L.M. Preston's Blog, page 57

2011 Looking Up For You?

REFLECTIONS TO APPRECIATE THE STRUGGLES OF 2010

After having time to look back and reflect on all the hurdles, and disappointments of 2010. I gushed over the blessings. Some started out as little sparks in the beginning of the year, only to become true gifts in disguise. I've met some wonderful people, sold more books than I actually thought I could, and garnered wonderful responses and feedback to the stories I've written. Not to mention garnered 'Thank You's' from people who I didn't realize I was helping. Can you believe it? I actually mentored several people into finishing, and publishing their own books? Go figure. Life never seems to amaze me.

LOOKING TO THE POSSIBILITIES

After such a monumental ride of highs and lows from 2010, I truly am humbled and don't know where I'm going with this new year. But here are some of the goals I've written down that I know are attainable - (given that Murphy's law doesn't inject itself in the plan and muck it all up, lol!)

Writing Goals:

Finish 3 more manuscripts this year. Promote BANDITS, which comes out this June, 2011 (Click here and take a peek - also has our debut author F. RAUSHAWN's short story in there as a treat. ) As well as edit the two I've finished (I've finished the sequel to THE PACK which is called THE PACK-RETRIBUTION and the sequel to EXPLORER X called EXPLORER X-BETA). Just started a new book called ... darn, my co-writer doesn't want me giving out the name yet.

Blogging Goals:

Review more YA books and get my YA book reviewer NYIA more involved. Do more contest, and build my following to 200 (*wink*)

Mentoring Goals:

Become more involved in YALITCHAT (www.yalitchat.ning.com) and mentoring other writers. Join a YA writer's group or start my own using (www.meetup.com). Get more involved with MWA and start some promotional programs to help other authors reach success.

Life Goals:

Continue to be a better me. Grow from my experiences. Keep smiling, and give back in anyway I can. Save some darn money, Do my Hot Air Balloon Ride (yep, you heard me this is one of the last things on my dream list), and take my family to Hawaii (lol!).

WHAT ARE YOUR DREAM LIST? GOALS FOR 2011?
LM Preston (www.lmpreston.com) , author of THE PACK, EXPLORER X-Alpha and BANDITS

So, Are you Thinking about the New Year?

DO MORE THAN HOPE :-D



Every New Year, you hear about resolutions. I used to do them and never achieve them. One day my husband and I were talking and we came up with the idea of goal planning for the New Year.

Wouldn't you know it – when we planned our goals – we achieved them (or most of them).

PLAN YOUR DREAM LIST

Sit down and set realistic possibilities for meeting your dreams. Write your dreams down, and map out how you plan on reaching them. Be realistic, and only plan for the year. Remember, anything you do consistently for 6 weeks you will achieve it.

TRICK YOURSELF TO DO THE MOST DIFFICULT ACHIEVEMENTS

Here are some ways to trick yourself into being successful at the most common goals for the New Year;

Trick Yourself into Saving Money
Okay, let's say you want to save more money. Well trick yourself into meeting this goal by setting up an account or direct deposit to take the money directly from your paycheck. Don't have an atm card for this account, or a check book. Make it really difficult to get the money.

Trick Yourself into Losing Weight
Get friends to join with you in your endeavor to lose weight (chose a friend who is already achieved the goal you desire to achieve). Then sign up for a walk a thon within four months of your goal. You can also join a gym. Make a promise to yourself that you can't go to sleep without doing some exercise (even walking up the stairs 10 times will work).

Trick Yourself into finishing that novel you always wanted to write
Join a critique group. Yep, force yourself work with other authors who desire to finish their books by the end of the year. Accountability goes a long way.

TREAT YOURSELF

What good is planning if you don't give yourself a reward? I treat myself with a vacation. I book a cruise or an apple vacation that I can pay on monthly. Then when it's paid off – I get my reward.

DON'T make a resolution

Make a Plan, and a promise to do something awesome for yourself!LM Preston (www.lmpreston.com) , author of THE PACK, EXPLORER X-Alpha and BANDITS

Have Yourself A Merry Christmas!!

Remember the Reason for the SEASON! Bless you all from the bottom of my heart :-D Know that someone truly loves you *wink* I do!

Enjoy this song, I love these artist!LM Preston (www.lmpreston.com) , author of THE PACK, EXPLORER X-Alpha and BANDITS

LA BANKS, author of SHADOW WALKER is VISITING

SHADOW WALKER synop from Amazon:

Sarah Rivera has a lot going on in her life right now. It's bad enough that she's being shipped off to Temt Tchaas Academy—also known as Neteru Academy, a high school for future Guardians of the Light who have special powers—but she has to go there with her cocky twin brother and the rest of her compound brothers and sisters. To make matters worse, everyone has ridiculous expectations of her all because her parents are like supernatural rock stars for saving the planet sixteen years ago. But what nobody, not even her best girlfriend Tami seems to be getting is the fact that, she's not special, doesn't want to be a demon-hunting hero, and is even afraid of the dark!

