Tin Foil Roses

 Yesterday was mother's day. I've never really been one for flowers. They're nice and I do enjoy getting them, but they wither and die and you're left with nothing but the memory of, "hey remember that one mothers day when you got me flowers?" I'm more of a present girl. I like to tear away wrapping paper and, not only look at, but hold my new gift. Try it out. Make it mine.

After ten years of marriage, my husband knows this all too well. So I never expect flowers. I expect gifts. And every once in a while he gets it right.

I woke up yesterday to a gift, yes, but also a dozen tin foil roses.

Odd, right?

I couldn't tell you when the first time he did it was. I don't think it was when we were dating, though I could be wrong. I don't remember the first time my husband handed me a rose made out of a candy wrapper, or a heart made out of twisty ties. But I do remember that I loved it. I've even kept most of them through the years.

My husband isn't a particularly romantic man. He never really has been. Most men aren't. That's why love stories exist, right? So we can read about the perfect man since he doesn't actually exist. 

But every once in a while he'll do something, which to an outsider would appear to be nothing special. Maybe even a little strange. But to me, it kinda means the world. And isn't that what romance is? Knowing what speaks to the other person's heart?

As weird as it may seem to others, those foil roses meant more to me than if he'd filled the entire house with real ones. It's our thing. It's what he does to tell me he loves me. It's how I know he actually thought about me, not what just to get me.

Love stories will always make us swoon and wish. But don't forget what real romance is. And watch for it. Sometimes it doesn't seem like anything special; a short note in your purse, a candy wrapper rose, a smile across the diner table. 

But if he loves you, it's there.

AKASHA-For free!

I have a love/hate relationship with August. Growing up it meant going back to school. Now it means I will be hot and miserable for another 4-6 weeks because I chose live about as close to the sun as you can get while still being on earth.

But it also happens to be the month of two of the best occasions to celebrate in my life. My birth, and my anniversary. And they happen to be five days a part.

To celebrate these occasions I'm offering AKASHA for free August 11-13. I know, I know. I should have posted this much sooner, but honestly, I have no idea who reads this who isn't a friend on facebook. So just by chance, if you are reading this, and you haven't read my book, now is your chance. (And if you have, tell your friends!)

And as an added bonus, here's the original cover. You know, when it was just printed for me and family members. I still love it! Thanks Hollie Thompson!

To review or not to review

I read a blog post not too long ago that discussed whether or not authors should post book reviews on their blogs. It got me thinking. I like to post reviews mainly because I'm a rather opinionated individual and telling people what I think of a book is fairly easy for me to do. Mix that with the fact that I want to know what the authors I like, like to read and I actually have something to post about. ;)

However, I get why posting reviews would be a bad idea. Who am I to critique an author when I, myself, haven't mastered the craft? There have been a couple of reviews where I've gone off on the author a bit, and now I feel both bad and stupid. But I think the majority of my reviews have been positive.

So, I think what I'm going to do is only post about books I really liked. I'll still give tid bits of info of why I liked the book to hopefully steer people in the right direction (because my taste is impeccable), but for the most part I'll keep my opinions to myself.

About writing anyway.

I think introductions are in order

I've been putting off this post for while now, though I'm not really sure why. The best explanation I can give is that I believe in jinxes. Really I do. I've had it proved to me too many times to ignore, and I guess I just figured if I put it out there, into the cyber world, I'd jinx myself and never finish the book.

I'm happy to say I finished the first round of edits on Serenity! (I would say something snarky to the universe right now, but I could still be jinxed. I take no chances!)

So, I am happy to finally introduce to you, Serenity Chase. AKA-The main character of Serenity. (Thanks to my nephew Nate for the awesome drawing!) I know what you're thinking. Wow! What an original title, Heather, (in your most sarcastic tone). The truth is, I don't want it to remain that title, I just haven't found the right one yet. I'll think of that more as I go through it again.

I'll give more information on the book over the next few weeks/months, but for now I'll just leave you with the summary.

Serenity Chase is in the business of fiction. All those creatures you’ve fallen in love with, all the ones you hate, are real. They just live in a parallel world. As part of the Inter dimensional Syn Alliance, Serenity’s job is to keep them there. It’s a job she was born into, a job she can’t get out of.

