Have you Googled yourself lately?

Ever try to Google yourself?  I did today.  I'm pretty easy to find between the Gmail account, Twitter account, Facebook account, Linkedin account, this blog, and the blogs I comment on.  I even discovered today I'm the only person with my name (First and Last) in Michigan and the United States. 
I wonder what the pros and cons are of having as much exposure to myself as I have.  My grandparents are from the era that anything they hear in the news will happen to you.  Identity theft is something I am being continually harrassed about at home.  I'm constantly being reminded that I can endanger myself, my children, my finances, and my reputation if I put anything on my Facebook or Twitter feeds that would be considered "too personal".  Since I'm the only person with my name, I would think it would be easy to find someone impersonating me.

But, being an aspiring author, you also have to consider exposure as a good thing.  The more traffic to your blog, the better you'll be received into the community of authors you need to have as your support base.  The better your writing on that blog, the more interest you'll receive from book reviewers, publishers, agents, etc.  Word of mouth used to be your ally with respect to your reputation as an author, politician, caretaker and other pursuits.  But in the age of technology, being found in a search engine so someone can see who you are, where you are from and where you are going is today's "word of mouth".  If you are on Google, you just may be somebody.

"I'm ready for my close up, Mr. DeMille."

Happy Reading!

There is a Talented Author Within - Where did she go?

The writing world is a fascinating place.  From day to day you are in the groove and have the muse dancing around you singing your brilliance one moment, then at a standstill staring at a blank screen or piece of white paper the next.  Sound frustrating?  You bet! 

There are some funny memes going around about the concept of a writer.  Here are a couple of them:

These are definitely worth the words unspoken and implied.  There are days where I read what I have written and feel like someone else wrote it.  "She's a genius," I think.  Then, I go to add to my masterpiece and feel like this:

Having that kind of week right now.  I open up my documents and read a bit to get into the feel of the next scene and find myself staring at nothing, or managing to type only 100 words before I flounder and give up.  I know the key to working through writer's block is to just keep writing, even if its nonsensical jibberish you'll only delete later.  But, it can be daunting to write up 800 words of jibberish to just delete later and find yourself back at page 2 when you were on page 22.

I just want to move forward!

Happy Reading!

Easter Around the World

I know this is a day after the fact, but sometimes the best time to reflect on something is after it already happened.  After all, hindsight is 20/20 while foresight is often blind.

In Christianity, the celebration of Easter is about Jesus rising from the dead.  He was reborn as a full man into the same life three days after his death.  Why?  To let everyone know his sacrifice was to cover their sins.  He was the sacrificial lamb, so it would no longer be necessary to slaughter animals to cover their sins and appease God. 

Baptism in Christianity is a symbol of rebirth as well.  With Baptists you are fully immersed in water to symbolize you being buried in the earth with Christ and, as you are lifted up, you are born again into a renewed life where Christ is your center.


In Egypt, the Ankh is a symbol of rebirth.  Look at the symbol.  It looks like someone standing tall with their arms out.  Where the heart would be there is a shield.  A shield is a weapon as well as a means of defense.  You cannot stop your enemy's sword without one. 

The ankh is also called the "key of life" or translated in heiroglyphs as "eternal life".  The gods were often depicted carrying these symbols, sometimes carrying two at a time.  Isis in particular was known to be associated with this symbol and was also the goddess to have brough Osiris back from the dead.

In Greece, Persia, China, Israel, and other areas the Phoenix is the symbol of rebirth.

The phoenix must suffer pain and fire before being able to be birthed from its own ashes.  An author colleague of mine, Angela Wallace, had done a fantastic job blogging on the Phoenix in June of 2011.  Her research went into a book called, Phoenix Feather, which is a delightful read and it's available at Amazon.

The Native Americans have ceremonies where those leaving childhood behind to enter into adulthood receive a new name.  This is a form of recognizing the death of one life and the entering into a new one.  But, Native Americans, also believed in the existence of the soul and its rebirth into new lives.  Warren Jefferson wrote a book entitled, Reincarnation beliefs of North American Indians, where he narrates a Winnebago Shaman's two previous lives and what happened inbetween them.

Then there is the ultimate symbol to represent rebirth, renewal, reincarnation: infinity.  The twisting band goes on forever, never meeting its beginning or end because neither exist  This is what I think of in terms of our soul: never-ending.

I'm sure there are far more to discuss, but what will I write about next year if I pen them all now?

I hope you enjoyed your weekend and have a fabulous week.

