Absolutely Brilliant Nano YouTube Video

Making Friends Monday

Welcome to this week's installment of Making Friends Monday, where it's Monday, and we make friends!  Works out pretty well, huh?

I'd like to start out by introducing Angela Morrison.  She is the author of Taken by Storm and Unbroken Connection, and she will be shortly releasing Cayman Summer.  In fact, her blog is named Cayman Summer, which does two things:  makes me wish it were summer, and makes me wish I were in the Caymans. I'm pretty sure that was intentional on her part. This blog is brand new.  She's previously been blogging here. 

I asked her about her hobbies.  She replied, "Our whole family scuba dives now. When we moved to Mesa we made sure the swimming pool was deep enough to go down there with tanks. Crazy, huh? I kind of prefer a nice reef on the ocean, but we don't have an ocean. We do have bobcats that visit our fountain in the front yard, a real life cougar that patrols the subdivision, and a herd of wild javelinas that pillage our flower pots. My secret dream is to be a ballet dancer. 

"I treasure old things that help me imagine the past. I have a pair of my great grandmother's leather boots that fit my feet exactly. I just rescued a very old piano from a showroom of shiny new ones. My husband is the ultimate road warrior. He drags me around the world sometimes. We've lived in Canada, Switzerland and Singapore. This summer I cajoled him into driving me all over the Scottish Highlands and Outer Hebrides. I was researching a novel about the Highland Clearances I want to write, but discovered another novel hidden in the mists on the Isle of Skye. I brought home a leather sporran (the man-purse Scots wear in front of their kilts) that dates to the early 19th Century when my Scottish ancestors sailed to the Americas. It matches my great grandmother's boots perfectly!"

Hey, someone else who has lived in Canada!!  I didn't know I had so many Canadian friends.  It must have something to do with the fact that I badly want to go to Prince Edward Island.

Our next blogger is Mary Walker.  I don't think she's Canadian. She says, "I started my first blog in August of 2008, after saying for weeks that I would never blog. (That's how it always happens, Mary ... but the blogging will get you anyway ...) I started my second blog in August of 2009. 

"On my Custom Ties blog, I post about all sorts of random things,  family parties, reunions, lunch with friends, book promotions, some politics, church, jokes, videos, and Gluten Free Recipes that I've tried, and that are good.  Whatever I am doing, or grabs my interest at the moment.

"My Book Corner Blog is reviews of some of the books I read. I started this after surgery last summer, when I couldn't use my left hand and was reading a lot. I decided that since I have a large number of friends in the east, where it is hard to find LDS Fiction, I would share what I liked. I am slow updating this one, because I still have book report trauma from my grade school years.

"My mom enrolled me in my first book club before I was born. I love to read, I did a happy dance when they opened a Deseret Book on the west side of Phoenix. I love going to book signings, but there aren't nearly enough down here in the Phoenix area. I grew up in central Massachusetts. I have served in the Nursery in 4 different wards for a total of 21 years. It is my all-time favorite calling. I have had other callings too, but none I like so much."

I was in the nursery for a while too, Mary!  It is a fun calling.

Our last blogger for today is Michael Young.  I have no idea if he's Canadian or not.  He says, "I just started blogging in February when my first novel, 'The Canticle Kingdom' came out.  I never realized how fun it was. 

              

"I love to interview other authors and review their books.  I also enjoy putting up articles about writing and how to become a better one.  (They help me learn along the way too.) 

              

"I have a variety of interests from doing theater, to singing with The Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  In addition to writing novels, I'd love to write a musical and have it performed someday."

Michael sat at my table at the LDStorymakers writers conference this last year for a total of about thirty-seven seconds.  I don't know if it was something I said, but he sure took off in a hurry ... Michael, we'll have to try it again and shoot for two minutes next time, okay?

Thanks for joining us today.  Now, run around and visit everyone's blogs and get to know each other!  After all, we are friendly, frisky followers!  And if you'd like to participate in an installment of Making Friends Monday, click here to read the rules.  

