The Dreaded Black Friday

Welcome to the Holiday Season.  Yes, now that we are passed Thanksgiving, it is officially, the season. 

Black Friday Shopping.  We all know those words.  I have never taken part of the black Friday madness, mainly because I have watched year after year of the absolute insanity that happens.  The news stories of the people crushing others to the ground in order to get the big screen tv or the veggie steamer at a low and obscene price!  Well, those news stories were always enough to keep my butt at home. 

The other side is I always felt very sorry for the people that had to work on that day.  Didn’t they want to spend time with their family?  Maybe they needed the sleep?  Maybe they just wanted a day off like the rest of us.  Maybe maybe maybe.

But then, this year two things happened. 

One, I spoke to several people in the consumer area that were going to be working on that dreaded Black Friday.  I was trying to tell them that I felt bad for them.  Give some support, you know?  Well, let me tell you that I was put right into my place and told to stop it!  Why you may ask?  Shock of shockers, they were excited to work on Black Friday, aside from the fact that it was fun in some regards, they also were getting triple pay!  Yes, you heard that correctly.  Triple pay for the night of madness.  They were not sad at all about having to work and in fact requested to.  Color me shocked and surprised and well, shocked.  With the holiday season here and all the upcoming expenses they would be making they were quite happy to be working and getting that bonus of a pay this time of year.  From now on, I will keep my big trap shut about all the poor people that have to work on Black Friday.  I have been schooled and will now just smile and wish them a Merry Christmas.  No, I am sure there is that one person that doesn’t want to work and doesn’t give a rat’s patooty about the extra holiday pay, but again, I have been advised that most think otherwise. 

And, two, I have a teen girl that asked me oh so sweetly if I would take her out Black Friday Shopping.  She has never asked me to go before and in fact, besides dance shoes and leos, doesn’t really ask me for anything at all.  So I contemplated how I felt about that.  I didn’t want to.  I didn’t.  She is too sweet though and I didn’t want to say no, just because I don’t do well in crowds or with strangers, or with people in general, so I said yes, but we would go around 4 a.m. and that we would go to the mall and not Walmart where a lot of the horror videos have been in the past.  She was thrilled and excited.  I was doomed and dreading.  4 a.m. Black Friday dawned dark and cool, with a bit of fog in the air to add to my gloom.  We left the house and headed over to the mall without much traffic.  We passed by the Cabela’s and saw to my dismay a HUGE line wrapped around the building all the way to the back.  We weren’t going there though so I tried not to dwell on it.  I entered the mall parking and saw…it was mostly empty.  WTH?  We got a prime parking spot right up front.  The morning was looking up just a little thanks to that spot.  We entered the mall through the food court, and saw…hardly anyone.  I looked at my tiny dancer and she at me and we smiled.  We walked through the food area and into the main shopping section and again, it was clear and hardly anyone was there.  There were people, but not many at all.  The night er…morning was looking up. We hit every store that was opened.  We browsed and laughed and enjoyed the morning without any people in our way.  We passed several teens sleeping it off in the main walk area, both on the floor and on the couches.  We saw several lines forming before a few stores that were not quite opened yet.  They were set for 6 a.m. apparently, but that was only a line of like 5 groups.  No big deal at all.  Everyone was cheery and nice and the working people were smiling and helpful.  We had a cinnabon, and we got most of our Christmas shopping done.  It was fun.  I wish shopping at the mall was like that all the time.  I might actually like to go. 

So what did I learn this weekend?  Black Friday shopping isn’t bad at all.  Will I go out next year?  Probably, but again no Walmart and no electronic places and now I also know not to hit the Cabela’s either based on that line we saw.

Did you partake of the Friday?  What do you think?  Do you love it?  Do you hate it? 

Welcome to the consumerism of the holidays.  Be safe out there everyone. 

New Release! The Full Moon Rises

It’s Release Week!  That means this is a short blog.  Here is what you need to know.

My latest book, The Full Moon Rises is out!  

 This is book 2 in the:  A Howl in the Night series.  

So what’s it about? 

Life as a shape shifter is not as easy as it would seem, especially not for Abigail Staton. Being a teenager and a shape shifter is even harder, not to mention being one of the last remaining females in the two competing wolf clans and the only girl in her new schools. Striving to find where she belongs, gets sidelined when an old threat to the wolves resurfaces. The clans are forced to come together in a semi-truce, and the already dominant males become even more controlling in trying to protect their own as well as their secret. Abby finds herself in the middle yet again, but this time, she will need both clans in order to survive.

Where can you get it?

