WOW...LOOK WHAT I FOUND

So, I recently just saw that none of my 'scheduled' posts had posted. So here is one that I wrote right before Halloween.

In the days leading up to Halloween, what kind of inspiration do you get for your writing.

I don't like scary movies but I love reality police shows. I watch The First 48 every day.

Sometimes all day. Lifetime and A&E channels run marathons on Monday, Wednesdays and Thursday with the NEW episode on Thursday night.

I love this show and find myself thinking about the detectives on that show.

My favorite is Carolyn Mason. She is a weave wearing, high heel wearing, gun toting black woman who will make a grown man cry and a teenager ask for his momma.

She is the kind of heroine I need in my stories and well; she is my inspiration for The Stiletto Stalker.

I've been working on this book for two years and finally its done. 

Since its my first murder mystery, I am very hesitant to submit it because; well I'm an author and I don't want it to be bad. (please don't let it be bad)

So for now; it sits in my drawer and on my computer...waiting for the day that I am ready to 'give birth' .

So, what inspiration do you take from Halloween?

MAKING THE BEST OF LIFE

Well here it is March 23rd (at the time of me writing this) and I am making the best of life.

I survived a snow storm on the second day of spring. 

I survived major surgery on Feb. 26th and I survived a severely broken ankle, foot and leg on Feb. 18th.

I'd say I have no choice but to make the best out of the life I am living.

It seems as if I have been living a nightmare for the past year. Things have gone steadily downhill, in terms of my health.

But you know what?

I'm still here; making the best out of my life.

See I could have given up, thrown in the towel and just gotten so down on life that I could have been miserable.

Now, this is not to say that I didn't.

I had my bouts with depression. 

I was on total bed rest for four (4) weeks. I had some really dedicated people in my life that shopped for me, brought me lunch and dinner and even bought my wine! They made me laugh and see how much they loved me.

I will never forgot them for making me see the sunshine when all I wanted to do was see clouds

So I started making the best of my situation.

I finished a novel! Yippee

I finished up my travel agent certification! Yippee

I even finished up my AA degree! Yippee.

It's amazing what you can do when you have time. 

I made the best out of my life and now that I am able to get out of the house. (I'm still in a cast for another four weeks) I am living life to the best of my ability.

Are you?

REFRESHED, RENEWED, REJUVANATED

That is how I feel when I spend time with other authors. 

In the past few weeks, different writer and fan conferences concluded.

MDC3Con (Creatures, Crimes and Creativity) and BoucherCon are two of my favorites. Thrillerfest is another.

This is the time of year for the three R's. 

Refreshing your desire to write. Renewing your goals and rejuvenating that manuscript that has been in your desk for months without seeing the light of day. 

This is also the time of year for the fourth R.

Reflection.

Reflect on what you have done for the last 10 months. Reflect on how your writing has improved. Reflect on what it is to be an author. 

This is the time that the leaves change, your wardrobe gets warmer and your writing should become easier as the day passes. 

This is also the time of year that authors gather to talk and share ideas. They share what they have learned with each other. They share their ups and downs. They share their successes and their failures. 

They also share what they plan on doing differently in the coming year. 

If you don't have a support group to talk to; you really need to join one. 

Better yet....create one. 

Create what you need. After all; writing is a solitary thing. But the benefits of being an author is that you get to meet some amazing people to reflect, refresh, renew and be rejuvenated with.

Are you ready for your new season? 

I am.

AN AUTHOR AND A TINY HOUSE

What do these two things have in common?

ME!

I am so excited to announce that I am purchasing a tiny house and will be writing full time.

What is a tiny house?

It's just what it says; a house that is tiny. Normally a tiny house consists of square footage that is no more than 500 square feet.

If you want to see the type of house I want; Take a peek at it right here. 


If you scroll through the pictures, you will come across one that is near a pool; that is what the outside of mine will look like. Looking further at the pictures; you will see one that is mostly white. That would be mine!

I found this builder and have fallen head over heels for them. Some people might call it stalker; I call it admiration.
 
This is a local builder, located in Virginia, specializing in tiny house: Tiny House Virginia

I fell in love with the tiny house movement about a year ago. I watch TINY HOUSE NATION faithfully every week and if I can't; my DVR records it for me.

