OMG OMG OMG

Someone posted the link to check and see the unofficial results for the Preditors and Editors Poll. Voting ended the 14th. I had posted a link to it here a couple of weeks ago (with the wrong ending date, I think they had the date wrong on one part of it).

So I'm scrolling down the standings for the author category going "nice nice oh look a friend..." I get to the last entry...Mechele Armstrong.

I yipped!!!

I wasn't on the list to vote for, so someone must have written me in!!

I'm number 35 on the Preditors and Editors poll in the author category!! *snoopy dances* LOL OK I'm tied in 35th place with like two dozen other authors. But still, I wasn't expecting to see my name pop up. I'm so excited.

Erin Mullarky, my editor at Loose Id, is number 7 in the bookeditor category (Whoo hooo) and Loose Id is number 7 in the ebookpublisher category. Elloras Cave was 6th.

http://www.critters.org/predpoll/tally.html

May the muses have nice surprises early in the morning
Mechele

It's in the genes

(Getting ready to make pizza.)

"I washed my hands recently. I bet you two can't say that," I say smugly.

Without a moment's hesitation, both of them chime, "I washed my hands recently."

Aren't 4 & 6 too young to be this much of a smart aleck? LOL

May the muses have smart aleck comments
Mechele

PS I am going to blog on A Wrinkle in Time but had edits back so worked on those.

I wanna talk about me

Ehhh. LOL not really, but I did have fun doing this interview at Romance Junkies. Thanks so much Brooke!


http://www.romancejunkies.com/artman/publish/article_5291.shtml

May the muses have all the answers
Mechele

I have entered a second childhood

Some would argue I never left...but I digress.

I have been reading books that pretty much are for kids lately.

Narnia started it all. I read The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe and then the Magician's Nephew. I'm reading The Horse and his Boy. CS Lewis really is a phenomenal author. I had read some of his theological writings before.

*SPOILER for Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing BELOW*

I had gotten Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume at a bookfair for the girls to read when they were old enough. I remembered liking it and a disturbing ending. Reading it again was interesting from the perspective of a parent. OMG the stuff Fudge does. And yes, when I was a kid, the end where Fudge eats the turtle disturbed me. The poor turtle dies. And it still does *sniffle* disturb me. Poor Dribble.

I've read the first two Harry Potter books and am getting the third soon from the library. My hat is already off to JK Rowling. The world she's created is so intriguing. I can see why kids and adults love these books. I hate stuff with spiders (since seeing the Hobbit cartoon at about 10) so did get completely creeped out in the second one.

Another kid's book I read will get its own post because of how influential I feel it was in my life. I'll blog about A Wrinkle in Time soon.

May the muses have childlike wonder
Mechele

Celebration time...whooo hooo

Crimson's Rose is done!!

*does a snoopy dance*

It weighs in at 242 pages, little longer than I thought it would be. It may grow a couple of more pages in editing.

*sniffles* I'm going to miss Crimson and Rojo. But have many more things to get focused on.

May the muses have a good finish
Mechele

Why do I bother buying toys?

The other night, I'm fixing spaghetti for the four year old. She had gotten into the box and had some on the kitchen table. I picked it up and brought it over to the stove.

She gasps, "Mom, why did you do that?"

"I'm going to put it in the pot."

"But that's Aslan. And he wasn't on the move yet."

Yes, she was playing Narnia with spaghetti.

May the muses have good noodles
Mechele

Vote for the best eBook of 2005 contest at Ecataromance

I know we all had ebooks we read and loved this year. Here's your chance to plug them!! There are many categories and you can only vote one time. Voting ends January 31st, 2006. Winners will be announced Feb. 14th. If there is a tie, please visit the news page for further instructions on Feb. 1.

http://www.ecataromance.com/time_to_vote

May the muses have good books to read
Mechele

A new read & a shameless plug

To read a FREE short piece of writing, go check out my website, http://www.mechelearmstrong.com. It's entitled, The Knight in a Cowboy Hat: Angel In A Thong. I hope to write a few pieces with this same couple and will be posting more short reads down the road.

