Character Giveaway Winner!

Carlee Heidenreich blew the competition out of the water by collecting 45 LIKES on her FB wall, when she posted a picture of her copy of Veiled!
CONGRATULATIONS CARLEE!!! You are now a Character in Living Soul, the second book in the series!!!

Carlee will need to let me know if she wants me to use her real name or some other name. Also I want to make it very clear that Carlee's name will be used fictionally and it will in no way represent the "real" Carlee. Any similarities,(if there are any) will be coincidental, and blah, blah, blah....

Unfortunately the character will have to remain a mystery until the book is published. So you will have to look her up when Living Soul comes out!

I do my best to be a speedy writer, but I do have children to home school and a husband to feed and laundry to wash. But I am working on the last ten chapters right now, so wish me luck! And poor Carlee too who is about to--

Rest In Peace

Today I finally finished re-writing Living Soul, the sequel to Veiled, after I lost all my work to tiny rectangles!
Yes, rectangles.
A few months ago I was finishing up my work for the day when I accidentally took my memory stick out before it was all the way done saving, and it corrupted the file. It basically changed all my words (ALL OF THEM, about 23 chapters with roughly 10 pages in each chapter)into rectangles.
After I cried, I took the computer to the Geek Squad and they worked on it for three weeks, only to come up empty. They reset the computer to an earlier time, they cleaned up viruses, they worked on the file, they even sent the file to India of heavens knows where! Only to return my lap top with two recovered chapters, all compressed with no spaces or punctuation between the words. ...Basically a re-write.
After I ranted and cried and did all the expected things, I went back to work. Today I stand before you all caught up with a few extra sentences to boot!
So may that first version of Living Soul rest in peace somewhere in rectangular heaven, while the new version is safe and sound in several different places; including my super secret email account that no one knows anything about...until now.
Let this be a lesson to all you writers out there! Don't pull your memory stick out too quickly...or your words will die.

Character Giveaway!

I have no doubt that we are all quite the characters in real life, but have you ever been a character in a book?

I will make you a character in my next book "Living Soul" if you share a picture of your paperback copy of "Veiled" on Facebook to all your friends! So when you get the book, simply upload a picture of your copy or a visible Kindle version and collect 'LIKES' from your friends. The more Likes you get the better your chances of becoming a 'mystery' character.

I'll use your name, first and last (or just first) if you feel more comfortable.

Don't miss this ONCE IN A LIFETIME chance to be a real character in a book. You can brag about it and hand it down to your posterity!

So upload those pictures and start playing during the month of May. Whoever gets the most Likes wins!

Post your total Likes on my Author Page on Facebook and I will annouce the winner on Tuesday the 31st.!!!

Have Fun!

My Glory Day in the Hot Sun--Nacho Libre.

So as I was looking at my book on the Amazon page, I hoped to hear a great "AHHH" of angels, or clapping, or something! Instead I got to hear my kids fight about the last juice box and who should get it! I walked away from the computer and punched the whole on the juice box then proceeded to equally distribute the meager contents into three cups.

So if you were ever wondering what it feels like to be a published author--now you know!

Life goes on, kids are great reminders of that. But as I squirted that juice I was thinking how happy I was. But that happiness has come mostly from other things. Seeing my dream of writing a novel and being published has added to that happiness, but it hasn't been the sole source of it.

After the juice box incident I did exactly what this picture shows, went to the garden and drank a Mate with my husband. What we talked about was: The next dream!

Dreaming and working toward dreams or goals has added a great new dimension to my life. It has been hard, I've had to give up other hobbies and social events. But it has given me something I was missing. Don't get me wrong, I was happy before, but now I feel complete! Like when you make a cake, then you add the frosting or the glaze.

If I were to make a recipe for happiness, I would add one cup of God (service, prayer, scripture reading) and one of Family (the every day working, talking, feeding, cleaning, teaching stuff). Then I would shake in work (providing for material needs) and a pinch of Dreams or Goals.

Dreams are the zest of life, the extra flavor that makes the dish worth eating (often times you put it on top). When you make Lemon Cake, you scrub the yellow of the peel into the batter, being careful to not get the white part, because it makes it bitter.

Likewise, the taste of your life depends on a careful balance between the flavor and the main ingredients. I haven't always been the best at it, sometimes my 'cake' has been a little on the lemony side. But I have found that on the days that I'm happiest, I scrubbed that lemon very lightly.



Lemon Jell-O Cake

(From the Family Cookbook--by Rebecca Bell)

1 Small Pkg. Lemon Jell-O
1/2 C. oil
3 Eggs
1 Yellow cake mix
1 tsp. lemon extract


Icing:
1 C. powder sugar
Juice of one lemon
RIND OF ONE LEMON, GRATED!

Unveiling Veiled!

Okay...so that's me, the chicken. You can thank me later for not putting up a picture of a chicken with it's head cut off. But you get it right? I've had chickens before and they pretty much run around cackling aimlessly. In fact I have a pretty funny anecdote about me and my omega 3 chickens...but that's for another time. I actually have a reason, for feeling like this, several really.

