Sara Celi's Blog: A Writing State of Mind, page 5

Book News: Prince Charming

Those of you following me on Twitter and Facebook know I’m working pretty hard on a new novel. I’ve written most of it in the last 20 days. The idea came to me in the middle of the night, and I woke up with a frenzied need to write it all down before I lost the idea. I wrote 3 thousand words that night, and haven’t lost the momentum since.

In fact, I have a private bet going with myself. I’m trying to finish this book’s first draft by the end of this month.

I’m so far in now, as far as words go, and the story has taken shape enough that I now feel comfortable sharing a little bit about it with the world. The new work is called Prince Charming, and it is a New Adult Romance, with a sort of modern fairy tale twist.

Here is the synopsis from Goodreads, where you can also add the book to your lists:

Geoff Miller just wants to graduate. After 12 years of school with the same people in a snobby Cincinnati suburb, he needs to move on, get away, and start a new life as a freshman at the University of Virginia. 

All he has to do is get through the next six months of school. 

Laine Phillips wants to leave as soon as she can, too. For 12 years, this popular girl has been Miss Everything to her graduating class, so much so that other students call her “Princess”. She doesn’t like the box she’s in, either. And boxes can be so boring.

She does, however, like the way Geoff Miller looks at her–like he doesn’t care about what everyone else thinks about her. He sees right through all the bull. That’s enough to be more than just a distraction.

Little do these two know, but fate is about to tie them together. In this modern fairy tale, anything can happen and usually does.

So far, it’s shaping up to be a light, sarcastic read. I’ve let a few people take some glimpses at the narrative, and they say it makes them laugh. I hope it does that for you, too.

In the meantime, this book is slated to come out January 28th, 2014. The Resistance will now come out on March. I want some more time with that work, as it involves very intensive world building, and I’m not Superwoman, here. It takes focus to do each project justice. I promise, tough, that I am not leaving that series unfinished. I do, however, hope that in the next few months you’ll get as excited about Prince Charming as I have in the last few days. It’s so fun to write, and that is the beauty of this process. Anything can happen! 

Cover Reveal For the New “Precise”

Title: Precise

Author: Rebecca Berto

Series: Pulling Me Under #0.5 (prequel novella)

Published | Updated version: November 27, 2012 | August 19, 2013

Genre: Women’s Fiction

Age Group: Adult

Cover Designed by: Berto Designs

Pages: 96 (Now 30% longer!)

Book description:

Katie is a wife, a caring best friend, and the one person her mother, Rochelle, hates more than anyone. No one sees the darkness lurking just under the surface of their mother-daughter relationship, instead viewing Rochelle as misunderstood. That she has so much love for her daughter that she may seem harsh.

Wrong. So wrong.

Katie grew up taught that she was the cause of Rochelle’s miscarriages. She grew up with the belief she shouldn’t be happy knowing she’d caused her mom so much pain and suffering. Now Katie is pregnant and Rochelle is out to stop Katie from ruining her baby’s life—just like Katie ruined her own.

Still, Katie can’t imagine killing the life growing inside her. Hell hath no fury like Rochelle with a vengeance to make Katie pay for ruining her life.

In Rochelle’s quest for power, Katie’s baby is the pawn.

Download the book for FREE!

Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iBooks | Smashwords (all eFormats) |

Want to read more from this series?

The next book in the series, Pulling Me Under is coming October 2013! Add to Goodreads.

♥♥♥

About the Author



Rebecca Berto is the Amazon bestselling author of Drowning in You. She writes stories about love and relationships. She gets a thrill when her readers are emotional reading her books, and gets even more of a kick when they tell her so. She’s strangely imaginative, spends too much time on her computer, and is certifiably crazy when she works on her fiction.

Rebecca Berto lives in Melbourne, Australia with her boyfriend and their doggy.

Author links:

Website/blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Pinterest |

Have you downloaded the book for free? Make sure to tell all your friends and read it before the sequel, Pulling Me Under arrives in October 2013!

3 Fitness Goals for The Rest of 2013

The way the Waterlogged App looks on my iPhone

The dog days of summer have me in a health and fitness funk.

When I can, I get outside for fresh air, but more often than not I find myself at the gym doing the same tedious workouts and sweating like some kind of gym zombie.

And that’s not okay.

So, I decided to make some fitness goals. That’s what I do when I’m not satisfied with myself. I make simple goals and set a reasonable time to achieve them. Sounds corny. It’s not. It works wonders for me.

All of these goals tie together in some way, and I hope they’ll help me end 2013 healthier, better and not in a funk.

