Scribble and Scrambles - The Perils of Shopping

I may have mentioned this before. Forgive me if it's old news.

I stink at being a girlie-girl, at least in one area anyway. The area of shopping.

I used to have a purse obsession. I needed one, a new one, at least twice a month. As you can imagine, this adds up and involved much shopping. I was younger then, but it began to chafe so it became a short-lived obsession.

Then I moved on to the gray sweater stage. Not just any sweater, but a gray sweater. I still don't understand this particular desire. I'm not sure anyone looks fabulous in gray. "Hey, Marge your coloring just screams for gray."

Shopping for children took over from there. Really, babies need to have a hundred outfits in each size because you never know when they'll blow out a diaper. Fortunately, children develop likes and dislikes and soon enough they began to wear the same three things over and over again, so eventually I gave up on this one.

So I moved onto decorating my not-quite-completed house. Do I have to go into details, here? Not pretty. Let's just say if I liked it five years ago, it's pretty unlikely that I'll love it today.

Now in the waning season of life with girls who LOVE back to school shopping, Christmas shopping, post-Christmas sale shopping, Easter dress shopping (...I think you get the idea, right?) has soured me on the whole idea of piling into the car and driving to the mall. Shopping with my girls turns into more than I signed on for. LOOKING at EVERYTHING, DEBATING it, PUTTING it down, WAFFLING, returning to pick said item up and then TRYING it on make the shopping experience as pleasant as a trip to the dentist, without anesthesia. I don't know...maybe that's too overdone, how about as much fun as a kidney stone.

i hate shopping.

Oh, give me a list or a gift card to a specific store and I'll give er a rip. But...please...whimper...don't ask me to troll the mall with you.

My girls have gotten creative. "Mom. I need a pair of pants. Just need to go to Old Navy or Target." Do you know how many stores there are between Old Navy and Target in my mall? An educated guess...three hours worth. Dressing rooms number fifteen. Two coffee shops. That's right, only two. Two coffees over three hours and countless minutes waiting for the squealing, whimpering girl to come out of the dressing room to show herself...and then ponder whether or not she really wants the item. If I am expected to undergo this torture I should have an IV with painkillers or at least one of those hats with the sippy straws that hold two cans. I'd fill it with tall dark roasts and cream. Then I think I could do it.

So I'll have to tell you about my latest shopping encounter...but I'm running out of space. To be continued...

Serials and Scenarios - Tricia Goyer's My Life Unscripted

Click on the book cover to dig deeper.

Youth workers and teens from Sherwood Community Church and volunteers from a pregnancy counseling agency, Gabriel's Corner, and a group home for girls were given a copy of Tricia Goyer's new book, My Life Unscripted.

These are some of the questions we decided to ask Tricia.

What is the biggest mistake a teen can make in life?

Tricia: The biggest mistake a teen girl can make is trying to handle everything herself. God created us to NEED Him. He wants to guide us. I know when I was a teen I tried to do thing my own way ... oh the drama, the pain, the heartache, the mess!

What helpful, simple steps/advice can you give a girl who wants to act on her feelings in the worst way?

Tricia: Emotions can change. It helps to remember that. Sometime I very badly want to do something I KNOW I shouldn't do. My emotions tell me it's what I WANT ... even though my heart tells me it's a bad idea. During times like those I pray that God will change my emotions. He does.

What is the biggest danger of living the unscripted, highly dramatic lifestyle?

Tricia: The biggest danger is getting swept away. We get caught up in the drama and emotion around us and we lose our foothold--and our foundation. High drama leads to highs and lows. The highs only last for so long, and the lows .... well, they are hard to overcome and many young women give up trying. I know more than one young woman who has felt that suicide is the only way out. Either that they find ways to numb the pain, which never work.

What is the one thing you want teens to take away from your book?

That they CAN have a good future, starting today. We can make different decisions and better choices, and with each choice we take toward God, we're taking a step away from destructive habits.

What is your biggest regret? We know God did some amazing things and has blessed you way beyond your expectations. But what is the one thing you'd like to rewind and do over? Or if you could make one change in your own teen years, what change would that be?

