Hot Guys in Doublets: Jason Isaacs

This is for you, Aunt Pam!

My husband's aunt probably doesn't even read this blog but it is because of her that I am very familiar with Jason Isaacs.

Probably best known for his role as Lucius Malfoy

(who may or may not be wearing a doublet underneath his robes ;)

He was certainly wearing a doublet as Hook in Peter Pan

Alright it was more of a frock coat. 

Maybe a captain's waist coat. 

And sometimes not even that.

He also played Mr. Darling in that film

(which happens to be one of my favorite films!)

He's no stranger to bad guy roles.

Anyone see the Patriot?

This still isn't a doublet though.

So I might just lose at this game.

If I'm gonna lose I'm goin' out with a bang.

So there you go.

British Jason Isaacs sporting a handlebar mustache, totin' a machine gun, in US army attire.

This is SO not a doublet.

Thanks Mr. Isaacs for playing.

You've been a good sport.

Now put on a doublet.

PUTTING MY CHILDREN TO BED, A BOOK CONTRACT WITH HAPPERCOLLINS, and ANOTHER QUOTE FROM MY THREE-YEAR OLD SON

by Chad Morris

So let me fill you in on four events from last week.

1. I continued to read my book out loud to my children while they lay in bed at night. I love the giggles and cheers to keep reading. And I love how at the end of a chapter only half of them are still awake.

2. I read some big news . . . a big contract . . . for a good guy. I met Marion Jensen at LDS Storymakers last year. We were in the same boot camp circle. He was the published professional. It was my first writing conference and felt like a fish out of water, flopping around on a table, with everyone making comments about me. But Marion was great. He gave helpful suggestions in a very easy-going, optimistic, and helpful way. We chatted quite a bit. He had a couple of books published by Covenant a few years before, but was looking to try and hit the national scene. He had shopped his latest manuscript, "Almost Super" a few places. Though he'd received some encouraging feedback . . . no dice. We became facebook friends. He rewrote his entire manuscript from third person to first on an agent's advice. She picked it up. And now, this week he announced that he just signed a deal with HarperCollins. It's just great to see someone be successful. I think it gives us all hope. He said he'll do a guest post in a couple of weeks to tell us all about the journey.

3. Thanks to everyone. This blogging thing is an interesting challenge, and I just wanted to say thanks for reading, clicking, taking random meaningless surveys, leaving funny comments, leaving insightful comments . . . etc. You guys rock!

4. Oh, and finally, last Thursday I attended pack meeting with my family. It didn't have the same wackiness that some pack meetings of the past had. No crazy cheers, no games. It was about ancestors . . . and frankly it was meaningful and well done. As she wrapped it up, the Cubmaster's wife asked if anyone had anything else to say. During that moment of pause, my three-year-old son raised his hand. With all the faith in the world, the Cubmaster's wife called on him. His response: "Scooby scooby doo!"

No it didn't make any sense. And yes, everyone laughed. Which actually is quite a bit like Scooby Doo. (Maybe my child is a genius.)

Keep up the writing everyone.

Freaky Friday

I think weird things are funny.

Like this link below.

Not everybody laughs at this like I do.

I have known about it for years.

It still makes me laugh.

CLICK HERE

So what did think?

THE GAME IS FINALLY ON!

By Chad Morris

I have a friend who is brilliant. Yes, it’s you. I’m glad you guessed it. Thanks for being brilliant.

I have another friend who is also brilliant. He’s the kind of guy I always feel a little bit self-conscious around because I feel intimidated by his genius. Sure he has his PhD and is well published in the scholarly world, but it’s more the fact that just speaking with him you can tell he knows his stuff. I keep waiting for those moments when he shows that he’s human, has weaknesses in his thought . . . etc, and they just don’t seem to happen. Of course he reads like crazy. His office at work has at least six bookshelves overflowing with history books, biographies, and scholarly journals. He even uses the top of each shelf to store more. And he has more at home, and on his Kindle.

So the other day, this same brilliant friend sent me an email with this link. And he was incredibly excited.  

And here's Variety's write up.

And the whole star-studded cast. (Yep, beside Harrison Ford and Ben Kingsley, that's the girl from True Grit, and the boy from Hugo).

