Hawaiian Haystack edition…

1. If the above picture looks good to you, here’s the recipe. For the love of refrigerator space, please halve the recipe. I did, and I still have mucho mucho leftovers. That’s okay though cause it’s Y-U-M.

2. Debated using half or halve on number one. By the time I post it I will be semi-sure though. English majors, speak up.

3. A week of Pete says:

Monday...oddly prophetic.

Tuesday. A weird question.

Wednesday. I wonder if he gets paid for this.

Thursday. heh heh heh...

Friday. It got a chuckle.

4. I think Pete needs a vacation. He wasn’t very informative/funny/creative this week.

5. So, if you love free stuff…go here. This is my fave site for the week. Thanks for the tip Sara!

6. I signed on for Google+ and I keep forgetting to actually go there. I also forget to tweet. I never forget to Facebook. *sigh*

7. Lala had to have her tooth (molar) pulled on Tuesday. It was rough. But it makes for really cute Dear Toothfairy letters.

8. Let me translate.

Dear Toothfairy,

I can’t put it [tooth] under my pillow because the dentist took it and [pulled] it out hard!!!!!!! Please still give me a quarter.

9. For the record, our fairy gives out a dollar. And she was going to give more than one this time, but when she saw she could get away with a quarter she reconsidered.

10. No new books this week. *double sigh*

11. Only ten days till school starts! And I’ve done absolutely no school shopping yet. Please tell me I’m not the only one.

12. The streak was broken yesterday. There will only be 40 days of 100 degree or over heat in a row this year for north Texas. My oldest was really pulling for us to break the record. Yes, he’s a teen.

13. I can’t wait to try it!!!!

14. I’m really glad no one showed up for my garage sale, cause it so didn’t happen.

15. Glad that I find out about Rockin’ the River at the end of summer vacay. not.

These monsters range in size from 3 to 6 inches in diameter

1.  It has been raining/overcast/blah outside for a week…this is not normal and makes me feel that something more ominous than rain in Texas is afoot.

2.  I’m aware that these feelings are a product of an overactive imagination…but just LOOK at all the mushrooms!

3.  Hubby won’t quit saying “The phong is ringin’!  Is it Michael Trabtree?”

4.  Speaking of phongs, my new LG Xenon is due today! woo hoo!

5.  Read: Catching Fire…finally!  More on that later.

6.  Reading Dead Until Dark.

7.  Did I already tell everyone that I like this blog?  I think I did.  It’s been a soggy week.

8.  Cats are already fattening up for the winter.  You’d think they were getting ready to hibernate or something.

9.  #FF (follow friday feels so nice.)

10. @calistataylor is so helpful!  I know I mentioned her before, but seriously…she gave me a soup recipe for my angry stomach.

11. Thanks thanks thanks to Jenny Martin for being my first guest blogger.  You rocked it!

12. Completed my 500th tweet today…what an accomplishment.

13. Ugh.  Where’s that soup?

14. Oh yeah.  I have to actually make it.

15. I promise a better list next week. *doubling over queasy mid section*

This is my first ever Blog award!  Jim Harrington posted it to me (and four others) on his blog last Friday.

Apparently, “It’s the result of a discussion about what the acronym BLOG stands for, and the creative responses to the question.”

As always there are rules to follow:

1. Tell us your favorite superhero and why
2. Copy the badge and post it to your blog
3. Present the badge to five other worthy bloggers
4. Post links to five people you nominate
5. Comment on their pages to let them know they have been nominated

I bet you’re dying to know who my favorite super hero is.  Honestly, I’ve never really thought all that hard about who that might be.  Spiderman pops to mind first since he and I share a last name, but I don’t really care for spiders.  My husband mentioned Mal from Firefly, and if he had super powers I would definitely choose him.

I went on twitter for help with ideas.  First there was Mystic, then Catwoman…both villains.  Then the ideas got vague.  I like the idea of Stargirl, a petulant teen who eventually  shows growth, and since I’m a YA girl…I’m going with her.

And the nominees are:

Natalie @ Between Fact and Fiction

Danae @ Works In Progress

Martin @ F.O.R.C.E.

