Working to do the Write thing

My Blog Is Moving!!!!

2011-02-22T04:49:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the extraordinary time lapse in time between blog posts. Life happened. God forbid. My blog will be taking on a new life in light of changes of my own personal changes. All blogging will now be moved to my website to keep things all in one place so please follow me HERE. You will still be able to sign up to follow via RSS feeds if that is your preferred method of reading blog posts. The website is being updated currently and will be more inclusive of my writing and other general information.

Edge of Darkness, The Killers, and Tidbit Tuesday

2010-02-09T11:18:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a good day for me. I spent the majority of the day working on edits and rewrites, achieving more than I have in a long time. I managed to slog through 62 pages of my manuscript in one sitting! That was no small feat, and I'm quite proud to have gotten that much done!

To top things off and make them just awesome yesterday, I got to spend the evening out with my dad. He came and picked me up in his 4x4 truck since I'm still snowed in and cannot get my minivan out of the driveway. It was a late birthday gift to me. We went to my favorite restaurant, O'Charley's, where I had the cedar planked salmon (delicious), then we decided to go to the movie theater and see Edge of Darkness (the new Mel Gibson movie). It was a really good movie, and I was amazed at what a spot-on Boston accent Mel Gibson had in the movie. He plays a Boston P.D. detective whose daughter is murdered right in front of his house when she comes to visit. He spends the rest of the movie on the vigilante mission of finding her killer, figuring out why she was murdered, and getting revenge. The ending is sad and not what I would have hoped for, but it was still a great movie to watch with Dad, intense and full of action sequences.

The music of the moment is The Killers from their CD, Hot Fuss. The song is "On Top". I got the CD at the library and love the songs on it. There are a couple favorites of mine on the CD, but my absolute favorite song of theirs is from the New Moon Soundtrack. I love "A White Demon Love Song". I definitely plan to look into getting more of The Killers CDs since I have found that I really enjoy their music. I'm always looking for new bands and songs that I like to listen to. I'm totally addicted to music!

Today is Tuesday so it is time for a tidbit from one of my current works in progress. Once again, I chose to give you a snippet from The Council. As I was working on editing and rewrites yesterday, I ran across this part and thought it would make for a good Tidbit Tuesday excerpt. This is introducing some new characters into the book that play key pivotal roles in the book as Elyssia and her friends are looking for allies against The Council. Elyssia finds herself making friends with unusual characters.

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“Sure,” I answered quickly as I saw the four of them entering the room with the girls walking just ahead of the two guys. I had never paid very close attention to them, but now I was keenly interested in every detail I could perceive. On immediate observation it occurred to me that they were each uniquely beautiful in the most elegant ways.

Slender, petite, and fair skinned with a smattering of freckles across her rosy cheeks, Tiana Townsend looked absolutely angelic. The stunning brunette had bright blue eyes which shone beneath the silken curls atop her head. She wore a deep blue sweater that set off her eyes delightfully.

Scarlett Peterson was strikingly statuesque with long, flowing, straight, dark blonde hair and exquisite hazel eyes with a wise, knowing look in them. She dressed with impeccable style and strode into the room with an air of intense confidence and grace.

A head and shoulders taller than the rest of them was Gavin Sanders. He was a magnificent looking guy, lean and incredibly tall with extremely short dark brown hair and deep pools of chocolate brown eyes. Gavin was also dressed as though he were straight out of some male fashion magazine, stylish yet conservative.

Finally, Marc Stevens entered the room. He was the most handsome of the group and notoriously single. Marc’s coal black hair and depths of clear blue eyes were often gossiped to be the sexiest in the school. He did not match Gavin in height, but he was still tall. Tall and muscular with chiseled facial features that seemed beyond perfection. Like Gavin, he was fashionably dressed with a trend towards the athletic.

I had never noticed the uniquely alabaster skin that Scarlett and both of the guys had. They were magnificently picturesque, without the slightest imperfection on any visible parts of their bodies. I observed Scarlett, Gavin, and Marc all dressed as if the weather were still rather warm, in short sleeves and light knits as if they delighted in the cold.

It was difficult to draw my eyes away from them as the bell rang and they took their seats. I had never paid that close attention to take in just how stunningly attractive they all were. Never before had I had reason to examine them so closely but now all I could think about was how to get to know these four unbelievably gorgeous students from my class. I had to know if they would stand with us against The Council.

The Secret Year, Ryan Chin, and Hooverphonic

2010-02-08T09:39:00.000-08:00

My full week of doctor's appointments last week went as well as could be expected. I am now scheduled to have knee surgery on March 12th. Scarlett's ankle surgery went smoothly, and she went back to school today like normal.

This week is promising to be snow filled. We already have a thick coating of ice and snow on the ground here to the point that I'm stuck here. I can't get my van out of our very long and uphill sloping driveway. I had to cancel appointments for today and tomorrow since I can't get anywhere, and they are calling for more snow tonight, tomorrow, and Wednesday. I'm going to take a wild guess that the kids will have snow days at least tomorrow and Wednesday, possibly even on Thursday. I could be stuck for a week or longer! Well, I suppose I'll have to use that time to hunker down and work more on The Council. Maybe I'll even finish reading Dear John so I can go see the movie soon.

Speaking of reading books, today's topic of blogging is the newly released book The Secret Year by Jennifer R. Hubbard. I read this book last week and was thrilled with it. Scarlett is reading it now and is loving it too. It is a short book, only 192 pages, but worth the few hours it takes to read it.

The premise of the book is that two teenagers, one poor boy (Colt) and one rich girl (Julia), have this secret relationship for a year up until her sudden death in a car accident. After her death, he is distraught at his loss and looking for answers to his questions about what happened. Shortly after her death, her brother brings Colt a notebook she had kept with letters written to Colt that she never gave him, like a journal of their time together. The notebook gives him a deeper insight into how she felt about him and why she never broke up with her rich boyfriend the whole time that she and Colt were secretly together.

This book is engrossing and compelling, hooking you into Colt's world of pain and loss right from the beginning. I added it to my "I'm Reading" app on Facebook and gave it five stars. This book's author is represented by the awesome agent Nathan Bransford, whose blog is where I first heard of it. I have to say that he has excellent taste as this is a terrific book.

One other blog I'd like to mention today belongs to the amazingly talented Ryan Chin. He is a multimedia genius who brings life to his words and the short videos he does. Check it out here. Ryan is one of the great people I've met online who love to write, and I wanted to make a mention of him on my blog to help attract others to the work he does that I love.

The music of the moment today is on my iTunes library. The band is Hooverphonic, a New Age electronica group, and the CD is Blue Wonder Power Milk. The current song is "Magenta". I got the CD from the library just to see if I would like it and have found that their music is very soothing and interesting. I ripped it to iTunes so I could continue to listen to it.

Tomorrow will be Tidbit Tuesday, and I hope to find something of interest to share with you! See you then.

Technical Difficulties & Too Many Appointments

2010-02-02T16:15:00.000-08:00

I apologize for not blogging yesterday. Things have been crazy around here, and my computer has been acting up. It keeps freezing on me and refusing to behave.

I will not be blogging the rest of this week since I have too many doctor's appointments, and Scarlett's surgery is Friday. I will be back to blogging come Monday since next week is less full of appointments. Right now I probably need to go defrag my computer.

When I come back next week I will let you know the outcome of the writing contest decision.

Sorry there's no music of the moment, as I said, things are locking up on my computer.

Writer's Digest Annual Writing Competition

2010-01-29T12:23:00.000-08:00

TOMORROW IS MY BIRTHDAY!!! YAY ME!

I'm thinking about entering another writing contest with my novel, Awakening of a Guardian, but am not sure about it. I mean, I had no problem entering the 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest, but this one is different. For one, there is an entry fee to the contest. It is only $20, and that's not a problem really. What I'm not sure about is that you don't win a publishing contract if you do win. What you do win is a trip to New York City to meet with editors and agents and present your work for them to evaluate and decide if they might like to offer you a contract or representation. There is no guarantee for your $20 that you would even get a contract if you win.

So, my question is, should I go ahead and spend the $20 to enter or not? I would love some comments and feedback on this question. I'm a little torn on what to do. Whatever I decide to do, you can bet I'll let you all know the outcome.

Today's music of the moment is on my iTunes "Writing" playlist. The song is "Alive" by Superchick. This is a Christian song, but it's not preachy and you can totally rock out to it. I love to crank it up to listen to it. I think I've possibly posted about listening to this song before. It is really hard to keep track of all the music of the moment segments I've had and which songs I've talked about already. The point of the music of the moment is just to give you a glimpse into my life as a person and also as a writer. This song will likely play a part towards the very end of the book Train Wrecks.

I'll blog more on Monday! Have a great weekend!

Getting The Vampires Just Right

2010-01-28T11:28:00.000-08:00

Things are going slowly with the editing and rewrites. I keep getting distracted by other things such as Facebook. I think I'm an internet junkie. Totally. I'm also completely addicted to Diet Rite Pure Zero Tangerine soda, but that's beside the point. It also doesn't help that the medications that I'm on make me so tired that I sleep till pretty late every day. I mean like afternoon kind of late. I have GOT to get out of that habit! It's totally not healthy for me or my writing career. It leaves me with too little time to accomplish anything once I check my email, blog, check the weather, and update things on my Facebook and Twitter accounts. It does help that I've linked my MySpace and Twitter accounts so that when I update Twitter it automatically updates MySpace as well. Total time saver there...

I'm still working through some details with my vampires that are introduced in the second installment of the Elyssia Masters series, The Council. I want them to be very real characters in the world that Elyssia is learning more about. However, I also would like them to be a bit frightening, yet sexy in a way. I know that's been done over and over in Young Adult books. That's where I'm running into my trouble with them. How do you make a "new" vampire when so many other writers out there have already come up with a dozen or more "new" vampires to contradict the old mythology of the vampire?

There are several ideas I have, and I haven't even gotten to that point in the book yet as I edit and do minor rewrites so I have some time. I started back at page one and am working slowly through the book, rereading it, editing mistakes, and making minor rewrites as I go. When I finally reach the point where the vampire characters are introduced, I will have a lot more to work on in the rewrite department. I don't plan to completely rework the characters, just some of the mythology behind MY vampires. I feel like I didn't make them threatening enough to seem like "real" vampires.

Maybe it's just in my head, but I am not happy with the book so far as that goes. If I'm not happy with that part, I can't in good conscious finish the book and release it to the public. Therein lies the deep problem. There are many people interested in the second book, and I'm still hung up on the first six chapters of rewrites before I can convince myself to move forward with the remainder of the book. Until I get the vampires just right, the rest of the book will remain on hold. I know that sucks for anyone wanting to get their hands on the finished product ASAP,but that's just the way it has to be for me to be happy.

Today's music of the moment is also off my iTunes "Writing" playlist. This is a new song I downloaded from the iTunes store a couple of weeks ago since I loved hearing it on the radio. The title is "Use Somebody", and it's by Kings of Leon. I think this song may fall into the playlist for Train Wrecks, but I'm not sure yet. For all you Twilight fans, did you know that Kings of Leon is a favorite band of Robert Pattinson's? Just something I ran across once on the internet in an interview of him.

That's all for today! Time to go get ready to take Jimmy to the doctor about getting his tonsils out!

Where's Your Inspiration?

2010-01-27T11:43:00.000-08:00

As I was trying to think of what to blog about today I ran over to Nathan Bransford's blog to read his latest. It really struck me as an interesting topic. How do you come up with your ideas for writing?
I have to admit that my ideas come in various forms.

My first book, Awakening of a Guardian, was originally a short story I wrote for fun in middle school. Over time, I thought of many ways to expand the idea into a full novel. Of course, from there the ideas flowed into plans for a whole series based on my main character's adventures through her new found life as a Guardian to the Geveran people. The Council is just the story expanded into a sequel, and the plan is to keep growing it from there until I have at least four or five books.

