A.J. Lauer's Blog, page 16

wHooligan feature - TaMara Sloan

I stumbled upon TaMara Sloan last year during A-Z. She writes about all sorts of awesome things related to homeschooling her five little munchkins - favorite snacks (some are seriously drool-worthy!), books, lesson plans, you name it. She is a creative person and I am excited to have her on the team!

TaMara's answers follow. Enjoy!

You're on a crowded train, and the person across the way from you (who is probably 20 years your senior) finishes a bag of chips, and throws his trash on the floor. Do you speak up and tell him to pick up his trash, or just let him go?
I would probably say nothing, but I would pick it up myself. Sadly, I'm passive aggressive that way. :)

Who would win in a fight: Jiminy Cricket or Tinkerbell?
Tinkerbell. She's a girl. When I used to teach in a public high school, I would say that I would stop a fight between 2 boys any day, but I would never step between 2 girls. I was too afraid I would get hurt. Girls fight dirty.

How far in advance do you prepare your theme and complete your A-Z before the Challenge begins? 
Last year was my first year doing the challenge, and I had my theme picked out in February and most of my posts pre-written by the end of March. This year, it took me a little longer to choose a theme, but I finally have one by mid-March and will have started pre-writing posts by March 20.

Are you smarter than a 5th Grader?
Since I homeschool my 5th and 8th graders, I certainly hope so. Most days, though,
I find myself learning right along side them. Often I think I'm learning more on this homeschooling journey than they are.

What makes you cry? (Emotional reasons. Onions don't count.)
I am an angry crier; when someone angers me, the tears start flowing. This is especially true if it involves my children and the mama bear in me is coming out.

Stop by to say hello to TaMara today!

wHooligan feature! Helen Jameson

Today's featured wHooligan is the multi-talented Helen Jameson.

Helen writes Murder Mystery Dinner scripts! She also volunteers as a clown at her children's church. How cool is that? Her posts range in topic from writing, to her grandbaby, to conversations with Moe, her mafioso muse. That's right - we have a mafia connection on the team! Lookout A-Z :)

Here are Helen's answers to our A-Z questions!

What is the most Overrated letter of the Alphabet?The letter ‘i’ especially when it is capitalized. Conversations that center around ‘I’ can be very boring.  Describe the last Halloween costume you wore. I was a Christmas elf. I had pointy ears and everything. I actually have been in several children’s plays and portrayed elves. I love being an elf. I also like ‘Elf the Movie’.

Name an item that you have too much of.Coffee. I collect coffee, and I drink it, of course. Maybe a little too much sometimes.
What makes life worth living? Uh…coffee?  Actually, life is worth living if it is filled with love.  What is your "Thing". i.e. do you have a non-professional hobby or a particularly acute preference for something that you feel defines a large part of who you are?  I’m a second degree blackbelt in Tae Kwondo, and I am a clown named Freckles. I consider myself lethally funny.

Go say hi to Helen! I promise you won't regret it. :)

Hutch!

A break from our regularly scheduled wHooligan features for a house update!

We've been quite busy lately with house projects. It must be springtime in the air putting a spring in our efforts. Or maybe it's that my whole family will be descending on us at the end of April (yikes!). Or perhaps yet, procrastination from all the writing I should be doing?

Anyway... One of the projects we've had on our list since we moved in was to find a buffet/hutch to put in our dining room. See that wall? It goes all the way up to a roof peak at the 2nd floor level. It's a BIG wall, and needed a piece of furniture to ground the room. Chris started searching Craigslist about a week ago, sending me links and trying to get a feel for what I thought would work. This one was the winner!

And! They were moving this weekend and really needed to get rid of it, so they only asked us for $100 to take it off their hands! Talk about a Craigslist win... The hutch is solid oak and in near-new condition. For $100! I can't believe our luck! The room finally feels complete, and we have somewhere to stash our serving dishes.

I can't wait until that plant sitting on top of it starts to really grow. It's still basically a cutting in a pot of dirt, but once it branches out it will be lovely, don'tcha think?

Anybody got a good Craigslist story? A win or a fail?

Six Word Saturday - with muffins!

A perfect day for blueberry muffins!
There is nothing better than starting the day with fresh blueberry muffins and a mug of tea. We really like this recipe from the Gluten Free Goddess, her Sour Cream Blueberry Muffins. They always bake up well and are great leftover. There's something so peaceful about baking first thing in the morning, the smell carrying through the house, slowly waking up all the senses. Love it.
My poor laptop got a bit covered in flour this morning, but it was totally worth it :)



This post is part of the Six Word Saturday blog hop. Stop by showmyface.com to join the fun!

wHooligan feature! LuAnn Braley

Today our wHooligan feature is the grrrrrrreat LuAnn Braley! She is also active on Twitter. 
LuAnn is a super-involved writer, reader and book reviewer. She's participated in loads of blog fests and seriously, you should go check out all the reading challenges this lady is participating in. How does she have enough time to do all that reading and be an excellent blogger too? I dunno, but I'm lucky to have her on my side this April!

