Christina Paul

Christina Paul is an award winning romance writer. She is married to her childhood sweetheart and lives with him and their three children in New Jersey. She loves escaping into the written world of her characters and enjoys watching the stories unfold as she writes, letting it surprise her as it does her readers. She is currently working on the next installment in the Bradford series as well as several unrelated stories.

[christinapaulbooks]

Update

Hi All -

Sorry I haven't been posting here lately. It is becoming increasingly more difficult to keep up on all the social media platforms and still have time to be doing what I'm supposed to be doing - writing.

I still have been doing my daily blog, but I haven't been posting it everywhere. If you would like to see what has been going on lately, please go to my blog.

Thanks!

[christinapaulbooks]

September 10th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good morning! Well,it wasn't as terrible as I thought it would be, nothing usually is. My "dentures" didn't slip, my tongue didn't get fat, and I believe I gave coherent replies, and it all got done in one take. This was an interview for a cable TV show about writers, and I was just one of MANY writers being interviewed. Basically they asked five questions, and you are allowed fifteen second responses to each. Not every answer will be aired.

The funny thing is, even though Princeton is only a few miles away, I won't be able to see the show when it airs because we don't get the cable station it's going to be on. I'll have to wait until they post it on YouTube. I'll give you folks the link when I get it.

Somehow I think the replies I’m going to get from you will have more to do with my hair than with the actual interview. I’m not sure if I told you this already or not – old tymers setting in – but I don’t look like the picture on my site anymore. That photo was taken a year ago April, so it’s NOT an old picture. However since the picture was taken, the psoriasis I have been dealing with since I was sixteen years old has spread to my scalp, and it has actually become painful to dye my hair; not just for the half hour they dye is on my head, but for a week or more after it has been colored.

So, I stopped coloring my hair, something I had been doing since I was seventeen when the grey started showing up. Not only is my hair no longer auburn, it is also short. I mean really short, still, even after is has been growing out for two months. Whatever, I don’t mind it short, it’s easier; and for some inexplicable reason, the grey hair makes me look a little thinner and younger. It makes no sense at all, but I’m okay with it.

After the interview, we had our normal writing group meeting. It was a lot of fun as usual – even with the camera following us around. I got up to the meeting while they were doing the first prompt, so I had less than ten minutes to finish it. I am going to give you guys the same prompt today, and I’m going to post my reply to the prompt, because this one hit me hard. I had to have someone else in the group read it for me, because I got too choked up to finish reading it out loud.

There were a couple of other damp eyes in the room as well. One of the guys in the group said, “You did that in less than ten minutes??”, and all I could do is shrug. I saw the prompt, the image and scene flashed in front of my eyes, and through the tears, I typed. This has happened several times while I have been writing my novels, but it has never happened during a writing prompt.

I wasn’t the only one who brought the group to tears last night either. My friend Sue got everyone choked up with her reply to a different prompt. The prompt was a line taken from a short story by Anton Chekhov – “The old house had to be pulled down, that a new one might be built in its place.” – and Sue’s response was from the viewpoint of a woman who is standing in the burnt out shell of her home. It was a powerful piece, and again, done in a ten minute time frame.

After “class” was over, I was able to convince only two to come splurge on ice cream with me. Well, technically only Sue and I got Ice Cream, Freida just sat with us. Sue only stayed for fifteen or twenty minutes, but Freida and I remained at the table chatting… and chatting…and chatting. Before we know it, two hours had gone by, and I felt so guilty because Freida lives over an hour away, so she wouldn’t be getting home until well after midnight. We were having such a good time, we lost track of the time.

Okay, even though Dani is not going to school today, I still have to go make Paulie his lunch so I should go. Oh my goodness, I just realized I didn’t update you on Dani. Real quick – she does have a concussion, she is out of school for the remainder of the week at least – she is on strict rest – she is not allowed to watch TV, read, do homework, text. It is going to be an interesting week around here.

Gotta boogie, so TTFN. I hope you have an awesome day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge is:

Spare some change please?

You have ten minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count, and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

Here was my response:

Please Sir, can you spare some change? Please don’t look at me like that, you do not know how much it cost me to have to ask you. There are days when my pride stands in the way, and I simply go hungry. And if it was only me, I probably would go hungry for another day or two, but it’s not. Jax here has not been feeling too well lately, and I don’t want hunger to make him any weaker. I don’t know what I would do if he were to die. There’s been far too much death in my life, I couldn’t bear any more.

You see, Jax is a lot like me. We both have a big heart, but we’re both broken. Him from the rough start to life he got on the streets, and me from the war. It’s been five years now since we’ve been out here, me and my wingman Jax. I can talk to him, tell him the horrors I’ve seen, and he just listens, never judges. Often times, he licks the tears from my face, and lets me know that things will be alright. He doesn’t care when I stare off into space for hours on end, simply sits beside me. He doesn’t complain when I cry out in the night, just snuggles closer and makes me feel safe. There is never any anger, disappointment or recrimination in his eyes. He’s the only living creature on this earth who loves me unconditionally. So please Sir, can you spare any change?

