Shannon Yarbrough

Well, if you even half ass watch American Idol like I do half the time, you probably already know that besides the contestants each singing two songs from Neil Diamond last night, Paula Abdul probably had too many lines of coke because she began critiquing their second songs when they had not even sung them yet. Ryan Seacrest tried to pass it off as her being psychic and joked that she was seeing into the future. Paula stuttered and blinked and then said, “This is hard.” Poor Paula.

Although I don’t really care for any of them this year, I’m going to say that David Cook will win. AI has yet to tap into that rocker genre, and with the success of Chris Daughtry they are way passed due. Ooooh, but the fans decide, right? Ha! Ha! If they did, then we all know David Archuleta would win. That kid is as cute and humble as a button, but Simon and the others know he is NOT marketable. He’d end up being another Taylor Hicks, and when’s the last time you heard one of his songs on the radio?

But it wouldn’t surprise me if poor Brooke White goes home tonight. With all of her mess ups, she’s way past due. She did okay last night. I personally loved her second song, I Am…I Said, the best out of all of them. But there’s not a single one left whose album I would personally want to buy. American Idol has just lost its flare. It’s too much. It’s gone on too long. And therefore, it’s lost my attention span.

I’m always glad to see AI go though because that means So You Think You Can Dance is starting. May 22nd is the 2 hour premiere. Now that’s a reality show that is still hot!!

Threats of snowfall.  Falling temperatures over night.  A light rain today.  It didn’t stop me from having a productive weekend, but it did keep me from digging in the back yard.  All this week, my intentions were to spend my birthday money on plants for the backyard.   But, temperatures were supposed to drop last night so I was leery of investing in too many plants just to have them wilt and die on me the first day.

So, yesterday I made the first annual trip to the local farmer’s market to browse their plant selection.  I made a stop at another greenhouse and finally ended up at Lowe’s.  I didn’t buy anything at the market or greenhouse, but I spent my Lowe’s gift card (a Xmas gift from Mom) on two bags of potting soil, some grasses for our property line, and two purple flowering thingys (I love purple).  The plants are sitting in my dining room waiting for next weekend when I hope the weather will be a bit tamer.  I also bought a bird feeder at Tuesday Morning, and two Shepard’s hooks at Big Lots to hang wind chimes on.

As I’ve said before, years ago while living at home, I could care less about a plant or a flower or a vegetable.  I would have spent money on books or CDs.  So it’s true.  You really do turn into your parents the older you get.  I’m anxious to return to the farmer’s market for some flowers and plants for my pots.  After having no luck with bulbs last year, this year it’s going to be all annuals and vegetables for the pots.  I want something that will die off at the end of the season that doesn’t have to come inside.  I’m also going to buy some more perennials for our two flower beds…things that will come back every year but don’t have to be dug up and front in. J and I had a bit of luck with a tiny garden last year, but I don’t know if we will have one this year or not.

So, what did I do this weekend besides window shop for vegetation?  We bought a new rug for the dining room, and rearranged the dining room furniture along with the pictures on the walls.  That led to downsizing a massive bookshelf in the living room, and rearranging some of the kitchen this morning.  Spring cleaning!  We’re both happy with the results and like the de-cluttering we achieved.

Now, it’s the end of Sunday.  The weekend is drawing to a close.  The pets are asleep.  The dishes washed.  The laundry done.  The house clean.  The Big Brother finale is tonight!

We’ll plant next weekend…

Well, we no longer have to wait for Query Saturday from Dear Author now to pick and poke at poor lil queries if we don’t want to. Janet Reid, another agent who writes a blog I read religiously, has started a new query blog called Query Shark.

Check it out!

And NO, I have not yet submitted.

• Payday.
• Buy groceries.
• Pay bills.
• Ship paintings to Alabama.
• Work.
• Eat dinner.
• Watch Survivor.
• Go to bed and wake up to Friday.  YESSS!

The monotony of another work week.  I can’t believe I’m sitting here and my birthday has passed and it finally feels like springtime and it’s already Thursday.  The older I get, the faster time flies.  Oh, and you don’t have to agree with me on that.  And I don’t want to hear any “I told ya so’s” either, so none of that!

Now that all the painting is done for the art show in Alabama which is next week, I’m hanging up my brushes for a few months to concentrate solely on writing again.  Sure, I’ll pick up the paints again in the fall and do something for my Mom or Sister’s birthday, but I’m a lil burnt out right now.

Besides talking about rejection letters, I haven’t said much more about my writing lately so I wanted to post a few thoughts to update the people who read this blog, all 2 of you.  Upon returning from vacation, things were a bit slow because I think I was getting anxious to get some more responses from the agents who I have yet to hear back from.  Should I start a new project?  Should I continue to query?  Should I edit the old project?

The old projects are on hold.  For The Most Part is in need of some editing since I axed one of the characters a few months ago.  It’s pretty much been left at that.  Stealing Wishes has been queried to only one agent since the end of the ABNA contest.  I hope she at least replies with a yay or nay and doesn’t leave me hanging.  (fingers crossed)

In the meantime, I’m working on The Piano Maker project which I talk about under the Projects tab up there at the top of the screen.  I started at the beginning and have been going through it word for word and adding, taking away, and editing.  I’m almost at a point now where I’m about to start writing the rest of it and hope to have it done by the end of summer.  Again, I think it’s a great historical fiction piece and may be a bit more marketable than the last two books I’ve written.  We shall see….

I’ve also started on a nonfiction book proposal.  Read my previous post to learn more about that. The good news there is I don’t have to have it entirely written to start putting it out there to agents.

And that’s about it.  This weekend I’m looking forward to plant shopping, farmers market visiting, and working in the yard though!  The grass is green and waiting to be stepped on!

