Mireille Chester's Blog, page 32

This is me...

"So what are you going to wear?"

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 where I used to dress up every day no matter what.  I did my hair, I wore nice clothes and I put on makeup.  Unfortunately, I didn't do it because it made me feel good about myself, I did it because I thought that was what some people wanted.  I was uncomfortable, I was forever selfconcious, and it got to the point where it affected my personality.  I was quieter, I was scared to say things in case it was the wrong thing to say, and well, I wasn't me.  It took a while, but I finally found myself again. 

This is me… I am quiet.  If someone else wants to carry on the conversation, I am more than happy to let that person talk.  I am not a bitch, I am shy.  When I first meet you, if I'm not talking your ear off and seem standoffish, then just give me a few minutes, I'll grow out of it.  When I do say something, sometimes it will make no sense and sometimes it will be brilliant… it's hit and miss and seems to amuse some people.  I hate being the center of attention and if I have to say something in front of more than two or three people (even if know them) I am guaranteed to turn red.  I am much better at writing than talking.  I don't like to dress up, I hate doing my hair, and I have absolutely no issues with going out in public wearing jeans, a t-shirt, my runners and my baseball hat.  This is how I am comfortable.  This is me.

HOWEVER… society as a whole is not like me.  Everything is geared at looking good, being done up, and fitting an image.  Now, I'm not saying that everyone who dresses up and does their hair only does it to fit in, but look around; there are way more women walking around in skinny jeans and high heels than baseball hats and ripped jeans.  If it's your thing, then all the power to you.  At my age, people expect you to be and look grown up.  Unfortunately, if you don't look grown up, people don't think you are grown up.  I have been with my husband for ten years, we have three kids, have acquired our first mortgage,  own a half ton and a minivan, and even though I don't usually think of myself as grown up, I'm fairly sure I might qualify.  Does the fact that I look like a twelve year old boy when I go out make me less of a grown up?  I don't think so, but others have told me it does.

I'll let sink in… yep, people besides the weird old guy in the Sobey's parking lot have told me I should take more pride in how I look.  People I know, people who love me and I'm sure are just trying to help.

Here's the question I have for you.  When you pick up a book off the shelf, do you automatically flip to the about author page? Do you look at the bio and picture and say, man, this doesn't look like he/she'd write a good book?  I don't know about you, but when I grab a book I look at the synopsis first.  If it gets my attention, I buy it.  I could care less who the author is and what he/she looks like.  If the book is fantastic and I want to read more of the same kind of books then I see who the author is. 

Now that 'Journey' is out and my picture is on the 'about author' page it makes me wonder.  Does this author actually look like this?  If someone who doesn't know me has read my book and seen my picture, I can guarantee that if they saw me in public, they wouldn't recognize me. 

So now you're asking, if I'm so against dressing up and conforming to society, why did I put a picture of myself all done up on my bio and my website and why do I get dressed up for book readings and conferences?  The answer is this… whether people want to admit it or not, they would rather buy a book from someone who looks professional.  If you look successful, you must be successfull, right?  Deep down, we all know it's not true… any homeless person on the street could be given nice clothes and a haircut and made to look like a millionaire.  Unfortunately, I have to admit to myself that even if you have talent, unless you dress it up, it's hard to sell it. 

And really, that's the bottom line, isn't it.  If I want to be a successful author, I need to sell books and people, unfortunately, are not simply looking at my books, they are also looking at me.  *Blah*

So I've made a promise to my angry, I hate to dress up self… When I become successful and people are buying my books because they see my name on the cover and they think of me as an author because of the success my stories have had, I will do this.  I will hold a book reading/ news conference (cause famous authors can do that) and I will show up wearing jeans, a t-shirt, my baseball hat and my running shoes.

Man, I can't wait…

:)  Mireille

Some People's Nerves

Contrary to how the title makes it sounds, this is not a rant.  Let's put this little story into the 'reflection' category.  I have to start off by telling you about the incident that led to this train of thought.

This morning I was running some errands with my two year old daughter.  We dropped Kyle off at the semi so he could get back on the road, proceeded to head down to the bank, went for coffee with my mom at Tim Horton's, then went to Sobe's to do groceries.  Once back in the parking lot, I put Ashtynn in her car seat and started to put the bags away in the trunk of the van.  I guess I should tell you what I'm wearing today… though most of you who know me can probably guess.  Yep, I'm wearing my usual baseball hat, a zip up bunny hug, my jeans, and the same running shoes I've owned for the past eight years.

