Dishes, Writing.. No Wait.. Writing THEN Dishes...

Monday: Write for 2 hours before doing housework.
Tuesday:  Try to write for 2 hours before doing housework.
Wednesday: Finish cleaning what hasn't been done in two days before doing anything.
Thursday: Find the rest of the socks under the bed so that I can start working on another chapter.
Friday: Pick up rest of clothes... wait... where did my week go?

Does this sound familiar? It does to me... actually, my days normal are nowhere NEAR that simple. Finding time to write along with the daily routine is one of the hardest things for me to do. Between three wonderful daughters, a husband, 2 dogs, 2 cats, chickens, fish, goats, etc... PLUS all the housework (that no one in the house is capable of helping with), it can be difficult to sit down and actually work on the elusive WIP. You know the one. The Work In Progress. The one that has been sitting in your notebook by your pillow. The one that has been hidden in the portable drive so that JUST IN CASE the pc crashes, all your work won't be lost.  (That last one is my personal paranoia) So how DO you find time to write? Between all the stuff that we have to do in life, how do we make time to write, to pour our very souls into something that people will not only love, but crave to buy?

Determination. Coffee. Time management. Did I mention coffee yet? Or caffeine?  Seriously, determination and time management (and caffeine) are really the keys to getting it done. Everyone has their own ways of writing. Some write every other day, some write whenever the creative mood hits them and others manage to be superhuman and write everyday.. 50 pages of perfection that make you want to laugh or cry and hug them tightly. (I'm still waiting to figure out how they do that one.) Regardless, time management is key. Without it, (and lists.. I am such a LIST person!) we would not know what to do with ourselves. Look at your schedules. Try to fit in a time frame that you will be sitting down, in front of what ever you use to write and actually WRITE. It might be just a word, it might be 20 pages, but at least you sat down to do it. And that is where the determination comes in. Nobody can make you do it. If you want to write that elusive story that keeps you up at night, that haunts your dreams, you have to make yourself sit down and write it down. Word by word. Until you finally have it finished. No amount of family, friends or wishing will make it happen without your determination to make it a reality.

So, what are you determined to do? I am determined to finish writing my other books. I am determined to make them better stories that show the true talent and ability of what I know I am capable of.  How about you? Will you join me?

New Year Resolutions: Do You Or Don't You?

(Warning: actual serious post... maybe)

Well? Do you or don't you make New Year's resolutions?  I've actually never done it really. Personally, I never saw the point. Most people make the promises to themselves, or to their family or friends and then break them... usually within a day or two. I have never been one to break promises (unless there was no option.. none of us are perfect) and so I saw no point... until this year.

This year has been the WORST year ever for me. Yes, I did self publish my first book and that was AWESOME.  But that pretty much was the only good thing. Don't get me wrong, I am not gonna go into a depressive spiral, venting all my issues on a public blog that makes you want to beat your head into a wall going "kill the wabbit", or in this case, my blog. ;)  But, it has been tough, seriously tough, and to get myself out of the state I am in... drum roll, please... I am going to make some resolutions.

So here goes:
 1. EXERCISE 
    We are putting exercise equipment in one of our bedrooms so that we can actually get into shape.  I plan on losing the last 40 pounds within 7 months. ( Please tell me this is realistic! lol)

 2. WRITE
    I am going to have the other 2 books I am working on finished by the end of the year. I took the time off to spend with my hubby & kids for Thanksgiving & Christmas but now it's time to get on the ball now. This includes this blog. I am apologizing for writing so little. It's been a little busy here! lol

 3. RIDE
    We are redoing our fenceline this coming spring so that we can have our own horses for the kids & for me. (And maybe the hubby if he gives in to it). No more depending on others and it's time for us to do this as a family anyway. The kids are REALLY glad about this one since they weren't really happy with the last place.

OK, so these are my 3 resolutions. Nothing really fancy, nothing that should be too hard to do. (I think!)So, what are yours? What do YOU want to do differently this coming new year? I want to know!
 And now... time for the required EYE CANDY PIC OF THE DAY!!!
      Can you tell me who it is?

            

It's Blogging Men...What's Your Type?

Ok~ so that was a shameless snatching of the song "It's Raining Men" but hey, it got your attention right? lol  So I am here to blog about men in writing/reading books.  What is your type?  And you KNOW, we all have types. There is always that one that, every time we read about him, it curls our blood... makes us almost take care of business just by reading the book ( or writing about it... depending on what you're doing)!
Is he the Nordic type? Blonde, blue -eyed with muscles that ripple like a wrestler?  Or maybe the dark and silent type?  With his dark eyes that seem to follow you in your imagination with a burning desire to trap you in his gaze.
Mine is the dark and silent type for the most part. You know the one. He has great strength BUT doesn't look like he took a year of steriods and stayed 24/7 in the gym. Not lanky but not the young Arnold Schwarzenegger either. (That's just WAY too much for me). Got to be tall too (I'm 5 foot 8 so ya know... he's got to top at least 6 foot lol).  Now, don't get me wrong, I do enjoy the blondes and even the light brown, blue-eyed cuties... but the dark and silent always get me.  I suppose I am a sucker for the broody types that always end up showing a wicked sense of humor... among other things. 
I started going through all of my books and realized that I really do have a type. Not all of them BUT most of the books I have bought have the same type of hero. I didn't realize that I had been collecting them until this weekend. So, go through your books.  Look at the man and tell me... what is your type? lol.... Betcha that you have one!  And I will even leave you with a picture of  my  man eye candy for the day .... Hope you enjoy him!