My biggest regret is having an abortion at age 15. A life was lost because of my decision, and I can never take that back. I've given the pain, shame, and regret to God and He's healed my heart, but until the day I die I'll carry the knowledge that I chose to end my child's life without given him a chance. It's very sad.

My review of My Life Unscripted:

Tricia Goyer has used her many writing strengths to pull together possible life saving information for a whole new generation of teenagers. Tricia, like a lot of us, carries around a past, one she'd like others to avoid. Armed with that desire, she is an outspoken advocate of thinking before you act and learning from the mistakes of others.

Wise instruction is delivered by Tricia who shares parts of her own teen life in screenplay format. Included in the book are areas for teens to journal and honest instruction and help from clusters of Bible verses throughout. In addition, Tricia has interviewed teens around the country asking them about struggles and issues. Organized in sound or information bites that is My Space/Facebook/Blog reader easy to read.

If you have a young woman in your life, I'd suggest that the purchase of My Life Unscripted instead of a cute T-shirt, or a new bottle of perfume might be a very helpful, welcome and wise choice.

Serials and Scenarios - Kristin Billerbeck - Give the Girl a Trophy

Kristin Billerbeck is just plain sweet. I'm awarding her the first Dregs Perseverance Trophy. Not only did Kristin, best-selling, uber-busy author agree to an interview...she answered the questions more than once since a file got lost during her final look-see. She came out of her deadline induced stupor, answered them again, took a break to hang some curtains and finally sent off the tres amusant answers to the dregs questions. Bravo, Kristin. And thanks.

Fiction character you would most like to be or most identify with and why?

Bathsheba Everdene in “Far from the Madding Crowd” by Thomas Hardy because she’s hard-headed, does everything wrong and finally gets it by trial and error. That’s sort of my modus operandi.

If you could ask any person, living or dead, a random question -- what question would you ask of whom?

I would ask Leo Tolstoy if he regretted his version of Christianity towards the end of his life. He was very legalistic and heartless and though Anna Karenina remains an incredible book on one man’s journey to Christ, I find his own interesting, to say the least.

Some out there in writing land have strange rituals. Share yours.

It’s not that weird. I have to have espresso to sit down at my desk, oh and I really have to work on a desktop, I’m not a laptop kind of girl and I don’t read generally read fiction when I’m writing. I use that time for study.

If you could change something in any novel, what would you change about it and why?

Okay, I realize this would significantly alter the conflict and destroy the book, but I’d give Scarlet O’Hara to Ashley. He married too boring (like himself) and she married to volatile (like herself). Not enough passion. Too much passion.

What crayon in the box describes you on a good day? Bad day? Which one do you aspire to be?

Pink because I’m fresh and happy. Midnight blue because when my brain is out of it, it’s gone, there’s not enough light getting in. I have bad mental days with my MS and it’s blurry – like hiking in the dark.

Pick one…..Pink iguana, purple cow, periwinkle giraffe. Which one and why? Can be negative or positive.

Periwinkle giraffe because I love giraffes, and periwinkle is a peaceful color.

Favorite turn of phrase or word picture, in literature or movie.

“Go sell crazy someplace else, we’re all full-up here.” Jack Nicholson in As Good As It Gets

If you were assured of writing a best-seller, what genre would it be? Give us a sliver of information, a characteristic or glimpse of a scene.

It would definitely be chick lit. I’m a girly-girl through and through and it would be about something that interested me. I’m fascinated by the human genome project locally and when I pass their buildings on the way to work, I think that would be an interesting world to enter into. I thought the same thing about physicists – did you know there’s really only four places in the world a physicist can work? Don’t know why, that kind of thing fascinates me.

What period of history intrigues you the most?

Victorian era.

What would you write if there were no rules or barriers? (epic novels about characters in the Bible, poetry, greeting cards, plays, movies, instruction manuals, etc.)

I would write a sitcom – but that’s a team effort and based in LA, so chances I will ever do that are very slim. I don’t really have an interest in screenplay writing, but I would also like to write a family-friendly humorous movie.

What makes you feel alive?

Driving in a convertible on a perfect California day.

How does something worm its way into your heart? Through tears, truth, humor or other?

