2017 MILES in 2017! OH MY!!!

So, if you follow my random blog posts you know that I am a runner... or... I WAS a runner about a year ago. Going full time to school put EVERYTHING on hold (except the bills! HA!). I've thankfully been able to start writing again. It is an amazing feeling to put these conversations and issues happening in Nowhere down in print and get them out of my head! Now it is time to start running again.

I know most of my family and friends think I'm crazy for loving to run. But the absolute freedom I feel while out on a run is like nothing else I have ever felt. It clears my head, helps relieve frustrations, and overall makes me feel 110% better! If you are a runner (or a walker even!) you know exactly what I mean!

So, knowing that I have a half marathon I'm planning on running in APRIL (yes, in 2017!) I know I have to start running regularly instead of the maybe once every two weeks I have been (it isn't a good situation LOL). And that brings us to the 2017 miles in 2017! Yes, this is an actual thing!

Not only does this break down to 5.5 MILES a day (WOW!) but, there are also monthly challenges to be done as well. I'll be honest - I'm SO excited to start! I miss running. My family (especially my husband) think I'm a little nuts. They, for the most part, do not understand my need for movement.

Actually, my husband regularly tells me "unless there is a bear chasing me I don't see why I would ever want to run." He also doesn't sit (or stand) at a desk literally all day every day with little to know physical activity. He is a mechanic. He is lifting, stretching, bending and moving all day every day. I am fortunate enough to have a standing desk, but that still doesn't give my body the exercise it needs.

So, that brings me to the main point of this blog! If there is anyone out there that wants to join me and my BFF Keira, we are starting this on January 1st, 2017. I will be reporting regularly on here how it is going with little updates. I'm also going to be sharing any tips/tricks I learn on the best way to train for a half marathon. And, if you have any tips/tricks - PLEASE feel free to share them in the comments!

AND - if you are interested in joining us - I'll be making some awesome shirts for any participating and wants them. They will be $12/ea - join us over at Funky Frog Studio to claim yours! :) 

Happy New Year and Happy Running!  

Book Reviewer... how and why?

Recently I was asked how I became a book reviewer and WHY. I thought it was an interesting question, but to be honest I didn't know how to answer it. Over the last few years I've done somewhere between 10 and 12 book reviews (for some reason not all are on here... hmmm) but it took some digging to get to the first one. Thankfully I keep all my emails in a slightly organized mess.

After a while of searching through emails of years past, I finally came across an email from Tifani Clark. She is an amazing author (if you haven't read any of her books, seriously check them out!) and she was asking ME to do a book review for her! To say I was surprised, and nervous, is a total understatement! But, I accepted with a flutter in my stomach and wrote my first book review. It certainly isn't the best written review, but I did LOVE the book and I'm hoping to read more of Tifani's work as soon as I get my 2nd book on shelves.
Check out the review here -

After this first review I received emails both off of Goodreads and through this blog regularly asking for reviews. I started having to turn some down because I just couldn't read fast enough AND I wasn't getting much done on my own book while reviewing others. 

I currently only have one review on my calendar for the next couple of months but I do hope to add more. And that brings me to the WHY I like to do book reviews. 

We all have our favorite authors - mine is Stephen King - but even our absolute favorites can only write books so fast. That leaves a LOT of extra time without a book. I have discovered some amazing new authors by doing book reviews. Authors just starting out that I might not have found otherwise. 

If you love to read and are good at putting your thoughts down on paper, I highly recommend searching through blogs to find authors that might match your book style of choice. Especially Indie authors - we are ALWAYS looking for someone to give us feedback and an honest review! Most of us don't have editors and/or promoters so having help from our readers is an amazing thing!

Hmmm... Been A While...

So... What have you all been up to? I've been busy!! It is a good kinda busy though. It has been the kinda busy that keeps me moving, but lets me sit and relax when I needed to. I like this kind of busy - keeps me from getting bored.

I've opened a t-shirt business... it is small... for now :) but I'm having fun with it! Been making ALL kinds of shirts and have several to get made today actually! Everything from "Merry Christmas You Filthy Animal" to "Bluejay PRIDE" and I get new ideas sent to me just about daily. Certainly helps to keep my creative juices going!

 

I've also been working HARD on the 2nd book in the Nowhere series! I was hoping to have it ready to roll out by Christmas. Yeah, obviously that isn't going to happen :(  This book has really stumped me. Since I started the first book I always thought I had all three books laid out in my mind - not the details, but the big things. I thought all I had to do was connect the main scenes with the details in-between. And then...

I made it through the first two chapters and things started changing... I've wrote and rewrote chapters 3-6 at least three times because as I was writing, the storyline in my mind would start to evolve completely different from what I had typed even as I was typing it. It is amazing to me how these books really do seem to have a total life of their own, I'm just the machine they are using to tell their tale. And so, every time, I would "cut and paste" those already written chapters into another document and save them, then start all over with a new story running through my head.

I know there are lots of people disappointed that the 2nd book isn't out yet, and I completely feel your pain! I thought by now I'd be done with book three and on to the next series I've had rattling around in my brain. Sometimes things just don't workout how you hope - but I'm working on it, I promise!