A Question or Three

Today is the third installment of Super Fan fun. I will be interacting live with my Fans tonight, answering their questions about writing, my books, and pretty much anything else they want to know, within reason. I'm pretty excited. I'll also be asking questions of my own and thought I'd include a few of them here for those of you who will be missing out on the fun.

1) What draws you to a book, making you decide to read it? (cover, title, genre, author, blurb, etc.)

2) Why did you decide to give my book(s) a try?

3) What do you like most about your favorite character(s) from my books?


Answering these is just for fun and will not, unfortunately, make you eligible for the $25 Amazon gift card prize. But if you join within the next few hours, I will send out your invitation before the party starts.

Magical

Hubby and I saw Inside Out this past week, utilizing our local theater's Five Dollar Tuesdays deal. We like this deal. Anyway, I had high expectations, as I do with all Disny/Pixar films, and it did not disappoint. The animation was amazing. I loved the detail of the slight fuzziness of the outline of the emotions' bodies. Joy was adorable. The voice actors were excellent. Bing Bong was, in my opinion, a scene stealer. He was fun and happy and spontaneous, just what an imaginary friend ought to be. I won't give any spoilers, but I cried during the one scene where he..... If you've seen it, you know exactly what I'm talking about. I'm was pleased with the overall story as well. Great film. I wouldn't mind seeing again while it's still in the theaters. On a Tuesday, of course.


Here's another reminder for Super Fan fun #3, coming up on June 30 at 7:00 Mountain time. You can still get an invitation if you join before then. I'm hoping for a minimal amount of success, which equates to at least one person showing up. Me and my one friend will have a blast! :)

Pages and Pages

Whenever I get a new book idea, I have to write it down quickly or I will forget about it. I usually have a notebook or my iPad handy, but I've been known to write in the spaces of a Sudoku puzzle or word search. I recently went through a box of piano music and found a notebook with several pages of hastily scribbled book ideas. I love finding treasures like this. Some of them I remember writing, others are a pleasant surprise. There's one online that I've been thinking about in the last month or so, but I can't find where I wrote it down. I can remeber bits of it, but not enough to rewrite it word for word. I may have to just start from scratch, using the parts I remember along the way. There are still a couple of places I can look for the original since we haven't unpacked EVERYTHING from our move almost a year ago. Wish me luck!

Invitations for Super Fan fun #3 have been sent out. You can still get one of your own if you join before June 30!

Fun is Coming...

I'll be sending out invitations for Super Fan fun #3 (aka The Q&A) on Tuesday. I decided just to make a new page here on my blog and give the link in the invitation. Only those with the link will be allowed in. You lucky few will be able to come to the page at anytime after that to start asking your questions. I will have some questions of my own on there for you to answer as well. Then, on June 30 at 7:00-8:00 pm Mountain time, I will be on the page live to answer and interact. This is completely new for me, so I have no idea how well/horribly it will turn out. If you haven't joined the club yet, do so soon. Invitations can be sent out to new members until the day before the event. Remember, all who participate will be eligible to win a $25 Amazon gift card (the kind you email).

Mountains

I have a lot of dishes and laundry to do. Both have piled up over the last several days and now I get to tackle them both. Unfortunately, I have to climb a flight of stairs to accomplish these feats. Not that I'm complaining (much), but it makes me grateful for the times in the past when I just had to head to the adjoining room. Hubby and I are lucky to be living with his grandparents at this time, to help them out as they get older and to help ourselves out as we try to regulate our finances. They are great people and we're very lucky to be welcomed into their home. I do hope sometime in the future we will be able to have a home of our own, but for now, I'll hike up the stairs with my piles of stuff and be grateful.

Get To Work!

I just finished my latest round of Day Job, so for the next several weeks I will be able to focus more on writing. My goal to finish Foretold by the end of August is still in play. I'll also be working on the book cover (I have a few ideas) and getting some Samurai Penguin scenes added to my inventory. Lots to do! FYI, in about six weeks, I will hit my 300th post, which I think deserves a giveaway. I'll get that set up soon, so stay tuned.

