Sunday, October 31, 2010

Ghost Granny?

Happy 1st birthday to me!
Hello again Y'all -- I've just finished a pumpkin pancake made by my Daughter In Law - I've had some amazing food from all over - Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Mexican/Southwest cuisine, Italian - I've had these wonderful dark chocolate almonds with sea salt - I've had carrot cake with cream cheese icing- omg - no running, no yoga, all eating! *laugh*

Anyway -this photo I took of Norah Kathryn is perfect for Halloween . . . The photo turned out blurry and strange, and, if you look to the right, you can see a face! A granny face! . . . do do do do do do do do

Her first birthday was yesterday - of course I have cute pics, later.

I hope to meet two 'blogger friends' tomorrow . . . looking forward to it.

Have a great day or great Halloween. I'll be round to visit once I return to North Carolina next week (won't think about that now).

PS - forgot to add how I thought I heard a door open, then footsteps and then I thought I saw someone in the hallway outside Norah Kathryn's door - I thought Sarah had gone to get NK, but then when I looked more carefully, no one was there and NK was still asleep! THEN, this morning when I woke I thought I heard footsteps in the hallway; I rose, went out, and no one was there - everyone was still asleep! These things didn't happen last time I was here, just this time - is a granny here visiting? do do do do do do do do

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Peeking in from Oregon!

"I'm telling you, Granny Kat, no pics until I'm out of my jammies!"
Hi Y'all  . . . First, I want to say hello and welcome to new followers who've come visiting from Eddie's Roast (see below post-go by and visit his fun blog) and/or other places!

Second: the Rose & Thorn Journal Blog has a new post up -and it just happens to be one I'd written called "The Stuff of it All." If you've not visited the R&T Blog, or R&T Journal, I hope you will.


I'm publishing a few Norah "Lil Boop" Kathryn photos from my visit here in Oregon with my son, DIL, and granddaughter. That's why I haven't been as quick to come by your places to visit - I know you understand! - but as soon as I return, I will be back to my regular routine.

Norah Kathryn (Lil Boop)
Right now, lil boop is taking a nap. This little girl is a joy. This is the happiest baby. Norah Kathryn and I have some time together while her parents are working  . . . they're taking some days off, but can't take the entire two-weeks off that I am here--which is okay by me, for I love having this time with her. *Big Ole Grin*


I'll be coming round and visiting as I can - but please know I appreciate your comments (I'm reading them all), and your visits and new follows. Thank you.

first time on slide (wearing the sweater I bought her *teehee*
Oh! And it won't be long before SWEETIE is released! I'm so envolved with my family, I almost forgot my next book will be out in a few weeks.

What's up with all of you?

Saturday, October 23, 2010

I'm "Sunday Roasted" and Enjoying Lil Boop

Hi Y'all -  I am enjoying my visit so much. Norah Kathryn is such a happy baby - I see myself and my son in her, and I see Sarah and her family in her. But, she has my little pea-head .... haw! Yup, she's petite with that petite head ... and she has my cackley laugh ... cracks me up. She's a joy - her parents are doing such a good job.


Next week I hope to meet some blogger friends who live here or near here - I will be in touch with them soon. Exciting!


While Norah Kathryn is napping, I wanted to come here and invite you to Clouds and Silvery Linings, where Eddie Bluelights has me on the roaster - his Sunday Roast is up and I'm the subject of his roasting. He has such a fun blog; hope you will stop by and say hello!

Friday, October 22, 2010

More Random Fall Photos in Haywood County North Carolina



I scheduled this post to go up automatically to finish uploading the fall photos I took while walking about Haywood County this week--the others were published Wednesday (below).

I am now in Portland, Oregon visiting my son, daughter in law, and little Norah Kathryn! I have been looking forward to this since I left them at Christmas last year . . . way too long. I simply must find a way to visit more often and that's that. Thank gawd for Skype.

 In the little log house, Two Dogs, Ghost Dog, and GMR are enjoying the absence of my tornadic vortex . . . um, I mean, they miss me terribly already *teehee*

Enjoy your weekend.