I spoke to him (my friend, not Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, or the boy from Hugo) in the hall the other day, and he told me the story. To abridge it down to a sentence: He didn’t like fiction . . . until he read Ender’s Game.

It opened up a whole new world of reading for him. Then he proceeded to tell me that after reading the entire Enders’ series (what was the entire series at the time. Card seems to always be adding to it.), he thought he must like science fiction. He tried several other sci-fi books and couldn’t get into them. He discovered that though he wasn’t a science fiction fanatic, he loves Orson Scott Card.

I personally hadn’t read Ender’s Game until about a decade ago. I wasn’t into sci-fi at the time either, but it won me over. It is definitely in my top 5 all-time fiction books.  

I will completely admit that I really like the other books in the series. However, I think Ender’s Game is the king. At some point, some of the other books got a little too grown up for me. But Enders’ was perfect.

So sometime before this big budget, special-effect extraordinaire comes out (a lot of the book is in zero gravity), make sure you give it a read.

Beyonders: Seeds of Rebellion

Look what I just finished!!! ------->

Yes, I'm hiding behind the book, but that is irrelevant. Did you see what book it is? It's book two in the Beyonders series by Brandon Mull.

It comes out in March and you can read reviews and the blurb summary on Goodreads already (GOODREADS.) I'm not going to post it here because I just can't stand spoilers but if you want to know more about the story before picking it up you can follow the link.



But I will one sentence blurb the first book--- 
Beyonders: A World without Hero's follows Jason and Rachel, two kids from America, who find themselves thrust into a new world and a bitter conflict that they could have never imagined. (Did you know it was one of Amazon's Best Books of the Month in March of 2011 AND a #1 New York Times Bestseller- one of these things is considered more prestigious but I can't remember which)
You can read more reviews and summaries by clicking on the book cover on the left or you can watch the trailer below.

---My Thoughts on Beyonders---

Brandon Mull never seems to lack creativity. The stuff that guy can come up with can capture your imagination again and again. I do not doubt that there is still world-building to be done in book 3 that will blow our minds.

For journey books these things are all over the place. There are so many twists and turns, places and people. I must admit that I think these books are the middle grade gateway to adult fiction novels. They remind me more of the fantasy greats than what you normally see in a middle grade story.

These are no small books. Around 500 pages each.

At the end of the first book I was not thrilled with the ending. It was alright, since I knew it was a series, but I was still disappointed that I was going to have to stop there and wait a year for the next book. (Think the end of the second Lord of the Rings film.)

Towards the end of the second book I was so worried that it was going to have a similar ending but in the final fifty pages tied things together well enough I would say it ended better than the first.

Talking to Brandon over Christmas he talked about how the story of Beyonders was originally a single book and he knows that the endings of the 1st and 2nd book are cliffhangers but that he believes that the ending in the third book (what would have been the end of the original book) will pull everything together in a way that it will pay off the patience of the readers. I trust him. I'm excited for the third book more and more.

One thing I must say that I LOVE about Brandon Mull's books is his vocabulary. This guy uses absurdly large words and kids eat it up. I love well used verboiosity (and I love making up words.)

So pre-order your own book 2 HERE
AND if you're in the Salt Lake City area there is a FREE launch party (PAR-TAY!) in March. More deets to come.

Have you read any Brandon Mull books? 

What are your favorite middle grade fantasy stories?

BALD SKINNY GUY IN DOUBLET?

Several of you have asked the question, so I figured I should finally answer it. The answer is, "No."

More specifically: "No, I have never worn a doublet."

And a follow up statement: "And no, I'm not really sure what a doublet is."

But the closest I have ever come to wearing a doublet, was dressing up for Brandon Mull's Beyonder's launch party last year.

He throws a huge free party and asked the old comedy group to perform for a half hour or so. I agreed to the deal. The thought of what I was going to have to wear didn't even cross my mind. We usually perform in jeans and t-shirts. Turns out we had to wear medieval garb (which actually may be doublets, but again, I'm not completely sure.)
Here is the only pic I could find.

I know the guy in the middle isn't Brandon Mull. It's James Dashner (and maybe Jessica Day George in the background). He was also part of the show, but he didn't have to wear a costume . . . unfair.

