A post 9 years in the making.

Today, I'm going back. Not waaaay back, but back 9 years.  

If you follow me on twitter, which I think you TOTALLY should (shameless plug), I’m about to unmask one of the infamous Ruiz mini-mes that grace my feed.

Twelve years ago, I fought a battle that I wish on no one. I fought cancer. And I won (knock on wood, Thank You, God.) Part of my fight was with the help of radical, experimental chemotherapy mixed together into a potent and potentially deadly chemo cocktail. There were no fancy umbrellas with this cocktail and the side effects were potentially devastating. My dream to be a mommy may have been just that … a dream.

Almost a year after we finished chemo, my oncologist, the ever brilliant and uber amazing Dr. Chawla, said we could start trying to have children. A couple of months later, we got pregnant! The high of being able to get pregnant met with a soul crushing miscarriage on Christmas day. I thought for sure it was because of the chemo. I thought certainly this was going to be how Mark and I spent the next few years.
My brother, Patric, disagreed.
He said, “Mindy, he’s just not perfect yet and he’s stubborn. He’ll get it the second time around.”

I’m not sure how Patric knew the baby was a he.

I’m not sure how Patric knew we would try again, because, at the time, I was certain I couldn’t go through the loss again.

But three months and two pink lines later we were, surprisingly, pregnant.

I held my breath for ten weeks!

And then took only short quick breaths for the remaining thirty weeks.

On November 8th, 2003. Jacob Anthony Ruiz was born.

And just as his Uncle Patric had promised, he was PERFECT!!!

He still is.

He has the tender soul of his Grandpa Doc.

The righteousness of his Daddy.

The adventurous spirit of his Uncle Patric.

The best hugs ever like his Granny Bea.

The persistence of his Granny Carol.

The wiliness of his Uncle Daniel and Uncle Maty

The LOVE for the USC Trojans like his Uncle Josh and Aunt Kat

And he has my smile and imagination.

Happy Birthday, Jacob.

Love, your Momma!

Just another Monday. The kind where I kind of strip naked...

Me … naked.
It’s not a pretty thing, but that’s what I did today.  Ripped off all my perfectly plotted clothes and stood there stark naked. 
I hit the send button.
And now, I’m standing there … like this.

It’s only been a couple hours and already I’m looking over my shoulder.
Wondering if anybody’s watching? 
Who’s pointing? 
Praying no one is laughing.
But honestly, I’ve seen myself naked.  Bad commas, dangling participles … the kind that could use a good nip there, maybe a tuck over here.  You know, the Secrets Victoria can’t even hide.  And that modifier!  Good lord it’s a good thing I’ve got a personality to go with that sucker. 
Still naked, probably will be so for the next sixty days.
That’s what the website said.
And I’m okay with that.
 *gulp* 
I mean what’s the worst that could happen.  A nice lady hands me back my sub-plot with a “not my cup of tea” grin?   Maybe I’d get a parting scone. 
OH. MY. GOD!
Who am I kidding!
I’m freakin’ naked!
*deep breath*
*hums I’m Sexy and I Know It.*
Wish me luck…
I’ll be reading this awesome keynote by MyraMcEntire.
I won’t be hard to miss ...  I’m the naked one.   

Birds, Worms, The Vidalia Chopper and Me.

Burning the midnight oil and grabbing that early worm are really kicking my butt! The purplish smudges under my eyes are my only reward, right now. 

Flat tush, round belly, jiggly arms, laundry piles, dust bunnies.  Just a small list of my “accomplishments,” right now. 

Imaginary friends, crazy worlds, reality and fantasy living harmoniously. Rough edges, smoothing; holes, filling; lines, tightening. It’s all coming together.

Eminem, Natasha Bedingfield, and, yes, sometimes Neil Diamond. 

The Vidalia Chopper, make-ahead meals, Post-It notes, correction tape, and my iPhone.

“Saucing the taco.” Eldest of five,  only girl, crazy head shakes and lots of these !!!!!!!!!

Friends with great news, Friends with amazing sales, Friends who understand this *head ca-thunk*

Friends with grown-up girl’s gone crazy alcohol nights (that just means two drinks), friends with O-type blood, friends who make pictures and paper fun.

Warm looks, 123’s, proud of my wife comments, “Best. Book. Ever … I want to play this part.”

Sleepy babies, the snuggle shuffle at two in the morning, I love you, mommy-ies that are only out shined by the occasional, “I’m proud of you, mommy”. 

My favorite things.
And one day, I hope they’re as proud of me as I am of them.

