I know it’s been a while… like what, two years? Three years? I’ve lost count. It’s all a blur of changes, some good, some bad, both losses and gains. No different than anyone else in the world, so we’ll skip the minutia.
Anyway, I just wanted to check and give you a hint of things to come in The Meadows.
Many of you have probably noticed I’ve been absent from social media. Yeah, that was a conscious choice. One that’s made my life easier and happier. That said, I miss conversing with all of you. So I’m working on making some changes to the website. I’m hoping for a place we can kick back in our pajama pants, have a beverage of choice, and some good conversation.
On the writing front, I’m slowly working back into the mindset of fiction. I now have a dedicated office, so yay! It’s not perfectly set up yet, but it’s workable and much better than a corner in our main living space. I’ve been doing a ton of research for backstory in the series and for the next book. I have my beginning and my ending, that means the hard part needs to be done. The magical journey that moves you from point A to point B, all that stuff in the middle.
I did manage some reading on an entertainment level and discovered a wonderful series, Heidi Vanlandingham’s Flight of the Night Witches. Set in WWII, female Russian pilots, Norse gods, history, and a touch of sweet romance. I’m on book three, Raisa. Go check her out!
So, yeah, that’s a brief rundown of what’s been going on in my life. How about you? If you feel like sharing, pop it in the comments.
NIBB 2019 The Aftermath
Thank the gods, I can type this instead of saying it, because my voice is still hashed. Now on to NIBB 2019.
Where to start…
I suppose I could start with why my voice is gone. It started with the drive up there and my singing along with my 80s playlist. Fun fact, as I pulled into Clear Lake, Toni Basil started chanting Mickey, hey Mickey. Move on to my squeaks, squeals, and shrieks of joy for all my writing buddies. The next day, I couldn’t seem to keep my mouth shut. With the 80s theme, I met so many like minded individuals. And after the event, I did it again, pretended to sing. So, yeah, that’s why I’ve got this squeaky, husky weirdness going on. Oh, well, it was worth it!
Micki, Lori, Rachel, and their crew did a totally awesome job—as usual—with this year’s event. Kat and I cannot thank them enough for allowing us to play along. And a huge shout-out to Micki’s mom, the glasses she painstakingly engraved induced tears. You all work so hard and give so much of yourself to this event, and it shows.
The authors, writers, whatever you all want to call yourselves. From the event to the after party, you guys rocked it like 1980 something… As usual, I didn’t get a chance to chat with everyone, but I did get to catch up with the Bean Club, and rest of the crew I only get to chat with online.
Craig Hart—you might remember him from the comedy team of Hart and Therme, or Therme and Hart. Craig and Erik think they’re funny, fortunately they are—does a podcast called The Games & Writers Show, you can catch the micro interviews he did at the event.
A simple thank you isn’t enough, when it comes to all the readers.
Our 80s trivia game was a blast from the past! I was so inspired by the enthusiasm, we tossed in two extra prizes for the runners up. The like, totally awesome Kellee and Julie, thank you both for playing and chatting with us.
Our general admission winner was Stacey, you totally blew us away with a finish time of a little over 5 minutes. That was some quick thinking!
Our VIP winner was the amazing sweet Lindsay, who I first met at Fall Into Books in Sioux Falls. I was over the moon when I saw she was the winner. Not only the winner, but the only one to get every answer spot on!
Pamela, from Rising Phoenix Arts—she designed and made the necklace in the prize package—was there. So I got to introduce her to its new owner!
The one that threw everyone was a line from Lost Boys. Second shelf is mine. That’s where I keep my root beers and my double-thick Oreo cookies. Everyone, except Lindsay, left off the double-thick Oreos.
The after party was so much fun. Just like teen nights—you know, when the clubs opened on Sunday for us underagers—Becca, Kat, and I gathered in our room, did hair, makeup, and chatted about boys…well, not the boys part. I had a blast helping Becca out with hers, been a while since I got to play with someone else’s face and hair.
