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Meri's Corner

~ A Writer's Thoughts and Reviews

Meri's Corner

Monthly Archives: July 2018

**NEW RELEASE** – Cocky Dragon Slayer – **NEW RELEASE**

30 Monday Jul 2018

Posted by MBenson in New Release

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amwriting, Book Release, cocky dragon slayer, creativity, discoveries, dragon slayer, dragons, enjoy, fantasy, New Release, online presence, original fiction, original work, update, writing

A new short! That’s right NEW! By me!

Cocky Dragon Slayer

Wanting to prove her worth, Eiliana strives to slay a dragon.
But when she arrives at a town with a dragon that flies over daily, things are not entirely what they seem and her past is far from buried.

Will Eiliana slay the dragon? Will she get eaten?
Only a climb to the dragon’s lair will tell.

This is the first in a small series! You can find the book here for purchase, or free to read on Kindle Unlimited!

**NEW RELEASE** – The Opening – **NEW RELEASE**

28 Saturday Jul 2018

Posted by MBenson in New Release

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amwriting, Book Release, creativity, discoveries, enjoy, fantasy, New Release, online presence, original fiction, original work, The Opening, update, writing

I am pleased to announce the release of a new short story by me!

The Opening

April’s life isn’t where she’d hoped it would be right now. Dead end job that barely makes rent, rent raising so she won’t be able to afford it, no something needs to change. And maybe the interview her friend sets up for her will be that change she desperately needs.

It’s the first in a small series that I’m planning. You can find the book here for purchase, or free to read on Kindle Unlimited!

Book Review: Mated on Hades by Golden Angel

26 Thursday Jul 2018

Posted by MBenson in Reviews

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amreading, Celestial Mates, creativity, discoveries, Golden Angel, Mated on Hades, published work, review, reviews, Romance, Science Fiction, Science Fiction Romance, update

Author: Golden Angel 
Publisher: Golden Angel
Genre: Science Fiction Romance
Rating: 4 Stars

Tarrik, a Hadesian, and Juliette, a human, sign up for Celestial Mates for reasons that do not include hoping to actually find a mate. But Celestial Mates is the best agency in the galaxy for a reason.

Tarrik enjoys his life, flying from planet to planet with his crew as he carts cargo to and from for his parent’s company. It’s a free life and one that lets him see the galaxy. But when his parents decide that he’s more than old enough to start considering settling down, spawned by their own want to be able to travel the galaxy while he stays planetside to run the business, he finds himself agreeing to sign up for Celestial Mates to appease them even if it’s not something he wants.

Juliette runs the wrong side of a very powerful organization as a hacker and needs an escape from Earth as quick as possible, which leads her to sign up for Celestial Mates in a way to get off world and into hiding faster than she had hoped to.

Neither are interested in making it work, but in the mix of everything going on will they find love anyway?

I loved the take on the different aliens that inhabited this galaxy, the author was creative in not just the kinds but also how they inter-mixed and their offspring gained the traits of both parents. I also loved being able to see some of it through Juliette’s eyes since she’d never been off Earth before. It was fun being able to explore that way.

The book passes between Tarrik’s point of view and Juliette’s point of view, and it’s helpful to be able to see where both of them are coming from as they go back and forth in this pairing that’s put them together. Switching between both views gives a good view of Juliette as she slowly integrates into Tarrik’s life and with his crew, how he feels about it and how she slowly starts to see if she can really live this way or not.

I enjoyed the writing and the characters a lot, and I’m definitely interested in reading more from this author in the future.

Breath, Just Breath

23 Monday Jul 2018

Posted by MBenson in Personal Thoughts, Writing

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amediting, amreading, amwriting, balancing, creativity, discoveries, enjoy, fantasy, goals, inspiration, life, musings, online presence, original fiction, original work, possible wip, ramblings, real life, thoughts, time, time management, update, what do, WIP, word count, writing

Life needs more naps, so we can all look and relaxed and stressfree as the kitten on this post. I’m just sayin’ that right off the bat. I might be a little biased toward naps right now because I’m currently running around like a chicken with no head while I try to get everything done for the camping festival I’ll be on next week.

I’m not sure how it’s next week, but then I’m not exactly sure how we’re almost done with July either. I don’t feel like I’m getting a lot out of my months in general. Though, stress does tend to do that with things in general.

I was going to say July has been better than June, but I’ve published shorts in both and read a decent amount in both. Though I have read a tad bit more this month than last, almost doubling my read count this July.

With camping next week, I’m not looking to take my laptop with me. Which means all writing will have to be done by hand, in a notebook. I’m thinking of bringing my Festival story with me to see if I can hammer out the last couple chapters to get it a finished draft instead of a WIP. What’s possibly worse is that I’ve got edits on the current twenty chapters that are sitting in a binder on my desk waiting for me to roll through them. But I’d love to finish this one and then roll through edits of both my faerie story and this festival story. So thinking of bringing a printed out copy of it with me camping, and my trusty notebook so I can do a quick read through of what I have and then wrap it up.