Here they are:

1. Drink more water. The old cliché is true. My body really does feel better when I am fully hydrated, but that’s not the only benefit I see happen. I love how my skin looks and feels, and my body overall feels less bloated. Even so, all too often I wind up drinking way less water and fluids than I should in a day, especially in the summer. To help, I downloaded a free app for my iPhone5 called Waterlogged. This app has the user set a daily goal for water, then track it through the day. My goal? 78 oz a day.

2. Get back into running. I love running. It does wonders for me, and I’ve even run a marathon it the past. This year, though, I’ve been a little lax, and it shows. I didn’t set a half marathon or marathon goal for the year, and I’m kicking myself about that. Oh well. The year isn’t over yet, and I’m getting myself back into distance running. I started today with a 1.65 mile run in 15 minutes, I’m even planning on running another marathon in 2014. Stay tuned while I figure out which one it will be.

3. Eat more vegetables. Veggies are great. They do everything for you. They have pretty much all you need in life, but too many of us don’t eat enough of them. I’ll raise my hand as one. They taste great to me now, but veggies were not my thing as a kid. Sometimes I forget to keep them in my diet, because old habits in life really do die-hard. But I can change that, too. More veggies. I even started pinning more veggie recipes to my Healthy Eats board on Pinterest as a way to help motivate me with this.

There you have it. Three things I’m going to work on for the rest of this year.

What are your goals for the rest of 2013?

Get Fit and Get Outside!

My husband on the trail

This weekend while I visited Cincinnati, the temperatures were in the 70s.

That is unbelievable.

A normal July for Cincinnati is a muggy 90 degrees or higher underneath a blazing sun. Most days the air is soupy and wet, and every kind of allergen pops up. It’s not always fun, and most days it leaves you just wanting to stay indoors all day and drink anything cool and refreshing just to pass away the summer hours.

Not this past weekend.

With temps so low, my husband and I decided to head out on a hike Sunday afternoon. We like going on hikes, but don’t have the chance do to them as much as we want to during the year. Sunday, though, proved a perfect day to explore some of the trails around the Ohio River Valley.

Another view from the Rowe Woods trail

We choose the Rowe Woods for that day’s hike.

If you’ve never been there, I recommend it. Nestled near Milford, OH, this large woodland nature preserve features miles and miles of paved nature trails. The Rowe Woods is also part of the Cincinnati Nature Center, so some of the trails feature interactive signs and informational stops to help hikers better understand the foliage around them.

In all, we hiked about 4.6 miles of trial on Sunday for two hours. The trail ranged from easy to difficult, but it was at all times refreshing. Southwest Ohio is a beautiful part of the country, with rolling hills, tall trees, blankets of vines, and more. The Rowe Woods showcases all of that. Before we knew it, half of the afternoon had passed.

Hiking can just be that much fun.

In addition, there are several health benefits of hiking. Goodhiker.com says hiking regularly leads to lower blood pressure, reduced stress, increased bone density, weight loss and more. In fact, hiking is often more vigorous than walking alone, but less intensive than running.

So, the next time you see a nice day outside, think about heading on a hike in your area.. You won’t regret it.

Oh, Snap! — Taft on Tap

The Taft Museum of Art is one of my favorite Cincinnati spots.

The elegant museum has one of the most beautiful gardens in the city, tucked away in a historic part of downtown. The galleries of American art inside this once private residence are some of the best in the region, and in my opinion the Taft is one of the shining gems that makes Cincinnati a great city.

Lately, staffers at the Taft have further showcased the venue by hosting a number of events and cocktail party fundraisers.

The most recent public event was Taft on Tap.

In a partnership with HYPE and Artswave, local arts aficionados and beer connoisseurs tasted local brewery offerings underneath one a wide tent set up in the garden of the museum. Samples included offerings from Rivertown Brewery, Triple Digit Brew Company, Madtree Brewing Company, and Blank Slate. Brew Masters were also on hand to discuss their craft, and the staff at the Taft offered up a delicious array of samples from their kitchen, including lamb meatballs, hazelnut brownies, chess pie, homemade pretzels with beer cheese, and pad Thai sliders.

About 50 guests listed to the music of Meeting Mars and browsed the galleries of the museum in between bites.

If you haven’t attended the Taft recently, I suggest you check it out. You won’t be sorry. It’s one of Cincinnati’s finest spaces.

Cover Sneak Peak: Searching For Tomorrow

Check out Katie Mac’s cover for her new novel, Searching for Tomorrow

Add to your shelf!

Blurb:
What happens when you find the one person who completes you, and then life conspires against you? How do you set your grief and anguish aside? How do you pick up the shattered pieces,put those pieces back together again, and try to move on?


