New Year, New Resolutions

It is that time of year when people are getting ready to make new plans and goals for themselves. Loose weight. Save money. Go to the gym. Blah, blah, blah.

Last year I didn’t make any, since I seem to fail at any and all I make. One year I gave up pop. What was I doing three weeks later? Sipping on a Pepsi and thinking “Oh shit, didn’t I give this up?”

This year I decided to make some that I consider fun. It is more to help me get some things accomplished, rather then improve myself/my life. (I try to do that anyway during the year.)

So here is a list of my 2015 Resolutions!

1- Read. I’m setting myself a goal on Goodreads to read 30 books this year. I do hope to read more then that, but that’s a realistic number for me. Between life getting in the way, and migraines, I can’t read a book or more a week ALL year. I posted a book challenge not too long ago, and I plan to use it as a guide and see how many I can scratch off.

2- Write. I’m going to finish my NaNo novel I wrote this year and polish it off. With any luck, I’ll submit it somewhere as well. I also want to keep going here, and start a new project or two at the very least.

3- Snail mail! I’m hoping in February or March to have a snail mail challenge, in which I will write a piece of mail every day. It might be a card or full blown letter. I’ll be posting about it here before hand. Maybe someone will want to join me, or even get a piece of mail themselves 🙂 (You know it is way better then getting a bill!)

4- Create My Bucket List. I recently found a journal I had when I was fifteen. I wrote about forty things I wanted to do by the time I was thirty. I actually managed to do some. However my efforts to end world hunger have yet to work. I decided I’m going to write up a new list, and make plans to start scratching it off. Some things will be easier to accomplish, and others will be in the “far fetched” category. Hey, it never hurts to dream! (And at fifteen I didn’t think I’d get to actually “Meet ten celebrities.” Thanks to conventions, I have doubled my original goal 😉 )

5- Get Creative. This year, for whatever reason, I lost touch with my creative side. I love photography, Smashbooking, and other little art projects. Not only is it fun, but it is also a form of therapy. And it also helps boost my writing. Sometimes when I’m zoning out and working on a project, I have a new story idea or a problem I’ve been having solves itself. So instead of buying craft supplies and letting them collect dust, I’m going to put them to good use.

It’s a small list but that’s ok! I might end up adding more. Are you making any resolutions this year? If so, what are they? I would love to hear about them! (And I’m betting my own list will grow! 😉 ) I wish you all a very happy new year and I hope 2015 treats you amazingly well!!! xo

Christmas Book Haul

Mr. C told me for the last few months that I would NOT be getting any new books for Christmas this year. I thought he was a big meanie, and figured okay, well I will get my own during the Boxing day sales!

So imagine my surprise this morning when I ended up unwrapping a total of 6 new books from him! Plus one from my mom. (Ok, so I picked that one out myself and she gave me the money for it.)

The J.R Ward is the one I picked out myself. It is part of her Blackdagger Brotherhood series (which I am addicted to. Bad ass vampires who would die for their mates…yup, totally my thing!)

The first three books are the ones you see up top. I don’t usually read biographies of any sort unless they REALLY interest me. But since I love Ron Pearlman, John Lithgow and Jeff Dunham, I am pretty stoked and happy to get these. BONUS: The John Lithgow book is SIGNED!! SWEET!! (I loved him since I was eight, after watching ‘Harry and the Hendersons.’)

Then I opened book two in the ‘Locke and Key’ series. I had bought book one back in the summer at Fan Expo, so I had been hinting (*cough* bugging) for book two for a little while now.

And then, and then I hit the jackpot. I pretty much freaked. I opened Bratva, which takes place in the ‘Sons of Anarchy’ world. The final book I opened was the hardcover SOA companion book, which is beautiful and awesome and smells soooooooooooo good.

As much as I want to crack into one of these right now, my eyes are heavy with a turkey hangover.

Did you get any new books? If so, which ones!? 🙂

Have Yourself a Merry Geeky Christmas

It has been a very busy month and I haven’t had much time to focus/think about regular day to day things let alone my blog and other fun stuff.

I wanted to take a moment to say Merry Christmas and thank you to all my followers for hanging in there 🙂 And if you don’t celebrate Christmas, I hope your holidays (or at the very least the rest of December) goes swimmingly well for you.

In my home, Santa’s elves have been at play. Of coarse, it wouldn’t be a geeky holiday here without some of my fave things about. Even Yoda is in on the Christmas action.