I may post some pics while in Oregon. But, if not, I haven't scheduled any other blog posts to go up and will rarely open my mini laptop while there, so don't forget me *grin* You all are what keeps me connected to Out There when I'm In Here.


















































Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Random Fall Photos in Haywood County, North Carolina






Today I fly to Oregon to visit my son, daughter in law, and lil Boop Norah Kathryn. GMR will have to stay by his lonesome in the cove with Two Dogs, Ghost Dog, and all the other critters. Awwwwwwwwww.

Friday I've scheduled more random fall photos I took while walking about Haywood County.

Y'all enjoy your day!


I won't be able to visit around on my "Sunday Blog Walk" or any other time during the two weeks I am gone - I want to spend as much time as possible with my son and his family! I rarely am able to see them and this time will be so precious. I'll have a lot to catch up on when I return!





































































Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Plagiarist Information

I normally post on MWF's - but I think this should be passed along - -

I am posting links here to information on a plagiarist. I generally do not worry about plagiarism of my work; however, sometimes there is a jerk out there who sticks his nasty stinky dirty finger in other writers' and artists' pies. I've seen information on this at Rick's blog The Writer and The White Cat, and on
Writer Beware with Victoria Strauss. So I am passing it along to you.

Those blogs I linked to above are trusted sites who are talking about the plagiarist, not plagiarists themselves - just to make sure I'm clear on that!

Visit both of these blogs and read . . . particularly if you write in the horror genre.

Thank you to Maria-Thérèse ~ www.afiori.com for the hint on how to have your links open in a new page. Now, if only blogspot would make it even easier by allowing us to check a box instead of having to this:

click edit in html mode. Type in

target="_blank"
after the a href link.

Monday, October 18, 2010

I wanna have dinner with the Physicists

Brad Pitt—who cares? Tom Cruise—I don’t think so. George Clooney or Johnny Depp—well, maybe but still not quite. If I had to choose a man or two to have dinner with, it would not be some Hollywood entertainer, but instead, give me a physicist.


Oh! The Physicist! And while waiting for my physicists to come to dinner, I’d flutter about nervously while lighting candles and worrying over the sauce and just the right wine and what do I wear?—I don’t want to over do, you know. I want to be as beautiful as planet Saturn, as hot as the sun, as mysterious as the moon, as bright as the stars--all my clichés should be perfect for my physicists.




My first two physicist guests would have to be, ka-thump ka-thump goes my heart: Neil deGrasse Tyson and Michio Kaku. Tyson, with degrees in physics and astrophysics (oh my!), has interests that “are broad, but include star formation, exploding stars, dwarf galaxies, and the structure of our Milky Way." (Swoon) And Kaku, a theoretical physicist and best-selling author, co-founder of string field theory, is “a popularizer of science,” and “continues Einstein’s search to unite the four fundamental forces of nature into one unified theory." (Pant Pant)



Both Tyson and Kaku have a way of looking out of the TV screen that says, “I love what I do, and I love it so much I am sending that love out to you…I want you to see what I see, feel what I feel, know what I know, and I am going to show and tell you in such a beautiful and interesting way that you cannot fail to be one with me—come with me now as we explore, together.” (Shouldn’t we do this as writers, artists, musicians, too?  Yes!) And I am there with them, and I understand—well, most of the time, or even some of t, anyway.



I want to be where they are. I want to walk with them as they point to this and that and there and here, while they tell me all the wonders of our world and of the universe. Their gentle voices, their wise faces, their very intelligence, but more, their curiosity of all things--all things!--makes me long to have them here, in my house, at my table, where all the mysteries of the universe swirl about as we lift our forks to our mouths, as we sip wine, as our molecules and synaptic electrical firings off make protons and electrons and whatevertrons explode, as the warmth from human contact and interested energies swirl about the room. Oh, the physicists and scientists and theorists and all manner of ists! But mostly, to my Kaku and my Tyson, whom if one day I met face to face, I would surely blush and giggle like a silly old schoolgirl.


Who do you want to have dinner with?

