Good-bye 2007. Hello 2008!

Wow! Is it really New Year's Eve again? Is it just me, or did 2007 fly by? I can't believe that we are on the cusp of another new year.

2007 was filled with so much fun, excitement, and pure joy for me. I released my first book and the released my second. I won my very first NaNoWriMo. I met so many new people, one in particular who has become a new best friend. Love ya, Mis! I've made lots of new business contacts, and many of those are now considered friends. And even my monthly newsletter subscribers have grown substantially with each passing month.

I had so much fun this year and I'm a little sad to see it go. But, things can only get better from here! I have so many big plans for 2008.

In 2008, I am planning to release my next book (A Birth at Dawn), write and release the third book in this series, begin writing a completely different series and drop at least another 30lbs to go with the 103lbs that I've already lost. These are NOT resolutions--I don't DO resolutions--these are things I WILL do. This is my "to-do" list for 2008 and I will have it all done before 2009 arrives.

Anyway, here's to you 2007! You've been great, you've been kind, and your time is over. Good-bye, 2007. Hello, 2008!!

Here's to us all... may we all have health, happiness, and prosperity in the new year to come!

365 days?

I am shocked and amazed that there is a "contest" of sorts about to launch that is asking people to blog for 365 days straight. I was invited to join in on the blogging fun, and while I love my blog here and I do blog pretty frequently, I had to refuse. I just can not promise to have time to blog every single day for the next year.

I write every single day, but some days I just don't have anything of interest to post for the whole world to see. Does anyone really care that I took down my Christmas tree on Dec 26th because I was tired of it taking up so much space? Or that my youngest daughter ran around in nothing but her pajamas all day today? Or better yet, that my dog is currently asleep against the fireplace rocks? Anyone? Seriously? Nooo!

So, I think that I will just stick with my attempts to blog a few times a week. I will, after all, be spending at least a week on the beach during the month of July and that alone would knock me out of those 365 consecutive days. LOL!

Have a happy Saturday night. I'm about to curl up with the hubby and watch a DVD and tomorrow I'll be hosting my oldest daughter's 11th birthday party.

Have a good night everyone!

Happy Day After Christmas!

So, I didn't make it back yesterday, but, then again, I didn't even look at the computers yesterday. LOL! We had a lovely Christmas Eve and Christmas Day around here. Everyone received tons of goodies and had so much fun with the family members. We watched some of our favorite Christmas movies together and even learned how to play a few new games together.

Everyone was stuffed and happy by the end of each day, and we wouldn't have it any other day. My house is a disaster after all of the fun, but that's ok because it can be cleaned up in a matter of a day or two. Well, it'll have to be cleaned up by Sunday... before my oldest daughter's 11th birthday party. LOL! Why, oh why, was that child born so close to Christmas? LOL!

On another topic, if you entered my 2007 Holiday Contest, the winner was announced on my website. http://www.christiesilvers.com Congratulations to Shannon P.!! I hope that you enjoy spending your Amazon gift certificate. :-)

Ok, that's it for now. The kids are home from school until January 7th, 2008 so I will be scarce until then. I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and will have a Happy New Year in a few days. I will be covered up with cleaning, birthday parties (my youngest has her 3rd on Jan 15th and then mine is Jan 17th) and all of the days off that my hubby has for New Year's. I'll be bake whenever I can dig myself out of the holiday trenches.

Be sure to check back after the new year for a few new, special posts here. :-)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all of my freinds out there that celebrate Christmas. I hope that all of youhave a peaceful and enjoy Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I'm currently waiting on my guests to arrive, so I can't write much. But, I will be back later tonight (will be waiting on Santa to arrive) or early tomorrow (while the girls are playing with their gifts). Until then, best wishes to everyone! :-)

The week is almost over. YAY!

Well, I didn't post yesterday, but I was here. I just didn't have anything to say yesterday that would be uplifting or interesting. The hubby's pick-up truck busted its water pump and I had to load up the van with tired girls and rush to rescue him from a night on the side of the highway. Seven gallons of water and an hour later and we made it home safe and sound.

Since his stupid truck broke down and he doesn't have time to work on it until the weekend, he has borrowed and is driving his mother's truck to and from work. THAT meant that I had to take MIL to get her hair done yesterday. Oh well, it was alright since the beauty shop was about four minutes from the house and I just dropped her off and picked her up an hour later. LOL!

Tomorrow is Friday, which means that it will be my weekly errand day. Some weeks I don't have much to do (or the money to do them with), but other weeks I have so much to do that I'm lucky to finish it all before the big girls get out of school. Tomorrow is panning out to be one of those busy days and I'm not really looking forward to it.

I don't have anything new on the book front to share. Things are still moving along and I'll be editing for quite a few weeks before the book will be ready for release. I'm still planning on an early 2008 release, but NOT in January. It will probably be closer to mid-February. Just stay tuned and I'll announce it as I get closer to finishing up.

I hope that you all have a wonderful Thursday and that your Friday is peaceful.

Tuesday's Tantilizing Thoughts...

It's Tuesday again. As I sit here listening to my 2 yr old babbling in the background about how she wants to open presents, spin in the desk chair, why her broken crayons now look like a volcano with lava in it and asking for cookies, I feel more content than I have in days. Why, you ask?

Because, for the first time in over a month, I did my workout this morning! I have been soooo busy since the end of October and, when that happens, I am ALWAYS the one person that I neglect. I sat on my behind for a month just typing away for NaNoWriMo and now that it's December, I really need to take some time for ME!

I feel great this morning. I don't know why we have to force ourselves to workout when we feel soooo content afterwards.

Now, on to work-related topics...

Only two weeks left to enter my 2007 Holiday Contest! If you have read A Midnight Infatuation then pop on over to my website and enter to win a $20 Amazon gift certificate! All you have to do is answer the question, Who was Fiona's best girlfriend in A Midnight Infatuation? and you will be entered into the drawing that will be held on Christmas Day!

While you're over there reading over the contest rules, why not stop by the new A Birth at Dawn page and take a gander at the bigger version of the new cover? Gosh, I love that cover! The anticipation that I've felt over the last few weeks, culminated into pure joy the moment that I saw the cover. It's hot and steamy and just everything that I wanted it to be. I can't thank my friend, Mis, enough for the work that she put into that cover. It's just beautiful!

Hmmm, I guess that's it for today. I'll be back tomorrow with more. Who knows what it'll be, but it will be more. LOL!

