Lindsay Detwiler's Blog, page 38

Help, Please!

Hey everyone! Voice of Innocence needs fifty votes to advance to the final round for The Romance Reviews Reader’s Choice Award. Can you please help?

Go to www.theromancereviews.com and sign up for an account in the top right corner.
Verify your email address through your email.
Click on the red link entitled “Book Voting.”
Scroll down to the Contemporary Romance category. Voice of Innocence is in this category (it is alphabetical).
Click nominate this book.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL OF YOUR HELP! I really appreciate it :)

Lindsay Detwiler, Voice of Innocence

Sexy Hair H2NO

I am an obsessive hair washer. I cannot stand skipping the shampoo, even if it means my strands will be healthier. I’ve read the articles that say how washing your hair everyday ruins your color, dries your hair out, and can even make your scalp produce more oil, which is counterproductive. I get it. But any time I’ve ever tried to skip a shampoo and use dry shampoo, I feel like a greasy disaster. I feel like I’m doing the walk of shame to work, everyone staring at my clearly nasty hair. I feel paranoid, like everyone knows my deep, dark secret…that I skipped the shampoo.

That was until I bought this product by Sexy Hair. It’s called H2NO and is supposed to be a style saver. It claims to allow you to go three days without washing your hair. I decided, in favor of saving my darker colored hair, I’d give it a try.

When you first spray it on your hair, it feels much heavier than a typical dry shampoo, almost like a hairspray. However, once you give it a few minutes to soak in and then brush it, it feels amazing! It truly makes your hair feel like you actually washed it. Unlike other dry shampoos, my hair didn’t feel gunky or a strange texture. I actually liked it so much that I went to school a few separate days in the past few weeks without (gasp) really shampooing. That is how confident I felt in this product.

I will say that I think the 3 day thing is pushing it … 2 days is the max I would feel comfortable just using this instead of shampoo. However, I am paranoid about shampoo skipping, as I’ve said, so you may disagree.

This product is priced at $18.95 on Ulta. I bought mine on Amazon, though, for $11.95. I would recommend if you are a dry shampoo virgin or dry shampoo hesitant, you go with this one because out of about five brands I’ve tried, this was my favorite.

Lindsay Detwiler

Finding a Life With Emotion: The Power of Words

The beauty of literature, of writing doesn’t come from the words themselves. The beauty comes from the concept that by putting a few black symbols on a white page, a writer can convert an imaginary image of emotion to another human being, can make another person feel the soul moving feeling of a connection.

As an English teacher, I am always asked: why do we even need to interpret literature? What’s the point. My answer is always the same: literature connects us with our humanity, helps us feel something. What could be more important than that?

I am always finding things in my life that move me, that make me feel something. It can be a song like Ed Sheeran’s “Photograph.” It can be a movie scene like the kiss in The Notebook or the final scene of Fault in Our Stars. Sometimes it’s a story on Facebook, an image on Twitter. Life, in my opinion, is about these moments, the moments that make us feel emotion at its core, whether that emotion be love, happiness, or sorrow.

This is perhaps why I love my role as a writer so much. I love the thought that by combining words in a particular way, I can convey deep feelings, can connect with people, can cause them to pause and remember, reflect, or see an idea in a new way.

Words truly are power. Words can remind us we are human, remind us we are all connected, and remind us the world is truly an immense place full of things to explore.

Happy reading and happy writing!

Lindsay Detwiler, author

Free Sticky Blogging Writing Course

Hey writing friends! Check out this free, online course about Sticky Blogging! It was recommended to me by a writing friend. I enrolled because it is free, self-paced, and I figured new information about blogging is always welcome!

If you want to check it out, just click HERE.

Happy writing!

Lindsay Detwiler, author

Voice of Innocence Giveaway Ending Soon

My giveaway on Goodreads is about to end! Looking for a book to cuddle up on the couch with some pumpkin spice coffee with? Here’s your chance to win a free copy of the romance reviewers are calling “magical,” “realistic,” and “not your typical romance.”

Click HERE to enter! Good luck :)

Lindsay Detwiler, Voice of Innocence

Enter to Win a Copy of A.J. Compton’s The Counting Downers

It’s my last week in the #indie9giveaway! I’ve given away a ton of great indie books, and here’s the last one. Visit http://gvwy.io/r24hfma to win a Kindle ebook copy of A.J. Compton’s The Counting Downers! You have until Saturday to get your entries in.

The stunningly poignant and life-affirming debut novel by A.J. Compton

Imagine if we could see how long everyone around us had left to live. But we weren’t allowed to know our own numbers…

Trying to make sense of life after the death of her beloved father, free spirit Matilda Evans meets Tristan Isaacs and discovers a marrow-deep connection with him.

No stranger to grief himself, lonely artist Tristan is in awe of Matilda’s fun and philosophical approach to life. With every second spent in her presence, he finds his views on life and loss changing, and begins to embrace the beauty of being alive.

As their friendship turns into something deeper, lessons are learned, memories are made, and legacies are created.

But with both of them knowing how long their soulmate has left in this lifetime, important questions have to be asked and tough decisions have to be made before time runs out.

The Counting-Downers is an inspiring story about life, loss, love, and making the most of every moment.

My Husband Buys His Jeans at Walmart

My husband buys his jeans at Walmart. No frills, no fashionable fit . . .just jeans from Walmart.

