Define Paradise

My daughter put on a fun Harry Potter party for her son. I love that my grandkids love Harry Potter. My grandson just barely turned 8, and he's already halfway through Goblet of Fire. Not too shabby. I got to help make the Owl Snacks and Cauldron Cakes. The Butterbeer was to die for.

I brought him a fun book--Bees in My Butt, which he and his older sister both read. Hilarious books. I'm going to have to get the others in the series.

 

I got my granddaughter Mist Warriors, and they both read that one. 

Then I remembered that I brought Confessions from the Realm of the Underworld (Also Known as High School) to her. She blew through that one in a day.  

 Some addictions are good to pass down to future generations.

We made it safely back to the mainland.

To snow.

Sad. Really sad. Though it's supposed to be nearly 70 degrees one day this weekend. Which is actually a bit better than what we experienced on Kaua'i. They had rain of nearly biblical proportions. It's a good thing we went for a family event and not sightseeing. Besides the airport and the church (and my daughter's house) I only made it to Walmart.

But it was awesome seeing my daughter and her family again. I miss them so much.

Got back yesterday and had my last wisdom tooth removed. I'd been putting this off for 30 years because the other bottom wisdom tooth was a bear afterward. Well, this one was a bear getting out. The dentist had to take it in pieces.

And the tooth area isn't the only place that can take a hit during an extraction. Like my lip here. I haven't had the guts to look at the tooth extraction site.

One positive note though. The oral surgeon (as he's cutting the tooth from my jaw bones) assured me I didn't have osteoporosis.

Anybody doing anything fun this weekend?

And the Winner Is . . .

The winner of the ebook is Bonnie!

Anybody going to Life, the Universe and Everything (LTUE) this week? It's a killer deal at $30 for three days. 

Here's my post from last year's event.

What Are You Doing When You Think You're Writing . . . and a Book Giveaway

Article

Valerie Ipson shared this fun post by Dan Berstein on The Barnes & Noble Review  about what you're really doing when you think you're sitting down to write.

It's worth the read and should give you a guilty smile.

Book Giveaway

I won a couple of kewl prizes over at Laura Josephsen's blog for the Favorite Character Blogfest (it was random rather than competitive). The first was a ten-page critique by Melanie Billings at Whiskey Creek Press, so I'm excited.

I also won an ebook copy of Laura's book Confessions from the Realm of the Underworld (Also Known as High School). You can read what I thought of this book here. Hint: I LOVED it!

Since I already own the paper copy, I'm going to give away my ebook prize to one of you. All you have to do is be a follower of my blog and note in your comment below that you're interested in being part of the drawing. I'll announce the winner on Monday.

However, you might also want to note that Laura's getting ready to launch her next book, Rising (Part 1 Resistance). I'm reading this book right now and loving it.

Don't forget to post a comment with your email address if you'd like to have your name put in for the drawing.

And the Winner Is ...

The winner

of the

delightful book

Confessions from the Realm of the Underworld(Also Known as High School) 

by

 Laura Josephsen

is

Canda

Send me an email at donnakweaver(at)gmail(dot)com with your address, and we'll get it in the mail to you. Congrats!

*winner chosen using random.org

"Confessions" Book Giveaway

I'm foregoing my usual Grammar Friday post in lieu of a book Giveaway.

Laura Josephsen's new book Confessions from the Realm of the Underworld (Also Known as High School) is out now, and I read last weekend. 

I loved it! 

We're doing a book giveway to celebrate.So what's this contemporary YA book about?

"Write what you know."

Persephone "Sephie" Benson scoffs when her creative writing teacher throws that little gem out there. Maybe this advice would work for a professional skydiver or a baseball star or a ninja princess. It's not so great for a high school student who doesn't even know what to do with the rest of her life. Add in being the oldest of six girls, having Responsibilities with a capital R, and living in a town the size of a tick, and you've got a recipe for boring soup.

At least, that's what Sephie thinks until her senior year. Now, her grandfather is losing his house. One of her sisters plays a starring role in the local high school scandal. Even things with her best friend Joey aren't the same. As Sephie deals with the changes in her life, she finds that nothing is quite what she expects--and that sometimes, the most extraordinary life can be the one that seems the most ordinary. 

