The Winners!

First I want to thank Erica and Eliza for the wonderful Thirteen Days of Doctor Who blog tour, especially for including me.  What a magnificent way to stave off our hunger prior to the Christmas Special.  I had fun, learned a lot, gained some insight and hope all of you did too.

Now, on to the prize winners.  The grand prize was won by Mrs. S for her comment on Phoebe North's blog.  You can check in on Erica's blog to see the details.

The winner of the  red TARDIS rucksack from Bagnabit is ReneeRearden.  Congratulations Renee!!!  I'll  send an email to get your details so that I can mail your prize out to you.

Thanks again for visiting.  Happy Thursday!

Bumps in the NanoWriMo Road

The month of November is a little more than half over and that means that we're that much closer to NaNoWriMo being over.

I have two distinct emotions surrounding this fact: YAY! and OMG, I've still got 30,000 words to write. Don't worry, I'm not of the mind that the product of the November writing sprint is going to be fit for public consumption (or any other kind of consumption for that matter) until a great deal of revision has been done. But, I still want to finish, if only for the satisfaction of getting to the end of a task.

Some of my nano buddies are way ahead or are far behind in their personal word count goals. For those, like me who might be suffering from intermittent writer's block or just the doubt that what you're producing is worthy, here's an excellent take written by Martina Boone and posted at her shared blog, Adventures in Children's Publishing. The advice is timely and relevant to all writers, not just those interested in Young Adult literature. There are loads of other excellent pieces posted there, so amble on over and take a look.

All about MeMe

The lovely and talented Nancy Parra, has tagged me in a 'meme' on her excellent blog,This Writer's Life,  which says that I must , must list six things that make me happy and then tag someone else to share that same information with the world.  I've done a piss poor job of trying to add links for the other blogs, so for that I apologize.  Okie dokie, here we go:

1)  Reading- I've always loved to read.  There's nothing like losing yourself in the pages of a great book.  It can lift your spirits, add salve to your soul or transport you to another time and place, all within the recesses of your mind.  I think that rocks.  That leads to the next area of enjoyment which is...

2) Writing - As I've said before, I've written ever since I knew how to write.  I made up poems, written songs for my pets, documented life events in my journal and made up stories to occupy either myself or someone else.  It's such a wonderful feeling to get something down on paper that's been lurking around inside your head and when you read it, it evokes exactly the image from your brain.   Once I can do it so that others can see what I see too, then I'll count myself as a good writer.

3)  Tennis-  Oh big surprise, right?  No.  I love this game in a manner that borders on  obsession, but don't worry--I tolerate the unitiated extremely well.  That is until I've got you somewhere within my clutches and you can't escape before I start to extoll the beauty of the Federer forehand or the Venus backhand.  A lifelong love affair is what is going on between tennis and me.

4)   Time/fun with my sons, husband - Okay, I don't know if they'll be upset at the pecking order here, but it doesn't mean that they're not first and foremost in my mind.  When my kids rush to read the funny paper to me or want me to play Wii with them, I count myself lucky because I know that the day is coming when I'll have to drop them off at the corner to keep the other kids from seeing that their mom is lurking nearby.  And the husband goes without saying, he's fun or else I'd have traded him in long ago.  He loves and supports me even when he doesn't understand something about me and for that I'm forever grateful.

5)  Movies/outing/time with my friends - my friends are all so wonderful and I cherish them all.  Whether we're sharing a meal, going to the movies, meeting at book club to discuss our latest read or just hanging out, they are my family who just happened to be born to different parents.

6)  Music - Also another non-surprise.  My tastes in music are wide and varied and I'm fortunate to have a group of friends with similar philosophies about music.  On the WTAWorld tennis board there's a forum called 'What Band,'  and my mates there all bring something new to the musical landscape which  helps to expand my horizons.

Well, that's my contribution to this particular 'meme' and I'm tagging the erudite and talented Teresa, a fellow Austenite, whose blog 'Elegant Extracts' is a constant source of delight.

I'm also woefully behind in paying forward my 'blog love' award.  I've forgotten the exact rules and how many people/blogs I'm suppose to tag, so bear with me while I fly by the seat of the pantaloons, here.  Marilyn Brant awarded it to me and I in turn am awarding:

Kelly Gay- can't wait for that book to debut, her blog is awesome and her little boy is totally cute.

Book Book - reviews of what else?  Books!  A wonderful format.

GOTOTENNIS - freakyfrites spreads the love fifteen both near and far.  

Topspin tennis - Steve's wonderful and well-balanced tennis blog.

Okay, all done.