                                           

Fall Leaves & chocolate thoughts

It's officially FALL here. In Mississippi, our leaves tend to take a little bit longer to change since we have such a warmer climate in the South. They are finally changing though. This means that, for our family anyway, it is hunting season and chocolate season.

Now, some people have issues with the hunting part, and that's fine. We don't do the vanity hunting but we put it all in our freezer. I normally don't buy hamburger meat until August or September.  But I digress... this is really about the chocolate.  I'm not talking regular chocolate. Oh no, I am talking about homemade hot chocolate mix.

Yeah, I said it. The addictive...calorie-infused.... awesomeness that we LOVE to have nightly. Or put in our coffee for extra wonderfulness.  Now, mine isn't a true "homemade" recipe. I normally do make most of my stuff from scratch but this just is GREAT. Seriously... I'm talking gain 5 lbs if you don't ration it awesomeness. lol~~~~~ So here's the recipe!

2 lb box   Nestle Quik
1 lb box   Confectioners Sugar
11 oz jar  CoffeeMate (PLAIN)
8 qt box   powdered milk

Mix all of this, sifting constantly. I can't tell you how important it is to get it completely sifted together. (you will need a BIG BOWL and a BIG container). 
That's it for directions. Super easy!  To use for hot chocolate, simply put 1/2 cup in your mug, fill with boiling water, stir and add marshmallows.   For coffee, simply add 1 teaspoon (or 2 or 3) to your coffee.

This makes Fall (and Winter) perfect for us. I have sat in my chair, laptop in my lap, just drinking this while I thought of different things to write. In fact, this is usually how you find me... but be warned!!! It is so good, it is addictive... and trust me, I wasn't joking about the calories! We're talking cappuccino calories peeps~ 

Enjoy!!!!

Works In Progress & RESEARCH

So many people have asked me how I think of things to write. Okay, so it's mostly family who ask this... since I have only self-published one novella, but still, it counts! lol~  My kids say that I am just super smart. My husband says I have a severely twisted mind. Personally, I like my kids' answer better!  But my answer?  Creativity and research.

Yeah, I know. The dreaded, horrible R-word. RESEARCH. The word that gives many of us writers horrible nightmares both night and day, making us break out into a sweat as we bravely sit down to write our latest masterpiece. You know the one... the one that is gonna put us on the MAP. Put our name out into the world where people will love us for our brilliance. Uh huh... I can feel the poo starting to rise and I am in open-toed shoes at the moment so I'm gonna stop now. 
Seriously, research is the best and (if we are being honest with ourselves) ONLY way to write well.  I would love to say that everything I have thought about was my own thought but it isn't. I research everything that I am working on. I make calls, I write emails, I WORK HARD at finding out the correct answer to something before I write it.  That way, I know that when I write something... I don't sound like an idiot. lol.... and it doesn't take much sometimes.  The point is, always research what you are writing. Especially the technical stuff. Otherwise, you are going to have a book that isn't your best and every reviewer, every reader, WILL call you on it.

Good luck and remember, research doesn't have to be a bad word. An aggravating one, yes, but not necessarily a bad one.

How Goats Are Promoting My WIP~

Yep... I did say goats. I even said the word promote.  They are great at promoting your work.  They are great at helping you work harder on your Work In Progress (wip for all those who didn't know what that was).  If I had known how much they would help me, I would have gotten one sooner. Wait a minute, I feel a Dr. Seuss moment coming on.... whew! It passed~

How do goats help you? It's really easy. Once you have a goat, you will decide after the first day or two that you will promise to do your own work, you will worker harder at your manuscipt, ANYTHING to not have to work with the said goat ever.. ever... ever.. again.  How do I know this? lol~ My husband and I have brought two goats to our growing "farm" to live.  We officially have 2 dogs, 2 cats, 2 fish, 16 chickens.. and now, 2 goats.  No, the number 2 is actually not a requirement.  It just keeps happening to us. (I swear there is NO ARK in the making!)  So far, they have managed to get tangled into every vine, weed, grass & limb that they refuse to eat, which means I am the one who has to untangle them from all the wonderul things they find to get into.  Let's not forget the water buckets that the youngest goat watches you fill with it's head turned just soooo.  Then butts it over with her horned head so she can watch you refill it - 3 more times.

