* And The Winner Is......*

I wasn't surprised and I doubt if anyone else will be either....but the odds were in her favor. The winner is: Faith Hope Cherrytea! Congratulations and please e-mail me with your mailing address, so I can send your goodies!

Thanks to each and every one of you who commented and suggested book titles. Some of them are really very good, and I'm setting them aside in my "Possibility File." 

Hey, that reminds me of a movie that I just love. It's: Last Holiday starring Queen Latifah, 2006.
She's a lonely woman who doesn't do much of anything in life, except work, save money and DREAM. What made me think of it now was....She kept a large scrapbook of "possibilities"....where she kept news clippings, recipes, photographs.....of all her dreams. I'm not going to give it an entire review, but if you've never seen it, I highly recommend it!

Speaking of dreams.....You know what mine is..... Seeing my memoir on the Best Seller List!

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." --Anais Nin

Words, Wonderful Words...And Music, Too

Since I don't drive in rush-hour traffic anymore, and most of my errands are taken care of near my home, I'm not in my car long enough to listen to CDs much. When I do get on a highway, though, I like to take some of my own music along...because...you know, all those commercials on radio stations...they make me nuts! And, I don't have satellite radio, either.

SO, today, I had the pleasure of driving along Hwy 270, 40, 364.....(those numbers make me want to either shout "Hike"...or WOW, those are the measurements of a huge, strangely built woman!)

While be-boppin' along, trying to stay as near as possible to the speed limit, I listened to my Jason Mraz CD, "Mr. A-Z". When I finally got my mind to quit wandering up and around, and in and out, about all the things I was concerned about, I began to really hear the lyrics. If you're not familiar with Jason Mraz...oh my gosh... he writes amazing songs. Below is just part of the lyrics about him leaving a message for his girl friend. The song's title is: "Did You Get My Message?"

..."Do you ever wonder what happens to the words that we send
Do they bend, do they break from the flight that they take
And come back together again with a whole new meaning
In a brand new sense, completely unrelated to the one I sent"...

Those words just captured me today. I sang along and felt so alive and happy.
Beautiful words.....beautiful music...


"It takes some silence to make sound
It takes a loss before you found it
And it takes a road to go nowhere
It takes a toll to make you care
It takes a hole to make a mountain" from the song "Life is Wonderful" by Jason Mraz

* Contest Prizes! *

Hey Everyone. Don't forget to enter my contest! Do so before midnight tomorrow (Jan 25)

I realized I didn't make it clear when I announced the prizes. There will not be 4 winners. There will be just ONE WINNER. Winner takes all!!

Tomorrow at midnight CST, I'll do the random drawing for the winner of my Name My Book Contest. If you don't know about it and want to enter, or already entered and want to do so again, hop on over to this post and leave a comment. There are NO RULES! You DO NOT have to be a follower. Enter as many times as you want, but each time must have a title suggestion for my memoir. *As I mentioned on the originial post, the winner will be chosen by random drawing. The book title suggested is not guaranteed to be used, it is just a suggestion for the contest.*

Now, here's what everyone's been waiting for. The announcement of the PRIZE(S) to be awarded!

1) Three votive candles from Yankee Candle: Lilac Blossoms, Home Sweet Home, and Ocean Water.

2) Cheery pink & green note card set, complete with envelopes & matching pen.

3) A 7 x 7 hardcover book: Great Kisses...and Famous Lines Right Out of the Movies, compiled by Timothy Knight

4) A 8 x 10 hardcover book: Home Rules, Transform the Place You Live Into a Place You'll Love, by Nate Berkus

~~ Some fabulous prizes to help you get through another winter month! Plus, candles...and a romantic book of onscreen kisses, with comments and quotes....What could be better for next month's Valentine's Day? And I say...give them as gifts to yourself!! You don't need no steenking Valentine....Be your own valentine!! ~~

Hugs and happiness to you all today....wherever you are....Find and Follow your Bliss!!

"Always serve too much hot fudge sauce on hot fudge sundaes. It makes people overjoyed, and puts them in your debt." -- Judith Olney

* Freelance Opportunities *

Yesterday I attended the Patch Freelance Forum that was held in St. Louis County. What a fantastic and unique online news source. One of the things that makes it so unique is that it focuses on communities, small towns. For instance, there is no "Patch St. Louis City". Their belief is that the news media already covers events in large cities, but there is no depth of coverage in the smaller towns.

I was there to learn more about Patch, meet people I already communicated with through e-mail, and hopefully get hired as a freelancer. 2 out of 3 so far! I'll definitely post the news when I get an assignment!

(Click on the link and see if your state and town is currently up and running. If not, it will be sometime in the future. Patch is very new and has only been in my area a few short months.)

By the way....why the name "Patch"? I happened to ask that question yesterday and here's what I was told: Think of where you live as your little patch of land. (See the little clump of grass at the bottom of the "h" in their logo? See?)... Ahhhh, now I get it!

"To me, journalism is, ah, like a hangover. You can read about it for years, but until you've actually experienced it, you have no conception of what it's really like." -- Dr. Hugo Pine, in the 1958 comedy movie, Teacher's Pet, starring Clark Gable and Doris Day (two of my favorite actors!)