I have found many tiny homes via YouTube and if you want to see some of them, check them out on my subscriptions: Tiny House Videos

I have decided to take the leap of faith and become a full time writer and I will use my tiny house as my office and I will have all of the comforts that I need.

Some people use their tiny home as an in-law apartment. Some people use them as rental properties.

I plan on taking mine on the road! I plan on parking it in an RV park or campground. I want to move around every couple of weeks for the new scenery.

I am so eager to begin this new journey and will post updates as they come. 

SUMMER IS HERE!

Well, technically its not actually here but it's close enough that I am ready.

What do you plan on doing. Well for me, its vacation time! But that doesn't mean I'm resting. That means that I am taking a break from my show on +WLVS Radio and dedicating it to my writing and my new twin grandchildren. 

So if you missed my show yesterday, you missed to great +RomanceBooks ForUs +Ayesha Shoulders and +Doris Dancy sat down for some laughs, knowledge and lessons learned. 

Check out the show and tell me what you think. I'll be back in the fall because just like the hit show +Empire I have to keep you guessing! 

Enjoy

'TIS THE SEASON....

Yes, it's that season again and today I come with a few words.

Instead of going out and spending hundreds of dollars, why not spend some of that money to give the #giftofreading to someone.

Books make a great gift and not just  my books! Any Books!

Books should replace TV at least for a couple of hours a day. Our children know how to 'power up' get to the next level and kill every alien on +XBOX 360 +PlayStation and +Nintendo Life but do they know how to read?

This season buy those teenagers, children and the adults on your list some great gifts.

If you are buying them a +Kindle Deals or a +NOOK load it up with a couple of books that they like to read.

That is the best gift you can give. I know I will be gifting books for my reader friends!

Happy Holidays

I'M SO GLAD WE HAD THIS TIME TOGETHER.....

That is the song that me and +Paula Lanier sang at the end of the #MDC3Con yesterday.

We shared a lot of laughs, a lot of knowledge and a lot of networking was done. We shared drinks and took lots of pictures.

Instead of sharing a lot of words, I want to share a lot of pictures.

Brad Parks and I shared a great time at lunch. My sister, +Paula Lanier  came down and introduced my to Alchemy and boy oh boy did the food put me into a food coma. Food Porn is how I describe it

+Puja Guha +Dee Lawrence +Tom O'Day and his lovely wife Marie are the worlds biggest author fans!

+CJ Ellison and +Rebecca York graced us with great advice and great wisdom in the writing world.

Best Con this year! Can't wait until next year!

I HAVE BECOME MY FATHER

There are worst things that I could have become but the worst thing for me, is becoming my father. See, you don't understand.

See for me, I would say to myself "I am never going to say that" whenever he said something crazy to me. he would sometimes say, "If it were a snake, it would have bitten you." when I couldn't find anything. It wasn't like I was asking him to FIND whatever I was looking for. I was simply making an announcement.

First of all, I hate snakes and he knew it, yet he said it all the time when I said, "dad, I can't find............(fill in the blank)

Secondly, snakes are not looking for things except their next meal or maybe a hiding place from people like me.

and third...why would a snake want anything I was looking for...(geez dad)

Imagine my horror when I said, to no one in particular..."If it were a snake, it would have bitten me." and I wasn't talking to anyone. I was looking for my sunglasses because I couldn't find them. (I guess that is the only reason to look for something, huh?)

For three days I looked in the car, the house and in my purse and nothing.

I get into the car this morning and what is sitting on the back seat...the sunglasses. Now here is the thing. I looked in the car but not in the back seat. Hence why I said it would have bitten me.

It's safe to say, that if a snake were in my backseat, and somehow crawled to the front, and slithered across my feet while driving, one of two things would have happened.

I would have crashed the car or I would have traded my car in! End of story. Most likely I would have stopped the car, got out and ran away from it like a deer running from hunters!

But that wasn't the scary part..the scary part came when I realized that I had did the unthinkable.

So on May 13th at 5:47 in the morning, I BECAME MY FATHER!

Gasp! The Horror! and now all that is left is for me to sit in the chair in the corner, turn on CNN and complain that there is nothing on television.