Never move a cabin

Over the weekend my dh and I moved our cabin. This is a 20 x 10 building we built and placed on our property in Princeton. When we delivered it we pretty much just dumped it in the most convenient spot and after staying in it for over a year decided we wanted a more permanent spot that was more aesthetic.

Last weekend we dug the trench and installed underground conduit for electricity and pvc pipe for water to the new more aesthetic location. This weekend we did the big move. We left Friday night and my dh declared we'd get the cabin moved and head home Saturday night so we would have all day Sunday at the permanent residence to get things done.

We started out trying to lift the cabin with the backhoe. The dh had made forks on the bucket for loading large bales of hay, and he thought we could just put those under the building, throw a strap around the cabin, and pick it up and move it. Didn't work. The straps kept stretching and the forks weren't long enough to support enough of the building.

Then he decided since we had piles of old power poles we'd slide three under the cabin, chaining them together and pull the cabin to where we wanted it. The cabin wasn't cooperating and we ended up having to put four poles under by lifting with the backhoe and shoving them under. Then when we hooked the chains to them front and back like lashing together logs for a raft, it made the whole thing too heavy for the backhoe to pull up the small incline where we wanted to put the cabin. When that didn't work we then had to jack up the cabin again with one handyman jack and moving from corner to corner placing blocks under it and pull out the logs.

I suggested since we were jacking it up, let's use the fifth wheel trailer we hauled it there on. So it was a matter of jacking three corners and adding blocks while slowly picking up one corner with the backhoe to get it high enough we could back the trailer under the cabin. We finally had it on the trailer by dark. So my dh backed it up the incline and close to the spot we wanted it. Then he hooked the power back up and didn't get the electricity grounded right and blew out the two light bulbs we had. I drove the backhoe to the neighbors, begged light bulbs, and returned to our place. He had the wiring right, and we slept in the cabin on the trailer Saturday night. Not making it home like the dh had planned on the way over.

Sunday morning we jacked and blocked the cabin up and inch by inch pulled the trailer out, only the one end of the cabin was on a downhill slope, so we had to run rope through the beams under the cabin and tie it to the trailer as we slowly pulled out to keep it from slipping down the slope. Once we had the trailer out from under the cabin, we block by block, corner by corner lowered the cabin until we had it all the way down to one block. Then we had to make sure it was all level, the dh hooked the electricity back up and by 11:00 am we had the cabin in the spot we wanted and everything back to normal inside.

And that was how I spent my weekend. No writing and lots of stress both mentally and physically. So how was your weekend?

Unfortunately I forgot to photos of the newly positioned cabin. I'll try to remember to take some the next time we go over there.

Friday Faves

Let's see, I had a woman at the book signing last week tell me she had a friend in Iowa that had all my books and loved them. (ego boost)

I've written 8500 words this week and am nearly half way with the project I'm working on. My goal is to have it finished by Thanksgiving. So keep your fingers crossed.

The editor of the Yellow Rose like at Wild Rose Press said she liked my contemporary western but would like me to up the emotion and change the title. As soon as I get this project done, I'll jump into those revisions and I'm hoping to brainstorm a new title with my RWA chapter this month.

Found out my Alaska daughter will be here for Christmas with her crew!

And I'm attending a workshop with Sherman Alexie in Bend today with a writer friend.

I've fallen behind- Here are the subtypes of the enneagrams by Laurie Schnebly Campbell

SUBTYPES
If you met Sherlock Holmes and Greta Garbo in an online chat loop, you wouldn't have any trouble telling them apart. They're both Fives, yes, but no two matching enneagram types are alike anymore than two matching astrological types are alike.
One reason is because of the subtypes: Self-preservation, Intimacy, and Social. Everyone values each of these in different amounts. When you're holed up studying for the final exam, that's self-preservation. When you're on a dinner date talking for hours, that's intimacy. And when you're in a crowd of fans all cheering for the home team, that's social. We all do all three.
Ideally you have them all weighted equally in your life, but most of us tend to hang out more in one area than in the others. And of course that area is going to be a source of great strength because we're good at it, and it's also going to be a source of great weakness because we've left the others alone. But great weakness is a fine thing when it comes to creating characters! So see which subtype sounds like your hero or heroine (or yourself and your real-life hero).
The Self-Preservation subtype person is concerned with exactly that: self-preservation. Does their household have enough water to last through a nuclear winter? How are they gonna pay their kid's tuition? Is there anywhere they can get some privacy? Where can they find their favorite kind of soda? These people are concerned with basic survival issues...survival of the body or the spirit or both. If they were stranded on a desert island with plenty of survival gear, they'd be fine by themselves.
Now, how—in a romance—can this self-preservation trait work? It's not what you'd expect from a typical romance character, right? An adventure thriller, yes, you want your hero or heroine to save the sinking boat and elude the Nazis...but on an emotional level, this self-preservation can be a wonderful character trait for building internal conflict. Imagine someone who's trying to preserve their well-being, their sanity, their heart, by not falling in love. Imagine the tension as they find themselves falling in love, and resisting, and falling, and resisting.... Self-preservation is a great trait for a romance novel character!
The intimacy-subtype person is someone who's concerned with one-on-one relationships. Not just their lover, but every individual friendship. They want to spend time alone with everyone they care about, just the two of them, talking as intimately as they can: "What's going on? How're you feeling? Here's what's new with me." If they were on that desert island, they'd want one other person with them. Just one...who'd be just as involved with the relationship as they are.
Now it's no good for a romance if your hero and heroine are both intimacy subtypes who wants the same intimacy at the same time, because then all you have is two people kissing and holding hands for chapter after chapter. But suppose one character wants this intimacy with not ONLY the lover, but also with the friend next door and the brother across town and the boss and the waitress and the lover's grandmother...there's going to be some conflict, right? I remember a great book where the hero was a social worker who gave himself wholeheartedly to the individual kids at his youth shelter that needed one-on-one contact, and when it came time for the romantic dinner with the heroine while a kid is in crisis...okay, more conflict. So you can see how an intimacy character is great for a romance novel!
Finally, the Social subtype. This person is concerned with the community as a whole. They're not so much interested in what's going on within themselves, or what's going on within a particular person, as they are with what's going on in the whole group. That group might be their church, their co-workers, their RWA chapter...whatever it is, these people love being part of the group. They want their entire gang on that desert island, and they want to do their part for the whole group...for the whole social structure.

