Diana Gabaldon and Time Displacement

Look what I did yesterday! Not only did I get to meet my all-time favorite author, Diana Gabaldon, but I attended classes all day that she was either on the panel or taught! How great does she look? Ms. Gabaldon is almost 20 years my senior, but she looks better than I do! See what writing GREAT novels can do?

She is not only a gracious person, but humble and down to earth. The first class was an interview with her. At the end, questions were taken...that's when the weirdness began! This guy asked:

"Do you believe in time displacement?"***

Okay, if you know anything about this author, she is also a scientist. She replied to him about having written a paper for a scientific journal about it.

OMG! This guy raised his voiced and said:

"They've proven it! IT'S A FACT. Time displacement is real!!!!"***
He then went into a detailed description of the experiment and "proof".

Ms Gabaldon smiled and politely nodded, much like you would to a child telling about an imaginary friend, or the crazy person you see walking through a parking lot talking loudly to themselves. I'm not sure how she kept from rolling her eyes (I had my hand firmly locked over my mouth to prevent the snort from breaking free). This just goes to prove that this woman is a class act, and I feel privileged to have met her.

The time between classes, Lisa and I sat in the lobby and people watched. WOW...it was interesting. A Sci-Fi conference certainly brings out the characters. All in all, it was a good time, and I am glad that I went!

*** The quote may not be EXACT, but close enough for you to get the picture.

:) Terri

Conestoga Convention and Sex

This time tomorrow, I will be in Tulsa, listening to Diana Gabldon lecture about writing sex scenes! Now this could come in handy, since I am seriously considering throwing my hat into the Erotica arena.

Hmmm, that sounded bad, didn't it? Let me clarify. There is a short story contest that I am entering. The publisher of the magazine I write for wants me to submit something. I have my Gede story, that I could write an ending for, but I also have a short story I wrote during my writing class. It was more of a "let's dare the old married lady to write about sex"...HELLOOOOOOOO, I have 5 kids...do ya think I'm clueless?

Needless to say, it made most who read it blush. Then there is the problem of the author's name to use...I am so not going to take credit for THAT! I mean, I would, but only a select few would know it was really ME that wrote it.

Okay, let's get back to Conestoga. It is going to be my first writer's convention. It is geared towards Sci-fi/Fantasy/Paranormal. My Gede stories certainly qualify me to attend without feeling like too much of an idiot. Although my first complete MS is Historical Romance (big difference), my only published work is fantasy/paranormal.

When I get back, I will have to post some pics and tell everybody how it went. I am getting psyched!

:) Terri

Cool Shirts and ADD...Random? I THINK NOT.

Okay, how many out there are totally ADD? I start one thing, and end up doing something completely random. I do have the ability to hyper-focus, which I sometimes do when I SHOULDN'T!

Case in point: While doing my daily blogging (on everybody else's blogs), I happened to click on the wrong link from my favorites list. It took me to cafepress.com. Okay, if you've never been there, don't go unless you are a stronger person than I.

I consequently spent a few hours perusing shirts/mugs/caps, etc.

Some of them are now on my "must have" list. How great is that notebook?????

And check out the mouse pad...when you send out queries, I swear you check your bulk/spam box twenty times a day!

Now, as you can see, I wasn't just looking, noooooo, I was preplanning this blog. I was on a mission to share all these great finds with you, my blogger friends...(cough cough).

I know this sounds like it borders on child labor/abuse, but I would SO make my kids wear this shirt! I might even give 'em the quarter for wearing it!

Okay, so I wasn't quite expecting the snicker when I showed my husband this shirt! He could have just played along and agreed! But he did laugh at the next one I showed him...I guess THOSE benefits were more to his liking!

So there you have it. My research for the day, to bring you all this great stuff.

I am such a sharing person , aren't I?

:) Terri

I Won an Award

Okay, I first want to thank everybody that left me feedback over at Authoress's blog for the contest. Boy was that an eye-opener, but in a definitely great way! I learned that cliches are BAD (among other things)! I know that most people who write KNOW that, and yet I didn't...GO FIGURE!



I didn't win the contest, but I can say that I was VERY impressed with Anne Spollen (#21). SHE WAS GREAT! She did win, and I think it was well deserved. She is also a mom, wife AND writer. http://annespollen.blogspot.com/ Congrats Anne! You are so talented, and YES, I did predict you would win.

Now on to my award. Christy over at http://www.heavyonthecaffeine.com/ gave me an award!

Now, anyone that visits Christy's blog will notice a SLIGHT difference in size of this award...OKAY! I admit it, I made the darn thing HUGE (feel free to save this one instead Christy)!

Here is the quote from Christy's site:
Terri at Terri Rainer Published Author; she inspires me to follow my dreams because she's living it--even though she's a wife and a mom.


Awwww, isn't that sweet? It makes me feel the need to step up a bit to live up to that one...gee, thanks Christy!


I suppose I should bestow this award also, but there is a bit of selfishness in me, so I am going to think on it for a bit before I do that!


:) Terri

I am in a contest!!!!

