Carol Moncado

Current Facebook Status: Missing my laptop :(. Not nearly as much social networking/emailing as I’d like without it. Sorry for any birthdays I’ve missed etc.

Currently Playing in the Background: Tuskegee Airmen

I struggle with writing reviews that tell enough without giving too many spoilers. Alas, this is one such time :(. But I’ll do my best.

I’ve had a chance to get to know Linda a bit over the last couple of months and she is a delightful lady! Very knowledgeable and very kind – and patient. 😉 With the laptop gasping for its dying breath, this review has been much longer in coming than I would have liked, but today I’m showing a movie in class (I’ve seen it at least a dozen times, Tuskegee Airmen, great movie – if you haven’t seen it you should). So while they’re watching the movie, I’m writing this review :).

The Prophetess One: At Risk is the first book in The Prophetess Trilogy.  This novel, and presumably ones to follow, come out of Linda’s experiences as a relative of a Columbine victim.  She tells about this experience at the beginning of the book, so I won’t describe it in much detail here. Based on conspiracy theories that never materialized in the post-Columbine inquiries, The Prophetess One: At Risk sets the stage for what could have happened if those theories had proved accurate.

This is an alternative reality, if you will, set against a backdrop similar to what might have been before the Columbine shootings.

Anna is faced with often troubling visions of the future. Her husband, Jack, just wants everyone to get along – and that means avoiding being ‘weird’. Can she figure out what the visions mean in time? Can she protect herself, Jack, and their unborn baby? Can she accept the spiritual gifts she’s been given and protect the country?

Misunderstandings, coincidences and a seemingly supernatural framing send Anna to prison for the murder of a little girl. Her enemies are out to get her and her friends have troubles of their own.

I went into this expecting more romance. I don’t know why. Nothing in the stuff I read said THIS IS A ROMANCE, but that is what I tend to read the most of, so that’s likely why. I’ve tried not to let my initial puzzledness over genre affect my view of the book. I enjoyed it, though I believe I would have enjoyed it MORE if I’d gone into it with the right mindset. I’ve learned much from Linda’s “Pitch Your Book” app and look forward to reading more books by her – both book 2 in this series as well as others.

8 out of 10 stars

Current Facebook Status: So much laundry, so little time. And where’s that Mary Poppins snap thing when you need it?

Currently Playing in the Background: Whining children

Those of you who know me know that I’m a cheapskate. I don’t spend money easily or often [unless it’s on books, then sometimes I spend too much ;)]. Virtually all of my Kindle books were free. I’ve had an iPhone for two years but have yet to pay for an app.

But, somehow, I have two apps both worth about $10 each; the reality is they’re both worth far more.

The first is the iMapWeather Radio app. Literally, a lifesaver. No matter where I am, it will tell me if dangerous weather is headed my way. The official “National Weather Service” beep isn’t like the other beeps I get for text messages or appointment reminders, so there’s no chance I’ll confuse it with something else. But then a voice proceeds to tell me that I’m under some kind of warning. Thunderstorm. Tornado. And when you live in tornado valley, this is a Very. Good. Thing.

I follow Storm Chaser’s Reed Timmer on Twitter and that’s how I heard about the app being given away to the first 100,000 people. I was one of them.

The other app is also a potential lifesaver. Or at least a career saver. Hopefully, a career starter.

Linda Rohrbough is the guest blogger over on Pentalk today. As a part of my discussions with her about today’s post, she offered me a review copy of her new iPhone app Pitch Your Book. You can head over there to see what she has to say. Below is my unbiased review.

Now, keep in mind that I’m a pantser. I have no clue what’s going to happen before I manage to wrap up Suburban Straightjacket. [Well, that’s not entirely true, but I’m not anything like a friend of mine who has an EIGHTY page OUTLINE for a story she wants to write someday.] So any faults with what you see below are mine, not Linda’s in any way. And, of course, I procrastinated actually emailing these out so not much in the way of crit partners looking at them.

Linda teaches the three log line method and has for years. I’m not going to spoil anything by getting into the whys and wherefores of each of the lines she has us create, but here’s what I’ve come up with:

A confirmed bachelor inherits four kids, leading him to advertise on Craigslist for a wife. The relationship with his new bride is going much better than he could have dreamed when he loses his job, forcing him to become Mr. Mom and throwing his family into a tailspin. Through it all, he learns again that love never fails and, sometimes, laughter really is the best medicine.