Humor. I’m not really a tearful type person, it’s pretty hard to make me cry. My best friend wouldn’t go to movies with me for years after I rolled my eyes in the middle of “Titanic” and said, “Yeah right, he’s gonna chase them with a gun when the boat’s going down.” She looked at me open-mouthed and said, “Something is severely wrong with you.” LOL

Book, music, person, food you would take with you on a very long trip.

I would take the Bible and my book of Thomas Hardy poetry given to me by a fan. It’s a book I’d love to spend more time with (he was my favorite author) but I don’t really have the time necessary to discern what he’s trying to say through poetry.

I’d take my son Seth because he is the happiest little bugger and just a light to be around. We’d have fun on the island and we’d eat hamburgers, because that’s his favorite.

Where would you most like to travel ----- moon, north pole, deep seas, deserted island, the holy land or back to a place from your childhood, somewhere else? – and why.

I would like to go to Italy to the Amalfi Coast and Greece just because I think I’d do well in a slower pace with beautiful surroundings with good food. Italians and Greeks know how to live.

Favorite season and why?

Spring – the darkness changes. I love the sun! Which is why I’m stuck in California or better for where I live.

Favorite book setting and why?

England. Just fascinated with English literature and did a great tour by myself of Bath and the wonderful settings of Jane Austen before I lost my mom’s camera and couldn’t prove a thing.

Which compliment related to your writing has meant the most and why?
Frank Weimann of the Literary Group told me he could sell my “What a Girl Wants” in two weeks. He said he roared, and he was an older Jewish man – his 40 year old, never-married assistant said the same. That made my life because it told me that I could be funny to people who weren’t necessarily my target market. Plus to have a NY agent say he can definitely sell your book, you don’t get that too often.

What criticism has cut the deepest and why?

There were two. One was that I was a racist – because I live in a place where I’m practically the only white person, so if I were a racist, it would sure make my life hard. That said, I think it’s racist not to notice how Koreans differ from the Chinese/Vietnamese/Taiwanese in culture. It’s rude not to notice, but if you’re white and you notice (and by the way, I notice because my different cultured friends TELL me), you’re called a racist, and there’s no way to defend that.

Some website reviewed “What a Girl Wants” and said that Ashley, who is soothing a friend who has just lost a baby was heartless because she was trying to talk her friend out of adopting that week. She was trying to keep her friend from making an abrupt decision. But in the review, she said, “I wonder if Billerbeck has ever lost a pregnancy.” Okay, what does THAT have to do with what my 31 year old single character would do? It just seemed so stinkin’ judgmental and out of place.

What would you do today if you knew you had only a week to live?

Go on vacation with my family and spend whatever I could to make our time issue free. : )

What is your favorite word?

Narcissist. I just love the way it sounds. It’s so beautiful, which I guess is what Narcissus thought, as well. LOL It’s a pretty ugly word, but it’s powerful, don’t you think? It’s like subtexting within a single word.

What word annoys you more than any other?

Irregardless because it isn’t a word though people use it constantly.

Favorite chore

Doing the dishes. As close to taking a bath as a chore can get.

Anything you’d do but don’t because of fear of pain? What is it? Ex. Bungee jumping, sky diving, running with scissors.

White Water rafting. Did it once, and it hurt.

Societal pet peeve…sound off.

People who judge others’ motives vs. actions. It drives me nuts when someone assumes you’re trying to tick them off, just because they have “issues”. In other words, Christians who go out of their way to be offended at everything. Sheesh, go work, and stop looking at everyone else.

Pick a Genre - Describe a kiss….

Chick-Lit

I’m not sure how I ended up in this situation. I’m a brighter girl than this, much more careful with my emotions. “I should go,” I tell him, but the way he stares down at me, I know I’m not going anywhere. I’m waiting to see if what I feel has entered his mind.

“Where will you go?” his voice is low and riddled with intent.

I point back to the dorm, “I just thought I might do some homework. Big test on Tuesday.” He keeps his blue-eyed gaze steady. “Big test,” I repeat.

“So I heard.”

I start to back up, pointing again behind me, “So I’ll just be going.”

Like a cat, he doesn’t follow my finger, nor does he take his gaze off me.

“You’re making me nervous.”

“I’m trying to,” he says.

“You admit it?”

“Why shouldn’t I?”

I cover my face with my hands, “I can’t take this kind of pressure. Are you going to kiss me or what?”

