tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17888007575867197242024-03-21T16:05:50.679-04:00They Call Me Anteria...The Digital Journal of a writer's thoughts, process, and daily life
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New Posts every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at NoonUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788800757586719724.post-33418429859724143622017-02-01T09:00:00.000-05:002017-02-01T09:00:05.692-05:00If I Were Beautiful Excerpt + Giveaway!<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">
<b style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">If I Were Beautiful </b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">by Devon Hartford </span><br /><span style="font-weight: normal;">(If I Were…, #1) </span><br /><span style="font-weight: normal;">Publication date: </span><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_4254975" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: normal; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">January 23rd 2017</span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: normal;">Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFQRDsie-zbvouHJay5XAEXZDx0MwwkrbMCU9m7nQrwl4hBY_mVGY1OMdWvLykZVytqDf_e2G_iwBzTCZ75QIkc882JNjdKhGbaXWyditFkUzvcvDKFBEiUnbjRkET0l0P-3F1k0XVB48/s1600/IfIWereB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFQRDsie-zbvouHJay5XAEXZDx0MwwkrbMCU9m7nQrwl4hBY_mVGY1OMdWvLykZVytqDf_e2G_iwBzTCZ75QIkc882JNjdKhGbaXWyditFkUzvcvDKFBEiUnbjRkET0l0P-3F1k0XVB48/s400/IfIWereB.jpg" width="270" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Synopsis:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Is life better when you’re beautiful?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Jane Johnson has tried every beauty tip and trick known to woman, but none of them have ever made men notice her.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Until now.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Finally, something is working. She barely recognizes herself in the mirror. Is it her new haircut? Two years of yoga class? Her new eyebrow tweeze? Or is it all that nasty wheat grass juice her sister insisted she drink finally working some kind of magic? Whatever it is, something is transforming Jane from plain to downright beautiful.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">For the first time in her life, men are noticing her.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Constantly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Jane is getting so much attention from men she doesn’t know what to do with it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Before her inexplicable transformation, she couldn’t get a date to save her life. Now she has a date every night of the week. Gorgeous eligible men are throwing themselves at her. They’re even fighting over her. Actual fist fights to win her affection.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It all seems too good to be true.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The only question on Jane’s mind is whether or not her newfound beauty is going to last or if it’s some cruel trick of fate that will fade away as quickly as it appeared.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Because everybody knows, when something seems too good to be true, it probably is.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">***If I Were Beautiful is a saucy romance with a mystical twist that will leave you breathless to find out what happens next. This is book one of a three book series. Book two will release April 2017, Book three, July 2017 (or sooner).</span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Excerpt:</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I had just gone insane.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Or had a stroke.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Or maybe I was still asleep.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Whatever it was, there was no rational explanation for what I saw in the mirror.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Someone else.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Not pudgy little me with bad hair.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Some supermodel I didn’t recognize.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I blinked several times.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But I still saw the supermodel.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I was hallucinating.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I squeezed my eyes shut and rubbed them until I saw stars. Then I opened them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Still seeing a supermodel.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Long flowing blonde hair, a bit messy and bedish, but it was silky and shiny gold and looked good enough for a photo on a box of hair dye.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A finely shaped face with high cheekbones, trim nose, wide full mouth and lush lips. Her lashes were naturally thick. When she smiled, she had perfectly straight white teeth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The supermodel was taller than my five foot nothing. If I had to guess, I’d say she was almost 5’9” with long and slender arms and legs and an hourglass figure.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Then it hit me. I was looking through a window at another person. It was the only thing that made sense.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So I stuck my head slowly out my bathroom door to see if the blonde supermodel was standing on the other side of the wall, looking at me through a window. Super Blonde matched my movements exactly and, surprise surprise, she wasn’t standing behind the wall in my hallway.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Nobody was.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Back in front of the mirror, I scratched my head for a moment and Super Blonde did too.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Wait.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Wait, wait, wait.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Duh.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I wasn’t wearing my glasses. I was just imagining all this. The brain can be like that. Wishful thinking and that sort of thing. Probably left over hallucination from my crazy five day flu.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I walked into my bedroom and found my glasses on the nightstand where I always left them before bed. I put them on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Whoa!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I couldn’t see!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My glasses really hurt my eyes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I yanked them off and looked at them. Were these my glasses? They seemed like it. Was it an old pair? Maybe that was it. I put them on again. My entire bedroom squiggled and vibrated and had this magnified quality that made me nauseous. I took them off and searched through my desk for a different pair. Put those on. Same thing. They hurt my eyes too. I went back in the bathroom with my glasses and put them on in front of the mirror. Same result. They hurt my eyes and blurred everything, so I set them on the counter.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Had someone given me LASIK while I was asleep?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I’d think about that later because one thing remained the same, whether I had my glasses on or off.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I was the blonde supermodel in the mirror.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Want to win your own signed copy? Enter the giveaway below!</b><a class="rcptr" data-raflid="d04251231601" data-template="" data-theme="classic" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/d04251231601/" id="rcwidget_mkfjssum" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32991591-if-i-were-beautiful" target="_blank">Goodreads</a></span></b></div>
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<b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/If-Were-Beautiful-ebook/dp/B01N9SFCFE" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Amazon</span></a></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu-pLwktsj3NL9TEo6MSr_GpHIwaUpDcYDsLNd5nirsf2Ym0_cTSDTyV3DGMHWHa4t5BUO_oAbRNbN0VEhCkdlTy9dj8hwLkwhCAO7u_FOKNPB2RTEpy84Lpu51Puw3JPKoyqz2Ji9G0E/s1600/Devon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu-pLwktsj3NL9TEo6MSr_GpHIwaUpDcYDsLNd5nirsf2Ym0_cTSDTyV3DGMHWHa4t5BUO_oAbRNbN0VEhCkdlTy9dj8hwLkwhCAO7u_FOKNPB2RTEpy84Lpu51Puw3JPKoyqz2Ji9G0E/s320/Devon.jpg" width="209" /></a><b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">AUTHOR BIO</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Devon Hartford is a dude who writes romantic comedies because he likes to laugh as much as he likes to love.<br /><br />Join Devon’s newsletter and you’ll receive teasers of his upcoming books before anyone else, exclusive freebie short stories and novellas, and no spam. Copy and paste this link into your web browser to sign up: <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.devonhartford.com/newsletter/&source=gmail&ust=1484977779296000&usg=AFQjCNEHxj9nRqOrUqq3ThsduZ0AKuvDTw" href="http://www.devonhartford.com/newsletter/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.devonhartford.c<wbr></wbr>om/newsletter/</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Author links</b>:</span></div>
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<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.devonhartford.com/&source=gmail&ust=1484977779297000&usg=AFQjCNFXvSE3gcN3n99r-oILi4hLA6H8NQ" href="http://www.devonhartford.com/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">http://www.devonhartford.com/</span></a></div>
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<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7151069.Devon_Hartford&source=gmail&ust=1484977779297000&usg=AFQjCNHzE_XGIPrPUUIwe2b0stFKiH8wnw" href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7151069.Devon_Hartford" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">https://www.goodreads.com/auth<wbr></wbr>or/show/7151069.Devon_Hartford</span></a></div>
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<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.facebook.com/Devon-Hartford-Author-123504977858834/&source=gmail&ust=1484977779297000&usg=AFQjCNGOWd6TADcpA_2PHIBZb1gXF8q3Dg" href="https://www.facebook.com/Devon-Hartford-Author-123504977858834/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">https://www.facebook.com/Devon<wbr></wbr>-Hartford-Author-1235049778588<wbr></wbr>34/</span></a></div>
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<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://twitter.com/DevonHartford&source=gmail&ust=1484977779297000&usg=AFQjCNG-aPdm7nauwA_F3nTnt3-12F-Abw" href="https://twitter.com/DevonHartford" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">https://twitter.com/DevonHartf<wbr></wbr>ord</span></a></div>
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Ana Rynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00364255324966935712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788800757586719724.post-41889754154114519872016-10-31T13:00:00.000-04:002016-10-31T13:00:02.335-04:00NaNoWriMo is about to Begin!NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month, Thirty days devoted to writing an entire novel. That's 50,000 words in thirty days.<br />
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Here's the break down:<br />
Sign up at nanowrimo.org<br />
Declare a project: Title, Cover image, Synopsis<br />
On November 1st, START WRITING!<br />
Everyday, check in with your word count.<br />
<br />
And that's it. Easy as pie. It's great fun, and good practice for focusing. If you follow any of the nanowrimo boards on twitter there are usually admins running writing sprints, prompts, and other little tidbits to help you get through your writing day.<br />
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If you're still not sure you can do it...just try. Writing the first word is the first step. </div>
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And Happy Halloween!!!!!</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788800757586719724.post-22397746328114654962016-10-26T13:00:00.000-04:002016-10-26T13:00:25.550-04:00This Screaming In My Head<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBRc-lGAOeVcmddh2K7dze8K26LA8eaxtdSwTZ9eo1R4skC1mT_Vn8wVIwgBXZazf9PDecKKAzUxvZwTWQapWkefQ_bOCF-pG-CWkd7HkrOQPqg_nL0DtwW_f5qcLgzttLMdQnP07lz9fC/s1600/broken-mom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBRc-lGAOeVcmddh2K7dze8K26LA8eaxtdSwTZ9eo1R4skC1mT_Vn8wVIwgBXZazf9PDecKKAzUxvZwTWQapWkefQ_bOCF-pG-CWkd7HkrOQPqg_nL0DtwW_f5qcLgzttLMdQnP07lz9fC/s200/broken-mom.jpg" width="200" /></a>I'm taking a few minutes for myself while Lil Miss watches Peg + Cat to write this.<br />
I've written before that I'm happy, much happier than I was before. But there's something that eats away at me.<br />
<br />
It's failure. Every time Lil Miss asks for something, I have to tell her no, because we don't have the money. Every time she wants to go to the park, I have to look all over town on the weekends for a park that hasn't been rented out for someone's birthday. But what breaks me in half is when she cries because she has no friends.<br />
<br />
We've moved to a new town, again, where we know absolutely no one. Lil Miss's birthday passed a few weeks ago and she had no friends to invite over for a birthday party. She didn't even have a birthday party, just a cake I made for her and a few presents from us and my in-laws (who do live near us, thank god we're not completely alone). She received gift-cards from others that we used to buy her cold weather clothes, things she needed.<br />
<br />
But it's friends she wants. People to play with. Mommy and daddy is all she has right now, and when she plays with her aunt and uncle she breaks down when we have to leave them.<br />
