Christene Houston's Blog: Christenehouston.com, page 14

Let’s Party

We’re only one day away from a party I’ve imagined for a year now. A Heart So Broken is ready to launch! It’s been such a journey, through radical revisions, tears, a little Voledmort (remember that first cover?) and rejoicing when it all came together. So here are the top five reasons why you should hit this fabulous little party going on tomorrow at the Clark County Library on 1401 E. Flamingo Rd. between 6:30 and 9:00pm on Saturday, November 10, 2012:

Thanksgiving is almost here and you’d like to prime the PIE pump.
You need a new book to keep you up late and give you an excuse to ignore the laundry.
You’ve always wanted a signed copy of the best new novel on the market.
Famous Dave’s has been calling your name and let’s be honest, you’re feeling lucky!
Christene will be reading some early writings (from the days of little Writer Christene) and you’re more than a little curious about how far she’s come…and maybe snicker at how silly she was…:)  

So, there you have it: Five solid reasons why you should be at the Launch Party of the year. Bring a friend and see you there!

What I’m Up To…

This week is crazy with last minute plans for my launch party. I’m not chatting here much, but you can find me in your local Las Vegas Review Journal View insert this week, and I made an appearance and signed books at the fabulous Vegas Valley Book Festival last Saturday. I hope you’re all planning to come to my Launch on Saturday, November 10, 2012 from 6:30-9:00pm at the Clark County Library at 1401 E. Flamingo (Flamingo/Maryland). It’s going to be a blast! Until this storm of fun blows over, we’ll be doing quite a bit of dancing here.

Wake Me Up

Rascal Flatts and THIS….

Let me Preface…

It was almost bedtime and I’d been snuggled down writing for about an hour when the call came. On my husband’s phone. He put it on speaker and soon I was hearing that one of my dear friends had received my book with an added bonus. 48 pages of a novel that…shall we say…could make my little YA book blush. There were f-bombs and sex scenes flying! Yikes! First I was immensley grateful to have such good friends who would know this was not my writing! Second I wanted to laugh because this kind of thing couldn’t happen to a more willing recipient. I think life can be way more fun than fiction.

My printer assures me that this was an isolated incident, but consider yourself forwarned! Feel free to contact me here or at Christenehouston@aol.com if you get yourself a copy with racy scenes.

But it really got me thinking. If I had the chance to have someone Forward my book, who would I hope it would be? Whose words would I be proud to have spliced with my own, shedding a bit of their brilliance on my work? I only needed to glance across my bookshelves to see who I admire:

By Shannon Hale

I have loved Shannon Hale’s work since I first picked up her book Princess Academy for book club. Her way of writing draws you in, like listening to a fairy tale at your mother’s knee. She has a sequel to Princess Academy just out this August and I intend to sample that one as well. I’ve also loved Goose Girl and Book of a Thousand Days. In my daydreams we would be best friends, talk about deadlines and juggling babies and loving every last bit of it.

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

This womanis amazing. The fact that I could read her books numerous times, to myself and my children, puts her at the top of my list of people I would be honored to have writing in my book. I can’t even imagine how a conversation with her might go. I would be quiet, that’s for sure because 1) Her English accent would captivate me and  2) I have a lot to learn and flapping one’s lips is a terrible way to do it. I’m sure there would be tea and krumpets involved. And I would be in absolute heaven.

by Stephenie Meyer

No matter who’s camp your in, Stephenie Meyers will always have my admiration. For one thing, I would never, ever, have read a book about vampires and werewolves before Twilight.(Let’s be honest, I spent one of my birthdays reading that book in bed as a gift to myself.) And for another, she was writing a bestseller during swim practices and with little people under foot. Just like me. She gave me a lot of inspiration and courage when I desperately needed it. I looked around and thought – Hey…if she can do this, so can I! She’s another woman I’d love to have over for lunch. I’d make Chinese Cabbage Salad, I’d ask about her boys, then I’d listen while she told me everything about making your book into a movie and being on Ellen’s talk show. I can see it all now….

I could probably throw out a few more names of people I’d love to canoodle with in my written works and in real life, but this Lady will round things up.

By Sheri Dew

Sheri Dew has written a half dozen of the books on my shelf. She is a wonderful writer, and better, a powerful woman who uses her influence in her life and in the media to uplift, enlighten and empower women of all generations. When I’m reading her books I feel humbled and uplifted all at once. When I get done I’m ready to do something about those feelings. In my writing, my goal is ever to touch people’s hearts. Sitting down for a conversation with Sheri would be a life changing experience.

If any of you have connections with these women, hook a sistah up! And then tell me…who would be on your list?

 

 

Short Short Competition

A couple months ago, you might remember me feeling the jitters over a Short Short Story competition. 500 words, 1.5 hours, subject given on arrival. We had to use the phrase, “Today is my Friday” in our stories, but otherwise we were given full range of imagination. Here’s what I came up with. Enjoy!

Without Knowing More

by Christene Houston (c) October 2012

 

Nothing can prepare you for such scenes: the unexpected collision on a Vegas highway and the resulting maelstrom of the bodies involved.

Jo worked on the little girl with damp blond curls, feeling a surge of protectiveness she’d never experienced before. A desperate urgency clawed at her as they raced to the hospital, puzzling Jo. At twenty-seven, Jo Erickson was well versed in politics of life saving. Distance meant safety. And yet…

Stats.

