What are you celebrating this week?
Come swim along for the Four Commandments of Celebrating, but first, I've got two celebrations.
First, Beverly Stowe McClure totally made my day. That's right, she reviewed MOONLESS. Want to make an author's day? It's just that simple. SEE WHAT SHE HAD TO SAY.
Second, Monday is the 4th of July! (Independence Day) So if you're outside of America, that holds less meaning, but think of it this way: The nation that is a world super power and supports the majority of the world's economy came into existence the day it declared independence. Now that's pretty monumental in my book. And although my country has had its ups and downs, I still love it--land of the free (ish) and home of the brave. So I'll be out celebrating on Monday.
BUT how to do it right?
I give you, THE FOUR COMMANDMENTS OF CELEBRATING:
- Reflect: What is it about any event, day, or circumstance that makes it worth celebrating? Looking back on life and reviewing the reasons helps us identify their meaning and evaluate their weight.
- Let Go: Sometimes we just need to let go of the restrains on normal life--and no, I don't mean do anything illegal. I mean, forget the day job, financial stresses, school & home work, etc. Free your mind to enjoy the moment.
- Make noise! I'm not kidding. Yelling and screaming releases pent up energy and emotions. Singing, likewise. Laughing has all kinds of benefits. Freeing the mind enough to let loose a "whoop" of joy can be difficult sometimes, but it's healthy and NECESSARY.
- EAT CHEESE: You knew that was coming. But seriously, no celebration is complete without a little splurging--be it food, money, or time.
So what are you going to celebrate this week?
And speaking of celebrating, time for some giveaway love, eh?
This month I'm highlighting fellow authors from:
(And if you already have, go buy another and gift it to someone!)
Last week Yolanda Renee ( author of EVER-TON) shared MURDER & OBSESSION, along with two truths and one lie. Anyone who guessed the lie was entered to win a SIGNED copy of either MURDER & OBSESSION or the PARALLELS anthology.
The game:
1. My Sunday school teacher was dismissed for taking our class to see the movie the Bible.2. One of my favorite past times was drag racing. On the way to work one morning I raced a fellow driver on the highway. He asked me out and we are now married.
3. I've been married three times.
The lie: #2. While Yolanda didn't marry the man she was drag racing, but he did ask her out.
Way to guess everyone! And the winner is:
Way to guess everyone! And the winner is:
...DRUM ROLL...
Congrats, Diane!
And now meet a story from the author of HAUNTED in the Parallels anthology:
Ready to meet the author?
Join in the conversation at:
You might run across Melanie at her computer with a glass of wine munching on room-temperature camambert topped with an ooey, gooey carmel/dried apple/peacan mixture.
Melanie gave me two truths and one lie to test your "lie detector" skills. Those who figure out the lie will go into my magic hat for the chance to win their choice of eBook THE NEWSTEAD PROJECT, ERRON, 2084, or BLACKBIRD. (Open internationally.)
You have until Tuesday, July 5 at 2 p.m. EDT to guess. Be sure to come back for the answers on July 6, 8 a.m. EDT.
TRUTH OR LIE
1. I am a concert pianist.
2. My husband used to drive a race car.
3. I have three dairy sheep: Daisy-May, Lucy-Lu, and Sunshine that I plan to milk and make homemade cheese with.
So sleuths, which is the lie? Have you met Melanie? What are you celebrating now/shortly?
We're not perfect, but I wouldn't live anywhere else in the world.
ReplyDeleteWow, tough one this week. I'm going to say the first one is the lie.
Love those four commandments of celebrating! I sometimes need a reminder to let loose, at least a little. :)
ReplyDeleteIf I could get to a roller coaster, but bet I'd scream my bloody head off.
ReplyDeleteI'm the winner! What a treat.
YOU bet. LOL Messed that one up.
DeleteI pick lie #2.
ReplyDeleteHave a Happy 4th!!!! Celebrate!!! Relax!!! and splurge on Cheese!!!
Great commandments, and I knew #4 was coming! LOL
ReplyDeleteWe had planned to camp out this weekend to celebrate the fourth. Now it's supposed to rain for five days straight. Time for back up plans. They will definitely involve cheese.
ReplyDeleteAw, thanks for the shout out, Crystal. I enjoyed your book.
ReplyDeleteA great list of things to do to celebrate the 4th. I'll try some of them.
I think #1 is the lie. Have a great holiday.
Happy 4th of July to you too! :) There will be fireworks and cheese on my long weekend. #3 is the lie.
ReplyDeleteI love your four commandments for celebrating. And your sentiment about still loving this country despite it's ups and downs is perfect. With what's going on in this world, we really do need to support our country now more than ever.
