Marketing Monday

Welcome to another installment of Marketing Monday.  First off, I did it right this time!  It's Monday and the book I want to be free is actually free, so yay.

Starting today, CINDER UGLY is free worldwide.  (It's always free with Kindle Unlimited. This is for the other folk.)  Get loads of snark, suspense, and paranormal awesomeness with this story, but reader beware - this series comes with a healthy helping of profanity.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08LW3ZB5Y

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Also, in case you missed it, my friend Silver James has a new book out - Moonstruck: Retribution.  

Pick up your copy today. (My copy's waiting for me to get done using my Kindle for editing, which is taking way longer than I'd like. Gah.)

The Choice Ahead

Below is the link to an interesting post about politics and the upcoming election.  I'll just leave it here and you can read it or not.  If you're at all confused about what we're facing in the coming election, you probably should read it.  There's kind of a lot at stake.

https://accordingtohoyt.com/2024/08/30/lines-of-departure-2-2-the-choice-isnt-trump-or-harris-by-tom-kratman/

This week's local paper had a scathing letter to the editor ripping Trump, which is 1) weird because this is a mostly conservative county and 2) not really all that unexpected because the editor of our local paper is a leftist.  I expect the editor will get a ton of letters refuting this one, but I don't expect she'll allow any of them to actually go to print.  Or she'll post one that will come across as the ravings of a conservative lunatic rather than one of the many well-reasoned letters she'll receive.  That's her style.

:heavy sigh:  

Now, it's time to go grocery shopping.  It should be a breeze because the VP says the economy is doing great - while she's promising to fix it out the other side of her mouth.  (If it's great, why does it need to be fixed?)  I expect to get next to nothing for double the price.  If I'm lucky, maybe I'll find marked-down, almost-expired ground beef.  It'll be nice to have beef again.  It's been too expensive to buy at regular prices.  Wish me luck.

Links and Things

I saw a neat idea on FB this morning.  Homemade heat packs.  A local pet rescue organization was looking for volunteers to make these because they're perfect for baby animals and for pets recuperating from surgery.  I don't have a sewing machine, or I'd give it a whirl.  Hell, I might make one by hand for myself.  It won't look pretty, but it'll work.

If you're interested in the pet rescue, go here.  If you've got a favorite rescue in your area, maybe you could make heat packs for them or share the idea with them so they can have volunteers make them, too.

This morning, Silver James posted a yummy recipe.  (She does recipes every Tuesday.)  

In case you're not following my Totally Amateur Container Gardener blog, I have a link over there about plant sex.  (Okay, it's about my zucchinis, but plant sex totally figures in there.)

If you're not reading NOT THE BEE, perhaps you should.  If you're familiar with The Babylon Bee, they're a satirical site.  This is like that, but not satire.  They're real articles on the conservative side of the spectrum.

Seen a bird but don't know what it was?  Go here and click on Instant ID Help.

If you watch Dr. Pol, you might have seen him working with Hopewell Ranch.  These folks do good work.

And that's it for me today.  If you have an interesting online place to go, don't post the link, but give enough information so I can search it myself and maybe add it to the end of this post.  (I don't allow links in comments, unless it's someone I know and trust.)

Well... Crap

I had a great idea for a blog today.  Unfortunately as soon as I opened this window to type it all in, the idea went scampering into the forest with the bunnies where it will most likely become a snack for Mittens and Whiskers (the bobcats).

Since I'm now emptied of fresh ideas, go read JB Lynn's post at Killer Chicks: 5 Tips for Keeping the Writing Dream Alive.

And then go make some breakfast...

