Now that Broken Patterns is getting published, my life just got a shit ton more hectic. Not like it wasn’t bad enough, with holidays and getting two books self published by the end of the year. I’m going a little nuts, and cutting way back on some recreational activities I’ve been indulging in. In fairness, my recent recreational activities have been online shopping and watching makeup tutorials by twenty somethings that make me feel old and clumsy. So, no great loss there.

But my normal crazy scheduling and super productivity tips aren’t going to be enough. So, I’m evolving. Here’s a list of things that I’m trying to keep my sanity.

Bullet Proof Coffee

I know, I’m late to the game. But I was convinced that this was the dumbest thing I had ever heard of when it was first suggested to me that I drink coffee with butter and coconut oil in it.

*Then a blogger on Buzzfeed did it*, and was simply glowing about the results. So, I’m trying it. My recipe is the same as hers, with some alterations.

• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• Half and half that I don’t measure.
• A dash of vanilla, because I’m prissy.
• Two measurement cups (roughly) of Starbucks French Roast or Morning Joe coffee. But any coffee you like is fine. I’m just spoiled.

It’s been a week, and so far I can tell you that I feel pretty good. I feel like I’m getting a special treat every morning, so I’m a little more eager to get my ass out of bed. I don’t want to stop and get a shot in the dark at my local coffee shop, so I’m saving money. (Shot in the dark: a shot of espresso with a normal serving of coffee poured over it. Because I like my coffee infused with more coffee.) The best part? I’m full until lunch!

Batching

I participated in Melissa Cassera’s International Batch Day on September 29^th. I know I’ve toyed around with the thought of batching, but I’ve fallen off the wagon. This was a great reminder of what I can do when I dedicate myself for a whole day. I know, a lot of you don’t have that luxury, but even an hour of committed time to one project can help.

Honestly, I’ve gotten myself so accustomed to doing just a little on each project every day. This was a great chance to break that cycle. I’m back to scheduling weekly batch days. If I’ve got multiple projects that need my attention, I’ll break the day up, but I try to commit no less than an hour to each. That’s no email, no interruptions time. This is so much easier now that the kids are back in school.

I cut out half of the blogs that I read

I realized that it was getting to the point that I didn’t even want to open Feedly. I’d followed so many blogs that were just not delivering information that I wanted or needed. They weren’t entertaining, they were boring. And I was sifting through these to get to the posts that I wanted to read, often missing good content!

So I cut waaaay back. Here’s a list of the blogs I’m currently subscribed to.

• BoHo Berry
• Marketing Creatively
• Melissa Cassera
• ByRegina
• The Middle Finger Project
• Zen Pencils
• TipsyWriter

Do you see a theme? These are all dynamic, amazing ladies that kick ass and live to inspire others.

I’m watching two shows, and that’s a last priority

Really, I used to watch too much tv. I’m down to AHS and Ray Donovan at this point. This doesn’t count marathoning The Simpsons while we’re making dinner and tidying up the house, but that’s more background noise than anything.

I’m taking a yoga class

We finally got a membership to our local Y, and I am taking full advantage. It helps that I walk pas the Y to go home. So, we’ve been swimming once or twice a week, I’ve been stopping to use the gym at least once a week after work. Best of all, I started attending a weekly yoga class. I’ve got all the elasticity of a hammer, and I’m about as balanced as a bowling ball on the head of a pin, but I’m learning!

I bought a toner, and a BB cream

I realized that, as much as I love my makeup, it was eating up a lot of my morning. Applying primer, foundation, concealer and setting powder will do that. So I bought a BB cream for mornings when I need to get shit done. Which is pretty much every morning.

I also started using a toner, which saves me through the day. It closes my pores, so the makeup I put on doesn’t get a change to set into them, requiring me to add more concealer through the day. It’s the little things, sometimes.

I made a makeup crash kit.

Also makeup related, I decided that I needed a crash kit. This is the no brainer makeup. The things that require no skill, but do make me look like I tried. Now, I’m not a beauty blogger, but I will share what I’m using. Keep in mind that this is what I like for my face. You might need something totally different in your crash kit. You might also have better things to spend your money on than a $23 dollar mascara.

