Just One Thing To Say Today

Merry Christmas, Friends

If you're traveling, I hope whatever roads you wander are safe and beautiful.

If Christmas isn't a holiday you celebrate, I hope whichever you do is (was) fabulous.


If holidays aren't your thing, I hope you have an amazing day.

As for me, I'm surrounded by family today.

♡And life is good♡

Thanks for stopping by!
♡Sara

Instead of Commenting on My Post Today

Go here!

http://www.letssaythanks.com/

Let's Say Thanks is a site that allows you to send a free postcard to U.S. military personnel stationed overseas to show your support and appreciation for their service to our country!

It's easy, takes like two minutes, and might just brighten a soldier's day.

Now go on, get outta here! 

Thanks for stopping by!
♡Sara

Friday Funny: Damn You Autocorrect

You've had a long week. You deserve to laugh.

 It's time for the Babbling Flow's Friday Funny!!

And today, I bring you Damn You Autocorrect. For those of you who've been missing out so far, it's a site "dedicated to all the embarrassing, questionable, hilarious, and just plain WTF auto correct moments."

Every image here is from DamnYouAutocorrect.com, and there are a ton more at the site! Oh, and I had to add a few for writers at the end :)

BTDubs: This post is... um... probably PG-13 or so. Consider yourself warned.

And for the writers, I just couldn't resist:

Have an awesome weekend!

Thanks for stopping by,
♡Sara

One Million Fifty-One Thousand Two-Hundred Minutes!

Today is my two year wedding anniversary!

In the grand scheme of things marriage lengths, two years isn't all that long. Not in comparison to people celebrating twenty-five, thirty... fifty plus years. Still, though. The past two years have been full of life and laughter and love and more laughter (and oh my God SO MUCH LAUGHTER.)

Two years ago today, we danced our first dance. We cut the cake. Kissed our first married kiss. Exchanged vows. Began wearing new rings. Pretty much had the times of our lives. It was a kick ass way to start our new "official" life together.

I've spent the last two years with someone who:
♡makes up bedtime stories for me when I can't sleep. GOOD ones. So good, in fact, that I've convinced him he needs to write a novel someday. The man has a well of creativity that puts my little puddle to shame.
♡dances around Hugh-Grant-in-Love-Actually style for me on at least a weekly basis, and especially when I'm in a bad mood, or sick.
(skip to the 30 second mark...)


♡ envisioned and put into creation a concert called Tickle-palooza. It rolls through our town house almost every night and he's always the first in line for tickets AND backstage passes. For instance, here's a pretty standard sample of our nightly dialogue:

Him: (wearing a completely innocent expression) Hey babe--guess who I heard is coming to town?
Me: (reading, not paying much attention) Hmm?
Him: Honey, you're not even listening and TICKLEPALOOZA is coming to town!!! Aren't you excited?
Me: (scoots to the edge of the bed) Oh God. Not tonight. Come on. COME ON!
Him: (ignores my pleas) Look! I got you a ticket for a front-row seat! (Holds one empty hand out, palm up, toward me)
Me: ... (tries not to giggle)
Him: And look! (Holds other hand out to me) a backstage pass!
Me: (tries to run away)
Him: (grabs me and tickles me until I can't stop laughing/beg for mercy/can't breathe)

I love Tickle-palooza almost as much as I hate it.

♡ supports and believes in my writing so much that on Friday at his work holiday party, every person I met asked me about my novels and wanted to know more about my process and wanted to know my blog address and told me that my husband's enthusiasm for my dream/career is "catching" and they want to stay updated about it.

I could go on and on with this list, but I'll sum it up instead: I'm a very happy, very lucky girl. Marriage takes work and compromise and just because we laugh all the time doesn't mean we don't get into some good old rip roaring arguments. But when all is said and done? I wouldn't trade a single second of it.

Because I'm happy.

And in love.

♡♡♡

Thanks for stopping by!
♡Sara

Me and Orson Scott Card (+ SIGNED ENDER'S GAME GIVEAWAY)

That's right, you read that title correctly!

Two weeks ago, I MET ORSON SCOTT CARD!!

*dies*

*revives*

*dies again*

PROOF:

Me & Orson Scott Card!!

Orson came to Northern Virginia for his first ever signing of his new book Pathfinder. (More on the amazingness that is that book later.) It was hands down one of my favorite signings ever. Not only because this man and his book Ender's Game (and the rest of that series) had a huge impact on the reading side of my literary journey, but because he was funny, and personable, and would sign as many books as someone wanted!! (Okay, that last part is just an added extra...)

