It's Been A While

Hey, everyone! How's it going? Been a bit since I've posted. :-/

I have some ideas for posts, but I just can't find the time right now. I've got my fingers crossed that life will smooth out very soon. I should be back and ready to go by Monday (Oct. 1), with any luck I can get something posted sooner. A huge thank you to all my followers, new and old, for still following me even with my lack of content these days.

On my to do list I have 'catch up on genre blogfest' - that one, from last week? Yeah, I'm still planning to get around to them. So, if you stopped by here and never saw me on your site, no worries, I'll be there asap.

I'm having another bit of a funk of sorts. But it's not lack of desire or drive, it's lack of time to do everything I need to. I've got a list of things to get done-writerly and non-that's a few pages long. So, I will see you soon with a post-a real one-very soon.

In the meantime, how have you been? I've noticed a lot of writers in a funk. Has it hit you? I hope not. And to my non-writer(and writer) friends, has life seemed to get in the way for you at all lately?

Happy Wednesday, see ya soon. :)

Genre Favorites Blogfest

Woot! Time for another blogfest.

Genre Favorites

Hosted by the AWESOMELY AMAZING Alex J Cavanaugh

What does it mean? Post your favorite genre in the following categories:

Movie

Music

Book

Plus a Guilty Pleasure from one of these categories.

My favorite movie genre-which I'm pretty sure I've said before-is horror. I've loved it since I was 2.

Music is a tough one. I listen to pretty much anything. I like rap, classic rock, country, classical music, rnb, pop, hip hop, soft rock, hard rock...Really-I listen to them ALL. My playlist right now has all of those on it. But if I had to pick just one to listen to, I'd go country. My reasoning is that country has songs that could almost fit into each of those categories-in a sense.

My favorite book genre is a little bit easy-I read anything with supernatural/paranormal/fantasy/sci-fi elements. Some of you may be saying, those are not all the same genre, so how is it easy? Simple, I consider anything with magic, vampires, witches, wizards, aliens, reapers, angels, demons, made up worlds/planets, etc to be one genre. I hate the genre labels. If I had to name one, it'd be paranormal. But I read books labeled Urban Fantasy-which, um, is fantasy and those have vampires in them. So, I don't know. I mean, really-they're all the same genre-Fantasy. So, whatever genre you want to call it, that's my favorite. (Though I will read anything if it's good-I'll try anything if I think it might be good)

Guilty Pleasure from any of these categories would probably be...lol, Idk. I'm not secretive about anything. I do read Erotica. One of my favorite authors is someone who writes African American/Lesbian, Gay, Bi/Erotica books-her name is Zane-her books are SEX-and I've read a good majority of them and love them. I don't talk about the fact that I read Erotica, so I suppose it would fit in the GP category.

Make sure you stop by Alex's blog-check out the other peeps signed up, follow his blog, read it-love it-because he's quite awesome.

Have a wonderful Monday, everyone. And what are your favorite genres? :)

HEREAFTER Winners!

Okay, y'all-this is my 200th post. WOOT! I'm even more excited that it's a good one...

My giveaway has ended and the winners are:

Kendra C-won an eBook of Terri Bruce's HEREAFTER
Robin H-won an eBook of Terri Bruce's HEREAFTER.
Mayumi H-won a swag pack (scroll down to see pics of the swag)
TJ-won a swag pack (scroll down to see pics of the swag)

Congrats y'all-awesome book and great swag.

Yes, this concludes the most awesome 200th post ever. I know it seemed to go on forever, but hey, I got to make my 200th nice and long...Okay, lol, I know it's short, what can I say? How long have y'all been waiting for a short and sweet post from me? Long time, right? :P

(One thing I'll mention before I go: The boys over at Pineapple Lighting are holding a pitch contest which will give you writers (with a completed MS) a chance to get your 20 word pitch judged by an editor and also a chance to win a copy of HEREAFTER by Terri Bruce! :D Enter fast, contest ends 11:59 Eastern time)

Winners will be contacted shortly. Thanks to everyone who entered. Make sure to keep an eye out for my next giveaway...I feel one coming on soon. ;)

That's it. Happy Tuesday! :)

What I Did Last Summer-Fact or Fiction Reveal

I've been ready for this post since Monday, lol. So, here goes:

On Monday I posted about Fire in the Hole. Let me start by saying, we did go to Silver Dollar City a lot when I was younger, and Fire in the Hole was and still is a for real ride. That story had truths in it. Such as-my sister made fun of me, in fact, my entire family made fun of me. I was terrified during the ride. In tears by the time it was over. There was no malfunction however, and there was no jerk. That year, I vacationed with my grandparents, aunts and uncle, cousin, parents, and my sister. I rode sitting next to my grandpa, and although I loved him dearly, he was the jerk doing stuff to scare the crap out of me. There was someone behind me doing/saying things to scare me, but I can't remember who or what exactly they did/said. That ride also did scar me for life. I have never rode another coaster and highly doubt I ever will. ANYWHO-That story was FALSE,

Which means my ride from hell was TRUE. Oh, so true. And scary. Jeez, so many things went wrong on that trip. There were other minor details that I left out because it would've put me way over the 500 words. Let's just say, that trip made me a bit afraid of road trips. It was bad. And the hail was seriously that scary.

