Blog Award

I'm doing something different this Friday. My friend Nancy Cohen honored me with this lovely blog award recently, and I want to thank her for considering my blog worthy of an award. Nancy is the author of a cozy mystery series that feature a sleuth who is a hairdresser. I have read Shear Murder and enjoyed it a lot.

 The rules for this award are:

1. Link back to and thank the blogger who nominated you.
2. Post the badge on your blog.
3. Answer the questions posed to you.
4. Nominate five bloggers who shine a little light in your day and notify them.
5. Ask five questions for your nominees.

Since I always hesitate to impose rules on my blogger friends, I encourage those that I nominate to think in terms of guidelines, not rules. And now to answer some of Nancy's questions.

1. What genre do you read for fun? I read primarily mystery for fun.

2. Do you revise as you go along or wait until your first draft is done? I do some revising as I go along. Often my writing session begins with reading through the last chapter or scene to jump-start the next action in the book, so I will tweak some as I am doing that. Still, I will also end up doing one or two revisions when the whole story is complete.

3. What advice would you give aspiring authors? I would encouring aspiring authors to learn perseverance and develop a thick skin. Those that succeed are those who keep writing, and those who improve their craft are those who are willing to take constructive criticism and editorial input. I would also tell them to read as much as possible in all genres, as we absorb good writing techniques as we read.

4. Do you have beta readers and who are they? For my latest release my beta readers were Dani Greer and Cathy Richmond. Dani is the acqusitions editor for Little Pickle Press, and Cathy is the author of best-selling Christian fiction. Both are writers for whom I have a great deal of respect.

Now I would like to pass the award on to:

Helen Ginger, who has a terrific blog where she shares information on writing and the publishing business, as well as some great book reviews.

LD Masterson, who always has something fun and interesting on her blog. Love her Hump Day

Susan Swiderski, who does fun posts with lots of pictures and clever captions. It's always fun to visit her blog.

Marilyn Meredith, who is an amazing woman and my idol. She is not afraid to admit her age, 87, nor how many books she has written and published, 35. 

Joan Reeves, who is always promoting fellow authors, as well as offering all kinds of helpful posts from editing to setting up an office.

And my questions for my friends - should you choose to answer:

1. How long do you spend putting together a blog?

2. What other writing do you do?

3. Do you blog because you like to, or because you were told you have to by a publisher?

4. What is a story your family likes to tell about you?

5. When you visit another blog, do you promote it on social media?

Wednesday's Guest

Today's guest blog is going to be a little different because on Monday my cyber-friend, Nancy J. Cohen, gave me the versatile blogger award and I really need to acknowledge that before too much more time passes. So, first of all, thank you Nancy. I am honored that you chose me for this award.

Reading some of the posts on Nancy's blog I came across one about Jewish wedding customs that was interesting.  If you are interested hop on over to see what some of them are and why they are done. Here's just one:   Why does the bride circle the groom seven times? Just as the world was created in seven days, the bride, representing Mother Earth, reminds people that marriage is part of the creation process. At the same time, she symbolically builds the walls of the couple’s new dwelling, as embodied by the chuppah. (the canopy under which the ceremony takes place)

So now on to the award. The are a few rules. I am to thank the award-giver and link back - done. Share 7 things about myself.... Hmmm....
      1. I'm a procrastinator. There I said it.
      2. I'd rather go for a walk than do almost any other kind of exercise.
      3. I sing moderately well.
      4. I play guitar better than I sing.
      5. I went to college for five years but never finished - long story.
      6. I have never had a spotless house.
      7. I don't always follow the rules.

Now I am to pass this on to 15 blogger friends and let them know about the award. When I read Nancy's post about receiving the award, she wrote that she spent a couple of hours researching blogs she had visited in the past couple of months. Bless her, she is a better woman than I am. I have visited a lot of blogs: Morgan Mandel's, Kristen Lamb's, Bob Sanchez, Alex J. Cavanagh, Terry Odell, and many others. I also read the blogs at Venture Galleries and the blogs of my friends at  The Blood Red Pencil. Helen Ginger, Katherine Craft, Dani Greer, Linda Lane,  Elsa  Neal, Shon Bacon, Heidi Thomas, and Elspeth Antonelli But in addition to those I have visited a lot of other blogs after seeing a link in a Tweet or on Facebook. Even though I love to write about investigations, I can't spend hours hunting them down. I have to go get my cat from the veterinarian hospital this morning.

I hope you will visit some of the blogs of my friends. You won't be disappointed. There is content about writing and marketing, but also recipes and great picture stories. At Venture Galleries you will find essays about all kinds of topics. Enjoy.... 

New Award

Carole Kilgore over at Under the Tiki Hut gave me this lovely Picasso Award the other day. In her blog, she said it reminded her of spring, a season that many of us who have had lots of snow are really looking forward to.

I appreciate her thoughtfulness in passing this on to me. Now I am supposed to tell seven things about me - and this time there is no true or false - and pass the award on to other bloggers.

So here goes.

1. I was once a roller-skating car hop. If you ever see a rerun of Happy Days, that wasn't me in the opening credits, although I wish it were. Just think of the residuals I could still be taking in.

