Red Series

Monday 29 February 2016

Meme Blog Hop and Monday MIshMash



Today is day one of the five day long Meme Blog Hop. Hosted by Christine Rains, Tara Tyler and C. Lee McKenzie, it is a hop meant to bring on positivity and entertainment. Who does not want to be entertained? 

Meme Details: The meme I'm submitting was initially made when Grace Randolph a Youtuber who delivers fresh movie news on week days (along with movie reviews and updates) asked viewers to create a meme based on a picture from the Wonder Woman set. I shared it with her on Twitter and I still enjoy it to this day. All I can say is that the woman holding the shield is Wonder Woman and I think the guy is a potential love interest. Today I will share this piece of hilarity with you and let you judge how good or funny it is.


Caption: When your sword face needs some serious work

Huh? They say a joke is lost if you have to explain it so I'll leave you with this. Thanks for popping by and be sure to check out others participating by clicking here.

Monday Mishmash


Monday Mishmash is a weekly meme sharing your thoughts and happenings. You just grab a button and create your post. Sure I guess I write it differently from most but moving on....

I am back. So let's see my plan for this week.

1. Taking part in March Madness. Will share more later.

2. Starting a new long term ghostwriting project. Funny I'm finishing up one that had started late 2015. It is both happy and sad to complete these long term projects. On the positive I get a regular paycheck, do a job I enjoy and help someone achieve a writing landmark. The sad includes parting with work that though no longer yours can still leave an impact.

3. Finally seeing a certain movie on Tuesday.

4. Recovering from the near heart failure from getting over 60 likes in quick succession on a tweet about Leo winning an Oscar. Not kidding. I am still in shock.

5. Writing, Writing, Writing. There will be lots of writing and I am both excited and intimidated by it.

6. Write my IWSG post. #4 has given me a few new ideas on what to discuss.

7. Pay the dentist a visit.

8. Roll in my money. In my imagination. Sorry but I can't risk misplacing a dollar. #FreelanceLife


So thank you for stopping by. Never stop dreaming, work on your goals, have fun and never forget to love. March is going to be amazing.

Friday 26 February 2016

Do You Have a Goal Bloghop: February 2016


Do you have a Goal Bloghop is a hop where you sign up with the goal you have in mind. It can be a small or big goal. Either way after joining you share your progress the last Friday of each month. 

1. I have decided to release The Missing Girls series in it's entirety on one day. Kind of like Netflix. They will each be a separate novella detailing the disappearance of a teenage girl. She can be a runaway, abducted etc. All each novella will have in common is the MC being teens and it is written in verse.



2. Since I am doing them all together. It is more feasible to release late Summer or Fall. Which means another project might end up being in 2017 which has multiple releases planned. But I want my first book's release to not be within a cramped space.



3. I love the covers and next month will be setting up for a cover reveal for the first four in May. The fifth cover will not be shown until the book releases. A little bit of suspense won't kill.



4. While I don't plan to release all series that I write at once I will consider that route for some depending on how this series does on release.



5. With this decision I am moving further the release of any books under my adult Royme pseudonym. Don't want my YA and adult work competing for opening days.

Thanks for dropping by and I am totally psyched about releasing The Missing Girls Series into the world as soon as it's ready. My goal of doing it in 2016 is within reach and that is great. Enjoy your weekend everyone and I am happy to add that elections yesterday in Jamaica went well. 




Thursday 25 February 2016

Fan Fiction Overload

For starters here is what I have to say to the flu and and fatigue trying to get me down.



Hey everyone today I want to discuss a form of writing I love a lot but rarely chat about. Fan fiction are stories written based off someone else's work intended as part of a fandom and not original fiction. So a retelling is not fan fiction which has given us wonderful novels like Cinder by Marissa Meyer.

Over the years I have written all kinds of fan fiction and want to share a few with you lovely folks. If you are not a fan of this writing form then prepare to...continue not being a fan. I'm a writer not a miracle worker. Plus Thursday Feb 25 is election day in Jamaica so I have enough to think about.


Right off the bat let's start with...poetry. *Gasp* You had no idea that fan fiction included the poetic art. Well here are links to a few. Note that all work is by yours truly.

To Serenity - Show: Yu-Gi-Oh

Me: Wrote this late 2003 not too long after graduating high school. Yup, around 13 years ago. A sweet poem about sibling love.

Pai - Show: 3 x 3 Eyes

Me: Ummmm.