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I feel like a failure because I should be doing more for her, but what else can I do? I want to home school her, am trying to, but she wants friends. She did really well in Sunday school the few times my father took her to church with him and his girlfriend. So there's evidence she would do well in a school setting. And she wants to go to school. She doesn't see the schoolwork we do here as school, just something she has to do. The only real way to get her to sit down and pay attention is buy paying her in TV time.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQLeioA8BjrRrFOIExPddd2K1KdPumXE3-nYP9r47C0YM81A6iSmeD04d3aYBGcDgctVBJjmRTcFskUF0MKRnohWl452n3wLcVjGMZVWQ4saqD777GVWD8Jgx7sVY3896Xzy0qzFIYhXwG/s1600/download.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQLeioA8BjrRrFOIExPddd2K1KdPumXE3-nYP9r47C0YM81A6iSmeD04d3aYBGcDgctVBJjmRTcFskUF0MKRnohWl452n3wLcVjGMZVWQ4saqD777GVWD8Jgx7sVY3896Xzy0qzFIYhXwG/s200/download.jpg" width="200" /></a>Shows like Peg + Cat, the Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, they all do really well teaching her different situations. Lil Miss lea<br />
rned her whole alphabet from watching PBS, even counting to 100 (the thing I helped there was counting with her when she would ride her bike in circl<br />
es, and that was a game she invented). She can skip count by two's. She asks how to spell words. All of this from TV.<br />
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Math is easy for her. Reading, not so much.<br />
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Maybe if I put her in school she would do better. Teachers are trained for it better than I am. She wants so much to do things on her own.<br />
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Do you see why I feel horrible all the time? I can't give her friends, I didn't put her in a traditional school, she learns more from TV than me. What hell am I even good for in this situation?<br />
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I do I help Lil Miss when all she wants is to play?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788800757586719724.post-86043959175181072282016-10-24T13:00:00.000-04:002016-10-24T13:00:12.186-04:00I'm Not Dead!Cheese and crackers this past summer has been a process. Neither good nor bad, just...a process. If you haven't guessed from earlier posts, I made some decisions for the better. The goal was to be happier and fix some relationships, and I got so much more than that.<br />
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I found out my mama is sick, has been for a while. As much as I wanted to hate her for everything she did to me growing up, I just couldn't do it. We don't know how much longer she has. So I've put everything behind me and stopped being angry with her. I cannot forgive or forget, but I can let it go. I wanted to make sure that she has time with the only grandchild she has. I know she loves her, she would give my Lil Miss her last dollar if she asked (which she probably would). She loves seating at the table and watching Lil Miss cut out strips of paper to build a railroad, or color pictures, or play hide & seek. It makes Mama happy, therefore, it makes me happy.<br />
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The most important thing about forging my own path was for my marriage. Sometimes we get so set in our ways we don't see the walls of our homes crumbling down. The roof was gone, the rain pouring in. So I left, and started a new home. I am very happy to say that my husband joined me in this new house. We're still working out problems, but now we're working together, instead of just living in the same house.<br />
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And what of the writing career (The whole purpose of this blog!)?<br />
<br />
Well, it's getting there. I'm still writing, just not as much. I dedicate three, maybe four, hours a day to nothing but writing. In the morning I'm with Lil Miss and in the evening my husband is home and we spend family time and together time then. Once everyone goes to bed (they have an 8:00 pm bedtime, early work-shifts<br />
), I get to sit alone in the dark at my desk, writing.<br />
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I work this way so that I don't take time away from either of them. If I ever sit down to write when they're around nothing ever gets done. Lil Miss wants to play or ask a thousand questions, Hubby needs help finding this or that, asks my opinions on a kitchen island I desperately want (hopefully I'll get it for Christmas, handmade by the hubby), or someone just wants to cuddle.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMtT0L8c_nji_YZGrYa249GZElPDVxNeqGkd5yu_hUHvAKy0Msj75wtZvRfhc9DlXE-IRYsuW48nnNXyP5iGlQqNwQN7vheSYpEhePpNMJC4n0wcDybp8v-mRWeCv02zcwcRyZlW4bCBBt/s1600/Shhh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMtT0L8c_nji_YZGrYa249GZElPDVxNeqGkd5yu_hUHvAKy0Msj75wtZvRfhc9DlXE-IRYsuW48nnNXyP5iGlQqNwQN7vheSYpEhePpNMJC4n0wcDybp8v-mRWeCv02zcwcRyZlW4bCBBt/s200/Shhh.jpg" width="195" /></a>The writing career is going slowly, but I haven't stopped. As we speak I am on draft 8 (yes EIGHT) of Legacy. Things there are going swimmingly, although I giggle like a little schoolgirl when I get to, eh-hm, certain scenes.<br />
(I just giggled thinking about it. There is definitely something wrong with me.)<br />
Crystallised is coming along even more slowly. I've changed a few things around and now the first draft is half done. My Tutore series is even further away from where I hoped it would be. For the first book I ever actually sat down to write (and never got further than the first chapter) it is definitely taking a lot of time to get to the end of step one.<br />
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That's it. That's my life up to to this point. Besides not having internet and keeping me from talking to all you wonderful, I'm content. Happy.<br />
<br />
That was the goal for all this. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788800757586719724.post-57778280383056086112016-07-27T13:00:00.000-04:002016-07-27T13:00:15.499-04:00Book Review: The Winner's Curse<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 15px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span itemprop="bookFormatType" style="box-sizing: border-box;">*I received a copy from my public library and chose to review of my own free will*</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span itemprop="bookFormatType" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWmmNhH4NVlB9GBw1jvv57VdQIPOw6NAnBxSAXRmwxcPrsgu2rZCFB7n7SQnTmIGMWYzusNyAoI4dGD717y5yj0d41a2q_gVmydJRR4n-pf0W7CHZds0JPeKVn39JekeZmEaNHAc7LY1T8/s1600/16069030.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWmmNhH4NVlB9GBw1jvv57VdQIPOw6NAnBxSAXRmwxcPrsgu2rZCFB7n7SQnTmIGMWYzusNyAoI4dGD717y5yj0d41a2q_gVmydJRR4n-pf0W7CHZds0JPeKVn39JekeZmEaNHAc7LY1T8/s1600/16069030.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span itemprop="bookFormatType" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Winner's Curse</span><span itemprop="bookFormatType" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span><span itemprop="bookFormatType" style="box-sizing: border-box;">ebook</span>, </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span itemprop="numberOfPages" style="box-sizing: border-box;">355 pages</span>Published: March 4th 2014<br />Publisher: Farrar Straus <span style="line-height: 19px;">Giroux</span><br /><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; line-height: 20.25px;"><b>They were never meant to be together</b>. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; line-height: 20.25px;">As a general's daughter, seventeen-year-old Kestrel enjoys an extravagant and privileged life. Arin has nothing but the clothes on his back. Then Kestrel makes an impulsive decision that binds Arin to her. Though they try to fight it, they can't help but fall in love. In order to be together, they must betray their people . . . but to be loyal to their country, they must betray each other.</span></span><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; line-height: 20.25px;">Set in a new world, </span><i style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; line-height: 20.25px;">The Winner's Curse</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; line-height: 20.25px;"> is a story of rebellion, duels, ballroom dances, wicked rumors, dirty secrets, and games where everything is at stake, and the gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose your heart.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-weight: 700; line-height: 20.25px;">Winning what you want may cost you everything you love</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 49.984px;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My Review</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I tried very hard to stay away from this book. I had read some review on Goodreads that made the book out to be one sided. If you don’t know, this book is about slavery, revolution, and a girl falling in love with the wrong man. </span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Slavery does not sit well with me, expecially not books who glamorize slavery. This book made slavery out to not be as bad as it actually is. the slaves had privileges and were taken care of...but in reality, slavery is a harsh life. You need permission to just go out and by food or shoes for your children. And in this book the slaves are a once free people enslaved because they valued beauty over war. </span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The young female MC, whose point of view we follow through out the book, has lead a privileged life. She is wealthy, well-educated, taught in the art of fighting, and has a love of piano. She feels a comelling urge to buy a young man at the slavery block and befriends him, only t later learn of his betrayal. </span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Her life is turned upside down just as the native’s lives were flipped when they were first invaded. Her people are slaughtered and driven out of the country while she is taken hostage, presumably for her own safety by the young man she once bought and fell in love with. </span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The book des a fairly good job and showing how people who grow up with slavery as a normal part of every day life really have no idea of the darkside of slavery. The MC wonders wh slaves are fighting against it when they are provided homes, food, clothing, and jobs, while at the same time seeing slaves punished for the slightest infraction and believeing them to be deserved. </span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The slaves on the other hand see only the people they once were, forced out of their homes and made to do for others, instead for themselves. We see a little of the young man’s point of view, what he does to get the upper hand. </span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Throughout the book we see these two people from two very different worlds grow closer, to the point where they forget who the other person actually is. Even in the end, despite the betrayals committed against each other, the MC fights for both of her people...her own countrymen and the natives she once called slaves. she has grown to care for these people, see them as people not just slaves. </span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I really liked the execution of the Winner’s Curse. The story was well told and well developed. It was traditionally published so you know it is well put together. </span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am looking forward to reading the econd book in the series. </span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>4 stars</b></span></span></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788800757586719724.post-71276758774171869982016-07-25T13:00:00.000-04:002016-07-25T13:00:03.273-04:00Roadmaps Help You When You Think You Won't Need Them<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-5e9d86c8-bd68-0fea-c4c2-88f2e53a1dba" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 19.8756px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When you want to be a published writer, many people still look to the exhaustive traditional publishing. Agents, query letters, rejections, and waiting. Sometimes you can wait months or even years. You will recieve fifty rejections before you get a deal. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 19.8756px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I guess that’s why self-publishing is so appealing. You can publish when you want and screw the rejection. Plus, you get to keep more of the royalties. You are your own boss. Which means a whole lot more than you think.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 19.8756px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To be your own boss and to self-publish, you have to treat your career like a business. You have to come up with a business plan, a marketing plan. There are legal things you have to do (such as IRS information). This all on top of writing, editing, and designing the cover. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 19.8756px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If you have the budget, you can hire out editors and cover designers. Since the rise of self-publishing more and more people are branching out, becoming freelancers in their respective fields. A good editor can make a world of difference in your book and sales. Cover designers can give your book that leg up it needs to get people looking. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 19.8756px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When you want to sell a book you have to think from the reader's perspective and how they choose a book. The cover is the first thing they see...so it has to fit the genre and be eye catching. Next is the description...get across just enough to pull the reader in but don’t give away the whole plot. The next thing is the inside. The reader will usually flip through a few pages to see how the inside looks. Grammar, alignment, font size...all that will make or break it for you as a writer. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 19.8756px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All of these things can be hired out or done all by yourself. If you are like me, you can DIY all the way only because I cannot afford to hire out full time professionals. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 19.8756px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To be able to do that I have to do a lot of research. The different types of editing, designing, and tips & tricks that can help me make the absolute best my book can be. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 19.8756px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I’m going to leave these two things here.Both resources are chockfull of tips and things you need to know if you want to be a self-published writer. I cannot begin to tell you just how helpful these two books have been. And they’re free!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You can Google the authors and sign up for loads of free tips and tricks, and resources you will definitely need on your writing and publishing journey.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 19.8756px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Successful Self-Publishing by Joanna Penn and Self-Publishing Boot Camp by Carla King</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788800757586719724.post-22219295372607593512016-07-20T13:00:00.000-04:002016-07-20T13:00:18.619-04:00Flawless Book Review<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-5e9d86c8-7511-a08c-9de0-fa2943df0c1f" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20530299-flawless" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank" title="Flawless cover"><br /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20530299-flawless" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank" title="Flawless cover"><img alt="Flawless cover" class="alignleft" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoQUE4ZdcLG6aW02vaRtYqnIJPnKRIPNm02iSAykqMZJ-0et_hqwdAh_CmrU06PCgljAF5S1aT_AbAGLSPmHQg4geca_7HYy5PQgtvBJkd1AQ96-3SrIOZmt3jee8WQJhrLQCGVjuu80GC/s1600/Flawless.jpg" width="239" /></a><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>I received a free copy of this book for a fair and honest review.</b></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Flawless</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">by Jennifer McGill-Sadera</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Genre:</b> Dark Contemporary</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Age Category:</b> New Adult</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b> Release Date: </b> September 2013</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">Nobody's perfect. Except Lia Copeland. She's flawless. And worshipped. And hated. From her perfectly proportioned figure and enviable bone structure to her instinctual talent for clothing design and cavalier attitude, Lia's the woman every other woman wants to be and every man wants to have. Catapulted from sigh-maker in the high-school halls to superstardom in the fashion world, she makes it look easy. A girl like that has everything; every reason to be happy. Then why does Lia Copeland just want everyone to leave her the hell alone?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">A story about the choices made in the wake of travail and tragedy, it explores relationships with all their messy and marvelous moments and magnifies the beauty, wonder and endurance of first love.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>My Review</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">This book is in two parts. The first was slow paced. I had to force my way through it because all I could see was a very shallow female MC who was always ‘Why me-ing?’ It took me two weeks to get through it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">So let’s start with this: I went into reading this book forgetting the description I had read when I signed up for the book review. I couldn’t for the life of me remember wat it was supposed to be about. Then little things started popping out at me: the darkness, her first time with her boyfriend. I still couldn’t remember what the book was about, but I was getting an inclination of it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">In part two, we finally hit the meat of the situation. The MC is now an adult, one of her closest friends pretty much forces her into therapy with a new psychiatrist, and the story has meaning. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">The MC is no longer this little girl who is way too over confident and doesn’t give a crap about anyone. She is a woman who cares about people, has taken on the role of loving and doting aunt to her friends children, and who realizes something significant happened in her childhood that shaped her into the person she is. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">By the end of the book, each meaningless scene in part one has meaning, a definition. There was a method to the narcissism. And I bawled like a baby. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">Although the book could use some more editing and character building in the first part, I fell in love with the book. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">The storyline is poignant and heart wrenching. Each scene created a person, not just a character or a world, but an entire person moving through life in different ways. The charaters grabbed you in their innocence, their loyalty. Their ends. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline;">Flawless</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;"> is truly one of those books that grabs you and pulls you in. It will break you down and build you back up again, just as th characters are broken and reshaped. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">This book carries a trigger warning for depression, rape, and suicide. But as a victim of depression and rape, a survivor, I can tell you that it meant omething to read this back and come out stronger. Do not let fear of something that happened before keep you from moving on. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">I give 4 stars, all around. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">You can find Flawless on <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20530299-flawless" target="_blank"> Goodreads</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">You can buy Flawless here:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">- <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F5BW9MQ/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_qob6sb1RVHTV5" target="_blank">Amazon (Kindle): </a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">- <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1494966956/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_Wob6sb169M6BY93S" target="_blank">Amazon (paperback) </a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">- <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/flawless-jennifer-mcgill-sadera/1118045329?ean=9781494966959" target="_blank">B&N (paperback)</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://twitter.com/jennifersadera" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank" title="Jennifer"><img alt="Jennifer" class="alignright" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEJY4Ki_Se3iPJUlvceqDXdnC3TdTR2-3GqNi1HrSeAKbhVOkt-CBZCdw_9jDmr9FZb0iWT06R-2Kzumm5cTvI__AdS7CBbplBi9SKPWmXpVFPe7rl0O3YiGS7Q4UZ1lQ3kBvsvQJXaI6G/s1600/Jennifer.jpg" width="206" /></a><b>About the author:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">Jennifer McGill-Sadera first worked in the publishing industry as a junior copywriter for NAL/Penguin. She has written and edited for newspapers and magazines as a free-lancer and on the staffs of major women's publications "Woman's World" and "Redbook." Her New Adult novel "Flawless" is her first published book, though she admits to writing three previous unpublished books "just for fun." A nature lover, she recently became a certified horticulturist and has a side business designing flower gardens. She and her husband live in upstate New York with their two kids, two dogs and a lop-eared rabbit, who, incidentally, has a starring role in "Flawless."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">You can find and contact Jennifer here:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">- <a href="https://www.facebook.com/jennifer.sadera" target="_blank">Facebook</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">- <a href="https://twitter.com/jennifersadera" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">- <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7313826.Jennifer_McGill_Sadera" target="_blank">Goodreads</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">- <a href="http://www.librarything.com/profile/jennifer.Sadera" target="_blank">Librarything</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="banner Lola's Blog Tours" class="aligncenter" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyVpi2rthygxLWQMinPE6PBYSClIloGpzilBL7fBClXkfxWQoORSQmY5TuhTUepLDFdNUoW9-pBweWb1I2CzsIG-TdvBWOdrMiXdNvndHWEKyMko7imTIPMnMGt4DfMehJa5CDi8T3GnWx/s1600/LolasBlogToursBanner.jpg" width="300" /></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788800757586719724.post-37122262401514939312016-07-18T13:00:00.000-04:002016-07-18T13:00:13.449-04:00A Bit of Show & Tell<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-5e9d86c8-bd60-90e8-8e3d-be34ff19795d" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.8756px; vertical-align: baseline;">Today is going to be a bit of show and tell. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.8756px; vertical-align: baseline;">Every writer has inspiration for their story. This inspiration can break off into clothing styles of characters, homes, towns, schools, etc. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.8756px; vertical-align: baseline;">For myself, my MC in </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.8756px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline;">Legacy</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.8756px; vertical-align: baseline;"> has a very specific fashion sense: badass. And of course every badass girl has a sense of darkness abour her: leather, lace, dark colors. All those seemingly offputtig things that people pretend to dislike but are secretly drawn to. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.8756px; vertical-align: baseline;">I present to you, my fashion boards:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.8756px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img height="634" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/kIjuKu6CLuqyGPwbBMyULSkee-SVxinTaFpbwICOxiCsAklJwhgzjmQZihATuhppDl5UDqXo6T-p1nBHFj-XbNh2GTA9wEoRer55QrUMCL_dKVCnvC8smbhmDxi-ISF13k3x0hVR" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="846" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.8756px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img height="846" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/vUOJWT7kxSZdZUynuDdLfwHSOZFM8_CFD23wNe0dV8jSLLwHwFS9zQy36qCssI_mz-3r8LeelRRl6NFYJB0D3cvxHo1CXSPYmmKbnwZ8M4meUZQXzcpd_g5kZ6ApWKclliOj9JY0" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="846" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.8756px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img height="1127" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Wrw9ETqXc0y9-7rtRVcoW0EIq5RSZhtW7zAyZvsjDMy_hV7bAF36K3-Jb8YMM3qt4Zx2GoKT39_PrRUhSnMRqYKxivd5ozLIi-aEG9vsimGxe5fQAqDDI7fWP7J-dNsM3IfFm3qV" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="846" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.8756px; vertical-align: baseline;">Just so’s we all know...this is actually my own fashion sense. I get a lady boner when I find a really cute lace shirt and pair it with black leggings and ankle boots. I actually used to dress this way back in high school. There’s just something classic about this kind of look, don’t you think?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.8756px; vertical-align: baseline;">Next is a collage I threw together (In procrastination, because how else do these things get done?)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.8756px; vertical-align: baseline;">The images are my inspiration for </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.8756px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline;">Legacy</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.8756px; vertical-align: baseline;">. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.8756px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img height="846" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/rHZJzSuxaTEDBvGdEatLcCw4GHJxU9b1hOzZynXLaLn1NWVgjSla7xyU9HOYvI00iC_AHGfslfn9i-EQuBwegeHu1xGbW1lY2Uz6khKiH5E1BqG772-9wavuREYpw6sFB84lmmc0" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="846" /></span></div>