Introducing...

I am pleased to introduce the newest creation from my wonderful cover designer, Mis. She finished the cover to my upcoming release, A Birth at Dawn, and it is beautiful! Below you can see the small version of the cover. You'll be able to see a larger, more detailed version on my website as soon as I get around to updating it.

New Interview

I recently had the pleasure to be interviewed by the Global Arts Blog and that interview has now gone live. Stop by and check it out. :-)

Global Arts: Wednesday's Word: Christie Silvers

A Birth at Dawn Cover

Today, I was pleased to sneak a gander at the first draft cover for A Birth at Dawn. The cover designer is right on track and I really liked what I saw today. I am so excited to see the finished cover for the first time. It will be stunning.

On a different subject, I am down to four Christmas gifts left to purchase. YAY! I finished up my three children, with the exception of two gifts and I need to purchase for FIL and baby sister (which will be done this coming weekend). Then I'll be DONE. Woohoo!

Oh, before I forget to mention it, I was interviewed for an Arts blog. That interview is suppose to be released tomorrow, so I will share that link in tomorrow's post.

Lastly, before I go to bed, don't forget to check out the newest contest over at http://www.christiesilvers.com . You may just be the lucky winner to receive a $20 Amazon gift certificate for Christmas!

Good night and sweet dreams to all!

Christie

It's Monday!

Welcome to the first Monday of December. November is behind us and now it's time to enjoy the holiday season to its fullest. I have never been so happy to jump into December as I am this year. I have NaNo to thank for that, lol!

So what are your plans for this last month of 2007? Will you be running around like a chicken without a head trying to get everything done? Or are you one of the few who finished all of their shopping months ago and can just sit back and watch the rest of us running around like chickens without heads? LOL!

I'm kind of in the middle, somewhere. I have about 75% of my Christmas shopping done and have plans for the other 25%. I also have a list of the items I will be serving for my Christmas Eve party and the Christmas dinner the next day. Now I just have to buy everything. LOL!

This year I tried something different when it came to wrapping the gifts for my three daughters. Usually they will spend every day checking their gifts, shaking them and questioning me on the contents of each package. Well, this year I decided to forego any name tags on their gifts. I wrapped each child's gifts in coordinating wapping paper. Now they each have their own color, but only I know who has which color.

It's driving them batty not knowing which gifts are theirs. They keep asking me who has what color, but I refuse to share. It would defeat the purpose after all. But, they haven't touched one gift because of it! LOL!

I did, however, have to write down who has which color so that I wouldn't forget. LOL!

We suffered through a photo shoot here at home over the weekend. The children were not happy about being positioned into particular seating arrangements, but we did end up with one acceptable image to use as our 2007 Christmas photo.



Lastly, don't forget to sign up for my monthly newsletter. It will be sent out on Wednesday, December 5th and you don't want to miss it!. The sign-up box is on the right. ----->

Happy Holidays to everyone out there who celebrates!!

It's over!

YAY! It's finally over. November is officially over for me today. I finished the NaNoWriMo contest with 2 1/2 days to spare. LOL!

Now I just have to whip A Birth at Dawn into shape for the readers. I'm still aiming for an early 2008 release date so stay tuned. :-)

My NaNoWriMo Update.....

Well, I've been busy this week with children at home and Thanksgiving to host and I didn't have much time to write at all. Luckily, I was ahead of schedule so I had the room to skip a few days of writing. Thankfully!

Today I spent half of the day with my MP3 player plugged into my brain and my fingers glued to the laptop keyboard. I just passed the 40,000 word mark today (40, 014 to be exact)!! Woohoo!! I have 9,986 words left to write and should finish off half of those tomorrow.

I'm very excited as this is my first year doing NaNoWriMo. I knew that it would be a huge challenge, but it has been more than I expected. Has that stopped me? No way! I had something to prove to MYSELF and I refuse to disappoint myself.

My carpal tunnel may be acting up. I may be burning through batteries for the mp3 player. I may be ignoring the husband and making him tend to the children and dog. I may be ignoring the laundry. BUT, I'm almost done! YAY!!

I hope all of you find something to be proud of yourself for. Have a great night!

New Holiday 2007 Contest!

Today I'm announcing my new Holiday Contest. It will run from November 22 to December 24th and I will be drawing the winner on December 25th. Winner will receive a $20 Amazon Gift Certificate. To read all of the details check out http://www.christiesilvers.com/contests .

Wow, Thanksgiving already?

I just can not believe that it's already the week of Thanksgiving. I've been so darn busy this month that the days kind of slipped away from me. I will be hosting Thanksgiving Dinner for my family, as well as Christmas Eve and Day this year. PLUS all of the normal "mommy duties" that are associated with the holiday season... gingerbread houses, Christmas cookies, wrapping gifts, finding the right gift for the in-laws (even though DH should be buying his parents' gifts) and then sitting down one day and remembering how much I miss my own dad during this time of year.

For some reason this year seems so much more hectic and busy than years gone by. Ooohhh, and I started working on my Christmas card list today too. You realize just how many friends you really have when you start making out Christmas cards. My hand was aching from addressing envelopes and I only made it through half of my list. But, I do love the holiday season.

My youngest daughter will be three in January and she is at the most perfect age for the holidays. At this age their little eyes are full of wonder and excitment of the unknown. I can not wait to see her expression when it's time to unwrap all of those colorful packages.

We will be putting up our tree and decorations Friday. Then we'll all get dressed up and sit in front of the fireplace and take our yearly family photo. I'm big on family photos. I have over a dozen full photo albums lining my bookcase from the last 13 years. I just can't imagine how many will be there when I'm old and grey. LOL!

OK, enough of the mushy, family stuff. Now onto the book stuff.

I am flowing nicely for NaNoWriMo. I should reach my 50K by the weekend if my children have mercy on my this week (the older two are out of school all week and, therefore, have all day to enjoy the tortured screams of their 2 yr old sister).

My cover artist is working away at the new cover for this book and I can't wait to see it. She is so talented!!

Hmmm, what else? Well, I have run out of my own copies of A Midnight Infatuation. People keep buying them up until I am no officially out. LOL. I'm totally not complaining, just making a mental reminder to order more stock.

I will be announcing a new contest at the end of this week. So be sure to check that out. It will run until Christmas Eve and the winner will be rewarded with a $20 Amazon gift certificate. Who doesn't love free stuff?

