I haven't been around much, but then, over the course of the last year, I haven't really done much in the way of writing. Most day, I feel like as soon as I get started i'm too tired to keep going and when I read what I wrote it reads like gibberish to me. For awhile there, I started to think that I shouldn't bother anymore, but then story ideas started flowing on to storyboards around my office, and I decided to leave the cork boards up to see if anything got done. Ech, it's slow, but something
In June, it will have been a year since the release of my first novel, Guitars and Cages, through Wayward Ink, something that I never would have ever imagined, but that I am immensely proud of. it meant the fulfilling of a dream, it meant that no matter what, i would be able to say that i was a published novelist and no one could ever take that away.
Since then, Broken Prince Mismatched Eyes and Desolation Angel have been released and I am in the middle of edits for Roadhouse Reds, these fo
I've been meaning to do a new blog post for awhile, but now I have a bunch of things to share. As those who have been reading ....And All Shall Fade To Black have seen, i have finally started working on a new story after more than a year. This doesn't mean that I've forgotten my other works, I have plans to finish them all, as time frees itself up. About a month ago I landed a job with the local newspaper, something i had initially applied for when I first got to town a decade ago. It's a thrill
Today is the day! Guitars and Cages (formerly known as Guitars and Crossdressers) was released today by wayward ink. I cannot thank enough those who followed, liked, encouraged, reviewed and got behind Asher's story as it was being created.
I am including here a link to my blog with book trailer, link and expert from the novel, as well as in invite to join me in a quick happy dance. This is a dream come true.
http://rainbowlyricsandmellowmushrooms.blogspot.com/2015/06/guitars-and-cages
It’s been almost a year since I posted a blog entry, but what a different place I find myself in now to where I was a year ago which was kinda dark and more than just a little bit scary. When I read those last few blog entries I can see how much I was retreating inside myself, letting negativity and self-doubt take over and keep me from doing the things I loved. I’d stepped away from martial arts, stepped away from writing, stepped away from almost every online community I belonged to and just s
The last two weeks have been really hard for me. For those who don't know, I have bi-polar disorder. The high points are when I do my best writing, and I usually manage to maintain my highs for quite awhile. I've learned over the years to channel all that manic energy into creating things, art, music, writing, i explore out in the woods, take pictures, ect, though I have to admit that its a pinball effect at times, bouncing from one thing to another, difficult at times to focus, but I prefer tha
Over the past few months I have noticed the readership of my stories has gone down, not only that, but the number of likes and reviews has dropped as well. I know some of it was due to the break from writing that i took when i switched jobs, but I am also trying to determine if it is the pacing of the stories, the content, the fact that I have four stories going at once, or some other factor that I have not figured out yet. I'd like to figure it out and improve my writing but it is difficult whe
So I should be sleeping, because I'm supposed to be getting up in the morning and going to compete, only, despite the time spent training and helping to set up tonight, i really don't want to go. I always loved to complete, especially when i was younger, but these last few years, the thought of having to go out there in a ring in front of people leaves me sitting up the night before in tears, trying to think of a million and one excuses to just skip out and go hide some where. I've felt that fee
Well, it's 2014 and for me that's meant a whole bunch of changes. Right after the New Year I made my second shift in jobs in three months, the bakery job I'd taken over the holidays proved to be temporary, but in life, I've always believed that things happen for a reason and I had been looking for a reason to pour myself full bore into freelancing and writing. For the past 2 weeks I've been submitting photographs and material everywhere i can, getting my small home office set up and making conta
Phew Fair is over for the year. Its been a long week with little time to write, unfortunately, but now my summer is finally winding back down to normal. Got to teach my daughter to make Jam (she did strawberry, raspberry, blueberry) for her fair entry as well as watch her show her first cow. Was so proud of the way she handled Buttercup, her 8 month old calf, in the bucket/bottle calf show.
My son got selected to go to state again this year (second year in a row) for a photo he’d taken durin
Summer is about halfway over, and wow, what a summer it’s been. The trip to Colorado was amazing, so much inspiration there that I started penning a brand new story that will eventually be released once I’ve finished writing it. To wake up in the morning and be so close to nature, stand in the face of all those beautiful mountains and know you have nothing but time to go explore was just an awesome experience.
The heat sort of kicked up after I came back, Iowa is never fun when it’s hot, so
Well, where to begin.