Videos with deGrasse Tyson to watch

Videos with Michio Kaku

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image



(version of this was on year of gratitude blog three years ago)

Friday, October 15, 2010

Whoooooshhh - that's me passing by in a blur . . .

Hi Y'all - just a quick stop in to say hello, happy Friday, and that the Rose & Thorn fall issue is now Live! Hope you will go by and take a look at the prose, poetry, and our artist.

We have company at the little log house, so I need to get back in there to be sociable.

What are your plans for the weekend? Do you have changing leaves and a nice chill in the air as we do?

Next week, on Wednesday, I'll be leaving GMR, the cove, the dogs, the ghost dog, and the little log house, my mountains, for Oregon to see my son, daughter in law, and my little Norah Kathryn --so excited. Anyone have any trips coming up?

Later y'all . . .

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Random Photos Random Links, Random Video


Well, the leaves are changing. Some are already knocked off by rain and by tomorrow we'll have high winds that will knock off even more. It's beautiful, but this won't be one of the more vivid years due to this and that and the other. Still, what a lovely place to live in. The other photos are of a storm that was moving out one morning.

You know, before I came here to blogger, I had a blog through MSN. I stopped using it because it was a pain to work with. But, they've just changed everything to WordPress and I have to say I'm impressed with it. I don't know if I'll leave blogger and go back to the "old" site - I've hardly posted there in the time I've been here-- but I am tempted. It was my old "Howling from my Mountain" blog and I've already upgraded it to WordPress. I'll have to think on this a while!

We're working on the fall issue of Rose & Thorn Journal. The summer issue will be sent to the new Archives Page, so we hope you'll stop by and give a last look at this issue before the fall issue goes live. If you haven't signed up for the newsletter, we hope you will. Tell us what you think. Also, our R&T blog has new posts every Wednesday -we hope you'll stop there, too, and read, subscribe. R&T is on Facebook, and on Twitter.

I'm on Facebook and Twitter too. I don't do the "like" "fan" thing- and in fact I don't like to call reader's "fans" - I think I've said this before, but instead people are friends, colleagues, readers, etc. Besides, I like to interact and use my facebook as a casual place to talk and connect and say hello.

My good friend "Reduce Footprints" always has a great post about making our earth a cleaner and more sustainable and environmentally friendly place. I was going to link her today anyway, and then I saw she had linked me *laugh* - Anyway - go by and visit her site!


And last, I think on my regular wednesday "random photos/links/videos" I'm going to google whatever comes first to my mind and then whatever link(s) comes up first, that's what I'll post here. Today I googled "Peanut Butter and Jelly" and the very first link was to this video: Peanut Butter and Jelly. Lawd.
Then I went to the second link that read: "How to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich" - and they proceeded to show a video on how to do that *laughing* - huhn.

That's all for today folks. See you Friday!










Monday, October 11, 2010

Mass Transfer Balancing, or the random thoughts of a wackity brain

I had a thought, which is a dangerous thing sometimes, and other times simply a weird thing. I should keep most of my thoughts to myself, but, well . . . dang.


But, I thought:  what if there are only a specific number of molecules that can make up the entire universe; none are added and none are subtracted (and maybe this is a real theory and I've forgotten it).


But, in my Mass Theory Thoughts, if one thing loses mass, then something else has to take on that mass. If a planet becomes smaller, another planet or star or comet must take on mass. If a cloud loses rain, the earth takes the rain (and then there's that evaporation thing, but, even evaporation holds mass, right? right? - my head hurts). If an animal dies and decomposes, that mass is taken on by births of other animals once providing for what the decomposing matter creates.


And! The thing I was thinking about: if a person loses weight, what if someone else has to take on that mass. So, if Betty Lou drops five pounds, someone else must take her five pounds as a gain. If Billy Smith gains five pounds, he takes it from someone else’s mass.