ReplyDeleteLoved your 4 rules, especially the one about letting go and enjoying the moment. I definitely need to do that.
ReplyDeleteMy family will probably relax by the pool on the Fourth and possibly grill some yummy steak. I'm sure the neighbors will be setting off fireworks all weekend -- possibly all week -- which means my poor dog will be a basket case. :(
ReplyDeleteBest of luck to Melanie! I'm going to guess #3 is the lie :)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Diane, your book is on the way!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Crystal this was fun.
Great suggestions for celebrating, and cheese goes well with BBQ.
I'm choosing #2, have to stick to the drag racing. :)
This is a big weekend for celebrations. Happy 4th of July to you down south. Up here north of the border we have Canada Day on July 1.
ReplyDeleteHappy 4th! I'm looking forward to being off work tMonday. ^_^
ReplyDeleteI'm going with #3 for the lie.
Reflecting is certainly one of the best ways for celebration. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteGreat tips! I hope you have a wonderful 4th of July.
ReplyDeleteNothing says America like celebrations on the 4th! I like your first commandment, it's something I do every day. May your day be filled with happy pride - and plenty of cheese ;-) Happy 4th of July!
ReplyDeleteI don't think I have any celebrations this week but I am attending an end of renaissance camp celebration for my oldest tomorrow and was inviting to crash a party for a group of runners I don't belong to to Saturday. Should be fun anyhow!
ReplyDeleteAlways good to do a little celebrating. Enjoy and eat plenty of cheese!
ReplyDeleteHappy 4th of July!!!
ReplyDeletecongrats on the review! The only thing I'm celebrating is that I've finished translating INFERNAL DEVICES 2 last week and I'm now moving onto CLOCKWORK PRINCESS... and then Marie Lu and Victoria Aveyard await me, methinks
ReplyDeleteI knew you'd include cheese! Have a very happy Fourth of July!
ReplyDeleteCongrats to Melanie! Wishing her well. :)
ReplyDeleteI like your four commandments! Yes, and of course cheese factors in. Somehow they left that part out of the Declaration of Independence. No matter, we can improvise. Will be celebrating the 4th, as well as my husband's birthday (July 5) with a family bbq. Enjoy your weekend!
Wishing you a great 4th July!! I say the 1st one is a lie, but they could be all true, I'm sure :)
ReplyDeleteHave a happy Fourth of July! I'll be celebrating too, what makes it even more fun is that all my kids are going to be home. :)
ReplyDeleteI don't think you've been married three times.
ReplyDeleteI'll be celebrating living in America too.
Have a fabulous day. ☺
Happy 4th, but dang, I thought I had that last one.
ReplyDeleteNumber 3 must be a lie, and my guess is that one of the names of the sheep is a lie. :D
I love your 4 rules. Cheese is the one "food group" I will never be able to give up. Yolanda is wonderful. I adore that game! She's full of surprises!
ReplyDeleteGreat rules! We all need some down time where the pressures of daily life are off. Enjoy your day! We celebrate Canada Day on Friday so it looks to be a fun weekend in both places! :)
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the great review. Maybe that is why the cat is happy so much, he never shuts up lol
ReplyDelete#2 is the lie?
We'll probably try to get some live crabs to steam this weekend... always one of our favorite ways to celebrate. And our little town has an old-fashioned all-day festival on the 4th, followed by fireworks. If it isn't too hot, we'll do that. If it's too hot, we'll stay in the air conditioning and enjoy watching the fireworks and concerts on TV. I hope you and your family have a fantastic 4th!
ReplyDeleteHmmm, I'll guess #3 is the lie this week. (But if she IS gonna milk those sheep and make her own cheese, I am duly impressed!)
I loved Parallels. Some of the stories are still haunting me.
ReplyDeleteHappy Independence Day. The first one is a lie?
And yay for cheese. Almost any cheese.
Congratulations on the wonderful review. You have a beautiful blog. Warm greetings from Montreal, Canada, where, this Friday, July 1st, we are celebrating Canada Day. :)
ReplyDeleteI read Beverly's review of Moonless. :) Hmm, the lie is #1?
ReplyDeleteWoo Hoo on the review!
ReplyDeleteI should have known you'd work cheese into the commandments:)
Melanie, I'm going with #1.
I'm not celebrating anything at the moment. I have a strange aversion to most holidays, 4th of July being one of them. So, I'll just move on...
ReplyDeleteI'll guess the lie is #1. (And those that come after me, my guesses have been wrong pretty much all year.)
Brilliant Review - Congratulations!!!
ReplyDeleteand
This email totally rocks!!!
love & love,
-g-
I'm working the 4th. So no celebrating over this way. Enjoy your holiday!
