Tag Archives: discoveries

New Year, New Goals

12 Wednesday Jan 2022

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So how are we all feeling now that 2022 has fully set in?

My Holiday season was filled with family, a friend that came for a visit, and some rest. My Aunt was kind enough to grab the Self-publishing Marketing books I requested for Christmas and my Cousin got me some more things for my Cricut so I need to get back into doing the coasters and mugs. I still haven’t actually set up my mug press in my Craft Room.

With the new year, and having a friend over for the Holidays, it made mom and I even more aware that we need to reorganize the Craft Room – with some shifting of the stuff in there we can fit a day bed in it and make it a guest room as well – because right now any guests have to sleep on the pull-out couch which 1) I didn’t realize how hard it was for sleeping all night and 2) is in the living room so barely any privacy.  But I’ve been wanting an excuse for a deep clean anyway, so this gives the perfect reasoning.

So that leads well into 2022 and my goals. I have a few, but I’m trying to keep them to a manageable amount.

  1. Clean the Craft Room and set it up as a partial Guest Room.
  2. Finish Book 2 of the Ragnarok Trilogy with my co-author and publish in July.
  3. Finish editing Into the Faerietale and get that out this year – thinking September-ish for it.
  4. Finish writing, edit, and get a short novella-length story out on my other pen name.
  5. Get my Ko-Fi shop running a little better both with book merch, books, and the necklaces I’ve been making.

All in all, it’s a manageable list, I think. A secondary goal is to create some more merch for both Hotel Fen and Into the Faerietale. I have the bookplates that I need to get up on the shop – so if people buy the physical book through Amazon or B&N and want our signatures on them, they can grab one. I also splurged and made pins:

Which I think came out amazing! They’re metal and enamel with butterfly clasps on the back. And I made special pin backings for them that match the bookplates the signatures are on.

But yes, those are my 2022 goals. What are your goals for the year? I’d love to hear them!

To DYI or not to DYI

13 Monday Dec 2021

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For Holiday gifts that you give to family and friends, I always find myself wondering if I should try and make something or if I should try and find a gift that either makes me think of them or off a list they give me.

For a few years just out of college when I was still trying to find a job some of the DYI was because I just couldn’t afford to purchase gifts for everyone I needed to – even five years ago things are expensive at times. However, I’m crafty enough and I enjoy doing it a lot, so making my gifts has been kind of fun over the years. I’ve made blankets, baked goods, and this year I decided to expand my scope a little and use an annual tradition with my one aunt and uncle.

Every year, I give my aunt and uncle an ornament for their tree. It goes back far enough I couldn’t even tell you what year I started doing it, because for as long as I can remember, it’s been part of my gift to them. This year, especially with all the painting I’ve been doing, I decided I wanted to try my hand at making an ornament for them.

Though, that lead to questioning what color I should be making the ornament in. Which prompted me to try out a few colors in my process – as well as testing out both glass ornaments and plastic ones. Overall, I think they came out really well. Though I’m still no closer to trying to choose which one to give them.

Do you like doing DYI gifts for family and friends? If so, what do you make for them? I’d love to know what other crafters enjoy making, especially as gifts.

Book Review: Caffeinated Calamity by Amanda M. Lee

08 Wednesday Dec 2021

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Author: Amanda M. Lee
Publisher: Amanda M. Lee
Series: A Two Broomsticks Gas & Grill Witch Cozy Mystery
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Cozy Mystery
Rating: 4 Stars

Can you tell that I’m enjoying the series already since we’re now on book two?

Yes, we’re back with Stormy Morgan, new witch in the small town of Shadow Hills, Michigan. Well, technically, make that only witch in Shadow Hills since her great-grandmother moved away to Florida years back. Which means that she’s navigating this new power all on her own, while she tries to keep it fairly quiet from her family, the town and her not-quite boyfriend, Hunter.

Overall, the writing is cute and I’m enjoying the characters and continuation of the story and what’s going on with Stormy. Book two actually opens up with a Prologue set in Hemlock Cove, a town over from Shadow Hills with Bay and Thistle Winchester. From reading other reviews, of the first book and this book I had already picked up that this was a series set in a much bigger universe from her other series. This prologue, for those who haven’t read any of her other series, pretty much confirms it. I did a little digging to link that the Winchesters are from her ‘Wicked Witches of the Midwest’ books, of which there are currently nineteen out. Something I might tackle later because I can’t say I’m not interested in reading Bay’s story from the beginning.

