Waypoint has been released!!

I'm proud to announce that Waypoint: Cache Quest Oregon has been released on Amazon.com! Whoo hoooo, I'm so excited. This could be little or it could be huge, either way I'm gonna keep on writing, that's what I do, so onward to Alaska...and beyond!!

Watch the trailer and share it with your friends, family, co-workers and ememies, maybe it'll change 'em, you never now! :)

Buy it on Amazon.com, get one for yourself, your kids, or a local school or library. Let's get our kids active and excited about reading and being outside! Just make sure they aren't reading while walking, cuz ya know that could be dangerous and frankly at $9.99 per book I can't afford a lawsuit!

click below for...

Waypoint: Cache Quest Oregon book trailer!


Buy a copy..or 2 or 3, or 20 (hey I can dream) click below to be directed to Amazon.

Waypoint: Cache Quest Oregon

Mani/Pedi My Way to Heaven

I've just decided that the perfect window into my soul, or my insanity, is my nail polish, or lack there of. Actually lack there of would be good, right now, my nails are a tattered mess of peeling lacquer. I seriously look as if my nails have been bleeding, the red nail polish is peeling and shredded, and remnants of my decals look like squished bugs permanently fossilized in a blood red mess.

They were pretty a week ago.

I'm doing this new thing with Madi, every week we're doing our nails together. Yup, I wanna be "that mom". I want her to feel pretty, I want her to know how to sit still while they dry and I want people to comment on how cute her little nails are, which they do regularly. *pat self on back*.

On the first day we do our nails, we feel beautiful, David looks at our nails and comments on how great they look, we dress better, we do our hair, we feel and look pretty. But as the days go on, and the dishes need to be washed, diapers need to be changed, and well for Madi, lizards need to be caught and mud pies need to be made, our polish starts wearing off, our beautifully filed nails start to snag, and pretty soon they just look, well horrible. I really should just take the polish off, but I suppose in a way I leave it there for a day or two to learn something about myself?

Okay maybe I'm just lazy.

I guess this is the point; it's nice to have our nails all pretty and done up, it feels great and elegant, but well, that's just not us. We do our nails knowing perfectly well that in a day they will be scraped, or bitten off, they will be scrubbed after a diaper explosion. We could never make it without doing these things, we would go insane. We need the activities that ruin our polish, for survival, for fun. And maybe that's why I leave the scraped nasty polish on for a few days too long. It's a record, a history. When I feel lazy, or I feel as though I haven't gotten anything accomplished being a stay at home mom- I can look at my nails and think "wow I've done a lot of stuff to mess up my nails!" and that feels good. You have to be working (or playing) pretty hard to accomplish our level of nail ugliness, and that is something for me to be proud of. I never want Madi to be one of "those girls"... "I can't do that! I'll mess up my manicure!" I want her to look at her torn up hands and think, "I've been busy!"

At the beginning of the post I wrote that my nails could be a representation of my soul, and well that's just it: when my soul feels like crap, worn out, scraped up, nasty, with fossilized bugs on it, I can count on God to let me feel it for as long as I need to, in order to grow, then He'll wipe it clean and put on a fresh coat...which I'll eventually screw up again, and He'll eventually fix up again. I know it sounds silly, elementary, and probably a little apathetic, but seriously God is that parent. The one who wants us to learn, to mess up, to have reality discipline. He's there watching, allowing us free will even though He knows we'll get hurt, and learn (hopefully), and every time we do it brings us closer to His understanding.

I know, "nail polish and God" how did she get there??? Sometimes the voices in my head get confused, what can I say?!

But seriously, I pray that I'll be more inclined to show people my tattered nails, be it, my actual manicure, my tired soul or my failures, please Lord help me to never allow my appearance to get in the way of your work.

It's all happening!

Wow, this has been a crazy, busy hectic month!

Many exciting and scary things are happening, first we're moving to Klamath Falls. It's a bitter sweet move for sure, I'm sad to be leaving my friends here on the coast, but so excited to be closer to family and friends down in Southern Oregon. And also I'm just solar powered I need the sunshine to keep my spirits up, and on the coast we just don't get enough of the good stuff!

The second very exciting thing is that I'm publishing my novel, Waypoint - Cache Quest: Oregon through Amazon. It will be available on Amazon in September, and shortly after in book stores and libraries.

I finished the website, sans the official book cover and more character info, and am working on the book trailer for advertising online. It's very exciting and very scary, it could end up being huge, it could end up being nothing, but I'm focusing on the positive and the "what if..."

So when you get a chance check out the web site, let me know what you think! If all goes well with the first book's sales then I will be writing one for every state in the U.S.

