Frozen

Spoiler Alert! If you haven’t seen the movie Frozen and don’t want any clues to the movie…don’t read beyond this! Although you probably know how it ends, even if you haven’t seen it.

I think Elsa has taken over the world. Yeah, that Elsa…Princess of Arendelle. She possesses the magical ability to create ice and snow. Her powers grew out of control and she turned her land into constant winter.

Princess Elsa unleashed everlasting winter on her kingdom. Maybe she didn’t mean to, but she did. She had her reasons, it’s an uncontrollable power.

Somehow she left her own country and descended upon us. There are no signs of spring. The forsythias show no signs of yellow, no daffodils are peeking their heads out of the ground, no crocuses dot the landscape. We had one more snowstorm this weekend, turning everything white…again.

I don’t know if her sister, Anna, is available but I may make the trek myself to find the princess. Enough of winter weather, Elsa! Please. I know you can’t help yourself but I can’t take it anymore. I’ve had enough of winter.

P. S. Thanks in advance and send my regards to Olaf.

 

If you’ve read this far I’d like to extend an invitation join me for a day of fun and prizes in celebration of my book release. Just follow this link on Thursday, April 3 any time from 4-9 pm EST.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1416549545269775/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming

Writing…for the Love of Writing

A few years back I was invited to join a group website. I’ll leave out the name because it’s not important. I created an account, a very basic one, and ignored it. The only reason I did it in the first place was people I knew asked me to be in the group. I felt guilty, like I needed to help them out, so I joined.

Every once in awhile, I’d get a request and accept the invite. This past week, I got another one. I decided to investigate the site a little further and looked at my old profile. I had no idea what I wrote so I thought it would be a good idea to update. Since I write, I thought joining a few writers’ groups wouldn’t be a bad thing either.

Well, little did I know, I would start getting emails from every group within the hour. I know I can elect to not have them sent, but I was curious. I might learn something new, discover fresh ideas and make some connections.

So far, this is what I learned. Someone sold a book and didn’t get paid. They wanted to know what piracy was. What? Trust me. That’s exactly what it said.

Not to get into details, but people politely posted questions to help this person out. They asked: How did this person know they sold a book? Answer: Someone told them they bought a book.

Do they have a contract? Do they get paid quarterly? Never answered.

Did they independently publish? Many helpful facts were given about how self-published authors get paid. Again, the poster never answered.

I sat back and took a deep breath. I asked myself what did you get yourself into? I thought professionals and aspiring authors would be sharing information. Hopefully better topics will be come up in the future.

Then I reread the post. Was it about the excitement of selling a book or did this person just want to get paid? They weren’t overjoyed they sold their book? That someone wanted to read it?

If you write to get a payday, then you might be in the wrong profession. Maybe the top 1% can call it their passion and their career.

So if you write, write because you love it. Not that someone will buy your book and you’re waiting to get paid.

I don’t want someone to just buy my book. It would make my day if they read it.

 

Snow Break

There’s Christmas break, Winter break, Spring break but I really needed Snow break. That planned vacation finally happened and I’ll share a few highlights from the trip in a picture montage. Hope you enjoy! Orlando, Florida was our destination. So much to see and do there. Disneyworld is always a favorite spot. Magic Kingdom was debuting a new parade and new Fantasyland is almost complete. That’s the Beast’s castle in the picture. An escape from reality helps start a vacation off right.

                              

 Then there is nighttime Disney…fireworks over the castle and the Electric Light Parade.

                                                                                                                                   

But that’s not all there is to Orlando. Every time we go we find great restaurants, shopping and things to do. This time we even found a winery.

Then there’s the “real” Florida. A trip to Blue Spring State Park.

Guess what these are?

Manatees! They come to the springs during winter.

So if you’re in the mood for a little of this:

Or a little of that:

You’ll find so much more in the state of Florida. It’s one of my favorite places.

Stealing Time

Don’t we all wish we could steal time? Have a few extra hours or go back and do something over? Or travel far beyond your own timeline to places unknown? I chose this title for the next book in my series because I loved the thought that time travel is like stealing time.

If you could steal time, what would you do? Go back in your own life and do something different? Or maybe pick a period from long ago that you wish you could visit? How about traveling to the future? So many directions to go.

After time traveling, you return to your present life. It’s the same day as when you left. No time lost. That’s how I came up with the thought that the extra time you got when you traveled was like stealing time.

One of my main characters longed to go back in time just once more. Here’s what she said when she arrived.

“Oh, I have all the memories, from now and the present.” Anna stopped twirling and hugged Kate tightly. “I don’t want to waste a minute. I feel like a thief in the night, robbing someone else’s life. I need to get started.”

Stealing Time. Wouldn’t it be great?