Sasha White

I absolutely love this video from Michael J Fox. The outdoor rink is a common playground for Canadian kids, although I never got to play on one that overlooked the Atlantic Ocean, I did play on many. The video’s called “Its our Game” and shows much of how we feel about hockey, and how it’s part of our heritage here in Canada- but more than that, I love that it’s Michael J Fox in the video. A strong and courageous man, he lives with Parkinsons disease, and inspires me to be strong, and fight for my own health and happiness every day.

Tomorrow is the gold medal match between Canada and the USA, and I know I’ll be glued to the tv watching it when I should be writing. I admit I’m not a super huge hockey fan, but I do watch it occasionally, and I definitely want to cheer on Team Canada. I love going to the Oilers games here in town, and enjoy watching them with groups of friends, but for me it’s more about the energy of things than the actual hockey. It’s so much fun to get caught up in the energy and cheering and all that sort of thing.

I was reading a blog post somewhere about the Olympic Hockey games after the Canada and Russia game and the comments were mostly Americans and Canadians talking about wanting to see the two teams int eh gold medal round for a re-match. One comment really stuck with me though, because it came across as really nasty. Some guy went on about how it was stupid how much Canadians got into it, and that we sucked and the US was better in everything else so why not just let the canadians win as it’s all we have. The thing that struck me in reading the replies to that comment were that they were all from other Americans, all telling the guy to shut up and that he was an idiot and if he didn’t care about it why was he there…and so on. Not one Canadian went on to bad mouth the guy or defend our attitude about hockey. I loved that no Canadian went on and dignified his comment as much as I loved the American ones who went on there and told the guy to fuck off. :)

Last night I worked in the bar when Canada and Slovakia played the last elimination game. When Canada won and it became clear it was USA and Canada for the gold again, it sparked a conversation.

I love that it’s Canada and the USA, not just because there’s always a sort of rivalry there, but also because we’re the same continent. It make it clear that the best players are from North America. Then there were a couple of others that hated that it was Canada vs the USA because they’d rather lose to anyone other than the USA. There was no in between in this conversation. Everyone felt one way or the other, and I wondered…Are you Canadian or American? and how do you feel about Canada vs USA in the Gold Medal round?

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Motivation can be fickle for me. I always get most motivated at night. I could blame the years of working nights but I have to be honest, I’ve always been a night owl. When I was growing up I was the kid that had to be chased to bed, and then checked on to make sure I wasn’t reading in bed with a flashlight – or uhmm…as a teenager that I was even in bed. Yes, I admit it. I skipped out my bedroom a time or two. I’ve always been the last out of bed in the morning, even on Christmas morning. There’s just something about the dark and the night that gives me energy. Mental and physical.

However, it’s not a good thing when you got to bed thinking, planning and all motivated, but then don’t follow through the next day. Not just because then I don’t get things done, but because it starts a new habit. A Lazy habit. A habit of not doing what I say I’m going to do. Sure, I’m only breaking promises I make to myself, but is that better, or worse than breaking promises I’ve made to others? I think it’s worse.

I used to always do what I said I was going to do. Always.
Then somehow it stopped happening. To be blunt, it stopped happening about the time I started to make writing my first priority. Then other things started to get shuffled aside. Friends, birthday dinners, work shifts, my own healthy habits -all for the sake of writing. If you’ve been following this blog for a while you’ll know that I’ve been struggling to find balance with things for a long time, and *knock on wood* I think I might have found it. It’s not easy, but then again, the good things in life rarely are.

Maybe in a month I’ll talk more about it again, but right now, I’m not willing to jinx myself. Yes, I’m superstitious that way. I will tell you how I started to reform myself though. I sat down and I thought hard, and then I wrote down what my top three priorities in life are. Everyday I look at those priorities, and it helps me stay on track.

A tip, make sure your put time for YOU on that list. My Me Time includes reading time, movies, and being social with friends and family. Not every day, but I don’t ever want to push that aside for work, of any kind, again.

