Every Day Should be Valentine's Day...

I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day. Not because there’s too much pressure, or because I’m balking at a trumped up Hallmark holiday—good reasons, but mine go deeper. For me, one day where I’m supposed to show my depth of devotion and adoration for someone else with a card, chocolate, flowers, etc., almost seems like I’m making a mockery out of love. Flowers and chocolates are nice, but they’re superfluous, and I don’t know any woman who wants a giant, one hundred dollar teddy bear. Ugh. To quote Clint Black, “Love isn’t something that we HAVE, it’s something that we DO.”

 

I think it’s my unique situation that transformed my thoughts of this ‘holiday.’ With my neuromuscular disease, I’m unable to do even the smallest physical tasks by myself. And that’s where my husband comes to the rescue.

 

Every day, he helps me shower, dress, and eat. He makes my coffee. Most days more than once. When I have to use the bathroom, he takes me. He makes all the family meals, does all the family’s laundry, scoops the cat pan, and cleans the house. Every. Day. In between, he finds time to work from home and coach our son’s Bantam ice hockey team. He never complains, and he does everything with a smile and a sense of humor. We laugh through 99.9% of our day together.

 

To me, this is what love is—showing you care by your daily actions.

Derek and I share smiles and loving looks on February 14^th, but June 2^nd or October 18^th is just as special to us because we’re together.  It took us fifteen years of marriage to get here...where every day is our celebration of love, or as the calendar calls it, Valentine's Day!
 

Clint Black, It's Something That We Do
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVWFi6j6Ctk

My Book Addiction

 

Since I’m a confirmed addict, I thought I’d share a few of my favorite books today. Each one on the list has impacted me in some way or another with their characters, worlds, themes, and writing. List number one...

 

10 Stand Alone Books

1. A Knight in Shining Armor - Jude Devereaux
2. Elsewhere – Gabrielle Zevin
3. Thirteen Reasons Why – Jay Asher
4. Island of the Blue Dolphins – Scott O’Dell
5. Before I Fall – Lauren Oliver
6. Watership Down – Richard Adams
7. The Handmaids Tale – Margaret Atwood
8. Timeline – Michael Crichton
9. Remembrance - Jude Devereaux
10. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh – Robert C. O’Brien

Number one and number nine are phenomenal reads for romance and time travel. I believe Jude Devereaux was offered a movie contract for number one and turned it down. I read both in high school until my copies disintegrated, and then I bought two more. I think of them at least once a week, especially while I do research for my books. My second, third, and fifth picks are all YA, and they deal with young death. Each is haunting and poignant with soul shattering messages, and all will stay with me forever. Numbers four, six, and ten have lingered in my mind for decades. I look at fields, islands, and rodent holes differently because of these stories, and I DO NOT eat rabbit; never have, never will. N-E-V-E-R. Number seven creeps up on me whenever I put on hand cream. This was my first dystopian world book, and it still scares me! My eighth book is a thrill ride. Crichton and his mastery of science and literary talent make this book, like all his others, an edge of your seat page-turner. Temporary Time, my book, is based on Quantum Mechanics and the multiverse theory, too, but it's a romance.  On to list number two…

10 Book Series

1. Emily of New Moon – L.M. Montgomery
2. Little House in the Woods – Laura Ingalls Wilder
3. Percy Jackson and the Olympians…All - Rick Riordan
4. New Moon – Stephenie Meyer
5. The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
6. Reckless Magic – Rachel Higginson
7. North and South – John Jakes
8. Maximum Ride – James Patterson
9. Dead Until Dark – Charlaine Harris
10. Fallen – Lauren Kate

I think I’ve read number one’s trilogy at least a dozen times. My idea of Heaven is a farmhouse on Prince Edward Island. My mother read number two’s books to me even when I was old enough to read myself. They hold a special place in my heart because of the bonding time we had with all those fabulous stories. Number three goes full circle with me as the mom, and my son as the child. We gobbled up this series, and still talk about the characters as if they were family friends. Number four is the second book in the Twilight series, and it came out at a time when I really needed to cry and mourn the loss of something in my life. Weeping, sobbing, and grieving with Bella gave me the excuse to bawl freely. “It’s the book,” I said over and over again to concerned family members. I read all three books of number five so many times I had dreams I WAS Katniss. That is the only time I’ve ever book dreamed. Six is a series about an immortal girl who, well…go read it. Imagine you can live forever, you don’t have to drink blood, and you have incredible powers! I love fresh concepts and a gorgeous hero. The series is self-published, and the first book is free on Amazon's kindle and Barnes and Noble's nook. Book seven’s cover and its first fifty page corners disintegrated on me in middle school. I loved the mini-series of the book, too. For my number eight pick, James Patterson turns words into magical stories with bite. How could something so wonderful as a bunch of kids who can fly not make my list?! Number nine and number ten are polar opposites: vampires and angels, and are both filled with lasting qualities.

My honorable mentions list has six book series, one stand alone book (until Meyer writes book two for number seven), and four writers. Number eleven has inspired me more throughout my lifetime than the majority of best selling authors have, and yes, he did write stories, poems, and even a song before creating Star Trek.

 

1. Outlander – Diana Gabaldon
2. Anne of Green Gables - L.M. Montgomery
3. Matched – Ally Condie
4. Divergent - Veronica Roth
5. The Selection – Kiera Cass
6. Firelight – Sophie Jordan
7. The Host – Stephenie Meyer
8. Shakespeare
9. Isaac Asminov
10. Robert Frost
11. Gene Roddenberry

All these books and authors have influenced the person I am today. They continue to affect me, and the way I write, on a daily basis.

What are your favorite books?

Who inspires you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NaNoWriMo Success!

I did it! I finished with a final tally of 50,002 words.

 

NaNoWriMo...National Novel Writing Month

It's November 7, and after almost one week of daily writing, I am 37,133 words away from my goal of 50,000 words in one month!!

Here's the synopsis of my novel in process...

Temporary Time

Twenty-year-old Tris Savoy is consumed with studying the past. From fencing lessons at the age of ten, a college major immersed in medieval politics and history, to learning the dying language of Occitan, the events that happened eight hundred years before her birth are sometimes more real to her than her present. Her one, unattainable wish is to someday meet her namesake: Beatrice of Savoy. When a fellow student asks her for help with a secretive project, she agrees, and is given the staggering opportunity to enter the era she’s studied her entire life…for one hundred and eighty minutes. But on arrival, she’s a witness to Beatrice’s brutal murder and coerced into a dangerous deception. When the three-hour time limit expires and there’s no sign of help, she must commit to her role as the countess to survive, even if her potential killer lurks inside the castle.

A combination of the book Timeline, TV show Sliders, and the movie Stargate.


Fingers crossed I can keep up the pace and follow my detailed outline.