If you’re like me and think that, well, anything is too much to pay for an app, you need to reframe your thinking. Don’t think of this as an app. Think of it as a conference workshop on your phone. You know that big conference in September everyone’s talking about? The one in St. Louis [go Cardinals!]? Yeah, that one. This app is something like a workshop you could take there. But you don’t have to travel. It’s right there. And reviewable. You can listen to it as many times as you want. Flip through the flash cards. Retake the chapter test to make sure you haven’t missed anything – or that you remember it even though it’s been a while since you listened to the lesson.

In all, it took about an hour or so to go through the app. I listened to most of the lessons in the car [tape deck, you know – older cars can still be techno friendly!] and then took the quizzes later. The concepts have been percolating in my head ever since. In fact, I’m typing this a few minutes after 1AM because that last sentence up there JUST came to me as I was lying in bed not-sleeping.

Did I get it right? We’ll see. Will Linda’s method work for me like it has many others? Only time will tell [look for a post in late September to see if it did]. Is this app also a Very. Good. Thing? Yes.

Plus something she said sparked the very, very basics of a plot for the sequel. Wanna see? [And remember, this is being written shortly after 1AM. Take it with a big grain of salt and blame me if you don’t want to see more. Not Linda or her app ;).]

A widow advertises on Craigslist for a father figure for her two kids. She doesn’t anticipate the heady rush of feelings that come whenever he’s around and tries to cut him out of their lives for good to avoid feeling like she’s cheating on her late husband. When he’s not easily deterred, she finally comes to grips with the idea that sometimes, life really does give you second chances.

So there ya go. If you have an iPhone and want to pitch your book effectively, run, don’t walk over to iTunes and get this app.

And watch out for that funnel cloud, would ya?

Current Facebook Status: Stuffed cat: $8. Stuffed Madagascar Penguin: Free with Happy Meal. Listening to Em and C play pretend together? Priceless

Currently Playing in the Background: NASCAR baby!

The very cool Keli Gwyn posted a pic on Facebook the other day. Of her. With Erica Vetsch‘s Idaho Brides. At Walmart. Since Erica is also so very cool*, how could I not do the same?

Note that I’m not in the picture like the adorable Keli was. But it was a really not picture day. Hair in a ponytail that defined sloppy. No makeup. Not enough sleep. Allergy nose. But the book is the star of the pic anyway :D. And there ’tis!

(Plus Erica has a fun blog. Check it out.)

Friday was also Matt’s birthday! You know what that means! CAKE! We try to buy the day olds because they’re just as yummy and 40% off. But it also means you have to go with what they have. I wanted to get this one:

But decided that I probably shouldn’t if there were other options available. And /sigh/ there was. Like this one:Uh. The book there below it. Yeah. Dunno how that got there. Sadly, the TBR list is so stinkin’ long I don’t know when I’ll get to it :(. Maybe I need better time management because surely there is enough hours in the day to do everything I want. If I don’t sleep. And if the days were 72 hours longer. Though if the days were 72 hours longer, I might be able to sleep too.

Right.

Cake.

Had the bakery gal put ‘Happy Birthday Daddy’ on it in dark blue. To make it slightly more boyish. She said she had a Barbie cake with ‘Happy Birthday Daddy’ on it a couple weeks earlier. If there had been a Barbie cake on the rack, I so would have done that. Penny would have LOVED it.

The bakery was also out of cookies :(. The kids were disappointed, but asked if they could share a different snack instead.Yep. That’s an apple***. They totaled the thing by the time we got home.

I have made progress on Suburban Straightjacket. And I have a plan for finishing it by ACFW! WOOHOO!

And check out Debbie Archer’s new webpage. This gal rocks!

*Have I mentioned recently how super duper cool it is to be on a first name basis with such cool people? Like for reals published authors with like cool** awards?

**Word of the Day: Cool

***This picture was taken using the rearview mirror to see what I was taking a picture of. We won’t mention how many retakes it took ;).