I always love to have feedback, good and bad... how else will I know to change things, right?

www.waypointbookseries.com

WAYPOINT- An excerpt from my novel.

Lately a lot of people have been asking what's going on with my writing and my trying to get published. Well, getting published I have found is a long and tricky, anxiety ridden road, but I've been keeping busy with revisions and of course writing this blog.
So today I thought I would kill two birds with one stone and post a small excerpt of my novel, WAYPOINT. This is middle-grade fiction, written for readers between the ages of 8 and 15, however I have noticed a lot of adults seem to be enjoying it as well.

So here ya go, a little taste of WAYPOINT...

Chapter 3

Lacey screamed again, “Ben!” but didn’t hear any response. Fear overcame her, what if he was dead? The thought made her throat tighten; whatever had happened inside wasn’t good. She stepped back from the old red door then using as much force as she could she kicked it in. The door flew open, smacking the interior wall with a loud thud. She glanced inside before entering, she couldn’t see Ben anywhere. She looked up the spiral staircase, then around the floor one more time, just in case she had missed him in one of the shadows. He wasn’t there. Panic constricted her chest; she grabbed her cell phone, but didn’t have the nerve to call her sister. She would find him, she had to.

***

Ben closed his eyes and opened them again to make sure he was seeing correctly. It was as if his brain wouldn’t process the image above him. The structure of the lighthouse went deep into the ground, circling the walls was an ancient staircase winding slowly all the way up. It had to be over one hundred feet high. Ben didn’t think he had fallen that far, but it had all happened so fast. He squinted his eyes, and there like a tiny dot he saw the hole he had fallen through, it would take him ages to climb to the top.

He pulled himself to his feet, groaning with pain. He almost screamed as he stood, not because of the pain, but because there were thousands of human skulls staring back at him. They circled the walls all the way to the top, running parallel to the staircase. Each skull was set into the walls of the lighthouse, as if someone had carved shelves specifically for displaying them. But who had put them there? The question ran through Ben’s mind and then suddenly common sense took over and he started running up the stairs. Whoever had put them there probably wouldn’t mind displaying one more.

***

Lacey stepped into the lighthouse and noticed the hole in the floor just below the window. She looked down into the hole and was amazed to see such a huge deep cavern. Stairs circling the walls seemed to go on forever. She heard something; it was a pounding sound, coming from the staircase under her. She stuck her head into the hole, “Ben!” she yelled, her voice echoed loudly below her. She waited, praying that she would hear some sort of response.

“Help! I’m coming up as fast as I can!” Ben yelled back. Just as he felt a little relief he suddenly fell and smacked his face into the stairs, but they weren’t stairs anymore. The entire staircase had become a huge slide. He was sliding down so fast he couldn’t stop. What on earth was going on? One minute he is climbing stairs then suddenly they changed into a slide? The stairs must have folded in, but why?

As he reached the bottom he realized the answer. He flew off the slide and was thrown into the back of a figure standing in an old cape of some sort. The figure turned and looked down at Ben. It was an old man, with a long tangled beard. His deep eye sockets were almost black. He didn’t even look real, or maybe it was that he didn’t look alive.

Ben started to crawl backwards, as he turned over to stand the old man took the long staff he was holding and slammed it into Ben’s back. Ben smacked into the cold dirt floor. “Help!” Ben screamed. “Aunt Lacey, help!”

Lacey could barely hear what Ben was yelling, but it sounded like he was screaming for help. Something was going horribly wrong. She sat on the edge of the broken floor and slid onto the steep slide below her. “Well this will be fun.” She said to herself as she pushed off.

The ancient man towered over Ben, he was extremely frail and yet it looked as if he was ten feet tall. He reached down and grabbed Ben’s shirt with a twisted, knobby hand and pulled Ben to his feet. “Have you come to harm the light?” He asked, his voice whistling as it escaped his lips.

“What?” Ben’s voice shook as he tried to speak.

“The light, have you come to harm it? Why are you trespassing on this place?” The man was growing angry.

“I just came for the prize.” Ben pleaded. “The window was open, and I saw the prize, so I came in, but then I fell.”

“I saw you come through the window, most come through to harm the light.” The old man knelt next to Ben. “What is your name?” his warm smelly breath was burning Ben’s eyes.

“Ben.”

“Benjamin, do you know who I am?” His face came even closer to Ben’s. Now Ben could see that deep in those black sockets were small blue eyes. They were the bluest eyes Ben had ever seen, and strangely as Ben looked into them a calming sensation came over his body.

“No, I don’t… but did you kill all these people?” Ben responded.