Well . . . I mean . . . what ifs are just that, right?
We hear all the news about obesity; but, at the same time, we also hear that Hollyweird types and runway models are becoming way too thin. It’s a Mass Transfer thing! All those hundreds and hundreds of pounds lost by Hollyweird types and the runway models have had to transfer somewhere, so they transferred to us "regular old people." It’s the balancing of Mass. When something loses mass, something else has to take on that mass. Hmm, I wonder who took on the threeish pounds I just lost, but then again, maybe my mass just tightened up and didn't leave at all--oh, that puts a wrinkle on my thinking. Mass Efficiency instead of transfer - huhn. Oh Dear.


But, what if say for the sake of Kathryn's Theory of Mass Transfer, the mass of those threeish pounds swirled around and found a body to land on. I’m not sure if the mass has to go directly in my immediate vicinity—do our spousal units in residence take on each other’s Mass Transfers? But, Good Man Roger didn't gain. I wonder if it can transfer to animals? Did my dog(s) gain threeish pounds? Or is it species to species only? Gender to Gender? Maybe those pounds hovered in the air until they found where they wanted to go. Maybe someone I passed in the gym or Target or the grocery.



If I gain back those pounds, is it my original threeish pounds and the person I passed it to loses the pounds they gained? We bounce it back and forth? “No, it’s YOURS!” …”No! I don’t want it – you take it!” …”Stop it! I don’t want your damn threeish pounds!” back and forth it goes. Or maybe a pound goes to that person, a half to that one, pound and a half to this one, etc.



Mass Transfer Balancing. Specific amounts of mass make up the universe—always. You lose, someone gains. You gain, someone has lost. Makes sense to me (sorta, kinda, well . . . anyway). What about you?

 

Friday, October 8, 2010

Allowing the possibility of failure, but also the possibility of success . . .

It started out as an experiment. I wanted to jog, just a little. Part of me was afraid, because I had just a tiny glitch in my heart valve, or something or other, that my heart rate would race up very quickly and I’d be dizzy and nauseated. It’s a scary thing, glitches of the heart are. For one wonders if suddenly the heart will race out of control and then freeze up and the keeling over dead would occur and that would suck—my doc reassured me I wouldn’t die, but could pass out. Okay, I thought, I can deal with passing out as long as I won’t die. Good. Yeah. Okay.

But, the idea of running any distance or at any but a slow plodding pace seemed far-fetched for me. Still. I wanted to try it. I’d watch others at the gym or at Lake Junaluska jogging/running and they looked so . . . I don’t know . . . intense but satisfied? Happy? Healthy? Successful in their goals? Wait, I know: as if they belonged to a special club. I wanted to be in the club.

In April of this year, I began. It started at Lake J, where I’d go in one direction and GMR in another and we’d meet in the middle. Little Maggie Lou and I would jog a little, walk a little, jog, walk, jog-walk. My feet barely left the pavement. Even so, when I’d pass another runner, I’d feel a little thrill as I waved at them. They'd sprint past, but I'd not let myself feel as if I were somehow "not enough." No. I'd keep running my little pace, plod plod plod.

Even still, it seemed my heart and lungs weren’t going to be cooperative. I’d meet GMR and have to walk until the weird light-headed feeling faded. The first time I was able to jog without walking most all the way to meet GMR halfway, I was euphoric! I did it! But, I told myself, that’s only maybe a mile. And I was going pretty slowly. And . . . well . . .I wanted to see what else I was capable of. I could feel tiny changes inside of me, like knitting.

The next time I was at the gym, I stepped onto the treadmill, punched in 3.5 and did this little light jog where my feet came up about a milli-meter from the treadmill. I set a goal of twenty minutes of straight jogging. The next time I pushed it up to 3.8 and tried to go longer. Soon the dizzy weird light-head feeling came and I had to slow up, then walk. Twice a week, I went to that treadmill and set tiny little goals: I’ll go a mile without stopping. I’ll speed up for a minute and then I’ll slow down. I’ll go a little longer. I’ll go a little faster. One mile turned to two. 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8. Two miles turned to two and a half, then three, then four, then five. Two days a week turned to three days a week and 3.8 turned into 4.0, 4.5, 5.0 . . . then I tried sprints—5.5, 5.6, even yesterday 6.0 (though I couldn’t sustain that for long—yet).


