Well, Hi There...

It is official, Spring has sprung here in Alaska. Finally! The sun shines more often than not, which makes my heat monitor go off and the cats are basking in the warmth and glow. And shedding like hell. I could make a coat of my own with all that fur...

Larry and I are planning our garden, deciding what is going to go where. The place we rent has a huge greenhouse out back and we were told we could use it. Previous tenants/owners have just let it go, so it will be some work to get it fixed up. My son can't wait, he loves gardening.

Awhile back, I got a comment on one of my last posts from Yadin Bromberg, indicating I had been given an award for my blog. Woot! It's been awhile, then again sometimes I don't deserve awards. I don't post as often as I used to. So thank you, Yadin! I appreciate the award!


Like any other award, they come with instructions. So here we go:

~ Thank the person that gave you the award and link back to their blog. (Check!)
~ Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you've recently discovered or follow regularly.
~ Nominate those 15 bloggers for the award and leave them a comment letting them know they have received an award.
~ Tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.

Again, thank you Yadin! You can see Yadin's blog by using the link above. Next, I'll link you to the 15 blogs I have chosen.

1 ~ Joshua at Vive le Nerd.
2 ~ Vanessa at The Writer's Block.
3 ~ Rory at The Scottish Scribbler.
4 ~ Elana at YA Author Elana Johnson.
5 ~ Candyland at Misadventures in Candyland.
6 ~ Vanessa at Bornean Bookworm.
7 ~ Rusty at Blutonian Death Egg.
8 ~ Sarah at The Aspiring Sub-Creator.
9 ~ Lyn at Outer Realm Horror.
10 ~ Robin at Multi-Genre Author, Robin Renee Ray.
11 ~ Savannah at Hugs and Nightmares from Savannah Rayne.
12 ~ Ladystorm at Books, Movies, Reviews! Oh My!
13 ~ Allison at Geek Banter.
14 ~ Julie at Silver Lining.
15 ~ K. C. May at K. C. May.

Phew! So many of you to choose from and I wanted to make sure I didn't duplicate any on Yadin's blog.

Now for the 7 things about me...

1 - I love movies, books, gaming and all sorts of music. Gaming is a big thing for me because it takes my mind off of stresses in the real, every day world. I'm a geek, I'm imaginative and that's how I roll.

2 - When I write, it has to be quiet and I will pop on my headphones and play music from movie soundtracks for inspiration.

3 - Every so often I enjoy watching "Pride and Prejudice". That was a deep, dark secret, but now I've shared it with you....

4 - Family is super important to me. Dinner time at my house usually last a couple of hours. We spend the meal asking, "What was your favorite part of the day" (Thanks Michelle! <3) and conversations are on a myriad of topics. I can never predict what we'll discuss. But by the time we're done, it's usually 8, almost 9 o'clock!

5 - As much as I love Alaska, it drives me insane, too! The snow gets to me and I have to keep myself occupied on lots of different levels.

6 - I have several coloring posters I am working on. I color them with markers as I haven't had any good colored pencils in a very long time. I finished one poster several years ago that I had been working on since I was 19. There was that much detail in it!

7 - I have been to Clown School. No joke! I was in 4-H as a kid and we got to go through Clown School when I was a clown. It came in handy several years later when I would dress as the clown for Kid's Night at Pizza Hut and make balloon animals, apples, bees and hats!

Now, before this post gets too long, I would like to say thank you to everyone who has stuck around these past few months. Those of you who have waited patiently for a post, who have supported my ramblings and nonsense and who have commented repeatedly when I needed a confidence boost. This award is for all of you. If you follow this blog and have done so even though I am erratic at best with my posts, take this award please. You deserve it!


Hope you all have a great weekend and good luck to all of you A-Z Challengers! I'll be lurking. ;)

No, It Really Is Me...

I know! Third time this week... what is the world coming to? Oh, that's right. (2012: Insert doomsday music here)

Just kidding. I really don't believe the whole "The World Is Going To End" crap. Sorry, I just don't buy it.

However, I do believe that because of all the hype, there are people out there who will end their lives or the lives of others because of it. The world, as we KNOW it, will end. But not the world itself.

