1 Word Interview with Michael Di Gesu and Celebrations

A 1 Word Wordle

Please give a warm welcome to Michael Di Gesu, my guest today for the 1 Word Interview!

Michael is a super talented writer, designer, and all around creative guy who has an amazing heart for helping others. His business, Michael Di Gesu Presents, is a service he's created to write book blurbs and introductions, and as many of us know from last year's A to Z, he's really gifted at making each person he presents feel priceless.

If you don't know Michael yet, please, visit him after reading his answers to this super short interview.

1. What's your current favorite word?

Atmospheric

2. In one word, what inspires you?

Life

3. What's one word that describes your writing habits?

Sporadic

4. What's one word that you wish you could get rid of in your writing?

Flash

5. What's one word that describes your writing desk?

Inviting

6. Share the best writing advice/tool/quote that helps you. (please limit to one sentence)

Never lose your passion no matter how many obstacles stand in your way.

7. What's your current project?

A 1940's Film Noir novella

Wow! I love those words, Michael!!! I even like flash . . . although I wonder just who is flashing whom in your fiction. :) Sorry, had a gutter moment there.
I can relate to sporadic writing habits, and I love that your desk is inviting.
I'm looking forward to reading that novella.

Many thanks to Viklit for hosting this weekly celebration!

Celebrate the Small Things:
1. I'm biking 3-4 days a week still, even on cold, dark, wet mornings.
2. I'm making snail pace progress on Champion in Flight, but slow progress is better than none.

 What are you celebrating? Do you know Michael? Go visit him today!

 

A to Z Reflection

I'm a reflective mood these days, not just from A to Z, although I'll focus mainly on that.
Today, I feel like that last word on the badge "SURVIVOR" - I came into A to Z this year, excited, sure, and ready to go. By the end, due to personal life stuff and the nature of the challenge, I felt like I barely survived.

I wanted to visit more, comment more, be a better blogger buddy. It was tough.

And yet, I still feel blessed to have been a part of the challenge. Not only did this amazing, talented blogger Michael Di Gesu honor me with a guest post on J - Joker's Wild Day, but I also found a whole batch of new-to-me, talented bloggers to follow and befriend.

I enjoyed so many of the posts, but I'm going to highlight a few of my favorite themes here: Michael Di Gesu creatively introduced us to 26 books and authors, Alex J. Cavanaugh intertwined favorite movie characters with talented bloggers and his favorite music, Michelle-in-Transit had us guessing definitions of words, Mark Means unearthed a variety of lesser known comic book heroes, Misha Gericke's writing and faith posts at her two blogs made me think and laugh, and Father Dragon had me laughing every day, and I needed that laughter. I also love the eclectic posts that were slices of life, the travel blogs that expanded my horizons, and the faith based blogs that helped me gain a little more perspective in the midst of a tough April. I also appreciated Diane's tips on marketing in little slices throughout the month.

For all the challengers, and for all the hosts, and for all the minions, I just want to say:

THANK YOU!!!!

 

 

In the homeschool part of my life, I'm doing some reflecting over the end of the year, the changing of seasons in my oldest daughter's life, and I captured some of my muddling about that in this post: 8th Grade Graduation.

BTW - it's Sunday, but this is my Monday post . . . I decided not to wait, but just put it up.

Oh, and scarily enough, I have some ideas for next year's challenge . . .

Winners! and Celebrate the Small Things

The Winners of the Champion in the Darkness Book Tour Giveaway Are:

Tonja of Kidbits - winner of a paperback copy of Champion in the Darkness!

Miss Jack of However Improbable - winner of an ebook copy of Champion in the Darkness!

Jennifer Hardy - winner of a $20 amazon gift card!

Allison of GeekBanter - winner of a $10 amazon gift card!

And in case I forgot to mention it, the winner of the Champion in the Darkness ebook giveaway at Laurel's Leaves was: Michael Di Gesu

And a huge thank you to everyone who participated! And a huge round of applause and big HUGS for all the totally awesome people who helped me with that really long book blog tour:

  Susan Kaye Quinn  Laura Josephsen Dianne L. Gardner Laurel Garver Tara Tyler Allison at Geek Banter  Jamie Ayres Livia Peterson  Alex J. Cavanaugh Nickie Anderson

 Celebrate the Small Things from VikLit happens each Friday and encourages us to celebrate the small things in life!

 

1. I had an awesome exercise day on Wednesday - 2 mile walk in the morning, cardio exercises with my kids for 20 minutes in the later am, then 1 mile of jogging, 3 miles of biking, and 10 minutes of strength exercises at the YMCA in the evening with my husband. It was a hot, sweaty date. :)

 

(the rest of the week was very slow, and involved some crazy snacking - I made myself eat carrots and celery because I just had the continual nibbling feeling . . .must stop that somehow, any advice?)

 

2. I talked to another independent bookstore owner. She didn't say yes immediately, she said she would read it first, and then she told me about a tour she had at Lightning Source.

 

3. I'm collecting some bits and pieces of advice and info that I'll be giving out soon . . . hopefully next week.

 

4. My book signing at our homeschool co-op has now been extended to a two event deal - book signing at lunch, with a parent's night out + book club event in the evening. My book was the book of the month for the book club for March! The big day will be March 25th - and I'm excited.

 

5. I'm hand-selling books faster than I'm selling them via the internet so far this month and I'm surprised every time someone buys one from me. I have literally mumbled, stumbled, and said anything but the "official" pitch I have in my head, and people are still interested. It's totally amazing when someone wants to buy my book! Seriously, it is amazing every time.

 

6. My kids have been coaching me to answer the question, "How are you?" with this phrase, "Great, because I recently published my first book!" and it has definitely started some conversations I might have been too shy to have otherwise.

 

7. Nickie, my critique partner, rolled out the red carpet on her blog, Here's the Story this week with both a Book Review and an Interview! It was the perfect ending to a great book tour! Thanks Nickie!

 

And again, thank you to all who hosted, participated, encouraged, commented, and made me smile! :)

 

Oh . . .and I'm on the Amazon Breakthrough Novels of 2013 list at Goodreads. (as of this morning I'm at #21)You can vote for up to 5 people, and I would really appreciate it if you spent one of your votes on me. :) Other writers I highly recommend voting for are: Nancy Thompson, Cherie Reich, Rachel Morgan, Michael Pierce, Alex J. Cavanaugh, and Christine Rains.