• Too Faced Better than Sex mascara
• BB Cream. Right now I’m using one by Rimmel, but it’s too dark for my skin when it’s not tan.
• Rimmel Brow This Way.
• Nyx Super Skinny Eye Marker
• Nyx soft Matte lip cream, in Stockholm or Cannes
• Urban Decay De-Slick setting spray

Everything on that list, except the lipstick, lasts all day. So I can put this on, and know I look put together no matter what’s going on. It’s superficial, but it makes me feel better.

I’m getting up at the same time every day, which is 6:00

Yes, even on days I don’t have to go to the day job. It blows, but it means I have a whole day to write on my days off. It also means that I don’t dread going back to work as much. I like my day job, so the only thing I really dreaded was getting up at my appointed time. This neutralizes it.

I don’t know how much of this is going to stick, but it’s what I’m doing right now. I’ll keep you posted.

Are you trying anything new? Let us know in the comments below.

I have a bad habit of confusing my friends when I talk about my writing. Part of it is that I talk in terms of drafts and parts. I might say, “I’m almost done with the first part of the second draft of the third book!” They just nod encouragingly and say, “That’s great, congratulations!” They have no idea what the hell I’m talking about. I need more crazy friends who understand me.

The other reason why this is insanely confusing for them is because I write two series. Why? Because I’m an idiot. No, actually it’s because I get bored with writing one thing, and it helps me to have a different project to jump to if I need a break. I also like having one traditionally published, and self publishing one.

These are two completely different animals. Woven is a series about a world full of magic and dragons. Enemies are faced, people find themselves during adventures. Love abounds. It’s a true swords and sorcery kind of epic fantasy novel that is being traditionally published.

Station 86 is about a police officer and a cook in space. It’s full of mystery and murderers. It’s got aliens and awesome new technology. I had to start reading Wired to write this. It’s a space opera, novella that I’m self publishing.

I’m eclectic. I’m also a Gemini, so maybe that’s it.

Writing two series can be confusing, though. Here’s what I do to juggle them.

Play lists

I have talked about the magic of playlists before, and I hold this to be true. I have a morning play list, and an inspirational play list. But I lean heavily on Pandora, too. I’ve got a custom channel for both of my series. In case you’re interested, Woven is heavy on Lindsay Sterling and TSO. Anything heavy metal, but also classic. Instrumentals are a must. There’s nothing better when writing about a cold, frigid land to hear a kick ass violinist. Station 86 seems to benefit from Orgy and Limp Bizkit.

The real magic in this, for me, is to not play that station unless I’m working on Woven or Station 86. It’s a way to trick my brain, or tell it that it’s time to write.

Fonts

This doesn’t require a lot of explanation. I write in Times New Roman for Woven, and Calibri for Station 86. It looks different, and it makes me feel different. These aren’t even the fonts they’ll end up as, they’re just what I write them in.

Chapter headings

Again, this is just a stylistic difference that reminds me that I’m writing two very different things. Again, its nothing that anyone’s ever going to see unless they’re snooping on my notes. But I write the chapter headings different.

I highly advise writing two series. It helps keep things fresh. Hopefully these tips will help keep things organized in your mind.

I feel like I should do something peppy after talking about the Vietnam war last week. Instead, though, I’m going to review the first few weeks of American Horror Story, My Roanoke Nightmare. It is October after all. There’s no better time for a horror story.

Spoiler Warning! Do not proceed if you don’t want me to ruin something for you From Episode 1 and 2.

Full disclosure, I haven’t seen a single other season of this show. I honestly don’t know why. This seems like the kind of thing I would be on like a deep fried bacon sandwich. But somehow, I never sat down at watched them. I don’t even know why I decided to watch this season. No, that’s a lie. I was marathoning The Simpsons on FXX and there was a commercial for it every five seconds. I’m not complaining, though. I couldn’t be happier that I started watching it when I did.

I was overjoyed about this year’s story. For those of you who don’t know, it’s ‘My Roanoke Nightmare’. The story is about a couple, Shelby and Matt , who moves away from the city after they are attacked during a gang initiation. They move into a huge, stunning house old farm house. But they run into some trouble almost at once, when a redneck family warns them not to buy the house. The couple assumes that it’s just because they’re a bi-racial couple. As Matt says at one point, it is the south.