My Favorite Things Monday... COUNTDOWNS TO AWESOMENESS!!!

Here are a few of my favorite books that are counting down to HOLY COW CAN'T WAIT TO READ awesomeness!!!

SPECTRAL by Shannon Duffy
4/10/12



UNRAVELING by Elizabeth Norris
4/24/12



INSURGENT by Veronica Roth (Book #2)
5/1/12

TIMEPIECE by Myra McEntire (Book #2)

6/12/12

INBETWEEN by Tara Fuller
8/14/12




DEFIANCE by C.J. Redwine
8/28/12

MY SUPER SWEET SIXTEENTH CENTURY by Rachel Harris
9/11/12

What books are you looking forward to this summer?

My Favorite Things ... It's a Monday!

I have TWO favorite things this week!!!
Yes! Two!
It's my birthday tomorrow and I consider it one of my perks of turning f-f-forty to, ya know, have two.
So, obviously I'm embracing my new decade like any woman would, kickin' and  screaming gracefully and well poised like two of my most favorite literary characters: Emerson Cole and Sophie Mercer.
If you haven't eaves dropped read their hijacked posts over at Myra McEntire's blog, YOU MUST!!!
And you'll see WHY these two girls are helping me ease into my forties!
I may have to say "forty" a few more times this post before the gasp and need to fold into the fetal position subsides. 
Forty.
Me.
Inner Never Grow Up Teen.
Back on track.
Emerson & Sophie:
Emerson can time travel.  How cool is that! And how freakin' convenient given tomorrow's, um, big day.  If you could, would you time travel to change history?  What if it would upset the whole space time continuum thing-y.
Sophie is a witch and not the kind that rhymes with 'B'.  Sophie also has some pretty amazing parents that reunite in SPELL BOUND.  And, she has an Archer. Trust me, you sooooo want an Archer in your life.
My two favorite things this Monday, besides turning forty (one more, I may have one more in me.) are Sophie Mercer witch star extraordinaire of the HEX HALL Series and Emerson Cole, the girl who probably time traveled to the future and already knows what I'm going to be giving away, star of the HOURGLASS Series!
What's a pre-party with out favors?
Enter to win:

AND

 

My Favorite Things Monday! A royal, A naughty and A favorite!

Living in So. Cal, a glass slipper's throw from LA LA Land, you can only imagine how many friends I have that are aspiring singers, actors, models and/or directors.
You can also imagine how many of the "Amazing Wedding Entrance" videos I see. 
I've narrowed it down to my two favorite.
One you'll remember...


And one includes my favorite bad boy, Harry!

My Favorite Things = Queries ... yep, it's a Monday! Query???

Like most writers, I hate querying!
HATE. Querying.
Querying is like a giant word problem with variables like: X is to Y like cat is to? 
And the cursor on the screen blinks at you like some psychotic math teacher who KNOWS you have no idea that the answer is Mount Everest.
I hated querying.
Yep, used the past tense on that sucker.
Why?
What?
Who?
Come closer and I’ll introduce you to the ninja master of Query letters.
First, do you solemnly swear to scream all of the awesomeness about the author from who you are about to learn?
~nod your head and eat this piece of lemon bar~
Second, do you promise to never glare at your screen when asked to write a one-page query?
~nod and put on these stilettos~
TR-uuuu-St me!
Finally, Do you  *insert pen name*  pinky promise that you will tweet, +, Facebook and all other forms of crazy social media this author’s name and book to all of those floundering, query zombified writers who aimlessly bang there head on their desk when attempting to write a query?
~nod and spin three times~
Alright. *glances suspiciously over shoulder while reaching into my Johnny Depp fan club tote bag*
Here it is:

C.J. Redwine’s, QUERY: Everything You Need to Get Started, Get Noticed, and Get Signed. 

I was privileged enough to take C.J.’s weeklong query course of awesomeness. 

The woman takes the word problem of queries and gives you what X is, tells you why you need to have Y and –here’s the best part, after reading QUERY— you will always see why cats are equal to Mount Everest and dogs are likened to underwater basket weaving.

C.J. takes the quandary out of the Query and makes you feel confident when hitting that send button.  At the end of her weeklong class, I had a shiny query letter that I couldn't WAIT to share.
C.J.’s YA debut, DEFIANCE, comes out 8/28/12 from Balzer & Bray, so the girl has some serious success when it comes to the query question.
Still not sold?
You can follow C.J. on Twitter
And I HIGHLY recommend you follow her blog.  