Current Facebook Status: Big girls off to their first day of summer school. Em playing on the computer. C [Thank God!] is still asleep. Now, to find breakfast since ‘donut Mondays’ only belong to kids going to summer school… So much to do. So little time. But C has been talking about [babysitter] nonstop since yesterday – today outta be fun ;).

Currently Playing in the Background: A 3yo and 6yo who are presently not fighting. Don’t worry. They will be soon.

Pepper Basham posted over on The Writers Alley today with a mention of lil ole me :D!

And since she linked to my website, which could lead a person or two over here, I thought I probably outta have some new content.

Uh… This is it.

Except for an update…

Spent Saturday at Panera. Was there almost 6 hours. Ate, got a good table [sort of in that order], piddled a bit checking email/writing a couple hundred words, sis got there and talked to her while she ate then spent about 4 hours really focused on writing.

Grand total:

6910 words

WOOHOO! Pounded out another 91 [apparently there was a discrepency somewhere] to end up with SEVEN THOUSAND! all together!

Now, Andrew took a surprisingly depressive turn [it really shouldn’t have been surprising, but it was], but I tugged him back out of it. Just hope it’s not too fast. But that’s what edits/rewrites are for.

I’m really excited about Suburban Straightjacket! I truly am. I think it has the potential to be my best yet [which isn’t saying a TON] and more likely than Unbreak Her Heart* to be first pubbed.

Today – no writing 🙁 at least not until after Bible study tonight. Too much to do. School starts tomorrow and I don’t have my schedule done, nor my house clean and since the babysitter is coming here… I should be doing that rather than updating ya’ll.

Yes. I said ya’ll.

Ya’ll come back now, ya hear?!

*Today is rejection #2 from AgentsIMostWantToHave. Another ‘if you haven’t heard from us in x days, it’s a no’. How am I supposed to wallpaper a room in rejections if they’re all ‘non-contact’ rejections? That said, another query is supposed to go out this week, but have to finish putting Pepper’s post to paper before that can happen.

Current Facebook status: Friends in the Springfield area – Cheryl Lynn Jones has a friend collecting stuffed animals for kids in Joplin [friend is working with… someone – an official group]. If you have any new or gently used stuffed animals you’d like to donate and can get them to us before Saturday at 6 or so we can get them to Cheryl. Thanks :).

Currently Playing in the Background: WOW playlist [2001, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011 on random shuffle]

Okay, God. I get it. Really.

But, first – huge prop shout outs to Casey Herringshaw and Debbie Archer who FINALED in the My Book Therapy’s Frasier Contest for unpubbed authors :)!!!!! So stinkin’ proud of them! SOOOOOO Happy for them!

So then… today…

Matt and I both teach at a local community college. It’s his second job and my main money making activity at the moment [with ‘Mom’ taking the spot as my first job]. We’ve been watching the numbers for our summer classes. You see, there has to be a minimum number of students for it to be worth while for the college to offer the class. During the regular school year, that number is 10 – though exceptions are made from time to time. For summer, the cutoff is usually about 8.

Matt’s class has bounced between 7 and 8 for the last week or so. Mine has hovered in the ‘more than 4 less than 8’ range for weeks. It was giving me an ulcer!

Now, true, if both classes made, I could register for ACFW, but it was so much more than that. Only one class would have us eating into our savings [like we did last year]. Friends [yes, Mom, I see you nodding wisely over there] and family kept reminding me that God has a plan and not to worry. Even if we only had one class between us, He’d provide – and provide a way for me to get to ACFW if that’s where I was supposed to be.

Last night, Matt had bounced back to 7. After stressing for a couple hours, I took a deep breath and said ‘Okay, God. It’s up to you.’ When we checked again, he was back at 8.

Today, I was still hovering at 6. I was writing Ruthie and Andrew’s story in Suburban Straightjacket and Ruthie [who has been through her share of tough times], told Andrew this when things got rough:

“‘Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet the Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the fields grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will He not much more clothe you, oh you of little faith? So do not worry saying “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For the pagans run after all these things and your Heavenly Father knows you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.'”

That’s Matthew 6:25-34, by the way. NIV I think.

So I took a minute as it sank in. Okay. I get it. Really. I do.

