Confessions of a Winner

Is it Friday yet? This has been a long week, and I even took Monday off!

Thanks for participating. It makes me want to snuggle under a blanket and watch movies all weekend. Which exactly what the prize is ... a movie.

This is one of my all time favorite romantic comedies. If you already have it in your video library, now you have a gift to give away at a forthcoming white elephant gift exchange. (I'm helping you prepare for the holidays! How thoughtful of me!)

And the winner is ... #6. LivingstonslifeinMT! Yay! Rub it in to Team C. She could have been the winner ... if only ...

See y'all next week. It will be November then. EEEK!

What a Character

Do you remember when we talked about careers we would love even if we might not have talent in that particular area? And remember when I talked about how I want to become a casting director? Well, that's so I can cast myself in movies and become an actress--which is yet another job I would love but lack the skills to be successful. OK, so I don't really want to be an actress. But sometimes I watch a movie and I think, "I would love to play that role!" Does that ever happen to you?

It can happen to me for a  number of reasons. Like when I saw 101 Dalmatians. I would have loved to have been cast as Cruella De Vil. How fun would that be to act so incredibly insane! So ruthless. So intimidating. Oh, and to be so fashion forward.

It happened when I saw The Young Victoria. I would have loved that role because of the costumes. Could you imagine getting to wear some of those dresses?

Remember The Princess Bride? (Of course, how could we forget?) I would have loved to play Buttercup. She was so calm and graceful ... and she had men fighting over her. Men defying death for her. That's gotta feel pretty good, even if it is just on-screen.

Then finally, Dwight Schrute. I would love to play Dwight. Just because. (OK, if you need a reason, it's because he's such a geek, yet he could care less what others think.)

Don't you see how fun it could be to get totally immersed in a role? Especially if that character brought out personality traits that we typically subdue. :) Not to mention that if you could have access to some of the wardrobes from movies, you'd have the coolest Halloween costumes ever.

So tell me: what character from movies, books or TV would you love to get cast as?

Dying to Win

Do you want to hear something motivational on this fine Thursday morning? "God would not give you the dreams of your heart if he did not give you the TALENT & ABILITIES to make them come true." That gives you courage to believe in your dreams, doesn't it? And it comes via Olivia Holt, the cute girl I picked to play Kat in the make-believe Wilder Times movie. 

So lets all get our passports and make our travel plans! PaulaShawn, it would be nice if you could do that England trip right away to help do research for that English Romance I want to write. And Rosie, I'm sorry, but you can't move any of those places while your kids are still young because that would mean you wouldn't live by me, and that can't happen!

The prize this week is something that will help the winner plan their bucket list.

 

A deluxe journal! Remember how I have thing for office supplies? That includes cute stationary stuff, so I'm having a hard time parting with this one! But don't worry, I haven't written on any of the pages.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I punched the numbers into Random.org. I thought there was no way that we could have another newbie win. But my eyes didn't deceive me: it's #3 LStevens. Yippee! Email me your address to folksinmt(at)gmail

Scared to Death

Since it's Halloween and morbid things like death are on our minds, I thought this would be the perfect time to ask you if you are prepared for death. Do you have a will? Have you met with an estate attorney? I'm kidding. I actually want to ask you if you are prepared to live.

Years ago, I attended a class and was challenged to write a list of 50 things I want to do before I die. Why write them down? Because if you don't write it down it's just  a dream; but once it's written down, it becomes a plan. And if you're like me, if I don't write it down, it's forgotten! Since I'm the perfect student, I got right to work my list. I only came up with 23 things to do before I die, but that's okay: I'm sure I'll add to it as the years go by.

I got my journal out from underneath my pillow, where I keep it until I write in it each night       I dug my journal out of a drawer and found my list. Let me share a few:

1. Go on a castle tour of Europe. I especially want to see this place:

2. Attend a play ON Broadway

3. Re-learn how to play the piano, (I might even get as good as this guy. Or not.)

4. Publish a book (Score! I can check that off my list!)

5. Write a screenplay and have it produced.

If you've never written your list of things you want to do before you die (also known as a bucket list) then I challenge you to do it TODAY. Then will you share some of your dreams goals with us? And this is even better than just keeping them locked in your journal because we can raz each other to get them done.

I can't think of anything worse than being locked away in a nursing home at the age of 112 and saying "I really wish I'd gone to Europe. Maybe I can do that next year." That's just scary.

P.S. The poll is now closed; Wilder Times 3 won with 64% of the vote. The people have spoken. Now it shall be written. Tomorrow. I'll have it ready for you by this weekend. :)

Dinner Winner

I missed our chit chat this week. How about you? Were you bored? I was so bored I cleaned my bathroom. (We can't ever let this happen again!)

