Cold Cocked!

Now, before I get lambasted for having the *gasp* “C” word on my blog, for those of you who might not know **Becka lifts the rock you’ve been living under** being “cold cocked” means you’ve been punched in the face unawares.

Now, this little story takes place in the karate dojo on Cornelius Pass Blvd. here in good ol’ Hillsboro, Oregon. It involves my 7 y/o and my 6 y/o and an instructor we’ll call “Sifu Ben”. So I don’t know how to spell “Sifu”, but apparently it means “teacher” in Japanese. I’m sure those of you in karate yourself can correct my spelling and any translation errors I may make.

Sifu Ben is a nice man. Handsome, caring, and truly loves what he does. And my girls just recently tested to get their advanced white belt, a white belt with a black stripe down the middle, which they have now attained. This means that they can now attend the advanced Kinder class with the older kids.

So they’re learning the hammer chop, which is when your opponent comes at you with a closed fist over their head. They are also learning the outward block, which is… uhm… in layman’s terms: sand the floor. If you get the reference, you get 1,000 Machio points.

Anyway. So one child does the hammer chop while the other does the outward block. Now, you’d think the one doing the hammer chop would the be the one to avoid, but oh no. You have vastly underestimated the enthusiasm of my 7 y/o’s outward block. Instead of “outward” in a vague “sand the floor” motion, my child decided to block the chop . . . by cold cocking her sister.

There were a few parents in the room, and everyone did the collective **GASP!!** while crickets chirped, placing bets on how loud my 6 y/o can wail. She tried to hold in the tears, she really did, but once the dam broke, there was waterworks everywhere. She was crying, my older daughter was crying, even Sifu Ben was “shocked” and “awed”.

Thankfully, my daughter does not have a black eye, despite the fact that you could hear the punch clear into the next room. It was a complete accident, as my older daughter didn’t mean to punch her, but I think she was getting a little frustrated that she wasn’t getting the hang of “sand the floor” and decided to take our her frustrations with a punch of her own.

The drama has now finally died down, but I thought to myself, “Self, you can’t NOT blog this.” So here it is. Poor kids.

~~Becka

New Contract

I’m exciting to announce I have offered a contract for my Colonial – PRETEND I’M YOURS. Highland Press loved this story, so they’ll be publishing it. It will be available in both ebook and paperback formats. I’ll keep you posted as I learn more.

Here is the blurb–

Lies have brought Charlotte Maxwell a breath away from her heart’s true desire. But the same lies might keep her from complete happiness.

On the precipice of the American Revolution, English woman Charlotte Maxwell is forced by circumstances to the colonial home of William Braxton, her delinquent brother-in-law. With her identical twin, Katherine, in desperate need of medical care, Charlotte will not rest until the blackguard accepts his financial responsibility—even if it means impersonating her own sister.

Little does she know that William’s only concern is for his secret.

William’s arrogant, selfish wife could end his life with one word of his traitorous actions against Mother England. But thrust together, the two find that each may have been mistaken about the other. Perhaps William isn’t as domineering as Charlotte was led to believe. And William is discovering that this Katherine is nothing like the bride he married, and instead everything he’d hoped for.

Phyllis Campbell
www.phyllismariecampbell.com

Dear. God.

Too many hot men, so little time. And dammit, I’m married.

Here are my two obsessions of the summer. Wentworth Miller and Paul Walker.

Wentworth Miller of Prison Break fame (much better with his hair )

Paul Walker of Eight Below fame

These two men are so fricken’ hot that they make my eyes water just looking at them. LOL Paul’s going to be the “hero” in the video for my upcoming western, RIDIN’ SHOTGUN, the story of Shirley Bloom, Lissa’s sister of IN YOUR ARMS with Champagne Books. Isn’t he a hottie? Dang, I’m partial to blonds and he takes the cake. But Wentworth… Ah, there’s something to be said about tall, dark and handsome as well. However, I do prefer him with hair.

Thought I’d give you ladies a thrill today. Enjoy the pics.