Happy Reading!

One of the Lucky Ones

While I technically didn't get officially elected, I'm taking from James Garcia Jr.'s post and Tameri Etherton's post that I have been unofficially selected to be a winner of the Lucky 7 Meme.  Thanks, Jimmy and Tameri!  Happy Birthday to you both as well!  So, with no further ado, let's see what we have.

Here are the rules:
1) Go to page 77 of your current WIP.
2) Go to line 7.
3) Copy down the next seven sentences, lines, paragraphs (I've seen it done many ways).
4) Tag 7 other authors.
5) Let them know.

I've elected to post seven paragraphs per item 3) above.  Please be forewarned, there is very adult content here.  I even had to change my blog's settings for mature content.  This is from my upcoming first book of a trilogy on Atlantis.  The current working title is Before Atlantis:  From Mediterranean to Mesopotamia.

“How to service me.”

            Her will rose to the surface, wanting to do something violent to this man to protect her freedom, but she forced her docile expression to stay fixed.  “I am a seeress of my people, not a whore, Yemeni, although I know there are followers of this army who are very well versed in the art of servicing men of your tastes.”  She wanted to suggest he summon one of them, but held her tongue.  The violence in his expression spiked and she was treated to another slap across the face, opening up her lip.  She tasted her own blood, but didn’t wipe it from her face as she looked up at him with childlike hurt in her expression. 
            “None of them look as fresh and rare as you, woman,” he said, his voice dripping with contentment with the blood on her face. 
            She bowed her head feigning her acceptance of her fate.  “Will I be yours alone or shared by all the men?” she asked in a meek voice.
            Yemeni looked at the men who brought her in and ordered them out to guard the entrance to the tent.  Inwardly she grinned in triumphant.  He came closer to her and grabbed her hair to pull her up.  The pain that lanced through her skull was intense and caused her muscles to clench and try to curl away only to cause her more pain in her neck and shoulders as he nearly dragged her to a pallet with cushions adorning it.  He threw her on the cushions and began to peel off his robes.  She sent a quick inner probe to ensure her child was safe, then rose to her knees and grinned at him. 
            Yemeni paused in removing his breeches at her strange smile.  She curled a beckoning finger to him.  Surprised, he moved closer and she put her hands on his thighs, ignoring the throbbing member jutting up at her from his breeches that still required removal.  Her blue eyes bore into his.  Suddenly, he collapsed beside her.  Sighing, she rubbed her head at the ache and felt new warmth on her upper lip.  Swiping at her nose, she discovered by the red smear on her wrist that blood was dripping from it.  She sighed.  Too much power use for her body.  She will be helpless soon.  She ripped Yemeni’s robes into strips and bound him.  After ensuring his bonds were sufficient, she touched his temples and infiltrated his mind, trying to find something good to work from. 

 Chapter 14

Ashur was in no condition to give commands.  No nightly attack would happen.  No one wished to risk harming Nimuan while she was in the enemy camp and Ashur was coaxed away from the front line by his mother in the early morning hours.  She took him home and managed to get him to sit on his pallet in his room.  She fixed him some tea and brought it to him, startled to find him in the exact place and position she left him in.   Light was beginning to brighten the sky as she knelt before him and cupped a hand to the cup she handed him that steamed.  His grip took the stone cup, but he simply held it. 

Now for the seven nominees.  So many have already received this wonderfully fun award, so it will be a difficult choice.

1. Rose Pressey
2. Angela Wallace
3. Amaleen Ison
4.  Kait Nolan
5.  Michelle Krys
6.  Jackie Miller
7.  M.E. Franco

If it seems random, it was.  I tried to go through my Twitter follower list and looked at a bunch of you to see if you have 1) a blog and 2) not received this award yet.  I'm looking forward to seeing what those lucky 7 have for their WIP excerpts.

Happy Reading!

Movie Scenes - Fun stuff

Movie Scenes - Fun Stuff

Ever have a movie you can watch over and over again and laugh at the same scene each time?  The sad truth with me is that I enjoy watching movies multiple times and there are some that one particular scene will always get me to laugh.  Here are the top five I would recommend.

