Constance Burris's Blog, page 12

Look!

+Janiera Eldridge featured my short story Chaos on her blog for Black history month.

You should stop by and say hi and represent for me.

Diverse Book Tours: Realm of the Goddess by Sabina Kahn

So, I am super excited about this book because once I started reading, I couldn't put it down. That doesn't happen often. That makes me doubly want to spread my love of this book around so more people will read it and Sabina will write more! Her writing style is simply off the hook.

It felt a mix between N.K. Jemison's The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms with the comfortable writing style of Cassandra Clare's City of Bones.

For my stop, Sabina gave me ten random things about herself and the book, and I think I might have a girl crush on her now. sigh.

10 Random Things About Sabina Khan and Realm of the Goddess

  1.   I love to sing, especially at Karaoke    I want to see this!2. I speak five languages and when I talk to my parents we use a mix of them all.

3. I want to wake up one day with superpowers.

4. I am afraid to close my eyes in the shower because a spider might be lurking somewhere.

5. Callie, the MC in my novel has a lot of similarities to my older daughter.

6. In my novel I talk quite a bit about my favorite Indian dishes.    While I read the book, I kept getting so hungry! 

7. While I was writing my novel I made two new best friends: Vodka and gummy bears. They refuse to leave my side.    Vodka and with gummy bear chasers.  I must try this thing.

8. No matter how exhausted I am, I’m always up for dancing like a fool.    I have regular dance parties at 2 pm to wake myself up.  

9. Callie’s hair in the novel was inspired by my own, thick, curly and completely out of control.

10. I am fierce when it comes to women’s rights and animal abuse.


I told you.  I'm girl crushing for real. Below is the 
BlurbSeventeen year old Callie discovers she is an avatar of the powerful Hindu Goddess Kali and she has to save the world from Mahisha, the King of Demons. Now Callie has to accept her fate and control her powers. Before she can face Mahisha, she must find the Sword of Knowledge that the Immortals had given Kali five thousand years ago.
As Callie embarks upon the dangerous quest to find this weapon, she must travel deep into the jungles of India to find a temple that time has forgotten. The Rakshakari, who are sworn to protect the Goddess, guide her on this treacherous journey, fraught with demons and mortal conspiracies. She is accompanied by the gorgeous, enigmatic Shiv for whom she feels an inexplicable but undeniable attraction. Can she trust Shiv with her life or are there dark forces at work that will divide loyalties and leave Callie at the mercy of Mahisha and his army of demons?
Book LinksAmazon: Purchase LinkBarnes & Noble: Purchase LinkGoodreads: Connect about it on Goodreads!Book Depository: Pick up internationally!

Thoughts on Marriage So Far

Thoughts on Marriage So Far

via Flickr (not me!)I used to have a single’s blog.  I removed it a few years ago because being single was no longer a big factor in my life and I got tired of blogging about it.  It used to be a big part of who I was.  Damn it was hard being single raising two kids. 
 So I started this blog.  It’s supposed to be a writing blog, but I gave myself permission to write about anything and everything I wanted, even though I know niche blogs do better in the long run. But I knew if I only blogged about writing I'd get bored. I like to write, but I don't necessarily like to write about writing.
Anyways, once I stopped focusing on being single, I found the man I was destined to marry. We’ve been married for six months and we've been together for 2.5 years. I am in no way an expert on marriage, but here is what I've learned so far.
1.       Plans change. We both had pictures in our heads of our future.  God laughed at us. I had a picture of us working together to pay off debt and then living a happy carefree life.  He had a picture of us traveling the world because for the first two years we bonded over traveling.But he lost his job two weeks before the wedding and decided to go back to school full-time. I decided to stop traveling to pay off debt. It goes without say, him not have a job impacted my get out of debt plan, and my get out of debt plan impacted his dreams of traveling. 
It’s been rough.  I’m not happy with him not working, but I support him because I know in the end we’ll end up in a good spot. Penelope Trunk recently wrote, "We both know that good marriages require two people who are able to be kind to each other even if things are crumbling around us." So far my husband and I are still being nice to each other.  We're still hugging and kissing. Six months down a lifetime to go.

2.       Having somewhere there doesn't  make all of your problems go away. Things still break and don't get fixed in a timely manner. The yard may not get mowed. Dishes stay in the sink longer than they should. Wires get crossed. Communication fails. No on is perfect. 
3.       Having the right person does make things easier. I’ve made a lot of changes over the past couple of years, and most of them have been made because I had a partner and someone to encourage me.
Only three lessons after six months; damn that’s not much. But the rules of a good marriage aren’t hard, it’s living the rules that’s hard.

