Meradeth Houston's Blog, page 94

Colors Like Memories Blog Tour

Guess what? It's my birthday!!! Okay, I'm not really that excited. Actually, the fact that I'm turning 30 kind of freaks me (yeah, yeah, I can feel a few of you rolling your eyes!). But, yes, it's my birthday, and I'm here in Japan. It's a little different because birthdays are a big deal in my family and I almost always spend time with everyone to celebrate. Hopefully hubby gets the idea :)

What does that have to do with my blog tour, you ask? Well, here's the deal. Colors Like Memories will be releasing on May 11th (woot!) and I'm looking to have some awesome people do reviews or other fun things at this time. There will be prizes involved: anyone who signs up to host CLM will be entered into a pot for a $25 gift card to Amazon or Barnes & Nobel, your choice. Sounds kind of nice, right?

Here's the low-down on things: if you sign up for a review, I'll be able to send you an ebook (so, ya know, you'll need to be able to read it--on your computer or other device--something that my mom is still a little confused by). I'm asking for your honest opinion of my book, be it good, bad, or ugly. I'd appreciate it if you could post your review on your blog, and also on Amazon, Goodreads, and other fun sites like that. I'm looking to kick things off on May 10th, which gives readers a little over a month. I don't have a firm end-date yet, but about two weeks will probably be the most I can handle.

Interviews and guest posts are also awesome. If you have a set of questions, please let me know and I'll answer them as soon as possible. Other ideas? I'm all ears! Shout out in the comments or in the google-docs form thing I'm embedding below.

Questions? Let me hear em! And thanks a million in advance!!

(Care to share this with others? I'd really appreciate it!)

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Sunday is for Photos x8

Hi! Okay, I'm back with some photos from my crazy random adventure :) This week has consisted of several continents, a lot of time spent in airports, and some massive jet-lag. Honestly, my body's like "What are you doing to me???" Still, it's been awesome. And I love Japan (holy moley, the food, I tell ya! Yum!). Oh, and just as a head's up, tomorrow I'm going to open up some spots for my blog tour, because um, yeah, Colors Like Memories comes out in about a month. There will be prizes involved, and all kinds of fun, so if you're interested, do check back in then!

Onward:
Me, clicking my heels :) Haha, I'm such a dork. 
Arc de Triumph at night.
Obviously, I was totally infatuated with this statue. The angel looks like he's about to leap down from over the door to this Church in the Barcelonata district. So friggin cool.
Random mannequins in front of this cool house. Someone has a sense of humor that I appreciate. 
Last kissing pic from Barcelona. :(
These are a few of the friends we made while in the city. We all met up the last night at our favorite little cafe and sat around talking. I miss these peeps!
The Doha International Airport. Do you know where Doha is?? I didn't. Nothing like having to google your location :) Also, why is A&W translated and TCBY not?
So we made it to Japan after 18+ hours on a plane. It is beautiful, different, and utterly awesome. This is Osaka. I love how they built the freeway over the river here for like a mile. Also, the airport is on a man-made island in the bay. That made my palms sweat a little when we got here!
Torture. A giant bookstore crammed with cool looking books, and I can't read any of them! Also, their bookstores are packed, with lines to check out. I love it!
Me, in need of a nap, but unable to keep from exploring the mall!Okay, so that's a taste of what's going on with me. Tomorrow is my birthday (or, well, today I guess by the time, haha!). We are heading to Kyoto. And don't forget, stop by tomorrow if you're interested at all in the Colors Like Memories blog tour!

After Reading: The Clockwork Prince

by Cassandra Claire

In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray has at last found safety with the Shadowhunters. But that safety proves fleeting when rogue forces in the Clave plot to see her protector, Charlotte, replaced as head of the Institute. If Charlotte loses her position, Tessa will be out on the street and easy prey for the mysterious Magister, who wants to use Tessa's powers for his own dark ends. 


With the help of the handsome, self-destructive Will and the fiercely devoted Jem, Tessa discovers that the Magister's war on the Shadowhunters is deeply personal. He blames them for a long-ago tragedy that shattered his life. To unravel the secrets of the past, the trio journeys from mist-shrouded Yorkshire to a manor house that holds untold horrors, from the slums of London to an enchanted ballroom where Tessa discovers that the truth of her parentage is more sinister than she had imagined. When they encounter a clockwork demon bearing a warning for Will, they realize that the Magister himself knows their every move and that one of their own has betrayed them. 

Tessa finds her heart drawn more and more to Jem, though her longing for Will, despite his dark moods, continues to unsettle her. But something is changing in Will; the wall he has built around himself is crumbling. Could finding the Magister free Will from his secrets and give Tessa the answers about who she is and what she was born to do? 

As their dangerous search for the Magister and the truth leads the friends into peril, Tessa learns that when love and lies are mixed, they can corrupt even the purest heart.

