Happy Halloween!

I'm expecting my proof of Taela to arrive sometime today. I'm pretty excited to see how it looks.Hopefully I'll be able to give a report on Saturday's post.

I didn't buy very much candy for tonight. No one came to our condo last year. Our neighborhood does a trunk or treat each year at a nearby church parking lot. That happened last night, so I'm thinking most kids got their fill of candy already. I won't mind terribly if no one comes. My husband has to work tonight, so my wild plan is to curl up with a mug of hot chocolate and watch a movie or something.

I hope everyone has a spooky, but safe, Halloween!

Top Ten Tuesday #21

Yesterday was the annual Halloween party at my grandma's house. We eat dinner, sometimes play games, eat sugary treats, and beat up a pinata. When the grandkids were younger, we'd always wear our costume as well. Now that we're older, that doesn't happen as much. But, the great grandkids dress up and they are adorable! My niece was a puppy with my sister and bro-in-law as dog catchers. One nephew was a bee. Other nephew was a bag of money with my bro and sister-in-law as robbers. Fun stuff!

Anyway, this list is about costumes I remember wearing over the years.

Today's Topic: Favorite Halloween Costumes I've Worn

10. Witch
9. Ladybug
8. Dark Fairy (I wore this one in Disneyland for Mickey's Halloween Party)
7. Hobo
6. Hermione Granger. With official wand and Gryffindor robe and scarf.
5. 50's girl with poodle skirt.
4. Rogue. This is the one I wore yesterday. She's my favorite from X-Men
3. Princess
2. Genie
1. Old Lady. This one was fun. I think I was in 3rd grade. I got some old lady-looking clothes at a thrift store, complete with plastic jewelry, hat, and purse.

Final reminder that the discount prices for my books will be ending at the end of this week. Save a bit of money and get them now!

Final ABC Books

This has been a fun way to reminisce about the books I've read over the years. I know for a fact that I've missed a ton just because I couldn't remember them all. Since this list will finish up the alphabet, I will be starting something new next week. It will be something similar, but instead of book titles, the ABC lists will focus on literary characters. I think it will be interesting. Anyway, here's U, V, and W.

Unwind- Neal Shusterman. A thrilling dystopia about parents' decisions to keep their children or, if their child is a troublemaker, let them be "unwound". Essentially, killing them. It's a series, but I've only read this first book. I plan to read more.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader- C. S. Lewis. Probably my least favorite of the Narnia books. Seriously, the cousin, Eustice or Useless, whatever his name is, is by far one of the most annoying characters ever! I get that he's supposed to be annoying, but I wanted him to die. He's even worse in the movie version, if that's possible. The rest of the characters are fine.

 A Walk in Wolf Wood- Mary Stewart. Fun fantasy about magic and a bit of time travel. Two kids travel to 14th century England and help a werewolf.

Wait Till Helen Comes- Mary Downing Hahn. I alluded to this book in last week's ABC books when I wrote about another of Hahn's books (The Time of the Witch). For many years, this book was my favorite. It's kind of a scary story, which is strange for me to like since I'm a wuss when it comes to ghost stories. It's about two stepsisters who don't get along. The younger befriends the ghost of another young girl who died in a fire. They cause some mischief together, mostly to get back at her step-family. The older sister soon realizes that the ghost wants her new friend to stay with her forever. Excellent book.

Wings- Aprilynne Pike. A teenage girl grows petal-like wings and befriends a mysterious boy who lives in the woods. I liked this one, but the second book in the series was kind of blah.

The Witches- Roald Dahl. Great story from a great author. I'll admit parts of the movie version creeped me out.

The Warrior Heir- Cinda Williams Chima. Another series I haven't finished. This first book was really good, so I need to read the others. If you like modern/urban fantasy, give this one a try.


 My giveaway ended last night and it was fun to do. I had hoped to get more entries, but I suppose since I'm still a new author, I can't expect too much at this point. I really appreciate all those who entered. The winners have been selected. I'll give you a hint- since there were so few entries, everyone who entered is a winner! Check your email for further info/instructions. Congratulations!

One more thing. In my previous post, I mentioned that the print version for Taela was under review. It has since been accepted, but I've decided to order a copy for myself before making it available for purchase, just to make sure everything looks good. If I like what I see, it should be available sometime during the first week of November.

Have a great weekend!

