Tag--I'm it?

I'm pretty slow on the uptake, but apparently I've been tagged. I read all these other people's but didn't realize I was It--shows how good I am at this stuff, doesn't it. To see the blog that started it all go to http://www.sixldswriters.blogspot.com/. Jeff Savage is the offending party so if you live close, egg his house (but not with my chicken eggs cause the cold is keeping them from laying much) Anyway, I'm supposed to tell you guys 5 things you probably don't know about me. But I talk WAAAAAAAAY to much so I bet some of you know it all, but here goes :-)

1--I have a tatoo. My freinds and I brought in our Bruce Springsteen TAPE (it was that long ago) and when it was my turn I listned to Glory days. A week later we took some cookies to our tatoo artist. I don't think anyone had done that for him before. For anyone that hasn't had the joy of getting a tatoo, let me give you a heads up. Take a quilting needle, put it over a flame until it's red hot then jab it into your skin and scrape. And no it's not a skull on my back, it's a heart on my ankle. These days it looks like I let my 5 year old color on me.

2--I grew up in the ward Mark Hoffman lived in at the time of the bombings. I even babysat his kids once. A couple years into his prison term my brother came home with a crystal Mark's son gave him. We called it the Urim and Thummin :-) His wife and kids are wonderful.

3--On my wedding day during pictures across from the Salt Lake Temple L. Tom Perry and his wife walked by so we did the classy thing and asked them to be in a picture with us. That guy is TALL!! A year to the day later my husband and I went to the Joseph Smith Memorial building to celebrate our first anniversary and guess who we rode in the elevator with--yep, L. Tom and his wife. Totally weird huh!! And yes, we were classy again and made them shake our hands while we told them the story I don't think they remembered.

4--I can wiggle my ears.

5--I was married on April Fool's day--no joke. My sister was one of 300 weddings preformed in the Salt Lake Temple on her wedding day. I was one of 11--I guess Mormon's are pretty supersticious people. However, turns out that the thursday before General Conference all the GA's and their wives attend a special session of the temple and we were married on the thursday before conference, so we were in the temple the same day as all those amazing people!! it's got to be a sign or something, right...hey, maybe that's why I ran into L. Tom Perry that day. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Anyway, that's me. Now--who do I tag? Oh, I know....

Author, PR woman, writer extrodinaire:
Betty Ann Bruin--http://www.happyjellybeans.blogspot.com/

Author Trina Boice--http://www.boicemail.blogspot.com/

Author Katie Parker--http://www.katieparker.blogspot.com/

And I think everyone else's blog's that I know have been tagged--so move fast ladies, before all your freinds are used up!!

Best Book of 06!

Writing this blog ended up being a rather depressing endevour. For all the manuscripts, research, writing books, and such I read in 2006--not much of it was fun and not much of it was good enough to reccomend. Pretty pathetic. I love to read, and yet it seems in 06 I didn't find much time for it. I've already worked on fixing this for 07, and I'm off to a good start, but I realized that writing this blog was for purely selfish reasons. I need some good books this year!
As for my reccomendations, as you can see , I have three. The First Year by Crystal Liechty, The Counterfeit by Robison Wells & The Coming of Elijah by Arianne Cope. They are all very different as I enjoy a broad range of books.
The First Year is a hilarious comedy about the first year of marriage. I absolutely loved it and couldn't put it down. Crystal came to our the LDStorymakers writers' conference last spring and I was thrilled when she found publication. She has a very fun and easy to follow style.
The Counterfeit is an action packed adventure novel that takes place partly in the tunnels beneath Paris--I didn't know they existed. It was a fascinating and high-paced novel with a lot of humor and intriquing twists. It is the sequel to Wake Me When it's Over, which I haven't read of yet, but it stood on it's own.
The Coming of Elijah was the winner of the Marilyn Brown LDS fiction contest and is classified as an LDS literary novel. It is beautifully written and has been compared to The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint as it follows the life of a Navajo girl in the Indian Placement Program of the Church. I will warn you that it's not for every reader. It is raw in places and shows our human frailties in a startling light, but also shows an incredible depth of spirit that is very unique and is ultimately supremely redeeming--in my opinion. I found it very powerful and incredibly well written. It's Adrianne's first novel, though she's a very expreinced writer, and a story that stayed with me long after it was finished.
I reccomend all three depending on what you like to read, and keep in mind that if you're library doesn't carry them, put in a request. Usually they'll buy it and you'll be first to get it.
That's all I've got, but my pen is at the ready for your suggestions.