ReplyDeleteCongrats to Diane for winning Yolanda's book! Fireworks (and all loud noise) make me very uneasy. I only watch things like that on TV where I can turn down the sound. Congrats on Beverly's review and have a wonderful 4th of July!
ReplyDeleteHappy 4th of July! We'll be visiting family at their lakehome on the 4th and then heading up to the north shore for a night and exploring. I'm looking forward to having 5 days off in a row. :) This year the Minneapolis Fireworks will be choreographed(?) to Prince's music, so maybe we'll check out the show.
ReplyDeletecelebrated my birthday yesterday. Looking forward to everything that follows! :)
ReplyDeleteHave fun this week! :)
woo! I love cheese and fireworks! And congrats on the awesome review.
ReplyDeleteAnd the lie is #3. Melanie only put that in because she knows how much you love cheese. Such a tease ;)
I think Melanie's lie is #1, but I'm probably wrong (I usually am on these!). As for celebrating, I'm simply going to celebrate two rare days off in a row, and enjoy the fireworks Monday night, and probably wonder like I do what aliens would think if they saw fireworks from space. Would they have any clue what we're doing? Did have some nice cheese and crackers last night while watching Buffy :)
ReplyDeleteThe 4th is one of my top fav holidays. I love how everyone in our community comes out to watch the fireworks and walk the streets. Definitely feels magical! A think here lately is lighting lanterns, we love spotting those going up from all over town. And the yummy food! Cheese included. =)
ReplyDeleteWhiskey and Angelfire is releasing on July 4th, so that's my celebration! I may have to seal some of these fireworks GIFs :0
ReplyDeleteYes! I plan to celebrate! Looking forward to my husband having the day off and time for us to relax, take the boat out, or go swimming in the pool. Oh! And fireworks. We have to watch fireworks. Nothing says it's the 4th like watching/lighting fireworks!
ReplyDeleteNo coming celebrations for me in the near future :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a great review of MOONLESS! :) Ha, yeah...land of the free(ish); but I'm grateful to live here. I plan to attend a BBQ with some friends of my hubby's; I'll get to know them better. Not bothering with fireworks (they're not allowed in my housing area), though I love to see the BIG public displays.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to Melanie on ALPHABET SOUP! I've never heard of a U-book before, but it sounds awesome. :)
I am looking forward to relaxing on the 4th. I may go watch the fireworks- but they may be cancelled due to weather. Either way- it will be nice to have a day to recharge and rest. :)
ReplyDelete~Jess
Have fun celebrating with cheese! ;)
ReplyDeleteI'll guess the race-car driving is a lie.
I have read, and reviewed, the IWSG book. It was fun!
I like your four commandments! Happy 4th!!
ReplyDeleteCheers to your review! Reviews always make our day too. And this country sure isn't perfect, but it's definitely home. And now, like true Muricans, we look forward to celebrating the 4th with two things that should never be combined in good conscience: beer and fireworks.
ReplyDeleteLove those commandments!
ReplyDeleteI can do commandment #no.3 - laugh/yell/scream/sing/dance etcetera...
The lie is number #1! I'm just guessing!
Enjoy your long weekend!
I'm celebrating by staying home, spending time with the family, and getting some writing done. Maybe even set off a firework or two, assuming it's not so dry around here that our town bans it this year.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the review.
Forget the day job, financial stresses... Free your mind to enjoy the moment....
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more. You can count me in.
I would guess #3, because it has so much detail.
ReplyDeleteAs far as celebrating is concerned, do cheese bagels count?
Crystal my countries holiday is today... Canada Day is July 1st and I love it too... it's always great to take the time to reflect the gratitude I have for where I live... I wish you a joyous and wonderful 4th of July... my oldest daughter will be celebrating it in Wisconsin xox
ReplyDeleteHappy 4th of July, Crystal. I'll be at a craft show on Sunday and I have the 4th off because the day job is closed so lots of relaxing then. =)
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the moment? That's possible?! LOL. (I have a hard time relaxing, as you can probably guess!)
ReplyDeleteHope you have a fantastic 4th of July, Crystal!
I'd add only two things to your list: dancing and the obvious (chocolate). Cheese is yummy too, except Velveeta and the yucky cheap fake stuff.
ReplyDeleteHave a fun weekend, Crystal!
Congrats to Diane. I think 2 is the lie.
ReplyDeleteGreat list. And I love cheese.
In theory I should be celebrating finishing the first edit on my book and getting ready for the second. But after the news I got last night, I don't feel like celebrating anything. >_<
ReplyDeleteI'd like to go straight to the 4th commandment. :)
ReplyDeleteHappy 4th!
You'll be happy to know that I ate lots of cheese over the fourth of July weekend!
ReplyDelete