S.J. Pajonas's Blog, page 132

Sunday Update – April 26, 2015

We’re back from vacation! In case you didn’t guess from my Instagram feed, we spent the last week in Charleston, S.C. visiting my parents and having a really great time every single day. I still got a lot of work done while gone, too. I beta read a book from my friend and critique partner, Tracy, and read over the book I wrote during December and January. I made a lot of great progress on what I want to edit there and I’m getting started on it today. I also put the entire Nogiku Series on sale so if you missed that go back to my Teaser Tuesday post. I applied for a whole ton of ads for the series since REMOVED is free, and I finished reading a for-fun book. All in all, it was a productive and fun week!

Let’s take a look at some of the photos…

We got to Charleston on Sunday and experienced a really strong thunderstorm while out to dinner, then the next day we hit the beach! It was cold and windy, but sunny, and I still managed to sit and read.

Then I took the kids to the Children’s Museum in Charleston where they played for most of the day.

I love this part of the country! Look at the view! A serene place to sit and stare into space.

We ate tons of great food…

And then saw birds of prey at The Center For Birds Of Prey. I fell in love with all the birds, but especially loved the owls.

It was a wonderful week! I’m so glad we all had fun and our trip was successful all around. And now, back to work! Lol. Ah, that’s the bad part of vacations, they come to an end

Have a great week!

On the blog this week…

I have a sporadic schedule coming up on the blog for the next month, so expect posts 2-4 times per week for the foreseeable future.

Tuesday: RECLAIMED Teaser Tuesday

Thursday: The Suspension of Disbelief

Friday: Full Moon Report

WASHING STATUE WANDERLUST Is Now Available!

Woo! Another short story in the Kami No Sekai series is available now! I love this little story about Yuki, a young lady, sweet and kind, but fearful to do anything because of her diabetes, and a famous washing statue who wants to travel. The two form an unlikely alliance and try to set out on a grand adventure together. “Try” being the operative word here. Lol. It’s only 99¢ and available on Amazon Kindle and Kindle Unlimited.

This title is currently only available on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited.

New Adult Scavenger Hunt

Welcome to the New Adult Scavenger Hunt! This bi-annual event was inspired as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors…and a chance to win some awesome prizes! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize–one lucky winner will receive one signed book from each author on the hunt in my team! But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for 72 hours!

Go to the New Adult Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are TWO contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the TEAM RED, but there is also a blue team for a chance to win a whole different set of signed books!

***THE SCAVENGER HUNT***

Directions: Below, you’ll notice that I’ve listed my lucky book number. Collect the lucky book numbers of all the authors on Team Red, and then add them up (don’t worry, you can use a calculator!).

Entry Form: Once you’ve added up all the numbers, make sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.

Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian’s permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by April 26th, at noon Eastern Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.

LET THE HUNT BEGIN!

About the Featured Author

Emma L. Adams spent her childhood creating imaginary worlds to compensate for a disappointingly average reality, so it was probably inevitable that she ended up writing speculative fiction. She was born in Birmingham, UK, which she fled at the first opportunity to study English Literature at Lancaster University. In her three years at Lancaster, she hiked up mountains, skydived in Australia, and endured a traumatic episode involving a swarm of bees in the Costa Rican jungle. She also entertained her creative writing group and baffled her tutors by submitting strange fantasy tales featuring dragons and supernatural monsters to workshops. These included her first publication, a rather bleak dystopian piece, and a disturbing story about a homicidal duck (which she hopes will never see the light of day).

Now a reluctant graduate, Emma refuses to settle down and be normal. When not embarking on wild excursions and writing fantasy novels, she edits and proofreads novels for various publishing houses and reads an improbable number of books. Emma is currently working on the Alliance series, a multiple-universe adult fantasy featuring magic, monsters, cool gadgets and sarcasm. Her upper-YA urban fantasy Darkworld series is published by Curiosity Quills Press.

Website: http://www.emmaladams.com/

Blog: http://throughthegateway.blogspot.co.uk/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ELAdams12

ADAMANT by Emma L. Adams

Ada Fletcher is twenty-one, keeps a collection of knives in her room, and risks her life on a daily basis, helping refugees from a devastating magical war on her homeworld hide on the low-magic Earth. But when she’s taken into custody by the Inter-World Alliance, her unusual magic makes her a prime suspect for a supervisor’s suspicious death.