[christinapaulbooks]

September 9th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good morning! Well we’ve had our fair share of excitement around here in the past sixteen hours.

I had to run to Costco yesterday afternoon to refill a prescription for Dani. When I placed the call for the refill, the automated response told me there were no more refills (the doctor goofed and didn’t count correctly, there should have been four more). I hit the button for them to call the doctor, and then thought nothing of it. When I picked up the last prescription, they didn’t mention there were no more refills. I handed Dani the stapled bag from the pharmacy, so I never saw the prescription, and Dani’s fifteen, she didn’t notice the handwritten note on the prescription stating it had no more refills.

Costco faxed the doctor’s office at 6:00 am and then sent an electronic script at 9:30. The doctor never responded. I get to Costco around 4:30, and there’s no prescription. We call the office and the answering service puts us on hold for TWENTY minutes. We finally get through and they said they will notify the doctor, but if we don’t hear from them in twenty minutes we should call back. Twenty minutes later we call back and are put on hold for another fifteen minutes. The answering service tries again. Half an hour later, still no response from the doctor. The pharmacist himself calls, the doctor still does not respond.

After two hours, I leave my number with the pharmacist, and ask him to call me if he hears from the doctor. Dani wasn’t feeling well, and she had homework to do. I couldn’t wait around all night, and I’m glad we left when we did, because the pharmacist never called, which means the doctor never called him back, so now I have to deal with that today.

Later in the evening, Dani sees a post, on some social media site, about a murder in our town. I jump online to see if I can find any information. Nothing. I posted a comment on Facebook to see if anyone else had heard anything or if it was just a hoax. As of this morning, there are still no details, and there is no breaking news story posted anywhere; but folks who live in the area do confirm there was a lot of police activity, a body was removed from the home, and the county prosecutor was at the scene, so it’s not looking good. Our sleepy little town just ain’t what it used to be.

Dani has been complaining about a headache since Friday night. She was at a friend’s house, lying on a pillow, on the floor, next to him while he was playing a video game. He jumped during the game and elbowed her in the head by accident. Today when she went to school, the gym teacher sent her to the nurse because he was convinced Dani has a concussion. She’s home now, laying down. I have to wait until 9:00 to call the doctor.

Also, I have to go to work today. RV has an 11:30 appointment, so I have to figure that into the mix. Then I have to run to Costco to hopefully pick up Dani’s prescription, rush home, make dinner, shower dress and (UGH) put on make-up, because I have to leave early to get to Princeton; the TV interview is tonight at 6:30. All of this on roughly three hours of sleep. Yeah, I’m going to look absolutely lovely on TV tonight.

Good grief! Between the lack of sleep, the stress of what’s going on with Dani, compounded with the stress of FTQ still not being finished and the publisher calling on Friday, I’m going to lose my mind. I’m in serious need of a nap, and it’s only 9:00 am.

Okay, it’s nine, which means I have doctors’ offices to call, so I should go. I hope you have a wonderful day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge is:

  Use the following: An open window, A spilled glass, An empty bed

  You have ten minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count, and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

[christinapaulbooks]

September 9th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good morning! Finally settling in to the “new normal”. This morning was smooth sailing. Everyone was up and out of the house, on time, fed, and with lunches packed.

I have been meaning to tell you folks about this since our return from Texas, but there always seemed to be something else going on, or I was too rushed to give this the amount of time it warrants.

Remember I told you that while we were in Texas, we went to visit cousins of mine who I had not seen in decades? We had an amazing time, but since we have reconnected, I’m a little sad because now, as an adult, I realize how far away they live, and the limited amount of time I will realistically get to spend with them in the years to come. BUT, that has absolutely NOTHING to do with what I wanted to tell you about.

Debbie and Leo, my cousins, own a company called Solutions by Mobile, and that company developed an app that helps churches communicate with their parishioners called Church by Mobile. The concept is so simple, yet brilliant. It allows for the church leaders to send out messages to their congregation, it allows for donations to come in to the church, and they even have something for you to be able to listen to the sermon even if you can’t make it to church that Sunday.

It made me think of all the folks we have on our prayer chain at church. How great would it be to get a text message saying so-and-so’s daughter just went into labor, please pray for all to go well? Or how about the folks who are in the hospital or rehab or recuperating at home and physically can’t get to church but would benefit from hearing the sermon? OR even something simple like a text saying, “Just a reminder, don’t eat dinner before the youth group meeting tonight, because we’re ordering pizzas for everyone.”

See, I told you it was simply brilliant. It’s one of those forehead smackers with you saying, “Why didn’t I think of that?”

I know many of you have pretty strong religious affiliations, and I wanted to ask you to share this website with your religious leader – not because my cousins own the company, but because it would help your church, temple, mosque, whatever.

I passed on the information to my pastor yesterday. (Yeah, I know, I’ve been naughty. Yesterday was the first Sunday in weeks that I’ve been to church.) One of the best things about the app is that it doesn’t matter if your church has 50 members or 50K members, it will still be beneficial, and the app itself is ridiculously inexpensive.

Okay, no more sales pitch, and I want you to know that I have ZERO ties to the company, and in no way shape or form do I benefit from telling you about Solutions by Mobile; but I thought the Church by Mobile app was amazing, and if I thought it would help you, why wouldn’t I share?