Quite a few celebrities showed up, not one but two Slashes—reminded me of that South Park episode Vünter Slauche—a.k.a. Amy Queau and Micki Fredricks. And I got to party with rock goddesses Stevie Nicks and Joan Jett, a.k.a. Savannah Verte and Lori Ratty. There was an excellent reenactment of Bohemian Rhapsody, by our very own Wayne, a.k.a. The Real Rae Matthews, and Garth, a.k.a. Aubrey Parr. There were a few Breakfast Club characters running around, Dawn had the Basket Case down. All she needed were some pixie sticks.
At first I was going to hang low and just chat with people, but the energy and all those tunes… It was just too much to resist. I was out there in the girl circle, with everyone else on the dance floor. Sunday, not only was my voice shot, but I felt muscles I hadn’t used in ages.
Would I do it again? Well, maybe… Oh, who am I kidding? I’d be right back out there with everyone. Totally worth it!
North Iowa Book Bash 2019
I’m like, totally excited about attending the North Iowa Book Bash, a.k.a. NIBB2019. There’s a totally bitchin’ theme this year!
Any guesses?
I’ll give you a hint, “It all started with The Unveiling in the…”
Bet the Meadowlarks know and are shouting it to the rooftops.
In honor of this awesomeness, I’ve put together an 80s trivia game and a couple of totally choice Beauty & The Book prizes.
Rules! We’ve got some rules around here.
Kat or I will record your start time when you pick up your sheet and the end time when you return it. The shortest completion time wins.
Make sure you return the sheet to my table no later than 2:00pm. Check my table at 2:45pm for the winner announcement. If the winner is not present, a new winner will be chosen.
Worried that the VIPs will have the upper hand? Don’t. We’ll mark the sheets accordingly. There will be one VIP winner and one general admission.
Wanna know what’s in the Beauty & The Book sets?
Urban Fantasy & Urban Decay:
Naked Basics shadow palette Mascara Eye liner Shadow primer Lipstick
Disenchanted (If you already own it, you pick)
Indie Author, Indie Artisans:
Prairieland Herbs (a.k.a. Witchy Weeds) Enchanted body spray Enchanted solid perfume Shimmer lipgloss Faerie Dust body powder Facebook
Necklace inspired by Keely’s collar in Unenchanted Rising Phoenix Arts Facebook Instagram
Disenchanted (If you already own it, you pick)
Can’t wait to see you on the 6th of April, in Clear Lake, Iowa
at the Best Western Holiday Lodge.
FIBE2018: The Aftermath
Craig and I pining for Erik Therme at FIBE
So I’m writing this the day after, the day after, the Sioux Falls Fall Into Books event… Am I recovered from so much awesomeness? Not really, but I had to jot a few highlights for you, before they become foggy and I question if ‘that’ really happened.
The Breadwinner and I drove up the night before, so I could spend a little quality time with my writer and reader buddies. I haven’t seen them in like forever—as in since NIBB, in Clear Lake, Iowa—but my tribe always picks up as if it were yesterday. What a great bunch of people.
We had dinner with Aaron Bunce, Terry Maggert—we have more in common than classic Mustangs, Duran Duran for the win!—and Dennis Green. Pizza, pasta, and locally brewed beer, yum. The conversation was light, fun, and didn’t revolve around writing. Yep, you know you’re ‘friends’ when you can talk about things other than putting words on paper.
I spent time with Micki Fredricks and Lori Ratty, two of the three BF Bookies—Rachel Smith was arriving later—behind the North Iowa Book Bash, a.k.a. NIBB. Can’t tell you how much I love and admire these girls. Pam Godwin tried—and failed—to convince me of her age. Either she has some fantastic skincare, or she’s really the fey creature she resembles. Rock ’n Roll Barbie, Jennifer Ann, blew me away, as usual. Anny—the lady behind this whole shindig—was a bubbly, ball of energy. Probably riding the high of organizing FIBE, and what a job she did!
The venue was beautiful. Lots of room for readers and writers to navigate, and excellent lighting from the windows and skylights. Which Mr. Bunce can confirm, as if the kid didn’t already stand out in the crowd, he’d ordered a personal sun induced spotlight. I think it was so he could wear his sunglasses and add to his mystic.
