Ten Things That Make Me Smile

--Starting Weight Watchers today. I'm visualizing myself a few pounds lighter.

--Sunny days (It's been raining and raining here. I'm looking forward to the sun one of these days.)

--Putting the last piece into the puzzle

--Finding a new author who's books are irresistible

--The feeling in the back of my throat when I gargle with mouthwash

--The scent of coffee brewing, especially in the morning

--The click of my fingernails when I type on my keyboard

--The general moment when my allergy medication kicks in for the day

--Garfield the cat

--Pom Poms

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

--Playaways from the library. They're little machines the size of an ipod with an audio book loaded onto it.

--Raisin-Cinnamon bread with lots of butter, toasted.

--The finalists on America's Got Talent this season. I can't make up my mind who I want to win.

--Advanced reading copies of books

--The holes in Swiss cheese

--Watermelon on a hot summer day

--Reading a thriller and finding out how the killer is caught

--The Nashville Predators

--Realizing why my mother never put chips in the same plastic bag with my sandwich as a kid. I thought I'd be smart and try it to save a bag, but then my chips ended up soggy (like having a slice of bread in a container of too hard brown sugar. The moisture from the bread was leeched out into the chips).

--Loaner cars when we're having work done to our car. It's so much easier than driving to opposite ends of the Nashville area for our respective jobs.

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

--Finishing 3 novels during my 3 day weekend

--Pork tenderloins

--Sweet corn with lots of butter

--Mocha chip Frappichino at Starbucks today

--The moment when all the dishes are clean and no one has dirtied any new ones yet

--Fawns

--The puppy in Starbucks. I wanted to take him home with me.

--Alphasmart

--Grocery shopping when the total including tax is under 100.00

--Clearance sales & new slacks

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

--Cupcakes with filling inside

--Garfield

--Friendly waiters/waitresses

--Men in uniform (women in uniform too for that matter)

--Tie dye

--Hitting the traffic lights right

--Fudge with walnuts

--Alphabet soup

--Key lime pie

--Sincere apologies

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

-- Elves

-- When my husband returns from a long trip

-- Koalas

-- Butterfinger ice cream

-- The buzz of the drier when my last load of laundry is finished for the day

-- Regency romances

-- The smell of cedar

-- Museums

-- Good reference books

-- Getting a stain out of my shirt after spilling food all over myself.

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

-- Bookstores

-- Volkswagon Beatles

-- Peppermint Patty

-- Peaches and cream

-- Bambi and Thumper

-- Robin eggs

-- Hopscotch

-- Miss Mary Mack

-- Political cartoons

-- The calm after the storm

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

-- An agent asked to see pages from my pitch session at Killer Nashville today

-- Wild berry smoothies with whipped cream on top

-- Thinking LMNOP was one letter of the alphabet as a child

-- The Roadrunner and Wilde E. Coyote

-- J.A. Jance gave a really funny set of talks today at Killer Nashville. She's a hoot!

-- The kid in the movie The Shining when he gets to ride his big wheel around the big hotel. I wish I could have done something like that as a kid.

-- That my father-in-law doesn't have any broken bones. He fell yesterday.

-- Biting into mystery food and realizing I'm eating candied apples and not beets

-- Qwerkle

-- Trivia

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

-- Remembering that rejection can be a positive thing. I had a manuscript rejected today, but even though it was a form letter, I'm pretty sure I know why it was rejected. It'll eventually make my writing better so that I don't make the same mistakes over and over again.

-- Killer Nashville starts tomorrow and I have the day off so I can go! Yippie! www.killernashville.com. J.A. Jance is the guest of honor, and Lee Loftland will also be there.

-- Four day work weeks

-- Easy days at work

-- My husband found a job! Double yippie!

-- Eating spicy food and clearing out my sinuses

-- The end of caffeine withdrawal headaches

-- Steak

-- Rubber duckies

-- Weeping willow trees

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

-- The Kiebler Elf

-- The zombies from Thriller (can you imagine being a hiring manager and seeing that on somebody's resume if s/he left dancing?)

-- The yellow submarine

-- What can get lost in translation. I once had a friend tell a guy she was dating she wanted to help him pick the chicken breast off his sweater. She had mixed up the words pechuga and peluza in Spanish.

