Gray Time of Year

I get a bit of the blues this time of year.  I have ruminated on the why.  From what I can tell it’s because nature gives you one or two glorious days of spring, and then it blasts you with day after day after day of rain and snow and frost and cold and wind and…and…I simply get to the point where it depresses the heck out of me.  I figured I better get back on the blog wagon and give you an update as to what is going one.

1.  First and foremost, The Full Moon Rises, book 2 in the Howl in the Night Series has been slated to be published sometime around November 15, 2015.  Exciting news eh? Not too far away.  I am sure I will post an update or two closer to the release date to keep you all in the loop.

2.  My website is back up and running!  Credit given to my husband, who has realized that when it comes to technologies and website creation and all that comes with it, I suck.  He took it over for me, cleaned it up and there you have it.  You can check it out here: Website

3.  Time has been on my mind a lot lately.  In that I don’t seem to have any.  Between working full time, the tiny dancer's dance schedule, which is currently including extra practices, the fact that competition season is in full swing, holidays, and just trying to clean my house and spend time with my husband and family, I have no time at all.  So, with that being said, please do not ask me to do anything that takes any amount of time, as apparently I can’t say no to anyone.  I want to help others out.  I want to do all that I can for friends and family, but please, right now, don’t ask me, as I will say yes, when I should not. 

4.  Last, but not least, I am thinking I need an updated author photo.  Does anyone have any ideas?  Does the world like outside ones or the flat backed professional ones?  Should I be more candid or more posed?  I hate taking photos of myself.  I am not a selfie person, and I feel really fake smiling for a gadget. 

That’s all I have time for today.  Easter is on its way.  Woo Hoo.  I love Easter.  For many reasons but I will admit, mostly…it’s for the chocolate.  Have a great week and holiday for those that celebrate.  

ctny

The Sun...

The sun is out, and I am too.  I simply can not be inside today writing a blog.  So, here are a few photos I snapped today to prove how glorious the weather is:

Most of my Snow Crocus that have come up are purple.  Most as in 99.9%.  This one however obviously is not.  She's all alone in a bed of purple.  Makes her all the more lovely to see.

This one (notice the coloring of the crocus?) I am sharing as these crocus are covered in bees.  The sound and hum of them pulled me forward just so I could watch them work.

This is the only day for the next week that the sun will be out and it will be warm, so I am going to be playing hooky from my blog this week.  Hope you understand.  Better yet, I hope you are having as lovely a day as I am and don't even notice as you are outside enjoying as well.

Have a great week!  See you next.

ctny

A New Week and a New Project

It’s not spring yet, but it is getting closer every day.  The sun is shining and it’s heading up to the 50’s all week long.  Yes, it will rain, but there is also loads of sunshine mixed within the gray.  I’m so excited.  The end of winter is near.  Thank goodness, as I really don’t know that I could have taken much more.

So this week, I am starting a new story.  Or I should say finishing a new story, that I had begun and put aside for Nano in November and haven’t touched it since.  It’s new and exciting and something a little different than my usual.  I’m not even sure yet if it will have a romance element to it.  The dude that is one of the main characters is a bit of a jerk and I wouldn't date him…I can’t imagine my main girl would either.  We will see how it turns out. 

There you have it, back to the grind for me.  I maybe could have used a bit longer of a break to read and be lazy but I was kind of excited to get back at it.  I figured I better ride the creative wave while I had it in my hands.  You never know when it will pitter out and when the next wave will come.

The Full Moon Rises Update

To keep you up to date on what I am working on, I thought I’d take a moment to tell you all that my draft manuscript, The Full Moon Rises, which is Book Two in the Howl in the Night Series, is finally, sent off to my publisher as of late last week.  Will they like it?  Will they hate it?  The jury is still out, but my part for the moment is done.  Yay!

So what now?  This week I am catching up on some reading.  I have about 3 books going at the moment, which I thought I would finish up.  Then next week I will get back to writing.  Something.  No sure what at the moment, but between now and then I am sure I can come up with an idea.  

I haven’t done any small work lately; maybe I should take a few weeks and put out a few short stories to anthologies or maybe a few magazines.  I don’t know.  I will take the time I have this week to think it over.

18 days until spring.  Just saying…

Winter is never going to end…

In October everyone is excited to pull out the jackets and hoodies.  They start talking about bonfires and Halloween.  Then it’s the holiday season with turkey and a red suited fat man.  Everyone wants a white Christmas.  They complain if there isn’t snow.  They love the winter and all it brings.  The snowmen, and the ice skating, the snow ball fights and the angels.  The warm toasty fires and nights spent at home celebrating with family. 

Not me.  I hate winter.  I don’t say that lightly.  I Hate winter, which a capital H! 

I see the leaves on the trees begin to change and I get sad.  I mean actually sad, on the inside.  Then they fall to the ground in heaps and piles, which I have to rake and bag and cart away by the truck load.  The garden freezes over and the sweet potatoes are dug up.  That is the last of the fresh produce I will get for months and months.  The grass and then the windows on the car begin to frost over in the mornings, which means I will have to go out to start it early to warm up. The snow and the ice arrive with a vengeance in Ohio and it stays and stays. 

The days are dark and grey.  The nights are blustery and cold.  The wind is brutal.  It weasels its way under coats and sweaters and bites at the skin.  Eyes water and noses run and the winter is still ever present.  It’s January and the snow comes in droves of white.  Ice crusts over everything including power lines and walkways.  I have been in boots for months.  I miss my pretty peep-toe heels, my wedges and my espadrilles, even my flip-flops. Everything is dead, brown and grey. 

