Friday, December 29, 2006

Store launched!

The online store for my book has been launched on my website. Click the banner below to be taken there.

After figuring things out, the book will be sold there for $12.99 Canadian, which includes free shipping to Canada and the United States. If you're looking to have your book signed by me, this is the best option to go, unless you purchase somewhere else and get me to sign it the next time you see me.

Thanks in advance for all of your support in this! It means a lot to me that I have so many people behind me in this dream!

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Look Mom! I'm on Amazon!

Today my book was posted on Amazon for purchase! Tonight when I did I search for my name on amazon.com and the book came up, I was almost overcome with emotion. This makes it so real to me! I'm a published author- kind of crazy isn't it?

If you wanted to purchase the book on amazon, the links are below. If you wanted to purchase it directly from me, within the next few days I will have an online store set up where you can do so. And some of you have asked whether or not signed copies of the book will be available. The answer is yes. If you really want to receive a signed copy (although I have no idea why), I will do it. But you will have to order it from my website (www.kristenmcnulty.com) or buy it somewhere else and get me to scribble on it the next time you see me.

Happy reading!

Buy from amazon.ca (Canada)
Buy from amazon.com (United States)

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Christmas Movies & Memories

I love Christmas. When I was a kid, I'll admit a big part of my love for Christmas came from the whole gift getting thing. But I've grown up. Yes, I still love getting gifts. But I also love giving gifts. I love spending time with people. And I love reflecting on what Christmas means, really means.

One of my favorite things about Christmas is our family traditions. And one of my favorite family traditions is watching Christmas movies together. Laughing at all the same parts and later quoting lines from the movies as similar things take place in our celebrations. My favorite Christmas movies are (in no particular order):

-A Muppet Family Christmas
-Elf
-Ernest Saves Christmas
-To Grandmother's House We Go
-Griswold Christmas Vacation

Now I don't love these movies because of their artist flare or their snappy humor (because to be honest, some of them are kind of cheesy). I love them because they mean something to me. When I watch To Grandmother's House We Go it brings me back to when I was very young and we would watch this movie with my grandmother because she thought the Olsen kids were so cute. And then after the movie was done everyone would talk about how much I used to look like them when I was around 4 years of age (yes, times have changed!). When I watch the Griswold Christmas Vacation I'm taken back to Christmas' past when our family was lovingly referred to as the Griswold's because we always seemed to have one disaster after another, but in the middle of it a lot of holiday cheer.

Yes the movies are funny- I'll always laugh when the squirrel jumps out of the Griswold's tree or when the Muppets all experience the same icy patch, but even more important than that- these movies have a lot of meaning and memories surrounding them. And those are very valuable things to have!

So Merry Christmas. I pray that you all have a wonderful holiday, remembering the real reason for the season and enjoying memory making time with family and friends! I'll leave you with a few of my favorite movie quotes:

Ernest Saves Christmas:
Santa Claus, aka 'Seth Applegate': This is Ernest. I'm Santa Claus.
[odd silence]
Ernest P. Worell: Surprised?
Harmony Star: Uh, no. No, not - not really

Harmony Star: There's no such thing! Think about it: a guy who flies around the whole world in one night. It just doesn't quite correspond to the laws of time and travel.
Ernest P. Worell: Now, now, now, now, now, it's possible. You take the International Date Line, multiply it by the Time Zones, divided by the accelerated rotation of the earth... uh, carry the 1, and, uh, allowing for the Vernal Equinox on the Tropic of Cancer, he might just pull it off!

Ernest P. Worell: Ahh, smell those Christmas trees. You can keep your 'Channel' Number 5, just give me a whiff of the old lonesome pine. That symbol of brotherly love, that centerpiece that all mankind gathers around to share the cranberry sauce shaped like a can.

Elf:
Buddy: We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup.

Buddy: What about santa's cookies? I suppose parents eat those too?

Griswold Christmas Vacation:
Clark: Can I refill your eggnog for ya? Get ya something to eat? Drive you out to the middle of nowhere..leave you for dead?
Cousin Eddie: Naw, I'm doing just fine, Clark.