There’s a saying that sounds trite, but needs to be repeated more often.Work t o live. Don’t live to work. And when you follow this- or at least when I follow this- my work (writing) gets better. Funny huh?

I have a small book of quotes from strong women on life and love here. Share what saying has motivated you lately in the comments for a chance to win it.

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When I was growing up we moved around a lot. Every two or three years we’d move, and not just to another place int he same city,. When we moved it was not only to a different city, but usually to a different province. By the time I was 12 I’d lived all over Western Canada from British Columbia to Northern Ontario. Of course there were times when I’d get lonely or upset because I had to leave friends behind, and my Mom always told me. “Don’t worry, you’ll make new friends.” And I did. I wasn’t exactly a shy child.

The thing is, because of this I also learned at young age that sometime those people you hang out with or play with, aren’t really your friend. I was always an outsider, even if I was popular. This is a lesson I’ve always remembered even after I left home and moved around on my own. As an adult I still tend to move often. However, I’ve managed to make my moves every 5-10 years instead of every 2-3 years. But somethings never change.

This might seem off topic, but stay with me….I’ve been doing spring cleaning for a few months now..(Yes, It’s a work-inprogress) and in one of my old old file drawers I found this letter/essay thing I wrote. This was written fifteen years when I got my first computer,(I was 25 at the time) and I wanted to write a special christmas card for my mom, who has always been my best friend. The copy I have of it is still on the nice christmas paper I used. LOL

Now I know it’s not christmas, but I just found this again, and I think the sentiment stands year round.

A Friend

When I was young I used to laugh at my mother when she said a person was lucky if they could count the number of friends they had on one hand. I decided I was lucky because I needed two hands and a few toes to count all of my friends.

A short Ten years later I now only need one hand to count all of my friends. But now I know what a FRIEND is.

A FRIEND is there for you when nobody else is. Yet they are not always there when everyone else is.
A FRIEND gives you a shoulder to cry on and then something to laugh about.
A FRIEND is someone you can be stupid with and yet, not feel stupid.
A FRIEND is where you turn to when you feel there is nowhere to turn.
A FRIEND is someone that makes you want to be a friend in return.

I wish you a Merry Christmas MY FRIEND.

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Thanks to Amie Stuart and her 14 Days of Love I found something Fabulous! Check out this calendar by artist Robert Alvarado. I want it. I’m getting it.

Weird Bit….A strange thing happened to me last week. My iMac died. Well, okay, it didn’t really die, but it did get sick. So sick I had to wipe the hard drive and reinstall the operating system. Only that didn’t really help. And the more things we (I say we because AppleCare was on the phone with me all day last Wednesday trying to help me figure out what was wrong. LOVE the people at AppleCare.) Anyway. The more things we tried, the worse it got. Turns out I need a new harddrive. Very weird. I say this because I’ve been using Macs for about 6 years now, and I’ve never ever had a problem with one. I’ve had the iMac in question for 3 years now, and again, no problems at all until this. I thought I might’ve gotten a virus, but the guy at the shop said Nope, I’d just killed it. LOL And that yes, it was very rare for that to happen.

I also have to say that this issue with the iMac was probably the least stressed I’ve ever been about having a computer issue. And that’s because I had an external hard drive, a MacBook pro (that had all my writing stuff backed up on it) and a MobileMe account. Redundancy is good in some things.

Good news, A new hard drive is less than $100, and it’s a bigger faster one than the one that came with the 3 year old computer. Color me happy.

Personal Bit….I fucked up my ankle again. If you’ve been following me for a while you might know this happens to me too often. Yesterday, as I was getting into my car to go to work last night I rolled my ankle because of a rut in the packed snow. I cursed, I cried, it didn’t make it feel any better. Bad ankles are not a good thing for waitresses…thank God I have good co-workers who let me baby it for the 3 hours I was there before someone could switch form the restaurant to the bar to cover the rest of my shift.