I got to catch up with the lovely, E.J. Whitmer. I haven’t seen her in almost a year, even though we live in the same area. Yeah, I know, my bad. Angela Schmeling is an absolute doll, so darn sweet it makes your teeth hurt. It was a treat meeting Jenny Bullington, who hails from the Siouxland area. Did I mention her books are based on Siouxland history? My regret is not meeting Heidi Hutchinson, another Siouxlander. I was kinda excited to meet the ladies living in my old stomping grounds.
I’ve really got to give it up for Craig—Patterson has nothing on him—Hart. What a great table mate. He put up with my diarrhea of the mouth—we all know how I babble uncontrollably in tense situations—and somehow knew not to take anything I said seriously. I think Aaron, Dennis, and the missing, Erik Therme—next year, dude, next year—gave him a heads up.
Craig quickly pointed out that I was surrounded by guys. He and I sharing, Terry next to me, Dennis and Aaron across, and a new to me author, K. Hanson. Either Dennis or Aaron said it was to keep me in line and Terry said it had something to do with the restraining orders… Whatever the reason, I have no problem being surrounded by handsome men. Kinda like Keely. But as Dennis and I discussed the night before, I don’t write harem books. At least I don’t think I do. Right, Dennis?
All in all, it was a fantastic day, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank the readers. You guys rock! There were few I really appreciate spending so much time at my table, when they could have been perusing the other authors. Steven, loved chatting writing and Diana Pharaoh Francis—I’m a huge fan, like she’s on my shelves and my kindle—with you. Melissa, thanks for taking a chance on a new to you author, hope you enjoy. Lindsay, I’m so excited you snagged a copy of Disenchanted, you’re a sweetheart. Carmie, what can I say? Thanks for spending time with me, you’re an absolute delight, hope you enjoy the book. I know there are more of you, but I can’t always remember the names to go with the faces. Drop a comment below and remind me.
On to the reason you really stopped by, why my house smells like peppers…
Sunday we had freezing temps, with sleet, turning to snow by the afternoon. So what did the Breadwinner and I do? Rushed to save his pepper crop. Why do I say crop? Because we had a ridiculous amount this year. We spent the day preserving them for a later date. Roasting, skinning, and freezing Anaheims. Dicing and drying—which took a good 24 hours—jalapeños, Anaheims, and serranos, then turning them to dust for hot pepper seasoning. Always remember to wear gloves and do not touch your face. Oh, and don’t breath when you open the food processor after dusting. Up next, turning the last of the jalapeños into poppers…
Fall Into Books Event
Hey all, I’m really excited about an upcoming event, Fall Into Books in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Yep, you heard right, they’re gonna let me cross state lines. I promised to be on my best behavior, winkety, wink, wink, wink. Seriously though, this is going to be a blast, the lineup is incredible. Just take a peek at the authors I’ll be joining.
There are going to be a ton of giveaways and swag bags for the first 50 people at the door. And yes, I’m going to do a little something, something at my table – no, no dancing on it, I don’t wanna break anything or get kicked out of South Dakota – so stay tuned to my social media for hints.
Wanna know more? Take a gander at the event pages:
Snag your ticket early, the price goes up at the door. I hope to see you there!
Highlights: Micki Fredricks Cover Reveal
My buddy, my pal, my friend, Micki Fredricks has a new book coming out, July, 10th to be exact. I asked if I could be part of her cover reveal and she agreed…I’m like totally excited, because this is a totally beautimous cover! And I get to share it with you. I get overly excited when fellow writers stop by, so I’ll have Micki tell you a little about herself.
Just who is Micki Fredricks?
If they’d known about ADHD when I was little, my Ritalin dosage would’ve been OFF THE CHARTS!!
It goes without saying; I spent A LOT of time by myself after the teacher moved my desk out into the hallway. ** Silver lining** With all that alone time on my hands, I used my imagination to make the world a more interesting place.
When I was little, people said I had an active imagination. In elementary school, teachers called me a daydreamer. My high school counselor said I needed to learn how to focus and my college professors warned me to buckle down if I wanted to be successful.
Before I knew it, it was time to grow up.
So that’s what I did. I grew up, got married and had five kids. I work as a full-time nurse, I’m part of the most amazing book-club, blog about books with my best friends and spend my days defusing the drama that only a household full of teenagers could bring. Oh, and I write a bit when I can and now people call me talented.