The Mellow Music of a Teenager

Since my daughter forgot her Itunes password she and I have been sharing my amazon music account. I wasn't too happy about it because I thought she'd litter my playlist with teeny bopper music. I've since changed mind. My daughter has excellent taste. So for my first Mix Tape Shuffle. I a smooth o short mix I play on repeat in the background and it always soothes my writing soul.


Maya's Mellow Playlist by Constance Burris on Grooveshark


An InLinkz Link-up

Putting In The Time

Somewhere between high school and college I figured out the meaning in life. I knew this was a big deal because all around me were people lost and unhappy. But somehow, I figured it out.  And for most part it allowed me to live a happy, charmed, and blessed life. Here is the secret: Follow Your Dreams
Living my dreams lead me to graduate hish school graduate, and college graduate, buy a house, had some kids, traveled through the US and Costa Rica, and finally I got married.
The one thing I've been working on that has yet to happen is to be a writer, publish a book, and then publish lots of books.
I've been talking about being a writer for years, I would sneak an hour there or an hour here.  But something has changed.  I’m not happy with stolen hours. Writing wants to take over my life. My spirit is uneasy and I'm at war with myself. I talked to my hubby and we worked out a schedule where he would help out more at home and I would work on finishing my novels.
Coincidentally this coincided with the beginning of the year.  So for the Month of January I averaged 30 hours of writing on top of a normal 40 hour work week.  Those numbers are pretty incredible. 
Here is what I've learned from looking at writing as a part time job and trying to quiet spirit.
1.       A stolen hour is not enough (side note: its better than nothing).  It takes a long ass time to make headway on a novel.  It takes a long ass time to edit. It takes at least an hour to get into flow.  So sitting for just an hour is akin to sitting for 10 minutes.  A writing/editing session should be three to four hours.
2.       I can't work from home.  No work gets done.  There is the TV, my sexy husband, wine, TiVo. My adorable ten year old, Dishes. So I go to McDonald's or Panera Bread.  It's interesting to see the regulars. The people who show up at the same time every day. I am one of those people.
3.        I love it.  When I look at the numbers, I feel like  I should be mad at all the time I've put in.  But I'm ecstatic.  I love writing, and now I'm not so mad about editing. I used to hate it because I felt like it ate away so much time, but now that I have more time. I see an end to it, so it's not such a big deal.

I'm curious though.... What do you think the meaning of life is? 

Diverse Book Tours: No Ordinary Love by Kenya Wright

On to another Diverse Book Tour!
For all you romance fans out there, I recently joined a tour for DBT featured prolific Romance genre writer Kenya Wright.
I was originally scheduled to do a character interview, but due to time constraints, I'm posting a video excerpt!
Not too many of those flying around, lol.
"No Ordinary Love" Debt-ridden author Nyomi must complete her book on Tokyo’s underground sex industry in order to revive her stalled career. But first, she needs to get permission from Kenji, head of the Japanese mafia who controls the red light district under his father's watchful eyes. With one meeting, Kenji traps Nyomi in his gaze and locks her into a deal—spend time with him during her three-week stay, and she will earn the access she needs in order to make her book a best seller.

But Kenji's plans for Nyomi not only include allowing her a look around, but also a first-hand taste of the kinds of things that go on behind closed doors. And if Nyomi isn't careful, she just might find herself falling for Kenji, a man with many demons and a passion so dark, it could change everything you think you know about love.

No Ordinary Love is a dark erotic romance from bestselling erotica author Kenya Wright.

Check out the book from these links below!

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Also add No Ordinary Love to you Goodreads TBR list by clicking here!

About The Author
Kenya Wright has several novels in urban fantasy, interracial romance, and erotic romance. 
She currently resides in Miami with her three amazing, overactive children, a supportive, gorgeous husband, and three cool black cats that refuse to stop sleeping on Kenya's head at night.

Divese Book Tours: No Ordinary Love by Kenya Wright

On to another Diverse Book Tour!
For all you romance fans out there, I recently joined a tour for DBT featured prolific Romance genre writer Kenya Wright.
I was originally scheduled to do a character interview, but due to time constraints, I'm posting a video excerpt!
Not too many of those flying around, lol.
"No Ordinary Love" Debt-ridden author Nyomi must complete her book on Tokyo’s underground sex industry in order to revive her stalled career. But first, she needs to get permission from Kenji, head of the Japanese mafia who controls the red light district under his father's watchful eyes. With one meeting, Kenji traps Nyomi in his gaze and locks her into a deal—spend time with him during her three-week stay, and she will earn the access she needs in order to make her book a best seller.

