A Monday in the Life of Me.

A Day in the Life of Me – Courtney Rene

I am a writer.  You already knew that right?  Well I am also a wife, and mother, and employee, and daughter, and sister, and aunt, and, and, and…..  One of the big questions I get asked (all the time) is when do you write?  How do you find the time?  On any given day, that answer changes. 

Today, right now, this is how I find the time.  It’s Monday, so that means I am up at the butt crack of dawn to make sure that my oldest daughter makes it out the door to school on time, which is a still dark 6:45 a.m.  I drag my bleary eyed myself, with my still warm afghan to the couch, where I promptly flop down and pretend to watch the news, actually I am dozing.  I never once said I was a morning person.  Ever.  I hear my daughter making all sorts of noise so I continually peel open my eyes to check the clock.  At 7:00 I get up and say, “You leaving?”  The snarled reply I usually get is “I’m working on it.”  By 7:05, I am pacing around her door, being spritz’d with gallons of PINK perfume and Suave hairspray until the girl is finally ready at 7:10 (usually).  She grabs her bag, flies by me with a quick, “Bye!  Love Ya!  I’ll text you when I get there.” Then she is out the door and I think, “One down….”

My husband heads out usually right after and the house is quiet…for a moment.  At this point I hop in the shower, with my cell phone on the counter as I wait to hear the ‘ding ding ding’ of a text saying my daughter made it safe to school.  Having a new teen driver is harder than I thought it would be.  After I am dressed, hair still wrapped in a towel, I go and tickle my little one out of her own warm cushy bed.  I haul her to my room, where she quickly snuggled down into my bed and turns on the tv.  I grab her clothes and toss them on her head.  I head out of the room to the kitchen usually yelling, “Get dressed while I make you something to eat!”  The bad mommy that I am, this will consist of toast with any number of toppings, bagels, English muffins, yogurt, cereal, quick muffins, instant oatmeal, or a pop-tart.  Rare occasions you get an egg or pancakes, or French toast, or waffles.  Usually, though, nope. 

While the breakfast is “cooking” I put away the clean dishes, do a quick re-pickup, and counter wipe and run downstairs to toss a load of laundry in the wash.  While Seren is eating, I do my hair, then her hair, which is 3 feet long…maybe more at this point.  Tv is off, beds are made, dogs are fed, lunches are packed, and we are finally out the door.

Seren is dropped off at school, I then head to work.  I will not drone on about how hard my work is.  It’s work, it’s not suppose to be fun.  I check email all day….I do.  I need to stop doing that, but it’s a habit.  Then I get an hour for lunch.  I use this hour for research and administrative stuff, which surprisingly there is a TON of admin crap when you are a writer.  Who knew?  Some days I will hit the library.  There are 3 that are right by my office.  Or I just hit google.  After that I will do my emailing, blogging, updating, whatever I can squeeze in, in an hours worth of time all while oinking down my lunch.  Then, I get back to work. 

After work, it’s pick-up the little one from after-school care, run home, make dinner, eat dinner, clean up dinner, do Seren’s hair again, up in a firm bun this time, and it’s off to dance class where I have another whole hour of quiet time.  Yup, you guessed it.  Writing time…..

After dance, it’s home again, bath time, laundry time, house pick-up time, and then bed time for one child, and then an hour later, its bed time for the other.  It’s 10:00….do you know where your children are?  I do, both of mine are finally in bed and quiet.  I open up my laptop; sit down in my office (Oh all right!  My dining room table), plug in my ipod, and I am zoned for as long as I can keep my eyes open, writing, and creating. 

Some days this is for a short half an hour.  Sometimes it’s till after midnight.  That….right there is how I “find” the time.  It’s all I can do.  I won’t give up my time with the girls or my husband and I can’t give up my paying job (I so wish!), but writing is important to me so I take time, make time, from myself.  Yes, I don’t get as much sleep some days as I would like, but it’s worth it to me.  I am a writer.  It’s what I do.

(Sorry everyone, my photos would not post from this computer, so I will try to post from my laptop once I get home tonight).

ctny

Paranormal Romance Anyone?

