by Sarah | Sep 5, 2016 | Books, The Tribe, Tuesday Tales, Writing
Welcome back to Tuesday Tales! This weeks prompt is Spider.
I’m right about knee deep in the fourth book in The Tribe series, The Child, I’m doing this next scene from it as well.
Velli is all dressed up with somewhere to go…her own wedding. A past of crap happening at every turn has her nervous…but she’s ready, willing, and oh-so-able to finally wed her mate, Kane.
Her good friend Noelle pops into the room to check on her…and here we go:
A soft knock pulled her from her musings. Noelle poked her head around the door. Her bright smile lifted Velli’s spirits quicker than her voice. “I figured you’d wait to get dressed. You look beautiful. What’s wrong?”
“Damn perceptive Fae.” Velli hugged her friend gently. “I’m fine. Just anxious for the wedding to start.”
“No cold feet?”
“Not even a toe. For either of us.”
“Oh, I have no doubt that Wolf is ready, willing, and able, to drag you down that aisle if even a toe gets cold.” Noelle laughed. She touched Velli’s forehead. “So why so dark and stormy. You’re going to give yourself wrinkles.”
“Age old habit of going over the worst case scenario in everything.” Velli sighed. “It’ll pass soon as I’m down there and walking.”
“I suppose that’s more than fair if we take into account your long and horror-storied history.” Noelle took Velli’s hands in hers. “So let’s distract at least for a few minutes. Where are Johnny and Kai? I thought they’d come.”
“They were going to, but then thought better of it. Kai is still mad at me, for one thing.” Velli didn’t care if Kai was mad she’d created a clone for the Raven who was now her son Tam—only to immediately destroy all information and tools used to create him. The circumstances called for it. “Plus, John wanted to be respectful of Derek’s need for some space.”
“John is a good man. Kai is a good person in there. She’ll get over what happened. New mates should be happier, I know from experience.” Noelle chuckled.
“Well to be fair, I wasn’t exactly flowers and sunshine in my new-mate status so I suppose I can’t fault her for having issues—her own guilt being one of them. However,” Velli paused mid-sentence as a spider dropped right between them to hover.
An old superstition reared its head at the sight of the creature. There were a few bad luck omens for wedding days, a black spider being one of them.
Velli held out her hand, but wrapped it in a protective layer of water before she allowed the black widow to touch her hand. “Well, look what we have here.”
“Don’t freak out, please.”
The spider crawled along Velli’s protected hand. “Why would I?”
“It’s a bad omen, isn’t it? You’re already nervous, I don’t want you to freak out.”
“You’d think I would, wouldn’t you? However…” Velli carried the creature to the window. As it crawled onto the siding, she smiled. “We need to put this supposed omen into perspective.”
“Meaning?”
“There are a couple other bad omens for weddings. A black dog and a crow. Considering my mate is one massive black dog, and my newest child is the reincarnation of a big-ass Raven…I think omens are overrated in my case.”
Noelle laughed right along with her. “I guess when you put it that way, you have a point.”
“When there are so many other things to worry about, omens seem like the least of my problems. I’ve sent her on her way, and I’m all right.” Velli turned to her friend. “Not more or less nervous than before.”
“Are you sure?” Noelle drew close again. “I can soothe the savage beast if you want. I have a good repertoire of songs.”
Velli smiled at the offer. Her friend being a Siren did have its advantages. She could literally sing a person to sleep, to laugh, to be silent, whatever the situation called for. “I appreciate it, but you’ll never entirely soothe the beast of my past. I’ll be fine. Kane is my mate already, this is just formality. My nerves are little more than—well, nerves.”
Noelle kissed her cheek. “Good. Do you want me to stay? You still have twenty minutes before your mother comes to fuss a final time, along with your father to lead you to the ceremony. I can stay.”
“No, you need to go with your mate. I’ll be fine. Between the silence and the fussing, I honestly don’t know which is worse.” Velli winked. “I’ll take silence for now.”
“All right. I’ll see you at the circle.”
“You bet your ass you will.”