As a thank you for helping out that night, Brandon gave shelly and I a signed copy of Beyonders. Because of the hero theme to the book he wrote "you're my heroes" on the inside. My favorite part of the night though, was when I got that book back from my daughter who had asked if she could carry it around for a while. She took the liberty of responding to Brandon's dedication (Check the seven-year-old's writing in green):

She's awesome. And she says that all the time. In fact, she even made a flash card on my iPad that asks on one side "are you awesome?" when you flip it over it says, "if you are me, then Yes!" But that is beside the point.

Anyway, for those of you interested and living in Utah (or want to travel to Utah) Brandon is throwing another huge free party when his next book comes out (March 13 at Cottonwood high). Yes, Shelly and I will be performing. The wardrobe is undetermined at this point. I'm personally hoping we'll go back to jeans and a t-shirt. And Brandon was kind enough to give us an ARC of the next Beyonders. Shelly's finished it and will review it tomorrow.

And I'm pretty sure the Beyonder's facebook page is giving away another ARC this week (but I'm too lazy to include the link).

Hot Guys in Doublets: John Thornton

So I was told by MANY of you to watch North and South. I put it off forever because a friend of mine told me to read the book and I try to always read the book first.

Well, life was too busy for fitting in the Elizabeth Gaskell book so I went and picked up the film. I folded a lot of laundry while watching this story. Something I can't do with a book in hand.

The story was interesting.
The film was entertaining.

Poor John's heartache was palatable.

The part at the end when they FINALLY get together...EEeeehh. It was OK. (I'm sure there are people shouting at their computers right now. Sorry 'bout that.)

You can see John Thornton in the Sharp Dressed Man video. His mom is straightening his tie at 0:27 and you can see him again at 1:46.

John Thornton (aka Richard Armitage) is a handsome man. I mean look at those eyes.

and a talented actor.

Did you know that both Richard and, the last HGinD, J.J. Feild were both in Captain America. I'm starting to want to watch that film, more and more.

Richard is also going to be in The Hobbit. I will DEFINITELY be watching that film. Not just because Richard and Martin Freeman are in it but because I think that Jackson did a WONDERFUL job with The Lord of the Rings and I'm excited to see what he can do with The Hobbit. Honestly, The Hobbit isn't one of my favorite books (where as TLofTR is) but it should be a fun film.

Richard is playing Thorin Oakensheild, the leader of the dwarves. This should be interesting.

I think a segment called Hot Guys in Chainmail is worth looking into ;)

FACE SOME FEARS

by Chad Morris

Heights, spiders, snakes, public speaking, Lady Gaga in a meat dress . . . we’re all afraid of something.

When I was four or five, I remember being terrified that someone would sneak into my house at night and kill me while I was sleeping. So, I used my little five-year-old brain to outsmart them. I would lay down as flat as I could in my bed and draped the bedspread across my neck in a perfect line. Then I’d try to sleep very still. That way, if a murderer came into my room, he’d look down at me and think “Oh, that kid’s head has already been chopped off. I can leave him alone.”

I know. The logic is flawless.   

Though our fears may make no sense at all to someone else, or even to ourselves, they are very real to us. Using fear in your writing can bring tension and relevance.

I’m not talking about horror. I’ve never been a horror fan. (For example, I’ve never seen "The Ring," and I really have no desire to.) I recommend using fear as part of your story, not the goal of your story. The fear I think is best used is one of two types. 

The first type is a specific fear for a specific character. This can give a character a nice weakness. Indiana Jones had his snakes. The main guy in "Davince Code" (no I didn't want to look up his name) had his claustrophobia (only in the movie, but frankly, I thought it was a nice touch). This gives you some play. They can run from it, face it, find a clever way around it. Though readers may not be able to relate to whatever particular fear a character has, if done right, they can empathize with being afraid of something.

This can also be very fun in a side character. My favorite example: Aunt Josephine in Series of Unfortunate Events.  

     "Come in quickly children . . . not that quickly! You could trip over the welcome mat and decapitate yourselves."

     "Come away from the fridge. If it falls it'll crush you flat."

      "I could never, ever sell this house. I'm terrified of realtors."

