A new blog

I've started another blog which will focus more on writing and books. If you'd like to join me over there as well, I would be really excited! Christinadwivedi.wordpress.com

Life Lately: kids and writing

It's been about a year since I posted anything here!

 My life lately:

 Spending fun days at home with my two year old, with the occasional outing.

Having a second grader in school, where I wish I could be more involved, but since you can't bring siblings to most school visits, it doesn't work out well.

 In between the above roles of motherhood, my mind has been focused on writing. I am in the process of formatting my middle grade(typically for 8-12 yr olds) children's fiction manuscript. I should be done in a day or two. I have learned a lesson, you should really type it all in manuscript format to begin with! *wink*

I have edited it over and over, had five family members/friends read it (thank God!), and am debating what to do with it next. I'd love more readers, people I already know, but the time commitment of reading it is not for everyone. I haven't had to beg for readers, and I don't want to do that. I want it to be someone genuinely curious and tell me that they are available to read it, which is what happened with my wonderful first five readers. I do have other relatives ready to read it, but I want to finish the formatting first.

Right now it's at about 75,000 words, yes that many thousands! Set in a time like late 1800's, where electricity is rare. I have given Earth a different name so that I could create new country names and change the geography. The twist is that there is interaction with visitors from another planet, where they are a little more advanced. So imagine someone like Mary or Laura Ingalls (Little House on the Prairie) meeting interplanetary travelers, and what an advanced society would be thought of in the year 1899, for instance.

I love period stories, but I also love futuristic or space travel stories. So I sort of combined them in my fantasy/scifi story.

I hope I'll have more to share about it soon!

I've also been reading a lot. I try to read a couple books a month, at least. I read that it's important to read the genre you are writing in, even though reading outside of your genre is helpful too! I have been reading one middle grade book after another, with an occasional memoir or cookbook in between. One of my favorite places to be is in the middle grade section of the library.

Hello...!

Just a quick post here to say hi I am alive and everything is good! It's been so long since I wrote anything here. Life just got in the way! I still enjoy checking out some blogs but have lacked the desire to post much. If anyone stops by here from time to time, know that I am around, somewhere. ;)

I still like finding pins on pinterest. But I usually don't pin a million at a time. But I love browsing it still - you can find me there!

Follow Christina's board Coffee Please on Pinterest.
Follow Christina's board fashion ideas on Pinterest.

Alabama snow

We live near Birmingham, so we were part of the great snow debacle of 2014! We made it home that day, barely!!! Finally the next day, we got to actually enjoy the snow.

An Amazing Trip

We got home a week ago from a 23 day trip of a lifetime. We visited The Netherlands (several cities there), Koln, Germany and PARIS, France in Europe!! Then we visited my husband's family in India. I will probably share a lot about it over time! I know I googled for tips before our trip and I'd like to help anyone looking for tips now! Traveling with a baby can make things crazy but our kids did great!!

Magical times

Fall colors

I love fall! 

A photo from a pretty day at a state park on my birthday, over a week ago

The Moon

A lot goes on in life without being blogged about. But I captured this full moon picture a few weeks ago and I love it! Had to share.