Katie and Tripp met on the playground the first day of third grade when Tripp tried to rescue Katie from Zack, her twin brother. A lifelong friendship that later blossomed into love began that day.

Broken beyond her own ability to repair, Katie boxes her grief up and attempts to raise her three girls the best she can on her own. As time slowly passes, Katie relives her times with Tripp while struggling most days to even get out of bed. She is

reminded of him at every turn.

Zack is Katie’s twin brother and was Tripp’s best friend. Having lost his own love, he dedicates himself to helping Katie put her life back together. Throw in a mother-in-law who torments at every turn and poor Katie can’t even find a chance to breathe, much less a desire to somehow search for tomorrow. 

 
 
Author Interview:
 

Tell us 5 surprising things about yourself.


1

I am a PK. If you know what that means, then you

know what that means.
2.

I have always wanted to be a red head with long,

beautiful corkscrew curls.
3.

No matter what I’m doing, I would rather be

outside, day or night, hot or cold, rain or shine.
4.

I was awarded two separate scholarships when I

graduated high school. One was a teaching fellowship and the other was for

writing.
5.

I love to cook, almost as much as I like to eat.

I spent a couple of years as a private cook for a local family and loved every

minute of it


 


 
 
One of your favorite quotes:
 
                  To whom much is given, much is required.          
 
 
Random things about my novel:
 
Just a bit of nonsense. I am Kathryn Anne, and my two sisters are Rebekah Elizabeth and Sarah Margaret. My husband is Channing, and my son is Zachary. One of my daughters is Elizabeth, and I still have to work my daughter Brittany into the book. Highlands is my most favorite place in the world to go when my soul need refreshing. Last, but not least, I actually had a great-grandma Tiddy!
             
Flirting Questions
 
What does love feel like? 
 
Warm, fuzzy, secure, safe,

sheltered
 
How did you meet your significant other? 
 
In the lobby of the bank that I worked in. I was on all fours under a Christmas tree tightening the screws in the base. What can I say? Baby got back!
 
If you could take a romantic trip, where would it be? 
 
Any trip I take with Hubs is romantic. One of his favorite things to do is to whisk

me away to wine and dine me.
 
Do you believe in love at first sight? 
 
Absolutely! Ask me how I feel about my grandson Grayson!

 
 



Author Links
Facebook * Twitter * Goodreads

Bio:
Katie Mac is a simple country girl who likes to spend time with her hubba, hunka hubby, her three kids and her friends. She loves to cook and really loves to eat! During the spring and summer, you will more than likely find her outside puttering around in her garden. When the veggies start coming in, she will probably be sweating over a hot canner in the kitchen, canning all the goodies she is blessed with. Katie likes to hike and go camping, and as a Girl Scout leader, she gets to do this pretty often! On cold winter nights, you will probably find her wrapped in a warm blanket, lost in a good book, while sitting in her rocking chair on the front porch!

Katie was born and raised in North Carolina, and while she loves to travel, she can’t imagine ever leaving the mountains that she has come to call home. Not a day goes by that Katie doesn’t thank God for abundantly blessing her. He has been so good to her, and she is very grateful. She holds Jeremiah 29:11 very close to her heart and believes it with every fiber of her being. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
 
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Book Alert and Launch Party: Twin Falls By Lena Brown

Author Lena Brown recently shared with me  latest on her new book, Twin Falls. It hits stores July 25th!

Here’s the synopsis and a bit more about her:

Twin Falls, Texas

Population: Unknown

What if you thought you were all alone in the world, only to find out you had a secret twin in a hidden colony deep under the red dirt in the middle of nowhere? After her mother dies, Eve is sent to live with a family she never knew, just days before her 16th birthday.  The one-horse town is a cover for the Order of the Messenger Angels, but their enemies,  The Crusaders, believe they are evil incarnate and won’t stop until the Order is wiped out.  Eve’s heart — and her life — are in danger. Can she save them before it’s too late?

“An awesome, drama-filled twist on messenger angels-in-training that you’ll devour page by page!”

—Kelly Parra, author of Graffiti Girl, Invisible Touch and the Supernatural Hunter Chronicles

About the Author:

Lena Brown isn’t a cowgirl, but she  grew up on barn dances and  still loves to line dance and two-step.

She believes in handsome cowboy angels and that we all have special untapped powers. www.lenabrownbooks.com

twitter.com/lenabrownbooks

Get it here:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

And… If you’re in the Oklahoma City area, she’s having a book party Thursday night (July 25th)

Where: 99s Museum of Women Pilots

Time: 6-9PM

FYI: The party includes a book signing, free admission to the museum, party favors, door prizes, pictures, appetizers and drinks. Books will be available at a discount during the party!

