Happy Tuesday All, I took a weekend trip up North for my Grandfather's memorial. It was a lovely ceremony, stories shared, tears shed, but also some laughter at the funny things my grandfather said or did. He was a World War II veteran, so we were blessed to have an Honor Guard there that gave a gun salute and presented a flag to my step-grandma. One of my brothers plays the Scottish Bagpipes, so he played TAPS on the bagpipes while in a kilt, with a sporran, and the shoes (called gillybroughs--I'm not sure of the spelling, but that's what it sounds like). All my siblings were there, so that was wonderful, because we haven't all been in one place in several years (there's a lot of us) and I got to catch up with them and relatives I haven't seen in a number of years. Sunday I returned, and did some unpacking and settling in. Monday I had a headache and my stomach decided to not be completely happy, so I spent the day in bed reading a book--which I also fi...

Happy Monday All, I am very sorry for my long absence. There's been so much going on: In late August my grandfather died. It's hard to say goodbye to him, but he lead a long and wonderful life. I'll be attending his graveside memorial service later this month--so there's been some prep work surrounding that. I've been gearing up for a couple of blog book reviews that are coming around October. I'm looking forward to posting them, too! I've also been writing. I sent the pages I've written of Conjure A Man to my critique partner because I wanted her input. While she's been reading the pages, I've been working on another story of mine. It's coming okay and I'm thinking about some of my other stories that are waiting on the sidelines for me to get to them. Also, I'm gearing up for my RWA chapter's annual conference--the Lone Star Conference  (the Northwest Houston RWA), which is being held on October 13, 2012 in Houston, Te...

Happy Tuesday All, I'm re-reading Beth Fantasky's Jessica's Guide To Dating On The Dark Side and gearing up to work on Conjure A Man (my WIP--Work In Progress). The other night I finished reading Tracy Deebs' Tempest Rising . I ended up really liking it. I realize since it was published last year, it's not exactly a new YA novel, but it was new to me because I hadn't known about it or read it. It's chalk full of sea mythical creatures. There's a big battle with a blood-sucking octopus type creature, a power-hungry sea witch, and a mermaid who wants to stick to her human side. I found it a fun read and plan to read the sequel, Tempest Unleashed , which is out. I'm doing all this while I wait for August 15th to arrive. Why August 15th? Well, aside from some real-life things going on, that's the day Shanna Swendson's Much Ado About Magic will be released. I've been waiting at least 2 years or more for this book! It's book 5 i...

Happy Friday All, It's the end of another week and my allergies have decided to act up. So, I'm waiting on a call back from my doc's office to see what they'll recommend I take (I had a question about an over-the-counter med). Hopefully it won't get any worse; I just got over having one thing or another not that long ago. Yesterday I read most of the day. I finished up Joy Preble's YA novel, Haunted (book 2 in her series) and then I went ahead and worked on Katie McGarry's YA novel, Pushing The Limits . Joy Preble's books use some of the Romanov story and Russian folklore. It's set in contemporary times, full of magic, mysteries, and a little bit of something for everyone. The first in the series is Dreaming Anastasia , which I really enjoyed. Haunted is book 2 and Anastasia Forever should be available, soon. (Joy told me it comes out, I think on August 7th). I'm hoping Anne stays with Ethan! Katie McGarry's Pushing The Limits i...

Happy Wendesday All, Wow! I can't believe it's already Wednesday. I know it's been a long time since I had any type of blog post (the weekend post wasn't really much updates, was it? I don't usually post over the weekend, but there was a few things on my mind). Things have been fairly busy on my end. A group of female friends of mine and I get together once a month for Girls' Night Out. This get together is going to be an overnight stay at a hotel nearby, so I've been gearing up for that. It's one of my friend's birthday, so there's been a few more details than normal. Mainly, I took it upon myself to put together some "goodie bags" (I can't say what's in them, because I only told the girls a couple of details and sometimes they read my blog. The rest is a surprise). Another piece of news is that I've "broken" 100 pages on my current WIP--which you can see details of in the margin of this blog under Conjur...