So when a dragon crosses over, Serenity thinks it’s just another assignment. She didn’t count on the dragon stealing a boy from her junior English class and hoarding him like he’s the feast of the century. Getting him back is tricky. Keeping him safe, difficult. Not falling for him, impossible.

As if having a crush on a guy the ISA didn’t choose for her wasn’t bad enough, she finds out he’s a major key in discovering a secret the ISA wants buried. Keeping him safe means keeping him secret. Now Serenity is lying to the ISA; putting herself at risk of being sent away to one of a thousand torturous dimensions.

It’s worth it. At least it will be if she can discover the truth before they do.

Book Review: To Kill a Mockingbird

If any of you have plans to edit your current MS then I suggest you not decide to also paint your house. The hubby had his long weekend and that's what we decided to do. My body hurts and I got nothing done besides scraping paint off my house. Oh, and pressure washed it too! That was kinda fun. It's like a water gun on steroids.

Anyway, I did finish reading To Kill a Mockingbird. Several days ago in fact (see above for reasons this was delayed). I have mixed feelings about this book. I will probably never read it again. Maybe if my girls have to read it for school or something. But I enjoyed reading it and I totally understand why it's one of those books they make you read in school. Well, some schools do. Mine didn't, hence me just reading it now.

At first I didn't really get it. It's from the girl's pov. She's young. She talks about her day to day life. If the writing hadn't been excellent, I may have stopped, but Lee has a way of keeping your interest (That and it takes place in the South). Then the actual story starts to be weaved in. And I started thinking, you know, this book would be so much more interesting if it were told from Atticus' pov.

It wasn't until the end that I got it. The girl, Scout, is sitting in class. Everything has already happened with Tom (sorry, don't want to give spoilers here) and her teacher starts talking about what a bad man Hitler is because he doesn't like Jews. I think that one scene there is really what the book is about. I mean I hadn't read it before a couple of days ago, but even I knew it was about racism. But it was more than that. We tend to find faults with other people and don't see when we're making the same mistakes. And having the story told from a young girl's perspective, that point was made loud and clear. When her teacher talks about Hitler, she's sitting there thinking, how is this different from what we've just done? Are doing?

I'm not naive enough to think we don't have problems with racism today, but you have to admit, it was so much worse then. A book like this makes you stop and think. Maybe that's why it was so controversial when it came out. People didn't want to stop and think. But even today, 50 years later, we can take something from it.

The southern draw

It would've been cool if I could do another book review this week, huh? Ya, well, too bad. Life gets in the way sometimes, doesn't it?

I'm currently reading To Kill a Mocking Bird. The book club I'm in seems to choose classics for January. Not that we actually say, hey let's pick a classic to start the year off, it just sorta happens that way. Which is good. But after last years The Count of Monte Cristo debacle (of course it was only a debacle to me), we went with something a little easier to read.

It is not one of those books that you would describe as gripping. At least not yet (see above-haven't finished). But it has that classic feel to it. The kind of book you want to take your time reading. And to get to the point of what this post is really about, it's Southern.

For some reason I'm drawn to books that take place in the south. I really have no idea why. Even in school, learning about the civil war was something that actually kept my attention. And if you know me, you know I hated history class. Kind of like Buffy.

So are there books you're drawn to? I know some people love to read anything about WWII, or eat up 19th century literature, etc. But to be drawn, not to a period in time, but to a region? Does that seem a little hokey to anyone else?

Maybe it's the accent. They do talk pretty cool.

Book Review: Paranormalacy

Thanks to Jannette Rallison's blog (author of My Fair Godmother, How to Take the Ex out of Ex-boyfriend), I found out about a little writers conference being held not too far from my humble home the end of this month. I say little conference because it's only one day. I plan on attending a "big" one that's three days long next month.

There are going to be 11 authors there! Yes, I'm very excited. The thing is, I didn't really know who they were. Not by name anyway. When I started looking their books up I recognized some of the covers. Two caught my eye. I purchased one.

It was the right one.

