Because Moms Rock. A Mother's Day Tribute

How Facebook Saves the Day

I'd like to clarify that statement by saying something like, "well, that's really quite the hyperbole..." but the funny thing is, it's not.

You see, my husband doesn't have a facebook account. He teases me about the time I spend on mine. He says he doesn't have one because of something to do with his security clearance and his business contacts. Yeah right. Like the congressmen he briefed yesterday would know whether or not he updates a facebook status. They're probably all twittering behind his back anyway.

In any case, since I have one and he doesn't, I can write whatever I want there and he won't know. It's kind of a joke in our family. He does something that might be considered embarrassing to himself and I say, "Well that'll make a great facebook status."

Which has, in turn, been the way we salvage moments that might make us cry. The dog locked me out of the car when it was running and my only set of keys were in the ignition? That'll make a great facebook status!  The kid spills his plate of spaghetti on the white rug? That'll make a great facebook status!  I stood out in hurricane force winds to gas up the car and then forgot to put the cap back on and had to stop on the highway and get out, totally drenched, on the side to replace it? That'll make a great facebook status!

In the craziest, most absurd way, facebook status updates have let us laugh at situations we might otherwise cry at. And yes, sometimes this makes it feel like Facebook is saving the day.

Living In the Dark Places

Sunday afternoon was gorgeous here. Mid-80s with bright sun and a warm breeze. The birds were singing and the puppy was chasing bumblebees (which is his new favorite past time, something I'm guessing will fall far down on his list of favorites the first time he catches one), and I decided to catch up on some writing.

The kids were playing in my usual writing space, so I took my laptop out to my front porch to enjoy the weather while I wrote. The section of writing I'm working on is probably the hardest part in the book to write: the aftermath of a murder – and I thought the bright sun would balance the darkness of the book.

As is typical, the kids gradually discovered I was missing and came to find me. They are like moths to a flame when I'm writing. No matter where I go to get some quiet, they manage to seek me out to play around me anyway. As a writer, that's frustrating. As a mom, it's kinda cool.

So my two bookend kids decided to ride bikes, and my middle child decided to read a book on the bench next to me: a book she had just borrowed from the library the day before.

I'd warned her it was probably too easy for her. The problem with her is that she's a fourth grader reading at a sixth grade level, and books at her level aren't really her subject cup-of-tea. She like the things written for her age. So she sat and read and I wrote, and in less than 30 minutes she'd finished the book. THE WHOLE BOOK!! 

And you know what my first reaction was? Not "Wow! Good job!"  Not "You're an awesome reader!" 

No, my first response was: "Do you know how long it probably took that author to write that book? It probably took her longer to write the first page than it took you to read the whole thing!"

She rolled her eyes at me and decided to go ride her bike.

But this is where I am right now, in that middle ground between writing like a writer, and writing like a reader.

My book has a dark part. A murder. It's not the crux of the book. It's a turning point but not the central part. This is not a crime book or mystery book. And my hope is that when a reader reads it, they will flit over these pages so they are but a drop in the bucket of the story. They won't wallow in the darkness of it but it will merely be a catalyst for getting on in the journey of the main characters.

And yet.... as a writer, it takes more than flitting to make the pages work. Everything in me is screaming, "get in, get out!" as I'm writing it. I don't want to stay in this place anymore than my characters do.

I started having nightmares about it two nights ago. Gory, terrible, graphic nightmares. And I woke up and thought, I have to change the murder weapon. Not that the reader will care. Not that the reader will even know what the murder weapon is (I haven't decided how in depth to go about the deaths...I'd like to keep it more to the characters that live and less about the crime). But I know. I care. And even though I'd already decided what happened, I changed my mind because I couldn't live in that space while writing it.  Even if it takes the reader only minutes to read those sections of the book, it is taking me longer to write them, to research them, to make sure I'm getting the details right.

My hope is, if I do it right, the reader will get the weight of the scene, but not stay there.

As for me, I'm hoping to be over this scene today or tomorrow and move on as well. After all, this gorgeous spring weather can only last so long.

Hey Howdy Hey - I'm On A Roll!

I read the best interview this week. It was in Entertainment Weekly Magazine (no judgments, please), and it was in regards to the upcoming third installment of the Toy Story franchise.

