It Doesn't Cost Me to Be Nice

Whenever I think about kindness, a song from the musical Les Miserables comes to mind. It's the part where the innkeeper says, "It doesn't cost me to be nice."

Although he is being sarcastic because he's trying to milk his guests of every last cent, the words themselves hit home.


Kindness really is free. It has a much greater rate of return than meanness or gossip or exclusion or withholding a compliment. Why poison ourselves trying to push others down when we can so easily lift them?

“Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind.” 
― Henry James

“No one has ever become poor by giving.” 
― Anne Frank, diary of Anne Frank

“For Attractive lips, speak words of kindness.
 For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
 For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
 For beautiful hair, let a child run their fingers through it once a day.
 For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone. 
 People, more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed. Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms.
 As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself and the other for helping others.” 
― Sam Levenson

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.” 
― Plato

Why does our society struggle so much with kindness? Or does it?

Are we a kind people? Do you have a story of kindness you'd like to share?

Link up to The Kindness Project at Elana Johnson's blog.

I've Been Tagged

I got tagged by Alyssa from the Platform-Building Campaign.

It is now my pleasure to answer the following assigned questions and then pass the tag along to a few others.

Let the fun begin!

1. What is your favorite holiday? Halloween. It the best because it's scary and you don't have to buy anyone presents.

2. Who is your idol? Hmmm. In terms of writing, maybe Martine Leavitt.

3. If you could visit any place in the world where would you go? Greenland. It has to be there for some reason.

4. What's your favorite genre? YA with a more literary bent, quirky stuff, and English literature.

5. What or who has inspired your writing the most? Several authors: Martine Leavitt, Shannon Hale, Markus Zusak, Mary Stewart, Neil Gaiman.

6. If you could choose any superpower what would you have? Control things with my mind so I don't have to keep getting out of bed to turn off the lights. I could just think Fold the Laundry, and it would be done!

7. If you had to be a villain, who would it be? Why? Death. Read Martine Leavitt's book and you'll know why. 

8. What is your favorite animal? My kids. (Do they count?)

9.What is your favorite food? French Fries.

10.Who is your favorite author? It's impossible to choose. Seriously!

11. What is your biggest fear? That a vampire will show up and I don't have my stake with me. 

So now, who to tag next... I have randomly chosen the following from my campaign group:

Carrie at Where I Get Wordy

Charmaine Clancy at Wagging Tales

Prerna Pickett at The Sands of Writing

Jessica Therrien at From Imagination to Publication

Allison Miller at Left Brained by Day, Write Brained - All the Time

And here are YOUR questions. I shall limit myself to 10.

1. Hero or Villain?

2. What is your least favorite part of writing?

3. Who has influenced your writing the most?

4. What is your favorite climate?

5. What kind of stories do you love?

6. What kind of stories do you hate?

7. If you wrote an autobiography, what would it be called?

8. If you could put yourself in any book, which would it be?

9. If you could time travel, where in time would you go?

10. What is your favorite TV show?

Have fun and may the force be with you.

I'm a Platform-Building Campaigner

I'm participating in the Platform-Building Campaign hosted by Rach Writes. It's a great way to meet new people with similar blogs and writing interests. I expect great things!

Where It All Began: Origins Blogfest

 

So, today is the Origins Blogfest. You can join at Alex Cavanaugh's blog. 

A short rundown on the rather self-explanatory rules:  Tell us all where your writing dreams began. It all started somewhere and we want you to tell us your own unique beginnings.

Several years ago (I guess about 3 1/2), my good friend and writer let me read her work in progress. At that time, I hadn't written a single word since my goofing around with short stories back in my college days. But we were members of the same book club, and I asked her if she needed someone to read her work and offer feedback.

After I gave her some comments, she said, Hey, you should write your own book. I thought, There's no way. But the idea percolated. And soon enough (about a year) I had my first manuscript written. 

Then I started another manuscript. I entered my first chapter (of the 1st ms) in a contest at LDStorymakers Conference in 2010--the first conference I ever attended--and I won first place.

For the first time I thought, Ya know, I might be okay at this writing stuff. 

I now have three completed manuscripts and two on the way. And I'm lucky enough to have sold my second novel. 

So, I guess I can't say that I've dreamed of being a writer all my life. But I feel like I'm living the dream now.

As I look back, I see how everything has fallen into place in a very miraculous way. I hope I don't offend anyone by saying that I firmly believe my success is directly related to some serious sacrifices I made a few years ago on behalf of other people. To quote a common hymn, "Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven." To find out what I believe, click here.