Veiled has been approved and will soon be ready to be purchased. The actual release date will be a few days before the release party. All of which will be happening while I'm on vacation. My husband's work is taking us to Hawaii for a week and it falls on the release of my book, so while all of you feel very sorry for me and my dilemma, I am running around trying to get everything squared away!

Snorkel gear, bug spray, sun-tanning lotion, book release announcements, blog tours, book orders, shopping carts (so ya'll can buy the book) ;).

Then there's my son's birthday party, in-laws coming into town, homeschooling, taxes, sports and yes! Cleaning, laundry and all those things that I never seem to get to.

All and all, I can't complain. My book is coming out! So please be a dear and spread the word, tell all your friends, send me a message if you would like to pre-order a book and mark your calendars because on the 14th Amazon will have it available for purchase. Once you read the book, don't forget to leave a review on Amazon.
Reviews are very important, so be kind and give me a good review!
Cluck--cluck!

Super Mom Rocio Wilde. Super Power: The Energy of Ten Women Packed into a Size 0 Petitte

I met Rocio in college, and she’s always been a fireball! So when I recently ran into her at The Heritage Museum,downtown Dallas, I wasn’t surprised to hear that she was still a fireball and still up to too much. She’s a Fashion designer, Interior decorator, Author and Mother of four.

S- Amiga, tell me how it all started.

I've been in the world of fashion and beauty since my pre-teens when I briefly modeled. In junior high, I would run to the grocery store after school to get the latest Vogue magazine. I would tear sheets and make notes of things I would change…how audacious of me! I remember my mom telling me to hurry up in the mornings as I got ready for school...it was a big event!
I would polish my shoes on the weekend, and plan out my outfits with accessories. But in the mornings, I would take time to iron pleats, collars and even my socks! I'm not sure why?...*smile* but it was just fun for me!
I recall waking up in the mornings with fashion ideas twirling in my head and sketching them on paper. I bought my first velvet-covered curling iron at a vintage yard sale when I was about 8 or 9.

I started doing beauty makeovers for friends in junior high, high school and at a department store in college as I studied art and interior design. I loved to sell clothes at retail and helped manage a wholesale jewelry store in downtown Los Angeles.
I received my degree in fashion design and merchandise marketing. I spend a lot of my time working on my business, attending and covering fashion events and parties, interviewing and researching, but I'm a normal, everyday mom.

S-I heard it was a conscious decision after you had kids to get back into these hobbies of yours, is it true?

Yes, it was a conscious decision…. There was a time when I was so busy raising babies that taking a shower felt like a vacation. I had a long to-do list filled with priorities. One day I made the decision to put "myself" back on my priority list. I had to remind myself what my hobbies were. I loved design, fabric and colors. I started designing everything...crafts, a garden, herb-filled wooden frames to sell...I even I designed our home.

S- The big question that all busy moms have is: How? How on earth do you make time to do all that you do?

Keeping a balance between family life and personal interest or a hobby is always a challenge, but it's a priority to me and I try very hard to keep it in constant check. We all have the same 24 hours in a day, but we get to choose how we spend it. It's like any budget, we plan it out first. I believe in making time for self.
Do what makes you feel alive and passionate about life! I'm a writer, a designer, and a business owner, but most importantly I'm a mother. When I spend time with my family I feel fulfilled.

In a business, it's so easy to go overboard because you can always grow your business a little more or network a little more...I have to keep checking myself. In my book, Polka Dot Moms, I go over some basic checks to keep a healthy balance; these are steps I've gathered as I've learned from other moms, leaders and past experience. I used to think I had to be all or nothing...either a great mom with no other life, or completely focused but a terrible mom. Not true! I now know that you can be a great mom and still do the things you enjoy! It really is a balancing act, an act that changes from time to time as we change.
I love what I do, but nothing is better to me than being a mom.

S- Tell us more about your e-magazine and your book.

My new magazine, Happy Vintage Mom was inspired by my book, Polka Dot Moms, as well as my passion for vintage living and vintage fashions. It just launched about a week ago. It's a periodical with new issues each season. However, because it's an online periodical, the articles are published and presented in between issues too.
Circulation is similar to a paper magazine in that there is a targeted audience, but it's much larger because of the internet; obviously we can reach more women within a world presence, but we still have to market ourselves or no one will know we exist.
http://www.happyvintagemom.com http://facebook.com/HappyVintageMom

Make sure you stop by Rocio’s facebook page and Like it, for a chance to win a copy of her book “Polk Dot Moms”.

The Final Countdown

So the proof is in the mail, and Linda Boulanger's finger is suspended over the 'enter' key, that will tell Amazon to list my book in its endless files! One drop more drop in the ocean of published books!

I'm not too worried about the ripple, I'm just happy that it will be out there.
There is no price on a dream coming true, and as it happens there are few words too.

This just goes to prove that it's not in the destination, but the journey that we will find joy.
It has been a joy for me to write. It has been a joy to speculate and chat with my friends. It has been a joy to work with Linda and the TreasureLine crew. It has been a joy to dream and to see that dream take shape.
So now the clock is ticking faster and faster until Veiled makes it's first appearance to the world.
http://treasurelinebooks.blogspot.com/2011/03/introducing-sbniccum-and-veiled.html