Kay Walker, grandson of the Alliance’s founder, expects to spend his first week as an Alliance employee chasing monsters out of the dark Passages between worlds, not solving a murder. But when his supervisor dies in suspicious circumstances, he finds himself in charge of questioning a girl he arrested as a suspect. A girl with secrets that threaten to make both of them into the murderer’s next targets.

The last thing Ada wants is to help the infuriating Alliance guard who arrested her, but it soon becomes clear that the Alliance knows too much about Ada’s offworld origins. More, in fact, than she knows herself. Now she has to choose between loyalty to her family, and helping the Alliance save the Earth – and the Multiverse – from a deadly enemy.

Adamant is Book 1 in the Alliance series, set in an alternative 21st-century London in which our world is one of many in the Multiverse.

Exclusive Content

Why NA Speculative fiction?

I discovered NA when I was at university. I love YA (and also adult and MG), but I wanted to read about characters my own age, with issues I could relate to as a soon-to-be-graduate with no job and a mounting pile of student debt, facing the prospect of moving back home after three years at university. That said, I’m not the biggest reader of contemporary romance. I’ve really enjoyed many NA books in the genre, but I grew up reading the Harry Potter series, and fantasy and urban fantasy are always my first choices. When I had difficulty finding NA speculative fiction, my first instinct was to start writing it.

Fast-forward two years. I’ve written one series about demons and sorcerers at university, and another set in an alternative modern London in which the Multiverse is only one step away. I think there’s endless scope for exploring NA themes in speculative fiction, beyond college and university – first jobs, independence, moving out of your parents’ home, planning for the future. When I was writing Adamant, it was only natural to pair realism with the more fantastical parts. You’re working a part-time job to keep your family’s business afloat, but can’t help dreaming of running away to an alternative universe where you can zip around on hover boots. You’re starting your first job, get insulted by a snarky centaur, and the boss is brutally murdered on the first day. And then there’s the monsters.

I love NA, and I’m always thrilled when I find something new in the category. Dragon-taming unpaid interns. Undergraduates who escape deadlines in parallel worlds. New adults piloting spaceships. New adult superheroes. As a young adult, you’re dependent on parents or guardians to some degree. As a newly independent adult, you’re alone, and it’s terrifying. Add in magic and darkness on top of struggling to adapt to that odd thing called “adulting” and you have endless potential for conflict!

Thank you!

Awesome!! I love speculative NA and write it as well! It’s great to see it getting more popular. And don’t forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of signed books by me, Emma L. Adams, and more!

To enter, you need to know that my lucky book number is 9.

Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on Team Red, and you’ll have the secret code to enter for the grand prize!

Enter To Win More Prizes Before You Continue!

I’m offering an ebook bundle of NA books (both college and non-college-based!) and a $10 Starbucks Gift Card during the NA Scavenger Hunt! You can earn the most points by commenting below and answering the following question: “Since I’m on Team RED, tell me about any non-college-based NA books you’ve read or want to read!” Be sure to enter using the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

***CONTINUE THE HUNT***

To keep going on your quest for the hunt, you need to check out the next author, Deidre Mapstone!

A Love Affair With Heroes

For today’s guest post, I bring you something entirely different! As you know, I write science fiction romance from the female’s POV and also in first person present tense. Rachel Leigh Smith is my exact opposite! If you’ve always loved the hero’s story, then you’ll want to listen to what she has to say here

• • • •

Science fiction romance is a genre known partly for its emphasis on strong, capable heroines. But I’ve marched to my own beat my whole life, and my writing is no different. The heroine of a romance is never my favorite character. I never invest in her, I rarely care what happens to her, and I don’t really want to be stuck in her head for chapters at a time. And don’t get me started on first-person in a heroine’s head.

When I started writing science fiction romance in May of 2012, I actually had no idea it was a genre, much less that it was known as a place full of strong heroines. Not that it would have stopped me…

You see, the hero is always my favorite character in a romance. I want to be in his head the most, I want to get to know him at the deepest level, I want to watch him fall in love through his own point of view. For me, there’s just something magical about a romance hero, about watching him come to terms with the fact she completes a part of him he’s been ignoring his whole life, and that she inspires him to achieve more than he ever thought he could.

I’ve been creating characters and writing about them for almost twenty years now. The men in my head outnumber the women by at least ten-to-one. I have everything up there from professional football players to soldiers to musicians to my alien men in A’yen’s Legacy. My entire imaginary life revolves around heroes.