Also, my January contest is up and running. To win a Cinnamon Hot Chocolate jar mix, a cup, and a candle, simply join my newsletter group. I have a lot of fun putting together The Crayon Chronicles. This month's intervewee will be Ally Blue, author of Forgotten Song! And everyone who joins gets a copy of December's newsletter, which contained a rollicking interview with Flesa Black. The group is low mail but you get sneak peeks at everything I do. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mechele_armstrong/

May the muses have knights
Mechele

Overheard

From kidlets playing while I was cleaning.

"Aslan, you must help Edmund. The White Witch has him."

"And Odette's in trouble. She needs your help."

Odette is Swan Lake Barbie.

It made me laugh, Barbie is apparently visiting Narnia.

May the muses have inspiration
Mechele

Goal setting

I'm taking a class on Defeating Self Defeating Behaviors and had to set some goals for the end of last week.

I was working on Crimson's Rose last night, it's going again. I'm up to 220 pages *blinks* as of tonight and still not quite at the end. My goal from Wednesday on had been 15 pages.

I realized last night, of my goals, it was my last one to reach. Now there are reasons, the main one being it was the largest of the goals. But I couldn't help thinking "It's writing! It should have been the first goal you reached. It should have been priority."

Maybe I didn't make it a priority among the other goals I had. I think from now, on when I set a weekly goal for writing, it will have parameters, i.e. saying this many pages by this day, this many by this day, this many in all.

I'm determed to have more productivity in 2006. Here's to my resolution.

May the muses have attainable goals
Mechele

Technology--Uggh

So yesterday, I decided to download the pictures from the digital camera. Somehow, I volunteered to be the picture taker for the yearbook in my oldest's first grade classroom. I had a bunch of pictures already downloaded and some I needed to download before putting them all on a CD to deliver to school to the yearbook person.

It started off well enough, I found the little card that the memory card from the camera fits into and got them together. I was jazzed I figured this out on my own. I even found the CD that the first round of pictures was on, though it included some family pictures too that I had copied too.

I thought, "I'll be done with this in five minutes, maybe the kidlets will let me write this afternoon."

I won't bore you with details but it was a long adventure of mishaps. It got to the point where I was determined to walk away victorious. I could have waited for the hubby to come home from work and help me. *sigh* It would have taken him all of five minutes I bet.

May the muses use technology wisely
Mechele

Potpourri

Anyone else like it? I do.

I was just listening to the story about the miners in West Virginia. My heart goes out to all the families. And I'm praying for recovery of the one man left alive.

We went to see Narnia last week. It was very good, even the four year old sat for most of it. This led me to invest in the books by CS Lewis. I've never read them, but I'm going to before or as the kids do. I read the first chapter of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" outloud to the girls yesterday. They liked, and the six year old has been reading ahead on her own. I think some of the words go over her head, but she is enjoying it.

LOL she reads like I do. The outside world goes away, and you're inside the book. Getting her attention while she's reading is nearly impossible.

I've jumped on the Harry Potter bandwagon and am reading the first book. I like it. I've been waiting for my oldest to be able to read books and be able to talk about them with her so figure I need to read some other children's books. She's getting to the age where she'll read more and more. I can't wait!!

Well I have a brag. Yesterday, the four year old did flashcards of all her letters and got them all. *blinks* four months ago she knew the letter M and a couple of others. I'm so proud of her. The big kicker for her...she wants to read like her big sister. I think she's going to be ready for kindergarden in the fall!!

I'm still stunned at my first co-written story getting contracted. Been snoopy dancing a lot.

I'm also having some neat moments. Nothing is better than opening up an email and seeing "I just read your book and loved it." And having people who I don't know, who don't have to like it LOL, call themselves a fan.

Crimson's Rose is at 200 pages. I'm sooooo close to the end. I'm going to cut myself off the next few nights and try to finish it. I love Crimson and Rojo. They are a neat couple.

May the muses have good books
Mechele