My LIfe, My Grandkids and My Reading

A Bit Of Eclectic Rambling:
This week has been sort of busy. 

I ordered and picked up what food I think I'll need for the Coon Dog Trials this coming weekend....packed it in the freezer in the trailer...hooked it to the truck...then my (future) son-in-law and I were leaving town to set my trailer up at the fair grounds in Lima since all food vendors were to set up on Tuesday.  He was pulling the trailer and I was following.  Before we had gone a block, I noticed something strange with one of the trailer tires.  OMG!!  A huge bulge!  Okay, don't panic.  A quick trip to a tire place, impressed upon him the urgency, got 2 new tires and off again.  Two hours later...all set up for Friday.  After talking to some other vendors I may not have enough food...worrying a little.  But not panicking....

I visited with my youngest, 2 yr old, granddaughter and, because of all the events I'm scheduled to sell food in, it'll be about a month before I have another free weekend to spend with her.  I'm sure she'll grow even more by then.  Isn't she beautiful!!!

Then my other 2 granddaughters spent that last 2 nights with me.  Since their Mom had to work at 7am I was able to let them sleep in a little and then take them to school.  Little girls giggle so much and I love it!  And them!!!!

On the down side, I drained my pool...so sad.  This marks the end of summer for me.  No more lazy days of relaxing and floating  in the warm water....I will miss it.  Big tear running down my cheek....






I am itching to get back to my writing...really itching.  Scenarios are playing on fast forward in my mind.  I want to rewrite a little of my finished novel.  And Charlie is scratching and complaining because his story is still in the birthing process.  But my weeks are so busy with my new business until the middle of October that I just haven't had any time to put into working on either novel.  And I'm missing it too.  But come October, time will suddenly open up for me and you can bet I'll be right back where I was before my sudden impulse to change my life.  From October till April, I'll be free to write all day...every...single...day.  And I need it so much.

I have had a little time to read finally and these are the two I've finished recently....

Defending Jacob by William Landay: 
Andy Barber has been an assistant district attorney in his suburban Massachusetts county for more than twenty years. He is respected in his community, tenacious in the courtroom, and happy at home with his wife, Laurie, and son, Jacob. But when a shocking crime shatters their New England town, Andy is blindsided by what happens next: His fourteen-year-old son is charged with the murder of a fellow student.

Every parental instinct Andy has rallies to protect his boy. Jacob insists that he is innocent, and Andy believes him. Andy must. He’s his father. But as damning facts and shocking revelations surface, as a marriage threatens to crumble and the trial intensifies, as the crisis reveals how little a father knows about his son, Andy will face a trial of his own—between loyalty and justice, between truth and allegation, between a past he’s tried to bury and a future he cannot conceive.

Award-winning author William Landay has written the consummate novel of an embattled family in crisis—a suspenseful, character-driven mystery that is also a spellbinding tale of guilt, betrayal, and the terrifying speed at which our lives can spin out of control.   

This is the premise of the story written on the Amazon books site.  But it doesn't touch the emotional impact this story had on me.  What will a parent do and how far will he go to protect and believe in his only child? 

I have had a few times over the course of raising my children where a parent will tell me something they think my child has done.  Of course I will stand by my child but I always made it clear that if my child did this, and I would find out, they would have to deal with me.  I was not the kind of parent that believed my children were infallible.  I knew they could make mistakes and wrong decisions.

But if someone would have ever accused one of my children of murder, I know I would have fought just as valiantly and believed just as strongly as Andy Barber did in this story. 

This is a must read for anyone and I promise you it will touch you in ways you never felt touched before.  And the ending...well, let me just say...not what I expected...not in my wildest dreams. 

Calico Joe by John Grisham:

Anyone who has ever heard of, or better yet, read any books by John Grisham, knows he's best known for his courtroom dramas.  An excellent writer who caught my eye with his first novel, A Time To Kill, which, by the way, is the best book of his that I've ever read.  And that was before the movie. 

But Calico Joe is so far removed from his normal writing that I almost didn't read it.  I am so glad I didn't listen to myself.  


This story takes place in 1973 when I was a die-hard Dodger fan.  Yep, I loved baseball.  But gradually when my favorite catcher was traded down to the minors because of knee problems and then my first baseman and my left fielder, well, my interest started to wane.  But when Tommy Lasorda retired, that pretty much ended my obsession with baseball. 

In Calico Joe, Grisham takes us back to that time with part truth-part fiction in the story of Joe Castle, a hero among baseball fans everywhere.  Let me add what Amazon has to say about this book: 

A surprising and moving novel of fathers and sons, forgiveness and redemption, set in the world of Major League Baseball…

In the summer of 1973 Joe Castle was the boy wonder of baseball, the greatest rookie anyone had ever seen. The kid from Calico Rock, Arkansas dazzled Cub fans as he hit home run after home run, politely tipping his hat to the crowd as he shattered all rookie records.