Train Wrecks was an idea that came to me while driving down the road taking my teenage daughter to a therapy appointment. The story is loosely based on some of my experiences with depression and suicidal thoughts as a teenager, and then takes off from there into the full story of my main character Cat's experiences. At the time when the idea came to me, my family was in the midst of a lot of stress, and my daughter had just recently been hospitalized for severe depressive disorder and diagnosed as bi-polar like me. I didn't immediately plan to write the story since I felt it would be too difficult to work through the emotions of the story, but it didn't take me long to decide that there are teens out there that could be helped by such a real and painful story as Cat's.

The yet unwritten book of Jimmy Jameson and Mr. Van Pyre, Science Teacher was the idea I never meant to have. I've always considered myself to be solely a Young Adult author since the stories I've always written have been geared toward that age group. However, the idea popped into my head one night as I was taking a shower and took hold in my mind. It occurred to me that this would be a great book that my younger children could enjoy. I already write works that my teenager can delve into, but my other two children were feeling left out of things. Perhaps subconsciously I had been thinking of ideas for a book that they would like too. I don't really know how or why the idea came to me, but it did. Eventually, I will write the book and have a Middle Grade novel to my name as well as my favored Young Adult novels.

I have other ideas for books, but none of them have a particular story as to how they came about. Sometimes a song triggers an storyline, other times it's a dream, most often it's just a random thought that crosses my mind. Whatever the inspiration to write the story is, I think I need to start keeping a writing journal of ideas so that they don't get lost along the way before they can be developed.

I would love to know if any of my readers do any writing and if so, what do you write, and where does your inspiration for ideas come from?

The music of the moment today is off my iTunes "Writing" playlist. The song is "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol. This isn't a song I attach to any of my works in progress right now, but there is a story behind my personal attachment to this song. I heard this song on the radio and got totally hooked on it, leading me to purchase the CD titled "Eyes Open". This was in 2006. Soon after I had bought the new CD I had to cope with the death of my favorite grandfather. It was a tremendous loss to me that I cannot clearly express in words.

The story behind the song for me is that my mom told me my grandfather got so cold that night that the nurse suggested my grandmother curl up in bed with him to help keep him warm with her body heat. Late that night he passed away and I received the call telling me all of this. The following morning I drove up to my grandmother's house to be with her, my mom, and my aunt who had all been at the hospital with him when he passed. All the way up I listened to this song on repeat in my car because the words resonated with me and the thought of my grandmother curled up in bed with the love of her life, knowing she was about to lose him. I cried all the way up there, sobbing so hard I could barely see to drive. I probably should not have been on the road at the time in the state of mind I was in.

I'll leave you today with the lyrics to this song and you can read for yourself why this song hit me so hard.

"Chasing Cars"

We'll do it all
Everything
On our own

We don't need
Anything
Or anyone

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

I don't quite know
How to say
How I feel

Those three words
Are said too much
They're not enough

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into life

Let's waste time
Chasing cars
Around our heads

I need your grace
To remind me
To find my own

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into life

All that I am
All that I ever was
Is here in your perfect eyes, they're all I can see

I don't know where
Confused about how as well
Just know that these things will never change for us at all

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

2010 ABNAs, Green Day, and Tidbit Tuesday

2010-01-26T17:31:00.000-08:00

Today was another snow day for my kids, and to top that off, Jimmy woke up this morning and crawled into bed with us at around 5 a.m. with a fever of 103.7! I took him to the doctor this afternoon, and apparently he has another ear infection and STREP AGAIN! Unfortunately, that means he's had it enough times to warrant taking him to a ear, nose, and throat specialist to see about having his tonsils taken out. And here I was under the false impression that 2010 was going to be a better year for us than 2009! We already have Scarlett lined up for ankle surgery on the 5th of February. I have to get an MRI on my left knee and see an orthopedic surgeon about that. Now Jimmy may be a candidate for surgery as well. Just our luck!

In writing news, I'm still plugging away at edits and rewrites of the first six chapters in The Council before moving on to finish the second half of the book. It occurred to me that I have very few chapters in my books, but I do have kind of long chapters, usually around 30 pages in length. Is that weird? Oh well, I suppose it's just my style.

With the doctor visit today, I got nowhere near my book, but I do have major writing news to announce today. Yesterday evening, I received an email from Create Space, the company I used to self-publish Awakening of a Guardian. This email informed me about the new 2010 Amazon Breaktrhough Novel Award. It's a writing contest for unpublished or self-published books to be entered in. The Grand Prize is a $15,000 publishing contract with Penguin USA. There are two categories, General Fiction and Young Adult Fiction. I jumped right on the chance to find a major publisher and entered Awakening of a Guardian into the contest.

Now, I'm not foolish enough to think this is an easy shot at a publishing contract. On the contrary, they are accepting 5000 entries in each of those two categories. However, a one in five-thousand chance of winning a contract with a major publisher to me is worthwhile. The downside may be that you can't negotiate the contract at all. You have to take it "as is", but it's a possible contract to publish my first book nationally and really get the attention for it that I think it deserves.

If I can survive the first round, second round, quarterfinals, and semifinals to make it to the finals, I will be begging for everyone I know to go online to Amazon and vote for my book to win. That's the final stage of the contest, a vote by Amazon customers on the top three in each category. Keep your fingers crossed that I make it that far!! I'm excited just to know I've entered and am hoping that I make it at least to the quarterfinals. Apparently, those who make it that far can be evaluated by Penguin USA to see if they would like to offer a publishing contract. That would thrill me just to get that close even!

The music of the moment is on my iTunes "Writing" playlist. The song is "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Green Day off of their American Idiot album. This is a song that I could imagine Cat playing on her stereo in my book Train Wrecks. It just seems like the type of thing she would be attracted to listening to in the frame of mind she's in. I also have to say that I really like this song and have ever since I first heard it on the radio when it first came out. The CD actually belongs to Scarlett, but she wanted to load the music onto her phone so she ripped it onto my laptop and I transferred it from Windows Media Player into iTunes for my own personal use. Scarlett is a big Green Day fan and even has a huge poster of them in her room. Of course, I remember them coming out back in the day when I was still in school! Funny how these things can still be popular when I have a child that age. LOL!

It's tidbit Tuesday, and I'm going to leave you with a fun piece from The Council. This is set at Jackson's house where his mother, Maura, is training Elyssia to develop her Guardian powers. Maura is trying to help Elyssia to learn to multi-task while keeping her focus on her telekinetic powers still. Check it out and feel free to leave comments about what you think!

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Maura had the most amazing abilities to me. She was not only a mind reader, but she instinctively knew what other Geverans’ abilities were, how they worked, and the extent of how strong they could be if proper training was given, which made her a Geveran teacher. She admitted that most Geverans naturally came into their abilities over time, although teaching could hasten that timeframe. However, Guardians often needed training to fully gain control of all the powers they were capable of possessing, which is what brought me to the point of training with her.

“When do you want me to start, Maura?”

“Start whenever you feel ready, El. I don’t want you to feel rushed this first time. I’m asking you to do a lot.”

I cleared my mind of all distractions first and tried mentally preparing for the exercise. Holding my hands in my lap and concentrating carefully, I looked at Jackson and he rose two feet into the air above his chair. After a minute of holding him in place, Maura spoke to me. “So, El, I meant to tell you that I love your beautiful sweater. Where did you get it?”

It was hard to focus on her and hold Jackson still at first, but I found the ability deep within myself and turned to answer her, without dropping Jackson even a fraction of an inch. “I got this for Christmas a few years ago from my parents. It’s a bit stretched out from overuse so I just wear it to hack around when it’s cold outside. It’s not one of my dressier sweaters.”

“Well, I think it’s a very flattering color on you, El. The red complements your dark hair and beautiful green eyes.” She smiled graciously at me. “Okay now, Evander, whenever you’re ready you can jump in and begin a silent conversation with her.”

“Okay.” He looked at me for a second and seemed to be gauging my ability to hold Jackson, talk to Maura, and converse with him as well. You know it wouldn’t really bother me if you dropped him on his head, Elyssia.

“Hey there, Evander! I don’t appreciate the idea that she might drop me during this little exercise. I still can’t believe my own mother would have me put in this position.” He gave her a minor shocked look and crossed his arms in a huff, frowning. I believed he would have put up a fight, but was afraid I would drop him.

Just to give him a hard time, I lifted him several feet higher in the air and flipped him upside down then began laughing loudly as he yelled out obscenities at me.

The Work of Rewrites and Edits

2010-01-25T11:58:00.000-08:00

It's Monday. Aside from my usual Facebooking rituals on the computer, I'm working on rereading my progress on The Council and making edits and rewrites. On my first book, I found it very difficult to go back and change things, but this time it seems much easier. I have a couple of thoughts on just why that may be.

First of all, I've done this all before and; therefore, it must get easier with practice. I've already written, edited, and performed rewrites on Awakening of a Guardian and, according to my readers, got it right. That builds confidence in the process and makes me feel more capable of doing a good job the second time around, instinctively knowing what needs to be rewritten and reworked.

Secondly, due to all the hospitalizations, surgeries, and doctor's visits, I've been away from my writing for a few months and had time to think things through. Don't think that just because I wasn't writing that I wasn't getting any work done. It was all being worked out in my head over and over until I was pretty sure I'd be ready to work on it and delve into some serious rewrites this time. The time away from writing gave me better perspective. Or so I think. I suppose we'll see how the finished product is received by my readers.

Lastly, this book is delving further into Elyssia's world, and the story gets much deeper into the fantasy part of the story. There is so much more I can do with the story and over time I think of better ways to do it. It just takes time to work out the details of a fantasy world and all its rules and mythology. There is much more to this second book than there was with the first book. The first book just laid the groundwork for the world we would later uncover further in the series.

Overall, I suppose it should come as no surprise that this book is taking more time to work on. Not only have I had major interruptions to the writing process due to health issues with myself and my family, but there is much more to this second book. In the end, I hope to have a book I can be proud of and my readers are enthralled with!

The music of the moment is from my iTunes "Writing" playlist. Currently playing is "Need You Now" by Lady Antebellum. Now, I am not usually much of a country music listener, but this song has been playing on the pop music stations that I listen to and really caught my attention. I liked it well enough to want to buy it and download it on iTunes and aside from Taylor Swift (who I think is half pop, half country) there are really no country songs in my playlists so Lady Antebellum has to be good to get me on board. I just love the song and the lyrics to it. If you haven't heard it, take the time to look it up online and take a listen!

Book Recommendations For Your Weekend and Kittens!

2010-01-22T11:04:00.000-08:00

TGIF!! I'm looking forward to the weekend for some odd reason. We have a retirement party we're supposed to be going to tomorrow night, and I may be getting out with a friend at some point to see New Moon for a sixth time too. That's probably why I'm looking forward to it. I love getting out and doing things! I get bored in the house and am always looking forward to things that get me out and about.

The big news of today is that Jim got a kitten for Scarlett from a coworker. I had to go pick it up from his office earlier today, and it is now roaming around the house freaking out out two other cats and scaring our big 90+ pound black lab by just looking at him wrong. It's pretty funny to watch. He's the cutest little orange kitten and seems really sweet, but our other animals are freaked out by the foreigner.

So, if you have nothing planned this weekend, I was thinking I should suggest some books that I have on my reading list to check out. Currently, I'm reading Dear, John by Nicholas Sparks since the movie will be coming out sometime early this year. I'm looking forward to seeing Channing Tatum in that movie as he is a total hottie.

Also on my list of books to read, I have received To Save a Life by Jim and Rachel Britts from my sister who said it was so good she read it in four hours straight. The movie opens today in select theaters around the country and sounds like it will be very good. I plan to take Scarlett and a friend of hers a couple weeks after it opens and it's less crazy to go see.

Finally, I picked up the brand new book The Secret Year by Jennifer R. Hubbard at the library and plan to read it as well. I heard about this book on Nathan Bransford's blog since he is the literary agent for Ms. Hubbard. I trust his taste in good YA books and look forward to reading it as soon as I finish the other two books on my list.