Okay, I sent my first page of The Crichton Heir in to Authoress's blog http://misssnarksfirstvictim.blogspot.com/ for a contest. It is being judged by "SECRET AGENT". Comments will be posted on each submission (There were 113 submissions). I am # 78, although the submissions are anonymous. The name of the contest is "ARE YOU HOOKED". When leaving comments, you start out with a YES or a NO (answering whether you are hooked, cute, huh?).

I will be like LiteralDan who unabashedly begged for votes for his blog when he was up for "Best Daddy Blog", which he won BTW (I only voted EVERY day throughout the WHOLE contest...ahem One-Eyed Dan, I'll trade in my tote bag for a REALLY nice comment on #78).

But seriously folks, this is another great learning tool. Please be honest when posting ANY comments. The judging won't be based on comments, the "SECRET AGENT" picks the winner based on his/her own criteria, I'm sure, so feel free to give me any and all constructive criticism!

:) Terri

Nina Bangs Does it Again!

Okay, I'll admit that I am a sucker for Nina Bangs...not only can the woman write one heck of a hot, steamy sex scene, but the men in her books are straight outta fantasy land (in a REALLY good way).

Her latest book, Eternal Pleasure, is book 1 in the "Gods of the Night" series.

It mixes the "end of the world" prophecies with a group of eleven men that are the ancient souls of ultimate predators. They will fight a war with the ultimate evil to save mankind, and along the way, you can count on Ms. Bangs to liven it up with a strong unsuspecting female, Kelly Maloy, who falls for uber male Ty Endeka, one of The Eleven.

With each new book that Nina Bangs writes, she just gets better and better. IMHO this is her best book to date, and I can not wait for the next one!

You can visit her site at http://www.ninabangs.com .

:) Terri

Just for fun!

Here's a meme within a meme from Atomic Zebra's blog.

Instructions:
1. Open your music library (iTunes, winamp, media player, iPod, whatever) [I made an empty playlist in Windows Media Player, then drug the entire "My Music" folder into it.}
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question below, type the song that’s playing
5. New question — press the next button
6. Don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool

* Opening credits: Last of the Mohicans Theme song...OMG I LOVE that music!!!!! I recently added it to my library for writing. It sounds so Celtic, and evokes such strong emotion.

* Waking up: Somewhere in Time Theme song...That is the absolute BEST romantic movie! If you haven't seen it, you MUST! I cry every time I see it...a lot! It is the one time that I can tell you that a movie was better than the book.

* First day at school:Louie Louie by The Kingsmen! How appropriate for the first day of school! I burned a CD for my oldest daughter's 6th grade graduation (moving on to Jr High...had to have a PARTY) celebration to play during their "beach party/cook-out" at school....you should have seen the teachers (some younger than I am) dancing and acting silly when I played this song!

* Falling in love: Love Song by Sara Bareilles...NOW that's funny! This is also one of my daughter's songs...a bit too pop/teeny bopper for me, but the title made me laugh when it started on this category!

* Breaking up: Look Me in the Eyes by the Jonas Brothers...I SWEAR I DON'T LISTEN TO THEM! How horribly embarrassing, this started out so well, and has now taken a turn to the absurd! (okay, as I listen, it's really not THAT bad)

* Prom: Broken by Chris Daughtry (on American Idol)... I was certainly BROKE after my proms, I had to have this ridiculously expensive full sequins dress my senior year.

* Life’s okay: The Pretender by Foo Fighters...pretending life's okay your first thought? NOT me...my first thought was, hmmm Bonnie Prince Charlie, he was called The Pretender (to the throne)...Scottish history...always right there on the surface begging to come out!

* Mental breakdown: Don't Talk to Strangers by Rick Springfield...Okay, I'll admit to this one, when I was about 13, HE WAS HOT (okay, so I'm sure I used the word CUTE back then)! Here's a bit of Rick Springfield trivia...He was in the first 15 minutes of the MOVIE Battlestar Galactica. He played Zack, Commander Adama's son, and Apollo's brother, then Cylons killed him...shot his rocket ship thingy! It was SAD for me back then!

* Driving: *sigh* Caruso by Josh Groban, he sings it in Italian...OMG, I LOVE him!!! His voice is like BUTTAH! I write while listening to Josh Groban often.

* Flashback: Just a Girl by No Doubt...hmmm a flashback called "I'm Just a Girl"...I supposed it could work, I'm certainly past the stage of anyone calling me a "little girl".

* Getting back together: Wake Me Up by Evanescence...GOOOOD song!

* Wedding: HAHAHAHA Nobody's Fool by Cinderella! I'm not even gonna go there with this one, other than to say that when you have a good man, you hang on to him!

* Birth of child: The Dance by Garth Brooks...If you listen to the words, it makes me sad thinking some day my kids will leave me (okay, so I actually PRAY for that day, but I'm sure it'll be bittersweet).

* Final battle: Oh Come All Ye Faithful by Josh Groban...I was hoping for something a bit more PUNCHY for my final battle scene...seems a tad wussy!

* Death scene: Back for More by RATT...Back for more death? WTF?!?! Why couldn't I gotten this one for my final battle? UGH! Good song though!

* End credits: I'm Going Home by Daughtry...I guess for ending credits, American Idol certainly had something with this song, huh?

This was time consuming, but really fun. Thanks Skeeter for the idea!

:) Terri