Megan Morgan's Blog, page 14

The Chef and the Ghost of Bartholomew Addison Jenkins by Aletta Thorne

Today I’m sharing a new release from fellow Evernight author Aletta Thorne! Check out her paranormal romance The Chef and the Ghost of Bartholomew Addison Jenkins, an Evernight Editor’s Pick, below. Aletta is also here today to share her main character’s top ten kitchen tips!

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Halloween, 1982. MTV is new, poodle perms are the rage, and life just might be getting better for Alma Kobel. Her ugly divorce is final at last. Her new job as chef at Bright Day School’s gorgeous old estate is actually fun. But the place is haunted—and so is Alma’s apartment.

Bartholomew Addison Jenkins’ ghost has been invisibly watching Alma for months. When he materializes one night, Alma discovers Bart—as he likes to be called—has talents she couldn’t have imagined … and a horrifying past. Can you have a one-nighter with a ghost? And what happens if you decide one night is all you want—and end up ghosting him? Some spirits don’t like taking “no” for an answer.

Evernight | Amazon

EXCERPT:

“You’ll turn over the record. Oh, because you…”

“I do like to keep up. Who poured you wine from the … refrigerator? Although, I don’t understand why people of your age prefer it so icy.”

Alma followed Bart into the living room, still wondering why things didn’t seem odder than they were. She remembered the Casper the Friendly Ghost cartoons she’d seen as a little girl. This ghost was acting—well, perhaps a bit more flirty than friendly. He only glowed a bit as they walked through the dim hallway that connected her rooms. You can hardly even tell he’s translucent. What had he seen of her, though? She was glad her frustrating night with Sid had been at his place.

As Bart bent over the turntable and flipped the record, the reading lamp by her couch highlighted the silver buttons of his coat. She curled up on the couch and put her wine glass on the glass-covered orange crate she’d turned into a coffee table.

Bart sat beside her, suspiciously close. He put an arm over the back of the couch, and Alma shook her head again. That’s the old sneaky-arm trick—like a high school kid. It’s kind of cute. She pulled her legs up under herself, and they quietly listened to the music.

“You’re right,” she said after a few minutes. “‘Fountains’ is really good, too. I almost never listen to that side.”

Bart made a quiet harrumphing noise.

Do ghosts clear their throats? Apparently so.

“Dear lady,” he said. “Although I do try not to snoop, as you would say, I have indeed observed your solitude. Let me assure you, your life will soon be happier.” He slid even closer to her.

Okay. Now the ghost is absolutely coming on to me. This is really happening. Oh, hell—why not? He’s not bad—for a dead guy.

“Um, Bart?” she said. His eyes really were a startling color—almost bronze… “You can’t actually be…”

Bart set his fingertips on her cheeks, looked into her eyes, and sighed. Then he smiled. “You think this is a ridiculous situation. It’s not ridiculous,” he said. “Not at all. Allow me to demonstrate … with your permission, m’lady.”

Somehow, that was funny, and Alma giggled. “Granted.”

Bart’s hands were impossibly soft and gentle—and his touch had some of the same fire-and-ice buzz that she’d felt before in the kitchen when he’d tried to get her attention. He guided her lips to his, and gave her what would have been a tiny peck—from anyone else. It shot a bolt of fire straight through her.

“Oh,” she said. It took a minute to get her breath.

Alma’s Ten Top Tips For Making Tasty Food (and Running a Good Kitchen)

 

Don’t think too hard about what you did last night with Bart (the ghost who appeared in your apartment) or what you said to his ghost friend Geoff, who showed up at your job this morning.
Always use fresh nutmeg in your muffins. It’s a pain in the ass to grate, but you only need a little of it, even if you’re making ten dozen muffins.    Worth it.
Don’t look too hard at Jan’s cute beard stubble when he comes in for the dinner shift.
You probably need more garlic and onions than you think you do.
The only thing that will get the burnt remains of tacos or stir-fry off the bottom of a big sauté pot is a wire scrubber, even though Charlie from the Health Department will bust you if he finds one. But there are all KINDS of places you can hide one. (Charlie WILL check the garbage if he sees you trying to chuck one in there, though. Charlie can be a jerk, sometimes.)
That clunk in the stockroom probably was only Geoff pushing over a thirty pound tin of maple syrup. You’d better explain that to your prep cook, who can’t see ghosts.
Keep your knives sharp. Don’t Cuisinart onions.  Jan’s right; makes ‘em mushy.
The best cornbread recipe in the world is in The Moosewood Cookbook. You can substitute yogurt for the buttermilk if you need to.
That other clunk from the stockroom? A thirty-pound in of honey.  You’d better take Mary outside to explain.
Try not to take your job home with you.  There’s a ghost waiting for you in your apartment—and he has some very interesting ideas.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

