Christina Bauer's Blog, page 74

Thoughts on… Shit I Swore To Do When I Grew Up

As a kid, I made quite a few promises to myself. You know…When I grow up, I’m going to [FILL IN THE BLANK]. Today, I’ve decided to collect some of the most memorable and rate whether or not I succeeded because, why not? It’s better than working!
Let’s get right to it…

Life Goal 1. Eat at MacDonalds Every Day

SCORE: I got an ‘A’ on this Freshman year of college. After that, it went downhill. Current Score: ‘B,’ but for breakfast only. I won’t comment on dinner as a Five Guys has opened up around the corner from us and that’s just not fair competition.

2. Make a Product Called Candy Juice

SCORE: Little did my six year old self realize that there was already a product out there which was candy juice and which I already liberally enjoyed. It was called juice. As an adult, I have moved on to find this drink in its perfect form. They’re called Mochas. I’m giving myself an ‘F’ on this as Starbucks clearly beat me to market here. I get an ‘A’ for drinking them every chance I get, though.

3. (Me at nine) Never eat Chicken, Only Beef

SCORE: I’ve held up to this pretty well. B.

4. (Me at nineteen) Meat is Murder. Eat Tofu.

SCORE: F. Tofu sucks.

5. I used to play ‘Barbie Chairman of the Board’  a lot. She would come in and sing and dance for a Board of Directors made up of Skipper, GI Joe, and Luke Skywalker. I wanted to do this in real life.

SCORE: Turns out, this is how board meetings really go. I have done this often and kick ass at it. ‘A!’

Enjoy this? Here’s some other crap I think about:

On being a chick who does shtick
Why Alan Lee is Awesome
Which Lord of the Rings is Best?
3 Reasons Why Tolkien Is The Bomb
Thoughts on Lawrence of Arabia
An open letter to the French guy I met in Geneva, Switzerland
I have a thing for William Powell
An Open Letter to My Brain

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My Firmament Scrapbook

To celebrate my new book Portia being released, I’m sharing some of the pictures that inspired me while writing. I make Pinterest boards for all my main characters and places, and you can see them all here.
Background: The Firmament is what holds the after-realms together. Portia needs to open different seedpods in order to rejuvenate this magical structure. Below please find some of the pics that inspired hiding places for the seedpods and more!
WARNING: Spoilers ahead!

A picture that helped inspire the Radiant.

This pic helped to inspire the library where Tempest and Portia find the first seedpod. In the book, I added rolling ladders and other goodies. 

Another seedpod inspiration pic.

This one led to the development of Atlantis as a site for a seedpod.  

A pic that was on my mind as I wrote the final scene. 

Loved the play of light in this one.

Another art installation that helped inspire the Radiant. 

More scrapbooks, woo hoo!

Tempest
Portia
Maxon
Prince Lincoln
More Prince Lincoln featuring kissing
Xavier
Myla
Reperio Demons
The Furor
Ghouls
Igni
Archangels

You can see tons more Angelbound inspirations at my Pinterest Board. Like honestly, I have a problem.

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Book Review: SHINE NOT BURN

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Artists I’m Obsessed With Right Now

We all get stuff stuck in our heads. In my case, a lot of stuff! Here are some artists who’ve been in my noggin lately, as well as how they inspire my writing…

1. Alexander McQueen

I love the obsession to detail in his work. Move one bead or feather on the pieces below, and they’d fall apart. I get this way with my world building, too. I put in a ton of detail that never shows on the page. Except that it somehow does. McQueen reminds me of that. Tons of work often looks effortless if it’s done right.

2. Mia Pearlman

I adore what this woman does with cut paper. It’s such a mundane and fragile object, and she creates these elaborate and permanent worlds with it. Beautiful. Inspires me to find fantasy universes in places you wouldn’t expect.

3. Alphonse Mucha

There’s no one like Mucha. What I so admire about his work is how he uses the frame as part of the image. Check out the illustration of the moon below, with and without the frame. He makes presentation a central part to his art…and does it so effortlessly. Reminds me to set things up properly when I write, too.

Want to check out other stuff I’m obsessed with? Hey, here’s a list!

Random visuals I’m obsessing about
My sweetest things

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PORTIA release day!

I’m thrilled to announce that PORTIA, the second book in my Angelbound Offspring Series, releases today!

Thanks to everyone who helped me bring Portia’s story to life, especially the amazing readers who have supported me throughout the process of creating Angelbound Origins and Offspring books. Your excitement makes it all possible!

If you haven’t gotten your copy of PORTIA yet, the ebook version is live at the following retailers and the print version will follow within the next two weeks:

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Kobo
iBooks

A special shout-out goes to the awesome team at iBooks for giving PORTIA a home page banner today on their sci-fi and fantasy page. iBooks is a huge supporter of independent voices in publishing, and theirs was a great gift to receive on Portia’s book birthday. More high-fives for the amazing team at INscribe Digital for making at all happen!