What is paranormal romance (p/r)?  Well, mainly it’s defined as a sub-genre to romance.  But what does that really mean?  What is it really?  Isn’t there enough real love in the word?  The answer to that question is…sorta.  A great love story has it all:  love, passion…sex.  A great paranormal love story has all that, plus a sexy vampire or a hot werewolf thrown into the mix. 

Why?  Why is that so exciting?  Because it’s different, it’s thrilling.  It’s better than what real life can toss our way.  To, all of you out there saying, no, I respond with, Oh yes, it is.  Real love in real life is the best there is?  I don’t entirely agree.  Sometimes love is painful.  Love is hard.  Love is….kinda plain.  Paranormal love stories are fantasy, a mix of love and mystery and thriller all wrapped up into one read. 

Why do we love these stories so much?  Let’s face it, the sales of paranormal romance have really risen over the years.  Can we blame Twilight or the Vampire Diaries?  It depends on who you ask.  One thing about this genre is you either love it or you really hate it.  Paranormal romance novels used to be a rare and fun find.  Now you can find several titles along the shelves at any given time.  More and more authors are coming out with a paranormal series.  It’s wonderful for us die hard p/r readers.

My personal thinking of why they are so popular is that the love or romance in paranormal fiction overcomes everything, whether it’s one human and one vampire, or a werewolf, or fairy or mer-person or ghost.  Or the love is separated by time.  What about the gods and goddesses or angels and demons.  The superhuman being, loves the normal, plain, regular human against all odds and it is a stronger, fiercer, more pure love than anything else you could find on earth.  That is the draw.  That is why people are flocking to it. They want to believe in that kind of love.  Not the dish washing, kid feeding, money constrained love of the real world. 

Me, I am a fan of p/r.  I hope this genre sticks around for a good long while.  I can’t wait to see what happens next. 

Sunshine Award

I have been awarded The Sunshine Award!  Thank you Allyn for thinking of me.  Please stop over and check out Allyn’s blog.  Show her some love folks.  You can find her HERE

On to the award.  Below are the 10 questions I have been asked to answer. 

1.            Favorite Color

My favorite color is blue.  I don’t have a reason for it being my favorite, it just always has.  My grandmother used to give me blue footies when I was little….I wonder if that is why?

2.              Favorite Animal

I am a huge fan of the Jaguar and the Leopard. They are so much alike and yet so very much different.  They are ferocious and they are wild and beautiful.  I love them. 

3.            Favorite Number

Seven. 

4.              Favorite Drink

Mt. Dew, but as I am trying really hard to cut back on the caffeine, I will say water with lemon…..boo!

5.         My Passion

At this moment, my current passion is my orchard. Mainly as it is taking up all my time:  Pruning, trimming, culling, spraying for bugs, spraying for disease, fertilizing.  It’s a huge job and once a year I get passionate about it.  Once summer comes along, and the fruit is in full grow mode, I wont be anymore.

6.         Getting or Giving

Don’t get me wrong I love to give.  I do so as often as I can.  But let’s also get real, who doesn’t like to GET. 

7.            Favorite Pattern

Ummmm….don’t particularly have one.

8.            Favorite Day of the Week

Wednesday.  If I can just make it to Wednesday I know the rest of the week will fly by.  Plus Survivor is on the tele on Wednesdays and that helps A LOT!

9.            Favorite Flower

My favorite, favorite is White Tulips.  I just love them as they are so graceful and lovely.  My next favorite is the daisy.  They are just such a happy flower. 

10.            Facebook or Twitter

I do both, but I prefer FB as there are games to play on there.  Also more people are on FB that I can connect with.  Twitter is fun in a stalker sense, but FB is my preferred network right now. 

Thanks again Allyn for the award.  Since you said to pass it on to whoever I wanted, I am only passing on to one person today:

1.     Denise - Congrats!

Have a great week everyone.

Ctny

Cover Reveal - A Howl in the Night

As promised, my next book to be release by Rogue Phoenix Press, on June 20, 2012 is: 

A Howl in the Night

(Pretty!)