I’m so thrilled that C.J. put her Query class into e-book format I’ve already bought one AND I’m going to be giving away a copy of QUERY: Everything You Need to Get Started, Get Noticed, and Get Signed. 
To enter, fill out the form below and if it isn't working, this is my first time using Rafflecopter, shoot me a comment and I'll be sure to beat  fix the problem. Sign in with your name and email so I can notify you if you're the WINNER!

And the winner is......

Stephanie!!!!!!

Stephanie, email me mindyruiz1(at)yahoo(dot)com for your Query book by C.J. Redwine!!!!



My Favorite Things... yep it's a Monday! With Chocolate and Heroes!!!!!

This is the kick off to heroes week!

And how better to kick off heroes week than with my very own favorite hero!!!!



too sweet!!!

Yep, that's my husband!

And besides literally saving my life, he is the inspiration to our heroes discussion this week:

Why Your Fictional Hero Shouldn't Wear A White Hat!

As if Mark's inspiration isn't enough, my amazing husband constantly brings me these yummies!!!!

EDIT MUST HAVES

And only 130 calories of AMAZING!

 

Mark's theme song is A Real Good Man by Tim McGraw.

*Yes, I gave my husband a theme song*   



see the resemblance! I. DO. TOO!!!!

 Now, if you've never listened to this song, then you must!!!! 
Aside from drool worthy husky voices and naughty references to h-h-honkytonks. 
....Wait.... I gotta catch my breath.....



mkai, I'm better.

There's a line from the song that just sums up what every hero should have a sprinkle of:

I may be a real bad boy, but baby I'm a real good man!

Now I'm not saying your hero has to be a down and dirty typical bad boy, but there needs to be an element of recklessness.  A moment where your heroine is completely flabbergasted, taken aback, holy cowed or SOMETHING by her potential "man". 

It's called tension ladies!

And even though we HATE when our heroes go against our words of wisdom, there's a piece of WOWZA that occurs when it happens at the right moment and over the right thing.

I can't tell you what that moment is, but ya sure as heck better have one!

Otherwise your hero will look like this:



Hi, I'm two dimensional and hate chocolate.
oh, you like chocolate...
me too!



Instead of this:



You'll like the chocolate...
on my abs of YUM!
Trust me.

 Or this:

You know you like my smolder!

Or THIS!!!!!

Firefighter Ruiz... so taken ladies.

Okay, I've shared enough of my eye candy husband. 

Now, go find that WOWZA moment in your WIP.

My Favorite Things ... yep, it's a Monday!

I debated about what should be my favorite thing.  I’ve got so many swirling around in my head.

I could go with the personal aspect:

weather, hot tamale candies, butterscotch coffee, fresh linens.

I could go the mommy route:

snuggles in the morning, mini-me- Dylann’s- dimple, I love you mommy’s.

But I think today I’m going to go with the writer in me and my most favorite thing is

the Microsoft Word Navigator. 

I LOVE IT!!!

I’ve always written my books in order. 

If I had an idea about another part of the book,

 I’d start a new document, save it and, usually, lose it!

Then I stumbled across Helene Boudreau’s blog. 

In this AMAZING site is a writer’s toolbox tab.

 If you ever do anything for yourself, go play in this site and this tab!!

This is what the navigation pane looks like. 

In here, you can flip from chapter 1 to chapter 20 like this:

And then, just as easily flip back to chapter 2 and repeat. 

This may seem extremely simple,

but to a girl who would create whole new documents for ideas…

this was fantabulous.

Voila! 

Two must-have, my favorite things!

1.      Word Navigator and 2. Helene Boudreau’s Blog!

My Favorite Things ... Yep It's a Monday!

The turkey is massacred. The stuffing ... stuffed and the only thing that remains of the mouth-watering, button-busting, amazeball Pecan Pie is the little tiny flakes of pie crust that even a mouse won't bother with!
Thanksgiving is over and that leads me to the MOST. FAVORITE. Time of the year!!!
CHRISTMAS!!!!!

I love Christmas and I love the holiday spirit. I love that New York is like a giant snow globe just waiting for a good shake. The people are friendly and the Rockefeller Tree is getting ready to be lit!

Have I mentioned, I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!
And...
There's nothing that can pull me back to my childhood like Christmas Special Songs!

5. Holly Jolly Christmas


4. The Snow Miser Song!


3. The Island of Misfit Toys!


2. The Year Without Santa.



1. A Charlie Brown Christmas.

My Favorite Things ... yep it's a Monday & a free Kindle giveaway!

Given today is the last day to enter the Keeper Kindle Giveaway!!!! 

I'm going to have to say my favorite thing for this week is ....