Okay, I am now about to embark on five UNINTERRUPTED hours of writing, and I’m excited. My little pea-brain was working overtime while I slept and I have a fairly clear picture of where FTQ needs to head. So I am off to Ireland.

I hope you have a delightful day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge is:

  A helping hand…

  You have ten minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count, and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

[christinapaulbooks]

September 6th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good morning – just barely. Today has been a shiny object day already. I am going to be hard pressed to get this blog out before the house wakes up and it’s too noisy for me to concentrate.

I spent an hour plus on the phone with Ron Shaw, the talk show host from ArtistFirst Radio Network, who I am doing the interview with on September 15th. He had sent me a proposed mock up for a cover of the newest book he was working on, to ask my opinion. I really didn’t care for it, but instead of just saying “yuck”, I made him a mock cover. Guess what? He really liked it, and probably more importantly, his wife liked it.

Please don’t get me wrong, the artwork he had for his cover was exceptional, but it was not appropriate for the story, well at least I did not think it portrayed the correct expectations for the book. Let’s face it, you do judge a book by its cover, and that cover led you to believe it was a horror story, and it isn’t, it’s a ghost story.

So we chatted about the upcoming interview. We chatted about some publishing stuff, and we chatted about our ghost experiences. Then POOF an hour and fifteen minutes had gone by. It’s no wonder, last month, for the first time EVER, I went over my minute allotment on my phone. Ron and I get to talking, and 60 – 90 minutes get eaten up just like that. It’s all good though. I truly enjoy chatting with him.

I did not get as much writing done yesterday as I had hoped. All the computer glitches had me twitching, so I downloaded a new anti-malware app out of desperation, and had it go to town. I rebooted this morning, and everything seems to be okay. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. So far I have not had 9K pop-ups telling me to upgrade my GoogleChrome, my video whatever, or anything else, and I can actually read my screens because they are not covered with ads. That annoying iStart123 still comes up when I initially log on to the internet, but it does not appear to be causing any issues, so I’m just going to ignore it for now. All my major problems started when I tried to remove it from my computer.

I did get a small reprieve yesterday. I found out my church meeting is NEXT Friday, not last night. Yeah. I was so exhausted last night, the last thing I wanted to deal with was another meeting. It was good to stay home and do nothing. Well, not exactly nothing. I got caught up on all the missed episodes of a show I like but have not been able to see for several weeks.

Today we are going to my nephew’s going away party. He leaves on September 11th for Japan, and we have no clue when he’ll get leave again. Chances are we won’t be seeing him for a whole year. Hopefully he’ll get some down time while he’s stationed over there so he can explore Japan a little. It would be a shame if he went half way around the world and didn’t get time to actually experience the country he’s in. That and I’m looking forward to seeing pictures because I doubt Japan will ever be in my future.

Okay, I’m on borrowed time at this point, and I need to get something done on FTQ. I hope you have a super day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge is:

  Do you remember your very first day of school, or any other memorable first day of school? Tell us about it.

  You have ten minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count, and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

[christinapaulbooks]

September 5th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good morning! First off, I want to wish my sister in law, Cindy, and brother in law, Frank, a very happy 22nd anniversary. Here’s wishing you many more wonderful years together!

Yet again, we are saying a final goodbye to a legend. You may have loved her, you may have hated her (and even if you loved her, there’s a strong chance there were times when you hated her too), but there is one thing you must agree on, Ms. Joan Rivers, was a pioneer for women in comedy.

Not to under mind great comedic ladies like Gracie Allen and Lucille Ball, because they were amazingly talented women, but Joan Rivers busted through the “boy’s club” walls of stand-up comedy. Her humor was often raunchy and offensive. She pulled no punches, and did not apologize for anything. She was a tough New Yorker, and had more chutzpah than most of her male counterparts.

Whether you remember her for patented “Can we talk?”, her acerbic tongue, her every changing – compliments of multiple plastic surgeries – face, or for her critical fashion opinions, please remember her with a smile. I cannot believe Heaven got Robin Williams and Joan Rivers in such a short time frame. Boy is that going to be a “standing room only” performance or what?

As I said, the blog over the next few days is going to be short so I can concentrate on Faerie Tale Queen, but I wanted to give you a few updates. Thankfully, Dani’s day got much better after she got to school. Lys did visit the doctor at school and they gave her some kick-butt antibiotics, and she’s feeling much better now. There were only four of us at the reunion committee meeting last night, but we got A LOT accomplished. We have another meeting in two weeks, and then we start with weekly meetings until the 11/29 reunion.

I’m going to be scrambling for the church meeting tonight because my friend, who is a yoga teacher, was supposed to be our guest tonight, but she had a scheduling conflict and cannot make it. Dani asked to be picked up from school today so she can take time to find her locker. Apparently it is not in the same location as last year, and she’s not sure where it is. From there, I’m going to pop into ShopRite to get the fixings for smoothies for tonight’s meeting.

