Weather: Cold!
Working on: Updating my website and freaking out to get my work done.
Currently Listening to: Lipstick by Orange Caramel
Currently Watching: I’ve been watching different animes when I have time.
Currently Playing: Stuck on Pokémon Trozei still, BUT I did get the new 3DS Smash Brothers! Woot! 😀 Will play it soon. ONLY 2.5 weeks until POKEMON ALPHA AND OMEGA! ^-^
Currently Reading: Cinder (book 1 in the Lunar Chronicles) by Marissa Meyer
Thoughts and feelings: So…out of it…So…tired…-_-zzz
Holiday(s): National Donut Day! YEAY!
Wallpaper: A lovely lush green background Sailor Pluto wallpaper
Icon: Been seeing a lot of Legend of Zelda excitement buzzing around the past few days and since Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby come out in less than three weeks…I thought this was kawaii! ^o^
It’s crunch time! *get out my pink morpher* Mighty Morphin Writing Powers Activate! 🙂 Okay, that was funnier in my overtired mind, but my dream being a Power Ranger still stands tall! It’s been a light year and a half since I updated. Between school, book edits, my birthday, and my hubby and I moving into a duplex at the end of the month so SUPER busy packing! So, let’s not waste any more precious time and get to press updates!
We are on final edits (round 3) of “Spirit Vision 2: New Beginnings,” 63% of the way done. Less than THREE weeks until it is released!!! More information on the pre-release to come. ^_^ My book will be on Paper Crane’s Store and Amazon for sure. November 25th (a Tuesday) is our release date. It’s been a path of twists, leaves blinding my way, and sometimes, random flowers of inspiration burst from the ground, but I am so thrilled I get to share this second installment of this beloved to me series with everyone. =D
More exciting, and this time, unexpected news: Sheenah decided to, in order to help get readers hyped for my next book, to offer Spirit Vision (the ebook version) for $0.99 for two days (November 6th and 7th). It must have worked like pixie dust to make Peter Pan fly OR you guys are just magical for all day, on the seventh, I was in the TOP TWENTY on Amazon in the “Ebook Young Adult Religious” category! =) My co-workers were stepping back from me, telling me my new status intimidated them. *sighs, but chuckles after a moment* Everyone who has purchased/read Spirit Vision or read through my blogs, your support speaks volumes and it worth more than a gold nugget in Pokémon. Thank you!
In a week or so, RIGHT before Spirit Vision 2: New Beginning’s release, I will be having a week long blog tour for my collection of poems, short stories, and other literacy works, “A Sweet, Little Dream” that was published in May of 2014. ^_^ Check my social medias for the websites I will visit and for all the fun!
JUST TODAY I got the first FULL audio track for Spirit Vision! We are in stage 1 of edits for my first work to be turned into an audio book! >.< You guys have no clue how incredible this is for me, what a dream come true and, the sprinkles on top of this splendid sundae is this will allow my “not-that-into-reading” readers a chance to listen to my story like so many of my students want to. 🙂
Speaking of voice acting…I got to voice another character in my fellow press mate, Dan Wright’s, webseries! I was in episode five, but this time, instead of a raging fan girl, I was a more…beloved, frosty royal. ^_- The episode is really creative and I adore working with Dan on his projects. I love voice acting! I also provided background screams and sounds for a creepy pasta like story he wrote and recorded. It was very heart-racing! FINALLY, I share a ‘treat’ as Dan calls it in a bonus/bloopers/extras video he did for the series thus far. All THREE videos are 16+, but can be found on his PandragonDan Youtube Channel. He already has me set up to do some more voices in the future! So! THERE!
I want to give a LARGE FANFARE CHEER to Sheenah for making-over my blog and website! Hopefully it will be a tad easier to find items and the search works great now! Isn’t she so skilled? <3
At the end of the month, around the release and Thanksgiving time, I will be in my first college’s alumni magazine. I got to do a photo shoot with them two months ago, with TONS of fun pictures and I had such a good time with the interview, photos, being back on my old stomping grounds of higher education (picking my favorite waterfall to start off with of course). I will share this once it is out.
We had a Spooktacular Giveaway for Halloween! Congrats to our winner, Ms. Marine! Happy reading and play time with all the goodies. Thanks to all 340+ people who entered too! We will be having a FABULOUS giveaway for the Holidays next month, so make sure to check out Paper Crane Books for updates on that.
More connection (on a roll today). Since I was discussing the press’ site, Sheenah, our publisher and founder, now has a separate page for “Paper Crane Services,” showing an amazing portfolio of covers she has created for the others of the press and other writers. Check out her work; she makes grand things. I know Suzy-chan, my artist for the covers, has been making more pieces on her Facebook. I am so honored to be working with these talented ladies. ^-^
I also did get to speak to my work’s writing club. 13 middle school determined to be apart of novel writing month is impressive and I had a blast taking to them from inspiration, ways to get around writer’s block, favorite authors, and best Youtubers. 0.o LOL! I came in three days before the start of National Novel Writing Month (November) (which is on my birthday and this year, the start of deer season…odd mix). An adult’s goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days! I calculated that, on average, that is 200 pages, double spaced! That’s a lot! >.< The teachers in the club are doing this and the students can pick a goal between 15,000 and 50,000. They have a web group to track it, buttons, progress charts. It’s amazing! I was so thrilled when asked to come in and speak. ^-^ I will most likely return in December sometime (during November, you can only write, not edit, which would drive me INSANE). They wanted me to write too and I wish and would love to, but with time and my deadlines, I’ll have to pass this year. They have my full support though and ANYONE involved in Novel Writing November does! GO FOR THE GOLD!
On the topic of guest speaking, I will be going to my local high school again to read from Spirit Vision 2 and answer questions all day on December 1st. I have FOUR teachers who want me this time instead of three, so I’ll be hopping around like mad (good thing they are all in the same hallway). I’ll see several of my former students this time too. OH! I have some fun stuff planned for these big bad high schoolers, but I really enjoy guest speaking, especially to students to prove to them their dreams can come true. The fact that it’s at my old stomping grounds AND the main setting for Spirit Vision makes it ten times as dazzling! In fact, one of the teachers is in my dad’s old classroom, where many of the school scenes take place! We need a Spirit Vision tour at my school like Forks does for Twilight. HA! One day, one day… 😉
On to website updates and October roll-backs!!
- New top ten for the spooky season and for my birthday with one of my favorite book genres, ^-^
- “To be a Nerdy Otaku” page updated,
- “Links” page updated,
- My interview with the one and only Samurai Man…Dan Coglan. Dan is also doing his first book signing on November 13th. His Facebook has the information. So thrilled for him!
- The guest post, “Dealing with Doubt,” by lovely author Ms. Jennifer Sights
- The interview and grand work synopsis from our October Aspiring Author Spotlight, Ms. Jodie Llewellyn.
- My Ebay account has most of the items I want on it. Please check it out for Spirit Vision merch, used mangas and books! More to come too!
- Pinterest and my author Facebook are heavily updated with photos for your viewing enjoyment.
- Here was my last major update if anyone wants to get caught up and compare notes.
Things have been super busy for me: school is at that point where kiddos are getting comfortable with testing patience and wanting a snow day. They are surely keeping me on my toes. We did have parent/teacher conferences a few weeks. Our students lead theirs, so it was not bad at all. I had meetings to go to and got Pasta House along with some work done, so it was fine. It was a long week for sure since I had to stay until seven in the evening for two days straight (so, a 12 hour work day on my feet). We did have a used book sale at our middle school library. Mrs. Dillon, our library hippie, went through every book and pulled out over a 1,600 that were old, out of date, worn, and such (we still have enough books, so no worries)! She had a sale where hardbacks were a $1 each and paperbacks $0.50, no matter how large. I spent $16 and got 26 books, mostly children’s, but I am thinking ahead of my future (I HOPE) elementary classroom and my own children. All the money they made went to get newer, requested titles by the students. She even got a few more copies of Spirit Vision and two of A Sweet, Little Dream. She’s ready to pre-order New Beginnings too! It was awesome and I hope she sells all of them. I was so pumped I got a like new complete collection of ALL Madeline stories for $2 (they were split into two volumes! GO READING!
I’ve been sick off and on in October too, between a stomach bug one week, then food poisoning the next, extreme tiredness, weather headaches due to all the changes outside, and I had to get new glasses and a doctor check-up, where they told me to lose weight. 🙁 At least my glasses are hot pink and designer (Calvin Klein)! On my appointment days, my mom and I went to Goodwill and got fun nick-knacks in the pouring rain, but I got some cute little things and more children’s books (hehe!) It was great!
On October 20th, we had our 8th Pokémon event and since it was October, we had a Halloween themed one! We encouraged kids to dress up, hosting a Halloween contest for prizes, had games planned, a tasty snack our assistant Julie made (she also got some BEYOND great prizes for the kids, made our Pin-the-tail-on-Pikachu poster and tails, AND made a painting for our newest member, who became our first Champion! She and Logan are grand), funny Pokémon stories told in a pirate voice by Captain Wesley, and, of coarse, Pokémon card battles! We had 18 people total attend! Our biggest yet! Kevin, the shop’s owner, knew we would have a big crowd, so he let us have the MAIN room! >.< We still overflowed a bit and I know I made some Yugioh players upset…Sorry! Kevin even had the Pokémon items all our display on the main counter for everyone, which was a first. After the kids read the rules (the password for proof of this was Gengar for Halloween. It will change each month) and listened to the Captain’s stories as I finished setting up, we played games for a half hour. We split into groups and the kids could move around. We had a Ditto toss (I made a plush Ditto; Miles, my brother, laughed at him, but everyone else thought it was cute). The kids threw a Ditto in the basket and then pulled out two slips of paper out of a bag. They had to place them together and tell Fabio the new attack they created, then explain what that would look like and how it would work. They came up with some doozies! Pin-the-tail-on-Pikachu was my turf. It’s like the name suggest and I got to spin first and then let the kids spin each other (I have a thick scarf I use for blindfolding games). The kids quickly memorized where Pikachu’s tail needed to go be observing others, so we timed it for the prize. We had a “Guess how many Caterpies in the jar” game and our snack: oreo balls that had red and white icing to look like Pokeballs. They were super good! Christian, our ghost trainer, was in a Jedi robe with the hood up and was walking around, tapping people and being creepy to get us all in the Halloween spirit. He even had a game where he hid 13 ghosts in the store and the person who found the most got a free pack of cards. One boy was determined and he found seven to be our winner. 🙂
After this, we split people up into Elite Four competition and lessons. Christian, and later Miss Eevee, were our teachers and did great! We had trainers there from age four to 29, wanting to learn! =) OH! Tabby was grand and also made three outfits for our mascot Pokémon plush! She wrapped Fabio’s Umbreon in bandages to surprise him and Fluffykins became “Mummykins.” 🙂 Flippy had a cape and was his master, Zubat Man since Derrick was not there. And Pikachu had on a vampire cape! They looked so kawaii!
Then we had our competition! Our Elite Four was Evan-Chu as water, Captain Wesley Grimm, which his new deck that I made for him, was our dark ghosts and ice, Fabio, as fabulous as usual, was our Dark, and our Annihilator, the first person to beat me, was our Electric. I was being the hostess, game planner, organizing everything, and champion on stand-by. Julie and I took pictures and Logan helped keep things in order. My Poke Crew was amazing from all the help they gave me to dressing up. Evan sported our new shirts (we will all wear ours at the November one), Captain Wesley as a butler with a silver mask, Fabio was…himself (-_-;;), and our lovely Annihilator was a kitty. Christian had his Jedi Robe and Miss Eevee was our foxy referee. Logan and Julie were dressed as trainers they created (Logan was psychic and ice, evening icing his hair, and Julie was water and dark). I was dressed in my purple Chinese dress with my black kimono over it. My inspiration was the Espeon Kimono Lady from the Silver/Gold generation, but only Logan got that! I did get some nice comments though. Personally, I thought I looked fat. >.< We did have five kiddos dress up! Our winner was “The Spider Maiden.” It was very original. She won a Pikachu bank that Julie got at Wal-Mart, but it looked awesome. Our second was Steve from Minecraft for the kid even had the large head on. He got a free pack of cards from the store of his choosing. Our other beautiful ladies, a dark angel, a Greek goddess, and a kitty, won mini pokeball toys. The two winners got certificates we all signed in character. We even had a group of four gentlemen just start battling their DS Pokémon games, forgetting almost they were IN the competition! HA! 😉 They told me though they loved my Gaming Lounge, lol!
It was a lot of fun and Kevin was so thrilled that he said we could extend our time (the Yugioh ones start at 2:00 and I hate being in their way) and he wants his to do a DOUBLE for December! 0.o We all got together afterwards and had a meeting about ideas for the future. It’s surreal. I mean, I started this to sell my books back in February and teach kids how to play the card game, along with relive my childhood with my friends. I never dreamed my community would latch on like this and want more! It’s a great feeling. ^-^ I even got a birthday gift from one of my trainers/former students who remembered: a lovely Pikachu shirt that I used for my cosplay the next week! I felt so loved! <3 We’re training two more people: our friend Antone, who is really good buddies with Fabio. He is going to be Fabio’s acting rival, a ninja theater star who is stern, a super fan of Giovanni . His character name is Gavin Giovanni. My buddy Alesha just learned this week and is going “gotta buy all the cards” cray-cray! 0.o What have I done? She’ll be going his in December. We’ll work on her character development and story.
Our next one is Saturday, November 15th, noon to 2:30. Same grand venue. Hope to see lots of trainers there! Our CHRISTMAS BASH is December 6th, noon to 4:00. There will be games and a snack like the Halloween one, chances to win prizes, and instead of Elite Four, we’re doing gym battles! There’s right! Eight challenges instead of four! =D Who has what it takes to be that Champion?
I gave a taste of some of the pictures, but there are TONS more with fun descriptions on my author Facebook if you want to view more. I have my own separate album JUST for Pokémon events pictures! o.0 Not sure if that is sad or awesome.
For Halloween, the Saturday before, Derrick and I went to a party at our friend Winnie’s house. She is so bubbly and sweet. I dressed up as Pikachu, a costume I threw together that morning (a closet). Derrick threw on his Dark Vador shirt and his Jedi Robe and went as “Unknown Jedi #6,” whatever that means. Silly boy! ^_^ They had chili and we played with Derrick’s boss’ two year old (she brought her ten year old daughter too and her 5 week old son). He was so fun. We played with another little girl and she made Derrick and I hold balloons with our legs. When she would go to get more, Derrick would knock them out. I scolded him and she yelled at him, “Derrick, stop! This is a serious matter!” Ah children. She punched him in the arm fairly good and he cracked up. There was a game where you had a Halloween stereotype or character on your back and others had to give you clues to guess. We also had to scoop candy corn into a bowl with a spoon in our teeth. I stunk at that so hard! But…I GOT SECOND IN THE COSTUME CONTEST (got beat by a zombie; go figure). I did my Pikachu voice with a hop, my finger pointing too my cheek as I grinned real big, and then wigged my butt that showed off my Pikachu tail, skipping away. Derrick was laughing hard. I got a ghost yard decoration with bells on it as my trophy. It was a good time.
On Thursday, I went to my mom’s with Derrick, Miles, and grandma. She had cheesecake for me like I asked. ^_^ She got me the final three volumes of Sailor Moon I needed (other than the short story collections), a new anime, two other mangas, a Black Butler hat, a sakura blossom kimono with a tutu skirt costume, FUNKO Princess Jasmine and Mikey from TMNT figures, two CDs, $60 in Game Stop cash (which I will use for the new Smash Brothers and Mario Golf for my 3DS), and the book, “Emerald Green.” I got a massively big Super Grover birthday card too. She found on-line 50 random Pokémon figures, almost all some we never had for there were from all generations. Miles and I sat on the floor like kids, me in my new hat, and sorted through them. Hehehe! Grandma gave me money, more than she should, but…grandma’s love you so much they’re stubborn! I really have an amazing family.
On Halloween night itself, I dressed in my Pikachu again ( I was going to wear it to school, but I woke up late. So, I stuffed my props into a duffle bag. Good thing I was not in my costume for the school banned them that year. 🙁 Not sure why, but I saved it for the later) and my friends and I went bowling. Alesha dressed up as a Roman princess. We all were so hyper, scaring the poor workers. It was myself, Derrick, Alesha, Tabby, Brown, Andrew, and Evan. Evan made me a darling Ponyta card and Alesha got my a nice card too. We played three games of bowling, ate food, took goofy pictures, played in the arcade, where many of us got knocked in the head with the air hockey puck due to it having a chip, and we took two pictures in the photo booth, the last one, with six of us in there, almost making it tip over. Tabby and Brown left around 9:30. At that time, they turned the lights on at the bowling and they all played another game of bowling until 10:15. We left after this. I was so blessed in those hours to have such wonderful friends to share my laughter with on my birthday.
My birthday was fairly quiet, which is odd for me. I was lazy that morning, but did some chores. At 3:00. Derrick, my dad, and Miles headed over to a town 45 minutes away to eat at Ponderosa. I miss ours! The spread was grand and we had a nice time. After this, we got home around 6:45. Dad and Miles gave me their gifts; a nice card, white socks (which I needed; my dad only purchases practical things for us. Just how his sushi rolls), black socks, and green 5 pound weights. He is all pumped to show me some moves. I recall a lot from kickboxing and will do twenty minutes, 4 times a week once Work-ember slows down. Derrick got me a manga I wanted, “The Blood of Olympus,” the FINAL book in “The Heroes of Olympus” series by one of my favorite authors, and a white ranger mosaic t-shirt I saw on RIPT (Miles was SO jealous because he’s a super Tommy fan). Derrick and I spent a sweet evening relaxing together after that. The next day, Sunday, was All Saints day, my church’s birthday. My old minister, Peter, came to do the service since our dear minister Kitty had to leave us due to her health of having three strokes in three months. He did a baptism for our littlest new member, blessed me for my birthday, and just caught up with us. It was grand to see him. We had a pot luck after that as we love to do. Afterwards, Fabio and Evan came over and we played Pokémon Sorry, watched the new “Once Upon a Time,” and ate Taco Bell at 9:00 at night while watching anime. It was a quiet birthday weekend for me, but since I’m old enough by law where I have to be off my parents’ insurance now, I suppose the universe has dubbed me old.
Over Thanksgiving break, things will be beyond insane. I have my book release, then, the next day, we have five days to be moved out of our apartment. We are going to a duplex a half mile away. It has an extra room and a yard, which we want. But, it’s not much bigger, so going through all my stuff, packing, and so forth is time-consuming and hard. My walls are starting to look blank, freaking people out. We’ll have Thanksgiving in there sometime and I HOPE I can get to my computer to buy Christmas gifts on Amazon on Black Friday like I always do. I BETTER find time to play Pokemon too! *growls* So, just to let everyone be aware, other than book or tour related posts, I will not be on here much. I will still do my November Aspiring Author (they are prepping) and a guest post for right before my release as well, so there will be activity. I know I’ve been slacking on my social medias too, but I will try to get better at least on that. I apologize, but adult life gets in the way sometimes, but it’s needed. We DO get a kitten though!!! =D They allow pets here. She is one of my dad’s rescues. Her name is Socks and she’s five and a half months old, super loving. Derrick is head-over-heels for her already; I think I’m going to be replaced… It’ll be a new chapter in our lives for sure. My friend Kristen, who Lauren is based on in Spirit Vision, will be here during break so I’ll get to see her! WOOT!
I will tell of Christmas adventures once I know them. Other than my Pokémon event on the 6th, my parents’ birthdays, and school getting out on the 19th, I know nothing on what I am doing and dates yet. I’ll see family for sure and friends (Chloe’s inspiration, Marissa, will be here for break too). I got all of Derrick’s gifts already except for the three that I pre-ordered. I’ll get him some candy and a few other little stocking stuffers, then I’m good! Good feeling. 🙂
I’ll be seeing “Big Hero 6” with my in-laws tomorrow. It looks adorable.
Before I sign off and chat with you guys later, I haven’t done this in a while, so here’s my current book count:
Current books I own to read count:
- Vampire: 2 for sure (and 3 more maybes): 2-5 total
- Fantasy: 8
- Fairy Tale: 2
- Realistic Fiction: 4
- History: 9
- Resource: 1
- Children: 2
- Manga: 2…for now…;)-
- TOTAL: 30-33
Hasta la Pasta! =D