A Farewell from Leandra

I am very sad to say that this will be my last post on Across the Board. It's been so much fun, and I've had lots of smiles and chuckles from my fellow Boarders. I've learned from their posts as well, which is always invaluable.

So before I go, here are some things I wish for you all!

I wish many, many stories and books for you all. I wish no writer's block, and fast first drafts that aren't messy disasters. I wish revisions that are easy as pie. I wish Amazon best seller lists, and NYT's ones as well. I wish agents and book deals and successful independent book sales. I wish movie deals! And cover reveals, and blog tours, and finding fulfillment in our careers as story tellers.

And last but not least... I wish you cake without the calories.

Beth: Get Well Soon!

Sometimes life is rough! Beth Ellyn, one of our wonderful members, knows that first hand lately. She's had a major round of sickness this winter (here's to a way better spring!) So we'd like to cheer our friend up. As a Queen of Gifs, it seems there'd be no other way to do this than with a few of her favorite things.

Beth,

While we are sad that you have to fight through some health issues, we know that you'll soon be good as new because you are one tough cookie! Or as Amy says, you are like William Wallace: As Rugged as the Highlands.

To help speed up your road to recovery, your fellow Boarders wanted to remind you of the critical elements for recovery.

1. Rest

We know that rest is important when overcoming any type of illness. Put in a movie, pop some popcorn, and relax. Your movie suggestion comes to you from Jonathan: You love Disney. He loves Sci-Fi. This!

2. Mindset

A positive mindset is important to keep from going crazy during recovery. Staying indoors and resting can make it difficult to remain positive, especially with the beautiful spring days that have finally started to arrive. So, Leandra is sending you a few of her friends bearing gifts that you can place beside you to brighten your day.

3. Nutrition

That's right. Your body needs proper fuel to heal, so Steve wanted to make sure you were eating properly. IT'S PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME!  Peanut butter jelly, peanut butter jelly, peanut butter jelly and a baseball bat! 

Wait...what were we doing again?  Something about Beth?  Well, there's nothing she'd like better than a dancing banana.

4. Exercise 

Now that Steve has effectively infested our brains with that annoying song (but the dancing banana is cute, so all is forgiven), we will move on. Being the fitness nut that you are, we know you will want to get back to exercising as soon as possible. Since Carrie has now joined the ranks of crazy-workout-people, she wanted to remind you to not push yourself too fast too soon! Start off with something that provides a great workout with minimal exertion.

5. Faith

Finally, it's important to have faith. You need to believe that you will overcome all that ails you, so Kimberly sends you hope - from one Jewish girl to another.

So Beth, we know you've had a rough time, but fear not! As Brianna says, "We're all in this together!"

~Your fellow Boarders: Amy, Jonathan, Leandra, Steve, Carrie, Kimberly, Brianna

Sixth Month Shout-Out

A Post By Jonathan

As I was preparing my blog post for today, I decided to take a look at all our past posts to make sure I was writing something fresh and new. It was then that I came to an earth-shattering realization. Across the Board is six months old, meaning it's high time for a shout-out!

Our ensemble of writers have stuck to their promised posting schedule of Mondays and Thursdays (well, except for last Monday...), bringing quality content to our readers for over half a year. That's a long freakin' time people! If you ask me, that day off was well deserved...

Over this span we've seen Amy's hunky romance novel, A Highland Knight's Desire, get nominated for Kindle Scout (I'm still waiting for my royalties for that front cover photo, btw...), we've celebrated the launch of Carrie's most recent book release, Shattered Angel, we've been to 30 Rock with Beth's favorite inspiration, visited the Indiana Writer's Workshop with Leandra, been to Germany with yours truly, gotten vandalized with Steve, had a Writer's Ground Hog Day with Kimberly, and learned about One More Chapter Syndrome with our resident reader, Brianna.

I for one have thoroughly enjoyed reading everyone's posts and can't wait to see what the next six months bring. Dear readers, please join me in giving our bloggers a shout-out for all their hard work and dedication. Now, everyone, back to writing!