Gerri Russell's Blog, page 5

National Tartan Day

Did you know that Saturday is National Tartan Day?  So what is Tartan Day, you ask?  It’s a day that commemorates the signing of the Scottish Declaration of Independence—a day when Scotland finally won their independence from England after centuries of war.

National Tartan Day has been celebrated in Canada for many years, and in 1998 President George W. Bush signed United States Senate Resolution no. 155 that designated April 6th as National Tartan Day!

The signing of this resolution had a special significance for all Americans, and especially those Americans of Scottish descent, because the Declaration of Arbroath, the Scottish Declaration of Independence, was signed on April 6, 1320 and the American Declaration of Independence was modeled on that inspirational document.

The resolution honors each year the major role that Scottish Americans played in the founding of this Nation, such as the fact that almost half of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were of Scottish descent, the Governors in nine of the original thirteen States were of Scottish ancestry, and that Scottish Americans successfully helped shape this country in its formative years and guided this Nation through its most troubled times.  It also recognized the monumental achievements and invaluable contributions made by Scottish Americans that have led to America’s preeminence in the fields of science, technology, medicine, government, politics, economics, architecture, literature, media, and visual and performing arts. 

Are you of Scottish ancestry, even a tiny little bit?  Will you celebrate National Tartan Day, if so, how?

Did you know that Saturday is National Tartan Day? So wh...

Did you know that Saturday is National Tartan Day?  So what is Tartan Day, you ask?  It’s a day that commemorates the signing of the Scottish Declaration of Independence—a day when Scotland finally won their independence from England after centuries of war.

National Tartan Day has been celebrated in Canada for many years, and in 1998 President George W. Bush signed United States Senate Resolution no. 155 that designated April 6th as National Tartan Day!

The signing of this resolution had a special significance for all Americans, and especially those Americans of Scottish descent, because the Declaration of Arbroath, the Scottish Declaration of Independence, was signed on April 6, 1320 and the American Declaration of Independence was modeled on that inspirational document.

The resolution honors each year the major role that Scottish Americans played in the founding of this Nation, such as the fact that almost half of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were of Scottish descent, the Governors in nine of the original thirteen States were of Scottish ancestry, and that Scottish Americans successfully helped shape this country in its formative years and guided this Nation through its most troubled times.  It also recognized the monumental achievements and invaluable contributions made by Scottish Americans that have led to America’s preeminence in the fields of science, technology, medicine, government, politics, economics, architecture, literature, media, and visual and performing arts. 

Are you of Scottish ancestry, even a tiny little bit?  Will you celebrate National Tartan Day, if so, how?

Daughters of the Forgotten Realms are coming!

I’m very excited to share the newest cover for the Daughters of the Forgottem Realms series. The three-book series begins with Passion’s Storm.

Here’s a short blurb of what’s to come: Ianthe of Lyonesse is a sorceress whose magic cannot save her people. Alexander Warenne is a warrior who’s never known defeat yet is now a captive in a would-be king’s  plans to take the crown of England. Caught in a web not of their own making, both Ianthe and Alexander fight for their freedom. As Alexander wages war on England, he discovers Ianthe is the one person who can heal his battle-scarred heart. Yet in order to attain her, he’ll have to risk everything.

Passion’s Storm is scheduled for release Spring 2013. Keep checking back or join the GerriRussell.net newsletter for updates and a sneak peek coming soon!

Summertime Contest Winners!

The winners of the “Summertime Contest” are Kathy Rybolt and Kimberly Coover! Kathy and Kimberly I’ll get your prizes off to you as soon as I get your contact information. Thank you to all of you who left comments. I really appreciate you sharing your thoughts and ideas with us all. Please come back and visit again soon because I’ll be starting a new contest in October.

Until then, enjoy the last days of summer!

–Gerri

Summertime is Contest Time!

Summertime’s long days seem to be the perfect time for reading! To celebrate summer, a new release, and reading fun, I’m giving away two signed copies of BORDER LORD’S BRIDE along with a variety of other fun promotional items and a $10 Starbucks card to two lucky winners. Simply leave a comment on the blog post before September 1st.  Two winners will be randomly drawn from those who leave a comment below.

What is your favorite way to spend a hot summer day?

 

Believing

I’ve been thinking a lot this week about belief—it has always played a huge role in my life. As a child I believed in Santa. I used to go downtown Seattle during the holidays and stand in a three-hour line at Westlake Center in order to have two minutes on the big man’s lap. Then I’d go home and write him a letter, just to follow up with our conversation about what it was I wanted. Sometimes Santa delivered on those wishes, sometimes he did not. I just figured when he didn’t that he had a lot to remember, and that I’d get what I wanted at some further date.

I was also brought up to believe that all people were good. And even in a world that sometimes feels out-of-control, there are heartwarming stories that hit the news everyday of people doing extraordinary things for others. When we believe in goodness, goodness happens.

It is easy to look at examples from the past and the present in our lives and find belief, but when we focus that belief at ourselves … something fails us.

It is easy in January to start the new year with fresh hopes and dreams. What about in the month of July? It’s a little harder…but not impossible to have big drams and see them through even without the impetus of a new year. The hardest part of having dreams is the “actual” putting them into play. You must connect action to those desires. And as the days tick by, it becomes easier and easier to get sucked up in the day-to-day activities instead of focusing on what it is we want from life. Have you given up on your dreams in the last several months?

Maybe it’s time to turn it around and start believing in yourself again—that same kind of belief you had as a child—that all things are possible if you only believe.

So I challenge you to do a little dreaming in five easy steps:

1. Ask yourself what you want most.

2. Picture yourself already having achieved it.

3. Write out the steps it will take for you to make this happen.

4. Start each day by reminding yourself what it is you want.

5. At the end of the day praise yourself for your progress toward your goal.

You have all the resources you need to make your dreams come true. And you don’t have to take a little trip to see Santa to make it happen. Everything you want can be yours if you believe.