This week's winner gets at $10 Applebee's giftcard. I took the quiz entries and entered the total number into Random.org and came up with #5: which is so totally cool because this person has never won on my blog before. And also totally cool because this person has just recently entered the blogoshpere. The winner is: Mary! I'm throwing confetti for you! See, wasting time on the internet really pays! Email me at folksinmt(at)gmail(dot)com.

Come back next week everyone: we'll have something to talk about.

P.S. The poll will still be there for a few more days, click on it if you haven't already done so. I was really rooting for the English Thingy. Darn. Do I need to remind you that the hero would have an English accent? :)

A Kiss on the Lips and To Spit on a Fish

Did you know it's Backwards Week? If you don't believe me, go ahead and Google it.

I'm waiting while you are Googling.  ... And you're coming up with ... nothing. Backwards week doesn't exist. I know, I Googled it.

OK, so never mind. But we're doing things backwards here at the blog. You know how usually you make a comment blindly, not knowing if the prize is something worth winning? Well this time, here's what you are going to win:

An Applebee's giftcard! However, you don't know the amount. I don't know the amount (YET). It's based on the number of people who enter to win. What is the contest? It's the one that we started way back at the beginning of fall. But if for some reason you haven't yet read Generations (hello, you're like totally out of the loop. Everyone who's anyone has read Generations. Get on it, would ya?) you can still take the Pop quiz and enter to win. I'm not grading the quiz (good thing!) so it doesn't matter if you have to fudge your way through. Just do it. It might pay for your dinner. You have until Weds. at 9 pm to enter.

I knew when I started this blog that it would be you guys who would make this blog fun (since I'm as boring as a cat on a fluffy pillow). Can I tell you how much you guys make me laugh? A lot. A lot a lot. I would like to share with you a couple of the answers from the quiz. Names have been omitted to protect the innocent.

Q: Where are Ben and Kat caught kissing? A: On the lips. Someone out there is a smarty pants. All she needs to do for her Halloween costume is tape some Smarties to her jeans.

Q: What is the name of Ben's new song? A: Spitting on a Fish. Ha ha ha! That is the best title for a song, ever! One of these days, I'm going to write lyrics for it. And that's a promise.

Obviously we're not taking the quiz seriously, so head on over there and enter.

So what does that leave us to do here on this blog? Hmm. How about a poll? I need your help making a decision.

I'm ready to start writing again. (Yipee!) I'd thought I'd work on Wilder Times #3 next. But I'm kinda changing my mind. I have a new idea I want to work on. It would be a romance (of course!) and the best way to describe it would be that it's Pride and Prejudice meets Confessions of a Shopaholic. I think it would be loads of fun. And it would be set in England. (which I'm an expert on BTW. I travel there practically every year.) It would be for grown ups, although teens would like it too.

Or I could do WT #3. Want to know what the plot is for WT#3? Well, remember how I told you that Ben is going to name his son Wylder Wilder? That got me thinking. Ben is going to be abducted by aliens and he will get impregnated with alien spawn and come back to Earth and become the not only the first male to experience 9 months of pregnancy, but he'll also become the first ever rockstar to go on tour while preggos. That could be a fun one to write too, couldn't it? (You do know I'm totally kidding, right? But no way am I telling you what happens in book three, especially when you need to brush up on your reading comprehension skills. See above.) I will tell you the name for #3 though. Purgatory. And yes, that's a song title too. Kinda makes you wonder what's happening in Ben's life to make him write a song with a title like that, doesn't it?

So there's a little poll over there in the sidebar. What book do you want me to write next? (Note the word NEXT. Both will get written eventually. Which one should I do first?) Isn't that cool that you can have a say with what book a world renowned* author is going to write next? Let your voice be heard. Take my poll. It's right here --------------------->

As for comments this week: it's open mic week. You're welcome to say anything you want to say. Ask anything you want to ask. You just won't win anything for it. Or you can give your fingers a break and do nothing. Totally up to you.

* I might be exaggerating just a tiny bit here.

I'm Afraid We Have A Winner

You guys made me laugh this week. You're a witty bunch.

Missy: my favorite illustrator is also afraid of sharks. Go check out his blog. This picture might keep you from taking baths. And this one is just down-right hilarious (you have to go to the blog and read the accompanying post too).

Janice: you're supposed to clean blinds? I never knew that.

Rosie: I will get your new baby a stuffed clown for her birthday. BTW, want to come jump on my trampoline?