Most people guessed that story number one was true and story number two was false...Which makes me happy that I successfully fooled so many. :D

Thanks for this blog hop, Emily and Melodie, it was a lot of fun.

I'm behind on getting to some of the blogs, I still plan on getting to them all though. Thanks for stopping by.

And (shameless plug) don't forget I'm hosting a giveaway! (Details here)

Happy Friday, Everyone. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. :)

Double Up

I decided that double posting was not a great idea, which led to the decision to repost my rafflecopter entry form today.

Check out the guest post from Terri Bruce. The rafflecopter giveaway is located on that post, but here it is again. Enter and spread the word. It's a pretty awesome book. :D

Happy Thursday, Everyone. :)

(PS-I'll be back to my Thursday TAG! posts next week.)



a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Road Trip and IWSG

Okay, here's story number two of the 'What I Did Last Summer Blog Hop'

A couple summers ago, a friend of mine came to visit from Ohio. I decided to drive her back-with my sister so there would be three of us to alternate the driving. I rented a brand spanking new and oh so pretty car, and we headed out that night.

We drove from Oklahoma, through Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and finally Ohio. I won't say the trip went smooth, but it wasn't too bad until we hit Indiana. Because as soon as we were nearing the Indiana/Ohio border, a MEGA storm hit. Rain was pouring down on us at first, which made driving a bit difficult considering the busy highway, but it wasn't too bad.

Suddenly though, the rain became tons of hail bigger than softballs. Driving was near impossible, but we were on a highway and there were no overpasses or anything to take cover under. So, we pushed forward, very slowly, and just prayed the hail would stop soon.

It didn't stop soon. No, it started pounding the roof and windows of the car. My friend was in the backseat praying that we'd make it through alive, my sister was driving and trying to keep her composure, while I was calling my kids and my niece and nephew because we honestly feared for our lives and wanted to tell our kids we loved them.

As the hail pounded the windshield, cracks began forming, and we started freaking out even more. Semis were swerving all over the road, sight was near impossible, but finally we found reprieve at a gas station.
We stopped, waited out the storm, and continued on our way.

Finally, we reached Ohio, dropped my friend off, and turned around heading back for Oklahoma.
My sister and I were certain the return trip would go well, we were wrong. But it wasn't that bad, well, okay it was.

We were driving along in the dark when-BAM!-out of nowhere we hit something, hard. After stopping to look back and make sure there wasn't a dead human body behind us, we kept going. It was dark, the area was unknown territory for us, and there were no stores around. By the time we reached a gas station, the car was acting weird. Being still nighttime, we didn't spend much time looking it over though.

The next stop we made, in the daylight, we popped the hood to check out the car. Whatever we hit had pushed the radiator back.

Oh well, nothing to do about it, we were still miles from home and with the wild trip, it made more sense to us to just keep going.

I returned the car, battered and beaten-no longer brand new and pretty-to the rental place. Luckily, I spent the extra to have insurance, so no cost for the damages. And that's a huge luckily because that car was totaled.

Insecure Writer's Support Group

I'm a big not-fan of too many topics in one post, however my Monday double post did not go well. I still have a LOW number of visits to my guest post from author Terri Bruce. Which sucks even more because there's a GIVEAWAY on that post. If you missed it, go check it out.

So, I'm posting the IWSG post in this same post. Which is okay really because I kinda whined in that one post a week or two ago so I don't have a lot to say.

As many of you know, I spent a lot of August (and really, it's been going on for a while) being unmotivated. I struggled to accomplish much of anything. Last week though, I found my motivation and got back to writerly things. I'm caught up on crits and I sent my completed MS to a couple people for a read through. Now I just need to get back to my wip, keep caught up on crits, and get some reading done. Plus, I need to get back to my blogger friends, I've been neglecting y'all too much lately. :(

I may have found my motivation, but keeping is proving to be a challenge. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed though that I can get back to 100% though and next month's post will be awesome.

Happy guessing and writing everyone. :)

What I Did Last Summer Blog Hop - Fire in the Hole

Please make sure you stop by my first post of today. I've got author Terri Bruce and a giveaway!!!