<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.8756px; vertical-align: baseline;">I gave my characters, mainly my female MC, the life I wanted. The clothes, the cars, the tattoos. I am living vicariously through my fictional characters. She has everything I want, while I have the life she craves. In a round about sense, I am her and she is me, and I get the best of both worlds. </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788800757586719724.post-26627300970445514052016-07-13T09:00:00.000-04:002016-07-13T09:00:26.330-04:00The Forgotten Heiress Book Review partnered w/ Xpresso Book Tours<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-5e9d86c8-7511-a08c-9de0-fa2943df0c1f" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="line-height: 47.9879px;"></span></span>*I received a free e-book copy in return for a fair and honest review*</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 47.9879px;"><strong>The Forgotten Heiress </strong><br /><strong>Susie Warren</strong><br />(The Bolles Dynasty, #1)<br />Publication date: June 28th 2014<br />Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance<br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 47.9879px;">Fionn Lynch is a self-made Irish billionaire, sought after for his striking appearance, razor sharp intellect and ability to thrive in volatile markets. When his mentor dies unexpectedly in a tragic accident, leaving his business and family in turmoil, Fionn steps in and takes charge. He seeks out estranged heiress Olivia Grey to help squash the unpleasant rumors. When the details of her secret past are leaked to the media, she must decide if she is willing to trust Fionn and allow herself to be drawn into her estranged family. Sparks fly between the two when he persuades her to accompany him to New York to salvage her family’s crumbling financial empire.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 47.9879px;">A shy clothing designer who was raised by a guardian in an attempt to save the Bolles family from shame, Olivia proves that she has the strength and determination to survive. She has to fight her way through relentless media scrutiny, memories of her father, and the expectations of the elite New York social world–all while trying to keep Fionn at arm’s length, for she refuses to settle for an emotionally distant relationship ever again.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 47.9879px;">It proves impossible to deny her attraction to Fionn. Is their growing bond enough to overcome all the obstacles thrown into their path?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 47.9879px;">***<b>The Forgotten Heiress is the first book in a six book series. Each book is a stand-alone category romance and tells the story of one of the Bolles family members.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 47.9879px;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30038506-the-forgotten-heiress" target="_blank">Goodreads</a> / <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Heiress-Bolles-Dynasty-Book-ebook/dp/B00LDU740A?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 47.9879px;"><b>My Review</b> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;">The bad; I really feel like this book needs another edit. The grammar was bad, misspellings and forgotten words were abundant. Also, repetition and detail that didn’t match-up, such as near the end where one moment the man is standing outside and the next he’s suddenly in the kitchen. I was thrown multiple times by inconsistencies like this.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;">The good: I’m just going to say it, this felt like a much better frorm of Fifty Shades of Grey, without the controlling love interest and bdsm (If you can even call it at).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;">The Forgoten Heiress is a breath of fresh air when it comes to romances. We have the billionaire: hot, stong, independent, and the female MC: strong, icy, and a love of fashion. One had a harsh background, the other a mentally abusive background (Although it is never stated that way in the book). These two characters have been molded into who they are based on their past and this guides them through all of their choices.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;">To the heart of it, fear is the guiding principle in every character. The background charcters, the Bolles family mostly, have a more spiritual influence, as in their presence makes the MC afraid and judgemental, even though she does not know much of what really happened and can only go off of what people tell her. The stepmother exists as the conflict, spreading poison wherever she goes because she hates not being the center of attention.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;">The romance felt real, the clashing of the two independent characters was a train wreck I wanted to see crash. The impending explosion was rushed, and of course cliched (What love story isn’t?) and I loved it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;">It is a short read, a very good book to read while languising in a lavender bubble bath.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Huzzah! 4 stars</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Don't forget to sign up for the giveaway, link below!!!!</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 47.9879px;">Author Bio:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 47.9879px;">Amazon bestselling author Susie Warren writes heartfelt and passionate contemporary romance with tempting, larger than life heroes and smart, sassy heroines. The stories are set in elite and glamorous worlds and appeal to readers looking for an escape from everyday life by offering jet-set lifestyles and sophisticated plots. Her category length series, The Rosa Legacy and the Bolles Dynasty, feature remarkable, stylish women and the sinfully tempting heroes that challenge them to reveal their secrets, their strengths and their deepest emotions. Susie lives in New York with her inventor husband and their three lively teenagers.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 47.9879px;">Connect with her online at susiewarren.com and sign-up for her newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/bGYl_5.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 47.9879px;"><a href="http://susiewarren.com/" target="_blank">Website</a> / <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8344721.Susie_Warren" target="_blank">Goodreads</a> / <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Susie-Warren/647556668647832" target="_blank">Facebook</a> / <a href="https://twitter.com/susiecwarren" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788800757586719724.post-60062011387545015662016-07-11T13:00:00.000-04:002016-07-11T13:00:11.082-04:00A 50/50 Chance <div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-5e9d86c8-bd59-7119-ba44-e1dad7daea54" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.8756px; vertical-align: baseline;">I want to show you guys something. Here is my first ever self-designed cover for </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.8756px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline;">Legacy</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.8756px; vertical-align: baseline;">. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.8756px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img height="1353" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/O0qu-wkDe9xNB5_Vt-DDmREELIulp4YTMgZcXb6Yvn_Ayl5syHFITawS0bDHl5-YxVCTtzt0qvdlliPmFAqvwrJknZ2QT5OVtEEcFwYW6FXVY_L-U-0pqdqWiLD_wmjAAWivBMJ6" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="846" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.8756px; vertical-align: baseline;">I was so proud of this when I first made it. I was on my way out of the “I’m going to hit it big!” way of thinking when I made this. Really, I just wanted a cover to see a finished product...book + cover = pretty pretty dreams in my hand. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.8756px; vertical-align: baseline;">And then reality slapped me in the face. Of course it usually does when I get a high happy point when I’m daydreaming about my future. That’s not to say I’m going to fail or never get to that publishing point. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.8756px; vertical-align: baseline;">I will get there. Motivation is a little lacking sometimes, but I’ll get there. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.8756px; vertical-align: baseline;">After weeks and weeks of research I knew the cover up there wasn’t gonna cut it. It might be enough to get people to look at it, but it is a huge risk. The quality is poor, the silhouette is blurry. The three colors all pop and it is clearly read (Haha, I made a pun), but what exacly draws the reader in to take a look at the description?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.8756px; vertical-align: baseline;">It doesn’t fit in the genre, there is very little you can gain about the story from this cover. Then again....it really is a toss up. I’ve got a 50/50 chance of winning or failing with this cover. But I got to say, this will be on my wall one day. </span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 19.8756px; vertical-align: baseline;">It’s a testament to how much I’ve changed in the past two years. </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788800757586719724.post-37232029902088497712016-07-06T13:00:00.000-04:002016-07-06T13:00:04.700-04:00Saven Deception Book Review<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-5e9d86c8-7501-ce58-9ccf-db634481ad96" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">I recieved a free copy in exchange for a fair and honest review. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25820836-saven" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Saven Deception" class="alignleft" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4cWA8-tgfWTXO9FsFCWrQdi7y96uTDRfuIuJdWyZD4PHXINT33tlu38HSp4lnUiR4-0-HBHtr3xo2if8nkig5OzUSiRh62WRHWpvisDSUqo9wXL1Exkbz4rfe1OJcEY8LoZbvT4XJN6Qq/s1600/SavenDeception.jpg" width="200" /></a><b>Saven: Deception (The Saven Series #1)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>By Siobhan Davis</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Genre:</b> Science Fiction Romance</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Age category:</b> Young Adult</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Release Date:</b> December 15, 2015</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i>I’ve fallen hard for an alien, but he’s harboring secrets. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">Massive secrets that threaten the very essence of humanity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">How can I give him my heart when his race plans on taking my future?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sadie Owens has been slowly dying inside. Bit by bit, piece by piece, day by day. Trapped in a life she hates, she relies on only one person—herself.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">Despised by her family and betrayed by an unscrupulous government, Sadie dreams of a different life. When she is chosen to participate in the government’s new social experiment, she is ecstatic at the prospect of spending six months in Thalassic City, the shiny new city under the sea.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">Immediately drawn to Logan Chandler, Sadie is captivated by the beautiful boy with the ocean-blue eyes. Logan seems to embody everything that has been forbidden, but he isn’t all he appears to be.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">Confused over Logan’s true intentions and concerned when best friend Jenna starts transforming in front of her eyes, Sadie partners with newcomer Jarod in a bid to uncover the government’s real agenda. The truth is more shocking than anything she could ever have imagined.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">When Sadie finally understands why the Saven walk among us, will it be too late to save her heart and the human race?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0167DZCME" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Teaser Saven Deception - Sadie" class="aligncenter" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-Gs87OSbk-88-YBcMuGheVjAFmnB7HQPY4tAvl95HwB4n1C5ANTYjGT1Bd3KEx3B9ghDRDGqImNjNRbV10EOwZhpt-wvPwBIlurEHbBxwvV0CH5B5m8Sv7J0NG-j-71FqyG8hHtHOxhxM/s1600/TeaserSavenDeception-Sadie.jpg" width="350" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 23.4361px;"><b>My Review</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">I’m just going to start off with this: I do not like a</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; line-height: 1.38;">lien books. Jennifer Armentrout’s Lux series is the only exception to this.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">With that, I went into this ignoring my bias. I knew there would be romance and I knew there would be aliens. I was hoping there would be a change in opinion and a need to get to book two in the series as fast as possible as with the Lux series. But there wasn’t.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">The writing was good, the plot cliched, and the romance was typical. But, because I am a sucker for YA paranormal I will be picking up book two because I want to know what happens next.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">Let’s get to the nitty-gritty shall we?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">What I did NOT like: the cliches. The book was abound with them. The romance aspect was pretty much “oooo hot guy, I’m in love’ and that was that. There was no relaitonship building, no sweet moments, nothing to lead me to believe this guy was soooo amazing as the MC made him out to be. He fell in my esteem as we saw him with girl, after girl, after girl. He was controlling, narcissistic, and egotistical. What exactly is there to love with this guy? There is a bond, which makes me wonder are they in love simply because this bond exists? Near the end, they finally get together because he just cant stand to be apart from her any longer. I still hate the romance portion of the book, but I still called the MC a total bitch when she betrays him. (Spoiler alert!)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">I keep getting hinged on the love at first sight thing. That crap is not gonna fly. Nope, nada. Ain’t happening, honey. Where is the depth, the emotional connection? What is she attracted to/annoyed with? What exactly about her is so appealing to him that he can want her and be with other girls at the same time?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">The MC spent most of the book self-deprecating herself all from her height to how she developed due to circumstances. Talk about pathetic. This girl was not strong, she was pathetic and I hated her. Oh woe is me, I’m so short. Oh boo-hoo I’m poor. Half the world is short and poor and don't constantly badger themselves and put themselves down for it. One is genentics and the other is an oppurtinity to do better and make your life better, hence the underwater city you now live in. Jesus Christ.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">Also, I wanted more worldbuilding. We saw the envious view of th MC and the judgement and prejudice of the MC against anyone who had a better life than she, but nothing else. We know her life was dirty and rungy, and the rich live in gold and marble but what else? Is that all exists? Is this in the future, a different world? What happened to ead the world to this point in time, are the aliens really just looking for a new home and ended up really evil? What?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">The book needs work, a lot of it in my opinion.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">But now, my likes. The romance. Let’s face it...romance sells. Aliens, or rather the paranormal, sells. We are all sticklers for the love at first site, world-ending, you die I die, type of book. We want to know that a love stronger than the forces of the world can exist. Can you choose to live without someone or lose everything for that someone?