Deja Vu Blogfest

I'm participating in DL Hammons Deja Vu Blogfest today.  The idea is to repost a favorite older post from this year that you feel didn't get quite the viewing you'd hoped for.

I thought, hey, "that will be easy," then I started looking at my old posts.  Yikes, what a decision.  Not that they were so amazing I thought they all needed reposting, I wish.  I was a little underwhelmed and I wasn't sure any of them actually deserved being reborn.  Finally, I found one.  It's short and sweet and I thought it exemplified a kind of Christmas-time spirit, so here goes:


From October 17 2014,

No Powers Necessary

Yesterday, I was talking with my 10 year old son about my YA Fantasy novel (in editing phase) as I drove him to his guitar lesson.  He’s an avid reader of YA books so I respect his literary opinion. I explained some of the problems I was having with it.  First, he told me that a few of my ideas were a little too cliche so I might want to change it up a bit. Then he went on to give me his input on the weaponry my characters should be using, one of his favorite aspects of any story.

After a while he thoughtfully added, “Your main characters shouldn’t have magical powers.”

“Why?” I asked, sneaking a glance at him in the back seat.

“Because they shouldn’t have to use magic to be special and save the world.  Anyone can do it.  Everyone is special just by being themselves.”

Wow, I thought, and mentally prayed that he would always be himself.

Hope you enjoyed my Deja Vu post and I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season!

Kathy :)

Show the world how special you are by being yourself!

20 Years of Bliss

If you've been a follower for a while you know I love nothing more than to go on family adventures.  It doesn't have to be to some exotic location, we've had a wonderful time exploring places like Gulf Shores, Alabama and Mystic, Connecticut.


But the best adventure of my life, began twenty years ago today.  That was the day, in a small town in Michigan, in the middle of the ice rink where we met, that my husband and I said, "I do."

Standing at center ice, in front of our friends and family, we knew we were embarking on a wonderful and crazy journey.  We had no idea where it would take us, or the bumps in the road we would encounter, but we knew that traveling the road together was the only thing that mattered.

Twenty years has passed so quickly.

We've done so many crazy things together, like raising three crazy, wonderful kids, white water rafting down the Ganges River, biking down Mt. Haleakala at sunrise, driving to Alaska with our kids, and moving countless times back and forth across the country, but even the little moments like going grocery shopping together, hanging out at the coffee shop, or sitting on the couch cheering for our favorite teams are just as special.  It's the time spent together, talking, laughing, crying, exploring, no matter where we are, that has made me love him even more today than twenty years ago.

I'm so blessed to still be on this adventure of a lifetime.  I wonder what other roads this journey will take us on.

Kathy :)

The Evolution of Language

I'm a native English speaker...or at least I was.  It seems that the English language has evolved without me.  I don't know what happened.  I never thought I was going to be one of those old people who didn't understand new slang.  In college, I even helped my linguistics professor compile a slang dictionary!

But it has happened.

I  have two teenagers and a ten year old, so I thought I was keeping up and pretty hip on today's language.  Not even close!  Through almost constant texting and instant messaging teen language evolves so quickly that I feel like a foreigner when I listen to my kids talking to one another.  And the "olden times" sayings that I use produce blank stares from my kids asking for translation.

Here are just a few of the words my kids have said in the last month or so that stumped me:

Jays/(z)- Jordans -I'm assuming the shoe
Bae- an acronym for Before Anyone Else, I thought it was just short for baby
Bruh- what?  like when someone does something stupid or weird
Yeet- form of expression like yeah, but used when really excited
On point or OP- perfection ex: "Your outfit is on point!"  (for gamers, my son informed me, OP means over powered)
mod- minecraft stuff which is a whole other language that I don't get
hella- Hell of a
turnt- party up or yeah, accompanied by hands in the air (like "let's get in the partying mood!")
turn up- similar to turnt
TBT- Throwback Thursday usually to have an excuse to post a weird picture from the good ol' days
tbh- to be honest
YOLO- You only live once (I did figure this one out, but I've never used it)
TT- Transfromation Tuesday similar to TBT


Our kids have even made up their own words used within our family:

Sloth- a creepy person
Ladyboogles- lady bugs that scare our beagle
Bdonkers- thank you
Ridonkulonx- ridiculous
Deeeeeee- said when something super cute is around
Maomaoer- an imaginary treat "thrown" from oldest daughter to son to get him to do stuff
Bobfobis- what my kids call me though sometimes it's Piggymom or Momservant

Nicknames my girls call my son (he actually loves these so don't feel bad for him):

Chubtin (not sure why cause he's super skinny)
Pig Brother
Bean Brain
Clockhead

Nicknames for our chubby beagle Rory:

Flopperoogleboogle- he does have huge floppy ears
Pigtin
Beagleuchador
Dumbzo

Said to our dog when he's bad:

Good boogles don't bite, and you bit, so you not a good boogle, and if you not a good boogle, then there's only one thing left to be, a bad boogle so that's what you are a Bad Boogle!!!  Oh but you can also be good sometimes! (then they give him a hug and kiss!)

Even these words tend to evolve weekly into newer words and my husband and I are left trying to keep up!

So "keep your ears peeled" (something my grandpa used to say) and listen to all that teen speech or someday all us old folks will be left needing a translator to talk to our grandkids!

I'd love to hear any new slang you've heard, or "olden times speech" that no one understands anymore.

Have a great weekend!  Time to get hella turnt!

Kathy :)

IWSG Guide to Publishing and Beyond

Wow, I'm gone for a few weeks and so much has happened!  The biggest, of course, is the publication of the IWSG's new book, The IWSG Guide to Publishing and Beyond, which I'm proud to say I had a tiny part in as a contributing author.  I want to thank Alex J. Cavanaugh and all the wonderful people who spent hours editing and formatting it and all the other IWSG contributing authors who made this possible!  What a wonderful collaboration.  I'm so happy to be a part of it!

The Insecure Writer's Support Group Guide to Publishing and Beyond

ISBN 9781939844088
235 pages, FREE

Get your copy here!

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Kobo
Smashwords
Goodreads






I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We had a fabulous time with our family.  Thanksgiving is the one holiday each year when we can all get together.  This year it went way too fast!

Then we headed up to Ann Arbor, Michigan for my daughters to compete in a synchronized skating competition where they took 3rd!
Now we're looking forward to a nice, quiet but hopefully snowy Christmas and the new year already!

Oh, and I took my girls to see Mockingjay which was awesome!!

What have you been up to lately?
Hope the rest of your week is great!!

Kathy :)