The Teeth are out!!

And the crowd goes wild. Well maybe not, but Sarai sure did... well she would if she wasn't still swollen from Thursday and throughly in pain. But the bright side no dry sockets! I think the pain is the swollen part and the fact that the top ones were turned sidewise so the stitches are weird and I an feel them which is of course making me want to play with them more... I'm a freak anyway long story longer I am done with the wisdom teeth thing only to discover that Christmas is like 15 days away WTF? When did that happen.

So I'm back on the craft bandwagon except that my schedule is SUPER FUNKY this week so that sucks. But I am going to do it DAMN IT!

I have 2 gifts for Mom done. She is making the other gifts for my BFFs and I have to finish up glass etching which is really hard but yet is. Or maybe its just me but damn this crap is blowing my mind on how to make it work...

As far as me I am reading again which is an added bonus. I am however, not writing but I blame the fact that my computer quit and work is working me to death (but at least I have a job and a steady paycheck which is a blessing) Other than that I'm doing good, life's good, health is good, thoughts are good. Yeah I'm pretty much good.

How about you guys? Did I miss anything while I was away?

The dreaded TBR Pile

So I was bored this weekend which is something new for me. Usually this time of year my schedule is PACKED. However, on Thursday I get the old wisdom teeth out so I am saving the much needed money up for the surgery (400.00 up front OUCH) Anyway I decided to redo the bookcase. We all remember what it looked like before right?

Well now its a bit cleaner and more organized, repeats have been weeded out and of course the keeper pile has been updated. I figured since I usually get around 25 new books every year for Christmas I might want to make space. (Oh and for those of you that are curious I am buying another bookcase LOL) Anyway I counted like a good girl I am and discovered I have 330 book in the TBR pile. DAMN!

Now that's not as much as some readers so that's good and in all honesty this is generally the time of year that I get into a reading funk so I tend not to pick up a book until after the new year. But seeing how I am having surgery next weekend I thought I might actually be tempted to read in bed since I won't be able to do anything else. SO I picked out the books to start with, got a nice pile going, then determined that maybe I should think about not picking out books because I change my mind every second on what I want. SO I put them all back. BUt the books are a lot more organized and well accounted for. Now let's see if I get around to reading them...

Oh I guess I should ask what should I read? Do you have any suggestions? Here's the link to my TBR pile let me know what would cure my ails http://mytbrpile.blogspot.com/

Wow

OMG can you believe that next week is Thanksgiving? Where in the world did time go? Wasn't I just at the pool last week? And now there's snow on the ground... okay well not snow here in KC but ice hitting my window? What happened? Holy cow I only get 2 more pay periods before Christmas and do you even think that I've started shopping? NO

Not to mention that I haven't done schedules for work yet, ran reports, caught up, hired the new people, nor have I gotten them trained... OMG I'm so going down in flames... okay not really but seriously its almost Christmas WHERE DID IT ALL GO?

I'd like to say I've been doing exciting things like reading, writing or shopping for shoes but seriously folks I haven't done crap. Let me see I got a promotion and started a new shift which has really damaged my social life but really I didn't have much of one to begin with. Still I'm adjusting. Add to it life at a hospital has been, well nuts with all the flu and panic that struck the nation earlier.

Wow I feel like its only been a few weeks since Summer and now I have to figure out Christmas. Man how about you guys are you ready?

We have a winner!!!

Alright thank you to everyone who left a comment on Savannah Stuart post (AKA Katie Reus). I'm glad we were all able to support her! And now the winner for a copy of Unleash Temptation is:

NAIMA SIMONE!!!

And here's the list provided by random.org:

Naima Simone
ddurance
Cathy M
snulfers
Sweet Vernal Zephyr
Charles Gramlich
Gail Roarke

Thanks again to all of those who stopped by to with Savannah a HAPPY RELEASE DAY!

Alright Naima please send your email to savannahstuart [at] hotmail and let Katie/Savannah know where you won the book from and POOF you will get your copy!

Don't forget to check out Katie/Savannah at: my website, my author page at Ellora’s Cave, or my group blog, Naughty Author Chicks.

Happy Release Day Katie

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays of the year. Any excuse to get dressed up, party, and perhaps partake in a few drinks is okay with me! Halloween, or Hallow E’en, as it’s called in Ireland stems from the Catholic Church’s ‘All Hollows Day’ or ‘All Saints Day’ (which is a celebration of the Saints). However, before Christianity was introduced to Ireland, Halloween as we know it dates back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. November 1st was the end of summer and their harvest, and the beginning of winter. The Celts believed that on October 31, the line between the world of the living and dead blurred. The Celts needed their harvests to survive so out of respect, they built huge bonfires and sacrificed animals. In addition, they dressed up in various ghoulish costumes in the hopes of disguising their human form to spirits roaming the earth.