Spoilers weaved in and out of my review ahead, so read at your discretion.

I did like this book a little more than the first, though I think part of it is because while it’s frustrating Stormy, Hunter is trying to actually do the right thing by not just jumping into a relationship with Stormy so soon after his breakup with Monica. Stormy as a whole is worried that it’s because she’s not sure if it’s due to Hunter having second thoughts, but he does confirm it’s because he knows he was in the wrong with how he treated Monica and wanted to give it some time before the relationship was more or less rubbed into Monica’s face.

While the town might still be gossiping about them, I actually appreciate him trying to do the right thing and not give the town MORE to gossip about or throw in her face.

As well, Stormy is starting to come to terms with her being a witch, with her friend Sebastian dragging her off to Hemlock Cove to the Winchester’s store in an effort to get her to kind of feel out the family because it’s a well-known not-secret that they are in fact witches.

The speed at which the murders are happening in town since Stormy came back is a little concerning though. We’re only a few weeks after the conclusion of the first book, where someone was murdered behind the family restaurant when one drops dead as she’s leaving from breakfast – the ultimate conclusion for death being poisoned. So again, another murder. (And I’m already partway into book three, which takes place only a few weeks after this one, and again, a new murder) So we’re talking like, three murders in the span of like a month and a half – two months? That’s a LOT, especially for a small town. It asks for a lot of suspension of disbelief – it’s easier to believe the speed of murders were it in a larger town, because more people, but in a town where everyone knows everyone and the largest gossip outside of the murders is that Hunter’s truck was parked behind the restaurant so everyone knows he spent the night at Stormy’s apartment – it takes a decent amount of disbelief for ‘reading reasons’ to wonder why people haven’t fleed this town ages ago if this is how fast people are dropping.

The book had a similar feel of book one, where we’re focusing on Stormy and her magic, or Stormy and Hunter a lot and sometimes it does feel like the murder and the mystery of it get pushed back a little for the other things. I like that magic is starting to take a bigger roll in the books as Stormy is learning about it and of it, though I also feel like if there was a little more time between each book (and murder) there’s some hand waving, Stormy has been learning and so we can speed up the rate at which she’s learning to use it a little more. However, I do feel like we had a little more sleuthing about the murder and into why it happened than the first book, so the conclusion of the who, how, and why came a little more in flow with the rest of the book.

I’d definitely still recommend it if you’re looking for a cute, cozy mystery to read with a hint of paranormal/witchy flare. And I will say with the cameos from the Winchester family, I am curious to read their story from their perspective – or well, Bay’s perspective mostly. Their appearance makes me wish I knew of them before picking up this book, and you can tell there’s a large family dynamic going on among them, but at the same time, I think they were handled well in that I don’t feel that I was missing anything from not reading their books that affected how they interacted with Stormy and her story as a whole.

Book Review: Sinfully Delicious by Amanda M. Lee

03 Friday Dec 2021

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Author: Amanda M. Lee
Publisher: Amanda M. Lee
Series: A Two Broomsticks Gas & Grill Witch Cozy Mystery
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Cozy Mystery
Rating: 4 Stars

Sinfully Delicious is a Cozy Mystery that follows our main character, Stormy Morgan, as she tries to settle back into her hometown of Shadow Hills, Michigan after having left it for several years. We learn quickly that she left Shadow Hills for college and to become a writer, which she was successful with for the first book.

With the failure of her second book, her publisher canceled her contract and with no prospects at the moment, and little to her name or cash in her bank account, she finds herself back in her hometown.

Overall, Sinfully Delicious was a cute start to a new series. I haven’t read any of Amanda Lee’s books before now, so this is my entrance into her as an author as well and overall I do like what I see. I can confirm I’m already eight chapters into the second book for this series, because I liked it enough to want to continue and see where this story goes with the main character Stormy, as well as her grandfather and her ex.

Spoilers weaved in and out of my review ahead, so read at your discretion.

Stormy is an interesting character, and while she does come off a little whiny at life and her lot in it with having to find herself back in her hometown, living above her family’s restaurant by the grace of her grandfather’s working with her on the rent to lease the place, if you really think about it wouldn’t you be a little whiny if you were in her shoes too? No one expects to make it, break it, and find themselves back at home after college. I will say, I would have liked to see her pull her bootstraps up a little bit more than she did as a whole with being an adult that’s almost thirty, but to be fair and realistic, I’ve seen this attitude first hand so I can’t say it’s not wrong or inaccurate with how people are sometimes either.