One more thing to add, James Patterson's new book Witch and Wizard sounds really good, and I've placed it on request at our local library to see if I can get a copy to read too. I saw it on sale at Walmart the other day and almost bought it, but refrained from doing so and just requested it at the library the next time I was up there. Since I go at least weekly, that wasn't much of a wait.

There, I have officially given you something to do this weekend if you were lacking ideas. Go to your local library and see if they have any of these books available. Any one of them should be guaranteed to keep you enjoying your weekend!

The music of the moment today is brought to you by Taylor Swift off her Fearless album and is "You Belong With Me". I love this song of teen angst in love. I write about the same stuff so I can totally relate to how she feels in this song. As a writer, I have characters in my head that have gone through the same thing. Just because you never heard me talk about these characters doesn't mean I haven't thought them up and am waiting for a later date to start working on the book to go with the character.

On a side note... I got a cat toy out for the kitten, and it is totally cracking me up going ballistic chasing around this toy. It's totally cute and fun to watch. I highly recommend everyone should get a kitten for the entertainment value. :-)

Movie Review: The Haunted Airman

2010-01-21T16:19:00.000-08:00

Well, it's a bit late, and I'm just now getting a chance to blog today! When I was originally going to blog I got sidelined by my mother calling to inquire why my dad came home from our house last night recounting a list of health issues I'm having that she heard nothing about. That was a long conversation, especially once the subject inevitably turned to discussing her classes in nursing school. However, to make a long story short, I did not get to blog before the kids got home from school this afternoon.

Scarlett had Academic Team practice tonight till 4:30 so I watched the movie The Haunted Airman (it has Rob Pattinson in it!) between the little ones getting off the bus and Scarlett being due to get picked up. I thought this would give me a little something to blog about. I love movies and enjoy doing movie reviews. This wasn't a big movie out in the theaters or anything, at least not in the United States. It may have been bigger over in Britain since it's a BBC movie. The movie is based on the novel by the name of The Haunting of Toby Jugg by Dennis Wheatley.

Most of you probably know by now that I'm a huge Twilight fan. I own the Twilight Saga books, Twilght on DVD, the soundtracks and scores to both Twilight and New Moon, and have seen New Moon in the theater five times already. I'm also becoming a fan of Rob Pattinson's acting. Despite his huge popularity in the Twilight Saga, I'm a larger fan of his British works since I prefer to hear his native accent. (I love foreign accents which likely accounts for one of my characters in Awakening of a Guardian being Australian and one being British, my two favorite accents.) I have to agree with my sister's assessment of Rob Pattinson's acting. He does dark and brooding very well. He truly does in Twilight and does it well (with his native British accent) in The Haunted Airman.

This was a short movie, only about seventy minutes long, but it was intense for the most part. To quote my sister it's "kind of trippy". I was not sure what she meant by that until I watched it, but after seeing it myself I would have to agree with her. It's just a kind of trippy movie with Rob Pattinson and his hot British accent and a lot of spiders (which I had great difficulty dealing with). This movie was by no means a blockbuster type movie, but it was an enjoyable movie that I was glad I found at my local library. I recommend it to anyone who likes "trippy" movies, it's a bit freaky or to anyone who likes Rob Pattinson. There are really only a handful of characters in the movie, and he's the one you see the most of and get to know better so be prepared to watch a lot of him.

The music of the moment is from my iTunes playlist "Mel's Mix 2010" with a lot of new songs I downloaded from the iTunes store. The currently playing song is "Hey, Soul Sister" by Train. I have enjoyed Train's music for a long time and was thrilled that they came out with a new single when I first heard it on the radio. I love the voice of the lead singer Pat Monohan. The band's sound is a particular favorite of mine in all the eclectic variety of music that I enjoy listening to. The playlist just moved on to the next song, "Drops of Jupiter" also by Train. I downloaded this song when I found "Hey, Soul Sister". I used to listen to it on the radio all the time, and then it hardly got any radio play anymore. I heard it the other day and decided to download it too. I really want to buy a couple of their CDs to add to my collection since I think I would enjoy more of their music than what is just on the radio. "Drops of Jupiter" is one of my favorite songs that I've ever heard on the radio. It's beyond me why I've never downloaded it online before now. Sometimes I'm a little slow on things. :-)

Nathan Bransford's Guest Blogger Link

2010-01-20T14:27:00.000-08:00

I had a doctor's appointment today and then had to go to Walmart (ugh) and got home later than I had anticipated so the blog today is short and sweet.

Tomorrow I will finally get back to writing and rewriting on The Council! For today, I will leave you with this interesting guest blog over at Nathan Bransford's literary blog. It's a great blog today begging the question, "Are you a Word Nerd or a Grammar Rebel?"

Tomorrow I will think of something more to write on my blog, but today I'm a bit too distracted by the horrible pain in my knee and shoulder! Sorry!!

My Long Awaited Return to Blogging Including Tidbit Tuesday!

2010-01-19T12:23:00.000-08:00

I'M BACK!!!

Yes, it's true. After all this time off due to surgeries with my kids, illnesses, holidays, kids' snow days. Things are still not going smoothly and the road back to full-time writing is going to be bumpy along the way. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow for a few troubles I've been having including chronic headaches and some joint pain and swelling in my left knee and right shoulder. Also, my oldest daughter, Scarlett, is having ankle surgery on the 5th of February and has a final appointment with her ENT doctor from her surgery back in December on Thursday.

I will be getting back to blogging on a regular basis, writing more on The Council and Train Wrecks, and updating my website to keep up with what I'm working on. This may be slow going as I still have to work around doctor visits and such, but I should be able to get a lot more done now than I have in the past few months.

While I've been off from writing and blogging, I've been thinking about The Council and have lots of ideas for rewrites I would like to make. I want to make the vampires more unusual than what I've read about in other books to keep them unique to my series. It's hard to introduce a set of characters that people already have preset thoughts and expectations about and still make them stand out as different rather than just copycats from other books. They need their own set of rules and truths that dispel the mythology people are used to. I need to make them just as unique as Stephenie Meyer did with her own vampires in the Twilight Saga.

Speaking of the Twilight Saga... I have now seen New Moon five times and have plans with a friend to go see it one last time in the theater sometime this week. Yes, call me a die-hard fanatic if you like. It would totally be the truth. LOL!

The music of the moment today is from my iTunes playlist of recently purchased songs. My husband, Jim, got me an iTunes gift card for Christmas, and I finally used it last week to buy some new songs. The particular song I'm rocking out to right now is 3OH!3's song "Starstrukk" which features Katy Perry. As far as I know, this song has not gotten radio play, but I found it on iTunes when I was looking for their song "Don't Trust Me" and saw that it had Katy Perry who I like to listen to as well so I couldn't resist and bought this song too. I LOVE IT! It's got a danceable beat with a pumping bass to it, perfect to go walking or working out to. Since buying it, I've played it at least a dozen times on iTunes and made a mix CD including it so I can listen to it in my minivan. (I rock out in the minivan! LOL!)

Well, today is Tidbit Tuesday and I've decided to share a little bit from The Council with you. I know it's been forever since you had Tidbit Tuesday so you're probably anxious to hear a snippet from the sequel novel to Awakening of a Guardian. Here goes:

******************************************************************

Evander still was not over the ordeal back in August and was slightly jealous of the time I was spending at Jackson’s house, despite the fact that my reason for being there was to be taught by his mother, not to spend time with Jackson. Nothing I said or did changed the fact that Evander could not get over the images of Jackson and me together before I recognized I was linked to him and not Jackson. I continued to feel guilty that he had to go through that ordeal, knowing he was already deeply in love with me. I knew it had to be hard to see me kissing another guy.

Six months together did not make the jealousy between Evander and Jackson any less. On Jackson’s side, he was jealous that Evander had ended up with me. Although the whole plot was manufactured by his father, Liam Hunt, Jackson had grown fond of the notion of being with me during the short time our romance lasted. Evander could read that in his mind and it did not make things any easier. Jackson respected my feelings for Evander and our relationship, but deep down, he had some feelings for me himself that were obvious to anyone who could read minds.

New Moon

2009-12-07T17:06:00.000-08:00

Okay, so my husband says I've joined the cult of Twilight. After his company Christmas party Saturday night I talked him into going with me to see New Moon since it was something I wanted for Christmas.

This was my fourth time seeing New Moon and I admit fully to the addiction that is Twilight for me. However, I refuse to call it a cult. It's a compelling storyline that draws you in and makes you feel like part of that world.

My husband, Jim, has to put up with other "Twilighters" at work as well as the two of us at home (myself and our 14yo, Scarlett). He even said a couple of the women at work have Twilight posters in their offices. I don't have any posters, although Scarlett does have a couple. She is disappointed that she can't find a poster of Jasper since that's her favorite Cullen. Personally, I will stay poster free until someone makes a poster of Carlisle. :-) Neither of us are Edward fanatics although I admit he's cute.

The music of the moment is "All Star" by Smashmouth. I love Smashmouth and their songs from the Shrek soundtrack. I particularly love this song as it is upbeat and has a positive motivational message in it.

Well, Jim just threatened to watch Stargate Universe without me so I need to stop blogging immediately!!!

Goals for 2010

2009-12-03T13:50:00.000-08:00

I can't believe Christmas will be here in just a few weeks. This whole year has just flown by, and it's made my head spin how fast it's gone. I had hoped to end off the year by finishing The Council, but sadly, there's no way it's going to get done in that time frame. Things have been so crazy here at my house and concentrating on writing has been too hard over the past two months. I spend so much time at doctor's offices and the hospital that's it is crazy.

So, my goal for this year has not happened, but I plan to set goals for 2010 and reach them. Of course, that's assuming that I have no emergency situations come up next year. I already know Scarlett will be having sinus surgery sometime soon, or at least I'm 90% sure she will be having surgery. We find out for sure on December 10th.

I'm working on setting my goals/New Year's resolutions for 2010 already. I want to think through my goals so that they are reasonable to achieve. Of course, like most people, I want to get healthier and in better shape. This has been a rough year for me and the side effects of the meds I'm on have not been pleasant, but I need to work hard to overcome them. On the writing front, I think I'm going to set the goal of finishing The Council and Train Wrecks. I also hope to be able to achieve drafts of Jimmy Jameson and Mr. Van Pyre, Science Teacher and Blame It On the Samba. If the year goes really well, I would love to have some work done on the third Elyssia Masters book too, at least a rough outline of the story.

I think once I get back into the groove, I could knock out the remainder of The Council in a month or so. Then comes the editing and rewriting to get it perfect, but while my editing friend does the review and marks the mistakes that need to be corrected, I can be working on Train Wrecks.

So that's the plan for 2010 as of right now. That could change as I find out any additional things that I can expect to come up during the year, but right now it looks like we're just dealing with the surgery for Scarlett, and that's simple.

The music of the moment is from my WMP "Mel's Mix" playlist and the song is "Sugar" by Flo Rida. I love pop and hip-hop music that you can dance to. I enjoy working out to music like this and take mix CD's of this kind of stuff to the gym with me. Now I just need to get motivated to make it up to the gym on a regular basis and get myself whipped back into a shape other than round. :-)

E-books and Lit (the band)

2009-12-02T12:40:00.000-08:00

Today's big excitement was taking the kids to get their H1N1 flu vaccine. Tiana was all freaked out worried about getting a shot only to find out she was allowed to get the nasal spray! She screamed and cried and wouldn't get ready to go because she didn't want a shot and got up there to find she didn't have to anyway. That's kids for you.

The big controversy in the publishing world right now is e-books. Nathan Bransford admits to being addicted to his Kindle, loves e-books, and often talks about them on his blog. Today's post asks the question: Will you ever buy mostly e-books? I had to answer that you would have to pry my print books out of my cold dead hands and found I was on par with a split majority between being hooked on print books (p-books) and those willing to consider welcoming in the new age of e-books and electronic reading devices.