Wednesday Promo- Darda Burkhart

Darda Burkhart grew up in Vancouver and Victoria, B.C., then married and moved to Southern California. She and her husband pastored churches there for twenty-five years until his death. She worked at Avery Label, now Avery Dennison, in the Market Research Department until she retired. In 2005, she and her second husband moved to Lynden to be near family. She has three sons, four grandchildren and four great grandchildren. Darda is a member of North County Christ the King church in Lynden.
Her hobbies are needlework, reading and traveling. She is also a member of Women Writing the West.

What caused me to write the book, Forging Ahead for God?
It actually was suggested 19 years ago just after my father’s death in his hometown of Victoria, B.C. Canada. People said to me, “You ought to write a book about your father.” I wrote letters to many on his mailing list to inform them of his passing, and asked that they tell me what his life had meant to them, or specific examples of interacting with him. I received several replies and kept them in case the opportunity to write a book came about. I did not feel qualified to take such a project on and did not have enough information to do so then.

I moved back up to the Pacific Northwest from Southern California in 2005. In early 2007, I joined a creative writing class at our church. One day, the teacher asked me if I had ever thought about writing a book and I replied, “No, I haven’t” I wondered what I could write about. Even though my life has been interesting, it wasn’t worth a book.

Just before I moved north, I was reconnected with a man with whom I had lost touch. He had worked with Dad for many years. He knew a man in Abbotsford who also knew Dad, who said, “Someone should write a book about Percy Wills,” to which the first man said, “His daughter lives in Lynden.” That’s how the project began.

What in my research said, “I have to get that in the book.”
The book is my father’s biography, but there were sections of time that I had little, or no knowledge about. My mother’s sister was a good source of information of his early life, but during the last forty years while I lived in Southern California, I had only sketchy information. Dad did not talk about the scope, or the results, of his mission work, preferring to let people know how God had provided funds, and about fellow missionaries who were capable and compatible for the difficult field on the west coast of Vancouver Island, B.C.

That lack was miraculously supplied in 2008, when I went to the mission base in Esperanza, B.C. On the way, I visited friends at the Coastal Mission base in Chemainus, B.C. As I was leaving, the director, Roy Getman, handed me three legal size folders of Dad’s writings that I did not know existed. They were dated 1977, and he had kept them all those years. Among those writings were anecdotes of special times in Dad’s life and during his work that I was able to incorporate into the body of the book. With that information, I was able to adequately cover the latter part of his life until his death.

Are you working on anything now?

No. I’m working on getting this book into the market place where I can. At this point, I don’t have any idea for another book.


About the book.

“Forging Ahead for God” is the biography of my father, Percy Wills, who was the pioneer missionary to the White Man, the First Nations people, and the coastal folk who lived along the rocky shores of the west coast of Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada. First, by canoe, then by a 32-ft. boat, and later a 50-ft. boat, he sailed the treacherous waters of that area nicknamed, “The Graveyard of the Pacific.”

He was a visionary, a man of great faith, who saw the tremendous needs of that isolated area and stepped out to be the hands and feet of God to help the people. Neither ethnicity, religion, education nor position, had any meaning to him. He served them all equally over a period of forty years to provide for their needs.

His name is still remembered and revered by those who knew and loved him.

Or, as the back cover of the book reads, “Have you ever tried trusting God for all of your needs, including food, housing, safety, and your very existence? Most of us haven’t, but Percy Wills has, and this book shows how—time and time again—God comes through when His people turn to Him in faith.

In this book, you’ll experience adventures that include:

Beginning life as an itinerant missionary, he started out on foot to visit people in his area until God surprisingly provided a horse and then a saddle for it.
At the start of winter, the cupboard was bare and he had no warm clothes or money. As he turned the situation over to God, a farmer knocked on the door to ask if he would come work for him.
Wills faced seemingly insurmountable challenges in relying on God alone to provide for himself, his ailing wife, and their two small children in an isolated land.