-- Fawns

-- Meteorites

-- Flintstone vitamins

-- Cottage cheese and potato chips

-- Pushing my spoon into a grapefruit and squirting the person on the other side of the table

-- Cheap airline tickets

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

-- Lemon drops

-- Respite from my week-long headache

-- Author chats online

-- Challenging Suduko puzzles

-- Sticky cinnamon rolls

-- Tax Free weekend for shopping on clothes, shoes. Tennessee sales tax is 9.25%

-- Marmaduke

-- Birthstones

-- Cliffhangers

-- Captain Crunch

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

- Lazy weekends

- The public library and inter-library loans

- Doves

- Mullets

- Just the right amount of perfume

- That J.A. Jance is the guest of honor for this year's Killer Nashville conference. www.killernashville.com

- Cake and ice cream

- The calm after the storm

- Frosties at Wendy's

- Playing pool and not knocking the 8 ball into the pocket before I'm supposed to do so.

A Picture's Worth 1000 Words

I went to www.barnesandnoble.com today and selected, "books." Just for kicks and giggles, I searched the word, "bluekissed," to see what would be the first hit.

I laughed until I my eyes watered.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=bluekissed&box=bluekisse&pos=-1

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

-Seeing friends and coworkers the day after they've gotten a new haircut. It's amazing how much someone's hair changes his/her overall appearance!

-Steamy showers that open my sinuses

-The Wizard of Oz

-Audio books during my commute to work

-Watching very young kids try to touch their birthday cake on their birthday. (A 1 year old for example).

-Comfortable T-shirts

-Cookie Crisp cereal

-Shiny fingernail polish

-French silk pie

-The Beanie Baby craze of the 90s

Killer Nashville 2009

I'll be attending the Killer Nashville writer's conference this year from August 14-16th. For more information on Killer Nashville, visit www.killernashville.com. The keynote speaker this year is J.A. Jance.

Those of you who read this blog know that I wrote about Killer Nashville last year. I had a blast last year, I learned a lot, and I'd recommend this conference to anyone interested in writing fiction. Although the conference is geared toward the mystery/crime/thriller field, there are enough topics presented to be a wonderful conference overall for both beginning writers and seasoned writers. Even for people who write in completely different genres, there are useful panels and presentations on things like firearms, poisons, police procedure, forensic anthropology, strengthening writing skills, and pitch sessions available with an editor and an agent.

I also met a few people last year with whom I'm still in contact within the world of writing. Conferences are a great way to network.

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

-Hot Apple Cider

-Looking for funny birthday cards to send to friends and family

-Carmel

-Shrek

-Kazoos

-The movie starring Michael J. Fox, Doc Hollywood

-The cricket in the Disney movie, Pinocchio

-Resetting the clocks after the power goes out

-Remembering all the name of the reindeer and the seven dwarfs without having to say them in order

-Chocolate covered cashews

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

-Three day weekends

-Fruit so juicy that I have to eat it over the sink

-Mini subcompact cars

-Cheesecake

-Ice cream sandwiches

-Gummy bears

-The sweet relief of Ibuprophen (taken in the recommended dosage. I don't want to fry my organs.)

-Red Lobster

-Riverfront Park in Nashville

-Getting to leave work early today because I worked late yesterday.

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

-Vanilla yogurt

-Chocolate pudding and Boston Creme Pie

-Relaxing after running errands on a 100+ heat index day

-Egg Beaters over buttered toast

-Mary Poppins

-Farrah Faucet's hair from the 70's

-Milk mustaches

-Handle bar mustaches

-Looking forward to a night out with friends

-Corn Bread

-Mammoth Cave in Kentucky

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

-America's Got Talent

-My 3 year wedding anniversary

-The cold rush of air when walking into the house from the heat

-Diversity

-Comfy shoes

-Taking a vacation day

-Trying on clothes and having everything fit properly

-Movies that draw me into the story

-Mongolian Grill

-Silk ties

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

-Chocolate dipped/covered doughnuts
-Happy it's not supposed to rain tomorrow
-The baby tigers at the Nashville zoo
-Looking forward to my wedding anniversary next week and having that day off at work
-Good hair days
-Badly dressed mannequins
-Getting sucked into a book or movie and NEEDING to know what will happen next
-Blue corn tortilla chips
-Pumpkin bread
-Lemon and poppy seed muffins

Ten Things That Make Me Smile

-Ginger snaps

-String cheese

-Alligator teeth

-Recitals

-Painted toenails

-Baby seals

-Salvation Army bell ringers

-Watching a dog chase its tail

-The cool rush of air-conditioning on a hot summer day

-Fresh lemonade