*~*
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by Sarah | Aug 29, 2016 | Books, General, Goals, Writing
Well I said the second job might kill me and I was nearly right. I’ve had to quit due to my really horrible feet requiring more surgery (in just about 2 months now!). What that means is that I am finally getting on a roll toward these crazy lofty goals. In the past couple of weeks things have picked up steam. I released The Chief, the third in The Tribe series. I finally finished Red Zone and it’s been through edits. I’m revising the second to last existing Dominion Falls book, and working on The Child (The Tribe 5).
So things are going a little wacky crazy here in a good way for a change. 2016 may turn around yet.
For a brief period of time I lost my precious notebook with pages of notes for all the series, the 40+ planned books, and ideas for character names…but fortunately it turned up right as I was about to throw in the towel and cry my eyes out. And of course it was right in a place I looked 20 times. So with that stress gone I got on the ball and worked hard this week.
Onto the update!
First, my overall goals for the year…
- I’ve challenged myself to write 600,000 words in 2016. (at 317,514 as of 8/29/16. Finally crossed halfway, but way behind.)
- I will build my audience and work harder at promotion. (This is going GREAT. Had a couple of real surges due to some promo opportunities I got in on. Excited for it to continue!)
- I will regain my focus. (Really kicking off now. The younger kids are back in school, and while I’ve picked up more hours at the bank, I still have free days for work. Past two weeks have been stellar.)
- I will face my demon/salvation – the one story I’m afraid of. (Nope, not even a little bit yet)
- I will decide by July if I will return to Lake Point in 2017. (So…it’s past July…and I’m still not 100% sure. I know I am doing some revisit/recap stories of the existing books…and have story ideas for more books, but haven’t figured out when I will return to this lovely town.)
- I will prep all the things for print. ALL. The. Things. (Tribe and Wolf are in print. The Chief is giving me fits, which I hope to fix soon. Next is The Raven. I’m still working on others on the side.)
- I will update my author website. (Haven’t gotten much further, and need to add pages for The Chief and The Raven, among others. Again, slow going…but I’m getting there.).
And next is my list of projects. The list seems small without all the Lake Point books of the past on it, but I’m sure it will change and grow over the year. The books in ORANGE are current works-in-progress. The books in BLUE are new to the game.
- Into a Mirror Darkly (Morgana Chronicles 1) – 100k (~10k done)
- Dust Raiser (Dominion Falls 6) – 100k (Title Change!!)
- Dead Man’s Switch (Dominion Falls 7) – 100k
- Red Zone (Dominion Falls 5.5) – 40k (DONE 8/10/16)
- The Raven (The Tribe #4) – 85k (DONE 5/15/16)
- The Child (The Tribe #5) – 85k (~7k done)
- The Seer (The Tribe #6) – 85k
- Auld Lang Syne 1 (Lake Point 12.5 ~ Revisiting Year 1)
- Auld Lang Syne 2 (Lake Point 12.6 ~ Revisiting Year 2)
- Untitled Project (Hand Delivered Book 1) ~ 40k
- Escaping Humanity (Co-authoring w/ Mary Terrani) – 100k (60k done)
- Masked Hearts – Create new cover and re-release this one last SCP book (Plan to work on this in September)
- Fall (Hidden Senses #1) ~30k
2016 has definitely been a struggle and a half for me. I am glad to see things picking up, and look forward to much more. I have plans to make some more money on the side to make up for my lost job, but I don’t expect those things to take too many hours out of my week. I still plan to meet the lofty goals I set for myself, and can’t wait to continue to tackle them all!
Now, off I go to editing. I have a book due to release on October 4th.
by Sarah | Aug 22, 2016 | Books, The Tribe, Tuesday Tales, Writing
Welcome back to Tuesday Tales! This weeks prompt is Fans.
As I’ve just begun the fourth book in The Tribe series, I thought I’d weave this weeks prompt into my first chapter.
This is book 5 in the series. Kane and Velli have been through quite a lot in this series, and aren’t even actually married yet (though they are mated). This books begins with them heading home (to the reservation in Canada) after helping a friend in the states.
Though they’ve had a chaotic time at the sanctuary, they’ve not forgotten about the organization that seems hell-bent on getting to Velli…or the Hunters they employ to do so.
