hanging drywall; finishing said drywall…it was a major pain. Oh, and we added two octagon windows and two regular windows. We actually put all new windows (28) in the whole house. All new electrical and all new plumbing throughout. Bless my husband’s heart. My youngest wanted a sort of Manhattan loft look. She didnt’ want any added walls. So we divided off the bathroom area with glass blocks (also purchased at Habitat). She didn’t want a typical closet so one end of the space is her dressing area. The other end has the half bath and a kitchenette. Ignore the clutter. My daughter is a clothes horse and keeps EVERYTHING! The mail area is a Summer Moon color while the end walls are Evening Hush (almost black). The stairwell to the attic–excuse me, third floor–will eventually be that color as well. Ignore the 2x4s you see in front of the glass block wall area (that’s the temporary railing from the staircase). We will be creating some sort of neat railing…eventually. Oh, and the bed is in one of the massive dormers. There’s one on the front of the house and one on the back. The back dormer has been turned into a sort of game room (video game stuff). In each dormer (you can’t see!) is one of the octagon windows. Oh and the daughter refused to get up at the hour I chose to take pics.

That’s it! Just glimpses but you get the idea. Thanks to all of you for listening to my grumbling over the past two years. I owe this accomplishment to some very, very special people. My wonderful husband, Nonie, my two lovely daughters, Erica and Melissa, as well as my sweet niece, Tanya. And the amazing men my daughters love, Ashley and Jonathan!

Tell me what you think and what you’ve been working on lately!

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