I have no problem with technology or those willing to read books in electronic formats, but I personally believe I will never see the day that I would prefer to curl up in bed with a cold hard piece of electronics rather than the warm inviting pages of a good printed book. I also wonder how would authors do book signings if the book is an e-book? How would a book become a classic collector's item in the future if the book is an e-book easily shared among the masses? I believe we lose something of our culture if we go to strictly an e-book society. I just hope it isn't coming to that in the near future!

That's my two cents worth anyway. What do you think of e-books?

The music of the moment today is on my Windows Media Player "Mel's Fun Music" playlist and is the song "My Own Worst Enemy" by Lit. This is one of those "one hit wonder" groups, but I love this song and always find myself singing along whenever it comes on the radio! I can't help it. It's a fun song to sing to and more than once have I found Scarlett and me singing our hearts out together to this song. Now that's mother/daughter bonding. :-)

NaNoWriMo and Tidbit Tuesday

2009-12-01T11:21:00.000-08:00

For anyone who actually follows my blog and knew I intended to participate in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) I just thought I would fess up that I didn't end up getting even to 2000 words. Now, I'm not saying that the novel I proposed writing won't ever be written by me, but the truth is that between Tiana's surgery, other doctor's appointments for everyone else in the house who got sick, and then Thanksgiving break with the kids home, there was just no way I was going to get my head into churning out 50K words in 30 days.

Over on Pimp My Novel, I was reading his post for today and the lamenting that he may have been inappropriate to diss the NaNo. What I liked best was the comments section where a couple of writers talked about doing solo NaNos where they choose their own thirty day period to knock out a novel. They called it a SoNoWriMo. That sounds more like what would work out for me. The muse was nowhere to be found in November for me. Anything I wrote would have been garbage anyway since my head wasn't into it like it needs to be. I would have had to completely rewritten the whole thing in the editing process.

So that's that. No NaNo for me this year. Maybe next time.

The music of the moment is Harry Connick Jr. I love his voice and think he's pretty cute to look at too. This is off of his "Your Songs" album that I just borrowed from the library. I enjoy the old time sound of the music he does. He has a classic sound reminiscent of Sinatra. The current song is "Besame Mucho (Kiss Me Much)" I think it would be perfect for the book I have planned Blame It On the Samba. The song "The Way You Look Tonight" just came on! That is one of my all-time favorite songs. I love Harry Connick Jr's version and Tony Bennett's too.

Now for the Tidbit Tuesday. Wow, it's been a long time seemingly since the last one I did. This is just a snippet from The Council. Of course, as I said yesterday, The Council is up for some major rewrites. However, I don't think this is part of what will be rewritten and edited to death. This is at the beginning of the book and is a scene set in the kitchen at Elyssia's house between Elyssia and Evander.

********************************************************

As had become completely the norm in my house, Evander was sitting at the breakfast nook table drinking coffee and talking with my dad when I entered the kitchen. Ever since I recognized that we were linked as soul mates and the ordeal with Jackson’s father, Liam, was over, Evander had been at the breakfast table any morning my parents didn’t leave early for work. He had become a staple part of life in my own household and my parents could not have been happier.

Mom had just finished baking muffins for breakfast and was setting them out on the table. The warm and sweet scent was heavenly in the kitchen. I poured myself a cup of coffee, added some sweetener, and sat down at the table, grabbing a muffin right away. I loved my mom’s homemade muffins best when they were still warm. Evander leaned over to kiss me on the cheek. “How did you sleep last night, my dear? Your mother mentioned you were having a hard time waking up this morning,” he asked politely.

I scowled at my mother, hating it when she did things like telling Evander every little thing about my behavior before I ever even had a chance to talk to him. “Not more than usual. You know I’m just not a morning person like some people, Evander.”

He reached over and gently stroked my cheek, reaching back and playing with my ponytail as he often did. “That’s okay, love. I didn’t say you had to get up easily or make any judgment on you. I was just asking you if you slept all right, that’s all.”

I'm Back!

2009-11-30T11:53:00.000-08:00

Things have finally settled down a little bit and I'm able to blog again. I'm still not getting any writing done with having Tiana home with me recovering from her surgery, but I'm at least able to get to the computer again. We have kept on our streak of kids getting sick. Jimmy came down with Scarlet Fever the day before Thanksgiving and I had to take him to the doctor to get him started on antibiotics so we could spend the holiday with family.

While I've been off of blogging I'm still thinking about writing and working out details in my head. The Council will be under some major rewrites when I get back to work after Tiana is back in school. I want to change some of the details about the vampires in the book to make them work better into the story without seeming too copycat from other books I'm familiar with.

Speaking of vampires... Have any of you seen New Moon yet? I went with Scarlett to see it on the opening day (11/20) at 11:30pm and waited in line forever to get good seats, but we succeeded in getting them and enjoyed the movie immensely. Then Tiana wanted to go see it so I took her during the day on that Tuesday to see it. Yesterday Jim let me get out for a bit of time to myself, and I went to see it again! So, I have now seen it three times and on my Christmas wish list is a date night with Jim to go see it again. I think it was so much better than the first Twilight movie! I can't wait till it comes out on DVD. I think for my birthday in January I'm going to ask to get it preordered on Amazon!

Right now, the music of the moment is from the soundtrack to New Moon and the song is "Possibility" by Lykke Li. I thought this song was a perfect choice for its part in the movie. As Bella is sitting devastated and depressed in a chair looking out her window and the camera circles her counting off the months that she's nearly catatonic from Edward leaving, this song is playing and the words emphasize the pain she's experiencing at that time in her life. Really the whole soundtrack is an interesting mix of indie bands and super cool songs that really fit their places in the movie. I really like "A White Demon Love Song" by The Killers that plays during the ending credits and "Meet Me on the Equinox" by Death Cab for Cutie which also plays during the ending credits. (There are a lot of ending credits!) "Satellite Heart" by Anya Marina is a beautiful song that fits perfectly playing in the truck as Edward and Bella pull up to her house after the disaster of a birthday party the Cullens (mostly Alice) throw for Bella's eighteenth birthday. The mood is so sad as Edward is realizing he can't protect her and everyone who read the book knows he's making up his mind to leave. I could go on about the songs on this soundtrack, but the best thing I can say is that if you are a Twilight fan and haven't bought the soundtrack yet, go get it!

Well, it's time to get off the computer and go get Jimmy off the bus. Scarlett has her final Academic Team meet tonight so she's not on the bus to walk down to the house with him, and he's too little for them to let him off by himself. There shouldn't be anything tomorrow to keep me from blogging again so I will blog again then!

Blogging News

2009-11-09T12:58:00.000-08:00

After much consideration, I will not be blogging again until November 23rd, effective immediately. I'm taking two weeks off to deal with Tiana's surgery and the post-op recovery at home. She will need much attention from me especially during the first week out of the hospital and I will be spending less time on the computer while she is recovering. I'm giving it two weeks and then will reevaluate if needed. I'm sure you all understand why I'm taking this time off.

Thank you all very much and I will post again November 23rd. You can still email me or message me on Facebook as I will be checking those from time to time depending on how much she sleeps and is out of it over the next two weeks.

The New Vampire & Introducing My Website!

2009-11-06T09:40:00.000-08:00

This has been the craziest busy week for me with sick kids and doctor appointments! I am glad the week is about over and we can enjoy the weekend soon! Tiana's tour of the surgical facilities at Cincinnati Children's Hospital is Saturday morning, but the rest of the weekend promises beautiful weather and relaxation so far.

I was checking out Nathan Bransford's blog post from yesterday and found it (as well as the tons of comments) very interesting. The question he poses is What is the new vampire? Basically, the idea is that vampires will eventually fade out of popularity and something else will take their place. What is the new vampire? I don't know that quite yet. I hope that it's teens with supernatural powers because that would fit right up the alley of the Elyssia Masters series. Personally, I think vampires aren't going anywhere anytime soon. They have always had a level of popularity in pop culture, just look at The Lost Boys movie or Interview With a Vampire. These are not new phenomenon in our pop culture, these are movies from when I was a teenager. My question is Did vampires ever actually go out of style for us to believe there will be a "new" vampire? I'd love to hear commentary on this from my readers. It would make a great discussion question.

In other news, I think I have failed to mention that I started up a website of my own and would like to share that with you now. I've been working on it and wanted to get it to a point that I was relatively happy with it before sharing it with you all. I have now officially purchased my domain name and can introduce you to www.melissapetreshock.com!

The music of the moment is "Fragile" by Sting. This is not the regular album version but the version he did for the CD set "America: A Tribute" that was done after 9/11. It's an acoustic version that's very soft and deeply meaningful. I just love his voice and the guitar music in this song. I can see this song playing a part in Blame It On The Samba, but will have to see how the book plays out (if I can ever get it done) before deciding.

Well, that's all till Monday. Don't forget, next week is my daughter, Tiana's surgery on Wednesday so there will only be blog posts on Monday and Tuesday. The remainder of the week I will be at the hospital with Tiana and will be offline. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers as they are greatly needed.

NaNoWriMo

2009-11-05T10:49:00.000-08:00

Today is day five of NaNoWriMo. I've only gotten 1171 words written and that's not good. My kids keep getting sick and between that and all the regular doctor's appointments scheduled this week, I've not been writing. I swear that my writer's block comes from too much going on here, really. I don't know if I'll be able to complete a novel for NaNoWriMo, but I'd like to feel like I was at least on the road to accomplishing such a thing. Instead, I'm running back and forth to doctors' offices and distracting myself with Facebook and other joys of the internet. I don't do this when the muse is flowing, but when I'm feeling writer's block I spend too much time doing other things and avoiding staring at the screen knowing I should be writing the next great novel. (LOL)

One thing I've found online that I love is Inkygirl: Daily Diversions For Writers by Debbie Ridpath Ohi. She's a writer, but she's also a cartoonist and draws the funniest comics for writers. I ran across her on Twitter and often read her comics when I'm having "one of those days" writing. She's doing a series of comics for NaNoWriMo that are just hilarious.

Today's music of the moment is again on my "Mel's Music" playlist on iTunes (this is my fave playlist if you haven't noticed). The song is "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" by U2. Right now I'm not sure that this song relates to any of my books, although I do have it in mind possibly for Train Wrecks or Blame It On The Samba. Both of those books have characters who get involved in romantic relationships that are not fully fulfilling and not what they are truly looking for.

Well, my sick son would like my attention so I should finish this up and go spend time with him. I will post more tomorrow. Sorry I missed yesterday, but my whole day got eaten up with doctors and a sick child, and I ran out of time to blog.

Superchick and Tidbit Tuesday

2009-11-03T15:56:00.000-08:00

It's been a rough day! Jimmy came down sick and then spiked a 104 fever while I was in Frankfort at a doctor's appointment and Jim was with him. Jim was ready to take him to the ER, but I had already made an appointment for him with our primary care doctor for after I would be back from Frankfort. The end result is that Jimmy has strep and quite a bad case of it. Our doctor said that's probably why my throat and neck have been hurting me and I've been feeling pretty cruddy so she gave me a script for a Z-pack.

Since this has been a rough day I am keeping this post to the basics.

The music of the moment is brought to us by iTunes "Mel's Music" playlist and is the song "Alive" by Superchick. Now Superchick is a actually a Christian group, but I happen to like their music because it's just flat out good music. This is a really cool song and makes me think of what will be the ending of Train Wrecks after Cat gets out of the hospital and has a major attitude change because she lives (just barely) through her worst suicide attempt ever.

Today is Tidbit Tuesday and I decided to give you a sneak peek into the new novel I'm working on for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). This is totally different from anything else I've worked on since it is totally adult in nature rather than YA. This novel is an adult romance bordering on erotica. It's my first foray into such a genre so it still remains to be seen how it turns out. Here's the opening paragraph of Blame It On The Samba... remember this is a very rough draft right now.