Funny enough the poem below is one of my few fanfics based off a non-animated show. Sadly the show was cancelled but I got enough inspiration for this poem. Even petitioned for the show to be added to the listing at Fanfiction.net and it worked! Also I posted it February 27, 2007. Nine years ago man.

How I Came to This - Show: The Black Donnelly's

Me: This was an interesting mix. We never know what might shape us.

As you can see I love writing fan fiction based off animated shows. But that does not mean I don't look at serious real life issues. Here are a few.

Graduation: What will Happen to us - Show: Totally Spies

Broken Families: Terrence - Show: Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends

School rivalries gone bad: Requiem of the Heart - Show: Rugrats/All Grown Up

Rape: Who's Lying - Show: Brace Face

Yeah just what all fandoms are looking for. Those serious life issues.



The DARK Ones.

KND: R.U.N. - Show: Codename Kid's Next Door

Me: WTF?

The Horror of Popularity - Show: Fairly Odd Parents

Me: Holy Mother!!



Note: The two above are among the scariest things I have ever written. Looking back I was shocked. Plus I honestly think if Fifty Shades of Grey can be made that I should one day do some kind of fan movie version of The Horror of Popularity (not a sexual story in any way). Wouldn't be worse than E.L. Jame's work and I went to see the movie without touching those books. I saw it on half-off day. Much respect to E.L. for making her dollars but the reviews I have seen for her books are not kind.

Insanity

Just trust me on this.



Revenge, Pain and Regret - Show: Grim and Evil

Me: Apparently I wanted to do an off kilter novella with Grim and some OC's. This could be adapted for the Lifetime Channel. Strange indeed.

No Que Sera Sera - Show: Grim and Evil

Me: Clearly I can't write a normal Grim and Evil story despite two different user profiles.

Cursed or Unlucky - Show: Jimmy Neutron

Me: Sheen is a serial killer? Okay I'm out of here.

SIN - Show: Codename Kids Next Door

Me: At over 63,000 words clearly I was writing full length novels long ago. Freaky ones. Damn!

Unreal - Show: Fairly Odd Parents

Me: I took my love for Amish culture and wrote this. I refuse to say anything else and yet to reread.


Silly

Now I will finish up with the just plain silly. These fan fiction entries were just done for fun's sake and have hardly any real plot or story in most cases.



Bean Scouts - Show: Camp Lazlo

Me: If you watched this you know pointless is the perfect way to go from the get. LOL.

I Woke Up - Show: Avatar: The Last Airbender crossover with Fairly Odd Parents

Me: Sounds ridiculous right? Exactly.

So that's it for my fan fiction sharing today. I have loads but will not blow your mind with just how much I really love writing. I mean it's my job, my hobby, my love...yeah I just love writing a whole lot. Thank you for stopping by and I'll be posting on Friday. Monday will see me taking part in a fun Meme Hop. See you around guys. :)





Monday 22 February 2016

Stephanie Faris Guest Post, Illustrator Shout out and Cover Reveal

Today we have Stephanie Faris as our lovely guest. Author of multiple books (of which I own a few) and a lovely blogger as well it's great to not only reveal the cover of her latest book but also have her as my guest below. 


The words are 100% her own and she will be sharing how to manage multiple projects as an author. Take it away Steph!

Too Many Projects at Once - Stephanie Faris

On a typical day, I’ll write about cloud computing, credit card processing, eight-year-old fictional shenanigans, and a 12-year-old sleepover. I usually don’t take a break between working on projects, moving from one to the next to make sure I meet whatever deadlines I have that day.

It wasn’t always that way. At one time, I was sure I couldn’t work on more than one writing project at a time. Then I got an agent…and launched a freelance career. The latter means writing 2,000 words or more on whatever my clients happen to need that day. The former means dealing with edits on your 2016 book while you’re still writing your 2017 book. You never know when those edits will land in your inbox and when they do, you have to be prepared to jump right back into a story you wrote months ago.

I’m very fortunate to now have both middle grade and chapter books going at the same time. I’m doing a group project with some other tween fiction writers and I have a chapter due this week. I also just mailed off revisions for the second of my chapter book series, written for six- to nine-year-olds. That means jumping back and forth between the twelve-year-old boy who is my assigned character in the group project and eight-year-old Piper Morgan.