So, I was putting my grocery bags into the back of the van when a little blue car pulls up beside me.  A little old man gets out and looks at me.

"Good morning," I say with a smile.  It's beautiful out and I'm in a good mood.  The little old guy keeps look at me without saying anything.  I stop putting the groceries away.  "Can I help you with something?"  Who knows, he's pretty old… maybe he forgot what he's doing there, I don't know.  Maybe I remind him of someone.  Maybe, just maybe, he's my biggest fan and he's too shy to ask me for my autograph (*snicker* no, I did not really think that).

Anyway, he looks at me and asks, "are you a boy or a girl?" 

Just smile, I think to myself.  "I'm a girl."

He frowns.  "How old are you?"

"Thirty-one."  By this time I'm wondering where the hell he's going with this.

He shakes his head.  "You know, you'll never find a man that wants to marry you if you keep looking like a boy."

I feel my wedding band on my finger and take a deep breath.  "It just so happens that I've been with my husband for ten years now and we have three kids together."

The old man grunts and walks away.  I turn back to my groceries wondering did this just actually happen?  Now, granted, if he had looked at my hand to see if it had a ring on it, the odds were he just didn't see it.  When Kyle asked what kind of ring I wanted I told him that if he spend more that a couple hundred bucks on my entire set that I wouldn't marry him.  My wedding band is a thin yellow gold one with a tiny diamond in it which usually gets turned around and ends up facing the bottom of my hand.  I don't wear the engagement ring.  I'm not big on jewelry.  But still…

Now, at this point I need to point out that I wasn't upset, simply floored.  How does a person walk up to a complete stranger and so bluntly insult them.  I mean, I could see if a friend of mine had seen me, come to say hi and said something along the lines of, "Hey, Mi, can't you do yourself up a little when you leave the house?"  Though, now that I write this, if they were any kind of friend to me, they wouldn't think of saying that for the simple fact that they would know that no, I don't dress up to leave the house.  As my youngest sister once so nicely put it, "You know Mimi is dressed up when she's wearing a bra."  :D

So, would you have the nerve to do what the old man did to me?  How would you react if you'd been in my shoes?  Would I have done anything different had I had time to prepare for his comments?  No, probably not.  Does it make me think that maybe I need to change my look when I leave the house?  No, definitely not.

And that gets me going on a completely different topic related to this one which is 'image', but that, my friends, is a reflection for another day…

:)  Mireille

My review of 'Emerald Destiny' by Allie Burke

This book was… fantastic.

When Allie announced that it had been done, that the second book in her series was available for purchase, I immediately went and got my copy. I hadn't read 'Violet Midnight' yet; it was sitting on my Kobo, patiently awaiting one of my lazy days to be read. I'll even admit that I didn't even read the synopsis or description, I just clicked purchase and put it on my Kobo beside its sibling.

So when I finished reading 'Violet Midnight' yesterday afternoon, I smiled to myself and thought, 'perfect, I can start on the next one'. Now, I don't want to spoil it for people who haven't read the first one, so to put it vaguely, when the pages on my screen stopped turning, all I could think about was that because of their bloodlines, those kids were going to have unbelievable powers. I loaded 'Emeral Destiny', started reading, and grinned.

I love that Allie decided to focus on Abby, Daniel and Evan in this book. Not only was the storyline great, it really felt as though she'd settled into her style of writing. The twists were brilliant, the descriptions amazing, and the characters real. I absolutely love the world she's created and can't wait to get the third book when it comes out.

If you love romance, adventure, and magic, Allie Burke is the author for you.  http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10349394-emerald-destiny

My review of 'Violet Midnight' by Allie Burke

'Violet Midnight' was great.  This book had everything I love in a book; battle scenes, romance, magic.  The characters were believable, they weren't perfect, which I like, and Allie's description of their enviroment painted a great picture to put you there in the moment.  So, would I reccomend this book?  Definitely.  Am I going to read 'Emerald Destiny', the second in the series? *snickers* I was up until one this morning finishing it.

I suppose there's really only one thing left for me to say… So, Allie, when's the third one coming out?

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10156959-violet-midnight

Versatile Blogger Award!