February has arrived and the ice has taken me as a casualty time and time again as I slip, slide, and fall my way through the days and days of winter.  My skin is itchy and dry no matter how much moisture I rub into it.  Snow comes again and again and again.  It’s pushed into piles as high as the house and some higher than that.  Salt granules find there way inside my shoes and my car and my home.  Everywhere I turn I find the sharp little crystals from hell as they stab into my cold feet and toes. 

March is almost here.  There is a light at the end of the tunnel, but I don’t see it yet.  I’m melancholy today with the cold and the winter that is never going to let go of us.  I need the warmth of the sun.  I miss it terribly. 

Come on spring, where are you?

Reading to my Children

I read to my babies.  I read to them, all the time.  It didn’t matter if they were two months old or ten years old.  I read to them.  I was chatting with a new mom the other day.  Her baby was the cutest little girl of about four months old.  I asked her if she was reading to her?  She told me no, that there wasn’t a point at that age as they didn’t understand.

Now, I am not, or at least I try not to be, that person that believes they know everything about everything.  I have learned a lot of thing, but I don’t believe that I know everything, or that I have learned everything.  I learn new things every single day.  However, in this instance, I decided to share what I had learned about reading to babies.   

1.  Babies may not understand the words in the beginning, but they understand the tone you are using.  They hear you.   They listen. 

2.  Babies can see.  Whether unfocused or not, they can see the colors and the shapes.  They can see the words, even if they don’t understand them.  They learn from every single moment of the day. 

3.  Reading time is a time to cuddle and bond and enjoy a quiet moment together.  It’s a chance to sit on mom or dad’s lap and soak in the warmth and the love. 

4.  This one I think is very important.  It’s one that I realized early and put to good use as soon as I could.  Reading is a moment to sit still.  It’s a moment of learning how to sit and be quiet, and be silent for a period of time.  It’s a time to listen.  This is a moment in a parent’s life where you can teach a necessary social manner to a little one, in an easy pain free way that also has an element of enjoyment.  Those children at the restaurants that are running around like wild animals, they may be entertaining for a moment, but in reality, they need to be taught how to sit and good.  Those children in church that the harassed mother has to take out of the service, because they can’t sit quietly, haven’t learned the lesson yet.  It can all start with a simple moment of reading time.  I know it sounds silly, but teaching a child how to sit still and quiet while another is talking will be invaluable to the child.  No it doesn’t start easy.  Babies don’t understand.  You aren’t going to be reading for hours on end and torturing the child to be still for that long.  But starting at a board book that takes a moment or two and progressing through to long and longer periods, will slowly and surely teach more than just reading to a child. 

So, there you have it.  I read to my babies.  As long as they would tolerate it, I would read to them.  My youngest (teenager) would probably love for me to still do it, but with her dance schedule, there simply isn’t time with the books she likes to read.  I do read most of the books that she reads in order for us to talk about them and discuss, but sadly, I don’t physically read to her anymore.  

The Big Game

Hello people of the blog.  Last week I was noticeably absent.  The tiny dancer and myself were down with the stomach flu from hell.  It would not go away.  It was like the flu only centered in the tummy area.  You’d feel a little better and talk yourself into eating something, and WHAM down you’d go again.  I really wasn’t certain we were going to make it.  We did, after about 6 days.  It really lasted last long. 

As I was so sick last week I didn’t work on anything writing’wise.  I didn’t even read.  I tried, but it was like getting motion sick trying to read.  No thanks.  So, The Full Moon Rises is not done as I really wanted it to be.  I will do my best to catch back up this week and get it finished.

So what do I have on my mind?  The big game of course!

1.  Half-Time:  I’m not a Katy Perry fan. I don’t NOT like her and there a few songs I enjoy but that’s about it.  Now, that being said, when she came out at Half Time riding that giant mechanical lion, I was stupefied.  That was the most fantastic thing I have seen in a long while. I loved it.  I want one!  Seriously, did you see it?  All in all her show was very entertaining.  I was impressed.  I wanted more Lenny, but who didn’t?  Sorry Missy Elliot, you were not exciting and did you actually even sing?  Come on now.  The stage was very cool with its effects and lights and movement.  Yes, I really enjoyed it.  I am shocked, but I did.  Katy Perry, well done. 

2.  Commercials:  As usual, some were good, some were bad, some were stupid, and some annoyed me.  The good:  The Budweiser Ponies and Puppy.  Yes, proof positive I am a girl.  I enjoyed the Dove daddy commercial, until the very last second when I realized it was for Dove Men.  I was not expecting that.  It was Hallmark’esq and then DOVE…weird.  The Viagra/Fiat commercial I felt was stupid and a bit TMI.  The Nationwide one, why?  Yes, it made a point, but why?  Do we always have to make things morbid?  I think after that commercial I stopped watching them.  It ruined it for me.  They are supposed to be fun and silly and you bring in the death of children?  Yeah, didn’t need to see that.  Someone always has to ruin the fun, thanks Nationwide.

3.  The Game:  The whole point of the night.  I tried to read and watched some of the game. Most of the game was well done.  A few bum moments.  A few bad plays.  I’m not a fan of either team, we’re a Pittsburg household, however, I was rooting for the Patriots, because I think the Seahawks are bad sportsman.  Ha!  That sounds funny considering “deflatgate”.  Regardless, I find them to be Ugly people.  I don’t mean by looks either, I mean on the inside.  Not all of them, obviously, but a good handful of them and that tends to ruin the whole team for me.  Then the very last 20 seconds of the game, the Seahawks proved my stance by swinging and throwing punches due to their own stupidity.  Served them right for loosing.  Show some class boys.  Maybe you can win one. 

Today I am working hard on re-re-re-editing Full Moon Rises.  Then I will be making changes and finishing it up to send out to beta readers.  Hopefully, I can get it submitted in the next week or so.  I’ll keep you posted. 

Have a great week!