[image error]Aletta Thorne believes in ghosts. In her non-writing life, she is a choral singer, a poet, a sometimes DJ, and a writer about things non-supernatural. But she’s happiest in front of a glowing screen, giving voice to whoever it is that got her two cats all riled up at three AM. Yes, her house is the oldest one on her street. And of course, it’s quite seriously haunted (scared the ghost investigator who came to check it out). She is named after a little girl in her family who died in the late nineteenth century, at the age of two.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alettasghosts/

Blog: http://chrispygal.weebly.com/

Filed under: Guest Posts Tagged: books, guests, paranormal, romance

Substance

The longer you hang around the writing world, the more chances you’re going to run into someone who fancies themselves an expert. On what, you might ask? Writing books? Editing? Marketing? For sure, you’re going to run into some self-proclaimed experts among those things, but in this case I’m talking about the person who’s an “expert” at telling you which books are good and which aren’t.

[image error]Critics and reviewers are part of the book business, and they serve a vital function, both validating authors and helping out readers. But among those critics you’re always going to find a person who thinks they’re the be-all, end-all of having opinions. They’re going to tell you that your book needs to have juicy and nutritious meat on its bones, it needs to present a splendid smorgasbord of rich storytelling to satisfy the reader, and it needs to bring a whole bunch of literary jargon to the table and check off all the boxes. It needs to have substance.

Now, you probably already know from living on this planet that no one can please everyone all the time. And also, not everyone likes the same things. I have the unfortunate affliction of lacking interest in a good deal of the stories, TV shows, and movies that become hugely popular. I don’t say this as a boast, or because I’m trying to be a hipster or act like I’m better than everyone. Quite the opposite, it really freakin’ sucks. I’m a weirdo outlier who has strange likes and dislikes and I wish I could run with the cool crowd once in awhile. Especially as a teenager this sucked, because that’s a time in your life when being part of the herd seems like life or death. I’m just into strange stuff and usually things that get huge don’t appeal to me for reasons I can’t explain–I wish it did. Also, this means the stuff I actually do like tends to be trim and hard to come by.

But, it’s also not my place to tell people who do like the more widely-appealing stuff that it’s vapid crap or lacks merit. Substance, like style, is subjective. I don’t believe that any writer should be in the business of telling other writers what’s good, much less readers.

When you look at stories that capture a wide audience and appeal to a lot of people, you’ll find most times at their heart it’s because they appeal to something the consumers recognize–either in themselves, or as part of their own struggle. The story touches on the human condition, and therefore, people connect to it with their heart. But the human condition is not a static set of tenets we all share. Everyone has different struggles, experiences, values, and dreams. So even something that appeals to a lot of people isn’t going to appeal to everyone.

Substance is in the eye, and personality, of the beholder. I run into this a lot being a romance author, as romance novels are often mocked in the literary community as being shallow, lacking artistic merit, and not being “real books,” despite the fact they still sell like hotcakes–millions of hotcakes–every year. Despite the fact that in the real world, most of the human population is obsessed with love, relationships, and sex. You know, those things romance novels are about. Go ahead and try to tell an avid romance reader that the books they read lack substance. It’s like telling a married person their relationship lacks substance because they should be pursuing higher things like solving world hunger.

The substance of your book is the heart you put into it, the story you convey to the world in your own voice, and no one gets to tell you it’s not good enough because it doesn’t suit their tastes. Not every piece of art needs to be super serious and make you reflect on your humanity. Life is stressful enough without all of our entertainment giving us anxiety too. Write what you want to write, read what you want to read, and know the substance is what you put in it and what you get from it, in whatever form that takes.

And tell the know-it-alls to calm down, take a deep breath, and just enjoy some brain candy for a change instead.

Filed under: Monday Blogs Tagged: creativity, romance, writing

Back from New Orleans!