Okay, y'all, it's time for another blog hop. YAY! :D

Here's how this one works:

Monday, Sept 3-post one summer story, 500 words or less, true or false.
Tuesday, Sept 4-check out the other blogs taking part and see your competition.
Wednesday, Sept 5-post one summer story, 500 words or less, true or false depending on which you posted on Monday.
Thursday, Sept 6-check out the other blogs taking part and vote in the comments for which is their true story and which is their false.
Friday, Sept 7-reveal which story was true and which was false.
Late Friday/early Saturday, Sept 8- PRIZES!!! (Hop on over to Emily or Melanie's blog for complete rules and details.)

So, onto the blog hop.


One summer when I was about five years old, my parents took my sister and me to an amusement park. I was super excited, after all-it was my first amusement park and a chance to put a stop to my sister's endless taunting about how big of a sissy I am. (My sister and I are eight years apart, btw.)

So, we get to the park, ride a few BS rides and then get to the one. Ya know, that ONE roller coaster ride that every amusement park has guaranteed to rock your socks, make you puke/terrified/both/etc etc. I've always been short so when I saw the 'you must be this high to ride this ride' sign, my spirits drooped a little. I slinked up to the sign; shoulders slumped and pout on my face. The ride attendant laughs at me and says, “Go ahead and see, but I doubt a shorty like you will even come close.” That got my attention; I perked up, straightened my shoulders, and stood as tall as I could. I made the hight limit by one inch. YES! I was in.

My dad, my sister, and I make it through the line, climb into the cart, and are strapped in. Now, let me tell you about the ride. It was called 'Fire in the Hole' and was inside a building. There were scary things on the side of the rails, water that got dumped on you at different points, fire of course, and twists/turns/ups/downs. With my huge Kool-Aid smile on and hands gripped tight on the bar holding us in, the ride begins.

The thrills the ride promised were true. And although I was scared, I was determined to prove to my sister that I was not a big baby. I bit my tongue and tried to enjoy the ride. Then, halfway through-the ride halted. Wth?!? "Dad, why did it stop? Is it supposed to do that?!" "Of course, it's all part of the ride, honey, just relax." Then some ass in the cart behind us, leans up, grabs my shoulders, and says, "Don't listen to your dad, little girl. Scream and be terrified, because this ride just malfunctioned. We’re stuck, who knows what will happen now." Oh was my dad pissed, and damn was I scared. But, the ride started back almost immediately after.

Unfortunately, after the incident, I didn’t enjoy the ride one bit. I was horrified, crying, screaming, and almost pissing my pants. I couldn't get off the ride fast enough. I ran to my mom balling, as my dad cussed the crazy guy out. Crazy guy laughed it off and walked away, my sister made fun of me, and my dad laughed as he told my mom that I wasn’t ready for big kid rides and maybe we could try again in a few years.

Once my fear eased, anger and embarrassment kicked in. But, that experience scarred me for life; I hate and fear all roller coasters.

Ghosts and the Afterlife in Film via Terri Bruce

(My blog hop post is here, if you're looking for that one. But you should read this first, there's a giveaway! :D )

Hey, y'all-it's a blog tour!! This is my first one ever, so I'm excited. And it's even more exciting that it's someone as awesome as, Terri Bruce author of HEREAFTER. Terri's going to tell us her top ten movies containing ghosts and the afterlife.


Terri’s Ten Favorite Depictions of Ghosts & The Afterlife in Film

Spirited Away
I think hands down Spirited Away is my favorite movie about ghosts. I love Miyazaki films anyway, and then when you add in the rich and beautiful spirit world he has created in this movie, this one becomes one of the richest depictions of the spirit world on film. I especially love the idea that the spirits need a bath house—a place where they go to relax and rejuvenate.

Just Like Heaven
Now, (SPOILER!), technically Reese Witherspoon is not a ghost in this movie, but we (and she) don’t know that until the end. Not only is this movie super sweet, but the scenes of the various psychics that Rufolo calls in to rid his apartment of Witherspoon are hysterical! It’s fun to see the “ghost’s” reaction to all of the ghost repellent charms.

Defending Your Life
This may be one of my all time favorite movies and probably my favorite depiction of the afterlife. I love the idea that the entire point of everything is live without fear, though I cringe at the thought of having to re-watch certain parts of my life and then defend my actions or choices. Hopefully, I’ve grown and improved over the years, but that doesn’t make the places I’ve stumbled any easier to relive!

Ghost Town
This movie has a very interesting take on ghosts—I love how, at first, they are just hanging around. No one can see them or hear them, so being a ghost is obviously extremely boring. They have unfinished business and they can’t move on until they complete it. What I find particularly fascinating was how the ghosts seem to have extremely little interest in the world of the living. They’re dead, they know they’re dead, and they all seem perfectly fine with that. They just really want to finish up their business and get going.