The best part though? When I let the chickens loose from their pen. You would have thought we were having the end of the world, goat style. REM's "It's  The End OF The World" (I think is the name of the song~ someone tell me if I am wrong!)  goes through my head everytime I let the chickens out. It is the funniest thing!  The goats running in circles ~ the chickens flapping & crowing at the goats. The goats baaaaiiinng back in defense. I'm telling you, Russia and the US had nothing on these guys! 

So now, I am working hard on my manuscript, eyeing my hubby to see how I can talk him into watering the goats today. Cause I enjoy a good show... just sayin'  ....  ; )

Cars Are Easier Than Manuscripts

No, you didn't misread the title, I promise.  I have realized that cars are actually easier to fix than a manuscript.  I have just helped my husband change out the spark plugs in our car (he pulled his lower back so he "coached" me on how to change them). Now, that was definitely an experience but I'm not finished.  He has changed out the thermostat, the water pump and put on a new tire...okay, so walmart put on the new tire, but I paid them to do it. lol
I have yet to work on my WIP though.  With Jamie's back being pulled (I have to take him for an MRI today), 3 children with school work, trying to keep the house clean, bills paid & everybody happy... yeah, I haven't even looked at it.  Granted, I have been swamped with family issues & car issues, but still, I should have at least LOOKED at it, right?  It's not that I am stuck with writer's block... I just don't want to work on it right now.
So what do you do when this happens to you? Or does this happen to you? Do you continue to work on it, hoping that you aren't making it worse or do you walk away from your wip for a while, just to give yourself breathing room or a break?  I suppose it depends on whether you are a traditional writer or self-publishing one.  Since I have only written one book that is self-published, I am very much still new at this.  I am going to finish up a blanket & then look at it again with a fresh eye. That way, I can see if I still like the way it's going. 

Now for the fun part:

Tell me what you do when you are tired of writing.  On Friday, I will pick a winner from random.org who will recieve a free ebook copy of my book, A Fire Within. (And be sure to share it with your friends!) 

Cover Art Is Like Chocolate...

Okay, so cover art isn't exactly like chocolate but it's close.  You don't think so? Hmmm... I'm thinking we are gonna have to have a lesson then. lol   Here we go!

Think about it like this: you have many different kinds of chocolate to choose from: sweet, semi-sweet & dark. You have the option of having it hard-edged like a candy bar or soft and sweet like a marshmallow. Or maybe even the kind that coats all the fun, edible stuff like strawberries, Oreo cookies w/ cream cheese or peanut butter.  So many choices to choose from! lol (I won't get into toppings because that is a WHOLE other topic in itself!)
Cover art is the same way. What do YOU want as the cover of your book? It depends on the book itself and your own personal taste. Does it have a hard edge to it? Or is it soft & gooey to make you all warm inside? Is it spine-tingling or is it so hot that you need a cold shower after you are finished reading it?
Regardless, your cover needs to draw attention to itself.. in a GOOD way. Obviously, it needs to catch the eye of a potential buyer- that's a given.  But it also has to match the feel of the book. And please... PLEASE remember that if you use people on your cover art, please try to match them with your characters in the book.  Honestly, I can't say how many times I have been turned off by a book just because the cover has a different people than what is mentioned in it. You know what I'm talking about...

The hero with his striking black hair and green eyes glared down at his beautiful, yet stubborn, captive. She shook her head in denial and promised retaliation, even as her blond hair seemed to wrap itself around his hand on its own.

And the cover art on the front is a brown-haired woman with a man with blond hair. That is annoying. That is unprofessional... That does NOT get you any chocolate.
The point is, make sure that your cover art is everything YOU want it to be. Don't let others decide for you. Instead, make sure everything matches the characters of the book.  Make sure you are 100% happy with it before you are ready to release it to the world. Why?  Because we are watching... we are waiting... we want to read your book~ if you can capture our attention.
Now, I am off to make homemade cookies because all I can think of is ...well... you know.