I was given my first blogger award last week (The Versatile Blogger Award) by my terrific friend Rene Nightingale.  I am super excited. :D  Be sure to check out Rene's blog http://renenightingale.blogspot.com/2011/06/versitile-blogger-award.html

There are requirements for accepting the award. The most important one is that it must be passed on to others. The other rules are listed below.



The rules

1. Thank and link to the person who nominated you.
2. Share 7 random facts about yourself.
3. Pass the award on to 5 newfound blogging buddies. ( I can't count!)
4. Contact the winners to congratulate them.
So, seven random facts about me… hmmm…mmmmm.

1. I am a house wife that hates to clean.

2. If I have my way about it, I will be buried in jeans and a baseball hat.  Oh, and with my Nounou (the teddy bear I've had since I was born).

3. I've worked at a library, a riding arena, a tree farm, a bee farm, a restaurant, a trail riding/PMU ranch, a grocery store, a gas station, and I've babysat kids and groomed dogs out of my house. (yes, I get bored easily, lol)

4. The time I have been happiest in my life is right now.  I love my kids, my husband and the fact that I get to write full time.

5.When I am having a bad day or everything seems to be going wrong, I secretly wish I could find a cross trail and make my way over to Quelondain.  My horse would talk, my hubby would be able to turn into a wolf, and I'd ride a dragon.

6. Even though I am soon to be 32, married, have three children, own a house, and have two published novels with three more on the way, I do not think of myself as a grown up.  I will, however, admit to being a nerd and a dreamer.

7. One day, I will own a shaggy cow. (Highland steer) :D

Now, I'm supposed to pass this on to five of my blogging friends but I have a bit of an issue… Most of my friends have already gotten one of these awards.  So, I will be passing this along to two great women.

I met Misti Wolanski randomly on Twitter one day after I put up a post on how computer illiterate I am.  Misti came to my rescue with some great ideas on how to get the original covers for my hardcopy books the right size for my ebooks… Though we may have figured out how to do it, I decided to keep the new covers, but that's not the point.  The point is, she was great enough to try and help a lost soul like me even though she had no clue who I was.  Go check out her blog, she just put up a great plan about releasing a new story every month. The woman is motivated. :D http://carradee.blogspot.com/

The second award I will pass on is to my friend Jenn Lacourse.  Jenn and I went to high school together, lost track of each other for oh, ten years, then found each other again on Facebook.  It turns out that Jenn, like me, has a passion for writing.  When it comes to blogging, Jenn is the master.  She has a thousand ideas and opinions and she's not scared to share them.  Go have a look, you won't be dissapointed. :D  http://jennspositiveprofile.blogspot.com/

I can't wait to see who these girls decide to pass this on to!  Thanks again Rene for thinking of me!  Lots of love and hugs to you.

Everyone have a good day and stay safe!

:)  Mireille

Revelation (the kind that makes a lot of work for me)

I sat at my computer yesterday and noticed I had four Microsoft Office tabs on the go. Here are the events that followed…

I click on the first one. ‘Tyler’s Story’. It’s the first in my YA series set in Quelondain. That’s not the official title to that one, but it lets me know what it is when I click on it. I smile. I’m loving this story. I’m actually wishing that this would have been my first book, just because it is going to be so great. Of course, if it had been the first one, it probably wouldn’t have been this good. I push the save button just to be sure and click the screen off. I’ll be working on this one later.

The next three tabs that pop up are actually the same story. I bounce from one to another and take a deep breath, my usual frustration mounting like every other time I have a look at them. The problem isn’t that I don’t like the story. On the contrary, this one, if I can ever get it done, is going to make ‘The Lord of the Rings’ look like child’s play… hahaha. Just kidding. But seriously, the story is good. The idea behind it and where I want it to go is all there. So why three tabs? Well, actually, there’s four (one just wasn’t loaded onto the screen). This story is ‘The Witteck Chronicles’. Four tabs for four books. The plan, if it works out, is to actually have eight books in this series. My problem is that I get ideas for the books to follow and I start on them, which isn’t really a bad thing except for the fact books two, three, and four are well on the go and book one is stuck…and done. Yep. Stuck and done. My baby is four hundred pages long and I’m on the verge of writing the last chapter but I can’t do it. Something is wrong with it and I can’t put my finger on what that thing is… until yesterday.

