What's In a Number?

I don't get into much personal, family stuff on my blog but if you've been a reader here for long, you know my family is heavily into sports. Basically we play and we read.  If you are or were an athlete, you understand how numbers can hold power or should I say superstition.  Many young players want to wear the number of a famous professional athlete, but sometimes there is another reason a specific jersey number hold significance.  At our house, it's a family thing.

I have four children and they've all participated in scholastic athletics and two of them continued onto college sports.  When they were elementary and middle school aged, they all admired and loved their older cousin. As a senior in high school, he was being courted by numerous division one colleges for basketball and football.  A terrible accident took his life in the middle of the school year.  Evan was the epitome of kind, humble all around kid.  He was endlessly patient with his younger cousins, attending their games, playing video games and just hanging out with them.  Then he was gone.  Without any discussion with us or each other, each of my children chose to always wear his uniform numbers during their own competitions.  When it came to baseball and for my daughter, softball, they all wore #17.  My three boys have all finished with baseball and this is my daughter's final year at softball.  So number 17 is on the field one last season with the Gourley moniker on top.  It's heart-breaking and bitter sweet, but it means something. 

I signed up for A to Z as soon as the list allowed. Imagine my thrill at being #17.  It means something special to me.  Remembering and missing you, Evan.

What is your A to Z number?  Do you have a favorite number? Do you have a number you have a superstition about?

I'm Stickin To It

I thought about taking a few days off from blogging this week. Usually I try to blog MWF and sometimes on Sunday.  But with A to Z Challenge starting this coming Sunday, I considered taking a mini-vacation from blogging and skipping today and Friday.  But part of being a writer is having the discipline to not slack off even if no one is watching.

A few things are working against my regular schedule this week. My daughter has three high school softball games this week on, you guessed it, Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  My husband is going out of town Thursday through Sunday and the grass really must be mowed this weekend. Lots of other little duties are requiring my time and attention over the next few days the largest of which is getting my posts ready for A to Z.

But I have discipline and I believe good things will come to those who work hard. One of many good things for me this week was this new review for The Keepers of Sulbreth from Dennis Royer on Amazon.  Thanks, Dennis. 

On a more personal level, my daughter received a terrific scholarship offer from Boston University, settling her agonizing decision of where to go to college. She worked so hard for this, we were all a bit giddy to see her get what she's earned come to fruition.  The only down side is that she'll be seven hours away from home.

So, I'm going to discipline myself, stick to my blogging schedule, get all my A to Z posts ready and still find some time to work on my writing.

Have some good things come your way lately? Are you disciplined with your writing time?

Melynda over at The Contemplative Cat honored me with the Versatile blogger award.  Am I versatile? Not so sure. Mostly I talk about writing. 

I have a few friends who refrain from passing around awards or who feel burdened by the awards. Not me.  Every time someone so honors me, a link is formed between their blog and mine.  Melynda took that a step further and purposefully used passing on the award as a means of making more links with other bloggers and helping out those of us she selected.  Thank you, Melynda. 

She gathered some names from the A to Z Challenge site and I was lucky enough to be picked.  The challenge is only a week away and I'm already making new friends.  I want to do a group thank to all those people who take the time to organize challenges, blogger awards and blogfests. I can't always participate but when I do, it's always helpful in expanding my online presence.  So link over to Melynda's and learn a little bit about her and find some more cool links.

Want to join a blog fest or challenge.  Visit L. Diane Wolfe if you know some sad songs.  Having security issues as a writing, share those insecurities by joining the Insecure Writers Support Group.  Want to really meet a lot of fun bloggers, join the A to Z challenge. 

Now I'm not passing on the blogger award but I do want to link to a friend of mine who has his first horror novel coming out in April. George R. Appelt Jr. has his trailer up for Shepherd's Fall.

Now only a few things about myself I'm supposed to share with everyone as part of the blogger award.

1. I jog between 5 and 6 miles nearly everyday.
2. I'm retiring from teaching after 33 years in June, 2013.
3. I grew up on a family dairy farm and got up some days at 4 a.m. to milk the cows before school.
4. I hate getting up early.
5. My grandfather was a semi-famous moonshiner during Prohibition.

Enough about my regular, middle class American self.  What do you think of blog awards? Are you up to any blog challenges lately?

To Each Our Own

I think no matter how open-minded we all believe we are, it's only human to stereotype.  Often we're not even aware of it.  When we're shopping and see people dressed a certain way, we assume things about them.  When we see a bunch of loud teenagers dressed in black, baggy pants, tattoos and untied, too-large sneakers clopping down the mall concourse, we all veer to the other side of the walkway.  When we see a screaming child and an impatient mother, do we assume neglect or something worse? 

Do we do the same as writers? If we have a gay male character so we make him a fashion expert? If we have a politician, so we always make him corrupt and greedy? Are all the big corporations headed by heartless CEOs who love nothing more than rolling over the little guys? Are the stepmothers always evil? There are many ways to see the world and we each shelter our own prejudices even when we believe we're the most-opened minded people in the world.