1.  The Tenth Kingdom (Miniseries, instead of Movie): 

The scene is when a character from New York in this realm of fairy tales is trying to find the correct door to get to the main ballroom and save the guests who are going to be fed a death potion by the evil queen.  There is a frog in this room with two doors.  The frog said that one door will lead to a horrible death while the other will lead to where they need to go.  The frog warns that he will tell them which door, but will always lie.  The New Yorker grabs the frog, shaking him.  You can hear the frog say, "Don't tough me there.  Only my wife can touch me there."  The New Yorker starts hollering at the frog about how ridiculous it is to have a door that leads to a horrible death.  He takes the frog to a door, opens it and throws the frog in, who is swallowed up by fire.  That was probably a much faster way to find the correct door than deal with a frog speaking in riddles.

2.  Galaxy Quest: 

There is a scene where Tim Allen's character is stuck on the planet and wakes up to a pig-lizard snorting at him.  He thinks it's his foe and is trying to fight the creature off while talking on the communicator.  His friends suggest he get digitized back to the ship but they need to test it first.  They digitize the pig-lizard first and the creature is inside out when it shows up on the ship.  "Commander Taggart" wants to know why everyone screamed and "Lt. Madison" (played by Sigourney Weaver) tries to blow it off as nothing and the alien says, "But the animal is inside out" in a deadpan voice and a smile on his face.  They are trying to work out what to do when the creature blew up.  The alien said, "And it exploded" in the same deadpan voice with a goofy smile. 

3.  The Pacifier:

I love this movie.  You get to see a buff man wearing a baby Bjorn slung around him, taking on the challenge of a poopy diaper, and being teased about the size of his "boobs" by a bunch of girl scouts.  There is a scene where Vin Diesel is talking with the mother of the children he will be watching over when the pet duck comes up from the side and bites his ear.  I bust up every time I see it.

4.  Oscar:

What is more funny than a crooked mobster trying to go straight?  Sylvester Stallone trying to be a crooked mobster trying to go straight and unable to find the correct black bag.  There were three black bags in this movie: one with $50,000 in jewels; another with $50,000 in cash; and a third with women's underwear.  Every time "Snaps" Provolone (hey, one of my favorite cheeses) tries to bribe someone with $50,000 he ends up offering women's underwear.  Those scenes always elicit a laugh out of me.

5.  Last, but not least, The Princess Bride:

This one is the hardest because it happens to be my all-time favorite movie.  There are so many places where I just crack up every time (we're talking in the hundreds of times here) I watch it.  It just keeps getting better, every time I see it!  But how do you chose from the scenes that are funny?  There is the rhyming scenes between Inigo and Fezzik.  I always laugh when Fezzik says, "Anybody want a peanut?"  Then, there is the scene with Miracle Max.  I do a fair impression of Valerie, his wife.  "Liar!  Liiiiiaaaarrr!!"  And, of course, the battle scene where Fezzik has to put poor Westley's arms in a suit of armor to hold him up while he goes to push a door open for Inigo.  If you haven't seen this yet, I apologize for all the spoilers.  So, now that I have named three scenes, I have come to the conclusion on this one.

What's your favorite funny movie scene?

For my next post, come back just before Easter for a little religious education on its meaning what other religions share with Easter.

Happy Reading!

What's so Fun about Music?

To the Muse Euterpe

Those of you following me on Twitter or Facebook will have noticed that I have been on a treadmill regime.  The Muse of Euterpe is the Muse of Song.  I'm going to list the songs in my playlist that keep me motivated and give you some thoughts about each as to why I selected it.

The Playlist on my Cloud Player is called "Move it Move it":

1.  Funkytown by Lipps, Inc.  (For some reason this is on every Just Dance game we have at home for the Wii and it has just the right sound to keep me going.) 

2.  Moves Like Jagger by Maroon 5.  (Ok, just more motivational dance-like music here.)

3.  Mambo No. 5 by Lou Bega (I know it sounds like a strange choice, but it's like Swing music to me and I adore Swing music.  Has nothing to do with the sexism. Nada.)

4.  Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F) by Katy Perry (Don't be so surprised.  This one cracks me up.  You'll find a lot of Katy Perry in this list.)

5.  Firework by Katy Perry (See!  I told you!  This was another one I took from our Wii Just Dance game.)

6.  Brick House by Commodores (It's from the Muppets, and I adore the Muppets.  Specifically its from "Muppets in Space".  "She's mighty, mighty; letting it all hang out" says it all.)

7.  Hot N Cold by Katy Perry (I imagine she's talking to a guy in this one, which makes me think I would love to say this to a few men in my past too; plus another steal from Wii game.)

8.  Play that Funky Music by Wild Cherry (I am!  Can't you tell by my list so far?)

9.  Dynamite by Taio Cruz (I'm celebrating my life by working off my butt on the treadmill, duh!)

10.  Closer by Nine Inch Nails (Ok, it's just  raw and sexy as hell, ok?  Wild, passionate, crazy and I love to slow my pace to it.)