Okay, that’s me in a nutshell. Off to the wilds of Ireland. I hope you have a fantastic day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge is:

  Use the following: A Grasshopper or Cricket, An Empty Can, and Rain…

  You have ten minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count, and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

[christinapaulbooks]

September 4th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

That moment when you realize the house is silent, not because everyone is still asleep, but the house is empty… sigh…

Good morning! Well Dani Rose is off to her first day of her sophomore year, not without trials and tribulations though. She convinced me to make her waffles and bacon. Now, not to be a braggart, but I’m a pretty darn good cook. HOWEVER, I am an abomination when it comes to breakfast food. It’s a mental block or something, but I got up early and made it anyway. They came out fine, but Dani was so nervous, she made herself sick, so breakfast was wasted.

She finally calms down and we get her outside for the obligatory first day of school photos, then the frantic texting starts. She knew her bus pick up time changed, but she didn’t realize the bus route changed. All of a sudden it dawned on her that she may not have anyone on the bus she knew. That combined with she does not have her schedule yet so she could not map out where she had to go had her spazzing out.

The gods did shine upon her though. One of her best friends was on her bus, and since I have not received a phone call from either her or the school, I am assuming all is right with the world.

Okay, I have to get going early today, so this post is really short. Tomorrow’s will be short as well because the second everyone walks out the door, I’m diving into Faerie Tale Queen. I hope you have a terrific day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge is:

  Time goes by so quickly…

  You have ten minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count, and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

[christinapaulbooks]

September 3rd Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good morning! It’s HUMP DAY, and the last day of summer break. School starts tomorrow, so after I’m done working today, Dani and I are going to be doing a whole lot of running around. She wants to stop at Verizon to get her phone fixed, at Kohl’s to get a new outfit for tomorrow, and I need to stop at the grocery store because after having the summer off, tomorrow morning, I need to start making sandwiches again. YUCK! The smell of cold cuts in the morning turns my stomach.

This week is insane, and it marks the start of a hectic fall for me. Last night I had my critique group, and surprise, surprise, we had a film crew taping our session. Apparently there was an email I missed warning us it was happening last night. I have to say, I completely forgot the camera was even in the room with us, so I guess that’s an inclination of how good the director was, totally unobtrusive. They are coming back next Thursday for our writing group, and now that I know what it is going to be like, I have no reservations.

I already told you what today is going to entail. Tomorrow I have a reunion committee meeting to go over continued planning for our November class reunion; the first one I’ll actually be able to attend, so I am REALLY looking forward to seeing my old classmates again. On Friday, I have our church women’s group meeting to plan for our November church bazaar. I’ll be doing a lot of the work on the silent auction portion of the bazaar, which is going to be a neat trick since I’m pretty much booked up every weekend between now and Thanksgiving.

The only thing I have planned for this weekend is a celebratory dinner for my in-law’s anniversaries – yes plural, my sister-in-law’s anniversary is Friday. However, Saturday will more than likely be filled with shopping for the list of required school supplies Dani will get on Thursday when she returns to school.

Book wise, things are pretty packed as well. The 9th is the filming for the TV show. On Monday, September 15th, I’ll be appearing on Ron Shaw’s radio show on ArtistFirst Radio Network at 8:00 pm. It should be a blast, so I hope you tune in. Saturday and Sunday, September 20th & 21st I’ll be back at Canterbury Tales Forever; and Saturday, September 27th I’ll be at Milford Alive.

I’m not sure yet which authors will be joining me at Canterbury Tales (I’ll let you know when I find out), but my friend, Kathi Kurz, will be coming with me to Millford. Actually, I’m going with Kathi (even though I’m driving), because I would never have known about the festival if it wasn’t for her.

I am going to be waking up extra early Saturday and Sunday, and probably all week as well; and on Friday and Monday, after everyone is out of the house, I will not be moving from my chair. The publisher is calling for an update next Friday, and FTQ is still not finished. If I keep my blog down to a minimum over the next week, it will give me roughly forty hours to finish up Faerie Tale Queen. Considering this is first draft, that should be enough time.

This whole going with a publisher is a double edged sword. Having to be creative under a deadline is stressful, and can very easily cause writer’s block. However, having to be accountable to someone else’s deadline, forces my butt into a chair and makes me write. It’s easy to brush off deadlines I set for myself – not so much when there’s someone else involved.

On that note, I should start rereading what I have written already so it will be fresh in my mind to start the next chapter as soon as I wake up tomorrow. I hope you have a wonderful day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge is:

  Since I haven’t done one in a long time, today’s challenge is a photo challenge.

  You have ten minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count, and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

[christinapaulbooks]

September 2nd Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good morning! We’re home, and I am SO DONE with hotels for the moment. Fourteen of our last nineteen days have been spent at hotels. I just want to be home, cook my own food, and sleep in my own bed, for a good long while.

I gave myself a minor heart attack yesterday. When I finished writing my blog and went to download the photos from our camera so I could add them to the blog, I got an error message saying the folder could not be created. I tried several times unsuccessfully, then I decided to try and create the folder first and then drop the photos into it. I go into Libraries/Pictures and I get the error message: “"Picture.library-ms” is no longer working.” WHAT???