More common is playing with general fears most of us have. Though it may not be a phobia, to a certain degree, we all fear failure, being alone, and facing a horde of rogue ninjas in the night. Sorry about the last one, but you get the idea. A teenage girl may fear that she isn’t beautiful enough. A teenage boy my fear that people will think he has fears. They are stereotypes for a reason. If they are approached in a fresh way they completely work.

I have a 15-year-old neighbor who loves to read. I ask him for recommendations, and his favorite series is starts with The Last Apprentice. I’ve read the first three, and though they are darker than what I usually read, I really quite like them. Tom Ward has to learn to face what is terrifying (bogarts, witches, demons . . etc) and not let the fear control him. It propels the story forward rather nicely. However, Tom also deals with fears we all can understand, leaving his family, his father dying, losing a friend. And those are even more poignant at times. Of course combining them makes for some pretty good tension.

Just another great tool. Don’t be afraid to use some fear.

Sorry, I couldn’t resist.  

Books I read in 2011

by Shelly Brown

Here is my list of books I read cover-to-cover in 2011. If we counted books I read a chapter here, a chapter there (most non-fiction that I read) or started but never finished (for one reason or another) this list would be much longer. As it is I KNOW it doesn't hold a candle to some of your lists but I find these lists amusing so I'm doing it anyways.

Beyonders

Twelfth Night

The Barcode Tattoo

Enna Burning

The Thing That Keep Us Here

The Comedy of Errors

Wonderwings and Other Fairy Stories

The Princess and The Goblin

Magyk

The Princess of the Glass

Emma Smith (by Black)

The Way, The Truth, and The Life

Harry Potter 3

Slathbogs Gold

The History of Joseph Smith by his Mother

The Daily Life of Jesus

The Amazing Powers of Spiderman

The Holy Land

Princess Academy

The Footsteps of Jesus

To Kill a Mockingbird

On Holy Ground

Maze Runner

Charles in Charge (Chad got this for me out of the elementary school recycling bin as a joke, but not being one to turn away Scott Baio, I read it. Someone just wrote the pilot as a novel)

Tarzan of the Apes

Goosebumps: One Day at Horrorland (did you know Brandon Dorman did the art for the new Goosebumps?)

The Witch on Blackbird Pond

Nancy Drew and the Dollhouse 

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

The Hardy Boys: The Spy that Doesn't Lie

Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go

Full Circle

Armies, Angels, and Jackson Boswells Amazing Imagination

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Gaes

Craggbridge Academy

My Ridiculous Romantic Obsession

Courting Miss Lancaster

The Strange Case of the Origami Yoda

Frankenstein

Emma

The Princess Bride

Amelia's Story

The Next Door Boys

If you're curious what I thought about any particular book or whatnot just ask in the comments and I'll tell you. But with this many books I figured that my commentary would get...well...long.

Happy Birthday Dr. King

In honor of Martin Luther King Day

we're makin' a cake

and takin' a break!

We've come a long way, baby!

Book Review: The Next Door Boys

by Shelly Brown

Oh. My. Cute.

and I'm not just talking about the cover.

Back Cover:

Leigh Tressman has been known as a lot of things- the girl who sings, the girl who sews, Jaron's little sister, and, last year, the girl with cancer. With her body still recovering from the cancer treatments, she's determined to be independent and convinces her parents to let her follow her overprotective brother to BYU.

With an ever-expanding line of young men ready to be in love with her-not to mention physical frustrations and spiritual dilemmas-Leigh almost misses the opportunity to be with the one person who has been quietly falling in love with her since they first met. The Next Door Boys proves that even with (or maybe in spite of) independence, love can be found in unexpected but delightful places.

I just finished reading Jolene Perry's The Next Door Boys and I feel like I should share a secret with you; I don't usually read contemporary romance...or LDS fiction...and this is both of those...and I LOVED it.

I don't read contemporary romance because I blush WAY too easily. I try to keep my romance to Victorian era propriety. Am I obscenely archaic? Perhaps. But knowing that this was published by an LDS publisher probably meant that the romance would be kept to my absurdly high standards (necklines up to the ears, skirts to the ankle, no eye contact, arranged marriages...just kidding ;) But the problem then becomes the fact that I have read some terrible LDS fiction in the past and nearly gave up on the genre.