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">So here I declare a three stars book. I want to hate this book because the MC is just so badly developed, but I have to admit.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">She is someone I love to hate and want more of.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">You can find Saven: Deception on <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25820836-saven" target="_blank">Goodreads</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">You can buy Saven: Deception here:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">- <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0167DZCME" target="_blank">Amazon USA</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">- <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Saven-Deception-Book-1-ebook/dp/B0167DZCME" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">- <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Saven-Deception-Book-1-ebook/dp/B0167DZCME" target="_blank">Amazon Canada</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">- <a href="http://www.amazon.com.au/Saven-Deception-Book-1-ebook/dp/B0167DZCME" target="_blank">Amazon Australia</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">- <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/saven-deception-siobhan-davis/1123446036?ean=2940152797589" target="_blank">B&N</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">- <a href="https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/saven-deception" target="_blank">Kobo</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">- <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1093130419" target="_blank">iTunes</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0167DZCME" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Teaser Saven Deception - Couple Teaser 1" class="aligncenter" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh4Dsm37FR_sZORvOWii5qdYOU_3s-BxC_zl87vIKQsiWunpR3l2nGojfOh6w_unRwR_jXw3lWywCxkGWWTrEK7C9FlOVVXs7BGatExr_kJNSVagWA33dnuiKs8Z5iDYWz7bLKOQ0Mz1AG/s1600/TeaserSavenDeception-CoupleTeaser1.jpg" width="350" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.siobhandavis.com/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Siobhan" class="alignright" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkmaH1vmoRwnngLw2rIEf9dbgf9E27GKGdDs2-yrHE31LKoLyCEjpIWEFA-1Wkr5IojdLYd_ADfLV0epTmkk-D-O8nu_SV5LefqWMMKtlbACTuLTvHmbgUKJSoi2SJPo4PZpL1YAgMjzyW/s1600/SiobhanDavis.jpg" width="157" /></a><b>About the Author:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">Siobhan Davis writes young adult science fiction fantasy romance books, and she is the author of the Amazon bestselling True Calling series. The first book in her new Saven series was released in December 2015.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">A self-professed teenager forever--at least when it comes to books, music, and films, Siobhan is totally addicted to teen fiction and superhero/blockbuster movies. She loves baking, shoes, bags, makeup, anti-wrinkle cream, anything pink, Kelly Clarkson, Katy Perry, and Robert Pattinson (definitely Team Edward).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">Before pursuing a full-time writing career, Siobhan forged a successful corporate career in Human Resources over the last twenty years. She resides in the Garden County of Ireland with her husband and two sons.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">You can find and contact Siobhan here:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">- <a href="http://www.siobhandavis.com/" target="_blank">Website</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">- <a href="http://myyanabookobsession.com/" target="_blank">Blog</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">- <a href="http://www.facebook.com/TrueCallingBooks" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">- <a href="http://www.twitter.com/siobhandavis" target="_blank">Twitter</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">- <a href="http://www.google.com/+SiobhanDavisAuthor" target="_blank">Google +</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">- <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8390357.Siobhan_Davis" target="_blank">Goodreads</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">- <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Siobhan-Davis/e/B00M8JJ8IG" target="_blank">Amazon</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">- <a href="http://eepurl.com/bv8gKz" target="_blank">Newsletter</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sample chapters, quotes, reviews and book excerpts are all available to download from the <a href="http://www.siobhandavis.com/" target="_blank">authors website</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0167DZCME" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Teaser Saven Deception - Available-Now-Teaser" class="aligncenter" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQfVGZbhgnrwKOePjX8wFZ8rEeu_6_X_V8YjYsIUlLZXOLgBgSAY1Z6fvieYGnb6DeCVmcJt1hiwv2mydx9W5ysV6pFeipeKGuI6onyNIy1FBvgH-3-oazwKzbvetPYClqgDx5Qb8_FjEv/s1600/TeaserSavenDeception-Available-Now-Teaser.jpg" width="350" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">I’ve gone on and on about what I’ve been doing lately, except for what really matters to you guys: my current projects. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">For Camp Nanowrimo in April I was working on my mermaid adventure, Crystallised. I finished that with a win. But I felt burnt out over it. I couldn't write anymore. So I put it on the backburner for a little while. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">Now I’m working on an oldy-but-goody, my first ever book, my literary baby </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.9827px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline;">Legacy</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">. What can I say about </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.9827px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline;">Legacy</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">? It’s fast paced, action packed, has a strong female MC, romance, deciet, and fast cars. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.9827px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline;">Legacy</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;"> was inspred by a NA book, Jamie McGuire’s Beautiful Disaster. I loved that book, how beautiful and tragic it really was on different levels. So I set out to write my own NA book. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.9827px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline;">Legacy</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;"> started out as Leather Angel, the first in a set of three books. I wrote that whole book out by hand in a set of spiral bound notebooks I bought at Dollar Tree. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">When I started typing it, the story changed, taking on a life of its own. I hear a lot of authors talk about how when they write, the story changes and surprises them. They don’t know where the story will go or how it will change. Sometimes I wonder how that can be. How can you write something and the characters do something you don’t expect? Aren’t you writing the blasted thing?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">Well...my own project did just that. It changed, it surprised me. As I typed, I looked less and less at my hand-written novel. I stared at the computer screen and wrote for hours on end. The words flowed. I did no research, usually only looking online to spell a word if I wasn’t sure I had spelled it right. I made no notes as I was writing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">All I saw was the screen in front of me and the story acting as a movie inside my head. I could hear their voices, the yelling, the fear and love and sadness seeping out through my fingers. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">I started typing April 2014 and wrote the final word July of the same year. Four months had gone by and I had a story. Start to finish and a whole lot of drama inbetween. It was time to start editing. I got through chapter one, then chapter two...At the end of July I was gearing up to do a major rehaul of Leather Angel. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">Until my whole world came crashing down. For the first time in years, the first time ever, I was broken. Even the years of physical and mental abuse didn’t break me the way that one night late July did. The relationship I had mirrored the emotions for the book had been shattered into a million tiny pieces. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">I coudn’t even look at LA again. I was done with it. Everything I wanted, that I was, I let it go. And hated it. LA became a symbol. One I didn’t want to deal with. So I deleted it. I had copies of it everywhere, in all my emails, my online storage, my computer...I deleted them all. Except for one. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">I gazed at my computer screen, at this final symbol of all my hard work and emotion. I saw it in two parts: what I wanted it to be and what it had come to mean. If I was to delete it, I would lose that girl I wanted to be, no matter the consequences. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">So I moved the email with LA attached to a folder I rarely used, and promptly pretended to forget it had ever existed. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">For two years, I moved in a cloud of numbness. I refused to acknowledge what I was doing in the wake of that summer’s events. I had bowed under pressure, stuffing my independent will under a blanket of subservience. I held my tongue, I pretended, I was a shadow. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">Until one day, I woke up. I opened that email and saw Leather Angel glaring back at me. I could feel the girl I was screaming at me to do something before it was too late. The dark thing inside my mind was growing again. The years of beating it back with a stick had ended long ago, but it was time to get that stick back out. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">I opened Leather Angel and started to work. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.9827px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline;">Legacy </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">was born, and the old me right along with it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">In the past few months I have made changes, made decisions, and it has led me to this point: I am not the type to bow down and take what I get. I want so much more than what I have been given in life. I forgot who I was for a litte while, and stopped dreaming of what I could do to make the world a better place. But now I am better for it. </span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">We all are, I think. My identity crisis saved me, saved me from a darkness I can only hope will go back to the sleeping giant it once was. I almost threw away something precious to me, but I reeled it back in before it was too late. </span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788800757586719724.post-78408048997644645502016-06-29T13:00:00.000-04:002016-06-29T13:00:19.323-04:00Today Is The Day<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-5e9d86c8-74e2-b904-8519-20b025503e38" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">Guess what? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">Today is my birhday!!!! So no, there will not be a review today. This morning I have a dentists appointment (awesome birthday present, right?) and I don’t know what I’m doing for the rest of the day. I know I want to be on the beach...playing in the surf, building sand castles with Lil Miss. I want a fish fry for dinner...I love me some fried freshly caught flounder. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">But mostly, I just want to relax. No worrying about anything, not money, jobs, writing. Nothing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">If I can’t get out to the beach, or anywhere with a pool at least, I will just have to sit here and stare at this little beauty:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj__T2WYm72RsIAxEh9bUCvGSeeu1kgK1staJmRhrVv_08NRFtXjcPIH_soE3HLxsJsnaIYDukoKC_p1srZDgr-52GizClX-kQrXYfdXwHNmDpGxLLkcHT-6L3XffrbXmrdtxWFfl8Vh3ok/s1600/25170_1402880278415_3175975_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj__T2WYm72RsIAxEh9bUCvGSeeu1kgK1staJmRhrVv_08NRFtXjcPIH_soE3HLxsJsnaIYDukoKC_p1srZDgr-52GizClX-kQrXYfdXwHNmDpGxLLkcHT-6L3XffrbXmrdtxWFfl8Vh3ok/s320/25170_1402880278415_3175975_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">This is Virginia Beach in 2010. I took it years ago when I returned there for a day to retrieve my things from an old friends house I had lived with for a little while. I lived right down the road from this beach and never once visited it. I took advantage of it while I was there for a few hours. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">There is nothing I love more than sand under my feet and the sound of waves crashing. Sea gulls stealing chips from picnics, the smell of coconut sunscreen in the air. Vinegar stealing the sting out of sunburns late at night. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">Good memories, good times. It doesn’t matter where I go today, just as long as I have my lovelies with me. </span></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788800757586719724.post-9789422076980860392016-06-27T13:00:00.000-04:002016-06-27T13:00:00.155-04:00Time For Some Ketchup...I Mean Catch-Up<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-5e9d86c8-74d6-00e0-6fa6-8d40505037c6" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">It’s been a few weeks since I last posted, but I have been writing and I have not forgotten you. Today I’m just going to post some of the notes and ‘letters’ I’ve written over time to you guys. They’re just notes, things that have resonated with me. Some are funny and ridiculous, others I have no idea how to classify them. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">So read on for a look inside my mind. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">5/31/2016</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">Everyone has little cheats they use when writing, abbreviations, symbols, etc. Thanks to Jim Carrey in the movie God Almighty, I always spell out ‘beautiful’ as b-e-a-utiful. In the voice Jim uses. Always. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">That’s not the only trick the media, television and movies in particular, have taught me when spelling. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">Remember that episode of Family Guy where Stewie pronounces the H in coolwhip? Yeah, whenever I hear the word coolwhip now, there is Stewie Griffin calling out coolWHip. And it’s not just that one word. It’s any word that carries a silent H. I realized this when I was editing <i>Legacy</i> and needed to write overwhelming. I couldn’t remember where exactly the H went. Then Family Guy came on the tv and I remembered Coolwhip...botta-bing, I knew just where that H went. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">So it got me thinking, what other tricks, besides the obvious, can be used for writing tricks? The mind is wonderous thing, isn’t it? What tricks do you use?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">6/06/2016</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">Indie Author. DIY...that means we do it all by ourselves. We write, edit, and create all on our own. The best books have aspects hired out, hard edits and covers. That is, if you have the budget. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">Most career paths have classes you can take, sometimes even online, or schools you can attend to obtain a degree in what you want to do in life. Writers and authors don't have that. Sure we can take business classes, creative writing classes, graphic design classes...which all adds up to thousands of dollars spent and hundreds of hours devoted to learning. We have workshops and webinars to teach us. But as with music and art, you either have it or you don’t. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">Anyone can be a writer...but not everyone can be a good writer. On top of that, indie authors have to wear many hats, not just that of writer. We have to do research, write our stories, edit those stories, design covers, edit some more, find beta readers, create author platforms, create an online profile through social media and author websites...on top of creating more than one book or project. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">The world of publishing is ever-changing, and yo have to stay on top of every news article and change in the industry. It’s hard work and time consuming. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">If you are like me, just etting out there, you probably are signed up for newsletters from other indie authors who figured this stuff out a long time ago. My inbox is filled with emails containing news, tips, and tricks to get out there and make the most of my chosen career. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">But those emails...they have me in information overload. I see what to do, what not to do, try this complany, stay away from these kinds of publishers, use this software, use whats free, write what you know, go learn something new and write about that. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">It is exhausting. Sometimes I just want to write and hit ‘publish.’ But I need to make a life out of this. To do that I have to have an income to support not just my career, but also my life. I need to produce a good product, which comes from hard work and diligence. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">Diligence produces research I can use to make it in this fast moving world. I know I need the advice. I know what I need to do but sometimes….</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.9827px; vertical-align: baseline;">*face meet desk*</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788800757586719724.post-76622548490684661472016-05-30T12:00:00.000-04:002016-05-30T12:00:13.931-04:00On this day, we give our thanks...<br />
"Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day and was initiated to honor the soldiers for the Union and Confederate armies who died during the American Civil War.<br />
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Celebrations honoring Civil War heroes started the year after the war ended. The establishment of a public holiday was meant to unify the celebration as a national day of remembrance instead of a holiday celebrated separately by the Union and Confederate states. By the late 19th century, the holiday became known as Memorial Day and was expanded to include the deceased veterans of all the wars fought by American forces. In 1971, Memorial Day became a federal holiday.<br />
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The original national celebration of Decoration Day took place on 30 May 1868. When Memorial Day became a federal holiday, it was given the floating date of the last Monday in May." Via publicholidays.us<br />
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Today is a day for remembrance of all those soldiers who have fought for their beliefs, their country, their family and friends, their countrymen and women, and effectively, for you.<br />
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These men and women gave their lives so that we, people who take what these good people do for granted, can live free lives. Too many have lost their lives. Men and women have been made widows, children have lost mothers and fathers. Parents have lost children. Some one some where, has lost someone.<br />
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Every day, people die. Some for no reason, others for war and peace, protection. There are those who condemn soldiers for fighting. They forget that it is those very same men and women who fought and died to protect the protesters' right to protest.<br />
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My father, my brothers, my grandfathers and uncles are military They have come home. I didn't loose my chance to have a life with them. I don't pray as much as I should, but I thank god, every day, that they are home.<br />
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I cannot imagine the pain the others who are not as lucky must feel. My heart goes out to them.<br />
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Despite how you feel about war, fighting, your religious beliefs: our man and women fight for us. They fight for your right to own a home, go to school, walk the streets wearing what you want to wear, reading the books you want to read, marry who you want to marry. They fight for our constitution, our rights, our freedoms.<br />
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If you see a veteran today, shake their hand and thank them. Thank them for giving up so much for you, a stranger. If you see a soldier's widow, tell them they are strong, and are not alone, and you appreciate their spouse's sacrifice.<br />
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Every day is memorial today, because we still have today.<br />
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We still have today because they fought to give us today.<br />
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Know a veteran or a soldier who didn't make it home? Or do you know someone who is still fighting? Post their name below so they will never be forgotten and so they will know how much they are appreciated.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788800757586719724.post-28207282541141914762016-05-28T12:00:00.000-04:002016-05-28T12:00:04.421-04:00Not For A Hundred DollarsHere we are, nearly a month since the Split.<br />
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I'm still jobless. I still haven't quit smoking. I have finally cut down on the Dew. I have barely read a book or worked on my writing.<br />
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Starting over takes time. A lot of time. But I feel like one of those people that expects results within hours of starting something new. I want all the things to start NOW. I want to stop giving my headaches from stress.<br />
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I am so tired of being held under someone's thumb, asking for this or that. It's only recently that I've gotten a break on the job front.<br />
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I have signed up on Upwork as a freelancer. I take on work as a transcriptionist, editor, writer, and pretty much anything else I find that requires skills I know I have. My downfall is exprience right now.<br />
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Why is it that to gain experience you have to work, but you need experience to work? It's a never ending cycle of rejection, anger, and stress. *sigh*<br />
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I''m eeking by, from friends and family, but it's not supporting myself. I'm still relying on others to get me from day to day.<br />
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It's frustating, to say the least. I have this list that I like to look at every once and a while. A list of all the things I want: a nice house with a cozy reading corner, my dream kitchen. A 1967 Ford Mustang GT. A published novel. An english teacher.<br />
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So many things...and I wonder if I'll make it to see the day when I finally get all those things. I wonder if I'll ever get those things.<br />
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The trick is holding your head up, never giving up. Just keep on keeping on. But I really, really just want to put my head down. Get a little rest. just for a little bit.<br />
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Have you ever experienced a crshing moment of defeat? How did you get through it? Let me know in the omments below.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788800757586719724.post-75031867739926167532016-05-16T14:01:00.001-04:002016-05-16T14:01:14.838-04:00Not Looking Forward To This WeekI know it's a few hours late, but I'm going to give you a small update.<br />
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So this week is going to be stressful. A couple of reasons, but mostly because 1. I am going to quit smoking & 2. I am cutting back on my Mt. Dew intake.<br />
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Yes, I smoke, and yes, I'm addicted to Mt. Dew. They are my only vices and I turn into a royal bitch without them, but I am trying so very hard to get healthier.<br />
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I will also be posting a review this Wednesday on some of you all's old favorite: Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events: Bad Beginnings. Unsurprisingly, this will be the first time I've ever read the series and...well, let's leave that until Wednesday.<br />
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On top of all of that, I have become a certified transcriptionist and am looking into a few online series publications. More news on that as I receive it.<br />
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Slowly, very slowly, things are coming together. I know it's going to take time to get into a rythm of things, but I'm trying my very best.<br />
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So to reiterate, this is week one of:<br />
1. quit smoking<br />
2. cut back on Dew<br />
3.Bad Beginnings review<br />
4. writerly work<br />
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If you want to know anything or have any questions, post below in the comments. I'd love to hear what you have to say!<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788800757586719724.post-59036398748889874632016-05-10T15:50:00.001-04:002016-05-10T15:50:57.893-04:00No Review This WeekThe past two weeks have been a scamble. A lot of changes have been made, and now I'm trying to piece everything back together.<br />
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I've been looking for a job, cleaning my dad's house, and tending to Lil Miss. Things are coming together, slowly but surely, but it's come at a price. I'm not the oly one paying it, and I absolutely hate the pain this has all caused.<br />
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But emotions aren't like a light switch. They can't be turned on or off at a person's will. There's not much I can do in that department, but I'm still here. Pushing forward.<br />
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Tody was supposed to be review day. Obviously, that's not happening this week. But it will happen, I promise. Next week, I swear. I have a few books waiting on my TBR list waiting to be reviewed.<br />
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Also, I'm going to start writing again. I want to bget back to Crystallised and Legacy. I also have a few other books I want to start writing. I'm still fleshing out the plans for those, but I'll keep you posted.<br />
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That's it for today. I'll be back Friday, if not then next Monday. Promise.<br />
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Happy Wednesday, lovelies.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788800757586719724.post-58353609062374711782016-05-06T12:00:00.000-04:002016-05-06T12:00:00.150-04:00I've Never Done That BeforeUnfortunately for you guys, you'll never know what I did. Ok, maybe a little.<br />
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I did something hard. I did something that hurt a lot of people. I tore my life in a hundred pieces and am now slowly piecing them back together.<br />
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My whole life I have worked for other people, taken care of other people, sacrificed for other people. I have been pissed off, pissed on, and sitting on limbo in regards to myself since I was 12 years old.<br />
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I didn't do what I did to hurt anyone. I wanted, needed, to figure myself out instead of just being a part of something. I needed to know who I am.<br />
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I have to learn to stand on my own two feet with no one holding me up. I need to learn to stand up for myself and my Lil Miss. I lost sight of that because I was afraid. Afraid to be alone, afraid I would fail. Afraid of hurting the people I care I care about.<br />