So I’ve recently started a nonfiction book project and I need your help. The title of the book is Generation (Know) Now: Real Life Lessons Graduates Don’t Have to Learn the Hard Way.

Is there any real lesson in life you had to learn the hard way because they didn’t teach you in high school? I’m not talking about being nice to people or being positive. But what about how to balance your check book? What is social security? How to get a credit card? How to live on a budget? What kind of insurance do I need?

There are millions of middle American teens who can’t afford a college education and get “thrown” into the real world right out of high school. Most of us have been there, but were any of us prepared? I’m not saying a book can teach you everything about life, but it may help you to face some of the obstacles a little easier.

So, can you think of a “real life” lesson that maybe you learned the hard way? If so, email it to generationknownow@gmail.com .

Although these are pictures from last year, looking back on them is making me antsy to get outside, stick my hands in the dirt, and grow things.  It’s what southern women do, remember? That, and wear funny hats according to Steel Magnolias.

The weather has been gorgeous this week and my weekend trip to Tennessee was nice.  I was so jealous because almost all of my Mom’s flowers are about to bloom.  Her hostas are full grown already where as mine have barely cracked the surface.

While I was gone, J took the time to clean up the yard a bit and pick up the hay that we had put down over the beds for winter.  He also moved the winter bird plants we had brought in back outside to the deck, along with our patio table and chairs.  So, it’s a slow start but we are getting there.  I’m hoping for warm weather this weekend so I can make my first trip to the local farmer’s market to buy plants and flowers, and a trip to Lowes to spend my Xmas gift card I’ve been saving on potting soil.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again….as a child growing up in the rural south, I loved to play outside but I hated plants.  My father and mother planted and tended to a handful of gardens.  Veggies were plentiful and usually handed out freely to elderly neighbors.  We had to mow neighboring yards to earn money for school clothes.  Although I had no choice over the yard mowing, I tried to stay clear of the gardening.  And look at me today!  We pay someone to mow our yard but here I am anxious to get out and grow things.  Slowly, I have become my parents.

Here’s to Springtime!

Those who read my blog know that I tend to refrain from talking about politics, but I just have to mention what I heard on the Today show this morning concerning the whole Clinton and Obama race going down in Pennsylvania right now.  This morning, the Today show was talking about some of their ratings and although I don’t remember all of the exact percentages, here’s what they said:

Clinton leads Obama among Pennsylvania Bowlers.  53% over 42%.  (Cut to Obama bowling for a photo op.  It doesn’t show the ball going down the lane though so it must have gone in the gutter.)

Clinton also leads Obama 48% over 42% among gun carriers.  (It would have been funny to cut to Obama at a firing range or something, but they didn’t.)

However, among beer drinkers Clinton and Obama are tied 44% to 44%.  (They should have cut to both Obama and Clinton chugging a few in some bar while onlookers cheered them on.)

Hmmm….I’m just wondering how the beer drinking, gun totin’ bowlers are gonna vote?  What a joke!

It’s 6am and I can’t believe I’m up early on a Saturday.  I haven’t had to do this since when we left for vacation in March.  J has to work today which is the main reason.  I am up with him.  Must…have….coffee…..can’t…..go….on……

Ahhhhhh! Much better….

Anyhoo….my Dad’s birthday was this past Wednesday and mine is tomorrow so I’ll be getting ready to leave shortly to head to Tennessee for a quick weekend visit with the family and to celebrate.  As I’ve mentioned before, I hate the long drive but I haven’t seen them since February so it should be nice.

The heat of my post yesterday concerning Angela Hoy’s outrage at PODdy Mouth for misinformation and name calling, and her $500 reward for anyone who could reveal the person behind the infamous blog, was short lived. Today, the PODdy Mouth II site here on wordpress was deleted by the author.

Like PODdy Mouth I, I believe the second blog had reached its prime.  The second blog offered no reviews of POD books or the infamous Needle Awards.  And let’s face it, there are already enough blogs comparing and contrasting all of the different POD publishers.  Thanks to the internet, we can even do it ourselves.  PODdy II did not offer any new information one probably was not already aware of concerning package pricing, commissions, distribution, printing, etc. PODdy’s catty commentary and Sweet Sixteen basketball-like tournament only regurgitated information she’d already stated.  And according to many sources, it was misinformation at that.  I often felt like she only found negativity in the POD industry rather than any praise at all.

The POD Publishers pushing the industry forward today are all unique in their way.  Some are more affordable than others, and like blogs we surf and sites we shop and books we read, authors should just be thankful we have all of these choices to choose from.

And as far as blogs go, there are even more opinions out there which can take the place of your regular visit to the PODdy site.  Almost all of the others that I surf daily are indeed more open and honest bloggers that indeed care more about seeing the authors succeed rather than pointing out the faults POD, like any industry, faces in today’s literary market. Give some of these a try…

iUniverse Book Reviews

PODpeep

Writer’s Weekly

Becoming a Writer Seriously

The Joy of Self-Publishing

Self Publishing (Foner Books)

The Lulu Book Review

(And if you write a POD blog or have another you enjoy visiting on a regular basis, post it here as a comment.)

I made this vacation video using animoto.com.

You can make a 30 second video with 15 pictures for free.  Or you can upload as many pics as you want and for 3 dollars, you can make a full length video like this one.  They also have free music you can pick from to add to your video, or you can upload your own to give the video a soundtrack.

I took over 1800 photos while we were on vacation in March.  This video doesn’t contain them all but represents about the first 3 days.  I’ll be making part 2 soon!  This first one was more of a test to see if I liked the animoto site.  It was definitely worth it.  You can post your videos on many blogs and of course, on Youtube!