Tweets To Share

By Susan G. Haws


 I want to share two tweets I read. I hope it is OK to copy a tweet. . If it isn't it was done with good intentions. This tweet illustrates a lot of the things I like about ANWA and writing.

 Brandon Sanderson 

Thumbs up to my publisher. Two copies of sanderson books in the Perth airport. (Near gate 12). Both are now stealth-signed. 

I love that.  I especially love the "stealth-signed." In that little tweet I see the little-kid-at-Christmas joy and the jump-up-and-down pride of making a basket or winning the science fair and the giving back. 

 I see the same joy and pride at ANWA conference, in yahoo groups and writer blogs and at chapter meetings. The joy of accomplishing goals and dreams. Seeing your books in a bookstore rack or display has got to be amazing. Then to be on another continent and see your books has got to be an up in the ante. Wins after years of work. 

The thanks to the publisher for prime selling space is not to be discounted as I watch authors marketing their works (book babies). 

Some lucky, tired travelers will have an extra bonus with their purchase. (Talk about your win/win. It had to make Mr. Sanderson as happy to sneak sign the books as the owners will be happy to find them signed.) Authors both in and out of  ANWA are so supportive and helpful to others learning the craft. Generous sharing resources, tips and encouragement. 

The other tweet I want to share completely hit the spot for me. I have lamented in the past that my muse doesn't always send me the sort of ideas I want. I had to come to terms with that. I do love my ideas and I want to share them. I hope that eventually some will resonate with other people. Also, I get ideas for characters and settings that are very  3D to me. I also have been woken up with very clear dreams that I rush to record as much as possible before the dream fades.  I love hearing people talk about their characters, completed books and works in progress.

David Farland
 When you are transported by a dream, waking or sleeping, that feels so real you can taste, smell and feel, it's time to write.

I hope these two tweets perked up your day as much as they did mine.

  

Ten things I wish I could tell my teenage self

by Kami Cornwall

Last week I came across a post that rang true to me titled, "Ten Things I Want to Tell Teenage Girls" by Kate Elizabeth Connor and it got me thinking about some of the things I wished I would have listened to or had known as a teenager. So I decided to make my own list.

1. Your high school boyfriend will not be the love of your life. I know you are caught up in the excitement, passion, and twitterpation of it all, but you really should wait to see what's in store for you at college and "test drive" some of the other models there. And, oh yeah, some of them are actually models.

2. Stop comparing yourself to your sister. You will have much more fun together if you can appreciate her beauty and talents are unique to her. Don't disregard your own beauty and talents. Complement her instead of envy. Being prom queen will not negate life's problems.

3. Stop waiting for life to happen to you. Stop sulking because you feel like a loner. So does everyone else! The reason you all feel so alone is because we're all too insecure to sit down and talk to each other. No, wait...the popular kids aren't afraid. That's what makes them popular. Complement someone on their hair, eyes, shoes, anything! Kill 'em with kindness.

4. Don't be afraid to hurt feelings. When a guy tells you he wants to "show you how much he loves you" or uses some other lame excuse to get you to do what you know you shouldn't, don't be afraid to say no. More than no. Drop him like a hot brick and don't go back. If you don't feel good about yourself every moment you're around someone, you shouldn't be around them anymore. Your self worth is not less important than some jerk's self gratification.

5. Drinking is not cool.

6. Learn the circle of fifths! You will find yourself twenty years later wondering why you never learned it and knowing it would have helped greatly in your musical abilities.

7. Live with no regrets.

8. Write more letters to your grandparents. They had lives before you came along that consisted of more than baking you chocolate cake and laughing at every lame joke you told them. Write down their histories before they're gone. You may find that you have more in common than "Go Fish" and dusting.

9. Your mom is not out to get you. She doesn't communicate well with you, that's all. She really loves you more than you could possibly fathom and wants to protect you from the heartache that you are so desperate to plunge into. Try to overlook the way she says it and pay attention to the meaning. Also, when you're a mom, you're going to say a lot of the exact same phrases she is saying to you now. No, really. It's freaky.

10. You are beautiful. You are enough. I can't say this any better than Kate did: The world we live in is twisted and broken and for your entire life you will be subjected to all kinds of lies that tell you that you are not enough. You are not thin enough. You are not tan enough. You are not smooth, soft, shiny, firm, tight, fit, silky, blonde, hairless enough. Your teeth are not white enough. Your legs are not long enough. Your clothes are not stylish enough. You are not educated enough. You don’t have enough experience. You are not creative enough.