 Why did I love this book? We follow Sephie as she navigates around many real-life challenges. Some of them are very difficult ones for her and her family to get through. I have sisters, and I completely related to the experience of having so many females living under the same roof. I fell in love with Sephie's family and with her friend/romantic interest Joey, who goes through some major challenges himself (I just love that kid).

I laughed often, not just from the humorous situations the characters found themselves in, but also from the way Laura crafted the story around a list of clichés we writers are supposed to avoid. The chapter titles just made smile:

Chapter One
In Which Sephie Defines Chaos. Chaos: Living in a
House with Five Sisters. See? Chaos Defined.

And probably the thing I loved the most was the "heart" of Sephie's tale. Life is hard. Sephie's is no exception. But even when everything seems so dark in her life, she manages to find comfort from friends and family, to see the beauty of the sunrise, the joy of a new day. Being positive in the face of adversity can be dang hard, but it can be done. This book is upbeat in spite of the challenges the characters face. I came away from reading it on a high. I love when a book can do that for me.

So how can you win a paperback copy?

• Become a follower of my blog if you aren't already.
• Comment here that you'd like to be entered in the drawing
• Visit Laura's blog and become a follower there (I will check both blogs to verify)
• Comment on her post there.

I will announce the winner in my post on Wednesday, August 3, 2011.

Self-Publishing .... Decisions, Decisions

I've talked about self-publishing before (here), so this isn't a new topic for me. But I've been thinking about it a lot more seriously lately, especially after Marsha Ward's blog post here. She raises some issues that, for me, are compelling.

• I'm kind of old to have started on this journey, and I sincerely worry that I could die before I have a chance to publish traditionally.
• I'm not in this for a new career. Because I'm older, I've already got one I like just fine, and I can retire in less than ten years.
• This is supposed to be fun for me. I worry that the whole query/rejection process will suck all the joy out of what I'm learning and doing--recognizing that if I put my stuff out there before it's ready, there will be plenty of people who will be happy to help suck all the joy out of what I'm doing--but that's true even of people who publish traditionally.
• A lot of people believe self-publication is the way to go, including David Farland, who's spoken to this issue in several of his Daily Kicks.

On the other hand, there are some compelling reasons not to self-publish.

• You have to do all your own marketing. I can't tell you how much I hate sales. I realize authors are the true salespeople for their work. Readers don't come to book signings to meet the publisher or the agent or the printer; they come to meet the author. It's just hard for me to consider trying to pimp my own work.
• At LTUE, self-published author Anna del C. cautioned writers considering self-publication to get a lot of books written before beginning. She said she spends so much time now marketing her books that she has little time to write. Considering I have a full-time job and limited time available for writing already, this is a huge concern for me.
• As Marsha mentions in her blog, she thinks she's had success so far without marketing because she has so many finished works and could get them out there quickly, that having several books for readers to select from is a big advantage. I don't have a bunch of books to throw out there. I have one WIP close to being "ready" (I know, define ready), two partial WIPs, and lots of ideas. I've spent a ton of time on this first book because it's my on-the-job training, so to speak.
• Many people who, for good reason, haven't made it out of the slush pile are now publishing and flooding the ebook market with dross. Readers could become jaded about the quality of self-published books, and (assuming my book is not just more dross) mine could get lost in the trash.

My friend Laura Josephsen just bravely self-published her book Confessions from the Realm of the Underworld (Also Known as High School  (I read it this weekend and loved it, but I'll write more about it on Friday).  She's already published traditionally and had a publisher interested in this book, and she opted to self publish. Does it help that she's already published and has a fan base? Is it better for someone like Laura than it is for fledgling beginners?

A comment from the LDSStorymaker conference really struck me. Someone reported that author Larry Brooks said writers are too worried about getting published. What we should be worrying about is getting read. When I heard that, it gave me pause.

So what's a girl to do? 

• What are your thoughts on self publication? 
• Have you ever considered it? If so, what did you decide and why? 
• Do you feel like you'll be taken more seriously as a writer if you have the endorsement of the gatekeepers and stick with traditional publishing? 
• Or do you think self-publication is the wave of the future?