Amy @ amy sue nathan writer-editor-single mom

Debra @ Write on Target

I ran across this link on Twitter.  It’s about the different sorts of “fill-in-the-blank punk” types there are.  How can there be so many sub-genres in a sub-genre?  It’s all speculative fiction anyway, right?  Why is it necessary to divide it up into so many pieces?  On the glass half full side, the article made for some pretty funny comments such as striker7770 who said, “you cant just take books and add punk to that, or else we would be living in earthpunk eating baconpunk while reading twlightpunk”.

Well said striker…well said.

On a completely unrelated note I’m a little freaked out right now that I’m enjoying a Jonas Bros. song on the Disney channel. **shuddering**

yes. again.

If you read this blog because you are a newish writer, like myself, then this post is for you.  If you’ve been querying endlessly and never seem to get a bite, this post is for you as well.  If you are super-awesome queryman/woman then read this anyway and add your helpful comments.  The topic of queries will be on-going throughout the week and the more info available, the better.

A Twitter friend and I were jabbering about the difficulty of condensing her 90,000+ word novel into two hundred much-too-short, must-be-stunning words.  The conversation eventually devolved to us writing “Dear Agent” letters–what is in on the surface of our hearts or pretty much for me, what I thought was funny.

1. Ah, fever…chills how I hate thee.

2. What Ann Curry tweeted earlier: “Here we go. Last week of August flu cases rose sharply. H1N1 is believed to be most of those cases. Wash your hands.”

3. Been working on my query all day for  this contest…

4. Another embarrassing video.  I love to humiliate myself…why?

5. Thanks to Jolyn Palliata for letting me beta read her awesome novel, Amber Eyes…watch out for this one.

6. Um, Danae (pronounced Dani) Ayusso is one of the most interesting people I have ever “met”.  She can write 10,000 words, send out 75 query letters–twitter and email all in ONE day…not kidding.  And she just got a request for a full!  Way to go Danae!

7. @johannaharness wants everyone to take a pic of their workspaces and tweet to #amwriting, she was so nice to say something positive about mine.

8. Am I trying to be the queen of links?  No, but you can call me the princess if you want.

9. OMK (kittens) I haven’t read a published book all week…weird.

10. Gonna remedy that with my 40% off coupon to Borders!

11. Not adding pics today…so sorry.

12. My oldest caught the video bug and started filming a 6 min. video for each of our pets.  They are surprisingly funny.

13. The animals aren’t as funny as my son’s comments.

14. What I want to read ASAP: The Hunger Games

15. Comment people–I get lonely.

That is a question crossing a lot of minds these days.  My husband talked me into joining late last May.  He hasn’t made a comment SINCE May.  I, on the other hand have had 267 – one-hundred and forty characters or less comments.

Reasons NOT to Join Twitter:

1.  You may become addicted. Seriously, no kidding here.

2.  You start thinking and talking in 140 characters or less.  I’ve always been that way–but I can see how it would be problematic for some.  Hey, I think there are a couple of people I might invite to join. **scratching chin in a knowing way**

3.  It’s yet another place to regret what you’ve said.

4.  When the site is down, there is a possibility for adverse effects on your sanity.

5.  You have to learn a whole new jargon… hashtags (#), RT (re-tweet), DM (direct message), FF (follow Friday) and many, many more!

Reasons TO join Twitter

1.  You get to meet fantastic people that you otherwise would never meet.  I’ve met about five people who are really cool and helpful writers and they’re NICE on top of it all.

2.  There’s the possibility that someone famous will like what you say and repeat it to the masses, giving you credit, of course.

3.  It’s a great way to advertise your blog, product, service.

4.  Everyone understands when you state that “you need to take a social networking break”.

5.  People share the coolest things they find online, commiserate with each other…basically communicate.

This is all considering that you do what I do and only follow people that you’ve checked out fairly well.  If they have a blog, look at it and see if they are compatible with your standards or you may end up with unwanted trash in your tweets.  If that does happen there’s hope, you can always unfollow them.