My Thanksgiving Gift To You

I had a different post planned out, but after spending THREE HOURS clicking around Cleolinda's HILARIOUS Twilight posts, I have decided to save my post for another day.

I found her posts especially amusing because my friend and critique partner J.A. Souders and I went to see Breaking Dawn yesterday.  There were lots of amusing moments in the movie, particularly any scene with Charlie in it (LOVE HIM), and Emmett's wedding speech to Bella and Edward (which was basically like, "Get used to not sleeping." *nudge, nudge, wink, wink*).  We also discovered the joy of scanning the credits for interesting names.  Two notable ones: Booboo Stewart (this is the kid who plays werewolf Seth!  For realz!), and Pharoah Barrett.  Which caused Jess to dare me to name a character in one of my novels "Pharoah."  I may take her up on this dare. :D

Anyway, go here and enjoy Cleolinda's recaps.  Both her recaps of the movies, and her recaps of the books are worth it.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I Got What I Wanted, But...

Wow.  It's been a loooooooong time since I posted. *sheepish look*

My only excuse is that I have three part time jobs and three children, and I was finishing revisions on my manuscript.  And, really, those are pretty good excuses, I think.

Okay, maybe not.  But I have news!  (No, sadly not that kind of news YET.)  But it IS news I have been waiting 13 MONTHS to tell you.

Yes, THIRTEEN MONTHS.

I finally have internet at my house! *cue fanfare*

I can hardly believe I managed that long without internet at home. o.O

And, now that I have it, I ... don't want to use it that much.

*GASP*

I know. It's utterly weird.  I do enjoy being able to type emails on a normal keyboard instead of with my thumbs.  And it's nice to be able to click over to someone's blogpost from twitter and be able to actually read the blog, rather than having the right sidebar covering the words.

But.

I'm so used to my emails on my phone.  And twitter on my phone.  And even the Blueboards on my phone.  I find the full sites overwhelming.

So. Weird.

I guess that means that I really could adapt to anything.  LOL.

In other news, I'd like to point you to a few things going on around the web.

First, my crit partner and friend, JA Souders is having a BOOK DEAL CELEBRATION EXTRAVAGANZA!  Head over and check it out.

Also, Jean Reidy is having an online auction to celebrate the release of her picture book, LIGHT UP THE NIGHT, and give books to a library in Uganda.  Check that out and bid!

Tuesday Whatnot

I only have a quick minute because I still don't have internet (it has now officially been a year.  WOAH), but I wanted to post about a couple of things.

First, I'm posting at the Oasis today, giving away Jaclyn Dolamore's Between the Sea and Sky!  You should go check it out!

Second, I'm a member of #WS4U (Writer's Support 4U), and many members do a weekly progress post.  Normally, I don't have much of an update, but today I can say YAY!  My manuscript is finished and with beta readers as I type!  (EEEEK!)  Cross your fingers that they LOVE it, and I can send that puppy out soon.

That's it!  Do you have any progress you'd like to share?  Tell me in the comments!

Help A Girl Out -- Twitter

I am a big fan of twitter (random question: Should twitter be capitalized?  It's not in the logo, but...).  I love being able to check in with people I think are awesome and sort of be in the beat of the kidlit industry.

But I’m having a concern, and I wanted to see how other people handle this. 

So, I don’t auto-follow.  But since I’m a bit of a people-pleaser, I have angst about it.  I feel bad.  I get all excited when someone follows me, and then I spend five to ten minutes (per person. O.o) trying to decide whether to follow them back or not. 

And I have gotten more stingy with my follows.  I’m currently following 877 people.  But often, when I only have ten or fifteen minutes to check twitter, I’m really interested in a select few.  My crit partners, agents I like, my favorite authors, etc.  Not that I don’t value everyone’s tweets, but the more people I add, the harder I have to work to check on my “regulars.” 

Now, I know that I can make lists, and that there are twitter clients what help organize feeds, etc.  But I still don’t have internet at home, and mostly check twitter on my phone, so those things don’t really help too much.

So, I really have two (multi-layered) questions for you.  First, do you auto-follow?  Why or why not?  If you do, how do you keep track of your “regulars”?  And second, if you use a twitter client (hoot suite, tweetdeck, etc.), which one do you use, and why do you like it?

