Dying Dogs & Upcoming WQI

My mother-in-law cut out the following article for me from the Tri-City Herald:

DOGS' RESCUE IN CHINA SHOWS GROWING ACTIVISM

BEIJING -- After spotting a truck packed with hundreds of whimpering dogs on a Beijing highway, a man put out a call on a microblogging site, begging fellow animal lovers to help him force the driver to release the animals.

Around 200 people responded, blockading the truck at a toll booth for 15 hours until they finally negotiated the dogs' release for $17,000, saving them from being slaughtered and served as food. Many of the animals were dehydrated, injured and suffering from a potentially deadly virus; at least 68 were hospitalized.

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Since I come from an animal-loving family who would probably disown me, I never ate dog while living in China. Now I'm sure I never want to. Even if you can look at a dog as "just another animal to eat," why would you ever want to consume meat from a creature that could be "suffering from a potentially deadly virus"?

Can I get a YUCK-YUCK?!

That is definitely deserving of a double-YUCK. Poor dogs!

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In more cheerful news, visit me on Monday because I'll be interviewing middle-grade author Crystal Allen in another World's Quickest Interview (WQI)! Yahoo!

And now -- have a VERY HAPPY EASTER!

He is Risen!

Ambition

Ambition is necessary to accomplishment. Without ambition to gain an end, nothing would be done. Without an ambition to excel others and to surpass one's self there would be no superior merit. To win anything, we must have the ambition to do so.

Ambition is a good servant but a bad master. So long as we control our ambition, it is good, but if there is danger of our being ruled by it, then I would say in the words of Shakespeare, "Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition. By that sin fell the angels."

~Laura Ingalls Wilder,  

These Happy Golden Years

It's Thank Krista V. Day!

I have two reasons to thank my writing buddy, Krista V.

First, because she reviewed this book on her blog, which made me want to read it.

I was a little slow getting into it, and I had my doubts at first, but I stuck to Krista's recommendation and once I got into the story, I liked it a lot.

My favorite parts were the cultural exchanges between the Afghans and the Americans. I know from personal experience how easily cultural differences can get in the way of good communication. Fascinating stuff.

I also loved the theme running through the book that a curse can turn into a blessing. I don't want to spoil the book for anyone, but the main character Zulaika learns that the part of herself she hates most-- her cleft lip-- may be one of her greatest assets. At least, her disability gives her the chance to find herself outside the roles and requirements of "normal" Afghan women.

Another reason I want to thank Krista V. is because she gave me the Stylish Blogger Award. Wowzers! This award is way more stylish than I am, but thank you anyway, Krista! I haven't been good about accepting awards lately. I know I was given a few over the past year that I never got around to accepting. (Humblest apologies!) With this one I was determined to get my act together and pass it on. (My baby is three-months-old now so I'm out of excuses!)

I'd like to pass the award on to one very wonderful friend and blogging buddy, Becky from Everyday Becky. After we became blog friends, our daughters became pen pals, and it has been such a blessing to my little Olivia. I get to meet Becky and her family this summer, by the way. I'm so excited!

Here you go, Becky, you stylish blogger you!

What's Your Favorite Holiday?

Mine is Easter.

For many reasons.

I love why we celebrate Easter: "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." John 3: 14-15

Easter candy is my favorite, specifically Cadbury Mini Eggs.

Easter is in Spring when all the bulb flowers are pushing their way out of the earth and all the orchard trees have blossomed.

I have an excuse to buy my kids new clothes for Easter Sunday. And if I don't buy them new clothes, my sweet mother-in-law will or my sweet Aunt Sandi will make my daughters handmade, gorgeous dresses, so either way, they'll look great (at least for one day out of the year!).

I love egg hunts!

And as icing on the cake, I love that Easter is not as commercialized as Christmas. It's relaxed. Sure, there are candy and bunnies for sale, but there's not the mad rush to decorate and purchase and primp.

What's your favorite holiday?

