A Little Bit of Everything...

Oh, I’m such a dork! I almost forgot to add this! I decided to put it at the beginning because its big happy news: I got two new contracts this week. It’s been on twitter, but who knows if anyone who reads this blog (does anyone read this blog?) follows me on twitter. Breathless Press will be re-releasing Fear of Darkness, and releasing another book called The Devil’s Trap. I can wait (but am also dreading) edits. You know how it is. Fun, but lots of work, especially with the lengths of these particular books. And the fact that Fear of Darkness was the second story I ever finished, so its bound to have problems galore!

Okay so today I’m going to be pretty random. I’m going to talk about my day, and the stuff I bought so its like a haul video, without the video part because I have no camera. I’ll also do a writing update. There’s not much to tell, but I’ll tell everyone anyway.

I got my haircut today so I have bangs and more layers now. The woman who cut my hair was really nice. I love Regis, they always do a great job. A pretty good rule is to never get your hair cut at a place with “cuts” in the title. I’ve never been happy with a SuperCuts hair cut. It just never works out.

I also toured the Macy’s and Dillards makeup sections just to see what they have. It was fun. I always enjoy looking at the makeup. And then I saw something that terrified me…There were these kids at the mall for a field trip. They looked like middle school age I guess. They were wearing these big furry hats. They covered their whole heads. Almost like…I don’t know, anime hair I guess? There were like three of them…Seriously, is that in style now, because BOY does it look really really stupid. I had to keep myself from staring open mouthed in horror.

Anyway. Away from that topic. Far away. As far as I can get. .

So I bought quite a few beauty products today, and really shouldn’t have because now I have $30 left to my name. I’m supposed to get paid soon though . Hopefully its before Urban Decay goes on sale at Hautelook.

Okay, at the salon I got It’s a 10 Miracle Leave In Product. It’s a leave in conditioner that’s supposed to:



Repair damaged hair
Add shine
Detangle
Control Frizz
Protect hair color (which I don’t need because I don’t color my hair, but whatever)
Prevent split ends
Stop breakage
Create Silkiness
Enhance natural body
And has a heat protector

If its not the best thing I’ve ever tried I won’t get it again, because my tiny four ounce bottle was $17.79. But my hairdresser said it was their best seller. I can test it and see what I think.

Next I got Maybelline Falsies mascara. I accidentally got the washable one…I don’t know what my problem is! I need to look closer when I buy things. Hopefully it doesn’t do anything weird and melty. Why do they even make mascara that’s not waterproof? Blair Fowler says Falsies is the best, so I figured I’d try it out. Maybelline makes good products anyway. I have their Lash Stiletto right now.

I also go the Physicians Formula Happy Booster Blush, and the Cashmere Ultra Smoothing Bronzer in Light because I’m pale as hell. The brushes they come with are totally crap (especially that blush brush! I’ve never seen such a useless brush) but I have my own brush so its no big. Any of these cosmetics you can find at Ulta.com or probably most drugstores so I won’t include linkage.



And I didn’t get this today, but it’s become my most favorite product EVER. It’s the BH Cosmetics 120 Eyeshadow Palette in 1st edition. Every color under the sun. Any makeup look you want to do, you can pretty much do with this. It’s my baby, and I’ve been raving about it for a while now on Twitter.



Now on to what I should be talking about on this blog: Writing.

Lately in my writing I’m really trying to focus on internal conflicts and making them more concrete. I’m also trying to focus on the characters and their emotions. Now I have to be honest, lately I’ve gotten REALLY lazy with doing character charts and all the other groundwork I should do before starting to write a novel. And so I was wondering why I just wasn’t feeling these characters in the ménage I’m working on. Well, duh, I’ve done no character charts.

Since I’m focusing on internal conflicts and emotions I decided to dig even deeper with that, so I took a list of character questions from Leigh Michaels’ On Writing Romance and I’ve been doing that and I think its really helping, because I’ve been brainstorming some pretty good ideas that make the characters more alive in my head.

Another thing that helped today was this Lindsay’s Ramblings post on quirks. You might want to check it out of you want more insight into creating in depth characters.