My husband is not about fancy, candlelight dinners or romantic trips to the theater. He is a “let’s play mini-golf,” or “we’ll eat dinner at Wendy’s” kind of guy. Simplicity is the core of his motto. He seeks to impress no one, aims to avoid an air of sophistication.

My husband is a tell it like it is kind of guy. He’s not afraid to embarrass himself (or me). He isn’t afraid of people disapproving of him. At a fancy dinner, he’s the guy who has no clue what fork to use . . .and is okay with using the wrong one. His idea of fun includes Minecraft and miniature painting.

My husband was a pickup truck kind of guy in high school, a pickup truck that was beaten and worn…but paid for by his work as a dish boy. A pickup truck that’s engine caught on fire on the way to prom, creating quite a scene for all of the kids in limos. Even then, he was a Walmart jeans kind of boy.

My husband grew up in the woods, in the middle of nowhere. He was river bottom dweller, a bike riding kid. He was a let’s swim in the river instead of a chlorinated pool kind of kid.

I’m not married to the most suave, intellectual, sophisticated, or high class kind of guy. I’m married to a simple guy, a funny guy, a down to earth guy who would give you the last five bucks in his pocket if you needed it. I’m married to a guy who isn’t from the fairy tales, who isn’t the perfect love interest from the movies.

And I’m glad for that. Because the guy I’m married to reminds me of what life is truly about. He reminds me that whether your jeans are from Hollister or from Walmart, what matters the most is living the life you truly love.

Lindsay Detwiler

Where Were You

Wearing my favorite tank top adorned with the London skyline and my Levis, I strolled into my morning class. It was eighth grade, and I was the awkward, nerdy girl who always sat in the front row. Heading to study hall, I was getting ready to work on some math problems and study for next period’s test. I would never finish the problems. I would not study for the test. Instead, I would witness the most horrific thing of my adolescent years.

It was in that study hall that I saw the twin towers fall, that I first heard the word terrorism. It was on that day that I began to understand what fear really was, when I began to worry about how quickly an average day could turn into a disaster.

September 11th.

It’s been years since that attack, but the words still stir a feeling of dread, of sorrow, of fear. I didn’t know anyone personally in those towers, but I still feel an inexplicable sadness for those who lost their lives on that day. The horrific images, the fear of the unknown: it was a lot for an eighth grader to absorb. It is still a lot for a twenty-seven-year-old to absorb.

Now, as a teacher, it’s crazy to me to see how the date is losing its significance. When I first started student teaching, the seniors I taught felt the same feelings of dread, had strong memories of the date. Now, the kids I’m teaching are too young to have their own memories of the day. They don’t remember what they were wearing. They don’t remember watching the live newscasts in which victims were seen jumping from the top of the World Trade Center to their deaths.

Most of all, they don’t remember a world where “terrorism” happened elsewhere, where America was protected from this harsh reality.

For these kids, terrorism and terrorism alerts are as commonplace as fire drills. They’ve never lived in a world where the word terrorism isn’t a possibility.

But I have.

I lived in the pre-9/11 world. I lived in a bit of a rosy cloud, a place where bad things, attacks like 9/11, couldn’t possibly happen here. Terrorism happened elsewhere.

But 9-11 changed everything. It changed our world, changed terrorism into a possibility. It made me realize, even in eighth grade, how the most ordinary day can be darkened, stained by horrific events. It reminded me that nothing is promised, that an ordinary September day can forever change thousands of lives.

This Friday, I will talk with the students about 9/11, even if it is just briefly. We will take a moment to think about those who lost their lives. We will think about the day that the world stopped turning because that’s all we can do is remember.

Lindsay Detwiler

Please Help! Votes Needed for The Romance Reviews Readers’ Choice Award

I am so excited to be in the nomination round for The Romance Reviews’ Reader’s Choice Award! Voice of Innocence needs at least fifty votes to get to the final round by September 30th :) Go to http://www.theromancereviews.com/viewbooks.php?bookid=17048 and click the blue button above the book cover to vote. You may have to create an account, but it only takes a second. I would GREATLY appreciate any and all votes as well as shares.

Thanks so much!

Author Lindsay Detwiler

I Guess I Will Succumb to Fall

Pumpkin.

That’s what comes to mind when I think fall: pumpkin everything. Which is okay, I suppose. But give me flip flops and ice cream, splashing pool water and the sound of the sea over pumpkin any day.

Perhaps it’s because I’m a teacher, or maybe I’m just a beach girl at heart, but I love summer. Lazy days and sunshine; outdoor events and picnic foods. I love summer.

But summer can’t go on forever.

So I’ve come to terms with my back to school schedule. Don’t get me wrong—I love my job. I love talking literature and writing every day. I love that the kids make me laugh every day, that I get to help them discover new things and learn about literature. But fall is a huge adjustment. It’s just not summer.

I’m trying to be more optimistic, though, so I suppose I will make a list of reasons why I’m glad it is autumn.

Pumpkin cappuccino/gobs/and coffee. Although I hate pumpkin pie because of the texture, I do

love pumpkin flavored anything.

Scarves! Last year was my first year catching onto the scarf trend, and now I have dozens that

just make me feel happy when I wear them.

My leather boots! Even if I’m wearing frilly pink, I feel kind of like a bad a** in my knee high

boots. I know, it’s ridiculous.

Dark hair! I usually go dark over the autumn/winter months. I like my blonde highlights, but I’ve

always been one for dark hair.

So what are you looking forward to this season? Let me know J

Lindsay Detwiler, Voice of Innocence