Eight Question Meme

I found this meme from the Stay At Home Mom blog. I thought it was interesting and wanted to join in. It looked like fun. So, here goes, my 8 Question Meme for May 8th:

1. What were you doing 10 years ago?

I was working on my second book, NOT WITHOUT ANNA. I was finishing it up for my publisher.

Here is the book blurb for Not Without Anna: Katherine, shocked by her daughter's death, too late, realizes she had been out of touch with her daughter and didn't recognize the stranger Anna had become. Charles, helpless to reach his son, watches him slip away. He's unable to comprehend Mike's nightmares and depression as he deals with his girlfriend's death and his own guilt.

2. What 5 things are on your to-do list?

1. Relax

2. Write blogs

3. Complete vacation plans

4. Don't forget Mother's Day

5. Remember May is Mental Health Month

3. What are 5 snacks you enjoy?

1. blueberries

2. raspberries

3. chocolate

4. Sobe Lifewater

5. popcorn

4. Name some things you would do if you were a millionaire:

1. Donate money to my church

2. Travel more to see my children and grandchildren

3. Put money away for my grandchildren's college fund

4. Put money away for our retirement

5. Get my husband whatever he wanted

5. Name some places you have lived:

1. Michigan

2. California

3. Arizona

4. Idaho

5. Wyoming

6. Florida

6. Name some bad habits you have:

1. Worry too much

2. Assume the worst

3. spend too much money

4. spoil my dog and parrot

7. Name some jobs you have had:

1. Marine

2. Data Coordinator

3. Technical Writer

4. Technical Support Consultant

5. Documentation & Internal Training Manager

6. Sr. Documentation Specialist

7. Technical Publications Manager

8. President/Owner

9. Author

10. Blogger

8. Name those you are tagging for this meme:

I encourage anyone who finds this meme interesting to join in and post on their blog.

Getting to Know You Blog Hop

Hello, and welcome to the Getting to Know You Blog Hop. We have an eclectic choice of bloggers for this hop and it will run from January 29, 2013 to February 1,2013. I’d like to thank all of the participants for joining and committing this time to their blog.

Let’s get started on getting to know me.

Where are you from?

I was born in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in a very small town and grew up on Lake Michigan. I stayed in Michigan until I graduated high school and left for warmer parts of the country via the United States Marine Corps.

When and why did you begin writing?

I’ve always been a writer at heart and started reading and writing at age four. I love the written word. I chose a career as a Technical Writer creating computer user manuals and segued into writing novels after I had a life changing experience. A near-death experience that brought into focus what was most important in my life, and that was my goal to become and author.

What books have most influenced your life?

Stephen King’s books resonate with me because I feel like he’s my “unofficial” mentor. I use his books and his style to guide how I write. He can use a few words to trigger an entire world inside a reader’s mind. That’s my goal as well.

What is your favorite book from childhood?

The book “The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe” by C.S.Lewis comes to mind, as well as “Anne of Green Gables” by Lucy Maud Montgomery. I also like the Boxcar Children series by Gertrude Chandler Warner.

Are the names of the characters in your novels important?

I try to find character names that fit the character description and attitude of the character I develop. I try to make sure all the character names in my books are unique and I don’t overlap or use similar names to confuse my readers.

What’s your favorite fruit?

No question about it. Blueberries. I LOVE them. As a child, I worked the summers as a picker for a Blueberry farm. We would get a dollar a bucket. Best times of my life.

Do you ever wish you had an entirely uncreative job?

Never. Writing is whom I am, how I live, what I breathe. I could not exist if I were not a writer. I tried the corporate route before. It didn’t agree with me.

What are the most important attributes to remaining sane as a writer?

My husband. He helps me stay grounded. He’s as close to me as anyone could be and he know all my moods. I also lay all my troubles on God. He’s my rock.

What was the greatest thing you learned at school?

I learned how to survive by going into the fantasy realm of my mind and make up stories. I was bullied a lot in school and I learned how to switch it off and just go into my mind and be one with my stories.

If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?

Stephen King. I’ve even written a blog titled, “EverythingI know about writing I learned by reading Stephen King”. It’s true. And, I believe that every writer worth his salt should have a copy of ON WRITING by Stephen King on their desk or bookshelf.

Can you share a little of your current work with us?

I’ve recently had two books released. OUTFOR JUSTICE and GOOD INTENTIONS.

OUT FOR JUSTICE: Rookie homicide Detective Karen Sykes is out to prove she is good at her job, finding justice for a darkness in her past through law enforcement. She gets her first chance to shine with a case that hits a little too close to home. Like her younger sister, a four-year-old boy, has been brutally murdered. The case pairs her with Mike Connelly, an attractive crime scene technician, and sparks fly between the two of them. Mike resists the attraction and only adds more emotional conflict to the case.

When her partner becomes the latest victim and ends up in the hospital near death, Karen sets out to find the murderer before he hurts anyone else. Only the case gets trickier when the murder suspect ends up dead, leaving new clues to the real killer. Finding comfort in Mike's support, their relationship heats up, but so does the investigation. The killer has a plan. One that involves a Cat and Mouse game of hide and seek inside the hospital, where her partner struggles for his life. Karen discovers it takes more than catching a killer to make the pain of her past go away. It also takes opening her heart and learning to trust in others.

GOOD INTENTIONS: The tragic story of one woman’s efforts to help a teenage mother. Megan, fourteen and pregnant, needed a mom. Tracy, thirty-nine and already raising a large family, gave her a home. Neither was ready for what happened next.

