Laura Bowers

1.  Has it really been twenty-one day since my last post?  Wow, April is just flying by.  And if you were to get a glimpse inside my head, you'd see this:



2.  Only five more days until my fortieth birthday.

3.  Not that I'm worried or anxious or anything . . .

4.  Well, maybe just a teeny tiny bit.

5.  And now that I'm FINALLY somewhat caught up on paperwork at the office, dinner is already prepared, laundry is done and my kids have no baseball tonight, I'm running away to the coffee house to edit, edit, EDIT!  (Hmm, wonder if I can finish this rewrite by next Tuesday?  Doubt it.)

Have a great weekend!

Many congrats to Erica Perl for the recent release of her hilarious picture book, CHICKEN BUTT!



When a little boy successfully uses "fowl" play and ridiculous rhymes to get his distracted dad's attention, he gets so excited he keeps going and going. Dad wants to stop the silliness, but he's no match for . . . CHICKEN BUTT!

A laugh-out-loud, read-it-again delight for the whole family.
 
"The illustrations are manic and raucous, and the humor is evident throughout.  This book would be fun to read aloud with children in two voices or act out at storytimes and in classrooms.  Kids will definitely love it."--School Library Journal.

Congratulations, Erica!

1. And yet another season of America's Next Top Model has begun! My favorites so far are Celia, who always looks so classy . . .



. . . Fo and Aminat.

 

I think Fo ended up with the Most Hideous Hair Makeover of the season, but it does make her look more edgy!




2.  Okay, I try not to judge.  But.  This 36-year-old Swedish countess who says she needs more than $53,000 a week as alimony from her ex?  Oh my gosh.  Apparently, her weekly expenses are:  "...maintaining a Park Avenue apartment and three residences in Sweden. Her weekly expenses also include $700 for limousine service, $4,500 for clothes, $1,000 for hair and skin treatments, $1,500 for restaurants and entertainment, and $8,000 for travel."  Wow.  And here I felt guilty for getting my hair professionally colored on Wednesday.

3.  I'm loving this season of BIGGEST LOSER: COUPLES!  Tara is turning out to be one of my all-time favorite contestants, because of her drive.  Love her!

4.  My dog is snoring right now.  Just thought you'd like to know.

5.  This is the first year that I've upheld my vow to NOT watch American Idol, so I have no clue who the contestants are in the top ten.  But . . . Would you think badly of me if I confessed that it's making me feel a little left out?

Have a great weekend!

Sweet!  Bring on the spring, baby.

I'm taking a break from my blog break to spread the news about the Random House Book Fair going on tomorrow from 9:00 to 4:00 at the Carroll Community College in Westminster, Maryland.  There will be mucho food, fun and entertainment for all ages including:

• New book sales discounted 20%
• Local and national Random House authors including Lisa Gardner and Dan Yaccarino  
• Book talks and signings
• Silent auction
• Student writing contest winners announced
• Musical performances by Carroll Community College Students
• Children's story time
• Professor Wizard and his wonders of science
• Family literacy resource area
• Free children's books
• Kid's activity area ($2 admission fee)

Oh and me, sitting at a table, selling some books. ;)  So if you're in the neighborhood, stop by and say hi!

Have a great weekend!

I had a dream last night.

An editor came up to me at an event.  (What event?  I have no clue.)  The editor said, "Hey, Laura, your next book is ready."  (What book?  I had no clue.)  Anyway, he handed me a copy that was shaped like a picture book, but with an origami style cover that kept unfolding.  I struggled to recover the book and then opened it to discover it was a novelty-style mid-grade about a snail.  (Or a caterpillar, I'm kind of fuzzy with that detail.)  And in the back, there was a jewelry box, (hold on--it gets worse,) with about ten necklaces suspended from two large purple ribbons.  The necklaces were all tangled, so a friend and I, (what friend?  I have no clue,) untied the purple ribbons and fixed them.  But, when we tried to hang the necklaces back up, the purple ribbons kept getting stuck in the plastic window blinds.  (Told you it got worse.)

So . . . if anyone feels as though there's a market for novelty-style mid-grades about snails, (or caterpillars,) with origami covers, necklaces, purple ribbon and window blinds, then here you go.  You may take this dream idea with my blessing.  Just please put me in the acknowledgments, okay?  Okay. 

Until then, I'm taking a blog break for a while in order to get my young adult rewrite DONE!  I just hope it's as interesting as the above mentioned . . .

Have a great week!

Have you ever immersed yourself so deeply into editing and your fictional world that you lose track of reality?