Let's just call it a cleansing of the Shallow End of the Gene Pool and leave it at that. Like when all those people committed suicide when Michael Jackson died.

...

Anyway!

I still have a tentative release date of May (??) for my first book, Adversarius.

Gawd, I'm getting super excited about that!!!

I need to start rounding up and making appointments for my virtual blog tour soon, don't I? I have a list somewhere of who has offered to allow me to pilfer their blog for a day. I'm trying to assess a couple of things.

1 ~ Do I need a "host/hostess"?

2 ~ Do I need a theme?

3 ~ Do I include a giveaway?

I will do my best to set up a "Tour Package". Those of you who offer to let me drop by on my hop, I'm hoping to hook you up with a "copy" of the book. It will be an e-book, of course. Print may come later, I'm still not sure about that. I'd also like to have a little banner or something. I'm sort of waiting to see what my cover will look like first. Woot!

Gosh, it's getting close isn't it? Any help, advice or suggestions will be appreciated. I have a couple of links to go check out that I received last time I asked about this.

Thanks everyone! And have a super weekend.

The Sky Is Falling...

No, not really. The only thing falling is my daily page views, but what can I expect when I haven't been blogging much?

I'm trying to get back to this and find a good balance.

I'm a Libra. I'm all about balance. It is funny how my life seems to work in balances as well. My hubby and I were talking to my son over dinner one night about how life throws you curve balls. I told him that I live my life knowing that if something good happens to me/us, I celebrate for a bit, then sit back and wait for the bad to come.

Some people would tell me I am creating the bad that way. But I don't believe that. There are times when I am not expecting the bad to come kicking down my door.

The opposite seems to hold true as well, though. If something bad happens, I can expect something good to follow. It is the balance of my life. Something I have learned to live with and can pretty much predict.

Just like Karma. I can't do anything bad, or Karma slams me instantly, three-fold. Don't ever, ever snigger at a large person riding a bicycle. (Bless their heart for doing so to improve their health...) You hot water heater will explode and flood your house, your alternator on your car will die and you won't have any cash on hand to fix either problem right away.... (However, I did find $20 in the flooded mess of my son's room.)

So for me, blogging, writing, working and trying to keep things going on the home front is a juggling act, yes. But I need to balance that with time for myself to rest and relax, have fun with my family and all that. I'm dropping fewer items as I juggle these days, so the less I drop, the more I attempt to pick one thing back up at a time and re-work it into my schedule.

That and I miss the stuffing out of you guys.

Woohoo! Two posts in one week. Woot! Have a great day!

Writerly Quirks...

When I write, I have to have complete silence, except for my music of course. I can't be distracted, which is why I like to be away from things like the T.V. I can't always have my way, though. Also, I'm a stationary whore. I have certain pencils that I like, notebooks, folders, etc. I'm pretty adamant about what I get and half the time I don't use them, lol!

Lately, I've been talking to people and just kind of chit-chatting and a couple of them got on the subject of journals. One lady said she was hoping her journal she ordered online got to her in time as it was for a friend. He was almost done filling one and she wanted to make sure he had another so he could continue. "He's a writer, you know," she told me. No, I didn't know, but hey whatever floats your boat.

Another girl told me that she knew a woman who would only write in a certain type of journal and when she discovered they were no longer made, found one similar to it and bought five dozen!

Wow.

I know we're a strange lot, we writers. But I didn't think really know how far quirkiness went.

So what are your quirks when writing? Do you have to have a specific brand of paper? Pencil or pen? Maybe you can only write at midnight? Tell me, I'd like to know!

Have a great week everyone! I'll see you soon.

My Characters...

I love my characters. They are, after all, an extension of myself. Well. Not all of them, but a few are.

I've been working close to 40 hours a week these days, plus the 3-4 hours a couple times a week on my days off. My main job's hours are at night. I don't get home until about 10:30 - 11:00 p.m. I go to work around 2:30 p.m. so my days are pretty messed up.

Finding a flow to blog around those hours has been pretty bad. I get so absorbed in my work, then come home and just plop down in front of the T.V. Even World of Warcraft and EverQuest 2 have taken a hit as in I don't play as much.

