Avery Olive

You Can’t Fly. You Aren’t a Superhero.

                As children we’re often told that we can be whatever we want when we grow up. This is true. I think anything is achievable. And as a parent, I try to instil this belief, telling my son that yes, in fact, with a little hard work he can be whatever he wants.

                I also didn’t realize that this would come back to haunt me later on. In fact, many things will come back to haunt me later on, I’m sure. Anyway, my son, the superhero. He’s recently become enthralled with the idea of superheros. They are literally everywhere you look. Superhero's are on TV, in movies, you get them in kid’s meals at fast food restaurants—even companies have created their own version of superheros for flashy commercial advertisements. So naturally, my son assumed that he could be a superhero.

                This is all well and fine. It is. I love the imagination of children. They can come up with and create the best scenarios, acting them out and believing that anything is possible. My son would race around the house pretending he had lightning speed. He would ‘zap’ things with his imaginary gun, freezing everything in sight, including me. He’d pretend that his stuffed animals were being captured by the bad villain and that he’d have to swoop in and rescue the damsel in distress.

                It was always fun to watch. I loved peeking into his room and watching him act out his latest cape-crusader adventure. He’d even ask me to tie a blanket around his neck so he could have a cape just like all the coolest superhero’s had. Life, at the moment, seemed perfect. He’d spend his free time playing, alone, giving me a small amount of reprieve and I could stand by and watch the scene unfold before my eyes.

                Until he decided he could fly.

                It never occurred to me that this might become a problem. I never imagined that I’d find him one day teetering on the edge of his chest of drawers, arms outstretched, ready to take flight and soar like an eagle. The problem was that I needed to put a stop to it. I didn’t want to watch him jump from the dresser, which was tall, the ground most likely unforgiving and risk a broken arm, leg, cuts or bruises. Adventures can be fun until they aren’t. Until safety becomes an issue.

                I pushed open his door and said, “You can’t fly.” I probably should have spent a second or two formulating a better response to his actions but when wasting those precious seconds meant he could take the plunge and come out hurt, I couldn’t risk it. I said the first thing that came to my mind.

                “But I’m a superhero, and superhero’s can always fly.”

                This is true. It seems every superhero on the planet can fly, or leap tall buildings in a single bound, or drop effortlessly from vertigo inducing heights without risking injury. But the truth of the matter was simple. My son was not a superhero.

                “You’re not a superhero. You can’t fly.”

                Arguing back and forth would happen. My son questions everything. In his world, most often things are black and white. There is no gray area and when it came to superhero’s he believed that he was one and that he could, without a doubt, fly. After all, I had told him, more than once, that he could be anything he wanted to be. And in that moment, he wanted to be a cape-wearing, flying superhero that could jump off his dresser and land unscathed.

                The logic to him was simple. He wanted to be a superhero, I had told he could be whatever he wanted and that jumping off the dresser would instil that belief that what I said was true, never mind the fact that I told him, more than once, that he’d hurt himself—because, of course, superheroes don’t get hurt.

                I was running out of convincing evidence that would support my statement. He was going to jump off the dresser whether I liked it or not. And if he didn’t do it that second while I stood by and watch, I could believe that he’d do it later in the day, that night, or even the next day. It was happening whether I wanted it to or not.

                Maybe I could have let him jump and hope for the best. I’m sure that’s what some parents would have done. And that’s probably what I should have done, only in my time of desperation I said something I would soon regret.

                “Superheroes aren’t real.”

                Yes. I said that. I crushed my sons imagination and dreams of being a superhero by telling them they weren’t real. I’m that parent—the one that takes all the fun out of life and covers it up with the truth and real logic.

                He argued with me. He told me I was wrong. That there are superheros and because I told him he could be anything he wanted. I grabbed him from the dresser, sat him down on his bed and explained to him all about pretend. I knew in that moment I would be changing my sons life forever, that after I said my piece, he’d look at the world in a different light—but I wanted him safe. I didn’t want him to jump from the dresser, or the counter, or some other tall structure at the playground. I didn’t want him to get hurt and if telling him that superheroes aren’t real, that they are pretend just to save him from inflicting immeasurable amounts of pain, well, I said anything and everything that I could to get my point across.