* This 'n That on a Friday Night *

I got a kick out of this comic strip. Click on it to make it larger to read.

More candle wax art. How about that smiley face?!

I received this amaryllis for a birthday gift from son Scott and his wife. It's been so much fun to watch. They're really amazing flowers!

Happy Weekend! Stay comfy cozy wherever you are!

"My ideas usually come not at my desk writing but in the midst of living." -- Anais Nin

* SNOW, SNOW, SNOW *

Wow! Look at our deck furniture! Isn't it funny? And the cones of snow on the poles?

I took this picture around 8 o'clock this morning.

This is a little blurry, but I thought it was pretty. I took this from inside (with no flash)

around 6 o'clock this morning. The bright light is the street light. We live at the bottom of a cul-de-sac and you can barely tell where the road is and where our front yard is. Can you see the "snow cones" on top of the 2 bird feeders?!

This was also from around 8 o'clock this morning. Another angle of the deck and neighbors' pretty trees.

The snowfall totals really vary around the St. Louis area. This looks like at least 8 inches of snow to me and we're supposed to get MORE! This is really unusual for us. The past few winters we might get snow five or six times, but only 2 or 3 inches at a time.

I plan to enjoy looking out, while I write and clean and maybe bake another apple pie! (Paul Joseph, did you read that last part?!)

*Also, Welcome to my Two Newest Followers: Jan and Darlene! Thank you so much!*

“Snowflakes are one of nature's most fragile things, but just look at what they can do when they stick together.” -- Vesta M. Kelly

The Times They Are a-Changin' ..with 2 add'l notes!

Changin'? Oh yeah! After discussing the sample of my cover today with Lou Turner, my publisher, she and I both envision a new direction....for both the cover....and the title! Instead of humorous...we're going to go with a nostalgic look.

I can't even remember how many years it's been since I chose the title for my memoir: That Crowbar Changed Everything! I was so sure IT was the one and only title I would ever want....Hmmm....just goes to show you (and me!) that sometimes what seems like THE only way to do something....ISN'T.

So, here's the fun part. I was thinking about what kind of contest I'd have for January....and now I know! Please help me with a new title for my memoir! I may not choose any of the suggested titles, but for each one, you'll be entered in the contest. The more titles, the more chances of winning. You don't even have to be a follower. Just leave a genuine possible title. The time frame of the book is from the 1950s til present, and it's both humorous and bittersweet.

I'll choose the winner a week from today, at midnight CST on January 25th, by random.org. The winner will win prizes yet to be determined! (My book title will not necessarily be the one suggested, either.)

Oh, and this little detour has not slowed down my determination or my happiness. In fact, I'm even more excited than I was yesterday! I just hope I can sleep tonight!

**Note: Added Wednesday, Jan 19th, morning. Thanks for all the suggestions already! This is so much fun! I wanted to mention that yesterday before I posted this, I looked on Amazon to check if there were any books already "out there" that had titles I was considering. And guess what?? There were some with the exact titles, and some with similar ones. I then looked just in the memoir section, and there were some that I thought had really strange or just plain bad titles! So, what did that teach me? I'm not really sure yet! But I think when THE title hits me.....I'll know it!!

**2nd Note: Added Wednesday, Jan 19th, afternoon:  It occurred to me that maybe I should provide a little more information about myself and my memoir, too! (I really didn't think that up myself. Someone e-mailed and asked!) So, here's a brief summary:

It will be short stories, in no particular order, about instances in my life....both childhood and adult. Some humorous, some sad...and maybe a little of both in the same story. Childhood vacations at grandma and grandpa's in Iowa. Schools. Jobs.Watching old TV shows in the 1950s & 60s. Parents. Siblings. First marriage "issues". Pet dog stories. My sons. The Ronald. Bus rides. Train rides. You know.....just life!! Oh, and my dad left us when I was about 8 years old. It was very devastating and it was honestly due to him that I became a writer...in my late forties!!

How's that?! I've had this all in my head and on paper for soooooo long, that I forget that not everyone knows all about it, or all about me, etc!

(image courtesy: boxshot3d.com)

"We don't know who we are until we see what we can do." -- Martha Grimes, Writer's Handbook

* Dreams - Real and Otherwise *

Dreams. That one word conjures up so many images. Those real dreams we have when we sleep. Those real dreams we have in our waking hours....those dreams of success and accomplishments and triumphs.

Anyone who's been reading my blog for awhile knows about my dream of being a best-selling author. I've been talking about, and writing, my memoir for way too long. This is my year. All I have to do is finish it. I've already got the publisher. In fact, she has a sample of my book cover that I get to see this Tuesday! I'm positive that by seeing it, I will catapult myself into "awesome writer mode" and complete it before the end of March! (my new deadline!)

That particular dream is so close to becoming true I can see it. I was at Barnes & Noble the other evening and grabbed another book by Cynthia Kaplan, which was located in the Biography & Memoir section. While I was there, it occurred to me to stroll down the aisle to the place where MY book would be shelved. Since they're placed in alphabetical order by the author's last name, I saw that in that particular store, my book would be right next to one of Colin Powell's. Not a bad place to be, I don't think!

I've said it before and I'll say it again, "Look out world! Here I come!"

"The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers. But above all, the world needs dreamers who do." ~Sarah Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy, 1996