So, here ya go:
A sudden cold burst of air hit Velli in the face. She startled out of her half-asleep state to regain her bearings. “What the hell are you doing, Kane? Turn those fans off.”
“Shh. Don’t wake the kids.” Kane’s voice remained hush but tense as all get-out.
Velli wiped her eyes and tried to re-orient herself. They were still in the SUV, but according to the GPS in the dash, they were nowhere near home. She glanced into the back, relieved to see all the kids still dozed.
Their friend Derek also slept, sprawled in the seat next to Tam. For the three days they’d remained at the sanctuary to be sure Tam remained at the utmost of health the young clone hadn’t slept a wink. He’d been too curious about everything.
Soon as they’d begun to drive, Tam had drifted off. Kimi and Aidan weren’t far behind. At Aidan’s slightly increased growth rate he’d been sleeping more, and when he woke to feed ate for a long time, mixing solid food along with brief hits of breast milk.
Velli sighed in relief. “They’re all still asleep. What was that all about? And why aren’t we home? We’ve been on the road long enough we should be a lot closer.”
“We’re being followed.” Kane’s words were enough to snap her attention back to him. His hands clenched the steering wheel so tight she worried over the normally sturdy device. “For about an hour.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. That’s why I waited to wake you. Thought maybe your paranoia passed onto me somewhere along the line.” He tapped the GPS to pull the view out. The circuitous route it showed had to have taken an hour at least. The twists and turns he’d employed in random areas and over various highways looked like a bowl of noodle soup.
“They’ve been following us that long?” Velli turned in her eat again. In the distance, maybe twenty yards back, two dim lights shone back. “Fuck.”
“Think it’s your old friends?”
“Well it sure isn’t your friendly neighborhood Spiderman.”
“Hunters, then.”
“Most likely. I’m not sure why they’re staying back. If they’ve been following us this long, their orders are beyond me.”
His eyes narrowed. “Unless I’ve done just what they wanted.”
Velli didn’t need to ask to see where his thoughts were heading. “If they were waiting for backup it would already be here.”
“So what do we do now?”
“Stop the crazy train, head south and stick on the route.”
“Are you making us switch off?”
Velli paused at the suggestion. She still had safe houses scattered across the country. While she’d liquidated some, instinct had her keep several. After a moment’s contemplation, she shook her head. “No. Just draw them away from home.”
Kane grabbed her wrist when she reached for her seatbelt. “What’re you doing?”
“I have a theory, no we have a theory. No better time to test it then in the now.” She twisted her arm free enough to half-climb over the seat. She put a sound-blocking bubble around Derek’s head before she used the same water to splash him right in the face.
The man jerked away so violently he nearly kicked Velli in the face. She caught his leg in time, grinning as he came to. With her finger at her mouth in a hushing motion, she dropped the bubble. Derek’s brow furrowed as he leaned forward. “What was that for?”
“You snore.”
“Shut up.”
“No. Just use a little magic, will you?” She leaned closer. “We’re being followed. I wonder if you can sense them with your magic.”
“Why would I be able to?” Through his doubt came a curious tickle of magic.
“Don’t disturb the kids,” Kane muttered.
“Right, sorry.” Derek reined it in. His features remained tense with concentration. After several tense, silent minutes, his brows rose. “Well, what have we here?”
“So you can sense them.” Velli glanced at Kane. “The question is, can you disable them? They’re insanely powerful, and fast, but they follow orders. I’ve found them resistant to most forms of magic, but are their implants immune?”
*~*
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by Sarah | Jul 19, 2016 | All About Home, All of Us, Blogging Life, Giveaway, Random, Redefining Perfect, Sponsored
*This post is sponsored by Phoenix Trading Company. I was given an air fryer in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.*
In the world of home appliances, I have both too many, and too few. Recently I got a new kitchen appliance that has brought about some good.
See, we have had a bit of a problem in our marriage since day 1.
I LOVE fried food.
Erik hates it.
So some of my favorite meals, he only picks at. He doesn’t like the grease, slime, general heaviness of fried anything.
When I was approached to try out this Air Fryer, I jumped at the chance.
What better compromise could this nearly-14 years married couple make than air frying?