How do I do it? If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that the perception that we “can’t” work on more than one project is mostly in our head. It’s also something we have to get over once we have multiple books under contract. Some writers probably have a palate-cleansing process, maybe taking a day off in between projects, but I’m proof that it can be done without a break. You just have to read over the last few pages of what you’ve written and get your mind back into that voice and…poof…you’re working on multiple projects at once!

Thank you so much for being our guest today Stephanie.



Also sending a shout out to illustrator Lucy Fleming. Sometimes in the bustle the illustrator does not get enough credit but not here. Kudos to you too Lucy.

Bio from Website: Lucy Fleming has been an avid doodler and book-worm since early childhood. Drawing always seemed like so much fun, but she never dreamed it could be a full time job! She studied Art and practiced drawing every day, and in no time, went on to graduate from the University of Lincoln (UK) with a First Class Degree in Illustration.

She approached the Bright Agency in the summer of 2014 and they helped her leap straight into a career as a professional children’s book illustrator and she hasn’t looked back! Since then, she has worked with Bright on projects for clients such as, Frilly Fish Books: Bloomsbury, Little Tiger Press, ABDO Publishing, Igloo Books, Simon & Schuster and more. 

She lives and works in a small town in England with her family and a little black cat. When not at her desk she prefers nothing more than to be outdoors in the sunshine with a hot cup of tea.

Link: Website, Twitter

Now for the grand reveal of the cover for Stephanie's next book!

Cover Reveal 

Piper Morgan Joins the Circus
By Stephanie Faris


https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwiiBy2uqT18wpcMiU8fR3nm63ShV5mDFKHZ765JqiynshSp_HOoVK6MH6tGoFRHawCuXNfO68-scb86aOHutOkowERt9FInD-NN6lksOUevmv1sWwYrCkhh00DphTaYp5YeohmWMK6wU/s400/Piper+Morgan+to+the+Rescue+JPEG.jpg


Blurb:

Piper helps some four-legged friends find the perfect home in the third book of the brand-new Piper Morgan series.

Piper is super excited to help out at Bark Street, a local animal shelter in town. Who wouldn’t want to be surrounded by adorable puppies and dogs all day? And when Piper sees Taffy, the cutest dog she has ever seen, Piper is determined to find a way to bring Taffy home. But it won’t be easy—especially when she finds out someone else wants to make Taffy a part of their family, too!


Author Photo (click for full resolution):

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj63bD83FVVi9_rvzQ8kbS5aahOQRIIyMOn85OA8z6OMzaTfaDYEGFnITAQbiENANiSUnhPqiBa4NFvDGAjBUrpGwM2j35gNZtT7ujJi2b-E1EstUB-kZUqdclQh9Ccy04zp8DbAQLLGt0/s320/HeadshotSF.jpg


Bio:

Stephanie Faris knew she wanted to be an author from a very young age. In fact, her mother often told her to stop reading so much and go outside and play with the other kids. After graduating from Middle Tennessee State University with a Bachelor of Science in broadcast journalism, she somehow found herself working in information technology. But she never stopped writing.

Stephanie is the Simon & Schuster author of 30 Days of No Gossip and 25 Roses, as well as the upcoming Piper Morgan series. When she isn’t crafting fiction, she writes for a variety of online websites on the topics of business, technology, and her favorite subject of all—fashion. She lives in Nashville with her husband, a sales executive. 

Links:






There is also a giveaway to partake in below. Thank you for stopping by and have a great day.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Friday 19 February 2016

Under the Weather BUT still seeing Sunshine

Sorry for being out of the blogging arena for most of this week. Sadly I got a bad case of the flu and combined with my fatigue issues I took bit of a health hit. Hopefully I'll be on the back to blogging form by Monday while I recover. Will say that my spirit are still high and nothing will rain on my parade enough to take away my happiness. Hope all of you feel the same. Plan to see Deadpool either weekend or early next week (planned for this past Tuesday but I got too sick then. Even my brother stayed home on Wednesday from his job to rest. At least my Dad a.k.a. Mr. Superman didn't get sick. Heaven help us if he ever did, that bug would wipe us out right now).

However like I said nothing is going to mess up my happiness. So enjoy some handsome kittens below and don't anything take your happiness or sunshine. Love you guys and see you Monday.


Monday 15 February 2016

Mish Mash Week Five and Getting Personal: Out of the Writing Closet #LGBT




Monday Mishmash is a weekly meme sharing your thoughts and happenings. You just grab a button and create your post. Sure I guess I write it differently from most but moving on....