Each of my wHooligans is answering some of the questions posed to the A-Z Co-hosts over at the A-Z blog and here are LuAnn's responses!

If you were a contestant on the CBS show "Amazing Race" and could pick ANY movie character to be your partner, who would it be and why?
I would pick the character of John Patrick Mason from "The Rock".  Or maybe Armand from "Interview With the Vampire".  They are both bad-you-know-whats with whom I would not mind running around the world (and/or hiding from the cameras).  ;)

What makes life worth living?
My family, my faith and the possibility that I might one day be able to visit Scotland.

What is your "Thing". i.e. do you have a non-professional hobby or a particularly acute preference for something that you feel defines a large part of who you are?
I love to act in live theatre.  I've done everything from Lady Bracknell in "The Importance of Being Earnest" by Oscar Wilde to Susan in "No Sex, Please, We're British" by Alistair Foot and Anthony Marriott, to Winnie in "Happy Days" by Samuel Beckett.  I haven't done so since before my first child was born in 1996, but would like to get back to it at some point.  Of course, I'd probably  have to go to a city, and this gal is happy in the country.

When was the last time you were slapped, and what did you do to provoke it?
A couple of years back, I was working with adults who have MR/DD (mental retardation and developmental disabilities).  One day, I was assigned to work with a woman, whose favorite method of getting what she wanted was to physically attack the people she believed could get it for her.  She was non-verbal and mentally and medically really could not be held responsible for her actions.  Before I met her, it has been said she used to climb up onto an overhang in the doorway to her room and jump down on people - although I never experienced that personally.
So that day, I would not let her run amok in the kitchen, and she proceeded to slap me at least 40 times on the right forearm.  There were so many h-a-r-d slaps that a large, swollen palm mark appeared on my arm.
Still, today, if I were to see someone abusing this woman or any of my other charges, I would jump in the middle of their you-know-what.

If you could sing any song with the artist who wrote/performed it, what would it be and with whom?
"Amazing Grace", sung a capella by Patsy Cline.

Thanks for stopping by, LuAnn!

wHooligan feature! Elsie Amata

Hello and Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Elsie's favorite beach -
isn't it lovely?
It's time for another wHooligan feature! Joining us today is Elsie Amata. She also has an active Facebook account here.

Elsie has been an assistant for the Insecure Writer's Support Group. That alone is enough cred to know she's amazing! But there's more! This woman writes extremely honest posts from time to time that will make you catch your breath. Her self-reflection and honesty is just.. great. Definitely check her out.

Each of my wHooligans has answered a few of the questions that participants posed to the co-hosts over on the A-Z blog, and here are Elsie's answers:

You're on a crowded train, and the person across the way from you (who is probably 20 years your senior) finishes a bag of chips, and throws his trash on the floor. Do you speak up and tell him to pick up his trash, or just let him go?The teenage me wouldn’t have even noticed.  The impatient me would have said, “Dude, really?” accompanied by an exaggerated eye roll. Today, I would pick up the garbage myself, and refrain from comment.
What makes you cry? (Emotional reasons. Onions don't count.)Military homecomings.  Doesn’t matter if it’s a news story or some blasted dog food commercial (you know the one!).  I tear up every time.  Of course, it may have something to do with being married to veteran.  Just my guess.
Where do you go to "Get away from it all"?My go to place is the beach.  If I’m stressed, I visit the coast.  If I want to spend quality family time with the kids, we play in the sun and sand.
If you could sing any song with the artist who wrote/performed it, what would it be and with whom?I know I should pick someone cool, like, I don’t know, Jimi Hendrix.  But, the moment I read this question, I thought of Prince.  Before he turned his name into a symbol then back again.  Any song from Purple Rain will do, as long as he’s wearing those high-heeled boots!  //whew//

Make sure you stop by to say hello to Elsie today!

Anyone do anything fun for St. Patty's Day?

wHooligan feature! Shilpa Garg

Today is our first wHooligan feature, with the lovely Shilpa Garg! Check her out on Twitter, too!

Shilpa joins me from India! The design of her site is so poetic and lovely :) Also she says she likes written words, sweets and beautiful conversations that happen over a mug of tea - totally my kind of lady! Excited to have her on the team :)

Each of my wHooligans has answered a few of the questions that participants posed to the co-hosts over on the A-Z blog, and here are Shilpa's answers:

Is there an ideal length for a blog post? Is 500 words too many? 
For challenges like A to Z where our focus is on networking and building relationships by visiting and reading other bloggers. And since each one is keen to read more, reading long posts can be a bit of a concern. So, anything less than 500 words is acceptable. I believe we must KISS our posts, Keep It Short and Simple, I
mean! ;)

Name three frustrating aspects of being a co-host participants might not know. NO, CAN’T ANSWER WORD VERIFICATIONS, THAT ONE’S TOO EASY! 
• Real long posts on blogs!! Agree, one may have a lot to share, but can that be
divided in parts? Or can the post be concise and crisp?
• Painful layout and fonts: White text on black background or multi-coloured
text in between or the curvy cursive writing kind of fonts are so hard to read.
Such layouts and fonts are a big strain on the eyes and sometimes you have to
squint too!! And in this process, even the brain (of course, I am talking about
my brain!) fails to register the written text!
• Selective engagement: On some blogs, I find that only a few comments are
replied to and others are ignored. I find this discrimination pretty weird.
Of course, we understand that paucity of time may lead to the blogger not
responding to the comments at all, but replying to select few, is simply rude.