Oh, make sure that you sign up for my newsletter. I'll be sending it out around Dec 1st. You'll find tips on cooking that perfect Christmas ham, creating your own wrapping paper, deciding between paper and e-cards and even a few crafts. I'll also be announcing my SUCCESS or failure of NaNoWriMo and maybe we'll be lucky enough to debute the new cover of A Birth at Dawn: Book 2 of the Alex & Fiona Series.

Ok, I guess that's enough rambling for today. I feel badly when I log on here and realize it has been a week since my last update, so I end up over-compensating. Hopefully things will go back to normal after November is over. :-)

Good night & have a happy Thanksgiving!

Still going strong...

I'm still here, and alive. LOL. I have been busy writing my NaNoWriMo novel lately. I've discovered a nice surprise and a not so nice surprise.

First, the nice surprise is that I write much faster when I'm wearing headphones and blasting heavy metal into my brain. It blocks out all of the surrounding people, sounds and distractions. Why didn't I think of that all those months ago when I was writing A Midnight Infatuation?

Second, the not so nice surprise is that the letter "P" is trying to go out on my laptop keyboard. You have to press it harder than I normally do and therefore I end up with a whole lot of words missing their P's. I find that very annoying.

Other than that, I'm doing quite well. I should hit 20,000 words today in A Birth at Dawn, as long as nothing out of the ordinary happens during the rest of my day, of course. I even have dinner planned out so that I won't have to spend more than fifteen minutes throwing it together.

So why am I on here and not writing, you ask? Well, a girl needs a break from her vampires and werewolves every so many chapters (<--I had to backspace to add that p). You have to step back and make sure that your beloved characters are going in the direction that you want them to be going in. Sometimes they surprise us and, no matter how many outlines we create ahead of time, they end up going where THEY want to go.

I absolutely LOVE when my characters take over the writing. For those of you who have never experienced this, it is AMAZING. You finish a scene and then look back over it in awe. Like, did I REALLY write that? That came from me? WOW!

All books have a natural flow about them. Soft scenes mixed with hard scenes. Funny scenes toying with sad scenes. Intense scenes mingling with light-heartened scenes. All of these add to the overall feel of the story. Just like real life. You have your up days and your down days, your happy days and your sad days, your days filled with nothing but excitment and the days where you just know you will die from the boredom. Books are the same way.

I thoroughly enjoy writing the sex scenes in my books. They are fun and exciting and provocative. But, I enjoy writing the action scenes even more. The more intense and fast-paced they are the better. My fingers move just as quickly over the keyboard as the action flows in the story. It seems that the more intense the action, the faster I write and the faster the scenes flow through my brain.

But, a book can't be nothing but sex and excitement. You have to have some backstory; reasons for the action, love and decisions for the sex. Those parts are the hardest for me to write. I know what goes there and I know what I want to say, but I tend to write a lot slower during those moments. They aren't exciting. They are informative. I know all about my characters, but I have to let the readers know about them. If only every book came with the knowledge that I already have of my characters. Then I could just write sex and action all the time. LOL!!

Ok, that's enough of a break I suppose (<-- I had to go back and add one of those Ps too). I better get back to work, after getting my demanding toddler something to drink.

Best wishes to everyone who participating in this exciting endeavour.

My Apologies...

Wow, it's already Wednesday evening and I haven't posted on here since Sunday. I do sincerely apologize to all of my loyal readers out there. I hope that you will forgive me. :-)

It has been a busy week and it's only Hump Day. I've dealt with all of the normal wife and mommy duties that pile up on me everyday, but I've also been working on my NaNoWriMo novel--which is subsequently also Book Two to my Fiona & Alex series. There's a wedding in the works and then everything erupts into craziness. This will be a great "episode" to their lives together.

If you haven't already purchased your own copy of Book One: A Midnight Infatuation, then you better jump on it. You'll want to read it before reading Book Two: A Birth at Dawn. They will fit together like a great pair of gloves. :-)

Speaking of Book Two, I am quickly coming up on 10,000 words of the 50,000 I'm aiming for by the end of November. I'm about 1,000 words behind the daily average for seven days into the contest, but I'll make up for that plus some if tomorrow I have as great a writing day as I did today. This is certainly an interesting and exciting contest. I keep looking at my word count over and over again. I have to remind myself to STOP and just write.

Oh and don't let me get started on the editing. NaNoWriMo is only for writing. You should waste your time editing or rewriting. You're suppose to write and only write--editing is for after the contest is over. Unfortunately, it is very hard to NOT edit as you're writing. I've already taken out particular scenes and then had to remind myself not to do that anymore. Editing is for December. Editing is for December. Say it with me, editing is for December! LOL!

Alrighty then, dinner is done, the kids need to eat and take baths, the hubby will be home from work in a few minutes and I'm the only person who can pull everything together... apparently. Soooo, I will go now and get busy and hopefully I can finish up some more writing after the girls go to bed later.

Have a great evening!

My Monthly Newsletter

Hello again. I just wanted to add a blog post about my monthly newsletter. I send it out once a month, usually during the first week of the month. These newsletters include little tidbits of information about me, my books, my articles, my sites and whatever else I want to share with my friends, family and fans. If you're interested in receiving my newsletter you can sign up below. I'll be sending out my November issue tomorrow.

NaNoWriMo

Wow! It has finally begun. I can't believe that November is here and it's time for the NaNoWriMo writing contest. This is my first year doing it and I've been anxious to sign up and get started since I heard about it in the spring. I was right there in line signing up as soon as they allowed us to in October.

Unfortunately, I'm not as fast as some people when it comes to getting their 50,000 words written. I have three kids, a husband, a dog and my house to tend to....plus my own sanity. Therefore, all of those things have to come before my writing. I get NOTHING done on the weekends....NOTHING! All of my writing is done during the weekdays and late at night. The weekends are days for my family and friends.

Today my husband woke up, looked at me and asked "So what are we going to do today?" Made me want to smack him in the forehead like on those V-8 commercials. LOL! My hubby works an hour from home and he has to drive an hour to and from every weekday. He whines and complains about all that driving, but on the weekends--when he could be resting--he wants to go, go, go. The crazy man!

Anyway, my days are always busy so it's no wonder that I haven't written a word on my book in 2 days. It's crazy, but at least I know how it's going to be this month. I'll have to stay on top of things during the week and then let the weekend go where it may.

Good luck to those of us doing NaNoWriMo. I hope that we all have great success with our stories. :-)

They had fun!

