Baby Thoughts or a min-baby rant

With a new baby boy in the house we've been supplying words to the baby's every gesture, movement, diaper change, etc. While I have no way to knowing if any of this goes through a baby's head, I thought it might be entertaining to put down in a blog. Here we go:

What's with the brightness and the cold air? I liked it better when it was all warm and the light never changed. Heck I didn't even know what light was until a few days ago. I just enjoyed my cozy little den. Now I'm out here in the open, and it's not the same at all. I make little noises to show my discomfort and get lots of handling, but none of them seem to get it. Put me back in my baby-cave! That womb was just how I liked it. There was none of this clothes and diapers stuff, none of this sour liquid that burns up my throat.

Speaking of liquid, why does milk come in one flavor? Why isn't there a rainbow of flavors so that I'd get a little variety? Hour after hour, it's the same thing. Milk milk milk. I hate that I love it so much. Except for when it comes back on me. Then I want those curdles out of my mouth. Bleeck!

These people keep wrapping me up real tight and putting little hats on me. I've about got the hang of removing the hat. A few turns of the head and an arch of my back and the dreaded hat slips right off. Course, they keep putting it back on. It appears my staff aren't trainable. And the swaddling, Lord, I hate that. Don't they know I need to stretch out when I sleep? My right hand belongs right up next to my face, where I like it so that I can suck on my wrist when I like. A couple of times I outfoxed them and slipped my arm out of my sleeve and got it in position, but darn it all, they clothed me back up, wrapped me tight, and I fell asleep. Drat. I hate it when that happens.

Now they've got me in a sleep sack. Why didn't they think of this at first? To heck with wrapping me up like a tootsie roll in three blankets. In the sack, I'm warm as toast, and I can move my arms, thank you, Jesus. God bless the man who engineered sleep sacks.

And while we're engineering stuff, can we get a warmer for the baby wipes? Those things are cold, real cold, and I get startled and sometimes pee when I get wiped, then the whole clothing thing starts all over again. Can't they just let me be? I can hardly get any sleep for all these clothes changes. I'm not a fashion model.

Why don't they ask me my opinion? I'd tell them. Favorite position? In mama's arms. Favorite song? Silent Night. Favorite meal? Milk (Hey, i'm a one-trick pony at meals). Favorite blanket? Baby sack. Favorite diaper changer? My dad. He understands about boy parts. Favorite person? Mom (Hey Mom!). She makes the food. She's the best. Favorite dog? My Maddy. She likes to smell everything. I've got a pretty good smeller too. Least favorite thing? Hiccups.

And let me do a language decoder too. Big cry means I'm pissed. Little cry means you've got about twenty seconds before the big one comes, so hop to it. Whimper means I'm not ready to wake up but some lousy body process is happening. Clearing the throat and little grunts means I want my arms out. Enough with the swaddling folks. My arms need to express themselves.

See? Not much to this baby stuff. Now hold me again. I need a cuddle as I fall back to sleep.

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That's my take from a two-week old infant. Sound familiar?

Maggie Toussaint
www.maggietoussaint.com

Read Chapter 1 of Muddy Waters

Chapter 1 of my just released book, Muddy Waters is available at Vicki Hinze's Chapter 1 Zone. Share Roxie and Sloan's adventure as they search for lost treasure in a coastal paradise. Here's the link: http://web.me.com/vickihinze/chapter1zone.com/home.html

The book is available in digital and print formats at Amazon (kindle!) and The Wild Rose Press.

http://www.amazon.com/ and http://www.thewildrosepress.com/

Enjoy the read! Let me know what you think!

Maggie Toussaint

A super review of Muddy Waters!

Muddy Waters is out today. In honor of the new release, here's a review for my brand new romantic mystery:

The beauty of small town life is the sense of community and neighborliness that pervades everyday interactions and provides comfort in a time of crisis. The ugly underbelly is everyone knows what you did, what your daddy did, and what your granddaddy did, and those same neighbors are slow to forget or forgive.

Author Maggie Toussaint explores this yin-yang of small communitites in her delightful romance Muddy Waters-a book definitely worth staying up too late to finish.

Heroine Roxie Whitaker has sunk her roots deep in the small Georgia town of Mossy Bog. Despite the lack of eligible men, she loves the slower beat, the complicated interactions of its residents, and the fact that everyone knew and liked her grandmother, and by extension, knows and likes her. Yet she is fearful of missteps and the town's censure.

Sloan Harding grew up the town pariah thanks to his father's constant drunk and disorderly conduct, his grandfather's reputation and his own wayward youth. Yet he found freedom in not having to live up to expectations, and after leaving Mossy Bog, he became a successful Atlanta businessman. Now back to fix up the family home-and hopefully find the rumored Harding fortune-he must face the disapproval of a town that doesn't let go of the past.

And though Sloan and Roxie have to navigate the muddy waters of his past to reach their future, it's clear from the start that Sloan is the perfect complement to Roxie's take-no-risks nature.

Toussaint's book is a delightful, contemporary romance spiced with a mystery that keeps you guessing whether the Harding fortune exists or if it was just a figment of a drunken imagination. Sloan and Roxie's relationship unfolds in a natural way that draws the reader into their story. And the barriers between them and happily ever after are so organic to their personalities and their past that the reader truly wonders if these two will be able to work it out.

-Keena Kincaid, author of Enthralled

MUDDY WATERS IS OUT TODAY. IT'S AVAILABLE IN DIGITAL FORMAT FROM THE WILD ROSE PRESS AND IN PRINT FORMAT FROM THE WILD ROSE PRESS AND AMAZON.COM. If Blogger wasn't being stupid I could paste the direct buy links in here, but I'm on a borrowed computer for now and can't manage to find the right combination of keys. I hope stalwart readers can handle a little internet navigation.

As always, thanks for reading!

Maggie Toussaint

author of mystery and romance

http://www.maggietoussaint.com/

SEMWA Skill Build at Honey Creek

A picture is worth a thousand words, well maybe, 820 after our revision workshop at the Skill Build. Hope you enjoy the photos.






What a perfect weekend! We had mild temperatures, a nice breeze blowing off the marsh, and eager writers excited about our Skill Build.

My friend Holly McClure, who's a literary agent, an author, and an ordained minister, helped me pull this workshop day together. We had sessions on revising your work, on marketing yourself, on getting yourself into print, and an extended question and answer period about the state of the publishing world.

Jack McDevitt made it sound so easy, but he also handed out great advice. Jack's been publishing fiction for more than 25 years. If there's anyone who knows what it's like day in and day out, it's Jack McDevitt.

Though our attendance was somewhat low, those who were there expressed pleasure at coming and of getting new information. Whether it was prologues, critiques, or editing, the meeting room buzzed with interest.

Thanks to Holly McClure and Jack McDevitt for making this such a success. (Maybe I should change my last name to McToussaint?) And thanks to Southeastern Mystery Writers of America for sponsoring the event and providing the seed money. Couldn't have done it without you!

Enjoyed it!

Maggie Toussaint
MUDDY WATERS COMING OCT. 22
www.maggietoussaint.com