1. I have all sorts of stuff going on:

A) More in Getting Personal

B) Freelance work is ongoing. Thank God.

2. Anticipating the arrival of Glass Sword. It was mailed in advance of the release date so hopefully it will reach me this week. Fingers Crossed.

3. Still have to get the smell out of books that got wet after the grand bathroom flood. Plumber #2 finally fixed what was really going on. Bit me Plumber #1. From me and my books. Plus it was just luck both times I stayed up late writing. Of course the cracks that make the water seep into my room sucks ass but still...

4. Lots and lots of writing. YAY!!!? Get out of here question mark!

5. Tuesday is Deadpool. Boom.


Getting Personal: Out of the Writing Closet

You guessed it! I'm closing my Roe pseudonym in favor of writing all my YA under my real name without separating my upcoming LGBT novels. Wait? That wasn't your guess? Um...okay.



When I had decided upon the pseudonym and the separation years ago there were various reasons.

I. I was still on the fence on some aspects of the lgbt community. While no longer on the path of just silently condemning all gays to hell I still was unsure about a lot of things. Where I live there is not much talk about the positive side of the non-heterosexual lifestyle. A straight girl like myself can only make so much decisions with limited information.

2. My family was a concern. I have chosen the shocking man-less lifestyle and not dropped any babies via the Virgin Mary Method (don't you dare God. I love and worship you but no, NO). While this has been thankfully accepted by my traditional life givers it was very doubtful seeing my name under a book written with anything homosexual or otherwise related would be acceptable.

3. There was so much talk about branding and writing only a particular type of book under one name. Worse there were claims that writing under too many genres with one name might turn off publishers and back then I was very interested in one day getting a traditional publisher.

4. Yada, Yada, Yada.


So what changed you must be wondering?


Maybe a little like that. So early last week I went looking at a publishing site to see if they were doing anymore special submissions. Just to realize they had stopped doing those. Oh well. So I went trolling around the site looking at a bunch of their published stuff then noticed something. There were nearly no males, especially with the fantasy which was just a female looking a man even when it had nothing to do with the story. Seriously? Shoe-horned romance is not cool. I decided then that I would come up with something to wow these people.


Because after multiple delays of my self published works I am clearly the shit. First one is coming by June 2016 folks.



After much percolating I decided to post my idea to Twitter where all the unique people dwell and not drowning on Facebook. By then it had become a sort of fantasy/magical realism novel idea. The MC was a merman, he was gay living where that was not allowed, he would flee to our land world where he won't be forced into an arranged marriage. That was the start. To my surprise this quickly got several likes and even retweeted. It was like #Arrow had just mike dropped outside Wednesday night (I do top notch work with those live tweets). So I started then by Friday I took out everything and wrote one new sentence. 

Sunday I decided to share that sentence on Twitter and I swear my mind exploded. First I got two likes very popular LGBT Twitter Accounts. Nice. Then I got five new followers in quick succession along with a bunch of other stuff. For one tweet in my life that is mind blowing. So happy. #TornMerman. 

Then I got to thinking about my writing and my mind honestly went to the fact that we don't have nearly enough mainstream LGBT fiction out there. Not at the forefront anyway. Times are changing but it's still hard to really find lgbt fiction that gets top billing outside LGBTQA websites and book recommendations and interviews. Sorry but what drives a fanbase to the top is the ground movement from fans like with Harry Potter, Red Queen, and so on. Plus great marketing. Sadly a lot of lgbt works gets a temporary buzz, a pat on the back and only the medium fanbase left still talking about it months later. Notice how many lgbt books topping book recommendation lists? Award nominations for books in the mainstream? Not many and there are a really good amount of LGBT books out there not getting nearly enough due. 



That was when I realized I was part of the problem.


By having a separate name for just my LGBT YA books while keeping mine for others I was stating that something was somehow wrong or different with those books. The realization was quite jarring. I came to the quick decision to close my Roe accounts. I'll be doing one last post on Roe is Writing for a blogfest then I'm done. I will leave the blog up, get rid of the barely used Facebook writing account and find new use for the Twitter one.

However.....


I will be keeping my adult LGBTQA pseudonym Royme. In that case I feel that the true freedom to write adult novels of varying degrees is best served with the pseudonym to avoid any publisher I might work with in the future getting concerned about my real name being on books about fierce pirates, sexual rebels or *gasp* human trafficking on an alien planet. I know, I know. The controversy. 