He steps forward and takes my face in his hands, “Definitely going to kiss you. Definitely.”

I close my eyes and wait until I feel the warmth of his firm lips on my own. “Big test,” I murmur. He silences my weak protests with another kiss.

Lauren stared at the clock. Eleven forty-five, if only it read ten forty-five. Everyone should be allowed one do-over hour in life. And why shouldn’t it start right now? She dropped her head to her desk and dreamed about the way the day should have gone. He would have arrived on time. With flowers and his telltale smirk.

“I’m not fooled by your outward charm, you know, you’ll have to work harder than that.”

Then, he’d grin and pull out the velvet box. “Was this what you had in mind?”

She’d feign surprise, as though she never saw it coming and when he dropped to one knee, her eyes would sparkle with tears of joy.

One do-over, is that too much to ask? She stared at her roommate’s empty desk and wondered if the humiliation would ever leave her. Wasn’t the fact that she’d been dumped enough for one day? Couldn’t he have waited a mere hour to ask Elise to brunch? One hour changed everything. And not in a good way.

Serials and Scenarios - A Hideous Beauty

Jack Cavanaugh, a very talented storyteller has stretched out from his normal historical fiction into fantasy.

Those of you who love wild stories are going to want to check this out.

Click on the book cover to visit the Amazon page.

Here's my review of this really entertaining read.

If you are a Jack Cavanaugh fan, you are in for a treat. A different kind of a treat, though. Jack's new series is a Spiritual Warfare/Fantasy. Proving that a good, respected-in-his-genre storyteller can cross into another genre and do it right, too.

My husband and I read Hideous Beauty over the weekend while we drove to Minnesota and back home. We both loved it. I struggled with the first several pages, trying to figure out exactly what was going on, but my hubby didn't. We both loved the main character, Grant Austin, who narrates with sarcastic humor and experiences a wild adventure full of intriguing friends and enemies. Several times, we found ourselves laughing out loud as Grant encountered one issue after another with witty thoughts, comments and actions. The feel is very lad lit, complete with some serious relationship mess-ups.

Another small issue was a bit of tweaking with our theology. Both of us wondered a time or two if we agreed with the possibility of this or that event playing out quite like it did in the book. But this is fantasy fiction. I hope no one bases their theology on something they read in fiction. If you don't struggle with differing opinions of the faith, then you shouldn't get hung up on…well…on speculative differing opinions.

Hideous Beauty is going to appeal to Hines, Liparulo and Wells fans and Cavanaugh's faithful readers. If you love spiritual warfare, fantasy, and great stories, you might want to get your hands on a copy.

Serials and Scenarios - The Trophy Wives Club

Click on the book cover to jet on over to Amazon for more information about The Trophy Wives Club. And then click here to visit Girls Write Out, a blog Kristin contributes to. Kristin's website is under construction, but there is a really cute picture of her that pops up.

You've got to come back Friday for Kristin's very interview. It's a fun one.

And finally, here is my review.

Kristin Billerbeck does chick-lit like no other, as a matter of fact, she is called a Christian chick-lit pioneer in some circles.

It seems a shame to label someone as perky, fun, complex and multi-faceted as Kristin, as a pioneer. I just don't picture her covered in dust and ready for a monument or memorial plaque. But, that said, she does know Christian chick-lit.

The Trophy Wives Club, My fourth Billerbeck read, is the most satisfying on several different levels. The men take a backseat in this drama involving a pampered princess whose prince has moved on down the road, leaving her literally out on her well-clad backside. Without money flow, career and even friends, Haley finds her fairy tale life was far more fragile than she had even entertained within nightmares. This leaves Haley an opportunity to grow without being shaped by people who expect things from her. Instead she's left to find out who she is when new friends step in and offer her help getting back on her Donald Pliner clad feet.