I should thank Becca Wilhite and My Ridiculous Romanic Obsession for opening the gate for me. Jolene did a wonderful job of keeping it wide open. I recommend both books for a fun, clean, romantic, happy-ending, contemporary LDS story.

I loved reading Jolene's book about Leigh and her battle with cancer, herself, men, school, roommates, family, and her sewing machine. (Actually Leigh does pretty well mastering the sewing machine, it's me who can't seem to tame the beast.)

Jolene did a good job of writing characters without the feeling of stereotyping. They were people with their strengths and their weaknesses. They were trying to be good, the best thems they could be, and yet were capable of slipping into bad habits, saying things they would regret, and struggling with anxieties and complex emotions. They were relatable.

The story was well crafted (despite the occasional typo -but I blame those on the publisher.) It was thoroughly enjoyable. If I didn't live in a home full of little distractions I would have read it all in one sitting. 

I look forward to seeing what else Jolene Perry comes up with. Perhaps I will have to throw her on my couch and find out what she's writing right now.

So if I had to give it a grade based on an A thru F scale, I would give it a strong B+. Adorable, wonderful, and worth your time and money.

So dig out that gift card your mom gave you and pick up a great little read.

The Next Door Boys by Jolene B. Perry

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Cedar Fort, Inc. (October 8, 2011)

Jolene Perry

Blog

“Survey Says!” (in a Family Feud tone of voice)

By Chad “wow, this is a lot of trouble to go through a survey” Morris

QUESTION 1:

Though vampires, princes/princesses, and mummies all tied for third at 4% (Mummies? Really? Right up there with princesses huh?), and Unicorns came in second with 7% (yeah, it wasn’t very close), looks like most of you would rather fall in love with someone who does the dishes (82%). 

No one was feeling the love for werewolves or zombies.

 (Never saw that coming. Zombies can be so attractive. )

Here were a couple of my favorite comments:

“Vampires are damned, werewolves are inconsistent, mummies are old and dry, zombies will decay and/or bite you, unicorns are animals, and prince/princesses would expect too much of me”

“Actually I don’t mind doing the dishes. If they cleaned the bathrooms however . . . TRUE LOVE.”

“Someone who will do the dishes would be a real “happily ever after” . . .  if only I knew that before I got married . . . “

QUESTION 2:

The question of who would win in a battle of characters was much closer. According to you, Edward wouldn’t fair too well (only 11% thought he would win). Though someone thought he would come out on top “Cause he’s HOT!” (Apparently, attractiveness doesn’t win battles against magic and a whirling light saber.) Dumbledore came in third (21%). It was really down to Yoda (36%) and Gandalf (43%). (Sorry about misspelling his name. Curse spellcheck.)

More entertaining comments:

“I think that in their righteous anger, Dumbledore, Yoda, and Gandalf would gang up on and completely annihilate Cullen for the travesty he has perpetrated on the general IQ’s of females under 80. Then they would sit down and share a smoke/butterbeer while discussing the topic of whether they should go back in time to 1989 and run over George Lucas with a bus.”

Argument for Gandalf - “He’s the only one alive.”

QUESTION 3:

And though the majority would adopt Harry Potter and Anne of Green Gables over other orphans, the Mowgli comments stood out:

“Anne would put me in an Old Folks Home the first second she got. . . . Harry would turn me into a hot air pig balloon if I told him to get off the computer because it was bedtime. Tom would be in and out of Juvie. At least Mowgli wouldn’t require too much baby-ing.”

“Tom Sawyer is an obnoxious troublemaker. Harry is going to just stress me out, and being his adoptive-mother might just get me killed by the Dark Lord. Annie is annoying, and Anne spells her name wrong. Mowgli is a cute . . .”

QUESTION 4:

100% of you had the same favorite blog—Writing with Shelly and Chad. What a strange coincidence. However did that happen? It must really be that good. 

QUESTION 5:

The majority of you would rather be married to Gaston than take the ring to Mordor or be in the hunger games. “All bad options. I think I’d endure living in a mansion with a prick rather than have to do something that will mostly likely kill me though.” And one of you thinks Gaston is “HOT,” while the other defends that the relationship would work by stating, “I’m pretty good at expectorating.”