PS: As with all blogfests I join, if you follow me, I'll follow you. (That should be the title of a song!)

Blogfiesta!

Today is my birthday! To celebrate, I'm giving away a gift to YOU!

A $25 gift certificate to Amazon or Barnes and Noble--your choice--delivered straight to your inbox.

As per the usual blog contest stuff, here's the scoop:

One entry if you follow me.
One more if you post this contest on your blog.
One more if you tweet about this contest.
One more if you follow me on twitter. @juliedaines

Up to four entries per person. Just post in the comments how many entries you have scored along with the links to them for verification.
(Link for blog entries. If you follow me on twitter or @ me, Twitter will notify me.)

Sunday, February 5, 2012, 10 PM Mountain Time is the cut-off for entry.

Huzzah!

Wait! There's more! As a special surprise to me--which is quite amazing considering this all happened randomly--I received two--count 'em TWO--blog awards. My birthday keeps getting better and better!

Here they are, in the order I received them:


I received this from a cool writer I recently met (virtually) named Nikki Jefford. She's a great lady and has had lots of amazing experiences. Thanks Nikki!


In keeping with the general rules of blog awards, here how this blog award goes down:

1. In a post on your blog, nominate 15 sister bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award. (Fifteen isn’t mandatory, but it’s a nice gesture. Try and pick at least five.)
2.  In the same post, add the Versatile Blogger Award.
3.  In the same post, thank the blogger who nominated you with a link back to their blog.
4.  In the same post, share 7 completely random pieces of information about yourself.
5.  In the same post, include this set of rules.
6. Inform each nominated blogger of their nomination by posting a comment on each of their blogs.

The lucky recipients of The Versatile Blogger Award are:

• The Utah Children's Writers. I hope its not cheating because I'm a member of this blog. But this blog has lots of great advice for writers of picture books, middle grade, and young adult writers. 
• Brooke at Silver Lining. Brooke is not a writer, but her posts are beautifully written and fun to read.
• Taffy at Taffy's Writing. She's always got something fun on her blog.
• Sarah M. Eden. I don't know if Sarah is collecting blog awards because she's already a big-time author, but I had to give her one anyway. Her I Need Friends Friday interviews are some of the most hilarious stuff out there in the blogoshpere. And her books are awesome too.
• Jonene at The Wonderful Obsessions. She not only writes great stories, but she has cool step by step instructions of watercolor painting.

And to answer step 4: share 7 completely random pieces of information about yourself.

Well, since this is already too long, please click on the tab above entitled The Story of Me. Scroll past the boring bio and skip straight to Things I've done. There's lots of random stuff there! Trust me.

Award #Two:

I received this from the awesome Shell Flower at Tangent Shell. She's got a fun blog where she talks about writing, reading, and all kinds of interesting stuff! Thanks Shell!

Once again, the rules:

The rules are simple: Name 5 blogs with under 200 followers that are totally awesome and deserve the award. Link to those five blogs, as well as the blogger who awarded the award, and let your picks know they are the winners. Share the love and help an undiscovered blog find the readership it deserves. Yet another reason the blogging community rocks!

Here are my 5 blog choices.

• Tiffany over at Scribble by Moonlight. She is a wonderful author who has put writing on hiatus to work a day job, but she still reviews lots of great YA fiction.
• Yamile at The Che Boricuas. An amazing writer from Argentina who writes the most beautiful stories in English! 
• Jamie Theler is a super writer and she helps organize one of the best local writer's conferences, LDStorymakers.
• T.J. at They Won't Get Us. He writes and posts these crazy and scary short stories about zombies and other horrors. The babysitter one freaked me out.
• Valynne. Another very talented writer who also posts slices of the hilarity of parenthood. 

Whew! That was a lot of work. Thanks to everyone for the awards!

Favorite Character Contest

I'm participating in a blogfest in which I get to highlight one of my favorite characters I've ever written.

If that isn't a hard enough decision... I'm not at all good at picking favorites. My kids always ask me what's my favorite movie/song/food/color/... I can never choose!

Anyway, I've decided for this fest to go with Scarlett: a blind girl who has been kidnapped from London. What's been fun about writing Scarlett is that she speaks with a lot of British colloquialisms. She's a small girl with a big personality.

Here are a few of her lines:

"All parents are berks."

"We're here to gen up, savvy?"

"Pull yer finger out."

