This is the Year of Reading

So I enjoy reading - a lot. I don't do it as much as I'd like (insert the excuse of having to be a parent and make sure the two kids in my house survive each day... blah blah blah...).

But I'm over not being able to read whenever I want.

Really, I am.

Anyway, I've recently had a larger-than-normal number of people ask me for book recommendations... New Year's resolutions to read more, maybe? I don't know, but I figured I'd write a quick post about some of what I'm recommending these days. :-)

If you're a reader and not on Goodreads yet, I recommend doing that first! It's a fun site where you can update your "bookshelves" and keep track of what you are reading, want to read, and have read. You can also read reviews from your friends on there to find out what you may want to pick up from the library or bookstore next. :-) You can also create or join reading challenges, etc.. Go ahead and add me as a friend while you're at it too!

Moving on...

Here is a list of what I read in 2013. I would recommend any of these books. Some more than others, but it's worth it to take a looksie at all of them and see what might float your boat. (Yes, I just said "float your boat."). I've put a link to the book description/my review on Goodreads.

Legend: 
(because I really like using symbols rather than typing a bunch of stuff out. Lazy? Absolutely.)

!   go read NOW
^  made me laugh
~  fabulous writing
$  super cool or interesting story line/theme
+  self help
*  has a blatant or implied Christian theme... I know some people (unfortunately) don't like these types of books, so I figured I'd share which ones are. If you don't - then I'm sorry for you... you're missing out on some amazing stories. 

• "The Storyteller" - Jodi Picoult (!~$)
• "A Little Salty to Cut the Sweet" - Sophie Hudson (*^)
• "The Kite Runner" - Khaled Hosseini (!~$)
• "The Maze Runner" - James Dashner
• "Unglued" - Lysa TerKeurst (*^+)
• "Single Infertile Female" - Leah Campbell ($)
• "The Silver Star" - Jeanette Walls ($)
• "Sons of Encouragement" - Francine Rivers (*$)
• "A Voice in the Wind" (Pt 1 of Mark of the Lion Series) - Francine Rivers (!*$)
• "Echo in the Darkness" (Pt 2 of Mark of the Lion Series) - Francine Rivers (*$)
• "On Writing" - Stephen King (+)
• "Dangerous Surrender" - Kay Warren (*+)
• "The Principle of the Path" - Andy Stanley (*+)
• "Desperate" - Sarah Mae & Sally Jackson (*+)

Also, here is a list I would recommend as they are a few favorites of mine that I had read prior to last year. If you can't tell, I have some favorite authors who keep reappearing. There is definitely more on this list, but these are the few that popped into my head immediately.

• "A Lineage of Grace" - Francine Rivers (!*~$)
• "Redeeming Love" - Francine Rivers (!*~$)
• "Before I Go To Sleep" - SJ Watson ($)
• "The Art of Racing in the Rain" - Garth Stein ($^)
• "Nineteen Minutes" - Jodi Picoult (!~$)
• "The Glass Castle" - Jeanette Walls (!^$)

Well, now... I'm not sure how you are feeling about the symbols above (annoyed, maybe?), but I'm kind of liking how it looks. #nerdalert

Anway - I hope at least one person finds this post interesting and/or helpful! 

What are YOU reading right now? Anything I should add to this list??

2013 Goal #1 Complete

So my biggest goal of 2013 was to finish the first full draft on my book by December 1st.

Most writers can knock out a full book in two or three months. I started writing it this time last year, but decided to give myself ample time to complete the first full draft because I knew Meda was on her way and I wasn't sure how things would shake out with a newborn and McKenna to chase around.

It's not quite where I want it to be yet, but never-the-less, the first draft was COMPLETE by December 1st, and was been sent to my developmental editor for another round of edits. Hopefully, she can help me bring this story to where it needs to be so I can start pitching it to agents and publishers this coming year.

Wish me luck!

OMG. This is so accurate.

What I'm Loving

Here's a quick list of my current obsessions interests.

Book 1 of the
"Mark of the Lion" series

• I have read a TON over the past couple months. And I am hoping to keep it up, but am not optimistic with the kids getting crazier and crazier by the day. Right now, I get my reading done roughly every 3-4 hours or so... that includes the middle of the night... when I'm feeding Meda. I'm smack dab in the middle of the Mark of the Lion series by Francine Rivers, and it is phenomenal. I highly recommend it. I'm currently also reading a few other books at the same time for my bible studies too. If you are on Goodreads, send me a request. I love that site! Other books piled up ready for me to start are:

As Sure as the Dawn

Brain on Fire

Seriously... I'm Kidding

Gone with the Wind

(*who doesn't know this story? But I want to actually read the book instead of just the movie!)

• Shhhh... this next one is a secret from my frugal husband.... but I've been working on stocking up on my shoe collection and recently added these babies to the mix. My friend had them, so I copied her and ordered my own pair. (Hey, imitation is the best form of flattery, right?)

• I am becoming OBSESSED with eBay. Thankfully, not as a buyer... but I am literally cleaning out my closet and selling everything I haven't worn in a while! When I say obsessed, I mean I literally check it every few hours to see if I have any more "views" or "watchers." And when there's a bid?? Oh, man... you better believe I do a jig. (Said "jig" may have remnents of The Tootsie Roll in it too. Oh yes. Get pumped.) I mentioned this before, but I also sold some old iPhones I had and made a decent amount of money. I've lucked out and sold multiple clothing items already this week! WHOOP! I even had to run the post office to stock up on shipping supplies. I plan to keep updating my seller's page with items.... (so I can pay for the shoes listed above and the City of Collierville what it is due.)

