Lucky 7 Meme!

I received this "Lucky Seven Writing Meme" from the lovely Farrah Penn.

Here are the rules for the Lucky Seven Meme:

*Go to page 77 of your current MS/WIP 

*Go to line 7 

*Copy down the next 7 lines (sentences or paragraphs) and post them exactly as they're written. No cheating. 

*Tag 7 authors 

*Let them know


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This is from Book 3 in my YA fantasy series, currently titled THE CURSED BLESSING. (Conversation between Holly, my MC, and her father.)

  “Fair? You dare to say ‘fair’ to me? Only a few days ago I sat at what I feared was your deathbed. And now I find out you and your brother snuck out and entered a tournament.” He paused, pressing his fingers to his temples as he rose once more to pace the room. “Fair would be for your two to behave yourselves and stop giving me and your mother grey hair! Holly, entering as a man in the tournament—”

            “I never actually said I was a man—”

            Her father continued as if she had not spoken. “Your mother would be ashamed if she were here. I can’t imagine what she will say when you return home.”

I'm tagging...

Rebecca - Fairy Jane Tales

Alex Bennett

Jessica Grey

Elizabeth Fais

Paul Schumacher

S.M. Blooding

Shannon Messenger

D is for Dessert

A to Z Blogging Challenge

D is for Dessert

I love to bake and my favorite thing to bake is dessert! Cupcakes, cakes, pies, cobblers, everything sweet is fine by me. ;)  Decorating cakes is also one of my hobbies. Every birthday for my boys, I've made their cakes. I've also made them for my sister, my niece, and other family and friends. I love cake!

Some of my favorite things are the easiest: cake mix cookies.
Directions: Take 1 box of any flavor cake mix, mix with 2 eggs and 1 stick of melted butter. Form dough into small balls and bake for 6-8 minutes at 350 degrees. Easy peasy! And they taste SO good. I especially love the Funfetti kind. You can easily customize these to make them even more flavorful. My sister-in-law mixes bits of candy bars into hers.

Do you have recipes for favorite easy desserts?

C is for Coffee

A to Z Blogging Challenge

C is for Coffee

Coffee is a necessity for me to function as a normal (give or take a few points on the normalcy scale) human being. If I'm writing, I definitely need to have mass quantities of coffee. I'm not super picky about the coffee. As long as I have flavored creamer or cream and sugar, I'm good. I'm had quite a bit of coffee lately with having a deadline for my book. Let's hope it makes my writing better, not worse. ;)

What do you need to write? Do you have a standard drink while you're writing?

B is for Books

A to Z Blogging Challenge

B is for Books

Oh, books. How do I love thee? Let me count the pages...

I've loved books since I was little. I remember going to the library as a very small child and picking out books to take home. I absolutely loved to read. I read all of the time. That hasn't stopped as I've gotten older. Many of the books I read when I was little are still favorites that are on my bookshelf.

I read all sorts of books. Throw a genre at me and I'll rattle off a list of books I've read. My dad would listen to Tom Clancy books on tape when I was little. Consequently, I love Tom Clancy. We own most of his novels. I love the suspense, the intrigue, the elaborate plot building, the adventure. That (I think) shows up in my writing. Another "non-girly" book series I read is the Dirk Pitt series by Clive Cussler. I know, I'm not like most girls!! :)  And that's okay. I like to read books that my husband enjoys as well. We read many of the same books and talk about them ad nauseum.

I read lots of contemporary YA books as well. Most are from recommendations from friends and book bloggers. If there was a fire in my house, I'd be SO SO sad because I'd lose hundreds of books.

I love books! :)

Next up: "C is for..."

A is for Awesome

I'm going to do the "A to Z" blogging challenge this month! Let's hope I can keep it up. ;)

A is for Awesome

Awesome is one of my favorite words. I don't really know why. And no, I'm not a surfer. Nor am I 13. ;) It just encompasses SO many good feelings and excitement! Similarly, "awesomeness" is also a favorite word. I can confidently say that my life is awesome. I am in awe of it. I have a fabulous husband who loves me and treats me well (and is an awesome dad!), 2 great boys who are fun and smart and silly and adventurous, a wonderful job as a substitute teacher, a ridiculously amazing life as a writer/author, a supportive family, sweet friends, the promise of eternal life...