Last night, I was sweeping the floors just before closing and I actually got lost in the inner workings of my mind as I swept. Little bits and pieces of my story came out, things I would like to see happen in the third book. At one point I stopped and thought, "I'm just so tired, I don't want to go home and sit in front of the computer".

And my characters responded. Sounds funny, doesn't it? But they said, "We know you're tired, we're just keeping things going here in the back of your mind til you find time."

I know that's just my subconscious way of telling me that no matter what I am doing, I'm always writing somewhere in the back of my mind. It just seemed silly to me that it was in the voice of a couple of my characters.

I do have some more interviews planned. I'm waiting on a couple of my friends. I also want to thank all of you for being so patient and waiting for me to blog something. Especially my new followers. I mean really, you didn't sign up to follow this blog to see absolutely nothing, right? Right!

We're still waiting for the winter break up and holding our breath to see what is going to happen in our house. We've already had signs of flooding on some of the warmer days, so that will be yet one more thing to take my attention and time away from here. But as always I will manage something and persevere.

Hope you all are having a good week! Have a great weekend if I don't post something by then.

Insecure Writer's Support Group...

Wow. I've been a busy girl and am shocked. Shocked, I tell you, that I remembered to post for this month's IWSG.

I'm feeling loads of insecurities these days that are associated with writing. So it is a good thing I have this post to slough off those doubts that creep into my mind late at night and nibble at my subconscious.

Okay, maybe not doubts. Fears. That is a more apt description.

(Funny, reading over these first few sentences and I can see how deprived I am from writing. I'm using intelligent, descriptive words.)

So these fears of mine. I'm closing in on my book release month and I haven't even begun to get into the hard knocks revising of book two. Granted, I'm working a lot. But I have had other stresses in my life and I've been very selfish in the "Mel's Free Time" department. I'm either gaming on Everquest 2 (Yes, new game) or I am just chillin' in front of the T.V. I haven't even picked up a book or my e-reader.

But I had a very disturbing thought the other day. I've been trying to come up with some short stories or even some other ideas (which I do have a few of both...) but I just can't seem to get them down on paper.

Fear: What if I never have another good idea again?

Fear: What if I drop the ball and don't get book two done or I wait too long to get it out there?

Fear: What if I never have another moment to write, let alone blog?

Biggest fear: What if I'm successful? *Gasp!* And what if the other things I write fall short in comparison?

A week or so ago, I lost two followers. I come back to post this and I have gained three. I have ideas, I jot them down and try to work up some sort of opening scene in my head and come up with nothing. I feel like I am spreading myself too thin, trying to do far too many things without managing my time properly or in a useful manner.

Do you guys have these fears? How do you overcome them? Do I need to stop stressing and just let the writing flow rather than worry about it being pent up?

Have a great rest of the week everyone. I will try to get to your posts as well.

Getting There...

I've been trying to be a good blogger... lurking is becoming a bad habit. So yes, those footprints you see around your blog, the candy wrappers... that's all me. Sorry, I'll pick up my mess next time.

I've been trying for some time now to get a second job. Well, I guess I should not have put so much energy out into the ether, because I will be working once more at the Boys and Girls club on my days off until the end of May. BUT, one of the guy's I work with decided to give his notice.

Which means not only will I be working 39 hours a week (basically full-time) but also will be working the B&G's Club as well.

Is it worth it?

Gods yes!!! I need the money so bad. I'm failing at paying some of my medical bills. However, it is seriously taking away from other things. Writing has fallen to the wayside the most. Half the time I get home (around 11 p.m.) and either just want to veg in front of the T.V. or hop on to EverQuest 2. (It's worse than World of Warcraft.)

I need to make a serious commitment to my writing! As well as get back on track with my blogging.

I do have character interviews coming up. I'm waiting on one as we speak. If I get the answers to my interview back in time, I will hopefully post by Friday. So in the meantime, leave a litter can out for me when I come to lurk and maybe do the breathy thing on your window. I'll leave you a secret smiley face. :)

Have a great rest of the week!