And the always classic, "Right you are, Guv'nah."

She makes a fun contrast to the stoic American kid who's trying to help her.

Thanks for stopping by and if you follow me, I will always return the favor!

*Click on the button above for full details and to sign up. You could win a critique from Melanie Billings, Acquisitions Editor at Whiskey Creek Press and other cool prizes.

Teen Eyes Blogfest

Heads up to another blogfest, "Can You Hook a Teen" hosted by Brenda Drake - find the details here.

Title: NONE SO BLIND
Genre: YA Romantic Suspense

Chapter One: Christian vs. the Stowaway

I always thought making life or death decisions would be more dramatic. Thrilling. Like something from a movie. I should have known better.             

            Last week, I chose death. It didn’t work out.

            Today, I chose life. And for me, that meant leaving.

            I tossed the last of my gear into the back of my Range Rover. The car my father gave me just after I turned sixteen. That was over a year ago. He hadn’t spoken to me since. Maybe I should have felt guilty for using it to ditch him, but I didn’t. Just because he had a son didn’t mean he wanted one.

            In ten minutes, I arrived at my first stop. The cemetery. I pulled in and followed the wide curve of the lane until I came to a huge cedar tree. I grabbed the cellophane wrapped flowers I bought at the gas station and wove my way through the forest of headstones to my mother’s grave.

            I’d sat here many times, telling her about Dad, how he hated me, and how my life was messed. It never changed anything, but I felt better—for a few days at least. I barely remembered her now. 

            More than anything, I remembered after she died. When Dad checked out and never really came back. At least not to me. For him, it was like I didn’t exist.

            And now, the time had come to make that a reality. How else could I avoid a repeat of last week’s lapse in judgment? 

Bad Movies: A Blogfest

Currently Reading: The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

Apparently, there is some kind of blogfest going on about Worst Movies Ever. Read about it here. Well, you know I have to get in on that one!

So here, in no particular order, are some of the worst movies according to my own internal movie-crap radar. 

Inception
I know, I know. This was hyped as the best movie ever. And that's part of the problem, it was over-hyped. After hearing amazing things about this movie, I finally saw it and... well, it was lame. The plot is pointless because in the end, nothing happens. The whole movie is the explanation of dream invasion or the actual dream invasion, but in reality, nothing happens. It ended with something about the wife, but we don't really know for sure, and we don't really care about her anyway. If you want a good movie about dream invasion, try Dreamscape. 

Fly Away Home
I think my main problem with this movie is timing. My timing. I watched it on the one year anniversary of my sister's death. Big mistake. The first ten minutes of Fly Away Home is the death scene and drama of Anna Paquin's mother. Waaaay to sad for me that day.

Waterworld
First of all, Kevin Costner. Need I say more. Couple bad acting with bad screen writing and you get Waterworld. 

TRON Legacy
Yes, this is another blockbuster. But this movie proves once and for all that the best special effects in the world can't make up for melodramatic acting, cheesy lines, and predictable plots. Plus, where exactly is Tron? Inside the game console? Outer space? I don't know, and I don't really care.

Knowing
Ok, tossing Nicolas Cage and all his problems aside, this started out as a deliciously creepy suspense movie. And then derailed into a twisted mess of environmental, apocolyptic, and dare I say biblical mumbo jumbo. Adam and Eve? Are you kidding me? Blech!

The Ghost Writer
Yet another example where the ending kills the movie (literally and figuratively!) This seems to be a common theme for me. The story was intriguing and I like Ewan McGregor, generally speaking. But the last five minutes ruin the whole movie. I just wasted two hours of my life for this? Not worth it. An unexpected twist in the plot is a good thing. A random act that doesn't tie in to the plot at all is just the writer trying to be manipulative in an attempt to create shock value. Well, it doesn't work. It never has. It's fake and stupid.

City of Angels
Some people love this movie. I can't stand it. First of all, Nicolas Cage again. And secondly, I fundamentally don't agree with the choices he makes in this movie. And last, it's too dang sad.

Failure to Launch
Way to predictable. Really, there wasn't one single scene in this entire movie that I couldn't have predicted. This is the problem with most romantic comedies. We know how they are going to end: Boy gets Girl, or vice versa. The challenge with romantic comedies is to throw in some original twists and turns that set the movie apart from the other millions of romantic comedies. Very few can actually pull it off.

So there's my list. There are tons more, but these are the first I thought of. Agree or disagree, it's up to you. But in the end, you know I'm right.  :)