I have a couple shorts in the back of my head too but I think I want to try and back burner them for the week and really push to finish this story. It’s been sitting for more than a few months unfinished and I’d love to get it to a point where I can just worry about the edits of it.

I’m just kind of behind on everything and I’m slowly crawling toward catching up with it all. My plan, honestly, is to get caught up on everything by the time I’m back from the camping trip. I know you’re probably blinking and going, but that’s like two weeks away, but honestly, I think with some elbow grease I can do it. I’ve already made a list of what I need to do, and ideally when I’d like it to post so it’s just a matter of sticking to my new schedule to get caught up with everything.

I can do it!

And if you’re behind on anything, just take a piece of paper, breath for a second, and jot down what you’re behind on and what needs to be done to catch up. After that give yourself dates for some of those tasks.

I felt better after writing out and giving myself dates for everything that I felt needed to be done. Because it gives me a plan to work with, and deadlines to know when everything should be done by.

And at the end of the day, just take one day at a time. After all, there are only so many hours in the day but I’m starting to learn – after a lot of being told so by some really good friends – that it’s more manageable when you have a plan and a schedule to live it by. (It just took a while to sink into my stubborn brain)

I’ve been MIA – opps

19 Thursday Jul 2018

Posted by MBenson in Personal Thoughts, Writing

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amediting, amreading, amwriting, balancing, creativity, discoveries, enjoy, fantasy, inspiration, life, musings, online presence, original fiction, original work, ramblings, real life, thoughts, update, what do, WIP, word count, writing


[Screenshot provided by both Sea of Thieves for a spectacular game (that’s my character) and my friend Cassandra for her superior screenshot skills]

Ahoy hoy, fair readers!

So I’ve been completely MIA. I didn’t realize I’ve gone and not blogging for so long until I signed on and went wow. It’s been a month. Life has been… life. 

I coordinate and run a festival that is two weeks away, so trying to stay on top of everything for that has kept me super both busy and stressed because unfortunately, I don’t get the help that I really need. I’m not going to go into a sob story regarding what that actually entails or means – partially because I don’t want to dwell on it, partially because I don’t want any pity or sympathy, and partially because I’m trying to continue to move forward despite it and hashing it out would only cause me to backtrack in my thinking.

Though, I will say I had a minor meltdown last Saturday where I basically threatened (to the empty room) that if I don’t get more help for next year that I’m going to resign from being the Coordinator. This came after misplacing 20 registrations and having a minor panic attack of what happens if I never find them because I don’t remember who exactly was in that pack of registrations. The good is I DID find that packet, but the stress of losing them in the first place is still fairly fresh in my head despite being nearly a week after.

I’ve also been writing. I finished a couple books which I completely blanked on totting here, my blog, for all you lovely people to know about. I want to let them have their own posts so watch for those in the next couple days. I’m pretty proud of both, not gonna lie. I also have a slew of reviews I still need to get scheduled and posted, so those should be coming soon too!

June didn’t see me read too much. July has seen more reading – not that it’s been anything on my list which is still active for July. I’ve still got about a week and a half for getting things read and finished. Maybe I’ll see some of my Reading list completed so I can add new books to it. Also on a plus, I finally found my copy of Stalking Jack the Ripper, so definitely looking to get that book read soon.

Aside from writing, I’ve been playing a couple video games in my time away from my blog. Stress relief mostly. What games, I’m sure you’re asking?

Moonlighter is a single player dungeon crawler game where you play the last Moonlighter, the owner of a store in town and one of the only people that the dungeons will open for. So the point is to open the fifth dungeon door, learn about your past, and sell all the crap you get from killing things in your dungeon to better your shop. It’s available for PC/Mac/Xbox One – I’ve been playing it on Xbox One because I can play it from bed. No shame.

Sea of Thieves is a pirate game. The screenshot above is from the game, taken while I was sailing with some friends. You pick your pirate, and then pick your ship and set sail. Will you quest for gold, quest for skulls, or help the merchants collect animals for sale? Well, that’s up to you. The game is stunning, the developers are constantly updating and adding to the game – currently, there’s a two-week event that ends on the 25th to find mermaid statues and destroy them. And on the 31st, the Cursed Sails event is going live. You can sail alone – though you may/will run into other real-life players, or with a crew of up to four people. Cursed Sails will bring skeleton crews (npc’s) to the seas to watch for too and you have no idea how excited I am for the release. It’s available on PC/Xbox One (It’s a Microsoft game so nothing else) and it’s cross-platform. I am constantly playing with my friend on PC from my Xbox.

*Not sponsored, just honest opinions here. But I’d totally recommend trying both if you’re a gamer.

I think that’s in for me for today’s update. New book announcements to come. New reviews to come. I read a slew of shorts that I will probably review altogether in one post – for reasons that will make sense when I post it. And new posts despite me being on vacation in two weeks.

God help me it’s a week of camping. I’m praying to any god that will listen to be kind as far as the weather goes – not too hot and not rainy. *crosses fingers and toes while at it*

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