Now calling all Bone Dressing Fans... Can you help keep Syd busy while I write the next book? I'm dripping wet, my keyboard's soaked in salt water, and Syd's looking for her bucket as I type!
Situation: Syd's official travel agent, Michelle, has completed Syd's itinerary. Syd and Beau will be traveling by boat through the Panama Canal en route from Houston, Texas to Sydney, Australia in book 2 of Bone Dressing. But, as you know, Syd has almost zero patience and way too much imagination!
Question: Do you have any cool, creative travel ideas Syd can stay busy dreaming about for the next few months while I wrap this book up?
Syd's call for help: "Surely, there are more creative possibilities! Michelle is driving me up the wall, and if I drown her, we'll never get to Australia! Please! This is YOUR chance to save my sanity! I need something to fill my head with while she writes the next book. I need your ideas, NOW!" Syd & Beau want to hear from you! Your comments, no matter how "far out," are welcome ...
Why Should You Care???: This is totally and completely for fun! Syd would love to hear about readers' creative ways to get from Houston to Sydney.
Are you up for the challenge??? Syd and Beau are counting on you! As am I! I'm really tired of them dousing my keyboard with salt water while they wait, by no means patiently, on yours truly to write the book!!! And while I love lap-kitties, T.J. is gettin' a little warm now that summer's bearing down on us here in Houston!
Michelle I. Brooks (Full-time lover, kisser, mom, habanero-eater, and writer; part-time cook, dancer and chauffeur; current-day travel agent for the Bone Dressing Express!)
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Saturday, May 21, 2011
What a Wonderful World ...
OUCH! Sorry - didn't mean to type so loudly in your ear! But, I just had to pinch myself to make sure this was real. Life is real. Things are ... crazy at the moment, a little unreal. Funny how even the good stuff, the really good stuff, can be almost as stressful as some of the bad ...
Change, even when it's for the better, can be challenging. Intriguing, exciting, invigorating, but challenging none the less. I guess that's what we're here for though - to play this funny little game called life. And sometimes we get our hands a little messy. Not the kind of messy you can reach for a bar of soap to wash off though ... No, more like when you used to color with markers instead of crayons and they'd smear ink all over the side of your hand. It would take forever to wear off. Didn't matter how much you scrubbed, it was staying put until it darn well decided to go. Then you'd wake up one day and suddenly realize your hands were clean again.
Guess that's how it is with change, I keep wanting to be able to just go wash my hands and get back to normal. To status quo. But change settles into you in its own good time. And the more you struggle with it, the longer that takes ... but no matter how long that is, you never quite get back to the normal you that you once were, because it no longer exists. You're someone new, someone a shade different from the you that you were before. Someone you have to get to know all over again.
Still, at the end of the day, each and every day, the good and the not so good, I'd have to agree with Louis Armstrong ... What a wonderful world! Don't you think so? Take a quick peek ... we could all use a free hug every now and again.
Change, even when it's for the better, can be challenging. Intriguing, exciting, invigorating, but challenging none the less. I guess that's what we're here for though - to play this funny little game called life. And sometimes we get our hands a little messy. Not the kind of messy you can reach for a bar of soap to wash off though ... No, more like when you used to color with markers instead of crayons and they'd smear ink all over the side of your hand. It would take forever to wear off. Didn't matter how much you scrubbed, it was staying put until it darn well decided to go. Then you'd wake up one day and suddenly realize your hands were clean again.
Guess that's how it is with change, I keep wanting to be able to just go wash my hands and get back to normal. To status quo. But change settles into you in its own good time. And the more you struggle with it, the longer that takes ... but no matter how long that is, you never quite get back to the normal you that you once were, because it no longer exists. You're someone new, someone a shade different from the you that you were before. Someone you have to get to know all over again.
Still, at the end of the day, each and every day, the good and the not so good, I'd have to agree with Louis Armstrong ... What a wonderful world! Don't you think so? Take a quick peek ... we could all use a free hug every now and again.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Book Trailers R Us!
Wow ... just wrapped up the book trailer for Bone Dressing, unbelievable! I still have chills creeping up and down my spine! It is exactly what I had all wrapped up in my head while I was creating Syd's world in Bone Dressing. It couldn't be any more perfect.
This is one of those times though, that I'm glad I had absolutely no idea what I was in for before I started! Oh, I knew it would take some time, some effort, some learning, some help ... but, oh my God! I had no idea just how much time, effort and help it would take to get me from where I was (knowing absolutely nothing other than I wanted to make my own book trailer for Bone Dressing) to where I am (still knowing very little, but having one pretty damn cool book trailer in my back pocket to show for it).
I also know that I absolutely, positively adore my kids and my brand spanking new husband, without whose help I couldn't have done this!
So, book trailer done. Check. Take a look and let me know what you think.
Well, time for this little puppy to get back to writing ... can't wait to have to do this all over again for book two in the Bone Dressing series!
This is one of those times though, that I'm glad I had absolutely no idea what I was in for before I started! Oh, I knew it would take some time, some effort, some learning, some help ... but, oh my God! I had no idea just how much time, effort and help it would take to get me from where I was (knowing absolutely nothing other than I wanted to make my own book trailer for Bone Dressing) to where I am (still knowing very little, but having one pretty damn cool book trailer in my back pocket to show for it).
I also know that I absolutely, positively adore my kids and my brand spanking new husband, without whose help I couldn't have done this!
So, book trailer done. Check. Take a look and let me know what you think.
Well, time for this little puppy to get back to writing ... can't wait to have to do this all over again for book two in the Bone Dressing series!
Thursday, April 14, 2011
O, How I Love A Thursday ...