Chewie was a little shy for the camera, but he’s around here too 😉

One thing that has been part of my Christmas since I was little has been stockings. (Imagine my surprise when I found out Mr.C had NONE until I came around! I had to fix that situation.)  Honestly, if all he did was take five bucks and get me a couple little things for my sock, I’d be happy. My dad, who grew up during the depression and had nothing for Christmas until he met mom, loved to open his socks the most. And I think that’s why I love it too. I think of him and his happiness. My sock is already lookin a bit full

When I was about sixteen, we started a new tradition, thanks to Mom being overtired. At about 3 am on Christmas morning, she was exhausted and still wrapping gifts. She got tired of writing ‘From Santa’ over and over, (yes, I still get gifts from the ol’ jolly man 😉 ), so she wrote ‘From Harry Potter’, which set her tired brain into a fit of giggles. Ever since, I never know what special elves are at work each year. And I was pretty stoked when I found out Mr.C does the same thing for me and his best friend. As you can see, some elves must drive a motorbike 😉

For the last few years, I buy something geeky for my tree. It’s not big or expensive, but I love seeing my collection grow each year. Tonight when I put on my new pj’s, sit with some Bailey’s, and open a gift with the future hubby, I will relax in front of the tree. My fave additions to the tree this year are my Ninja Turtles!!

I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas and holidays 🙂 I would love to hear how you celebrate! Do you add some geek to the holidays?

Cape Breton Island

With holiday planning and work being crazy, I haven’t found much time for my blog. I was able to sit for a few minutes this morning, and this was the first thing I read. I had to share it. It is my home, and I love knowing what a visitor thinks of the place I love so much.

mmfoto

I had the great joy of traveling to Cape Breton island last month to do a stills shoot for Johnny Reid, and film 2 videos for him, one of them featuring Jimmy, Heather and Cookie Rankin, and Natalie McMaster.  Not only was I so excited to be in a legendary part of my wonderful Canada that I had never visited, but basically working with these folks in that part of the world is like working with royalty.

My first impression of Cape Breton, landing in a tiny airport in Sydney, Nova Scotia at 1am (a little bleary-eyed after 14 hours travel from LA) and taking a taxi to the hotel, it briefly reminded me of traveling outside Stockholm, Sweden or Aarhus, Denmark late at night – relatively sparse landscape, our headlights feeling diminished in vast blackness, the roadside trees providing a brief whisper of presence for which our headlight beams…

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‘Flashpoint’ — Cape Breton speculative fiction at its best – Columnists – Cape Breton Post

I wanted to share this here. I am very happy to see that Third Person Press has gotten some very good press this week 😉 The article is about the book launch for ‘Flashpoint’, and the future endeavor of TTP. My photo is even included, since I was one of three readers at the launch. I think it is wonderful to see our small and local press getting some well deserved and positive notice. 🙂

 

‘Flashpoint’ — Cape Breton speculative fiction at its best – Columnists – Cape Breton Post.

Reading Challenge 2015

Even though the new year is still a few weeks away, I have been thinking of the things I want to accomplish. I’m not talking the usual “drop some weight”, “go to the gym”, “organize the house” resolutions that people make every year. Nope, mine are all geek related. And I will talk about them on New Year’s day.

One of the things I wanted to do next year, is set myself a reading goal. I’m aiming for 30 but I’m hoping to get more then that read.

And to help me with it, I just found this fun reading challenge!!! I plan on printing it off and hanging it in my office, and with any luck I will get to check off many of these.

Are you up for a reading challenge? What is on this list that you want to tackle? I think my faves are ‘A book your mom loves’ and ‘A book by an author you have never read before.’ Many of these look interesting, which is making me more anxious for the new year to start! 🙂

 

Reading Challenge 2015 | POPSUGAR Love & Sex.

 

Book Release!

I am feeling pretty pumped tonight. This evening was the book launch for ‘Flashpoint’, which features my newest short story titled ‘Fever’.

Here I am holding a copy of the book 🙂 It was great to get it into my hands! There’s a bit of a thrill that I get when I see my name on the back of a book, and open the pages to find the story I created in it. Almost like I’m a real author or something 😉

The launch started off with a reading from one of the other contributors. I was growing anxious, since I had been asked to do a reading as well. The last time I had done a reading was for a very small group several years ago. And the time before that, I was in high school. As nervous as I was, I was really honored I had been asked to take part. I think it is especially awesome since I have been in all four of the elements anthologies. And here I was, about to do my first big reading.

Julie (fellow writer/editor/and one of my publishers), was up at the podium next to introduce me. *gulp* What she had to say was pretty cool, so I asked her for the paper afterwards. As she read my intro, I took a deep breath and gave a fist bump to my bestie who sat next to me. Mr.C gave me a pat on the leg.