11.  I Like to Move It from Madagascar (I picture that goofy lemur dancing around, that's why!  I try channeling the crazy creature into my limbs to keep moving, moving.)

12.  Pump up the Jam by Technotronic ("Make my day, make my day!"  Good music to walk to. ~shrug~  I know, nothing funny about that.)

13.  Eye of the Tiger by Survivor (This happens to be one of my twin's favorite from the Wii.  It also makes me feel like the sweat is worth it.  If you check out my profile here, you'll see I adore tigers, especially white ones.)

14.  Hips Don't Lie by Shakira (Because by the time this one begins playing my hips are screaming!)

15.  Baby Boy by Beyonce (To go with the yummy photo on the left that I have printed and sitting on my treadmill to remind me of a good reason to keep going.) 

16.  I'm Too Sexy by Right Said Fred (Ok, this sounds crazy, but I like this one because I am imagining Vin Diesel strutting his stuff down a catwalk to this song.  Love yah, Vin!  ~wolf whistles~  Shake that boo-tay!)

17.  American Idiot by Green Day (Good angry music.  Sometimes it takes getting anger or laughter to keep you moving.  Ok, to keep me moving!  Picky, picky PC language.  ~huff~)

18.  Enter Sandman by Metallica (Because every workout playlist should have Metallica?)

19.  Jump in Line by The Hit Crew (I've been crazy about this one since hearing it on Beetlejuice.  But, it would totally freak me out if I just rose up in the air like Winona Ryder while listening to it.)

20.  Rock your Body by Justin Timberlake (~facepalm~  You would think I wouldn't want a reminder of the 2004 Super Bowl, but I try to think about how I am rocking my body so it will look good enough for pasties?  ~blinks~  Did I just type that?  That is so not me.  Who was typing that?  Cat! Don't act so innocent in that bag.  I know what you were doing when I was putting the laundry in the dryer.)

Happy Reading!

Birthday Humor

Last Monday, February 27th marked my 37th birthday.  And above is a photo of me as a baby.  Aw, ain't I cute?

I'm going to step to the side of my current course of my journey to get into a part of myself I absolutely love - my sense of humor.  March is then going to mark "Laughs via Sia".  You can laugh with me or at me, I don't mind.  I love an audience when I start getting into the "goof" mode.

Something that really gave me a laugh on my birthday was some of the cards I received. 

The one from my niece and nephew read, "Happy Birthday to a special aunt who is one in a...

Million...open
Billion...open
Trillion, zillion...open
Bajillion, gazillion.

I'd go on, but that's as high as I can count!"

Can you believe they can count that high?  One just turned eight and the other just turned five.  They are just so smart!  What are they putting in McDonald's fries nowadays!?!

Then the one from my sister read, "Happy Birthday, Sis (inside of a ballon held by a cat that looks suspiciously like my cat, Custard).  You know growing up with you sure had a big effect on me...:

Inside:  The cat's fur is all puffed up, its teeth are showing in a big grin with its tongue sticking out and a "finger" on the front tooth.  "But don't worry - my therapist says I'm improving every day..."

I loved it!  My grandfather's card was even more snort worthy (that's pretty major if you can get me to laugh until I snort).  Unfortunately, I can't give you all the details on it since the card isn't here in my home, but I can say it was about nuts in the family and a squirrel proudly showing off his.  O.o  Ok, I know some of you just had your brain in the gutter.  Get it back out and wash it off, it had a wallet with fold-out photos coming out like an accordion showing all his squirrelly family members in various poses.  My grandfather is 84!  Anything suggestive would send him into a heart attack, people.  Not to mention he's the most prudish man I have ever met.

Then, of course, there was the walk down memory lane as I hunted down photos to send some a very special someone for her upcoming birthday.  Here's a treat to my readers:

Look, I was a nerd!  I played clarinet in high school marching band.  Don't our antiquated uniforms suck?  I swear those were from the 70's, maybe the 60's.  All wool and not fun to wear at all in the summer.

Then there was the bonus find of my first book ever!  "The Weird Weeks" was the title.  I think I was in the fifth grade.  Had my sister cracking up to read it.  I just read it; there was no point to it.  Somehow, considering the type of child I was, I think that was the point.

Ok, going to wrap this up.  Next post expect around St. Paddy's day!

Happy Reading!