Crostata with Walnut Filling 

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons white sugar
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
 3 tablespoons ice water
Flour for dusting, as needed
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter (melted)
1 T flour

Sift together flour and white sugar. Add the butter. Using fork or pastry blender, mix together until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Stir in the ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until moist clumps form. Gather the dough into a ball; flatten into a disk. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Roll out the dough on a floured surface to an 11-inch round. Transfer the dough onto a heavy greased and floured baking sheet. Stir together butter, flour, walnuts and brown sugar until well-combined. Spread the walnut mixture on top of dough, leaving a 2-inch border. Fold the dough border over the filling to form an 8-inch round, pleating loosely and pinching to seal any cracks in the dough. Bake the crostata until the crust is golden, 35 to 40 minutes. Allow to cool. Slide a spatula under the crust to free the crostata from the baking sheet, slice and serve.

If you're not into nuts, you can always substitute a generous dollop or three of your favorite fruit preserves or jam.  Make the dough using the directions above, but when you get to the walnut part, plop the jelly into the center, spread it evenly around the dough, and follow the rest of the directions.  Mmm, yummy.

Enjoy!  I'm outta here to go write. 

Peace out.

Not Geek Enough

I keep hearing these nasty little rumors about things that go on at ComiCons.  Girls are getting touched.  Girls are getting harassed.  Girls aren't feeling safe because some of the guys that go to these things are inappropriately touching or ogling them.  All of that needs to be addressed by the proper authorities - as in the convention people and/or the police.  (Seriously.  Someone touches you without your permission, call the cops and charge them with assault.  It might not stick, but it'll make them think twice, now won't it?)

Recently, I read a post about something geek girls can actually do something about.  You see, the new thing is girls getting their 'geek credentials' checked in case they're, you know, not geek enough.  (Naming the superheroes from a particular publisher, getting grilled about their favorite flavor of geekdom, etc.)

I really don't know why the geek girls care if some numbnuts calls her out and says she's not enough of a geek to attend a damn comic book convention.  He wonders why he can't get a date that doesn't need a tire pump and you're worried about what he thinks about you?  Screw him.  Screw anyone who doesn't think you're good enough to be anywhere you damn well want to be.  (Unless it's like you want to trespass on private property - then yeah, you can't be there unless someone says it's okay.)

Apparently, according to the rules, I'm not geek enough.  S'okay.  I was reading comic books before most of these assholes were a gleam in their daddies' eyes.  I was playing Dungeons & Dragons before that.  I spent all four years of high school in marching/symphonic band - two of those as first chair flute, tyvm.  I learned BASIC in high school for petesakes and helped my boyfriend write a... :cough: data collection :cough: program in college, and still remember how to fix a computer using DOS (mostly - it's been a while, but I do have the System floppies if I ever need them).  I hung out on the pre-internet when it was still Bitnet and the WWW was just some nerd's wet dream.  (And no, that nerd was not Al Gore.)  But if some freak who lives in his mother's basement doesn't think I'm geek enough, well, whatever.

If I ever choose to go to a Con, let them try to call me out.  Go ahead.  No skin off my ass.  I've probably forgotten more general nerdiness than they ever possessed.  So there.  =op

So, please, ladies who go to Cons.  If some asshole walks up and wants you to answer a bunch of questions to prove you are enough of a geek to be in the same conference center as him, tell him to go pound sand up his ass, and then go back to what you were doing - enjoying your geekness.  If enough women stand up and say 'enough is enough', this crap will dwindle down to the clueless few who really have no lives of their own to admire, so they have to break down others.

Now, please return to your random geekiness.  I have to go watch MasterChef UK: Professionals*.  (Although I'd probably get cred checked as a foodie, too, because I've never eaten sea urchin or some other such nonsense.)

:endrant:

Oh, and if you haven't seen this yet - go here, read the article "Some Geek Boys Called These Geek Girls 'Fake.' They Certainly Won't Be Making That Mistake Again" and watch the video.  (I wrote this post before I saw that - but yeah.)

*This post was pre-written and scheduled - obviously I'm not watching MCUK:P at 1:30am.  I'm sleeping - because that's what old married-lady geeks do at 1:30 in the freakin' morning.  =op

Go to The Guide Today and Monday

Hi all!  Head on over to The Unpublished Writers' Guide to Survival this morning and get a lovely surprise!