Nearly every day, the couple finds themselves harassed by a crazy cult living in the woods. Shelby nearly hits one of them with her car, she’s almost drowned in their hot tub. Someone breaks into the house and hands hundreds of little twig symbols. (Personal guess, I think they’re trying to protect Shelby and Matt. But that’s just a guess from me.)

Since Matt is a traveling salesman (pharmaceutical sales. I’m a huge Psych fan, and I was highly amused by this,) they ask his sister Lee to come stay with them. This is great timing for Lee, since she’s going through a messy divorce after a pill addiction.

In the second episode we’re introduced to Lee’s daughter, Flora. She is the cutest little girl ever, and of course everyone instantly falls in love with her. Needless to say, terrible things are going to happen to that child. The end of the second episode was the sight of her jacket hanging from the top of a tree, so I’ll be highly surprised if the kid makes it out of this alive.

We also find out the horrific back story of the house, with the two evil nurses killing people for no reason other than the first letters of their first names. It’s so skin crawling to think that they’re just the first layer of what’s going on in this house.

I love this ‘dramatic reenactment’ theme they’re going for. They’ve got relatively unknown actors (at least I’ve never heard of them) playing Shelby, Matt and Lee in sort of an interview setting. Then, they’ve got the better known actors, Sarah Paulson, Cuba Gooding Jr and Angela Bassett playing the characters as they go through the story. I have to say, Cuba is doing an amazing job. I’ve only seen him in comedic rolls so far, so this is a dramatic and pleasant surprise.

Finally, I just have to gush about the artwork on this house a little. It is so freaking pretty! I think I’d actually live there, even with the evil spirits.

If you get a chance, it’s on Wednesday nights at 10:00 on FX.

I’d love to hear what you think about AHS! Did I miss the best season? What do you think of My Roanoke Nightmare? Let us know in the comments below.

This is 17 years in the making.

I hit a low point recently with Woven. I’ve written three books in the series, and I felt like I was spinning my wheels. I love the story, love the characters and love what I have planned for it.

But I felt like it was going nowhere.

Then I got two crappy offers on it, from vanity presses disguised as legitimate publishing companies. I won’t share their names here, I’ll just highly caution all of you to check Predators and Editors before taking any offer.

As much as I try not to let things like that bother me, these ‘offers’ hit me real hard for some reason. And I know, it’s part of the process. And I know how many rejection letters J.K got, I wish people would damn well stop telling me!

That’s where I was, hating on myself, hating on my work. But I kept at it, figuring that I wasn’t getting published either way, might as well keep trying.

I sent out some submissions, and got some rejections.

Then, I opened an email from a publisher that I was sure was going to reject me. I was already planning on just checking the name off and finding somewhere else, just another chore on a Monday.

But it wasn’t a rejection letter. I just signed a contract for Broken Patterns!

It’s official, Broken Patterns is finally going to be published! I can’t help but think back to the day that Devon was born, sitting in Diamond Park and praying. I feel like that prayer, more than almost any other prayer, was heard. It was like God said, “You put the work in, and we’ll get this one out there.”

This is the start of a long journey. I won’t be quitting PBW, I love you guys way too much. I won’t be quitting my day job for quite awhile, I’m sure. But the thing that I’ve been fighting for, struggling for, working for is finally starting to happen!

This is 17 years in the making. And it’s only the beginning.

9,087,000 soldiers went to Vietnam.

282,000 didn’t come home.

I wanted to talk to you about the Vietnam War. Before we start, please understand that I do so with a great amount of humility. I’m thirty; I was born an entire eleven years after the war ended. None of my blood family fought in the war. I was never personally scared by this.

I live in Western PA. Worse, I live in an old steel town. Older men in my town were in the war. I live among the ruins of that generation. And I personally know three men who did live through the war, and came home.

The first is my daughter’s paternal grandfather. He was drafted, sent to Vietnam and came back an angry man. He drank too much, did copious amounts of illegal drugs, and neglected the children he had with multiple women.