~~Becka

DH and I are Kick Ass Parents.

“Why?” you ask?

Because we gave our three girls their very own princess room this weekend. Here are the pics:

Princess Bedroom #1

Princess Bedroom #2

Princess Bedroom #3

Princess Bedroom #4

Oh yeah, that’s what I’m talkin’ about. LOL Our parents never did *anything* half that cool for either of us growing up. We never even got the non-commital coat of paint. LOL We’ve got a THEME ROOM goin’ on in our house. And yes, our three girls share this room. Our boy has a room all to himself. We can’t wait to do his room. We’re thinking either Buzz Lightyear or Superman. That will be awesome.

The girls LOVE the room and can’t wait to go to sleep now. It was a lot of work, but we recruited the family to help us out a bit. Yesterday was paint day and today was odds-&-ends day. Those pink curtains? Yup, *I* sewed those myself. And isn’t that princess border just too cool?

Our kids almost exploded when they saw the room in all it’s glory. We even bought a new carpet for in there (as their floor is only concrete *daylight basement*). So this is night and day. We don’t really have any before pictures, that’s the only bummer. But it was a dingy white with no pizazz. Now it’s got pizazz in spades.

~~Becka

Editing

The more I learn about craft, the easier it becomes to write the first draft. You tend to avoid certain bad habits that riddled your first works. So – what do I do with my old manuscripts? The stories are still great and I love the characters, but oh, my – the writing needs a lot of help. Time to rewrite, edit and polish. Yep, it’s way easier to write fresh once you’ve learned the craft than it is to polish an existing first piece.

But – I’m hard-headed. I’m in the process of polishing/rewriting four early works. It’s going fine, but it’s so easy to miss things once you’ve written them down. Your eye just skips over those bad prose, cliche phrases and typos.

So – I’m now reading the work aloud, hoping this will help me catch those pesky items. I’ve probably read the work at least twenty times, because I want this work to be the best I can produce. That’s part of my job as an author. Even then, my editor will catch all of the things I missed and for that, I’m eternally grateful.

Now – off to read some more.

Newsletter Buzz

In the next week we’ll be sending out the September issue of our bimonthly newsletter. In it we’ll be sharing some fun news and tidbits and we’re also having a contest! This contest is only open to subscribers so please sign up for our newsletter and get in on the fun! Sign up is easy! Go to the bottom of the screen and sign up in the box provided!

Maven’s Rebecca and Donica are busy getting their final edits done and making sure their October releases are ready! Donica will have the first book in her Elemental Desires series released. Elemental Desires: Storm Chasing is slated for a mid-October release! YAY!!!! And Rebecca’s first book in her B*E*A*S*T. series, The B*E*A*S*T* Within, is also slated for a Mid-October date! COngrats ladies! We’re all waiting with bated breath!!!!!

Phyllis has her August release, Holding out for a Hero available now from champagne books. THis book is getting some amazing reviews! Make sure not miss this or any of her other great titles!

Ciara’s book Celestial Dragon is still raking in the great reviews! If you haven’t gotten your copy yet, it’s one you should make sure you grab soon! She also has a December release, Sarah’s Brass Token, be sure to stop by her website and check out the information on this future release!

MM

Becka’s Random Question of Truth

Have you ever gone out in public without a bra? And how often do you do this?

I admit that I have, however, not for extended periods. Only if I’m going to be out for no longer than 10 to 15 minutes. Quick trips to the fast food joint are not “bra-worthy”, because I don’t actually have to get out of my car. LOL Quick trips to the store for more soda isn’t necessarily “bra-worthy” as well. However, I do try to make sure I’m wearing a dark-colored shirt to hide the fact that I’m blowin’ in the wind…

However big trips to the grocery store or “errand” day does get the bra. But home is a “bra-free” zone. I hate bras. But on the other hand, I can’t stand jiggling in public. LOL Yet I’d rather forego the bra-wearing if I’m going on short jaunts.

How about you? Discuss.