So then I go and try to access my Documents folder. I get the same type of message. I start to freak out. ALL of my books are in a folder within the Documents file. But wait a minute, it just let me save my blog post. Where did it save it to? And I saved generic photos and was able to retrieve them from my BLOG folder, which is a subfolder in the Documents folder.

I run a virus scan which turned up five threats – one of which was that iStart123 that I have been trying to delete for a month now. It doesn’t even show up on my uninstall screen anymore, yet it still pops up when I first open any internet portal. Yes, I have my specifications stating Google should come up as my search engine, not iStart123, but it doesn’t seem to matter. I can’t get rid of the dang thing.

Anyway, I click for the program to eliminate all the threats, but I ran out of time. It couldn’t fix the stuff before we had to shut down the computer. I had my hubby deal with it when we got home. He did some work, and the computer is running better, but Libraries was still not available, so then I started to play around this morning, and I think I figured it out.

During the last reboot, my system upgraded itself to Windows 8.1. My thought was Libraries is no longer a feature in 8.1, so I searched for specific folders in the C: drive. When I located them, I had it show me the path, and then I added the folders as favorites, thereby creating my own “Libraries”. So, long story not so short, I now again have access to my documents and to my photos, so now all I have to do is figure out how to download my photos from my camera, because the upgrade apparently did not take into consideration that the automated pathway would no longer work.

It may be a few days before I can figure it out, because I don’t have any more time to play with it today. I have to go and get ready for work. RV has an early appointment this morning.

I hope you have an awesome day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge is:

  Use the following in a story: An Old Photo, A Secret, and A Map.

  You have ten minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count, and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

[christinapaulbooks]

September 1st

Hi it’s Christina –

Good morning! First I want to wish a very Happy Anniversary to my amazing in-laws. Love you guys! Hope you enjoy your special day while in AC!

Happy September everyone! Can you believe it? Where did the summer go? I don’t know about you, but I am SO not ready for it to be over yet!

The weather today isn’t looking so great, so we very well just might pack it up and head home. I’m going to let everyone sleep until 8:30, and then I am going to roust the troops. We need to be out by 10:00 and I’m not doing it all by myself.

Yesterday was a banner beach day, and I have the red face to prove it. I used the wrong sunscreen – because I was being lazy and didn’t feel like digging in the bag for the correct one – so my face also has a lovely itchy rash under the sunburn. It’s my own dang fault, no one to blame but myself.

It was noon by the time we finished our breakfast at Samuel’s, which was as yummy as I remember it, so we didn’t get on the beach until 12:30. Even though the temp yesterday was only 82, it felt a whole lot hotter, so I knew I would be spending most of my day in the water. Lucky for me, the water wasn’t clod yesterday, but boy was it rough, wave after rolling wave. You would duck under one, come up, then barely have enough time to wipe the water from your eyes before you had to dive again.

It got tiring quickly, so even though it was a little further out than I wanted to go, I decided to try to get past the breakers. That didn’t work out so well, because at waist deep the water under the waves was calm, at chest deep, there was a rip current. It took all of five minutes for me to drift into the current.

One of PJ’s friends, Billy, was out there with me. He started swimming straight toward shore, and I headed in a slight diagonal. When he noticed I wasn’t with him, he stopped and swam back over to me. Because I’m still nursing that shoulder injury, I knew I wouldn’t have the strength in my arm to even attempt a straight swim, and the last thing I needed out there was for it to cramp up on me. So I kept swimming along, almost parallel to the shore, only getting marginally closer as I went, until I was free of the current. No panic, totally relaxed, it only meant a longer walk along the water’s edge back to our blanket.

I may not be as strong a swimmer as I once was, but I do know my limitations, and I will make every effort not to put myself into a situation I can’t handle. Future trips into the water yesterday stayed at waste level, and I just dealt with having to duck under every twenty seconds. Well, one other time I ventured deeper so I could get a little closer to the dolphins, but the tide was going out, so the current had receded and there was no undertow.

Dani’s friend Adam and I started to build a sand sculpture, but we ran out of time and couldn’t finish it. We made a Mako, and the head came out really good, but the body was just slapped together. I wish I had gotten a picture, but my husband and Dani had already headed back to the room, and the camera was with them. Other passersby on the beach took pictures of it though, so I guess it wasn’t half bad. If we had more than half an hour, it would have turned out good.

We did go to our friends Ben and Bernadette’s house last night for dinner. It was nice to see them, but it was too short. We tried to coordinate a time to be able to come down for a proper visit, but between their schedule and ours, we may have to wait until next year, and that’s really sad.

Oh well, I know it’s only seven, but I’m going to go get dressed and start packing up. I hope you have a wonderful day, and happy writing!

[christinapaulbooks]

August 31st

Hi it’s Christina –

Good morning! First I want to wish a very Happy Birthday to my Godmother. I love you Aunt Mary and I hope you have a wonderful birthday!

I am currently sitting on the balcony of our motel, watching the sunrise over the ocean. Not too shabby! It’s breezy, pretty cloudy, and a little chilly, and I’m thinking I should have grabbed a sweatshirt before coming out here, but I am SO not complaining. Okay, I will make a slight grumble over the lack of coffee, but other than that, I’m a happy camper.