So where do you need to add a little dreaming back into your life?

Romance Extravaganza

Come join me in celebrating Cinco de Mayo with some of the brightest stars and most popular authors of romance and women’s fiction books at the King County Library System’s Romance Extravaganza. It’s sure to be a fun and informative event for readers and authors! The event times are as follows:

11am–Noon

Romance All Stars featuring Julia Quinn, Stefanie Sloane and Amanda Quick (Jayne Ann Krentz)

Noon

Refreshments and Book Signing

12:30–1:30pm

New Trends in Romance featuring Meljean Brook, Alexis Morgan and Gerri Russell

1:30–2pm

Book Signing

Sponsored by the Friends of the Covington Library and the Greater Seattle Chapter of Romance Writers of America. Books will be available for purchase.

The Gratitude Project

I’m Trying a New New Year’s Goal for 2012

This year for the New Year I thought I’d do something a little different rather than the traditional goal-setting. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge believer is setting goals. Only by writing things down do we truly make them actionable. I have lots of goals written down…many I intend to accomplish before the end of the year. For 2012 I wanted to focus not on goals, but on the good things in my life, of all the things I am grateful for. Hence, I started on New Years Day with the goal of writing down 2012 Gratitudes. I’m calling it the Gratitude Project.

As the days of 2012 go by, I want to cut through all the craziness of daily living and remember the things that are important and that make life wonderful. I’ll be jotting down five or six things I’m grateful for every day. As with all goals, things aren’t so difficult when you break things into smaller more achievable tasks.

Research suggests that cultivating gratefulness is good for you. It increases your satisfaction, vitality, happiness, self-esteem, optimism, hope, empathy, and willingness to help others. For just a few minutes every day, you can change the way you think about your life and the world around you. Here’s my list of gratitudes for today:

I’m grateful for…

1. Starting to get a little more balance by focusing on the moment

2. Making progress on eating more vegetables with every meal

3. The sound of a baby’s laughter

4. Sunshine on the mountaintops

5. Gentlemen who still hold the door open for a lady

What about you? Would it help you to shift your focus from the day-to-day madness and concentrate on what’s important? What are you grateful for today?

Getting Back into the Writing Routine

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year. I love to watch the trees as their leaves turn into a painter’s pallet of red, orange, gold, and brown. I also love the wild and windy Seattle weather that brings those leaves to the ground. But I think what I love most about Fall is the return to a regular routine in my writing life.

Let’s face it. Summer writing schedules are different than during the rest of the year. For me the summer is filled with fits and starts–or lots of pages one day and nothing for the rest of the week. Fall brings consistency of daily writing back into the regime. Except there’s one little problem…how do you get fit again after a long break?

Running can give insight into this problem. In order to be a marathon runner, you must learn to train every day. To start with small goals for activity and slowly build to more. You have to get your muscles in shape and prepare for the ultimate test to your endurance.

Is preparing for writing any different? Not really.

So what’s a writer to do when their muscles are a bit out of shape? When the skills and abilities of achieving page goals each day are a bit…let’s be polite here…less than toned? It all goes back to the basics–those same principles marathon runners use.

• Retrain your discipline. This is a tough one. How to be disciplined enough to sit down in your writer’s chair after a long break from that habit. Two things that have always worked for me are a quote and a kitchen timer.

The quote: “Discipline is remembering what you want.” by David Campbell

The timer: gets set for 10 minutes the first day, 12 the second, 14 the third, and so on. When the timer is on, I write anything that comes to mind. It’s a great way to get back in the habit of writing.

• Start with a plan. What do you want to accomplish? You need a map, a guideline of where you are going. Do you want to complete a whole book by a certain date? Do you want to finish one chapter each week? Write one, three, seven, twenty pages a day?

• Set small goals at first, then build gradually over time to increase your endurance. One you have a plan you can break things down into smaller and realistic goals. Setting goals helps you feel like you are making progress forward. I might start my first week off writing three pages a day, then after the first week bump the total up by 2-3 pages a day until I hit my normal daily average.

• Track your progress. I’m a visual person and I really have to keep a log or a graph to show me what my goal was and then how I’m performing. Placing that chart near my computer desk can really keep me focused and inspired when things are going so well.

• Eat a healthy diet and get enough rest. Yes, you actually write better when you eat nutritious food and sleep eight hours a night.

• Celebrate the successes. When you hit your milestones, celebrate the moment. One of my favorite ways to celebrate is to go for a hike. I like to think about it as time off for good behavior. It’s also a great way to regroup and feed that writer’s well with new thoughts and ideas about what to write next.

What do you need to do to get yourself back in shape after a long break?

Speaking and Signing

Fall is definitely here in the Pacific Northwest–the fog, the rain, the crisp air and changing leaves. It’s also conference season!

I’ll be attending the Emerald City Writers’ Conference on October 28 – 30th and presenting two workshops:

“How to Breathe Life Into Your Characters” along with authors Judith Laik, Joleen James, and Gina Robinson. We’ll be discussing how a characters’ past shapes the way they think, feel and move through the pages of a book to leave an impression on readers beyond the last page.

“Resurrecting the Muse” Where I’ll take attendees on an in-depth look at why writer’s sometimes suffocate their creative world with “real” world pressures.

I’ll also be signing books at the book fair on Saturday, October 29th from 4:30 – 6:30 pm at the Westin Hotel in Bellevue, Washington – 600 Bellevue Way NE, 3rd Floor. The book signing is open to the public. Stop on by. I’d love to see you!

Always,

Gerri