Before tackling the movie, the directors and producers met to watch the first two movies back to back. Director Lee Unkrich said this:


We were immediately depressed. We thought, 'These are so good, how can we make another one?' Then we remembered we were the people who made them. If anyone is going to do it, maybe we can pull it off."

I have been in this place for the last year. I wrote a book I loved. Then I've floundered for the past year trying to write one to top it. How can I ever write another book that I like as much as that one? 

Then I realized: I was the one who wrote it. And if I could write that one, I could probably pull off another.

Okay, to give credit where it's due, it was mostly my writers group that impressed this on me. And it's mostly as I siphoned small bits and pieces to them with email subject lines like "I think I'm boring myself with this one" and "to dump or not to dump, that is the question," that they pointed out that what they loved about my writing in my last book is still coming through in this one.

So I've stopped asking, "Is this good enough?" and just started writing. And the more I write, the easier it is to write. I'm starting to really love the characters, although I have to admit that to some extent I'm still figuring some of them out. But that's been part of the excitement of the journey through this story. It's the same excitement as Babs developing over the course of writing.

So I'm writing a lot more. Which means I'm blogging less.

No worries, though. I'm sure this enthusiasm and writing spree won't last and I'll be back to regular blogging. Until then, though, the TV shows are piling up on the DVR, the book beside my bed lays unopened, the dinners are late, and the milk is running low.

But hey howdy hey, I'm on a roll!

If Car Companies Made Computers

At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated,

'If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.'

In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating:

If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash ...... Twice a day. 

2.Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.

3.  Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason.  You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue.  For some reason you would simply accept this.

4.  Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would run on only five percent of the roads.

6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single 'This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation' warning light.

7. The airbag system would ask 'Are you sure?' before deploying.

8.  Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.

9.  Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

10.  You'd have to press the 'Start' button to turn the engine off.

(This was passed on to me via email. I thought it was too funny not to share with the people who would most appreciate it!)

Book Review for Scenarios For Girls Books 3 and 4

 Molly Jacobs isn't sure what she should do: Should she follow through with stealing some clothes for her friends from Magna the trendy girls clothing store where she works? Or should she do what she knows is right, even if it means losing her newfound popularity?

 Kate Walker joins the swim team and becomes obsessed with practice and making it through the championships with flying colors. What will Kate do when she's faced with pressure from her teammates to take an illegal substance that will help her swim multiple events in their championship meet?







A few months ago I had the privilege of reading Nicole O'Dell's first books in her Scenarios For Girls series. They are a unique twist on the old choose-your-own adventure books aimed at tween girls age 10-15 in which the main character finds herself in a morally compromising situation. At the point in the book where the character has to make a choice, the reader gets to choose as well, and then read the ending that comes from that decision. Two choices, two endings.

In the next two books in the series, O'Dell creates two more very relateable characters, Molly and Kate, along with their group of friends, some truer than others, and two situations any young girl could easily find herself facing.

As much as I liked the first books, I liked these even more. O'Dell has clearly continued to hone her gift of writing stories girls will identify with and has managed to avoid getting into the predictable pattern and plot lines that so many series fall prey to.

My daughter, who is still a bit young for these books, is an avid swimmer and anxious to read Making Waves. I can easily see this as a great tool for talking with her about how quickly small decisions lead to bigger ones, and how doing something marginally acceptable - like chugging energy drinks and relying on caffeine pills to give you an edge in competition - can lead to more difficulty saying no to  illegal substances like speed.

Anyone who has been involved in swim teams will feel right at home in this book. Another thing I loved was the less-than-traditional family of Kate. While her other books centered around traditional Christian families, O'Dell gives Kate a widowed mom, lending the book another layer of complexity that adds to the real pressure and emotional weight Kate feels.

My favorite of these two though, and probably of all four so far, was Magna. I really liked Molly, and the dialog between her and her friends rang very true.  The "villains" in the book also rang true, in that delicious way the teens will love to hate them. I loved that Molly really, really wanted to do the right things, and she worked so hard for them. I liked that she had a supportive church and family, and yet the book never got preachy.

The characters in these books seem older than the ones in the first two, and in a good way they are less naive and more aware of the seriousness of their situations. Like the first books, these provide safe, Christian reading for young girls, a hole in publishing these days.

If you have a daughter 10-15, I highly recommend both of these books, and I look forward to more in the near future!