Angela Kay Austin's Blog, page 17

The guitar has dropped in Memphis, TN!

Yes, in Memphis, we drop a large guitar, just like New York in Times Square.  Love it!

Checklist time!

I do this every year.  Don't we all.  We take stock of the year that's ending, and we picture whatever great something we want for the one that's about to begin.

Instead of looking at what I didn't do in 2012, I want to look at my successes and how I can continue to improve on them for 2013.


Write, write, write - I released a short story and a novella in 2012!  I'm extremely proud of them both.  "Love All Over Me" deals with continuing to live life after losing the love of our life.  "Give Me Everything" is about the choices so many career-focused couples have to make.  Do you chose love or financial wealth?  Can you have it all?Conferences - I attended two fabulous conferences in 2012, and for 2013 I have plans to attend four!Networking - I've made more great friends within and outside of the writing world! Some of them have visited me at Romancing the Pen.  And some have joined me on Triberr as part of the Writing, dreaming, living tribe!  I even launched my author app!  iOS or Android Reading - I've caught up on a lot of the series that I'd heard so much about during RT 2012, and I've added a few more to my list.  Check out some of my favs here:  USA Today Happily Ever After.Research - I use everything as research.  But, I'm kicking off 2013 attending a six part series which will be held at one of our libraries in Memphis because it will be a fantastic way for me to conduct research for a piece that I'm currently working on.2013 is shaping up to look pretty darn good!
What successes did you have in 2012?  What are you looking to continue to do in 2013?

#MovieReview - Twilight

Opening weekend, Twilight's box office numbers were somewhere in the neighborhood of $141 mil.  OMG!  I can't believe it.  I still can't believe that I watched all five movies.  Yep, all five.

When the mad blur began, I read Meyer's four books before the first movie because I wanted to know what the hype was all about.

I enjoyed book one and book four, tremendously.  When I watched the first couple of movies, I believe I was just as wrapped up in them as every teenager out there.  I really analyzed this phenomenon.  Why was I as anxious to watch the first movie?

I guess no matter what age you are, maybe, we all have a secret hope that we find that one breath-stealing unbreakable love.

By the time we reached book two, I felt like it was a little like...hmmm, am I the only one who felt like it was a long suicide note.  Then the whole imprinting thing turned me off.  (I'm an aunt and for some reason I couldn't let it go.  I kept wanting Meyer to change that part of the story.)

So, here we are now with the final installment.  I read the books so long ago that  I can't match it up to the book, exactly.  But, I enjoyed the movie.  Acting aside.  It was fun and fast-moving.  The books didn't necessarily move at the same pace.

Kellan Lutz...wtf!  BEAUTIFUL!  Did you guys see his shoulders and arms.  Come on.  No fair.

Does it matter who's right?

I've tried to distance myself from every news store regarding the loss of the beautiful young children of Newtown.  Why?  Because I have young nephews and a niece, it broke my heart to hear of the loss.  I don't have children, and I can't remotely begin to imagine how the children's parents feel or what they're going through at this time in their lives, so close to the holidays.  A time when children are filled with so much joy and happiness that it hurts my heart to imagine the emptiness in those homes or the sadness that forever more will drench this holiday season for the affected families.

I read First Lady Michelle Obama's open letter to Newton.  I've watched CNN, Fox News and local news reports.  And I guess, I'm tired of the debates.

Why does it seem we (as a country) still can't find common ground?  So many lives were lost.  It's not a party debate.  It should be a "humanity" debate.

How do we not allow the loss of these lives, and those lost every day in similar violent situations, not be in vain?  How do we change it?  Does it begin with us as individuals, or do we continue to sit back and listen to ridiculous debates that eventually resolve nothing?

Below is one of my favorite holiday songs, remade by CeeLo Green.  My heart and prayers are with Newtown.

#BookReview - Angels' Blood by @NaliniSingh

I fell in love with Nalini Singh's writing when I read her Psy-Changeling series.  But, I hadn't read her Archangel series.