Talked to Matt a bit later and he suggested making some phone calls so we’d know when the decisions were official. My friend at my campus answered the phone ‘Yes, we’re keeping your class’. They think a couple more people may add this weekend now that the even smaller classes have been cut. Then I called the main campus and the gal I talked to there wasn’t 100% sure final cuts had been made, but was pretty sure they had been.

I sat here thanking God. Huge weight lifted off my shoulders. It had started to lift even before the phone calls as I claimed the promises for myself and not just fictional Ruthie for Andrew.

So when I write, I tend to have the WOW playlist set to random playing. I’d muted it while I was on the phone but unmuted it as I IMd Mom about the phone calls [and listened to her NOT say ‘I told you so’ ;)].

It was in the middle of the first verse of my theme song. Kutless’ What Faith Can Do. The first words I heard?

But you’re stronger, stronger than you know
Don’t you give up now

I sat here laughing.

Okay, God. I get it. Really. I do. Now, whether I’ll need to be hit over the head a time or two again remains to be seen. I probably will.

But Wednesday, after we start classes, I’ll register for ACFW and start seriously searching for roomies :).

Thank you, God!

YAY! Haven’t Flash Fiction Friday-d with Jan in AGES! So when she suggested we give it ago, I was so excited.

She let me pick the prompt [first line of my entry]. I got the three year old calmed down [after he woke up from a late nap and realized Daddy and sisters went to the ‘fe-a-twer’ to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2] and away we went! Remember, there’s no editing or anything that goes into these. Just write and post!

Since I got to pick the prompt, I found one that I could use where I am in SUBURBAN STRAIGHTJACKET. Andrew and Ruthie have been talking. She had a convo with Dylan [6yo nephew they have custody of] earlier in the day that they’d already talked about earlier in this convo.

A-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-nd. Here. We. Go!

The lump in his throat made it hard to swallow. “Are you sure?”

Ruthie nodded. “It’s what I want. I promise.”

“It really would be so much more work for you.”

“I know. I love the kids, you know that. So much, but I want to have a baby with you.”

Andrew felt his heart swell to three times its normal size. God, what did I do to deserve this woman? But she was still talking.

“I’m not saying I want to start trying to get pregnant, I think we could probably use a little more time to adjust to everything before we do. I was thinking that I could go off birth control and just see what happens.”

He kissed her softly. “I’m okay with that. Are you sure Dylan was? I don’t want him, or any of the kids, to think we’ll love him less because they aren’t our ‘real’ children.”

“Dylan seemed okay with it. Maybe you could talk to him?”

“I will. Do you think the adoption process will help with that, some at least?”

Ruthie nodded against him. “I think so. The last visit with the social worker went well. The process is proceeding. I hope all four of them know that we love them.”

His hand rubbed up and down her arm as she shifted to settle more fully against him. “Being pregnant may not be easy. Do you remember what it was like for Ally?”

“It wasn’t easy but it wasn’t horrible. I can handle it.”

He turned, moving away from her so he could see her eyes. “I know you could handle being pregnant, but what about finishing getting everything settled in here? Can you handle four kids you’re still getting to know and being pregnant at the same time?”

“My grace is sufficient.” She didn’t need to finish the verse or give the chapter and verse. He knew she was right.

“Okay then.” He was almost giddy as the idea rolled over him. He’d been a legal guardian since the day his sister and brother-in-law were killed in that car accident. He was learning to be a father to his nieces and nephews. But a baby of their own? When they’d married, he hadn’t even broached the thought in his mind much less in discussion with Ruthie. “We’ll have to be careful to make sure that the kids don’t feel neglected or unwanted in any way.”

“We will.”

Andrew pulled his wife to him, kissing her until the only thing left in the world was the two of them. Later, he tucked his sleeping wife next to his side. Smiling as he drifted off to sleep.

Little did he know just how much things were about to change.

****

There you have it! You can’t hold me to any of it if/when this ever gets published but there tis anyway ;).

Current Facebook Status: Last day of school for the kiddos! Time to make cookies [since I uh forgot to make them last night] and then take them up to school. Then date night after the kids go to Aunt ‘G’ory’s’ house for the night!!

Currently Playing in the Background: Uh… birds and a lawn mower. And sneezes. Because my allergies are driving me NUTS.