Tracy Reynolds’ life is not her own. She works the nightshift at the hospital and has three boys, two girls and a husband who works the opposite shift along with a menagerie of rescued pets. Somehow, she and her husband, Tim, have made it work with love, faith, and impeccable ethics.

Adding fourteen-year-old Megan and her newborn son to the mix was supposed to be uncomplicated. The adoption agency made it sound so easy. They painted Megan as a good child who had a rough life. She needed love and understanding and the stability of a respectable home and family. Tracy and Tim fit the bill and were fast tracked through the system and before they knew it trouble landed on their doorstep. Megan.

Megan rejected their family values and resisted from every direction when it came to learning how to live within their family dynamics and taking care of her son. She missed her friends and the people she knew when she worked as a prostitute. Despite court orders and her probation officer’s warnings, Megan secretly reconnected with her old friends and lover. 

The Reynolds’ family spun out of control. Not one would be untouched by Hurricane Megan’s path of destruction.

One link in a strong chain of family dynamics can crumble the entire household.

Deceptions. Infidelity. Drugs. Child abuse. Cancer. Sexual abuse. Home invasion. The Reynolds’ went through it all. Would their family ever be the same?

Do you have any advice for other writers?

Write. Write something every day. And, Read. Read every day.Always be willing to learn and grow as a writer. If you’re serious about becoming an author, be serious. Look like an author in the virtual world. Have a website, a blog, a Facebook author page. Join LinkedIn, Twitter, and any other social network community that can benefit you. I recommend Triberr. There you can specialize which communities,“tribes”, you want to join that will be beneficial to you and them.

Thanks,

Thank you for reading a bit about me and I’d like to introduce you to other authors along this hop. Their links are below:

http://tenthchild.com/wordpress/

http://sfemespiral.com/ego/

http://candacegauger.wordpress.com/

http://traceeford.wordpress.com/

http://pacificrimpressblog.wordpress.com/

http://www.notanotherbookreview.blogspot.com/

http://ninjananny.wordpress.com/

http://www.charleneraddon.blogspot.com/

http://simplifyandsave.weebly.com/blog-save--simplify.html

http://candysmonsters.com/

Today I Celebrate

Today I celebrate fifteen years married to the most wonderful man on Earth. Let me tell you a little about how we met and how my husband proposed.

My husband, Greg, and I met at a place where we both worked. It wasn’t love at first sight. It was more like dislike at first sight. I thought he was arrogant and a know-it-all and he thought I was a pain in the ass. Why? Because he was a computer programmer and I was a technical writer.

Most computer programmers have very little patience when it comes to having a technical writer document their programs. But, it was my job and I took it very seriously. After a while, Greg realized I knew what I was doing and wasn’t so hostile to me. I got to know him better through impromptu employee lunches and saw that under the arrogance was a nice guy.

We unofficially buried the hatchet and soon enjoyed activities outside of business like happy hours and playing cards and movies. All of these activities were together with other employee friends. We weren’t a couple by any means. Throughout this time, Greg went through a painful divorce. We all tried to be there for him, but it was me he turned to in his most depressing hour. We talked, cried, and just sat together the entire day the divorce became final. We bonded.

That bond grew stronger, and we became better friends. He took me for rides on his motorcycle and began to enjoy each other’s company outside of our other friends. We kept this side of our relationship separate from work. We didn’t tell our co-workers or anyone else. We hadn’t even kissed yet. It actually took a few months before we exchanged our first kiss. When we did it was as if all the stars in the sky brightened a hundred-fold. We clicked. It felt so right. As if, we’d finally come home. Together.

Our relationship grew along with our love for one another. We’d been living together for about a year, when Christmas time drew near. It would be our first "real" Christmas together, tree and all. The year before Greg had gone back to his home in Pennsylvania to share Christmas with his family. My oldest daughter was coming to spend Christmas with us and would arrive on Christmas Eve. On the morning of December 22nd, Greg insisted that we each open a gift. He told me that the gift he wanted me to open was meant to be just between us.

I had no idea what he could have been thinking at that moment. I was bewildered and confused. He sat me down on the sofa and placed a very large, but light box in my lap. I tore the wrapping off and opened the box eager to see what was inside, but only found newspaper -- and another box. The box was addressed to "somebody special." Once again, I eagerly tore into the wrapping and opened the box, only to find a note. I was led on a scavenger hunt throughout the apartment finding little notes everywhere, until I got to the last note.

The note read " Find the little blue church and you will find your present."

Talk about strange messages! I sat and thought about the cryptic message and then realized that we had placed a small wooden church ornament on the tree and it was painted blue. I searched the tree for the little church all the while thinking I was getting a necklace or earrings because I had hinted long and hard about what I had wanted for a present. Finally, I found the little blue church. With disappointment, I noticed that no necklace or earrings hung from the little ornament. However, when I turned the little church upside down, there was a note taped to the bottom. It read "Turn around."

Now, I was shaking. My hands trembled as I replaced the ornament, careful not to disturb anything else on the tree. I slowly turned around and there was Greg, on his knees, holding open an engagement ring box. Inside was the most beautiful and elegant ring I had ever dreamed.

It was such a huge shock to me that I immediately burst out crying. Of course they were happy tears and of course I said YES! We were married a year later, and my oldest daughter was our witness.

So, today, as I sit here fifteen years later, he’s still the man I would choose to spend the rest of my life. He’s still my best friend. Our love has deepened into such a beautiful bond that I can barely believe it at times. I prayed for a man like Greg, and God granted my prayer. In His time, not in mine. I had a lot of growing up to do before I met Greg, and I had a lot to learn after I met him. He encouraged me, built up my self-esteem and treated me like no man ever had. Together we make it work. That’s how it is best said about our relationship. Together.