2. I watch all the Olympic events, even if they are sports I would never otherwise be interested in. I'm a real sucker for the competitive spirit, although I wish the commentators would shut up sometimes. Actually, a lot of times.

3. I won my first writing award when I was 12.

4. So, it's not a surprise that I have wanted to be a writer since I was a child.

5. My husband is my best friend.

6. I love to work outdoors and can spend hours playing farmer. That is why the cold weather has got to go away. I am ready to dig and plant and sow and reap.

7. I was bitten by the acting bug a few years ago and now you can't keep me off the stage. Except when practicality wins out and I realize I should stay home with my best friend instead of going to daily rehearsals for six weeks.

Now I will pass this on to a few other bloggers:

LuAnn Morgan at Reading Frenzy
Ginger Simpson at Dishin It Out
Terry O'Dell at Terry's Place
Morgan Mandel at Double M's take on books, blogs, dogs, networking & life

The Whole Truth

As promised the other day, I will now fess up to which of my outrageous statements were true and which were lies. But first, I want to share some pictures of our glorious snowfall. We don't get much snow here in East Texas, so this is a treat for someone like me who really likes snow.

As long as it is in manageable amounts and I don't have to shovel.

Our dog, who had never seen snow before, didn't mind it at all, except when her tennis ball became a snowball. She wasn't quite sure what to do with it.

The goats were totally disoriented. The darker brown one stood in the middle of the pasture for the longest time just looking at this strange white stuff. The horse didn't care. Give him some hay and he is a happy horse.

Now on to full disclosure:


1. I was a roller-skating car hop like the ones on "Happy Days." This one is true. I worked at a little drive in and that is where I first met my husband.

2. I've broken almost every bone in my body. Unfortunately, this one is true, also. I won't bore you with all the details, but let's just say that horseback riding can be dangerous. As is pole-vaulting and baseball.

3. I once went backpacking in the Rockies. Not true, although I wish it was.

4. I was a trail rider at a riding stable. Yes. I worked one summer at a stable on Detroit's Belle Isle. Classy stable - although I wasn't so classy - and that's where I met and bought my first horse.

5. I was an executive director for a film project. Yes. I had a partner in a film project based on a screenplay I wrote. We almost had the deal together when the oil market did a semi-crash in the late 80's and we lost our main investors.

6. I was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Is there such a thing as a semi-truth? I'm not sure if this qualifies as an official nomination, but my publisher at a regional magazine submitted a feature story I had written about riding patrol with police officers. It was an in-depth feature, and one of the best pieces I've ever written, and the publisher thought it was worth the award.

Okay, there you have it folks. This was fun and I need to check the blogs of the folks I passed this award on to to see what outrageous things they have to say.

Friendship Award

Patricia Stoltey, a fellow author, recently gave me a friendship award and I will fess up that I have been remiss in acknowledging the award. For those of you who read my blog regularly, you know that last week started out badly, and it didn't improve much from there. I am so far behind on everything, I'm not sure where to even start. I might even have to start with making a list of what needs to be done and prioritizing the items.

Egad! That would mean I am getting organized in my old age.

But back to the award. I am honored that Patricia chose me as one of the recipients. Unlike some of the other awards circulating on blogs, I don't have to tell a number of things about myself, but I am supposed to pass this on to five other blogging friends. It was hard to chose just five out of the many blogs I visit and enjoy, but I did figure that some that are written purely for business might not have the time or inclination to play along. So I picked some that I know like to play.

Ginger Simpson at Dishin' It Out

Helen Ginger at Straight From Hel

Terry O'Dell at Terry's Place

Elizabeth Spann Craig at Mystery Writing is Murder

Elsbeth Antonelli at It's a Mystery

I hope you can visit these blogs sometime. It is always fun to be introduced to new people and new voices in the blogoshpere.

One Lovely Blog Award

My friend and fellow author, Ginger Simpson, surprised me with the One Lovely Blog Award yesterday. She made the announcement on her blog, Dishin' It Out.

I was really touched by the reason she chose me and this is what she wrote about me: A great friend and confidante, and a very smart lady. She has some amazing articles on her site. Maryann is one of those people who comes into your life for a purpose, and she's certainly served hers well in mine.

So it is with the same gratitude that I pass this award to three authors who have enriched my life with their friendship and support.

Helen Ginger -- who has a terrific blog and newsletter packed with helpful information for writers. She is so generous with her time and expertise, and I really admire her for that. She is also a terrific editor.

Dani Greer -- another lady who shares her expertise graciously and frequently. She was the founder of The Blood Red Pencil blog, and can also be found at Blog Book Tours blog. I also chose Dani because she so appreciates my humor.

Morgan Mandel -- I chose Morgan primarily because I admire her courage in publishing her own book, Killer Career. Not only did she take the publishing bull by the horn, so to speak, she did so with an attention to detail and professionalism that I respect greatly. She shares advice, resources, and book reviews on her blog.

All three of these ladies also manage to do more in 24 hours than most people I know. I stand in awe of all of them. So ladies, I pass the honor along to you.

Here are the rules:

1) Accept the award, and don’t forget to post a link back to the awarding person.
2) Pass the award on.
3) Notify the award winners.