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Will it take a while? Yes. But is it worth it? On so many different sides.<br />
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I don't know where I'll end up, but I'm going to get there on my own.<br />
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So yes, I abandoned you guys for a while week, but it is not without a good reason. I will be posting regular scheduled posts next week, with updates on life, book reviews, and other little tidbits.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788800757586719724.post-30544742136664505332016-04-29T12:00:00.000-04:002016-04-29T12:00:05.801-04:00Oh A Writing We Will Go...As I stated Monday, this is a scheduled post. And boy do I have some news for you. I finished my Camp Nano project goal. !!!!!!!!!!!!! Cue squealing. I finished writing Saturday but wanted to wait until the very end to let you guys know. I couldn't wait til Monday.<br />
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As always, seeing my family is good. Lil Miss seeing her Papa is wonderful. And hanging out with old friends is even better.<br />
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I am totally going to bombard you guys with this awesomeness. I didn't even get halfway for November's Nanowrimo last year, so this is quite an accomplishment for me. Especially with everything I have going on. </div>
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Next Monday I'll share with you my experiences, my ups and downs, and the heart attacks all in detail. Be sure to check back. </div>
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Did you participate in Camp Nanowrimo? Let me know how you did in the comments below. </div>
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Missed this months Camp? Don't worry, there's another one in July and the official Nanowrimo is every November. It is never too late to start. </div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788800757586719724.post-19714441428817616182016-04-27T12:00:00.000-04:002016-04-27T12:00:14.256-04:00Lola's Blog Tours: Book Review: Secret Baby Scandal <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27190152-secret-baby-scandal" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><br /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27190152-secret-baby-scandal" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><br /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27190152-secret-baby-scandal" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><br /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27190152-secret-baby-scandal" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Secret Baby Scandal" class="alignleft" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUYSW2gr71uvNfjMaVuxawiyxU0ltYsmX-8eA_UOF2w2si6CMRbycyJK6AqlzkiMHz5QPRLZoCXyWv2rlOlWRxUrDSqKwAibHS0ksxz2Qotk4yVyrEpNmDAJpRq-2J1CnwsEUyXK9s5MfO/s1600/Secret-Baby-Scandal.jpg" /></a><br />
*I received a free copy in return for a fair and honest review. Thank you to Lola's Blog Tours and Joanna Rock for the opportunity.*<br />
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<b>Secret Baby Scandal (Bayou Billionaires #4)</b><br />
<b>by Joanne Rock</b><br />
<b>Genre:</b> Contemporary Romance<br />
<b>Age category:</b> Adult<br />
<b>Release Date:</b> May 10, 2016<br />
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<b>Blurb:</b><br />
His proposition: pretend they’re a couple to end a scandal. But she has secrets of her own…<br />
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Tatiana Doucet has dealt with sexy, arrogant athletes most of her life. But Jean-Pierre Reynaud is a whole different animal—in bed and on the field. Unbeknownst to him, their one amazing night produced a son. Now her family’s biggest football rival is back, offering a seductive wager she can’t refuse.<br />
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Jean-Pierre despises the media. When rumors fly, he knows a fake relationship is the perfect diversion for the tabloids—and Tatiana’s unbridled passion is the perfect diversion for Jean-Pierre. But when she drops a baby bombshell, the scandal will rock them both!<br />
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<b>My Review:</b><br />
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First off, yes, this is a romance book. BUT I would not classify this as smut. There was literally 3 pages of a scene, skirting around the act and mentions throughout the book. </div>
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When you see movies with wives laying in bed reading a book...this is the type of book those women are reading. It's relaxing, it's calming, it's a book I would read to escape the realism that is my life. </div>
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Now, typical of a Harlequin, we have the rich male MC, the down to earth female MC, and a scandal that really shouldn't even be a scandal. Then again, it is set in Louisiana and as a southern girl myself, I understand why people would see it as a scandal. But whatever, it's your own cup of tea. </div>
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The cover is the stuff typical romance novels, the *loving gaze* *hot and sexy* characters. All fluff. But it was well made, and gives you a little treasure hunt of where in the book the cover scene takes place. </div>
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The fact that this book stars a football elite really has no bearing, which was good for me because I don't like sports. There was a taste of the lifestyle and training, those such things, but that wasn't the main focus or even secondary focus of the book.<br />
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The writing was excellent. Ms. Rock executes the story flawlessly. Her writing follows the norms, the story is well researched (it better be with her background), But I was completely unsatisfied with the ending. It just ended. Yeah. I'm wondering what happens to baby? What's next? Am I going to get all my answers through background characters in the next book? Not happy with that part. And I really wish that the baby was shown more. </div>
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In the last 2 chapters there is a lot going on and it leaves you very unsatisfied. The questions are too big to just let slide to another book. And I was expecting this huge climax, a scandal, a blow-up. Just...something. But I was disappointed.</div>
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So my final judgement is 3 stars. I liked it for the de-stressing factor, but the ending, especially the last 2 chapters left a bad taste in my mouth. It's worth the price for the escapism alone, but you're going to want to read the rest of the series and the next books to get all of your answers.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5d17wqcxWAGfPrB3XdlIRuhpkwmvIJvp0mHsZ86W8LfABjLkFDZeL-8sTSyMt6VbYsi2-P2G0hY8_Cc-xaGj54Zg8Pl5Oy-qfqPTqiePT2-f2dqqWJEEaVOpL_g_BXGO-v-tQLh_TamzS/s1600/3star.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5d17wqcxWAGfPrB3XdlIRuhpkwmvIJvp0mHsZ86W8LfABjLkFDZeL-8sTSyMt6VbYsi2-P2G0hY8_Cc-xaGj54Zg8Pl5Oy-qfqPTqiePT2-f2dqqWJEEaVOpL_g_BXGO-v-tQLh_TamzS/s1600/3star.png" /></a>Overall, 3 stars. And that's a neutral. The writing style, the cover, and the contemporary were well portrayed. But the plot left something to be desired. IF you want a light read to over you during a car ride, or at the end of the night, then this is definitely for you. I might end up reading the rest of the series out of curiosity. And that my friends, is enough for me to pick up the other books. </div>
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<b>For buying options and about the author, keep reading. </b><br />
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You can find Secret Baby Scandal on <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27190152-secret-baby-scandal" target="_blank">Goodreads</a> <br />
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You can buy Secret Baby Scandal here:<br />
- <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Baby-Scandal-Bayou-Billionaires-ebook/dp/B015W8IWPE/" target="_blank">Amazon</a> <br />
- <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Baby-Scandal-Bayou-Billionaires/dp/0373734581/" target="_blank">Amazon Print</a> <br />
- <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/secret-baby-scandal-joanne-rock/1122713651?ean=9781488001703" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a> <br />
- <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/secret-baby-scandal-joanne-rock/1122713651?ean=9780373734580" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble Print</a> <br />
- <a href="https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/secret-baby-scandal" target="_blank">Kobo</a> <br />
- <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/secret-baby-scandal/id1044200950?mt=11" target="_blank">iBooks</a> <br />
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Bayou Billionaires series - Secrets and scandal are a Cajun family legacy for the Reynauds... <br />
- <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25897469-his-pregnant-princess-bride" target="_blank">Book 1: His Pregnant Princess Bride by Catherine Mann</a> <br />
- <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26891443-his-secretary-s-surprise-fianc" target="_blank">Book 2: His Secretary's Surprise Fiance by Joanne Rock</a> <br />
- <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27408681-reunited-with-the-rebel-billionaire" target="_blank">Book 3: Reunited with the Rebel Billionaire by Catherine Mann</a> <br />
- <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27190152-secret-baby-scandal" target="_blank">Book 4: Secret Baby Scandal by Joanne Rock</a> <br />
Books can be read as standalones or in order.<br />
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<a href="http://www.joannerock.com/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Joanne Rock" class="alignright" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4vLmjPMyXNn7JnAnlIfZbjMNsAQ4odhInDs7Thi62BMR8Crf2hdFYNUMbu12CNTl3fEbjrhgxI4n6bKwkXvqlKvQhlYtiycqeNRh5RIe3tKvLjhHJUz8Van30M9OPMfi-9aV3SQA9YAoy/s1600/JoanneRock.jpg" width="230" /></a><b>About the Author: </b><br />
Three-time RITA nominee Joanne Rock has never met a romance sub-genre she didn't like. The author of over seventy books enjoys writing contemporary romance and medieval historicals alike. An optimist by nature and perpetual seeker of silver linings, Joanne finds romance fits her life outlook perfectly--love is worth fighting for. A frequent speaker at regional and national writing conferences she enjoys giving back to the writing community that nurtured and inspired her early career. She has a Masters degree in Literature from the University of Louisville but credits her fiction writing skills to her intensive study with fellow author and friend Catherine Mann. When she's not writing, Joanne enjoys travel, especially to see her favorite sports teams play with her former sports editor husband and three athletic-minded sons. http://joannerock.com <br />
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You can find and contact Joanne here:<br />
- <a href="http://www.joannerock.com/" target="_blank">Website</a> <br />
- <a href="https://www.facebook.com/JoanneRockAuthor" target="_blank">Facebook</a> <br />
- <a href="https://twitter.com/JoanneRock6" target="_blank">Twitter</a> <br />
- <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/93455.Joanne_Rock" target="_blank">Goodreads</a> <br />
- <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Joanne-Rock/e/B004N4QDM8/" target="_blank">Amazon</a> <br />
- <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/jrockauthor/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a> <br />
- <a href="http://joannerockauthor.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">Tumblr</a> <br />
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<a href="http://www.lolasblogtours.net/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"></a><br />
<img alt="banner Lola's Blog Tours" class="aligncenter" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyVpi2rthygxLWQMinPE6PBYSClIloGpzilBL7fBClXkfxWQoORSQmY5TuhTUepLDFdNUoW9-pBweWb1I2CzsIG-TdvBWOdrMiXdNvndHWEKyMko7imTIPMnMGt4DfMehJa5CDi8T3GnWx/s1600/LolasBlogToursBanner.jpg" width="300" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788800757586719724.post-71071364623641328802016-04-25T12:00:00.000-04:002016-04-25T12:00:06.410-04:00I'm Out!!!Of town. Had you going didn't I?<br />
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I'm going out of town for the week to see my daddy. I am a daddy's girl through and through. Twice. 'Cus I have two daddies. Biological and guardian. I love them both so much and I never really take the time to talk to them, or any family really. It's one of my more shameful attributes. And I am trying to reconcile that. You never know when the day could be their or your last.<br />
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Because I'll be out of town, I won't have internet connection. Actually, this is a scheduled post, as will the other posts for this week be. I don't know when I'll be able to get to the library to make sure I get this done for you, so I'm making sure I don't break my promise.<br />
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Also, being a writer, I ahve a few writer friends. Below is one piece by a very old friend. We shall call him M. M has been writing for as long as I've known him and I love his work. His talent is painting pictures with his words.<br />