So, I spent last weekend in New Orleans’ French Quarter celebrating my best friend’s birthday. We had a blast! How about some pictures?

[image error]We ate a little bit of food…(everything there is SO good!)
[image error]Our hotel was ready for Christmas.
[image error]There was LOTS of Christmas in New Orleans!

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[image error]We saw a jazz parade!
[image error]And enjoyed jazz in bars.
[image error]I love Jackson Square (not us in the picture).
[image error]And Bourbon Street, of course!
[image error]Such a pretty place.

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[image error]Did I mention the FOOD?
[image error]All in all, a wonderful trip, with beautiful weather and great times!

 

I’ll be back next week with regularly scheduled blogging. Everyone have a great weekend!

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: me, personal life, pictures

Not So Hard At Work

[image error]This post is part of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group blog hop. The first Wednesday of every month is Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. The awesome co-hosts for the December 6 posting of the IWSG are Julie Flanders, Shannon Lawrence, Fundy Blue, and Heather Gardner!

It’s the last IWSG of the year! I can hardly believe it’s December already. I’ve been trying to stay focused on a new writing project I’m working on, but it’s difficult around the holidays. So many distractions. Hopefully, I can put some real meat on the story’s bones between now and Christmas.

Not much in the way of insecurity to report this month, so I’ll just do this month’s question.

December 6 question – As you look back on 2017, with all its successes/failures, if you could backtrack, what would you do differently?

I’d do a lot MORE, I think. More writing, more editing, more submitting. Compared to 2016, I didn’t do much moving forward this year. I had a wealth of publications last year but not so many this year. Of course, I know that’s no real measure of success, because publishing overall is a slow business and I probably just got lucky that everything sort of ended up getting published in 2016. But I want to make a career out of writing, and I know that means I need to work consistently and submit consistently.

I feel like I slacked a lot more this year, unfortunately. If I could go back I’d make myself do more work instead of letting myself get distracted by shiny things like the internet and Netflix. I would put more effort into finding a home for some of my finished works. I’d move my career forward a little harder than I did.

The good news is, there’s always 2018–and I intend to pick up the slack that I let out this year!

How about you? Did you do good this year, or were you lazier like me?

Filed under: IWSG Tagged: blog hop, insecure writer's support group, me, writing

New Orleans, here I come!

This has been a week of birthdays for me. Tuesday was my son’s 25th birthday, and today is my best friend’s birthday (I won’t tell you how old she is, a girl must have her secrets

Writing a Christmas Tree

With Christmas just around the corner (gosh, where did this year go?) and owing to the fact I just put up my own Christmas tree (I usually wait until it’s at least December but I have a full schedule in the near future) I thought I’d do something fun today. Let’s talk about how writing a book is like decorating a Christmas tree!

What do I mean by that? That it’s awkward to put together and half the lights don’t work? That you get sick of looking at it after a while? That no matter how pretty and perfect it seems, something is lurking in the shadows, waiting to topple it? (I’m looking at you, kitties of the world.) No, I mean that creating the structure of a book is like decorating a Christmas tree. Or at least, it is when you enjoy metaphors and need a subject for a topical blog post.

How Writing a Book Is Like Decorating a Christmas Tree:

[image error]The bare-bones branches. You start with the tree, undecorated and plain. You have to create a solid foundation for it to stand on, or it’ll fall right over before your cats even get a chance to climb it and take care of that for you. Some trees come wholly intact, but they require special care–maintenance, trimming, watering. Some trees need to be assembled, and you have to do it a certain way, and then arrange all the branches so there’s no gaps. Whatever the case, the structure of the tree has to be sound and it has to be well-supported. From the fluffy bottom to the pointy top, every branch and needle needs to be in place so the whole thing makes sense and, well, looks like a tree. Your plot needs to makes sense, have a base, and when you step back, the whole thing needs to look like a coherent story. Even if it’s kind of gnarled and twisted at first, you can always rearrange it so it looks better.
Lighting it up. I always put the lights on first, because they’re a messy tangle and you have to do this in layers. The lights are pretty, but they’re small. They’re the little sparks of excitement that move the story along. A clue here, a roadblock here, a breakthrough there. All the things that keep the characters stumbling along their path and the readers hanging on to see what happens next. Every light is a bright moment in the story where something happens, good or bad, that continues to make the plot unfold. You want more lights than anything else on the tree, or it’s going to be dull and boring to look at.
Make it shiny. Next comes a layer of tinsel/garland. I put this on next and it can also be awkward to wrangle, thus I don’t want anything else on the tree at this point that I can knock off. This is the shining, glimmering thread of the story, one long piece that wraps around the entire thing. This is the theme, or the purpose of what you’re trying to tell us. It’s bright and flashy, but once you get everything else on the tree, it blends in and becomes part of the whole. All the pretty lights along the way won’t mean much if there isn’t also this thread–the reason your characters are doing what they do, what the story means as a whole, and why you’re telling it. The tinsel may be different colors but it’s all connected, and it’s there to bring the tree together.
The ornaments! Of course, this is the fun part. The part where you get the family together and someone inevitably drops a hook that you’ll find a week later in the bottom of your foot, and you have to explain to a small child why putting six gold bulbs all in the same spot looks tacky. These are the pretty details, the fun and play of the story. This is your heroine’s wild hair color or the big goofy German shepard that your hero owns. It’s that little old lady in the story who’s a muscle car collector or that secondary character who has an interesting secret. It’s the little bits of pizazz that make your characters real and your world complex and interesting. But just like ornaments, you need to have some balance or it’s going to look odd. Don’t put too many candy canes on one branch or let your uncle talk you into letting him put his entire collection of NASCAR ornaments on there.
Top it off. And last but not least, we place the star on the tree. Maybe you use an angel or something else, but it’s the finishing touch that makes it complete. It’s the goal of the story, the endgame, the place where your characters are trying to get to. It’s what they’ve been striving for all along, through all the individual lights, through the tangles of tinsel, through each and every shiny, unique bulb. They want that star and they keep reaching for it, as they climb each branch hand over hand. Or maybe that’s your cat, already near the top, and no matter how fast you go running and shrieking toward the tree, you’re not gonna catch it before Mittens comes crashing down in a tornado of glitter and shattered glass.

If you celebrate Christmas, do you have your tree up already? As I said, I usually wait until the first weekend of December, but I’m going away this weekend so I did it early. I like to decorate it with my son, and shockingly, my cat actually pays the tree no mind and never bothers it. I have certainly had cats who were not so courteous, however…

During this holiday season, may your trees be beautiful and your books well-decorated!

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: advice, books, creativity, writing

How To Write a Bestseller

If you’re like most writers, it’s probably not actually your goal to linger in obscurity for the rest of your life. Yes, writing for the sake of writing is its own reward, and many of us will probably continue writing whether we hit the big time or not. The odds, of course, are on not. But most of us would like to be the next big thing. We’d like our books to be read and loved by millions, have movie deals, and become household names. The odds of this happening are small, but we want it. Of course it’s not the ultimate goal of writing, and our reasons for actually writing are usually complex and layered, but most of us certainly wouldn’t turn our nose up at being on the NYT Bestseller list.

So, how do you write a bestseller? Certainly, you need to be good at writing and capable of telling a story that people want to read. But that’s almost the easy part. There are plenty of good writers who have never gotten very far. There’s more to it than your writing ability, unfortunately. A lot more. So, if you want to write the next great classic beloved the world over, you’re going to have to pay attention to the external forces that blow you around like a sailboat in a hurricane.

How to Achieve Bestseller Status:

[image error]Write something trendy. The book business goes through trends. You’ve seen this happen–when a subject is hot, a thousand books about it pop up. When one writer hits the big time, a hundred books in the same vein as theirs will follow. That’s because readers suddenly want to see the same subject matter and devour as much of it as they can. The problem is, most of what’s hot right now was in the hands of editors a year or more ago. You have to be in on the trend before it’s trendy. If you can write fast enough (without sacrificing quality) and find the right publisher with the right turnaround time, you might still get in on what’s hot. You might also end up on the tail end of what’s hot when the market is oversaturated and readers are sick of it. It’s a gamble. How on earth can you predict what’s going to be hot, though? Publishers are not asking for what’s hot right now, they’re asking for what they think will be hot when your book is published. If they can predict it, so can you, to an extent. Pay attention to what’s on the fringes right now and looks like it’s about to jump into the spotlight. Keep an eye on the world of pop culture, and try to note the direction of the tide. You might be wrong, but you might get lucky, too.
Write something tried and true. Some subjects hold pretty steady in popularity. Readers tend to devour mystery and suspense. Medical and legal thrillers still fly off the shelves. Romance continues to have a huge market share. YA never goes out of style. If you’re lucky enough to write in a genre with staying power, you have a better chance of getting to the top of the food chain, instead of writing something that plunges into obscurity the second you send off your manuscript. Of course, many genres have sub-genres that go in and out of popularity, so you need to keep your fingers on that pulse too. Aiming for a staple, rather than a trend, may get you better results. It’s less of a moving target, anyway.
Create your own trend. If you write something innovative and unique, something that transcends and starts its own wave of popularity, that’s great. The problem is that a breakthrough subject is always uncertain, because it could be viewed as either brilliant or too off-the-wall to consider. There’s nothing new under the sun, but there are many unique ways of telling the same old stories that might capture someone’s attention. One thing I’ve noticed about books that start their own bandwagon is that the authors strongly and unapologetically believe in them. Even when the subject matter is handled in a way we’ve never seen before, the author tells the story with confidence and doesn’t back down from their vision. If you’re going to be unique, you have to have the guts to own it. Owning it sometimes makes a strange story more appealing than anyone could ever expect.
Market yourself. This is a huge thing. Even if you write a brilliant, unique book in a subject that’s hot right now, it won’t sell if no one knows it exists. The unfortunate news here is that marketing yourself hugely and successfully means both knowing where and how to market to almost a supernatural extent, and it usually takes money. Sometimes a lot of money. You can’t get your book in front of the masses unless you pay to be in the place where the masses hang out. If you’re fortunate you’ll have a publisher with this kind of money, but maybe you won’t and it’ll come out of your own pocket. Think about everything in the world that becomes popular: books, TV shows, movies, the latest gadget or electronic. All of them were delivered to the public on the hype train, and tickets for the hype train are expensive. The bad news is you might spend a bunch of money, do a thousand cartwheels, and scream until you’re hoarse–and it still might not work.
Get lucky. A while back, I wrote a blog post about the role of luck in author success. Make no mistake, luck plays a much bigger role than we want to give it credit for. Being in the right place at the right time with the right product is woefully underestimated. Everyone who ever got hugely successful did so with a nice heaping spoonful of luck. Sometimes the stars align, and what we wrote really resonates and hits the zeitgeist on the nose. If luck decides to tap you on the shoulder, that’s wonderful. If it doesn’t, well, you’re in vast and good company. Though we may be unlucky, we are many, and we have strong and broad shoulders for you to cry on.

Write what you love, and the rest will follow. Or, it won’t. But still keep writing what you love. Pray for luck, but don’t expect it, and keep an eye on what’s going on out there in the world. Fame and fortune is definitely wonderful, but the lack of it has hardly ever stopped anyone from writing. Good luck! Or, good marketing.

Filed under: Monday Blogs Tagged: advice, books, creativity, publishers, writing

Happy Thanksgiving!

It’s Thanksgiving here in the US today. However you celebrate, be it with family, friends, food, or any other kind of celebration or fun, may it be a great day for you! I’m thankful for all of YOU today.

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Filed under: Holidays

Shifter Chronicles by Melle Amade

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Sanctuary
Shifter Chronicles Book 1
by Melle Amade
Genre: YA Dark Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance


It’s survival of the fittest, but first you have to fit in.
Shae is sure the icy rage that claws at her is driving away her friends

and pulling her closer to the wrong boy. After all, it’s Aiden she

has always secretly wanted, not Callum, who has barely spoken to her

in the last year.



But, as her protected life unravels, she discovers the violent

supernatural world that lurks in her quiet hometown and the ancient

feuds that threaten to destroy both her friends and her family.

To save those she loves, Shae must succumb to her own fury and take on

the Ravensgaard, the renegade warriors of the Order, but as the

battle approaches her deepest fears are coming true, she’s becoming

just like them. Shae’s not sure she can afford the price she’ll have

to pay—her own humanity.

Sanctuary is a teen paranormal romance for fans of shifters and Gothic romance.

Fans of Flightless Bird and White Raven will be enchanted by this

strong female seeking truth in a world of secrets and mystery.

