I had such a great weekend!  The book festival went well, and I sold a good number of books, made new connections, and met some wonderful readers and authors.  It never gets old talking about books, does it?  One reader and I were discussing how our golfer hubbies can recall what they shot on a certain hole a decade ago, and how crazy that is.  But if you ask a reader about a well-loved book they read years ago, many of them can quote lines and tell you the page it came from – guess it’s not so different.

Here are some pics of my new banner and table setup.  We had cramped quarters.  Unbeknownst to the organizer, the hotel underwent some renovations and had cut the size of the ballroom by half, but it all worked out in the end.  And my table mate never showed, so I was able to spread out.

Hubby and I also saw my oldest son and his girlfriend – always a good time.  After the book fest, I went to Comic-Con with them at Rupp Arena.  I was in nerd heaven!  Some of the costumes were so elaborate and well done – just amazing.  I rode the elevator with Star Wars characters, saw Ghostbusters, Star-Lord, Captain Jack Sparrow – the list goes on.  I also caught a glimpse of Mark-Paul Gosselaar from The Passage.  I’m hoping since he still has the beard, they’re already filming the second season – keeping my fingers crossed.  If you’re a fan of The Office (which I am), here’s a shot of Creed.  I wasn’t able to get pics of Leslie David Baker (Stanley), Kate Flannery (Meredith), or Oscar Nunez (Oscar), but it was fun to see them.

Happy reading and writing this week!

 

I have my first book fest of the year coming up this weekend.  I’ll be at the Lexington Legendary Book Bash this Saturday, April 23rd, from 10am to 4pm.  I always enjoy these events – meeting readers and other authors, catching up with authors I’ve met at other events.  These are my people.  If you’re in the area, stop by!  As a bonus, my oldest son lives in Lexington, KY, so hubby and I can spend some time with him and his girlfriend over the weekend – yay!

Speaking of my sons, the oldest lives a couple of hours away, and he’s more of a texter than a caller.  The other attends college in the town where we live, but lives on campus – we rarely see him.  Yesterday, the oldest calls me and the youngest shows up at the house to pick up something.  Wonderful, right?  It’s at the same time.  If they talked to each other more, I’d swear they’d planned it.

This has been a Netflix weekend for me.  On Friday, I got a double surprise when new episodes of Arrested Development and Queer Eye (love those guys) dropped.  Last night, I made the ultimate sacrifice and DVR’d The Walking Dead to watch Triple Frontier, and Netflix original with Ben Affleck and Charlie Hunnam, with hubby.  I was a huge Sons of Anarchy fan, and I’ve missed seeing Charlie Hunnam on the screen.  Check out the movie if you have time – it’s definitely worth watching.

Happy reading and writing this week!

 

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned I’d have some extra writing time coming up, and I was determined not to waste it.  After reading a post about unplugging by Mae Clair at The Story Empire, I decided to give it a try.  Friends, I’m now a firm believer that unplugging makes me a more productive and creative person.

Over a weekend, I refrained from checking email and social media of any kind.  I never opened a browser, and it was freeing and liberating.  I’ve struggled with this WIP, hitting one roadblock after another, but in those two days epiphanies were had, word counts increased substantially, plots twists created, and character motivations revealed.  It’s like I was possessed by a totally different writer.  If you haven’t tried this, give it a shot and see what happens.

Is anyone else watching The Passage?  I read the series by Justin Cronin a few years back, and wondered how the adaptation for television would go.  After The Walking Dead, it’s now my favorite show.  It’s been several years since I read the first book, so I can’t tell you how closely it’s sticking to it, but the story line is totally compelling, with some nail-biting scenes.  The talented young actor who plays Amy is the perfect blend of adorable, clever, and calculating.  She does a fantastic job.  The season finale is this week, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it’s renewed for next season.

Happy reading and writing this week!

I didn’t get as much done as I would have liked last week with the WIP, but I figured out a huge plot point that was causing some wrinkles, so taking care of that is priority one this week.  I also have the opportunity for extra writing time over the next two weeks, so I have no one but myself to blame if I waste it.  I’ll keep you updated!

Last weekend, hubby and I, along with our oldest son and his girlfriend, had the opportunity to go to the NBA All-Star games in Charlotte, NC, where we also have family.  Through hubby’s business contacts, we were extremely fortunate to have box seats.  I’m not really into basketball, but when I have the chance to spend time with my sons, I take it.  We had a fantastic time, and my son was totally starstruck at seeing LeBron James, Dirk Nowitzki, Stephen Curry, and Dwyane Wade play, but also see former greats such as Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, and Magic Johnson – who he almost literally ran into while leaving the restroom.  He was also thrilled to see a bunch of other players I didn’t know.  But I did recognize Guy Fieri from The Food Network and we passed Spike Lee coming out of a restaurant!