Making Friends Monday

Welcome to this week's edition of Making Friends Monday!

Our first blogger today is Christina Weigand, who blogs at the Palace of Twelve Pillars. Her first novel, titled "Aaron's Revenge," was released in June of 2010 through Xlibris.  She has other books in the works, too -

Palace of Twelve Pillars (first in the trilogy) being revised, word count 61,000; Palace of Three Crosses (second in the trilogy) to be written during NANOWRIMO 2010 then critiqued, revised and rewritten in 2011, word count 0; Aaron's Revenge (third in the series) rewritten and rereleased with the other in 2011, word count 41,000.  That's going to keep her really busy, it sounds like!

Christina's blog is a great mixture of thoughts on writing and devotional essays.  She's a Catholic, and her reverence for God and her religion comes through in her inspirational posts.  

Next up is Stephanie Humphries, who has some of the most gorgeous hair I've ever seen.  She also lives in Canada.  I don't know if Canadians just grow gorgeous hair, or if that's a coincidence.

She says, "I've been blogging since June 2007. My blog is called Write Bravely. I blog about whatever is on my mind. Usually I write about books, writing, or just a slices of life.

"If I were to do anything besides writing, it would be embroidery. Give me a needle and thread and I am content for hours. The writing takes up so much time that I don't do much needlework anymore, but when I really need to relax, that is the first thing I turn to.

"My first book, Finding Rose, was published this summer."

Congratulations on that first publication ... I have no doubt it's just the first of many!

Last but not least for today is Sue Neal, who is also Canadian.  What are the odds ... And yes, she has gorgeous hair too!  She says, "I had to check, but I’ve been blogging for just over 2 years. Primarily I blog about paper crafting and food.  As a Studio 5 contributor for both of these areas, I always post my video segments with links to my articles.

"I am also a Founding PC Pro for Paper Crafts Magazine and currently teach card making classes (Q’s Creative Card Classes) at Roberts Crafts across Utah every month, so there are LOTS of paper crafting and card making posts.

"I blog about travel teaching, my contests and pretty much anything else in my life that is craft or food-related.
 I am from Montreal, Quebec, speak Canadianese (eh?), French, passable German, and chicken, which sounds like a hard language to learn, but actually has a very small vocabulary, namely: Food, Food, Food.
        
"I have five children, one husband (my bread-making renaissance man), 2 cats and 4 chickens.  I love them, the gospel, friends, rainy days, distant thunder, sun-ripened tomatoes, paper, a good book, laying on grass, trees, camping, travel, photoshop and my iphone."

Okay, everyone, run around and meet these fantastic ladies!  Remember, we're being friendly, frisky followers!

Thanks for joining us here on Making Friends Monday.  If you'd like to play too, click here to learn the rules. 

Making Friends Monday

Thank you for stopping by for this week's installment of Making Friends Monday.  This has to be one of the most fun things I've ever done on my blog, and I'm excited to share it with all of you!

Our first blogger is Kathleen from A Succor for Writing. She has been blogging since this last May, soon after returning from the LDStorymakers Writers Conference.  She primarily blogs about writing. She worked in bank management for thirteen years, and loved her co-workers and customers, but she didn't love dealing with bank robbers.  Yes, actual bank robbers!!  She has written down some of her experiences and is considering writing a book about them.  I would definitely love to hear her stories, but they might make me scared to go to the bank ever again!

Our next blogger is Dan Harrington, and he has been blogging for a total of just a month.  He's a newbie!  That's okay, though - we all start somewhere.  You can find him at Dan Harrington. He says, "Years ago, I used to blog for a newspaper website, but it felt fruitless because all posts went into an archive after two weeks, so most people couldn't view them.  I'm glad Blogspot keeps things open."

When asked what he plans to blog about, Dan says, "I plan to blog about being a freelance writer, first-time author, and whatever else catches my eye.  I hope to make some good contacts in the writing community."

Yeah, I think we can help you out with that, Dan.  Most of my readers are writers, or readers.  So, any fun random facts we should know about you?