The trip was amazing, being up in the mountains, spending the days hiking and on horseback taking pictures was just this intensely peaceful and relaxing feeling. The first night there I arrived in the mountains too late to do much but have a campfire and cook dinner and start taking pictures of the mountains and the area around the campground. Mostly different birds and plants, cactus (cacti?) that were flowering, things like that. An osprey, (I think), some gophers , a
Just wanted to drop a quick note to the readers of my stories. I'd like to apologize in advance, i don't think i will be able to get another chapter of Broken Prince up before I leave on Saturday, but the good news is i plan to have several chapters written in my notebook by the time i come back on the 8th, so I'll be making up for the missed weeks then.
A chapter of Guitars 2 before I leave is a possiblity, its written and in the hands of my wonderful Editor Lisa and the latest chapter of R
Just got home from an awesome mother/daughter weekend with my nine year old daughter, and just, wow, the memories made on this trip are just priceless. We drove down to cedar rapids yesterday morning and spent the morning exploring the city, taking in the beautiful architexture and museums as well as having a nice dinner together and then totally going gaga over the half price bookstore we found. I think we both could have moved in there for a week and still not explored everything. After the bo
So all the talk about music in chats the last few nights has me posting the playlist I'm currently writing to while working on Broken Prince and Mismatched Eyes. I'll post the playlist for Roadhouse Reds as soon as I have one pulled together, maybe that one is flowing so slowly because it doesn't have a playlist yet lol So yeah, anyone wanting to suggest songs for that one or good songs to write by, throw some my way!
Playlist for Broken Prince
-Broken (Seether)
-Monster you Made
I don’t want to do my homework, I find it difficult to care about my assignments for the week, I am apathetic to the point where procrastination has become my one friend, and yet, I only have five days left of the class. Logic would say just go ahead and hurry up and get stuff done, but I can’t, because I cannot find the motivation to care about the stuff I was assigned to do. I have a low A at the moment, I never expected to get better than a B out of the class, so of course, I sit here and tel
So my new class has started and I already hate every bit of it which is never a good way to kick things off. It’s an advanced 2D animation
class and I figured out years back that 2D was not a style that I preferred, but this is a core class and the last 2D class I have to take for my major. The plus is that my classes are only five and a half weeks, the drawback to that though is that they are a very intensive five and a half weeks and the teacher is picky as hell about every little thing and t
2012 is almost done…wow, just a few more hours and a ton more wine. I’m so ready. I think I’ll walk around town with the camera tonight, if it’s not too cold, take some pictures of the drunks staggering out into the snow. What a way to ring in the New Year huh. 2012 was fun for me and full of self-discovery and adventures, conquering fears and discovering new ones. I decided to list my five biggest triumphs of 2012, as well as a list of things I plan to do in the 2013 in the hopes that listing t
Desolation Angels is finished, wow, what a month, I never expected that a short little draft scribbled in my journal while sitting in a little blind squirrel hunting would morph into what it did. I loved every step of the writing process, even the chapters where I knew the characters were going to hurt were exciting pieces to write because I knew that in the end, there would be good things for them. I want to take a moment to thank again everyone who read the story, everyone who ‘liked’ it and e
I absolutely can’t work without sound, doesn’t matter if it’s drawing or writing or sewing or cooking, I have to have music playing or I have to sing, no other background sound will do. I’ve tried the TV, but unless I want to put it to the classic rock or alternative music channel, then the TV is useless too and usually it’s on for sports so I can watch the game, (like now- Minnesota’s winning!) but not really have to listen to it. So as I was sitting working on another chapter of Desolation Ang
I wait for you
When the black leather seats of the diner
Are no longer plush
And stuffing oozes
Like mashed potatoes
From broken stitching
Cracked
Faded
Like the rearview
I watch for you in
Walking
Through fields of blooming clover
Thumb out
Waiting
For the aged silver bus
Painted in flowers
To ride on by
And me
In beads and braids
Hanging out the window
Mellow and warm
Swaying
To old freedom songs
Lost
Now
In the pounding rhythm of a country
So far removed
From all th
I was writing yesterday, and I hit a place in a chapter where I stumbled and had a hard time continuing on, not because I didn’t know what was supposed to happen there, but because I was second guessing myself and what had come to me while I’d been outside thinking earlier in the day. I do this a lot really, second guessing myself when I write, stopping myself from going to the place I was headed out of fear that I might be going too far or that it won’t sit well with others. I’ve found that wh
I found myself organizing today, somewhere in between all the edits on my final project and the frustrating realization that I needed some help or advice from my teacher before I proceeded any further, which, incidentally, had me at that place somewhere between tears and puking my guts out, when the heart is racing and everything seems to be going a little too fast to be real. Anyway, in an effort to calm down and not freak out, since of course it just HAD to be raining outside, so you know, goi