Awesome author, Lynn Viehl is guest posting today with her take on Finding Balance.  I can't believe I was lucky enough to snag a guest post from her.  She's one of my favorite writers, and one hell of a gal.  Plus, her next book in the Lords of the Darkyn series - Nightbound - comes out next week!

Also, stop by The Guide on Monday for a guest post from romantic suspense author Debra Webb.  (Whose novel RAGE hit the shelves yesterday!)

SQUEE!

This Morning's Blogroll

For kicks, I thought I'd post the first ten links from my morning blogroll (you know, before I refresh it and see what else is out there)...

Happy Release Day! from Confessions (by Suzie Townsend)

REVIEW: Planesrunner by Ian McDonald from Book Chick City (by Melanie)

Muse Takes Over from Janet's Journal (by Janet)

Teaser Tuesday (March 5) from Alli's World (by Allison Kirk)

Tell Me a Story from Random Thoughts (by Cynthia)

Lucy the Wonder Weenie - Book Review from Pearls Cast Before a McPig (by Sullivan McPig)

How to Find Public Domain Photos, Music, Etc. from Jenna Scribbles (by Jenna)

*SHIVERS* Death's Awakening (Cover Reveal) from Writer's Alley (by S.A. Larsen)

Author Spotlight: RaShelle Workman's Blood and Snow Series from Christine Fonseca, Author (by Christine Fonseca)

Apropos of Nothing from Murderati (by Gar Anthony Haywood)

These are in the order they posted and not in anyway meant to show which ones I liked best, or even the ones I commented on.  (These days I read more blogs than I comment on.)  Lots of release news and reviews - but of course, since it's Tuesday.

What's on your blogroll this morning?

V-Day

I hope today brings you all the romance and happiness you can handle.  Personally, I'm not a huge fan of the day.  Head on over to The Killer Chicks to find out why.

What I'm looking forward to is tomorrow - when all the unbought candy goes on sale 1/2 price.  Sad, I know.  I should probably follow Janet's example and break off my love affair with food.  But not yet.  As bad as it all is for me, I do love it so.

How about you?  Happy to see Valentine's Day arrive?  What are your plans for today?  Spending it with your special someone, or curling up with a box of chocolates by yourself?  Or is this just another day for you?

Sticky Notes

I'm surrounded.  Sticky notes to the right of me.  Sticky notes to the left of me.  All of them staring at me, waiting for me to do something.  Make a call.  Write a check.  Research this.  Delete that. 

Aarrgghh.

And mixed amongst them are non-sticky notes*.  A half-finished to-do list.  A note to call some guy about some things.  Notes on some other calls I made.  A list of blog topics.  A whole square of paper about a particular topic I need to write about. 

I'm drowning in little squares of paper over here.

(We won't talk about the pile of big papers sitting in front of the file cabinet.  That's a whole other kettle of fish.)

Is your desk covered in notes or are you more organized than I am?  What are your notes telling you to do today?

*I'm using the back of torn off Dilbert calendar pages as scrap notes.  Works pretty well and keeps me from having to buy notepads.

Oh, and if you haven't wandered over there, Silver James is guest posting again at The Unpublished Writers' Guide to Survival.  She's talking about Getting Physical.  Stop on by and join in the conversation.

Or stop by The Killer Chicks and learn about My First Crush.

Monday Means Elsewhere

As usual, I'm elsewhere today.  Mondays mean my day to blog over at The Killer Chicks where I'm talking about my crazy-pants life and how awesome it is to be busy.

Mondays also mean a guest post at The Unpublished Writers' Guide to Survival (usually).  This week, I badgered the lovely and talented Karyn Good into writing a most excellent guest post.

Please stop on by and leave a comment or two. 

And if you haven't responded to this month's poll at The Guide, take a second and enter your totally anonymous answer.  (Seriously anonymous.  I have no clue who answers these things.)  Also, if you're not currently 'following' The Guide, would you do that for me, too?  It's not just for my own personal satisfaction - some industry people look at these things when they're judging whether I'm worthy of their notice.

