Well, I did it. Yay! Today my book, Death's Promise, got nominated for one of Dan Poynter's Global eBook Awards http://globalebookawards.com/. You'll find it in the Speculative-Comtemporary Fantasy-Fiction category.  "The Global Ebook Awards honor and bring attention to the future of book publishing: Ebooks. Now in its second year, the Awards are in 72 specific categories. They are open to all publishers large and small so that a winner is the best in its category not just the best of small or regionally-published ebooks. The awards ceremony will be in gorgeous Santa Barbara on August 18, 2012." This was a contest recommended by Mark Coker on Smashwords and I thought I'd check it out. There are approximately 250 judges and I knew this would be a good way to get a wide variety of people to read my book. I'm new at this and really don't have a huge social network following. I get excited when someone views this page or I get a partial download of my book. I know, I know I'm silly but I'm getting old you know. I still have a rotary phone for God's sake. Anyway, I thought I'd enter and see if I could entice some new readers. I published Death's Promise as a young adult fantasy book but when entering it into the Global eBook Awards, that category didn't exist. There was teen literature and a couple of fantasy categories so, I thought about what my book was and thought it leaned more towards fantasy than teen. Plus, the few people who have given me feedback were not teens. My book was evaluated and accepted as a nominee January 26, 2012 (I just got the email).
The awards ceremony is in Santa Barbara, California and my kids are insistant I take them in August. I must take them with me, they say, so they can be there to support me. I will wait and see if I go. It would make a great holiday. If only my husband could go with me. Oh well, I'll pull a Scarlet and think about it tomorrow. For right now, I'm just happy I got nominated. Wish me luck.

Well, my youngest daughter turned thirteen last week and became an official teenager. I have survived two thirteen year old girls and I know I can survive a third but no more. When my grandchildren in the far away future turn thirteen, I will have age and wisdom on my side to help me guide my children through the parental teenage years, yeah right! All I'm going to do is stir the pot and sit back and laugh. All those times my kids thought I was out of touch and should let them stay up all night and then go to school the next morning or when their answer to 'Do you have homework?' is 'Not much, I can do it later' only to have their teacher inform me they haven't handed in anything all year. The days of 'I like my room the way it is. I know where everything is.' or 'Don't worry. If I eat this bag of chips now I'll still be hungry for dinner'. These days will be theirs to contend with and I'll sit back and see how they deal with all of it. Probably the same way I did and my mother before me and her mother before her: 'Because I said so,' or 'Wait 'til your father comes home' or 'Turn off the lights!', 'Shut the door!', 'Do you live in a barn?' and the best one of all 'You just wait until you have kids, then you'll see.' But they'll also have the joy of recieving little painted drawings, mushy kisses and big warm hugs. They'll feel the indescribable pain of seeing them cry from scraping their knee, breaking up with a boy, being teased at school and they'll hold them until they feel better. I'll sit back, like my mom and watch the joy and frustration they get from their kids and it will only make me miss the teenage years and be grateful that I even had them at all.   

I just found out that the Smashwords site is down. If anyone out there wants my book, here are some links to the various ebook stores:
The Kobo Store
http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Deaths-Promise/book-8sbhz7H3ykeheWZRE8uaRQ/page1.html
Barnes and Noble
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/deaths-promise-cheryl-twaddle/1108336917?ean=2940032978053&itm=3&usri=death%27s+promise
The Diesel ebook store
http://www.diesel-ebooks.com/item/SW00000120588/Twaddle-Cheryl-Death-s-Promise/1.html
The istore for apple
http://itunes.apple.com/ca/book/deaths-promise/id496508544?mt=11

Yay!!! I reached 500 page views. Thanks to all who have come to visit my blog. I know it's not the most exciting blog in the world but I appreciate your visits.

Did anyone watch the Grammys last night? I did and I must say they weren't that bad. When I was a teenager, I used to watch all the awards shows and being an 80's teen, the Grammys were particularly interesting. I wanted to see the people who sang the songs I listened to. Videos were new and I didn't have MTV so getting any chance to watch my rock and roll favourites was taken with great excitement. Last night I found myself really enjoying all the music like I did back then. One thing I did notice, though, was how many strong women singers there are now. Katy Perry, Rihanna, Adele even Taylor Swift sang their hearts out. I think they put the boys to shame. What did you think?

Congratulations Professor Snape. You were voted the favourite Hogwarts Professor. Thanks for the input and now check out the new poll.

Here's some pictures from our day at the dog park today. It was beautiful out. I still can't believe it's February. We've had such a mild winter here in Calgary.

One of the baby bald eagles.

The park is getting full of eagles.

And more eagles in the far trees.

"Hey Dad what are we looking at?" asks Sheba.

Another eagle.

This one flew right over us.

Simon and Sheba playing. This is Sheba's favourite stick.

And she gets it...

...and pulls it out.

I saved it!

Canada geese on the river.

More Canada geese.

The poll is over and Harry Potter won the favourite book series. I'm not surprised. I want to share something that makes Harry Potter more than just a book for me and my mom. My dad died in June 2010 and my mom was understandably devastated. They had been married for 49 years and were as close as any couple could be. My dad had been in an accident in 1992 that claimed his memory but my mom remained devoted to him and he always had so much love in eyes whenever he looked at her. When he left us, my mom became so lost and alone. She came to spend Christmas with me that year and I decided to get her something that would help her on the days where she felt especially alone. So, I bought her all seven Harry Potter books and the first six movies (The Deathly Hallows had not come out yet). My mom loves them. I think she's read the books at least four times and watched the movies over and over again. She says she's never read anything that made her feel so happy before. The Weasleys are just like many of the families from the maritimes (which is where my mom is from), Harry is such a strong character who rises to any challenge, Hermione is smart and proud of it, and I could go on and on with the reasons why Mom likes it so much. I'm glad these books can take her away from her sad feelings and I thank JK Rowling for writing such a good story.

On that note, my next poll is a Harry Potter question and I hope everyone puts in a vote.