Telling People You Wrote A Book In Your Hometown

Today, I have two children sick. Nothing serious; one has a sinus issue & the smaller one is throwing up due to quick stomach virus. Yay ME~   Now, you are probably wondering what the CRAP that has to do with the title right now.... it has everything to do with it. Here's why....
I'm out of medication for the child with the sinus issue. NP!! I got this! Hubby gets up early (he works at night) and volunteers to watch both children so I can run into town for a few groceries & the medicine. Wow... that made my day better, especially since I went to bed at 10:30 last night & woke up at 1:30 in the morning with our 5 yr old... puking her eyeballs out.  I go to the big chain store that I suppose I shouldn't mention due to legal reasons... but we all know who I am talking about. Uncle Sam isn't the only one we all know~ lol. I stopped by the book section (we all do~ none of us can pass up a chance to look at what we are trying to make our living at) & there is one woman standing in the section, looking at Christian romance books.
She was aimlessly walking her fingers through the pile while I was looking in the paranormal romance section but I could see her glance at me once in a while. No big deal. Everybody is curious about people in their "circle". Until she opens her mouth...
"Do you like reading those devil books?"
I looked at her with what must have been a really funny face because she repeated the question. To me. A stranger.... so I answered that yes, I do like reading them, I like to read different types of books, period.
"Hmmphf" was the answer I received for that.  At that point, I don't know why, but I couldn't just LET IT GO... I mean, really, I wanted to. I tried to stay quiet. My mouth wouldn't stay SHUT.
"I write those kind of books so I tend to buy these more than any other kind."
sigh.... I knew better... I know this.
"You're gonna go to hell & take all those people with you that you are deceiving," and she stomped off.. pushing her buggy, muttering something about that store selling stuff not fit for young people to read.
OKAY, obviously that type of book wasn't her cup of tea. I get it. Many people in a smaller town where religion is not about faith, it's about a way of life in general, you are going to have that. I have tough skin so I can deal with it.
Until I check out and see the EXACT same woman in front of me, putting the last of her groceries on the belt line. And the 3 books she is buying.
Harlequin Blaze... all 3 of them were Harlequin Blaze!  OH COME ON, Really??? I didn't say anything because it would have looked like I was harrassing a woman for no reason but I wanted to .. Oh, I really, really wanted to. Which brings me to my question. So far, most of my followers are writers...

What is the worst thing you have heard or have been told when you admitted you were an author? 

Let me know~

Never Write Poetry for Your Kids~

FYI~ This is NOT a mommy blog. Nothing wrong with them, but I normally don't "do" those. So, now that I have that out of the way,let's talk about poetry...
Yes, I said poetry. One of my 10 year old twin daughters came to me last night & said:
   "Mom?"
   "Yes?"
   "Can you write me a poem?"
Now, this makes me automatically think about her homework... so, just in case:
   "Why? Is it for school?"
   "No, you just haven't written anything for me in a while, like stories & stuff. I just wanted to see if you would write me a poem."
Ok, I'm happywith this; I have written them stories & poetry their entire life. The guilt trip is excellently applied, so of course, I reply:
   "Ok, sure... when ya want it?"
   "Now would be great... can I watch you?"

Seriously. She wanted me to magically pull a poem out of my writer's hat then & there.  Being a mom, I said ok. Sigh.... In 10 MINUTES (mind you, she is watching me with that weird hawk look that kids get when they want something...you KNOW the one I am talking about) I have written a poem for her. No, it wasn't long.. but I thought it was nice. It showed love, heartfelt feelings. blah blah blah. Here it is in all it's wonderful short (10 minutes I remind you) glory.

Balance

Time stands still as I look upon your beautiful face
My love is instant and unfaltering
You are my life, my love, my everything
No other line holds me except your own

Your cry fills my heart with joy... and sadness
For I know you will meet pain and sorrow
Yet the happiness you will find makes it worthwhile
And that makes my life complete

You bring me love and tears
Happiness as well as sadness
This, my child, is proof...
Balance within a soul is brought simply by..
our children

I, personally, don't think I did too shabby of a job... for a 10 minute poem for my CHILD. And her words?.... wait for it....

"Can't you write me something funny to show my friends?"

I told her to go find a Dr. Suess book & study it....  sigh.... I love my children~ such balance to my life.

Hotness In The Hero Making

Ok, so I have noticed one major factor that most romance writers talk about. In fact, most of us tend to make our heros look vaguely familar at some point or another. Whether it's to an actor, singer or the man next door, we all do it. We look at the hotness level & apply it to our books.  Here are my hotties, in no particular order:

Now, Gerard Butler... mmm. no words for that one except wow!  Orlando Bloom? No matter what he plays in, those dark eyes pull you into a sensual haze that you never want to leave. And Ryan Reynolds... Not only could his abs keep us busy for days, but his sense of humor & even better arms would keep us going like the energizer bunny.
However, there is one more who is my number one hottie. He is the man that Mason Steele (from my sequel, Crossing Steele) is based on in his hotness:

 

Nathan Fillion

Really, this man not only had me drooling in Serenity but Castle will NEVER be missed. EVER. lol So, who are your hotties? You know you have em' so come on... leave me a note and tell me who they are. Man, woman~ it doesn't matter... who are your hotties that you imagine for your books?



Finding Inspiration

In the dictionary, inspiration means: stimulation of the mind or emotions to a high level of feeling or activity.
This, I think, is one of the miracles/curses of writing.  Where do you get inspiration?  Does it just come naturally to a writer so that they can write perfection?  Umm... right.  Does it come to you in dreams?(hey, it worked for Stephanie Meyers. We can only hope to have her type of success!) Or maybe, just maybe, it comes to you looking out a window seeing the gardener bend over, showing off his horrible fashion sense (I won't mention the shiny body part you see from this) as he picks up the rake he dropped to scratch his very big, jolly belly... Christmas is coming ya know..