My girls had a blast last night. They brought home far to much candy, but everyone had a blast. The toddler decided to have a meltdown before bed last night, but that was to be expected with all the sugar running through her little system and because she was up later than usual. In the end, she proceeded to demand that she NOT wear a diaper to bed. I expected to be aakened by a soaked 2 year old, but was happily surprised to find her sleeping DRY this morning. She's been daytime potty trained for a long time, so one diaper a day is great, but wow it would be great to have her nighttime potty trained too.
Anyway, for your viewing pleasures, here is a pic of my girls in their Halloween bests and even one of myself. I've gone red and I'm not sure if I like it yet, but it's fun to change things up every once in a while. LOL!

Ooohhh, tomorrow is Halloween!

It's that time of the year again. Time for all the little ghouls and goblins to go out in search of chocolate and hard candies. I can't believe how fast 2007 has flown by. With each passing year the months seem to go by quicker than the year before. Maybe that comes with age, maybe it's how great years go by (much too quickly) or maybe it's just me.

2007 has been a wonderful year in my household. I've had so much fun with my writing this year. I've greatly enjoyed all of my wonderful and loyal readers who email me and leave me messages. You are all so kind and I appreciate your wonderful reviews and thoughts about my books.

Back to Halloween, tomorrow I will be out and about taking my little girls out in search of enough refined sugar to strangle a horse with. They will each be dressed in their chosen costumes and I will be forced to take them from house to house to beg for candy that no one really needs. LOL! But, we will have fun and at the end of the night everyone will be happy and tired.

My oldest is going as a punk rocker (like she knows what that means, lol), my middle daughter will be going as a zombie soccer player (don't ask me where she came up with that one) and my youngest will be going as a ghost. Even I have a costume!

Anyone want to see me as a Gothic Sorceress? Probably not, but that's the one I've got. LOL! I even colored my hair blood red over the weekend and have long, black, spider-web fingernails that I need to apply tonight. Oh and least I forget about the fishnet stockings and knee-high boots. The hubby can't wait! LOL!

Well, I guess that's enough rambling for today. I hope that everyone has a wonderful time on Halloween and that all the kiddies accumulate enough junk food to live off of the sugar high for several weeks to come. :-)

Time Goes By So Quickly.

Ahhh, why do the years fly by so fast? One minute we are watching our babies while they take their first steps and the next minute they are grown. My oldest daughter will be going to her very first party tonight. The type of party where I'll be dropping her off and then picking her back up when it's over. DH is NOT happy about it, but then again what daddy would be happy about it? LOL. The poor man has a lot in store for him if he gets upset about a little party for 10/11 year old girls. LOL.

If anyone had told me five years ago if I would be where I am today I wouldn't have believed them. We were dealing with so much five years ago. My dad was sick with ALS and only months away from leaving us. Life was hard back then.

These days things are great. Finances are never great (even though I'm hoping that will change with the new year), but life in general with my family is just wonderful. We are all happy and, after almost 14years of marriage, I couldn't be more in love with my wonderful husband than I am right now.

All of this rambling is simply to say that time goes by so quickly and you never know what tomorrow will bring. Even if you are dealing with a tough time right now, you never know what's around the corner of tomorrow. Keep your chin up and try to enjoy today because it will be gone tomorrow.

Super WAHM!

If you are a Super WAHM or would like to be a WAHM, stop by and check out this interesting contest at SuperWAHM.net This contest is in honor os Breast Cancer Awarness Month and there will be three winners who will win some great goodies.

A New Family Member!

This cute little girl is a stray puppy that has been hanging around the in-laws' house. We went for our visit today and the puppy fell in with Kaitlyn as well as she with it. The pup cried and whined when we walked away from it. We went and had lunch with the in-laws and then Tim & I discussed this cute lttle pup for a couple hours before we gave in, bought doggy supplies and went to get it. The girls are sooo happy.

People are constantly asking if Tim & I will have more children. Our answer is always no. We have three lovely daughters and we are so happy with them. I have no desire, at this moment, to have more children and my poor hubby is already covered up with female hormones in the house. LOL.

Anyway, we now have a pup to tend to. We've had dogs before, but this time I have the two older girls to help me care for it. No more relying solely on mommy for puppy duty. YAY!

This pup doesn't have a permanent name yet. The girls have gone through a whole slew of names, but nothing seems right, LOL. Right now we're trying out Maddy, but who knows what that will be changed to once the big girls get home from school today.

Oh, and before I forget, North Georgia is getting rain today! YAY! We soooo need it and MUCH more.

I hope you all have a great Monday. :-)

Spending time with the family.

Today was one of those days where all I wanted to do was stay at home, clean the house and then relax with my family. Unfortunately, my husband had other plans. He whines all week about having to drive an hour to and from work and yet one the weekends, when he could be relaxing at home, he wants to go, go, go. Drives me batty.

Anyway, today he just HAD to go to Wal-Mart. No reason, just wanted to go and look around to see if he could find some little piece of useless trash that no one really needs. So after him bothering me for an hour, while I was trying to get some work done, I finally say FINE and off we go.

Well, our normally sweet-as-pie 2 yr old decided that today would be a fantastic day to practice her tantruming skills. If you have kids you know the kind of tantrums where you're trying to get a kicking and screaming toddler out of the store while hoping that no one thinks you're kidnapping them. LOL. It was hell! LOL. She screamed all the way home (30 min drive). All the while DH is asking if I want to stop somewhere for lunch. HELL NO! Sheesh!

We get home and then I realized that I had forgotten something in town. DUH! So we load up and go back to town, get that item taken care of and then back home. When we make it home this time I proceed to make the girls pigs in blankets and fries for dinner. About an hour later we went outside, started up the firepit and let them roast a whole bag of marshmellows.

After all that, I had to bring them in, bath them and get them in their pjs. Finally is was 7:30pm and I rushed the 2yr old off to bed, pushed the older two into my room for some quiet cartoon time and am now on the computer while DH is playing on his PS2.

Ahhhhh, peace and quiet at last. All I wanted was a peaceful day at home and this is what I received. Maybe next time, maybe next time.

May you have a nice Saturday evening with the ones you love the most.

I love reader comments!