Mostly, my former father in law was just an upsetting person. He didn’t work, mostly he just drank. He lived in a two bedroom house with his sons, and he slept in the couch in the living room. Every morning he would wake up, sit up on the couch, open a beer, and not move from there for the rest of the day. He often drove drunk, and caused a car accident that I was involved in while I was pregnant.

He once almost stabbed my former brother in law in the throat during a Vietnam flash back.

He would talk about the war, usually late in the evening when his beer was catching up with him. He would tell us that our own government had tested Agent Orange on our soldiers. He told us about picking up prostitutes and of men who died. I didn’t believe half of what he said. He was paranoid, hateful, and horrifically racist. It was clear that the war had left him a very different man, and not for the better.

The next man I want to tell you about is the father of a friend. Actually, this is the father of my friend who I talk about sometimes, Kyle. The one who overdosed and died.

He was older when he had a son, nearly retirement age already. Mostly what he did was watch tv and take an excessive amount of pain killers for his knee. He’d gotten a piece of shrapnel in it during the war. Then he took an excessive amount of pain killers because he was addicted to them.

He was a great guy, though. He was never frazzled by anything, never upset. He never wanted to talk about the war, though. He just quietly got addicted to pain killers.

Finally, I want to tell you about my ROTC instructor. I’ll call him what we always called him, Major. Major was my hero. He reminded me of R. Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket. The first thing I ever heard him say, to a class room full of thirteen and fourteen year olds, was,”You all look like a bunch of damn old women.” We were doing PT at the time. He made us all read Killer Angels, and he would make you do pushups if you said yinz, crick, or yeah. For a very long time, I didn’t say yeah at all, like even at home. I think part of me expected him to show up in my living room and demand that I drop and do pushups right there.

Major rarely talked about the war, but one thing he told my class about war stuck with me. “When you’re under fire you’re not fighting for your country. You’re not fighting for your family, or your girl, or your ideals. You’re not fighting for Mom’s Apple Pie. You’re fighting for the man next to you, your brother.”

Unlike the first two men I told you about, Major was in good shape. If he suffered from his past, he never shared that with us. If you’re keeping track, that’s two broken men, and one that was fine. Not the best odds.

But all of this, all of these things that shaped my life, they’re just echoes. I was born eleven years after the Vietnam War ended. I have still been shaken by the aftershocks.

Now we’re at war again. We have been, in fact, since 2001. My classmen went over there, and they’re coming back now. The ones I know are coming back haunted.

It makes me wonder how long these aftershocks will last. I wonder if they’ll be strong enough to shake my daughters when they’re grown women.

I cannot believe how fast this month has gone! It’s September 30, which means I’m doing a quarterly audit today. It’s the most important audit of the year, in my opinion, because it’s the home stretch. It’s also incredibly frustrating, because I’m trying to squeeze writing time among all the craziness.

But the year’s been good to me so far. So I wanted to just go over where I am, writing wise, and where I hope to be by December 31^st. I’d love to hear where you guys are too. Let us know in the comments what you want to have done by 2017.

Short fiction

At the start of the year, I told all of you that I was going to try an experiment. I said that I was going to go entirely indie author with my short fiction. I’ve done that for nine months now, and here’s where I’m at.

I’ve made no money, but people are reading what I’m writing. Which is certainly a step up from relying on traditional publishing, which made me no money and no one read what I was writing. Now, thanks to the outpouring of support from all of you, I’ve done well. I’ve certainly written more short fiction than I would have. I’ve also certainly loved sharing my work. I still don’t know what I’m going to do about my writing career come 2017, though. That worries me a little. Do I want to keep publishing stories here, or go back to seeking traditional publication? I think I’m going to do a mixture of both, writing some stories for the site and some for others. We’ll just have to see how it goes, I guess.

By the end of the year I’d like to be getting ready to publish my second short story collection.

Station 86

We’re three episodes into Seeming, and I hope you’re loving it. I’m loving sharing it with you, that’s for sure. If you love it, I’m currently writing the rough draft of the second one, which I’m pretty pumped about.

By the end of the year I want to have the rough draft and second draft done. I don’t know if that’s going to happen, but I’m trying.

Woven

I’ve sent Broken Patterns out more times than I’d like to admit at this point. But I’ve got to keep trying, especially since I’m getting ready to finish the second book, Starting Chains, within the next few months.