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I imagine some smooth, low voice reading it aloud to me and it's a calming pool of bliss. If I could give you audio of that I so would. And now, on to the beautiful:<br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The air of the human element, </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Reading, seeing, feeling that hidden power</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Self illuminating deep textured spheres,</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Colors, images, mesmerizing transparent eyes,</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">All wanting to share deep layers of melodious overtones</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">to love the drama and the rhythm of the word fused with sonorous language.</span></span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-38fd0b25-4614-a09f-8aaf-f5a10fdd41e3" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Divine rhythm, layered from earth scaling upwards</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Flowers, trees, hills, colored essence rising </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Spiritually reflected with sunset painted frescoes</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The look of the sky changes, pictures presented like each unique mood</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">One by one they trace their lines,</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Spreading flowery pink hues with glorious purple stains</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Here, a sphere, here the song, </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Hear the layers all gathered together</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Each day, a set of new instruments traced together in the sky</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Each day, wondering, how to bring them down</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Look into my face and you’ll see a calm man</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">With his eyes in a different dream, always hearing what can’t be heard</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">But knowing it holds an intense beauty.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Each dramatic surge reads like the innate driving pulse</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Constantly revealing, solemnly reveling</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">In deep orchestral colors, of which I can only share</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Sad little fragments</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">That need to be gathered together, </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Each theme carefully corresponding to </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Surges, dreams, love, question, yearning</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Peering over the edge into a reality that can be made</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Hands raised towards the sky, gathering the motions, directing the current’s flow</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The layering of evening colors harmoniously blended, </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">And over the land, voices raised in wordless tones, </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Melodiously textured to reflect </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">the simplicity of colored fields to the eye.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Orchestrating the melody </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Voice, upon voice, lovingly evocating simplicity</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Contrast with those complex ones, more dissonant to the ear</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Textured lightly, clearly, chromatic impressions</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Strings seep through, singing continuously higher</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">guitar electric, light colored main voice, transition</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">layers of altered textured sounds carefully crafted and matched</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">to give voice to wordless internal reflective monologue.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Gentle, sad cycles, calling up to spiritual triumphant</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Humble, pleading, thrown to mercy’s creative oblivion</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">To find answer, upon answer</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Of the connection of image, motive, song</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">This one solo voice transformed into guiding textures</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Blissful, cyclically striving, </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Infinitely dynamically rich</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Instruments may not exist to properly create that sound</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The flow of each surge, the pulse of each colored breath, </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Rising ever on, greater chords, painting liberation </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">with tones held away, inexpressible save by careful transposition</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">voices controlled deep before a thought becomes spoken word</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">deep before words, only this tone exists</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">to serve as mirror of all those moods, sanguinely reflected</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">the impenetrable space of truth in creativity. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">So what did you think? Help me encourage M to post his work online. I want to know what you think in the comments below. Happy Monday!</span><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788800757586719724.post-26100073289106369932016-04-22T12:00:00.000-04:002016-04-22T12:00:01.709-04:00Well, This Week Didn't Go As PlannedOnce in a while I like to write a To-Do list. I didn't do a single darn thing on my list this week. But!<br />
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We did go to the library again this week. Lil Miss got new books and played on the train table. I got books on homeschooling (got a few good ideas from those), some books to review, and was terribly disappointed when a JR Ward I was looking for was only available at a different branch. Poo.<br />
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I got a new review done, <b>Joanna Rock's </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">Secret Baby Scandal. </i>Look for that next Wednesday.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjab5F53vN1bOWCrVt4a9IqPClTpTBbXjLIk7g9Dc4060c63cyrmmzEWcCnNAfJp-WQLKZpXOB0xpyPK-_qV775VZ43aKciliTWYCkH4rmPQKo2iIqFLRE4Ovl5vUjSRh2lDNMzlh0SLKTb/s1600/the-tortoise-and-the-hare-story-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjab5F53vN1bOWCrVt4a9IqPClTpTBbXjLIk7g9Dc4060c63cyrmmzEWcCnNAfJp-WQLKZpXOB0xpyPK-_qV775VZ43aKciliTWYCkH4rmPQKo2iIqFLRE4Ovl5vUjSRh2lDNMzlh0SLKTb/s320/the-tortoise-and-the-hare-story-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Oh! I got some writing done. Not much, but I'm just over 5K words closer to my goal of 25K words by the end of this month. The validation period of Camp Nanowrimo has begun and there's just one week left of the event. I'm excited and jittery at the same time. Because I don't know if I'll make it, but with such a small word count in front of me how can I not pass it? It feels like when you get closer to the end you lose focus and that's when you mess up.<br />
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I'm scared I'll mess up before I cross the finish line.</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
But I can't let that stop me. I will channel the Little Train That Could and get this done. And keep going, until all the words are on paper, and the story is alive. </div>
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And that's it. My week was slow, and I got a lot done in some respects, and very little in others. But hey, at least I'm not sitting on the butt all day, huh? </div>
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It's a nice change of pace. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788800757586719724.post-52329016130449671072016-04-20T12:00:00.000-04:002016-04-20T12:00:10.184-04:00Book Review: Henrietta The Dragon SlayerI received a free copy from the author for a fair and honest review.<br />
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<h2>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf9vwghgVcfr9f9NLmo8EXlc7Z10DQkX6Iw_mY1Jgio93JKDv6MCDDbH-fLvysEmYUBxUY7OisodZJ44I3LLw9OUYqZE7z7as_wNJfI1ng3hGOpfSHaNKK9167djDTDArBQlhNyojOiKXg/s1600/henriettaslayer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf9vwghgVcfr9f9NLmo8EXlc7Z10DQkX6Iw_mY1Jgio93JKDv6MCDDbH-fLvysEmYUBxUY7OisodZJ44I3LLw9OUYqZE7z7as_wNJfI1ng3hGOpfSHaNKK9167djDTDArBQlhNyojOiKXg/s320/henriettaslayer.jpg" width="197" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Henrietta The Dragon Slayer</span></h2>
<h4>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Author: <span style="font-weight: normal;">Beth Barany</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Genre: <span style="font-weight: normal;">YA Fantasy</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Series: <span style="font-weight: normal;">The Five Kingdoms</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Publisher: <span style="font-weight: normal;">Firewolf Books</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Pages: <span style="font-weight: normal;">225</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Format: <span style="font-weight: normal;">Paperback</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Source: <span style="font-weight: normal;">Author</span></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Henrietta-Dragon-Slayer-Beth-Barany-ebook/dp/B004P8K292/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1460862363&sr=8-1&keywords=henrietta+the+dragon+slayer" target="_blank">Buy on Amazon</a><br />
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11713438-henrietta-the-dragon-slayer?from_search=true&search_version=service" target="_blank">Goodreads</a></h4>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgipDo6xW3Kua1_5VASU1kVDO7kIEuWyyDhTqjugr9LgmhtKGDpaC-ukrjEx6biZojoAHTj6irFMwBa3qjcPgsnfxg2r5gfYG8g0agMG60w393ln8SCspt2QhoyrGKjsevDGLgzGY3ndSW3/s1600/5star.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgipDo6xW3Kua1_5VASU1kVDO7kIEuWyyDhTqjugr9LgmhtKGDpaC-ukrjEx6biZojoAHTj6irFMwBa3qjcPgsnfxg2r5gfYG8g0agMG60w393ln8SCspt2QhoyrGKjsevDGLgzGY3ndSW3/s1600/5star.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgipDo6xW3Kua1_5VASU1kVDO7kIEuWyyDhTqjugr9LgmhtKGDpaC-ukrjEx6biZojoAHTj6irFMwBa3qjcPgsnfxg2r5gfYG8g0agMG60w393ln8SCspt2QhoyrGKjsevDGLgzGY3ndSW3/s1600/5star.png" /></a><b>My Rating:</b><br />
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<h4>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; line-height: 21px;">Henrietta, the legendary Dragon Slayer of the Kingdom of Bleuve, can't stomach the thought of one more kill. Yet, in order to save her dying mentor, she must go on one last quest. But will misfit companions, seasickness, and an ego maniacal king derail the quest for the healing stone? And will she be able to cut past her conscience and kill the dragon?</span></h4>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 21px;">The cover gives just enough info to let me know the MC is a kick-ass girl, a win in my book. The book description poses a lot of questions that I want answered, but I mostly wanted to read the book based on the last sentence of the description. Can she? Will she?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 21px;">I was intrigued when I read the book description, and I was not disappointed. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 21px;">We are introduced to Henrietta, the main character from page one. By the end of the third chapter we are introduced to the main group of characters, the problem, and have enough questions to keep me reading. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The pacing was just right, and matched each scene to a T. The fight scenes adrenalized me and the riding horseback was calming. Through twist and turns, my questions were answered and more were posed. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">What Barany did in this book that is unique, is she made the character's own conscious the villain. Henrietta plays with a lot of back and forth on what she should do, what she can do, how others perceive her, and the struggles she experiences being a <u>female</u> dragon slayer. This world is definitely run by men, and Henrietta gives a good kick to the male-dominated world. The question of "What is the right way?" is in many of her thoughts and actions, as well as presented by the other characters.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Each character learns and grows as the book progresses. Henrietta and Franc grow, I think, the most and I can't wait to see how that relationship grows in the next book. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The characters were all well developed, each one with their own personality. Jaxter was perhaps my favorite character, as his background was mostly hidden even though he was the most open. There was humor and sorrow, anger, and annoyances (Franc!) and I felt connected with each one.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The book definitely ended on a good note, what book doesn't? And I am salivating for the next one. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">AND this one will be joing <i>Number The Stars</i> in my daughter's future library, I can guarantee that one. </span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788800757586719724.post-68064507506845669512016-04-18T13:00:00.000-04:002016-04-18T13:00:06.152-04:00Just a Check InI didn't get much done last week in regards to Camp Nanowrimo, but I did work. I enjoyed 13 straight hours of ALLIndie Authors Fringe event on Friday. Actually I watched, listened, and read to all the posts on Saturday. There was a lot of information, almost an overload, but it really helped me figure out a few things and know where I stand in my life as of now and what I can do to move forward.<br />
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Now, for why I'm making two posts today (Monday). Here are my stats as of Sunday night just before midnight. And that's it. Where are you in your writing goals? Let me know in the comments below.<br />
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