Goodreads * Amazon



Remnants

Shifter Chronicles Book 2

Now that she understands the rules, she wants to change them.

Shae’s body is betraying her and she’s terrified. Though she’s joined the

ranks of her shifter friends, she knows inside she’s not like them.

Her unstable cells won’t let her control the shift.

As Topanga grows crowded with suspicious shifters, aligned with the

fascist Order, it becomes clear they have been living in a tiny haven

on the edge of an intolerant, militant shifter society. Even worse,

Shae’s formal presentation to El Oso, the Order’s Berserker Supreme

Leader, is only days away. Without full control of her powers or her

body, she’s not sure she’ll survive the inspection.

As Shae discovers the dreadful truth about her family heritage, she’s

faced with a severe choice: break with the Order and lose her friends

or submit to a life of subjugation and lies.

No matter what she chooses, she’ll be left with only Remnants of the

life she had.

Goodreads * Amazon

Harvest

Shifter Chronicles Book 3

In the shifter world, one law holds true; you will reap what you sow.

Shae underestimated El Oso, the tyrannical leader of the Order. Now,

banished, flightless and living on the dangerous edge of the shifter

world, she finds it impossible to pursue her one goal, finding and

freeing her father. Without the support of her friends, who are torn

by loyalty to their families, Shae is forced to attempt the

impossible…alone.

A hidden group of shifters with unexpected powers swoops in to help

Shae. They want nothing more than to discover El Oso’s magic and

destroy the Order completely, even if it means sacrificing Shae’s

father. Too late, Shae discovers she has sown the seeds of

destruction for herself and her family. The defenses of her refuge

are breached, not by El Oso, but by the enemy very enemy he has been

desperate to protect them against. An enemy intent on massacring

every known shifter. Shae must find a way to escape her

self-inflicted fate and empower her friends to unite if they are to

find a way to survive the harvest.

Goodreads * Amazon

Deluge

Shifter Chronicles Book 4

First comes the rain, then follows the flood.

Escaping the Order by engaging the Hunters was only the beginning. Now, with

their safe haven destroyed Shae and Roman are left hiding in a remote

village with no chance of ever finding her father or making a

difference in the shifter world. That is, until a strange Hunter

seeks Shae out and gives her hope she can find her father and

possibly the tool to find El Oso.

They risk everything to return to Topanga and reunite with their friends,

who are the only ones who might just believe Shae’s adamant theory

that one of the murderous Hunters is actually on their side. As they

test loyalty and strength they uncover the very power that has made

the Hunters mortal enemies to the shifters for over a thousand years.

Their new-found power is a beacon to the Order and the Hunters, who

descend like a flood to drown out the spark of light rising in the

shifter world.

Goodreads * Amazon

Heritage

Shifter Chronicles Prelude

In the dark shifter world, they

prepare for a summer of fun, but find they must battle against the

Hunters who are afraid of the supernatural world. Dutch born,

Matilde, the estranged niece of Lord Van Arend, barters with her

scheming mother to spend the summer with the only friends she’s

ever had, the Ravensgaard at Castle Brannach. But if Matilde gives

her mother the information she will break her friends’ trust and

begin the downfall of the regime; a regime the shifters may need to

protect them from the Hunters.

Get a FREE Copy!

InstaFreebie

USA Today Bestselling Author, Farm Girl, Marketing Director…

Since I was eight I have been writing stories that capture the adventures

in my head and the characters strong enough and flawed enough to have

them. When I look at an empty field I see a formidable citadel. When

I meet a vulnerable old man, I greet an emeritus warrior. When I walk

through city streets I feel dimensions hiding around every turn. It

has been my lifelong passion to explore these worlds that reveal the

pain of loneliness, the joy or self-actualization, and the hope of

magic.

I grew up in a place called Potter Valley where the Milky Way is held

aloft by a circle of mountains and the central business district

consists of a bait store and a saloon. At 19 I moved alone to London

and spent the next ten years exploring the world, even becoming an

Australian citizen, before I returned to California and found a new

home in Los Angeles. My world revolves around my two wee children and

my love of travel.

