Brooke Writes Books... and Other Musings...

I've been busily wracking my brain, trying to come up with a cute blog topic... or at least something that wouldn't be instant Snoozeville. And voila!!! Randy courtesy of Carol have provided me with a subject! Thank you, Gals!!!

So, here we go! Now, you'll have to bear with me, I am discovering that I am actually quite un-savvy about all this blog stuff that involves linking etc. But I shall do my best to comply with "rules" to best of my ability...

Here's the way it works if I've tagged you:

1. Link back to the person who tagged you. (This is where I'll have a problem...)
2. Post these rules on your blog. (Easy-peasy! Done!)
3. Share six unimportant things about yourself. (Easy-sans-peasy... cuz we all know I am the leading candidate for most boring person in the world...)
4. Tag six random people at the end of your blog entry. (Not easy at all... cuz sadly... being the master at lurking, I don't know that many bloggers! EEEEKKKK!!!! Something to change!)
5. Let the tagged people know by leaving a comment on their blogs. (See above!)

Note: Just in case you were unsure, which I'm sure you weren't, but just in case... the parts in parenthesis are my sassy comments and NOT part of the "official rules"...

Now... Six Unimportant Things About Me:

1. I would LOVE to visit Iceland.

2. While I have to kinda admit they are pretty cute from afar, mice freak me out. If I ever had a mouse in the house, I'd have to leave the premises until he moved out... (and yes... there are NO she-mice... who knows where all those babies come from... but all mice are he's...)

3. I love a good lightning storm when I am not at home. I always hope when I'm traveling, that we'll have one. One of the most memorable was in Dallas in the 38th Floor lounge of the Adam's Mark a few years back that Randy and I watched. Lightning storms in SoCal do little for me because they are usually dry lightning and a rare occurrence and a tad too much drama when one is home alone...

4. My first car was a brand new Levi Gremlin (and yes, I was -3 years old.)

5. I was first published at the tender age of 7 in the PALO ALTO TIMES which ran 4-5 stories once a week chosen from the 26 schools in the district. I was one of the only ones from my school ever to be selected. While it's certainly tempting, I guess I can't really use my story titled MR. MILLS in my writing portfolio, can I... darn... it was such a cute story...

6. In the fifth grade, I had a bad staph infection and had to get my beautiful, waist-length hair all cut off and keep it short for years after that. That same year, I broke my finger beating a boy a tether-ball... he was so mad that he lost to a puny-girl... and a very non-athletic puny girl at that, that he slammed the ball toward my face as I was walking away, and I raised my hand to block it... breaking the ol' finger. Man, that hurt! It hurt bad, and took months to heal since it was broken in two spots. But! I beat the Boy at tether-ball... me... a puny girl... who later took up swimming only to discover that she was quite good at racing... not so non-athletic, after all! Just puny....

So...there's my six things. Now who to tag... who to tag... who to tag. Well, obviously John comes to mind even if he claims he's given up blogging! And of course FMD, who also appears to have given up blogging... And now back to wracking the old brain again for four more bloggers to tag... but at least it'll be wracking on a different subject... for now!

The results are in (actually, they've been in for awhile, but I am still behind the eight ball...), and my entry placed fifth. I am just as estatic now over finalling as I was when I first found out. Congratulations to Anne Clarke for placing first, and to all the finalists. Here's the listing as shown on the New England Chapter of RWA's website (http://www.necrwa.org):

First Place
LIMITLESS ~ Romantic Suspense
Anne Clarke

Second Place
COFFEE DATE ~ Contemporary
Joanna Timrun

Third Place
HEART FOR HIRE ~ Contemporary-Erotic
Mary Rhyan

Fourth Place
HUSBAND ON NOTICE ~ Traditional
Sharon Arkell

Fifth Place
THE RESUME WRITER ~ Contemporary
Brooke Wills

Sixth Place
ANGEL BLIND ~ Young Adult
Sarah Tregay

Woo Hoo! I'm a First Kiss Contest Finalist!

Okay... so I'm a month late... Sue me! I'm behind... What else is new?

Well, let's see... (Ha! I can change anything to my advantage!)

Each January, instead of making resolutions, I set goals. I started this a number of years, and it worked quite well for me until the last couple of years. I am hoping to get back on track this year, and so far, it is looking hopeful. Yes... I am fully aware it's still very new into the year.

And no... I am not going to tell you exactly what the goals are... Some things a girl just must keep to herself! Especially a girl who apparently loathes commitment worse than the most stalwart guy!

But I will divulge this: I make goals in each of four categories: financial, personal, career, and travel/fun.

Scorecard to date:

Financial: hmmm... have made some small baby steps here, had hoped to have a giant leap in the first month of the year. But that's okay... I fully anticipate that happening in February.

Personal: I am quite happy with the progress here. The biggest part was bringing lunch to work instead of eating out every day. My very snazzy lunch bag that I purchased a number of years ago, and has served faithfully as a bookend for my cookbook collection, is stilling wheeling from the fact that it gets to go out in public each day. It's looking forward to this weekend off!

Career: Well, of course that would be writing related! I'd hoped to write one short story a month, and I'm about 200 words shy. Easy enough to catch up on... I'd also hoped to scope out a few more contests... which I have. And I am kinda sorta starting a third wip using a new plotting method. I missed the last benchmark, but shall be able to catch up on that in a few weeks. Details probably to follow.

Travel: Well, naturally that would not happen in the first month. But on the docket so far are two conferences. Arizona's Desert Rose in April, and RWA National in San Francisco in July. Two venues I adore! Two conferences I am quite excited about attending.

So... that's where we are in Y2008... which is shockingly already 1/12th over! Where does the time go?