I mentioned a while ago that hubby and I plan to set up a website for us to use for all our creativeness. We haven't had the time or money to do it yet, but it looks like that will finally be in the works in the next month or two. It's going to be awesome! We'll have pages for art, writing, cooking, contests, and other fun stuff. We really hope it will turn into something profitable as well, seeing as how we both dislike our day jobs. It will take a lot of work and time, but we're excited about it.

Two Quick Things

First, I did some experimenting with my recent batch of body soap to make it thicker. I had the idea to use unflavored gelatin. After reading up on it, I found that it can be beneficial for skin on its own. So, I bought a box filled with little packets. Each packet has roughly a tablespoon of powder. For the amount of body soap in the recipe, I figure 5-6 packets will do the trick. I poured some of the soap (1-2 cups worth) into a small pot, boiled it, and then dissolved the gelatin. I then poured it back into the container and shook it to mix. Shake again at least once an hour. It will take several hours to see results. I actually used a few more packets at first, but the soap was too gelatinous. Aren't you glad I figured this out for you? :)

Second, I have decided that for the next Super Fan fun, anyone who participates will be entered to win a $25 Amazon gift card. (To be emailed to winner) You must be a member of the club, obviously, and then ask at least one question during the online Q&A. I'm still trying to figure out when/how to host it, but invitations will be sent out soon. Join the club now!

DIY-ing: Round Two

I'm slowly turning into a health nut. I never thought I would, but it's happening, people. If you missed my previous post about homemade products, you can see it here. This time around, I made toothpaste and body soap. I've been using the toothpaste for a couple of weeks and the the body soap was made yesterday and has not yet been tested. I still love the deodorant I made and the face moisturizer is good too. The nonstick spray is holding up as well. My husband and I have also been using a homemade mouthwash, but he has the recipe for that. I can add that to the next post about this subject, because I'm probably not done. Here are the basic recipes for the toothpaste and body soap.

Toothpaste (from thehomesteadsurvival.com)

4 tablespoons coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon coral calcium (I didn't use this)
1/2 teaspoon Himalayan sea salt (I ground this up a bit with a mortar and pestle)
1 tablespoon raw honey
2 drops cinnamon essential oil
5 drops peppermint essential oil (I used different oils)

I actually halved the recipe to test it out first. Melt the coconut oil in a microwave safe bowl. Add rest of ingredients, mix well. Set aside to cool. I used about 3-4 drops of spearmint essential oil, 2-3 drops of myrrh e.o., and 2-3 drops of frankenscense e.o. I put the cooled product in a plastic cup and apply it to my toothbrush with a toothpick. High tech, I know. The taste is not unpleasant. I mostly taste the salt, which is there as a polisher. The honey helps, because the essential oils would be nasty otherwise.


Body Soap (Derived from various recipes). *****newer version here*******

8 cups of water
1 bar of Castile soap. (I bought a 3 pack on Amazon for about $5)
1/2 cup coconut milk
2-3 tablespoons vegetable glycerin (also Amazon)
1 tablespoon jojoba oil
1 teaspoon liquid vitamin E
5-10 drops of the following essential oils: lavender and tea tree
1/2 teaspoon green tea extract

Pour 1 cup water into medium saucepan, heat until simmering. Grate the bar soap and add to water. Turn down heat and let the soap melt. Add coconut milk. When soap is melted, add glycerin and remaining ingredients. In a large container, pour the remaining amount of water and add heated mixture. Cover with lid and shake well. Remove lid and allow to cool for at least 12 hours. It's supposed to thicken a bit. Like I mentioned above, I haven't tested this yet. I might still be runny, so I may need to tweak a few things. I'll give results at another time.

*****newer version here*****

Can't Help It

I seem to get distracted easily. For instance, I forgot today was Tuesday and I needed to write a blog post because I was perusing Pinterest. Sometimes the distractions are accidental and sometimes on purpose depending on what I should be doing. I've had a string of new book ideas over the past week and I physically have to stop myself from jumping into one of them right away. One in particular is an idea I'm really excited about and would love to get started on, but I have so many others things I need to do first. Now that I've set a goal for finishing Foretold, I can't allow my mind to wander to other things. It's harder than it sounds. Poor me, right?


Don't forget to join my Super Fan club!