So before I let you go, I want to ask, does anyone care if I tell you about the beauty products I’m buying? Should I do that somewhere else and reserve this blog strictly for writing related stuff? I feel like I have so little to talk about that I’d really just like to throw everything at one blog and see which writers I can drive insane with my cosmetics talks.

Also, does anyone out there have any questions they'd like to ask about writing or the acquisitions process? I am a published writer and an Acquisitions Manager so if you have questions, I'd like to try and help. It also might give me something to blog about so Naomi and I aren't just posting every six months.

Critique Partner/Group

Hello Everyone.

I know I am officially the worst blogger ever. My lack of blogging is pretty sad, but I still want to blog if I can ever just get myself to do it. Today's blog isn't without reason. I am close to finishing my novel and I am looking for a critique partner or group to join. I looked on google in search of one, but I came up empty handed. Any suggestions or ideas of where I should start would be great. I'm looking for a partner who will give it to me straight and I will do the same. If anyone is interested please comment this post!

A Snowday (Or Week)

Okay, so this blog isn’t really going to have anything to do with writing, because I barely got any done. This blog is more about the crazy (yet boring) week I’ve had.

So, if any of you don’t know, Texas (and like the whole South) got slammed with snow and ice. Originally they just said ice, but Tuesday morning I woke up and there were huge snowdrifts everywhere. I was delighted. I didn’t have to go to school. So I took my Health test online, read my English assignments, read a submission, and worked on rewrites. And that was absolutely the last day I worked this week…

I was supposed to hang out with Naomi Hunter on Wednesday and we were going to have a writer day. Exchange what we'd written, talk about books and writing and of course whatever else we happened to blab about. We like to talk a lot. But, alas, we never got our writer day which is bad, because apparently I really could have used the encouragement to keep me on track. Hopefully next week has no horrible winter weather or other unforeseen circumstances.

Wednesday morning the power went out starting at 6:30. So we froze our butts off in the living room for like an hour. I’m just grateful they got the power back on and it wasn’t like that all day, but it came on and then went off again and did that like three times.

During the day Thursday I was bored out of my freaking mind, because you can only watch so much TV before you go insane and I’d been reading a lot before the snow, so I’m kind of temporarily booked out. BUT I’ve also noticed that not being able to go out and do anything makes you lazier than ever. Because there was plenty I could have been doing instead of watching TV or reading. I need to write, and rewrite the story I’m working on. I could read submissions, I could do school work (snort). I should have done anything but what I did!

I started to shop. Not like actively purchase, because I’m looking at makeup and I like to go to the store and actually see the colors, and maybe put a sample on my hand before I buy, but I’m making one hell of a list.

I bought some makeup not too long ago from Albertsons for stage make up (because I’m actually performing belly dance every once in a while). I REALLY liked the black eyeshadow I got by NYX. It had the most amazing pigment I’d ever gotten. Most black is really weak and I expected to really have to lay this one on thick to get anything, but I figured I’d make it work. Not this one. You need one coat, and you’d better go light. It’s sooo dark.

So I went to the NYX website just to check out what they had and I saw they had a tutorials page. I figured it would be like ELF Cosmetics and have the steps written out but instead they had videos. So I watched a few and of course got the overwhelming urge to put on make up. And then I saw that both the girls I was watching on the NYX site had their own YouTube channels. By now I’d already decided to purchase a few more NYX products so I’d started my list, and I’ll put my list up at some point in this blog.

When I got to their YouTube channels I watched stuff on hair, and I watched these things called haul videos where they go shop and show you everything they got, which is just awesome. I need a YouTube channel just to do that, because I love sharing what I buy with people! And they kept mentioning Ulta (which is a make up store for those that aren’t into make up or from around here) and I was like “Ulta? We have a new Ulta store in town that I haven’t been to. Ooh, I see fun shopping coming up.” So that’s where I will be going as soon as I can get down the bloody driveway and past all the stupid snowdrifts.