 

If you’re looking for a movie, we watched First Man last week, and it was wonderful.  Other than the obvious – Neil Armstrong being the first person on the moon – I knew nothing about his life.  Parts of it were tragic and heartbreaking, and Ryan Gosling did an outstanding job with his portrayal.  It’s definitely worth your time.

I’m still working on the second draft at a snail-sloth pace (Thanks for the new word, Sarah!), but progress is being made.  So that’s a plus.  Thanks for all the positivity sent my way last week – it certainly helped!  I’m not sure if I mentioned it before, but this will be a duology, a new feat for me.  It’s not something I planned, but the characters let me know their story wasn’t finished, and with YA books, it’s generally frowned upon to have a word count much higher than 80K.

I can’t believe I forgot to mention this last week, but have you guys ever tried Escape Rooms?  My oldest son and his girlfriend were here a couple of weeks ago, talking about how they did one with friends and how much fun it was.  I knew there were a few facilities where we lived, so the four of us (hubby is included) scheduled a room.  Our mistake was choosing a scenario (Murder Hotel) with an 8 out of 10 difficulty level.  The first ten minutes convinced us we were the stupidest people on the face of the planet – then we started putting clues together.  We had to ask for help a couple of times, and if we’d only had a couple more minutes, we would have escaped.  It was loads of fun, and we plan to give it another try the next time they’re in town.

You guys know I’m a Stephen King fan.  Did you know they’re doing a remake of Pet Sematary?  It’s been a while since I’ve seen a good horror movie.  Enjoy the trailer.

I’m still working on my second draft of the new book – which is still untitled.  Right now, the working title is Book 3.  Take note of my eloquence.  With Sarah, I struggled for months to find the right title, and only decided on it five minutes before sending the manuscript to my publisher.  With The Gemini Connection, the title popped in my head almost from day one.  Anyhoo, this second draft seems to be moving at a snail’s pace.  I’m frustrated that, considering the amount of time I’ve been working on this book, from the day the idea popped in my head until now, this is as far as I’ve gotten.  With TGC, I was in a similar situation, although not to this degree, but once I reached a certain point in the writing process, progress moved with the speed of a freight train.  I’m hoping that train shows up pretty soon.  Anyone else in/has been in this situation?

A new book festival is starting up an hour from where I live – Heartland Book Festival, if anyone wants to apply.  Friday will be Children’s Day – it’s always fun seeing swarms of kids with books in their hands, and Saturday will also be a signing day, with panels and presentations.  I’m hoping I get in, but if not, I’ll probably be there as a reader.  My next event is the Lexington Legendary Book Bash, in Lexington, KY in March.  That’s one I always look forward to – not just for the signing, books, and meeting readers and other authors – but my oldest son lives there.  So it’s like a bonus!

So I’m over halfway through the second season of The Punisher on Netflix.  Jon Bernthal (a Walking Dead alum) does a fantastic job as Frank Castle.  Speaking of The Walking Dead – it returned last night!  A lot of changes this second half of the season, and it’s been a long wait since the first half ended.  There haven’t been any movies out lately I’ve been excited about.  However, Captain Marvel releases March 8th, and Avengers:  Endgame is out April 26th – do you really need to ask where I’ll be on those days?

Have a great week!

 

So how’s your winter going?  We finally got a dusting of snow Saturday night/early Sunday morning, and the temps are below freezing today.  This is the most ‘winter’ we’ve had this season – makes me wonder if we’ll be seeing snow in March and April.

If you’re a regular visitor to this blog, you know The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Choksi was in my top five reads last year (I had an ARC).  The book was just released last week, and on Friday, I learned the author would be at Parnassus Books in Nashville on Saturday afternoon.  Since that’s only an hour drive for me, you can probably guess where I was that day.  Despite the rainy day, there was standing room only at the bookstore, and Roshani was a delight – such a wonderful sense of humor, and she answered every question before signing books.

Next Monday, three other Black Rose Writing authors and I will begin a blog tour with R&R Book Tours.  I don’t have the schedule yet, but Shannon from R&R created a fantastic banner.  The books are various genres under the YA umbrella – contemporary, thriller, sci-fi/fantasy, and coming of age/semi-autobiographical.  Make sure to stop by and register for giveaways and show us some love!

So, I finished You on Netflix, and I’d recommend it if stalker/thrillers are your thing.  This weekend, I started watching A Discovery of Witches, based on the book by Deborah Harkness.  I’m such a fan of that book series, and was skeptical of the casting of one character in particular, but the actor is slowing winning me over.  Watch it on Shudder with a 7-day free subscription – only 8 episodes.