Just like the title states, I love receiving comments from my readers. Today I received one and it made my day. As a writer, you write what you "feel". You write the stories that mean something to you. But, in the end you really want other people to like your stuff as much as you do. So when I receive comments from my readers saying how much they loved the story, how they can't wait to read the next one and how the enjoyed one character or another, it absolutely makes my day. I truly enjoy conversing about my storylines and characters with my readers.

So if you would like to chat with me, feel free to drop me a line through my contact page on my website. I'm a normal person and very approachable. I promise not to bite, unless you ask me to. LOL!

Christie
www.christiesilvers.com

Coffee Time Romance

A few weeks ago I ran across this wonderful website called CoffeeTimeRomance.com. This website is choke full of wonderful information about romance novels and their authors. I've been roaming around the site since I found it, when I have time, and I finally decided to join the forum. Well, that was two days ago. I introduced myself and spoke a little about A Midnight Infatuation.

Today I was happily surprised with an email, from the webmistress/co-owner of CTR, offering me my very own section in the Author's Coffee Corner section of the forum. Of course I graciously accepted! Who wouldn't? LOL!

So, not only can you find me on my website, here on my blog, on MySpace, on Yuwie and on numerous other places all over the World Wide Web, but now you can join me over at Coffee Time Romance!! Come on over and check it out and if you decide to sign up feel free to tell them that ChristieSilvers sent you! :-)

Update on Nascar Race Post.

Dh & I had a blast at the Nascar race in Charlotte, NC this past Saturday. We arrived at 2:30pm (after a 5 hr drive), checked into our hotel, met up with our friends and headed straight to the track. It was crazy crowded, but very exciting. I'm not a race fan, but even I had fun. My hubby was estatic.

After the race, we didn't get back to our hotel room and in bed until 3am! I swear it was like a herd of cattle when the race was over. Everyone was trying to leave all at the same time and the crowds were so big that it was just one big ocean of people as far as the eye could see. Insanely crowded.

Then the next morning we got up at 9am and were checking out of the hotel by 10am. We said good bye to our friends and headed back to Georgia. We hit a traffic jam in Atlanta that screwed with our travel time so it was 5 1/2 hrs before we got back home. In the end, we made it back all in one piece, but completely exhausted. LOL!

For those of you interested, you can check out a few of our pictures from the race HERE. DH is now begging me to buy tickets for the Atlanta race next weekend. He's not asking much...and thanks for the advance notice. *rolls eyes* Men!

A Midnight Infatuation - Chapter 1 Sneak Peek

Interested in reading chapter 1 of my new book? Well, wait no longer! Take a look at the first chapter of this exciting new book on my MySpace blog and don't forget to check out my newly designed website and the contest that I'm running for the month of October......only 16 days until I announce the winner!

Chapter 1 of A Midnight Infatuation

Christie Silvers

http://www.christiesilvers.com/

Nascar Race......

The title says it all. LOL. DH & I are going to our very first Nascar race tomorrow night. Dh watches the races on Sundays (and the ocassional Saturday) and he thoroughly enjoys them, but we've never been to one. Well, my good friend Jami invited us to go with her and her hubby so we're going to Charlotte, NC tomorrow for an overnight....without any children!

This will be the very first overnighter for the husband and I, without any children, since our oldest was born almost 11 years ago. *shocking* It will be quite interesting, to say the least. Of course I pity my mother. LOL. She'll have her hands full with three fiesty girls.

I hope that all of you will have a fabulous weekend and if you happen to be at the race and spot me give a wave and say Hi! :-)

A new design!

Hi everyone! As you can tell, my blog here has had a makeover. This is so that it will coincide with the redesign of my website http://www.christiesilvers.com Everything has been cleaned up with a new look, layout, design and all around cleaner look. Stop by and check it out.

So what do you all think of the new header? My good friend Mis created it for me and I absolutely love it! She does good work. If you're looking for someone to make banners/headers then I highly suggest talking to her. Her site is http://www.aplacenextdoor.com Tell her Christie sent you! :-)

As you can see on the right, I have added a sign-up box for people to use in order to receive updates via their email when this page is updated. This will keep people from coming back and being disappointed that I haven't posted something new to read. :-)

Lastly, don't forget about the contest that I'm running during the month of October. I will be announcing the winner on Halloween so there's still time for you to join in on the fun. Check it out at http://www.christiesilvers.com/photocontest .

The website is updated, the blog is updated and I will be working on my MySpace page next. Be on the lookout. :-)

Favorite TV Quotes

I love television. Well, I love GOOD television. I'm not a lover of the crime shows like CSI (and all of its spin-offs) or any of the other shows like that. BUT, I absolutely love the show Bones on Fox. Bones cracks me up. Last night's episode gave me my new most favorite quote......

"I don't care what's happening in your pants... As long as you keep it in your pants." Michaela Conlin as Angela Montenegro.

That line just cracked me up last night, and still does this morning as I think about it. I love it!

So what's your current favorite tv quote?

NaNoWriMo

Well, I did it this morning. I joined the NaNoWriMo contest. I'm very excited to join in on this activity. Everyone that I have spoken with seems to have enjoyed their time with it, so I figured that I'd jump in on it this year and use the month of November to crank out the first draft of my next novel in the Fiona/Alex series. It should make for an interesting November. Luckily, I've convinced my little sister to be in charge of Thanksgiving dinner this year and my husband has been warned that he will get absolute ZERO attention during the month of November. LOL!

Ah well, it should be fun and it will be a great way to get my creative juices flowing and force my fingers to fly across the keyboard.

For those of you who don't know what NaNoWriMo is, you can check it out at http://www.nanowrimo.org Stop by and join in!

It's finally here! That is, it's finally October 1st!

It is finally here! The 1st of October marks the release of my much anticipated paranormal romance novel, A Midnight infatuation.

If you are interested in purchasing your own copy, you can read all the details about this book, purchase your own copy and even purchase an autographed copy by visiting the book's page on my website.
A Midnight Infatuation by Christie Silvers

Don't forget about my October Contest that also began today. I hope that everyone will participate and have fun doing so. :-)

*********************************************************************************
Alexander is a 150 year old vampire with a lust for blood. But, the blood isn't all that he enjoys. He thoroughly delights in the act of taking blood from an unwilling victim. The ear-piercing screams are like music to his undead ears. That is, until her met HER!

Fiona is a 30 year old werewolf. She's just like any other modern-day woman that you would meet in the teller line at your local bank. She has to deal with her annoying family, numerous failed relationships--including one where she found her boyfriend in bed with HIS boyfriend--and pressure to marry from everyone around her.