Moral of my life story: Hug your kids and embrace their differences. Love them for who they are. Someday, the traits you think are struggles might be exactly what they need to make their dreams come true.
Micki lives in small-town Iowa with her husband, kids and a fat Cocker Spaniel named Joey.
Now that you’ve met Micki, you need to know a little about her new release. Her romances are a symphony of emotion, just check out this description.
An instant.
That’s all it took for Trey O’Brien’s life to change, twisted into an unrecognizable mess. Paralyzed by the weight of his guilt, he was numb to anything that wasn’t his self-induced loathing and isolation. And that was on a good day.
Callie loftier spent the first part of her life in the shadow of her illness. Two years ago, she was given a second chance, and she intended to live life to the fullest.
She danced in the rain, sang as loud as she could and met every adventure head-on.
Life was short, and since she knew nothing was permanent, she had no time for things like falling in love.
But when Trey and Callie collided, life blurred into something beautiful.
Could the secret Callie carries with her ruin everything and bring the entire O’Brien family down? Or will it be exactly what Trey needs to pause, and remember how to live again?
Now what you’ve all been waiting for…
Are you ready to Pause?
Go add it to your Goodreads to-be-read list, you know you want too!
If you want to be social with Micki, or keep tabs on when Pause goes live, here are her social links:
Reading has been a challenge lately and not in a good way. I’m not sure if it’s the books I’m picking up or my mind set, but I find myself setting most books aside unfinished. Usually, I give a book three chapters to grab me, but I can’t seem to even push myself that far with some of them. My Kindle library is littered with reading material that will probably never be picked up again.
I can’t be too disappointed when they are free or under a buck, but when I spend four, five, sometimes more…well, that kinda hurts. I know not every book is going to ‘do it’ for every reader, but I’m hitting maybe one in ten here. I’ve also given up on reading reviews, again not every book is for every reader. Just because seventy-five percent of the readers out there loved it, doesn’t mean I will. But I’ve been playing it smart and reading the sample chapters, if the book grabs me, I hit the buy button. Sadly, by about the fourth or fifth chapter, many of these books fail to keep me interested.
There are a few things that make a book an insta-no-buy—keep in mind this is my personal opinion, taste, whatever. You can read and enjoy whatever your little heart desires. Again, not every book is for everyone.
Verbosity—yeah, I know, a ten dollar word, we’ll get to those later—too many stinkin’ words to describe something. I don’t need two pages describing a character or the setting—worse yet, something so insignificant it will never be mentioned again—when it could be said in a sentence or two, or a paragraph.
Big vocabularies, a.k.a. ten dollar words. Yay, you have a thesaurus and know how to use it, but that doesn’t mean you should. Sometimes the best choice is the simplest word. I think writers forget, or we feel the need to flex our literary muscles for an ego boost. I’m not saying dumb down your writing, I’m saying make smarter choices. Consider your audience and your genre. The last thing I want is to insult my reader’s intelligence, either by using a ton of words they have to look up—yanks ya right out of the story—or by making it too simplistic. They call them ten dollar words for a reason, use them sparingly.
The perfect character. They’ve mastered every weapon. If they’re just coming into their powers, they can wield magic like a pro by page five. We all need time to learn things and so do our characters. Another annoyance is having nothing in common with the character, as in they have no faults, no fears, they brush off trauma like it’s dust. Now, I’m not saying they need to wallow in it for the entire book—that’s annoying too—to wallow is human, but they need to work through things. Events and emotions haunt us, but they’re sprinkled through our lives. We’re reminded of things as we go about our daily lives, but we keep going. We learn to live in the moment, not that moment. I guess what I’m saying is I want characters—doesn’t matter if they are human or not—that are more relatable.
I’ll jump off my soapbox now.
Here’s a couple of books I’ve read recently and enjoyed:
A turn your brain off and enjoy the ride—laugh out loud fun—paranormal romance with super heroes.
What have you been reading?
Music Moves Me
Drumhead signed by Rick Springfield.
