Freeze!

August 6, 201411 Comments

*yawn*

*blink blink*

*chugs two gallons of strong coffee*

Wow! Well, that’s a little better. After yesterday, I’m exhausted. It seems like every time I have a day or two off of work, I need a day or two to recover. Vacation can be exhausting, but this summer, I haven’t been able to go on vacation, and it’s been equally exhausting.

IMG_20140805_150429 Yesterday I froze corn, something I’ve only attempted as an adult once up to now. It was bad. I found my grandma’s recipe, then promptly misread it, and the results were terrible. But we received a boatload of fresh sweet corn over the weekend and had to do something with it, so yesterday I tracked down my grandma’s recipe again, determined to have better results this time.

I’m happy to say I got what I wanted. I’m even happier to say that I’m done freezing corn (for a while, anyway).

I posted a few shots of my progress on Instagram throughout the day yesterday, but it was after 11:00 p.m. last night before we were finally finished – it would have been much later without the help of my wonderful family. When I was a kid, my mom’s family always used to freeze corn together – we shucked and cut the corn outside (this keeps the mess down, and I really wish I’d done the same thing yesterday), then cooked it inside. It was always a big day – Grandpa always had a truckload of corn to freeze. One of my favorite corn-freezing stories involved my great-grandma. I have no idea if I was present at the time this particular incident occurred (she died when I was four), but I get a kick out of the story regardless. Anyway, it was corn-freezing day…

It’s cover reveal time!

August 5, 2014August 4, 20142 Comments

One of the great things about being a writer is the community. There are so many other fabulous writers out there who will cheer you on, help you out, and even lift you up when you’re feeling down. Contests and conversations abound, and I’ve met more awesome authors through the few contests I’ve entered than I could have imagined possible even a few short years ago. One of them is the lovely Maria Ann Green, whose book In the Rearview, is coming soon to a bookshelf near you. And today, I’m happy to help spread the word by sharing the cover for this intriguing new book.

The blurb:

When Meagan’s secret is found out, and she realizes there is no way to outrun her habit of cutting, she tries to work through it, and her depression, before she cuts too deep, making a mistake that can never be undone.

Meagan’s problems aren’t like every other adolescent’s no matter how much she wishes they could be. Hers are worse. They’ve pulled her down into the depths of a depression that is anything but normal. She begins her pattern of self-harm as her depression threatens to drown her. She starts with one cut that leads to the next, and the next. After starting, it’s apparent that there’s no stopping, and Meagan spirals into a dark and cruel world she doesn’t understand. Meagan cuts to feel better, but that comfort doesn’t last long enough, and soon life is worse than it ever was before.

While learning to quit cutting Meagan faces life-altering obstacles and grows up in the process. IN THE REARVIEW is a story of pain, loss, confusion, and hope told through Meagan’s poems, journal entries, and a splash of narrative.

About Maria:

Maria Green currently lives in Minnesota, despite its bitter winters, with her husband. She graduated with a degree in Psychology and a minor in English. When she isn’t writing, Maria loves to read with a cup of strong coffee or a glass of sweet wine, craft, and spend time with her family. This is her first published novel.

You can find out more about Maria by visiting her blog. Stay tuned for more news in the coming weeks, and check out Maria’s cover reveal post for some more interesting tidbits about the author!

Photo Friday: Outside Interests

August 1, 2014August 22, 20143 Comments

Today’s Photo Friday theme is all about the great outdoors. If you keep tabs on my Instagram widget in the sidebar on the right, you’ll see that I take lots and lots of pictures of flowers. Like, seriously, a ton. I may not be able to grow flowers worth a hoot, but I sure can take nice pictures of them.

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A post shared by Kay Kauffman (@kaysiewrites)

More pretties are hidden behind the cut!

Summer reads are here again!

July 28, 2014July 28, 2014Leave a comment

Can you believe it’s week nine already? I know I can’t! But just because we’re nine weeks in doesn’t mean that we’ve run out of great reads. Keep reading to find out which books Michel Prince recommends for your literary enjoyment this summer!

Summer Reads Blog Tour – Week Nine

Michel Prince

Week nine in the Summer Blogs Tour is here and I’m hoping you’ve been enjoying meeting new faces and trying new reads. It’s time to welcome Michel to my blog tour, another friend I met through Authonomy when we were all just newbies starting out. You won’t want to miss out on her reads list and her own books. Check them out – if you’re a romance junkie like me, you won’t be disappointed!