Though chick-lit tends to be irreverent and not-so-deep, the Trophy Wives Club carries some grown up themes that end up puncturing an attitude or two if the reader is open to having attitudes tweaked. It's rare to find a line like this in just your ordinary chick-lit..."Marriage is like calculus. Complicated and inexplicably remote. People think it's about loving one another and riding off into the sunset, but no one tells you the horse is lame or that it's an eclipse, and there won't be a sunset that day." Of course, Haley goes on to qualify that statement with classic ticked-off princess flair. "Loving someone more than yourself takes more than effort -- especially when they want something different from you. Especially when the something different is a sleazy actress. The truth of what goes on inside any marriage is really only for those involved to know. "

The spiritual aspects are realistic. I would consider the subject matter pretty edgy for the Christian fiction crowd, especially those who prefer their reading to be uplifting all the time. Haley doesn't end up with a contrite husband ready to throw diamonds at her. His character proves to be beyond shallow. Yet Haley comes out with a whole lot more love than she ever thought possible.

This is a sweet escapist read. One for those who know Happily Ever After doesn't exactly look like the fairy tales. And those who are glad for that because those Grimm brothers told some freaky stories. Those who can't tolerate divorce or a story about it may not want to pick it up. If you like Billerbeck, you should like this slightly familiar, very different novel.

Scribbles and Scrambles - Should I Be Disturbed?

A flyer arrived in the mail.

This is a VERY common occurrence.

What wasn't so common was one of the featured items.

I'm all for items that remind me of what I should be doing and what my priorities are and all that.

But my mind refuses to look at things on the black and white one-dimensional level of reality.

The item -- actually a series of items -- very small polished pieces of glass in a rainbow of colors. And on each "stone"was printed Gal 5:22-23 and one of the fruit of the Spirit...love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

This was my first thought. "Cool. Pretty glass."

My second thought. "Hmmm. So if I'm having a really bad day and am lacking in one of those areas, would one of these gems actually help?"

My third thought. "So. Like, if I was lacking patience with a person, I could whip the patience piece out of my pocket and fling it at them."

Then I laughed.

All by myself.

And now I'm telling you. HeeHeeHee.

Serials and Scenarios - Tamera Alexander - Remembered...

Oh my. Tamera sent this and somehow (shush, no sarcasm necessary) it slipped under my nose and languished in my inbox. Oh no.

Her book, Remembered, was reviewed last Wednesday. Sorry, Tammy, a few days short, not to mention a few cards short of a deck, I'm offering them now. Here are Tamera's great answers to the standard dregs.


What would you write if there were no rules or barriers? (epic novels about characters in the Bible, poetry, greeting cards, plays, movies, instruction manuals, etc.)


A ghost story set in an antebellum home. A Southern novel, contemporary, with a thread of romance of course, and the Civil War. Oh, that’s a dream… J

What makes you feel alive?

A fall day when the air is clean and the leaves so crisp and splashed with color that you just have to stop and try to take it all in, which you can’t, of course. And you realize there’s no “reason” why those leaves had to change those colors in order for the plant or tree to go dormant. God did it to show his glory, his artistry.

How does something worm its way into your heart? Through tears, truth, humor or other?


Tears and humor. Used together, they’re a powerful tool!

Where would you most like to travel ----- moon, north pole, deep seas, deserted island, the holy land or back to a place from your childhood, somewhere else? – and why.

I would time travel, does that still fit? Back to the era in which I write and specifically to some points in European history. Especially those in France. And to Biblical times, of course. ;)

What is your favorite word?


Forgiven.

What word annoys you more than any other?

Can’t.

Super power you’d love to borrow for awhile?


Ability to read minds—as long as no one else could have that super power around me.

Favorite chore

Vacuuming. It’s a sickness, I know. But I love things neat.

Grammatical pet peeve…sound off.


People who don’t like semi-colons. Semi-colons are wonderful; they serve a real purpose in our language and shouldn’t be ostracized from fiction. ;)

Societal pet peeve…sound off.

People who talk full voice on their cell phones while you’re in an elevator or restaurant. That’s what “Excuse me while I step outside and take this call” is for. ;)

Which compliment related to your writing has meant the most and why?

This one:

Your book (Rekindled) helped me to begin loving my husband again. Maybe to start loving him to begin with. I’m trying to get rid of the high expectations I’ve held for the past fifteen years because they’ve only led me to disappointment. We’re seeking counseling and are trying to rebuild our marriage. Your writings gave me the courage to take that step, and helped me to know that God could make that happen. Thank you.

If I never write another word or get another reader note about my books, I’ll die a happy woman. ;)

Thanks again, Tamera. So sorry about the communication glitch!