My Book Is Going to be Published! -- With Kickstarter's Help

I am ecstatic to announce that my book will be published! This is the big reason why I haven't been blogging, that I alluded to in my previous post. I am publishing it myself in February 2015. I've been putting in so many hours researching editors and cover designers and the best way to publish that blogging had to be pushed back. But no more! Why? I've launched a Kickstarter for the book! After more than 60 hours of work on a video (not to mention days and days worth of prep) the project is now live on Kickstarter! See Lasera - Book 1: The Mer Archives.

Kickstarter is an all or nothing funding campaign which means I desperately need your help! If I don't reach my goal in the next 29 days, I won't get any of the funds raised. So go and click the big green button on the above page and pledge now to get some great rewards. So far the campaign has been amazing :D The project was chosen as a Kickstarter Staff Pick barely an hour after launch and it has already been shared on facebook more than 90 times. Keep checking back here as I update and share all that is going on.

This kickstarter is not only a great way to pre-order the book now and get some awesome extras too, but it also helps get the book into print. I love the creative journey and can't wait to go through this whole adventure with all of you! Please share, tweet or just chat up the book anywhere you are. The water-cooler, the dog-park, the play group, the library, or even the end of rainbow. This is a -clean- young adult urban fantasy that I can't wait to share with the world and now it's finally on it's way to being done.

Thank you so much for all your support!

COUNTDOWN: 29 DAYS LEFT TO GET LASERA INTO PRINT

Cheers!

Lack of Posts = A Great Surprise!

I'm loving that I'm still getting amazing book review requests and I've already delved into so many of them (despite my very conspicuous lack of posts). Here's the thing. There's a reason why there hasn't been a lot of things from me or reviews in the last while. I'll be sharing some specific details in a post on Monday, but not the main one.

Some HUGE is coming! And it's the main reason. (If you didn't guess) I can't wait to tell all you lovely readers about it. Keep your eyes glued here and check back, I'm so excited for this you have no idea. I'm staying up way too late all the time working on it and am very zombie like with my kids and hubby the next day. :P The surprise is coming! :D

Cheers!

Keeping the High from a Writer's Conference

I had the most amazing opportunity to go to the SAOW Word on the Lake Festival this past weekend. It inspired me, taught me, relaxed me and allowed me to find so many new friends and connections.

I'd told some of the people I met at the conference and my family and friends that I plan on attending a type of writer's conference or festival every six months. It both mentally gives me a break from the day to day work of creating and writing, and allows for invaluable networking and connecting, plus I LOVE talking with other writers.

But how to keep the high from that conference? It's a week later and I still feel like I'm going strong. How have I done this now as opposed to any other time I've attended writer's workshops or conferences? Well I started by setting realistic goals for myself and writing them down. Specifically right onto my desk calendar so I can see my deadlines and goals in front of me everyday. Plus I've set aside a big chunk of time to write every week. Many good authors tell you to write every day. I'd say the same, and I try to do so, but as a mom of two very active little kids it sometimes just isn't possible (my daughter got 8 teeth in 3 weeks last month - see teeth, teeth, teeth ) and therefore I PLAN to write for more than 3 hours at least once a week. I also made an agreement with a friend of mine at this conference and actually made a hand shake "pact" out of it. Therefore, I now have to hold myself accountable to her.

In an easy to read list - 3 Ways to Keep the Writer's High

1. Set realistic goals. Write them down. On a Calendar.

2. Set TIME to write weekly. This needs to be a big chunk. 3 hours plus.

3. Get a friend to hold you accountable. Choose one specific deadline and make sure you stay on track and report to your friend.


I learned a lot that I hadn't even considered before at this conference, but I have to keep going and so do all the other writers out there. Unite writers of the world and keep that high as long as possible!
But because of that high I have to get back to writing novel #2 in the Lasera series. :D

Cheers!

Don't forget to

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** Reviews for novels submitted start up again next week. Plus those who are fans of my Recipe Recaps and WAM Moments of the Week? Keep coming back. Tons more content and plans are coming for both of those next week. There's also some great new things that'll be dropping into the blog soon :D

I Finally, FINALLY Made My Deadline

So yesterday I posted something that I'd originally typed and intended to publish in January. Why did it not go up until then? I started working on my novel revising and polishing and once I got in the grove I couldn't stop :D

The sum of not posting for two months? MY NOVEL IS FINISHED AND POLISHED! I've got to send out the final stuff to my beta readers, but I'm sending out queries and ecstatic to have things actually happening. And knowing that this is going to be my year. Whether I get a good publishing deal or not, I now know enough and I'm confident enough that if I don't get any interest from publishers or agents I'll go ahead and publish this novel myself.

And although this blog languished on the back burner essentially, I'm very glad it did. Now come April, after I've sent off my queries, I'm going to refocus back on this blog and make all the adjustments and tweaks I've imagined for it.

