Encouraging Thunder Award

I am honored today because a fellow author has awarded me with the Encouraging Thunder award!

What you can do with Encouraging Thunder award?
– Post it on your blog   - Check!
– Grant other bloggers with the award  - Pass

What you can’t do with Encouraging Thunder award?
– Abuse or misuse the logo    - Check!
– Claim that it’s your own handmade logo     - Check!

What you should do after receiving Encouraging Thunder award:
– Enjoy the award     - Check check!
– Thank via comments or mention the blogger who gave you the award  - Check!

That’s it. No questions to answer or cumbersome rules to follow. It’s acknowledgment to those blogger friends who have stuck behind you through good times and bad, whether through comments, social media, email, etc.

~*~

Thank you so much, Allyn for thinking of me for this award.  I am going to enjoy my award and brandish it proudly.  Thank you for always giving me encouragement as well as listening to me during my moments of struggle.

Be sure to check out her blog for more information on her current publications and books.

~*~

One more thing before I go this week.  Did I finish my first draft of my current WIP?  Why, yes!  Yes, I did. Stay tuned fans and readers, I will have a exciting new book and story for you soon, I hope.

Summer is here...sorta

Summer is in full swing and it’s cold as heck.  I mean so cold I thought about actually turning on the heat this morning.  I didn’t, but only as it seemed wrong to turn on the heat on June 1^st.  Instead, I put on extra clothes and turned on the little space heater in the entry way, to break the chill in the air.  What the heck?  Where’s the sweltering heat? 

So? Did I finish the first draft of my current WIP?  Nope.  But there is a good reason.  As I progressed through the book, it was turning more and more into a series book.  I didn’t want that.  I want a full stand-alone story.  Why?  I don’t know, I just do.  If a publisher later on wants a book two, it could be a branch out book with new characters added in with their own story.  But I wanted Grace’s story to finish, to have an actually happy ending.  What that means though is, it appears this book is going to be a bit longer than I first anticipated as it reaches an actual end.  However, it’s coming along very nicely.  I hit the 60,000 mark last week and I am pressing forward.

This week is the end of the dance “school” year.  We have our end of the year recital, which means I will be in dance hell for the week.  Costumes and makeup and hair, dress rehearsals, and so many shows, it’s going to be insane.  I am praying for patience.  But, then I get a break, a short one-week one, but a break all the same.  Plus it’s fun to see how everyone ended up for the year.  What they learned and how they progressed.  The children look forward to it and that’s the whole point after all.  

I am still looking for at least one review of A Howl in the Night. Did you read it?  Did you review it on Amazon?  If you didn’t know, the one good way to help out an author is to write a review. Just sayin.

Here's a link to help you out:  A Howl in the Night

Summer Schedule

It’s spring and almost summer!  This is my absolute favorite time of year.  I get refreshed, I feel inspired, and I lose the funk that I tend to hold onto from the first frost all the way until the first spring flowers begin to bloom. 

What that also means is that I get busy.  Busy outside in the garden and the yard.  Busy cleaning and clearing out the house from the winter.  Busy planting flowers and putting down mulch.  Most of all, I get busy writing.  I have been cranking out words by the thousands lately on my current manuscript.  What’s it about? I don’t want to say.  It’s a bit of a surprise.  However, what I can say is, the first draft is almost done all ready.  If I work on it this week as I have the last few, I may have it done this week.  I may not, but it is possible.  As I said above, I am feeling inspired.  Thank you sunshine!

I am also full swing within dance season for the tiny dancer.  Her hip is still an issue and causes her pain and frustration, but she is learning to deal with it and press on.  Some days are fine, some not so much.  I guess that is what determination is.  It’s awesome and frightening to see up close and person how very determined she is.  Only a few more weeks of the chaos of dance, then we get a decent break (like 6 whole weeks!!!!), before it all starts over in August.  One good thing about the crazy dance season is that I have a lot of time just sitting around, which I am filling with good books to read and even time spent plucking away at my WIP in some form or another.  I’m having fun.  Yes, its nuts and crazy and time consuming, add in a touch of drama and tears, a splash of hair emergencies, you just about have a picture of it.  The upcoming six weeks of break, I wont know what to do with myself. 

