Friday, March 13, 2015

I am thinking of going full HERMIT for awhile.


"Hey, you should blog more,that'll give you more free time to write.  I don't see you anymore unless I schlep over to FB."

LET ME EXPLAIN: my #WriterFriendlySolution TO FIND THE TIME TO BLOG
#DontKnowWhenIWillBeBack
#MyBooksNeedMeMore

See, I have this plan.  Admittedly, its all of my own making.  And yes, that makes it my fault.  I take responsibility for my actions and yes I own this, my life.  I choose my boundaries, in fact I make life changing decisions everyday.  Their validity isn't always open for discussion unless it's a definite game changer [ BETA READERS ROCK].

No one person understands it but they hear me reference it all the time, this PLAN.  Yes, I am the boss but understand, I have muse[S], so I am not always really in charge LIKE YOU THINK.  And there is nothing wrong with me loving these muses just because you can't understand them or their ways.   Trust me, they have never left me alone to my own devices while they go off into the world to live their lives.  Oh no, they are content to see if they can drive me to madness with their never ending demands for attention. [Bwahahha, I thought I would be lonely. NOT!]

*Life enters - stage left*

 LIFE, goes into these tantrums where you're forced to be at odds with what you want to do which is be pulled along by your heart to embrace your dream with the total focus of a child at play, where time stands still and your only limit is your imagination.  [Life likes attention ,too.]Over the past few years, hours and hours spent doing my thing only spoils me for more.  Decades spent caring for and nurturing others, young and old, means Now is really the time for me.

I have raised my children to raise their own and feel satisfied [code for AMAZINGLY PROUD] with the result of my efforts.  They have a somewhat skewed understanding of me, the writer.  The mom they would find working away in the wee hours of the morn, distracted and blurry eyed.  If the coffee pot was empty they searched me out feeling anxious that something wasn't right if I was not in the kitchen bathrobed and embracing my brew.  Painting, drawing or scribbling away, even just staring blankly at a screen, it was their norm. I never put it before them and I am sure the pristine sport uniforms made them think I had been up all night making sure they would look good on the fields of their choice.  Looking back, all those late nights and early mornings just prepared them for the real me.   The moment of reckoning came when they read my first published book that wasn't a children's book for them.
The look of 'I always wondered and now I know' is a priceless thing to behold.

One seemed to figure it out early, even though he kept the secret.  There toward the 'end', [EMPTY NEST SURVIVAL,  another post for sure] he was the one who put sandwiches on my desk and when he had to wake me from a binge induced coma, it was always with a cup of coffee.  Then the period of unsupervision began and I bounced off the walls with story boards, no wall in any room of my home was safe from plotting and scheming and diagrams and graphics and social medi-

*loud needle scratching on a vynal record sound*

The present hits my desk with a thud.
My phone is ringing faintly from somewhere in the house.  A loud knocking begins on the sliding glass door sprinkled with muffled expletatives.
I embrace the situation with my usual positive snark for being ripped back into reality.

"Ring a damn ding ding, knock knock knock.... who the hell can't read today?"

Frustrated that my sign on the door has lost its power, I cringe the mother of all cringes.

It could be an adult child or friend so I feel a little guilty.  It could be my 'crazy neighbor friend'. [that's a whole other post]  So, I open the blind anyway.  You know, I am really shocked when life just barges up to the door like this.

I hold up one finger in a universal sign and dash to my office knowing I have no real knowledge of the time or date.  That is the truth of the level that my creative binds me.  Leaving me the only surety, at times, of it being daylight or dark.

Yes, I am not beyond refusing entrance to someone who impedes my creative process.  My characters need me, otherwise the warrior angels will be torturing poor hapless victims or the homeless will be dressed in finery and dining in a haunted victorian mansion.  I have characters to kill, worlds to build, demons to slay, dragons to dance with, edits to make, files to format and on any given day I am doing battle, creating havoc for distraction or embracing research-

There it is, scrawled across the schedule page I didn't turn to:
 SHOPPING FOR _________.

I make a note: CANCEL EVERYTHING THRU JUNE
I rip out the offending pages through JULY 1st and pin them to the board, just to be sure.

I am going full HERMIT for awhile.
I will post the sign first, WHILE getting estimates.  For those who ignore it in the beginning, it shall be a rude awakening.  Once I am forced to call a contractor for the installation, things should get pretty hot around here.

Electrifying the fence and gate are seen as a plausible preventative measure and a very
#AuthorFriendlySolution.

OG out.

