MC (Mother of Ceremonies)

Hello again! Sorry for the hiatus (I had to Google that)--I have a ton on my plate right now. See?

This week I've launched my author blog (so exciting!!), emailed with ten authors who want me to beta read for them, and submitted my next answers for Read-to-Win. It's been pretty crazy. ;) Good crazy.

I want to take a moment to thank God for my mom. She is everyone's editor (and the voice in my head telling me, "Brevity, Kate. Brevity."); teacher (explaining math, facilitating job training, and reading aloud a book on public speaking); chauffeur (shuttling us to the library for a workshop on writing or vegetables of the world); chef; counselor; MC (mother of ceremonies); and everything else imaginable. Thanks, Mom!

The Misplaced, Normal Friday

Well, this post was originally supposed to be for Friday. I totally intended to draft it and post it that day. I had the time for it. Only problem--I didn't know it was Friday. I've been one day off all week. ; ) It happens like that when you don't look at the calendar for a week and a half because you really don't need to. We were too sick to go anywhere for several days so everything was on hold.

We were all flat out on the couches at some point or another watching probably a million movies and feeling worth half a cent. We recently pulled out of the fevers (although congestion still lingers), and it has been such a blessing to have our health back again!!! Friday (even though I did it the dishonor of thinking it was Thursday) was, consequently, one of our first nice, normal days in a while. I always love those.

There was weeding (gorgeous job, Mom!), PianoGuys music, first taste test of the homemade orange juice the little girls and I had made the day before (that day was pretty normal too--making orange juice and a doll tutu), the tail end of Sense and Sensibility (Aimee loves to watch movies while she does laundry), tons of work for our used book business (sorting through it all, listing some, and finding out that we have a ton to turn into the used bookstore for credit!), and then...an Amazon adventure.

That's right. An Amazon adventure. And I'm talking about the Amazon that has a smile instead of snakes. Just near the beginning of when we were getting sick, Amazon had me to do some focus group work for them and a phone call interview that included a complementary gift card. GIFT CARD. Thank you. Let's just say, without gloating, that it was a big one. So you might be hearing about some more Amazon adventures lately because--it was a big one.

Anyway, my normal Friday did have it's spark of the exciting because it is always exciting when you've been tracking your package while working on other things and "out for delivery" is staring you in the face. And then you take a few enthusiastic little sisters to the mail, and there is your gorgeous, fat yellow mailer.

And you have this inside...

Yay!!! You have been patient long enough and not bought "inferior" ebook copies! You may now hold, sniff, and love (that can also mean bend) real copies!!!

And take pictures of them with your dorky green couch in the background! Yay!

You may also see the back cover of the book you test read and point out to your siblings that your name (and your book's name!) got to be on the back. ; ) I always find it so cool to see something I've test read be published and know that I've helped in a tiny way to get it published. It's especially awesome because this time I get to read it with the illustrations. ; )

But back to normal Friday. I interrupted my siblings' projects to specifically show them Through the Tunnel since we had all gotten to help out with the snowflakes inside. They were all thrilled to see their own creations in a real book, and the credit with their names telling that they had made some. Even Anna who hadn't made a snowflake but helped me trace everyone else's was included with a special thanks that both surprised and delighted her. Here's my snowflake...

But the day wasn't over. Now I'm not so sure it was normal; because now that I think of it, it was pretty exciting. I guess I just use the word normal for "not-sick-or-too-busy-or-overly-stressed-out-day". Daddy brought home a little ice cream to celebrate how normal the day was and some Valentine's Day flowers for Mom. That ice cream was so yummy!!!

After the younger sisters were in bed (have I told you about their reindeer names? Hmmm... I may have to get special permission...), Dad, Mom, Paul, Anna, and I watched "Beyond the Mask" together on our starry projector. It was Paul's and my second time around (I enjoyed it way more this second time!), but the others had never seen it. Dad and Mom both really liked it (which is a huge compliment to an independent film!), and so did Anna; so altogether it was a hit! ; )

So, that was my nice, normal Th--Friday. ; P Lots of good excuses there for not posting. ; ) How was yours?

Grateful for 2015

Wow, I can hardly believe that 2015 is already over! Every other blog post you’ll read this week will probably start with those same words, but isequelh it’s the truth—time flies. There has been so much to be grateful for this past year, even the fact that this year happened. The world was supposed to end in 2012, so don’t forget that we are all miracles, folks.

It would never do to try to exhaust everything awesome that happened in the last 365 days. My brain would steam and yours would fall out your ear. So I’ll just cover the categories and please forgive me if I leave something out. ; )