I’d never been a lustful woman before. My marriage has always been happy and my husband most sensually satisfying in the bedroom. However, when John Duhnam was hired on to the department sharing office space with mine, I changed into a different woman. He was handsome to a degree on par with Greek gods and fictional characters in books. Every day he would go to the company gym and lift weights during his lunch break. I began the ritual of working out on the elliptical trainer across from the weight lifting area and gobbling up every inch of his profoundly muscular body with my eyes. The second he lay on the weight bench I pictured him laying back on a bed with me dribbling chocolate syrup across those impeccable ab muscles, slowly licking the sweetness off his sculpted stomach. This is what I had become from the first sight of him.

National Novel Writing Month

2009-11-02T10:40:00.000-08:00

November 1st- 30th is the time for the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). Writers from all over the world sign up on the NaNoWriMo website to work on writing a 50K word novel in 30 days. It may sound like an impossible task, but it is very possible if you put your mind to it, hunker down, and really write. With everything I've got going on it may turn out to be impossible, but at least I want to try!

I've never done this in years previous, but I thought I would at least give it a shot this year. The timing couldn't be worse with Tiana's surgery and everything, but since I'm at a mental roadblock with The Council and Train Wrecks is likely going to be longer than 50K words, I decided to work on an adult romance novel I've had an idea for. It's a bit on the erotic side and VERY adult so it's quite a change from my usual work. In YA I tend to keep the sexuality to heavy making out and such but no actual sex and minimal description of what is going on physically. That may not be how other writers necessarily do it all the time, but that's what I'm comfortable with my daughter reading and I am writing my YA books with my daughter in mind.

This adult romance novel is called Blame It On the Samba and is the story of Emily, a married administrative assistant who falls for her extremely sexy and also married new coworker. At first she's just imagining the things she would love to do with him and using her husband as a surrogate for what she can't do with the coworker,John. Eventually, they find themselves on a business trip together. After the conference is over they go out to a Latin restaurant with dancing to the sensual beats of the Latin music. They decide to take a whirl on the dance floor and end up in bed together in her hotel room and find themselves in the midst of a whirlwind romantic affair full of bold sexual encounters and lusty desire.

Keeping that in mind... today's music of the moment is "Feelin' Love" by Paula Cole from the City of Angels Soundtrack on my iTunes "Mel's Music" playlist. It's a passionate and downright sexual song that fits perfect with Blame It On The Samba's sensuality.

Book Sales Increasing!

2009-10-30T14:29:00.000-07:00

Things didn't go quite as planned today. I had intended to spend the whole day driving around to various libraries and schools trying to sell my book and schedule signings at other libraries than Owen County. However, my girls had other plans. They both woke up sick this morning. Scarlett had another sinus headache and needed to have that checked out at the doctor since she seems to be having chronic infections. Of course, with Tiana's impending surgery in less than two weeks, anything slightly ill with her means a trip to the doctor. She had a sore throat and ear pain so off we went to the doctor again with my kids. This is getting to be too much of a reoccurring event lately.

While we were over in Grant County at the doctor's office anyway, I decided to stop off at the middle school, high school, and public library over there. I sold a book at each location. To top that off, Jim got a book sold at work today to a woman (this is his second sale at work, another coworker purchased a copy for his wife). I also sold two signed copies by mail, one to a coworker of my sister's (way to go Jen for selling people on my book!) and one to a friend of mine up in New York. I have another friend who will be picking up a copy signed for his daughter on Sunday. Book sales are picking up rather well and I'm looking forward to getting the opportunity to do more book signings. I'm thrilled to be getting my work out there and into the hands of interested readers!

Next week (assuming my kids all stay well for a couple of days) I plan to set out and go around selling my book to other schools and libraries as I had intended to do today. Tuesday I have an appointment down in Frankfort and will have the opportunity to hit a middle school and a high school that are nearby to where I'll be. Jim has also said that I can post a sign at his work to sell additional books if people should be interested in purchasing books for themselves or teenage family members.

Today's music of the moment is again from my iTunes "Mel's Music" playlist and the song is from the electronica genre. I'm currently listening to "Going Out of My Head" by Fatboy Slim. I love Fatboy Slim's music and even have their song "Rockefeller Skank" as a ringtone on my cell phone. I love music you can get up and dance to or that encourages me to get up and move like walking around the track at the local park or going to the local church gym and walking around their walking track. I need all the encouragement I can get to get out and exercise!

I hope you all have a very Happy Halloween and enjoy the holiday fun. I love seeing all the cute costumes the kids wear! Enjoy your weekend and I'll be posting more on Monday!

Book Signings!

2009-10-29T16:39:00.000-07:00

This will be short and sweet. It's already after 8:00pm and I'm just getting a chance to sit at the computer and blog.

Today was my book signing and I survived. There was a very small turnout, but it was good to feel like I got my book out some more in the world. There are more people reading my book now than there were.

The best news is that on my way out from the signing I ran across a woman whose family owns the local pharmacy store. They are planning to do an open house and are inviting local writers to do a book signing one day. It would be a group of writers all together and people coming in to buy their books and get them signed. She invited me to participate in this as well. It will be on a weekend around the first of December. I thought that was pretty exciting!

The music of the moment is on my iTunes "Mel's Music" playlist and the song is "Keep Holding On" by Avril Lavigne. No surprise to anyone who regularly reads my blog that it would be another Avril Lavigne song, my playlists are full of them. I really love this song though when I'm feeling down. It's very uplifting: "Keep holding on, cause you know we'll make it through, make it through. Just stay strong, cause you know I'm here for you, here for you." It's probably my personal favorite Avril Lavigne song.

Tomorrow I plan to drive around to various libraries and schools to try to sell my book to them and drum up a few more book signings! Wish me luck!

Book Signing Tomorrow, Spreading the Word Around, and Writing Out Of Order

2009-10-28T11:37:00.000-07:00

Okay, the nerves are really jangling now. Tomorrow is the big day! I'm looking forward to my first book signing, but I'm anxious as can be! If I survive this one well I plan to talk to other libraries in the region (Grant County, Boone County, and possibly others). I just want to take things one step at a time. Everyone keeps asking me if I'm going to be having additional signings, but I haven't had a chance to see how this one goes first to decide what direction I want to go in next. I am hoping to schedule more book signings and also to get into some of the schools to talk to students about reading and writing. Somewhere in here though I need to devote time to additional writing on my projects that are started yet not finished.

I'm anxious to get my book out to more of the schools and area libraries. Anyone who reads this blog, please check with your local library about ordering my book in. If you have children in middle or high school, have them check at their school libraries to see if they will order it in as well. It's already in the Owen County middle and high schools, the Owen County Public Library, and the Grant County Middle School. I still have a lot of work to get my book spread out to the schools and libraries so I appreciate any help in that area. Thanks to anyone who takes the time to ask their local schools and/or libraries!

Today was Tiana's last appointment at Children's Hospital prior to her surgery. It's exactly two weeks away till her surgery date and she's getting nervous. I took her to Kohl's after her appointment to get a new robe and some nightgowns. The incision is going to be right across her bladder so she will want to be comfortable in nightgowns for a while. The doctor is expecting her to be out of school up to a month so I got the paperwork into the board of education to get the ball rolling for her to have home bound instruction during that period of time. I'll be glad when the surgery is over and she's back home. Jim and I plan to take turns staying up at the hospital so she won't be alone at all while she's there for 3-5 days. Prayers are greatly appreciated during this time with Tiana. I will keep you all posted on her progress following the surgery. Of course, the blog will not be updated for the days she's in the hospital starting November 11th and probably won't be picked back up until at least November 16th unless she's in the hospital longer.

The music of the moment is once again on my iTunes "Mel's Music" playlist and the song is "I Can Do Better" by Averil Lavigne. You all know my feelings about Averil Lavigne's music, I'm quite a fan of her and use her music as a catalyst for some of my best writing in emotional scenes in the Elyssia Masters series and even in Train Wrecks. She's feature prominently on the playlist for Awakening of a Guardian. This song is suitable for a scene towards the end of Train Wrecks when Cat faces off with Ryan after she gets out of the hospital. She's realized that he's a jerk and not worth being so upset over and this is the song that works well for that scene.

I've been thinking lately that I'm hitting a wall with The Council and having trouble getting around it mentally right now and perhaps I should work on Train Wrecks again. However, the ideas that I keep having for Train Wrecks are further into the book. I'm debating on writing out of order and then filling in the blanks to bridge one part to the other. However, with Awakening of a Guardian it worked so well to just push through the mental barriers when they came up and write it in order so the story flowed and there was plenty of opportunity to change the story line as I went along if the characters demanded it. Train Wrecks' story line has already significantly changed since it's initial conception, I'm not sure I want to take my time writing towards the end if the end may change by the time the middle is written. Any thoughts from my blog readers?

Really Random Ramblings and Tidbit Tuesday!

2009-10-27T10:23:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the second "Tidbit Tuesday"! I'll be sharing the tidbit excerpt with you later in the posting.

First of all, I wanted to share with you the short review of the book The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong that I finished reading last week and forgot to write about. This was the sequel book to The Summoning which I had told you had a slow start to it but turned out to be pretty good and very engaging. This sequel jumped right into the action picking right up where The Summoning left off. I found this book to be more compelling than the first book in what is intended to be a series apparently. The action kept rolling throughout the book and the intensity kept me reading all the way to the end with barely a rest between. Kelley Armstrong apparently intends for this to be a series called "Darkest Powers". I look forward to the rest of the series as The Awakening left off with the reader hanging on dying to know how the story ends again!

Well, my 3 year old nephew, Kristian, had to have a MRI today under sedation and has come through that well. I was worried about him having to be sedated, but he's groggy and watching a movie according to my sister. Now we just have to cross our fingers and pray that the results come back good. He has an EEG next week on Wednesday and we all hope those results come back good as well. Any prayers will be gladly appreciated.

My house smells really good right now. I have a pork roast slow cooking in the crock-pot right now to make BBQ pulled pork for dinner tonight! YUMMY!! I just had to throw that in here.

The music of the moment today is on the "Mel's Music" playlist on iTunes. The song is "Let's Get it Started" by the Black Eyed Peas. I love pop and hip-hop music, anything you can dance to! In the second book in the Elyssia Masters series, The Council, there is a dance at the end of the book (I haven't written that far yet, but it will be there) and I can just imagine all the characters dancing around to Black Eyed Peas and Flo Rida songs.

Okay, now for the tidbit excerpt of the week! This is a bit longer of an excerpt, but it's the introduction to Train Wrecks. Let me know what you think!

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Saturday, September 6^th

My parents bought me this new laptop for my birthday in July and I haven’t really done much with it yet. I figured I would start a journal. I never know when it may be the day I finally succeed in dying, so I thought I might want to leave something behind. Here goes…

My name is Catherine Marie Nichols, but everyone calls me Cat. I just turned sixteen on July 18th. I live in the small town of Corinth, KY and go to Grant County High School. I live with my parents and my younger sister, Josephine. Everybody calls her Jo. She’s thirteen and most of the time is a real pain in the ass.

Jo is pretty and popular and makes straight A’s in school. She’s my parents’ favorite, especially Mom’s, and I know it. They make it pretty obvious to me.

On the other hand, there I am. I don’t think I’m pretty like Jo. She has long dark brown hair and deep brown eyes and a tanned look all year round. I’m pale with mousy brown hair and greenish brown eyes. We’re about the same height, but I need to drop about twenty pounds to be better.

But, enough with the niceties. The real reason I’m writing this is simple. I hope I die and I wanted to leave an explanation of what goes on in my life behind. Every day I think about dying. I hate my life and everything in it. I’m sure no one can understand that, but that is just the way I feel.

That’s enough writing in this e-journal for now. I’ll try to be more descriptive from now on so you really get it. I think it’s all pretty simple, but not everyone understands what goes on in my head. I’m going to share the darkness with you and you alone.