See you out there on the interwebs!

This and That

In case you missed the announcement at The Unpublished Writers' Guide to Survival (or you missed it over at Alexia Chamberlynn's blog), some people having a Twitter pitch party where you use the hashtag #pitmad* and tweet your pitches.  After which, I assume, anyone who likes your pitch will get in touch with you.  Personally, the idea scares the bejeebers out of me.

In other news, I had submissions out to three publishers.  The two for Dying Embers have... well... died.  As far as I can tell, Djinnocide is still alive at Harper Voyager.  Just as well, I guess, since I'm going to be a busy beaver soon.  (And that's the story I'm sticking with - like Aesop's fox who didn't want those sour grapes anyway.)

The reality of it, though, is that no matter how busy I think I'm going to be, I'll always have time to work.  (Or, if there's a contract involved, I'll make the time to work.)  My problem, though, is right now I'm thoroughly unmotivated.  I don't have anything driving me to get writing done.  Yeah, it's there.  And yeah, I still love it.  But no, it's not motivating me on its own.  Must be the Mid-winter Malaise has me in its dastardly clutches.

If you need postage, buy 'forever stamps' TODAY.  Stamps go up by a penny over the weekend, and if you get the 'forever stamps', they still work for the higher rate.  Who knows what the freight rates will be.  :shrug:  Last year they went up like 8 cents for the lowest cost Media Mail package.  Bleh.  I know it's only 8 cents, but they're nickel-n-diming me to death.

What's going on in your world?  Any this or that to share?

*corrected after Janet pointed out I had it wrong.  D'oh.

Addicted to Series

Or is that serieses?  MS Word says no.

Anyway, after reading Silver James awesome recommendation for Darynda Jones 'Charley Davidson' series, I realized that perhaps I am addicted to too many other series to add another to the mix. 

Since admitting you have a problem is half the solution, here is a list of series I'm currently addicted to:

The October 'Toby' Daye series by Seanan McGuire
The Incryptid series by Seanan McGuire
JB Lynn's Hitwoman series
The Monster Hunter series by Larry Correia
The Grimnoir Chronicles by Larry Correia
The Runelords by David Farland
The Darkyn, the Kydred and the Lords of Darkyn series by Lynn Viehl
The Lucy Kincaid books by Allison Brennan
The Guardian Angelinos by Roxanne St. Claire
The Highland Guard series by Monica McCarty
The Kris Longknife books by Mike Shepherd
The Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne
The Lords of the Underworld series by Gena Showalter
The Moonstruck series by Silver James
and Silver James Faerie novels
Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp books
The Deacon Chalk series by James R. Tuck
The OSI books by Jes Battis
Rob Thurman's Cal Leandros books and her series on the Tricksters
The Rogue Agent series by K.E. Mills
The Deadtown novels by Nancy Holzner
Whichever series Jeaniene Frost is currently on now.
Gini Koch's Alien Novels
The Wing Slayer Hunter novels by Jennifer Lyon (if she ever gets to write more of them)
The House of Comarre by Kristen Painter
The Across the Universe novels by Beth Revis
The Occult Crimes Unit books by Justin Gustainis

And that's not everything.  That's just what I could glean from last year's 'books read' post.  I still love Harry Dresden, but I haven't read the last book Jim Butcher wrote about him.  Plus, there are a few series that came to a close that I would definitely buy if there were more of them - like Allison Pang's Abby Sinclair books, or more Codex Alera novels, or any additional Newsflesh stuff Mira Grant puts out. 

I've got a problem.  Not that I mind being addicted.  No, my problem runs more along the lines of 'so many books, so little time (and so few dollars in my book budget).

What series are you addicted to?  Come on and share.  It's not like I'll get addicted to those to.  Really I won't.  I can quit reading new series anytime. 

Quit bogarting the books. 

Ugh and Links to Where You Ought to Be

So anyway... Life is definitely intruding upon my time on the web.  I haven't been commenting on other people's blogs as much.  I haven't been at this blog as much.  I sure as hell haven't been reading any news.  "News?  What news?  There's news?  Huh."