Sometimes my back pain hits me hard. Sometimes I push myself too much and the old light-headed weird feeling comes on. Sometimes I’m tired and can’t do as much as I’d like. Sometimes I wonder why I’m doing all this when I could be working, or goofing off. Sometimes I look at other runners and wish I were doing what they were. Sometimes I wish I’d have started this a long time ago. Sometimes I think for all the hard work I’m doing my body should respond in ways it may not respond because I am a 53 year old woman and not a 33 year old woman.

But, I am seeing many changes in my mind and body. Progress.

I keep running. One step, two, three, four. From April until now I’ve learned things about my body and myself. I’ve grown as a runner. I’ve learned to focus on what I’m doing and to enjoy the process instead of letting my mind wander all over creation or looking way ahead to where I could be or maybe be or if I was here there or yonder or etc etc etc. I’ve learned what my weaknesses are and my strengths and what weaknesses I can make stonger or what I have to accept, and what strengths I can rely on and experiment with. I’ve learned what to accept as “it’s just how it is so get over it,” and what I can change--or at the very least that trying is better than sitting around wishing. No one gets anywhere by sitting around WISHING . . . you eventually just have to take a step, then the next, then . . . the rest.

If in April anyone would have told me that I’d be doing what I’m doing now, I’d have said: “Me? I can’t do that! My heart won’t let me. I have this problem, you see, where my heart rate rushes too high and I could pass out. Nope, not me. I wish, but, nah, not going to happen. Oh well. Dang. Guess I'll just WISH.”

If I had not tried. If I had not just Done It. If I had not pushed myself just a little and a lot. If I had not practiced practiced practiced. If I had not allowed myself the possibility of failure, but also the possibility of success. Then I would never know how great it feels to run. How my body has responded. How I feel as if I am a member of some club I never had access to before.

Now—take everything I just wrote about running and apply that to writing.

Enjoy your weekend!

(PS - for some reason I can't upload photos any longer in blogger - bummer! - I haven't said "bummer" in years - huhn, wonder were that came from *laugh* anyone else having that problem with photos?)

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Random Linkages/Random Videos

These Old Spice Guy videos crack me up - and he's not hard to look at either. This one is for you Librarians out there!



For some reason I have bookmarked "10 Horrible Deep Sea Creatures" and have no memory of why - but, probably for research on something I may have wanted to write for Ocean Magazine; who knows. Also in my bookmarks (both listed under "writing research") I have "Moral Insanity: A Brief History" - huhn, who knows what I was looking for when I found that. Okay, well, Enjoy! *laugh*


I am trying to decide whether to do a 'trailer' for SWEETIE. I did one for Tender Graces and for Secret Graces. But, I'm just not sure if people look at them or if they are 'worth' doing or if they add anything to the process or enjoyment of my books, etc. They're fun to make, but they do take a bit of time. Bellebooks did TG for me, and I asked if I could do SG and that was my first attempt. I'm on the fence about doing one for Sweetie. What do you think? Any opinions/suggestions?






Also, speaking of SWEETIE - I have one review trade paperback sized copy left. If you are a book blogger/reviewer, I will send you this proof - it is an uncorrected galley proof (for those who don't know what that is - it means it's an early version printed out before all the errors are caught and fixed), and is for reviewers only. Contact me at my hotmail or gmail addresses (you can go to my website or look at my blogger profile to get an email) if you are interested in reviewing Sweetie. I only have one, so first one to email me I will send it on.

I will remind everyone that Bellebooks/Bell Bridge Books will be accepting new manuscripts for literary/women's fiction beginning November 1. They are growing and it's exciting!

I came across The Best Damn Creative Writing Blog "getting your literary life," and am exploring it, and enjoying it, thoroughly. Just scroll the front page and you'll see plenty of nuggets to click and read.

I'll miss the Cathy comic. I'm glad they will be having Cathy Classics, but still, I'd love to see where else her life leads her. Well, things have to end sometimes, don't they?