Alex becomes instantly infatuated with the lovely Fiona and is very intrigued by the unusual scent that emanates from her. His infatuation becomes very useful when Fiona's pack decides to instigate their "Fight or Wed" law; which in turn leaves Fiona lying on a forest floor bleeding profusely. Alex is forced to do what vampires do... turn her!

With Fiona's pack hot on their trail, what will become of this unusual pair? Will they be able to avoid Fiona's pack of vicious revenge-seeking werewolves? Will Fiona be able to look past Alex's undead demeanor?

You'll have to read A Midnight Infatuation to find out!
**********************************************************************************

Christie Silvers
http://www.christiesilvers.com

Tomorrow's the Day!

It is the last of or September 30, 2007 and as I sit here getting ready for bed, all I can think about is tomorrow. Tomorrow is another dreaded Monday for most, but for me it's going to be a day filled with excitement, joy, nervousness and pure elation. I will still awaken at the awful 6am hour, wake my children, take the big girls to school and fix breakfast for my toddler and me. But, after the mundane morning routine I will begin my day.

Tomorrow is October 1st. It is the day that my new book is released. A project that my world has revolved around for the last six months has come to fruition and I'm delighted!

Alright, that's all for today. I MUST get myself off to bed or I will be exhausted on top of everything else going on tomorrow. I hope that all of you will stop by tomorrow and check out my new book, and maybe even order your own copy! :-)

Good night and sleep well.

October Contest Announcement

YAY! I can't believe it, but we are only 7 days away from the release of my new book A Midnight Infatuation. So in order to celebrate the release of this exciting new book I am running a contest of sorts. To read all of the details, and to check out my newly redesigned website, click HERE.

I hope that you all will join in and have fun doing so. :-)

The days are ticking away.

Wow, only 12 more days until the release of A Midnight Infatuation. I can't believe that it is almost time. This book has been the center of my writing life since May and I can't believe that it's time to share it with the world. I'm soooo excited!

Next Monday, exactly 1 week before the book's release, I will announce the contest that I will be running in October. I hope that many of you will participate. It should be fun! So be on the lookout for that announcement next week.

It is a lovely day here in north Georgia. The temps are cool, there is a light breeze and the sun is shining brightly. I even have the windows open in my little house. I love this time of year!

2 weeks!

There's only 2 more weeks until the release of my new book, A Midnight Infatuation. Well, technically, it's really 16 days, but that's close enough to 2 wks for me. I'm soooo excited!

To everyone who is planning purchase their own copy of this wonderful story, I will be running a contest during October so be on the lookout for the big announcement right after the book's release.




Don't forget to check out the book's trailer below!

Book Trailer!!

I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do. :-)

Exercise, why do we hate it so?

I know that this isn't a "professional" update, but I do ocassionally post "personal" stuff on this blog also. I like to keep it all in one spot if possible.

Anyway, why do we hate exercise? It's good for us. Our body needs it. We feel soooo good afterwards (endorphins and all that jazz), but why do we have to practically FORCE ourselves to do it?

Some of you out there may be thinking, "I love to exercise" and if you are, CONGRATS! Unfortunately, many of us are just the opposite. I hate exercising, hate it with a passion. BUT, I force myself to do it and I always feel good about it afterwards. I just can't seem to get past the feeling of dread each day when it comes to my workout.

For those of you who don't know, I have lost over 100lbs since my youngest daughter was born. I tipped the scales at 323lbs the day that she was born. Oh yes I know, I was pregnant, but I only gained 14lbs with the pregnancy. I have worked long and HARD to lose the weight and I still have 70lbs to lose before I'll reach my goal weight.

With all of that in mind, why--after so long on the healthy track--do I STILL hate exercising? You would think that by now it would be like second nature to me. But, it's not!

I gulp down 8-10 servings of water a day, each 5 servings of fruits & veggies, watch my carb intake and try my hardest to avoid as many sweets as I possibly can (not always successful with that one). All of that is EASY for me after all this time, but that darn exercise habit avoids me like a disease.

Anyway, I did FORCE myself onto my treadmill (I hate that thing) for 30 mins this morning and my yoga mat is calling my name. I guess I better go use it before I decide to ignore its pleas.

I hope that you have a productive and healthy day!

Lots of exciting announcements!

Here it is!! This is the brand new cover for A Midnight Infatuation and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. This cover took a week of hard work on the part of my cover artist and a lot of decisions on my part. We changed, tweaked, rearranged and added numerous things to the cover to get it just right.


This wonderful new book now has a release date also. On October 1, 2007, A Midnight Infatuation will begin selling from the publishers website!! I think that date suits this book perfectly. What better than a Vampire & Werewolf story in the month of October?


Lastly on the subject of this book, A Midnight Infatuation received its first book review this morning. You can check it out by visiting my site at http://www.christiesilvers.com/bookreviews Don't forget to check out the book's MySpace page and add yourself as a friend at http://www.myspace.com/amidnightinfatuation .


Now for the last announcement of today. My parenting book, Toddler Logic, is now available for purchase through Amazon.com. I know that a lot of people feel more comfortable ordering from the popular Amazon than from the publisher's site so here you go! Toddler Logic on Amazon


I hope that everyone is having a great week!

World Debut.....

A Midnight Infatuation now has a cover. YAY! Everything was completed yesterday and I am very happy with the results. I will debut the new cover tomorrow, Monday, September 10, 2007. So be on the look out for it!

Friday I completed the anticipated Author Resources page on my website. Stop by and check it out! It's still a work-in-progress, but there are some wonderful links on there. http://www.christiesilvers.com/authorresources

I hope that you all have a peaceful Sunday. :-)

Review & MySpace

I now have the review for Toddler Logic: 50 Things That Your Toddler Wants You to Know up on my website. You can check it out here http://www.christiesilvers.com/bookreviews If you are looking for a wonderful, professional, friendly and quick book reviewer, then definitely check out Mind Fog Reviews! They were so great to work with and I'll certainly be working with them again in the future.

On another note, A Midnight Infatuation now has its own MySpace page. Stop by and check it out! As soon as the book cover is completed I'll be adding it as the avatar. For now, the bleeding roose seemed like a fitting photo. http://www.myspace.com/amidnightinfatuation

I've been dealing with a migraine all day so there's no update on the Authors Resources page yet. It took enough for me to stare at the computer screen long enough to do the stuff I've already done today--myspace, book reviews, this blog post, etc. Anyway, I promise that I will get it done soon, so keep an eye out! :-)

Happy Labor Day!