"As a freelance writer, I've had the opportunity to interview celebrities like actress Victoria Rowell, New York Times Bestselling authors Tess Gerritsen and Kate Braerstrup, Olympian Seth Wescott, UFC fighters Tim Boetsch and Marcus Davis as well as former WWE wrestler Scotty 2 Hotty."

Cool! And I understand you have a book coming out?

"My first book, 'Who's at the Door? A Memoir of Me and the Missionaries' is being released by Cedar Fort this November.  I feel blessed to have achieved a moderate level of success with my writing and hope my career continues to grow." 

Last for today is Valerie Ipson.  "I've been blogging for a year and a half on my own writers blog, longer than that on a vinyl lettering blog, and even longer than that with a blog team with ANWA. I blog there every other Tuesday.

"My writers blog feels like my home base (my vinyl one is generally neglected). I blog mostly about writing and obsessing over the Hunger Games series or Hershey Milk Chocolate Toffee and Almond Nuggets, with odd things thrown in now and then, like a recent post telling how I helped my 4th grader get an F on her Math homework.

"A litle bit about me can be gleaned from that last paragraph, it seems. I have 8 lovely children and an even lovelier husband. We have married off two children in a year's time and have another wedding in two months. I'm writing a Mainstream YA set in a fictional Texas town. Due to a tragic accident, reluctant student body president, Taryn Young....yeah. I'm still working on my pitch. I'm actually in revision mode and have a friend/editor/nazi helping me with that. Who knows what it will all look like when I'm (she's) done. (Love you friend/editor/nazi!!!)

"That's me!"

Tristi Goes on a Russian Rant

Hallo, it is I, Little Ranting Tristi.  You know I can't stay quiet all the time and let Calm, Reasonable Tristi have all the fun.  Once again, it is time for me to speak.

I spent the last week reading The Last Days of the Romanovs: Tragedy at Ekaterinburg. First of all, I have to say, wow.  This was one of the most well-written, well-documented books I've ever read.  It held my interest like fiction, but instead was a powerful piece of nonfiction that I will never forget. It painted pictures in my mind and brought the whole story to life.  It also made me angry with Fox.*

When the movie "Anastasia" first came out, I went to see it with eager anticipation.  I'm not sure if all my blog readers know this, but I've been fascinated with Russia since I was a small child, and I even got to spend two weeks there as a teenager.  My husband and I want to serve a mission there together when our children are grown.  In fact, it was our mutual interest in Russia that brought us together in the first place - he learned to speak Russian in the Air Force. So, of course, when the movie came out, I badly wanted to see it.

What a jumbled mess of hyped-up entertainment and sensationalism.

I knew it ticked me off, but until I read this book, I wasn't aware just how deep my ticked-off-ness would run.  Now I know ... it runs pretty deep.

In the movie, we see Anastasia as a little girl being whisked out of the palace by a little boy as the soldiers come in to take away the family.  She then grows up on the streets, and when a charlatan decides to perpetrate a scam and say that Anastasia survived the assassinations, he finds her and decides to pass her as the princess.  She was in her middle teens when she does this.  It is discovered that she actually is the princess, and all is sunshine and roses.

In actuality, Anastasia was a young lady of seventeen at the time of the assassinations.  She was not a little girl.  The royal family was not taken from the palace by soldiers - Nicholas, the tsar, had renounced his throne some time previously, and the family had been living in solitude in a quiet location far away from the palace.  From there, they were moved into a house in Ekaterinberg, where they lived for a time before they were taken down to the basement and killed.

From there, the bodies were taken out to the forest, where they were buried.  But the burial spot wasn't deep enough, and the assassins went back out the next day, recovered the bodies, and doused them with acid before then setting fire to them.  When they recovered the bodies, they counted each one of them, and none were missing.  This report was taken from the leader of the assassins himself.  These are just some of the inaccuracies of the film - it would take me at least another hour to innumerate them all.