I actually get my inspiration in two places for the most part. The first place is the shower. Yeah, I know, it's weird... But actually, a LOT of writers get their ideas from the shower. It clears the airs (so to speak) and allows you to think, to day dream. A Fire Within was born in the shower.  It's funny because one of my twin daughters had walked into the bathroom while I was in the shower.  Of course, my five year old daughter follows right behind  to ask what she is doing.
 "I'm looking for my hair brush, duh!"
My 5 yr old... "What's it look like?"
Peggy : "Like this~ seeeee?"
Now, as I am hearing the conversation, remember that I am in the shower. We have a light brown curtain that has a 1ft line of clear plastic on top. It's foggy (yes, I like them super hot lol) so all I can see in the curtain is Peggy's shadow, with said hairbrush, bringing it up & down like the psycho movie. (No, she wasn't hitting her little sister I promise!) Of course, I get tickled, then they get tickled and leave me to finish my shower in relative peace. (with 3 girls, that is an oxy-moron) Thinking of the pyscho made my brain switch to serial killers which sent me down another path, etc.. lol. You see where I am going with this. Showers are great entertainment and inspiring~ : )


 My second way of inspiration is horseback riding.  My husband and I are redoing our fence line so we won't be able to have horses on our property until next spring. This is fine; I ride over at my mother's house since they have 6... one of which her & my dad just gave me (& the kids lol).  It gives me a sense of peace, of complete happiness to go ride for a few hours.  We trail ride often or might just take off down the off roads that she lives on.  Honestly, it doesn't matter, as long as I am on the back of a horse I am pretty much happy. This is how I worked out Crossing Steele, the sequel to A Fire Within. Over the summer, I have thrown away sheet after sheet of nothing.. nada.... horse poo. I left the idea of a sequel alone for about a week and went riding. I needed to clear my head completely because all I could think of was "Everybody is gonna HATE the book".  It's the first book-everybody thinks that. So I went riding and I see all these beautiful trees, the grass that is so tall, it brushes your boots as you ride through it. (BTW, the man doesn't know we went through his field, so umm.... SSHHHH! That's our secret~) And that's when it hit me. The sequel popped in my head with such clarity that I felt I was good to go.
So, those are my inspirations to write.  What are yours? What gives you the urge to write stories or poetry? What gets you up in the mornings- ready for whatever the day brings? Come on, I shared mine... lol. Share yours~

CONTEST BLOG

Okay, so technically, today is not Friday. In my defense, I am so vamped for this contest that I just couldn't wait any longer.  The blog has been in my head for two days, twirling around with all the other mad little ideas and it needed to be let out of the cage.  Here we go..... da da dahhhhhh~

First off, this is an easy contest. There are only 2 requirements and both of those are easy.
 1.  Follow my BLOG.
 2.  Leave a comment answering the question in this blog.

Leaving me a comment saying "hi" doesn't count (although I love those and love when people talk to me... I am a very social creature). I am nosy... I wanna know what you think...
On Sunday evening at 6pm (central time) I will randomly pick 2 people to win a free copy of my debut book, A Fire Within.  I will be using www.random.org for this so, trust me, it's more random than I am! lol  At 7pm ~ I will announce the winner and send you a msg with the link to www.smashwords.com with a code that gives you a free book.  That's it~ so are you ready? Let's get to it then....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today's blog is on ghosts. Whether you believe in them or not, all of us have had a "spooky" moment at some point in our lives.  Something has been moved from where you laid it down or maybe, out of the corner of your eye, you saw something cross the room.  Have your dogs/cats been staring at the corner lately, growling softly or whining at the no-see-ums that have taken up residence there? Or was it the monster under your bed that would keep you awake for hours before it was time to go to school?

For some background info, I live in the same house I grew up in. My grandmother (who raised me) left it & all the property to me when she passed away and now, my family & I live in it.  We are planning on building an underground house within the next 3 years so this works out great for us while we clean off  the land.  (Yes, I did say underground.. we have lots of hills here and more tornados than I care to admit to. They are beautiful, do have windows and are damn near tornado proof.. and I would love to live like the fairies in Ireland.. nuff' said) :)  I know we have ghosts in our house. You can hear them walking through the house at odd times and have even seen a few of them walking around, both day & night.  I am used to this because I was raised in this house for 18 years before moving out on my own.  My husband? He believed in them... he was just a little surprised at the amount of activity in this house. lol 
This brings me to my question you have to answer.

 What is your favorite ghost "moment"?