We got here by ten yesterday morning, and that’s with leaving half an hour late and making two stops. One stop was at the midway point for a bathroom break, and the second one was when I pulled into Wawa when I noticed we were turning onto a friend’s street, so I gave her a call to ask if I should turn left toward the beach or right toward her house.

I didn’t realize I would be right there because I usually hop on the Parkway in Avalon, and this time I decided to take Route 9 all the way to Rio Grande. I did this for two reasons. One was because I caught a glimpse of the Parkway and said “Uh uh, Not sitting in traffic!”, and the other was because I’m cheap. There’s a toll to get off at Rio Grande from the Parkway, and I didn’t want to pay it.

Bernadette didn’t answer, so we went straight to the hotel. I pulled in and went to the lobby. I told the owner I knew I couldn’t check in yet, but I was hoping he would let us park there so we could go to the beach. Surprise, surprise, our room was ready – five hours before check in time – and he handed me the keys. I was shocked.

The room is tiny, just your basic seaside motel, but it was cute, and more importantly CLEAN. I lucked out. You never know when you’re picking blind and settling for the only available room on the whole island. The owners of the Mark I on E. Atlanta Ave in Wildwood Crest, Chris & Kathy, are really sweet. The pool is great, and we are one small hotel away from being right on the beach. When I come back to Wildwood, I’ll be coming back here.

So we unload our junk, and head for the beach even though the clouds had rolled in. After what happened the other day in Sandy Hook, our usual beach, I wanted to be close to the lifeguards. We find a little patch of sand, set up our area, and go stick our toes in the water. It was a bit chilly, but not terrible. That hurricane reeked all sorts of havoc even though it was over a hundred miles off shore.

I’m out in the water about thigh deep and I hear Dani screech. I turn around and my daughter monkey jumped into the arms of another woman – I was far enough away I couldn’t make out who it was. As I neared, I hear, “Hey Mama!” It was Lisa, one of my son’s friends, and as I got closer, I see she’s with Pam, one of my former cheerleaders, and Maggie, another friend of my son’s.

After a flurry of hugs and kisses, we start chatting. Their hotel is right across the street from ours, and their blanket is right in front of ours on the beach. When we dropped our stuff, we just noticed a bunch of bathing beauties in front of us, but not who they were. (It’s not like I was actively looking for them.)

It turns out, a whole bunch of my son’s other friends were coming down later, and we did get to see them before they went out clubbing. It was so nice to see them all, even for a brief time. The pack of them were always at my house, and since PJ’s moved out, I never get to see them anymore, and I miss them. When he moved out, it was like I lost a dozen of my kids all in one swoop.

My battery’s about to die, and there are no hook-ups out here, so I have to wrap up quickly. We found a bunch of hermit crabs while walking the beach, but the guy at the store told us they were the wrong type of crabs so they wouldn't survive in the cages he sold. We had dinner on the boardwalk. I grabbed a sausage sandwich from Hot Spot, Paulie and the kids grabbed pizza, and then we got a bucket of fries and orange and lemon drinks from Curlie’s. After dinner, since the rides held no appeal to either kids, we played some Fascination, and then we dropped Dani and Adam off to meet up with some of their other friends for an hour. Everyone was home and in bed by 11:30.

Since I’m on vacation, there will be no writing challenge today or tomorrow. I hope you have a fantastic day, and happy writing!

(Sorry, no real pictures today. The camera is somewhere in the room, and I don't want to wake everyone trying to hunt for it. I'll post pictures tomorrow.)

[christinapaulbooks]

August 30th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good morning! Today is going to be a crazy short blog. I was up at 4:30 so I could grab a quick shower, because Dani asked me if I was getting up at 5:00. She said she needed me to wake her up so she could shower. Yes I was planning on getting up at 5:00, but I had planned on taking a shower, then doing my blog, and then waking everyone up at 5:45 so they could get in the car and we’d be on the road by 6:00.

Wildwood is only a 3½ hour drive, but it’s a holiday weekend and traffic is going to be a nightmare, so I wanted to leave early. I did find a home for Colby for the weekend. My friend Sharon has him. I felt bad asking her because she just came home from a cruise yesterday, and she’s getting company for the weekend, but I was stuck. Colby loves going over to visit Aunt Sharon. He gets to play with his cousin Lexi, and he has five acres to run around on.

I hope he behaves himself better than Lexi did the first time she stayed with us. Lexi is a wonderful dog, the sweetest thing ever, but the first time she stayed over by us, she ate every piece of bread in our house while we were out. It was mostly our fault. We were used to small dogs, so we didn’t think to put the bread up high, and she was still very young, so she didn’t have the manners she does now.

Colby is still young, and he has not quite mellowed yet…and he likes food. There have been several occasions where he’s pilfered food. Hopefully he won’t do that at Sharon’s.

Now I don’t know if this hotel has wifi, so I have no idea if I will be able to post anything while we are away this weekend. Chances are you may be getting a mega post on Tuesday again.