Writing Bit…. My lovely editor at Samhain has sent me a draft of the cover for ONE WEEKEND, and I have to say. I like it. I think you will too. I’ll share as soon as I can. Maybe I’ll even have a blurb to share soon. :)

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What is it about songs that tell you to go hard, go far, go for it, go all the way that I love so much? Sure, they’re party anthems, but for me they also make me super motivated to work hard, be it in the gym, or at the keyboard. (Plus, I love Nickleback because they’re home town Alberta Boys, and they know how to rock. )

This one in particular, I just love the “That shit makes me batshit crazy” cuz, well, there are things in life that really do make me batshit crazy. LOL

Writers will tell you they put blood sweat and tears into their work, but to be honest, it doesn’t always happen. I’ve read stories that left me cold, and when that happens I often think that the author just didn’t put enough into it somehow. I know there are stories that I’ve written, that I’ve had published that I wish I’d put more-effort isn’t the right word, because there is always effort. Just that I’d put more, period. More of myself, more emotion, more energy into them. I firmly believe that when a writer puts their energy, and their emotion into the work, that it comes across on the page. That doesn’t mean I have to have experienced things, shit I write about falling in love, yet I’ve never been in love. But I do hope to be someday, and that hope goes into my stories.

The “We’ve got no fear, no doubt, all in- balls out” line of the song somehow just struck a chord about that and writing. If you want to write a good story, one that will make the reader feel emotion, then you have to put emotion into it. No holding back. SO…I’m keeping that in mind with my current stories and going hard.

Hopefully it will pay off. :)

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I went to see Michael Jackson’s THIS IS IT when it was in theaters. Not so much because I’ve always been a MJ fan, but because At one point in my life, I was. I was in junior high when Thriller was released. All through junior high and high school MJ was there at every dance or party. I never really took a stand on if I thought he did or didn’t do some things. To me, there were others in the world who had much more knowledge than I did, and I wasn’t going to judge. I preferred to focus on the music. And knowing that his songs were such a big part of my memories, I thought “How can I not go see this?”

And I’m so glad I did. The show wasn’t exactly what I’d expected, but it was better. It wasn’t about Michael’s life. It was about his music, his talent, and his energy. The man himself, and the concert preprations, and wow…what a concert it would’ve been. They had some amazing things planned.

The music. The writing. The words…That man had a magical way with words, and there isn’t anyone who can deny it. When I left the theater all I wanted to do was go home and write. I wanted to be positive, to live life and focus on the good. Life, and those who surround you in your daily life, can sometimes break you down. Be it bad reviews for your books, a cranky co-worker or boss, someone who cut you off on the road, things can pile up on a person and we lose ourselves in the negativity. I’ve learned one way to pull myself away from that is to focus on what *I’m* doing. Yes, self centered. But really, sometimes all a person has control of is themself. And one of the things I’ve been using lately to help stay positive is music.

The other day I felt like I needed a positivity boost so I downloaded the soundtrack from THIS IS IT. Listening to the album not only makes me feel good, it inspires me.

What’s inspired you lately?

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I’m in a weird mood. Or maybe I’m just weird? Or maybe I’m just finally starting to clue into things?

Hmm is that confusing? Let me start this post over.

There are times when I think I have friends, people who know me, and then there are times when it becomes clear that the people I think are friends don’t know me at all. Yet, people who I’ve never really considered friends, but co-workers or acquaintances, prove that they know me very well. By know me, I mean see beneath what you show the world. I know I’m not the only person out there who has a front or two that I use depending on who I’m with. Family sees one or two sides of me, certain friends see other sides, co-workers another. It’s very rare to let someone see too many sides or get too close because it makes us vulnerable. I’m not just talking about men or romance here, but girlfriends too. In fact, I often think girlfriends are more hurtful than lovers.

Yet, I still find myself surprised when someone I think knows me, hurts me. I don’t know how to handle it because I wonder if they did it unwittingly, or if they did it knowing I might be bothered, but not caring. Then I wonder if I need to stop being so narcissistic.

Anyway, it warms my heart when someone I’ve never really thought of as friend, shows that they are one.

