Catch Me When I Fall - Cover Reveal

Hey Y'all,
It's been a while since my last post, but when I saw the cover of Vicki's book, it was too beautiful not to share!
I only recommend books that I've read and loved, and I'm telling you—read it! I know, it will be so hard to wait until October.

It’s cover reveal day for Vicki Leigh’s CATCH ME WHEN I FALL! Lots of awesome stuff going on, including a giveaway! But first, here's a special message from Vicki:

And here's what CATCH ME WHEN I FALL is all about:

Recruited at his death to be a Protector of the Night, seventeen-year-old Daniel Graham has spent two-hundred years fighting Nightmares and guarding humans from the clawed, red-eyed creatures that feed off people’s fears. Each night, he risks his eternal life, having given up his chance at an afterlife when he chose to become a Protector. That doesn’t stop a burnt-out Daniel from risking daring maneuvers during each battle. He’s become one of the best, but he wants nothing more than to stop.

Then he’s given an assignment to watch over sixteen-year-old Kayla Bartlett, a clinically depressed patient in a psychiatric ward. Nightmares love a human with a tortured past. Yet, when they take a deep interest in her, appearing in unprecedented numbers, the job becomes more dangerous than any Daniel’s ever experienced. He fights ruthlessly to keep the Nightmares from overwhelming his team and Kayla. Soon, Daniel finds himself watching over Kayla during the day, drawn to why she’s different, and what it is about her that attracts the Nightmares. And him.

A vicious attack on Kayla forces Daniel to break the first Law and reveal his identity. Driven by his growing feelings for her, he whisks her away to Rome where others like him can keep her safe. Under their roof, the Protectors discover what Kayla is and why someone who can manipulate Nightmares has her in his sights. But before they can make a move, the Protectors are betrayed and Kayla is kidnapped. Daniel will stop at nothing to save her. Even if it means giving up his immortality.

CATCH ME WHEN I FALL will be available on October 23, 2014 in both paperback and e-book formats from Curiosity Quills Press. For more information, visit the book’s Goodreads page.

Now, there can’t be a cover reveal without a giveaway, right? Lots of authors stopped by and donated some fantastic books to help Vicki celebrate. You don’t want to miss out on these! Here’s what you can win:

• An e-copy of CATCH ME WHEN I FALL by Vicki Leigh
• A submission package critique (query+synopsis+first chap) from Vicki Leigh
• An e-copy of HEIRS OF WAR by Mara Valderran
• Two query+first chapter critiques from YA author Emily Stanford
• A full manuscript critique from YA author Emily Stanford
• An e-copy of WITHOUT BLOODSHED by Matthew Graybosch
• A paperback of DESTRUCTION by Sharon Bayliss
• An e-copy of KIYA: HOPE OF THE PHARAOH by Katie Teller
• One query+first chapter critique from YA author Katie Teller
• An e-copy of DARKNESS WATCHING by Emma Adams
• A copy of DESCENDANT by Nichole Giles
• An e-copy package of EVER and EVADE by Jessa Russo
• A signed copy of DIVIDE by Jessa Russo
• A copy of UNHINGED by A.G. Howard

Enter the giveaway below for your chance to win! All prizes will be accompanied by a Dreamcatcher swag package from Vicki Leigh.

Thanks for stopping by!

About Vicki:

Adopted at three-days-old by a construction worker and a stay-at-home mom, Vicki Leigh grew up in a small suburb of Akron, Ohio where she learned to read by the age of four and considered being sent to her room for punishment as an opportunity to dive into another book. By the sixth grade, Vicki penned her first, full-length screenplay. If she couldn’t be a writer, Vicki would be a Hunter (think Dean and Sam Winchester) or a Jedi. Her favorite place on earth is Hogwarts (she refuses to believe it doesn’t exist), and her favorite dreams include solving cases alongside Sherlock Holmes.

Vicki is an editor for Curiosity Quills Press, a co-founder of The Writer Diaries, and is represented by Sarah Negovetich of Corvisiero Literary Agency.

You can find Vicki at her website and blog and on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, YouTube, and Goodreads.

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Celebrate The Babes

Today I feel like all my babies are growing up in different ways. So today I want to celebrate being a mom and all the changes happening lately.



Celebrate the Small Things!

Silly R

•  My big boy, R, lost his first tooth while camping last week. We thought he swallowed it, but then we heard that a little girl found it in the sand. Of course she was grossed out and threw it away but the tooth fairy made it work.
• Baby K is getting so big. He rolls around all over the place and tried out the Jolly Jumper for the first time this week.
• Middle T must be feeling left out because he's been extra hard to deal with this week. I guess that's a phase I have to deal with. Here's to celebrating when he grows out of it!
• Oh, AND I'm still writing this week. Yay!

T getting married

so excited!

Celebrate WordSprints

It's time to
Celebrate the Small Things!

Today I feel like doing a post. After so long, just writing this post is something to celebrate. Even better than that?

I started writing again. Yay!

A few months before having baby K I stopped reading or writing. Somehow anything other than watching TV was too much work. But this week I managed to write 4 days in a row. For me that's a record!
I'm still forgetting about things (like grammar), but I'm happy to get down all the words. I'm forcing myself to just write and stop thinking so much.

A part of what's been helping me are wordsprints. I can do all my writing for the day in only two half hour sprints (babe only sleeps that long anyways) AND I get to share that small achievement with others doing the same thing, if it's on twitter that day. Win, Win.

So thank you internet/twitter for making me get moving and just WRITE!

It Is Here: Second Challenge

A golden warmth reflected from her face.
She closed her eyes.