Her grandfather is possibly one of my favorite characters in the book. Especially with his disappearing acts whenever Hunter, local cop and Stormy’s ex-boyfriend, comes around to try and talk to him. Especially when he pops back up after Hunter leaves like he’d been at the counter cooking the entire time she’d been looking for him and Hunter was there.

I do have to say I wasn’t thrilled with Hunter as a whole, more with how he was using his current girlfriend throughout the book. It’s both said about him from a friend, as well as he does more or less outright say he knew that it was never going to work with Monica, but he kept her around because he wanted to have a wall or shield against having Stormy come back so he could have a super easy way of keeping Stormy at arm’s length. Which is 100% not fair to Monica to be strung along for almost a month just because he was scared of how it might go between him and his ex-girlfriend. While I didn’t like Monica, I do sympathize with her a little because she was, in effect, a pawn to Hunter when she thought he actually cared about her.

Sinfully Delicious is sold as a Witch Cozy Mystery, and while like I did say I’m into book 2 already, the first book doesn’t do a lot for bringing in the paranormal to the book to tag the first book a witch book. We slowly learn, with Stormy, that she has powers that she accidentally unlocked one night while playing with a Ouija board. By the end of the book it’s clear she has powers and comes from a witch line on her grandfather’s side – and honestly with the way her grandfather seems to be able to pop in and out of sight at the drop of a hat I wouldn’t be surprised if later on in the series we find out that he does have at least a small bit of magic he keeps to himself. But as a whole I wish for a WITCH cozy mystery there’d been a little more WITCH to it.

As well, while there is a death and a mystery, I did find myself feeling like the mystery aspect of it took a large backseat to the romance aspect with the push and pull of Stormy and Hunter as they tried to navigate their feelings for each other.

Maybe I’m just used to the cozy mysteries where the main character has her nose in EVERYTHING when it comes to trying to sniff out the who dun it, with the story focusing on the mystery and the romance being the secondary plot so having it almost flipped left me a little disappointed with the mystery as a whole. But it felt like the wrap-up of the mystery was a little rushed in this book. As a whole, the mystery was wrapped up decently well and it all made sense to the story and plot, it just felt a little like we realized we had gotten to the end of the book and needed to wrap it up so let’s get on that, kind of ending.

But at the end of the day, it’s also a cozy mystery, and it was a cute and cozy read.

Week 1 – NaNoWriMo and the quest for the Words

08 Monday Nov 2021

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So, we’re a week into November (it’s a week and one day, but I am not counting today just yet because I still have 12 hours to get some words in between and after my work day today.

Are you participating in NaNo this year? (Let me know down in the comments!)

My first week has been fairly good as a whole. I had one day where work got to be too much so I just rolled crashed after a couple hundred words – but I was able to keep my check-ins every day going at least.

Currently, I’m pretty sure my word count would make a really good rollercoaster ride. I’m also trying to figure out a way to help me keep this fairly consistent momentum through and after NaNo – because if I can keep this up as a whole I could get a little more done with things.

More done would be great because I have:

  • a book that just needs editing
  • a book that technically just needs a final two chapters, though reflecting back on some of it I’m considering a semi-full rewrite. Maybe.
  • A novella that’s half done and the other half is semi-outlined I just need to flush it out and finish it
  • and more story ideas than I can count.

Plot bunnies abound, really. Which is also why I’m working on creating a Story Idea Journal because I’m tired of losing some of my ideas when I jot them down in a notebook that’s for something else, or in my planner than I then don’t look at for two years.

Do you have a good way of keeping your story ideas centralized and easily accessed when you get one? Or are yours like me, kind of all over the house?

#WIPWednesday – Art Edition

13 Wednesday Oct 2021

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So while I am an author and I could probably go on for days about the different novellas, novels, and shorts that I have tucked away in my box of plot bunnies (something that continues to breed as it sits.

Today I’m going to feature some of the art I’m working on. Because when not writing I enjoy spending time painting, making jewelry, and resin work.

A couple of paintings I did recently – they’re on 8-inch by 8-inch canvases. I did several blues with a little white and some lavender that didn’t really show up too well. A lavender and silver with a hint of pink. And a blue, lavender and pink with white – which is still really wet as you can tell in the lower left corner of the picture.