“No, they were killed by those that have harmed the light.” His voice seemed to struggle as it escaped his old withered lips. “I have protected the light for two hundred years, when someone harms the light those in the sea parish. These skulls belong to them, all of those that have been lost at sea, because I failed to keep the light shining.” A tear dropped from his wrinkled cheek. “I keep the skulls to remind myself everyday why I must protect its brightness, for if it goes out, I fail once again.”

“But who harms the light?” Ben asked innocently.

“Some who come are simply here to destroy, Benjamin. They don’t understand the consequences of darkness, for when darkness wins the sea swallows up those who travel its waters.” He pointed to the skulls that spiraled up the walls, with a long curling finger, “The bodies come to me, as a punishment for allowing the light to go dark. Can I trust you Benjamin, to not harm the light?” His eyes pierced into Ben’s soul.

“Yes, I promise.” Ben replied. The old man closed his eyes and breathed deeply.

As Lacey rounded the last corner of the slide she saw the tall cloaked figure standing in front of Ben. Fear and anger came together within her chest; she had to protect her nephew. “Hey!” she yelled. The figure turned, spread his arms, and anger replaced his calm expression. Her speed was growing on the slide and as she hit the end she flew off and was headed right for the tall man who stood before her. As soon as her feet connected with his cloak his body exploded into millions of tiny pieces of glitter, they floated for a second, and then began to spiral around like a tornado, they became bigger and at the top of the tornado they began to separate and fly away. Ben and Lacey just stared as they saw each piece fly into each individual skull, lighting it like a jack-o-lantern. The entire cavern became bright, as if someone had just plugged in a string of white Christmas lights. Suddenly the floor shook, Lacey grabbed Ben’s arm. As the floor churned slats of wood on the slide lifted and once again became stairs.

“You can explain at the top!” Lacey said as she shoved Ben toward the stairs. They both began to run as fast as they could, the skulls of thousands of men lighting their way.

So, let me know what you think, I really don't know if its any good or not, I've gotten positive feedback from publishers and agents, but haven't gotten an offer so kinda makes me think that it might just suck! So leave me a comment, find me on facebook, or shoot me an email! Seriously, if it sucks I need to know so I can stop wasting my time on it.

Friendship is like peeing your pants...

Well, we’re moving again. This will be move number 26 in my life, I’m of course overwhelmed, excited and sad, it’s hard making friends knowing that ultimately you’ll be moving in the future, but here in Lincoln City I have made some wonderful friends, I feel so blessed. And I know that these people are why God brought me to this place.

Without these amazing friends I would have never gotten through the weather here, they were my rays of sunlight on the dreariest of rainy days. They supported me, made me laugh and loved me, they welcomed me, shared their lives, danced and drank, they came to the hospital when I had my second child, they hugged me and wiped my tears when my crazy post-partum depression made me unbearable to even those closest to me. These friends are priceless and I am so blessed. One friend in particular has seen me at worst and continued to love me.

So to Tamera, thank you for going on a blind date with me to the beach when I was brand new here, I know you are a blessing straight from God. Thank you for getting me out of the house, for continuing to call even when I was too depressed to pick up the phone. Thank you for my wonderful baby shower, the booty cake, the poopy diaper game, for Mama Mia, for Hubba overnighter’s, scrapbooking, tea parties, Twilight…so much to list, you are amazing, I love your family, your children, and you. I do, I love you. This world is so blessed to have you and I’m so thankful that God brought me here and blessed me with your presence, what a gift!

I know this sounds silly to those of you who have never experienced, deep true friendship, but I truly believe that friends are the family you get to choose. My life map has had many different paths, different street address, but in most locations there has been at least one person who has planted seeds in my heart. So when I feel sad about moving I have to remember that each move has more potential and having friends all over the world is an amazing gift. So it’s worth the stress, the questions, it’s worth watering those seeds and allowing them to grow, it’s worth not losing touch even though it’ll be a little harder to communicate.

Because as some wise and funny (by the way) person once said, “Friendship is like peeing your pants, everyone can see it, but only you can feel its true warmth.”

R.E.S.P.E.C.T…Speaking a man’s language.

R.E.S.P.E.C.T…Speaking a man’s language.

I’m kind of tired of all the TV shows that show these irresponsible, idiot men. They tease them, show them making stupid mistakes and of course the wonderful wife is the heroin, who solves all the problems. Don’t get me wrong, I think women do a wonderful job in our society, but I think men are getting a bad rap.

Once upon a time I thought all men were stupid, I thought I knew more, was more articulate and got a job done better, but with the eye opening help from my sister, Steph, I can see that I had a blindfold on. There are men out there who are morons, sure, but the majority of them are hard working, smart, loving and deserve our respect.