 Now, I have to poke a little bit of fun at my wonderful sister-in-law here.  My absolute FAVORITE ghost moment happened while she lived with us for a short period of time.  She was in hair salon school (she is AWESOME by the way) & had moved in with us. I will not go into the details of why the "ghost" or "entity" (whatever word fits here, you can fill in the blank) got mad at her but ,WOW,  it was not happy!  Almost every morning, her room would be destroyed. I don't mean the usual "single person" mess.  I'm talking drawers would be pulled out of her dresser with clothes partially hanging out. I'm talking shoes pulled out from under her bed.  The light being turned on after it was off... after she had gotten in bed. And the lights? It was actually moved from "OFF" to the "ON" postion.
She now refuses to spend the night in our house.  Ever....  When she comes over, footsteps can be heard in our hallway, walking up and down the corrider.  Of course, it doesn't do anything to her, or to us... it just lets her know it still isn't happy with her. lol... It's very funny to watch her face before she leaves the house.
 He/She/They don't bother us at all and we have no interest in getting rid on anyone. They are a GREAT conversation starter at times (especially when the lights flicker) so what about YOU?  Please, don't make something up~ be honest.  Even if you don't believe in little wee ghosties, tell about an "odd" experience that has happened to you.   And, don't forget, I announce the winner on Sunday @ 7pm here and I will msg the winners~  Good LUCK~~

What Is Your Favorite Paranormal Type?

Okay~ we ALL have a favorite. You know it... I know it... the people who pretend they don't? They know it too... they just stay in the closet with their favorite characters. lol  So... what is your personal favorite paranormal hottie?
     Is it the vampire with the hot, demanding eyes that seem to burn into your soul, begging for you to say yes to him?
    Or maybe the shifter that can't seem to control himself around you because you are his mate and he is ready to claim you for his own?
   I know! It's the ghost that has waited for you to come to him for hundreds of years. Just waiting for you to love him again so that somehow, someway, he can materialize again into flesh & blood to be with you...
   
   Personally, I like them all.  Hey, if you are gonna drool, I think you should have a variety pack to look over, just sayin'.... But, if I had to choose just one, I would have to go with vampire.  Or maybe one of the underworld minions that seem to do all the dirty work for the head Gods that, once you are mated with them, will love you forever.. and keep you hot, bothered & safe... ish.   Now, I do want them to have some backbone though~ none of this "oh, I shouldn't be with you b/c  I might hurt you"  stuff.  I'm sorry but, if your hero has lived for a couple of hundred years and hasn't managed to be killed yet... this means he has definitely learned restraint and should be "no holds barred" at this point. (Which is why I am a serious Damon fan and NOT a Stefan fan in the Vampire Diaries...lol no goody two shoes for this vamp girl!)

Okay, enough about my wishes.. what about yours? Tell me what is your favorites and don't forget: starting August 21, I will be having a contest for 2 free copies of my book. Get your friends to follow my blog so they can see the rules of the contest (like that's hard... they only have to post a comment lol~ I don't like complicated~) and since, at the moment, I only have 5 followers... it would be kind of embarrassing if I don't get a few more people in here. lol~ I will post everything on Friday so be ready.. be prepared... be here for GHOSTS.

So~ for the past few days I have been writing, revising, redoing Amazon (we won't discuss the words I used for THAT little project.. but it included lots of coffee and evil looks... & possibly a house falling on it's evilness).  I'm thinking that for all my efforts.. today I am going to just do a shameless plug of my book!  lol I am pitiful.. I know this.  In my defense, I am new to this and must rely on not only the pity date possiblity but the hope you will like it and pass me around like the magazine with the hottest gossip!

Rayna Daniels is a woman marked for death. To escape the horrible fate two serial killers have planned for her, she finds herself depending on the unique assistance and protection of Detective Chase Stone. Though her own abilities are powerful, Rayna and Chase learn that only together can they defeat the killers and find the fire within each other.

EXCERPT:

Her eyes glazed over with rage as she thought of nothing but revenge; never noticing her surroundings as several items began to levitate and circle the room. All Rayna could see was their obscured faces in the bright light above her. She groaned aloud as the rotted faces of the women appeared before her eyes. Blown away in the explosion, beyond recognition by the same men who murdered them. The pain and suffering the unknown families would surely be feeling flooded Rayna's senses, overloading her entirely.  Lights began flickering throughout the house as her emotional overload frantically searched for release.

As the lights flickered, Chase ran to Rayna's bedroom. The alarms tripped as the house began shaking roughly.
"An earthquake? What the hell?" He reached her door, trying to turn the handle. It wouldn't budge… no matter how hard he pushed. He yelled for her, trying to get her to open the door. Jeez, it sounded as if a storm was raging inside the bedroom. He could hear wind building louder until it became a loud roar. Pushing himself almost into the opposite wall, Chase shoved himself into the door, both mentally and physically. It gave, just enough for him to wedge his body into the room.

What he saw scared the crap out of him. He flattened himself against the wall so he wouldn't be hit by the swirling objects. A vase whizzed by his head, before rejoining the rest. It looked almost like a tornado, full of bedroom furniture, jerking with every emotional cry that Rayna gave. Chase had never seen this type of power before… not ever. He scanned the swirling mass for any sharp objects
before slowly making his way towards her. As calmly as he could, he reached out, trying to get her attention mentally.