Introverted Author Putting Herself Out There For Fans!

2009-10-26T11:14:00.000-07:00

It is the week of my book signing and I'm starting to get nervous! This is my first interaction with potential fans of my work and I'm anxious to see how they respond to me. I still have to choose a passage to read aloud at the signing and I have no idea where to start with that one. I'm thinking of using the scene where she first meets Jackson, but I'm not sure. I don't want to choose something too far into the book, but I'd like to pick out something that is one of the key elements in the book.

Of course, choosing an excerpt to read is only part of what makes me anxious and nervous about my book signing. I'm worried no one will show up or on the flip side, too many people will show up and I won't have enough books to sell and they will be disappointed. To be prepared I'm creating a sign up list for prepaid books that I will order, sign, and mail out to people that come but don't receive a book if there are that many people. Part of me would love to have that kind of turn out and part of me is terrified of facing crowds of people wanting my attention!

I suppose it seems silly to have started into a writing career hoping to make it big, yet be afraid of crowds. I really am more of an introvert and enjoy sitting quietly in my house writing rather than being bombarded by people. I am much more satisfied to get to know people online through social networking sites than to meet people face-to-face. However, I promised myself that if I published my work I would make myself accessible to fans and not hide away as some reclusive writer. Now I suppose we'll see how well I handle that!

Today's music of the moment is "Tremble for My Beloved" by Collective Soul off of the Twilight soundtrack. I'm getting excited that it's less than a month away till New Moon comes out in theaters so I've been listening to the Twilight soundtrack a lot lately getting myself all pumped up to see it. I can't wait. I probably won't go the opening weekend simply because it will be a madhouse that weekend, but I'd like to go to see it maybe a week or two later when things are just starting to settle down yet there are still the large crowds of moviegoers that make the theater alive with excitement when you go to see a good movie like that.

I will post again tomorrow along with the new "Tidbit Tuesday" excerpt. I hope you enjoyed last week's opening paragraph from the sequel book to Awakening of a Guardian, The Council. I need to get cracking on working on that book some more and get back into my groove. It's just been hard with everything going on around here. I think I'm just suffering a bit of stress-induced writer's block. I have plenty of ideas, I just can't seem to get them organized lately. I am still hoping to have it done by the end of the year if at all possible though!

Updates, New Moon Soundtrack, & Music of the Moment

2009-10-23T09:19:00.000-07:00

Well, here it is Friday already and I've not written anything all week. I thought that having Jimmy home sick would not be quite so disruptive. I'm wondering now why in the world I ever thought that. The worst part is that I'm not feeling very well right now and may be coming down with it myself so next week may be a bust for writing too.

I'm getting very frustrated with my lack of accomplishing anything on The Council or Train Wrecks. I still have the goal of finishing The Council by the end of the year, but am facing the possibility that it may not happen as I planned. Things have just been very rough this year and everything with Tiana has thrown me off my groove. I hope things settle down after her surgery and allow me to get back to writing at a furious pace to catch up what I wish I had gotten done up to this point.

So, I'm pretty excited that the "New Moon" soundtrack has been released and was just checking out the music video for Death Cab For Cutie's song from the new soundtrack "Meet Me On The Equinox". Check that out here. I also read MTV's article about the breakdown of the songs on the soundtrack here. With less than a month until the release of the movie, I'm getting quite anxious and looking forward to seeing it with Scarlett. My sister says she's waiting to buy the soundtrack until after she sees the movie, but I'm leaning towards going ahead and getting it now and having something to tide me over until the movie's release. I haven't decided which is the best option yet. I'll let you know what I decide...

Today's music of the moment is a cool little tune from Jason Mraz called "I'm Yours". You've probably heard it on the radio and maybe even enjoyed it a little bit or even a lot. I personally think he's got the coolest sound although it's a tad odd. This song isn't related to any of my books, but I do like it and since the music of the moment is just for readers to get to know me rather than just learn about music I'm including in the playlsits for the books, I just freely listen to whatever and tell you about it.

That's all for this week. I look forward to blogging more for you on Monday.

The Sensitive Writer and the Unhealthy Habit

2009-10-22T10:32:00.001-07:00

After reading Nathan Bransford's blog this week I thought I would weigh in on the subjects he discussed as they pertain to me. Tuesday Nathan discussed writers being sensitive souls and yesterday his topic was "When is writing unhealthy?".

Nathan's blog is hugely popular and has a great following and always has many comments left discussing each subject he brings up in his posts. My blog is certainly much smaller in following and readership, but my opinions are still mine, and I like to share them.

As a writer, I would have to agree that writers in general are sensitive, or at least I know that I am. I'm not talking about just being sensitive to criticism of my writing, but sensitive to the world at large. There has always been something about me that causes me to experience things on a grand scale. By that, I mean that whenever something happens to me I feel it strongly, react strongly, and it stays with me. It doesn't matter if it's getting my feelings hurt, getting angry about something, or just having something happen in my life, I am emotionally sensitive.

My husband often tells me that I'm too sensitive, but I think it helps me as a writer to experience life on that level. I know it certainly helps me when writing Train Wrecks. That book is all about the emotional experience of life and without feeling that way about life myself, I couldn't write the book with any degree of credibility. So, while I think that it can be dangerous to be overly sensitive about my writing when it comes to constructive criticism if I intend to survive in the publishing industry, it is necessary to be sensitive to the world to write a thoughtful and provoking novel for my readers.

As for writing becoming unhealthy, I've been thinking about that while I've had this break from writing dealing with various illnesses of my children and a myriad of doctor's appointments. I suffer from obsessive compulsive personality disorder as well as a couple of other psychiatric disorders such as generalized anxiety and bipolar disorder. The OCPD causes me to easily slip into obsessing over certain tasks or hobbies such as writing. It doesn't take much for me to begin writing to the extent that it becomes unhealthy. I can end up spending hours on end writing and ignoring anyone and everything around me at the time for days or weeks.

My husband points this out to me quite often when I get like that. I do the bare necessities of bathing kids, showering, doing laundry, minimal housecleaning, and acknowledging that I'm not the only person in the house, but I will spend countless hours in front of the computer typing away, listening to music, and only socializing via Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and Google Talk. At that point, writing has become unhealthy and I have to learn to step back and take a break for a while. Lately things have been coming up that have forced me to take a break from obsessing over writing, and it's been a good opportunity to think over my obsession and try to retrain myself to take it easy and not push myself to unhealthy writing without boundaries. I admit that it's hard, but I am working on it!

Today's music of the moment is again brought to you from iTunes on my "Writing" playlist I'm working to rebuild after a minor technical calamity. (Computers and I don't always get along.) The song is "Things I'll Never Say" by Avril Lavigne. Yes, anyone who reads this blog knows that I'm a fan of Avril Lavigne. I love her voice and her style of music and much of what she sings is perfect for the YA books I'm writing. If you read the post about the playlist for Awakening of a Guardian you know that there are four of her songs on the official playlist for the book. This particular song of hers is something you may find on the playlist for The Council regarding two of the characters before they realize they are linked.

I'm hoping to get some writing done tomorrow since I'm home with Jimmy while he's sick and had to cancel my appointments for the day. He's feeling well enough to play Playstation now so I might be able to get some work done on my writing tomorrow. We'll see...

Front page news!

2009-10-21T13:21:00.000-07:00

The following is the newspaper article about my book that was front page of the local newspaper The News-Herald in Owenton, KY.

Local author unleashes 'Guardian' on public
By Molly Haines

Owen County resident Melissa Petreshock had always dreamed of writing a novel. Now that her dream has finally come true, others in the county are taking notice.

Petreshock will be at the Owen County Public Library from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Oct. 29 for a book signing of her debut novel, “Awakening of a Guardian.”

Petreshock said her novel was self-published Aug. 27.

The young-adult novel revolves around a teenage girl named Elyssia Masters.

“Elyssia is about to turn 17 in the novel,” Petreshock said. “She starts falling for a new guy at school, Jackson, who is an Australian transfer student. Elyssia discovers that she can read minds and that she’s not exactly an average human being.”

Petreshock said readers who are fans of the Twilight series should enjoy “Awaking of a Guardian.”

The novel is based on a short story she wrote in middle school, Petreshock said.

“Writing a novel has always been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember,” Petreshock said. “Now that I’m staying at home, I have more time to sit down and write. I’m currently working on a sequel to ‘Awakening of a Guardian.’ ”

Petreshock said coming up with ideas for a novel is not something that is planned out.

“Most writers I know just happen upon ideas,” Petreshock said. “I sit down at the computer and write those first few lines and the rest just comes to me. There’s really no exact formula for writing a book.”

Petreshock said she lets the characters lead the way.

“Once I come up with my characters and write more about them, the more I learn about them,” Petreshock said. “Some of my characters have similar characteristics of people I know and sometimes I steal names from family members, but all of the main characters in this book are characters I came up with on my own.”

Petreshock said “Awakening of a Guardian “can be found at www.amazon.com but will be sold at a discounted price of $12 during the book signing.

Fans of Petreshock can find her online at www.melissapetreshockwrites.blogspot.com as well as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter.

Petreshock said “Awakening of a Guardian “can also be purchased through links on her Web site.

I was very excited to be featured in a front page article. I knew there would be an article done since I was interviewed on Friday, but I didn't know it would make the front page! I know I live in a small town at it doesn't take as much to make the front page as it may in larger communities and big cities, but I'm happy just to be a local celebrity if that's all I get from writing my book. Most importantly from writing my book I have the sense of accomplishment that I craved. Even if I never get a literary agent or a major publishing contract, I will know that I succeeded at writing a novel like I've always wanted to do!

The music of the moment today is on iTunes on the "Writing" playlist that I'm working to build. The song is "Things Left Unsaid" by Disciple. This song was sent to me by my sister, Jen, and recommended for my book Train Wrecks if I had a hospital scene between Cat and Nick. She didn't know the plan for the storyline of the book and that there will be a scene at the hospital after she tries to commit suicide that this song will fit perfectly in.

I hope you all enjoyed the "Tidbit Tuesday" excerpt and look forward to more next week. I thought it was a cool new thing to add to the blog for a weekly special.

Anyone who checks out this blog, please refer friends to check it out too and be sure to sign up to follow me publicly! I'm hoping to increase my readership over the next couple of weeks with the upcoming book signing and this news article. Spread the word!!

The First Tidbit Tuesday!

2009-10-20T10:50:00.001-07:00

My youngest child, Jimmy, has the swine flu. How not wonderful life can be. I spent the majority of the day at the doctor's office and the pharmacy trying to get him all squared away and am just getting a chance to sit down at the computer and blog. He's only five so he's very needy when he's sick and wants lots of attention. Right now he's relaxing on the recliner in the living room watching Phineas and Ferb on Disney.

From all the media coverage of the swine flu you would think it was some big scary awful thing, but our doctor said it's just another flu and so long as Jimmy doesn't come down with any symptoms of pneumonia, he will be fine within a week. She told me that the reason people are getting so sick and some people are dying with the swine flu has more to do with the pneumonia than the swine flu.

So, in other news... today is going to be the first in a series of "Tidbit Tuesdays". On Tuesdays I'm going to release a small excerpt from something I'm currently working on, either The Council or Train Wrecks to give you a sneak preview of stuff. These excerpts will maybe be only a paragraph or so, just a taste of what I'm working on. I'd appreciate feedback after you read it each week and tell me what you think. Let me remind you that these excerpts will be from rough drafts of works in progress, not finished works. They may have errors in them and/or in the finished product they may be changed. I will be adding the tidbit at the end of the blog posting for the day.

The music of the moment today is Sara Bareilles "Bottle It Up". I love her bluesy sounding voice. She has a great voice and a unique sound in her music. If you are looking for a new CD to purchase, I recommend her "Little Voice" album. I don't often buy CDs, but I couldn't resist getting hers quite a while back when her song "Love Song" came out and I heard it on the NBC show Lipstick Jungle. (A total pity it was canceled, I loved that show, but I'm a fan of Candace Bushnell's work.)