My back is almost back to normal.  (Knock on simulated woodgrain.)  I got out of bed this morning without any drama.  And my poor husband didn't have to put on my socks or anything.  I even made coffee.  I still spent most of the day on the couch, but that's mainly because I don't want to push anything too fast.  Relapse?  Oh hell no.

My Point 2 thing I talked about near the beginning of the month has actually been pushed back to March, so I have more time. 

And while I haven't been over here, I have been trying to do stuff.  I've written a few pages in my notebook WIP and ended a chapter.  I read two, almost three, books.  I watched MTV... wait, that's a setback not an accomplishment.  At least I watched MTV when they actually had music on, so I'm not a total slug.  LOL

Anyway, in case you were waiting for me to be spectacular here, you missed me being spectacular over at The Killer Chicks this morning with my Monday post (Finding Writing Friends).  Additionally, there was even more spectacularness* courtesy of my wonderful friend, the most awesome writer, Silver James when she guest posted at The Unpublished Writers' Guide to Survival.

Finally, if you want something else covered in awesomesauce (if I do say so myself), go visit my blog from Tabula Rasa's Lucky Seven Sunday Snippet wherein I share a bit more of Unequal or hit The Killer Chicks tomorrow for Teaser Tuesday.  I'll be sharing a bit of the WIP I've been tinkering with over there on the couch.

Plus!  I'm planning on dropping another survival tip at The Guide on Wednesday - provided my back doesn't decide to play 'let's see how fast we can make B.E. drop to the floor'.  Keep your fingers crossed for me.

*if spectacularness isn't a word - which spell-check is saying it ain't - it oughta be.  Ditto for awesomesauce.

Added for flavor:  If you stop be here any given morning and don't see me, check the right sidebar for links to whether my other blogs have been updated.  I'm everywhere, baby.

Elsewhere

Good morning!

I'm not here today.  Today I'm over at The Killer Chicks doing my first regularly scheduled post.  It's a get to know you post, but I dish some things about myself the followers here might not know.  Come on over!

Also, this morning over on The Unpublished Writers' Guide to Survival, we have a guest post by Natalie Murphy - in which she talks about writing while getting her college degree and preparing to get married.  Go give Nat some comment love.  (And while you're there, answer the poll on the left bar, please.)

And if you missed it, I posted a snippet of one of my stories yesterday at Tabula Rasa.  Plus, we've got a couple other people playing along on their own blogs.  Some good stuff out there.  Stop on by.

Busybusybusy.  Thank goodness for the ability to schedule posts.  Seriously.  ;o)

Post Holiday Whip Crack

I hope all y'all had a wonderful holiday weekend (or just a great four days if you didn't celebrate a holiday).  But now it's time to get back to work.  :whipcrack:

Stop by The Unpublished Writers Guide to Survival and chime in on how to combat the guilt of not-writing.  Or just commiserate.  I don't know about you, but this not-writing is killing me.

Did you get any writerly work done while you were celebrating?  Or were you like me and just laid around the house eating goodies?

Thinking about it now, maybe I should add exercising to my to-do list and get back to work on that, too.  The Ferrero chocolates are attacking my ever-widening ass.  (Have you ever had the coconut ones?  They're to die for.)

Great Gift Suggestions for the Writer in Your Life

This morning over at Not Your Usual Suspects, JB Lynn talks about the Best Gifts for Writers. 

Feel free to send me whatever you choose from that list.  ;o)

Seriously, though, we're not giving gifts this year.  The gift we're all going to have is a better padded bank account than we would've had otherwise.  I know it sounds kind of Scrooge-worthy, but after thinking about it, we all have everything we need.  And anything we want ends up being more stuff cluttering up the house. 

And anything we really want bad, we've just bought for ourselves over the year.  (Which makes my daughter's wishlist of CASH actually kind of perfect.)