God, I love Thursdays! Always have. I can remember sitting at my desk when I was ten, listening to the birds singing their hearts out just outside the window as the teacher droned on and on ... and being really, really happy.
Mondays have a pretty bad rep, but I don't think they're so bad. Each one is a new beginning, a slow little side-step into the week, comfortable, easy ... filled with the promises of possibility. Now, Tuesdays on the other hand, I could definitely live without. They aren't the bginning, the end, or even the middle. What you did over the weekend has pretty much faded and the next one still seems ages away. Humpday Wednesdays are usually pretty good, upbeat, and by the end of the day you've got a sense of accomplishment for all you've done so far ... and the light is twinkling at the end of the tunnel.
Skipping to Fridays ... hmmm ... Fridays can be any number of things ... frenzied and frustrating if you didn't get enough done, fun if you did, and more often than not, frantic. Saturdays are much the same as Fridays, only better. By then you've given up caring if you didn't quite finish everything on your plate and you're actually ready to let loose and have a good time. The only day that's really changed for me as I've swung through the years is Sunday. As a kid, didn't much care for them, now they're nice. Slower than all the other days, and that's really not such a bad thing. A day for relaxing, rejuvenating, walking barefoot in the park ... or on the beach ... or just around the house in your pj's.
But Thursdays. Thursdays are almost always absolutely and positively magnificent. Maybe it's because you don't really walk into them expecting anything special, they tend to be humble days. Maybe it's because you're past half-way through the week and the weekend is a bright, shining beacon calling you home. Maybe it's because they tend to be low-key, relaxed, light-hearted days without all the chaos that Fridays and Saturdays carry. Whatever the reason, I'm a "Thursday girl" for better or for worse. Will be til the day I die.
Now I'm gonna go out and wrap my arms around this one, hope yours is one huge slice of sweet, warm perfection!
Mondays have a pretty bad rep, but I don't think they're so bad. Each one is a new beginning, a slow little side-step into the week, comfortable, easy ... filled with the promises of possibility. Now, Tuesdays on the other hand, I could definitely live without. They aren't the bginning, the end, or even the middle. What you did over the weekend has pretty much faded and the next one still seems ages away. Humpday Wednesdays are usually pretty good, upbeat, and by the end of the day you've got a sense of accomplishment for all you've done so far ... and the light is twinkling at the end of the tunnel.
Skipping to Fridays ... hmmm ... Fridays can be any number of things ... frenzied and frustrating if you didn't get enough done, fun if you did, and more often than not, frantic. Saturdays are much the same as Fridays, only better. By then you've given up caring if you didn't quite finish everything on your plate and you're actually ready to let loose and have a good time. The only day that's really changed for me as I've swung through the years is Sunday. As a kid, didn't much care for them, now they're nice. Slower than all the other days, and that's really not such a bad thing. A day for relaxing, rejuvenating, walking barefoot in the park ... or on the beach ... or just around the house in your pj's.
But Thursdays. Thursdays are almost always absolutely and positively magnificent. Maybe it's because you don't really walk into them expecting anything special, they tend to be humble days. Maybe it's because you're past half-way through the week and the weekend is a bright, shining beacon calling you home. Maybe it's because they tend to be low-key, relaxed, light-hearted days without all the chaos that Fridays and Saturdays carry. Whatever the reason, I'm a "Thursday girl" for better or for worse. Will be til the day I die.
Now I'm gonna go out and wrap my arms around this one, hope yours is one huge slice of sweet, warm perfection!
Thursday, March 24, 2011
A Retake On Life 101
Have you ever had that feeling where you can feel the wind beneath your wings, lifting you, subjugating you, hijacking you, without your consent? You know, that feeling that you're being lead in the right direction ... but you have absolutely no idea which way your heading, much less where you're going or if you even want to go there.
That's my day today. Don't have a clue what's up. Know it's all going according to some master plan, just the way it should be. Wish to hell I knew who's plan it was so I could tell them to back the hell off!
I'm so excited about Bone Dressing and most of the beautiful, magnificent creatures in my life, but so bruised and beaten by others that I could hardly breathe tonight. I slipped out on the balcony, hoping to find ... space, peace, a bit of air to call my own. Instead, I found a perfectly beautiful, peaceful, starry night, a soft cool breeze, and strong arms pulling me up against the most magnificent, soothing, comforting chest. A love that filled my soul, spilled over the top, and splashed my toes with tear stained laughter.
Sometimes life is perfectly wonderful. And sometimes life throws us a curve ball. And sometimes that curve ball feels like it hits us at 90 miles per hour right in the middle of our chest, stealing the breath right out of our lungs. But still ... on the other side of the clouds ... life is perfectly wonderful.
The day is done. Thank God. Tomorrow is a breath away. And it will be perfect. See you on the other side ...
That's my day today. Don't have a clue what's up. Know it's all going according to some master plan, just the way it should be. Wish to hell I knew who's plan it was so I could tell them to back the hell off!
I'm so excited about Bone Dressing and most of the beautiful, magnificent creatures in my life, but so bruised and beaten by others that I could hardly breathe tonight. I slipped out on the balcony, hoping to find ... space, peace, a bit of air to call my own. Instead, I found a perfectly beautiful, peaceful, starry night, a soft cool breeze, and strong arms pulling me up against the most magnificent, soothing, comforting chest. A love that filled my soul, spilled over the top, and splashed my toes with tear stained laughter.
Sometimes life is perfectly wonderful. And sometimes life throws us a curve ball. And sometimes that curve ball feels like it hits us at 90 miles per hour right in the middle of our chest, stealing the breath right out of our lungs. But still ... on the other side of the clouds ... life is perfectly wonderful.
The day is done. Thank God. Tomorrow is a breath away. And it will be perfect. See you on the other side ...
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