As I said in my last post I'm editing right now. Translation-no reading gets done. This is why. I sat down on Saturday to read a chapter or two just to clear my head a little. What should have been a rather productive day in editing ended up being me sitting on the couch reading for hours because I couldn't put the dang thing down.

I don't go into detail about what the book is about on here. If you really want to know go read the blurb, but if you're like me, you like to go in with as little information as possible. So I'll just say, it definitely had a Buffy vibe to it. Think season four. There were even some lines in there that I had to stop and say, I can totally hear Buffy saying that. But again, it was just a vibe. I never felt like Kiersten White was trying to copy.

It shifts about halfway through the book, and without giving anything away, the story is taken to a place I didn't really expect. It's all so very...normal. And in this genre, Paranormal Romance (emphases on the paranormal surprisingly), that's a little different. And yet you're still drawn on to find out what happens next.

The "love" story in this book was completely believable. It made me feel like I did in high school all giddy and ridiculous. It wasn't overdramatic as a lot of paranormal romances are. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I love the drama. It's just nice to read something that doesn't go there once in a while.

So, if you like demon hunting girls with strong personalities and cute shimmering boys- that last part is not what you think-you should read this. I plan on picking up the sequel at the conference and begging the author to tell me how she does it. That's not weird, is it?

I've spent the past several days editing my new MS and I wish I could say I got a lot done. Too bad. I'm only about forty pages in. That's what you get when you write like I do.

My first drafts tend to be on the short side. They're basically summaries with dialogue. But that's the way I have to do it if I ever want to write a book. But it got me wondering if I'm the only one who writes that way. Seriously, I have to do a page insert every other paragraph because I've thought of something else I forgot to put in. It's kind of exhausting. But at the same time... really cool.

In some ways editing is my favorite part of the entire process. I mean, you have these words in front of you and you read them over and then say, now how can I make this better? It's like an artist adding detail. All those finishing touches is what makes the story believeable. Or more importantly-to me anyway-the characters more believable. I'll admit I'm not the greatest self editor in the world, but I can see my story growing, developing into something better.

Seriously, who doesn't like to make things better?

Book review: The Clockwork Prince

A long time ago I put this book on my waiting list. I loved the first one The Clockwork Angel, and couldn't wait to continue the story. It came out on December 6th. I couldn't read it until January 4th. Grrrr....

But! It was so worth the wait. I posted a review of it on goodreads so if you really want to know about how I feel, you can read it there. This post is a little more about comparing.

After reading the greatness that is Clockwork Prince I decided to finally read a book I won several months ago from the website imareadernotawriter. I'm not going to say the name of the book on here because honestly I don't have a whole lot to say that's positive. I know the author put a lot of time and effort into her book and judging by the reviews it received I guess it's just me who didn't like it.

So how are these two books alike? Not at all. The comparison is all about the detail. I've been told time and again that I don't give enough detail in my books. People want to know more about the surroundings and the characters themselves. I guess I'm kind of stingy that way and it's in large part to books like the one which shall not be named. I felt like that was the entire book. What every person was wearing. Every detail of the house, the yard, the dog. Okay, there wasn't a dog, but do you get what I mean? I got 100 pages in and all I knew about the story was what everyone looked like–the hot guy especially because I think there was a sonnet to his gorgiousness on every page–but not a whole lot about the story line. I got too frustrated and put the book down. (Actually I clicked exit)

The thing is, I wonder if I had read it at a different time I would have felt differently about it. But Cassandra Clare has this way of giving just enough description that you feel like you're a part of the world without making you feel like you're drowning in it. How does she do that? No seriously, how? Cuz I want to be like that.

I'm working on it. This isn't something that comes naturally to me. I wish there was some secret formula as to how to get the right amount of detail. I guess for now I'll settle for reading people who got it right.

New Year, New Me!

So, it's been a few months. How ya been? I'd like to give you some amazing tale of why I've neglected this blog, but the truth is, I'm just sorta lazy. I've neglected a lot of things though, if it makes you feel any better. Like doing any kind of book promotion whatsoever.

But this new year has brought back my desire. Desire to write, to edit, to create, to be a part of something. It's kinda nice.

