Are you ready for some football?

Running Backs

By Chris Redding

I love football. I didn’t always love football, but I do now. And I went to Penn State so it’s hard not to like football when you go there.

What’s my favorite position? Not sure I could have answered that until I was thinking about all my favorite players. The ones I have always rooted for to do well when they went professional.

They have all had one thing in common.

They are all running backs. And they happen to be some of the most famous PSU alum football players.

Info about running backs provided by: http://www.blackshoediaries.com/2007/5/13/221130/292

First comes John Cappalletti. He’s actually from my part of Pennsylvania so he was a known entity before he became a running back. He dedicated his Heisman Trophy win to his little brother Joey who had been diagnosed with Leukemia. That’s a big heart.

Curt Warner held the career rushing record at Penn State until Evan Royster beat him. He was also running back when I applied to Penn State. He helped win the Sugar Bowl for them not long after I found out I had been accepted. He was only 5”11”.

Next come D.J. Dozier whose tenure at PSU overlapped mine. I did get to see him play in person. His six foot frame could just keep moving down the field.

Blair Thomas was the first player to rush for 1400 yards in two seasons earning All American honors in 1987 and 1989. He also was playing while I was attending PSU. He stands only 5’10”.

Then there were a few years where I didn’t get to watch football. I got married and followed my husband’s career around Europe.  Then kids were born and when they finally reaching an age where I could sit for more than a nanosecond, I resumed my football watching.

So I make a leap in years to Evan Royster.  Standing at 6’1” he rushed  for 513 yards on 82 carries for a 5.3 yards per carry average.  The little guy strikes again. 

Last, but not least I will give a nod to someone who is no longer a Nittany Lion. Silas Redd transferred to USC, but when he was a Lion, he was my favorite player.  Standing at only 5’10” he  rushed for 1,188 yards in the 2011 regular season, third most in the Big Ten Conference. I wish him luck at USC.

I mention everyone’s heights, but you may be thinking they are all tall. Compared to the rest  of the team, they are not.  You see them in a huddle and sometimes they are a full head shorter than the rest of the players. That may be why I am drawn to them.

With the Silas Redd’s leaving, I am now in search of a new favorite player. Who will it be? You can bet it will be a running back.

 

 

Blurb Blonde Demolition:

You just can't hide from the past...

Mallory Sage lives in a small, idyllic town where nothing ever happens. Just the kind of life she has always wanted. No one, not even her fellow volunteer firefighters, knows about her past life as an agent for Homeland Security.

Former partner and lover, Trey McCrane, comes back into Mallory's life. He believes they made a great team once, and that they can do so again. Besides, they don't have much choice. Paul Stanley, a twisted killer and their old nemesis, is back.

Framed for a bombing and drawn together by necessity, Mallory and Trey go on the run and must learn to trust each other again―if they hope to survive. But Mallory has been hiding another secret, one that could destroy their relationship. And time is running out.

 Bio for Chris Redding

Chris Redding lives in New Jersey with her husband, two kids, one dog and three rabbits. She graduated from Penn State with a degree in Journalism.  When not writing she works for her local hospital in the Emergency Services Department. She has been writing for thirteen years and has five books published. 

Links:

http://chrisredddingauthor.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/chrisreddingauthor

www.twitter.com/chrisredding

 

Body Language

Because of its spontaneity, body language is hard to fake. If the clues don’t match, we are suspicious. Also, because it is spontaneous, it is more likely to reflect underlying feelings. The reaction is more likely to be off the cuff and true to his thoughts or emotions.


Verbal communication is open to manipulation. Non-verbal communication is not.

“Body language is your primary mod of communication, primary in the evolutionary history of the human species, and primary in your life.” The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Body Language. Body language is more basic than the spoken work.

Animals are great at reading body language. I’m not exactly a calm person and when I pick up one of our rabbits, I need to chill before I do it. Our female responds well to my husband because he’s naturally a steadier person.

A few weeks after my father died, I was still kind of bumping into walls. I thought I was fine, but my dog was glued to my side. He knew I wasn’t right when I refused to admit it.

The human body is able to function well on autopilot. Think back to this morning. Do you really remember brushing your teeth? You know you did, but do you REALLY know you did?

Body language is part of that autopilot, other wise it would be stilted.

Non-verbal communication encompasses all parts of your body.

Your eyes are the primary way you receive body language cues and usually the primary way you send it. You invite someone to communicate by making eye contact. I know this because EVERYONE talks to me at the grocery store. I make eye contact without really meaning to.

If they eye contact is longer than a second, the two people begin to make a connection. Immediacy behaviors, like prolonged eye contact, singal availability. Eye contact is powerful that way.

Besides the obvious body language there are also more subtle versions. Your pupils dilate because of lack of light, but also for things you find attractive.

The reverse is also true. Our pupils constrict when we see something we don’t like. We react to that on an unconscious level.

Eye contact controls interaction. If you don’t make eye contact, you don’t send out an invite for someone to interact with you. One symptom of Asperger’s is not making eye contact. It isn’t because they don’t want to interact, they just don’t think about it. They don’t need you to make eye contact for them to interact with you.



Excerpt from: Layering: Not Just for Cakes being offer at www.writersonlineclasses.com in May.



Chris Redding’s latest is Incendiary, out in print in March, already available in all electronic formats. She lives in New Jersey with her husband, two kids, one dog and three rabbits. She graduated from Penn State with a degree in journalism. When she isn’t writing, she works part time for her local hospital.