Okay that girl with the brush is kind of scary. Okay. Really Scary.


There. I feel much better now. 

So I write anything I want under my real name now. Except for some hard core naughty bits. Though I kind of hit that by transferring my upcoming first NA novel from Roe. Horror here I come. Better yet Huntress the star of book one is now black and has an Afro. Eat your heart out readers. No seriously she is a flesh eater and hunts humans. She would really eat your heart. So yeah I only publish the tame things under my real name. Riiiiiight.

Breaking News: Literally today (Monday) 12: 17 a.m. while finishing this up for post I checked my Twitter and realized I got a new follower just four minutes ago. A writer of lgbt fiction. The support is real!!

With all that how can I not be completely true to my writing life and throw all doubt out the window?


Thank you all who stopped by and read this whole thing. The title for my merman novel in progress is The Torn Merman and I will be featuring a preview in March on Wattpad. It was so nice of you to read along as I shared my feelings and thoughts. May the writing world continue to expand and bring us more books about all types of people.

Oh and you can go to Roe is Busy Writing to see my final post and check out my Musefest Entry.

v-day2bicon

For those looking to contact me:

Twitter: @queendsheena

Facebook: Just go to twitter. Okay, Okay. Sheena-kay 

Facebook Author: Sheena-kay Graham

Royme: Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, LJ 





Thursday 11 February 2016

Book Review: City of Fallen Angels

Book: City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments Book Four)

Author:  Cassandra Clare

Source: Purchased from The Book Depository (TBD)

Genre: Young Adult Paranormal/Supernatural

City of Fallen Angels

Summary: Trust is dangerous, and to love is to destroy. Plunge into the fourth installment in the internationally bestselling Mortal Instruments series and prepare to be hooked ("Entertainment Weekly") now with a gorgeous new cover, a map, a new foreword, and exclusive bonus content! "City of Fallen Angels "is a Shadowhunters novel. The Mortal War is over, and sixteen-year-old Clary Fray is back home in New York, excited about all the possibilities before her. She s training to become a Shadowhunter and to use her unique power. Her mother is getting married to the love of her life. Downworlders and Shadowhunters are at peace at last. And most importantly of all she can finally call Jace her boyfriend. But nothing comes without a price. Someone is murdering Shadowhunters, provoking tensions between Downworlders and Shadowhunters that could lead to a second, bloody war. Clary s best friend, Simon, can t help her his mother just found out that he s a vampire, and now he s homeless. When Jace begins to pull away from her without explaining why, Clary is forced to delve into the heart of a mystery whose solution reveals her worst nightmare: she herself has set in motion a terrible chain of events that could lead to her losing everything she loves. Even Jace. The stakes are higher than ever in the #1 "New York Times" bestselling fourth installment of the Mortal Instruments series."


Review: While I love The Mortal Instrument series sadly I must admit things have started to fall a part a bit after the second book City of Ashes. The third book City of Glass was a rough read for me and months later when I got this book, the fourth, it also took me a long time before I really sat down and read it. In the fourth installment Clary, Jace and Simon have to face new challenges in their lives as the world moves forward. Marriage is on the horizon, love is in the air and unfortunately so is murder and someone using demon blood on the innocents. There are many twist and turns, some good others are either meh or really confusing. I intend to read the series to the end but sadly I must admit that probably Clare's best work in this series ended after City of Ashes. I can only recommend this book to fans of the series, especially of you got through book 3. More so if you loved it because then this book will be a breeze for you.



So at the end of the day while this book stands up enough to let me continue unto the last two books in the series. I am still somewhat disappointed at the loss of the amazing story I read in the first two books. While I understand there are people who are not fans of the author, she is a great storyteller. Sadly not even her great story telling  skills could bring back the magic from the beginning of the series. Yet I will say this is a good read. Just not a great one. At the end of the day I'm still a fan of the author and excited for the new Shadow Hunter series Lady Midnight that is coming out this year.





Rating 3.5 Stars


Wednesday 10 February 2016

Waiting on Wednesday: The Glittering Court


Waiting on Wednesday is held weekly by Breaking the Spine. This event spotlights upcoming releases bloggers are excited about. So without further ado here is my pick.