QUESTION 6:

I asked about your favorite books. Many of you rebelled with statements like “don’t make me choose” and “impossible” and “you're a ludicrous freakshow for even suggesting that I have choose between my babies” (okay not the last one). Just in case you are looking for another great read, he is the list of those who answered:

The Great Gatsby,

Grapes of Wrath,

The Hiding Place,

The Peacegiver,

The Eye of the World,

Small Gods.

Tomorrow When the War Began,

Anthem,

The Road,

Catch 22,

Damnation Alley,

A Princess of Mars,

Retief of the CDT,

Hounded,

Wild Seed,

Mistborn,

The Handmaid’s Tale,

Perelandra,

Peter and Wendy,

The Divine Conspiracy,

Band of Brothers,

Master and Commander,

the Historian,

The Alchemist,

Atlas Shrugged,

Girl with the Dragon Tatoo,

The Jason Bourne trilogy,

The Princess Bride,

Dogs Don’t Tell Jokes,

Lord of the Flies,

To Kill A Mocking Bird,

Bloody Jack,

Anne of Green Gables,

The Hobbit,

Fablehaven,

East of Eden,

New Light on the Atonement (brown noser)

The following were mentioned several times: 

Jane Eyre,

The Hunger Games,

Harry Potter,

Scriptures,

Twlight Series,

And the book with the most mentions . . . drum roll please . . . Pride and Prejudice. 

I read that book with Shelly. She had to coach me along the way. Apparently, not squealing when Darcy did "cute things" was unacceptable.  

QUESTION 7:

Most of you haven’t written a book, but 7% of you can finish one in 1-2 months (over achievers).

QUESTION 8:

Here are the books we should plug. Write them down and buy at least 17 copies of each:

The Ryfell Chornicles: The Broken Shield (not yet published)

In God We Trust

By Blood Bequethed

The Tangled Web

Cleave

Element

War and Peace (I’m assuming you are referring to a new book, and not the class. Or Tolstoy follows my blog---AWESOME! Shout out to Leo!)

The Privileged

QUESTION 9:

And the questions I should have asked in my survey: (Feel free to answer one of these in your comments)

What night are you free to babysit my kids? (Love it. Why didn’t I ask that?)

What should I get my sister-in-law as a “just because” gift? (Now who could have possibly written that?)

Which superpower would you want?

What was the best day of your life so far?

What is the most offensive smell?

What celebrity would you like to go bookstore browsing with?

How do you get published? 

Which characters would I match-up with one another from separate books (i.e. a blind date with Katniss and Frodo)

Which is faster, Millennium Falcon or Starship Enterprise?

How awesome are you on a level of 1-10?

Which literary hero/heroine would you like to push over a cliff?

What book would you like to see made into a musical?

Who do you want to see in hot guys in doublets?

And QUESTION 10 was really just my excuse to put in the joke about closure.

Thanks for playing everyone. 

Hot Guys in Doublets: Mr. Tilney

I have been asked what movie is it where the guy wipes the dirt off the girl's cheek.

Answer: Northanger Abbey

One of my favorite Jane Austen books.

I love the innocence. I love the ghost story. I love the lost love and the found love. 

I LOVE Northanger Abbey

I LOVE Mr. Tilney!

He's so sweet. He's so patient. He's so forgiving.

Don't we all need a man like that in our lives?

Oh, and did I mention that he understands fabric and the value of a good dress?

I love Darcy as much as the next lady but if I was being courted by both...Tilney, hands down.

And that is saying a lot.

Have you seen the 2007 Masterpiece Theater's Northanger Abbey? You should. They did a fabulous job. Funny fact: this is the second third film version of this book EVER made. A shame. I hope people make more. 

Look what pavelchekov made: How cute is this?

Did you know that J.J. Feild (Mr. Tilney) is going to be playing the lead in Shannon Hale's Austenland? Yeah, I'm kind of excited about that movie.

(this picture is ACTUALLY from Austenland. It looks as if it was possibly taken without creative release- if it is not supposed to be circulated please let me know and I will remove it)

SO what have we learned?

We need to read Northanger Abbey.

We need to watch Northanger Abbey.

We need to stalk J.J. Feild.

We need to be watching for Austenland.

Class dismissed.