                I worried after that day that I had possibly scared my kid forever. That he would no longer take pleasures in pretending to be a superhero, and acting out his little fantasies. I also worried that he’d then question further things, like Santa Clause or the Easter Bunny—because after all, if superheroes weren’t really, there must be other things in the world that weren’t real either, right?

                It’s true. As a growing child you learn throughout the years that all kinds of things you once believed in weren’t actually real. It’s a hard fact of life, and eventually everyone has to grow up. But I don’t think I had ever been so thankful for one aspect of a child’s mind. The ability to forget.

                Sure, my son didn’t forget completely that superhero’s weren’t real, but he forgot enough to go back a few weeks later and continue his tirade of putting the bad guy behind bars and rescuing the pretty girls or the stuffed animals. I thought he wouldn’t ever forget that I had crushed the moment and took away a small piece of his childhood too soon, ripping it from his tiny little grasp. But time heals all wounds, even the ones that aren’t physical. He knew that superhero’s were pretend, that he couldn’t fly, but he also knew that he could still believe in the magic of imagination and carry on with life.

                And maybe I did it wrong. Maybe I should have let him jump but maybe I did it right. I think as parents we have to find our own way, just as much as children have to find theirs.

 *I'd be lying if I didn't admit, that this too happened a few years go, and though my son is well-versed in the art of pretend, I haven't scared him for life. *              

               

 

Posted in Mommies Anecdotes, Random Blog Posts

 

Another personal anecdote!

Making Waffles

                There comes a time in every child’s life when they realize they want to be independent. This is normally a good thing. It is. I know it’s hard to take the training wheels off, so to speak, but it happens eventually. As a parent, however, you need to decide when independence is a good thing or when you should press down on the brakes and halt any situations from getting out of control.

                I like sleep. Those few extra minutes in the morning are usually much desired and much needed. If you’ve stayed up late the night before, worked long hours, or gotten up twenty times to assure your child there are, in fact, no monsters under the bed, pushing the snooze button is a must.

                I regularly press the snooze button. And I wish for five more minutes of sleep. But my son dutifully comes in each morning, asks if I need, “more minutes,” to which I always reply with a groggy, slightly slurred, “Yes.” I’m not a morning person. And anyone who knows me knows that I loathe the early mornings that so often accompany parenthood.

                Most often my son, if the TV is left on the cartoon channel, will retreat from my bedroom and allow me those few extra minutes of sleep. He’ll watch a show until he decides he cannot possibly go an extra minute without food. He’ll come back to my bedside, assert his dominance as a child in need of sustenance, to which I’ll have to call my dreams and my peace and quiet done for the day.

                However, it’s another matter entirely when instead of getting a morning wakeup call to put on my chef hat and prepare a breakfast with all the food groups, I get told, “Mom! Mom, I’m making waffles. Do you want any?”

                My heart stopped. I looked at my son through hooded eyes, asked if he’d repeat what he’d just said only to listen to the key factors of the sentence. “I’m making waffles.” It wasn’t, “Can you make waffles.” Or “I want waffles.” Or even, “Get your lazy butt out of bed and fix me some breakfast.” The key words in my son’s sentence were the fact that he was making himself waffles. At three years old my son felt that he was independent enough to get the toaster out of the appliance garage, (yes, I have an appliance garage!) plug the device in, grab the waffles from the freezer and begin cooking himself breakfast.

                Of course, naturally, my next step was to bolt up, throw the covers off and rush towards the kitchen. I expected there to be smoke billowing from the toaster. I cursed the fact that perhaps my smoke detector was out of batteries, or I expected that maybe I was over reacting, that I had misunderstood my three year old, instead finding a plate of frozen waffles on the table.

                But no. As I reached the kitchen, heart pounding, hands sweaty and fear in my eyes, the toaster popped. Up shot perfectly toasted waffles, a shade of golden brown that had my mouth watering instantly. Neatly placed beside were plates, forks and napkins and the syrup.

                I wasn’t sure if I should cry from the stress. Feel proud and tear at the sight of my son making himself breakfast. Even thank him for being polite enough to offer to make me my own batch of golden brown waffles. Either way, once the adrenaline coursing through my veins began to dissipate, I needed to decide how to move passed the event. I needed to decide if my son was independent enough or not to work a toaster.