My novel creation process goes something like this: Hero walks into my head, tells me his name, sits down, and then tells me his life story. I make lots of notes as he’s talking to me. Then I start looking around for his heroine. Getting her to open up takes serious work, and I never feel like I know her as well as I know him.

I spent a few years trying to cram myself into the heroine-centric box. All I did was make myself miserable and produce work I wasn’t all that proud of. When I started writing SFR, I gave myself permission to ignore any and all genre boxes and expectations and write the story exactly the way it wanted to be written.

It was the most freeing experience of my life. I found my place in the romance world, and I feel like I can fly over Mount Everest now. Giving myself that permission unlocked a well of creativity I knew was in me, but I couldn’t access it. Since May of 2012, I’ve finished five novels. All of them centered on the hero, and all of them over 100,000 words. I’m closing in on my sixth finished novel right now.

I’m not totally sure why I latch onto heroes the way I do. It may have something to do with what I read as a child, and the fact I inhaled The Hardy Boys before I discovered Nancy Drew. Frank Hardy was my first book boyfriend. It might also have something to do with the fact I hung out with my boy cousins, and preferred playing with boys. I didn’t have the time or energy to deal with girl drama. Still don’t.

I’m also not your typical girl. I’m very strong-willed and independent, I’ve always blazed my own path, and I don’t care what anyone thinks about me and my choices. Nor am I overly emotional. I feel things deeply, but I tend not to express it. If I’m crying, it’s a sure sign I’m beyond upset and really torn up about something. All of those things make it a lot easier for me to identify with a male character over a female character.

It’s been a wonderful journey discovering this genre that has room for me to be myself and write the types of romances I’m dying to read. No matter what romance sub-genre I dabble in, you will always find one thing—it’s the hero’s story, and she’s along for the ride.

About Rachel’s Books

TO SAVE A LIFE (A’yen’s Legacy #3)

Release Date: May 4, 2015

Category/Genre: Science Fiction/Paranormal Romance

A’yen’s loved ones are under attack. To save them, he’ll risk everything.

Half the Lokmane are free and the resettling of Lok’ma is in progress. A’yen is crowned king, but it isn’t stopping his enemies. Someone is after Ro, and the woman he’s falling in love with is caught in the middle.

When Fae is injured in a cave-in at a dig site, A’yen knows who’s to blame. Proving it is the hard part. Things get worse when he walks into a political trap, and Ro is framed for murder. Saving his reputation is easy compared to saving Ro. Ro’s demons come for him, taking him back to a life not worth living.

A’yen races to save Ro before he can act on his deepest desire: killing his tormentor. Happily ever after can’t happen if Ro is dead.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WC3T5HC/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00WC3T5HC&linkCode=as2&tag=spajonas-20&linkId=BGE7DP5S24L6C2L7

All Romance Ebooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-tosavealife-1785413-343.html

Also coming to Nook, Kobo, Google Play, and iBooks.

Also Available:

Available at Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iBooks, Google Play, All Romance Ebooks.

About The Author

Rachel Leigh Smith writes romance for the hero lover. She lives in central Louisiana with her family and a half-crazed calico. When not writing, which isn’t often, she’s hanging with her family, doing counted cross-stitch, or yakking about life, the universe, and everything with her besties. There may also be Netflix binging…

She’s a member of the Science Fiction Romance Brigade and Romance Writers of America.

Website: http://www.rachelleighsmith.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/rachelleighsmithauthor

Twitter: http://twitter.com/rachelleighgeek

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/rachelleighgeek

Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/112195536084721973041/posts

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8425584.Rachel_Leigh_Smith

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/author/rachelleighsmith

It’s RECLAIMED Teaser Tuesday!

We’re six weeks out from the publication of RECLAIMED, the final book of the Nogiku Series! And not only do I have a teaser for you today, but I also have news of a BIG SALE. So let’s get on with it!

I’m super excited to start sharing some teasers with you all. Here’s the first one!

This quote comes from the first third of the book and highlights a very difficult time for Sanaa and Jiro. My main goal with this book was to put Sanaa through the paces. Every time I beat her down and she came out stronger, I said to myself, “Is this as low as you can go? No? Okay, let’s hit her again.” Yeah. I’m a little mean to my characters. But if you know anything about me, I love a good, happy ending So I promise you won’t be disappointed with this book!