So I did my make up. My whole face. The water went out at like seven that night, but I figured they’d actually have it fixed when the water company said they would. They said it would take four hours. No, they never got the water turned back on. And I shower at night, so I hadn’t showered since like 10pm on Wednesday. So that night all I could do was take off my eye make up. I had to leave my icky foundation on. The water didn’t come back on most of Friday either, but I still put on eye makeup in a different way. I was dying of thirst all day. We melted and filtered snow, but it tastes like freezer burn, and I just don’t like the taste of freezer burn.

So Friday night I finally got to take a bath, but there just wasn’t enough water pressure to take a shower. I just would have been dripped on. A bath isn’t my favorite method of bathing because the soap stays on you no matter what. You just can’t rinse all the way. I also couldn’t use conditioner, so I couldn’t blow dry my hair and since I’m on my new crazy beauty kick I wanted to. BUT, a bath is better than nothing.

We finally had enough water today for me to shower. It was pure bliss. I conditioned my hair and blow-dried it and I’m hoping to get out of this house to go to Ulta. I want to go with some one, because its boring to go by myself, but I don’t think I’m going to be able to find a shopping partner, and I’m so desperate to get out of the house that I’ll probably just go on my own.

I’m sad. I’ve got books and mango coconut tea sitting at the post office and I can’t go get them until Monday.

So here are the links to the two girls I’ve been watching on YouTube.

Elle Fowler
Blair Fowler

They're great, and they do tutorials on makeup, hair, and other stuff. There's even one on applying false eyelashes.

Here’s the little version of my list. I trimmed it down, because I’ve still got some products I’m using and so I might as well use them all up before I get something new and awesome. Also, I really don’t expect this make up/beauty phase to last me very long because usually I get to a school day and say “to hell with it all” and I don’t bother doing my hair or make up or anything. I get super lazy. But I’m going to try and do my make up everyday. I also doing want to spend a whole truck load of money because I just don’t.

I want at least one lip gloss. Maybe two because I want one neutral everyday pink color, and one kind of out there color.

Concealers in green and skin tone. I’ve honestly never owned concealers, because I just figured foundation was good enough, but its really not, so I’m hoping a concealer will hide some of those icky zit areas.

Eyeshadow base because eyeshadows really do stay on longer if you add a base.

A black eye liner pencil. I know, what am I doing without one of these? I accidentally bought a charcoal gray one last time I got eyeliner. Also I’m in the mood to try something new. I really need something creamier for my water line and it really should be waterproof.

And lastly I want to get a red eyeshadow. That one is kinda weird right? Yes, but I saw Elle Fowler do a look inspired by Twilight’s main character Bella Swan and while I’m not crazy about the books (except the first one. That one was pretty good) or her character I’m absolutely crazy about the look Elle did and I don’t have anything even approaching a red eyeshadow because I’m really not a red girl, and its just a weird color to have on hand anyway.

I thought about getting a blush, and eventually I will. I don’t use blush a lot because I get really flushed on my own and hate to add any more color to my cheeks.

Now things I decided not to get at the moment:

A brush set. It would actually be the cheapest thing for me to buy; because where I’d get them it would be twelve brushes for $12. But I think I’ll just work with what I’ve got. I haven’t used brushes a lot before and there’s no pressing reason that I must start now. They’d just be handy to have.

Bronzer. I have one I’m going to use up first. I just wanted a new one because mine is kind of light. But then again, I’m kind of light (see very light. Almost as white as snow. Okay so not really. I’m white but I’d like to think I look a little healthier than snow.)

I also want Mabelline Falsies mascara. I hear awesome things about it, but I already have some very good mascara that I’m going to use up first. It’s pretty close to death anyway, but I can still wait.

I also want a new leave in conditioner. The one I have I love, but it always has this funny scent. Even when it’s brand new, so I’m going to try something different, and hopefully it will have a better smell AND be a better product.

I also want to try a new acne treatment. I miss the days when I had clear skin. I didn’t start getting the heavier breakouts until I was 17. This other beauty vlogger suggested Neutrogena Rapid Clear. Specifically the 2 in 1 toner. Again, this is something that can wait, because I’ve still got some face wash left. It’s also probably something I can put on the grocery list for Mommy to buy so I don’t have to!