Please, please please, remember to keep Joplin in your prayers. It’s not too far from me. Westboro Baptist is supposed to be there Sunday protesting something or other. A peaceful counter protest is planned.

But on a lighter note… Look what I found today!

RUTHY BOOK!

I was quite excited. I’ve been watching for this one =D. Can’t wait to get back to Allegany County!

And look what else C and I found. He thought it was way cooler than I did [but I still thought it was pretty cool…].

Yep. That’s a Cars Slip-n-Slide! Think I may know what someone’s getting for his July birthday ;).

What do you think? Think he’ll like it?

And for the record, the bag is a Superman bag. Not a purse. =D

We’d gone to the store to get stuff to make cookies to run up to the school since today is the girls’ last day of school before break. I don’t know how this happened. Honest. I don’t. It just… hopped on in.But after we left the store, we went home, made cookies and ran up to school. Found all my girls, but only two teachers :(. They’ve all had such a wonderful school year! They all loved their teachers and I loved their teachers too! We’re going to miss them next year!

Though, it’s possibly Emily will have Abbie’s teacher next year [moving from K to 1] since I haven’t heard she’s moving to another grade/school. Like Maggie’s teacher. Who’s moving to a different grade AND a different school? Couldn’t she just teach 4th grade at OUR school? And keep Maggie?!

And Christopher only has a couple years before K, so maybe he’ll get Em’s teacher. Plus she and I already have lunch plans for the summer =D.

Here they are!

Maggie and Mrs. Brown!

She loves Mrs. Brown and is going to miss her so so much next year!

Abbie and Mrs. Carter! [She had to take her hood down. The wind was cold but we didn’t want the Unabomber look ;).]

Abbie loves Mrs. Carter and had such a great year!

And of course, Emily and Mrs. Jones. She a-dores Mrs. Jones!

Mrs. Jones wasn’t there so here’s one of the two of them from the kindergarten music special from a  couple months ago.

So sad another school year has come to an end. The older girls will start summer school in a couple weeks, but Em decided she didn’t want to go. We’ve got lots of fun stuff planned but still so sad to see these ladies leave their role in our lives :(.

[And I can’t make the last 3 pics cooperate so the writing is a bit funny. Sorry :(.]

Current Facebook Status: Thunderstorms again today. Cable just went out. After the massive roll of thunder, I’m not surprised.

Currently Playing in the Background: Christopher – because the cable is out 😉

First – please pray for those devastated by the tornado in Joplin last night. It’s about 60 miles from here. The storm that produced that tornado passed about 15 miles south of us. Most of you have probably seen pics, but it’s just horrible. 90+ dead at least count.

This post seems a bit trivial after that but…

It’s official. Of the query letters I sent out a couple weeks ago today is ‘rejection day’ for one of them. This particular agent has a ‘if you haven’t heard from me in two weeks’ policy. She hasn’t been on vacation or out of the office [at least based on her blog, etc.] so that is rejection #1.

So I guess it has until midnight tonight. I suppose. But the reality is, as expected, a rejection.

On a related note, still praying that DH and I get enough students in our classes to actually have them this summer. We have until sometime late next week to get 1 more student in DH’s class and 3 more in mine. That’s if all of the students currently enrolled have made payment arrangements. Otherwise they’ll be dropped the end of this week… /sigh/

Without that, I won’t be able to go to ACFW’s conference in September.

And I so need to.

Praying for students and for Joplin. And for me not to end up in a ‘rejection tailspin’.

Current Facebook Status: Check out the album on my page [that I shared from Gloria’s page] for a few pics from the 1984 Pep Rally vid.

Currently Playing in the Background: Criminal Minds finale

A friend of mine send me a DVD. 1984. Pep Rally.

First shot is my dad. Complete with his 1980s afro. =D

A bit later is my mom. For those of you unfamiliar with my story, this video was taken less than a year before she was diagnosed with stomach cancer and about 15 months before she died. That’s nostalgic. Bittersweet.

But fun.

She put on a hat and coach’s shirt and pretended to be my dad. There was also a bunch of other friends. I’m working to get it uploaded to YouTube sometime soon. If I do, I’ll post a link. Not that many of you have any idea who any of them are, but that’s okay ;).

