Castle in the Clouds

Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin My rating: 2 of 5 stars Wasn't nearly as impressed with this book as I had hoped to be. While the premise was promising, the story didn't pull me in as it should have. I really had to struggle to get through the long blocks of description, but, more importantly, I failed to connect with the characters, which means I didn't really care what happened to them or why. Therefore, the story lacked tension. I will not be adding this one to my keeper shelf. View all my reviews >>

It's official. Camping season has started! I can't tell you how happy that makes me. While it may take some work to get the camper ready to go, the reward is worth the effort. And it doesn't matter if we camp alone, just the four of us, or if we're camping with friends or family, we always have a great time. Last weekend we took a short trip to Covenant Campground. There were four campers in our little group: ours, my brother and SIL's, my Dad's, and my Dad's new SIL. Among these four campers, there were 6 children and 4 dogs. Brittney and Sam meet for the first time. Cash and Sam: For the love of God, human, throw the ball! Happy hubby. Papa and the Littlest Princess Dad, Hubby, and my SIL sitting in the shade. Free wagon rides! My Little guy, his friend, and my nephew. Bike rides. Really, when you're a little boy, is there anything better? Playing with Daddy (my brother) The Poops And, here's the fourth dog. Isn't he adorable? Some of th...

This post by The Oatmeal. .. http://theoatmeal.com/comics/misspelling I think I want to print it out and tape it above my kids' monitors....

Making slow progress. This could be because I'm spending way too much time on character development. Not that I think this is a bad thing. The more well-defined my character is, the more connected I will be while writing him or her. On the down side, I've not touched the actual Word doc. All of my efforts are in the OneNote story bible.

It was wonderful. First, they let me sleep in. And when I finally forced myself out of bed, I had hardly wiped the sleep from my eyes when they presented me with gift bags full of goodies. In the first was a hummingbird feeder and a bottle of bubble bath. In the second, the hummingbird feeder food and another bottle of bubble bath. Since I had been pretty vocal in my need for bubble bath, this was awesome. And who doesn't love hummingbirds? After gifts and breakfast, Hubby went into the bedroom to watch TV. This left me with control of the Living Room. You have to know I spent a good hour or so playing my game. I'm sure I would have played longer, but we were expecting my in-laws, so I decided it was time to give the bubble bath a trial run. I made it through a chapter and a half of my book. It was lovely. After lunch at Bob Evans (no line, good food, and the right price), we made a trip to Menard's. Hubby wanted to check out supplies for the basement remodeling ...

In 2002 I started this blog with the intention of talking about my writing. At the time I was working on Dragonborn: The Beginning. It was my first attempt at writing fantasy. Things I remember about that first attempt: I really wanted to tell the child's story, but because I didn't know enough about the world she lived in, I decided I'd better tell her parents' stories first. That way, when I finally got around to writing the story I really wanted to tell, I'd know the political landscape and how she came by her unique magic. It was fun to write. It seemed to write itself. My first online critique partner loved it. In fact, he raved. I sent it to Tor with hardly any polishing and still managed to get a couple of hand-written notes on the rejection letter. I learned a lot from that first fantasy novel. But after that rejection - the only one I ever risked - I put it away and moved on to something else. Most of what came after that first fantasy novel were more ...

Type 9 on the Enneagram, that is! What does this mean? And how do I know I'm a 9? Well, to answer the last question first, I took a simple self-assessment for a professional development workshop. The focus of the workshop was how to identify your personality type and what this means for you in the workplace. And while self-discovery is always fun (or terrifying), it was a lot of fun to guess where my coworkers would fall in the Enneagram, too. But, back to me. I'm a 9. This type is often known as the Mediator or Peacemaker. Here's what one website as to say about this personality type: ~~~~~~ Type Nine in Brief Nines are accepting, trusting, and stable. They are usually creative, optimistic, and supportive, but can also be too willing to go along with others to keep the peace. They want everything to go smoothly and be without conflict, but ...