By the end of the year, I want to be done with Starting Chains (holy shit!) and wrist deep in the second draft of Missing Stitches.

So, what are you doing with the rest of your 2016? Let us know in the comments below!

Artwork courtesy of the American Library Association. Source info for this post comes from the same.

It’s Banned Books Week! Are you excited?

I love Banned Books week because it gets us all talking about censorship. For those of you who don’t live in the US we’re pretty particular about freedom of speech. We argue about it a lot, and the freedom of an artist to express ourselves is constantly up for debate.

While there are some books that I don’t think need to be in elementary school libraries, I don’t think there’s ever a good reason to ban a book. The worst of books still have value, and I wouldn’t ever say that someone can’t read something just because I don’t agree with its message.

Every year I celebrate Banned Book Week by reading a book that was banned. This week I’m reading Bone, by Jeff Smith. Yes, I have read it before, but it’s a favorite of mine.

It’s actually the second year in a row that I’ve read a comic book for my Banned Book. In fairness, last year I read Maus, which is about as uplifting as a gut wound. Bone, on the other hand, is everything you’d want from a story. There’s romance, jokes, characters to love and hate. If you don’t mind being seen reading a children’s book, check out Bone.

If you don’t want to be seen reading a children’s book, I still highly encourage you to read a banned book this week. There are thousands of books that have been banned, for one reason or another. If you’re having trouble finding one, here’s the top ten list of books that were banned in 2015.

Looking For Alaska, by John Green

Banned for offensive language and sexually explicit content.

I think you all know my opinion of swearwords. But let me add this; I think there’s something really messed up about our society, when we consider our own bodies in sexual situations to be more vulgar than violence.

Fifty Shades of Grey, by E.L James

Banned for sexually explicit content, of course.

I’m not a fan of this series, but I also don’t care that people like it. It’s porn, and there’s nothing wrong with porn. I don’t think it needs to be in schools, but that’s about it.

I am Jazz, by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings

Banned for being ‘inaccurate’, discussing homosexuality and sex education.

I’m really getting sick of homosexuality being considered an inappropriate topic for kids. You can’t shield them from everything you don’t agree with and expect them to be an open minded person. And if you don’t want your kids to be open minded people, there’s a pretty good chance that I don’t care for you.

Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out, by Susan Kuklin

Banned for being anti-family, having offensive language, having political viewpoints and religious viewpoints.

What the hell does ‘anti-family’ mean? And if that’s a thing, why is it so offensive? Lots of people don’t have traditional families for one reason or another. They can still be surrounded by people who love them. And lots of people who are transgender have a real good reason for not speaking to blood family. I don’t pretend to understand completely, but as a nontraditional woman, I get a lot of unnecessary crap from some of my family. I get choosing to block out that negativity.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, by Mark Haddon

Banned for offensive language and religious viewpoints, including atheism.

I’m not an atheist, but I’m not so convinced that my children will blow away if someone introduces them to atheism.

The Bible

Banned for religious viewpoint.

Really? Again, people are going to disagree with you. It’s the Bible, you kind of know what you’re getting into when you pick it up. Can I also mention that it’s an historical document that students may need to reference occasionally?

Fun Home, by Allison Bechdel

Banned for violence and graphic images.

The same author who inspired the Bechdel test has also written a banned book. No surprise there, I suppose. Really, if this book is being banned, 1984 needs to go, too. Oh, and Of Mice and Men.

Habibi, by Craig Thompson

Banned for nudity and sexually explicit content.

Nasreen’s Secret School: A true Story From Afghanistan, by Jeanette Winter

Banned for religious viewpoints and violence.

Two Boys Kissing, by David Levithan

Banned for homosexuality and condoning public displays of affection.

Because it will break a child’s brain to know that sometimes boys like to kiss other boys.

Someone thought it was a good idea to shoot up a night club because they didn’t like that sometimes boys love other boys. Lots of people decided to shoot and kill other people this year. Children in America are starving today, right now. But we shouldn’t let the children know that sometimes boys like other boys.

If you’re a writer, jump on twitter and use #banmybook to tell us why your book would be banned. See you there. And let us know what banned book you’re reading today in the comments below.