First off, what I've been up to. In my last post I spoke of a book I was writing that is in no way, shape or form related to Akasha at all. That project tapered off. But by November I was ready to get it done. And I did! Even though I did not participate officially in Nanowrimo since I'd already started the project, it did motivate me to finish my latest book I have unofficially-for the time being-named SERENITY.

It has been a good project for me to work on I think. The story is very different from anything I've ever written before, and yes I am including all those silly romances I wrote in high school. I have begun editing it and hope I have a rather decent version of it by the time I go to a writers conference at the end of February. If I do, I'll have a chance to pitch the book to an editor. I am, of course, writing this publicly so I am committed to it now.

So I have been busy. Really busy in fact. And I'll get into what Serenity is about and all that later. This post is long enough, don't you think?

Music

Music is a pretty big part of my life. I love listening to it and I love singing it (as long as it's just my kids around). But I can't listen to music while I write. Not-physically typing away at my keyboard-write. But we authors all know the writing happens in our heads long before we sit down. Most of my story writing happens while I'm doing those menial chores like dishes or laundry. I put on my head phones and listen to whatever music is going to help me work out plot ideas or emotions my characters should be feeling. You know, mood music.

So with this new book I'm having a little trouble with the music aspect. It's taken me quite a while to figure out what kind of music my MC would listen to. And I'm not all that happy with what I came up with. Because she listens to Rock.

Me? I like Dashboard Confessional, Matt Nathanson (acoustic stuff), Ingrid Michaelson, and Regina Spektor. All very mellow stuff. In my early days, you know before kids and husband days, I was known to enjoy a bit of alternative here and there. When I get a wild hair I'll still listen to Eve 6. Mind you I bought the edited, no bad words versions.

This Rock stuff is all new to me. I can only handle a few songs at a time. So my question is, how far do you go to get into your character's head? How can you make your reader connect to someone you haven't even connected with? And am I totally crazy for worrying so much about this?

If you have thoughts or suggestions I'd love to hear them. Especially if you want to give me any advice on good Rock songs that aren't too crazy. ;)

P.S. Thanks to all those who entered the giveaway and congrats to zeezee22!

Book Review: Clarity

While on vacation I had a day where I didn't feel so great. So, while everyone was enjoying swimming, Lego Land, or the beach, I was cuddled under a blanket reading. Which isn't a bad way spend vacation as far as I'm concerned. And Kim Harrington's Clarity was a great vacation read.

It's fast paced so I read it one day. I like those kinds of books.

However, I only gave it three stars on goodreads. And here's why. It started out good enough. It was almost like Medium and Veronica Mars wrapped into one book. I love both those shows, so I'm thinking it's gonna be great. Unfortunately, it didn't work out as well as either of those shows. For some reason the author felt the need to describe exactly what every person was wearing every time they entered the scene. Except Gabriel. First it was, holy cow he has a hot body, and then enter description of what he's wearing. It was very distracting. I wish she would have focused more on the mystery.

This may sound like a little thing to most of you, but it sure bugged the heck out of me. I wanted more emotion and less attire.

That alone would have earned it four stars, but I took another one off for cheesy dialogue.

I really wanted to like it, and if you're looking for a quick read and like to know exactly what everyone is wearing, then give it a shot. The plot moved nicely and I didn't want to put it down. She left it open for a sequel, and I'm tempted to read it. I guess that says something.

Back to life, Back to reality

I am back from vacation and excited to get back to writing again. I purposely left my junk drive at home so I woulnd't even think about writing. Which was good. It left me to day dream and work out a lot of details. Unfortunately, those details weren't about book two.

Lets face it people, book two is being forced. I mean, I haven't even thought of a name for it. How good can it be? I'm taking a break and worki

ng on something I'm actually excited about.

And with all those pesky details worked out in this l

ittle brain of mine, I really am VERY excited about this one. But all I can tell you about it for now is that my inspiration will come from watching Buffy again. Could this be why I'm so excited? Perhaps. I really miss her.

One more thing. There are no demons.

Enough about that! California was a lot of fun. We

went to Legoland but we only have two girls. Very easily scared girls, so we didn't ride a lot of the rides that didn't involve sitting in a boat and looking at stuff. But they had fun all the same.