~~Becka

And Then There Were Eight

Scientists decide Pluto’s no longer a planet – Space News – MSNBC.com

Today is a sad day. Probably won’t effect me much beyond stepping on my childhood.

But scientists have finally ended the debate–Pluto is no longer a planet.

Why does this “step on my childhood”? Well, when I was a kid, I LOVED the planets and stars. In fact, until I realized my calling was writing books, I wanted to be an astronomer. I had books and books of the solar system, the galaxy, the sun, etc. I have learned there are NINE planets in our solar system. Blue from Blue’s Clues even has a catchy little ditty about the planets.

**sniffle**

Under this new definition, they are making Pluto a “dwarf” planet, which also includes an object in the Asteroid Belt as well as that disputed object floating beyond Pluto AND Pluto’s moon. Guess we gotta prepare for our solar system getting “bigger” while also getting “smaller”.

The funny thing is? Pluto has been a “planet” since 1930, 76 years. In the grand scheme of things, Pluto hasn’t even been a planet for *half a year* in Pluto’s time. Pluto’s yearly rotation is 248 Earth years. Literally a drop in the bucket.

~~Becka

Ah, Nostalgia

My seven y/o daughter is way above her reading level. She’s in the second grade, and she reads at about a 4th to 5th grade level, I would say. We recently went to the Goodwill, because we were going to be waiting in line for a long time at a nearby restaurant, so we went in there to poke around.

Aside from being one of the cleanest and most well-organized Goodwills I’ve ever been to, we sauntered on over to the kids books. There, we found a whole mess of Nancy Drew books for a buck a piece.

I used to love Nancy Drew as a kid, and in fact, whenever my dad would take us kids to the library, I’d always check out the books. After I was done freaking out over my forgotten childhood (LOL) we bought all the Nancy Drew books they had (about 5). Now, my daughter is reading them and really enjoying them!

I’ve actually asked her if I could borrow them when she’s done. She giggled, but said yes. I’m actually excited at the prospect of reading those old Nancy Drew mysteries again. I can remember many a lazy summer day curled up with Nancy and her sleuthing skills. It’s gonna be great.

I can’t wait!

~~Becka

WHHHEEEE!!!!

Why am I WHHHEEEE-ing? I’ll tell you why. I just bought tickets to a Michael W. Smith concert!

Michael who??

He’s a Christian singer. I’ve been listening to him since 1988, when my best friend at the time brought over his concert (recorded in 1986) called “The Live Set”. I listened to that tape until it wore so thin… LOL After that, I bought every single one of his albums. Needless to say, he’s been around for a long time, but really doesn’t look too worse for wear. He’s actually a very handsome man. In fact, I just updated my MySpace page to play one of his songs if you want to go check it out. Even if you don’t know who he is, you may recognize his voice. It’s kinda nasally and scratchy; very distinctive.

http://www.myspace.com/rebeccagoings

Anyhow, why am I so excited? Well, I’ve never seen this guy in concert. The chance I had in school to go to Sacramento when I lived in Carson City with my youth group fell through because I had a broken ankle and didn’t want to brave the drive and the crowds with crutches. After that, I kept looking for him to come to the west coast, but like most Christian singers, he stays to the east and midwest. And whenever he would come to our area, it was for Jesus Northwest, which is held in George, Washington (yes, there’s a town called “George” in the state of Washington)… But that venue is soooo far away. I’m on the western coast of Oregon (well, relatively. I’m in Portland, inland about 50 miles.) George, Washington is in eastern-central Washington. B.F.E. Gorgeous venue, because you’re literally on the Columbia River Gorge, but out in the middle of “where the hell am I?”

Well, MWS is FINALLY coming to Tualatin, a town about 15 minutes away, and I’m not passing it up. What’s more, he’s coming on October 9th, my birthday! So it’s going to be a great night for me. I’m so happy! Been listening to the guy for 18 years (holy moly, that long?!?) and I’ve never once seen him in concert.

Those of you in the midwest/east coast who have seen him multiple times–I don’t want to hear it. Talk to the hand.

~~Becka