I flat-out love this series!! I really loved the modern-day books as well (I still have to read The City of Fallen Angels, but will get to that when I get home), but the Victorian Era does have a certain appeal :) As always, though, it takes me a chapter or two to really sink into these stories. It's not that I don't enjoy the openings, but I always seem to need an extra bit of time to fall into them. Then I stay up very late reading them. Ahh, and there was lots of good kissing scenes in this book. Lots and lots. And Claire knows how to write kissings scenes... Okay, yeah. I found myself actually studying them to amp up the tension in my own WIP (and was glad hubby didn't find me doing that--he'd really of thought I'd gone around the bend). At any rate, these are a must-read in the YA category, imho!

Have you read any of Claire's work? Did you enjoy it?

Tuesday Crazies

So after the random events surrounding the apartment we rented here in Barcelona for the next month, and the fallout of it not working out, we decided that this was just the sign we needed that the next leg of our journey was in order. What does that mean? Well, it means we're off to Japan!! It was a stroke of luck that we found tickets that hadn't risen in price, and we're heading out tomorrow. It's been really hard saying goodbye to all the good friends we've made in this city. Today was filled with all kinds of goodbyes to our favorite haunts and friends (and I hate goodbyes!). But, we are on to another adventure!

Our massively long flight starting tomorrow afternoon will complete our circumnavigation of the globe. We're going through some city in the Middle East that's in a country I've never heard of before. That will be interesting :) Then, we'll land here:
Osaka Japan!I looked at the map of the city today and I can't even read any of it. Eeep! 

Can you tell that we're kind of seat-of-your-pants kind of people? Well, okay, hubby is. I'm along for the ride!
A special thanks to Elise Fallson for the Sunshine Award. So sweet! I'll try to answer the questions next week when I have a little more sanity :)

If you don't hear from me for a few days, now you know why....

Sunday is for Stories

This week has been a little nuts, so I'm not going to post my normal shots from our adventures. Actually, there really weren't "adventures" in my normal sense, unless you count renting an apartment from a friend's father (who were thought was "helping us out") and then discovering the place had no water in (which, let's be honest, isn't so fun), on top of having family visit (which was a blast). Add to that lugging two heavy suitcases across the city twice, and a few other random fun things like that, and well, my week's been rather awkward. Things like that happen while traveling, ya know? I'm doing my best to roll with it, though, really, I'm not a roll with it kind of person (*ahem*Type-A*ahem*).

Okay, enough of my belly-aching (hah, thank you to my grandfather for that fun phrase), I'm going to just share one random shot I've snapped during my trip. Your job? Tell me what this person's thinking. Just for fun :)

I really like this shot :) Tell me what's on her mind!

Lucky 7 Tag

Jennifer Fischetto tagged me a couple of days ago on the Lucky 7 Meme that's been making its way around the web. I've loved reading little snippets from everyone's WIP's, so I thought I'd share a little from mine too :)

The Rules:
1. Go to page 77 of your current MS/WIP
2. Go to line 7
3. Copy down the next 7 lines - sentences or paragraphs - and post them as they're written. No cheating
4. Tag 7 authors
5. Let them know


Turning, it took my mind toolong to process what was going on. When it did, I wished I had taken offrunning rather than see who was coming toward me."Marcus." His name feltdirty as I said it. Behind him was another man, tall with dark hair. I knew whohe was by sight alone: one of the top guys at the Island, where the Saryleadership lived and worked. There was only one reason they'd be here. 



Oh, wow, that is massively rough. Haha! Clearly I'm currently trying to clean up another Sary story--a companion to Colors Like Memories. The goal is to have something slightly more workable in a few weeks.


As for tagging other people, crud, I always hate doing that. Anyone want to be tagged?? :)

The "delete all" moment

I've mentioned this here and there on my blog before, but I thought today would be a good day to have a discussion about it. And by it, I mean that moment when you give up writing. Wait, you haven't had that moment? You're lucky :) Because there have been times when I've been so frustrated with my writing, and with trying to get published, that I've said "This Isn't Worth It." And at those times, I've been done with writing. Found other things to do. And I'm here to say that, sometimes, that's okay.

The one time that I really went whole-hog on stopping writing was after a particularly frustrating rejection. No, I won't say which one (but I will say that I'm an advocate that people should be nice, being nasty or snarky has no place in my heart). At any rate, I really was ticked. And sad. And may have cried a little. At that point, I had to take a long hard look at what I was doing and whether or not it was worth my time. Sure, I loved writing. But I was also very busy with my degree, with my family, with the rest of my full life. My decision was that I didn't need this extra pressure I was putting on myself to write. I could do without it and be Just Fine.

So, I trashed it all. Oh, you read that right. I took all my writing files and dropped them in the recycle bin and emptied it. All. Of. It. Was. Gone. Years worth of drafts, re-writes, comments, everything I could find on my computer, I got rid of.

I found other things to do. Amazingly, a dissertation takes up a lot of time :) And for a few months, I was fine. I read, I watched TV, I found other ways to feed my creative need. And then, while hunting through a forgotten external back-up drive (I have like three, because you only ever lose all your computer files once before you get supremely anal about it), I came across a copy of my writing files. I'd missed one. Being in a better frame of mind, I didn't delete this one, but moved it into my documents under the title "Crappy Waste of Time" (my writing file still carries this name).

