This is Awesome!

I am the number one hit if you Google "Stubborness + Tenacity." How cool is that? The number one hit! Google must know me.:) Seriously though, If I can be known for my tenacity and stick-to-it-iveness, then I expect I've done something right.:)

Ciao!

My Son is Amazing!

My son, Brennan, is two years and seven and a half months old.

And he is reading!

I was sitting on the couch feeding my other son and not really paying attention to Brennan who was just talking to himself over by the bookshelf. Then I look over and realize that he is flipping through my daughter's early reading flashcards (mostly two and three letter words) and he is reading them correctly! I had him bring the cards over and we went through the whole stack! I have no idea how long he's been able to do this. For all I know he could have been reading for months.

One of the main reasons for this, I think, is that he watches his sister read (she reads to him, it's so cute!) and he also sees his parents read. If a child really wants to be able to do something, he's going to learn to do it much faster than if he is simply forced to do it. That is why reading to and in front of your children is so important.

It reminded me of a story of a guy my parents used to know in Phoenix. Very blue collar, uneducated man who at the age of thirty-something, had never learned to read. But he was a really, really good man and wanted his son to have a better life than he did. So he asked--I believe, his son's teacher--how can I help my son love to learn? She told him that boys in particular are more likely to enjoy reading if they see their father reading regularly. So every night for about a half an hour, this man would sit with a book in front of him and pretend to read while his son played in the same room. In the end, they both not only learned how to read, but learned to love reading.

I love reading. I want my kids to love reading. So far, I think I've done a good job.:) My daughter has been reading since she was three, and now my son has started reading at two. That is something that makes me very proud. I think learning to read and learning to love reading are two of the greatest things you can learn in life. I'm glad my children have caught the fire, so to speak.

Ciao!

Last Dragon

Weird Google Search= "Literary Agent Ann C. Crispin" Apparently someone thinks the illustrious Ann is an agent. (It's only funny if you know who she is.:))



I recently received an e-mail from J.M. McDermott (Badducky for those of you in the Absolute Write community) with a preview of his debut novel Last Dragon, coming out form Wizards of the Coast Discoveries in February of 2008 (Available for pre-order now at the usual websites.) I got to read the first chapters and found it very interesting. Not what I expected. It is quite literary and the first chapter, at least, is written in a multi point of view, sort of stream of consciousness style. Very different, but nicely executed. Don't expect it to be like many of the series novels you typically see from WotC, they are starting to produce more traditional novels and novels with a literary twist. The cover you see here is not the cover I saw when I checked it out last week and my only real criticism is that I liked the old cover much better. I am not sure which one they are going to go with, but luckily, the cover is not the most important part.:) Check him out at his website.

Ciao!

My Choice

Weird Google Search= "Babies with no arms and legs." Trust me, don't even ask.

Today's post has very little to do with writing, so feel free to skip it if you're not interested. I debated posting this at all, but it's been bugging me for four days now and as many of you know, writing something down often gets it to stop bugging you. That's why we writers are so calm. (Ha! Calm? Right.:))

Last Thursday I was checking my results on Sitemeter and someone had clicked on to my blog after Googling "I'm so tired of being a stay at home mom." (It says up in my banner that I am a stay at home mom and at some point I had a post entitled "I Am So Tired," that had to do with revisions.) It has been on my mind ever since because I am picturing some mother out there so desperately lonely and depressed they are sitting around on their computer looking for answers? Others to commiserate with? I'm not really sure what her goal was but it's pretty clear she is unhappy.

So why is it different for me? I love being a stay at home mom. I adore it. But maybe that's because it is my choice, not the situation I happened to fall into. I'm not unemployable--not in the least. I have a BA in Creative Writing and tons of restaurant management experience. (I could manage a creative restaurant, Ha!) I am a trained doula and I've actually worked for a small publishing company. At this point in our lives it would actually be very helpful for me not to be a stay at home mom. Law school ain't cheap.:) So why am I at home "wasting" my skills? Because I decided a long time ago--well before I got married and started having children--that this is what I wanted to do. It may be the only thing I've wanted to do longer than writing books. (Junior High on that one.) My mom was a stay at home mom and I loved that. Soon after I met my now-husband, he let me know that having a stay at home mom for his children was very important to him. A make it or break it issue, even. If I had expressed no interest in staying home with my kids, I don't know if he would have married me. Luckily, it was important to both of us.

Maybe it's different because I am more than just a stay at home mom. When I had my daughter (my first child) I wasn't quite so happy. I went from being the main breadwinner (my husband was in school and only worked part-time) to being the main money spender. I had a very easy baby who really didn't require much of my time and I'd gained quite a bit of weight during my pregnancy so none of my clothes were even close to fitting and I couldn't go out running because I had a baby I couldn't leave and my husband was rarely home during the daylight hours. When Aud was about three months old was one of the most unhappy times of my life. I had pretty much resigned myself to being a boring, fat, dowdy housewife. Honestly, I'm not sure what changed. But one day I was sitting around watching "Judge Judy" and my baby sleeping and the next, I was a different person. I decided that the only person keeping me from being who I wanted to be, was me. A lot of things changed at that point. I started writing my first book, I discovered Tae-bo and started dropping baby weight, I went for walks with Audrey, and read books instead of watching television. I am a stay at home mom, but that's only a part of me. I was letting that title take over my life, and one day, I took the reigns back. And I've never looked back.

I know women who are stay at home moms and would rather be working; I know working moms who would rather stay at home. I'm not trying to convince you of anything here or even say one is better than the other. There is a time and place for that and this is not it. All I'm, saying is that whatever you are doing, find a way to be happy. If you are a working mom who wishes she was home, bring your kids to work with you in picture form. If you are a stay at home mom who wishes she could work, find time to do something you think is useful. Find a hobby you love. Something.

Me being so happy as a stay at home doesn't mean I love my kids more than other moms. It doesn't mean my kids are better than other kids. In fact, it doesn't have anything to do with my kids at all. I'm happy because I took control of my life and found ways to make myself happy. It wasn't easy, especially not at first, but it was totally worth it. And now, I wouldn't trade my life for anyone else's in the world.

*cough* In other news, Jodi is sending my YA out to editors sometime this week.

Ciao!

Oops, Forgot.

Okay, I am having so much fun with my new toy called Sitemeter (referral courtesy of Moonrat) and one of the things it does is tell me what people Googled to get to my blog. So I am going to start off my blog entries with the best Google search term. But since I forgot yesterday, you get a couple today.

I am the number one hit if you search "Princess Bride" "I hate to wait." :)

Today someone found me searching miss snark auction preempt. That's pretty cool.:)

Anyway, more next time.:)