And...a short excerpt for you all (just cause I'm nice):

~*~

Then a new thought crashed into my brain. “Wait a sec. If my father is a werewolf...?"

“Not a werewolf, just a wolf,” my mom said, interrupting me.

“Okay, fine,” I said. If her story was true though, I had to wonder, what did that make me? It was my turn to pop up off the bed and pace around. What about me? Was I going to grow hair and fangs and run around trying to bite people? “Oh, God.”

It felt as if my life was over. How was I supposed to finish school if I turned into a wolf every time the moon was full?

Would it hurt to change? It always looked like it did in the movies. I had seen that werewolf movie where the guy runs around London eating people. The change was always accompanied with screaming and pain. Was I going to hunt down my friends and family and eat them?

I didn’t know if that was really how it worked or not, but before I could work myself up into a real freak fest, my mom said, “I have watched you all your life Abby, and I have never seen anything wolf-like about of you. I promise. That worry has always been in the back of my mind, but nothing has ever come of it. You’re fine. Come on, you don’t even like meat.”

~*~

There you have it!  So...what do you think?

Lucky Seven!

I've been tagged in the Lucky 7, MEME, thanks to Ruth.  Although I am a bit behind in posting my response, I have enjoyed reading and catching some insight into what others are writing.  Now it's my turn to share.  The rules:

1.  Go to page 77 of your current WIP.

2.  Go to line 7.

3.  Copy down the next 7 lines, sentences, or paragraphs, and post them as they are written.

That's it.  So here we go.  The following is an excerpt from Shadows End.  The 3rd book in my Shadow Dancer series scheduled for release in September of this year. 

~*~

I wanted to believe him. I understood what he meant about reasons to fight being right or wrong. Power and control is never the right reason. But, he had lied to me in the past and he had covered for Leif’s lies in the past. How could I trust in him?

“I want to say yes. I really do, Austin. I want to trust you, but you and I know that would be stupid of me. We have too much history full of lies and deceit,” I said.

His eyes changed from hopeful to sad and almost despairing. He nodded his head and said, “Yeah, I know.”

“It would be easy to say yes, I trust you, but there would always be in the back of my mind that little wonder, that little seed of doubt. There is a way for me to tell if you are being honest though. If you are to join with us, there can’t be any doubt about your intentions, do you agree?”

“Yes.”

“Come into the shadows with me,” I said and immediately phased into the darkness. Austin followed me in without any hesitation. I reached out and took his hand so that he could see me.

“Do you know why I asked you to shadow?” I asked completely serious. No trace of a smile in my voice or on my face.

~*~

There you have it.  Seven paragraphs.  It's not a very exciting moment, but they didn't say find the 7th exciting moment in your WIP, so you get what you get.

Next week I will be posting a cover reveal of my up and coming novel, A Howl in the Night, that is set to release June 20, 2012.  I can't wait to see what you all think.  I, of course, think it's gorgeous!

Have a great week.

ctny

The Hunger Games - Movie Review

As promised, today I will be giving you my thoughts and opinions regarding the movie, The Hunger Games.

Director: Gary Ross

Writers: Gary Ross (screenplay), Suzanne Collins (screenplay), and 2 more credits »

Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth

The blurb about the movie I found online was pitiful, but frankly if you don’t know what the book/movie is about by now, my question to you would be:  Where the heck have you been?  Just in case though, here’s the sad little intro:

Set in a future where the Capitol selects a boy and girl from the twelve districts to fight to the death on live television, Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her younger sister's place for the latest match.

This doesn’t even begin to describe the story line, but that is kinda the entire tone of the movie.  Before I get into what I didn’t like, let’s start with what I did.

1.         The costumes.  Wonderful job on the outfits.  The wild and crazy colors of the Capital people was just what I had imagined.  Maybe a bit over the top here and there, but nothing that I would complain about.  Katniss’ fire costume and dress….AWESOME.  I was wondering how well they would pull that off and the answer is, without a doubt, fantastic job IMO.  I was a bit annoyed at the lovely, girl fitted leather jacket Katniss wore as that was suppose to be a left over bit of wardrobe from her dad, and I am pretty certain he didn’t have a tiny waist and hips, but all in all, 5 snaps on the costumes.