**Photo courtesy of morgueFile.com

WiP Wednesday: Writing Like a NaNo

NaNoWriMo doesn't work for me because of timing. November is the middle of football season and since the dashingly handsome sidekick is a football coach, I morph into a single mom. (Thankfully only for a few months of the year.)

I write first drafts like a NaNoWriMo participant, however. The muse has chosen my NaNoWriMo month to be parts of April and May this time around. I had a story on my chest, and it's been sitting there grooming itself for months, leaving claw marks on my heart.

I decided to sit down the other night and start it, and WHOA ... I haven't been able to stop. I'm talking thousands of words a day and I'm not even trying.

I love this stage. It's so beautiful because you just puke your guts out on paper and you don't have to worry about whether it smells good or not. You get it all out. Then you go back later and clean up ... and the clean up is a lot more fun than mopping up real vomit, I promise.

Besides the NaNoWriMo-esque puke fest, I'm critiquing a friend's manuscript (hi, Kelly!) and slowly, fearfully approaching the querying stage with SEAGULL RISING. It's hard to believe SR won't be my WiP anymore. It really is like kissing your baby and sending her off to kindergarten. "CAN THIS REALLY BE HAPPENING? ... Maybe she's not ready ... maybe I should give her another year...."

But inside I know she's (almost) ready to fly. And she won't be able to learn if I keep her a prisoner on my computer. Right? Of course right.

So, where are you in the process? And if you're not in the process, would you like to comment on all my mixed metaphors? Which one was your favorite? (hee hee)

**Oh, and by the way, I got my purse back on Saturday! Everything was in it, too! I am SO THANKFUL! Thank you to those of you who asked about it.**

The Best of Times

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."

~Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

This is an amazingly versitile quote because one can apply it both to the French Revolution and to a vacation taken with five children in tow.

I wish to expound upon the latter: a vacation with five children in tow.

It was the best of times...

• I saw six bald eagles in flight over the course of our trip
• Western Washington is majestic in its beauty (Deception Pass ... *sigh*)
• We walked to the beach where our daughters ecstatically collected shells
• We rescued a washed-up sea star
• We rode on a ferry (with our car)
• There was a jacuzzi at our vacation house
• We ate clam chowder and fish & chips for dinner one night (yum)
• We met up with old friends and new ones (Hi, Vijaya!)
• I played Wii "Just Dance" for the first time
• Our kids all enjoyed themselves and we enjoyed our kids
• Sophie, our two-year-old outdoors aficionado, cried as we were leaving, "Whidbey Island, I need you!"
• Our two-month-old was a champ in her car seat (most of the time)

It was the worst of times...

• We forgot our camera at home
• The vacation house lacked a dishwasher (I have become terribly spoiled living in the U.S.)
• It rained a lot
• A woman outside the whale skeleton exhibit yelled at two of my children when they didn't deserve it
• I left my purse at a restaurant on one side of the Cascades and didn't realize it until we were on the other side
• We listened to a lot of whining and/or crying and/or fighting from the four non-baby passengers in the back seats of the minivan
• Gas is expensive
• The pass was scary with lots of snow

Tomorrow is Friday already, which means Spring Break is almost over. *sniff sniff*

How was your week?

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

This is what I have to say about Sharon Creech's WALK TWO MOONS:

1. The first chapter is the best first chapter I have ever read.
2. The ending was (gulp) amazing. I stood in my kitchen holding my baby, reading with tears dripping off my chin. The ending floored me. I've never been so astonished by an ending in my life. It's like Sharon Creech looked right at me and said, "Gotcha."

Here's the Amazon review:

Thirteen-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle's mother has disappeared. While tracing her steps on a car trip from Ohio to Idaho with her grandparents, Salamanca tells a story to pass the time about a friend named Phoebe Winterbottom whose mother vanished and who received secret messages after her disappearance. One of them read, "Don't judge a man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins." Despite her father's warning that she is "fishing in the air," Salamanca hopes to bring her home. By drawing strength from her Native American ancestry, she is able to face the truth about her mother.

**I know I've been posting a lot of book reviews lately. I guess that's what happens when you glut yourself with good books!