I finished classes on Tuesday. Submitted grades. Am done for the semester. WOOHOO! Was paying our fabu babysitter for both days this week, I took the 3yo to her house and went to Panera for a few hours.

While I was there, I wrote two little words.

The End.

I finished!!!!! the rough draft for Nick and Becca’s story!

WOOHOO!!!!!

It needs a lot of work.

A.

Lot.

Of.

Work.

To get it shiny, but the bones of it are there. I got them into danger. I got them out of danger. More than once. So I think I can tweak and twist and cut and add and finagle until it’s something workable.

Maybe.

I think.

Or maybe somebody else could. I don’t know that I’m capable of it.

/sigh/

Sure. All authors go through self-doubt. Wonder if they’re good enough. Go through the ‘this is the worst thing I’ve ever written… at least until the next one.’

To be fair, romantic suspense doesn’t come naturally to me. I’m sure that’s part of it. But at the same time…

I read a partial MS by a gal I may be doing some critiquing with. It’s not done. About 170 pages finished. But it was…

P. H. E. N. O. M. O. N. A. L.

Seriously.

How this gal isn’t published already is completely beyond me.

And I wonder what makes me think I can compete.

It’s not just the genre thing [this one was also romantic suspense]; I’ve critiqued for some others in other genres I feel the same way about. I love them to pieces [you probably know who you are ;)]. Then I look at how the words are assembled. How phrases are used.

That elusive ‘voice’.

Steven King said, “Stephanie Meyer can’t write worth a darn.”* But he went on to say that she’s a great story teller. Not a great writer. A great story teller.

I wonder sometimes if that’s where I fall. Not on the great scale, mind you, but writer v. story teller. A great writer can make an okay story shine. A great story teller can sometimes catch a lucky break like Meyer did.

I have stories. I can tell them. Can I tell them well enough? Can I move from story teller to writer? Or am I kidding myself?

/sigh/

I don’t know where I’m going with this. Except that I’m not sure I have what it takes. As of Monday, I’ll be officially rejected by one agent [being honest, I’m not expecting a partial request**].

Maybe I’m just down in the dumps. I don’t know. But I wonder – how do you know? How do you know when you’re ready? Or when it’s time to give up.

But to end with a smile… Here’s a pic of me from the DVD. I was 9. Plus Dad with his fro.

*Don’t ask me where the quote is from. It’s all over the web.

**If I’m being really, really honest with myself, Unbreak Her Heart is unlikely to be my first published novel. Assuming I get published, it’ll likely be something else first and possibly Unbreak her Heart later.

Current Facebook Status: Thank God for overcast mornings on days the contacts don’t cooperate!!

Currently Playing in the Background: Biggest Loser, but wishing it was NCIS

I haven’t been completely up front about this whole ‘I wanna be a writer when I grow up’ thing with people I know ‘in real life’.

It’s scary to tell people that your dream is to write books and sell them and have people buy them at places like Amazon or Wal-Mart or ‘wherever books are sold’. There’s been a few people I’ve told who have been less than supportive. That makes me tentative to tell others. There’s a few people in my life who I’m certain will not be supportive – or will be ‘supportive’, but not really. You know, things like “Honey, we just don’t want you to get hurt when this doesn’t work out for you.”

And so I haven’t told very many people in my ‘real life’.

But…

It’s occurred to me that while I am protecting myself, I’m also denying both myself and my friends and family the opportunity for support.

Denying me:

• The support of friends and family who love me and want what’s best for me
• Well, isn’t that enough? 😉

Denying them:

• Not ‘I knew her when…’ – that’s not my point
• The opportunity to love and support me

I know that sounds kind of selfish, but it’s not meant to be. I’ve been thinking about how I would feel on ‘the other side’ of this. I would want the opportunity to be supportive. I would be hurt that I wasn’t allowed to do so. Some people more than others, obviously, but still.

And so I’m pondering whether or not to totally come out of the writing closet completely.

While it has nothing to do with the Purple Shadows vote, if those of you already in the know [mostly writer friends I’ve made along the journey so far] wanted to go vote [for me or not for me], go for it. I’m currently in a fairly distant third. But still third of eight :).

Back to pondering – and writing reviews…