I teach teenagers and I learned early in my career to get them know as people and not judge their characters by the costumes they wear. Tattoos are very popular among teenagers now and even if I think most of them are making mistakes by marking their bodies in ways they might come to regret later, that's only my opinion and I don't think less of them because they feel differently.  Any experienced mother will sympathize with the frazzled mother dealing with a child's tantrum in a public place. Most mothers have been there.

Do you see stereotypes in your reading? Have you caught yourself using stereotypes in your own writing?

Tools of the Trade

Have you ever visited a bookstore and noticed all those lovely, and usually expensive, leather-bound journals? And there are lots of them with less expensive coverings but still very cool outerwear.  I love looking at them and bought one of the priciest for my daughter last Christmas.  She's filled it with private stuff and keeps it close as one of her more precious possessions.  My one son bought me a cool leather journal too and my daughter added a little moleskin journal too.  But do I use them to write stuff in? They're really too cool to use.

In a few short months, I'll be shopping with my daughter for supplies to start her college life with.  We'll visit the office supply store.  They make such neat paper clips and binder clips.  There are so many pens, I can never decide which to get.  And of course, there are lots of colors and widths of highlighters to select from.  Staplers, pencils, and spiral notebooks. And I always look at the envelops and I check out the legal pads. I debate between the different colors and then usually pick up yellow anyway.  I can't buy stuff for her without picking up a few little things for myself. 

But I have to wonder, what exactly do I need?  What writing tools are a must for my career? I still have a box of envelops from two years ago.  I'm not sure I'll ever use them all.  Paper clips? Still have some because I don't have that much paper sitting around my writing desk anymore. Pens and pencils? Still have those I picked up from last year.  Legal pads? Maybe one but it's not an emergency. I use them to jot some notes if I go to any kind of author talk but usually it just sits there.  Highlighters? Well, my children steal them off my desk but I don't have much use for them.

The tool I really need for my writing is my laptop.  I need the internet.  I need a few thumb drives to back everything up.  A few sticky notes to jot quick reminders on and I'm set.  The only time I've needed an envelop lately is to send a free book to a winner of a giveaway contest.  I remember when postage was one of my biggest yearly expenses when it came time to add things up for taxes.  And it's better this way. I save time and money by being able to do everything online.  But I do miss restocking my paper goods and replacing those pens. I don't miss standing in line at the post office.

So what tools are crucial to your writing? Do you miss anything about the way it used to be?

Real Heroes

Most writers of fiction, like me, my novels include heroes and heroines as the main characters.  These fictional people aren't perfect but they do go about saving the world.  Sometimes they battle evil forces, magical in the case of fantasy like I write, but in a contemporary novel the bad guys can be someone giving into their personal desires to acquire wealth or power.  The more complex the antagonist, the better the story.  In the real world, the bad guys are more complicated and perhaps more difficult to identify.

From Jan's blog

A writer friend of mine knows this first hand.  Dr. Jan recently returned from a medical mission trip to Tanzania. I'm not sure of what all she did there, what challenges she faced and how many people she  helped.  But I'm going to find out.  Jan is sharing her experience on her blog, Cherished Illusions, by posting journal entries from her trip.  Her writing talent shines as she pulls you into her adventure, especially the mood of her group. I can't wait to read the next entry.  Not only am I enjoying sharing her experiences, Jan raises a lot of questions that will stay with you long after you're done reading.  You'll know what I mean when you visit. 

It's simple to put money in a collection plate or envelope and then feel you've done your part to help. But people like Jan put their time, their skills and even their lives into that collection plate.  They travel to remote areas and do what they can to defeat enemies more dangerous than wizards or maniacs who live only in our novels.  Ignorance, poverty, disease and all the terrible social woes that go along with those problems are things that are more likely to bring the end of our world than an invasion from beyond the galaxy.  Visit Jan, leave a comment of this real life heroine's blog, and you'll feel good knowing people like her exist. 

Have you ever gone on a mission trip? Do you do journaling and do you share it with others?

The Month of Indie

March has been declared Small and Indie Press Month. By whom? Don't know and don't care. It's an excuse to celebrate those wonderful, hardworking, lacking in fame, small presses. Many times these publishers are run by a few dedicated people who love books and spend most hours of the day editing, promoting, designing covers, updating blogs, websites, twitter and facebook to help their authors succeed in this often heartbreaking business.

The thing easiest to love about small presses for an author is the relationship between writer and publisher. Those wonderful people actually listen to their authors. They respond quickly to emails. They're thrilled to help with promotion even though their budgets for such as very limited. Often they're entirely welcoming of an author's request for cover art.

They love hearing about your newest book. Most of them offer your books at reasonable prices so they can compete in the sprawling market of the ebook trade.

The editors I've worked with at New Concepts Publishing have been wonderful and thorough. I've learned so much from them and become a better writer because of their excellent work.

Another great thing about small presses is the great variety of them out there. Write romance? You have lots of choices. Write mystery or suspense? They're waiting for you. Write SF or fantasy? You can find a home for it. How about YA? They'll love you. So do your research if you're looking for a small or independent press for your newest book. And if you're looking to add to your TBR pile, support an independent press by sampling a book from one of their talented authors.

Do you buy books published by small and independent presses? Do you know what entity decides to set aside certain days, weeks or months for celebrations? Who has that power over the calendar or can a simple commoner like me do that?