Calico Joe quickly became the idol of every baseball fan in America, including Paul Tracey, the young son of a hard-partying and hard-throwing Mets pitcher. On the day that Warren Tracey finally faced Calico Joe, Paul was in the stands, rooting for his idol but also for his Dad. Then Warren threw a fastball that would change their lives forever…

In John Grisham’s new novel the baseball is thrilling, but it’s what happens off the field that makes CALICO JOE a classic. 
I read this book in 2 days.  In fact, I didn't even have time to put it on my blog page in the "what I'm reading" section.  One reason was because its not a long book.  But reason 2 is because it held my attention till the very last page. 

Yes, there is a lot of reference to baseball and if you're not a fan, then this may turn you off.  But I encourage you to continue reading because, like the description above says, its what happens off the field that makes this a down right pleasure to read.   

Both of these books are highly recommended by none other than me, who most of you know usually only reads suspense and thrillers.
 
Quotes of the Day:
Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book. ~ Author Unknown  

A good book should leave you... slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading it. ~ William Styron

Outside a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside a dog, it's too dark to read. ~ Groucho Marx

The Dreaded Query

The Query Letter:
So far I haven't been able to interest an agent enough to request a partial of my manuscript.  It's not the manuscript (yet) so it has to be the query.  I had read so much about this process beforehand that I thought I knew what I was doing...but I was wrong.  I have now done some deep, deep digging (clicking on links and then links in those links...etc) and found much more out there.  There are some incredible blogs and websites that have given me more information than I think my brain can handle.
 
So far, the biggest impact has been from the Query Shark.  Writers send her their queries and she chops them up, being sure to add the reason why.  (This is really helpful because agents don't have the time to tell you why they're rejecting you)  So they rewrite and she chops again.  I read some that took as many as 5 rewrites to get it right and some that only took 1.  There were even a few that she didn't have anything to say to the writer except..."send me more"..."I want to read this one."  She's brutal but if the writer isn't too intimidated to rewrite, their final query really does sound like something an agent can't say no to.

So now I'm cutting and rewriting.  I've read some more, cut some more, rewritten, added, taken away and I have come to the conclusion that this is (whew) so much worse than writing the novel.  But that's okay because this is what I want to do.

With this one page, single-spaced document, I need to not only catch an agent's eye, I need to WOW him or her with my words.  I need them to stop before they stamp "form rejection" and make them read the whole query.  I need them to say "send me more".  Because when it's all said and done, what I really want is "the call."  That all-important call when an agent says "I want to represent you."

Grandkids:
I think all grandparents think their grandkids are the best, the smartest, the best looking of all and so on.  So I guess that makes me a normal grandma.
 
I got a text message from my son, Stephen, last week about Kendall.  It said "Your granddaughter just pooped on the potty."  Only a grandma (and parents) can understand why this is text-worthy.  :) 

My grandson, Trace, got his cast off his arm already.  Two weeks is all they kept it on or he may not have been able to straighten his arm.  Take good care of that, buddy. And his mother, Lisa, just told me that he's started writing a book called "Baby Mason".  He even thought to add a cover page.  Amazing!

My daughter, Amy, had to work early the other morning so Jordan and Sophia spent the night with me again and I took them to school.  You know what that meant, don't you?  Waffles for breakfast!  And their two brothers?  Matt needed my computer to send an email to a writer...hmmm.  And Zach needed a ride to a robotics class.

I can't leave out my first grandson, Justin.  This young man almost died of SIDS when he was 4 days old and stopped breathing, but because I had taken first aid and CPR classes (requirements for my job) he only had to wear a monitor for 11 months.  This young man also choked on pizza when he was 2, and was turning blue when I pulled the pizza out of his throat (that's not what they teach you in first aid...that's a panicked grandma).  This young man had lightening hit his house when he was around 14 (give or take a year) and travel through the electrical outlet beside his bed, setting his bed on fire and burning everything in his room.  Thank God he wasn't home when it happened, but he lost everything he had except for the clothes on his back.  And this young man is now 24, married to his high school sweetheart, and has made my daughter, Michelle, a grandma by being the father of a 3 year old son.  He is a bright light in this grandma's eye.  God has plans for you, Justin.

So parents, cherish every moment with your kids.  And grandparents, spend as much time as you can with your grandchildren.  These are moments you can never get back.

Quotes of the Day:
Grandchildren are God's way of compensating us for growing old. ~ Mary H. Waldrip

 The idea that no one is perfect is a view most commonly held by people with no grandchildren. ~Doug Larson