Wow, I can't believe that it's September already. Halloween will be here before I know it. The big girls are already sharing ideas for Halloween costumes. Sheesh!

On the professional front:
I currently have a great artist working on the cover for A Midnight Infatuation and I can't wait to see what she comes up with, just from my ideas. That puts this great book just one step closer to publication and I can't wait to share it with all of you!

As of this morning, Toddler Logic has its very first review. I'd like to thank Mind Fog Reviews for their professional and speedy review. I'll have the review up on my website for all to read by the end of tomorrow. So stop by and check it out!

Lastly, for right now anyway, I wanted to share a new page that will be added to my website over the next day or two....... Author Resources!! This new page will have numerous resources listed that are helpful to any author. I'm working on it so be on the lookout!

Lots of new and exciting things are on the horizon so check in often!

Have a great day!

Major update.

It is completely finished. The book is done and the entire thing is printed out and lying on my desk waiting for me to read it. I finished uploading all of my edits this morning and now I'm excited to read my finished product.

Another inportant development: I've changed the name of the book to A Midnight Infatuation. While I loved the other title, it seems kind of long for a book. Sooooo, after coming up with several variations and asking for opinions, A Midnight Infatuation was born.

Thank you to Shannon and Amanda for your help on the matter! You're the best. :-)

Oh and before I forget, my website now has a FAQs page. Stop by and check it out. If you have any questions, feel free to drop me a line. http://www.christiesilvers.com/

Announcement.

I'm happy to announce that the edited version of Vampires, Werewolves & Infatuation, Oh My! is now completed. I had planned to be finished last weekend, but life happens when you have three kids. That puts us another step closer to the finished, published book. YAY!

Thank you to everyone who has continued to show interest and support during the writing of this wonderful story. I appreciate all of the emails announcing your desire to read the finished version and wondering when it will be published. Please continue to be patient. I assure you all that I will annouce it to the world as soon as the book gets published! If you want to be one of the first to receive updates on this book and many other topics concerning my work, then stop by my website and join the mailing list. :-) http://www.ChristieSilvers.com

Have a great weekend everyone!

Excitement that only a parent can understand.

Today is a milestone in the life of my youngest daughter. This morning she woke up with a dry diaper! Now many of you readers without children will probably be saying, "Yeah, ok, and?" But, you parents out there will completely understand he excitement that I'm feeling today. I just want to shout, "Diaper freedon here I come!" It's not like I'm spending a fortune on diapers all the time, I use cloth, but it will be great to be able to store all of these diapers away and not worry about them any longer. Ahhhh, I can't wait. Oh, and she received TONS of praise from me this morning when I discovered the dry diaper. TONS! lol

On a completely unrelated topic, yesterday was an exciting day in a totally different manner. Yesterday, I signed my very first autograph! I've been asked numerous times if I would sign someone's book, and I always say yes, but this was the very first in-person autograph request!! That is very exciting. I know that I was blushing, but it was soooooo much fun. I look forward to many, many more of those moments in the future. :-)

Update on the editing.

Things are moving forward very quickly with my editing on Vampires, Werewolves & Infatuation, Oh My! I *should* be finished with all of the editing, and adding the two more chapters that I'm going to be adding, by Monday or Tuesday. After that I will be going over the whole book again to just READ it--no red ink pen will be allowed this time.

Oh a different note, Toddler Logic has finally received its ISBN! That means it's just a matter of weeks before it will be available for purchase at places like Amazon, Barnes & Noble and numerous other retail locations. You will even be able to walk into a book store and order a copy of it (if it's not already on the shelves).

I have had numerous inquiries as to whether or not I would be willing to sign copies of Toddler Logic for readers. I have answered this question several times so I thought it would be good to post it here also. My answer is, YES! I am always happy to sign anyone's copy and always will be. I can't promise that it will increase the value of your copy, but I'm happy to do it. HAHAHA! If you would like your copy signed, fill free to contact me at christie@christiesilvers.com :-)

Be on the lookout for the upcoming FAQs page on my website. The above question, and many more, will be included so as to help any fans (or just curious readers) find the answers that they are looking for.

Ok, I'm off to take my girls to a birthday party. I hope that you all have a fabulous weekend!!

Drama.

Drama in a book is wonderful, but drama in your real life can be annoying and exhausting. Some people just love drama; creating it, being the center of it and spreading it around. These types of people will never be happy unless their lives are full of drama and if there isn't anything currently dramatic going on, they will create some.

I, for one, absolutely abhor drama in anything besides a good book or movie. I have enough to deal with when it comes to my everyday life that I don't have room for other people's drama. I am happy, healthy and productive so why would I want someone around who will just drag me down? The answer is... I don't!

If you have someone in your life that causes you nothing but misery, annoyance, aggravation, et cetera, then it is time to let them go. Distance yourself from them and hope that they will find a better way to live their OWN life. Be on the lookout though, as many people like this will ultimately find their way back to you. So be prepared to keep them away... even years later.

I hope that your life is drama-free and peaceful (except in a good book)!

It's a new week.

Today is Monday, which means it's the beginning of a new week. The big girls are off to school, my toddler is entertaining herself and I've already completed my time on the treadmill for this morning. The laundry is completed and the dishwasher is empty and waiting for more dirty dishes to be added throughout the day. Best of all, it's only 9:30am!

As much as I hate early mornings (I'm NOT a morning person), I do love getting all of my house/family/personal work done before noon. That gives me the rest of the day to work on my professional work...book editing, article writing, website updates, et cetera. But, I still hate getting up at 6am. LOL!

I am halfway through the book editing of my first draft. I get about three chapters completed per day, as long as I do it every day. I *should* be almost finished by the end of this week. That's if I stay on schedule.

Last week was a bust, with only being able to edit it for two days, because my husband's mother had heart issues and had to be rushed to the hospital last Tuesday. She was finally released yesterday and now has to stay hooked to an oxygen tank. So it was a hectic week last week with numerous hospital visits, an upset husband and overly tired children because it was also the first week of school.

We took the girls to Chuck E. Cheese's on Saturday to celebrate the first week of school and that was an all day thing. I told the hubby that it was certainly a good way to waste a whole day. LOL! But, the girls had a good time and that's all that mattered.

Ok, that's all for now. I hope that everyone has a great day and don't let the stresses of life get you down! :-)

It has been crazy around here.