I'll just be happy if we can make it through the rest of the year sans illness or unhappiness or worry or woe. 

Of course, I'll still be making Christmas dinner.  And yeah, I already did the fudge.  The tree is up and the house is decorated.  I guess I'm not such a bah-humbug after all.  So there.  =op

Whatever you give and whatever you get for whatever holiday you're celebrating this time of year, have an awesome time. 

Now about that retirement home (and the ability to retire into it) that I've always wanted...

Christmas is Coming, the Writer's Getting Fat

Yeah, I know it's supposed to be 'goose is getting fat' but let's get real here.  In the past week, the Kid made 4 batches of cookies and I made 3 batches of fudge.  I'm afraid to step on the scale and see what kind of damage all of this is doing.  Add the hazelnut Turtles and the candy canes to my already horrible 'see-food' diet and my ever-widening ass* is going to take over the world.  (Or at least crush Tokyo.)

And what have I been doing to ameliorate the calories?  Umm...  Yeah, we won't go there.  Let's just say my life consists of writing, reading, watching TV, and catering the the cats' every whim.  (Including the strays who have decided my place is the best feline restaurant in town.)

At this point, I'm not really worried about it.  It's December.  I've got stories in my head that want to come out and I'm going with the flow there.  I've also got a TBR pile from hell of stories that want to go into my head.  As for the cats, they're plotting their own version of the French Revolution in case I stop ponying-up with the vittles.  And I watch TV to take a break from everything else. 

Life as usual.

How are things in your world?  Do you see a weight increase during the holidays or do you manage to hold it together?  How? 

*I actually sing the term 'ever-widening ass' using the tune of Poor Wandering One from Pirates of Penzance.  What can I say?  It's a thing.

The Next Big Thing

Last week over at the Killer Chicks, JB Lynn tagged me to participate in The Next Big thing and AlexiaChamberlynn tagged me a while back, so here goes nothing...

...ahem, before I begin, let me just say that I don't feel like anything I write is 'the next big thing' - well, not since my first book and you can guess how that went.  So, rather than think of this as 'the next big thing', I'm just going to think of this as 'the big thing taking over my life right now'.  Hope that's okay.


10 Questions:

What is the working title of your book?  
Sleeping Ugly

Where did the idea come from for the book?
I woke up, wandered into the bathroom and while I was sitting there, this popped into my head.  I can't think of any reason why it would.  Nothing connected to anything.  One moment it was just there, so I finished what I was doing and came out here to write the idea down before I forgot it.

What genre does your book fall under?
I haven't decided if this is a paranormal mystery, a paranormal romance, or just some supernatural thing I cooked up.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie?
I never think of actors who'd play my characters.  They're their own people and no actor I've ever seen has matched who I have in my head anyway.

What is a one sentence synopsis of your book?
When model Jeni Braxxon sleeps with the wrong man, she finds herself under a curse where she wakes up every morning ugly as sin and has to track down the witch she pissed off before her life falls apart.

Will your book be self published or represented by an agency?
It's too early in the game to know that.  Could go either way - or even the third option where I'm not represented by an agency but still traditionally published.  Ya never know.


How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
I've only written 2400 words so far, but these things usually take 2-4 months depending on my level of commitment and the laziness factor.


What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I'd like to think it'll turn out to be a little like Carolyn Crane's Mr. Real or Brownies and Broomsticks by Bailey Cates

Who or What inspired you to write this book?
I have no clue.  Things just pop into my head sometimes.  I can say, though, that without my husband's encouragement when we were courting, I never would've stuck to writing.  I spent too many years beginning novels and never finishing them.  After he read the first chapters of what would become my first finished novel, he told me I needed to write - nothing else, just write.  And he's been beside me ever since.   

What else about your book might interest the reader?
Jeni is a pretty likeable gal under the cutthroat model but like many girls, her self-esteem is low enough to make her sleep around - which is how she gets into this mess to begin with.  Or so she thinks.  ;o)

Mini Excerpt:  
:Disclaimer:  This is the roughest of rough drafts since it's barely begun and I have no idea where the hell I'm going with it.

