Month: January 2018

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New Short Story Cover Reveal

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Long ago in a submission call far away, I wrote a lesbian thriller story. A nice clean one, not like Sunburn (also at Amazon, B&N, and Kobo and SUPER 18+). While I did get accepted, I never did hear anything back about when the collection would come out and well, it’s been a very long time.

I rediscovered this story while going through some folders on my flash drive to clean some junk files out. When I saw this I felt it was just a shame that it was sitting there doing nothing so, it has a shiny new cover and some new edits.

Am I counting this towards my one story a month goal? Yes, yes I am. Because I did have to re-edit the whole thing and that pretty cover cost me some coin. I know I did say the goal was a finished story every month but not publishing every month but hey, I need the cash and people need more stories!

I hope you enjoy and leave a review.

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You could have heard about this earlier! Patrons get updates sooner than they appear on this blog! 😀

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Writing 101? When to admit you know what you’re doing.

If you follow me on Goodreads, you may have noticed I have been binging books on writing lately. This is not only because I owned a bunch of them and I’m trying to free up space on my Kindle but I keep looking for that one little kernel of knowledge that will take my writing and my sales up to the next level.

That’s not what I seem to be getting.

One of the reasons why I was able to fly through these books so fast (aside for their relatively short length) is a lot of the instruction and advice in these books is quite literally for people who have never put pen to paper before. I know how to plot a story and how to make characters, I know how to write sentences and create story arcs, I know what a three-act structure is. Having to hear this advice over and over again forced me to realize something:

I may not be selling thousands of copies a month but I am an accomplished writer with 11 published titles under my belt. This isn’t to say there’s nothing else I need to learn, far from that. This means I need to stop doubting myself and remember I do have some talent and experience.

I had this same revelation about my career as a librarian and still need to remind myself that I have 11 years under my belt and not to doubt myself about the basics of performing my job.

I suppose this comes from always being told not to brag about my accomplishments and always remember that no matter how good I may be, there is always someone better. Of course, there are people who are better than I am but that doesn’t make me any less of a badass at what I do.

If you’re out there grinding away at life to make your mark, don’t be afraid to have confidence in what you DO know while still moving forward to learn more. I don’t feel I wasted my time on these books at all and this is not to say others can’t learn from them. I just need to get it through my own thick skull: I do have things to learn but I don’t need to start from the very beginning.

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Running Update and Savage Kid Again.

Kid: “What did you get for your running?”
Me: “A pair of two-pound gloves and an eight-pound weighted vest.”
Kid: “You are going to kill yourself!”
Me: “I’m not going to wear it all NOW. I have to train for it. Like Dragon Ball Z.”
Kid: “So, it’s going to take you two seasons to train?”

This kid is savage… XD

I was going to just throw this up on Facebook and forget about it but I figured this was also a good time to talk about where the running is these days.

I did indeed get some weighted workout gear but if you have been following me on Instagram, you may have seen me complain about getting to 2 miles in under 30 minutes in an effort to have a complete 5k take less time. If I can get to 5k in 30-45 minutes, a 10k becomes much more feasible from a time standpoint. I can’t imagine cramming 2 hours of training into every day. I’m lucky to get 1 hour between reading for reviews, writing, needlework, working full time (and overtime), and kicking ass as a single mom.

Currently, I am hovering around the 31-32 minute mark for 2 miles. I get disappointed but I try to remember that its a process and I’m not doing too bad if I’m getting back the speed I had before my surgery and after being sick for a month. Heck, I’ve even lost a pound. I am used to beating myself up over my “failures” but I am forcing myself to see this as a journey and I am perpetually taking steps forward. I want to be faster and stronger and I am absolutely going to get there.

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Star Trek Limited Edition Loot Crate

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  • Star Trek TNG Mirror Broken comic
  • Enterprise ship
  • Live Long and Prosper pin
  • Live Long and Prosper air freshener
  • Star Trek crew socks

I will admit feeling as though this crate is a little light on items. I’ve gotten this exact air freshener before and there was no shirt. However, these are some badass socks.

Overall, I would have liked to see just more items. This crate is just sort of OK considering it’s from one of my favorite fandoms.

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January Birchbox

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I am always nervous about chemical peels. I keep thinking my skin will have a terrible reaction to it. Like the rest of me, my skin has very simple needs; cleaning and moisturizing. That’s all. Anything else and my skin doesn’t react well. Since this is just a 3-minute peel, I am tempted to give it a shot. Of course, I’ll post about it when I do.

