Interview with author Laura Yirak

Along this fun journey of becoming a published author, I have met some amazing people! It's really been awesome to see how authors support and help each other out, as we each try and promote our books. Because really, we can't do it all on our own. The only way for people to find out about good books is by suggestions from their friends (hint hint). So I decided to start interviewing a new author each week. I know a lot of you love to read, so check out my blog each week for some great book suggestions and get to know the wonderful people behind them. And here is my first author spotlight! Drumroll please...

Laura Yirak

1. Tell us 3 fun facts about yourself.

I'm very tall, I love aerobics, and I drink tea most of the day.

2. How long have you been a writer or known that was something you wanted to do?

I took a creative writing class in college and loved it. I started with poetry and have advanced to longer works.

3. Tell us about your current project.

I just released my new series, The Adventures of Be Boo & Dolly. Be Boo is a little blue dragon with green eyes and Dolly is a little pink doll with pink hair and a very pink dress. They work together to figure out their daily adventures. This series has three books, "Indoors", "Outdoors", and "Seasons". "Seasons" is free on Smashwords, see link below.

4. Where do you receive your inspiration or ideas for your books?

For this series, I was inspired by my little ones, who love it when I tell stories. I just put them to paper.

5. Why did you choose to self-publish?

It's easy and I love the freedom of it with no deadlines.

6. How often do you write?

I write M-F 2 hours/day.

7. Tell us about some of your future projects.

I am currently working on a longer novel- a psycho-thriller.

8. What are some of your favorite books?

I love the Thorn Birds and The Chronicles of Amber.

9. If you could co-write a book with another author, who would it be?

Anyone from IWU =)

(For those of you who don't know, this stands for Indie Writers Unite. A group that both Laura and I belong to.)

10. Do you have any advice for others who dream of being an author?

I say go for it! Now is the time!

If you are interested, here is Laura's blog: http://dreamsofdiamondsauthor.blogspot.com/

Find Be Boo and Dolly on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Boo-Dolly-Outdoors-ebook/dp/B005KK8GNI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316810681&sr=8-1

Or for free on Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/90115

Where were you...

when the world stopped turning? I realize September 11th was last week, but I have been reflecting on that fateful day and the ten years that have passed since. I was 17 and had just started my senior year of high school. I decided to go back and look at my journal from that year, wondering what I'd written that day. Well, I missed that day but wrote about the attacks 4 days later. This is what I wrote:

"On Tuesday, the 11th of September a very terrible thing happened. Some terrorists hijacked 4 airplanes (with lots of passengers) and ran two of them into the twin towers in New York. Another went into the Pentagon in New York (I know this isn't accurate, but that's what I wrote), and the last one was headed for the White House but some brave passengers stopped it and it crashed somewhere in Pennsylvania. Thousands of innocent people were murdered, and everything in all 50 states (including airports) shut down for a few days. This could be the start of world war 3. It is a very serious thing. It is even worse than Pearl Harbor. Next Saturday is Homecoming. I want to go so bad!!!"

Yes, I went from the attacks to Homecoming in the same paragraph. It's like, "Yeah this big thing happened, but now back to my life and my own trivial things." I seriously could not believe that was all I had written! Although, as a little 17 year old, I don't think I really realized the enormity and tragedy of that day. The whole thing seemed surreal and far away from me. It was hard to imagine it as an actual event, rather than some horrible movie they kept playing over and over on TV. I want to write, for my own records, what that day was like for me. So if you're bored already, feel free to skip.

I remember rolling out of bed that morning and barely being ready as my ride pulled up. Suzy Christensen and her dad gave me a ride to school every morning. The first thing she said to me when I got in the car was, "Did you hear about the airplane crash?" Still half asleep I, of course, had no clue what she was talking about. I only half listened as they repeated things they had seen on the news. I thought it was some little private airplane and maybe 1 or 2 people had died. And I am embarrassed to say I had no clue what or where the twin towers were. And I thought the crash was an accident. I had no idea what I was about to walk into at school! Everyone was in a frenzy talking over the situation and that's when I first knew something serious was going on. I got to my 1st period English class was Mrs. Trelease and everyone was so riled (including her) that she didn't make us have class that day. She turned on the TV instead and we began watching the news coverage. That's when I saw it. A dark shape came from off camera and headed straight for the other tower. I thought it was a bird at first, but then it crashed into the second tower and with lots of smoke and fire, the second tower fell. Everyone in my class gasped. No one could believe what we were seeing! No actual school work was done that day. Each class turned into a discussion over that mornings events and we spent the whole day with the news on, trying to grasp what was actually happening in New York.

Like I said before, I knew it was a big deal, but I didn't actually grasp the severity of the situation. Then a year later when I was a nanny in Virginia, I took a train to New York City one Saturday. I got it after that. Being at ground zero a little less than a year later was a very emotionally heavy experience. There was a huge hole in the ground where the two towers once stood. A fence went all the way around the edge and people had turned the fence into a tribute. There were pictures, stories, ribbons, flowers, and teddy bears attached to the fence in memory of all those people who had died. There were also stands near the fence with people selling things (a little tacky, yes) but I bought the picture at the top there.