Carpal Tunnel--Oy!

Being invincible in all things (ha, ha), I had hoped I would not have to worry about Carpal Tunnel. Alas my luck ran out in November. For those of you that aren’t sure what Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is, it’s a condition where the rigid passageway for tendons and nerves between the forearm and the hand (the Carpal Tunnel) is compressed by either fluid, bone, or tight tendons, thus putting unnatural pressure on the nerve. What it feels like, for me, was a fast onset of intense pain at different areas between my wrist, thumb and first two fingers—it will not affect the pinky or ring finger as that’s linked to different nerves. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is caused by repetitive motions, such as, get this, typing! The intensity for me lasted several minutes, and the area turned dark purple and swollen. I iced it and it eventually dulled to an ache that stayed on the rest of the day while causing limited movement in the affected area. I wasn’t sure what it was and asked around—yep, carpal tunnel. Lucky for me I know Tristi Pinkston!

Tristi Pinkston is an avid writer and good friend (www.tristipinkston.com) who herself suffered from Carpal Tunnel as a teenager. When facing imminent surgery, she researched the problem and found this solution. I have since recommended it to friends suffering from CTS and every one of them that followed the instructions said their recovery was nothing short of amazing.

The Pinkston Plan

1. Go to the health food store and get a large bottle of flax seed oil capsules (not the liquid—yuck). Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club or a Costco will be your cheapest option.

2. Also get a B complex vitamin.

3. For the first week, take 8 flax seed capsules and four B's every day. Break that up so you’re not taking it all at once, say, 4 in the morning and 4 at night, otherwise you'll want to throw up.

4. For the second week, take 6 flax seed and 4 B, and stay at that dose for the next three weeks.

5. On week five, cut down to 4 and 2, and stay on that for about three weeks.

6. Forever after that, take 2 flax and 1 B every single day as a maintenance.

7. You should also go to a chiropractor and make sure don’t have any vertebrae pinching those nerves.

What will happen is that the flax will flush out all the toxins from your joints, and the Vitamin B will nourish them making the Carpal Tunnel more flexable, thus decreasing the compression. Some people worry about taking so much oil, but this is one of the good oils and will also help reduce cholesterol. (which I also have problems with so yeah me!)

Bottoms up—so far so good for me, I haven’t had a flair up since I started, and I’m on week two.

If you have an additional tips or suggestions, bring em on!

Six Lessons of '06:

6—Blogs Rock! I just love the casual nature of blogs and have found them very informative. Check out those I have in my links list and pass on any you come across. It’s a priceless way to learn from other peoples mistakes, successes and experience.

5—This is a Buisness. No one will watch out for my best interest the way I will. Passion and hobbie aside, this is a business and I need to be professional and wise in the decisions I make.

4—Keep Making Friends in the Industry. I’m amazed at the power of networking and the benefits of getting to know just one more author, or publisher, or editor. You can never have enough friends.

3—Freelancing . . . who Knew? I have had a few articles accepted this year and not only has the extra money been great, but the confidence of knowing I can write in another arena has been very encouraging. Every little bit of motivation helps!!

2—ALWAYS listen to Feedback. I have learned this lesson many times, but I’ve learned it yet again. In June I had several people read my manuscript, and one in particular gave me harsh feedback. I made some of her suggested changes but blew off the other ones and submitted my manuscript. Guess what changes Deseret Book ended up asking for? You got it. The exact things she’d pointed out. Had I listened, I may have saved myself 6 months and a deadline rewrite. But it was a good lesson—I sincerely hope I remember it this time.

1—Enjoy Successes! This career is full of discouragements. There are bad reviews, scathing reviews, rejections, small or non-existent royalty checks, plenty of people willing to tell you where you’ve fallen short or that your just wasting your time. Unless you completely lose all sense of reality, this will follow you your entire career. Because of this, it is imperative that you enjoy your successes. Write down your milestones, reward yourself when you meet a deadline, brag to someone about the scene you finally got right. Put up inspiring quotes and allow yourself to enjoy this process. Getting published hasn’t made the discouragements disappear for me—not a bit. But I think I take more joy in a good characterization now than I used to. It’s easy to wallow in the places I’ve fallen short, but it doesn’t keep me going. There is so much to learn, and around every corner is good and bad aspects of it. I’ve tried hard this year to focus on the ups instead of the downs and encourage you do to the same.

I'd love to hear what you've learned in your writing this year--I can use all the help I can get!