He shared some fun stories and anecdotes, one of which I found really interesting: he doesn't reread books when writing their sequels. I guess an added benefit to having such a large fanbase, is that he's able to go to his online forum to ask questions if he can't remember. (For example, he couldn't remember what he'd already written about one character's father, so he just asked his forum and a reader answered for him!)

He also mentioned his love of nonfiction books, because those, he says, are the books that can really fill your head with foundation for great fiction. He spoke a bit about the Ender's Game movie in the works. (I can't wait!)

The entire experience was so... surreal to me. And yet, it so wasn't because Orson Scott Card puts it right out there that he's just a regular guy. But he's not, really. Not to me anyway. Ender's Game was required reading for me in either 8th or 9th grade in high school. I fell in love with it--and all the books that followed. I've reread it once every year or two since then, and I'll probably do so for a long time to come.

I still have my original copy, that I had for school, with my maiden name written in Sharpie across the top of the pages. It's pretty much in tatters, and I love it that way. But guess what? Now, I have a new, crisp signed copy--personalized, just for me! I know I'll continue to read my first copy because there's something about opening those soft and worn down pages that's as familiar as coming home to me (<---cheeseball alert!) but I love,love,love having my own signed copy.

And guess what else? I got a second signed copy to giveaway to one of you guys! I mean, I KNOW I'm not alone in my love of Ender's Game. I couldn't be selfish and just get my own without getting one for you guys too.

Therefore, my giveaway for the month of December is for a SIGNED Ender's Game and a SIGNED Pathfinder!

Two winners. One for each book. All you have to do to enter is:

1) be a follower
2) leave a comment on this post, telling me
        a) which book you'd rather win, if you're chosen
        b) or let me know if you don't have a preference
        c) OR if you don't win the one you prefer, please let me know
            if you don't want the other one
3) tell me where you're from, since this contest *IS* open internationally
    and I love to know where you guys come here from!
4) and leave your email address

You don't have to blog it or tweet it or whatever, though if you choose to that'd be cool too :) (Leave links to the places you spread the word in the comments of this post and I'll give you an extra point for each!)

I'll use random.org to select the winners.

This contest closes at midnight on December 31st, 2010--that way the winners can start the new year off with their new SIGNED Orson Scott Card books!

Thanks for stopping by!
♡Sara

Writer's Giveaway Winner

Hey friends! Sorry this is so delayed, but I've been sick... YET AGAIN. Second time in a month. Are you kidding me???

Dear Immune System,

Start freaking working out. You have chicken muscles and can't seem to carry the weight of staying healthy.

Love, 

Sara

Anyhoo, I used random.org to pick a winner-- see, here's proof:

And the fifteenth comment came from..........

Shannon O'Donnell!!!

Dude, I think this is the second contest of mine that you've won--you must have some weird voodoo linkage going on with random.org :)

Send me your mailing address again, just in case. And congratulations!!

Thanks for stopping by!
♡Sara

Friday Funny: Forward Edition

(Don't forget: today's the last day to enter my Writer's Giveaway.)


You've had a long week. You deserve to laugh.

 It's time for the Babbling Flow's Friday Funny!!

My sister sent this forward a few weeks ago, and I wanted to share it with you guys :) I've highlighted my favorites...

1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die. 
2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.
3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.  
4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.  
5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet? 
6. Was learning cursive really necessary?  
7. MapQuest really needs to start their directions with #5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.  
8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died. 
9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.  
10. Bad decisions make good stories.  
11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.  
12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.  
13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page technical report 200 page WIP that I swear I did not make any changes to.  <---omg YES YES YES, lol
14. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.  
15. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.  
16. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.  
17. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.  
18. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger. 
19. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?  
20. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!  
21. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.  
22. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch cell phone 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is. <---BINGO
23. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time.  
24. The first testicular guard, the "Cup," was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974. That means it only took 100 years for men to realize that their brain is also important. 

Have a fabulous weekend!

Thanks for stopping by!
  ♡Sara

Sexy Ryan Reynolds... and a Writer Giveaway!

A few things.

1) My fantasy boyfriend, Ryan Reynolds was voted sexiest man alive.

2) Um, DUH.

Let's all just pause for a moment of DROOL.

3) He had me at Van Wilder, and has never let me down since.

4) Seriously. I used to watch that move EVERY DAY. There was a time when I could quote the entire thing verbatim.

 I'd like you to meet Sherri and Terri. Two girls utterly infatuated with men who have larger than normal... medulla oblongatas. 