I sat in on Nalini's discussion at RT 2012, and you guys know I became a true fan at that moment.  She was so incredibly warm and open.  The fans and authors in attendance all spoke of her angel series, and I felt like I couldn't be a part of the discussion.  So, I wanted to be sure to read as much as possible before RT 2013.

I stood in line to purchase a copy of Angels' Blood directly from Nalini, and, of course, I had to have it autographed!


I read Angels' Blood in two days.  Until I read J.R. Ward, I was never really a fan of series.  Then, all of a sudden, I thought it was the best thing in the world next to Netflix.Why?  Because when I finish one, I can push a magic button on my Kindle and boom there's another lovely book.

Nalini twisted the mythos of angels and vampires and dropped it on its head.  Angels become god-like creatures that put more fear than hope into those that love them.  The relationship between angels and vampires was for me the "touch" of Nalini that was all her own.

There have been so many treatments of vampires and angels that you become a little bored with it all.  I'm glad that I've found this series because it made it fresh for me.

My love affair with Jeaniene Frost's Cat and bones isn't over.  But, I am definitely enjoying the ride with Elena and Raphael.

Raphael the immortal that's lived so long, his heart is silent.  Elena, human--hunter-born, thrown away by her father left to to her own devices.  How do you love someone that you fear?  Sometimes, that can go both ways :-)



Nalini and me @ RT 2012!

Guest blogging @FTHRW Voices from the Heart blog

Instead of just once a month, I'm now blogging twice a month on the 12th and the 27th over at Voices from the Heart!  A blog from From the Heart Romance Writers!

Who knows what I'll talk about each month :-)  But, whatever it is...why don't you join me, and stay for awhile.

And while you're there, take a look at some of the great posts from other members of FTHRW.

Rules for writing fiction

As written for The Guardian by Rose Tremain, author.


1 Forget the boring old dictum "write about what you know". Instead, seek out an unknown yet knowable area of experience that's going to enhance your understanding of the world and write about that.

2 Nevertheless, remember that in the particularity of your own life lies the seedcorn that will feed your imaginative work. So don't throw it all away on autobiography. (There are quite enough writers' memoirs out there already.)

3 Never be satisfied with a first draft. In fact, never be satisfied with your own stuff at all, until you're certain it's as good as your finite powers can ­enable it to be.

4 Listen to the criticisms and preferences of your trusted "first readers".

5 When an idea comes, spend silent time with it. Remember Keats's idea of Negative Capability and Kipling's advice to "drift, wait and obey". Along with your gathering of hard data, allow yourself also to dream your idea into being.

6 In the planning stage of a book, don't plan the ending. It has to be earned by all that will go before it.

7 Respect the way characters may change once they've got 50 pages of life in them. Revisit your plan at this stage and see whether certain things have to be altered to take account of these changes.

8 If you're writing historical fiction, don't have well-known real characters as your main protagonists. This will only create biographical unease in the readers and send them back to the history books. If you must write about real people, then do something post-modern and playful with them.

9 Learn from cinema. Be economic with descriptions. Sort out the telling detail from the lifeless one. Write dialogue that people would actually speak.

10 Never begin the book when you feel you want to begin it, but hold off a while longer.

#MovieReview - Cloud Atlas

So, depending on your religious beliefs, you may or may not like Cloud Atlas.

I haven't read the book, but couldn't wait to see this movie.  I wanted to see how someone would treat the idea of multiple lives and how they intersect over time be good or bad.

Also, I love the idea of how the same people continue to crossover each other's lives again and again.

The movie begins so slowly that it was a bit painful.  But, we understand that they needed time to set up each character's timeline.  They needed to be able to make sure the movie watcher was well-rooted to each individual character before they started twisting them all into one.

I enjoyed the movie, but as I said, it begins slow.  Without giving away too much, the futuristic characters sounded a bit live historic slaves.   I found that odd for so many different reasons.  It will take a minute before you get comfortable with their language.  But, its easy enough to catch on after you hear it a few times.