As soon as I started respecting my husband and showing/telling him how much I respected him, my blindfold came off and I saw what a wonderful man he has always been, it was a change in my thinking and my vision of him that made the biggest difference. He has always been an amazing man, but once I realized it he became even more wonderful in my eyes.

David and I married young, I was 19, and he was 20. We did a lot of growing and learning together, and looking back now, sure we made our share of mistakes. But seriously once I learned his language, and was able to articulate how important he was to me our marriage truly blossomed. I don’t want to minimize a man’s needs or illustrate them to be simple creatures, but once I figured out how to effectively communicate to him life has been amazing. Think of it as having a wonderful friend who speaks a foreign language. When you tell them that you love them, they might not fully understand what that means to you, however when you become bi-lingual and start using words that they really value, then your relationship becomes that much fuller.

Respect has different meanings for men and women, for women we think this might mean having our bosses admire us, trust us and of course pay us what we feel we deserve, and for men it is similar, but I’ve found that it also means telling them regularly that we respect them. That we understand the sacrifices they’re making and that we trust them. When David and I were first married all decisions had to go through me, now when he brings something to my attention, I usually say, “ya know honey, I trust your judgment, you decide.” Since I have done this our finances, our home, his work, everything has turned around for the better. I had to get out of his way, he knew how to do things and make things wonderful the entire time but I was blocking him. I guess a lot of people, especially women will think I’m giving away my power, but really I’m allowing him to do what he does best, and I’m telling myself that I might not know best and so I made that change. Early on I realized that in marriage if one person is right, the other person is wrong, and nobody enjoys being wrong, and frankly when one person has to be right, both people lose!

I guess I’ve learned that the fastest way to be treated as an equal, to be treasured and to be trusted with any man, your father, father-in-law, grandfather, husband, brother, boss…whoever, is to tell them how much you respect them! For some women this might be hard, certainly there are men out there that don’t deserve our respect, but the ones that do need to be told how you feel. If not they may feel that they are being taken for granted. It’s not that you feel that way, but that we don’t know how to effectively communicate what they need to hear.

So ladies, give your men what they need, tell them how much you respect them, and show them how much they mean to you. Let’s face it there are plenty of losers out there, if you have a good, decent man, keep him by speaking his language. Also keep it interesting, mix things up, surprise them, you might just surprise yourself in the process.

We all need fertilizer.

I love spring time, the new growth on the plants, and the promise of warmer days ahead. Sometimes, and I say this tongue in cheek, even the rain feels good and cleansing. As I was weeding my flower bed though I realized that my poor plants have been neglected, they certainly have enough water, living on the coast, but they needed a good pick me up and so I fertilized them. I love all natural fertilizers; you know the ones made almost purely of rotten debris and well…poo.

As I was explaining to my four year old daughter how poo helps plants grow it occurred to me, we all need a bit of poo in our lives, or more appropriately, we all need some crap! I mean the kind of crap that drives us crazy, that keeps us frustrated and on our toes. The kind of crap that keeps us up at night, the kind of crap that makes us not want to pick up the phone when it rings. We like plants, need to be fertilized! Without the crap, or garbage in our lives, we wouldn’t make any changes, we wouldn’t grow.

Now while we and plants need good fertilizer, we have to make sure we aren’t over fertilizing our selves, just like a plant will wither with too much, there is only so much we can handle also, so we have to be good judges of our stress levels and we must determine which crap is good for us (in the long run) and which cannot be used for growth.

I also realized that we all have weeds in our life, which stunt our growth and steal our precious fertilizer, you know when you go through something really frustrating and powerful that could just be enough for you to make a positive change in your life, but you do something and neglect to make the change? Like perhaps you turn to an addiction, rather than dealing with the crap and growing from it.

Well I’m sick of it, I’m sick of going through the hard stuff, only to have the fertilizer that could benefit me be stolen by an enabling weed. I’m slowly going to pull out the weeds in my life, if I pull them out to quickly roots will be left behind and they’ll keep popping up, so slow and steady I want to remove them. I also want to fertilize with caution, by saying no more and not overloading myself, but being open to the kind of crap that really does have a purpose, even if I don’t understand it right now.

So be careful what you curse in your life, it could be the best mixture of fertilizer for you. It could be exactly what you need to make your next big beautiful growth spurt. Embrace the poo and rotten debris, grow from it, pull out weeds that steal your growth potential and hard earned fertilizer, and don’t forget to share, you never know when your experience, or crap, can help someone else get through their own.

I apologize about the crude nature of this post, if it offends you…well put on the big girl panties and deal with it, sometimes life is offensive!