Mireille Chester's Blog, page 31
July 17, 2011
Sleep? Sleep is for wussies...
Of course, as I'm writing the title to this little piece, I'm so tired I feel like crying, but since I know I won't be sleeping anytime soon, I try to give myself little pep talks and tell myself that sleep is really just a luxury, not a necessity.
Tonight, I went to bed at ten thirty. At eleven thirty, I was woken up the the worst sound in the world. Anyone who has heard it will remember
Owy is never a good word
This is never a good sound when you're making supper and the scream is coming from another room. If you're me and it's coming from your children, you calmly tell yourself that supper is now postponed and a trip to the hospital is in order.
I'm serious. My kids are tough… like, superhero tough. Like, all three are running full speed in the house and manage to run
Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale
'The Chosen One Trilogy' follows Hayden when she crosses over to
'Blood and Spirits: The Coming Storm - Book One' by Dennis Sharpe
The story line was great; I wanted to keep reading to see what the next twist was going to be. It was funny,
What do you do for a living? Um... I write.
This is me...
This is the question my sister asked when I decided to do my first book reading for 'Crossover'. My eyes got big as it sank in.
"Jeans and my hat?" I knew it was the wrong answer even as it came out of my mouth.
Here's a little something you need to know about me. I'll be thirty two this summer. In the past thirty two years there has been one and a half years
July 15, 2011
Owy is never a good word...
"Owy, owy, owy, ooooowwwwww!"
This is never a good sound when you're making supper and the scream is coming from another room. If you're me and it's coming from your children, you calmly tell yourself that supper is now postponed and a trip to the hospital is in order.
I'm serious. My kids are tough… like, superhero tough. Like, all three are running full speed in the house and manage to run into a wall, get up and do it again kind of tough. The two year old can be lying of the ground and the seven year old will jump on her and she'll look at him and scream… not in pain… in anger… because he made her drop her pony. That kind of tough. Or the five year old will jump off of his bed, trip, and smash his face into the floor, then show his siblings how to do it just like he did.
When one of my kids is screaming owy at the top of his lungs, I know it's not going to be a good sight. Owy means skin is missing, blood is flowing, or body parts are no longer bent in the proper direction. (thankfully, the latter has only happened once and it was a toe. Toes are a minor body part, so I'm not even sure if it bears mentioning).
So tonight when I heard that dreadful word, I took a deep breath, and headed into my bedroom which was where the horrible sound was coming from. This usually means a wrestling match gone wrong. My kids have a great time trying to kill each other. It happens every day and I've given up on trying to stop them. I'd never clean, I'd never eat, hell, I'd never be able to have a shit if I was trying to keep it from happening. Survival of the fittest is the law in my house and so far, the three of them seem pretty well matched.
I heard my daughter jump off the bed and scramble to her bedroom. I heard another thump as one of the boys jumped to the ground. This left the five year old screaming at the top of his lungs, so I knew who was the object of today's assasination attempt.
My first instinct when I walked into the room was to start yelling. I opened my mouth, took a deep breath, and stopped. I was speechless. And then I started to laugh, because, well, it was funny as hell (though apparantly not to Emery who had his head wedged between the matress and the boxspring of my bed). That's right. Today's attempted murder was by means of head squishing. Somehow, this was fun (I never did get a straight answer as to how or why Emery thought it was a good idea to let his siblings put his head between the matresses) . Stick brother's head in matresses and jump. Sure, I can see the logic in that.
After freeing my son and making sure that his skull was still intact, we had a small group discussion as to why it is a bad idea to squish your brother's head between two objects of any kind. The three of them ran downstairs (to plan their next assassination, I'm sure), and I went back to making supper, shaking my head while thinking to myself that today was a good day. No bent body parts, no missing skin, hell, not even a drop of blood to wipe off the floor.
So, let me rephrase that. Today was not good. It was fantastic. :)Hahahaha! Stay safe, everyone!
:) Mireille
July 7, 2011
Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale!
Hi everyone! Just a quick note to let everyone know about the Smashwords Summer/Winter sale and that I'm pleased that 'Crossover' and 'Journey' are a part of it. For the month of July, all of the ebooks included are available at a discounted price. My two are up for free. I am just having way too much fun giving my babies away. :D
'The Chosen One Trilogy' follows Hayden when she crosses over to Quelondain, a world parrallel to ours. There, she meets Jasper, a Namael captain able to shift into a tiger. Every Namael is bound to Queen Melana; it's genetics and members of the guard are unable to disobey orders. Jasper's orders are to get Hayden to Melana, but the fact that he is fated to Hayden and has been dreaming of her every night for the past six years keeps him from following orders, and that in itself is proof enough for him that she may be the Chosen One; the one who can save or destroy them all. Soon it is a fight for survival as the Namaels and the Majs each try to get their hands on what they think will be their most valuable weapon yet. 'The Chosen One Trilogy' is a fast paced fantasy romance with twist and turns. Can Hayden and Jasper discover what exactly it is Hayden was born to do? Will their love be enough to keep them and Quelondain alive?