I've been enjoying "Blind Pig & The Acorn" blog - recipes, posts about Appalachia and its writers and people and music. Love it.

And as always, Teresa Frohock has written a thought-provoking blog.


The Return of Buffalo Horse. If you've read SG, you know there is a 'scene' where Virginia Kate opens replica of Ponokamita (or Pono-Kamita) - the Buffalo horse - from Miss Darla. It's one of my favorite scenes with so much symbolism and nature and power.

Tartitude bought a pen like mine! She fell in love with it just as I did - love love this pen. My son, Daniel, bought me one for Christmas and it's one of my prized possessions. I use it for signings, etc.

Y'all have a great day!

Monday, October 4, 2010

Land of a Thousand Dance Moves

When GMR was out of town, I decided to clean the house so only my mess would be there and not his...huhn. But before I picked up rag, vacuum, sponge, I slipped into the player a mix of CD’s labeled “Fun Music.” It’s an eclectic blend that GMR doesn’t enjoy so much—he loves his jazz and even sometimes "show tunes," and the like, and I like some of that (and not some of that), but there are times I am bored with Jazz, bored of what I also deem as the “Elevator Music” he listens to in the car when he’s not listening to jazz. My main requirement for the music’s enjoyment, which GMR does not enjoy, is to play it very loud. How else can I experience it properly? It’s the same way in my car or when I am running on the treadmill—I must turn it up to obtain maximum pleasure from all the thumps and fwumps the music offers. The beat has to pulse in my veins so the blood is racing willy nilly, make my marrow boil, cause my bones to rattle, jitter my ear drums.



I push “Random.” And Wait! The first song happens to be one of my all time favorites: Wilson Pickett’s “Land of a Thousand Dances.” I've told GMR when I die, go head and play that song so that my ghost will feel happy. One simply cannot be still when Thousand Dances is playing. I shake, I shimmy, I rotate, I want to watusi, alligator, and mash potato as the song instructs, but I don’t know what those dances are (and I vow right then and there to learn those moves). I do my own wild jittery dance, laughing to beat the band, “Na na-na-na-na na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na na-na-na-na.”


Once Dances is over, I begin my wiping and dusting…until! Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” blares from the speakers. Well, how can any woman clean house during Respect? It's just too too . . . ironic! I pretend I am in a karaoke bar with an audience. I point, I pose, I sing out: “R-E-S-P-E-C-T, Find out what it means to me, R-E-S-P-E-C-T, Take care, TCB,” and then I gyrate to, “Oh, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me.”



And then it’s back to cleaning. La la la tee dah (and why on commercials is it always the woman cleaning up and doing the laundry? Even when the guy makes the mess? It's 2010, y'all! Still, commercials use the woman - - well, GMR cooks, cleans, and does his own laundry, so commercial land, what's up with that? huhn, just saying!).


Big Bad Voodoo Daddy shouts “King of Swing!” right as I’m about to vacuum. Well, one can’t vacuum during Big Bad Voodoo Daddy—“When you feel your bones a shakin, and your temperature is risen… .” I do a quieter, but no less energetic, cleaning job until one of my least favorite songs comes on—it is a woman’s strange rendition of “Girl from Ipanema,” except she’s singing it as “the Boy from Ipanema” . . . bleah . . . it doesn’t have the same charm--time to vacuum to drown out her voice.


The music helps the time go by swiftly when I’m cleaning, driving, running, or maybe just goofing off.


In fact, the very first introductory lines to TG came from listening to Angels of Venice's "Lionheart" while driving with a "Natural Wonders" CD blasting. I could picture VK riding up her mountain, hair flying, hooves thundering; I saw her jump of Fionadala's back, holding her momma's ashes; saw her turn turn turn spilling the ashes . . . It was such a concrete real beautiful image, those words formed and I added them to the manuscript almost as a P.S. right before mailing off the query that brought my contract with Bellebooks.


Music has inspired me many times in my writing life, even if I can't or don't listen to it while writing. But cleaning house: yeah. Driving: definitely. Running: a must.