P.S. 

YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE WHAT I FOUND!

A blog called Hot Guys in Period Costumes. Wow, maybe all the good idea's ARE taken! :)

Anyways, great minds think alike.

Rafflecopter is giving away a couple of Fire's and an iPad2

Tell them I sent you :)

TACKLING THE HARD ISSUES: I Need Answers

By Chad "Survey Monkey" Morris

I decided to start off this week by tackling the hard issues head on (which technically isn't the way you're supposed to tackle, but hitting the hard issues around the waist and then wrapping up its legs doesn't sound nearly as catchy). 

And I know you, dear reader, have the answers to all of these hard issues. All I have to do is ask. So please be honest as you take the survey below. It will be immediately evident to you how important this research is. (Or that I had to do use survey monkey for work, and after learning it, I wanted to do something just for the sheer fun of it.)

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Thanks for having a little Monday fun. I'll let you know all of the great answers, revelations,and ephiphanies that come from your great answers. 

I'm Hearing Voices

I am doing this blogfest in February. Come and join the fun!(Just click the picture above for more deets)

Funny Friday

Yeah, it's one of those days.

5 REASONS I LOVE WRITING: The Writing Process and My Kids

By Chad Morris

I thought it might be a good idea to blog about why I like to write. It sure beat my other ideas to blog about why I had a mullet in high school, how I get carsick, or why “Cowboys and Aliens” is most likely a mediocre movie just because of its premise (I haven't seen it).  

There are many reasons why I love to write, but recently, I’ve been thinking about five of them. Here they are (surrounding Shelly and I):

Not the books, the kids. And yes, we actually brought books and laptops to our last family picture shoot--what Shelly wants, she gets. And yes, I know it's cheesy. Shelly convinced me that the adorableness factor of our kids would actually outweigh the cheese. 

My point is that I love writing because of my kids. More specifically . . . 

1) I love how knowing that I want my kids to read my stories (now or some day in the future) affects the way I write. I want to capture their imaginations, make them laugh, and help them love reading. It also helps me be rather responsible in my writing. I never want to write something I'd be ashamed if they read.

2) I love how it encourages them to read. They see Shelly and I writing and reading, and I think it encourages them to read more. A couple of the older ones even read some of the same books we read. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy the Sandra Boynton phase, but this is SO much better.  

3) It teaches them about dreams. One day my son asked me why I write. I told him because it's a dream of mine to be published, and even though I have another job I love, and I'm old (in his eyes, and maybe in yours, but that's beside the point), I still believe in shooting for dreams. I hope he'll do the same. 

On a related note, I love how it teaches them about the realities of trying make dreams come true. I've told my children about submitting to publishers and agents, and they've been excited with me, and a little heartbroken too. It gives me a chance to teach that it will take persistence. Though sometimes I hate the persistence it takes, I love that they can see it and learn from it. 

4) They learn about the writing process. After I finished my latest manuscript and sent it through a few reviewers, I asked my then nine-year-old son if he wanted to read it, even though it’s technically a little above his reading level. He quickly agreed. I told him that I didn't just want to here what he liked, but what he didn't. I wanted to know when the book was slow and he wanted to put it down, as well as when he really enjoyed it. 

Despite all my talk, here are a few of his comments: 

In his defense, he did tell me the name Jacqueline was too hard to read, and he told me when some paragraphs were confusing.

I then gave it to my daughter, who didn't finish (She’s was only seven at the time), but she did doodle on it. 

 

I think it's great that they see me write and rewrite. They know I don't expect it to be perfect until the very end.) My son has even asked me to give him feedback on some of his stories. 

5. There are a lot of ways I'm involved in my children's lives (even though I was able to take the season off from little league coaching), this is a way they can be involved in mine. 

I submitted to a publisher just a few days ago. I told my children and they got a little too excited. My oldest has drawn possible covers for the book. The others pray that it will be accepted. I explained that though I’ve talked with this publisher about the concept of the book and they expressed some interest, this is FAR from a sure thing. The six-year-old twins demanded that I read it to them. The others agreed--even my oldest who has already read it.

Last night as they all lay tucked in their beds, I read chapter 2. The ones that were awake by the end begged for more. I'll take what I can get.