Doctors.

Hallways.

She stopped when she saw him. Dark blond curls disheveled from a sudden waking. Panic in his eyes when they caught hers.

“Was that Ashley?” he asked, his hand extended toward Jo, the other pointing down the hall as if the motion of the disappearing gurney were ripping him in two.

Boundaries, Jo.

His eyes plead with her.

“Who are you?” Jo knew better. She knew better than to care. This job could shred your heart if you weren’t careful. Yet, something made her step forward.

“Noah Fielding. My sister…,” he gasped, an audible sound of his throat constricting around pain, “She was hit by a drunk driver. My niece was with her.”

Jo tried to resist the feeling of being swept up, but failed.

“That was her. Noah, I worked on Ashley. I can’t promise you anything, but I’m hopeful. Your sister…” Jo didn’t know how to tell him she was hovering near death. She didn’t have to. One look revealed everything her words couldn’t.

“Can you sit with me?”

Jo should have gone. Her team was waiting. “Today is my Friday,” she began, “I have a few hours, but I’ll be back.”

Noah’s head popped up the moment she returned.

“We lost her,” he murmured.

Jo sank down into a crouch gasping for breath. She’d been so sure.

“My sister…,” he finished.

Her chest expanded knowing Ashley was still alive.

“I’m sorry,” she said. Her hand was poised to comfort him, but she remembered they were strangers and paused.

“You came back,” he said, wiping his eyes and looking into hers. Jo realized then that she was a mess of windblown hair and tired blue eyes.

“You asked me to,” was all she could stammer. She couldn’t explain how she was drawn to this little scene, or to Ashley. It had never happened before and Jo was sure it never would again. She prayed it at least.

“They said I could see her, but I’m afraid,” Noah said. “I don’t know why, but I’m going to ask you to help me.”

Seconds ticked.

“I don’t know why, but I will,” Jo said.

“I don’t even know your name,” Noah said, standing up. He towered over Jo like a linebacker.

“Jo,” she offered.

He took her hand, “Jo, thank you.”

There was a throbbing, a beating of hearts somehow connected by more than shared experience.

Without a word they walked the hall and Jo felt a wash of reassurance that, somehow, this path was meant for her.

 

Christene Houston © 2012 Flash Fiction Contest

Front Porch

These are on my front porch…

They’re all cleaned up for a friend’s wedding and soon to be recycled into my vintage style Book Launch Party…

I love the pale blue and rusty accessories…

All beautiful things from this old house and it’s surroundings.

Just goes to show that not all beauty comes in freshly minted designs. Some are touched with a faded hand and just a little rusty around the edges. That’s the kind of thing I find beautiful.

I can’t wait for it to all come together on November 10th. So mark your calendars and come enjoy a great book and tasty pie!

P.S. If you can’t wait that long for your copy, get your copy here or here. Bring it along so I can sign it!

 

 

 

In the Rain

We woke up to rain…

The kind where the clouds are low, thick and gray.

I love when they layer on top of each other, values of dark and light, spun with flashes of lightning.

The sky grumbles unexpectedly and we all pause at the table to smile, because rain in Vegas is a precious compliment after a long hot summer. It tickles your face when you run out to your car and laughs at your crusty windshield wipers as they struggle across your windshield. It tricks the streetlights into staying on into the morning.

Mr. Houston has been up since 1am, working, but he offers to take the kids to school so I can curl up on the couch in front of our large window, the door open so I can listen to the inspiration of water splashing on the front walk and dream up the perfect exchange between Jake and Bryn (coming soon…I hope!). My man is such a sweetheart. So I make our bed and leave a love note because I know he’s exhausted and will need a nap. I make him breakfast and an extra piece of toast. I love that man.

While I was out taking pictures I remembered the football my little football player threw up on the roof. He tried to get it down with the broom…you can see how well that worked. We keep forgetting about it (don’t ask if I’ve swept my kitchen floor in the last few days). Maybe the rain will bring it down for us.

Until then, I’m going to curl up with the blanket Grandma Houston made and spin stories. Enjoy your rainy day…

 

Weekend Inspiration

Going to Bootcamp

This.

 

This Saturday.

 

Happy Birthday to ME!

I’m on Amazon!!

It’s raining here, a perfect downpour while the babies sleep and I’m up writing a post that seems surreal…

Today a wonderful friend (thanks Andrea) happened to check Amazon.com and see that my book, A Heart So Broken, is listed there and ready for sale. I thought it would be weeks before they would get me up, but there it is, looking so great! I’m so excited! This has definitely been a long time coming!

I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve walked through the library or book store and imagined my book on the shelf right at the front, the place where people stop the moment they walk in, mezmerized by covers and words and stories that beckon them closer. This isn’t a brick and mortar bookstore, but it’s just as cool. Seeing the cover of my book out there - available to the masses!! It’s just so cool! This is stuff we dream of when we begin to sketch out a story that only we know, hoping that someday, someone else will care to hear it.

A Heart So Broken is an amazing book. It’s romance… it’s pain, it’s loss and forgiveness. It’s the kind of book you want to take to bed with you so you can just…keep…reading.

So I just wanted you to know. I’ll be back in a day or two with my own shopping cart here on Christenehouston.com. You can buy directly through this website, but until then, enjoy the stylings of Amazon.com!