Amie Borst

For my daughter's 10th birthday last May I bought her THE HUNGER GAMES. She loved it so much, that's all she talked about. When she learned there was a sequel, she just had to have it. So we bought it and again, that's all we heard about. At that point, I figured, I better take a look at this book. So I read the first two books in the series and fell in love. I talked about it so much my husband had to read them. Then my 12 year old daughter got involved. When MOCKING JAY came out we pretty much fought over who was going to read it first. (I won, since I read the fastest.) But that's not what my blog post is about. Not really. It's about the impact of good books in real life. Ever since we read THE HUNGER GAMES trilogy, we've adopted Katniss Everdeen's "Hollow Days" saying. Whenever someone in our family is super hungry now, and no amount of food will fill us, it is called a Hollow day. My children say it often. Very often.

If you're one of my facebook friends, or if you read my blog post from last Friday, you'd know that I've had a sick house these past few days. It started with my little one who fell ill with Strep throat and possibly the flu. Then my husband, who had confirmed flu. Now my middle daughter is starting with a sore throat and fever. There's only two of us who remain - myself and my eldest daughter. We're dropping like flies! So, to beat the flu blues, I've come up with a list of the top 8 reasons why blogging is better than the flu. #8 Bogging doesn't cause bed head. Unless of course you're blogging WITH bed head, then that's another story. #7 Bogging doesn't make you sound like the adults on Charlie Brown cartoons (mwa, mwa, mwa, wah) when you talk through your stuffed up nose. Unless you accidentially bump your nose on the computer monitor straining to read the super tiny print somewhere on someone's blog that thought it would be funny

I was asked to make a Valentine themed teddy bear cake for a baby shower. This is what I came up with: It's a triple layer 8 inch round (red velvet cake, of course!), covered in fondant, with fondant hearts. The teddy bear was hand shaped using chocolate fondant. What do you think?

This is usually where I'd announce Free Crit Friday...but unfortunately I won't be offering my crit this week. I'm swamped with a revision on my first manuscript (one that I had shelved a while ago) and need to focus on finishing it! Ya'know....I gotta GIT R DONE, ya'll! But never fear, I'll be back next week with another offering. So tell your friends all about it and get your query letters/first pages ready! In the meantime, here's a good laugh! Happy Friday!

I read. A lot. As a writer, it's essential. As a business woman it's pertinent. One thing I've been studying is this eBook trend, especially in self-publishing. I've read lots of success stories. One about a Miss Amanda Hocking . She sold 420,000 copies of her books last year. FOUR HUNDRED TWENTY THOUSAND! Okay, yes, I'm sure she's the exception to the rule. But then I read about Victorine Lieske who sold 27,000 books in January and made over $7,000 in that month alone. Now, I don't know about you, but I could certainly deal with a $7,000 paycheck each month. I'd take it every other month for that matter. Heck, I'd take it every quarter. Because, quite frankly, that's more money than I'm making with my novel sitting on my hard drive collecting virtual dust. I've heard lots of bad things about self publishing. But the amazing thing is that all the "bad stuff" all the stuff that says self-publishing has no me

Great things come to pass. (Book Of Mormon, Alma 37:6) You don't have to be Mormon, or Christian or any religion to believe the truth in those words. It is, quite simply, true. By small and simple things great things do come to pass. These words wouldn't leave me this morning as I drove my children to school, as I did my errands, as I ate my breakfast. They wouldn't leave me because there is a great truth to them. And that truth can apply to anything in our lives. This past week I made a valentine baby shower cake. Here's a picture: It took a lot of work to make this cake. Not only did I have to gather the ingredients, but I had to prepare the pans, make the batter, bake the cakes, whip the frosting, knead the marshmallow fondant, make the filling, allow the cakes to cool, then level, fill and frost the cakes...all before I could even start decorating. In the end, the product was beautiful (or so I like to think). Then over the weekend, I made Valentine

First I want to say THANK YOU to all my awesome new followers! I'm so glad you found me here and look forward to getting to know all of you better! Second I want to tell you how brave each and every one of you are. It's not easy to let anyone crit your work, let alone a stranger. Thank you for trusting me and I hope I was able to give you something useful to apply to your manuscripts! Each of you are clearly talented writers who will go far. There's something really important I learned in this process. Wanna know what it is? I'm gonna tell you anyway. But first, a quick story.... I started critting the 150 words on a Saturday afternoon. And because I'm kinda, sorta, maybe a little OCD, I did them in order. It was obvious that there was a lot of talent in the bunch. But every crit I did I kept going back to the very first story. I couldn't stop thinking about it. I'd read another story, crit it, then go back to that first one. I'd read t

You heard me right! 150 followers contest is in full swing! And boy do I have some awesome shiz in store for you! First - the prizes: *1: All of my awesome new followers (that's anyone that has joined since January 1, 2011) will automatically receive a critique of their first 150 words of their manuscript! And because I LOVE new followers so much, anyone that joins the site from now until Friday, February 4th, 2011 will also receive a free crit of their first 150 words! Say wha?? Yup you heard correctly. Anyone that joins from now until 2/4/11 will get a free crit of their first 150 words! Yes. I. Am. Insane. *2: The Query Queen herself, Elana Johnson , will crit one query letter. Plus, she's supplied some swag! And if you don't know who she is or why you want this prize, then you really need to come join us here on blogger earth. :) *3: Rose Cooper is the best blogger. Ever. And she's offering up a surprise! I'm not telling what it is. You