Weather: Been cloudy and spitting rain for days, but the sun is slowly starting to peek out. 🙂
Working on: A bonus feature for the upcoming “Spirit Vision 3: The Power of Mortals,” Pokémon June event planning, summer fun to-do list, website updating, and “Spirit Vision 4” outlining.
Currently Listening to: Will and Grave bloopers or my favorite Pokémon Youtubers in the background.
Currently Watching: I’m going to go watch “Tomorrowland” in an hour with Derrick. =)
Currently Reading: Still working on “Fenris Firar” by the AMAZING Samurai Dan (been busy with school, but I’m getting close), then I’ll FINALLY read the final book in the “Heroes of Olympus” series: “The Blood of Olympus” and Percy Jackson’s guidebook the Greek gods and goddesses before I HOPEFULLY get to teach my College for Kids classes in them in mid-July.
Currently Playing: The new “Pokémon Rumble” for the 3DS. Another free Pokémon game that is such a gem! ^_^
Wallpaper: The lovely and sweet Aoi-chan from the beloved anime, Ai Yori Aoshi’s. 🙂
Holiday(s): Repeat Day…Repeat what?!
Feeling: Content, trying to get into the summer mind set.
Icon: Watermelon to celebrate the start of summer! Woot! =D
Quote: “I want to be an author when I grow up. Am I insane?”
“Yes. Growing up is highly overrated. Just be an author.”- Neil Gaiman
Bring out Glee because SCHOOL IS OUT FOR SUMMER! =D Gosh! That last week was BUSY! xO I helped out with I-Ready testing, packing my room for summer school (which I am on the sub list for), saying farewell to some amazing co-workers, helping with treats for the 2015 Beta Club Induction Ceremony, attending and rooting for our choir students at their concert (who had only 4 of its 9 boys attend and our grand choir direction had to sing tenor for them! 0.o #Mostuniqueconcertever! But, it is a memory I know those boys treasured. ^-^ It was a crazy final few weeks, but it is summer and I’m making a semi-organized and flexible schedule for College for Kids in July (prep in June)/summer school on-call subbing, Cosplacon, writing and what it entails, working out a bit more (and maybe work on learning to swim), and spending time to focus on me (a rarity) and making awesome memories with my family, friends, Derrick, the Poke Crew, and Socks. ^_^ I will work on not pushing myself, but I need to stop taking naps! HA!
Now, on to this month’s segment of ” World of Writing, Publishing, Promotions, and Paper Crane List!” ^_^
WWPPP:
#1. The first thing I want to do is to thank my grand publisher and super friend, Sheenah, for working so hard to move my website, Holly Barbo’s, and Paper Crane’s to a new host without losing anything! Props girl! =)
#2. If you read my current status, you can see there are lots of things going on at the press, the most recent is Michelle Franklin’s newest book is in the editing stages. You go girl! =D. To help with disasters that have tragically occurred, such as in Nepal, our press is compiling an anthology with works of hope and all the profits will be going to the Red Cross to help these disaster areas. More information very soon! It also does not limit authors to Paper Crane; anyone is welcome to submit! Go to our website for more information on submission along with events we are apart of in the month of June, such as Sheenah’s book signing on June 6th, my June 27th Pokémon Event, and more!
As for my book work, I am almost done with some really neat (to me personally) bonus features for the upcoming this year, “Spirit Vision 3: The Power of Mortals.” The manuscript was submitted last month! Huzzah! Sometime this summer, I will be working on edits for my college-adult life short story and poetry collection, “Fallen Star Dust.” We plan to have it out by the end of the summer. Also this summer, I will be focusing on writing on “Spirit Vision 4: (name pending.” In fact…I plan on getting the prologue outlined/worked on today. YEAY! =D I have a few other smaller, publishing projects I will be working on in August and September beyond “Spirit Vision” and “Fallen Star Dust” work; be looking for my name. 😉
#3. On May 13th, my first poetry and short story collection and my second published work, “A Sweet, Little Dream,” turned A YEAR OLD! =D It was so hard to believe. To honor this event, I did a special blog post covering the inspirational woman whom I used for my first published short story ever, Mrs. Margaret Sanger, female activist, who she was and how she influenced my fifteen-year-old self and my own, younger version of Margaret. ^_^ It was an honor to shine the spotlight on Mrs. Sanger. Read my One year “A Sweet, Little Dream” post.
#4. Back in February, I hosted a contest for my two winning classes (who showed the best character, behavior, and questioning skills) when I had the tour at my work, my local middle school. The winners, selected by Sheenah and myself, would get cameos for the characters they created in either a Spirit Vision 3 bonus feature OR in Spirit Vision 4. And, now, I am happy to announce the winning characters of my cameo spot contest: Aura Wolf, Six Thrones, Venus Renee, AND Go-Go! Look out for my students’ characters in the next installments of Spirit Vision! =) All the characters who entered will be noticed soon as well for all their hard work.
#5. FAN ART ALERT! On my “Fan Base” page, I have a new lovely piece of fan art by H.B., and four drawings my students did for an…interesting location in a favorite, chapter 10, of Spirit Vision! 😉
#6. Holly Barbo, a fellow author at the press, and I did website exchanges in May. She was my guest with a post over Steampunk and how if influenced her in her latest novel, “Sunstone,” and she interviewed me on her site (BTW: The banner she made me for it is INCREDIBLE!) It was great fun on both accounts. Thank you Holly. 🙂 Click here to see Holly’s Guest post on my site: Gears for Steampunk and My Interview on Holly’s Site.
#7. Check out my latest top ten: Top Ten: Clubs/Teams I wish I was apart of I will have two more this month coming soon: one to celebrate a summer enjoyment of mine and another to get pumped for Cosplacon in 2 weeks! =D
#8. On the 29th, I had the amazing and organized adventure writer, Mr. Mark Piggott on my website as my May Aspiring Author Spotlight. Read his post here under: Mark Piggott Aspiring Author Spotlight
#9. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, we are looking once again for an audio book narrator for my first book, “Spirit Vision.” If you have any experience, skills, or desire to narrator an audio book or know someone who would/can, please look at the official audio book audition link here. My dream is to have “Spirit Vision” an audio book for my students who do not like or struggle with reading, but want to enjoy my work like everyone else. 🙂
#10. On May 21st, we had an art show at my work/school. I was the book fair area, selling my books and book products, answering questions, doing some edits on downtime on my Chromebook, and quizzing my students on their 8 pillar words for a chance to win an autographed print poster for “Spirit Vision” and a set of three chibi “Spirit Vision” bookmarks (Stary, Maren, and Umbra of coarse). It was fun and the students and parents loved seeing all the hard work their kids did! ^_^ I even sold three books, 6 bookmarks, 3 buttons, and 2 bracelets and introduced some kids to Pokémon! HA! ;D
#11. Check out Paper Crane Books Latest Newsletter here with events for the authors along with the main question: what should the Paper Crane Books super fans be called: Cranies VS. Cranesters?! Which one do you like best super fans?! There is a link in the newsletter to vote for your favorite or to put in your own suggestion.
#12. Well…I got to do another first: I was part of a RAP to celebrate the 26th volume of my friend, Will Turner’s, graphic novel series, “Reynard City” being released. My amazing all around and talented pal Dan Wright (my co-partner in crime for the whole March Disney Villain Madness month event) wrote the rap, him doing the part of Squirmy and I was the main character, A.K. Girl! 0.o I always thought my voice was too sweet for rapping. It was a refreshing challenge and I am so glad they asked me to be apart of this promotion. WARNING: It is PG due to one “no-no” word I had to say. Here is the rap-tastic action: Reynard City Rap Battle video
#13. Poke Crew related! Badges are now updated on the Poke Crew page. I am still putting along on the last of the bios (I haven’t forgotten; just been busy). I added the pictures to our May 30th event on the Pokémon Events folder on my author Facebook page. Also, I challenged myself and with major help from my best friend, the infamous Evan-Chu or in this video, Professor Sage, I attempted to voice most of the original 151 Pokémon. We think I did about 121 decently/successfully, which isn’t bad! ^_^ Maybe one day I will attempt more voices…? 😉 Watch the video here (sorry it’s long) and give it a like, comment, or subscribe! Pokémon voices video. Don’t forget to check out the other videos on my channel, including the playlists I made last month for “Spirit Vision,” “New Beginnings,” and the upcoming “The Power of Mortals.”
#14. Social Media and Minor Page updates:
- Pinterest is updated once again. I am trying to not get addicted to it; I swear! >.<
- I added a few quotes from people in my life on my “About Me” page
- The “A Sweet, Little Dream” book page has links to me reading parts of it (a short story and two poems) for the press’ podcast.
- “New Beginnings” is now on Barnes and Noble in paperback and e-book. Links on the “New Beginnings” page. A NOTE: I may be getting a review very soon for “New Beginnings!” =D FINGERS CROSSED!
- My Top Tens and Reviews that I do for events/games (Cons and Pokémon games so far) are now in their own section. For easier access to this and ones you missed (they are in newest to oldest format), visit the “Top Tens and Reviews by Morgan Page.”
- On my Facebook, there are more pictures of Tabby and Brown’s wedding and all our Steampunk glory! =)
- I HOPE to add more items to my E-bay soon. I make some used book and manga sales a few times a month. 🙂 Would like to sell more “Spirit Vision” items and add more DVDs and such I have. Look at my E-bay items if you have time or interest.
#15. Rewind to late April-early May MASSIVE update to see if you missed anything. This post had a lot about Tabby and Brown’s wedding! <3
Normal Life:
My life in May has consisted of finishing tests and end of the year assignments/crazy fun planning for our students. I listed most of it above. We did have a carnival the day before the last day of school for kids who did well on the MAP test and tried their best. There were tons of games, snow cones, and a dunking tank that some brave teachers volunteered to be apart of. It was fun to see the kids in my class throw the ball and get all excited trying to dunk their teachers. ^_^ Although one ran up THREE times and just pushed the button, I running behind the booth to catch him and then I get hit hard in the knee with a ball! xD The two male teachers I share a classroom with did it and were such good sports. We also had a dance for the 6th graders and the 7th graders with soda and popcorn. I got to hang out with a student I will see next year and it was a blast. He likes to dance and it was so darling! He’s not scared to play games either, but I think he was tired out when they were heading back down to his building for he laid on my shoulder as we waited for his teacher. ^_^
The main event though, for me this year, was the last day of school talent show. Now, anyone who knows me personally or has been following me on here for a while knows I am not scared to dress up! I enjoy it. I cosplay for Pete’s sakes! Well, this year, our eighth grade math teacher who is head of the our two talent shows each year (I work with her 7th hour too) was having a stressful day. So, I sent her an e-mail, telling her I had a “pink, sparkly horned unicorn that neighs when you touch it’s ear, rainbow ribbons tied to it. Her name is Phillip…” She said she lost it after that! =D I volunteered my services and Phillip’s to help out if the talent show needed it. Next thing I know, she wants “us” to be the in-betweenment, breaking up the list of acts to keep the students interested. I had no idea which cosplay to wear (I always dress up on the last day of school). I was talking to Tabby AKA Miss Eevee about this and she was kind enough to let me borrow her Alacard cosplay that she is famous for, but it doubled as a Carmen Sandiego outfit! 0.o Now I was pumped! I easily had the black shirt, pants, gloves, shoes, and found a deep pink belt and a black scarf, waved my hair and put cherry chapstick on. Once I dive into something, I go ALL out, having secret meetings with the talent show club to plan this.
I had lackeys with fedoras, I had two girls on crutches that were the police officers trying to catch me, we threw candy, I gave flowers to all the students and teachers who were apart of the talent show (the kids faces lit up when I did that), I danced around the final four with rose petals, their giggles adorable, I rode Phillip, of coarse, a kiddie tracker (and hurt my left hip and legs for days afterwards because I am too long legged and had to drag it. But, it was fun, especially when one of the other teachers stole it…And it belonged to one of my co-classroom teachers! 0.o), we had teachers out there wearing crazy hats, hula-hooping and bouncing balloons while a band was setting up, wanted posters, a script with my main lackey, Mrs. Dillon, our grand librarian (who dressed up and everything! She even hid her script in a large book, covering it with a fake jacket that said “How to be a Good Henchman or Lackey for Dummies!” xD Love her! She was our March Aspiring Author Spotlight too)… It was insanity. It sadly didn’t go as smooth as I wanted due to teachers being gone who volunteered, my lackeys getting confused, but it was still fun and I know my helpers were grinning from ear-to-ear for two hours, eager and thrilled to help me out any way they could. ^_^ I am glad I at least got to make a good memory for my eighth graders for their last day at FMS. You guys will do amazing in high school, but make sure to visit Pokémon Crazy Mrs. Comnick from time-to-time. 😉
We had pizza, room cleaning, and staff fare-wells after the kids left at 12:30. It was a hard evening for me and I took a super nice nap after I got home at 3:00, Derrick helping me unload my stuff. I had all this energy to clean and organize then and I did until 11:00 at night! HA!
BTW: Derrick is getting his windows fixed tomorrow and it’s all taken care of. Now, hopefully his battery is still okay…
Alesha, Tabby, and I had a Poke Girls day, helping our assistant and artist, Julie, with the keystone necklaces she wanted to make. Her’s are so detailed, but she was still recovering, but I was so happy she got to come and right before this, she had hurt her finger badly at work. Poor kid. 🙁 We made six key stone necklaces, it taking about 2 hours, ate food, watched some Orange Island episodes of Pokémon and my favorite, “Gotta Dance” Pikachu and friends short, started coloring the Mega Pokémon cut-outs I had for everyone (I finished them at the Memorial Day BBQ at had at Derrick’s parents’ on Monday), and had a few card battles. Tabby and I stopped to get sodas on the way back home at Taco Bell, going in. The girl there loved my Sailor Pluto shirt. She asked me to do an anime girl giggle, which I did and I got claps for that. She then called out my order as “Sailor Moon.” I was SO thrilled by this that I ran out of my booth seat, almost sliding! =) That made my day! The same waitress also called a couple over the intercom Mario and Peach. The guy loved it, but the poor girl didn’t know who Peach was, so the waitress and boyfriend spent five minutes all pumped explaining it to her. HA! ^_^
On May 30th, the day after the talent show so I was tired. It was POURING buckets upon buckets of rain! I was texting the Crew, asking who angered Kygore and we all pointed to Jason, who was our Team Aqua guy last time and was late! HA! We got in, soaked, and set-up. Event wise, it was a tad smaller to average sized in number, but the battles we did have were fierce! With 7 people in the Crew helping me battle for Elite Four, total, they only lost ONCE! =O The fire was with them on that rainy day. We all were discussing before the event how we all made tweaks to our decks, not planning it, and man! Did it show? ^-^ It was nice to have time too to battle each other. The mood was good. We even taught 4 new trainers how to play the game, helping them make decks from scratch! Likely, my Junior Elite Four member Miss A, her older sister, and my high school student Rico, all pitched in to help until Tabby got off work and I was happily teaching my co-worker’s son how to play (who, for 7, had all his cards projected in binder pages and he took good care of them. That was a nice sight). I am so lucky to have my former students so willing to help out and teach young ones. Tabby was an excellent teacher for them and we got major praises from two moms of how our event was amazing for their sons and had such a welcoming atmosphere, fun, and organized. That comment meant to world to me. There is a lot of planning that go into our events, but in the end, it’s for the kids and to connect with others who love Pokémon. You are not alone! ^_^
Our next event is June 27th and it’s our LARGE SUMMER event: Sizzling Summer Battle for the Badges! Julie and I designed badges (stickers) for all the Poke Crew members have a picture of their badge on their profile entry. The event is 12:00 to 3:30, so an hour longer. We will have games, raffles, treats, lessons, and, of coarse, card battles. 😉 In order to battle the champion, this time we are following the games and anime; the trainer will have to defeat eight, for this month titled, “gym leaders,” to earn their badge. If they win, the badge is proof of this. We are ONLY doing our badges in June, so if you are in my area, make sure you come to this one. =) There will be no event in July due to the shop being busy with Magic events.
(By the way: the shirt I am wearing was made by my now 10th grade student, Rico. ^_^ I wore it since mega stones are colorful, but I think he liked I had it. My key stone necklace is the psychic eye symbol with the key stone symbol in the pupil. I have a crown on top because I am the champion! ^_-)
Make sure to check out the Poke Crew’s page for their bios (still working on a few) and badges. For more pictures from Mega May’s event and ALL of our Pokémon events from oldest to most recent, view the Pokémon Events folder on my author Facebook page.
I have some congrats happening for this month:
- Congrats to my buddy Alesha AKA Rome (CFK bestie and Poke Crew member) for celebrating her birthday May 24th AND for getting a paraprofessional job! =) She now has the exact same job I do, but at a rival school! HA! Rome VS. Egypt: Round #2! *game face*
- My high school pals Jessica and David had their little girl last week! Congrats to the family! <3 Corner will be a great big brother. David will be interviewed at the end of the month for his manga inspired graphic novel, so stay tuned for that.
- My best friend since 3rd grade, Kristen, is getting married to her true love in a few weeks! =D <3 I am so blessed and happy someone found you as amazing as I do. =) Kristen is the inspiration for Lauren in my Spirit Vision series if you didn’t know that.
- My bestie, Marissa, had her 27th birthday on May 27th. Dang! You’re old girlie! 😉 She’s in Hawaii right now with her family! Have some fun for me and don’t fall off the pier like you did on your high school band trip to Hawaii…-_-;; Marissa is Chloe’s inspiration in the Spirit Vision series.
- And, of coarse, congrats to all the graduates of 2015, especially my cousin Colton. Gosh…I remember when you were born when I was in the 2nd grade, now you’re all muscles…AND now all the students had the local high school MIGHT have had me as a TEACHER! o.0 GAH! Now I’m old! 🙁 Also, FHS, heard about your class prank…water balloons with glue and glitter in them…harsh guys, harsh!
Derrick had his wisdom teeth removed a few weeks back. He was in SO much pain that it broke my heart. His mom and I took him to get all of them removed. He was scared, but the staff at the specialty clinic were so kind. All was good and he was goofy; he kept thanking everyone that walked past him, giving double thumbs-ups, and once singing “Everything is Awesome” from the Lego movie because it was on his shirt! With bloody gauzes in his mouth, it was a sight. I tried to help him get his jacket on for he was shivering, but that was an epic fail for he grabbed it, put it on backwards (the hood in the front) and said, “good!” -_-;; He kept asking the nurse what he could drink and he didn’t recall any of the walk to the car later. For the first 10 minutes in the car, he would not stop talking although the doctor told him NOT to. He kept saying he understood that, but he was trying to stop and failing. I got to officially, by doctor’s orders, tell my husband to “shut up.” That was interesting! 🙂 He felt crummy for a few days after that, but now, as he said when he was coming off the loopiness “No more teeth, no more pain!” I’m just glad my baby isn’t suffering anymore. ^_^
My bestie, Evan, and I have had a few more outings, beyond making the Pokémon voices videos:
- A few days after Derrick had his wisdom teeth removed, Evan and I went out to get a few things (he made us hamburger helper, using ostrich meat the night before and we played Pokémon Sorry afterwards). Evan and I went to eat to get me out of nurse mode and then we stopped by Deals. Evan said Derrick needed balloons. So, I spent $7 on 4 balloons, a weight, a birthday party hat, and a lei. Evan acted all like a devilery man, played the items on Derrick, and then they had a blast for HOURS with those balloons. Sucking the helium out of one, kicking them back and forth with their feet, and finally tying them to a paper towel roll for Socks to play with. They lasted her almost 4 weeks and she LOVED them! xD Yes, they are 27 years old adults, kicking balloons for forty minutes…-_-;; My boys are goofs!
- Evan slept over. He went to Deals with me to help me buy products/props for my talent shows events. We then played a few games of Pokémon cards, watched some episodes of classic Pokemon, took goofy selfies (where Socks was photobombing), and the boys played Smash Brothers for a bit. I crashed at 11:00 and Derrick at midnight. Evan made fun of us, calling us the old couple and then he snuck out! I still count it as a success!
- We also found a hidden path to the park that is between my house and my mom’s, saving us tons of time. It was FULL of mud, one of the top #5 things I hate in the world (Evan even had to call Derrick all pumped to tell him I walked through mud, lol! -_-;;) We slide down the slide in funny ways, getting stuck, cracking up, and relaxing. ^-^ I was what I needed for the end of school stresses. #Thankyouforbestfriends!
Socks will be a year old on June 17th, so she’s getting close. She is still as playful, silly, and into things as much as ever. She still climbs on Derrick and snuggles with me, but not as much. She nibbles on my hand a lot though! I got some new bookmarks that I will be releasing soon and the box was the perfect size for her to crawl in and sit/sleep. It’s darling and she’s still my baby! =)
I am so looking forward to Cosplacon! Less than 2 weeks! I hate that most of my friends can’t attend this year and Samurai Dan and I can’t do our writing panel for some reason, but I need a few days of fun and Dan will still see me at all his other panels. He’ll get sick of me! ^_- Like all my other cons, there will be a review around the end of the month with loads of pictures.
Derrick and I have our 4 year wedding anniversary the first day of the con. We’ll celebrate the day before.I can’t wait for him to open his gifts; I think I did good this year! 😉
Tomorrow is my town’s annual fair, the highlight summer! So, I have to prepare by letting my fingers trace shapes in the air, mixing cheese sauce, and dancing as if I’m stuck on an ice burg! See you next time!