                I decided at three, he wasn’t. I thanked him for the waffles. I poured the syrup, cutting up his breakfast and had to explain that though he hadn’t exactly done anything wrong—he argued that I’d never told him he couldn’t work a toaster—that from now on I’d be the only waffle making chef in the house. Sure, I didn’t tell him I had nearly had a heart attack—that was beside the point. I needed to explain that he was still my baby. That as a mother it was my job, until he was old enough, to make the waffles, cut them up and serve them. Of course, what I got back was, “When will I be old enough?”

                “Not today. Not tomorrow, and not for a very long time.”

                I wasn’t ready to take the training wheels off that day. Three is a little young to be making waffles, working a toaster and being independent, but I also wouldn’t realize then that making waffles was just the start of my sons need to be independent.

*Truth be told this happened a few years ago and my son, now six, does have the appropriate certification to operate the toaster :)* 

               

Posted in Guest Posts, Mommies Anecdotes, Random Blog Posts

As per usual, but totally not on purpose, I've let my blogging slide a little and haven't posted anything new in awhile. Sorry about that. So, to make it up to you, I'm going to give you a little personal anecdote. I tend to write down things that my son does, that I can include slightly veiled advice, thoughts or insights among a somewhat interesting read.  I might even turn this into a weekly thing... we'll see.

 

Have You Ever Seen an Alien?

                As a parent, and even an author, you can imagine I get asked all sorts of questions. Sometimes they are simple ones, you know, the ones you can answer without much thought. Like, for instance, “What’s for dinner?” or “What are we doing today?”

                But then there are those few questions that as parents we aren’t exactly sure how to answer. You have to think, wrack your brain and decide if you answer with the truth, with a little white lie or quickly change the subject and hope your child forgets said question and moves on to something else.

                Me and my son were driving home from Friday Night Pizza when he asked, “Do you think there are aliens on other planets?” It was dark. The snow was coming down faster than the wipers could swipe it from my windshield. I could barely see the sky and the stars above. And of course, I had no idea how to answer my sons question.

                He’d recently seen an alien movie, so his question wasn’t exactly out of the ordinary, it made sense. In the movie, there were aliens on another planet. But when he asked me his question, he wanted a real answer. I didn’t doubt for a moment I could come up with an answer other than the truth. And not even the truth, but rather, what I believed. Sure, in my other life, I weave stories of fiction, which have included novels with Aliens. But when it came to the truth of the matter, was a believer? No. I wasn’t. I didn’t think little green men existed on planets, any planets. Aliens were a creation of fiction made to entertain.

                So, I answered simply, “No. I don’t think there are aliens.”

                I’m sure if through the darkness I could see my son, no doubt he was frowning, his eyebrows knitted together as he thought about what he’d say next. He’s a thinker. He’s inquisitive and he likes to have things black and white. I know this. As his mother and him being on this earth for as long as he has been, I’ve gotten to know him quite well, so I wasn’t surprised when he said, “Have you ever seen an alien?”

                I thought about it. I had seen aliens, in movies, on TV and read about them in books. I knew how the world portrayed them, but in actuality, “No, I’ve never seen an alien.” And that’s what I said. It was the honest truth. Along with the fact that I didn’t think they were real.

                “Then how do you know they aren’t real if you’ve never seen one.”

                Good question. How did I know they were or were not real? I didn’t have hard evidence to support my claim either way and my son called me on it. He pointed out the simple fact that if I had never seen one, how could I claim they did not exist? Smart kid.

                But what happens next? Do I back track and possibly lose my credibility? Do I turn around and say, yes, they do exist, I was wrong. And admit defeat. Or do I back track only a little and say maybe? Or do I quickly change the subject, distract him with the idea of a new conversation topic and hope he forgets?

                As parents we want to always tell our children the truth, to the best of our ability. There’s nothing wrong with asking questions, it just sometimes sucks when we’re supposed to know the answer. Or know how to explain the answer in easy to understand children’s terms. And I was stumped. I didn’t know how best to proceed.

                “If you believe in aliens, then maybe they do exist.”

                That seemed like a safe answer. It did. At the time I could have patted myself on the back and pumped my fist in the air. Not only did I not lie or change my stance on the matter, or change the subject, I gave him an answer I thought he’d accept.

                Wrong.

                “That’s not an answer. Are aliens real?”