The Tuesday Tidbit is the opening paragraph from The Council. There's not much I can say to introduce this tidbit excerpt, it's pretty self-explanatory as a first paragraph of a novel.

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It was cold. Not just cold, it was downright freezing outside, and the chill lingered in the air of my bedroom. I could hear the pelting of sleet on the windows of my room. Nothing about it made me desire to get out of my cozy bed on that Saturday morning and put my feet to the hardwood floor I knew would feel as though it had been refrigerated overnight. It was one of those weekends I regretted having to get up for my training. It was often harder than soccer practice with SAQS. Who knew that having such special abilities as mine required training to perfect? Couldn’t I just have naturally grown into them like Evander and most others of our kind?

Picking back up next week!

2009-10-15T13:27:00.000-07:00

Sorry about not posting anything yesterday, things got crazy with a doctor's appointment for Scarlett and then she came down sick on the way home. Today is Scarlett's birthday and she's spent it on the couch sleeping and watching television, running a fever, and throwing up. Oh joy!

Due to these circumstances and the fact that I now have to take her for sick appointment to the doctor tomorrow morning, and something I have going on Monday, I will not be posting again until Tuesday, October 20th. Starting on Tuesday, I think I may do "Tuesday's Tidbits" and begin posting small excerpts from the rough drafts of my current projects I'm writing, The Council and Train Wrecks.

Sorry for the interruption in blogs, but things are going on right now that are out of my control. I will be back to blogging on Tuesday so I hope you will check it out then!

Thank you!

Book Sales, Matchbox Twenty, and The Final Excerpt!

2009-10-13T09:54:00.000-07:00

Well, I think it's not been a good day for writing so far, although the day is still not over. However, it has been a good day to drum up interest in purchasing my book. I sold a copy to the local high school and spoke to the librarians at the middle school and high school in the neighboring county where I grew up. It sounds like I'll have it placed in those schools as well.

Next on my list is to get an article in the local newspaper. I called the contact that the head librarian at our local library told me to speak to about an article, but she's not in until Thursday afternoon. I'll have to call her then and see about getting an interview done for her to put an article in the paper before my book signing on the 29th.

I have two and a half hours until the kids are off the school bus and invading my solitude to get some writing done. I suppose if I stopped blogging and got to it I could write a few pages before they got home. I should probably do that so I'll make this short.

Today I'm listening to Matchbox Twenty on my iTunes library. Sometimes I just feel like listening to one specific band and this is one of those days. The current song on is "Bright Lights". I don't listen to it to remind me of any of my books or to promote writing really. I listen to Matchbox Twenty because they have great songs that move me with their lyrics. I find them to have a lot to say that I want to hear. "Unwell" just came on which is one of my all-time favorite Matchbox Twenty songs. I suppose I relate to the song due to my depression and bipolar disorder... "I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell. I know right now you can't tell, but stay a while and maybe you'll see a different side of me." I feel like that often and that leads me to love this song.

The excerpt of the day is a long one, but it's the last one I will be posting from Awakening of a Guardian. I'm thinking about posting smaller excerpts from various work I do on The Council and Train Wrecks after this to give you something to read and up on what I'm working on. Of course, those postings would be rough drafts and subject to editing and rewrites, but it could be fun to post weekly an excerpt from what I'm working on.

Since this is the final excerpt this is the time to order your copy of my book, Awakening of a Guardian to find out how the story ends and fill in the gaps that reading excerpts doesn't do.

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I concentrated carefully and very slowly said, “You’d have to have a weapon to do so,” just as I raised my hand using my telekinetic powers to grab the dagger from him and let it fly down the hall, slicing through the soft tissue of his hand, and nearly severing his fingers from the palm as it left his hand. He let out a blood-curdling scream as he grabbed his bloodied hand with his good hand, freeing Amie. “RUN,” I yelled to her.

She obeyed immediately and ran down the hallway passing Evander and Nate just as they were reaching the scene. Jackson had regained his footing and was about to come at me again when Evander threw a punch, landing it squarely on Jackson’s jaw. Jackson recovered quickly and swung towards Evander’s chest in an effort to push him backwards. Evander leaned over to the side just in time to miss the connection.

Nate was attacking Jackson’s father, who was still fighting, although one-handed. Nate dropped him with a punch, but Jackson’s father didn’t give up and was back on his feet in a matter of seconds.

Jackson was still going at Evander and getting angrier by the second. He went to punch at Evander again. This time Evander slid to the side a little too slowly and the punch landed on his shoulder. Before Jackson could pull back, Evander swung his arm out, grabbing Jackson’s arm and punched him hard in the ribs. I heard the cracking of bones and Jackson fell backwards with a great grunt.

Evander turned to me and quickly asked, “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine! Help Nate,” I yelled back at him seeing that Nate was having a rough time of it against Jackson’s father. It seemed a normal human was barely any match for even a one-handed Atrumen.

Evander jumped into the fight and gave a high side kick that connected with his jaw and knocked Jackson’s father back to the floor. Nate backed up and got out of the way to allow Evander to finish the fight, realizing he was well overmatched.

Jackson’s father was back on his feet quickly and back in the fight, throwing left-handed punches awkwardly at Evander’s face. Evander feinted to the left then gave a swift right uppercut to the jaw.

Intently watching the fight between Evander and Jackson’s father, I barely caught the movement of Jackson out of the corner of my eye. I turned just in time to see Jackson throw the dagger. I couldn’t react fast enough and it landed in its intended target, Evander. He lost his breath for a moment, and then reached down to his side and pulled the dagger out. Blood came spurting out all over, and I was sure he was going to drop to the floor with the loss of blood. Without hesitation, I used another mind push to direct the dagger in Evander’s hand right into Jackson’s father’s heart. Both Evander and Jackson’s father fell to the floor.

I immediately scrambled over to Evander’s side without even looking to see what Jackson was doing. I had only one thing on my mind, saving Evander. I pushed the now dead body of Jackson’s father off Evander and put my hands to the wound in his side. The warm blood was still draining the life out of his body and he was losing consciousness. I concentrated with all the effort I could muster and could feel heat beginning to pulse through my hands and burning into Evander’s nearly lifeless body just as he stopped breathing.

Dad, help! Evander’s been hurt. I think he’s going to die! Come quick!

Random Stuff, Music, and The Next to Last Excerpt

2009-10-09T16:49:00.000-07:00

Well, today was spent doing things that aren't necessarily fun, but they are necessary all the same. It was bill paying day and the day to go to Walmart to do shopping. Jimmy has outgrown all his play clothes so I had to buy him some and some sneakers too so he has a pair for school and a pair for play too. He's growing like a weed anymore, and I can't believe he's in kindergarten and going to be six years old this February.

The fun thing I did today was go to the library and get the sequel book to The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong called The Awakening. What's funny to me about this book is that is the exact name I had originally chose for Awakening of a Guardian. That was my working title throughout the writing process. I was in Barnes and Noble one day and noticed Kelley Armstrong's book by the same title and realized I really needed to find a new title.

At the library I saw the new October event flyer out and saw my book signing listed in it. Scarlett already came home from school and announced that there are flyers in the classrooms and my book has been checked out of their library already. It's exciting stuff going on with my book!

Well, it's almost time for Stargate Universe to come on so I need to get finished with this blog!! I'm a big sci-fi geek and love all those kinds of shows.

Okay, tonight I'm listening again to my iTunes "Mel's Music" playlist. The music of the moment is "All The Small Things" by blink-182. I love this song and haven't decided if I will associate it with a book of mine or not, but I'd like to think I could find a way to. Now on is "Cannonball" by The Breeders. This qualifies as one of those songs that I have no idea why I like it, but I do. I remember when the song came out and hearing it on the radio and just loving it.

The excerpt of the day is the next to last one. BUY YOUR BOOK NOW AND READ THE ENTIRE THING TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS!!!!

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I realized this was it. This was going to be how I ended up in the school and this was how they got Amie. I felt so stupid for letting her go to Nate’s car without me, but there was nothing I could do about it now. I couldn’t loosen his grip on my arms to use my telekinetic powers. I couldn’t get a hand free to push him away and I dared not scream for fear of what would happen to Amie.

I realized I could send a message to Evander. I kept my mind blocked from Jackson’s and focused on listening for Evander’s mind’s voice. Once I heard him, I concentrated on sending him a message Jackson has me and his father has Amie. Help us please! We’re heading into the school now.

When I didn’t receive a message back from him, I wasn’t sure that I had been blocking outsiders from my mind too hard, or if the distance was too great for him to return a message to me. Perhaps he was afraid it would be intercepted by Jackson and he would know our plan.

We reached the hallway I recognized from my vision and Jackson shoved me towards the restroom. “Your nose is still bleeding a lot. Get in there and clean up so we can have a decent conversation. Don’t dilly-dally around either, El. We have no reason to keep Amie alive if you give us any trouble.” With that, he opened the restroom door and pushed me inside.

I looked around thinking about what I could do now to save Amie. I knew when I walked back out of the door she would be held by Jackson’s father with a dagger to her throat, completely helpless. I washed up my face, cleaning all the dried blood off. Thankfully, my nose had finally stopped bleeding. I looked up at the windows and realized, in my vision, not only was I looking for a way out, I was contemplating if it would be possible to get out, run around, and take them by surprise from a different attack point. They were expecting me to come from the restroom. I was frustrated that there was no way out. No other options, I had to come out from the door where they were waiting from the other side.

Taking a deep breath and preparing for whatever they threw at me, I swung open the door to face them. Just as in my vision, his father was standing across the hallway holding Amie in a tight grip with one arm while holding a dagger in his right hand with the tip right against her throat.

Jackson began to come at me again just as I heard Evander and Nate yelling and running down the hallway towards us. Suddenly, I had the overwhelming feeling of being like some character in a futuristic action movie. I threw a hand out towards Jackson as he strode in my direction and mind pushed him backwards so hard he slid back and slammed into the lockers across the hallway.

His father yelled out at me, “Watch what you do, you little bitch. I’ll kill your friend.”

Book Review, Movie Review, Music, and One of the Last Excerpts!

2009-10-08T14:12:00.000-07:00

Sorry that I've missed doing my blog the past two days. Tuesday I was quite sick with a stomach bug and didn't get on the computer to do anything really. I tried to sit and write, but couldn't concentrate with the horrible stomach pain I was experiencing. Yesterday was the first day of Fall Break for the kids so the day was a little crazy and then yesterday evening my husband and I went out to celebrate our ninth anniversary.

While I was sick I was finally able to finish The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong and am anxious to read the sequel book The Awakening. The story was a bit slow to get going and the hook was difficult to get hooked on at first, leaving me to understand why my daughter Scarlett had given up on the book early on and never finished it. However, if you give it a chance and keep reading it, it gets very interesting and eventually you can't hardly stop reading.

The Summoning is the story of Chloe Saunders, a fifteen year old girl who begins seeing ghosts and is hospitalized in a group home for mentally ill teens. She's diagnosed as being schizophrenic, but begins to realize through the help of some of the other kids in the home that she's not crazy, she really does see and hear ghosts. Chloe discovers she's a necromancer, a person who can communicate with and raise the dead. The plot thickens as she finds that she's not alone as a "supernatural" in the group home. This discovery leads to deeper and darker secrets about the group home she's been placed in. I recommend, if you like paranormal YA lit, that you check out this book at your local library!

Last night we went to the movies and saw "The Ugly Truth" with Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler in it. This was a terrific romantic comedy that was absolutely hilarious and made even better by the sight of Gerard Butler. We laughed ourselves silly at this movie and enjoyed every minute of it. Katherine Heigl plays a producer of a morning show who finds herself dealing with the crass character of Gerard Butler who gets hired to do a segment about relationships between men and women called "The Ugly Truth". Of course, it's no surprise to any moviegoers that they end up falling for each other, but the process of how they get from hating each other to falling in love is so full of laughs that you just have to watch it. There's enough crass and sexual humor for guys to love this movie as well. It's a great date movie and may still be out at your local dollar saver cinema like where we found it last night. Otherwise, wait till it comes out on DVD and catch this hilarious movie while curled up on the couch.

