Dark Bird

Posted on May 2, 2012 by The Daring One

Most of you know I’ve been hard at work for the last year, finishing a novel. The first question everyone asks is – When does it come out? And the answer is – After I get an agent, do a bunch of rewrites, sell it to a publisher, do a bunch of rewrites and go through a rigorous editing and production process.

Currently I’m working to find representation and today that process includes posting my query and first page as part of an online contest to get my work in front of some impressive literary agents. So, for everyone who’s asked for more details about the book, here goes:

Title: Dark Bird
Genre: YA Fantasy
Word Count: 70,000 words

Query:

Neen Sinclair’s obsession with super hero Dark Bird has gotten her into trouble more than twice, but she’s always been able to roundhouse kick her way out of it. Always, that is, until her little sister Mae decides to offer herself up as chum in the fight against evil. In trying to protect everyone else, Neen has inadvertently led her sister into danger.

So, when she’s offered a spot on a dive team at a wealthy Seattle high school, Neen leaves Dark Bird and her vigilante lifestyle behind in an attempt to set a different kind of example. Concentrating on her sport, she will become Neen the straight A student, Neen the championship diver with a billion college scholarship offers, Neen who leaves crime-fighting to the professionals and no longer has a chair with her name on it in the principal’s office.

However, cross-training at an off-the-grid martial arts studio, Neen ends up entangled with Hayden, an unpredictable and easy-on-the-eyes teen crime fighter who embodies everything she’s trying to run away from. Diving competition takes a back seat as a psychopath with a Robin Hood complex starts terrorizing her classmates’ wealthy families, and she can’t resist taking a stand.

As Hayden and Neen train and work together, she finds herself pulled further and further from her mysterious roots. But can they succeed at taking down their nemesis without the help of Dark Bird, a hero whose connections to Neen go far deeper than anyone realizes?

First 250 Words:

We’re so close now.

My heart echoes in my chest and I wonder if he can hear the drum beat of my fear. But he doesn’t look up, too focused on his own careful movements. Creeping along the stone wall, I struggle to calm my breath.

I’m getting stronger and, whether real or imagined, there’s a power to Dark Bird that gives me more confidence in myself. Just saying that name gives me a sense of protection, and standing here with this guy in front of me, I feel a surge of strength greater than my own.

Dark Bird is powerful. I am powerful. Tonight I make the first move, striking forward from my place in the shadows.

#

The wipers squeak across the surface of my windshield as I turn the key in the ignition. Screech, slam, screech, slam. They were running full tilt during yesterday’s deluge but today they only serve to startle me, adding one more knot to my mounting anxiety, a gut-tugging anticipation that’s left me slightly shaky all morning.

Whatever happens, after I cross the lake today, things will be different. I tell myself that I like nearly everything about different, except maybe the fact that it means things won’t be entirely the same. There are things I’ll miss.

I ease my car down our gravel drive, weaving to avoid the familiar potholes, only to slam down hard into a fresh one. Pavement would be nice here, Dad. But I’m sure I’ll get plenty of that in Seattle.

Posted in writing | 29 Comments

Mini Food Blogger in Training

Posted on March 30, 2012 by The Daring One

She doesn’t blog about mini food. She is mini and she’s already thinking like a food blogger.

Today I told Wanda it was lunch time and she said, “I want lunch abouuuuuuut apple sauce!” She added that she also wanted apple slices of the orange variety. All sliced fruits are apple slices, just different flavors.
mini-food-blogger
The apple sauce is topped with probiotic powder or as we call it, “Sprinkles.” The Thomas train is not for consumption. Maybe I’ll catch her with some protein or grains later. For now, I’m excited when she expresses interest in anything that’s not candy.

I took this picture because once she’d laid out all the food, she said, “Okay, now take a picture of my lunch like this!” She staged and I shot. We are good team.

This is cross-posted at my food blog BiteUponBite.com.

Posted in Blogging, food | 1 Comment

Little Boys

Posted on March 28, 2012 by The Daring One

Magoo started Little League this week. I’ve never seen him this excited about a new sport. It could be all the gear. (The protective cup is certainly blowing his mind.) Maybe it’s the danger of never knowing when one of the other muffin-headed kids will whack you in the face with a metal bat. Whatever it is, there’s just something about baseball that thrills him and it’s so fun to watch.
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He wants to wear the batting helmet all the time, running the bases, doing passing drills, standing in the outfield. It gives him the look of an oversized bobble head, made more adorable by the perma-grin on his face.