So what that her mother was a warrior angel and her Dad used to be a Council level Vampire? Opposites attract. Go figure. As far as Sarah is concerned, all she got from the combination was a pair of fangs that lengthen at inappropriate times to embarrass her in front of her secret crush; whereas her brother, Alejandro, got the good looks and cool wings. However, what her parents' status has created is drama in her life, by ensuring that the mean girls at school will make her life a living nightmare. Sarah knows her family's renowned slayer reputation will also ensure that everyone at school will assume she had it easy and should be able to do everything her famous rebel parents can do, when she can't. Not by a long shot.

Once at the hidden boarding school, things go from bad to worse as Sarah tries to fit in. Her nightmares increase and it isn't just anxiety—her second sight is suddenly developing at a record pace. Layers of secrets are held by the building, held by her parents, and nothing is as it seems. There is something really bad going on at the school, worse than bad—deadly. Only, faculty and administrators don't know where to begin to look for the cause as students start to disappear. Sarah must then make a choice to stand on the sidelines or to help use her gifts to save someone dear. But to do that means facing all of her greatest fears, along with a demon or two.

Here's some fun related to her book SHADOW WALKER, http://www.neteruacademy.com/

Want to buy it too? http://www.vampire-huntress.com/lesli...




LA Banks will be on twitter with YALITCHAT on

WED. JAN. 5th at 9pm under the hashtag #yalitchat ,

because of my stalking of her. I've always loved paranormal vamps, but love LA Banks twist on it. Specifically the multi-cultural team of characters, and now I'm uber excited about her new YA paranormal novel, SHADOW WALKER, which is now offered for a great promo-sale price of $3.99 in ebook form which can be downloaded in .pdf formats, kindle, epub and others. Here's where to purchase, you won't be sorry.

Here's some about her from her site: http://www.leslieesdailebanks.com/abo...

Leslie Esdaile Banks: New York Times and USA Today Best-selling author, L.A. Banks has penned over 40 novels and 12 novellas in a wide range of genres and is the recipient of the 2009 Romantic Times Booklover's Convention Career Achievement Award for Paranormal Fiction and the 2008 Essence Magazine Storyteller of the Year Award, as well as the 2008 Best 50 Women in Business Award for the State of Pennsylvania. Recently she was featured as a speaker on the HBO Special on Vampire Literature and Legends as a prelude to the True Blood premier.


Want more? Here's her site list of her books.
http://www.leslieesdailebanks.com/lab... Preston (www.lmpreston.com) , author of THE PACK, EXPLORER X-Alpha and BANDITS

TRON LEGACY Movie Review

I scooped this from fandango.com:Tron: Legacy: An IMAX 3D Experience is THE BEST!! (my opinion)

Runtime:2 hr. 7 min.

PGSequences of sci-fi action violence and brief mild language.

" Tron: Legacy" is a 3D high-tech adventure set in a digital world that's unlike anything ever captured on the big screen. Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), the tech-savvy 27-year-old son of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), looks into his father's disappearance and finds himself pulled into the same world of fierce programs and gladiatorial games where his father has been living for 25 years. Along with Kevin's loyal confidant (Olivia Wilde), father and son embark on a life-and-death journey across a visually-stunning cyber universe that has become far more advanced and exceedingly dangerous.Read More

The OLD TRON bio: My opinion a movie WAY before its time.

A hacker is literally abducted into the world of a computer and forced to participate in gladiatorial games where his only chance of escape is with the help of a heroic security program.

MY MOVIE REVIEW:

Let's just say, I enjoyed this movie and so did my kids. My teens never saw the original (1st movie in this series) TRON, but that didn't stop them from enjoying the vivid colors, fight scenes and suspense of TRON LEGACY. The writers did a good job of making the story plausible for those that had seen the original TRON and for the newbies it told the story in a father and son scene to bring those new TRON lovers up to date. My teens were impressed with the colors, 3D shots of battles and the overal look of the computerized world called the GRID. The story was simplistic, the characters likeable but to me...something was missing. I couldn't put my finger on what, but it caused me to take down my SNOWFLAKE rating to a 4 out of 5 SNOWFLAKES. A descent movie to take the teenagers to, but my 7yr old active kid got rather distracted, but his attention was grabbed during the action scenes. This one would be a fun movie to go to during the days after Christmas when you are trying to find something to do with your kids.