I am taking my computer with me because I LOVE to write in the early morning, before everyone is awake, while sitting on the balcony, watching the ocean. It would be the perfect time to work on Simply By Chance since the characters are currently at sea, but I have to finish up Faerie Tale Queen. The publisher is calling me on the twelfth and I’m still not finished.

Okay, I really have to get going. I hope you have an amazing holiday weekend, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge is:

  Toes in the water, a$$ in the sand…

  You have ten minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count, and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

[christinapaulbooks]

August 29th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good morning! Today I am going to be scrambling trying to find a hotel for Saturday and Sunday. My husband decided he wanted to get away this weekend because Dani hasn’t had a vacation all summer. Yeah, on FRIDAY of LABOR DAY weekend, I have to find a vacancy at the beach. Good grief!

If I manage to find a hotel, then I need to find a house sitter, a pet sitter, do laundry, clean out the car, and pack, all before six o’clock tomorrow morning, because I want to get ahead of the holiday traffic. One of the things in life I have absolutely no patience for is sitting in traffic. I don’t care if we are inching along at 25 mph, as long as we’re moving; but sitting or stop and go gets me twitching real quick.

One other thing I need to get done today is an 11:00 appointment at Dani’s school. This year, every student in the high school is being issued a chrome book. Now Dani was part of the pilot program, so she has had a chrome book since 7th grade. Other than an initial orientation program on how the project was going to work, we, as parents, didn’t have to do anything other than sign a release form. The kids showed up for school on their first day, and they were issued a chrome book.

This year, we have to pick up the chrome book at the school. Tell me, does this make sense to you? Granted it is only a fifteen minute appointment, but doesn’t it seem like a colossal waste of time and money? These appointments have been going on for at least two weeks now. During that time, they are having to pay people to sit there, collect the paperwork, and distribute the chrome books. Parents have to take time off from work to attend these fifteen minute meetings. Wouldn’t it have made more sense to MAIL the paperwork to each student (what’s a stamp cost now, $0.50?), and have the student bring the paperwork to homeroom, hand it in, and receive their chrome book?

Okay, I took a break, and managed to find a hotel, got a house sitter, cleaned out the car and started a load of laundry. Now all I have left to do is find a home for Colby for the weekend and pack. We’re leaving in fifteen minutes to go to the high school, so I should wrap it up for the day. I hope you have a wonderful day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge is:

  How did we end up here?

  You have ten minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count, and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

[christinapaulbooks]

August 28th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good morning! Not much to tell you about today, so the blog is going to be short.

I talked to Lys yesterday. She liked both of her T/TH classes – religion & psych. Her M/W/F classes are Italian and Criminal Justice 101. She’s not thrilled with her Italian class, partly because she didn’t want to have to take a language in college, partly because the professor spent the entire class plus an extra ten minutes rambling on about herself, and partly because the books, tape and workbook she needs for the class are $200.

When she go to her CJ101 class, the first thing the professor did was hand out a test to see where the class stood. Lys pretty much aced the test, and the professor called her up to talk to her about it. That’s when she told him she took five CJ classes last year, to which he replied, “Then why did they put you in 101?” The two of them looked over the curriculum and determined there were a few things he taught that she had not had before, and she would need for future classes.

He was really cool about it and told her he would be looking to her to help clarify things and to assist other classmates. So basically, Lys has one slam dunk class this semester. It’s okay. This way she can focus extra time in Italian, because that will most likely be her biggest challenge since she isn’t into the class.

Last night on campus they had a hypnotist, and Lys went to the show. Other than “he’s really good”, I didn’t get to talk to her about the show. Tonight I believe they are having movie on the lawn, but I don’t know if she’ll be going.

One little bit of exciting news is Lara, Lys’ roommate, rescued a puppy, so now they are the proud parents of a 12 week old beagle mix named Chloe. She’s adorable. Lara and Lys’ schedules don’t overlap much, so Chloe will not be home alone for any length of time. Hopefully she did not inherit the howler gene, or the girls will have trouble getting any studying or sleeping done. This is going to be good. Lys will get a firsthand taste of how much work a puppy really is.

Okay, I need to run because RV has an early appointment and then her daughter has a dentist appointment, so I am going to be running all day. I hope you have a wonderful day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge is:

  Tick, tick, tick…

  You have ten minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count, and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

[christinapaulbooks]

August 27th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good morning! Let me tell you, getting back into the swing of things has not been easy. I was so exhausted last night, I never made it to my writing group, and you know how much I love going to them. Even after a short nap yesterday afternoon when I got home from work didn’t help.

I feel a little more human today, but I’m still tired. That’s why I didn’t do my blog right away this morning. Instead, I spent two hours going through the 200+ emails I received during the four days I did not have internet access, and responding where needed.

(mine's not so volatile, but you get the drift...)

Now that August is drawing to a close, I also checked out my stats on Amazon to see if the changes I made at the beginning of the month had any lasting effects. Unfortunately, it is not looking that way. Granted, my rankings are higher than they were at the beginning of the month, but they did not sustain the high rankings I hit when I first made the changes. If I can just get the final two review I need to participate in the one promotion I’d like to take a part in, the results might be better; but until I can get those last two reviews, I’m out of luck. (So, if you have read A Second Chance, and have not posted a review yet, it would be MUCH appreciated!!!)