I bow to you Musicians: thank you all—I blow to you a kiss, a shimmy, a bust-a-hip move...Watch me work, now!


What's music for you?
-------

(Jacqueline Cook's SUNRISE is still available for give away - see post below. I do like to support other authors and their works, even outside of my genre. This is a Bellebooks author and of course I want to support my publisher's authors! I'll keep it on give away one more day and then if no one claims it, I'll donate it to the library.)

Friday, October 1, 2010

Two Give-Aways: A mag subscription & a book

I'm in the mood for a give-away, or two!


UPDATE! TITUS HAS WON THE SUBSCRIPTION TO OCEAN MAGAZINE! CONGRATS TITUS! I'VE ORDERED THE SUBSCRIPTION FOR YOU. I'LL MAKE THIS PART OF THE POST SMALLER SINCE IT'S DONE - THE BOOK GIVE AWAY BELOW IS STILL GOING ON.


First give-away:


I want to give away a subscription to OCEAN Magazine. Diane Buccheri is the publishing editor of OCEAN and DOLPHIN magazines-both of which I have subscriptions to. I adore Diane and her efforts for our oceans.


OCEAN is delivered via mailbox, and DOLPHIN is delivered via electronic mail. Both are worthy magazines and the money goes to: OCEAN is a not for profit organization dedicated to celebrating and protecting the earth's ocean and its creatures.




The value of an OCEAN magazine subscription is $32.00, of which I will pay in entirety to the winner of the give-away--that means you receive a year's subsciption (4 issues a year) in your mailbox as a gift from me *ain't I sweeeeeeeet*.
 
[If the winner prefers to receive a subscription to DOLPHIN magazine through electronic mail instead (value $16.00), please let me know your preference (just one, not both!).]




To win a copy of OCEAN (or DOLPHIN), go to the OCEAN  magazine website and click around until you find the DOLPHIN magazine cover  - describe what is on the cover --both the image and the text that is on the front cover of this issue's DOLPHIN magazine. Then, next, you must also mention OCEAN magazine in a blog post (however you wish to do this is fine).


After you have mentioned Ocean Magazine AND found the image/text for DOLPHIN's cover, tell me about it in the comments section (be sure your blog is linked so I can see it) and after I confirm who has done this first, I have my winner!


So this is how it goes: Sally Smith comes to my blog, sees my give-away, she goes to the OCEAN site and clicks around to find DOLPHIN magazine and the cover - she notes the image and text on the cover. Then Sally Smith goes to her blog and mentions OCEAN magazine ("I heart OCEAN Magazine!-or whatever . . . ") then comes back here to the comments and tells me what is on the DOLPHIN cover and that she has mentioned/linked OCEAN magazine on her blog. Yes, it's not as easy as my usual give aways and I'm making you work for it a little harder this time, but, dang, it's also a really great give-away for a good cause: our oceans and the creatures in them!

------------------------------------------------------

For the next give-away: THIS BOOK GIVE AWAY IS STILL UP FOR GRABS!

While I was at SIBA, I grabbed from my publisher's table (Belle Books) some book for give-aways. Some are final copies and some are review galleys. I just thought it would be fun to do a book give-away from time-to-time. This morning, I randomly grabbed one of the books out of the bag o' books I have, and here you go:



I'm giving away a copy of SUNRISE by Jacquelyn Cook -- an epic novel of love, family, faith, and war--set in 1849 antebellum Georgia.

To win a copy of this book, go to my website at kathrynmagendie.com and tell me who wrote the reader's guides for Tender Graces and Secret Graces, and as well, tell me where she is from, and what she does for a living. The first person to do this in the comments wins SUNRISE. That's it!

One caveat: please, the same person can't win both of these give-aways! So pick the one you want and try for it. I'd like to be able to give the prizes to two separate people. Thank you!

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My friend Mark Jones as Buddy Holly
And finally, GMR is in the play BUDDY HOLLY (he plays Hipockets) and the play received a great review in Asheville Citizen Times! yayy!