Yeah.  I'm so there.

Back to work . . .

There was a time, in my early 20's, when I would look at an older women who had gray roots and think to myself, "Oh my Gawd, why doesn't she, like, take the time to get her hair done or something? I mean, seriously!"

For all those thoughts, I sincerely apologize.

Especially when I realized this morning that it's been over eleven weeks since my last hair cut, ten weeks since my horrific home dye-job and the gray hairs at my temples have since doubled.

Karma.

Nothing but karma.

I'm making a hair appointment TODAY.  Or tomorrow.  Or Friday, Saturday at the latest . . .

Today, I will:

1. Do all the work I've been putting off the past week because of writing.

2. Tend to a sick kid who keeps sending me texts.

3. NOT get sick. Do you hear that, Laura? I will not get sick! Not, not, not.

4. Give a shout out to Suzanne Selfor for her latest midgrade novel, FORTUNE'S MAGIC FARM.  Congrats, Suzanne!



5.  Mentally prepare for a monster rewrite.  Oy.  Do I have to?

Have a great day!

Shh.  Listen close.

Do you hear that?

It's the sound of my printer churning out the rough draft I just finished!  Finished, as in done, finito, completed, THE END, baby!  It took longer than I expected and there were times when I felt like singing, "This is the book that never ends . . . it just goes on and on my friend,"  but it's done.  For now.  And, it clocked in at a surprising low 258 pages, which is a record for me.  Normally I'm just warming up by page 258. 

So right now, I'm a happy gal.  So happy that I won't be bothered by the annoying fruit flies buzzing around my laptop because we're all just trying to get by, aren't we?  Fruit flies included.

*Deep sigh of contentment.*

I love this part.  I love peeking at the freshly printed pages and thinking, "Oh yeah!  I remember writing that," or, "Man, I totally forgot about that scene!"  This is my reward, as is the valentine Hershey Kisses I bought on clearance at Wal-Mart yesterday.  ($1.25 a bag, hello!)  I love being able to physically hold the story before it's hacked and slashed and rewritten into something else.  It's like the 'before' photograph taken when starting a new workout program, and wow--it's going to take more than a treadmill to get this hummer in shape! 

That, and I also have a different novel that needs to a major, M-A-J-O-R rewrite.  And there's the two articles I wanted to write.  Oh, and what about the picture book idea I've been flirting with?  And the mid-grade novel I wanted to start before school gets out?

*Deep shiver of anxiety.*

But that can all wait until tomorrow.  Today, I'm going to watch my book being printed, hang out with my fruit fly friends, eat Hershey Kisses and enjoy the calm before my next writing storm.

*Deep sigh of contentment.*

1.  I only have about two, possibly three more chapters to go and then I'm DONE writing the rough draft of P.A., my current wip, woo-HOO!  I'm so excited because I love this book.

2.  Love.

3.  This.

4.  Book.

5.  Which reminds me . . . 
 


I wish you much love and happiness!  Oh, and chocolate.  Lots and lots of chocolate. :)

TIP OF THE DAY:

Do not dry-shave your armpits and then get on the elliptical trainer. O.U.C.H. I mean, seriously, how old am I? When will I know better?

ONE MORE TIP:

If you write a blog entry with the word 'vagina' in it like I did yesterday, know that you'll have some explaining to do if your son happens to see it.  I'm just saying.

THE GOOD 5K NEWS:

Today, I'm signing up for the Frederick Running Festival's Twilight 5k again, like I did last year. (It was such a GREAT experience!) My goal is run the three miles in 25 minutes AND to make sure my iPod is fully charged this time. Duh.  Last year, my goal was 40 minutes and I ended up finishing in . . .



. . . 29.21 with a lot of help from adrenalin and my competitive nature. (That's me in the green.)

Anyway, the reason I'm signing up earlier is because I'm completely frugal. If I prepay $25.00 than I will train hard so that money is not wasted. (Talk about a great motivator.) So if you're from my area, check it out! It's a ton of fun and a great way to get in shape.

Oh, and you get a free beer in the end. Bonus!

If you got a second, pop on over to Pam Smallcomb's new blog!  Why?  Because she's talented, witty and an all-around great person.  We met about eleven years ago at the SCBWI conference in Arlington.  It was my very first conference ever and I was TERRIFIED!  And, I couldn't concentrate on a single thing all morning because I had no one to eat lunch with.

(Yeah, I know, Pam, I'm embarrassing you.  But it's a sweet story!)