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Supporting Author Tour #‎WROTM‬ "Amongst the Clouds" by author: Wendy Nystrom

EVER WONDER WHAT COULD BE HIDDEN IN THE CLOUDS?

ADVENTURE OF COURSE!


Amongst the Clouds, Adventure 4 in the James and Syvok Adventures has a new mystery floating about. James is curious to explore the iridescent cloud. All the colors of a rainbow glow, surely there are adventures to sow. Come along and meet new friends! Dragons, cats, troll, and more, lots of fun is in store. Join the adventures up in the sky and help the wizard find her magical key. Come and see what the iridescent cloud hides!


and


Readers Favorite 5 Star Review:
Reviewed by Dinorah Blackman for Readers' Favorite
Growing up, we all had imaginary friends, but James’s pals are so awesome that one can easily believe they are real. It all begins with a beautiful and unusual cloud that seemed to be stuck in place. As James daydreams about its mysterious beauty, he is launched on an unexpected adventure in the company of his imaginary friends. As they try to discover the meaning of the cloud, they end up becoming key players in a battle in which rivals fight to take control. From flying on a blue dragon’s back to their eager search for a lost key that opens a spell book, James and his friends have a day packed with suspense and drama. However, they still manage to get him home by dinnertime so he can tell his family all about it. Amongst the Clouds by Wendy Nystrom is an awesome book that young and old will enjoy.

In Amongst the Clouds, author Wendy Nystrom does a brilliant job of describing how high a child’s imagination can actually fly. The main protagonist dozes off and ends up in the middle of a lucid dream that teaches him a number of valuable lessons about the importance of loyalty. The story is well written and contains a lot of characters with which kids can easily identify. At the same time, Wendy Nystrom shares a little bit of Icelandic culture with the reader, enabling him or her to easily grasp the context of the adventure. The language is vibrant and appropriate for children, and the book includes many illustrations that add to the mental image so aptly formed by her words.

Illustrated Adventure Chapter Books for ages 7-12 



                                                      

 Wendy Nystrom, a wife, and a mother of three wonderful children. Wendy grew up in St. Paul, MN, and has lived at different points in her life in Minnesota, Texas, Idaho, Colorado, West Virginia, and Iceland. She currently resides in Michigan (USA). Wendy is an avid reader of many different genres; she enjoys adventures; and held many different titles and jobs, she devotes some of her time to being active in schools, the local library, and other community projects. She earned a BA in Geography with a concentration Urban Planning at Texas State University. Wendy began writing children’s stories in 2005 while living in the wonderful country of Iceland. Her writing style can be described by imagining yourself sitting around a campfire deep in the mountains with a huge moon above while the mountain is outlined all around with a story teller weaving a tale of adventure and a splash of fun as a pebble skips across the water.


Supporting Author Tour #‎WROTM‬ "Breathless" by author: Christine M. Butler

<>Adult (Paranormal)Urban Fantasy/Thriller<>
#‎WROTM‬ 

My name is Lacy McAdams and I am a Death Viewer, an agent of the highly trained Homicide Viewing Squad, otherwise known as the Death Squad. When a person dies suspiciously, I get called in to view their death. Actually, I get to rewind their memories up to 12 hours before their death. 

You'd think that would make solving murders a no-brainer, but there's a catch. When people are about to be murdered, they get that whole "life flashing before their eyes" thing going on, and suddenly what really happened is mixed with what they remember from their twelfth birthday party. 

In other words, a dying person's mind is a jumble of reality vs memory. It takes training, experience, and a lot of trial and error to get things right. I've been at it for quite a few years, learned a lot, and I have a natural talent for filtering out the realities from the memories. 

It's a good thing, because the most important case of my life just landed in my lap while I was at dinner with Brad. It was our third date and judging by how fast he took off, not to mention leaving me with the bill, I'd say he wasn't too thrilled to be dating a Death Viewer. Maybe I should have mentioned that on the first date?

Chances were good that I would never see Brad again, but the case that I got called in for was one that could make or break Homicide Viewing Squads nationwide. No pressure or anything... 


Author Bio:
Christine was born in a Naval hospital in Virginia, and while she was staring into the doctor's eyes as he marveled at her exceptionally long umbilical cord, all she was thinking was, 'I need to write this stuff down so I don't forget it.'  Hey, believe what you want, that's her story and she's sticking to it!  As soon as she could pick up pencil and paper and get those stories and poems out of her head, she was doing it.

Christine is the author of multiple paranormal fantasy books for both adults and young adults. She currently lives with her children and dog in Greenville, NC. Go Pirates! 


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