Eddie: You surprised to see us, Clark?
Clark: Oh, Eddie... If I woke up tomorrow with my head sewn to the carpet, I wouldn't be more surprised than I am now.

Muppets Family Christmas:
Turkey: Where's my room?
Gonzo: If you're not careful, it'll be in the oven. See you at dinner.

Fozzie Bear: Are you ready to listen to me?
Kermit: I'm all ears.
Fozzie Bear: What does he mean he's all ears? Frogs don't even have ears!

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Blessings In Disguise

Last night I went to bed ultra-annoyed. I'm sick with a cold that I can't shake and wouldn't you know it, but over the past week I've had a case of insomnia on top of the apnea. Which for me has meant being dead tired all day, then coming to life at about 11:00 and parking myself in front of the TV watching re-runs until some ungodly hour when I can fall asleep, then going into my sleep apnea state.

To put it mildly I was annoyed by the inconvenience. I know how much school work I still have to finish before Christmas and I know that my cold wasn't going to be leaving without some rest, which I also know I'm not getting.

But this morning I woke up with a different perspective. As I stumbled out of my room I saw breakfast laid out for me on the table with an extra-large double double. But more than food and an injection of caffeine, I saw love. I saw that I'm not alone in my struggles and that I'm going to get through this in one piece.

God will provide for me as He always has and He will give me the strength I need to push through every day until I am better. And in the meantime I have a roof over my head, a wonderful family who cares, and more blessings that I deserve. Sleep apnea may rob me of my rest, but it can't rob me of that!

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Thursday, December 14, 2006

First Interview

My first interview for the book has been posted on Infuze Magazine. Please check it out and leave your comments either on their site or right here!

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Sleep issue has sleep name

So a few weeks ago I went to the sleep clinic and today I got my results. As crazy as it sounds I found out that I have sleep apnea. Basically what sleep apnea means is that throughout the night you stop breathing and in order to start breathing again, you wake up and then sleep until it happens again and again. For most people who have disease they do not remember waking up during the night- I am one of these people.

Sleep apnea is fairly common, but I am one of the unfortunate few who have a severe case of it. During the 74 minutes (they recorded it, not me) that I slept during my night at the sleep clinic I stopped breathing for ten seconds or longer a total of twenty-three times! I write these words and I still have trouble believing or understanding it. I'm told this means on an average night I stop breathing for ten seconds or longer over a hundred times.

This comes as a shock to me. I mean I know that I've been very tired over these past couple of months and that it's gotten to the point where I have a hard time functioning throughout the day, but to think that I've gone from sleeping fine a year ago to being diagnosed with severe sleep apnea is crazy. I'm 23 years old- this shouldn't be happening. But it is.

The only thing that they've come up with to explain why the sudden change and the severe case is that the tendency to have a problem was there, but it developed as severe and as rapidly as it did because of the trauma to my body with the surgeries, blood clot, infection, etc. That's a pretty steep side effect for something I thought was behind me.

So where does that leave me? To be honest a little discouraged. I don't question why this is happening to me or blame God for it. I'm way past that point. He's done a lot of amazing things in my life, so I'm not going to start complaining when a few bad things happen. But at the same time the reality of this is not too great. The long term health complications are scary without treatment and the idea of sleeping hooked up to a machine every night for the rest of my life isn't too thrilling either. But I don't really have much of a choice.

So on January 5th I will be going back to the sleep clinic to get tested out for one of those machines and until then I'll just have to suck it up and come to terms with this and figure out exactly what changes are going to have to be made in order to accommodate for this illness. Because something has to give, I'm just not sure what that is yet.

It's not the worst thing that could happen. But I would still appreciate prayers for rest cause I need it now more than ever.

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Book Update: lots happening this week

This week I took my last look over the edited manuscript and now it is in the process of being sent to the printers!

While reading over the book I kept having the thought "did I write that?" come to me. Not because the publisher made a lot of changes, but rather because I can see the hand of God on every page and I pray that very hand of God touches everyone who reads it!

The final endorsement just came in- check it out at the myspace for the book: www.myspace.com/wtafw. Shameless plug: if you're on myspace please add that site to your friends list and pass the word on! Thanks!

This week I also had my very first interview for the book- great questions from him, silly answers from me. Sounds about right!