"Rayna? It's me, Chase. Just me, honey. I need you to…" He watched as the television swung in his direction before slipping to the floor. It was still moving towards him so he moved slightly forward, sidestepping the tv. He continued talking quietly to Rayna, watching the storm slow down.
"Rayna please, I need you to calm yourself. Concentrate on me; focus on me. Rayna- look at me!" He yelled, ducking below a lamp as it passed by his head.

Rayna's eyes snapped towards his, locking onto his face. She gasped as she came out of her rampage; jumping in shock as everything fell crashing to the floor around her. She took a step back as Chase reached for her. Just in time, he wrapped his arms around her waist as Rayna whispered in horror.

"What have I done?"  
Her body went limp in his - she had fainted, her body exhausted, her power drained.



~~~~~~~~OKAY~ so I hope you liked the little piece I gave you.  If you do, then please pass it around and have all your friends catch my blog or, better yet, buy the novella and let me know what you think. It is currently for sale at amazon and smashwords and, within two weeks, will be at sony, apple, diesel, and barnes and noble.  Tell me your thoughts about this below~ I would love to hear comments!

Learning Things The Hard Way

On August 14th, my first book will have been on sale for a month. That, by itself, is great! It's wonderful! It's TERRIFYING.  Why?  Because of the assumption that I (please tell me LOTS of others do this) made about writing.  Writing an e-book is totally DIFFERENT than writing a manuscript. I didn't think that was true at first.  It is. Anybody who tells you it is NOT? Yeah, they also have an oasis in Egypt, compete with almonds and fans, just for you.  For a steal! lol

All joking aside, I thought that the writing was the hard part. I know I mentioned this in my first blog, but it is worth repeating. Writing is easy-- the promotion is hard. HARD HARD HARD. I thought that anyway.  I have found something worse.  It's called html. Or maybe it was mobi. No, I remember now.. it is EMBEDDING.

Now, I can make my way around a computer for the most part. I know how to use Word, Works, Open Office, etc...   Copy/Paste? Sure, we are besties! Links? Yep, like the back of my hand.  Embed?  I thought I had gotten out of bed already.  Wait- does that mean I am helping a criminal? Oh God, now the cops ARE gonna be after me and not because I took the last donut before the shop closed yesterday.  Obviously I do not know code *stuff* .  I did not take a computer class on how to make cover art (oh wait.. that's falls under graphics... that's a totally different blog subject) or how to make programs.  Html looks like my youngest child got my laptop again and had fun with the keys.  Do I need to go back to college? 

No- I am going to go to the bookstore this weekend and find the best book in the world for computer illiterates like myself.... Html for dummies. Not the name? Hmmm, I will find it. Hopefully it can explain why I can't make the kindle version look NORMAL, no matter how many times I tried to fix it.  lol (I have now taken it off just so I can try to redo it. I don't want people buying ugly formatted stuff that makes me look bad.) If it can't be professional-looking then I just proved the whole point of Indies not making on their own.  And they can... and they DO. Everyday...
Now if I can just find my wizard's hat to turn the pumpkin back into a book....

Funny Things You Type On The Internet

I love being online. In fact, I stay on it constantly (trying to remember to put up the laundry at SOME point in the day... or clean the dishes lol) to promote my first book, get the word out, etc... But I love to LOOK at *stuff*.  Facebook comments, myspace comments( although I haven't even been to that in over 2 years... do people still use myspace?) and blogs. I love blogs. Which brings me to security spam codes.

Ok~ we all have to do this on the internet. We find funny things that we have to comment on. Or there is a blog that absolutely ROCKS and we must follow it... After typing in your comment, joke, hilarious smilies EVERYWHERE - there it is.  The security code.  Now, I KNOW that the codes are computer generated. I KNOW there is not a person somewhere on the other end making these up. But, at some point, you would think there had to have been a person installing some type of dictionary. No? Then they definitely installed a great sense of humor!

Take one of my favorite blogs.   Erica Dean has a great and funny blog that I recently came across and have started following it.  She is super funny so I have to comment... when I remember to hit the send button (which is difficult for me for some reason...?).  My security code that I have to type in order to prove I am not a spammer intent on destroying the cyber universe? wait for it... wait for it...

az ass

You can't tell me there isn't a little person (probably wearing green and sitting on a pot of gold somewhere) laughing his rear off at this? I did... for 2 minutes I actually cried, I was laughing that hard.
Or how about another blog from 2 weeks ago on yahoo... are you ready?

but2  corkz

I swear I cannot make this up. Even I draw the line at some point on insanely funny, yet, bad bar humor.  I want to meet the person who came up with this idea and shake his/her hand.  They have given me much joy ever since we started seeing those codes.... I'm off to find another one!  If you have any codes that you remember as being funny, stupid, etc.. feel free to post them on the comments~

