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Laundry & Writing

05 Monday Mar 2018

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Hello! Welcome to the first Monday of March! I hope that you’re March is going well so far. This post is a little late, but it’s still being posted on Monday! So it counts!

My March is kind of middle ground at the moment. So far, so good with making my posts on time, on Mondays. But then, we only really have this post to go on for the time being. As it’s the first Monday in March. And to be far the rest of the month, while intentions are hopes are high, it’s massively TBD.

I was able to finish editing chapter two of my novel and will be starting chapter three ASAP. That has me fairly excited, to get another chapter done – I finished editing it last night.

So in that respect I can definitely say I’m doing well.

I was also able to get a little writing done. Not a lot. Like two pages worth. But still, writing is writing and all writing is good writing – if only because it means that pen is connecting to paper (or fingers are connecting to keyboard) and words are coming out. I’m struggling with this current project because I’m seriously trying to figure out if it should be first person or third person. I’ve never really worked in first person before so I don’t know if the struggle is partially because I haven’t done it before or if it’s just not working and I should flip back to third. At the same time, it’s something I want to figure out soon – because I don’t want to get half way into the story only to turn around and re-write it the other way.

We’ll see. Maybe I just need a little more progression before I decide though.

On a not so great note, my washer broke. Mid cycle. So Sunday had a lot of time spent at a laundromat to finish the clothes that were all soapy, wash the other load that needed to be done, and then stop to purchase a new washer. Thankfully the store had a sale on, and the new one will be here next Saturday. But it’s a stress that really didn’t need to be added to the already frustrating basement flooding issues.

I’m hoping to continue to get some writing and editing done this week. And some reading as well. All the plans, and I’m slowly but surely carving out time for everything I need and want to do.

Hope that March is going well for everyone else! Any fun projects on the docket to be completed this month? Let me know down in the comments!

February Wrap-Up/March TBR

01 Thursday Mar 2018

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I said goodbye to February on Monday. It may have been a little pre-mature, but after all the problems I had in February between health and home, I don’t think that it’s too surprising that I decided to flee from it faster than a girl with a hell hound on her heels.

The weather this week has started to slowly warm up, and I can only hope to leave the frozen behind as I welcome March and it’s unspun possibilities with open arms.  Were you able to finish everything you hoped to in February? Are you moving what you haven’t finished over to this month to try and successfully finish it?

I’m not going to review my goals for 2018 because I know it’s been a struggle. I’m taking a flag pass and counting this as my bye month in the grand scheme of things. What it does mean, is that I don’t get another one so pending no more health or home issues, I will do better moving forward.

February Wrap Up

When I set up my February TBR I tasked myself with reading six books, five new and one that I had started. I don’t think that this was overly too ambitious considering I had been able to read five during January. And truth be told, I think I did fairly well. I was able to read five books this month. It just so happens that some of them weren’t on my TBR, though.

The books I finished:

  • The Terms #1 by Ruby Rowe
  • The Terms #2 by Ruby Rowe
  • Twisted Palace by Erin Watt
  • Daughter of Magic by Teresa Roman
  • Buying Beth by Izzy Sweet & Sean Moriarty

Three of the five weren’t on my list, but they caught my attention and I stopped my list to read them. Sometimes things just catch my attention.

The books I didn’t finish off my February TBR:

  • The Elite by Kiera Cass
  • Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco
  • A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest
  • Message of the Crow by Ellen Dugan (started)

Most of these books I’m looking to shuffle over to March because I still very much want to read them. Over all, even though I wandered off my TBR list for other books, I managed to read the number of books I had hoped to, so I’m still proud of myself for getting through them.

February Book Haul

Keeping with what I started last year, I figured it’d be fun to list all the books I purchased in February too.

  • Elizabeth and the Clan of Dragons by Ava Mason
  • The Terms #1 by Ruby Rowe
  • The Terms # 2 by Ruby Rowe
  • His Haven by Harper A Brooks
  • Wicked Favor by Sawyer Bennett
  • Awakened Spells by Logan Byrne
  • Prism by Nina Walker
  • The Masterkey by Olivia Wildenstein
  • My Favorite Husband by Pam McCutcheon
  • Werewolves in the Kitchen by Shauna Aura Knight
  • Sex, Lies & Sweet Tea by Kris Calvert
  • Lost Souls ParaAgency and the Three Witches of Burberry by K.M. Waller
  • An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
  • Becoming: The Balance Bringer by Debra Kristi
  • First World by Jaymin Eve
  • Flesh and Blood by Willow Rose
  • Faery Born by Donna Joy Usher
  • Null and Void by Susan Copperfield
  • Te Price by Ruby Rowe
  • Queen of Gods by Scarlett Dawn
  • The Virgin and the Kingpin by Allyson Lindt
  • The Wedding Trap by Adrienne Bell
  • Mr. Sugar by L.D. Fox
  • Buying Beth by Izzy Sweet & Sean Moriarty
  • Princess SOS by Sara Page
  • Craving Maul by Sara Page
  • Chosen by Stacy Jones

March TBR

Because I did so well in February, I’m once again setting my goal at six books for the month. It’s longer than February by a couple day, which means extra time to get those six books read, right?

Without further ado, the books I’m looking to read in March are:

  • The Elite by Kiera Cass
  • Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco
  • Message of the Crow by Ellen Dugan
  • An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
  • Null and Void by Susan Copperfield
  • Shadow Queen by Harlow Thomas & Anastasia James

I don’t plan for books that might catch my interest, because I never know when I’ll stumble across them and pause my TBR to devour a stray instead. But I won’t stop myself from doing it either. It always makes it interesting when that happens.

For those that know about Erin Watt’s books, no, Fallen Heir isn’t on my TBR for this month. It’s not that I’m not interested in East’s story, I whole heartedly am. And it is on my GoodReads’ TBR because I want to keep an eye on it. But because it’s book one in the two book set about East, and until Cracked Kingdom is released I’m going to want to hold off on reading the first one. I love the books enough that I’ll want the second one out so I can roll right into it.

Goodbye February

26 Monday Feb 2018

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Hey! It’s Monday! I’m a little late with the post, but it’s still Monday!

Not sure I can count this for starting March off on the right foot or not. Since, you know, it is still February. But It’s definitely not hurting for starting March off. Getting the posts back on track and where they belong.

I subscribed to OwlCrate back in December. I do have to say, I’m loving the crates. I keep meaning to do a blog post for the unboxings, and I keep forgetting with the whirlwind that is life. I’ll try and get one done for February’s though. Just need to get some good pictures in for it. So far I’ve been loving their book choices too. I can’t wait to get into those books.

Reading has picked up this last bit of the month. I don’t know if I’ll finish the whole of my February TBR, and the books I don’t will be moved up to March, but I’m at least getting some done. I always forget how nice it is to curl up and read a good book when I’ve not been doing it a while.

Writing and Editing are going a little slower than reading, but I am getting some of the stuff done.

We had more rain this weekend too, so that didn’t help the whole, my basement is a lake scenario. But now that it’s warm and sunny, it seems to finally be clearing up the way it needs to. Thankfully. So excited for that issue to be done.

What are you excited for come March? Any book releases? Movie releases? Writing or Editing goals? Let me know down in the comments!

Down and Dirty

23 Friday Feb 2018

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It’s the last full week of February. February has not been kind to my life. And as a reflection, this blog has started posting on Fridays instead of Mondays.

I’m hoping to get back on track starting with next week. But it’s a small hope. One that I’m going to cling to.

The weather has been crazy here. One day 70’s the next 30’s. That doesn’t seem terrible, but when you get migraines at the drop of a hat due to the shifts in pressure caused by those radical temperature shifts, it becomes a serious issue. I’ve been lucky to be at work most days with the weather turning back and forth like it has been.

I was able to get about one page of editing done this last week. Just one page. It’s not a lot, and I’m actually a little disappointed in myself for it.

And reading wise, I haven’t been after a couple of books at the beginning of the month. So I’ve got some catching up to do there too. I have goals and books to finish – both my own writing wise and other people’s reading wise.

Short update because short week. Also, my basement flooded the last two days, and I’m exhausted from the up and downs of pumping all that water out. So I’m just going to leave you with, I will do better! And the cute picture of the cat sleeping on a ball of yarn above.

Halfway Gone

16 Friday Feb 2018

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Can you believe we’re a little over halfway through February. The second month of the year. We’re almost a sixth of the way through 2018. I’m not even sure where the month went.

I lost a whole week due to a root canal getting slightly infected and being on both antibiotics to kill it and pain meds to mange everything going on in my mouth. It’s why I didn’t get to post Monday, and it’s why I’ve been fairly quiet on Twitter recently. It’s taken everything in me to be able to get into work and focus. Especially with the cold and the snow storm we ended up having.

I mean, look at those icicles up in that picture! That’s the eve of my roof as the sun rises over my neighbor’s house. The bushes in front of my house are about a foot shorter due to the weight of the snow we received over last weekend. Of course, Wednesday and Thursday were in the 40’s so all the snow and ice is slowly melting. But it’s supposed to drop back into the teens for the weekend. At least it means I’ll be snuggled in the house, finally feeling better, so I can write, edit, and read all weekend.

I want to get Chapters 2 and 3 of my current WIP edited by next Thursday! The goal is to get them to my writer’s group for feedback.

I also want to work on the short that a friend of mine is helping and encouraging over on her blog. You should check her out here!

Hopefully though, the end of February will be good to me. After the pain the first half caused me, I think the month owes me.

Time – I know not how

29 Monday Jan 2018

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Sometimes I really don’t know how time flies in my life. I look around and the day is gone, or the week is gone. Take last week as an example. I’m not sure how, but I completely phased through last week and I’m not sure how.

Or I guess to a point maybe I do. A good chunk of the first part was spent editing Chapter 1 of my drafted novel. I’ve been wanting to get to editing it, get to plotting book 2 for the series, and get everything moving along. And I sat down last week and I worked my way through Chapter 1.

Unfortunately I got tangled up enough in my words that I missed getting a blog post out last week. But fear not! I have not forgotten you, my dear readers! This week I’ll have two posts up. Today’s update of how things are going – great, I got Chapter 1 edited! I’ll also be doing a January Wrap-Up/February TBR post on the 1st! So thankfully I’ll make up for missing the post last week.

Aside from editing, I have been video gaming, not going to lie. Microsoft and Rare have a new game coming out called Sea of Thieves (March 20 – not sponsored). It’s a pirate game where you sail the seas, hunt for treasure and glory, and defend or attack other pirates as they too hunt for treasure and glory. The Closed Beta is currently in full swing for another couple of days and my friends and I got in so we’ve all been taking advantage of being able to spend some time together on the high seas.

To make it even more enticing, the game really is stunningly beautiful. You have to really, truly learn how to sail your ships from a one/two man boat to the beautiful galleon you can see behind my friend and I in a screenshot our third friend took.

It’s been an incredible time playing it, and I will truly be sad when the Beta closes in the next few days. This is completely and totally how I spent my weekend. Not going to lie.

I also stopped long enough to read a book, and while I have certain books on my January TBR list, I think I’m going to slip past them briefly because the one I read left off in a cliffhanger and I’m dying to know what happens next so I may skip to that book instead and slide my waiting TBR list forward to Feb. We’ll see how fast I can devour the second book. I do have a few more days left in January, after all.

Also, We’re a few days out before we finish with the first month of the new year. Can you believe it’s almost February yet? Can you believe we’ve had a whole 31 days of 2018 yet? Is the year treating you well so far? I’d say it’s treating me pretty well currently. No real complaints here.

Twisted Fate by Jessi Elliott Cover Reveal & Giveaway!

09 Tuesday Jan 2018

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Title: Twisted Fate
Series: Twisted #1
Author: Jessi Elliott
Genre: Urban Fantasy (New Adult)
Release Date: February 13, 2018
Cover Design: Okay Creations
Pre order your copy today!
Synopsis

Being kidnapped by the leader of the fae really puts a dent in your senior year.

Aurora Marshall is sharp, witty, and always has a plan. Ready to finish her business degree and graduate, her life is going smoothly—until the night she meets Tristan Westbrook.

Tristan, the overbearing, gorgeous fae leader, and an admired businessman in the human world, is all kinds of dangerous. While he finds Aurora intriguing, her refusal to bend to his will keeps them locked in a constant power struggle.

Entering into a deal is the only way to escape Tristan’s clutches, which only plunges Aurora deeper into the fae world. With her future at stake, she is forced to handle his arrogance and extraordinary fae abilities as she fights to stay grounded in her mundane life.

Not to mention her struggle to ignore the growing attraction she knows she shouldn’t feel for the man who kidnapped her.

When people said college would be the most exciting time of her life, Aurora never thought this is what they meant.

 

About The Author

Jessi Elliott is a newly graduated law clerk and debut 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 Living Within Fiction.

She lives in Southwestern Ontario with her family and two adorable cats.
​
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 to stay up to date on book news and upcoming releases.

Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway
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I think the cover is absolutely Stunning! Let me know what you think of the cover in the comments below! Will you pre-order the book? Enter the giveaway?

Starting Right – January TBR

08 Monday Jan 2018

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So I wasn’t kidding when I said that I wanted to read more, and make sure to keep the reviews coming on my blog. I said in my resolutions that I wanted to read a minimum of two books a month, for a grand total of 24 for the year. That’s my minimum.

Last year I started the year late with the Good Reads Reading Challenge, so I set myself up for 15 books. Jumping it to 24 isn’t a large increase, in the grand scheme of things. But, I think it’s a good building block. And in 2019, we’ll see how well I did this year and adjust from there again. But I have started a good momentum for reading again and I want to grow it slowly, so I don’t lose sight of the other tasks on my list, or get overwhelmed with one thing on its own.

That being said, my January TBR (To Be Read) list is pretty hefty.

What am I hoping to read this month?

I’m looking to finish a couple books I started in 2017, to start with:

  • Message of the Crow by Ellen Dugan
  • Shattered Circle by Cassandra Larsen

I’m fairly early on in Message of the Crow, but I’m almost 80% done with Shattered Circle, so I think that finishing both will be doable.

I’m also looking to read the following:

  • Twisted Fate by Jessi Elliott (ARC – Watch for the Review in early Feb! And Cover Release tomorrow!)
  • Resurrection by Tucker Malarkey
  • Paper Princess by Erin Watt
  • The Selection by Kiera Cass

Now, if you’re keeping up, that’s 5 books to finish in January. That’s a ton considering I was only originally thinking of doing 2 a month. I had been hoping to finish Shattered Circle before the new year, but life, ya know. But I will finish it soon. Very soon.

Over all, I’m pretty excited for my January TBR.

Do you have a TBR for January? Is it one book or multiple? Let me know down below!

New Year, New Adventures

02 Tuesday Jan 2018

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So the above phone is from my phone. That’s the weather right now when I get up. It wasn’t terrible to get up at that coldness when I could roll over, burrow into my blankets and do planning from bed or catch up on some of my shows. But now that it’s back to work in the am, it’s really hard to want to leave my bed.

I had hoped to get this post up on Monday, but, well. Family came first. My family always gets together New Years Day to be together, and kind of ring in the new year together. So that’s where I was most of yesterday. It was a good day over all too. I enjoy spending the time together. Unfortunately, it meant that I didn’t get much of anything else done yesterday.

I’ve been keeping a fairly decent momentum here on this blog, which I’m looking to keep going with for 2018. I want to keep posting once a week, on Mondays. (Holidays may cause posting day to be set back a day like this post) But I’m also hoping to potentially draft and schedule my posts for Monday in the future so even Holidays will have the post. =) Goals, ya’ll.

A lot of people make New Year Resolutions at the beginning of the year. I did too. Posting every Monday is one of them. What are the rest? Well.

  • Finish Editing Into the Faerietale
  • Finish Summer Starlight Festival
  • Write/plot 3 times a week
  • Read more
  • Post a Book Review on blog twice a month

Over all, I think it’s a doable list. It’s just planning out time, and making sure I sit down at work. Something that too is doable.

Do you have any resolutions? What is the one you’re planning to work really hard at? Leave it below in the comments!

Nearly 2018. Nearly

18 Monday Dec 2017

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This picture above? That’s pretty much been my life the last week. Me trying to do something, and some obstacle making it harder. The obstacle in this picture is my cat, PT, trying to chew on my pen while I write a letter to my friend – because we are keeping communication old school by writing letters to each other and snail mailing them back and forth. It’s actually been really fun.

Work has been increasingly hectic for me, but it always is during the Holiday season. I’m actually excited for it to be Thursday because all the interviews, visiting interviewees, and parties will be over. Most of the students and faculty will be gone, the halls will be quiet, and my brain can actually settle back down while I get started on the PhD applications for my department – something that’s not too demanding when I have actual time to organize it. And all next week, beautiful vacation. I mean, the house needs to be cleaned, and Christmas is a week from today. A WEEK! And a week after that? WE START A NEW YEAR!

Can you believe that 2018 is almost upon us?

It was two years ago that I said I was going to kick myself in the pants and get this blog back in shape. Due to… well life, it’s taken a little bit to get there, but I think I’m finally on my way to. I’ve been doing good at updating regularly and I’m planning to continue to do so. I’m looking to get a WIP page going so it lists all my current WIP. Keeps me accountable, and hopefully moving on them. And I’ve been reading and because I’m reading I’ve been able to post reviews of the books I finish. All and all this last half of the year has been incredibly productive for this side of my life.

I’m looking to also set up a schedule to work on my Etsy shop and get that profitable this coming year. A little extra income is always a good thing, I think.

As well, I’ve signed up for OwlCrate. My first one should be arriving today, actually, and I’m pretty excited to get it. I’ve been watching my friend get them for a bit now and they’re always amazing. So I figured, why not! I’m thinking of dedicating a post to unboxing it after it arrives too, which I think will be fun.

Anything you’re trying to get finished in the last two weeks of 2017? Do you already know what your new year resolutions will be for 2018? Let me know down in the comments!