Tag Archives: fantasy

NaNo ’19 – Day Eleven

11 Monday Nov 2019

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Day Eleven started out with snow. Yesterday it was like 50 degrees, not terrible to go outside in a really thick sweater and enjoy the sunshine. Today, snow everywhere. I’m hoping there’s not too much accumulation before I get out of work, because if there is, well cleaning off the car to go home is going to suck.

This week is only a four day week for me at work though. Friday I’ve taken off because I’m headed to a Sci Fi Convention in my area. I’m still trying to narrow down what I want to attend panel/workshop wise. There are a lot of good choices both in the Science Fiction/Space Opera topic and the writer topics in general. All the expanding my horizons though.

This weekend, overall was pretty lazy. Mom and I did some shopping, I finally set my Cricut Explore Air 2 up. It’s all lavender and pretty and I love it. The Design Software could use a little work, it seems super slow on the computer when I go to design things. I’m not sure if part of that is because it’s mostly online. The phone app seems to work fairly well and smooth with few glitches. I’m not sure what’s causing the computer version to be so glitchy. Hoping to find a happy medium between the two so that it’s easy for me to both design and print/cut.

I also picked up a new printer, mostly because the last printer we used in the house is at least five to six years old, and hasn’t been used in that time frame. So figured new was definitely better. Also, I settled that in my study so it’s up and running as well.

The two are so happy next to each other.

But playing with that and fiddling with things took up a good portion of my time over the weekend energy-wise, so I didn’t get much else done.

Writing wise, this NaNo hasn’t been fairing pretty well. We’re a third into it, but I still have some time to catch up and keep working. While I plan to attend panels at the con, I also do plan to write. They have a writer’s room where some of the writer panels are taking place. And any time it’s between panels, it’s just open for people to come and sit and write so hoping to get some catch up done this weekend.

And Hoping to get home tonight in enough of an early hour that I can snuggle in and get some work done tonight. I’m finally starting to feel better in regards to my cold. Mornings and evenings are the worst, mostly when laying down. But between times are generally okay right now. Here’s hoping that it stays that way.

Hope your November is going well!

NaNo ’19 – Day Seven

07 Thursday Nov 2019

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I was able to get my internet back up and running, thankfully. So we have internet in the house once again. I actually stayed home from work on the 5th to be able to be home for the tech to come and fix it. And once he had fixed it I took some cold meds and basically slept for the rest of the day.

Yesterday was back up and to work, and cold meds had me sick to my stomach on the car ride to work and then woozy all day at work. So made the decision to not take those again while at work/before work because that’s just not good for getting anything done.

Mom and I got home yesterday and cooked a Hello Fresh meal for dinner and then I crashed super early again.

I will say, I am starting, slowly, to feel better. I’ve taken to sucking on peppermint and wintergreen because the mint helps to clear out the congestion in my sinuses and help me to breath without the need for too much in the way of meds while at work and it’s helped me get through the first hour or so of work today so far. And I’m about ready to make myself some tea even though I’m warm because the steam helps to clear out my congestion as well and I have noticed I’m a little dehydrated so more liquids will be good.

I’m hoping to kick this by Saturday so I can really push hard and get better back on track this weekend to settle into where I should be.

Hope everyone else is doing well for November! Stay hydrated! Stay warm! and stay Healthy!

NaNo ’19 Day 4 – It got worse

04 Monday Nov 2019

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So, I missed Day three for this blog, but it’s not entirely my fault. I currently have no internet in the house.

Remember that storm I talked about that happened last Wednesday? Well, it had pulled a wire down from the corner of the house and Mom and I hadn’t thought it connected to anything because we didn’t have any problems when it came down. Turns out, that’s because it hadn’t been broken, the not causing issues.

It was our phone line.

You know, the one that grants us connection to the outside world via the internet?

We found this out because Mom, in a cold medicine haze, made the decision to snip it since it clearly wasn’t doing anything in our house…

So she left us with no internet…

Now I’m trying to get our provider to come out and fix it so we can have internet again. While barely being able to talk because my throat is super bad, my coughing is bad, and my head feels like it’s underwater with the sinus pressure and sick.

Needless to say too, I’ve gotten nothing done on NaNo too. I haven’t been able to think clearly enough to actually write anything.

How is your November going so far?

NaNo ’19 Day 2 – The Sick Has Me

02 Saturday Nov 2019

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It’s about 3:30pm on Day Two of NaNo. I’m already a day behind because, as the title of this post states, the sick has caught me.

I have narrowed down that the nausea is caused by the medication that’s helping with the breathing and the coughing. Of course, I didn’t make that connection until about 1pm this afternoon so I’m still trying to feel better stomach wise.

On top of which, I’m struggling to stay awake because even just chewing lunch took so much effort, though that might have been because I was battling the nausea. I’ve managed to get about half of chapter one done this morning despite cats deciding my notes and laptop were THE space to be, and feeling like if I close my eyes I might just fall asleep.

I am thinking if I take a small nap, I’ll be awake later because the rest of the meds will be – hopefully – out of my system and I can finish getting through chapter one and slide through chapter two as well.

Of course the risk is also that it’s not how it’ll go down and I’ll just sleep right through to day three. Choices and risks.

Current word count: 1,291

How is your day two going?

NaNo ’19 – Day 1

01 Friday Nov 2019

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Happy November, Everyone!

I hope that your November is starting out a little better than mine. You might be asking yourself, well why say that, and thinking that you’re sure my November has started off fine too. Weeeeelllllll, I’m not so sure about that.

For starters, I’m in the Midwest portion of the country that received snow. LOTS of SNOW.

Enough that I had to clear off my car before I could drive home last night. Enough that we really didn’t get any trick or treaters last night.

The snow actually started on Wednesday. I woke up and looked out my window at my neighbor’s roof and even half asleep was whispering, “no, No, NO!” to myself. In prepping to go to work, I cleared a BRANCH out of the street and pulled something in my back. On walking back to the house to email work I would be tending to my back I heard a super loud SNAP and looked to my backyard where a thick branch had broken off the tree. It took down whatever cable was attached from my house to the pole in the alley (not my landline – still have wifi, and not my electric, so we still don’t know what it is. We’re calling the phone company tomorrow to see if they can come out and at least determine if it’s theirs or not). It also took out my neighbor’s landline to the pole, which took out their wifi too.

Thursday night, on the eve of NaNo, my throat got a tickle.

I’m now coughing and queasy, but I’m at work because bills to pay and all that.

Despite being under the weather, I’m looking to do some NaNo Work after I get home from actual work. I might try to con my mother – we car pool to work because we work across the street from each other if I haven’t mentioned before – into leaving a little early today. I got the sick from her, I can state this confidently because she stayed home Tuesday and Wednesday sick with it. I’m hoping having it hit today, I can spend the weekend tending to it, drowning it in tea and honey, and writing, and just get over this before Monday or it settles too much in my body.

Maybe I’ll use a hot shower as my word count reward today, hit word count, take hot shower to let the steam help break up the sick in my throat. It’s definitely a good motivator. Though I’m also super ready to nap right now – which may be the meds I took so I’m not dying at work.

Wish me luck killing the sick before it becomes a monster.
I’m determined to not let it disrupt my NaNo and my November goals.

Also, since I’m not too into the vlogs and on camera, but more the writer behind the blog, I’m hoping to do a blog a day for NaNo. Even if it’s just a quick snippet of how my word count went the day before. High goals for me, but here’s hoping that by the end of November I’ve updated this blog thirty days in a row. =)

Happy writing, for those that are participating in NaNo!
Happy November for those that are not!

Stay warm, readers. And stay healthy!

NaNo Just Around the Corner

28 Monday Oct 2019

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Design by Georgia Lange, Poster in the NaNoWriMo shop.

So, NaNoWriMo is right around the corner. Literally 4 days away. I’ve been so busy getting ready for it that everything else has kind of fallen by the wayside. It’s not a great quality in me, but at the same time, I admit that that’s how I am and while I try to change there’s no sense in getting mad at myself about it either.

I didn’t get nearly as much writing done as I’d hoped with the prepping and getting everything as ready as I can make it be successful for November. I did try to do that GrimsList prompting that I mentioned in my last post, and while I did get about two thousand words overall, none of the shorts that I started are finished. So for now, it will sit and wait and I’ll try to work on them in December. Maybe I can have enough to do a small anthology of horror for next Halloween.

My biggest shift is I’ve decided to rewrite a novel from four years ago for my NaNo Project, officially. The current WIP stands at forty-seven thousand words with two to three chapters missing to close up the story. It’s basically in a zero draft stage where everything can change and nothing is safe. I’ve been editing what I have this month, being really hard on it, so that starting Friday my goal is to rewrite a chapter a day to catch up, leaving me a few days to finish the missing chapters and hit 50k. If for some reason it shortens in the rewrite and I don’t hit 50k for it, I have a sequel novella prepped and outlined and ready for me to start writing on to get me past that NaNo finish line.

November is always interesting because we have Thanksgiving near the end and as such we aren’t allowed to be writer hermits because our families demand our attention and to put down our pen, phone, or keyboard at least long enough to smile, chit chat, and pretend that while we’re eating our turkey we’re not also trying to continue writing in our heads so once we get back to our writing implement of choice we’ll be able to hastily continue our words.

On top of that, I’ll be at a Science Fiction convention for three days, though I’m not looking for that to stop me or slow me down. I have goals and they will be successful and I’ll get that NaNo Win!

If you’re participating in NaNo and are looking for a writing buddy, be sure to add me. My user name on NaNo is MerisCorner

Book Review: Striking Midnight by Jennifer Ellision

26 Friday Apr 2019

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Author: Jennifer Ellision
Publisher: Jennifer Ellison
Genre: Fantasy, Reimagined Fairytale
Rating: 4 Stars

Striking Midnight is a Cinderella retelling that is done well with an engaging plot and vivid world building.

The story predominantly follows Cyndria, Princess of the Solian Kingdom, as she enters into the Kingdom of Noctis and becomes one of many eligible women vying for the chance to become the new King’s bride and Queen.

Cyndria’s kingdom of Sol has been blessed by the sun to forever be in daylight, even during the night hours. Without the reprieve from the sun that night can bring, her people have taken refuge in the tunnels below to escape the harsh heat their sun brings as they strive to work the fields as best they can as the warmth scorches the land.

Knox, new King of the kingdom of Noctis, is watching as his people try to stay warm in the forever dark that being blessed by the night and the moon has granted them. But with only the moon, the lands are cold, and little grows without both the warmth and light of the sun.

Both kingdoms are hurting, and both have a lot to lose if they can’t get the other to sign the Daylight Accords, a magical treaty that shares daylight and night equally between the two kingdoms. A balance to cool Sol and warm Noctis.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story. The prose is well written and flows smoothly to keep the reader interested and not really wanting to put the story down. I loved the spin on Cinderella that this author has taken. While she’s still poised and at the whim of her step-mother, she’s also deadly having been trained by assassins from a very young age. The world feels alive as she travels both through her own kingdom and the kingdom of Noctis. I also really enjoyed the internal struggle as facts came to light and hearts started to become involved.

There are only two mild complaints I have when it comes to the book. While this predominantly follows Cyndria’s point of view, it does occasionally shift to Knox’s but it does this without telling you. While not a huge deal because the characters are distinct enough to recognize the change, it would almost be nice to have a little title at the top of the chapter to tell me which point of view I’m currently in. And the story does leave off on a cliff hanger with everything up in the air. While I understand why authors love to use this technique for books, it leaves me feeling like I’m almost not getting the full story. There are ways to wrap up some of the plot to let me feel like I’ve finished a book and am only waiting for the second, instead of making me feel more like this is part one of a book and I’m waiting for part two of that same book.

In the end, I am looking forward to book two to see how everything will unfold in the stories of Cyndria and Knox.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout in exchange for my honest, unbiased opinion. All thoughts are my own, and were not colored for receiving a free copy.

Book Review: Twisted Desire by Jessi Elliott

17 Wednesday Apr 2019

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Author: Jessi Elliott
Publisher: Jessi Elliott
Series: Twisted #2.5
Genre: Urban Fantasy (New Adult Romance)
Release Date: April 16, 2019
Rating: 5 Stars

Find Twisted Desire on GoodReads

WARNING – There will be Spoilers for Twisted Fate (Book 1) & Twisted Gift (Book 2). Pick up copies before you continue with this review!

Twisted Desire is set between the last chapter and the epilogue of Twisted Gift. It gives us the time after Tristan and Aurora were put into their Fae Protection Plan, letting us know how Skylar and Nikolai were as they took The Experiment on to finish this war.

I will start off by saying that I have been waiting for this book since the last one came out in September of 2018. As much as I loved how Twisted Gift ended for Tristan and Aurora, I was really interested to find out how Nikolai and Skyler were able to take care of both the Fae and handling The Experiment. And I can genuinely say that Twisted Desire did not disappoint.

It was fantastic to have Skylar’s point of view with this book because it let us get to know the prickly Fae a little better as she took on the mantel of being the leader of the Dark Fae to Nikolai’s leading the Light Fae. Mix in the fact that they’re striving to have their people accept the dissolved titles of light and dark, trying to become one people in the face of the threat their whole race faces, as well as the tension between them as they inch around the growing relationship between them and it makes for a read that you don’t want to put down.

Learning about Skylar’s past has left me with a new respect for the character, and caused me to root for her all the harder in this book. It was also nice to see that more serious, leader side of Nikolai as he helped Skyler lead the fae as they worked to take down The Experiment and save their people as they could in the process.

The plot kept the story moving, pushing forward with the ever-present danger The Experiment held over them as they worked to bring this war as an end. There are also several twists and turns that I didn’t see coming that kept me from wanting to put the book down for a second, even to just sleep.

Disclaimer: I did receive an arc of the book in exchange for my honest, unbiased opinion. All thoughts are my own, and were not colored for receiving the arc.

Remember to Find Twisted Desire on GoodReads

Official Synopsis

Being left to lead the fae alongside an annoyingly charming partner really screws with your life. 

Skylar Chen just received the promotion of an eternity. After Tristan and Aurora trade their esteemed status for mundane life, it’s now her responsibility to lead the fae.

The catch? She has to work with Nikolai Sterling. With his constant smirks and dangerous good looks, he has a way of getting under Skylar’s skin like no one else. Even still, she’d much rather be getting under him.

Sexual tension aside, they have a bigger issue to deal with. The Experiment, a human organization built on hatred toward the fae, threatens to wipe them from existence. It’s time for Skylar and Nikolai to recruit allies, bring the fae together, and prepare for battle.

Fighting to protect her people is something Skylar can manage. It’s the skeletons in her designer closet that make opening up to Nikolai where she’s suddenly out of her element.

In this finale novella, the beloved side characters from Twisted Fate and Twisted Gift take center stage to bring down the organization set on destroying them.

Available Now!

Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon AU

 

Get the rest of the Series

Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon AU

About 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.

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New Release – Fresh Scars

03 Wednesday Apr 2019

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Fresh Scars

After a chance run in with a wolf and earning a bite, Ava tries to move forward with her life, but things start to shift as she learns about a world that she never knew existed.

You can find the book HERE for purchase or free to read with the Kindle Unlimited program.

Cover Reveal: Twisted Desire by Jessi Elliott

19 Tuesday Mar 2019

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Title: Twisted Desire
Series: Twisted #2.5
Author: Jessi Elliott
Genre: Urban Fantasy (New Adult)
Release Date: April 16, 2019
Cover Credit: Arijana Karčić, Cover It! Designs

 

 

 
Being left to lead the fae alongside an annoyingly charming partner really screws with your life.
 
Skylar Chen just received the promotion of an eternity. After Tristan and Aurora trade their esteemed status for mundane life, it’s now her responsibility to lead the fae.
 
The catch? She has to work with Nikolai Sterling. With his constant smirks and dangerous good looks, he has a way of getting under Skylar’s skin like no one else. Even still, she’d much rather be getting under him.
 
Sexual tension aside, they have a bigger issue to deal with. The Experiment, a human organization built on hatred toward the fae, threatens to wipe them from existence. It’s time for Skylar and Nikolai to recruit allies, bring the fae together, and prepare for battle.
 
Fighting to protect her people is something Skylar can manage. It’s the skeletons in her designer closet that make opening up to Nikolai where she’s suddenly out of her element.
 
In this finale novella, the beloved side characters from Twisted Fate and Twisted Gift take center stage to bring down the organization set on destroying them.

https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js

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.

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