It's so crazy to believe ten years have passed since that day! I helped Matt in his primary class last Sunday and one of the boys said he was born 2 days after 9/11. So weird to me that these 10 year old kids knew the story of that day, but none of them were even alive for it!

Where were you that day? I hope each of you have written it down somewhere so you can remember all the details. And hopefully you wrote a little more than a desire to go to Homecoming.

Magdalyn 5 Months

My sweet little baby is now 5 months old! She just gets sweeter, and more giggly, and cuter every single day! She now rolls over constantly. If you lay her down, she will be on her stomach within minutes. Though she can't figure out how to return to her back yet. She is super strong and can straighten her arms completely, to hold her upper half up when she's on her stomach. She is working hard to get those knees up under herself and it's just a matter of time before she is crawling all over the place. She has also found her toes and loves to grab her feet and play with them. She giggles all the time and is starting to get ticklish. Love it! If everyone around her starts laughing, she will laugh too. It's so funny! But she also has become a little more sensitive to noise lately. She does not like things to be loud, especially if they catch her off guard.

I also gave her her first taste of rice cereal this last week. Kalianna, of course, had to help. Magdalyn was intrigued by it. She opened her mouth and accepted each bite, and seemed to really like it. It will be fun to introduce her to new foods next month and see how she takes to each of those as well!

Potty Training Blues

Kalianna was ready to potty train before I was. I've assisted with potty training kids back when I was a nanny, so I know how time consuming it is. I didn't think there was any way I could do it with a little baby who needs lots of time and attention of her own. But Kalianna was ready so I half-heartedly took her to the store to get panties and a couple seats to fit on the bigger toilets. She did really well, but since I didn't throw myself into it like I should have, I would put her in pull-ups anytime we left the house. Stupid! Pretty soon she didn't want to wear panties anymore cause she realized pull-ups were the same things as diapers and she could go anytime, anywhere. I gave up and just had her wear pull-ups 24/7.

About a month later I realized I was being stupid and selfish and I needed to give Kalianna the time and attention she deserved. So we got rid of the pull-ups completely, went back to panties, and pretty much did nothing for 3 days except go to the bathroom. I set the timer for every 30 minutes and she had a sticker chart to win her special prize. I did everything right this time. I put 100% of my focus on Kalianna for those 3 days. The first day she had several accidents, but I never gave up on her this time. The second day only a couple accidents, and by the third day she was golden! If she started having an accident, she would stop herself and only get a couple drops on her panties. She started getting better at telling me when she had to go, and we were able to move the timer back to every hour.

She has even kept her panties dry all night since that first night. She has even woken me up in the middle of the night a couple times saying, "Mommy, need to go potty in toilet". I am so impressed with her! She still has trouble pooping in the toilet, but I know that takes a lot longer for kids to get comfortable doing. So I try my best to encourage her, and she has to clean up her own messes each time there is an accident.

Then this last week she has given up. She has multiple accidents a day, and doesn't seem to care in the least little bit. She won't even tell me if she is wet, she just keeps right on playing as if nothing is wrong until I notice her wet pants and make her change. She has told me the last couple days that she wants to wear diapers or pull-ups again. She doesn't try and stop herself, she doesn't tell me when she needs to go, she still has to clean up her own messes but this doesn't even seem to faze her. She doesn't mind being wet or dirty and she very matter-of-factly will clean up the floor or chair or whatever, change her clothes, and then keep on going as if nothing happened. I am at a complete loss! I don't understand why she doesn't care anymore? We still use the timer and have "potty time", I still get excited with each success, and she still has her sticker chart. Did any of you ever experience this with your children when potty training? Is this just a weird phase? Cause I can work through it if it's just a phase that will pass. I am just so frustrated right now! I know she can do it, but how do I get her to want to again?

Book Trailer!

Check out my new book trailer!

Sweetness

I love how sweet Kalianna is to her baby sister! And Magdalyn just loves watching her big sister's every move. I know they will fight on occasion, as siblings do. But I can tell already just how much they love each other and I hope as Magdalyn continues to grow, they will be good friends.

The other night we were gathered on our bed, getting ready for scripture study, when Kalianna bent down and whispered "I love you Maggie". Then she kissed her sister on the head. It was so sweet! Matt and I looked at each other and smiled. I could tell we were thinking the same thing. "You want a pony? Okay! I'll buy you a pony!" Seriously. It was so cute, we would have given that girl anything she wanted!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Last week was our ward's annual swim party. Kalianna got some fairy tattoos from her grandma so I thought this would be the perfect night to wear them. Kali picked out which one she wanted each of us to wear and she giggled as I put them on. She has been showing them off to everyone ever since. She especially loves to point out that even Magdalyn has a Tinkerbell fairy on her arm.

Her eyes got so wide when the flash went off, it makes her look terrified!

Kalianna's new favorite thing at bath time is having me style her hair after we put shampoo in it. Here she is sporting a lovely mohawk. I hand her a little hand mirror when I am done, and she looks at herself and just laughs and laughs.