• Something else I am obsessed with these days? FashionABLE scarves. I've been ordering them from True Boutique in Louisiana because the service there is awesome. The store's goal is to make a difference by using shopping as a platform to help others. (This is not a paid post, I "truly" love True Boutique. Ha! See what I did there... "truly" love "True..." I crack myself up. #NotReally #LameAttemptAtAJoke) But seriously, they carry FashionABLE there and I now have the below items in my closet thanks to Mary Helen's (she's the owner) speedy shipments and very helpful service! My sister has the white one in the picture at the bottom now, because I'm super awesome and got it for her for her birthday. Each of these was handmade in Africa and they are much more beautiful in person.

Happy Birthday, Katie!
You're welcome!

• This last one is a tad hokey, but I'm loving watching my girls together. McKenna is the best big sister and Meda just stares at her all the time. Once she is mobile, Meda is totally going to follow MK around all the time, I can already tell. I know they're going to be great friends as they get older (when they aren't trying to kill each other because one stole the other's toys, clothes, and boys, of course). 

Happy Any-Excuse-For-A-Holiday Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! :-)

I've never really been huge into V-Day.... because let's be real.... it's quite awkward.

Either you're single...
You've been with your significant other for eternity...
Or you're in a brand new relationship...

Which of course equates to....

You're pissed off...
You're lucky to get a kiss or a hug that day...
Or you're stressed out whether to get your "Valentine" candy hearts, flowers, or just a card because you are not sure what they would like.

Am I right, or am I right?

Anyway... Bryant & I stopped celebrating Valentine's ON Valentine's Day long ago because of the crowds out at dinner or the movies or wherever it might be "romantic" to be that one day a year. And we normally skip out on super romantic evenings and just do dinner and maybe a card.

So my mom is still visiting, and she offered to stay home and watch MK, which was nice. So last night we went out to dinner at our favorite Vietnamese restaurant (Nom, Nom... me love curry and veggies!). This was the family pic we snapped before leaving.

After dinner, my husband proved how well he knows me and suggested we go "hang out" at Barnes & Noble. Which proves we are makes us sound like total Lame-O's... but I was in heaven. And so was he.... don't let him fool you...

After an hour and a half of getting coffee in the coffee shop and browsing, I ended up leaving with a new address book (definitely NOT needed) and a writing book and the husby got some sort of history book on the Constitution.  #nerds

So that was our early Valentine's Day.... Happy 11th Valentine's Day together husby!  I love you!

I hope the rest of you have a great one!

A Story to Share

So, if you follow me on Twitter, you may have noticed I've tweeted recently about some writing I've been doing. I wanted to clarify some on that for you. 

So here it is....

I am writing a book.

Yep.  Keep your panties on...you read that right.

A book...

With pages...

Real pages.

Pages that you can read and flip and turn and touch and wrinkle and bend and write on and burn or whatever else you do with book pages.

Weird, right?

Now.  Let me be real with you.  I am a writer.  I have always written and loved to write.  Even in high school when I was forced to write. Yeah, Yeah... I know. I never admitted to my friends, and bitched and complained, and bitched and complained some more, but I actually enjoyed writing essays throughout my school years.

BUT... and this is a huge "but"...  I have only written blog posts, essays, and articles before.  And I can count on three... maaaybe four hands the number of times my stuff has been published.  But never a book.  I mean, this has actual chapters in it already.

So weird.

This announcement to my bloggy friends is, if nothing else, something to hold me accountable.  I am notorious for starting stories, poems, articles and just letting them disappear into hard drive oblivion.  So, that is why I am sharing this information with you.  However... first and foremost, I want to make sure we all get one thing straight - this post is NOT a toot-my-own-horn-because-I-am-writing-a-book kind of announcement, because quite frankly, the idea of finishing an entire book absolutely terrifies me. Petrifies me. For a multitude of different reasons... the time involved, the risk of how bad it might suck once finished (which, let's be real, there's a great chance of it happening), etcetera.  However, if I've told people and posted it all over the inter webs, I have to at least finish it.... right? 

You, my dear friends, have no need to worry though.  The book is not about defecating oneself or how to raise a human being or even how to successfully sign your child up for a highly prestigious preschool without sacrificing other preschool mamas.  That kind of life changing information I share for free, right here on my blog.  You are welcome.

I'm not giving anything away, but it will be a semi-fiction book (that is totally not the correct term for it - sorry!) that is based on a true story. A type of historical fiction, I guess.  A story about a couple good friends of mine and an incredible "adventure" (we'll go ahead and call it that for lack of a better word) they went through.  I heard the story in it's entirety this past January/February straight from the horse's (or one of the involved horse's) mouth and felt a really, really strong urge to write it down. Over the spring and summer month's I sort of left the story hanging, but have sense felt the crazy weird urge to finish writing it now.

So I am.

I told my friend about it about a month and a half ago (yes.... eleven months after it happened. What can I say? I'm chicken sh*t and have a hard time following through), and her excitement was so contagious, it has helped motivate me to sit down daily to type it out.

Because this story needs to be told.  And for some reason, I am the person that God has planned to write it all down.  I just pray I do it justice. My friends involved in the story deserve it to be told and told well.

So here goes...

Whether it gets published or not and sold or not....this story needs to be recorded. So wish me luck over the next year trying to get this done.