Don't have your copies yet, or have one and not the other? Click on the links to get them. :) Have already read one or both? Click on the links and leave a review! I'd love to hear what you've thought of them.
Happy reading, and stay safe!
:) Mireille
Crossover (The Chosen One Trilogy: Book One) http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/66007
Journey (The Chosen One Trilogy: Book Two) http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/66037
July 3, 2011
My review of 'Blood and Spirits: The Coming Storm - Book One' by Dennis Sharpe
A breath of fresh air… That's what I thought when I finished the last sentence of this book. Blood & Spirits had all the great elements of strange; vampires, ghosts, spirits, zombies, but all of them weren't completely typical, which I loved. Add in some magic, and I'm hooked for life.
The story line was great; I wanted to keep reading to see what the next twist was going to be. It was funny, scary, and emotional. The characters were fantastic. V is great. She's loyal, she's caring, and she's a vengeful bitch.
I've seen a few comments about the sex scene, so I'll throw my two cents in… Disturbing. That's the only word I can think of. Though not 'disturbing' as in, "what the hell was he thinking when he wrote this"; 'disturbing' as in I could feel how completely repulsed V was and from that moment on, I got what she was feeling toward him. I thought the scene fit and it was a geat way to show those emotions.
I can't wait to see what's in store for V and company in the next book of 'The Coming Storm' series. I am definitely giving this book 5 stars.
June 28, 2011
So What Do You Do For A Living? Um... I write.
Do you ever have those moments when you wish you could disappear? I have them all the time. One of those moments for me is always when I'm being introduced to somebody new. The reason for this is that I know there are one of two things that are going to happen. One, the person introducing me will say, 'this is Mireille. She's the author' or two, they won't throw that in and the person I'm meeting will eventually ask what it is I do for a living. 'So, Mireille, what do you do?'. 'I'm a stay at home mom… and I write'. 'Oh? What do you write?'. 'I write stories'. 'Like, for magazines?'. 'No, I write novels'. 'Oh! You're an author!'. And I cringe. 'I guess so. I think I'm more of a writer.' Then comes the questions about my publisher and how it all happened and, well, if you're one of my writer friends, you know the process.
Now don't get me wrong… I don't mind telling people about how I became published or what my books are about. I mean, that's how word gets around, right? My main issue is that even though book three of my trilogy is now in the process of going to print, I just don't think of myself as an author. I also don't think of myself as a dog groomer even though I have a lovely certificate and four years of doing it behind me.
Since joining Twitter, I've become close to many writer/author/bloggers. If you ask them what they do, the response is mixed. Some of them are quick to say they are authors. Whether they are indie or traditional, it makes no difference. The response is mixed. It makes me wonder…. I, myself, am traditonally published. Some of my friends are self publishers. (Here, I have to add that just because someone is self pusblished does not make them any less of an author/writer.)
When I tell people that I am a published author, their first question is, 'you self published?'. They seem disinterested and standoffish. As soon as I tell them that I have a publisher, they seem more interested. Why is that? Why do people assume that self published authors are any less talented than a traditionally published one. I was lucky and found a publisher who thought I was good enough to sign a contract with. Here's a bit of information you might not have known… JK Rowling submitted her first Harry Potter manuscript to twelve different publishing houses, all of which turned her down… Does anyone out there have the guts to tell me she isn't a fantastic writer? (forget the movies even though they were great, just think of the books) Just because a publishing agent does not pick you up, does not mean you are not a brilliant writer.
I think this is where my reluctance comes from when people ask me what I do for a living. I write. I am an author, but not because I have a publisher. When I talk to people, I don't want to filed under that published, self published standard. I write because I love to write; I love to get lost in my own little world and I know that no matter how they release their books, every other writer out there feels the same way. That's why we do it. That's why you, and I, love to read.
I've read plenty of books that were published traditionally that I couldn't finish for various reasons. I've read countless books by self published authors that have left me wanting more.
So what do I do for a living? I write. That's it. I make up worlds and create characters and let the stories write themselves. Am I an author? I suppose. But really and honestly, I'd rather just be a writer. :)
Stay safe,
:) Mireille