Anyway, Pam must have noticed the desperate, pleading look in my eyes when the conference was breaking for lunch.  She tossed out a casual, "Hey, you want to join us?" and has been my lifesaver ever since.  I've lost count of how many times she's managed to talk me off the cliff whenever I'm delivered a blow in this crazy business we call publishing. 

(She just had to do that week, but I'll hit that topic next Monday.  Not ready to go there!)

So go check her out!  And, have a great weekend!

Turns out, January was the Environmental Protecion Agency's National Radon Action Month.  Yeah, I know, it's February so I'm a little late with this public service announcement.  But, did you know that radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in America and claims about 20,000 lives annually?

So dudes/dudettes.  If you've never had your home checked for radon, now is the time!  Kits like these . . .

. . . can be purchased at Lowe's, Home Depot or most home improvement stores and cost only ten dollars.  After you perform the test, you mail the little hummer out to them--lab work is included with your purchase--and your results can either be mailed or emailed to you after a couple of weeks.

Easy peezy radon squeezy!

I really can't remember any specific advice that I've received from a fortune cookie.

But, although this is kind of off-topic, I do remember a horrendous reading a psychic once gave me when I was twenty-one, before becoming a Christian.  It was at a restaurant in Baltimore, where the reading came with dinner.  The psychic informed me that:

a.  I would soon get married but it would end up in a divorce.

b.  I would then begin a rocky relationship with another man who would live with me but wouldn't want to get married.

c.  He would eventually leave me and I'd be single for the rest of my life.

Nice, huh?  At the time, I was devastated and could hardly finish my meal.  And, it didn't help that my friend received a glowing reading, complete with grand career success and much happiness.  But, I soon realized the woman must have had an alternative motive--and that was to depress the living crap out of me, and ruin my dessert.  

And now?  I put zero faith into psychics, horroscopes . . . or fortune cookies.

But still, they are quite tasty!  And can provide quite the giggle. ;)

"One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn't pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself."--Lucille Ball



Now that's a good quote, and it's something I'll truly keep in mind this week.

And Punxsutawney Phil, you little booger!

 

 I'm ready for Spring. ;)

Today's Snow Day To-Do List:

1.  Try not to think about the thing that's been frustrating me lately.

2.  Write.

3.  Write some more.

4.  Listen to the kids wake up and say, "Mom, what's for breakfast?"

5.  Tell my darling teenagers, "Get your own, darling teenagers, because I'm writing."

6.  Stop writing because now I'm thinking about the thing that's been frustrated me lately.

7.  Stew with my fingers curled over the keyboard.

8.  Shake head, tell myself to stop thinking about it and write!

9.  Write some more.

10.  Repeat cycle at lunch.

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”—Albert Camus


(This quote hit me like a brick when I first read it!)

Have a great week and many invincible summers!

1.  I had to turn in my youngest son's high school class selection sheet this morning.  Meaning next year, BOTH of my kids will be in high school.  Meaning, in only four years, BOTH of my kids will be leaving me and going off to college.  So I'm warning y'all now that when school starts next August, I'm going to be very, very depressed.

2.  Crap.  I just forgot what I was going to say for #2.

3.  And my #3.  Seriously--I'm having a total brain fart.  I had planned everything out while doing my Pilates tape this morning, but poof, it's all gone.  Why don't I learn to right things down?  Okay, I'm going to get another cup of coffee, (which I'm trying to quit, so that's bad, very bad,) and I'll get back to you.

4.  Okay, got one.  Yesterday, I had SO MUCH FUN writing a hilarious wedding scene.  And today, I get to finish one held in New York that should be even more fun. 

(Yeah, I know.  Boring.) 

5.  Last chance to redeem myself.  Pressure, pressure.  Um . . . oh my gosh.  I cannot think of one single thing.  Maybe I'm tapped out from writing my butt off all week, which is good, I suppose.  So I'll just end this by saying have a GREAT weekend!!

. . . an iTunes gift card.
 
Happy, happy, joy, joy!!!

But what do I spend it on?  The latest Jonatha Brooke?  Dar Williams?  Oooo, workout music.  I could definitely use some fresh workout music.  Or, no . . . writing music.  I've been listening to the same tapes over and over again for I don't know how long.  Fresh writing music could equal more writing, but then again, fresh workout music equals better endurance to do more writing. 

Or . . . I could be a good mother and share my bounty equally with my kids and husband.

Hmm.

Decisions, decisions

Nah.  Jonatha and Dar it is.  Sorry, guys!