It was morning and I was ugly.

Near as I can figure it, I pissed in the wrong witch’s pool at some point.  All I know is one night I went to Spanky’s, drank a lot, danced a lot, and went home with the first available hottie.  The next morning, I woke up cursed.

And ugly.  Did I mention ugly?

Not the best outcome for a twenty-two year old fashion model, let me tell you.  I had a photoshoot the following week.  I had an agent who kept promising me the cover of Vogue if I kept going the way I was.  Sure, twenty-two is a bit old for a modeling career to take off, but I had hopes.  It had to take off.  It wasn’t like I had skills to do anything else.  Even on a good day, I’m not fit for fast food or retail sales.  Like this, I’m not fit for even that. 

Who wants to buy food or clothes from a hag?

I spent the first twenty-four hours of my ugliness trapped inside my apartment with the drapes drawn and the door closed.  After the initial shock of seeing myself, I threw towels over all the mirrors.  It was like someone was sitting shiva in there.  Until I tried to get ready for bed. 

With nothing and nowhere to go, I opted for an early bedtime.  Brushing your teeth is an interesting experience when you can’t see yourself.  So I sucked it up and pulled the towel down.  Prepped for a glimpse of gruesome, I got the second shock of the day when a nearly normal me stared back.  Other than looking like I had the roughest day of my young life, I was me again. 

Chalking it all up to the worst hangover ever, I swore off booze and went to bed, confident in my beauty.  I didn’t remember falling asleep.  I don’t even remember dreaming.  I closed my eyes in the dark one minute and opened them the next in the soft light of dawn.

I wish I could say I felt a tingle or a twitch.  Even a burning sensation in my nether regions would’ve been preferable, because it would’ve provided a warning.  Nope.  I got nothing.

Except ugly.  Overnight ugly.

At first I totally doubted my sanity.  Nobody gets ugly overnight.  Then again, no one gets pretty throughout the day either.  Either a person is always pretty or they’re always ugly. 

Psychotic break now or one earlier in my life—neither option made me feel any better about myself.  Of course, the only other answer seemed just as crazy.  Magic isn’t real.  Curses don’t happen in real life…

Unless they do.

Content might change during edits. Copyright 2012

Now I guess I'm supposed to tag some other people to talk about their Next Big Things.  I don't usually do this part, but what the hell - the more the merrier, right?  The people I tagged are:

J.S. Corcoran
Natalie Nicholas

and Silver James but she has a deadline looming so she had to bow out.  Go visit her blog anyway - just because. 

Look for their answers to The Next Big Thing next week.  =o)

Also, speaking of Alexia Chamberlynn, she's the latest guest poster over at The Unpublished Writers' Guide to Survival this morning.  Stop on by and take a look at her post on entering writing contests.

Guest Post over at The Guide

This morning, published author JB Lynn stopped by The Unpublished Writers' Guide to Survival and did a guest post:  This Book Will Never Sell.  Stop by and... what the hell... enter for a chance to win a prize.

Trying Something

As if life wasn't busy enough - especially this time of year, right - I decided to try something else new.  I don't know if y'all have ever stopped by my branded blog - http://besanderson.blogspot.com (aka Tabula Rasa) - but I started something new over there. 

I shamelessly borrowed an idea and twisted it to suit myself.  Yeah, I'm that kind of person.  Can't just come up with blog ideas on my own.  Have to borrow and twist. 

Anyway, I'm calling Lucky Sevens Sunday Snippet.  If I can manage to keep up with it, I'll be posting a short snippet from one of my books every Sunday.  The only rule is it has to be from some page ending in 7.  This week I picked a snippet from pg 87 of Dying Embers. 

If you want to play along, let me know in comments over there.  And please, if you like the place, become a follower.  Follow me here, follow me there, follow me at The Unpublished Writers' Guide - it doesn't cost anything and it lets the industry people know I'm not out here in blogland talking to myself.