No, this is not a literary blog.  This is a welcome to my life blog.  It’s almost summer and I am thrilled.  I wont be blogging every week for the summer.  It will be more like every other week.  Mainly because I have a few projects that I really want to get working on and finished before the cold and rain comes back and I get dreary and sad.  I may even give agent hunting a go.  Maybe. 

Hopefully next blog I will be able to say I am done with my first draft of my new story.  I’m trying.   

May the 4th and Cinco De Mayo

Welcome to May the 4^th.  I love this day, for two reasons actually.  One as, hello!  It’s funny and I like it. I’m a Star Wars child.  Grew up with Laya and Luke.  Had the records and the books.  My sister loved Yoda and had a ton of things with him.  He kinda creeped me out, but hey, when you share a room with your sibling, you don’t get much say (The purple!  My God, all the purple!  To this day, I am not a fan of purple).  Moving on.  So, enjoy the 4^th,  just for the fun of it.

Tomorrow is Cinco De Mayo.  Why is this day awesome. Because!!!!!  It’s a feast day of Mexican goodness AND it’s also my birthday.  I get a festival on my birthday to celebrate my greatness.  Okay, so maybe not, but I can pretend.  I’m an author after all.  I have a great imagination. 

What am I doing for my grand event?  Nothing.  It’s not that I am not thrilled to have lived through another year (it was questionable a time or two).  I am not a big birthday person.  I try really hard to remember other people’s big day, I miss more than I remember, but again, I’m not big on birthdays.  Well, unless you are my Husband or my children and grandchildren, then I can’t forget you, as that’s just wrong, but the rest of my friends and family, if I remember to say anything about your special day, be grateful, as 90% I don’t.  Therefore, it’s seems a bit hypocritical to be all fanatical about my special day of birth, when I can’t remember anyone else’s. 

I wanted to post a baby photo of myself just for kicks, but apparently I don’t have one.  Sad.  I will give another hunt through later today if I can to post on my actual birthday, but as of now, I got nothing.  I’d post one of me now, but I am not a photogenic person.   Sorry about your luck. 

May the 4^th be with you and have a wonderful week. 

Back into the Mix

Hello, people of the blog.  Yes, it has been a while.  Life gets in the way and sometimes takes over. 

So what have your missed in the life of me:

1.  The tiny dancer and I got food poisoning.  It was awful.  However, if you want to find a bright spot from the whole horrid experience, then it would be that I was able to lose almost 8 whole pounds in a period of about 3 days.  Whoo hoo.  However, it didn’t stay off.  There was cherry cheesecake in the fridge, and once I was finally hungry again, I think I ate all of it.  Yeah.  Really.

2.  I have done absolutely no writing for the last two weeks.  Yes, I know, I suck.  I simply didn’t have the energy nor the brain capacity to sit down and actually try to think.  This week I am back at it.  I have a fresh beginning worked out for my current WIP and I plan on spending hopefully a good hour on it today.  Yay.  I always feel better when I feel productive.

3.  As I have not been writing, I have been reading.  I found all the maze runner books at the Half Priced Book Store.  I, of course, scarfed them up and I am on the last one.  I had read the first one about a year ago, and due to the extent of my TBR pile, it has taken me this long to get back to the series.  It’s not bad.  Sometimes the confusion of the characters makes me the reader confused and frustrated, but I have decided that is the point, even if it’s annoying.  I need to find another series after this one to pick up. 

4.  Dance season is in full swing.  My schedule is a bit on the crazy side right now.  I had this past weekend off, and the upcoming one, but then we are back into the competition on the 1^st.  It’s funny, I look forward to this time of year, but then when it’s here, I get stressed and anxious trying to make sure we are prepared and have everything and that I know where we are going and when.  It’s for the tiny dancer though and I wouldn’t change it for the world.  She looks so lovely and happy when she is dancing.  I would never take that from her. 

That’s it for me.  I’m swamped under over here, but trying to stay afloat.  Have a great week and I hope to say hello next Monday. 

ctny

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