And then a shot of the resin keychains that I’m mailing by co-author, but I’m looking to make more to sell. As well, I have rune sets that look identical but are for divination purposes.

What do you do for fun when you’re not writing? Let me know!

Manic Monday

04 Monday Oct 2021

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I know that Monday tends to be a very large sigh of not again when we all start a new week (Somehow Sunday never feels like the start of a week despite though that’s likely just me because I work a Monday through Friday job).

Despite the very Monday feel to today, I hope that everyone reading this has or had a wonderful Monday. That it brought you something good, something that was able to make you smile, or at least something that wasn’t adding to your stress.

My Monday has been going a little everywhere – and by that, I mostly mean my brain. I have several things on my awareness that I want to do and I’m having a hard time trying to focus on one because all of them want my attention. So here I sit working on this blog post instead.

The Monday’est of Mondays.

 

Since my last blog post what have I been doing?
That’s a very good question honestly.

The boring answer is work. Work. And, more work. (My 9-5 has been eating a decent amount of my brain). However, that’s not ALL I’ve been doing either.

My co-author and I have been working on Book 2 for our Nine Universe, sequel to Hotel Fen and middle book of the Ragnarok Trilogy.
– We created a Wiki for the series. Super fun as a whole, not going to lie.
– Officially settled on the title for Book 2 – Monster Ridge – with the book slated for release July 23, 2022.
– And of course, we can’t write a book without an Outline, so we have spent the last month or so outlining the book. We finished it a little while back, the outline. The plan is to NaNo the book like we did for Hotel Fen. It worked really well as a whole for book one, so here’s hoping it works well for book two!

As well, my co-author has been sliding me short story competitions for magazines and things and when my brain can get around their theme, it’s been fun trying to write a few shorts for those.

We currently have a joint submission we wrote over a weekend pending decision.

As well, I submitted to FloraFiction.com’s Fall Haunting theme. You can find their website here: florafiction.com and you can find my submission “Lingering Ice” within its pages (page 16 to be specific) but you should definitely check out the magazine as a whole because there were a lot of good shorts, poems, and art/photography in the issue.

I have plans to overhaul my website a little more, make it a little more clean as a whole. So watch out for that in the coming months too!

Before I go though, how did your September go? Any hopes or plans for October to make spooky season fun? Let me know in the comments!

Pre-Order is Live!

23 Monday Aug 2021

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So back last October my friend and I were talking and we decided to write a book for NaNo. I am pretty sure I’ve both talked about it here and referred to it lovingly as Project Norse. We were able to finish the draft by the first of March – leaving it for a month or so while we dealt with work things and live things.

And then the editing happened. And while we were slow some months, we worked hard in others. Coupled with our amazing support team to help us, we have made it to the finish line!

I’m proud to present Hotel Fen!

It’s now live to pre-order from the following eBook stores:
Kindle
Apple Book
Barnes & Noble Nook
Kobo

Releasing Aug 24!

The paperback edition will be coming soon via Amazon as well, but unfortunately they don’t allow print copies up for pre-order. But I do have it set up in the KDP area to submit soon with the hopes that it will be reviewed relatively quick and won’t be too far behind the eBook release.

Also to go along with the beautiful cover and the fact that we’re releasing so very soon! Another incredible item to share is that my talented co-author actually wrote a song for our book too. (we’re actually working on a few more since we love how this one turned out)

It’s Live on Spotify now!
Listen here!

For those wondering, but what is the book about?
Don’t worry! I wouldnt’ leave you without a synopsis to read and hopefully tickle your interest!

Synopsis

Are you ready for the vacation of a lifetime?

Victor has always had a passion for Norse history and mythology, but after hitting a dead end with his book on valkyries, not even that passion is enough to move him forward. Just when he’s ready to abandon the project, he receives an email: he’s won a free trip to Hotel Fen, a remote vintage resort in the Scandinavian Mountains.

Silje has always felt that her life was fairly unremarkable. She cares deeply about people and that has led her to find her purpose at a nursing home in Oslo. When a resident dies and leaves her an all-expense paid vacation package to Hotel Fen, however, she takes the opportunity to experience something different.