I’m so grateful for…

• My family. The more I live the more I learn that my family is awesome. They are my built in friends, Romans, countrymen, critics, laugh track, comedy show, iron sharpeners (‘cause I have a pastor-dad!), and friends. Nobody else in the world would giggle at 11 o’clock at night about dropping flashlights or understand the joke “the eggs rolled off the ceiling”. (We don’t even understand that one.) Nobody else in the world would properly appreciate the term Calminian or be able to go on all day about the Trinity and constitutional rights at the same time. And definitely no one else would die laughing over our brother’s ability to mimic the voice of everyone in our family and beyond.
• More of my family. Yeah, I’m talking about the cute chubby ones and their chauffeurs. The Chap and the Chum and their tiny brother who is trying to learn to crawl so he can join them in throwing all their toys out the bedroom window and hosing each other down when Dad and Mom aren’t looking. They lived with us for five months this year in which we got to witness Chum getting un-chubby enough to be able to walk, Chap learning to do fist-bumps and say all sorts of intelligent things, and their fabulous brother being born. Then we got to help move them into their own little house, and altogether it’s been altogether amazing. ; )  The chauffeurs are pretty amazing too, by the way. Perry is great for calling and telling all about the three mile thick novel you are never going to write or getting all the advice you could ever need whether you want it or not. ; P (Hi, Perry! I know you are reading this! This part is for you!) And Tyler is awesome to bake for and shoot with Nerf darts.
• Church family. Since we started out on that infamously crazy road trip to move down here a year ago, they have been so welcoming and helpful. It’s been great to learn and grow and laugh and love with them all. Probably my two favorite things I’ve done with them all this year were our church picnic in April and caroling this past Christmas Eve.
• Friends. Most of my friends are at my current church, but if I didn’t talk about this category I’d be leaving out the special people back in the Northwest and my pen-pals far and near. All of these people have enriched my life so much.
• Media. I don’t mean the tv/social networking/newspaper kind. If you’ve been reading my blog long enough, you’ve probably noticed that this year has been a book explosion for me. There are definitely too many books for me to mention; but my favorites this year have been Dreamlander, Gift from the Storm, The Green Ember, its prequel The Blackstar of Kingston, The Warden and the Wolf King, and the Aggie’s Inheritance series. It’s not just books that I’ve been enjoying this year either. Andrew Peterson’s albums “After All These Years” and “The Burning Edge of Dawn” have been used by God to draw me so much closer to Him, and Handel’s “Messiah” is going to be a forever favorite now that I’ve heard it live. Two of my favorite movies this year are probably “Inside Out” and “The Stratton Story” (Jimmy Stewart—yup, yup!); but “Cinderella” isn’t on there just because I still haven’t seen it yet. (Goals for this year…) ; )
• Projects. Very sorry to bore you with more of “Kate’s Nerd Stuff”, but this year has been awesome for writing and test reading. I’ve written three short stories, two 10k words stories that I like tolerably well, and I’m halfway through another. I’ve also gotten to test read three manuscripts this year, which is always fun because it’s been rare for me to get to read something by someone who’s living and breathing right now and is asking my opinion. ; ) I love working out my worldview and imagination in story form and the sharpening from fellow authors is pretty awesome. The two Rebekah’s and the lovely people at Noble Novels have been a big part of that process this last year. (And those funny phone calls with Perry!) ; )
• Little things. A mini muffin tin; family celebrations; our sweet dog Ella (Nana if there ever was one!); sunny, breezy days; boots (I just got some for Christmas!!!); driving two hours just for the world’s best Mexican food; teaching a little friend from church how to say my name; old pictures; swings… There’s so much more, but you get the idea. Aren’t you proud that I didn’t accidentally sneak more books into this category? ; )
• Lessons and love. I have big problems with fear. I have big problems with change. I have big problems with adoring people but not wanting to talk to them because they are just too scary. I have big problems with controlling my imagination. I have problems with trust. I still have problems with crying when I smash a dish and then getting all defensive. I have problems with managing to get everything done. But when God said, “Let there be a Katie”, He knew there would be a lot of problems with her. Her teeth would be crooked; she would be afraid of the dark; she would love Him one moment and forget Him the next. God knew all of that. He loved her unconditionally. He sent His Son to atone for all of her sins. He sent His Holy Spirit to dwell in her heart to conform her to His image, and He gave her lessons this year to teach her. And someday, when all things are made new so will Katie. Right now she’ll listen to Andrew Peterson’s songs “The Rain Keeps Falling” and “Rejoice”. She’ll talk about herself in the third person so she can tell her blog readers about herself while pretending that that problematic person is someone else. ; ) And she’ll strive to love people and listen to the Holy Spirit. 

All of that is why I am grateful. What about you? 

Keep Your Rebekah’s Straight

Last summer, this test reading maniac was supremely blessed. One of my author friends, Rebekah Jones contacted me again and asked me to test read her newest project “24 Days Before Christmas”. It was a huge book, but since there was a generous deadline I accepted heartily.

A few weeks later, my other Rebekah—Rebekah Morris—contacted me with a test reading emergency. One of her test readers had to drop out at the last minute. Could I read her manuscript in two weeks? If I did, my review along with my name and my book’s name could be on the back of her fifth Triple Creek Ranch book. I was screaming over here with delight!! Of course I would do it!!!

You can imagine what it was like after that. Two novel-sized (at least) books to read in a month. Add to that the fact that both authors have the same first name and their email addresses start with the same letter. ; ) (I never mixed them up, though!) My family probably missed me; but, aided by my trusty tiny laptop, I finished the jobs. Rebekah Morris published her book on schedule (review will be here after the new year), and Rebekah Jones began the long editing process to get her book ready for Christmas time.

Rebekah Morris asked for my help again this autumn with a request for hand-drawn snowflakes for her newest project “Through the Tunnel”. My siblings and I experimented with several different ideas and finally got them to her. It was so fun to be able to help with yet another book! ; )

Now, to make the Tale of Two Rebekah’s even more confusing, their books both came out this last weekend in time for Christmas! I'd encourage you to check out Rebekah Jones’ mystery and Christmas story 24 Days Before Christmas. I plan on reviewing it here this December, so stay tuned! ; ) Also be sure to look at Rebekah Morris’ book Through the Tunnel and let me know what you think of it. I’m very anxious to read it myself. ; ) But remember, keep your Rebekah’s straight! ; )

And yes, this test reading maniac is currently working on another project. It's pretty fun. ; ) Have you ever been a test reader?