                Crap. He really wanted to know if I believed in aliens and if they were real. I don’t know why the question was so hard to answer. I mean, really, why not just say, “Sure, why not.” And leave it at that? He’d move on, and we’d talk about something else. Was this question really one that needed a finite answer?

                I took a deep breath and then said three words that as a parent I hate saying. “I don’t know.” I hate saying, “I don’t know,” because it feels like a letdown. I should know the answer. Or if I don’t know, Google will know the answer. And if Google doesn’t know the answer, well, then some random family member will after I post the question on Facebook just to get opinions. But saying I don’t know means that I’ve failed. There is something in the world that my kid wants to know, with determination, might I add, and I don’t have the slightest idea what the answer is. I honestly expected a “Why,” or “How come,” or some other shot to enforce the fact that I had let him down. There was something he wanted to learn and I couldn’t teach him. I honestly didn’t think I’d be taken aback by his answer.

                “That’s okay, mom. There are things I don’t know, too.”

                I might have even teared up a little. That or it was still the fact that I couldn’t see, the windshield was dotted with splotches of water and snow. My chest definitely tightened, heart squeezed with a constricting grasp because I truly did feel like a letdown mother. Now not only did I not have the answer but I was being consoled by my child. It was sweet. He was trying to make me feel better. But I think that moment also taught me something.

                What it taught me was that not all answers are the right ones, and no all questions, from a child, need to be answered. Being honest and saying I don’t know isn’t actually the end of the world. Trust me. I said it and the world, well, it’s still turning just as it should. Sometimes saying I don’t know is actually the better response. It is. Because then you move passed the tough question and the impossible answer and get to the good stuff. My son then spent the rest of the car ride home explaining to me about the aliens that he believed existed. He spoke with such conviction, I almost believed, from his perspective, that those kinds of aliens were real. I discovered then, his imagination. It had no limits. And if I didn't know any better, I would have believed that he’d spent a lot more time than one car ride creating his version of other planets and the aliens that lived on them. His imagination, however, would also get him in trouble later on, no doubt.

               

               

Posted in Guest Posts, Mommies Anecdotes, Random Blog Posts

Today post is part of the What’s Love Got to Do with It? Blog Hop! Stop here, take a read and enter the contest below for a chance to win a $250 E-giftcard! But before you go, don’t forget to take the time to check out the other posts happening today, tomorrow and up until February 19^th! Just click this LINK!

So, without further ado...

What’s Love Got to Do With It?

Love. It’s February, so that word is constantly being thrown about. It’s plastered on advertisements, romantic movies are playing on what seems to be an endless loop on the television—even radio stations have added an influx of ballads that profess the act as they sing through the airwaves.

Let’s face it. Love is everywhere.

Especially in books. Love always finds a way to weasel into books. And that’s a good thing. I think now more the ever love—of all kinds—is being increasingly acceptable in society, and Authors aren’t afraid to write about it. In fact. That HEA (Happily Ever After) moment is expected in most genres. Love needs to play a huge roll, definitely in Young Adult Novels, which is what I write.

So, when the question ‘What’s Love Got to Do with It?’ was posed to me, I simply answer, Everything.

But there are many different forms of love—sibling love, parental love, romantic lust, love at first sight, tension filled catalyst love that moves mountains—I know, I’m probably getting a little ahead of myself... But for me, and my Young Adult novels, it’s all about realistic love.

Sure, there’s a place for that fairytale romance, where the princess finds her princess, where circumstances so unbelievable happen bringing two characters together that it’s really only believable because it’s a book. A work of Fiction. And that’s great. That’s what lots of readers want. It’s what I want, a lot of the time.

However, there’s a place for realistic love. It’s what I often like to portray in my novels, because yes, though readers, at times, want to indulge in page turning unbelievable romance—the likes of which would simply never happen in real life—there are tons of readers out there that want to read about a love that they can imagine could happen to themselves.

Readers want to relate to characters. They want to understand that there are matters of which they aren’t the only ones going through alone. And they want to read about a love that is possible. That the boy next door can find eyes for his best friend. Where the slightly geeky girl—or secluded loner—can gain the attention of the jock. Where the new kid in town can turn heads and snag the cheerleader. Because it is possible. I think that if you believe in something. If you want it bad enough. And you have the guts to go after it—anything is possible, especially that all consuming, once in a life time love.