But Kenji's plans for Nyomi not only include allowing her a look around, but also a first-hand taste of the kinds of things that go on behind closed doors. And if Nyomi isn't careful, she just might find herself falling for Kenji, a man with many demons and a passion so dark, it could change everything you think you know about love.

No Ordinary Love is a dark erotic romance from bestselling erotica author Kenya Wright.

Check out the book from these links below!

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Also add No Ordinary Love to you Goodreads TBR list by clicking here!

About The Author
Kenya Wright has several novels in urban fantasy, interracial romance, and erotic romance. 
She currently resides in Miami with her three amazing, overactive children, a supportive, gorgeous husband, and three cool black cats that refuse to stop sleeping on Kenya's head at night.

Update: Two Strand Twist and Dreadlocks Update

My most popular blog post is Two Strand Twists and Deadlocks. Its twice as popular the second most viewed post. Crazy, huh?!? Yesterday was the anniversary of my nephews death and I was not feeling spending two hours on a blog post, so I made a video instead. See the bottom of the page.

It was my first video and I was nervous so I didn't even answer the questions I was supposed to.  So I'm going to answer them below:

Are my two strand twists too small?  Do I need to evenly part my hair for them to look good?—No, my parts are not even and my hair looks good. 
Should I start over with freshly washed hair?I didn’t start over. I just re-twisted them.
How often and how should I wash my hair?My hair flipped the Eff out because I didn't wash it for a couple week because I didn't want my hair to unravel. Now I wash it at least twice a week, and my hair looks better after it'swashed.  
What is the best locking gel? I tried a couple of different gels but after six months I stopped twisting my hair so I didn't need a gel. 
What are the best blogs for this information?—The best video I saw confirmed I didn’t have to twist my hair on a regular basis. I wish I could find the video, but I think she took all of her videos down. 
How can I keep my dreads from being too scalpy?Don’t get them twisted by a professional. The isht hurts. 

Is it locs, locks, dreads or dreadlocks? It doesn't matter.

My Series of Book Covers for COAL

I mentioned I spent a butt load of money on covers I commissioned for COAL that I'll probably not even use. But I have to admit, there is just something really awesome about seeing a visual representation of my writing, and I don't regret the money I spent. Most of the artwork and covers haven't been spot on, but when it works, it works and there is no high quite like having a good cover. Well maybe getting a five star review and fan mail. I love fan mail.

I was perusing Amazon for book covers with black YA characters. I found an incredible cover and with a little digging, I found the artist.

I told her I wanted a young black male with an afro or braids. After I chose a model from stock photos, she gave me this a FINAL cover.



I would be kinda embarrassed to give someone this for a final product. I told her to forget about the afro. And this was the final cover we decided on.



In the above cover, the arms don't match and he does not have a right hand. I should have told her I wasn't satisfied, I'm a punk and I was not confident it could get any better. I do enjoy seeing a Black man with a sword and fantasy-like clothing.  It's not something I see every day.
Next I went to Dreamup which is linked to Deviant art, which is similar to 99 Designs. If I remember correctly, you can either contact an artist, put out bids and see who accepts. 
I actively seeked one artist and one person accepted by bid. With Dreamup, I was hoping to find character design I could ultimately use for the cover.
Here are the end results.





The first one is the best, but I don't think neither would be good for a cover.  Again I do like seeing a black man with a sword. It makes me tingle.

Finally I went to Fiverr and asked for a cover from Jeshart, the guy who did the cover design for Medusa (amazon link) and my WIP BLACK BEAUTY (Wattpad link)
The cheapest and the best was Fiverr. Funny how that works sometimes. I love this cover.


But tt feels more MG than YA.  So the next and final step will be to 99 Designs once I pay for an editor and come up with the extra cash for another cover. Wish me luck.