There is a beauty industry, a fashion industry, a television industry, (and most unfortunately) a pornography industry: and all of these have unique ways of communicating to bright young women: you are not beautiful, sexy, smart or valuable enough.

You must have the clarity and common sense to know that none of that is true. None of it.

You were created for a purpose, exactly so. You have innate value. You are loved more than you could ever comprehend; it is mind-boggling how much you are adored. There has never been, and there will never be another you. Therefore, you have unique thoughts to offer the world. They are only yours, and we all lose out if you are too fearful to share them.

You are beautiful. You are valuable. You are enough.

The Next Best Thing

by Terri Wagner


I am taking an hybrid class this semester on education and the Internet. Recently, I had the opportunity to listen to a skype interview with Ms. Cassidy, a first grade teacher in Canada. She has her first graders blogging! And the best part was she taught herself about the Internet and how to adjust for use in her class. It's a terrific interview, please go watch it. What impressed me the most was her comment that she is always looking for the next best thing. As a teacher, she wants to make sure her children are Internet savvy. And she means not just playing around on it, but really knowing how to use and best of all how to be wise about it.

This class has been eye-opening for me. But in all the excitement over learning new things, I kept wondering how do you keep the children safe. She answered the question. Just the same way our Heavenly Father keeps us safe. He gives us the rules, and we govern ourselves. Granted those rules change a bit as we grow older and hopefully wiser; but the principle is the same. Now I feel I can "seek after anything (including the Internet)," that "is virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy."

The Curse of the Traveling Hubby

by Kristin Baker Przybyla

We have a little joke about what happens when my husband goes out of town. Something always breaks, but it's not the usual little things that are easy to deal with, like a plate or a toe. It's always some kind of emergency I can rarely handle on my own.

A few things that have gone wrong while the hubby's been off in faraway lands:

• The dishwasher gasped its last (and is still broken, now being used as a big bread box).
• The washing machine pooped out, then locked its door and refused to give me access to the soaking clothes within.
• A close family member unexpectedly passed away.
• My laptop and my husband's desk PC both fried on the same day.
• The heater broke in the dead of winter.
• My vacuum blew up, literally: pieces of plastic and hardware flew across the room and hit the wall hard enough to leave dents.
• The car broke down.
• Either a kid or a pet needed emergency medical treatment.
• Our bank account always gets locked by either a hotel or a car rental company, making it impossible for me to buy anything. This time it's the car rental. I don't know when I'll be able to go to the store and I'm furious.

So when my husband and 13-year-old daughter left on Saturday for a week-long karate event in Texas, it was with no small amount of trepidation that I waved goodbye, wondering what was next on the list of Things to Kick the Bucket When the Husband's Not There to Keep an Eye on Stuff. I said a little prayer for the safety of my traveling family members, and also for the continued operational status of our material possessions.

I had a nice, if rather lonely, Easter, with the rest of the kids yesterday, and by nightfall I decided to stop neglecting the dishes and laundry. I started up the washing machine, then turned on the faucet to rinse some grease out of a pan. A minute later, I noticed it was just cold water coming out of the tap. I asked my 11-year-old to run the bath and see if that got any hot water. Nope. With a sinking feeling in my stomach, I went out into the garage to have a peek at the water heater.

A small waterfall was pouring from the bottom of the heater and making its way down the messy garage floor through our boxes of stuff. Not having a clue what the difference was between the gas line and the water pipes, I ran back inside and left a few panicky pleas for help on Facebook, then texted and called my husband and daughter about 50 times. No answer.

If Rule #1 when my husband goes out of town is Something Big Always Breaks, Rule #2 is You Can't Get Ahold of the Hubby to Save Your Life. I did, however, get lots of good advice from Facebook friends which I'm very grateful for, and my awesome local friends Kim and Andrew sped right over to help me turn off the water heater and drain it. (Sorry for my messy house and garage, guys!)

Eventually my daughter did text me back: She'd tell Daddy about the water heater after he got out of the shower. I grumbled something about hot showers being a luxury he'd better appreciate while he still could. Now I'm boiling water for the dishes, and trying to calculate how many pots I'll have to boil in order to partially fill up a lukewarm bath. It'll be a week before he gets back, and after that I'm not sure how long until we'll be able to afford a new water heater! But I'm handling this in stride; we're living like the pioneers (pioneers with an electric stove to boil water in, knock on wood), and it could still be worse. Knock on wood again.

Besides, I can rest happy knowing this is the last time something huge ever breaks while I'm on my own, because as soon as my husband gets home, I'm chaining him to the house and never letting him go out of town again!