THE KINDLE!!!!
I LOVE this thing!
Where else can you flip from this:

To This

To THIS!!!!

Seriously think about the handbag/suitcase you would have to tote around to carry not just three books of amazing but your entire collection of AMAZEBALLS library!  I know. You'd look like some Hollywood starlet who was trying to hard to make it on the next episode of TMZ.

With the Kindle... you can be the uber cool writer reviewing a critique partner's manuscript. Or the ultra awesome reviewer reading the next holy-cow-this-review-is-gonna-rock ARC.  Or the avid die hard reader who just knows a rockin' good story when they read one.

You pick the slot that best fits you and in the meantime ... click here  to enter to win a free Kindle! Entering is super simple!
Read my author interview with Elizabeth Isaacs and her THE SECRET OF THE KEEPERS novel that's out now! And leave me a comment.

My Favorite Things ... yep, it's Monday

Two of my most favorite things are to sing insanly off key and dance and laugh.  Okay, that was three! I love throwing my iPod on and just making a first class fool of myself.  I'm sure the mini-mes will have many a mom busting a move therapy sessions.
What I love even more than ME doing these things is watching professionals that have talent oozing out of their all to perfect vocal chords and tippie toes make what I butcher look amazingly easy.

This Monday's favorite thing is Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake *swoon* and their history of rap video!
Enjoy!!!!!

My Favorite Things ... yep it's Monday!

One of my favorite things is something I can not live with out … and that is my almost 8 year-old son, Jacob.


If you follow me on twitter, which I think you TOTALLY should (shameless plug), I’m about to unmask one of the infamous Ruiz mini-mes that grace my feed.

Ten years ago, I fought a battle that I wish on no one. I fought cancer. And I won (knock on wood, Thank God.) Part of my fight was with the help of radical, experimental chemotherapy mixed together into a potent and potentially deadly chemo cocktail. There were no fancy umbrellas with this cocktail and the side effects were potentially devastating. My dream to be a mommy may have been just that … a dream.

Almost a year after we finished Chemo, my oncologist, the ever brilliant and uber amazing Dr. Chawla, said we could start trying to have children. A couple of months later, we got pregnant! The high of being able to get pregnant met with a soul crushing miscarriage on Christmas day. I thought for sure it was because of the chemo. I thought certainly this was going to be how Mark and I spent the next few years. My brother, Patric, disagreed. He said, “Mindy, he’s just not perfect yet and he’s stubborn. He’ll get it the second time around.”

I’m not sure how Patric knew the baby was a he.

I’m not sure how Patric knew we would try again, because, at the time, I was certain I couldn’t go through the loss again.

But three months and two pink lines later we were, unintentionally, pregnant.

I held my breath for ten weeks!

And then took only short quick breaths for the remaining thirty weeks.

On November 8th, 2003. Jacob Anthony Ruiz was born.

And just as his Uncle Patric had promised, he was PERFECT!!!

He still is.

He has the tender soul of his Grandpa Doc.

The righteousness of his Daddy.

The adventurous spirit of his Uncle Patric.

The best hugs ever like his Granny Bea.

The persistence of his Granny Carol.

The wiliness of his Uncle Daniel and Uncle Maty

The LOVE for the USC Trojans like his Uncle Josh and Aunt Kat

And he has my smile and imagination.

Happy Birthday, Jacob. You are and will continue to always be my favorite person.

Love, your momma

 

My Favorite Things... yes it's a Monday!

My favorite things!
Happy Halloween!!!!

Glitterfy.com - Glitter Graphics
Yep, Halloween… one of my favorite things!
Why?!?
1. Candy!
2. Dress up.
3. Boys willingly dress up too!!
4. Candy!!
5. Michael Jacksons THRILLER video!!!


6. Lots of reasons to jump into swoon worthy boys arms! *sigh*
7. Candy!!
8. Scary spooky glow in the dark teeth with optional flashing effect!


But another reason why THIS Halloween is one of my favorites is because today. Halloween. Is the release of ...

THE SECRET OF THE KEEPERS!!!!!!

This is the second book in the Kailmeyra Chronicles!
And, having read an ARC, this one is Fan-flipping-tabulous!
I loved THE LIGHT OF ASTERIA so much I even allowed Elizabeth Isaacs to kick me out of my comfort zone!
I will be a stop on her blog tour, November 12th!!!!
So, Yikes and YAYS.
To follow THE KEEPERS blog tour just click on this banner here:

And be sure to come back on the November 12th. for my first ever interview with Elizabeth Isaacs!