Diverse Books Tour: Sins of The Father by Thelonious Legend

As part of the Diverse Books Tour, I'm hosting Thelonious Legend the author of SINS OF THE FATHER

“What did you do? What just happened?” Eve demanded.
“I crashed the energy grid for this quadrant,” Ana said calmly. Stepping outside the guard shack, she slowly looked the building up and down twice through a small scope.
Gwen looked at Eve. Eve shrugged her shoulders and adjusted her rope. “OK, I’ll bite… and why did you crash the energy grid for this quadrant?”
“The building is now being powered by backup generators. But the generators have a limited capacity, so only the floors that are most critical to the business should be on,” Ana explained, as a 3D rendering of the building materialized above her tablet. The rendering contained small human images inside. “The outage will only last seven minutes, but when the power comes back on the cameras will be in an endless loop, so we don’t have to worry about being seen. Now, the lobby security will be checking every floor, so we need to check our five floors as quickly as possible. I already unlocked the doors to the loading dock, so let’s go! Wait…”
Gwen saw that Ana had a concerned look on her face. “What’s wrong?”
“They have a larger janitorial staff than I figured. I count nine individuals in the building, but—”
“But what?” Gwen pressed.
“Heat signature. There is something different, unique, about one of the heat signatures. We might want to rethink this.”
“See, I told you! It’s a trap!”
“You don’t know that! We have to try. We have to at least try. I can’t go on like this!”
“Fine, Eve! Fine! But I’m only going in if we’re not doing the stupid monster movie thing and splitting up. We check the floors together.”
“No. That’ll take too long,” Eve stated.
“Can’t you see something is wrong here? I have a sixth sense about these things, and this doesn’t feel right! So we go in together and stay together or we don’t go in!”
“OK, fine, whatever.”
“Cool. And another thing—” Gwen started, before Eve interrupted her.
“Wait! Shouldn’t we say a prayer first or something?”
“You can’t be serious!”
“Why wouldn’t I be serious?”
“We’re about to break into a building! And you just choked out a security guard. Doesn’t it say in the Bible, ‘Thou shalt not choke out minimum wage workers’?”
“Don’t get an attitude! I’m just saying—a prayer might be nice!”
“You can’t pray before you break into a building! Plus, that guy probably has a wife and kids! Now he’s going to lose his job because he was choked out by a bookworm! I pray that you don’t run into another security guard or janitor!”
“You’re not funny! Let’s just go!”
“Wait, here, take these. You can hook them on your belt.” Ana gave Eve and Gwen some canisters.
Eve inspected one of the canisters. “What are they?”
“Tear gas.”
Gwen clipped her canisters on her belt. “Anyway, remember if something happens, we go out the windows and not the exits. That’s what the ropes are for. Got it?”
“Can we do this already?” Eve stormed off.
Gwen stood over Ana as Ana slid a card through an electronic door reader.
“What is that card again?” The girls were in a dimly lit hallway. Abstract artwork adorned the walls and the floors were polished marble. Ana was attempting to open two large double doors.
“It’s a skeleton key. It has integrated circuits and a microprocessor that communicates wirelessly with my computer. The first swipe detects the type of cryptography or encryption algorithm, and voila! The second swipe unlocks the door. It works on hotel rooms too!”
“Are you two finished? Can we go in now?” Eve asked, as the door opened. The three sisters entered cautiously. The room had a large lab at the center, surrounded by cubicles. The lab was encased in glass with a biohazard sign on the door. Two large oak desks were directly in front of the lab door.
“This must be it!” Eve exclaimed
“Wait, I thought I heard something?” Gwen whispered.
“You kept saying that on the sixth floor. I’m not falling for it,” Eve replied.
“I keep telling you, this doesn’t feel right. And where are all those janitors?”
“Hmm. That’s actually a good point…” Ana noted.
Click, click.
The girls froze. Holding her breath, Gwen noted the east and west ends were a wall of windows. The west side was too far away. Plus, they would have to pass an emergency exit. Gwen grabbed her rope and started walking toward the east windows.
“Come on! We have to go!” she whispered to Ana and Eve, who were still frozen. She came back for them. “Ana, lock the doors, and let’s go!”
She started pushing them toward the windows. She stopped when she heard footsteps outside the door they’d just come in. She heard more footsteps coming up the stairwell of the emergency exit. Whoever they were, they’d given up the pretense of being quiet.

If you like what you read, Here is the synopsis and links to buy:

Plot Summary:


But without warning, all three sisters gain extraordinary abilities that defy science… powers that come with a cost. Now all they want to do is make it through the school year without drawing any undue attention, while racing to find a cure before the side effects of their new abilities kill them. Eve’s temperament, Gwen’s fondness for pranks, and Ana’s predilection for money, however, are challenges they must overcome to achieve their goals. Because if they can’t, they’re dead…

Book LinksAmazon: Purchase LinkBarnes & Noble: Purchase LinkGoodreads: Connect about it on Goodreads!
Book Depository: Pick up internationally!