So after cutting and copying almost half of the first book onto a different tab so I could get my ideas in order, I sat and looked at my ‘Witteck Chronicles’ and for the first time is over two months I smiled at it. It’s going to take a lot of time and work to do what I want to do with it, but I promise you, the wait will be worth it.

Now, having said that, I think I should get to it. ‘Tyler’s Story’ won’t write itself and my niece is impatiently awaiting its release.

Stay safe,

:) Mireille

Revelation (the kind that makes a lot of work for me)

I sat at my computer yesterday and noticed I had four Microsoft Office tabs on the go.  Here are the events that followed…

I click on the first one. 'Tyler's Story'. It's the first in my YA series set in Quelondain. That's not the official title to that one, but it lets me know what it is when I click on it.  I smile. I'm loving this story.  I'm actually wishing that this would have been my first book, just because it is going to be so great.  Of course, if it had been the first one, it probably wouldn't have been this good.  I push the save button just to be sure and click the screen off.  I'll be working on this one later.

The next three tabs that pop up are actually the same story.  I bounce from one to another and take a deep breath, my usual frustration mounting like every other time I have a look at them.  The problem isn't that I don't like the story.  On the contrary, this one, if I can ever get it done, is going to make 'The Lord of the Rings' look like child's play… hahaha.  Just kidding.  But seriously, the story is good.  The idea behind it and where I want it to go is all there.  So why three tabs? Well, actually, there's four (one just wasn't loaded onto the screen).  This story is 'The Witteck Chronicles'.  Four tabs for four books.  The plan, if it works out, is to actually have eight books in this series.  My problem is that I get ideas for the books to follow and I start on them, which isn't really a bad thing except for the fact books two, three, and four are well on the go and book one is stuck…and done.  Yep. Stuck and done.  My baby is four hundred pages long and I'm on the verge of writing the last chapter but I can't do it.  Something is wrong with it and I can't put my finger on what that thing is… until yesterday.

So after cutting and copying almost half of the first book onto a different tab so I could get my ideas in order, I sat and looked at my 'Witteck Chronicles' and for the first time is over two months I smiled at it.  It's going to take a lot of time and work to do what I want to do with it, but I promise you, the wait will be worth it.

Now, having said that, I think I should get to it.  'Tyler's Story' won't write itself and my niece is impatiently awaiting its release.

Stay safe,

:)  Mireille

Who wants some FREE books?!

Hi everyone!

The sun is shining, the day is beautiful, and life is great!  Now you may be asking yourselves, what in the world does that have to do with free books?  Well, it has everything to do with free books.  The day is perfect, my YA WIP is flying along and I'm loving where it's going, and life is fantastic.  The only thing that could be better would be to get some free books. :D  I picked up my copy of Derek Haine's 'Vandalism of Words' and can't wait to read it. If you want, get your free copy of his book at Amazon right now!  So I thought I'd help make everyone else's day a bit brighter by offereing this great deal…

Get your copies of 'Crossover' and 'Journey' as ebooks for FREE for a limited time.  That's right :D.  Just click on the link below and you can get the first two books of my trilogy at no cost to you.  Know someone who loves to read as much as you do? Pass this along to them!

So, have you been wanting to cross over to Quelondain to see what it's all about? If you have, then go on and find that little bit of magic we all have inside of us and come take a walk with me. :)

http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/MireilleChester

Stay safe!

:) Mireille

My review of 'Amaretto Flame' by Sammie Spencer

" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px">http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg" />">Amaretto Flame by ">Sammie Spencer

My rating: ">5 of 5 stars


This book was great and I have the sunburn to prove it.  I couldn't put it down and couldn't bring myself to leave the park until I had finished it.  Sammie's idea of magick and the talents that come about because of it are fantastic.  The characters drew me in, the story was exciting, and the whole concept was amazing.  I can't wait to read the next novel in this series.  The possibilities for stories within the Eagleton Coven are endless. It's a must read.



">View all my reviews

Well, it's official. I am one of the slowest people when...

'Crossover' cover for ebook


'Journey' cover for ebook

Well, it's official.  I am one of the slowest people when it comes to technology and I've officially given up on trying to load my covers onto Kindle.  For this reason, I've designed new covers and these loaded just fine.  Here's what they look like.  Let me know what you think. Personally, I think I might actually like them better than the originals… :)

Stay safe!

:)  Mireille