Print Version Updates

For the past two days I've been working hard on getting Taela ready for print. I had a heck of a time with the cover design. The program I like to use is on my iPad and lately it's been acting like a two year old having a tantrum. Every time I tried to use certain parts it would kick me off. Grrr! So yesterday I had my husband give me a crash course on photoshop to get the last parts of the cover finished. Luckily, everything turned out really well. The book is now in review with createspace, which is amazon's printed book creator thingy. I should hear back from them today. The book could be ready later today, in fact. It will be available on amazon.com as well as European amazon sites. I'm still working on the epilogue for The Bride, but I hope to have the print version up and going soon. I'm also considering having both the ebook and print versions for Soulless ready for its December release date. No promises, but I like the idea. We'll see if it happens.

My mom read my last post (Top Ten Tuesday #20) and informed me that she has a pasta roller that belonged to my grandma. She's going to let me have it to fulfill that birthday wish! Thanks, Mom!!

For my birthday tomorrow, (besides hoping to see more entries in my giveaway) I'm going to make my own cake. My husband offered to make one for me, but I decided to do it myself. It will be a chocolate cake with a caramel cream cheese frosting. I've never made frosting like that before, so it could be a complete disaster. When Husband gets home from work, we'll go out to dinner. I'm still not sure where I want to go. Probably somewhere tasty. And then we're going to watch college football and eat cake. Sounds like a great birthday to me!

Top Ten Tuesday #20

With my birthday coming in a few days, I thought I'd make a list of things on my wish list. I don't want to sound greedy. This is just for fun, especially since I won't be getting most of these things.


Today's Topic: Things I'd Like for My Birthday

10. A pasta maker/roller thing. I'm not the kind of person who would be upset with a kitchen appliance or gadget as a gift, as long as it's something I need.
9. New Celtic/Irish music. Preferably instrumental, but anything soothing would work.
8. Dove Dark Chocolate. My favorite!
7. New slippers.
6. A tasty dinner with my husband. I still haven't decided where I want to go.
5. New sweater or cardigan. I tend to get neutral colors, so maybe something more vibrant.
4. Scarves. I love scarves.
3. Knee high boots. I love boots.
2. Upstairs and downstairs neighbors who aren't so noisy. Stompy kids upstairs, music-blasting bachelors downstairs. I guess what I really want is a house of our own instead of a condo.
1. A trip to Disneyland. Maybe next year.

There's one more thing I'd like. Enter the giveaway above this post!! It's the perfect way for you to help me celebrate!

Giveaway!

*this promotion has ended*

It has begun! Come enter to win a free digital copy of one of my books using any, or all, of the entry methods. This is in honor of my birthday, which is on Friday, Oct. 25. I'm hoping to do more giveaways in the future, but it will be hard to do if no one enters. Who doesn't like free stuff? This is an international giveaway, so everyone can participate. See the Terms and Conditions on the giveaway gadget above.

ABC Books "T"

Get ready for a list. This will be my longest ABC post, which is not surprising. Lots of good books, and some not so good.


Tess of the d'Urbervilles- Thomas Hardy. One from high school English. It was okay. I think most of the books I read in high school were somewhat depressing. This is one of them.

To Kill a Mockingbird- Harper Lee. Great book. Everyone should read this at come point in their lives. Classic.

The Twilight Saga- Stephenie Myer. I've already admitted once before that I liked these books. I'm not saying their masterpieces, but for a love story about vampires, it's good. The movies, however . . .

The Time of the Witch- Mary Downing Hahn. Very good. She wrote another book that will be on the list soon that was my favorite for years, but this one is still good.

A Tale of Two Cities- Charles Dickens. This was a Jr. high book. I hope to not ruffle any feathers when I say I hated this book. In fact, I'm pretty sure I couldn't even finish it. I was bored out of my skull. I'm sure Dickens was a fine author. I'm just not a fan.

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing- Judy Blume. I know I read this during elementary, but I don't remember much about it. But Judy Blume's books are almost always good, so I'm sure I liked it.

Tiger Eyes- Judy Blume. Same as above.

The Throne of Fire- Rick Riordan. The second book in his Kane Chronicles series. Very good. I still need to finish this series.

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle- Avi. As with the Judy Blume books, I read this in elementary. I know I liked it, but don't remember much about it.

Their Eyes Were Watching God- Zora Neale Hurston. Another high school book. Not as depressing as some, but still has that running through it. It was okay.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard- J. K. Rowling. Great companion book to the Harry Potter series. Strange little stories, but they fit so perfectly.

Phew!

I hope you'll all come back on Monday when my giveaway starts!