All About Me!

I know, the post title is lame, but I'm a preschool teacher, and this is something I do every year at school.  Since I'm being announced as the newest member of the OASIS FOR YA blog (YAYAYAYAYAY), I thought it would be a good time to give an Overview of Larissa for anyone new (or old and forgetful--lol).

Alrighty then.  First, and foremost for this blog, I am a writer.  I write YA Paranormal, and my current favorite books include (an exhaustive list would be ... uh, exhaustive): Rachel Hawkins' HEX HALL series (and I want to be Rachel when I grow up--she is awesomesauce), Rachel Vincent's SOUL SCREAMERS series (are we noticing I am a fan of series?), and JA Souders' ELYSIUM CHRONICLES (Ha!  I've read it and you have to wait until next year! Muahahaha!).

Of course, I have other jobs, too (too many JOBS! OMG.)  I also teach pre-k (that's the four-year-olds if you were wondering).  I have FIFTEEN kids in my class, so I am pretty much always either exhausted or hopped up on massive amounts of caffeine.  If you want to get on my good side, bring me Starbucks.  PLUS, I am the Handbell Choir Director and teach 1st-3rd grade Sunday School at my church.  Whee!

As if that weren't enough, I have THREE children, ages 8, 6, and 4.  So ... yeah.  O.o

Oh, and I haven't had internet at home for ELEVEN MONTHS because my wonderful husband didn't want to add another bill to the pile.  I have been told this will soon be remedied, but I am not holding my breath.  Again: O.o

If you want a taste of my sense of humor, check out this post, or this interview.

That's me!  I'll be doing my first post at the Oasis Thursday, so I hope you'll come visit me there, too!

Ooh, and I almost forgot, you should definitely check out the Oasis today, because there's a GIVEAWAY!!!

My Summer Vacation Part 2: South Dakota!

I have a lot more pictures for this post.  If you've never been to South Dakota, it is really just a different kind of place.  It's hard to describe, but I think some of these pictures will help.

Our traditional stop on the way into see my family at the ranch: AL'S OASIS. 

And look what you can buy! RATTLESNAKE EGGS.  Dude.

This is what the drive looks like pretty much all the way across the state. Along with the occasional herd of cattle and field of hay bales.

And when we arrived, we were invited to a wedding!  A distant relative's wedding.  In a bar. It was fun!

My uncle's cows.

I think this is the Little White River where it comes through my uncle's property.

Martin, SD. 'Nuff said.

This is an old truck on my uncle's farm.  My husband desperately wants to come get it someday and rebuild it. But anyway this is how they do things in SD. When you're down with your truck, you park it somewhere on your property and go get a new one.

Here's a picture of my uncle baling.  They cut the hay, then rake it into rows, and then bale it.

Here's my dad and one of the kids on a four-wheeler. My husband even got me to drive one. Wheeee!

We drove up to see Mt. Rushmore.

So that's South Dakota!  It's really fun, and a unique place to go.  I couldn't live there because of the weather 70% of the year (I hate snow), but I love to visit.  I forgot how much I loved my uncle's ranch (formerly my grandma's ranch) until I got there.  Even the smell was comforting and familiar.

My Summer Vacation Part 1: Vegas!

What a crazy fun trip! First, being away for two weeks is just weird. Our house even smelled different when we got back.


Anyway, we began the trip in Las Vegas. My parents actually live in Henderson, which is a suburb.

Here’s the view from my parent’s backyard:

And here are some pictures from the window of the hotel my husband’s conference was at:

I tried to stop by the local high school from my parent’s, but no one was there. I did manage to take a few pics through the gates. As I thought, it’s a lot like some schools here in Florida—with open air hallways.

If you’ve never been to Vegas, it’s definitely an experience. The casinos are strange with flashing lights everywhere, but they feel like it’s night all the time. And you have no way of knowing what time it is, since there are no windows or clocks around the casino areas.

There are slot machines in the grocery stores.

It is crazy hot. And dry.

We also drove about an hour and a half into the mountains to visit a friend of my dad, who has horses, donkeys, and chickens:

That’s pretty much it. Let me know if I can answer any questions!

Next: South Dakota!