5) I loved love him so much, I was thisclose to writing him a letter and inviting him to my sorority formal my senior year of college.

6) What? He wasn't as famous then, and it would have been a cool publicity story. I stand by my theory that he COULD have said yes.

7) Except my ex decided he wanted to give it another shot right around then, and what can I say? I'm a sucker for people who I've dated for years. So I never wrote the letter. Sigh.

8) I do still wonder though... What might have been.

9) Ryan's been the only man who could ever tear me away from my first love: Jared Leto.

10) Although, yeah, Jared still makes my heart melt into a warm, buttery consistency.

Oh
...
My
...
God

11) But I digress. (Ryan... You're still my number one.)

12) Having absolutely nothing to do with In celebration of Ryan finally receiving the title he deserves, I'm having a giveaway for writers!

13) Also, even after three new bookshelves, I don't have enough space for all my books, and I'm downsizing the ones I have on the field and craft of writing. (I actually have two copies of some of these!)  So, I'm passing the following ones on.

2010 Writer's Market Deluxe Edition
2010 Guide to Literary Agents
2010 Jeff Herman's Guide to Book Publishes, Editors, & Literary Agents
The Everything Get Published Book
Write on Target
Guide to Fiction Writing
Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer

14) To enter, all you have to do is be a follower and leave a comment on this post with your email address!

15) Winner takes all! Yep, one commenter will win every one of these books :)

16) Contest ends at midnight on Friday, November 26th.

17) US only this time. Sorry to all my international friends! I promise, next one will be open to you too!

18) Good luck!

Thanks for stopping by! ♡Sara

Fun with Tamara Heiner

In case you missed it, yesterday I blogged about Tamara Heiner's book, Perilous. Today, Tamara's stopped by to play "getting to know you," one of my favorite things to do with authors!

Desert Island Food: What’s the one thing you couldn’t ever give up? 
Oh, this is a hard one. I love food. LOVE IT. I’m gonna go with strawberries.
Ooooh, love strawberries! Though, I'd have to go with... sushi :)

Guilty Pleasure: What’s one movie/TV show you love, but are embarrassed to admit it? (Come on. You tell me yours, I’ll tell you mine!) 
Well, I’m kind of proud of this, though some people look at my funny. Battlestar Galactica. THE ORIGINAL SERIES.
Okay, honestly, I kinda think that's a cool answer. I've never seen it, myself, but most of my writerly friends love it! So I wish I had watched it... (Mine's Gossip Girl.)

What were the first words out of your mouth when you found out your book was going to be published? 
Trying to remember. I’m sure I called my mom, but I would’ve played it real cool and said something like, “Well, I got a contract.”
Haha! Dude, I have no idea how you played it cool. I probably would have been jumping around and, you know, dancing something like:


Where’s your dream vacation spot?
Somewhere in Italy.
Nice pick! That's up there for me too. The Amalfi Coast. Yes, please.

Who’s your male celebrity crush?
(Um, for the record, I so call dibs on Ryan Reynolds and Jared Leto, but the rest are up for grabs!)
I’m lame, I don’t have one! If I were 16, I’d have a total crush on Zac Efron…but I’m not 16!
Well, for the record, I'm *pretty* sure Zac's legal. I mean, I wouldn't know for sure. (Yes I would. He was born October 18, 1987)

And, who’s your fantasy celebrity best friend?
(Mine’s Jennifer Aniston—but, in this case, I’m willing to share ;) 
Taylor Swift. LOVE her.
Nice! Yes! She's amazing :)

Favorite book(s)? 
A Rustle in the Grass by Robin Hawdon.
I'll definitely have to check this one out!

And finally, what do you see in this inkblot??? 
A woman with a pineapple on her head doing a dance. She’s also wearing a hula skirt and hoop earrings.
Much more creative answer than mine: A crab wearing a crown, lol.





Thanks for stopping by Tamara! It's been a blast to be a part of your tour :) Good luck!

And for the rest of you: Check out the trailer for Perilous!!


♡Sara

Perilous

Yay! So you may or may not know this, but Tamara Heiner's book, Perilous, came out this week!!  In celebration, Tamara's hosting two giveaways, one for an autographed copy of her book and the other for a KINDLE!! For chances to win, keep reading :)

About Tamara: 
Perilous is my first published novel, and I wrote it many years ago when I was bored in study hall. We’ve both come a long ways since then. I now spend my time running around my house chasing three kids and trying to sneak to the computer when they’re not looking. I have a wonderful, supportive husband who appreciates the fact that I enjoy cooking as much as I enjoy writing. Not that I have time for that, either.

