It's been so long!

I feel like I slacked a bit on my blog lately. I have good reasons but it did bug me a bit.

I have been working really hard for my Coaching job and we have been having a ton of performances and practices lately. It's about to calm down though. So that is good but also sad because I enjoy it.

Another reason is I got a new job. Coaching is an awesome job but it doesn't pay the bills until the end of the season and it's only for one season. There was no way I could live of that one. So I finally got another job and I have been working there for about a week or two so I'm starting to adjust to my new schedule.

It will all work out in the end though. I will be having a contest soon! I'm going to start drawing up the plans and then beginning that one pretty soon.

Hope you are all having a great October! My birthday is coming up quick and I always enjoy those. Oooo and Halloween of course!

Me, a little sad. But a Thank You to you guys!

Sadly, the Giveaway hop ends tomorrow night. It's sad because I have been so sick I haven't felt good enough to sit in my computer chair to enter very many of them. The only thing I feel like doing is resting in my bed. The only good thing about that is I'm getting a lot of reading done.

This past week is still bringing down my mood. I have had so many comments regarding my dog from people I have never met before and it just warms my heart that so many people are being so nice. The only sad part of that is complete strangers are doing it when the people in my life aren't. I don't want to name names or anything (not that they read my blog anyway) but people who are supposed to be a big part of my life always disappear when I need them most. But anyway, a big thank you for all those wonderful comments. You guys are amazing!

So back to reading for me now. I am hoping I will start feeling well enough to write too. I feel like I'm neglecting my work unintentionally. Ah well.

Thank you again for all the wonderful comments!

Some random babbling and updates :)

Just want to take some time to throw a few things out there. I have been so busy I haven't had time to read or come on here. My father and stepmother have come to visit (they live in a different state) so I have been trying to soak up as much time with them as I can.

Anyway, tomorrow night I will be posting the Back to Books Giveaway which starts on Thursday. I will be gone all day tomorrow at the Mall of America (first time ever!) and hopefully I will be back in time to post it. I live in Wisconsin so it's like a 4-5 hour drive and I have no idea how long we will be out there.

Update on a few things. I have 2 galleys to read (yay) and I just got an ARC of Metamorphosis by Devon Ashley in the mail today (even louder yay!). I can't wait to read all of them. Starting on the pile tomorrow on the long drive to and from the Mall of America.

Don't forget to stop by after Thursday to enter the giveaway!!

Randomness and junk! :)

I have been falling behind. I'm kind of disappointed in myself but it's hard to get into this Pardox story. I'm pretty sure I won this one. I don't want to give up on it but if I can't get into it soon I might have to put it aside because I have a time limit on two galleys I have and it's getting close.

Anyway, I was going to wait till I have another giveaway but I decided to enter the Back to Books hop. I wasn't going to because I don't have enough extra money this month to buy another book but I got a real surprise in the mail yesterday. Remember Between Here and Forever by Elizabeth Scott? I won that one through FreeBookFriday.com and they sent me to book free. Well the book wasn't signed so when I contacted them to let them know they said they are working to get me a signed bookplate. Well they didn't, they sent me another book. o_O

So now I have two of the same book. So I'm giving away one of them, the unsigned one. Only because the signature was personalized so my name is written in it. So check back on September 1st to enter my giveaway. It should be pretty cool.

Anyway, back to reading and some writing. Hopefully I will be posting a review in the next few days but somehow I doubt it. That's only because the school year is starting and I am the Color Guard Coach at my old high school and that starts up tomorrow. Busy, busy, busy!

My favorite rejection...weird but definitely true.

I finally got my last e-mail reply from my first batch of queries and I have to say it's my favorite rejection. Weird, I know. How can someone have a favorite rejection? Well, my first one was just a flat out no. The last one one I got (before my last last one) was a little nicer saying the usual "Thank you for thinking of us" and "It's a great story but not for us." But this last one really struck a chord with and I realized something has to change.

I actually got constructive criticism from this one agency. I have been waiting forever for them answer and yes, it hurt a little for it to be a rejection but at least since it was a rejection they told me what made them choose what they did and what I should do to make it better.

They told me they think I have something and they were engaged by my plot and my premise but they felt that my writing was chunky and felt unfinished like it was a first draft, which I thought it wasn't. Then they told me I should consider going through it again before submitting it anywhere else because they think I have talent but obviously if the writing isn't fantastic no one will ever glance my way.

