Insecure Writers Support Group

This month's question for the Writer's Support Group is: What was an early experience you had where you discovered that language had power?

When I was in the second grade, my teacher read the story, James and the Giant Peach. I became so entranced in the story, that I couldn't wait for the next day when she would continue. It made me realize that words had the power to transport one into a fantasy world where a reader could actually care about what happens to imaginary characters.

Have you ever had an experience where you realized that language/words had power?




I don't really have a story today, so instead, I'll just share another recording from the recital I did. I'm joined by Allen Baston on piano.

The Blow-out

Schultz, our very large German Shepherd, is shedding. When this happens, the house becomes a catastrophic mess of dog hair.

My husband decided to speed up the process. He took Schultz outside and pulled out the leaf blower.

"You're not seriously going to use the leaf blower on him, are you?" I asked.

"Of course I am," he responded. "They sell things like this to blow out hair when a dog is shedding."

I shook my head. "Not ones that big and loud."

He grabbed Schultz's collar and turned the blower on. You should've seen the hair that came off of him. It looked like it was snowing. When my husband was done, the front yard was literally covered with Schultz's hair.

Schultz was not pleased with the blower. As soon as my husband let go of the collar, he ran off, gave himself a good shake, and promptly rolled in his own hair. Guess he wasn't ready to part with it!


Before I go, I thought I'd share a video I made from a recent recital I did. I'm joined by Allen Baston, piano and Earl Hough, violin.

Pump Up the Volume

Like most teenagers, my boy likes the volume of music to be loud. It drives me crazy.

"Can't you hear it at a lower level?" I asked when it was blaring out of his room.

"Yeah," he said. "But it's more fun when it's loud." 

Fast forward to later in the day when I had to drive him somewhere. He knows I dislike it when he turns the volume up in my car. He turns it up. I turn it down. So now he has a new way to torment me. Let me tell you about it. When he got into the car, I noticed a black cylindrical apparatus in his hand.

I narrowed my eyes. "What's that?"

He grinned. "You'll see."

A few minutes into our trip, he hooked the thing up to his phone. Then the music started. I tell you what, the windows in my car vibrated from the heavy bass that came out of the apparatus.  The thing he had brought was a speaker. A wireless one.  And it made a whole lot of noise!

The bad news was, I couldn't turn the volume down, which is exactly what he'd planned. But what he hadn't planned on was the wrath of the Mama. Speakers of any kind are now banned. At least in my car and in my presence.


Do any of you have teenagers that blast loud music? Or were any of you teenagers who drove your parents nuts with loud music? 



Before I go, I'd like to let you know about an author interview I did for LitPick. If you'd like to find out where my favorite place to write is, go here. 

Cheese Dip

My boy is constantly coming up with innovative ways to do things. The other day, I had gotten some mascarpone cheese and was making a dessert using it with croissants,  strawberries, and chocolate.

Bubba walked over and inspected my creation. "Nice!" Then he pointed at the cheese. "What's that?"

I explained.

"That would make a good cheese dip," he said.

"Yeah. It's good with fruit."

He grinned and walked over to the refrigerator. When he came back, he had some string mozzarella cheese in his hand. He dipped the cheese into the container of mascarpone cheese and took a bite. "Yep, I was right. It's a good cheese dip!"

Have you ever tried dipping cheese into a cheese dip? If so, how did it taste?


And before I go, I have some advertisements:

The publisher has reduced the cost of the ebook version of Bubba and Squirt's Big Dig to China to $2.99. That's the lowest it will go. Here are some buy links:  Amazon US, Amazon CA, Amazon UK

If you'd like to see a video of a student review on the book, here it is:

   
And last, if you'd like to read an author interview done by AllAuthor to learn a little more about me, please go here.

Natural Pants

The weather here in Georgia has taken a nosedive. It went from being in the high seventies to being in the high thirties. Like winter.

My boy didn't get the memo and went outside wearing shorts, sandals, and a t-shirt.

"Dude," I said when I saw him. "It's cold. You need to change."

He shrugged and went upstairs to find more clothes.  When he came back downstairs, he had on a sweatshirt, socks, and shorts. Almost appropriate.

"Your legs will freeze," I said.

He shook his head. "No, they won't. My leg hairs are natural pants!"




Now for something completely different: It's time for the IWSG question of the month.

This month's question is:  If you could use a wish to help you write just one scene/chapter in your book, which one would it be?

Well, I've been working on more books for my Bubba and Squirt series. I've come up with a plot thread that can go through the entire series. It involves a villain. I'd like to use that wish to write the scene in which Bubba, Squirt, and all their friends they've met along the way defeat the villain and his cohorts, and rescue a very important person.  It's going to be epic, but I'm not sure exactly how it's going to work, because it'll have to tie in everything from all previous books. It's taking massive brain power to figure it out. A wish might help!