Of course there were the usual crazy boy shenanigans. They made crude noises which were, of course, followed by raucous laughter. A couple of them walked around with mitts on their faces, pretending to be Darth Vader. None of them, however, did anything illegal. That was left to older boys, later in the week.

We were at the park, where a group of tween Justin Bieber wannabes were tearing up the playground and scaring the kids. These boys travel in a pack and they’re annoying but not usually destructive. Every couple of weeks I a-little-bit tell them off and they a-little-bit stop being annoying.

They’re loud. They run fast. They throw things. They run up the slide when littles are trying to slide down. They wear skinny jeans and those zip-front skeleton face hoodies that make Wanda cry. Personally, I think they should find a skate park somewhere and leave the baby swings to the babies.

Well, after they’d driven all the young families but mine from the park, they ended up in a pow-wow around the slide, whispering and pointing and talking about marking everything with their “gang sign”. They are twelve-year-old preppies who play at a children’s park. Quite the gang.

When I walked toward them, they dispersed and headed for home.

What was on the slide? Chicken scratch written in permanent marker. It dawned on me that I was the adult in this situation.

“Boys!” I called out in most menacing mom-ish voice.

All but one froze in their 12-year-old aviator-glasses-wearing tracks.

“Did you write on this playground equipment?”

In unison, they all pointed at their fleeing friend, already a block away on his scooter. Because that’s literally how he rolls, on a Razor.

“He did it,” one boy piped up sheepishly. None of them moved. They’re old enough to be annoying, still young enough to think I had the power to keep them there.

“Well, you can tell your friend that what he did is illegal. If I see you doing anything like that, I’m calling the police.”

No one vomited but I’d say it was a close call.

“So you’re telling me that none of you wrote on anything on the equipment this park?”

The same boy piped up, all the color draining from his face, “I, I, I just drew it on that boulder over there to show him how and then he, he drew on the slide. It’s not illegal to draw on rocks is it?” His question wasn’t belligerent. It was sheepish. He really wanted to know.

“Everything in this park belongs to the city,” I said, my voice serious as a sledge hammer, “It is definitely illegal to deface public property.”

“But I, I, seriously, I really didn’t know.” He looked like he was about to cry.

“That’s why I’m giving you a warning. Don’t let it happen again.”

They all nodded earnestly and turned to go, their heads hanging slightly. It’s a strange kind of power to be able to terrify a pack of man-children. Hopefully they’ll knock it off. But I will call the police and even more frightening, their mothers, if I see any of that behavior again.

For now, my own little man is a cute mini baseball dude. On the way to the bus stop this morning, he ran up beside me and grabbed my hand, holding it all the way to the top of the hill, even in front of his friends. He’s nearly seven and I know this kind of mamma/baby boy affection can’t last forever but I sure hope he never gets to the point where perfect strangers have to scare the cheese out of him at the park to get him to behave.

Posted in around town, kid stuff, scaring the neighbors | 13 Comments

Pinteresting

Posted on March 25, 2012 by The Daring One

I resisted Pinterest for quite a while, not wanting one more place to waste time online but I finally succumbed a couple of months ago and I’m so glad I did.

I spend maybe 15 minutes per day on the site and I actually use things I find there. I’ve found great recipes, home cleaning tips and craft ideas and I’m making my home more beautiful and becoming a more fun mom.

But, a few weeks ago, I read about their scary terms of service. Essentially they said that by posting something, you claimed to have ownership of what you were pinning. They also said that Pinterest would then take ownership of the pinned information and had the right to sell those images or information. Further, the terms stated that if Pinterest was ever sued relating to something you pinned, you would be liable for all legal expenses.

That was scary enough for me to stop pinning but I couldn’t quite bring myself to delete my boards.

Luckily, there was enough of an outcry that Pinterest updated their terms of service and I’m much more comfortable with them now. The biggest change is that they no longer claim to have the right to sell the content you upload. To me, this was the biggest risk for legal action (you pin something, they sell the image, get sued, and then charge you for their legal fees).