PaulaShawn, PaulaShawn, PaulaShawn: what can I say? That was vengeance and flattery rolled up in one. Very impressive you are. And the chain link fence thing?  I think you'd have to wear stilettos to have an accident like that happen; I've never seen you wear any.

All the rest of you: I couldn't resist and I replied in the comments. If my comment wins, I'm afraid you'll be out of luck. (Kidding, I'll do a redo.) And I hate deleting extra comments ... it's so nice to be able to talk to each other! So if a duplicate comment wins, I'll do a redo as well. Fair?

This week's prize is something so scary ... so awful ... so ... cute! Look:

Halloween  stickers for all your scrapbooking/papercrafting needs. You can't tell from the picture, but they're dimensional. Maybe if you put on your 3D glasses it would help.

And just look at the spiders. They're juggling! With candycorn! A. Dor.Able!

This week's winner as picked by Random.org was comment #5. Devree! Again!!! Devree just won a copy of Catalyst last week. I still have your address, so I'll pop those in the mail to you. Congrats. You're on a winning streak.

Come back next week gals!

Be afraid ... be very afraid

It's October. That means that Catalyst is available! Yay! Want to click on over to Amazon and like it? Yes, you do, you do! The link is over there in the sidebar. As for the paperback ... it's there, it really is. But it's not there. For some reason it's still not up on Amazon. But you can get from Createspace, which is a division of Amazon. So it's the exact same thing for the exact same price. UPDATE: The paperback is now available on Amazon. The link is in the sidebar. If you see the price and gulp, it's because its a long book: 438 pages! But it's worth every cent. Am I right or am I right?

Were still in the midst of our Fall Fun Fest, but it won't last much longer. The final contest is the Generations Pop Quiz and the winner gets dinner at Applebee's. You don't need to worry about getting the answers right, you'll still be entered to win even if you bomb the quiz. And the more people who enter, the more $ the winner gets for dinner: so tell your friends to come play along. I'm giving you until Oct. 12th to get over there and enter. The winner will be announced on Thursday the 13th.

And then the Fall Fun Fest will be over. But it will still be fall. And we'll still have fun. It just won't be a fest.

So since it's the month of spookiness, let's face our fears. And let's name our fears. Did you know that there is a name for pretty much every phobia out there? I'm a bit of word nerd and I came across a 4 page list of phobias in my thesaurus. I thought it was hilarious. Look at these examples:

Pogonophobia : the fear of beards. I'd never really thought about that one before, but I guess when you see this picture, it's understandable.

Aulophobia: the fear of flutes. I'd say that any fifth grader who chooses to learn this instrument gives their parents aulophobia. I'm glad to say I never gave my mom aulophobia, unlike some people whose screenname might just be PaulaShawn.

(Not an actual picture of PaulaShawn. But if I had a picture like that of her, it'd be PRICELESS. I might have to look through some old photo albums next time I go visit mom and dad.)

Gymnophobia: the fear of nudity. This one cracks me up because of the name. It's obvious that too many people go au natural in the locker rooms of gyms. And it's not the buff people who do this. It's the droopy people. Don't worry, I won't post a picture. I'm sure your imaginations work just fine.


Didaskaleinophobia: the fear of school. I have at least on child who has this. Again, it's the name that's funny. I think it got the name from someone who "Did ask" a question and got made fun of and humiliated so bad that they developed a permanent fear/hatred of school. 

Pentheraphobia: the fear of your mother-in-law. I can't stop laughing about this one. There's a name for that?

Ideophobia: the fear of ideas. What the? Ideas? Really?

Kakorraphiaphobia: the fear of failure.This one is understandable. I think we all have this at some time or another, like when publishing a book. :)

And finally, my phobias: Entomophobia: the fear of bugs. Glossophobia: the fear of public speaking. And I couldn't find the name for this one: fear of crying in public. (Especially while speaking in public.) I'm going to give it a name myself: Bawlbabyophobia.

So what are your fears? If you know the scientific name, tell us that too. If you don't know the name, make one up! Together, we can overcome our fears! And to all you blog lurkers/never commenters out there, now is the time to overcome that fear. Leave me a comment. Come on: what are you afraid of?

The Winner, Take Six

Time for the final winner of Catalyst. I added up all comments and went to Random.org. We had 25 comments this week and it selected #8. So the 8th comment (starting from Monday) was Devree! Yay Devree. You've never won a prize on my blog before, so this is super exciting. Email me so I can send you the book. folksinmt(at)gmail(dot)com.

Thanks for playing everyone! It was great fun. Now I'm all give-awayed out. At least until next week.

BTW, the paperback is available, but the link isn't up yet. Maybe by Monday??? Check back then. Have a great weekend!