The music of the moment is found on a CD I borrowed from the library by Josh Kelley called "Almost Honest" and the particular song on right now is called "Lover Come Up". It's something new, something I haven't heard before and thought I'd try. So far I really like it and would recommend others to take a listen to Josh Kelley.

The excerpt of the day is nearing the last to be be posted from Awakening of a Guardian. If you have not yet purchased your copy, purchase it now. I will not post any excerpts from the final chapter!

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I insisted that we stick together through the night, regardless of where the guys were. As the night progressed, I was getting chillier and remembered the hoodie I had left in Evander’s car. “Hey Amie, do you mind walking to the parking lot with me? I left my hoodie in Evander’s car and want to get it. I’m getting cold.”

“Sure. I left my jacket in Nate’s car too and wouldn’t mind getting that out either.”

Just then, I realized that I could sense my parents in the crowd somewhere, although I couldn’t see them anywhere. I tried sending Dad a message through my thought projection skill.

Dad, where are you? I can sense you here at the bonfire. What are you doing here?

I waited a minute, pushing my mind out to hear his response. Finally, I heard his thoughts. We could not wait at home worrying that something would happen to you. I wanted to be here in case things go badly and you needed a doctor. Thomas and Gloria are here with us. They did not want to be away either. Where are you?

Amie and I are heading to grab our jackets. We’ll meet you by the refreshment stand when we get back in a few minutes.

Alright, just be safe and watch out for Amie.

“My parents are here along with Evander’s. Apparently, they just couldn’t stay away worrying about us. I told them we’d meet them at the refreshment stand after we grab our jackets quickly,” I explained to Amie.

“Okay. That sounds fine. Let’s hurry up. I’m freezing.”

We fought our way out of the crowd of students and walked to the parking lot. I looked around carefully, but saw no one in the lot. Evander’s car was parked farther away from the field than Nate’s car was, but Nate’s was in the back row.

As we neared the cars in the lot, Amie said, “I’m just going to run over to Nate’s car and get my jacket really quick. I’ll meet back up with you here.”

Against my better judgment, I agreed to go along with that plan. “Okay. I don’t see anyone out here, and most everyone is still involved with the celebration at the bonfire. I didn’t see Jackson or his father leave before we did, although I was having trouble seeing through the throngs of people.”

Cautiously, I kept walking towards Evander’s car, looking back trying to spot Amie in the growing distance between us. It was dark in the lot, making it more difficult to see her as I walked further and further from where we had split up.

Finally, I reached Evander’s car. My hoodie was tossed in the back seat, so I opened the back door and leaned in. Suddenly, out of nowhere I felt someone grab me by my hair with one hand covering my mouth with the other and yank me out of the car, busting my head against the doorframe as they did this. They said nothing and as much as I fought, I couldn’t turn to face my attacker. I could tell by the brute force that it was a man or at least someone male. He pulled me towards the back of the car and smacked my face down hard onto the trunk. I could feel the snap of my nose breaking and the gush of warm blood before he leaned his body closely against mine and whispered into my ear.

“Well, my love. It seems we’re in quite a fix here. You don’t want to be with me, and I just can’t have that. One way or another we’re going to work this out. Now, I’m going to let go of your mouth, and you’re not going to scream. Do you understand me?” I nodded my head as much as his tight grip would let me. “If you make a single peep and my father hears it, he will kill Amie immediately. You understand that?” I nodded again and he slowly released his hand from my mouth. With his newly freed hand, he reached his arm around me wrapping my arms and waist up in his grip so I could barely move. Half-dragging, half-carrying me, he headed towards the school building.

Sinus Trouble, The Summoning, Shinedown, and Shortly Ending Excerpts

2009-10-05T11:35:00.000-07:00

I seem to be fighting off a sinus infection lately and it has be quite run down. Of course, over the weekend I wrote nothing, I rarely do on the weekends with everything else going on. Today I slept in and my head is killing me. I need to go in and take some more sinus meds to help my sinus headache. I hate sinus troubles.

In the good news for the weekend, I started and am nearly done with reading The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong. It's a very good book and a real page turner once you get a little ways into it. I think it took me a few chapters to get hooked on it, but it's good once you get into it. I'll write a full review once I've finished reading it. It shouldn't take me too much longer. When I renewed it at the library I was told that it's on hold for someone else so I do need to hurry up and read it.

In light of my sinus troubles, this will be a short blog.

The music of the moment is on iTunes in my "Mel's Music" playlist. The band is Shinedown and the song is "Second Chance". I don't think this song is particularly related to any of my books exactly, although parts of it make me think of Train Wrecks. I just like this song and the words to it. Sometimes good-bye really is a second chance in your life. When I left my ex-husband, if I hadn't moved away to Massachusetts and away from everyone I knew and loved, I would have never met my husband, Jim. Saying good-bye to everyone I had known my whole life was the second chance I needed to pull my life together, grow up, and find someone to be happy with. So, that all being said, this is one of my favorite songs.

The excerpt of the day is set at the end of the football game and the beginning of the bonfire. This is getting down to the very last of the excerpts for this chapter and will end with a real cliffhanger so you may want to buy the book now! Check it out on Amazon.com or request that your local library order it in. Just look for Awakening of a Guardian by Melissa Petreshock.

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I felt a tightening knot in my stomach as the time for the bonfire neared. The six of us walked up to the field house to wait for Evander and Nate to come out. Both sets of parents admitted to not planning to stay for the bonfire. Nate’s parents both claimed to have to get up early for work the next day since they owned a bakery.

Evander’s parents were well aware of what was likely to happen during the bonfire, but not having any defensive abilities of their own, there was no point to them staying. All they would do was worry more than they already were. I knew they planned to spend the evening with my parents, waiting for word from us, hoping to hear we were all unharmed.

Once the guys came out and spoke to their parents, Thomas, Gloria, Adam, and Jennifer all left. Just before leaving, Thomas and Gloria gave me lingering hugs and I knew they were as worried about me as they were Evander. As his soul mate, he would be alone for the rest of his life if anything happened to me. They didn’t want that fate for him and desperately wanted us both to come home safe that night.

After their parents left, we climbed into our respective cars to head to the bonfire. Slowly, cars began to clear out of the field house parking lot. Students and some parents headed to the school parking lot where our cars became separated by the crowds of people who were making their way through the parking lot and walking around to the field behind the school where the bonfire had already been started. Evander and I ended up parking quite a distance from Nate and Amie. Something inside me knew that was going to be dangerous. Nate and Amie finally were able to find us in the crowd and we headed to the bonfire together.

A dee-jay had been hired and was set up nearby, playing all kinds of popular upbeat music. There were refreshment tables run by the football booster club where they were also selling t-shirts, sweatshirts, and hoodies as they did every year. A crowd was already forming in the area around the fire. Some students were dancing and some were just hanging out.

I spotted Jackson in the middle of a large group of football players as the cheerleaders were leading some school spirit chants. I looked around him and spotted a man I assumed was his father. Jackson looked very much like the man who was about the same height as him and very similar in build. They had the same color hair, only the older man’s had a shorter cut to his. He looked like the man in my vision and I was sure now that the events were about to unfold over the next few hours.

Things started out smoothly. We tried to relax and enjoy the party, dancing, and talking to various friends. We all participated in the cheers led by the varsity cheerleaders, enjoying the win as much as anyone. Amie and I found ourselves separated from Evander and Nate over the course of the bonfire as they were pulled into the football team crowd and in the midst of the cheering and buzz of excitement.

Homecoming, PR, Music and Chapter 12 Excerpt

2009-10-02T09:25:00.001-07:00

Today is homecoming for Owen County High School! I'm not planning to go to the football game like we have in the past couple of years (it's too cold and supposed to rain tonight), but we are participating in the homecoming parade. As coaches for the Owen County Youth Soccer League, Jim and I were informed that the teams are expected to participate on one of the floats. So, we got our team members to sign up and they (along with me) will be riding a float and throwing candy out to the crowds of people who come out for the annual event. Tiana, Jimmy, and I will all be on the soccer float, but Scarlett will be at the head of the parade with the band, marching and playing the pep band songs they play for the football games.

What is odd to me is that I grew up in Grant County which is right next to Owen County and we never did anything like this for homecoming. Granted, we had a fairly new football team and they were terrible, but the school spirit was never there for the football homecoming like it was for basketball. In Owen County, everyone turns out for the football games (usually us included) and cheer like crazy for a team that isn't all that terrific, but they are part of the community and the community rallies around them.

Due to the parade and everything going on today, I'm not getting any writing done today. However, I am working on designing flyers for the book signing to drop off to the middle school and high school for the libraries and English teachers to share with students. I also need to make phone calls to some of the schools nearby and the libraries and see if I can get them to order my book in as well. I need to do some PR stuff to get my book out there more and plan to do that some today before I run out of time and have to go to the parade.

Today, I'm again listening to the iTunes "Mel's Music" playlist and the music of the moment is "Gives You Hell" by The All-American Rejects. If you've ever taken the time to check out my "Writing" playlist on playlist.com you will see that I happen to really love this band and listen to a lot of their songs. I just happen to like them a lot, although this song is not related to any of my books.

The excerpt of the day is set at the football game prior to the bonfire. This is getting to the last of the excerpts and I highly recommend you go purchase the book now so you can read it in its entirety and find out how it all ends! Check it out on Amazon.com!

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We entertained ourselves by talking about the various moves the cheerleaders were doing and pointing out how many of them were seniors and would be gone the next year. The band started warming up and we listened to them for a while. The stands were filling up as most of our small school and the parents of the players showed up for the game. Then the other team showed up and their fans filed into the stands too.

I spotted Evander’s parents, Thomas and Gloria, and motioned for them to sit by me. Soon after, Amie waved over Nate’s parents, Adam and Jennifer. The six of us sat together making amiable conversation. It felt awkward to me that Thomas, Gloria, Amie, and I knew what was possibly to come later in the night while Adam and Jennifer were clueless to the danger their son may face.

Finally, it was seven o’clock and our team ran out onto the field amidst much cheering and carrying on among the fans. We were all on our feet cheering for them as they made their way over to the sidelines.

Most of what happened from that point until halftime was a blur to someone like me who understood minimal football rules and regulations. Thomas kept trying to decipher what was going on, but most of it was not sticking with me. I was distracted by seeing Jackson on the field and worrying about what was going to happen later. I did know that Evander and Nate each scored touchdowns in the first half and we were winning by seven points when the marching band made their way onto the field.

There was much talk in the stands about how well the new offensive guard played and I knew they were speaking about Jackson. I felt a twinge of frustration that I couldn’t lash out and tell them what a complete jerk and menace to society he truly was. Gloria could apparently read my reaction and patted my shoulder in a motherly manner, trying to help calm me.

Soon halftime was over and it was back to the part that I was having trouble following. Honestly, I knew I had never really paid much attention before I started dating Evander or else I would have known more about it by then. I recognized that Kyle, as the quarterback, often handed the ball or made a short pass to Evander who then ran as fast as he could trying to make it to the end zone. I cringed every time he was tackled, expecting broken bones or bleeding from the sounds of it. Sometimes Kyle made a long pass to Nate, and I noticed Amie cringe just as badly when he got tackled too, so I didn’t feel as bad for being a wimp about it.

After what seemed like an eternity, the game was over and we had won, amazingly. I knew everyone would be pumped up at the bonfire. Evander had made three more touchdowns and Nate had made one more. We won by twenty-one points which was bound to make the whole team feel good. It was the best win of the few we had ever had as a school. The offensive coach, Coach Streck, looked ecstatic as the team passed by the stands heading back to the field house locker room.