Music moves me, physically, mentally, and emotionally. I need it, I crave it, I gotta have it, especially when writing. Yes, every now and then I like a little silence—editing or beta reading require absolute concentration on the words—but music is a must when I’m setting a mood.
This brings me to today’s task, making a new playlist. My usual just isn’t working out for book five. It doesn’t set the right mood or emotional tone this book seems to demand. Thankfully, we live in an age where any song is accessible immediately.
Here’s what book five’s list is looking like so far:
Radioactive — Imagine Dragons
Demons — Imagine Dragons
Bleeding Out — Imagine Dragons
Believer — Imagine Dragons
Edge Of Reality — Elvis Presley
My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark — Fall Out Boy
Look What You Made Me Do — Taylor Swift
Magic Man — Heart
Take Me To Church — Hozier
Nothing To Do With Love — Halestorm
Conversation Over — Halestorm
I Miss The Misery — Halestorm
Freak Like Me — Halestorm
Daughters Of Darkness — Halestorm
You Call Me Bitch Like It’s A Bad Thing — Halestorm
Living Dead Girl — Rob Zombie
You’re So Vain — Carly Simon
King Of Pain — The Police
You’ll notice the lack of Duran Duran, The Cult, and Rick Springfield, all the usual character defining songs will return.
Are there songs that move you? Know of something awesome I’m missing on my list? Share!
Things have been crazy. Crazy busy! There’s been a ton going on, including things I can’t talk about at present. Not that I don’t want to, it’s just not the right time. Once things are finalized, I’ll be chatting away about them.
Something I can talk about is my health. I’ve spoken about my psoriasis many times. So many times you’re probably sick of listening. Well, I’m gonna talk about it again, so scroll on by or click away if you’re not interested.
You all know I’d started UVB light therapy, added Acitretin, and then Enbrel. Well, turns out I had an allergic reaction to the Enbrel. A nasty, nasty rash that put the kibosh on my UVB treatments for a week. When I was cleared to return to the hot box, I got burned. Did it hurt? Hell’s yeah. I couldn’t sit, stand, lay down…I was a blistered, lobster red mess. So we waited until that cleared and tried again, lower the dose by a lot. And voilà, this time I was over cooked, but not fried. Still painful, but no blisters. So we’ve dropped the UVB for now, if I have a sever flair, we’ll give it another try. Right now it seems to be holding steady, with the Acitretin, buckets of Epson salt, and gallons of CeraVe. The Doc cut my dose of Acitretin in half, thank the heavens, it was drying me out. As for the other side effects, this sensitivity to light thing is driving me crazy, sunscreen and dark glasses at all times. I’m slowly turning from Zombie Girl into Vamp Girl.
Third time’s a charm on the tooth front, right? Since the first two tries didn’t work out, we went back to the original brand from my first two successful implants. The Doc thinks, it’s entirely possible my body rejected the newer version. If this one doesn’t take, I’ll just have another hole in my head. So far so good, it’s there, it feels solid. Some times change isn’t good…
On the writing side, well, I have to confess. I hadn’t written a new word until yesterday. With any luck, my momentum will pick up again, and Teiran will stop being a butt about me spilling the beans. Keely’s not as much of a problem, her words are what went down yesterday.
On the home front, it’s that time of year again…the holidays. We all know how I feel about holidays. I’ve got a list of sweets to get done for Turkey Day. Luckily, the Breadwinner will be making the pie. This chick can’t make pie to save her life, the only one that turns out is a cheater made with pudding and graham cracker crust. Or Boston cream pie, but that’s not really a pie. My task will be cookies, cookies, and FUDGE! Keep your fingers crossed it turns out, have never attempted it before.
Here’s wishing all that celebrate Thanksgiving have a wonderful day. And if you don’t, it doesn’t mean you can’t be thankful for something, like maybe not having to make a boat load of cookies…
Dancing With Myself
The last two weeks have been hellish, for lack of a better term.
On July 3rd we received a call I never thought I’d get, my baby brother was gone. The only words I have to describe any of this are disbelief, anger, and heartbreaking. Yes, I felt my heart cracking, a tiny fissure that continues to grow.
So if I’m distant, or not my usual boisterous self, you now know why.
He will always be that little boy who danced alongside Billy Idol.