How far in advance do you prepare your theme and complete your A-Z 
before the Challenge begins? 
Last year, it was my first A to Z challenge, so took each day as it came and
wrote on random subjects from A to Z. But this year, I am working on a theme
and the plan is to write all posts in advance. So, I am giving myself the entire
March to finish writing for this April's A to Z!

How do you comment - if someone posts 5,6,7 times a week .. once - or 3 
times .. then each time or once or twice .. then each time I can't keep up .. 
but hate not supporting everyone.. 
In case, I am writing everyday too, then I visit my circle of blogs everyday too. But in
case, I am MIA from the blogosphere, then I take time to visit the blogs and read and
comment on all the missed blog posts for that blogger. So, I usually aim to not miss
any blog posts from my Reader!

When writing, do you prefer to compose your first-draft by hand, on your 
computer, or using Morse Code? 
It is my life line, my laptop. Usually I write from start to finish. But sometimes, the
drafts keep lying as drafts for long, but they are always on my laptop. I do use the
notes on my smart phone or a small notebook in my bag, for jotting down ideas.

Thanks so much for stopping by, Shilpa!

About Me at #atozchallenge blog!

Just a quick post to let y'all know that my co-author About Me post is up at the April A-Z Challenge blog today! Check it out!

And welcome to everyone who is visiting from thataway :)

Have you signed up for the A-Z Challenge? You've heard me talk about it before.. It's pretty much the coolest thing on the blogging block. Join us!

Six Word Saturday- Spring Break!

Spring Break! Snowshoeing, camping, shivering, ROMO!
Yup, we've decided to go snowshoeing and camping up at Rocky Mountain National Park for the weekend :) It's a very rare weekend that I am not on call, and since this is one of them, we're peacing out for a couple days. Not to worry - it's car camping so there will be lots of down blankets in our tent, and I'll come back with pictures, I promise!


This post is part of the Six Word Saturday blog hop. Stop by showmyface.com to join the fun!

IWSG - March

Between writing and doing my 'real' job, I've been reading. I know, crazy right? A writer who reads. You'd never think! My focus the last couple of weeks, has been reading about social media and how to maximize our presence for building a 'platform' and hopefully selling books.

The most interesting thing I've found is Kristen Lamb's We Are Not Alone method of connecting with people. I've been reading her book, Rise of the Machines -- Human Authors in a Digital World. It's a bit basic at moments - like when she, for example, defines a Tweet - but some of the concepts she talks about hit on truths that I'd been intuiting but hadn't quite solidified as a concept. One of those is that writers on social media seem to primarily socialize with other writers, which is not a particularly effective way to sell books. Now, I recognize the irony of talking about this on IWSG day, I do. But bear with me! She says that it's good to do some socializing with writers, because of course fellow writers are the only ones who understand this particular brand of craziness and we need to have people on our side (hence, IWSG).

But in order to build a true base of supporters that will sell books, it is necessary to connect with people who are NOT writers, or even necessarily "avid readers". Think about all those people on Twitter who claim to have a huge base of "avid readers" as followers. Have you looked at the list? It's mostly all our writing friends!

The goal is to connect on social media with everyone else, in hopes that they will share the awesome'ness of your book with their friends, and help you go viral. A great example of this is Alex J Cavanaugh's recent success with his book CassaFire. The man is everywhere in the blogosphere and is a super nice guy, so when he asked for help promoting, people stepped up. And he sold TONS of books. Success!

Part of how to accomplish this is to let people see you as a person, not just as a writer. You also have to show that you appreciate them as people, in return. It makes sense, right? When blogging or tweeting, if we're only posting about writing all the time, most folks aren't going to connect with that. But if we share our thoughts on the big game, or our favorite recipes, or cat pictures, or the beautiful places we've been, that is what captures the attention of the general population. It hits them in their heart, which is most likely what we aim to do with our books as well. We are storytellers, so we must tell stories to connect with our audience.

All this to say that in the midst of trying to finish book number two, I've also been considering a pretty major redirection in how I use social media. First things first, we need to finish Sky Pirates, but it's a lot to think about! Very interesting to think about, but a lot nonetheless.

How do you use social media? Are most of your friends/followers writers, or everyone else? Any success (or fail) stories to share?

This post brought to you by the Insecure Writer's Support Group - a bunch of lovely writers who help each other 'rock the neurotic writing world.'