It all starts innocently enough, with a little meet-cute in the hotel elevator that takes forever to arrive on their floor. But the longer Victor and Silje remain together, the more dangerous the hotel becomes, and the more they question where reality ends and the impossible begins.

And, just a reminder that Hotel Fen now live to pre-order from the following eBook stores:
Kindle
Apple Book
Barnes & Noble Nook
Kobo
Print Copy Coming Soon!

Cover Reveal: These Wicked Delights by Jessi Elliott

14 Wednesday Apr 2021

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Title: These Wicked Delights
Author: Jessi Elliott
Genre: YA Contemporary Fantasy
Release Date: June 15, 2021

Synopsis

When eighteen-year-old Emery Leclerc is taken from her home by a man who claims she has
magical powers, she isn’t sure who to call first: the police or the psych ward.

After discovering that the magic running through her veins is the reason her parents died years
ago, Emery wants nothing to do with it. She’d like nothing more than to return to her boring,
small-town life. But left unchecked, her newly awakened abilities prove dangerous. She must
learn to control her magic or risk having it consume her—and dying before making it out of high
school would seriously suck.

Unfortunately for Emery, learning magic isn’t as easy as her new housemates make it seem. As
her frustration grows, she learns that, while she may not want her magic, there’s a Wielder who
does… and the hauntingly familiar and wickedly charming Remington will do whatever it takes
to have it. As Emery battles him, she struggles to unravel the truth about her magical block and
the undeniable pull she feels towards her enemy.

They say the truth will set you free, but for Emery, it could be the very thing that kills her.

Pre-Order

Amazon | Apple | Nook | Kobo | Google

You can also Pre-Order a signed Paperback and get an exclusive Swag Pack FREE! Click Here!

Meet the Author

Jessi Elliott is a law clerk and author of both young adult and new adult romantic fiction. Her love of writing was born after many years of reading and reviewing books on her blog.

She lives in Southwestern Ontario with her adorable cat, Phoebe. Yes, named after the Friends character.  

When she’s not plotting her next writing project, she likes to spend her time hanging with friends and family, getting lost in a steamy romance novel, watching Friends, and drinking coffee.  

You can find Jessi at www.jessielliott.com, on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. You can join her newsletter to stay up to date on book news and upcoming releases.

Catch Up

12 Monday Apr 2021

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I’m not even sure how we’re almost half way through April, I’m going to be completely honest with you. February and March passed quickly, leaving barely a trace of themselves behind as I stand here blinking at the progression of time. I mean, I know that they passed, my co-author and I worked really hard to finish our first draft by the end of Feb, which we ALMOST met deadline for. We technically finished it on March 1st, but that’s a close enough finish that I’m super happy with it.

March flew past in a blur. Things ramped up at work and I used March as a month to let the draft sit and get some space from, though we’re almost halfway into April and I am reminded that I need to dig into the edits now. I have some edits to make because I had someone read it and note all across it, plus re-reading to see where it needs edits myself as well. But I have faith that I’ll get there, and that we’ll get there, because my co-author is planning to read through and edit the draft after I run through it.

Meanwhile we’re already trying to outline books two and three so they’re all in line with each other from the start. We want to make sure the book plot and the overarching plot of the trilogy work well across the three books. So all the outlining and planning for us. And still pretty on par with our July release deadline we set for ourselves.

Life wise, things have been as they have been. Which is to say, the world is still in a pandemic, we’re mostly still stuck at home. I and my mother have both been fortunate enough to get the vaccine, we both work with hospital staff and doctors, pharmacists and residents who see patients so we were in the 1B section of the population. For those who might be wondering, neither of us had much in the way of side effects. I slept for the day after getting it, she was tired the day after but over all after 24 hours we were both fine. And we’re still making sure to be super careful and follow all the masking and hand washing recommendations.

I’m really glad that the weather has warmed up again, I’ve decided that while I’m working from home I’m going to strive to take like, an hour or two on the laptop and work outside so I can get some fresh air and get out of the house a little while still working. Of course, after the first day of doing this, it’s rained every day since. So, fun times there. And because of the rain, my migraines haven’t been great, though I’m trying a new medication recommended to me, over the counter, and it seems to be helping some. I still have them, but they’re less crawl under my desk and cry these days. So I can work through them so long as I’m in a hat or a non-florescent lit room. Small favor.

Over all I’m hoping to get back to writing on here more consistently. Wish me luck.

I hope, dear readers, that you’re staying healthy and safe.