The beach was their favorite. And I think it was

mine too. I know it was my hubby's. He's like a fish. Isn't he hot?

p.s. Don't forget to enter for your chance to win the protector's eye charm! (if you want to)

Get used to disappointment

I feel like I've set this really great New Years resolution and kept it for 11 months then gave in to that stupid chocolate bar in the 12th month. Ya, I know, I suck.

I didn't reach my goal. Book two is not finished. Not even close. But really, it wasn't all my fault. I mean, I had a sick kid, and family to converse with and friends to meet. Not to mention Nichole and Bryshen have stopped talking to me. What's up with that? Don't they know I'm trying to finish their story?

I know, I know, it's nothing but excuses. Honestly I have no idea

when I'll get this book finished. It seems that time is being sucked from me a little more everyday.

However, as a way to make it up to you, I've decided to do another giveaway. Two actually. One for books. I've decided to giveaway two books on goodreads so if you haven't had a chance to pick it up yet, you can enter there. I'll have a widget on my blog as soon as it's approved by goodreads.

But! What about my loving and adoring fans who have already received a copy of

my book? Well, in honor of my birthday next month I'll be hosting a giveaway on my blog. One lucky winner will receive the same kind of charm the protector's wear. Closer to what Bryshen gives Nichole. I've lucked out and they already make them. Cuz, you know, I didn't invent the eye.

Since I blog so sporadically, I think my followers only follow sporadically, so I'll be mentioning this a lot between now and when I pick the winner, which will be August 14th. YAY!

See sometimes I'm cool.

Miles to go before I sleep

Well, if you all are expecting an apology from me for not posting in such a long time–too bad. I think I said in an earlier post I have no idea what I'm doing here. Networking I guess. You know what I've discovered? I don't know how to network. I've signed up for all these blogs, which I read gladly everyday, but I never leave comments. Could it be that I–a writer-don't have anything to say? Hmmm...

I'd love to tell you all that I'm wrapping up book two of Akasha (which still has no name. Any suggestions out there?), but I'm not. There's still a lot of story left to tell and I'm closing in on my deadline. Which is July 15th BTW.

I did an outline of the rest of the story the other day. I thought that would help me move it along. But by the time I finished the first chapter I had outlined I had already gotten so far off, the rest of it was useless. I just don't think me and outlining works. Does it with anyone?

The good news is that I'm going away for like a week and a half to a house with no cable, and more important for me, no netflix. This equals no distractions. Or at least fewer distractions.

Still have kids. They still have to eat and want me to play with them when we go on vacation. Weird huh?

Mission: Impossible

Last week was one of those weeks you survive rather than live through for me. Nothing really major happened, just a lot of little things I won't bore you with. But lots of little things build up, and add sick kids, then getting sick yourself, and well, you have one heck of a lousy week.

I didn't hardly write at all. I didn't hardly think about my book at all. Needless to say I'm a bit behind.

So, I'm feeling pretty down about myself, how I'm behind and all, and then I read an interview with Elana Johnson about her book being released this month, POSSESSION. I discover that Elana wrote her 90,000 word ms in 17 days. No, you didn't read that wrong, 17 days! Is that even possible? Obviously she spent the next SEVERAL months revising, but seriously, I don't know how that's done!

I guess I could sit around and mope about how I'm so behind and I'll never get that much work done in such a short amount of time, or I could use it to challenge myself. I'm not going to go all crazy and say I'll finish my current ms in 17 days. With two kids who need my attention that's just not possible. But I can finish it by next month. Ehem...the end of next month. We leave on vacation next month and I'd really like to have this done by then. To be able to go on vacation and not bring Nichole or Bryshen's issues with me. That means a lot of work on my part, but I think I can really do it if I try. And give up t.v.

Guess I better put watching Buffy for the eleventh time on hold...

Book signing!

Last night was my first book signing! It was pretty cool. I knew I was going to embarrass myself somehow and thankfully got that out of the way right off the bat by giving a lady the wrong change. At least she didn't laugh at me. (Not to my face anyway).

I gave a little presentation about my book and touched on e-publishing a bit. Overall I think it went well considering I don't like public speaking and

when I get nervous my jaw shakes. (seriously what's up with that? I have to clench it to keep it from shaking and then I talk funny!)

