The Small Things Blog Hop

Happy Friday! Once again I'm posting as part of VikLit's blog hop. You can sign up to participate on the link at the bottom. It's a great way to remember accomplishments don't have to be anything major in order to celebrate them and to pick your spirits up if you're feeling a bit down.

There are all kinds of awesome things to celebrate this week. Not only did I post a more successful, calmer, less eye-rolling video blog, but I finished the first draft of my fifth book! Oh yeah, I'm doing "virtual" cartwheels (because I'm too old and out of shape to do real ones). The book deals with mind control and is something I started back in November, but hit a major writer's block on for months. One of the best parts is that the first draft sits at 80k words, which is much heftier than my other books usually start out being. And as if it was meant to be, I got the edits back on my fourth book the very next day!

To celebrate, I went with a friend to see the Beautiful Creatures movie. FINALLY. I'll share my thoughts on the movie in next week's video blog.

Yesterday we bought my son-in-law's old Mustang as my commuter car (the Tahoe is a gas guzzler but a necessity for living on a road that doesn't always get plowed in the winter). The car may be an older model, but it's my very first Mustang and I've wanted one for as long as I can remember!

I finished reading two books this week (it's an amazing feeling to find time for this once again). On my second vlog I reviewed Beautiful Darkness (the sequel to Beautiful Creatures). I plan to review Lauren Oliver's Requiem (that I devoured in a little over 24 hours) also on next week's vlog.

We also finished my son's science fair project, which means we are DONE WITH SCIENCE FAIR FOREVER!

Oh man, that is such an amazing feeling. And not to beat a dead, overweight horse, but there were those five pounds I lost on the first week of my diet that has me doing a happy dance. It won't be long before I'm allowed to have an ice cold beer...I can taste it already!

Breaking Waves Blog Tour/Giveaway!

**My apologizes to the author and her hop host - I was scheduled to post yesterday, but I had it on my calendar for today! Life is just too crazy sometimes.**

From the moment they met, Jenna knew Reece would break her heart, but she never dreamed it would happen like this. Jenna is left shattered and broken. When life becomes too painful to deal with and she feels completely alone, there’s only one person to help her pick up the pieces and move on. The one person she doesn’t want to turn to. The one person she promised to stay away from. Tyler. Can Jenna put aside everything she knows about him and let Tyler help heal her broken heart?

I recently interviewed the talented and always fun Danielle Sibarium and asked her about her new release, Heart Waves (you can find the interview here). In honor of her sequel to Breaking Waves, she's hosting a giveaway! So enter to win and check out Danielle through the links below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Where to Buy:

Amazon Kindle

B&N Nook

Connect with Danielle:

Website

Twitter

Goodreads

Heart Waves Facebook

Follow her blog hop here.

Danielle Sibarium grew up as an only child of divorced parents in Brooklyn, New York. Her imagination was developed at an early age. Surrounded by stuffed animals and imaginary friends, she transported herself into a fantasy world full of magic and wonder. Books were the gateway between her play world and reality. On any given summer afternoon she became Snow White sweeping and cooking for the dwarfs, or Cinderella waiting for the prince. Danielle always loved dialogue and in elementary school began writing plays and short stories. This is when she began to understand she could not only bring her fantastical world to life for herself, but she could enchant others as well. And so she wrote. She wrote and wrote and wrote.

Sadly the first piece she ever sent out for publication of any sort was a letter to the editor of The Home News Tribune. It was a piece thanking the first responders for their bravery and selflessness on Sept 11th. It was chosen as letter of the week.

In 2007 Danielle collaborated with Charlotte Doreen Small to write songs for her CD More. Danielle wrote the lyrics for Take My Hand, and Goodbye, while Charlotte contributed the melody.  In October 2011 Danielle’s debut novel For Always was released. She has since released Heart Waves and the second book in the Heart Waves series, Breaking Waves.  Danielle graduated from Farleigh Dickinson University with honors, and currently lives in New Jersey with her husband and three children.

Celebrate the Small Things

Once again, as part of the blog hop tour set up by the fabulous Vikki at VikLit, I'm spending this Friday celebrating the small things that happened this week.

The first thing on my list is the fact that I successfully created a synopsis to go along with my book cover release for this coming Monday! Yay! Those little buggars can really be a pain in the rear to come up with. How do you summarize 75,000 words into a little paragraph without giving too much away? I promise you, it's a lot harder than it would seem. With the help of my fabulous blogging partners, I was able to whip up one that I think will grab your attention and have you drooling for more.

Another great writing accomplishment this week was that my major re-write of Cheating Death fell together in a major way. Sometimes there are pieces of a story that need to somehow be connected. When those pieces fall together it's enough to make a person want to dance around in their underwear.

And since this blog is celebrating "small things" in general and not necessarily writing-related things, I would like to add that I scored tickets to see Alice in Chains this May. They're one of my favorite bands and I haven't seen them in 20 years! I may have had a total freak out when I told my step-daughter and son-in-law that we were going and I may have frightened them a little.

Also, my daughter once again made the 'A' honor roll! If we didn't look and act identical 99.99% of the time, I would swear in a court of law that she was switched at birth. I hated school and was lucky to get passing grades (then I went on to college, actually cared about school and made the dean's list). Regardless, I'm extremely proud of her!

February is off to a great start!