It truly is Awesome.

Next up: "B is for..."

"Where Can I Buy Your Book?"

I've had people ask me this in person. I can imagine that people might want to know where to buy my book out on the interwebs, too! :)

It's available on Amazon.com in paperback AND for your Kindle!!

On Barnes and Noble.com  AND you can go into a B&N store and ask them to order it for you. You can then pick it up in the store a few days later and not pay for shipping.

At independent bookstores. Again, you can ask them to order it and then pick it up from them.

If you're in the Los Angeles area, you can visit Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena for a copy.

If you're in the Orange County area, you can visit Book Carnival bookstore in Orange for a copy.

(If you're going to the above bookstores, please be sure to call first to make sure they still have a copy in stock!) :)

Thanks for being awesome readers!

Book 3 playlist while writing...

Currently writing:  underground troll scene


Currently listening to: "Ebudae" by Enya, "Iridescent" by Linkin Park, "These Times" by SafetySuit, "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay, "Dare You to Move" by Switchfoot.

Just keep writing, just keep writing...

Ah, March. In like a lion, out like a lamb. Or, in like a whirling dervish of writing that will not let go of his death grip on me until April 1st. Yeah, like that.

Book 3 is due on April 1st. (And that's no joke!) I'm more than halfway done with it. (Yay!) I was stuck for a while. Not writer's block. Plot block? I've talked about this before. Getting from Point A to Point B only to realize that Point B is really Point D. You need to figure out the real B and the C before you can get there. *sigh* So, I was finally able to make up those middle bits and move on! Pushing through! I've sent what I've written so far to a few of my faithful betas. (Thank you, betas!!) I need to get their reactions and then I can edit what I've done. Sometimes when you write, you forget what you've said much earlier in the book. A fresh pair of eyes can help see those inconsistencies.

My writing schedule right now is this:

As you can see, I have some catching up to do today. (I've been busy and tired lately so some days are better writing days than others.) Having this word count is a great way for me to be accountable.

How are your writing goals? What projects do you have going on? Do you set clear deadlines for yourself?

Happy writing!

"Best Book Ever: Dragons" @ Short and Sweet

I did a guest post over at Short and Sweet Book Reviews. The topic was "Best Book Ever: Dragon Books." I gave my input. :)

Thanks, Coranne!! :)

All These Things I Do: Cake Edition

I've been MIA on my blog lately. Sorry about that! I have a deadline LOOMING over me for Book 3 right now. And last month was crazybusy. February is my son's birthday, my sister's birthday, my birthday, Valentine's Day, several cousins' birthdays...you get the picture. If not, I'll show you some pictures of it all! :)

My oldest son is obsessed with Star Wars. This year's birthday theme was Star Wars. Again. For the third time. I don't have anything against S.W. I never really got into it. But now I have to know EVERYTHING about it. (They don't tell you this in mom class.)

The cake design of choice this year was...a podracer. Yes, from Episode I. Try to find an image on Google with a clear schematic of a podracer. Go ahead. I dare you. It took FOREVER to get something that wasn't pixelated to the point of not being able to read it.

Step One
Make Rice Krispy Treats. Form into a podracer. It's actually quite fun.

Step Two
Place GINORMOUS marshmallows onto pretzel rods. Dip into melting chocolate.

(Stick tiny marshmallows to ends of giant engine. Add the right colors of frosting for podracer. If you have cool edible glitter, add that too.)

Step Three
Make a really big cake. Really, really big. I made a 13x9 and it wasn't big enough. See picture below.
Assemble podracer and engines on cake. Make sure to place the engines going the right direction or your 9 year old will make fun of you. ;)

Then, I made my sister a birthday present:

We celebrated "Read Across America" Day:

I made the blue hair for Thing 1 and Thing 2. That was a fun challenge. And then we made cupcakes for the teachers and staff. Yay for cupcakes! :)

We had our nieces over for a weekend and went to the arboretum for a picnic. Photo shoot, too, of course. ;)

So...yeah. That's what I've been up to. I need to lock myself in the library and just write for hours. That way I'm not distracted by food. And people. And...life. Can that really happen?! I really hope so. Deadline for Book 3: 23 days. *mildly freaking out*