A for the rest, it’s familiar territory. I wouldn’t be able to tell you if any of these would be any better than dollar store make up (since most of the time I’m too groggy in the morning to wear any) but it’s easy to wear and doesn’t make my skin hate me. Coming from me? That’s high praise.

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My Newest Running Aid: Posture Brace

When I got some Amazon gift cards for X-Mas, I didn’t buy more books (you can stop being shocked now) I picked me up one of these babies:

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Dem abs tho…

I also picked up some knee braces. They are amazing but not as amazing as this belt.

Thanks to some generous genetics, I have a large bust and deal with the lovely gift of lower back pain. In addition, I did notice I am always self-correcting my posture while I’m running in order to maintain proper form. I thought a belt may make a difference and despite the gymnastics to get the damn thing on and secure, I felt the difference in the first run I used it. I had the same sort of muscle ache in my lower back, my upper back muscles were screaming with the distinctive “you have never used these muscles before” kind of pain.

While I have solved the slouching problem, the jury is still out on if this little doodad affects how engaged my abs are during runs. So far with the intermittent use (I just forget to put it on sometimes and my lower back immediately makes me regret it), this was a great purchase and I’m glad I got it.

I will toss this little statement out, though: running is not a cheap hobby to pick up. You always need more than you think and while a posture belt isn’t necessarily essential, it is helpful enough to be worth the expense. At least this was cheaper than the new running sneakers I need…

I haven’t bought sneakers since I first started running in September 2016. I can hear you all ready to scold me but give me some credit, I did NOT think I would be sticking with this running thing for so long.

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How’s that e-reader?

Whelp, it finally happened:

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So, if anyone was ever wondering if you can fill a Kindle? You most certainly can.

I have been asked many times how come I don’t keep more stuff in the cloud and that’s because the way I keep straight what I have read and what I haven’t (as some of these books do not exist in Goodreads) is what files are physically on the device. Once I’m done with a book, I delete it.

I am still faced with the “problem” of getting books faster than I can read them simply because of so many free options I have and how many gift cards I’ve gotten from Swagbucks (that’s my referral link if you want in on some free gift cards). I keep adding books to my wish list and getting them whenever I have the funds.

Since I’ve been doing so great with my physical clutter, I do need to make more of an effort with my digital clutter. I have a full Kindle AND a full Nook totaling nearly 7,000 books. It is a common belief among my friends that it is impossible to finish these before I die.

Considering how many books I keep adding, they may very likely be right. XD

But I am really going to make a real effort to clean these up. It’s gotten passed the point of rationality now.

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Today’s Hilarious Kid Convo… 

Kid: “Someone called you a cracker?”

Me: “Yeah, work can be interesting…”

Kid: “Does that mean I’m a cracker?”

Me: “No, hon. You are multi-racial.”

Kid: “… So I’m a multi-grain cracker?”
I AM DED!!! XD

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Lenni Reviews: “POS: Piece of Sh*t” by Pierre Paquet and Jesús Alonso Iglesias

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*This book was sent to me in exchange for an honest review and is suggested for older readers.

In this autobiographical story, we follow Pierre as he struggles to start a publishing company. His constant companion through the highs and lows, loves, and losses is a scraggly dog named Sonny.

The art in this memoir is beautiful and is perfect for it’s touching story. Pierre is trying to do things right but ends up making crappy choices; leaving him lonely in life overall. In a way this book and Angel Catbird have a great deal in common when it comes to the underlying message of how to treat our pets but instead of silly puns, we get a tear-jerking story of how our pets truly are our family and how their love impacts our lives. If you enjoy stories that touch your heart and involve our furry companions, you will enjoy this story of how one guy just tries to be less of a POS.

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Lenni Reviews: “Black” by Kwanza Osajyefo and Jamal Igle

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*This book was sent to me in exchange for an honest review.

In this what if story, humans start developing various superpowers. But only black people.

I really wanted to like this but I think this book was trying to tell too many stories in too short a time. We follow Kareem as our introduction to this world and several interesting concepts are shown to us through him but WAY too many of them and WAY too many characters. Kareem meets one team, then there are prisoners, then there’s another team, then there are rebels, then there are agents of the government involved, then they’re fighting, and then I am confused. I mean WOW what a premise but it needs more time to show it’s full potential. As it is I have to give it around a 2.7 but man, if the creators here reissue this story in a more detailed way? I am totally down.

Man would I like to see how they would approach multiracial people… How much “Black” do you have to get to develop powers? Do you get muted powers? Is the manifestation of powers what eliminates the ability to pass? Hey, contact me, authors. I have some ideas… XD

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