But I also want my characters to grow. I want their actions to be just as realistic as the love I want them to feel. I want readers to understand that love isn’t easy. There are good moments, bad ones, even ugly ones, because real love is messy. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows. It takes work. And I like to make my characters work for it. I think that’s what makes it just as realistic, showing that it takes two people to make love—and relationships to work—but that love has everything to do with making a romance novel amazing. Love has everything to do with it.

Authors shouldn’t be afraid to make love how they want it to be. That’s the fun of being the author, and putting characters in all kinds of situations. Don’t forget you weave the story, so don’t just write about the love you think readers want to read about. Write about the love that you want to write about. Because love is beautiful.

Alright, I’ve said my piece, leaving it a lot on the short and sweet side because I don’t think anyone can really tell someone how to love or how to write about love. It’s one of those things that have many different angles. You just have to do it and see how you come out on the other side. Remember that. You decide how to love and how to be loved. It’s your choice. Just like it’s an authors choice on how to write about love!

Now, take a moment to enter to win an amazing prize! It’s worth it, and well, if money can’t buy love, it can sure buy a lot of books! And don’t forget to check out all the other What’s Love Got to Do with It? Posts!

And, if you haven’t had a chance to do so, and want another great contest, check out the A Stiff Kiss 1^st Anniversary Contest, where you can discover some of that realistic love I was talking about and enter to win some HUGE prize packages!

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Posted in Blog Hops, Giveaways, Random Blog Posts, Valentines Day

Today is the LAST DAY in the 15 Days of Christmas Giveaways! I just want to first say that don’t worry, I know December 24^th (and the days leading up until Christmas) are hectic.

Though the daily posts end today, the contest will STAY OPEN until December 29^th to give everyone a chance to enter. There are people, I’m sure, who are away from their computers, busy with friends and family (as you all should be) so I want to give everyone (and every post) equal opportunity to enter to win!! So don’t freak out if you see this a little late, you’ve still got time to enter!

Now, since I know you’re all just as busy as I am, I don’t want to waste much of your time, so, please allow me to welcome to the blog, Kate from Read 2 Review!

She’s been gracious enough to give us an interview, some great information and a huge prize bundle up for grabs!

The prize?

A Great Minds Think Aloud UK Author Prize Bundle

Which includes:

Bardo by Chris McKenna
Ain’t Finished Yet by George Stratford
Buried Pasts by George Stratford
Unlucky Dip by Kate Tenbeth
Campaign Of The Gods by Mike Evers
The Spirit Archer by Mike Evers

The task?

Like Read 2 Review on Facebook!

 

Please welcome, Kate!

1. You are wonder woman! You run a blog, a newsletter, a blog tour events company and have twitter and Facebook! How do you find the time to manage all of those endeavours?

I’ve managed to get it sorted so I am online constantly working for 2 - 4 hours per day. It’s not too bad, lol!!! I pre-schedule Read 2 Review if I can so then it’s just updating the other sites (of which I have 4 lol) and working behind the scenes.

2. Tell us a little about your blog tour company.

Page Turner Book Tours was set up earlier this year and has taken 4 tours so far. Each tour offers different special items depending on the cost. We have made the packages very creative too by adding in homemade items, recipes and much more. Our tours have been well received and we hope to plan more through the coming year.

3. If you realized that you were only going to be able to read and review 2 books for the rest of your life which would you choose and why?

Gosh that’s hard. I would have to go with the books that I have revisited ever since I was a little girl. The Chronicles Of Narnia and Lord Of The Rings. I have lost count of how many times I have read these books I adore them.

4. You've gotten to know a lot of great authors over the last year or two, but there must be an author you really want to meet in person, who is it and why?

This would have to be my dear friend Marian Lanouette. She’s a fantastic author, which is how we became friends. She has really been there for me recently with the issues I have faced. She has been through such a lot this year and even then she still checks in with me and asks how I am. I am so glad to have been privileged to meet her and hopefully one day I will be able to meet her.

5. What can we expect to see from Reader’s Shadow?

Each month, on the first of each month, the magazine will be released. Each issue will be an extension of Read 2 Review and offers interviews, guest posts, spotlights, book features and contests. We feature an author each month with their cover appearing on the front cover of the magazine. We hope that people like what we put together.

