Tada!

Like the new background? :)

Whew, that only took me…most of the day. :P I’m not sure how smart it is to teach an eternal book worm the ends and outs of code and website design programs, but that is what my brother is attempting to do.

Last night he said to me, “You are where I was five years ago.” Considering that he is now a professional web designer that statement is a little scary. (lol) But he went ahead an installed a program on my computer that allows me to do design work and I read up on some code, downloaded a bunch of images, sized and layered them, uploaded…and all that stuff. (Yeah, I did a lot of, “Oh, God, please just let it work.”) I did end up needing Alex’s genius in the end.

If you’d like to see some of his amazing web designs, check out: http://www.interceptwebdesign.com/
Oh, and thanks very much to Summertime Designs for the free image downloads:
http://www.summertimedesigns.blogspot.com/

:?

Yes, I know, the background is all messed up. It may take me a bit to fixt that. :P
Just a touch of a problem.

Something told me you need to laugh today.

I am happy to help.

Just in case you are wondering, this is my mother’s poodle mix, Madeline, in one of her Halloween costumes. :)

What is in a POV?

I’m noticing a really amusing pattern among people who knew me for a considerable amount of time prior to finding out that I am a writer. They were of course surprised to hear that I’d published a novel, but according to person after person that is not the most surprising thing. It seems they picked the book up, expecting to read a story from my point of view, and instead found that the whole story is written from the point of view of a 35 year old male FBI agent. Many times now I have had friends say, “It works, but why did you do that?”

The answer: IT WORKS! (lol)

I had a story to tell and found that the best way to tell it was through the eyes of a 13 year veteran FBI agent named Scott Malkin (who is entirely fictional, just in case you are wondering). Hey, as long as my narrator works I will always be amused by the reactions I sometimes get. ;)

Simpatico

I’ve know that my dog, Margaret, was the world’s greatest dog almost from the first day she ended up at our house nine years ago. But yesterday I discovered yet another reason believe she was always indeed intended to be my dog.
Everyone who really knows me knows that I’m a diligent cappuccino drinker. Usually two cups a day (unless it’s a ‘long’ day, in which case I can negotiate it higher). Well, yesterday, my first cup turned into a catastrophe. I’m not really sure what happened. One moment my cup was perched nicely on the side table and the next its contents were all over the table, the chair, the floor, and a stack of books.
I jumped up and ran to the kitchen to get towel, but when I returned I found Margaret had wrapped herself around the table in a very strange way. It didn’t take me long to realize that she was attempting to lick up as much cappuccino as she possibly could. Frankly, I’ve never seen her that excited about a spill before. LOL.
When my mother’s poodle came over to investigate, Margaret told her in no uncertain doggy terms, “Go away, this is mine.” A few hours later I discovered that she’d practically rolled in the puddle.
Of course, later that evening when I poured myself a new cup I looked down to find her staring quite intently at me with eyes that said, “So, are you going to finish that?” That’s my girl!

Summer Reading List

Okay, I’m putting up my ‘hope to read this summer’ list, partly because I’m excited about the new stack of books on my bookcase and partly because I’m trying to be committed. Last summer I was a bit haphazard…but then I my list of books this summer is more interesting. ;)

-Get Out Of That Pit by Beth Moore (Just finished yesterday…Exceptional)
-Sherlock Holmes and The Kings Evil and Other New Tales Featuring the World’s Great Detective by Donald Thomas (In the middle of and loving it.)
-Why Shoot the Butler? by Georgette Heyer (The cover and the backmatter looked interesting.)
-Never Give Up by Joyce Meyer
-Midnight in Madrid by Noel Hynd (Purely a backmatter buy.)
-To Live is Christ by Beth Moore
…I also have the two newest mysteries by Mindy Starns Clark. She is always very good, but I overdosed on her books a bit the summer before last (eight of her books in a row) so those are at the bottom of the list. :P

Well, there’s what I’m hoping for. No guarantees I'll make it…there are also no guarantees I’m not going to stumble upon something else that sounds interesting. I found two very interesting sounding books yesterday, but I decided they sounded a bit more like my mother’s taste. So she’s going to read them first and tell me if I’d like them. I’ll do the same for her with the books I just listed. :)

Sigh of Contentment

Oh, what joy there is in a book that makes me wish I could keep my eyelids open just a few minutes longer, just enough to read one more chapter, one more page, one more sentence. A book that makes me wish I was reading it when I am doing other things throughout the day. A book that encourages me to read a considerable number of pages in one sitting, yet the point is not to finish it quickly, but to revel in the story as it progresses.
It has been so long since I’ve found such a book that having one now is quite wonderful.
Hm…this could have the makings of a sonnet. But I will put no more time into this post. I was seated by the fire in the cozy sitting room of a London flat, listening happily to characters discuss the more amusing side of crime in Britain. Surely you can understand if I want to return as soon as possible. ;)

16 to 26

Yep, in a few more hours I’ll be 26 years old. :)
For some reason a couple months ago I started thinking not only about how much life has changed in the past ten years (naturally), but how much I’ve changed.

At 16: I wanted to be an artist.
At 26: I am a published mystery writer.

At 16: I drank tea, spent most of my day in front of a drawing board, and walked around with pencil smudges on my fingers.
At 26: I drink cappuccino, spend most of my day in front of a laptop, and walk around with my reading glasses on. (I have trouble remembering to take them off when I get up from my desk.)

At 16: I was sure I’d never dye my hair, never get my ears pierced, and make-up was something rarely applied.
At 26: My hair is a bit blonder than nature intended, I love dangly earrings, and as for make-up…well, of course. ;)

At 16: I read classical literature and my taste in music generally followed along.
At 26: While I still love the classics, I’m a hound for non-fiction, contemporary Christian fiction, and Christian pop-rock.

At 16: I’d been a Christian for less than 2 years.
At 26: I’ve been in some very dark valleys and on some very tall mountains with God and I’m ready for the next journey.

Sometime in the middle of the past ten years I also declared I would never join a social networking site and I definitely would not blog. Never. (lol)
It’s almost scary to think about where I’ll be in another ten years. ;)
Just in case anyone is wondering: Tomorrow I intend to go on an iTunes shopping spree, indulge in mocha Frapuccino, and spend a considerable amount of time in Barns&Noble. Chocolate cake will make an entrance at some point. :D

Backmatter

For those of you out there who do not think that is a word, it is! Backmatter: The words on the back of a book. For some reason I find them extremely important and entertaining. I am a self-confessed backmatter lover. Yes, I will buy books solely on the basis of the backmatter. There are times when I go into the bookstore without any idea of what I’m going to buy. I just want to walk around and read backmatters. (We all have our own ways of being adventurous.)
But the love of backmatters does not merely center on buying books. I just like reading them for the fun of it. Even if it’s a book I know I’m never going to read, I like to see what’s out there, what authors are coming up with, what sells and doesn’t sell. Ask any member of my family and they’ll tell you that if we walk by a shelf of books in any store they are probably going to lose me.
I don’t know why, but it’s sort of recreational for me. I don’t care if that sounds weird. ;)
But having said that, I’m sure you’ll at least understand what I mean when I said I agonized over what went on the back of my book. It took me weeks of writing and then going back and forth with my editor before I had one that I was satisfied with. At one point she sent me her ideas to which I had to reply, “Um, you just gave the whole mystery away…” lol
Ah, well. You’ll just have read my backmatter and decide for yourself whether it sounds interesting.
http://www.emilyannbenedict.com/books.html
As for me, I know I’m going to Sam’s Club later this week and I know there’s a large shelf of books waiting for me to turn them over and read. :D