2.         The backdrop of the “sections”.  I thought the director did a great job showing the poor conditions and the utter desolation of the people that lived there.  Poor, hungry, cold, and tired.

3.         The games.  Gory and violent and just what I was hoping for.  The books were violent.  The books were gory.  I didn’t want the production to be sugared up just for audience sake.  I wanted to see the violent and heart wrenching moments of desperation and desolation.  They pulled it off very well. 

4.         Rue.  I think, thanks to all the horrible media hype on this one character, that I need to mention her.  I LOVED her.  She was small and petite and cute and wonderful and just, do you hear me, JUST want I was wanting in the character.  Someone I could like and be sad over her death.  That was her part.  I don’t give a flying flip what her skin type was and that it didn’t match what some though the character in the book should be.  So what?  I loved her.  I hope to see her in the future as she was enchanting.

5.         Even though the “game room” and the like was not part of the book, being that the book was a 1st person POV of Katniss, I really liked that part of the movie.  It was entertaining and innovative. 

As with most reviews you have to take the bad with the good.  So the things I was not impressed with:

1.         One of my big erks in book to movie productions is the lacking of needed information.  This was one of those movies.  I understand that there is a time crunch in movies, but there is basic information that you need in order to understand what is going on.  I know first hand, that if you have not read the book, you will be confused several times during the course of the movie.  My husband who had not read the books, spent the movie whispering to me, “What are the names in the list for anyway?  Why is Prim’s only in once and Katnisses 24?  Why are there fences around the sections.  Why, why, why, why.”  They were too fast in trying to explain away the reason for everything.  A few more minutes here and there, could would have made a huge difference in this movie.  Even a moment to actually explain who the heck Haymitch was and why he was the mentor would have made a difference.  There was like a one second blip about him and it was severely lacking in substance. 

2.              Speaking of Haymitch.  He was to sober throughout the movie.  There was like one lousy moment of the drunk.  That was it.  I love Woody Harrelson, and I am not saying he did a bad acting job.  I am saying their portrayal was not what I wanted. 

3.         They didn’t “show” the real Katniss in this movie.  The first book she is suppose to have feeling for Gail (Liam Hemworth – Lord is this guy cute.  Where has he been?) and pretend to be in love with Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), right?  The movie made it seem as if she really was in love with Peeta.  They missed the mark on that entirely.  How can you have a love triangle without the triangle? 

Well that’s about it for my “review”.  I enjoyed the movie greatly.  I am just very happy I had already read the book, as I would have been LOST otherwise.  Maybe I just see it that way because I have read the book and I think some of the left-outs were important.  I would be interested to know if any of you have seen the movie without first reading it and what you thought about it.  Am I wrong that it was confusing? 

ctny

 

Tucson - 3 of 3

Day 4

Acclimating very nicely to Arizona.  We got up and out the door by 9:00.  We were looking for the Magic Gardens or the Fairy Garden, but when we got there they were closed.  I was somewhat happy about this as on the outside the place was a bit on the scary side.  Maybe this is just because it was so empty….  So since we weren’t able to do that, instead we headed out to Colossal Cave.  It’s exactly what you think.  You take a guided tour of an underground “dry” cave.  It was fun, a bit short, but fun nonetheless.  Here are some photos of the caves. 

After that you can go up to the Ranch and see horses, gardens, and go on trail walks.  We did it all.  The trail walk was great.  It was literally a walk through the Arizona wilderness.  That means, trees, desert, hills, and mountains.  We were out there for hours just taking it all in.  I got a nice sunburn.  Yay me!  No worries, I am out in the sun 5 minutes and I get sunburned, sun screen or not. 

