So, obviously this post is very overdue. You can blame #authorfriendJen. I know I said the next post would probably be a review of her book, but this one isn't because I'm on a time crunch. Honestly, between all the jobs and my own writing, it just took longer to read it than I was anticipating. Some pivotal scenes have since been changed, so I'm waiting for another eARC in order to delve into it as a reader and not as someone working on it. Which is always fun. That said, I

Okay, so last week I posted about how I got 3 new books to read. Apparently, that was wrong. Because, not long after posting that, #authorfriendJen reached out and basically said, "Hey, that book you read a couple of months ago that I speed-wrote like some possessed spirit, I'd like you to proofread it. Do you have time?" (Paraphrasing for comedic effect. Obviously.) And of course I said, "I will MAKE time." (That one is a direct quote.) Thus, I have a fourth book to read! Fo

This week's blog post was supposed to be a kind of essay discussing different types of fantasy books I like to read. Weeeeellllll.... That was before three new books came in. TO BE FAIR, 2 out of the 3 were very recently released at the end of March, and I simply held off on the other one that released a couple of months ago. So all are actually new, not just new to me. I did actually take a picture of the books when I got them, but my phone is being a brat about sending them

There were many possible topics for this blog post. I thought about 'Vacation's Over, Back To Work' or another Ori Diaries segment. (He was not the best behaved while we were gone.) Or even something to do with the cats. Mostly what I could have done was drown you in images of my trip. (Which I might add to this post at a later date.) I'm not doing any of that. Some of it requires too much effort, and others are just boring. Instead, I'm going to talk about my vacation. Obvio

Traveler Brain and Writer Brain are best friends, and no one can tell me otherwise. I've spoken before about my ability to write while on planes and in airports and whatnot. Normally, I do pretty good in those areas ... when I'm traveling solo. While traveling with the boyfriend, it's a little different in airports. Instead of snagging one of the fancy bar stools on a flat surface so that I can charge my laptop as I write, I instead end up in the regular seating areas with hi

My friends were supposed to remind me to write this. They failed. Which is fine, because I forgot our last writer date due to working too late. We're even. That said, there's a lot to say and yet almost nothing at all, so I'm diving in. No. Literally. This week is all about scuba diving. At least, it would be if health and equipment failures would stop messing with me. This week, the bf and I are in the Cayman Islands (Cayman Brac) for diving. We went with an awesome group le

Drowning is silent. There are no frantic splashes. No cries for help. There is only the weight of your body. The waves crashing over your head. The current tugging you to the depths. You grow too tired to fight. Your lungs have no air to waste on crying out. Instead you focus on that tiny little gulp you can take between the waves. You try to ignore the exhaustion settling into your bones. You know that the waves will not let you float at the surface, and if you cease fightin

I'm a person that struggles with creating and maintaining routines. I have all of these lofty ideas and goals about what I'm going to do–especially on a daily basis–and following through for a few months. Then there will be that one thing that throws off the routine, and I'm toast. The only way to combat this is to give me reasonable, achievable goals that I like . For instance, a new Sims4 pack was recently released. When this happens, they offer side quests that allow you

This is going to be a rant. There's your only warning. If you disagree and don't want to admit that your genius program is nothing more than a worthless clone, then kindly fuck right off. If you disagree but would like to see where this goes, then read on. Somehow, I think most of you will agree with me. At least every TRUE artist, musician, and writer will know exactly what I mean. Let's continue... Backstory for why I'm so pissed right now: I listen to a variety of music.

I come to you today with another bit of writing advice: love your work. Let's not kid ourselves; I don't mean that you must love everything you produce. Nor should you. A mark of an experienced author is learning to recognize when you've put crap on a page, and how to fix it. Like most things, writing is a process. What I do mean by my initial statement is: love the work that you make public. If you're posting it in serial format on a site, then be sure you're proud of the w