I heard from Lys yesterday after she was done with her first class. The class fulfills her religion requirement for HPU, and she was not looking forward to having to take it. Luckily she was pleasantly surprised. She said the class and the professor seemed really interesting. Her second class yesterday was psych, so she was looking forward to it. At Champlain, her first year concentrated on the criminal justice portion of her major, and this year was supposed to concentrate on the psychology portion, and she was a little worried that by transferring to HPU she would have to wait another year before she could start on her psych requirements. As you can see, she didn’t have to wait.

I’m glad they are allowing her to intersperse her non-major required courses with at least a few courses within her major. I was worried that if they didn’t let her, she would become disillusioned with the curriculum at HPU. She only has one class in her major this semester and one next, but at least it’s something. She’s not thrilled with having a year long foreign language and a semester physical ed requirement, but what are you going to do? She hasn’t decided what she’s going to choose for P.E., but she picked Italian as her language. She was hoping they offered sign language as an option, but they don’t.

Oh well, RV’s appointment was moved up an hour so I need to get going. I hope you have a wonderful day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge is:

  As summer draws to a close…

  You have ten minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count, and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

[christinapaulbooks]

August 26th

Hi all - I didn't have internet at the hotel, so today's post was four days worth. It would take too much time to recreate everything here on Tumblr like I usually do, so if you want to read about the college trip, please go to www.christinapaulbooks.blogspot.com

I'll be back on track again tomorrow. Hope you have a great day, and happy writing!

[christinapaulbooks]

August 21st Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good morning.

Yesterday was not a good day. I called up the school basically to see if we needed twin sized bedding or full sized bedding in the dorm, only to find out Lys didn’t even have a bed. We never received the email saying she needed to find alternate housing. So here it was, 48 hours before we were supposed to arrive on campus, and my daughter had nowhere to live.

After a bunch of tears, and a whole lot of scrambling, I was able to find her the last available apartment. The only problem was it is a handicap equipped apartment, and I feel bad taking it if someone else needs the handicap facilities.

The apartment is fully furnished, and all the utilities are paid by the university, which is good. However, it is a two bedroom unit which comes with a $853 a month price tag and a $10 a month renter’s insurance bill. According to the housing message board on the school’s website, there is no one still looking for a roommate, so that means the entire $863 a month bill is on us.

It also means, not only did Lys need new bedding, she needed kitchen supplies, bathroom supplies and cleaning supplies. One saving grace was my daughter does not have expensive tastes. The plates and glasses she wanted came to less than $1 apiece (less than $20 for everything), and her flatware was only $10. She got all her bathroom supplies for less than $50 (extra set of towels, a rug, a shower curtain, a wastebasket). We picked up a toaster and a coffee pot for $25. Since this is her own apartment, she also needed her own vacuum and cleaning supplies, so that was an extra $50. The kitchen needed stuff I didn’t have extras of at home, so that took up a big chunk of our budget. Thankfully I had extra pots and pans, and a blender to send with her, so there was no extra cost there. Even with frugal shopping, the bill was still $350.

If she had gotten into the dorm, the bill would have been $75 if she had a full bed and $0 if she had a twin. So basically, the money Lys will be getting from tips for being a camp counselor paid for the additional supplies she needed for school.

Now all we have to do is wait and see if she has been approved for the apartment. I have NO idea what we are going to do if she doesn’t get approved (not that I can fathom a reason why she wouldn’t be).

Luckily RV called yesterday and said I did not need to help her today because her husband was on vacation. I still have the car to clean out. I have to pack our own bags for the three day trip. I have to run to the doctors because Chaplain did not forward Lys’ immunization records. I have to run to the bank and pick up checks for Lys because now she needs to be writing rent checks every month from her account. I have to run back to BB&B to return the stuff we bought yesterday but then found cheaper at WallyWorld. I need to run to the library so I can fax all the notorized paperwork the need for the apartment. Then I need to rummage through the basement to see if there is anything else Lys might need now that she has her own apartment.

It is going to be a VERY long day. Oh, while I’m thinking about it, you may not be hearing from me for the next few days. The hotel choices in the area are sketchy at best, so I seriously doubt I will have an internet connection. Honestly, my main concern is not getting bedbugs or our car stolen while we’re there.

This is another reason for all the anxiety yesterday. I was okay with my daughter going to High Point University because the campus was so secure. You see, the area around the campus is not so great, a little scary even; and now Lys will be living off campus and relying on campus transportation to get to and from campus. The shuttle stops running at 6:45 pm – hmmm, I hope it’s not because they don’t want to be in the area after dark.

I really wished she would have just chosen Austen Peay, in Clarksville, TN, right from the get-go. Great campus, plenty of housing, excellent curriculum, and she could have gotten all four years for just slightly more than her one year at Champlain. Then we would not have to be dealing with all this drama.

Okay, I have TONS to do, none of which includes working on FTQ like I should be. I may or may not chat with you tomorrow. We’ll see. I hope you have a fantastic day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge is:

  How are we going to fit it all?

  You have ten minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count, and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.