I’ll be the first to admit that I have a problem with bloggers. I’m kind of obsessed with some of them. My two favorites, Marketing Creativity and Boho Berry are especially fun because they read each other’s blogs, so are often talking about the same topic.

Last year around this time, Marketing Creativity did a post about a goal setting plan for this time of the year. It was 16 before 2016, which is pretty self-explanatory. Make 16 goals you want to achieve before 2016. It’s a great way to clear out some projects before the end of the year, finish up your yearly goals and do some little things that you’ve wanted to do.

Of course they’re doing it again this year, but it’s 17 things instead. I found this out watching a Boho Berry youtube video, where she was showing off her 17 before 2017 spread in her bullet journal. So, I had to make my list, which I wanted to share with you today.

Here is Boho Berry’s list.

Marketing Creativity hasn’t posted hers yet, but here’s a link to her blog anyway.

I tried to keep some balance between personal care goals, family goals and writing goals. I highly advise you to make a similar list. Here’s a link to Marketing Creativity and Boho Berry to check out their lists. If you end up making your own 17 before 2017 list, please link it below so we can all cheer you on.

Here’s what I’m doing with the rest of my year.

Finish a 30 day Plank Challenge– If you don’t know, planking is basically holding the up part of a pushup. (Does it have a nasty sexual meaning too? Probably, but I don’t care to find out.) It’s meant to tighten your core, work on your upper arm strength, and do all sorts of other nice things for you. Mostly, it’s just making my shoulders hurt. But I’m going to stick with it.

Publish Seeming- Yeah, that’s sort of a gimme, because most of the work is already done. But I do still have to build the e-book and do a ton of promotion stuff. So it’s going to take up some time.

Finish all of the short stories I need for a new collection- If you enjoy my short stories, then this is good news for you. I’m getting ready to publish a second collection of all horror stories.

See a play at my local theater- This was one of my goals for the year that I just haven’t done yet. There’s still two shows this year, though.

Finish Starting Chains- Have I sold Broken Patterns? No, of course not. But I still want to finish Starting Chains this year. If I end up finishing the whole trilogy before I find an agent, so be it.

Take care of a personal thing in my past- There’s a lose end in my past I need to tie up.

Finish converting my Woven notes to digital- This is a frustrating chore, and it’s been hanging over my head for years now. I don’t want to carry it into 2017.

Start on Missing Stitches, Draft 2- This would be the third book of the trilogy. I’m going to cry so hard when I’m done with it!

Learn two new dishes that are fast, easy and cheap- I swear, we have the same meals every freaking week and we’re all bloody sick of them.

Finish Daily 15 Challenge- Another person I love online is the Fly Lady. Among her many awesome suggestions is to clean for 15 minutes a day. The thought is that no matter how much you detest cleaning, you can do it for 15 minutes. At very least, it will be cleaner than if you hadn’t done that. So, I’m trying to make that a habit in my house. I’m making the monsters help. They hate it, but hopefully they will carry the habit with them to their homes when they leave me.

Finish Evening Prep Challenge- This one’s a no brainer. I do a few things at night to make my morning better. I make my to do list, pick out clothes and get my coffee ready. It makes a world of difference in the morning, though.

Don’t go over my Christmas Budget- This was on my 16 before 2016 list, too.

Perm my hair- I haven’t made the time, or the space in my budget, to do this for years. I don’t know why, it makes me feel so much better about myself.

Have successful holidays- This means different things to different people. Love my Halloween costumes, have a nice turkey on Thanksgiving. Don’t have a breakdown Christmas morning. Low expectation.

Water Challenge- I don’t drink enough water, and that’s a problem. So I’m making an effort to drink more.

Finish the rough draft of the second Station 86 book- If you’re loving Seeming, and I hope you are, you’ll be thrilled to know that I’m already working on the rough draft of the second one!

Make a yoga/meditation spot in my office- You know what’s in my office right now? Boxes from when we moved that I still haven’t unpacked yet! I am so done living with all of this clutter, and I know I can put that room to better use.

It’s your turn! What do you want to do with the rest of 2016? Let us know in the comments below, or give us a link if you blog about it!