No greasy food, just pure taste. At least, that was the hope. Hubs wasn’t so sure once he heard about it, and saw the thing. But, I persisted.
I made the one meal I love to make often, and hubs has always liked the taste of, but not the frying.
Breaded lemon chicken (just call me Debra Barone).
I did everything the same as I always did, but instead of fighting dropping it in a pan, I set it in a basket, spritzed it with some olive oil spray and slid it into the cooker. Ten minutes later, they were done.
Bonus points I didn’t even think of?
- I didn’t have to worry about the chicken being cooked through in the middle. Normally in oil I either get the breading burned, and the inside isn’t cooked…or vice versa. In the air fryer every single piece was perfection, from the thickest to the thinnest.
- Oil burns be gone! See, I have a bad habit of getting burned by everything I cook in oil or in its own grease (hello bacon, my delicious nemesis). Holy cow is it nice to be able to not worry about that. My hands, arms, and even my face are free from grease splatter.
- If I was just cooking for one or two of us, I could have slipped our whole meal in one basket as their cooking time was the same. However, there were four of us, so I had to spread it out. Still, for a quick lunch, I’m all over this.
- It’s a smaller kitchen appliance that can either sit on your counter, or slip into a cabinet should you have a tiny kitchen with no counter space like me. 😉
- Did I mention the no oil thing? A little spritz of olive oil instead of sitting in pools of oil will help keep me out of that plus size clothing 😉
- My husband eats the food. Scarfed it down, actually.
So we had a delicious meal. Perfectly cooked chicken, potatoes and cauliflower. A meal that everyone ate up, and turned out to be easy as pie.
Oooh, pie. That’s something I should make next. Little mini pies in no time flat.
You in with me? I can help you with that super easy.
Because I’m sharing a giveaway for a Todd English 1500W 3.3 qt Touchscreen Air Fryer w/ Filter & Accessories !!!
Seriously, you want in. Soon as I get that pie recipe done, I’ll share it with you. I’m on it tonight.
About Phoenix Trading Company (PTC):
First, we’re not in Phoenix, Arizona. Never have been (we’re in Boston). Our name refers to the
mythical bird, the Phoenix, which is reborn to soar again. Our clothes and other products are
sort of like that. We buy large volumes of out-of-season, overstock and clearance designer
merchandise from national retailers and TV shopping channels, then pass the savings to
you—on average offering our goods at 60% below retail. And by the way, the pictures of shoes
and clothing you see on our site are the actual items that you’ll get in the mail. Nothing photo-
shopped here.
People seem to like us. We started in 2001 in 700 square feet subleased from a machine shop,
and have grown to be one of eBay’s top three women’s clothing sellers. We’re also an eBay top-
rated plus seller. Not that we’re bragging. It’s just true.
There is something we’re kind of proud of, though: A third of our workforce are people who are
housebound, either through physical disabilities or childcare responsibilities, and who would
otherwise not be able to have a job. And honestly, we couldn’t function without them.
So, that’s us in a nutshell. Phoenix Trading Company, bringing you style and savings at the click
of a mouse.
Social Media Links:
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/PhoenixTradingCompany
Tumblr – http://phoenixtradingcompany.tumblr.com/
Pinterest – https://www.pinterest.com/phoenixtrading/
by Sarah | Jul 18, 2016 | 45 before 45, All About Me, All of Us, Bucket List, Redefining Perfect, Story of Me
Today I turned 40 years old.
I didn’t fear this day.
I still am not upset. I don’t feel like I’ve crested a hill, or that anything is going downhill.
This weekend I ghost hunted.
Went to an exotic animal sanctuary.
Spent time alone with my husband.
I am not where I plan to be in the future, but I am good where I am.
I am about to have one of my birds fly the coop, and the other two are out of elementary school with eyes on the future. I have a husband to whom I’ve been happily married for nearly 14 years. I have a dog, and a fish, and I’m able to work the job of my dreams (writing) when I can.
I am working on my 45X45 list, and have knocked out a few of those dreams this year. Now that I’m 40, I may take another gander at it to see what I may wish to change.
Either way, I am 40. I am embracing it without fear or upset.
Because 40 is awesome. 40 is when I feel like I’m coming into my own.
Hello 40.