6. When you plan on curling up with a good book, what is the snack or treat that gets you into the reading mood?

Mmm that’s a hard one. I would have said Chocolate. However with being in the hospital recently and now facing an operation, I would have to say a slice of toast and marmite.

7. What is your favourite thing about being a book blogger? What do you wish your blog had more of?
I love finding new authors and working with them to help them promote their work. It gives me such satisfaction when I hear a book I have worked with is doing well. I just wish I had more time to read and offer more reviews.

8. And lastly, what can we expect to see from you and Read 2 Review in the coming New Year?
Well I recently started working with Great Minds Think Aloud and I will be working hard with the authors that I look after and hoping for great things for them.

Read 2 Review I hope will continue to grow and get bigger and bigger.

Hey am I allowed a shameless plug? If so then I would like to encourage anyone who is reading this to join us as a reader. We have a lot of books that, as I person I can’t get through myself. We have books off all genres and would love for more people to join us. Please check out this LINK for more details.

Also on January 17th - 24th we have our first Read-A-Thon of the year.

The Kindle-Ling Read-A-Thon 2013 presented by Read 2 Review – Get Involved

Read 2 Review are setting up our first Read-A-Thon of 2013. We are aware with all the new eReader’s coming out this Christmas some of us may be getting one for Christmas. Kate recently got the Kindle Paperwhite and she is already loving it. This fact led us to the idea of our first Read-A-Thon of 2013.

We haven’t hosted a Read-A-Thon for a while and we figured it would be the perfect time to schedule one. New Year, new books, new devices – perfect right?

Right now we are looking for authors and bloggers to join with us to set up what we think will be an awesome event. There are two ways for you to get involved and these are:

1. Reading List. We are compiling a list of books, which will be offered free in exchange for a review, of books that every participant will be able to choose from to read during the week. I am limiting each book to 5 readers per book and these books will ONLY be available for an electronic devise and not print. If you would like to participate in this first way please let me know the following information:

Name/Pen Name:
Title of book (please limit to 1):
Formats the book is available in (kindle, PDF, kobo…):
Page length:

2. Prize donations. We wish to set up two prize bundles for this contest – International and USA/Canada. We are looking for donations to these bundles. If you are donating a book to the first way to participate you can still do this way too if you wish, only please choose different books. Please can you let me know the following if you would like to participate in this second way:

Name/Pen Name:
Title of book (please limit to 1 – must be different than idea 1 if you are participating in idea 1):
Formats the book is available in (kindle, PDF, kobo…):
Any other item you would like to donate (gift card, merchandise, other…):

The Read-A-Thon itself will be run from the 17th – 24th January and any format of book can be read (including print) but 1 book MUST be read from the compiled list per participant. The reviews can be posted at the participant’s individual site but a link list will be put on Read 2 Review for the books.

To get involved please EMAIL us. We look forward to hearing from you and hope that you have a very merry Christmas!

Wow, thanks, Kate for the great interview and the great information. The read-a-thon sounds fun! I might even consider taking part!

If you’d like to learn more about Kate and Read 2 Review, please click any of the links below!

Read 2 Review  Twitter  Facebook  GoodReads  Reader's Shadow

Page Turner Book Tours  Twitter  Facebook

Great Minds Think Aloud UK  Twitter  Facebook

 

So, I’m sure by now I don’t need to remind you, but I will, please take a moment to enter to win using Mr. Rafflecopter! If you see this post and are wondering WTF is going on, click this link HERE and all your questions will be answered! And, of course, if you’ve missed any days, click the link HERE and you’ll be able to go back and enter to win any days you missed!

Please also come back tomorrow, for one last post in regards to the 15 Days of Christmas Giveaways (before the winners are announced) where I’ll spend some time down on my knees thanking each and every person who took part in the massive giveaway!

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Posted in 15 Days of Christmas Giveaways, Blog Hops, Blog Tours, Book Reviews, Giveaways, Interview, Random Blog Posts

Posted in Random Blog Posts, Writing

Posted in Random Blog Posts, Technical Difficulties, Writing

Well, a new year is upon us! Which means it's goal and resolution time. Have you planned out yours? I've taken the last few days off and really concentrated on cleaning up, winding down and planning out the next year.