All in all, I hope you enjoy reading PORTIA as much as I did writing it! Oh, I take that back. Writing this one was a bitch, so I hope you enjoy reading it a lot more

 

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My Tempest Scrapbook

To celebrate my new book Portia being released on October 27th, I’m sharing some of the pictures that inspired me while writing. I make Pinterest boards for all my main characters, and you can see Tempest’s entire board here.
Background: Tempest is the Emperor of the Furor, a race of dragon shifters. He volunteers to help our heroine Portia on her quest to save the after-realms.

More scrapbooks, woo hoo!

Portia
Maxon
Prince Lincoln
More Prince Lincoln featuring kissing
Xavier
Myla
Reperio Demons
The Furor
Ghouls
Igni
Archangels

You can see tons more Angelbound inspirations at my Pinterest Board. Like honestly, I have a problem.

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ANGELBOUND Discounts!

To celebrate the launch of Portia , we’re offering discounts across all the Angelbound books through the end of October!
Check out the discounts on:


iBooks


Amazon


B&N

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PORTIA Blog Tour!

Portia  releases October 27th…And more than 100 bloggers are participating in the launch tour! I’m talking prizes, reviews, interviews and MORE PRIZES!
Be sure to visit these sites and join in the fun:
October 19

The Book Diva
Read more-sleep less
Kimber Leigh Writes
The Nerdy Book Addict
Coffee Books & Art
Bawaka’s Book Fair
Nocturnal Predators Reviews
Sunshine Book Promotions
Black Words-White Pages Teen/Young Adult
Share My Destiny
Bibliophile Mystery
Pink Fluffy Hearts
The Hoarding Readers Corner
Susan Heim on Writing
The Hive @BTAM
Girls With Books
Brooke Blogs
Crazy Beautiful Reviews
The Reading Queen
orchard book club
Musings of the Book-a-holic Fairies, inc.
BooksChatter
The Page Unbound
VAMPYRELADYS FAVE BOOKS, REVIEWS & OTHER LOVES
happy tails and tales
Fanciful Fiction
Nicky Peacock Author
Books, Authors, Blogs
Literary Musings
Bound 2 Escape
Angels with Attitude
Books Books Books

October 20

Book Crazy Lady
In Love With Handmade
The Not So Public Library
Book Lovers Life
Addicted Readers
Kookie Krysp Reads
Driftless
The Angels Pearl
Cathy Writes Romance
Iyana Jenna
The Not So Public Library
Books and Warpaint
Portals to New Worlds

October 21

Haddie’s Haven -
The Travelogue of a book addict – The Book Drealms
Around the World in Books
The Blair Book Project
Book Crazy
Bleeding Heart Blog
Just Us Book Blog
Us Girls & A Book
Kindle and Me
Cover2Cover
Rustys Reading
Archaeolibrarian
deal sharing aunt
Addiction to Reading

October 22

Paranormal Sisters
Chill Reviews
Jackie’s Book World
Kelly P’s Blog
Cafe Art Space
Paper Crushes
Those Crazy Book Chicks
A Dirty Book Affair
Urban Fantasy Investigations
Fictional Rendezvous Book Blog
Aurelia {lit} {geek} {chic}
Indy Book Fairy

October 23

Painted Words Reviews
Bookworm for Kids
Fantasy Book Lane
Books Can Take You There
Romantic Fanatic
Authors You Want to Read
Books Tea and Cats
Ilovebooksandstuffblog
Room With Books
Functioning Insanity Reviews
Nellie and Co.
Where Books Lead Us

October 24

A Book Addict’s Bookshelves
CBY Book Club
Mythical Books

October 25

Cat’s Guilty Pleasure
A British Bookworm’s Blog
Archaeolibrarian – I Dig Good Books!
I am Shelfless

October 26

Teatime and Books
The Moral Of Our Stories
Books Mystify
Emmeline (The Book Herald )
Crystal’s Chaotic Confessions
TTC Books and more
The Avid Reader

October 27

Eclipse Reviews
Girl with Pen
Katie’s Corner
Kelly P’s Blog
The Accidental Reader


Thanks, Sparkle Book Tours and Xpresso Book Tours!

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The PORTIA Raffle Is Here!

PORTIA is almost here! To celebrate, we’re giving away a TON of cool dragon stuff, like this funky ring! What are you waiting for?
Click here to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway and win!

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Book Review: THE RULES (PROJECT PAPER DOLL)

The post Book Review: THE RULES (PROJECT PAPER DOLL) appeared first on Ink Monster.