ARE YOU GOING TO SEE IT?LM Preston (www.lmpreston.com) , author of THE PACK, EXPLORER X-Alpha and BANDITS

SO YOUR GIFTS STINKS?

You know the feeling. Christmas comes and you are anticipating that one special gift you've been hinting at for months. You wake up at midnight, or meet up with your significant other, anxiously awaiting that special present and … it's a bust.

You didn't get what you wanted for Christmas. You didn't get that ipod touch, that kindle, that engagement ring, that 'I love you' or that piece of jewelry from your boyfriend, or anything you really wanted for the Holidays.

HOW TO REACT

Hold that face, plaster that smile on and BE grateful for whatever you get. I know it's cliché' that "Some people don't get anything for Christmas." But the cliché' is true. Not only that remember the reason for the season is to GIVE and not to GET.

WHAT TO DO ABOUT GETTING THE GIFT YOU WANTED

Wait it out. I always sock some money away during the holidays for after holiday shopping. I also encouraged my teens to do this. You know what? Now they ask me to give them 1 present to open for Christmas and to give them $175 to splurge with on New Year's Eve.

Our tradition now is to have a skinny Christmas and to have a wonderful New Year's by going on a shopping spree of savings. It's a boon and even now the little ones are loving it.

Since we travel, that's usually when we do our shopping for extended family since we don't see them until two weeks after the holidays.

As far as the not getting the 'I love you' – Say it to the person you love instead. For not getting that special ring or jewelry from the said boyfriend – Buy it for yourself instead (that'll make him wonder). If you can't afford it – work towards it by saving and gifting yourself – there's nothing wrong with giving yourself some love.

RE-GIFTING

I know don't throw snowballs at me, but re-gifting isn't a bad thing. When I was in college, myself and some of my friends would bring back the stuff we got that we didn't want and we would do trades. It was the most fun I've had when getting back from the break. I found some treasures during those swaps and so did my friends. Things that none of us wanted, we would donate.

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU DON'T GET WHAT YOU WANT FOR CHRISTMAS?LM Preston (www.lmpreston.com) , author of THE PACK, EXPLORER X-Alpha and BANDITS

FRENCH KISSMAS by Cathy Hapka - Teen Review by NYIA

Please welcome our teen book reviewer, NYIA ! She picked out a wonderful romance for Christmas in her favorite place - PARIS :-D




Here's the book description:

For Nicole Larson, the Christmas season in Paris is more than just a romantic interlude—it's also a homecoming. Nic studied abroad in Paris a year ago, and is back in town with her friend Annike to spend Christmas and New Year's in the City of Light. Of course, now that Nic is there, the chemistry she once had with Parisian hottie Luc instantly reignites. But why fuel a romance that has only three weeks to survive? Nic would rather spend time with her new buddy Mike . . . until it becomes clear that Mike is also interested in being more than just friends. With a backdrop of twinkling lights on the Champs-Elysées and Parisian Christmas carols, it's going to be difficult for Nic to deny the romance around her. . . .

NYIA's REVIEW

I would rate this book a 3 out of 5 CANDY CANES because while it is a good romantic Christmas story, it is also has some slow places that I had to skip at some points in the book. The story did have a lot of drama and at times I had to a guess at who the main character, Nicole, was going to end up with. The book was descriptive, but didn't over describe details that didn't need to be over described, such as clothing and every accessories that each girl is reading. The boring parts of the book usually included when Nicole was on the set filming, the filming days always seemed the same as the last. Overall, this was a good romantic book and I enjoyed reading it.LM Preston (www.lmpreston.com) , author of THE PACK, EXPLORER X-Alpha and BANDITS

TEENS AND CELLPHONES

I'm a guest at the GEN MOBILE event sponsored by the FCC on Tuesday, Dec. 14th at 10am. It's an event for teens and parents regarding the usage and abuses of cellphones in today's society. The focus is on the use of cellphones by teens and misuse of it.SEXTINGIt's when sexually explicit text messages are sent via cellphones. Now you may think your 12 year old boy or girl wouldn't possibly be

MY MARTIAL ART FLICK OBSESSION

I have always, always, always had a passion for karate flicks. I grew up when Bruce Lee was the hottest action star smoking. Everyone wanted to be in one of his movies. I even took martial arts because of my obsession with his movies. You would think I would have outgrown him and flicks like that, but I haven't.One of my hobbies or obsessions, is to go to the local flea market and purchase

Are You Going To Be Bored For the Holidays?

Before I had kids as an adult I really didn't have anything exciting I did for the Holidays. I'd either stay home in the apartment I shared with other college students or I'd try to scramble up something to do so I wouldn't be home alone.Now I have a few single friends who are in the same boat. Here are some things I figured out over my years of trying to entertain myself for Christmas.VOLUNTEERI