My days are spent in an office overlooking Los Angeles International

Airport where I work as a Director of Marketing for a data center

technology firm, which wouldn’t make you think I had an MFA in film

with an emphasis on writing from Chapman University. However, I also

have degrees in visual communications and global communications,

which allowed me to work for some of the finest technology firms in

the world. In my spare time I have penned six screenplays, four stage

plays, an opera libretto, numerous short stories, and five

manuscripts for novels. My heart lies with my manuscripts, which are

focused on YA and New Adult audiences and range in subject from

Vikings in Iceland to Knights Templar in Italy to Aborigine mysticism

in Australia to shapeshifters in Los Angeles.

Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads

Follow the tour HERE

for exclusive excerpts and a giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway



Filed under: Giveaways, Guest Posts Tagged: guests, paranormal, romance, urban fantasy

I’m Grateful

It’ll be Thanksgiving here in the U.S. in just a couple days and that means it’s that time of year we reflect on the things we’re grateful for. Of course it’s important to count your blessings the rest of the year, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having one special day we focus on it a little bit sharper. Although I won’t be having much of a celebration this year because I have to work, I can still spend some time being grateful for the good things.

Since this blog is dedicated to writing, I thought I’d share with you some of my “writer thankfulness.” These are the things about writing–and the writing community–that I’m grateful for. Please feel free to chime in and tell me what you’re thankful for as a writer too!

My Writing Gratitude List:

[image error]I’m grateful for writing, full stop. Writing has always been an integral part of who I am, so much it makes up a big chunk of my personality. Writing has never left me, even during the bad times, and in fact it sometimes helped get me out of the bad times. I’m so grateful to be blessed with it and carry it with me. I love being a writer.
I’m grateful for the ability to tell stories. Whatever this is I possess–innate talent, learned ability, or a mixture of the two–I’m very glad it chose me. I’m glad for how my brain works, and that I have the ability to put it all down in words for the world to see. Whatever drew me to it and makes me stick with it, I’m grateful for it.
I’m grateful for the community of writers. There are so many ways to connect with other writers, especially in this day and age. It’s magnificent to be able to share your ups and downs with others and perfectly understand each other, no matter where you are on the ladder of success. I’m grateful for the readers of this blog. A few years ago I never would have IMAGINED myself as a prolific blogger, I hated blogging! I still boggle at what a huge readership I’ve managed to cultivate and I’m so, so grateful for all of you.
I’m grateful for all the things I’ve learned. My journey has helped me learn so many things about writing. I love writing, and learning how to do it in the best way possible, learning the mechanics of it, and learning every day how to be a better writer, is truly a joy. There’s so many things to be grateful for, from the editors who taught me the technical aspects to the things I’ve learned about marketing and the business side of it. I’m grateful for every lesson I’ve received.
I’m grateful for the success I’ve had. Though I may not be a household name or even as big as a lot of writers, I’m grateful for every publication, glowing review, and special opportunity I’ve gotten. I’m glad for every acceptance and the few dollars I’ve made, though they be paltry. I may not be the biggest fish in the pond but I’m grateful that I’m allowed to swim at all.
I’m grateful for readers. Of course, I’m immensely grateful for the people who actually read my work. A writer isn’t much without a reader. I’m grateful for all the people who take a chance on me and buy a book, and especially those who let me know what they thought of it. I’m grateful each and every day that I can hammer out these tales, and at least a few people care.
I’m grateful for the technology that lets me write. Technology has advanced dramatically in an astonishingly fast period of time, and it’s no different in the writing world. I cut my writing teeth on manual typewriters and now I have a very nice laptop. I’m grateful that writing is so easy now, and I guarantee you none of us are nostalgic for the days of hammering out words on papyrus. Sure, we may romanticize the idea of the seasoned writer smoking his pipe while he clicks away on his old fashioned typewriter, but those typewriters were also clunky, cantankerous, and if you screwed up there was no backspace or delete key. Hardly anyone wrote first drafts on typewriters because that was a huge waste of ink, paper, and time. I’m so grateful for the technology that gets the words from my brain to the page smooth, fast, and cleanly now.
I’m grateful for the stories of others. Creativity begets creativity, and I’m grateful for all the wonderful stories written by others that inspire me. I’m grateful for the things people share that entertain me. I’m grateful for everyone who chooses to shine a beacon of distraction in a dark, cold world.

Those are a few of the things I’m grateful for. What are you grateful for? What is your writer thankfulness this year?

Filed under: About Me Tagged: creativity, inspiration, me, writing