You see why I like it? They didn't just tell me no, they explained why it is a no and now I know what I need to work on to make it better. I don't want to have a book published if it's not my best work. I don't want the readers to feel that it is unfinished. I want them to love it. That agency helped me see what was wrong with my work and now I can go back and try to make it better. That rejection was probably a good thing to happen to me even if it was a rejection and I am still without an agent.

So I have decided to go through it again and fix all my common mistakes and try to liven it up and make it feel less chunky. I am also going to make Dawn, the Witch Hunter Trilogy available on inkpop.com, well just a few chapters. I put Princess of the Rebellion on there a while back and I got some tips for that one so maybe I will get the same for Dawn.

Princess of the Rebellion was the first book I wrote and for now I have lost faith in it. Don't get me wrong, I love it. But I needed a break from it and I'm just not ready to go back to it. I will someday because I already have a sequel planned for that one. But like I said, I don't feel like writing it so I'm not going to waste my time because if I don't feel it I know it won't turn out good.

So, I have revamped Dawn. I am starting at the beginning and attempting to make it even better than it was before. I started with the first six chapters and decided to make a new cover. I really hate my first one. The same thing happened for PotR and my second one for that was way better. I definitely feel my new cover for Dawn rocks. It has everything to do with the story, not that anybody would know that because no one has read the story, but I feel it is a perfect fit. A new beginning for this story.

The reason for my silence...new baby!

Wow. I have been so busy for the last couple days. I haven't read any books, I haven't been on here, or anything else. Want to know why?

Her.

My twin sister had her baby on Wednesday afternoon. This is Charlie Marie. She is 7 lbs and 5.2 ounces of pure cuteness! I have spent the last three days driving my sister's other son, Tyler, back and forth from the hospital to see them and watching him while his mommy is in the hospital. Now we are all home and comfy. Tyler is being a wonderful big brother and I am so proud of him. He is quiet when the baby is sleeping, gets mommy whatever she needs, and helps her take care of Charlie. Can you believe he is only 4 years old?

Anyway, hopefully everything gets back to normal (I really doubt it). I hope to get back into reading tonight and hopefully posting a review tomorrow. And maybe a couple other writing pieces.

Have a great weekend!

Awesome News!

I just want to take a moment before I announce some really cool news to welcome all the new people so far! Thanks so much for following me and I hope you will all stick around too.

The Summer Hop ends tomorrow night so if you are here to enter, it is located on the right side. Just click the image and it will bring you directly to the contest page.

OK, so now the news!!! Macmillan Audio saw my review for Dragon's Oath and they loved my review so much they wanted me to help show that Dragon's Oath is also available in audio book. They sent me an copy of the audio book to giveaway to one lucky follower!! Well actually for this one it's not going to be a requirement to follow me but it can be an extra entry.

At the same time as that giveaway I will be having a second prize but that is something for something else. As a celebration for when my House of Night page gets 150,000 'likes' I will be giving away a signed copy of Dragon's Oath or if it takes too long it will be Destined. Who knows! Anyway, I can't wait to host that giveaway. So stick around so you don't miss it.

Even more randomness!

Hey to those few who follow my site! :)

Just want to let you all know ahead of time that on Monday I will be part of the Summer Giveaway Hop hosted by I am a Reader, Not a Writer and BookHounds...Forever Young (Adult). It will run from August 1st-7th and I will be giving away $10 to the Book Depository where they ship for free all over the place. It's a pretty cool online store and an awesome contest. I am so happy to be a part of it. So check back in those days and enter!

I can't wait to get started. By the way, I might not be posting much because I want the contest post to stay as far up as possible. I'm trying to finish all my reviews but my "First-Reads" book came and I have to finish it so they get a review in soon.

So anyway, good luck if you enter the contest. And since it's a hop there are so many more other giveaways going on (I think the last time I checked it was over 200 giveaways!) all giving away book related prizes. So check back on Monday! Have a great weekend!

Random

Just thought I would post some updates while I had some spare time. This whole blogging world is huge. I have been all over the place!

I am keeping up with my Harry Potter Reviews and maybe adding some extra posts if I have time. After that though I have some new reviews to post as well as a number of books to read. I am expecting two books in the mail: one I won entering a blog hop giveaway and an ARC from goodreads.com, have three on my e-reader, and another on my phone using the nook app.

I am excited about all those books. I can't wait to get to them but I have to finish the Harry Potter reviews first. They are very important to me.

Hope everyone is having a great 4th of July!!