With that out of the way, here are a few of my favorite Pinterest finds, big and small:

I made three of these homemade chenille blankets for my kids for Valentine’s Day. They turned out gorgeous!
pinterest2
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Here was our Valentine’s Day wreath:
pinterest

This is the best way to shred chicken. Shockingly effective.

I learned how to cook my own whole chicken in the crockpot.

I used the inspiration from this cake to make these Blue and Gold Banquet treats for our cub scouts.

campfire

For the first time ever, I found salsa that Dan enjoyed.

There are so many great hair styles I’ve found. Here is one of my favorites, simple, easy classic braided buns. It looks great on Laylee and I enjoy wearing it myself.

What are some pins that you love?

Posted in crafty, domesticality, technology | 2 Comments

Like a Ninja

Posted on March 23, 2012 by The Daring One

Today I thought seriously about calling up some of my film friends and asking them to follow me and Wanda around the house several hours per day. I need to capture her like Pooh needs to capture a Heffalump. I want every moment of her life, every morsel of her speech recorded so that when my little friend leaves me and heads to kindergarten, I can sit alone in my bathrobe reliving the glory days.

She is my buddy, my nearly constant companion and I can’t get enough of her.

Wanda goes limp and swings with no hands, her head thrown back, her arms dangling to the side. She must have her mouth open when she swings. This is called “flops.”
wanda3

She likes to play outside in the rain, splashing in puddles and showering in the rain spout.
wanda1
When we were at Dan’s band concert this week, Wanda was dressed like this:
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A stranger came up and said, “Oh my! You’re a pretty princess.”

Wanda replied, “Yeah! I’m like a ninja!”

Posted in family fun | 8 Comments

Mouseketeers

Posted on March 22, 2012 by The Daring One

Dan called me from work yesterday, his voice somber. “I have something to tell you,” he said.

“Okay?” My heart started racing.

“So, how’s your anxiety?”

“Oh, for the love, you’re freaking me out. Did you lose your job?”

“No. I saw something in the garage this morning.”

Silence.

“A mouse?” I said with my tiniest voice.

“Yeah.”

“Where was it?”

“I won’t tell you that.”

Now, you should know that I have a near-psychotic fear of rodents. I’ve improved over the years and even worked with a therapist to resolve some of my issues but I’d still classify myself as a grade A level phobic.

I don’t want to be afraid and logically I know they’re no big deal. I tell myself that they are just teeny and harmless.

I tell myself that what I should really do is make them tiny shoes and hats like Cinderella and encourage them to fashion me a stunning gown for the ball.

But I am as yet unable to turn off the drama. Mice trigger an intense physical reaction, panic, inability to regulate body temperature, teeth-chattering body tremors. It’s not pretty.

So I fought it as hard as I could and we did some clean-up in the garage, throwing out tons of food, craft supplies and cloth items. The mice had chewed through our winter coats and pooped in my yarn bucket. The sad thing is that many of these things were in Rubbermaid totes that I didn’t take the two seconds required to snap shut so the critters got in and violated the contents.

Knowing my level of anxiety over these bad boys, my friend Erin dropped everything and came over to help me for a couple of hours. She even took charge of cleaning out the scariest boxes, boxes of clothes that just screamed, “Build a nest in me so you can birth several truckloads of pink slimy babies!” I have yet to choose an appropriate gift to reward her bravery and valor.

We cut off their food supply, throwing out anything that they’d chewed on or opened and Dan bought an arsenal of mouse-fighting tools. My favorite is a little box that zaps them when they step inside. Then a little light flashes on the outside of the box so you know to go dump the corpse in the yard waste bin.

On top of that, to stop my adrenalin from ripping my insides to shreds in a series of panic attacks, we called in an exterminator who charged us a billion dollars for a year of service, only to tell us that the destruction in the garage looked like the work of probably one or two mice.

Well we’ve already caught two mice ourselves so that was a pretty expensive visit just to give me peace of mind. Alas. It looked like a lot of poop to me. I thought we had an army of mice out there. However, according to the exterminator, mice are incontinent and poop falls out everywhere they walk so they’re always “producing”. Then they use the trail of poop to find their way around. They are prolific poopers.

Maybe that’s why my kids never flush the toilet and leave dirty clothes, lego and pencils all over the house. They just want to mark their territory so they can successfully navigate our house.

Posted in brains, disasters, save me from myself | 4 Comments