A Move, a shift....

Come check out my new joint blog with Gabriela over at viceandverses.org.  It mostly revolves around writing but attempts inspiration of all kinds.  Join us there anytime!

Celebrate Elizabeth Peters!

Or Barbara Michaels, or whatever you want to call her. 

Celebrate the love for this great author, who wrote some of the first strong women characters I ever read.  You can share your love for her on the Bookshelves of Doom web site this week:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1MbQDNYwhIxIDmoqgl8Ez-JNgcPWJB3xlLA7vL1IZDmM/viewform?pli=1

Here is what I wrote about her.  Though I'm an avid reader, I don't own a lot of books.  I'm picky about what's on my shelves.  But her books are some of the few I acutally own.

Elizabeth Peters created heroines who were true role models for me.  They are curious, smart, independent, and willful.  The romantic banter was always witty and againt, intelligent.  And I always closed the book having learned something new about art, geography, or history.  To this day, so many years later, I still haven't read books that manage to teach, inspire, and melt my heart the way hers do. 
If you haven't read anything by this iconic author, check her out.  It's light and heavy at once.  These books are mystery and adventure, romance and comedy.  It's funny and serious.  It's romantic yet not schmarmy.  It will teach you new things, in every chapter.  Her books manage to be dense yet entertaining. 

She herself is a fascinating character: she has a PhD in Egyptology and is a world traveler herself.  She's written so many books you won't even believe the full list.  A prolific, colorful character in her own right.

Hooray for Elizabeth!  Entertaining readers and paving the way for strong female characters (and writers)!

A good deed? Couldn't be.

Happy Mardi Gras, all!  I am happy to share a story of a random good deed, all too rare.

Today we went to the bakery.  The line had a few people ahead of us, and my son kept saying, "we're next!" As the person in front of us was called up, the lady leaving with trays of cookies walked over and dangled a giant cookie, wrapped in pretty plastic, in front of my son's face.  It seemed like a cruel joke to dangle a cookie in front of a kid, but I played along, and smiled and said something like, "isn't that a fine looking cookie."  It hadn't occurred to me that the lady was OFFERING it to my son.  Just like that.  Just because.  I was speechless.  Wouldn't you be?  Everyone in the shop was smiling as we giggled and I thanked the stranger over and over.  And admitted, too, that it was heaps larger than what I'd have bought my son.  I'm still smiling when I think of it.  People don't DO that kind of thing anymore.  They (we) are buried in their phones, their worries, themselves.  We don't even see the people around us, let alone do something kind for them.  I guess that's why the few good deeds shine even brighter in the face of that.

As you can see, the cookie was as big as my son's head.  And freaking delicious (I ate the arms, and no, it wasn't vegan, so sue me). 

You hear stories of people paying for the toll behind them, or the coffee behind them. They seem more like urban legends, than true tales.  Money is short for everyone, and a few dollars extra always seems like too much.  My son basically had that cookie for lunch - he loved it.  But I loved it even more.  It positively made my day.  Wherever you are, kind lady, I'm thanking you one more time.  And for all the rest of us, myself included, it's a reminder that the little things are big things.  This was a big cookie, but the kindness was immeasurable.  You gave me hope today.  I really, really appreciate it.