A lady approached me to say she had a friend who wants me to do a book signing in Clifton. Which is another small town (I think even smaller than Safford), but it's still cool. I'm good with the small town scene!

The people who had read my book already were very generous with the compliments. Which totally made my night! Hopefully they tell their friends the same things.

I wish someone would have told me I was covering Nichole's mouth. ;)

Once upon a time

I used to play guitar. Not well, just messing around mainly, but I really liked it. I even named my guitar Mr. Pluckey. You know, because you pluck the strings. ;) Before I wrote novels I wrote songs. They're easier since they're, you know, way shorter. Before I got married I wrote a song about the lines guys use when they break up with you. It'd make a good country song.

Back on point–When I got married I kinda stopped playing. My husband is way good and I guess I kept comparing myself to him. Lame, I know, but I did. Tonight we played guitars together for the first time in ages. There's this song I am in love with and I'd love to say it's about Bryshen and Nichole, but it isn't. I've had this other story brewing in my head for a while and this song fits it pretty well. My hubby helped me figure out the chords since the tab they have for it is totally wrong.

Take a listen if you like. Don't worry, it's not me playing. But just to warn you, the story in my head isn't a happy one.

Book 2

I shot my mouth off a little prematurely. I told several people that book 2 was finished and I was in the editing stage, and was hopeful to release it by the end of the year. Which at the time was true. The thing about the editing stage is that you get to go back and "fix" everything you don't like about it's current condition. And it just so happened that there were a lot of things I didn't like about it.

I spent about two months editing (and by editing what I really mean is re-writing, because that's basically what I did). But all the little fixes still didn't fix it. It makes me want to cry, really. I had it all planned out. Book 1-Nichole, Book 2-Bryshen, Book 3-Connor. (Ya, he's new, but you'll like him). Apparently, I can't write boys. The harder I tried, the worse it got.

I decided to scrap everything I had and try again through Nichole's pov again. Seriously, I want to cry. I sent the first 7000 words to my sister (also my crit partner), and we both agreed it was way better. Book 2 will have to be completely re-written. I'm a little excited about that. (Even though I still want to cry a little) I want to make sure I release the best writing I can do, not just that will work, writing.

I doubt it will be ready by the end of the year. Most of editing is putting it away for weeks or months so you can look at it objectively with fresh eyes. Plus life has gotten pretty busy around here. I have committed to writing 7000 words a week. Some weeks there will be more (I'm hoping), but I'm sure my sister will hold me to it.

It'll get done. Nichole's story isn't finished yet.

She is Alive!

(This is a re-post. I came on to comment on someone's comment and the page wasn't there. So if you see this twice, sorry.)

Ya, I've been gone for a bit. Not physically, but you know...not here, on the blog, here. So if you've gotten the feeling I've been avoiding you, you're right.

If I may be truthful for a moment, I'm not a big fan of blogging. I have NO IDEA what to blog about. Seriously, there are only so many things I can post about my book before people start rolling their eyes. And, let's face it, I'm no writing expert. What advice could I possibly give that would help anyone. But this is supposed to be a writing blog right?

I started thinking, maybe I should write about other stuff. You know me stuff. Likes and dislikes. But, remember I'm being totally honest and baring my soul here right now, I've been afraid to do that. What if they all laugh at me? What if they all think I'm looney? Ya, I'm pretty self conscious that way. And a bit egotistical to think others would care that much, right?

This is all going somewhere I swear it. The thing is, if you knew me in real life, I'm a bit feisty and opinionated (my sisters and husband can attest to that). I tone it down in public because I'm afraid people won't like me because of it. Seriously, I'm a total nerd.

I guess what I'm saying, is that if there's any place I should feel comfortable being myself, it's on my blog, so I'm going to try and just blog about whatever I might be thinking/feeling/wondering about that day.

So, here's your first peek into my life. I cannot wait-CANNOT WAIT until my kids go to bed tonight so I can cuddle up on the couch and watch the season finale of Vampire Diaries. I know I'll be frustrated because they always leave on a cliff hanger-and I'll scream "why do they do this to me!" But even so, I'm excited.

*takes deep breath*

There. That felt good.