Somehow I was lucky enough to have a release day right before Halloween. Since Unleashed Temptation is a paranormal (shifter) novella, I thought I’d celebrate with an ebook giveaway and some fun facts about this awesome holiday. Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of Unleashed Temptation.

1. The next full moon on Halloween will be October 31, 2020 so get ready!
2. A pumpkin is a fruit.
3. Orange and black are associated with Halloween because orange is associated with the Fall Harvest and black with death.
4. Bobbing for apples is thought to have been derived from the Roman harvest festival that honors the goddess Pamona.
5. Halloween was brought to America by European immigrants.
6. Black cats are connected with Halloween because they are thought to help witches.
7. In Mexico, they don’t celebrate Halloween, they celebrate Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) on November 2nd.
8. Are you afraid of Halloween? You might have Samhainophobia.
9. Orange isn’t the only color of pumpkins. They also come in blue, white, and green!
10. Harry Houdini died on Halloween in 1926 at the age of 52 from peritonitis.

Know any other fun facts about Halloween? Feel free to share!

Unleashed Temptation Blurb:
After finding out her boyfriend has been cheating on her with her boss, Carly Kendall decides her life needs a makeover. She trades in her winter coat for a bikini and heads south to Miami, Florida. Almost as soon as she arrives, she falls in lust with the sexiest man she’s ever laid eyes on. Too bad he’s her boss.
Alpha werewolf Nick Lazos had given up hope of finding his mate a century ago. When sexy redhead Carly Kendall comes to work for him, she disrupts his entire world. Although he desperately wants to come clean about what he is, he keeps running into problems. Like the fact that an ancient enemy has set his sights on Carly. Nick discovers he’ll go to any lengths to keep her safe. Even if it means losing her in the process.

If you want to know more about me, my website, my author page at Ellora’s Cave, or my group blog, Naughty Author Chicks.

Life Changes

Okay guys over the last few months I'm sure you've noticed some changes here on da blog. The main one being that I've practically stopped posting. And when I do get around to posting its completely random stuff like pictures of the cats or just random thoughts I'm having.

I did want you guys to know that even though I'm not posting as much as I use to I am still writing and working on things. I do still read just a book a month and every once in a while I get the strange hair to post my completely random thoughts here LOL. So thank you for sticking with me and I am really hoping to get back on a regular schedule soon. With Nano coming up I'm hoping that will jump start my writing more.

So I guess let's start back up with my thoughts as an aspiring author and the challenges I face!

As for the writing I am like I stated working on one piece that I managed to crank out 14k on in the last few weeks. It involves 5 different characters. I have noticed recently that many of my current stories have more than 3 characters and it involves a strong female lead with a group of friends that surround her. The latest 2 have taken place in space or at least end up there and they involve the themes of friendship, love, trial, and betrayal. This has really stuck with me and made me look back at my older writing to see if these themes are new or something that has come on recently.

In my first story Cursed it revolved around family obligation and responsiblities that are tied in with that. It involved loss of a parent (my father had recently passed away at that time) and a love that could happen but the world was keeping apart (was going through a rough patch in my marriage). My second story Bounty Hunter was a fantasy story about a young woman going through a change of becoming a Queen (I was recently going through a divorce) it also dealt with a her group of friends picking to stay with her when she made a difficult choice but yet one decided to go a different way. (Makes sense when you look at the time I wrote it.)

But all of them involved a strong female character faced with something she felt no one understood or could deal with. Recently however, my female lead is a strong woman who knows she has to rely on those around her in order to get through the rough patches, yes she will get hurt and yes someone betrays her but she will get through by relying on those friendships. And at some point she will find love.

I never realized how many different themes I had nor how they all seem to tie into my life or current situation. Do you feel that when you are writing? Do you see the patterns that life has left on you in the different books you've written.

For those of you who don't write do you see the themes in books you love? Do those themes relate to you as a reader? What have been some of the strongest themes you've read and how did they relate?

My book case

Since I've been sick with the flu for the last few days I thought I would post what's keeping me sane in between the fever.

This is my bookcase and the reason I need another one. The top 2 shelves are hardcovers with tradeback some are my keepers others TBR. The third shelf is my keeper paperbacks and the bottom two shelves are my TBR pile. FUN TIMES


This would be my hardcover collection of Harry Potter and others thrown in.
This is my tradebacks the second shelf is my favorites/re-reads and they are stacked 3 deep. The next two shelves are my TBR pile and yes they are stacked 3 deep as well.