FIVE MINUTE FRIDAY: BROKEN

 

 

 

Today I'd like to do a five minute Friday for Lisa-Jo Baker's writing prompt here. Sad that her site had to crumple up and die before I started this, but honestly, sticking the link in a facebook comment thread seems a whole lot easier than linking to her site. Even though I've been a fan for EVAH, this is my first time joining.

 

 

 And GO.

  Some days the world seems so incredibly fragile.  Not in a morning-dew-on-dandelion-puff way. More of a creeping-over-broken-glass-through-the-dark-barefoot sort of way.

  Some days I am sure that every few hours (heck, every few minutes) something bad will happen. A plane won't fall on my house. That would be too easy. But the oven will die. And the cat will barf on the carpet. And the kids will poke each other with sticks I told them to throw in the garden but somehow they ended up back in the fenced yard I thought was safe enough that I could take 2 minutes to run to the bathroom and pee.

 

  Some days this constant barrage of tiny failures wears at me in a way I can't figure out how to fix. Like the scratchy tag that will puncture the back of your neck 379 times in one morning until you're ready to tear off your shirt in the middle of Walmart and do your shopping half-naked. If it was a larger sort of broken, I could DO SOMETHING. But these minute little broken pieces of a day that should have gone well aren't anywhere in the mom's playbook.

  Like my laptop. I'm a writer. Not just a facebook and twitter kind of writer. But a writer who makes money actually writing. So, I need my laptop. I need it to work. Not just sometimes, but all the time. The touchpad was stuck for weeks. Every few words the cursor would jump, sometimes erasing whole paragraphs, or sentences, or I'd find myself typing in the middle of some other scene. I had to stop, fix, begin again, then stop, repeat, begin again, until my train of thought has completely derailed and the muse has fled the room.

 

 BROKEN. But not so broken I could throw it out. It was just a scratchy tag sort of broken, that endless small puncturing of my thoughts and words and pages until I wanted to give up.

  And today I fixed it. I typed this post without a single skip or sudden deletion.

  I have never felt so grateful. My hands feel generous and free. I never want to stop.
 Joy and gratitude amid the brokenness of my life, because one thing that was wrong is now right.

 STOP.

May the k9 Spy! Review and giveaways and scavenger hunt!

Hellooooo, everybody!

  Welcome back! Sorry about that whole 'see you Tuesday' comment. Sometimes my brain goes on the fritz.  So far, I have not lost any of my children or forgotten my own name. I may or may not have locked myself out of my house, car, van, apartment, etc. on a regular basis since I was given a set of keys. I also tend to forget how old I am and whether or not we have food in the house. But that's all minor stuff, right??

How can you possibly complain when I had this cool chicken-in-a-diaper picture??

You're welcome.

 Ok, so today I'm reviewing an awesome middle grade fiction book called

May on the Way: How I Become a K9 Spy

 

(Isn't that the cutest cover EVAH??? Here's the blurb...)

Sometimes I start with a well-thought out plan, and sometimes, me being me, things just happen. In my imagination I'm on my way, heading anywhere. Because anywhere's better than here.

 

Which is why I'm staring at this latch. I'm going to escape today. I've been watching closely to see how they work it, though no one's noticed.

Humans... So unaware...

 

   Caveat: I'm not a dog person. I don't have a dog. I have cats. And some kids. And some chickens. But I like dogs and know how smart they can be. That being said, this book made me LOVE dogs. It made me want to go right out and bring home a dog. And not just any dog. I wanted a rescue dog.

  Puppies are great, but May makes you long for a smart dog that just never got a real chance. And May is as smart as they come.

  I have readers from ages seven to thirteen and we read A LOT.  I can tell within a chapter whether the book is something that kids will finish. I knew I liked the book, but what did I know? I'm pushing forty and don't even Pet the cat when I walk by. I'm not the best beta reader for May.

BUT my kids loved this book!! Forget love, they flipped over this book! We had to get all the others.

Wait, that probably doesn't sound good from a parent's perspective. But it's money well-spent. And the best part?

The FIRST MAY BOOK IS FREE RIGHT NOW!! No kidding! here's the linkydoo: HERE

Also, as a special treat to her fans, MAY has a cool treasure hunt going on! Every blog she's visited has a very special letter somewhere hidden inside. Hmmmmm.... Can you find it?? You find each letter, spell out the word, and there are awesome prizes to be had!

Since I love these books so much, I want to link the cover of the next and the blurbs in this review, too. You know kids LOVE A SERIES.

 

May Finds a Way: Peril in Paris:   An enterprising escape, a perilous mission...

After going astray during K9 Spy boot camp, May tries to find a way to the American Embassy in Paris.
Join her and Léonce, a feral cat, as they sniff out an evil plot leading from Benjamin Franklin's park through the historic Passy Cemetery to The Pantheon...including a journey under the city!

Guess what? This one will be FREE for Kindle: July 23-27, 2013 !!

Check out the rules and join May the K9 Spy’s Scavenger Hunt at May’s Blog Tour HQ! Also, if you grab the book and review it, you can be entered for MORE prizes! 

 

About the Author:

KC Frantzen learned to speak critter at a young age. She and her husband volunteer with a variety of projects, including the Joni & Friends Wounded Warrior Getaway. They enjoy traveling just about anywhere, which helps formulate ideas for May the K9 Spy. The family lives in the country hills of middle Tennessee with two Arabian horses and several rescue dogs, including the real May.

 

*whew* Summer days are long for a reason.

Helloo everybody!!

 So, Leaving Liberty is out and about!

Sitting right at #2 on the Christian fiction lists right  here .  I'm loving how much easier this gets every single time. I do get nervous, but it's not as bad as the first few times. Maybe by book #205 I won't even blink!!

  My next project is another historical and I'm loving this story! It's one I've wanted to write for a long time, about a girl who is a secret newspaper columnist in a time when women weren't really respected for doing anything outside the home. I have a soft spot for trailblazers and women trailblazers make me happy. :)

  Nest week we've got some very fun blog posts coming up! May the K9 spy is going to be here!! Giveaways and a treasure hunt and all sorts of fun!

  As a mom of middle grade readers, I'm always searching for good books. May is a treasure!

  Ok, all, until next Tuesday! I'll leave you with a picture of this chicken. It's wearing a diaper. We have chickens. They don't wear diapers. This little gizmo is for people who want chickens to be able to roam in their house.

Why?

No idea. People are weird.

 Until Tuesday, my friends!