He often said he did not have great faith—he had faith in a great God. Join the Wills family and fellow missionaries in experiencing a lifetime of hair-raising adventures—and God’s faithfulness.

Fun fun fun in the California sun!

I had a good time last Thursday and Friday in California. I walked out to the airplane in Redmond with large wet snow flakes falling and stepped off the plane in San Jose to beautiful blue skies and sunshine.My cousin picked me up from the airport and we dined at an outside restaurant in Los Gatos before wandering around checking out the stores. After visiting my uncle we went to the Borders store in Los Gatos. I was met by Ellen the store's romance specialist and directed to the area of the signing. I saw several familiar faces among the other authors signing. We visited while waiting for the event to begin.

I enjoyed visiting with a TWRP author and old friend Jenny Anderson and a new TWRP author Marie Tuhat. I signed many books and left feeling like the event had been a success. Ellen even asked me to come back when I had a new release.

Friday my cousin and her husband took me to Santa Cruz. We drove along the shoreline and then checked out the shops on the wharf and had lunch. It was a wonderful day. Then they whisked me off to the airport and my return to the real world.

Friday Faves - Eeeeee!

Okay, so that isn't a very good title for this post but OMG! Nicola Martinez outdid herself on my first paranormal historical cover. It's the first of a trilogy and will be released next fall. Here's the cover:

And that is my first fave this week.

I also was asked to do a month long diary in May for the Farm and Ranch magazine. A friend is a contributor for the magazine and suggested me. It won't be published until 2011, but they will also link to my website the month it's published.

And I was telling another friend about a short story I wrote. She asked me to send it to her, and it's now on it's way to a Cup of Comfort book editor to possibly be in a book about couples.

I'm still in CA visiting(wrote this on Wednesday before I left)and Monday I'll tell you all about the booksigning.

Wednesday Promo- Jenna Peterson

I'm pleased to promote Jenna Peterson's current release, What the Duke Desires.

Bio:
Jenna Petersen is the award-winning author of historical romances and erotic historical romances (as Jess Michaels) for Avon and Avon Red. She is also well-known for her site for aspiring authors, The Passionate Pen, which gets nearly 200,000 hits per month. Her current releases are What the Duke Desires (November 2009) and Taboo (May 2009, w/a Jess Michaels).

What about the regency period attracts you to writing that genre?
I like the dichotomy of the time period. Scandal could ruin you and yet scandal was all around. There are so many rules to break or bend or feel the consequences of!


How do you find ways to make your heroes and heroines different in each book?
Well, I’m big on character. I really think character IS plot. So I start out with my hero and heroine before I write a work of any story. In the end their childhood experiences and goals will make them different people.

What do you have in the works?
I just had the first book in my “The Billingham Bastards” series hit the shelves yesterday. WHAT THE DUKE DESIRES should be on shelves everywhere right now! There are two books in the works to follow, THE UNCLAIMED DUCHESS in September 2010 and an untitled third book some time in 2011.

Blurb: WHAT THE DUKE DESIRES:

Simon Crathorne has never felt quite “right” in his own life. Even with his friends, he never fit. But now his father is dead and he has inherited the Dukedom, and all the responsibility that goes with it. And since his father was always known as a highly moral, upstanding man, Simon has big shoes to fill. Lillian Mayhew doesn’t buy the late Duke’s exalted reputation one bit. A lifetime of hearing her father talk about the man’s sins and seeing the torment her family endured at his hands has made her bitter and a final secret she discovered as her father lay dying has turned her bitterness to a drive to destroy the good name of the man she feels wronged her. No matter the price.

But when Simon and Lillian meet, sparks fly and passion erupts, leaving Lillian with an ugly choice. Can she abandon her quest for revenge, just as she is on the cusp of fulfilling her duty? Or will she betray a man whose past turns out to be a murky sea of lies and betrayals neither one could have ever anticipated? A man whose kiss could change her life forever.

For an excerpt hop on over to Jenna's website. http://www.jennapetersen.com/whatthedukedesires.htm

Happy Dancing

I had a wonderful Saturday visiting with, walking through a park, and looking for treasures in an antique mall with two of my good writing friends. We spent the day talking writing, families, and life in general. If you don't do this once in a while I encourage you to. Even though I tend to be a hermit when it comes to hanging out with friends, it is something that always leaves me feeling good inside.

Another happy dance moment- I had a very nice fan e-mail in my inbox. She'd won one of my books in my monthly website contest and just found time to read it. She commented on the things she liked, and that she was definitely looking for the rest of my books. Her closing. "I am now a huge fan." That is the reason I write. To give others a feel good moment.

I'm looking forward to visiting with my cousin and attending a book signing in CA this Thursday. It should be a fun experience as the family grapevine said a couple of relatives I haven't seen in a while are planning to come.

The good vibes/feelings I wrapped around me over the weekend are carrying into my writing this week. The sisters story is coming along. Maggie's persistence is going to make Ty do something he may or may not regret. We'll see.

Have a great week!