Crazy Family Reunions

This weekend, we're going to Wendy's family reunion. And it definitely qualifies as a crazy family reunion. You may be asking if the reunion is crazy or it's the family that's crazy. Well, maybe it's a bit of both.

You see, Wendy's grandma (who we call Ganny) was one of 21 kids. So, it's a pretty BIG reunion. Oh, and of the ones still kicking, only one of the original kids is a man. The rest are all loud, crazy old ladies. Boisterous would be the word. And they all have to fight to get a word in edgewise. It's what the bible calls "joyful noise."

I'll just say, this trait didn't stop with the grandparents. Their daughters and granddaughters have it too. Of course, I married one of the those granddaughters, so I'm not complaining! I love my wife and her boisterous family! They are a hoot!

It's so much fun to go to these. We look forward to them every year. We get cabins at the state park down by Toledo Bend lake, and just hang out, play cards and eat. And let me remind you, these are southern born and bred Louisiana women who know how cooking is done right. So we eat good. I don't know how well we'll stick to our Weight Watcher points, but we'll eat good.

Now, I'll also say that the loud and crazy female trait must be dominant, because my two daughters have inherited it too. And I wouldn't have it any other way. 

Five Years with an Amazing Woman

Inspiring Me Today: My wife

Yesterday, I celebrated five years being married to a truly amazing woman. I don't normally get super personal on this blog, but I just wanted to say that Wendy Davis is, in a word, awesome! She's smart, funny, and kind. She's also my best friend.

Wendy Davis is my ghostwriter. She's the one that helps me come up with the ideas, from the big ones to bits of dialog.

Wendy Davis is my alpha reader. She reads my work and lets me know if its crap.

Wendy Davis is my crit parter. She thumbs up the good ideas, and (very kinds) thumbs down the stupid ones.

Wendy Davis is my biggest supporter. She encourages me to keep going, tells me it's going to be ok, and lets me leave her alone with the kids so I can write--or run off to a writers conference. I couldn't do this without her.

Thank you Wendy! I love you!

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Oh, and if you're curious, here's Wendy's blog post on our 5 years. She said it much more eloquently than I did, but then she's the real writer in the family.

Love You Something Fierce: 5 Years: "Five years ago, my whole world changed with two simple words...'I Do!' Five years ago I put on a beautiful gown, my momma put my veil on, ..."

Paying It Forward

Inspiring Me Today: S. R. Johannes (NOT  Haley Joel Osment)

No, this isn't a post about the year 2000 film with the horrible, needless ending that I absolutely loathe. Although, a post about horrible, needless endings that provide nothing but shock value would be an interesting post...

Ok, back on track.

Anyway, this post is part of S. R. Johannes's "Pay It Forward" contest. Up for grabs: a personal recommendation from Shelli (Johannes) to her agent, Alyssa Henkin at Trident Media. Awesome, right? Here are the details.

So, I'm posting an entry over there with my pitch in 4 sentences or less. Here, I have another requirement: thank someone who has helped me along the way.

This is the real reason I want to do this contest. Yes, winning would be awesome, but I love having an excuse to thank those that have been a help.

Now this is an exhaustive list or an acknowledgements page. This is just an "off-the-top-of-my-head" round-up.

• My wife, Wendy Davis. She is so incredibly supportive. She's a SAHM and awesome at it. How she does everything she does is beyond me, and I certainly couldn't do what I do without her. Of course, she's also my ghostwriter, and a lot of my best ideas come from her.
• My girls, Finley and Rowynn. They're such an encouragement to me, and make writing fun.
• My parents. They are my first and biggest supporters. They even gave me a ticket to DFWcon this year for Christmas.
• Rocky Westbrook. A fellow writer, filmmaker, friend, and former co-worker. He listened to ideas for The Dowered Three Series when it didn't even exist yet. 
• My friends Emily and Matt. They were my "control cases" as I wrote the book. I didn't tell them anything that was going to happen, and yet they read each chapter as I finished it, giving me chapter-by-chapter reactions on what they thought was going to happen, etc.
• S.A. (Sheri) Larsen. Sheri helped me form my first ever crit group, and was one of the first people outside my close circle of friends to befriend me and help me with my MS. She proved that there were nice people out there who were willing to help.
• Casey McCormick. My first contact with Casey was writing a Tip Tuesday. That was nearly a year ago. Since then, I've written several tips and guest posts on Literary Rambles, as well as emailing Casey several times with questions I had, etc. She's always been kind to give her advice and support.
• Holly Bodger. A few months ago, Holly helped me get my logline ready for Authoress's Baker's Dozen contest, giving her time to do a back-and-forth of emails as we tweaked and retweaked my logline into perfection. Then, my email didn't even get in before the spots filled. It was a great logline no one would ever see. But then, I totally pressed my luck and asked if she could help me expand it into a query. To my relief, she did! Now, I have a (hopefully) great query that I'll be using when I restart that process.
• Amanda Johnson. One of my go-to advice people, this wonder-intern for the mysterious Awesome Agent (or AA) has been a great help in the short time I've known her.
• My Beta Readers Heather Kelly, Ishta Mercurio, Dianne Salerni, and E. (Elizabeth) Arroyo. These guys all gave AMAZING tips on my novel, all coming from different perspectives. Heather gave great tips on character and tension building. Ishta gave great tips on developing my romantic plot and MC. Dianne targeted quite a few logistical fallacies for me, which bug the crap out of me in other people's novels. Liz gave some great overall flow advice and pointed out specific places I could take my writing to the next level. You all rock! Thanks!

Like I said, this is certainly not an exhaustive list, but just a few of the people I really wanted to thank today. Tomorrow, it might be a different list! Lol. Of course, a huge thanks also goes to my friends, family, and anyone who follows me on the blog, twitter, or Facebook (So... you)! So many incredible people!

Thanks everyone!!

My Daughter Creates My Next Book Cover

Inspiring Me Today: Finley Rose Davis

My daughter Finley is an amazing artist. Or, at least I think so. Then again, I'm biased.

She's 19 months old.

But anyway, we were coloring the other day, and we worked on Dada's book cover together. This is what we came up with:

 

Isn't she brilliant? Notice the little bird on the left. I admit. I drew that. And the letters. Like a said, she's 19 months old. Still, I think she did a wonderful job.

Here's a picture of the little artist: