Weather: Rainy and a tad nippy, but I enjoy the cool weather. ^_^
Working on: Updates, lesson plans for library, Nanowrimo, and how I am going to celebrate my birthday this weekend.
Currently Listening to: “When it Falls,” the opening for the third season of R.W.B.Y., by Rooster Teeth
Currently Watching: I watched Vic Mignona’s concert DVD last weekend with Miles (brilliant), Big Bang and Once Upon a Time, and the first episode of season 3 of R.W.B.Y.
Currently Reading: I sadly have not had time to read my regular book, but I have read five manga. The last one I read was the first volume of “Let’s dance a Waltz.” Since I got sick, I have been finally reading my “Percy Jackson: Greek Mythology” MASSIVE resource book. MAN! It’s big, but an entertaining way to explain Greek Mythology with the Big Twelve! I’m on page 125 now, just starting the myths with Hades…
Icon: I had to be Wendy in a Peter Pan skit I wrote for my school (more details on that below) and I thought this icon was adorable to fit the age group I work with! Never let your heart grow up guys! 🙂
Quote: “The creation of a single world comes from a huge number of fragments and chaos.”- Hayao Miyazaki, founder and director of Studio Ghibli films.
Yo, yo cool cats! Morgan here! Man, oh man; it has been ages wrapped in an era burrito! I apologize my friends; in October, I had my convention and running my first Grand Night and book fair, which was kept me insanely busy and at school until 9:00 at night six nights during the last two weeks. -_-;; But, I am told, the parents, grandparents, and kids had a really good time and we raised over $5,000.00 total! Our school will get a part of this for our library through Scholastic. ^_^ Thank you to all the wonderful volunteers, donators, staff members, community members, and, of course, buyers and supporters for helping our school reach a monstrous goal! 😀 (Our book fair theme was monsters and we had décor for it for weeks, prepping for it, so, that is why the wording is punny…*awkward laugh*).
Now, on to this month’s segment of “World of Writing, Publishing, Promotions, and Paper Crane List!” ^_^
WWPPP:
- My publishing company, Paper Crane Books, has had to slow down its productions for a short time, so “Fallen Star Dust” edits have been slowed as well. However, it is our next project and I am prepared to work on it to get our 2015 release date at a moment’s notice. Thank you for your patience. 🙂 “The Power of Mortals” will be starting first edits after “Fallen Star Dust” is released. Rest assured, I will have a book out before 2015 is over! ^_^
- I also will be working on a new short story in December, working with the Max-Con contest winner for the tale. I am not sure which format it will be published in yet or when, but that is coming up ALONG with, of course, writing the manuscript for “Spirit Vision 4.” So far, I have eighteen pages completed (October was way too busy and being sick for a month too did not help).
- To celebrate “Spirit Vision 2: New Beginnings’,” ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY of publication (it was released on November 25th, 2014), starting on Cyber Monday, November 30th, it will be going on its official blog tour! 😀 A giveaway, “Spirit Vision” on sale, guest posts/spots, interviews, excerpts from the book, and more will all be happening. Make sure to check that out on here and my social medias (I will post the schedule and websites up as soon as I know).
- “Spirit Vision” has received a new review on the Amazon UK page! 😀 AND IT’S FIVE STARS!!! Thank you so much Clare F. for reading my work and giving me a review. 🙂 You can read a sample of it on Morgan’s Books Review page OR the full one on “Spirit Vision’s” Amazon Page.
- We are still on the search for a narrator for “Spirit Vision!” If you are or know anyone who has experience or a talent for voice acting/narration, please contact me at mescomnick@hotmail.com for information. We really want to bring “Spirit Vision” verbally to life.
- For November, I instead of doing an Aspiring Author Spotlight OR an Authors United (Gold) segment, I am doing a special blog event! I am reaching out to anyone who is participating in Nanowrimo Month starting Sunday OR has a set goal to write in November! Please either add me a buddy on the Nanowrimo website (my username is Starymoon07) OR e-mail me your goal of words for the month of November and send me weekly updates (mescomnick@hotmail.com). We will be charting our group’s goals and see how strong our words are together to make amazing stories! 😀
- Want to learn about my first time being an independent guest at an anime convention and how I reacted to making two of my top dream voice actors? Check out my “Max-Con 2015 AND Anime Getaway 2015 Review” here (with pictures). On a really astounding note: I brought 8 copies of “Spirit Vision” and I not only SOLD OUT at Max-Con guys, but I had four ordered for backorder! So, I sold 12 copies total! 0.o My publisher and I were so excited! I also sold three copies of “New Beginnings,” and some bookmarks and buttons. ^_^
- On my Youtube Channel this fall, I have added my NEW office tour, the Q & A guest panel I was in at Max-Con, Max-Con’s Cosplay contest (where two of my friends entered), and, of coarse, THE VIC AND J. MICHEAL TATUM PANELS AT ANIME GETAWAY (and their cosplay contest). Want to see all these wonderful videos? Go to my Youtube Channel here. Please enjoy and share! ^.^ I also have a video on my Youtube Channel with a tour of my new office and Evan and I attempted to do some of the Johto Pokémon voices.
- Speaking of Youtube: HUGE NEWS!!! Dan Wright, my dear friend and author buddy, and I will, very soon, make a combined Youtube Channel: Moon Panda Power! On it, we will have random top ten’s, reviews, and other things about, of coarse, Disney, BUT also anime, Power Rangers, movies, and more. Sometimes together, sometimes separate. This is our fun channel. =) Our first collaboration we did was our “Top 15 Favorite Pixar Movies.” It is divided into three separate videos. You can check out part #1 (our bottom 5) here and watch the rest on Dan’s channel. And, yes, I was in the latest episode of Dan’s web show, T.W.A.T.S.,but, due to content, I cannot share it on here. Still, Dan’s channel has lots of amazing things!
- In September, I had the honor of interviewing my darling, annoying, otaku little brother (22, but still MY little brother), Miles, for my monthly Aspiring Author Spotlight segment. Please ready his wonderful interview here! Also, for October, I interviewed the amazing and kawaii Francine A! You can view her interview for Aspiring Author Spotlight here.
- I had three top tens since my last major update, all specials! My first two are combined into one post, but they are two different lists: The Top 10 Voice Acting Roles of Vic Mignogna AND The Top 10 Voice Acting Roles of J. Michael Tatum! This was to celebrate going to Anime Getaway to meet them! I also, for Halloween month, did a TOP 30 for my favorite Kingdom Hearts series worlds! Do you agree or not? Let me know, keyblade wilders or Disney fans! ^-^ ALSO, on a side note: Since I met two of the voice actors in my top 5 dream list, I updated a top ten in did this April. It is my The Top 15 Voice Actors/Actresses I want to meet! Check it out to see how my list has changed! 😀 I’m sad that my new #1 only does one con a year and it is in Texas. 🙁
- The Poke Crew page is updated with a few more gym leader sprite pictures and our dates are updated for the final two events of 2015 as well! =) For ALL the pictures of our September 19th event AND our second annual Halloween Bash on October 17th, go to my Author Facebook page, the Pokémon Events Album. Gotta catch em all! 😉
- Rewind time! Want to know how my new job as a kindergarten librarian was like at the start? How Socks caught her first…kill, Derrick’s birthday, Toasty the dragon, and “Spirit Vision’s” latest interviews and special Amazon rating for September? Then check out the September 2015 MAJOR UPDATE post!
- Other Updates and Information:
- Pinterest is updated once again. It does need to be organized a lot (and, yes, I went overboard with Percy Jackson fan art. I am pumped for “Trails of Apollo” next May! *fangirl shrill*), so I apologize there. I am trying to not get addicted to it; I swear! >.<
- 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.
Normal Life:
A lot has been going on at school in the past two months. For those who may not recall, I am now the kindergarten librarian and an elementary technology teacher for my hometown. It is tons of fun, but also an ample amount of work. Here a gist of the special things we have done:
- For 9-11 at kindergarten, I read them a children’s story that was written by first graders when 9-11 happened and it talks about how things were better on September 12th because they knew they were loved. We also talked about heroes we see every day and made thank you notes for them. Most of the students drew their note to a police officer and firefighter. We had both come in (at different times) so we could thank them properly and present them with our token of gratitude. 🙂
- When the students got to check-out their first book EVER at kindergarten on their 6th week with me, I brought in my bike horn I had from middle school study hall with my rolling cart classroom. I would scan their book and then say their name and announce to the room that they got their first book and honk the horn twice while the class did a quiet golf clap. I called it Special Day. ^_^ The students really seemed to enjoy it and it was an honor to do that for them.
- I dressed like a Super Hero for the first week of September at the kindergarten because September is National Library Card Month and Mr. Stan Lee is the co-chair! I had a crown, a cape, and a mask, and my plush mascot, Socks, also had a cape. I was Courageous Comnick and my sidekick, Super Socks (who kept hiding). I had a super hero pose and voice. We also made a picture puzzle to say to our teachers: “Reading is the key to being super!”
- For Homecoming, since I am split between schools and there are different days for each one, I know I confused my co-workers! I had PJ day Monday, Tie-Dye next, then Beach (which I had to wear to get some lab work down and I looked like a tacky tourist! >.< Evan, my best friend, was working at the office at the time and we fake flirted in front of his boss. It was a great time), Sports Day where I wore my Vampire Baseball shirt, and, of coarse, black and gold on Friday. My students in fourth grade even told me “Man! Mrs. Comnick get’s into Spirit Week, huh?” 😉
- I was swamped in October with running my first book fair! There is SO MUCH to do! Setting up, volunteer schedules, events, promoting, money, monitoring…It was a real task, but, I did enjoy it and I know our Grand parent night, where I made sure we had tons of snacks, games, picture areas, and books to buy, we made over $3,000 and over 80 students brought their families. =) Parent-Teacher Conferences went well too and I got to wear my Totoro dress from the con. Ha! I was told by our county’s sale rep that we did really good and she wrote down everything I did for the Scholastic magazine. 🙂 The money will help the library get new books and items it needs.
- At my elementary school, my friend, the librarian from the middle school (my other friend from the middle school was supposed to come and be Peter Pan, but she could not get a sub in time for we have a bad sub shortage in the district) put on a Peter Pan skit I wrote on their lunch room stage during lunch. They had to earn 35 tallies for good lunch behavior as a grade in 3 weeks, which was a challenge, but they did it. A few students were selected to sit VIP on stage by us and eat their lunch. Well, I had two replacement Peter Pans and they both canceled, so I was panicked. My Captain Hook (I was Wendy and spoke ‘British” the whole time, impressing the kids), so I found a Peter Pan hat and we pretended she kidnapped him, but by the time I defeated the ‘codfish,” Peter had escaped and I had to find him and Tinkerbell. The students now think their is a part 2 and my boss already approved (she also filmed the 2nd grade performance! 0.o Oh gosh…). Maybe in January? I told their lunch monitors they have to earn 50 tallies this time! It was fun to be Wendy, but the last minute improve was tricky. Still, my friend was amazing! We need to go be characters for Disney!!!
I have still be teaching Sunday school, the students six months to ten year old and they are really doing better at sitting and using prayer hands and manners! ^-^ I am proud. It is a fun group and I look forward to working with them and their parents. My church is also preparing for our Christmas Eve service, which requires a lot of singing. Last year, I sang “Away in a Manager” and the year before that was “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” as solos. I get so nervous, but I do love Christmas songs. I look forward to all the songs for this service!
Do you want to know how my first time being an independent guest for an anime con went at Max-Con 2015? Or my out-of-this-work encounter I had with Vic and J. Michael, my dream voice actors, at Anime Getaway 2015? Don’t forget to check out the Max-Con AND Anime Getaway Review (with pictures) here! <3
Since my last update, we had two Pokémon events! On September 19th, we had our September event, where we all had evolution stones (given us to randomly), made for us by my assistant, Julie, out of clay, and Jason, her BOYFRIEND now! YEAY! =D Our goal: was to hold it on to Mrs. Eevee for five seconds so we could make her evolve into whatever we wanted. 😉 It was hard to be sneaky and she has some moves, so none of us won. A twist we put into it was she had an Everstone, so she would not evolve and she secretly selected one of us to hold it to save her. When one of our trainers was attempting to make her evolve, Jason came over and sat on her lap! 0.o We were all shocked, but they started laughing and he revealed he had the Everstone, painted and shaped like an Eevee tail. =) It was a fun event, but I think poor Tabby was tired after it.
I also had a champion battle and it was insane. Somehow, all of my psychic energies did not get shuffled in! 0.o I lost by only one turn though regardless, so I am proud of myself for that since it was a full six on six match. The judge, after we noticed I was missing 9 cards, stated I played with an accidental illegal deck, so once our challenger beats two more Elite Four members (since it was not his fault), he can challenge me again for a spot on the Elite Four Crew. I did wear a crown though since I had not had a battle for champion in a long time.
Julie also made Derrick a Zubat Man ball out of clay and a Zubat clay figure, all AMAZING! Jason did an excellent job painting them. It was for his birthday. ^_^ You can find it with his profile picture on the Poke Crew page.
For October 17th, we had our second annual Poke Crew Halloween Bash. Last year, we had 29 people in all (trainers, not us) and this year, we had 18. Not as many, but we still had a lot of spirit! We had three items to raffle: a pumpkaboo plush made by our Annihilator, a Pokémon drawing by Julie, and a Pikachu on top of a pokeball clay figure by Julie. We had a deal on raffle tickets too: 4 for a $1. We did have a mini bidding war again between my two high school students who attend and this time, my junior Trainer, Miss A, won and she, literally, rubbed the pumpkaboo in the face! HA! I had to break up a fight…on a Saturday. -_-;; Good grief! We had yummy cakes, got to wrap Derrick and Fabio in toilet paper (which was A RIOT!), had our costume contests, a story with Pirate Deadpool, and I got to take so many fun pictures with the Crew who wore costumes, such as proposing to an oddly dressed casual attire Fabio because I was pretending to be a super fan 0.o! Waffle, the store’s puppy, was dressed as a hot dog and he was TOO PRECIOUS! >.< The whole event was a blast!
For all the fun picture, go to my author Facebook’s Pokémon Events album and scroll to the bottom. Our next event is November 14th, It is Normal November, since we are so tired from Halloween! HA! December 5th is our “Diamond Dust Holiday Bash.”
Afterwards, to celebrate Halloween and my birthday, Derrick, Evan, Tabby, Julie, Alesha, Antone, Fabio, and I went bowling at our local Family Fun Center. I ate amazing cheese balls, balled using my channeling my inner Mew, mini-golfed, got to ride in a Go-Kart, and just had a grand time! We really needed it and it was a wonderful way to start my birthday month, as my dad calls it, with a boom! Derrick is doing his Zubat dance here after getting a strike. I…I don’t know, but I’m so glad I married this kawaii man! ^-^
Well, as for my sickness, things have been a roller coaster. I have no money any more due to all the bills I have to pay from paying off my E.R. visit in late August and specialist appointments. My biggest concern was my A.N.A. count being so high. For those who do not know (and I had no clue myself), A.N.A. cells are like antibiotics in your body that kill bad foreign material. Most people have an average of 1:3. This means that for every white blood cell they have (the cells that fight off infections), they have 3 A.N.A. cells. Some have 4 or 8, which is high, but not alarming. My mom, who has the strangest medical history ever and has even had offers to be studied by large medical labs and universities for money, has a count of 1:80. That is very high. Mine? Well…mine is 1:160! >.< This could mean I have a few diseases, but the scariest of the ones discussed with me was lupus. Lupus is where I have so many cells that when they kill all the bad foreign material, they destroy other things, primarily the brain, heart, and kidneys. It takes time, but, yeah! Scary stuff! I went to see a lupus specialist and as of yet, I do not have it, however, that does not mean it isn’t dormant inside me. So, I have to watch out for a random butterfly rash on my face or me being unable to move my fingers. Triggers for it are direct sunlight and my A.N.A. cell count. I have to be careful with any extreme pain now and have to wear sunblock if I am in direct sunlight for more than 15 minutes and take folic acid to avoid the trigger. I still am tired, but I think a part of that is me getting lazier as I am older and my bad eating habits. Curse food and its tasty nature…
I DID have to go to the E.R. again on November 4th. I had been sick in my stomach for 9 days and it was bad that night of my birthday, November 1st, so much so I had to take off of work. I slept most of the day. On the 4th, it got so bad that I called my mom. I had not been able to hardly eat, the smell at food making me almost vomit three times, use the restroom, and the throbbing pain was intense. Mom wanted me to go to the E.R. It was a long wait and I know I cannot afford it. I was crying at the billing office (I had been real emotional the past few days too), but my mom helped me. Derrick was there too, being so supportive. I had to get stuck for blood three times because my veins were being dumb, got X-rays, and was there for almost six hours. I did not get home until four in the morning. They did give me an IV to help my intestinal pain and a cocktail that made my lips and tongue numb for two hours afterwards, but man! It helped with the pain. I did try to go to work because no sub took my absence. Well, when I sent in my E.R. doctor note, my bosses told me I HAD to go home, that I could not legally be there due to Human Resources laws. 0.0 My doctor also, for some reason, put down two days off, so I tried to come in Friday when my legs were not shaky from hospital medicine, but, nope! Go figure; I have never been to the principal’s office as a kid, and now, as a teacher, I got kicked out twice. -_-;; Miles came over and watched “Totally Spies” and “Seven Deadly Sins” with me on Netflicks while dad was at work Thursday. It was nice to relax a bit, but I HAD to do work; I was itching to. So, I did my library work on the computer; thank gosh I can do that on Google Drive! 😉 I had intestinal blockage and I am okay, but thanks to my A.N.A., we have to take all pain seriously. *sighs*
On to better things! Socks is still as adorable as ever. She is loving on Derrick more (grrr), has caught another mouse, likes to snuggle on my heating pad, waits for someone to open the door so she can catch the bugs that come in, and her fur is softer. It will be a year since we moved into our new place around Thanksgiving this year and on December 6th, a year since we got her. =^_^= I love my baby girl.
Birthday Fun:
- On the 22nd, after conferences, since I had not had much solid food in over a week due to all the work, Mom took Miles, Derrick, and I out for my birthday to Colton’s. I was in my Totoro dress and kitty ears. Our waiter announced to the whole restaurant it was my birthday and, I was all pumped for ice cream that you normally get…No. I got a BIG bag of peanuts! 0.o What’s up with that?
- On the 27th, Derrick took me out for my birthday dinner with us: our local Japanese restaurant. It was at 4:30 when we went and we were the only ones there, which was nice. ^_^ I told them it was my birthday and usually, they bang drums and let you wear a kimono and place your photo on the wall. I was SO ready…And they did nothing. 🙁 What the heck was with this birthday? I got sick after this though…
- On the 29th, I went over to my mom’s to celebrate my birthday with her, Miles, and grandma. Mom DID get me my favorite cheesecake (yeay) and cheese and sausage. I got some wonderful books and manga, money, and, my biggie that I SO needed; a new I-pod! It is a 64 GB generation 5 I-Pod touch in electric blue. I have not been able to listen to any songs before 2008 for six months when my wonderful I-pod classic broke. :'( Mom made me wear a birthday crown though… I had church choir practice after this.