Here’s some of what Julie had to say: “…she lives with her fiance, with whom she shares a passion for all things “con”. She will be reading from her story ,’Fever’, which continues the saga of Quinn and Lily.” “-and Kerry has developed a following for her unusual and heroic lovers. Their romance has many aspects of typical romance, but with some notable exceptions. Lily likely spends less time arguing with Quinn about whose turn it is to cook supper, and more time getting mad at him for spilling his glass of blood on her white table cloth, yet again.”

I thought this was really cool. She made it personal and also included my characters, which have been in all four anthologies. (And a following?! So that makes, 2 fans now? 😉 )

I got up, took another breath, and read the first scene from my story. I felt like a train wreak but was told afterwards how calm I came off. Sweet! I was even told “I’m going to have nightmares thanks to you. I can’t wait to get home and finish reading your story!” (I guess the blood part got to her. Cool! 😛 )

After I was finished, there was a break for refreshments. I had my copy signed and also signing books for others. (AKA my fifteen minutes of fame.) There were two more authors to read, including my long time friend, Sherry Ramsey.

Sherry read from her self published novel, ‘The Murder Prophet.’ It’s on the top of my 2015 to-read book pile. (Work and the holidays cut into my reading time, how sucky is that!?) Sherry  is one hell of a writer, an amazing friend, and a kick ass editor and publisher. I feel lucky to have worked with the women of Third Person Press for all of these anthologies. Every time I submit something, I anxiously await to hear if I am accepted or not. And when I have been accepted, they work with me to further polish the story. They have been patient and put up with texts and phone calls. They have made me a better writer and I am proud to also be able to call them friends.

So that’s the gist of my evening. Once I did my reading I was able to relax and mingle. I’m not sure what the future has in store for me as far as more publishing news go, but I do hope that this isn’t my last book launch!

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Book finds!

My nerves are pretty much shot this morning. Like any fangirl (or boy), the latest episode of my fave show has me in knots. I have mentioned before about being a HUGE fan of Sons Of Anarchy. The newest episode was great, and I have a sick feeling what the series finale is going to bring. (Spoiler: I was pretty pissed at first when Jax had sex with an ex just after killing two people. My fiance said “Think of it, this will probably be his last time. He’s totally getting killed next week.” Me: goes into total silence and denial.)

So to settle my nerves, I hit the local library to check out their table with books for sale. I was lucky yet again to find a couple of gems. I bought ‘Divergent’ for just one dollar, and ‘Safe Haven’ by Nicholas Sparks for fifty cents. I haven’t read any of his novels in a long time so I’m looking forward to reading this.

I’m pretty happy with my new finds. More books added to the winter reading pile 😉 If you watch Sons Of Anarchy, what did you think of last nights episode? Have you read either of these books? Tell me what you think!! I haven’t seen the movie for ‘Divergent’, and I’m wondering how the book and movie compare. The book is always better! At least in my experience. 🙂

It’s Over, So Now What?

Hello all!! To those of you who rode the roller coaster that is Nanowrimo, congrats to you for surviving it! If you didn’t finish, don’t be hard on yourself. You gave it a go and writing 5000 words is better then nothing! To those who wrote the 50k (and in some cases, double that) well done! (If you are one of the writers who wrote 75k and up, I bow down to you. Seriously, my brain barely cracked out the 50k.) To those of you who don’t write, thanks for putting up with my writing updates and the like. You are troopers.

Since I was finished a few days early, I spent the weekend being pretty much mindless. Coffee dates with friends, music and tv is what filled my weekend. Including the new episode of ‘The Walking Dead.’ (I can’t even talk about it! OMG!)

Anyway, now that December first has rolled in, it is time for me to put aside the novel for awhile. It is on my list of things to do/finish come 2015. I need to step away from it, and let things settle and look at it again with fresh eyes and a invigorated brain cells.

My geeky Christmas preps are starting, and soon I have the book launch. I’m doing a reading which makes me feel nervous as hell, yet I feel pretty honored at being asked to do one. I am pretty excited that this Friday my newest short story will be out, and I will be among some wonderful authors. I am very excited to read their stories!

I have also thought of all the things that have been neglected during November. Not the cleaning, because who cares about silly dusting!? My book shelf grew over the month, thanks to book sales at the library. And more poor mail pile is creeping up. I made promises to write two letters last week yet failed on both. I’ll work on the mail pile this week, and hopefully get some reading in at some point. I’m trying not to stress too much over the holidays, and trying to do get in as much fun and craftiness as I can.

So, what plans do you have? Are you continuing to work on your novel or pushing it aside for the holiday madness?