Beetlejuice
Beetlejuice seems to be on the opposite end of the spectrum from Ghost Town—these ghosts DO want to interact with the world of the living; or, more precisely, they want to hang onto their earthly/worldly possessions. There is no “moving on” here; the Maitlands are apparently stuck in their house until the end of time and they have no intention of sharing with the living. What’s also funny is that in this version of the afterlife, the dead are trying to exorcise the living, rather than the traditional other way around.

One Magic Christmas
My husband thinks this is a terrible movie—Mary Steenbergen is lead to believe that her husband dies, that she loses her job, and that her children are kidnapped (and nearly die), just to teach her about the spirit of Christmas—but it’s always been one of my favorites. In this movie, we have the idea that the dead serve as guardian angels, watching over the living. Harry Dean Stanton as the “angel” is a strange and fabulous casting choice—who can resist?

Sixth Sense
Here we have the traditional “unfinished business” view of ghosts with the added twist they can interact with the physical world—they can open and close doors, cabinets, even drawers. We also have the element that some people can naturally see and talk to ghosts (as in Ghost Town—there, the ability to see ghosts is created by the character’s near-death experience. In this case, it appears to be a natural ability), which has been used in other movies, such as Ghost and the Frighteners.

The Innocents
Here’s a movie (based on the James Joyce novel, “The Turn of the Screw”) where the ghosts aren’t the main characters—this is not a story of the living battling the dead or of the dead reconciling themselves to death. Instead, what we have here is a story in which the “ghosts” are symbolic representations of the Victorian fear of death, repressed sexuality, and mental instability. In fact, the ghosts may not even be real. In some ways, that is much scarier than an actual horror movie, where one knows the ghosts are real. It’s hard to fight external forces when you’re not clear if they exist or you’re simply imagining things.

The Ring, Tale of Two Sisters, Re-Cycle
Now I hate to stereotype, but hands down, the South Koreans are the king of horror movies—they make some damn scary stuff! All of these movies scared the beejeebers out of me, particularly The Ring. Here we have some typical “horror” type depictions of ghosts: ghosts are scary, malevolent, and have supernatural powers (super speed, super strength, ability to fly, crawl out of televisions, and hide under kitchen cabinets).

Ghostbusters
Here ghosts are depicted as simply annoyances to be removed, akin to roaches or mice. We see a variety of spirits—some that are clearly dead humans and some that don’t appear to have ever been human—but the movie remains extremely tight-lipped on the existence of an afterlife and what happens to us once we die (does everyone hang around as a ghost or just some people? If just some people, why do those people end up here, rather than moving on?).

Some good movies up there, thanks Terri. :)

Now, here's a little something about Terri and her book:

HEREAFTER

By

Terri Bruce

Why let a little thing like dying get in the way of a good time?

Thirty-six-year-old Irene Dunphy didn't plan on dying any time soon, but that’s exactly what happens when she makes the mistake of getting behind the wheel after a night bar-hopping with friends. She finds herself stranded on earth as a ghost, where the food has no taste, the alcohol doesn’t get you drunk, and the sex...well, let’s just say “don’t bother.” To make matters worse, the only person who can see her—courtesy of a book he found in his school library—is a fourteen-year-old boy genius obsessed with the afterlife.

This sounds suspiciously like hell to Irene, so she prepares to strike out for the Great Beyond. The only problem is that, while this side has exorcism, ghost repellents, and soul devouring demons, the other side has three-headed hell hounds, final judgment, and eternal torment. If only there was a third option…

About the Author

Terri Bruce has been making up adventure stories for as long as she can remember and won her first writing award when she was twelve. Like Anne Shirley, she prefers to make people cry rather than laugh, but is happy if she can do either. She produces fantasy and adventure stories from a haunted house in New England where she lives with her husband and three cats.
Contact Details
Email: tbruce[at]terribruce[dot]net
Website/Blog: www.terribruce.net
Goodreads: Terri Bruce
Facebook: Terri Bruce Fan Page
Twitter: @_TerriBruce

(I also did a Thursday TAG! with Terri in May, check it out here.)

Wait, there's more. :D

I'm hosting a giveaway!!!!! YAY! Y'all know how I love my giveaways. :P

Using the Rafflecopter form below, enter for a chance to win one of two eBook copies of HEREAFTER up for grabs, or one of two swag packs. (Swag packs contain: 2 postcards, 2 bookmarks, & a set of two afterlife-related, blank note cards with matching envelopes - various designs. Click here for pictures of swag)

That's it...What're you waiting for? Enter the giveaway and spread the word!! :D

(Giveaway ends at 11:59PM Sept. 10, 2012)

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