- I DID, the Tuesday after this, spend 3 hours on the phone with Apple Support because my I-Pod was not working. We FINALLY got it ironed out and then found another problem. >.< But, knock on wood, everything is good so far now. My rep was super nice and I found out she likes 80’s music, she bought one of my books after I talked about being an author, and she loves anime, manga, anime conventions, and voice acting, causing some fun fanning while we waited for long downloads. She even told me to check on my husband and we discussed men and their shooter games. Derrick was so confused when I tapped him playing his game and I informed him, “The lady from Apple said I had to check on you. Apple cares about this family.” HA! I think I made a new friend…? o.0 Thank you Apple? It was random, but fun.
- On the 30th, I went out with Derrick and our buddies Evan Rowe (AKA Rowie) and Andrew to Applebees. It was a grand time. =)
- On Halloween, Evan took me out for my birthday, to our favorite Mexican place and we had a great time. We had an adventure at Wal-Mart afterwards, looking at the Christmas section. I did get a small gift for Miles and a $5 *NYSNC Christmas CD from the late 90’s, when they had pre-teen voices! It was so darling. Evan put it in Derrick’s car and blasted a song so it would play when Derrick turned his car for work the next morning. The first line was, “I wasn’t to kiss you this Christmas, baby!” Oh gosh! We opened some Pokémon cards too. Andrew came over that afternoon too and we helped him fill Halloween bags for needy kids, with over $100 worth of candy. Derrick and I were sadly not feeling well, so we could not attend me friend Winnie’s Halloween party this year, but we wished her well deserved fun.
- On my actual birthday, the first, we got an extra hour of sleep due to the turning our clocks back. I had to teach Sunday school and my birthday is always the church’s birthday, All Saints day. My first minister, Peter, was our guest priest and blessed me and two of the kids, one turning three and one turning one. I bent down to get on their level and they copied me! TOO CUTE! Peter told everyone I was 21 so he could feel younger! We had a nice pot luck afterwards. I went to dad’s for an hour after church to play with the critters (Derrick worked until 4:00). He got me two MAC (Mineral Area College, my first college), shirts and a touching card. Tabby came over to wish me a personal happy birthday and her husband, Brown, and my bestie Missa called me too. I got over 70 kind Facebook notes for my occasion as well. That evening, Derrick gave me my gifts, ACTUALLY WRAPPED!I got candy flavored chapstick, which I needed so bad, dark chocolate, a Mewtwo plush, and the first book in the “Magnus Chase” series. He also got matching tissue paper for his bag and signed his sweet card. <3 After this, we watched episode 2 of season 3 of R.W.B.Y. and the latest episode of “Once Upon a Time” before I felt ill and went to bed at 8:00.
- On November 6th, my in-laws took us out for me and my brother-in-law Nathan, AKA Fabio’s, birthdays. I was still feeling a bit sick, but it was so nice to be with everyone. I got a nice plum red, warm windbreaker with lots of inner pockets inside it from them. 🙂
- On the 7th, dad took Miles, Derrick, and I to our favorite Ponderosa (which is 50 minutes away) for buffet and steak. I was feeling pretty much fully better by this point and it was tasty. =)
Well, guys, thank you for sticking with me. I hope your sugar intake is full as you skip along the leave path of life. Be jolly, frolic, dazzle butterflies, and do judo air kicks with your idol. I will see you next time! Stop by through November for the “New Beginnings” blog tour, Nanowrimo month updates, top ten’s, Aspiring Authors, and more. The next major update will be before Christmas! =D Woo-hoo!