Anyhow, clearly I got over myself. It took me a good while to realize just how much I missed writing. Because that's what finally got my documents resurrected from The Crappy Waste of Time. I've been writing since I was 11, and giving it up made it feel like something was missing. So, without thinking about ever sending another query, without caring what came of it, I went back to writing. (Can I just say that having some time to just sit and live in your own little world is completely wonderful? Nothing beats it!) Clearly, things have gone a little better since then. I have a book coming out. I have two others I'm in the middle of editing. That's not to say that there aren't times when I need a break, but I've yet to delete everything again :)

So, what am I trying to get at in this really long post? Well, that sometimes  it's OKAY to need to give it up. Maybe the time isn't right. Or you're just not quite ready. Maybe you need to focus on something else right then. I'm not saying that doing what I did was the right thing, but I really think that at that point, I needed the space and time to remember just what I'm in this game for.

If you reach that point where it hurts more than it helps, it's okay to take a break. To find something else to make you happy. If you love it, it'll be there waiting for you when you're ready to come back to it. Take your files and place them somewhere where they don't nag you every time you're on your computer. Give yourself some breathing room, and don't beat yourself up about it (good grief, women are the worst about this, I think--I know I am...). When you are able to sit back down and remember what got you writing in the first place, the characters that made you laugh (possibly in public, leading to all kinds of strange looks), or the stories that just won't leave you alone, then that's awesome.

Okay, off my soapbox!

Have you ever experience the "delete it all" moment? Or the "what the heck am I doing this for?" moment? What inspired it? What got you through? Did it kill you or make you stronger? :)

Sunday is for Photos x8

Just a few photos from this last week. Lots of fun times were had!
We took the train to Blanes (on the Costa Brava) one day, then hiked into this cove, which was spectacular. Awesome beach, and these amazing houses build up above it!
Ruins on the way to the beach.
Awww, we're cute :) This is in Sitches, which we went to with some wonderful friends of ours last Sunday! Isn't the light perfection?
All of us walking on the beach in Sitches!
"You are my personal victim and I'm your personal vampire" Which was just random enough for me to take a photo of is. I'm guessing Twilight is just as popular here?
Nighttime shot of the awesome building art!I hope everyone has a wonderful week!!

Got Green bloghop!

So, I may not be Irish (at least that I know of!) but I could use a little luck 'o the Irish, so I thought I'd jump in Mark Koopman's Bog Hop. Want to join in? Click over here!

My favorite memories from Saint Patrick's Day come from when I was a kid. I must admit, as an adult, the only thing I really do is make sure I'm wearing green :) (Yeah, I know this is kinda pathetic, but what can ya do?) But as a kid, my mom was big into making the day fun for us all. Everything was dyed green. The milk. Our eggs, or whatever was for breakfast. She'd paint little green footprints over the windows. Even our fishtank went completely green (and no, not with algae) one year. She was really, really good at making it fun for us kids, making us think that there really were little leprechauns hanging around our house.

Kind of makes me miss being a kid, just thinking about it!

The other best thing about St. Patrick's Day? Corned beef and potatoes. None of us like cabbage. Ahhh. SO good! I love that is smells so tasty and fills the house with that awesome aroma. This is something I've tried to continue with my husband, but somehow I don't think I'll be finding any corned beef in Spain this year. Sad.

Okay, so what do you do for the green day? Anything fun? Is it a big deal for your family?

After Reading: Hallowed

by Cynthia Hand


For months Clara Gardner trained to face the fire from her visions, but she wasn't prepared for the choice she had to make that day. And in the aftermath, she discovered that nothing about being part angel is as straightforward as she thought.Now, torn between her love for Tucker and her complicated feelings about the roles she and Christian seem destined to play in a world that is both dangerous and beautiful, Clara struggles with a shocking revelation: Someone she loves will die in a matter of months. With her future uncertain, the only thing Clara knows for sure is that the fire was just the beginning.As the second book in the Unearthly series (Unearthly reviewed here), I was a liiiitle wary to read this. Second books have been disastrous before, and although I've been proven wrong on many other occasions, I always worry a little. Especially with a book I enjoyed as much as Unearthly :) Anyhow, it was a stupid concern because this book pulled me in and didn't let go. And although I don't go searching for books that make me sob like a small child, when it happens, it's a good sign. (Okay, I'll admit that I'd rather laugh in a book, but whatever, that's cool). Anyhow, yeah, I bawled in this one. And I loved it. And I still think Tucker is awesome--even more so in this book. Don't get me wrong, I like Christian quite a bit, even more so in this book than the last, but Tucker is just so yummy. Like, wholesome yummy (why I'm thinking freshly baked wheat bread with butter and jam is beyond me, but it actually kind of fits. Or I'm just hungry). Anyhow, now I'm going to have to wait for-EH-ver for the next book. Which is sad. But worth it.On a random other note, I re-read Unearthly right before starting Hallowed. I LOVE re-reading and do so all the time. My husband thinks I'm totally nuts for doing this (I mean, I already know what's going to happen!) but that doesn't matter. I like the story for the story, and the characters, and the world. Not for the ending. My question is, do you re-read?