Okay, Maybe Junk

Because I also write for middle grade and young adult, I keep things in my office that remind me how those age groups think. Middle schoolers have a different sense of humor than young adults or adults. On my desk I have:

-a heart-shaped rock I found somewhere, but I thought was cool.

-a picture of my Grandmother/godmother/namesake with my uncle who was killed in a motorcycle accident not long after this picture was taken.

-an award pin from the New Jersey Romance Writers Association for a successful JeRoWriMo (Jersey Romance Writing Month) for drafting a complete novel during February (28 days!!!)

-a rubber shark that I don’t remember where it came from, but I know it’s fun.

-a thumb drive that had some early stories on it that were too awful to keep, so I erased them but kept the thumb drive because my kids were always borrowing it.

-you can’t see it, but a googly eye (1) because a friend and I put a bunch of them in the choir director’s office as a prank.

-a little pewter owl that’s hard to see that came from our accountant. It was stuck on a piece of paper with a profound statement which for some reason I didn’t keep, but owl! (I love all animals).

I also have dragon statues:

a collection of squirrels (crystal, ceramic, resin, stuffed, etc.),

black rubber spiders,

clear crystals my youngest found and said they were diamonds he found just for me (kid knows I like my sparklies),

wizard statue, plate, and goblet,

my Tom Brady Bobble and mug,

a special edition Disney print with pin we got when we took our kids to the Magic Kingdom.

Lots of stuff. Things for girls and boys. Young and a bit older. If you don’t remember everything from your childhood, objects can help trigger memories and feelings. I hated spiders (still not too fond of them). The bigger one in the photo used to have rubber tubing so when you squeezed a bulb, it would make the spider jump. A street vendor in NYC stood on a corner, calling “Get your jumping spiders here!” My sister thought it was so funny she bought it (my mother STILL tries to throw it out so I have to hide it when she visits). My sister and I still laugh over it. What can I say, we’re a little strange.

So…

I’ll be making some announcements in two weeks, stay tuned…. there might be a giveaway in there somewhere…

And….

If you bought The Excalibur Vow, please leave a sentence or two (even if it wasn’t to your liking). I like to know what readers think. Of course, you can always leave more than one or two thoughts.