Michel Prince is an author who graduated with a bachelor degree in History and Political Science. Michel writes new adult and adult paranormal romance as well as contemporary romance.

With characters yelling…

Summer lovin’

July 27, 2014July 27, 201411 Comments

Nothin’ says summer like fresh corn on the cob. Except for maybe the fresh (Made from scratch, even!) strawberry rhubarb pie cooling in the kitchen. 🙂

Photo Friday: A musical flashback

July 25, 2014August 22, 20147 Comments

Today’s Photo Friday theme is music. I don’t really have many pictures of music, so I decided to share a blast from the past:

mr. fleece

As you may or may not know…

Do you want to sneak a peek?

July 23, 2014Leave a comment

Anná
Artwork by Hazel Butler

If you follow me on Facebook, you’ll know that I was tagged in another writing game by my friends Afe Smith and Valerie Willis. The idea for this one is to share the first sentence from the first three chapters of your current WIP. I chose to share three lines from The Price of Mercy (Book One of the Lokana Chronicles) and it’s sequel, Fog of War (Book Two of the Lokana Chronicles). As always, titles – and lines, for that matter – are subject to change because, well because I’m a writer (read: perfectionist) and I’m my own worst critic.

Chapters One, Two, and Three of The Price of Mercy start out like this:

1. Dirty tears carved grooves through the layers of grime on the poor farmer’s face as he fought and lost the battle for his dignity.

2. Vegin pulled the rough brown hood lower over his eyes as he sauntered through the dusty marketplace.

3. She ambled down the steps, lost in thought.

<!–more While Chapters One, Two, and Three…While Chapters One, Two, and Three of Fog of War start off like this:

1. Anna Martoka snuggled into the embrace of her fiancé, John Briant.

2. A month passed.

3. Anna stumbled on a tree root.

I have yet to revise (for the dozenth time) FoW, as I’m currently stuck on revisions for TPoM. But I’m up to Chapter Six now, which is huge progress, given that Chapters Five and Six did not heretofore exist. I still have a lot of work ahead of me with these books, but hopefully I’ll be able to finish revisions by the end of the year and start querying again in January (I know, I know, I’ve said that the last couple of years, but this time, I’m gonna make it happen).

And who knows? Maybe this time, I’ll catch someone’s eye…

What are you working on at the moment?

Inspiration, or, What’s in a name?

July 22, 20141 Comment

spongebob One of the new blogging buddies I met during April’s Blogging U. course is hosting a Guest Blogger Week over at her place, and today it’s my turn to share! If you’re not familiar with the Avid Reader blog, you should definitely check it out. Lots of neat stuff there. And there will be guest posts all week!

My post is on the inspiration behind my humble blog’s title and tagline. To read more about my inspirations, head on over and check out my post. Then have a look at yesterday’s guest spot and some of the other booky news!

This week’s Summer Reads guest is…me!

July 21, 2014July 21, 201418 Comments

This week, it’s my turn! I hope you’ve enjoyed everyone’s recommendations so far – this has been a whole lot of fun, and I’m tickled to share my summer book picks with you. Read on to find out what they are, and don’t forget to enter the giveaway at the end of the post! There’s lots of awesome prizes, including a copy of my poetry collection, Tuesday Daydreams!

Summer Reads Blog Tour – Week Eight

Kay Kauffman

Tick tock, tick tock, it’s week eight in our Summer Reads Blog Tour and I’ve come to welcome Kay Kauffman to our madness! Kay is another lovely online friend from Authonomy who I’ve been chatting with now for a number of years. She’s fun, has a gentle spirit that I simply adore, and will be the first to gather her popcorn bucket when Sam and I start our online battles! Let’s hear it up for Kay!

As a girl, I dreamed of being swept off my feet by my one true love. At the age of 24, it finally happened…and he’s never let me forget it. A mild-mannered secretary by day and a determined word-wrangler by night, I battle the twin evils of distraction and procrastination in order to write fantastical tales of wuv…twue wuv…with a few bad haiku thrown in for good measure.

I reside in the midst of an Iowa corn field with my hopelessly devoted husband and his mighty red pen; four crazy, cute kids; and an assortment of adorable kitties, chicks, and bunnies.