The same woman that suggested Neutrogena Rapid Clear also isn’t a morning person. Which Hello! So me. I’m not even human in the morning. She hates to wash her face in the morning because of this lack of humanness so she uses Neutrogena deep clean oil free makeup remover wipes. I’ve always known I should wash my face in the morning, but again, humanness is something I have a problem with. Also, the water in my bathroom sink really has a problem getting hot, and in the winter that’s a real problem. If I don’t want to wash my face in warm water, there’s no way I want to wash it in finger numbingly cold water.

Wow, that was a long, boring, rambly blog. I guess I need to write so I don’t dump on everyone when I finally doe sit down and decide to write a blog.

Gracing you with one blog before school starts

Okay, so not really. I'm going to try and blog more, and not just have this be the last blog you get until May. But no promises. It's hard enough to keep up with school, dance practice, writing, and acquiring manuscripts. My blogging hardly gets any attention (though it should).

What have I been up to lately? Lots of dancing. I performed for the first time ever December 9th. And then again on the 16th. Talk about nerve wracking! Especially since one of the pieces I did on the 16th I'd only learned the Saturday before.

Christmas was good. I got lots of belly dance stuff for that too. Costume pieces, DVD's (instructional and performance). I'll have 'Christmas presents' arriving all of January. I actually kinda like Christmas like this. It's stretched out over all of January, which is fun. Fun to get almost weekly presents in the mail.

I've only just started to get back into the writing groove. I bought the Write Or Die desktop edition, and it really seems to be helping. Though it makes you think things like "if I can write over 900 words in 30 minutes, what could I accomplish if I wrote for like four hours"?

While I have been writing the past few days, everything I write still sucks. I need to start doing some rewriting to see if I can fix it. It has no tension, and nothing is really happening, which is really weird for me. Usually my books are tension and action packed. Meh, at least I have something to edit. It's better than having a blank page mock me.

What am I working on? The ménage I've been working on forever that I meant to do for NaNo. But my computer died in November so there was no attempt at NaNo. I'm hoping the story will be like 15k. I was hoping to finish a first draft by the end of this week, but I don't see that happeneing with the problems I'm having with it.

I've been reading Jaid Black's Viking series, and it's really good, so if you're looking for an interesting erotic romance, check out her books. Her book Warlord was also excellent.

I'm going shopping for more books tomorrow with Naomi. We're hitting a Recycled books. I want some yoga books and of course, I'll be checking out the romance section.

Until next time (when ever that may be)!

NaNoWriMo...Kinda

"I can scare the stupid out of her, but the laziness runs deep." -Paris Geller from Gilmore Girls

So, I've known about NaNoWriMo for... eightish years now and have never done it. Yeah, this year isn't the year I'll be doing it either. Last year I didn't do it because I was in the middle of a novel I wanted to finish up. I think that's pretty much my excuse every year. Maybe I have commitment issues? Nah! (Yeah.)

This year, I found I wasn't really in the middle of anything, except an ugly battle to get the rights back from my (ex-ish) publisher on the book that I'd finished in the previous year. Long ass story, and one I can't really tell (though I'd really like to, but it would be petty, and beneath me... and maybe I'll do it next Saturday. Nah).

So why am I not doing it this year. Laziness. You know how hard it is to do 1,667 words every day? Impossible, for me. In fact, hats off to anyone who manages it! You deserve some chocolate or money or something. I also have school, which blows, and is quite enough of an excuse for me.

While I'm full of laziness I do plan to finish a novella during November. I want it to be a maximum of 20k. We'll see how that works out. This will probably be the only time I go OVER my goal. I always fall short. Anyway, at 20k I only need to do 667 words a day, which is much more manageable. Lol, but still might be beyond me. We'll see how it goes.

Okay, that's freaking annoying. Because I'm signed into blogger I can't get on my Acquisitions account without signing out of my blogger account. Guess I'll have to come back and add to this blog if I forgot something.