Thanks, dear readers, for sticking with me. This blog and everything wifey, authory and mothery will come back online and on schedule soon!

Cheers!

Don't forget to

Like me on facebook,

Follow me on twitter,

Be my Friend on goodreads

Connect with me on LinkedIn

or follow my blog >>

p.s. There have been some amazing novel review requests that have come in, and I promise I haven't overlooked any of them. I can't wait to read a ton of these so keep them coming! :D

Do I Want to Work Full-time? That's a Nope with a Capital "N"

Some moms can totally organize the house and kids and work full-time. I'm not one of them.

For the middle two-ish weeks of January (yes this is a post I wrote in Jan. Why is it just going up now? More on that tomorrow) I was pretty much working full-time as a temp in an optometrist's office. I didn't mind the work at all. It's a great office and place to work, the other ladies were welcoming, understanding and fun to work with. Plus I'm certified as an optometric assistant and so I fell into a groove pretty fast. However, my house and kids didn't fair well. My two little ones did okay considering, (a 3 year old boy and at the time 11 month old girl) but when they're used to having me home all day and I was gone for 8+ hours a day, 4 or 5 days a week, it wasn't that easy on any of us.

my mount doom of clean laundry:
as tall as my 3-year-old

The biggest thing that overtook my house was the laundry. I'd wash and dry load after load, (we all had to have clean clothes, especially me for work) but it would just not get folded. This happened with a couple loads, and then three, and four. And yeah this huge pile that overtook my bedroom was about 6 loads worth, (minus whatever clean clothes we took out because we had to wear them.)

Why am I telling you all this? So other working moms out there who feel like they're the only ones who can't do it all, NOT TRUE! A lot of us have trouble staying organized and we need to lift and support each other. 

Understand your own personality, and set realistic expectations. Right now my organizational skills are not at the point where I can make a full-time job work. Will I eventually be that organized? Maybe. Should I keep trying to improve and change and work on my organizational skills? Yes. But something else I learned about myself was that I didn't want to be away from my kids that much. Sometimes we don't have a choice financially and have to work full-time. Thankfully I'm in a position where I can stay home with my kids. Some women choose to work full time because they want to. But I think we all need to be aware of our own weaknesses and strengths. Because when it comes right down to it if you're so stressed out you put your pants on backwards and two different coloured socks on in the morning, yeah something's gotta give.

So what do you want? What can you handle? 

Me? I'll keep working part-time and try to rein in the chaos that is my house. 

Cheers!

Don't forget to

Like me on facebook,

Follow me on twitter,

Be my Friend on goodreads

Connect with me on LinkedIn

or follow my blog >>

WAM Moment of the Week:

10 min before we were supposed to leave for my son's speech therapy appointment he lost his glasses. (Like brand spanking new two-day-old glasses) and after tearing apart his bed room for almost 15 mins, I still couldn't find them. We went to rush out the door and the babysitter found the glasses tucked in beside his mattress. So we managed to get the glasses, but when we got to the appointment I realized my son's communication aid iPad had been forgotten on the hook by the door. Yeah, it had been one of those types of mornings. :I Facepalm.

Btw if you noticed there's no Recipe Recap in the post today, stay tuned for Friday :)

Peacock Flock Review #26 - If I Stay

If I Stay 

Author: Sunni Overend

Length: ~ 262 pages

Genre: Romance

Heat level: Clean

Stars: 4 Stupendous Purple Stars 

Book Summary:

On a day that started like any other,

Mia had everything: a loving family, a gorgeous, admiring boyfriend, and a bright future full of music and full of choices. In an instant, almost all of that is taken from her. Caught between life and death, between a happy past and an unknowable future, Mia spends one critical day contemplating the only decision she has left. It is the most important decision she'll ever make.

Simultaneously tragic and hopeful, this is a romantic, riveting, and ultimately uplifting story about memory, music, living, dying, loving.

Review:

We really liked this. You know it's a really good book when the characters stay with you. The characters felt so real! Much of what we found out about them wasn't from a lot of telling or info dumps but the small little details -- the way they talked and did things, reactions and hobbies-- really rounded out their personalities. The only real drawback and why this wasn't five stars was because of the flashbacks. As much as they were needed and it was the only real way to tell this story, we found it slowed down the forward motion of the main plot line. But as we can't think of another way to tell this wonderful character's choice and decision and this moment in her life, we accept that the author did a good job of it. The only other thing that was both good and bad: the abundance of music was great and specific references lent realism to the novel, however, not being music gurus ourselves we found it hard to feel the tone of certain scenes when we could only imagine what a certain song might have sounded like (because it wasn't a song we were familiar with). All in all an amazing premise and a good story, we wanted to know what happened next to this girl, but the story still ended in the perfect spot. One great read :)

p.s. Just found out there's a sequel to it. Where She Went. We are so reading it too!

That's it from the flock!