The Glittering Court

Book: The Glittering Court by Richelle Mead

Release Date: April 5, 2016

Summary: A dazzling, romantic new fantasy series set in a mix of Elizabethan and frontier worlds from Richelle Mead, #1 internationally bestselling author of "Vampire Academy." Big and sweeping, spanning the refined palaces of Osfrid to the gold dust and untamed forests of Adoria, "The Glittering Court" tells the story of Adelaide, an Osfridian countess who poses as her servant to escape an arranged marriage and start a new life in Adoria, the New World. But to do that, she must join the Glittering Court. Both a school and a business venture, the Glittering Court is designed to transform impoverished girls into upper-class ladies who appear destined for powerful and wealthy marriages in the New World.Adelaide naturally excels in her training and even makes a few friends: the fiery former laundress Tamsin and the beautiful Sirminican refugee Mira. She manages to keep her true identity hidden from all but one: the intriguing Cedric Thorn, son of the wealthy proprietor of the Glittering Court. When Adelaide discovers that Cedric is hiding a dangerous secret of his own, together, they hatch a scheme to make the best of Adelaide s deception. Complications soon arise first, as they cross the treacherous seas from Osfrid to Adoria, and later, when Adelaide catches the attention of a powerful governor. But no complication will prove quite as daunting as the potent attraction simmering between Adelaide and Cedric. An attraction that, if acted on, would scandalize the Glittering Court and make them both outcasts in wild, vastly uncharted lands. . . ."


This is the start of the latest series by Richelle. Other than Soundless I have found out about her books long after they had been released. I want to be at the head of the line with this new one. My hardcopy should be pre-ordered by March.

Thanks for stopping by and sorry about not posting yesterday. I was unwell and fell behind. Also I am not comfortable posting when I'm not able to visit other blogs. Book reviews will go up tomorrow and Friday.


Monday 8 February 2016

Mish Mash: Week Four



Monday Mishmash is a weekly meme sharing your thoughts and happenings. You just grab a button and create your post. Sure I guess I write it differently from most but moving on....

1. Freelance Work is a go and I'm working with one regular customer and two new ones. I'm excited since one of the new ones wants to do a major project. We'll see but if they decide to continue I'll be getting some good bank. Never bad for a freelancer.



2. I am very excited after getting thirteen new books for my kindle. I helped an author last week and in return was given an Amazon Gift Card. The books I got include: The Undead Road by David Power King (yup paid full price but isn't our lovely David worth it), Dissilution by J.L. Campbell, Midwife to Destiny (Destiny African Romance #1) (Destiny African Romance Series) by Nana Prah and Dracul (Dragon Eye Book 5) by Finley Aaron.



3. Doing a book promo this week for a blog tour. Keep an eye out this week to find out which book.




4. Right now I am reading Truthwitch by Susan Dennard which arrived last week via my mailman. 

Truthwitch

Trust me guys this book is really good and the author knows how to create a very intriguing world. 

                                   

What will I tell you? Bloodwitches are scary as shit, if that became real the idea of zombies (not a hoard) might actually sound appealing. Plus I now have more paperback pretties and that is always a good thing.


See you guys tomorrow with my latest book review. Thanks for stopping by.

Wednesday 3 February 2016

IWSG: Putting Yourself Out There


Today is the monthly IWSG hosted by Alex and his interchangeable minion squad of online ninjas. Every first Wednesday participants gather to share their insecurities and other thoughts out in the open. It is is an amazing catharsis and fun gathering to be a part of. So here I go with my post.

One of my insecurities has been getting more involved online. When I started this blog I had already tried others with varying degrees of success and failure. Yet I was willing to try again and as you can see a couple years down the road it has paid off.

Then there was Facebook which at first was this crazy fun playground but soon became an overcrowded junkyard I could barely get a word in. I left it for awhile a while for Twitter last year. While I have returned it is still a struggle and not one I'm currently really struggling with as I have found my social media soulmate.

Now that takes me to Twitter. When I first started I have to admit I misjudged twitter. All those short quips and people maybe throwing one back? What the hell is this? Off to Facebook where I can participate in real communication. Oh the irony when I went crawling back and by 2015 I was on a roll. I live tweet on some shows, share writing thoughts and chat it up with various authors and even some nice individuals from the world of Entertainment. I have really found my center here and it will be a vital part of my marketing campaign when it's time to promote my book.