ON SALE NOW!

To celebrate the imminent release of RECLAIMED, all of the Nogiku Series is ON SALE!

REMOVED is free!

RELEASED is 99¢!

REUNITED is $2.99 ($2 off)!

And of course…

RECLAIMED is $2.99 ($2 off)! (Pre-order now and get it on May 28!)

Sunday Update – April 19, 2015

We’re heading out for a little vacation so I’ll make this short. The week was full of errands and spring weather, both of which I cannot complain about! I got a lot of work done, both on the Nogiku Series and on the Kami No Sekai series. I recompiled all the Nogiku books and uploaded them to the vendors. Then I made teasers for RECLAIMED (they start on Tuesday!) and wrote on the next KNS short story. Plus, I’ve been putting together a spreadsheet of places I want to advertise coming up soon! I tried to get a Bookbub but was denied (again… this is my third time), and now I’m waiting on some other places to get back to me.

Spring Cleaning has been happening! I cleaned out this closet and moved things from the second bathroom into here.

Spring is showing its lovely face around here! The forsythia are in bloom and the magnolia tree up the block is opening too.

And I gave the girls Jamberry manicures for a fun Friday afternoon.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Coming up on the blog…

Tuesday: The first RECLAIMED teaser!

Wednesday: A Guest Post from Rachel Leigh Smith

Thursday: The New Adult Scavenger Hunt and a BIG GIVEAWAY!

Friday: WASHING STATUE WANDERLUST is available!

Choosing To Write Short Stories

I am a creature who loves a long, twisting, dramatic story that takes place over many years, characters, and generations. Basically, I love a good saga, especially if done well. I also love a good mystery which seems to go hand-in-hand with sagas… Family secrets, wars, etc. There’s lots of good story fodder there.

So it’ll probably come as a great surprise to you that I’ve delved into short stories! I am a writer who has trouble keeping my thoughts to less than 100k words so why would I even try my hand at short stories? Well, there’s another thing you may not know about me: I like a good challenge. My stories are always challenging as a writer because I have to craft long story arcs over several books. And the fact that I also weave in tons of Japanese cultural references and history make them even more complex.

Writing short stories sounded like a good way to keep me trying new things in smaller chunks. I’d have to keep my stories rich and compelling, but in shorter bursts, basically 10% of what I usually write since they’re coming out around 10k long.

They’re also a good way for people to get a taste of my writing without a huge time or price commitment. Both of which are important to me.

To prepare for my short stories I usually do a few things.

1) I write a brief two sentence description of what I’d like to accomplish with the theme of the story.

2) I write another brief two sentence blurb.

3) I write a guided outline of what I want to happen.

I also write blog posts instead of actually writing the story! Lol. It’s true. This week I should be writing more short stories, and I will be! The next two short stories in the Kami No Sekai short story series are set and I can’t wait to get them on the page.

Do you write or read short stories? What do you like about them?

New Adult Contemporary Romance: Expanding Beyond The College Campus All The Way To Dark Fantasy

I’m really excited and honored that Kitsy Clare has stopped by the blog today to talk about New Adult Contemporary Romance beyond college, a subject very near and dear to my heart. Also, I totally know the Domino’s Sugar Factory! What an amazing thing that she’s actually been there!

• • • •

New adult romance exploded on the scene a few years after St. Martins Press ran a contest that stated: “Since twenty-somethings are devouring YA, St. Martin’s Press is seeking fiction similar to YA that can be published and marketed as adult—a sort of an ‘older YA’ or ‘new adult’ fiction.” Readers clamored for novels that described the college experience, first full-time jobs, and their first steamy adult romances as people hit their twenties.

NA authors delved deeply into issues such as in Tammara Webber’s powerful exploration of abuse in EASY, but the novels were always set in college, the drama often occurring in dorms and fraternity parties.

As the new adult romance genre grows, authors are eager to expand the parameters into new themes and settings outside of college walls and break out of narrow confines that squeeze the genre into limited pigeonholes.

Courtney Lewis, a librarian and blogger, otherwise known as the Sassy Librarian reports on a recent NA panel she attended: “It was suggested that the genre might gain more legitimacy when readers (and librarians and publishers) begin associating it with other genres, broadening the scope of the label.” I heartily agree.