(Enjoy I dont take many photos of myself)

By the time we finished up with the cave, the ranch, and of course the gift shops, it was getting to be late in the afternoon.  So I decided it was the perfect chance to go see the Mission.  San Xavier mission had been referred to me several times over the trip from several different people. It’s an old Catholic Mission church that was set up to bring religion to the savages (Oiy…really?).  We get there, and my first thought was, “This is it?”  My answer after going through it was, “Yup.  That’s it.”  Yes, the church was lovely.  The murals were gorgeous and old and…religious, but they were pretty.  They really were.  The wooden dead guy was a bit on the creepy side, but moving on.  There was some interesting history throughout, but mainly it was a church and a gift shop.  We didn’t stay long. 

On the way out though there were several little, I don’t even know what to call them, tables maybe?  Anyway there were several and they all sold food but the main attraction was “flat bread”.  A fried tortilla type bread that was then slathered in sugar or honey or beans and tomatoes or whatever.  I had to try it.  OMG it was so good.  We all had one and we all were in heaven.  Greasy sugary yum.  The mission was a bit of bust, but the flat bread made it a bit better.

We then went to find some dinner and walk through the mall for a bit of normalcy.  As that was our last full day in Arizona we then headed back to our room to make sure we were pretty well packed up to go the next day.  As we were too afraid to properly unpack (thank you scorpions) we really only had our toiletries out to worry about and our souvenirs. 

Day 5

We were up and packed and out the door and checked out of our hotel at 8.  We had a few hours to kill so we went to the Botanical Gardens in Tucson.  It was a nice last stop over.  They even had a butterfly exhibit.  Not as grand of scale as ours in Columbus (Franklin Park Conservatory) but still a worthwhile stop.  The gardens and grounds were gorgeous and fun to see.  Of course we had to stop at the gift shop before heading out.  I found a great cookbook that even had a recipe for Flat Bread in it.  Yay!  I also bought some honey to take home. 

We were then off to the airport.  We turned in our car and made it on time and to our plane without problem.  I was not worried at all as the flights in were okay.  Our first flight back was from Tucson to Denver.  It was an express plane and sadly it was not a good flight for me.  First it was very bumpy and shaky.  I couldn’t read.  I couldn’t eat.  I couldn’t do anything but sit there feeling really sick and yucky.  Second there was a family with 2 small children behind me (2 and under).  I don’t mind children.  As long as they aren’t screaming I am good.  I didn’t mind the constant chatter.  I didn’t mind getting whacked in the head with something (I think it was a blanket).  I didn’t mind the hanging over the top of my seat.  However, there were a few things that really bothered me. You know that sound kids make when they cough that makes you think, “What the….”.  Well I had one of those moments.  When I made to turn around to check it out, my husband shot out a hand and said quite directly and scary firmly “Do Not Turn Around”.  I of course halted mid turn and said.  “All right?”  He then said.  “Cover your nose.”  That was when the smell hit me.  One of the children had hurled right behind me.  Since I was already sick as hell and hot as hell cause I was sick, my jacket was in my lap.  I quickly slammed it over my nose but it was too late.  I about died on that flight back.  Then the parents, which I don’t really blame them now, stood up right next to me covered in…stuff as they tried to clean up the seats and the child and themselves.  At the time I was pissed.  Could they not see I was sick as hell?  The color of my face should have given me away.  I was green.  I would have been fine, well not fine but not quite so sick, had the child not barfed.  It was not fun.

So we made it to Denver.  I immediately bought some motion sickness tablets and that was that.  The next flight from Denver to Columbus, I was loopy from the tablets, but was happily able to read and watch tv and I was not sick at all.  It was also a bigger plane so that may have helped.  All in all, the plane rides were all right.  However, from now on, I will just suck it up and take a motion tablet first thing so I don’t have to worry about it anymore. 

We got home and I realized, oopsy I was a Delbert.  I was thinking our flight out was at noon, we would get home around 5-6:00, have time to settle in and be ready for back to school and work.  Duh.  I forgot the time change of four hours.  We didn’t get in to Ohio until 11:00 p.m. We didn’t get home and into bed until Midnight.  Oh well you live you learn. 

All in all it was a great trip and one I hope to do again in the future.  I love trying new things and going new places.  It was so much fun, but I am glad to be home and back on Ohio time.  Hmmm…I wonder how many books I sold…..

Tune in next week for my review of the Hunger Games.

Ctny