About Perilous:
Jaci Rivera has plans for her sophomore year: go to regionals with the track team, make the honor roll, and eat too much pizza with her best friends, Callie and Sara. Her biggest concern is Amanda, the pushy girl who moved in a few months ago.

What she doesn't plan for is catching a robber red-handed, or being kidnapped. The desperate thief drags her and her friends 2,000 miles across the Canadian border. They escape from his lair, only to find that he has spies and agents watching their path home, waiting to intercept them and take them back.

Then Jaci finds something out about her family. Something which irrevocably connects her to their kidnapper, and makes her question their chances of escape.


Five things I loved about Perilous!
1. The prologue. I really like the prologue in Perilous! It pulled me in and was full of mystery and made me want to dive right into the pages.
2. Jaci. The MC. She's a sweet girl and I loved when she'd use her head in... certain situations which I'm not going to give examples of because I don't want to give any spoilers :P (don't you just love when people do that?)
3. Claber. An antagonist. I loved to HATE him. I mean, hate. From the first words out of his mouth, I despised him. And there was nothing he could ever do to make me like him. Trust me, you'll see what I mean when you read Perilous.
4. The mystery. The plot is thrilling, but there's more going on than meets the eye, which is evident pretty early on, but just drove me to want to keep reading--to figure it the heck out!
5. Pickles! Okay, you're thinking uh, wtf? but just read it. Pickles connect to Detective Carl, another character I enjoyed :)

Bravo, Tamara! Can't wait to read the sequel!

Buy Perilous:

Ebook
Amazon
Tamara's Website

But wait! You can win 

a copy of Perilous 

AND a KINDLE!!!  

Tamara's running two contests during the tour: one book giveaway and one Kindle giveaway.


According to Tamara:
Book giveaway: The winner of this contest will be randomly chosen. Every person who comments on any post during the blog tour will be entered into a random drawing for a book. Which Tamara will autograph, if you'd like. The contest begins on Nov. 16 and ends on Dec. 15.

Kindle giveaway: This contest is point-based and begins Oct. 15 and ends Dec. 15. Whoever has the most points wins the Kindle.


Here are the points:
1 point: blog comment (can comment on all the blogs, multiple times, on the tour)
1 point: follow my blog (http://tamarahartheiner.blogspot.com)
1 point: retweet
2 points: blog about the blog tour
5 points: purchase the book (ebook or paperback, must email me the confirmation email) if they actually buy the book in the store they can mail me a copy of the receipt.
Have them add up all their points as well as their proof (links, etc) and email it to me at the end of the blog tour (tamara at tamarahartheiner dot com)

People can earn an infinite number of points! I'm excited for this!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


So there ya have it! Go, read Perilous! And have a fabulous weekend!!


Oh! And stop by tomorrow to find out who Tamara's fantasy celebrity best friend is! (Her pick is *almost* as cool as mine...)


Thanks for stopping by!
♡Sara

WFC in Pictures

This is so long overdue.

I have no excuse.

And the worst part is, I'm so deep into my WIP that I don't have time for a proper summation. So I'll just say this:

World Fantasy Con 2010 was freaking awesome. I hung with writer friends, new and old. And I met so many amazing people.

Here are some of their pictures. Click on their names to check out their blogs.

My roommates!

Carolina Valdez Miller

Karen Hooper

Other fabulous people:

Roommies + Livia Blackburne and Simon Larter!

Ricki Schultz

Rae Carson

Alistair Kimble & Griffin Barber
And, yeah, these expressions sum them up quite well :)

Tim Akers

And then there were these other amazing people that I'm hitting myself for not getting (appropriate) pictures of/with! (Next year, for sure!)

Brad Beaulieu (dude, two cons and zero pictures. how is this possible?)
Peter V Brett
Blake Charlton
Myke Cole
CC Finlay
Jay Franco
Nancy Lambert (my most favorite stalker ever)
Gina Penney
Kelly Swails

There's no way I haven't left someone out. If it's you, I'm SO sorry--tell me and I'll add you. My brain's just so in WIP lala land that, well, I leave links out sometimes.

Just for fun:

Love me some Karen!

Love me some Carol!

Love me some SUSHI :)

I definitely signed up for WFC 2011 (in San Diego) before I even got home!

Also, find me on facebook if you want to see more of the pics.

Thanks for stopping by!
  ♡Sara