The amount of roles each actor plays is absolutely amazing.  You miss many of them.  At least, I did.  Women play men, men play women.

But, connecting the dots is half of the fun of watching the movie.  You want to see how much of a role they play in each other's lives.  And sometimes, it's just a brief moment that's never even noticed.

I enjoyed the movie, and I think if you have an open mind to reincarnation, you will, too.  But, don't leave at the very end.  Just in case you missed something, you will get to have a few questions answered.

Guest blogging @FTHRW Voices from the Heart blog

Instead of just once a month, I'm now blogging twice a month on the 12th and the 27th over at Voices from the Heart!  A blog from From the Heart Romance Writers!

Who knows what I'll talk about each month :-)  But, whatever it is...why don't you join me, and stay for awhile.

And while you're there, take a look at some of the great posts from other members of FTHRW.

#BookReview - Anne Rice's The Wolf Gift

Finally, I've finished reading The Wolf Gift! It took longer than I'd planned, not because of the quality of the book.  But, because I dreaded finishing the book.  For many reasons, would the characters I'd grown to love die, where were the other werewolves, was there a bigger plan?

Anne slowly folded back the layers of the story.  She did it in such a way that my emotional connection with Reuben built to a level of true love for him and his well-being.

I still couldn't help writing the story in my mind.  I wanted more for Reuben's family.  When I say more, I mean I wanted them to be included more in the story of Reuben's life as a man wolf.  I kept imagining how his brother, mother, and father could contribute.

When I think about the men of the pack, I think of how great the members of Reuben's family would fit right in with them.  Including Reuben's girlfriend.

So,what does this mean for the book overall?

For me, it means that I wanted more at the end.  Maybe, Anne Rice's plan is to write a sequel.  Or, this will become a series.  And I know exactly how it should go :-)

But, I'll leave it to Anne.

For now, know that this book takes its time introducing you to Reuben.  But, you become so connected to Reuben that you fear for his safety and hope for his love.  You want his parents to be able to become part of his inner sanctum.  You cry for his brother's pain.

When the members of the pack finally make themselves known, you feel their power and the fear they place in those around them without even trying.  And you want to know more.  You want to know why they are feared so.

The ending has a little too much talk and not enough action because Anne preferred to leave all explanations until the last chapters of the book.  She keeps the readers as confused and two steps behind as she does Reuben.

I would definitely recommend this one to anyone who wants a good read with a well-developed character and story.  It's not a pace quickening thriller.  But, a comfortable read.

#GuestAuthor - K.M. Jackson

This week at Romancing the Pen, my guest is K.M. Jackson.  Her debut novel is Through the Lens!

Kwana discusses something that's really close to my own heart.  Strong heroines!

Kwana will also giveaway a free digital copy of Through the Lens to one lucky person!  So, don't just lurk...tell Kwana what you think.  Leave a comment, and you might be the lucky winner.

Blurb: Mika Walters is a normal-sized woman working in the not-so-normal world of New York fashion. As longtime assistant to uber-sexy photographer Alejandro Vega, she's tired of being the girl in the background. Just once she wants Alejandro to look at her with the same smoldering look he gives to his willowy models and now she has her chance. Stranded. After a travel mishap where the rest of the crew and the models can't make the remote island location shoot for another three days, Mika is taking her moment to catch Alejandro's eye and put herself in front of his camera and if all goes to plan, his bed . . . at least until the real world catches up with them.

Alejandro doesn't know what's gotten into Mika. Maybe it's the sand, maybe it's the sun, but he doesn't really care. All he knows is that he's finally opened his eyes and is seeing her clearly for the first time as the smart, gorgeous, and incredibly irresistible woman she is. But why can't she realize that what he's feeling for her is not one of his usual one, well, three night stands. This is real. Real love, real passion. What's it going to take for him to prove to Mika that she's the woman he wants? Now and forever.