What infuriates me so much is the fact that Fox took this moment in history, completely fictionalized it, marketed it to children (who remember everything they see) and call it the story of Anastasia.  Children are literal.  They now believe that this is the story of Anastasia.  History was not done justice at all.  The bottom line, the almighty dollar, was the motivating force behind the whole thing.

Why not make a nice movie about someone else who didn't know she was a princess, and call it something else?  Then you can throw in any whacky things you want without totally demolishing history.

All I can say is this:  if you're going to make a movie about a real person's life, at least do your audience the courtesy of telling the truth.

*Note:  When I originally posted this blog, I accused Disney of making this film.  One of my friends left a comment and corrected me - it was indeed made by Fox.

Making Friends Monday

Thank you for joining me as we celebrate another installment of Making Friends Monday!

Our first blogger is Angie, who blogs at Notes from the Writing Chair.  She's been blogging for about two years now, primarily about all things writing-related, with some book reviews thrown in for good measure.  You can read her short stories on her blog (that's reason enough to head straight over there).  The view from the chair is spectacular.  Her motto is, "Success flourishes only in perseverance - ceaseless, restless perseverance."  - The Red Baron

Angie is also an awesome supporter of the LDS writing community, coming out to events and participating in blog tours, etc.  She came out and saw me, Daron Fraley, and David West at our signing at Eborn Books in September, and won a whole basket of books. 

Next, let's meet Lori, who started blogging in 2005. On her main blog, Hearts and Hands,  she writes about her family, friends, and life as an emotional abuse survivor. Sometimes she sprinkles in a few recipes and photos. On her second blog, Forethought and Purpose,  she interviews authors, and sometimes readers, reviews books, and talks about overcoming fear and doubt in her journey to becoming an author. Links to her other blogs are listed in her profile. 

She is a 2010 debut novelist in the women’s fiction genre. Her first book, "My Gift to You," will be released later this month. She is currently working on a Young Adult novel.

A graphic designer and artist, she illustrated the award-winning children’s picture book "What Are You Thinking?" which was released in July. She loves crème Brule and has a secret passion for French fries—feeling they have less calories if they belong to someone else, she’s been known to sneak them from the plates of unsuspecting friends. She loves the crisp smells of fall, and the sweet aromas of nutmeg and vanilla. She is equally comfortable in high heels or cowboy boots and drives a Harley (truck). The wife of a firefighter, she is surrogate mother to two Siberian Huskies who pull a dogsled.

Lori is very talented both as a writer and an artist. In fact, she drew my darling little Ida Mae and ladies for me - go see them here. 

(Please forgive the smaller font here - Blogger hates me today.) Our last blogger for today is Tina Scott, who has been blogging for about a year at Totally Tina Scott.  I asked her what she likes to blog about.  "I’ve only been blogging for about a year. I still feel very new to it

and learn new things about blogging regularly. I’m totally awestruck by those of you who can manage more than one blog and still find time to write and have a life.

"My blog topics range from author interviews, book reviews, anything writing-associated that interests me, to recipes, family, and aging. I’ve been married for 34 years, have seven children (my youngest is 16), and I have five grandchildren. Some weeks I cook way more than I want to and other weeks I hardly cook anything at all. I’ve spent a good many years hosting Thanksgiving dinners and Christmas parties and I’m not afraid to try new recipes. Recipes that interest me are generally inexpensive, tasty to eat, and relatively uncomplicated to prepare.

"I love my family, writing novels, the outdoors, watercolor painting, cooking and photography. I don’t do sports, sing well, scrapbook or quilt. I’ve tried, but I just can’t get into cutting ten-dollar-a-yard fabric into small pieces and then sewing it back together. It must be the same with scrapbooking. I do enjoy and admire beautiful quilts that others have made, however." 



Thanks for joining me for Making Friends Monday.  I hope you'll all take the time to go visit these awesome ladies - they're great friends and you'll be blessed for getting to know them.  Don't forget to join us for next week's installment, and if you'd like to get in on the fun, follow the directions here.