Gritty NA romance that deals with more universal survival skills than the limited setting of the dorm scene is popping up all over. One example is J.R. Redmerski’s THE EDGE OF NEVER, where the setting is literally the highway. Camryn decides to take a long road trip to reassess the life she’s lived thus far. Another is COLLIDE by Gail McHugh, where Emily moves to NYC to be closer to her boyfriend, but ends up working in an Italian restaurant and meeting a new love. A third example is Nikki Turner’s PROJECT CHICK, the saga of a young urban single mom.

In writing my first new adult romance, MODEL POSITION, I made sure to stick to the well-oiled structure of the new adult trope and set it in college. Well, I did stray a little; setting it in art school, where no one lived in dorms, but already had their own edgy apartments in Manhattan’s East Village. Still, many of the scenes were set in the drawing class.

But for the second in my NA Art of Love series, PRIVATE INTERNSHIP, I had a different idea for the setting. Artist Sienna’s bad-boy love interest Caz, who she interns for, is a sculptor. He creates monuments and figurines out of sugar. What better setting than the factory building I’ve been I’ve been obsessed with for decades: specifically the Domino Sugar Factory in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. In it, the sculptor Caz Mason has tons of sugar to play around with.

You see, I moved right around the corner from that spooky old factory before the neighborhood became a hipster paradise. I recall strolling by it when it was still in business, ever eager to see which huge cargo ship had docked on its East River port. Sometimes the vessels came from Cuba, sometimes from Brazil or even Thailand. I thrilled to the colorful flags flapping on its rigs, and the idea that the boats came from so many exotic, faraway places.

One afternoon, I took my camera and a notebook there and interviewed the night watchman. Upon entering the building, my senses infused with the now infamous burnt sugar scent, and the way the walls were covered in a skim of blackened sugar. The watchman told me stories that raised goosebumps—stories of workers falling into vats and getting boiled alive, and tales of hearing their ghostly sounds as workers worked in the old factory.

Speaking of ghostly and other spectral things, I believe the NA boundaries are now expanding into fantasy and sci-fi. I, for one, am writing a paranormal historical NA romance called The Witch of Cards. Check out my Pinterest board for clues to the book. And judging from the posts on NA Alley, many other authors are venturing into speculative NA romance. Examples are authors such as Carrie Butler and her Mark of Nexus series, Carlyle Labuschagne’s Broken series and SJ Pajonas’ super-sexy sci-fi Nogiku series. If the NA genre is going to thrive it will have to expand, and I am eager to witness it.

Kitsy Clare/Catherine Stine’s Books

ART OF LOVE Box Set:

B&N: http://tinyurl.com/nfxdyzg

Amazon UK: http://tinyurl.com/lm8253p

SECRET WORLDS Box Set: (pre-order, launching June 29)

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1121692693?ean=2940151714976

iBook: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/secret-worlds/id982847409?mt=11

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/secret-worlds

About The Author

Catherine Stine’s novels span the range from futuristic fantasy to paranormal to contemporary. Her futuristic thriller companion novels Fireseed One and Ruby’s Fire are indie award winners. Her paranormal-horror YA, Dorianna won Best Horror Book in the Kindle Hub Awards.

She also writes new adult fiction as Kitsy Clare. Her new adult Art of Love series includes Model Position and Private Internship. The series follows artist Sienna, and Kitsy knows this world well, having shown her work in galleries for years. She suspects her love of dark fantasy came from her father reading Edgar Allen Poe to her when she was a child. Presently, she’s at work on Witch of the Cards, a paranormal historical set in 1932 about a witch.

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorkitsyclare

Subscribe to Kitsy’s newsletter: http://catherinestine.us6.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=1fe566b1e53f7d3e95b7443e4&id=93554d599e

Twitter: https://twitter.com/crossoverwriter

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/kitsy84557/

Blog: http://catherinestine.blogspot.com/

Website: http://catherinestine.com

Self-Promotion: Stop Being A Robot & Start Being You

This blog post is in direct response to Please Shut Up: Why Self-Promotion As An Author Doesn’t Work. GO read it. It’s pretty short.

You’ll probably come back here and nod your head a bit because on the surface you agree with a lot of these points. I certainly did. Because the sentiment is there, but the real message was lost in that post.

Here’s the real message I have for authors…

Don’t Shut Up. Stop being a robot and start being you!

