Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Look, Ma! No Oven Mitts!

Today is going to be a sort of "catching up" post, tying up loose threads from recent blogs. We'll start with one that relates to my OVER PROTECTIVE MOTHERS CLUB. Here's a picture my little scoot of a daughter sent me from her 4th of July celebration (Please note: Against all her early training, she elected NOT to wear oven mitts when she did her sparkler!) You know, you do what you can. You try to raise them right, but sometimes, kids are just determined to rebel.


WINNER ALERT! This next loose thread comes from Phyllis Campbell and her post about Love Comes Blindly. She's declaring EVERYONE who left a comment the day she was here a WINNER! So, Carol L, Heather D, Jane L, Ibeeeg, and Patricia B (along with moi!) have won a free ebook. Please send Phyllis an email at phylliscampbell84302(at)yahoo.com (Use the real @ symbol of course. I'm just trying to confuse the blog crawlers.) You see, it really pays to post a comment!


And lastly--an update on my STROKE OF GENIUS Name a Character Contest. I'm thrilled to report the voting has been fast and furious and the field is spread rather like a golf tournament--a couple names running neck and neck, another one stroke back and all the rest well within striking distance. I found this picture to use for more inspiration for my as-yet-unnamed character. You have to pretend he has red hair, but I love the frenetic energy and the onery expression on his face. He's up to something. Probably several somethings.

Or someones.

But what is his name? Here are the top ten finalists:

Phineas Rowan
Thaddeus Puck
Caleb Flynn
Gordon Rigsby
Bryce Wickham
Nash Rowley
Tuck Willet
Hoyt Pennington
Addison Quinn
Jasper Willoughby

Please cast your vote right now. Everyone who does is entered in a separate drawing for a big box of beachreads! Enjoy!

14 comments:

Heather D said...

Wow, that is very generous of Ms. Campbell!!

Is that Kevin Kline in the photo?

Jane L said...

Yes! Thank you, Emily and Ms.Campbell! What a treat! Emily I have to laugh at your daughter not using an over mitt for her sparklers, my youngest is 22 and I ALWAYS had to tell him DO NOT climb on roofs of any kind, what did the little bugger do, 4th of July climbed on his garage roof and JUMPED to his neighbors garage roof which is only about four feet away but OMG!!! What if he fell! I too say you can only do so much to raise em right! LOL!!!

EmilyBryan said...

Heather--I'm not sure who it is. I just collect pics of guys in period clothes because I never know when my imagination will need a kick in the pants.

Jane L--My goal was to get her to adulthood in one fully functional piece. Once they hit 18, I guess our job is finished. (But the "mama worry" goes ever on and on!) ;)

Phyllis Campbell said...

Emily, thanks for posting my 'winners' comment. You're the best.

I love those names for your contest. It's going to be hard to pick just one... Good luck, woman!

~Phyllis~

EmilyBryan said...

Phyllis, you were the perfect blog guest!

Fortunately, I don't have to choose the name now. It's up to my readers to voice their preference. The name with the most votes is the one I'll use.

Cheeky Girl said...

I was scared to death to hold the sparklers when I was little!

Those are a great selection of names! I've put in my two cents - crossing fingers :)

EmilyBryan said...

Cheeky--I wasn't trying to scare my kids. Just keep them from burning their little fingers. Ok, maybe the oven mitt thing was a little over the top!

Chloe said...

Jasper Willoughby- Greg Wise

Penny Watson said...

I love Phineas! Great name!

EmilyBryan said...

Desserts--Did you vote through my website? I can't count it unless you do (sorry.)

Penny-I liked Phineas too. All the names have something to commend them.

Patricia Barraclough said...

Thanks to Ms. Campbell. How very nice of her.
Like the picture. He is rather easy to picture with red hair.
Can you honestly say you wore oven mitts to hold sparklers when you were a kid? I know I didn't. We had sparklers all the time and no one got hurt. You are in more danger of having someone else bump into you with one. I solved that problem, we usually don't buy them.

Teddyree said...

good pic, isn't it funny how your mind can change when you connect something with an actual picture.
Looking at something in writing I voted for one name and as soon as I saw that pic, I thought, "he looks like a Thaddeus Puck" lol

EmilyBryan said...

Patricia--No, I didn't wear oven mitts when I did sparklers as a child, but I do remember having lots of burned fingers. Guess I was just clumsy. So I over-compensated with my own kids.

Teddy--Pictures do help solidify a character in mind, don't they? But the wonderful thing about reading is that you make my characters look like whoever you want.

I used to put family members into books I read. I stopped when I gave Tom Clancy's DING CHAVEZ my Hispanic brother-in-law's face. As I got further into CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER, I was scared to death my brother-in-law wasn't going to make it out of Columbia alive! My sister would never forgive me.

Carol L. said...

Hi Emily,
That's really generous of Ms. Campbell. Thanks so much.
Carol L.
Lucky4750@aol.com