You can find her on the web:

www.chrisreddingauthor.com

www.facebook.com/chrisreddingauthor

www.myspace.com/chrisreddingauthor

http://chrisredddingauthor.blogspot.com

Refilling the Well

Thanks for having me today Anna.

As I was deciding what to write today I thought about how I truly believe everyone is creative. For some it’s creative in getting that paycheck to stretch to the end of the month. For others, they are creative in how they raise their children.

My part time day job is not that creative and I love it. It uses none of my creative energy. I suspect my boss, who is creative in his job, wonders just how creative I am in my writing life.

But that creative well gets empty. It never runs completely dry, but it must be replenished. I have no idea if everyone feels this way, but I do.

So what do I do to refill the well? Over the years I’ve done cross stitch. I’ve made Christmas ornaments. I’ve even sewed a little. What I always come back to involves food.

Not surprising as I love food. Most of the time I bake. Funny thing is, I don’t have much of a sweet tooth so I don’t eat much of what I bake. I have teenage boy and a tweenage boy so they gratefully eat what I bake.

Today is a rainy Sunday as I am writing this. I made soup.

Butternut Squash Soup to be exact. One of my favorites. I discovered it when I went to a dinner for my department at work. I fell in LOVE with this soup. I scoured recipes and realized just how easy it was to make. My way.

And I think soup is good for the soul anyway. It serves two purposes. My creative well gets refilled and my soul gets soothed. Win. Win!

My recipe:



Half a butternut squash, peeled and chopped.

Chicken broth (better if it is homemade)

Cinnamon

Allspice

Ginger

Clove

Tofu



Use whatever portion of spices you want. Sometimes I even add nutmeg. Throw it all (excerpt the tofu) into a pot and simmer for half an hour. Wait until it cools and either use in immersion blender or a real blender and blend until smooth. Put in some tofu and blend again. This makes it creamy.

Yum!

I have two questions today.

For readers: Do you feel you are creative in some aspect of your life?

For writers: How do you refill the creative well?



I will give away to one lucky poster a Bath and Body Works Vanilla Coconut candle.

Thanks for having me.

Chris Redding lives (and bakes) in New Jersey with her husband, two sons, one dog and three rabbits. When she isn't writing or promoting, she works for her local hospital. Corpse Whisperer is available now on Kindle. Incendiary will be out this Winter in print and electronic version.

A rose by any other name . . .

Character Names

I’ve very conscious of my character’s names. Especially now because I’ve read a critique partner’s manuscript without names in it. Just Hero, Heroine, etc. A little unnerving.

But I love naming characters. It’s like naming children. And I did name my children as my husband will tell anyone who will listen.

Jennifer was the name of the heroine in the first book I wrote. She had to have an Irish last name because she has red hair. I used O’Grady and her real father was a cop in Philadelphia. My father had many uncles who were cops there and if you get stopped by an Officer Redding in the City of Brotherly Love, I am probably related to them. But it won’t get you out of a tickt.

She isn’t my favorite heroine, but it’s the first book I published so it will always have a special place in my heart. Here hero was Sean. That’s a strong name. He was a strong, silent type so it fit. His last name, Guadette, is my mother-in-law’s maiden name. It’s French.

When my kids were younger I was involved in a Mom’s club. I used some of the kid’s names in my books. I asked the parents first, of course, and the character didn’t resemble whose name I used.

I have a manuscript called Blonde Demoltion. The heroine is Mallory Sage. This is the daughter of a good friend of mine. We’ve known each other since her Mallory and my son #2 were probably two years old. They are twelve now. The character Mallory’s hero is Trey. I have no Earthly memory of why I picked that name. But he’s McCrane, a good Irishmen. See a trend here?

Incendiary’s heroine is Chelsea. Remember On Golden Pond. Jane Fonda played a Chelsea and I really liked that name. I’ve kept it all these years and finally used it. James is her last name. I think that was one of those flipping through a phone book moments. Her hero is Jake, another strong name. Campbell is his last name. Uh, Irish?

Stone Feeney is a minor character who is a hero in another book. Stone. Probably Stone Phillips. I thought he was cute on television.

The best story I have is for a book that hasn’t been published yet. One of my favorites that I’ve written. Along Comes Pauly is a romantic comedy. The Pauly in the title is Paulo Gabagool Vincenzo. He’s Italian and from New Jersey where the story is set. Paulo is the name of a friend of mine’s, son. Paulo’s best friend in the book: Carmela Loschiavo. I needed a very Jersey Italian name for a character and once again I borrowed one from a friend’s child. He still bugs me about when the book will be published. (As if I have control over that.)

I don’t like when I don’t know how the name is pronounced. Aileen or Niall for instance. (Irish huh?). They don’t look like how they are pronounced. Neither does Sean, but for some reason that doesn’t bother me.

What do you think about character names? Have you ever read a book where you hated the character’s name?

Chris Redding lives in New Jersey with her husband, two kids, one dog and three rabbits. When she isn’t writing she works per diem for her local hospital. Her next book Incendiary will be out this year. It’s about a firefighter trying to prove he didn’t commit arson.

You can find me on the web:
http://www.chrisreddingauthor.com/
www.myspace.com/chrisreddingauthor
www.facebook.com/chrisredding
www.twitter.com/chrisredding
http://chrisredddingauthor.blogspot.com/

Interviewed by Chris Redding

On Thursday, October 22nd, I was interviewed by Chris Redding on her blogspot. Please stop by and read it. I had to leave town that day for a Todd Stone workshop, so I was crunched for time and didn't it posted here then, but it's still up and you can still comment on it.


Anna Kathryn Lanier
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