As a shout out to Erica, you should read her blog because she is hilarious! lol You can find her here:
http://networkedblogs.com/lnLwt

The Funny Thing About Cats

First off, my family has quite a few pets. We currently have 2 dogs, 2 cats, 2 fish and I lost count of the amount of chickens we have. Next spring, we plan on adding goats and hogs to the family. lol~ No, I am not kidding and, yes, we do own lots of property. Seventy-three acres in fact that is home to lots of beautiful animals… that love to eat my garden. No offense intended, but, since I have a husband who loves to hunt, this isn’t much of an issue for us.

Our cats are funny though. At the moment I have our black cat (Shadow) looking over my shoulder as I type. Within a few minutes, I will be yelling at her as she lands on my laptop, merrily chasing the mouse on my screen as I try to stop her pretty (read HUGE here) paw from hitting the “publish” button. She will smirk ( who makes up that kind of word? Honestly?) and walk off… only to be pounced on by our other cat, Cookie. Now, Cookie is a black/white cat who is only 9 months old. Still a kitten really. Shadow is already 7 years old~ set in her ways and has every intention of staying there… no matter what Cookie does to her. But still, Shadow does get in a few good licks. Just the other day she waited, lying still as if she were in her normal state (read snoring in her sleep), as Cookie slipped by. I don’t know if she were intentionly sneaking past to do something or if she was just doing a walk-by ( drive-by… just slower). Regardless, Shadow jumps over & on top of Cookie in a surprise sneak attack that, not only catches Cookie by compete surprise, it surprised the dogs as well~ who proceeded to run to the bedroom and wake up daddy( My husband who works at night… did I mention this was 10:30 am and he had only been asleep since 9 am? No? Sorry about that). So now he has 2 dogs jumping on the bed, barking hysterically that a cat fight ( that doesn’t include hair pulling or jello) is in process and all my kids and I can do is laugh.

Cookie was now on top of the washing machine, tail swishing in plot mode, as Shadow merrily walked away happily. Until the washer went to spin cycle and scared Cookie so bad she went straight up into the air, fur standing straight up and landing on the floor 3 ft away….

I love my cats~ lol

First Blog ( aka- Breaking the Ice)

So this is a first for me… seriously. You would think that after writing the actual book, getting all the hard work done in publishing & promoting it, things like this would be easy for me. Yeah, right! I don’t normally write about myself so bear with me,please. I suppose I should start off with something about me so…. let’s dive into the scary mind of… ME.

I have always loved to write, ever since I was little. I would write scary stories, mystery stories, even romance stories (not that I knew what it really was~ my happiest moment was making them hold hands!). I didn’t get serious about writing though until my 7th grade English teacher had the entire class write a poem. Since poetry is actually something I really enjoy doing, I dove right in and didn’t think twice about turning it in. She loved it. In fact, she stayed on my case until I finally gave in, showing her some of my stories and other poetry. She ended up talking me into writing for the school newspaper~ just to write short stories or poetry to fill in space. It probably sounded silly to most of the kids, but, hey, I was hooked.

Life tends to get in the way of dreams though and mine did. I met my husband who has given me 3 beautiful girls and they kept me busy for the past 10 years. My kids loved the little stories I wrote them (this is how they learned to read as well as they do, lol) and would ask me why I didn’t write my very own book. Even my husband would ask why I didn’t start. I played with the idea, even wrote a few beginnings until, finally, I decided to finish one. That was the hardest part… or so I thought! It’s not, of course. I researched the traditional ways of publishing through houses and I was disappointed to see what royalties an author got… if they were lucky enough to get accepted. That’s when I decided to self-publish. Granted, it’s much harder to do but I worked at it, finding someone (Tristan Duplichain who is the BEST in the world) for my cover art, for editing (Mrs. Galloway~ you rock the house) and lots of nightmares of hitting the final button. The PUBLISH NOW? button. THAT, my friends, is the hardest thing you will ever do. EVER. SERIOUSLY…. The terror of hitting that button, of people having the actual ability to say whether or not my book was good, bad, or should be burnt and never seen by human eyes again? OMG I thought I would have nightmares forever.

So now it’s been out a few weeks. A FIRE WITHIN has sold better than I first thought it would (not that I don't think it's good... but let's face it- a self-publishing author with no experience?  lol) and I even have great (5 star) reviews. I’m still in shock over that part. I keep waiting for the other shoe to fall but when it does, I will know two things. First, my family loves me, appreciates me & stands by my side in support… second, no matter how much people may love or hate my book? I finished it. I published it. I sweated over it. I am proud of my first book and already am writing the sequel to it. So my advice to you? Don’t throw away your dreams. Plan it, research it, do it & never give up on it. Because no matter what anyone else says, you are the only one who can make it happen.