So, this is what I anticipate to happen in the next year, assuming of course it doesn't end. So for good measure I will hope to have all this done, before December ;)

For the last few years I have been particpating in the 100 book challenge, where you try and read 100 books in a year.
Thus far I have yet to acheive that goal, so maybe for me it's a little bit unrealastic, so, I plan on 75. I WILL read 75 books this year. Last year I came in a little short of the goal, but this year I'm going to try really, really hard :)
Of those 75 books I plan to read more selfpublished, or small press published books by fellow authors. It's about time I support them even more!

Next on my list, is to write at least one new manuscript. I've started a few, only to not finish, or go crazy trying to figure out how to make something work. So, this year, one completely new fresh manuscript of a completely new concept!

However, I can't get away from sequels. There is possibly a few sequels to novels I've already finished, that need to be written. So I also hope to work on, if not finish a few sequels.

I also plan on attending a least one literary convention of some sort. There are a few in my area, and a few in other provinces that I've been eyeing up. Of course I have some of the big ones in the USA on my list, but until I start making loads of dough, for now I will have to settle for something more local :)

Since Stiff Kiss is nearing completion (no firm release date as of late, sorry) I do hope to organize at least one book signing. I know they are really not as huge of a deal as they used to be, but it's something I've always wanted to do. I really want to sit in a bookstore (or some other venue) pens laid out before me, maybe some swag and hope, probably pray that people will come and want me to sign their copy of MY BOOK! I just think it would be such a rush and super fun.

Alright, I think that's about it. Of course I have some smaller goals, but these are the bigger ones! I hope everyone can achieve their goals too! But remember, even if you don't, it's still a success because you tried! That's all anyone can every do, or expect, at least you tried :)

Posted in Holidays, Random Blog Posts, Writing

All the Christmas hoopla is over... which really just means that the fun and exciting part of Christmas is now part of the past, and as per usual the daunting task of cleaning, organizing, purging and the like is among us.
So, I figure it is the perfect time to take a bit of a blog break, replacing typed words with de-tinseling my tree, storing ornaments, and as I mentioned above, cleaning and organizing.

At the first of the month, it had looked like Christmas had come and threw up all over my house, leaving behind, not chunks of nasty food, but lights, cards, tinsel, tree needles, gift papers and lame nick-nacks that I am ashamed to admit I own, and happily set out during Christmas. But now... well, it looks like someone just plain threw up. I have boxes, and tiny bags, left over wrapping squished into every nook and cranny, tape and bows stuck to the walls, holiday cards on every surface and a fridge full of leftovers that has probably started to turn and grow fuzz.

So, sadly, I think all the above needs to be taken care of in a timely matter which will probably leave little time for extra-curricular activities.

But, before I dash away I'd like to leave you with a few things...

First and foremost, though I'm a little behind, one should head on over to Read 2 Review, the wonderful gals and guys are having a very fun and festive contest with tons of great books up for grabs! They are celebrating (and true to form) their own 12 Days of Christmas Giveaways! It's the Fourth Day.

Secondly, I'm in preparation for laying out my 2012 goals, assuming of course, the world does not end. It's customary I'm sure, among all of us, to lay out those resolutions that we in full force strive to accomplish. I'm not planning to add weight loss, or perhaps to quit smoking (I know, that's terrible, and really, really bad, but shh don't tell) or perhaps to be better at managing my money, or organzing my time. No, these goals are all of the strictly literary nature that I will be sure to share with you come the New Year.

Thirdly, in conjuction with the above I am planning out my TBR in 2012 list. That's right, I like to think about all the wonderful books out there that I want to immerse myself in, write them down and see, more seriously, how many I fail to cross off the list lol

Fourthly, and to be honest this should be number one... but, I'm not going to lie, procrastination might just be my middle name, I really do need to clean, organize, and purge!

So, I know it's upsetting but for the next 4 Days at the very least, I shall be indesposed. I wouldn't expect much from me in the way of blog post writing, but that doesn't mean I'll forget all you readers while I'm gone! Because I won't. Assuming of course, there really are readers... Someone is reading this, right? I mean, I hope so, or else this might be a waste of time. It's not though... I do have followers, which means that people must read!

Now, I am also cooking up some awesome things for 2012! So stay tuned.

*Poof*

Posted in I'm Quirky, Laziness, Random Blog Posts