Amazon Link

Rogue Phoenix Press Link

It is currently on sale at only $.99.  This price wont last for long, so get it now, while you can at this price.  

~*~ 

Here is book one in case you need it or want it.  A Howl in the Night.

  

What’s it about?

Sweet Sixteen is supposed to be a turning point in your life. The world is before you in all its glory, just waiting for you to reach out and grab it. Right? For Abigail Staton no, not so much. Not only does she suddenly lose her best friend due to a fight, but suddenly her mother expects her to believe that the father, she has never met, is actually a werewolf. With that revelation, Abby is thrust into the world of two wolf clans who are not only fighting each other, but also fighting for Abby, one of the few females born to the shape-shifters. Her father is determined to pair Abby up with Derek, a very dominant and overwhelming shifter. Abby vehemently balks at this union to disastrous results. When war is declared between the two clans, Abby has to decide what side she is actually on.

Where can you get book 1?

Amazon Link - Howl in the Night

Rogue Phoenix Press - Howl in the Night

That’s it, guys, short and sweet for this week.  It’s the holidays, do you like to read YA, or do you know someone who does?  Now’s the perfect time to get these two great reads at a great price. 

Just a random blog day

I don’t dance.  I know a lot of you know that my tiny dancer, however, does.  A lot…  It’s not that I don’t like dance, I simply can’t.  I have two left feet, and gravity hates me.  I do have a few memories as a kid of dance class that have been on my mind lately.  Don't know why, but nonetheless, they are there.  

Dance class was at the community center.  I don’t know much more about it other than that’s where it was.  Did it cost money?  No idea.  How many times a week was it?  Again, no idea.  What I do know is that it was held in an old building converted into the community center.  The room that held the class seems HUGE to my little form.  It had wooden floors, like you would find in a house.  Not a “dance” floor with special flooring, just hard wood. There is a smell every now and then that I catch when I go into old buildings that tickles forward my dance memories.  It’s old and dusty and something else, maybe dead mouse for all I know, but once in a while, I catch a whiff and I am transported back.  It’s not much of a memory.  But what I see is always the same. 

The windows in that old room were big, with individual square panes.  The window frames were large in that I could sit up in them in the sunshine that always seemed to be trickling through.  I loved to sit in those windows.  The dust in the air highlighted by the sunshine flowing through the air.  The warmth of that yellow light against my skin is still to this day one of my fondest memories.  I could pretend I was someone special sitting up in those windows, getting ready for class. 

There isn’t much more to my memories.  My sister took class with me.  I liked the song “Magic” but not the one by Olivia Newton John, the “other one” which the teacher didn’t have.  I don’t know if I had dance shoes or if we just danced in what we had or in nothing at all.  It really is only those windows that have stuck with me through the many many years since. 

Sometimes when I am writing a seen in an old building, that is the memory I pull from.  I wonder if that room is as big and grand as I remember it in my little girl brain.   If it’s not, then I don’t want to know.  I like seeing myself in that big window, the sun on my head, shining down through my hair as I wait for class to begin. 

FYI the “Magic” Song, is:  You Can Do Magic, by America.  I still love that song. 

Just a reminder, The Full Moon Rises releases in…less than a week!!!!!  Aren’t you excited?

Welcome to November

It’s November.  Yuck.  I know there are people that love the autumn.  The colors of it; the cooler temperatures; the idea of bonfires and pumpkins.  I am NOT that person.  I get into fall and the moment the first leaves begin to fall from the trees I get so sad.  I dread the coming winter and all that it brings.  I already miss the hot summer sun and all the green and colors of the summer.  That’s the season I love.  The sweating and the hot skin.  The so bright sun on your face that you have to close your eyes.  The warm breezes in the night, when you are chasing lightning bugs.  Ah yes, I am a summer baby.  Give me the heat! 

Why do I live in the Midwest then?  Why am I not south where it’s warmer?  Because all my family is here.  I can’t just up and leave them.  There are days it sounds lovely, but I can’t do it.  Not yet anyway.  Maybe a few more harsh winters and I may change my mind!

What about the holidays?  Aren’t I excited about those?  Well, maybe a little, but that doesn’t take away the every day living of cold and grey and wet.  We do have a fireplace this year that I may even be tempted to use, so maybe that will take away some of the loathing of the next several months. 

Now, even with the dread of the approaching season, I have a bit of exciting to mix within.  The release of The Full Moon Rises is quickly approaching (November 15, 2015). It’s less than two weeks and counting!  I have already been getting requests for books.  I want to put in my order this week people, so if you want an autographed copy, let me know ASAP. 

Have a great week!  Enjoy the sunshine while you can.