Summer Reading

School is out. Kids are free. Hopefully they will do smart, responsible things during their break. Like read books. If you are a "kid" or know one, I know of some great books to pick up for some fun summer reading. Of course I'm talking about my books. The prices are low ($.99 or less) and they're clean, so you don't have to worry about filling their heads with garbage.

I have a bunch of books on my iPad that I'm planning to read sometime during my life. Once I get going, I might start doing some book reviews. Probably not by request, though. I have too many things going on to go that route. I finished all the art for my first page of my web comic, Samurai Penguin. I still need to do the wording, but I'm very happy with how it turned out. I mentioned before that I will post some examples in the future. I'm pretty excited about it. Now I just need to finish Sources... Yes, I'm still working on the last chapters. I've been a bit distracted by my web comic, but now that I have some done, I will focus on Sources. My editor is more than half way done with the part she has, so I have to finish! Oh, and we're moving, so there's that can of worms too.

Busy busy!

A Few More Days

Quick reminder that the winner of my giveaway will be chosen and announced in one week. I've gotten more participation for this giveaway than any of my others, which is awesome. Enter now if you haven't already.

This time last year, hubby and I were melting in Arizona. Though we met some great people down there, I wouldn't want to be there during the summer again. A winter visit? No problem. I am amazed at the people who can tolerate the heat. I was also working hard on preparing The Bride for publishing. I was very new to the whole process and it took a few tries to get all the formatting right. I'm so glad that little nobodies like me have the opportunity and ability to share our writings with the world instead of waiting for a publisher to decide whether or not we're good enough. Sure, the big publishers have their good points, but I think it's important for people to have a hand in their own fate. I choose to be an author.

Top Ten Tuesday #48

Sorry this is later than usual. I had to work this morning, and then I got sidetracked by Facebook. Ah, Facebook. It is a double-edged sword. The good cometh with the bad, as in most things. Let's focus on the good for now, shall we?

Today's Topic: Why I Enjoy Facebook (no particular order)

10. Keeping in touch with friends. With friends and family living all over the country, it's a great way to remain a part of their lives.
9. Letting people know what's happening in my life. Sure, I'm not all that interesting, but there has to be a few people who read what I post.
8. The comments. Sometimes reading peoples' comments is like watching a movie, sometimes hilarious, sometimes dramatic, sometimes frightening.
7. News/updates. I "like" certain pages to keep up with what's happening, whether it's a TV show (Doctor Who) or a certain favorite vacation spot (Disneyland).
6. Contests/sweepstakes. I enter many.
5. Using it as a tool for promoting my books. I'm still trying to improve this aspect.
4. Pictures. Like #1, it's great to see pictures of friends and family. Some more than others :)
3. Real news. I don't watch news on TV, so I usually rely on the internet to learn about what's happening in the world. I follow some local news pages for this reason.
2. Some games. There are only a few I play that use my FB login info.
1. This might sound lame, but FB was one if the ways that hubby and I communicated while we were dating. I still have all our "conversations". It's fun to be able to back and read them.


I've been working on my web comic for the past few days. The artwork is going surprisingly well, so far. Though I don't plan to have it up and running until September or so, I'm determined to have a bunch of pages ready in advance, otherwise I won't be able to keep up. I'm not sure how often I'll post a page. There are many things that need to be figured out. I hope you'll come check it out, though. I might even share some teaser pics in the near future...

Summer Dates

I've been looking at Ye Olde Calendar and have chosen some dates for things. They are subject to change, so don't send out invitations for your parties just yet.

June 28- cover reveal for Sources 
July 12- free sample chapters for Sources
July 26- release of Sources in paperback and ebook

The first two are pretty much a guarantee, but the actual release date depends a lot on my editor's editing and my revisions. And not only are my hubby and I moving in the next month or so, my editor and her hubby are planning on moving too! Hopefully these super-fun transitions will not screw stuff up too much. It shall be a busy summer no matter what.

What else can you do in the meantime...?

Enter my giveaway
Play the Name Game
Read my books, write glowing reviews on amazon

Just a suggestion :)

Have a great weekend!

The Story Begins

Besides finishing up Sources, I've started developing the outline for my web comic, Samurai Penguin. It's going well so far. This will be a huge endeavor, though. Not necessarily the story part, but the art part. I'm a pretty good artist, but I have no experience with comics. The background stuff will definitely be the hardest. I've been trying to get inspiration and helpful tips from the internet. One person suggested a certain book that could be helpful. Hopefully it's at my local library. Mostly I just need to practice until I get better. I'll update you on this as I go along.

My hubby got me all three seasons of Avatar: The Last Airbender for Mother's Day. They just arrived yesterday. He used the slow, but free, shipping method, which is one of the reasons I love him. Anytime we save some money, I am happy. Anyway, ATLA is one of my most favoritest shows. I've mentioned it in a few posts. (Particularly this one) and recommend it to everyone. And I can't stress this enough-- the movie version by M. Night is AWFUL! Stay away!

Thanks to all who have entered my giveaway! It's probably the most participation I've ever gotten. There is still plenty of time to enter. Choose one or all of the entry methods. The more you use, the better your chances of winning.

Learn Something New

No top ten list today. I accidentally slept in a bit and am too lazy to think one up. Instead, I'll toot my own horn by telling you I figured out how to display my giveaway thingy on the text part of my blog! I'm not very tech savvy and certainly green when it comes to HTML stuff, but after some thought and a "duh" moment, I got it. See, I'll show you...

**this promo has ended**
a Rafflecopter giveaway


Yay! Now I'm certain more people will see it, even on their phones. If you missed it before, now's your chance to enter.

FYI, over the weekend I sent most of Sources to my editor. I'm still grappling with the last few chapters. I know what I want to happen, but I'm testing out different sequences and such. Now that things are actually moving forward, I'm looking at the end-ish of July for release. I also still plan to release one more book this year. Most likely December.

Anniversary Giveaway!

It has almost been one year since I started this blog AND published my first book, The Bride. It's been an exciting year of events and I can't wait to bring you more books! To celebrate, I'm doing a giveaway! The prize will be one of my very lovely hourglass pendants.

This giveaway is for residents of the contiguous 48 US states only. It will start tonight at midnight US mountain time (May 18) and go till 12:00 am of June 4. The winner will be selected and announced June 5, which is the anniversary date. There are many ways to enter, so get going! If you have questions, feel free to email me. 

**update: I've been so pleased with the participation that I've decided to choose two winners!

***this promo has ended***

a Rafflecopter giveaway