Writing more books doesn’t sell more books. You can have thirty to fifty books on Amazon, but if you never tell anybody about them, no one will ever buy them! The old adage that you have to “write more books to sell more books” doesn’t work if the books are not promoted. The trick is to stop being a robot! Stop the constant “BUY MY BOOK” tweets or the promotion-only FB posts or the BUY BUY BUY newsletters.

Instead, find your audience and start being more personal to them. Social media can work for you, if your audience is there, but they are going to hate you if you schedule a post every 4 hours with links to buy your book. THAT is being a robot, not being you.

Here are some self-promotion tips that I feel work and will work for every author!

1) Determine where your audience is on social media.

Some authors have a huge following on Twitter. Some do really well with their author page on Facebook. Some have a bunch of readers following them on G+. Some even have popular blogs where people come to read about them several times per week. EVERY AUTHOR IS DIFFERENT because every audience is different. If you don’t know where your audience is, try a few social networks until you see which is working.

2) Spend your time on social media being YOU.

If an author has a following on Twitter, they spend their time there, following conversations, talking about their life or their work, posting photos or updates, and being genuine. This is BEING YOU! This is not being a robot. See the difference here? Promoting is being yourself. If you think that your life is boring, then try talking about your favorite hobbies, post photos, share articles and have an opinion on them. DO SOMETHING THAT IS GENUINE. Readers want to know about you, not how to buy your book every other minute.

3) Be balanced.

There are definitely times when you can sell your work to your readers! Don’t let anyone tell you you can’t. When you have a new release, chances are your fans want to hear about it. So talk about it! Put some links on Twitter, put some posts on your Facebook page, and be excited! Show some emotion (remember, you’re not a robot). These times when we authors finish a great big work are the most fun for everyone, both authors and fans. But it’s a balancing act. You have to walk that tight rope and keep being you while still selling your work. This is where newsletters come in handy. All your biggest fans should be signed up because they want the news straight to their inbox.

Look at that article I linked to right at the top of this post again. I have news for you. Every one of her points is wrong if you can be you and not be an emotionless automaton.

You CAN solicit reviews of your books if you’re personal and research your potential readers.

You CAN send out newsletters if you can give back to your audience and not just take, take, take from them.

You CAN promote on Twitter, Facebook, etc. if you are being you and not a BUY MY BOOK machine.

The only thing I agree with in the entire piece now is “Let’s write better books” because all the “being YOU” in the world is not going to get you anywhere if your books are crap. Lol.

So give this the one-two punch. Write awesome books and be an awesome human being online. Robots are better left to selling you coffee at the cafe.

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By Tokumeigakarinoaoshima (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

Sunday Update – April 12, 2015

I’m sitting outside working on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Nothing could be better than this! I just sent off uncorrected review ARCs to both my mailing list and my proofreaders. Which means I am several days ahead of schedule! I hope to have the final file to Amazon and all the other vendors by the beginning of May. Woo! Now, it’s time to finish up the Pinterest board and image teasers for RECLAIMED. I have big things coming up for the whole series in May! I hope you’re ready!

Not much else has gotten done this week. Proofreading and spring cleaning took up all my time…

It was a dreary week weather-wise. Lots of clouds and rain, which actually made me believe I would be fine living in Seattle all winter. Lol. I like the warmer weather, rain and clouds a whole lot more than 0ºF and 5 feet of snow.

We played with playdoh a lot since we were inside.

I put on some brand new Jamberry nails! I’m obsessed with these things and really love all the patterns, colors, and styles plus the easy on and off. Looking at them every day makes me super happy.

Spring cleaning began by cleaning out the front hall closet! Next up, the other hall closet and then the basement. We’re getting a treadmill and treadmill desk soon and it needs to go in the basement. I’m super excited to get a treadmill desk. I can’t wait to walk and work at the same time.

My friend and fellow author, Heidi Joy Tretheway, sent me flowers this week to cheer me up and they couldn’t have come at a better time. I’ve been feeling very down about my work and book sales and my future as an author, so her note and the fact that she was thinking of me meant a whole lot (I’m totally crying right now). It gave me a much needed boost during a very bad week emotion-wise.

Finally I got a brand new hair cut and I LOVE IT SO MUCH! It’s fresh and stylish and, most importantly, off my neck. Along with my new color, it’s really perfect for me. I’m super happy with it.

Hope you all have a great week ahead of you!!