Celi at the Cinema: The Conjuring

Courtesy: Warner Bros. Pictures

I love scary movies. People who know me very well know this fact. I’ll watch any scary movie that comes out.

I’ll even go to a horror movie by myself.

As a kid, my parents never let me watch them. They felt a sensitive child like me wouldn’t be able to sleep after watching Freddy Kruger and Jason mutilate victims. They feared I’d be scarred forever after watching Carrie or Psycho. Horror movies just weren’t a part of my life. At all. I didn’t really start watching them until I was a teenager, and I think it was Scream that first hooked me on the genre.

Yes, I know that dates me. I’m aware. 

Anyway, when I first heard about The Conjuring, I added it to my list of “must-see” movies for the summer. This weekend, a friend and I headed to the theater to check it out. She likes horror movies, too. I think that’s part of why we are friends. Most people I know won’t go to scary movies the way she and I will.

The Conjuring is a Hollywood-ized retelling of a case investigated in the early 1970s by Ed and Lorraine Warren, two people who spent their lives investigating the paranormal. Like The Amityville Horror, this story centers on a big rambling house, a family new to the neighborhood, and evil spirits that quick terrorize every family member in any way possible.

The movie is very good. It’s one of the better scary movies I have seen in a long time. It stands out because of the believable acting, like-able family, and impressive special effects. The story makes use of “old Hollywood” tension tricks like doors that open on their own and mysterious sounds off camera. The director chose to keep the audience guessing, and the whole time I was in complete suspense as to how this story would turn out for the family.

In short, it’s a great movie.

If you want a movie to give you goosebumps make you bite your lip in fear, this is the movie to see. You will not be disappointed.

My overall cinema grade: A-

For the Days You Need a Pep Talk

I remember the first time I ever saw the Kid President.

It was back in January 2013. Someone shared his latest video on Facebook. Of course they did. That’s where you always see videos like that these days.

The Kid President and Soulpancake had made videos before. Plenty of them. In fact, I was kind of late to the party on this trend (and I hate being late on trends). Lots of folks had heard the simple wisdom of an energetic and happy kid. He had quite a following. He was something of an internet celeb.

I clicked on the video and watched his “Pep Talk”, a three minute video set to music that offers up some advice, encouragement, and joy. Basically, this kid just wants adults to be happier, to make a difference, and to be awesome. He just wants to pump people up.

As it turned out, I needed it. I was about to publish my first book on Amazon, about to change my life, and about to let a story I’d spent a year on out into the world. Scary stuff. Life changing stuff. Terror was an understatement.

The Kid President helped me do it. He made me laugh. He gave me some perspective. He reminded me that I have a purpose on this Earth, that my light should not be wasted, and that I am a person with multiple gifts and talents. Over the last few months, I’ve shared the video with friends who need a pick me up–most recently with some author friends who have been down, sad, scared, and depressed by the daily struggle that is creating and marketing books.

Which is why I’m sharing him here on my blog. The Kid President has a great message. He just might help you, too. He just might say something that clicks for you.

And that could help you share your talents, too, leading to a world that is more awesome. Pretty cool in my book.

Three Summer Beauty Products I LOVE

Photo courtesy Maybelline Cosmetics

Summer  skin got you down? It has me down, too.

Summer’s a time when I usually find my skin looking sallow, oily, inconsistent,  and generally run down. It’s a season when my skin and lips need A LOT of attention. This summer, though, I have found several products I am going berserk over. They’ve all become my “go-to” products. I thought I’d share a little bit about them, and why I love them.

1. Dream Fresh BB Cream by Maybelline: I’ve told plenty of people this little tube is a miracle. It’s a cross between a tinted moisturizer, skin brightener, SPF, and corrector. Since I started using it daily about three weeks ago, my skin hasn’t needed as much care. It’s brighter, less oily, less prone to acne, and reaping the benefits of an automatic SPF. This stuff is a must try.

2. Feeling Younger Skin Tint by Lush: I started using this product back in the winter, and it has carried me right through the seasons. Like the BB cream, the focus here in on hydration and preventing fine lines. It works great on days when you don’t want to use a foundation, but still want to put something on your skin. It does a great job of giving skin a healthy glow.

3. Lipslicks Smoochies by Covergirl: I’m not a huge fan of lip balms, but I love this one. It gives just a hint of color without all the hassle of a lipstick. It’s fun, easy, and perfect for summer and a simple beauty routine.

What are your go-to beauty products?