An example: Last night I worked with a girl I’ve known on and off for about 7 years. We both work part time in the the bar, and have for that 7 year time span, but we’ve never really been friends. We’ve never gone out together aside from work /group functions. We talk at work, about all manner of things (seriously, talks when working in a bar can get very weird and personal and sometimes there is no such thing as personal space) But she’s not someone I’d call if I was in trouble, or someone I’ve shared hopes and dreams with. She’s not someone I would call a friend. She’s a co-worker I like and get along with. Yet, she proved, out of the blue, that she knows me, and that she’s there for me.

I love being surrounded by people with good hearts, and I need to work on removing others from my life, even if they were friends at one point. Because they’re not friends if they bring negativity into my life, right? Even if it is unwittingly done.

Like I said, I’m in a weird mood.

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I’ve got plans…plans for stories. For Novels, and for short stories.
I just heard back from my Samhain editor, and she loved the short I sent her. I was worried she might think it needed more conflict , but I really just wanted to write a short and uncomplicated super hot and sexy romp. I’m thrilled she see’s the value in that.

I need to do another short and sexy romp for the Hot Romance anthology, the story is due by the end of the month. and on top of that, I need to get my ass in gear and send in some proposals to my other editors. It’s serious now,. It’s been a year and a half since I sent any proposals out, and a year since I wrote anything new . (WEll, other than the short I just finished) The great thing about ePublishing is the speed. So Hopefully I ‘ll still have a couple of releases this year, even if they aren’t big novels from big publishers.

Tonight at work one of the girls and I decided we’re going to go skating. Uhm hmm, I haven’t been skating in over 20 years. I almost went when Delilah and I were on our cruise, but I chickened out. I looked at those skates, and that ice and thought. Uhmm.. 20 years is a long time. Well, I’m doing it.
I’ll let you know when it actually happens. LOL

My plans for this weekend include going to the post office, reading, writing, cooking, and maybe even going to the gym. Oh, and I think I’ll go see AVATAR.

What are you all up to this weekend?

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OMG, It’s Monday. Finally.
I’m thinking life can get back to normal now. Or at least what passes as normal for me. I love the holiday season, but it can sure fuck with my head.

I did a Reading Pleasures post at Genreality the other day, and thats about the extent of my year end thoughts. I’m constantly trying to be more organized, and always working on improving my healthy habits, so I have no resolutions, and no big plans for 2010 other than to keep on moving forward in life.

Today I’m going to go to the bookstore and spend my Gift Card. Then I’m going to sit on my couch and read all day and into the night. It’s my first day off, with no other family/work obligations in more than a month. YAY! Relaxation Day. Tomorrow I start writing a short story for the Mammoth book of Hot Romance. It’s due at the end of the month, and I’m quite excited about it.

Since it’s a short story, and it’s hot romance, not erotica, I’m thinking I might revisit a couple from one my previous books, but I’m having a hard time deciding which one. I need help, so vote below for the one you’d like to see a short story from.

Tyla and Max from ABDUCTION

Katie and Joe from BOUND

Joey and Mike from TROUBLE

Sarah and Nealon from WISH UPON A STAR

Or something completely new?

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Delilah has a wonderful wrap up of our cruise on her blog today. Be sure to go see it! ANd if you’re interested in more photos from the Ice Show and the Dancers performances, then you can find them in my Facebook photo albums. There was too many to post on here.

GAYLE O is the winner of the copy of Primal Male and a T-shirt I picked up in St.ThomasThanks to the Random.org number generator.

All the people who commented were entered, even if they didn;t get the guesses right.
In propoer order the towel art was..

A puppy,
A swan
And Elephant,
A pig.
Then a Side view of the pig…(weird wasn’t it?)
Kangaroo
A monkey
and a tropical flower.

Thanks for the guesses, they made me smile. And I feel much better knowning only 1 person guessed the kangaroo right. Way to go Eva!

ANd I have to say, I loved kaisquared’s family helping her guess. (An elephant sitting down on the job…love it!)

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