Joined Good Reads

I joined Good Reads as a way to promote my new books, and I have to admit, I find this social network kind of addicting!

Pushing Cars...Extending a Hand

Yesterday, I was coming home from school, a little giddy because spring break had started, and I stopped to gas up my car. As I pulled into the station, I saw a young man (I'm guessing 18 years old, maybe) pushing his car into the parking lot, and I had to swerve a little to miss him since he was right next to the entrance.


I got out and started pumping my gas, and as I did so, he was pushing his car back and forth by himself. He'd open his car door, turn the steering wheel a bunch, then push, then mess with the wheels again, then push. Back and forth, back and forth, his car kept moving and he kept adjusting it.


While I continued to pump my gas, I watched as other patrons - all men - came and went as this kid kept up his car maneuvering. Then I realized - no one was going to help him. Not one person even looked his way. I'm standing there pump in hand, looking around, thinking, "Hello, people, help this kid already, geez! I am so not buying that you don't see he needs help."

Luckily, I wasn't wearing a skirt and heels, so when I finished, I went over to him, and said, "Hold on," and put both my hands up to stop him from whatever the heck he was trying to do. "What are you trying to do here?"

He told me then that the gas tank was on the other side of his car, so he needed to get the car up as close as possible to the pumps. So, yes, me....the fat, 40++ old lady, helped the kid push his car. Believe it or not, this was the first time I'd ever pushed a car in my life. I was always the one inside the car turning the wheel....Hey, girls to do not push cars in my world. But, I'm glad I stepped into this other world for a little while because he was very grateful, and it made me feel very good, even a little strong, ha.

And to those men who ignored him, shame on you!
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Metal Clay Book Fini

I just finished taking one more look at the last chapter for my metal clay book, so it looks like I'm finished. The DVD went out last week to the publisher's DVD guy, and my editor actually said she really liked it, so that is a huge relief. Here's a little clip I pulled off my new myspace page. It's very fuzzy because the file was condensed, but you can get an idea of what I'm doing on the DVD.

Metal Clay Excerpt

A Pretty Rose

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Picture Text

I am just doing a test of uploading an image in this post.

I think this picture is so pretty, so I decided to add this one today.

Notice how the text is wrapping to the side.

How about adding a link? This is a site where you can get free images.

Tom, You are NOT My Friend!

For awhile now, I dismissed social networking. I knew it was powerful, but I just didn't have time to figure it all out, and I confess, I still don't have time. However, more and more people keeping telling me how great it is, so I finally took the Myspace plunge today.

I was stumbling around, setting up my site (myspace.com/tammypowley), and I discovered I had some weirdo guy listed as a "friend" already and I was only two minutes into my set up. Panicked, I ripped off an email to a beady list I'm a member of, and then went back over to figure out how to remove this would-be-stalker from my friends' list.

Of course, once I started looking around more, I realized [[blush!]] that this guy "Tom" was the creator/owner of Myspace, so he is immediately added to your friends list when you sign up. Oy!

Do I have a learning curve here or what!?

Help a Girl or Two Out

My bead bud, Margot Potter, writes about more than just beads at her blog, The Impatient Beader. Recently she has a post, entitled "This Is Important Period," about a group of young women that really could use some help from other women.

I don't think I can explain it as well as Margot, who is a wonderful and inspiring writer, so I'm not even going to try.

Go, read, help...

P.S. A BIG thank you to Margot who is gutsy enough to write about this sort of thing.