It is here.
The last great light is here.

She leaned back in the mound of trash
imagining downy cloud instead.

It is here.
Is it really here?

She opened her eyes,
reaching up to curving shapes.
Wind blew bags and paper beside her
and she sighed out all the hunger.

It is here
and beautiful.

The heat grew,
the light orange.
The wind blew,
her voice hoarse.

“It is here!”

She closed her stinging eyes
with litter on her face.
Hands clasped at nothing.
No air.

It is here.




Please share any suggestions or criticism you may have. This is an early draft and could easily be improved.
The prompts and guidelines of this challenge are found on Rach Writes.

I chose to write a poem with a twist using the prompts:

and

Oh Dear, I Caught the Virus

There's something going around - and it's spreading faster than any virus I've seen.This tagging game has hit EVERYONE almost. At first when I saw the posts going around I thought, oh no, I'll have to do this too and be like everyone else. Then, when it had been a couple weeks and I still hadn't been tagged I thought, what the heck? What about me?
But now that I am tagged (twice) I realize just how much work it all is.
Yes, the grass is always greener on the other side. Haha.

My answers to many of the questions are so long winded (with pictures) they could make up their own post. That's what gave me the idea to spread them across a few days. I know nobody reads an anthology in one sitting. So I'll start with the easy ones. These first few questions are from Melanie at Daydreamer to Writer.
1. What’s your favorite book genre?

Can I just say speculative fiction? If I try to be more specific then I think … low fantasy with a strong love story.

2. Are there any beloved books that you don’t really enjoy?

I tried reading Lord of the Rings but it was torture. Maybe if I made myself suffer through the first bit it would get better? I’ll never know. At least I can cheat by watching the movies.

3. What was your favorite class in school?
Sorry Melanie but I hated history classes and social studies. Even though I found learning about past/different cultures so interesting my grades were horrible because my brain doesn’t remember dates and names at all. My favourite class was drama. I’ve always been a drama geek. The best was in university when I took a directing class and got to boss people around. My second favourite class was script writing (of course).

4. You’re stranded on an island that has plenty of food and water, but no electricity or way to contact the outside world. But you have one object of your choice with you. What is it?

Am I allowed to say my husband? He’d be the most handy thing to have. He can start a fire, cook, fish, and build an awesome shelter (I would help him of course). AND he's nice to look at.
Now what would he want on the island . . . a machete?

5. If you could be any animal in the world, what would you be? Why?

Mmmmmm... I would be an eagle. I think it would be amazing to fly everywhere you go. Plus, eagles are predators and I don't want to be anyone's prey. If such a thing were real then I would be a huge golden eagle like from rescuers down under.

6. If you were the main character of a book, what genre would it be?

If someone were to read about my life they might be more interested in my new adult life, between the ages of 17-22. That's when most of the drama, funny, life learning events happened (unless they want a book about my kids) so then I would just call it "LDS Contemporary" (maybe young adult?)


I think I'll save the other answers from this list until later, along with the answers to Carrie-Anne's questions.

What are your answers to some of these questions?
I haven't tagged anyone yet but I'm interested to see what you think in the comments.

What did he say? A Challenge.

This week we have our first challenge for the Campaign.
Write a short story/flash fiction story in 200 words or less, excluding the title. It can be in any format, including a poem. Begin the story with the words, “Shadows crept across the wall”. These five words will be included in the word count.

If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional), do one or more of these:

• end the story with the words: "everything faded." (also included in the word count)
• include the word "orange" in the story
• write in the same genre you normally write
• make your story 200 words exactly!

I managed to do everything on the list. It was fun. To make sure the scene was in my genre I wrote a memory to do with my WIP. The main character has a form of amnesia and often "relives" the memories of his past life.

      Shadows crept across the wall as a woman entered the hallway. She wore a cream robe and her dark hair was shorter this time, more professional.
      Suddenly he pulled her through the wall opening. His mind jolted with shock and fear as his body pressed her against the wall. She jerked her arm free and he kissed her passionately.
      His body’s heart rate sped up. It felt so real. Frantic, he tried to stop, or at least get out of this memory. His past self tore open her robe. Don’t do this! His mind begged his body, which was only getting more aroused.
      The woman jumped and wrapped her legs around his waist. She pulled at his long hair and kissed his neck. Ex stopped fighting. He had long hair?
      “You did it!” She squeezed him. “Now you’re all mine.” She twirled a finger in his hair as his hands pulled at the blood orange blouse beneath her robe.
      He was out of breath. “Of course I’m yours, I’m your husband.”
      What did he say?
      She smiled. “Forever.” She lifted the blouse over her head.
      He stopped. “Oh, about that.”
      “Tell me later.” She pulled him closer and everything faded.

P.S. Maybe I wrote this scene because I was jealous of all the great scenes in the blogfests at valentines day.

Mancandy of the Month: James McAvoy

The other day I watched X-Men: First Class and was reminded of just how much I love
James McAvoy
And so, my first ever Mancandy of the Month is dedicated to these beautiful eyes:

I first noticed noticed him after watching his amazing performances in Atonement and The Last King of Scotland. These movies have been stuck in my head for years probably because of how disturbing they are but I blame it on the sexy James (especially in Atonement).


















The McAvoy enjoyment factor went way up when Becoming Jane came out. This is more my kind of movie.
*sigh*

It wasn't until recently that I found out that it was him in Children of Dune. I can't believe I didn't put that together!








I tried to narrow down the pictures (there are so many good ones)
Enjoy

What's your favourite McAvoy movie?