Youtube. Funny most would think you can't make an impact on Youtube if you don't create videos. WRONG. I don't create videos but what I do is comment and communicate with those who do. Bobby Burns and Grace Reynolds are two avid professional Youtubers I have a strong fan relationship with because we don't just chat videos but also about our own thoughts and media. Recently one of my tweets made Grace Reynold's channel Movie Math. Now this was not planned. I had just read an article that burned me up because DC decided to drop Wonder Woman's age and kind of allowed it to be made a big deal. Something I noticed was not done with other superhero characters like Thor (yes I know Thor is with Marvel but let's not forget how sexualized Black Widow is versus Bruce Banner/The Hulk. It has long been an issue that females in movies are often not given the same respect and due process as males). Plus in retrospect who went around dumping the ages of Batman or Superman in Batman vs. Superman (and I don't count saying Batman is older and more jaded. I get older every year I'm alive and that does not reveal jack about my age). So I tweeted Grace like a number of fans and subscribers do. Not too long after that I got to see her mention me and talk about my very tweet and more about Wonder Woman. It was frigging awesome!

Here is the video below. If you look to the left as you watch the video you'll see thumbnails. The one with Wonder Woman beside the birthday cake over stacked with candles is the story I'm mentioned it. If you don't want to watch the entire thing but are interested in hearing about the tweet by yours truly you can click that to skip ahead. Still there are other cool stories including a detailed talk about the movie Birth of a Nation, Star Wars: The Force Awakens struggling in China and the viewer question involving the chances of a live action Pokemon.


Instagram and Tsu.co are two others I want to utilize as well as both places I chat with others online as well as potential marketing tools. But getting to communicate and enjoy time with others is priority for me. I love doing freelance writing despite the load sometimes getting heavy reminding me that it's also a job. While I can't say loving what I do never feels like work, I can say I never go through life always hating what I do. Oh and I updated my Linked In during January and need to get on that.

So yeah it's important to have an online presence but try to make it fun too if you can. There is always a way to get yourself out there and make friends where you can. Thanks for stopping by and see you dear readers again on Friday.

Monday 1 February 2016

Mish Mash: Week Three and Stealing Snow Cover Reveal



Monday Mishmash is a weekly meme sharing your thoughts and happenings. You just grab a button and create your post. Sure I guess I write it differently from most but moving on....

1. Catching up on some reading with Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins and Triangles by Ellen Hopkins.

2. Made a private list on the priority manuscripts I need to finish this year.

3. Set things up so I can publish my first book by June. No more delays.

4. Getting posts ready for April's A-Z. I'm participating with two blogs. More on that in the week.

5. Watch the sinking of Shadowhunters series on Free Form. Did not enjoy this from the start and now even the most dedicated fans are starting to turn on it. The numbers have been steadily declining from a start of nearly two million viewers to under a million by episode 3. Netflix was where I slowly watched the first two and then risked the third one live. Will watch the next one just to be part of the group able to say "Should have kept the movie." I know it did not make much but it was not nearly this bad. If anyone disagrees feel free but in my opinion the show is just not good.

Stealing Snow Cover Reveal

Danielle Paige has started a new book series coming out later this year. On January 28 the cover was revealed and I must say it was quite a beauty. Even better there was an excerpt along with the reveal but first feast your eyes on this.


Summary: Seventeen-year-old Snow has spent the majority of her life within the walls of the Whittaker Institute, a high security mental hospital in upstate New York. But deep down, she knows she’s not crazy and doesn’t belong there. When she meets a mysterious, handsome new orderly and dreams about a strange twisted tree, she realizes she must escape and figure out who she really is.
Using her trusting friend Bale as a distraction, Snow breaks free and races into the nearby woods. Suddenly, everything isn’t what it seems, the line between reality and fantasy begins to blur, and she finds herself in icy Algid—her true home—with witches, thieves, and a strangely alluring boy named Kai, none of whom she’s sure she can trust. As secret after secret is revealed, Snow discovers that she is on the run from a royal lineage she’s destined to inherit, a father more powerful and ruthless than she could have imagined, and choices of the heart that could change the fate of everything…including Snow’s return to the world she once knew.
This breathtaking first volume begins the story of how Snow becomes a villain, a queen, and ultimately a hero.




So exciting and while September might seem a while away there is no better time start reserving some book buying money than before the release date. For February this hardback is on my list. Paperback (and kindle) is also available for pre-order.

Waiting on Wednesday: Reconnected

Please Note: The final WOW on this blog as I take my final bow this month. I want to thank all readers of this post and all my blogging. I r...