This has been a busy, crazy week. First, my older girls started the new school year on Monday. So I had all of the first week of school running around to tend to. I've been working on editing my book all week. THEN, yesterday Tim's dad calls to let us know that Tim's mom has been taken to the hospital with congenitive heart failure. Sooooo, we've been dealing with that. She had surgery today and they cleared up three blocked arteries and hopefully that will be that.

Tomorrow is Thursday. I was suppose to have lunch with my wonderful bestest friend, but her little boy is sick and we try to never contaminate each others' kids with our child's illness. So we had to cancel lunch. :-( Looks like we will have a phone lunch date instead. LOL!

The book editing is going really well. I believe that I will be finished before my personal deadline of October 1st. Now that the big girls are back in school I've even written a few articles and I've started submitting articles to a new website. I will post the link to the new site on the right of the screen in a few minutes. I have a couple more websites that I'm checking into also. I figure that AC isn't the only business in town and I'd like to sample the others.

My Toddler Logic book sales are moving right along. I seem to have a steady flow of sales right now, so I'm hoping that it will pick up even more once the book goes Live on Amazon. Hopefully that won't be much longer.

If you haven't done it already, check out my newly updated website http://www.christiesilvers.com . You may also want to sign up for my newsletter (located on the Contact Christie page). In the future I will be sending out periodical newsletters to tell my friends about upcoming events, book updates, website updates and even special giveaways and contests. You won't want to miss out!!

It's done!!

Yes, you read that correctly. My first draft (a very rough one) of the whole book is now completed!! I am very excited with it. Now I'll have to pull out my red ink pen and get to work with editing, rewriting and revisions. It has taken me just under 3 months to go from an idea to here. I expect it to take nearly that long to complete my editing process. So, hopefully, I'll be finished COMPLETELY by Halloween. *fingers crossed*

The next time that I update about this book it will be to tell you that I am finished with MY editing. Then we'll see if my editor whats more revisions done.

Ok, it's after 1 am again. Luckily this should be my last late night for a while. School starts next week so I need my rest. It has been a fun and exciting summer and I hope to continue that right into the fall. It should be a very interesting winter if things go the way I hope they will.

Good night everyone! May you all have sweet dreams.

Almost there.

I just finished another chapter in my book. With this completed chapter I am now almost finished with the actual writing portion of the book. I will write the last chapter and probably the epilogue tomorrow night and then I'm finished!

Of course, most people will know that that's not the end of it. Writing the actual book is really only the beginning. After its completion, I will quickly move into the editing, revising, rewriting, proofreading, etc, etc, etc. portion of the book. It may take just as long to do all of that as it has taken to write the thing. LOL But, I don't mind!

Anyway, it is just after 1am so I will head to bed now. Only one more late night and I'll be ready to work during the daylight hours. My big girls head back to school next week and I'll again have the peacefulness of having only one child home all day.

Good night!

Something I wrote last night.

This is something that I wrote last night, about my youngest daughter waking up while I was working on chapter 22. :-)

"While I am sitting here, typing away on my laptop - working on my current book project - I was interrupted by the cries of my 2yr old daughter. She was yelling, "Mommy!" so I sat aside my laptop and rushed to her crib-side. She was standing up in her crib, crying for me. I picked her up and those small arms immediately wrapped tightly around my neck and she said, through her tears, "Mommy get hurt at beach! Monster bite you's foot!" (I got stung by a jellyfish on vacation) She was sooo upset that I sat down in the rocking chair and had to reassure her. I said, "Mommy is ok. Don't worry." She proceeded to say, "But you foot still has boo-boos." I told her that yes ,indeed, the foot still looked bad, but it didn't hurt anymore and that mommy was alright.

My sweet daughter hugged my neck tightly, with her little head lying on my shoulder, and slowly calmed down until I was able to put her back to bed. She fell right back to sleep with the knowledge that her mommy was just fine and she had nothing to worry about.

The love of a child is an empowering feeling. They need us more than just for food, clothing and knowledge. They love us and we are their world for a very long time. The thought of my 2yr old being so fearful of my silly foot injury, so much so that it causes her to wake from fright, just brings tears to my eyes. These aren't tears of sadness, but tears from knowing just how much she does love me.

Hug those little ones of your's and know that they do, indeed, love you more than they will ever tell you."

Sites of Friends

• A Place Next Door
• Mis Made Designs
• MisTaken Art
• My Essential Designs
• SAHM of Twins Shop A Palooza
• Zindy Zone (artist)

Blogs of Friends

Beauty Secret Sample Bags

• Cailin Yates
• Country Potpourri
• I Love This Circus
• Journey to a New Me
• Lil Mama's Laundry Day Chronicles
• LTTM Blog
• Marla's Fun Stuff
• My Love Knot
• Robin Renee Ray
• Simplify Your Life
• The World According to ~C~
• THIS AND THAT

Still moving along.

Last night I managed to complete chapters 20 and 21. I'm estimating about another 5 chapters before it will be ready to end. I'm trying to find an interesting way to wrap the book up while leaving just enough suspense to keep the readers craving more, which will lead into the second book. I know what the last sentence will be and I have a great idea for the epilogue, but I just have to get from where the characters are right now to where I want them to be by the end of the book. I'm sure that it will all come to me in the end, but I would feel a lot better if I already knew. LOL! That's what happens when a book takes on a life of its own I suppose.

I'm still having troubles with my nasty jellyfish sting from two weeks ago. I thought it was going away, but last Saturday it started flaring up again and it just keeps looking badly, instead of getting better. It's not getting worse, but it's not getting better either. I have to keep it covered in cortizone cream and I have to continuously keep popping Benedryl capsules to keep the itching at bay. Before anyone says it, NO I'm not allowing the husband to urinate on my foot. LOL! I'll just have to suffer if it comes to that. ;-)

Now back to work I go. The house needs cleaning, the laundry needs folding and I have a book to work on. I hope that you all have a good day!

Still busy.

I thought that this would be a slower week, since vacationing and birthdays were over for a while, but I am still finding myself very busy. Most of it is my own doing, I fully admit. I completed chapter 19 in my book last night and I'm also working on a redesign for my website. It's not really anything major, but I wanted the site to have a cleaner look AND look more appropriate for the creatures that roam the night; vamps and weres and all that jazz. So the new site will have a darker color scheme and feel to it. I hope that my readers like it and if you don't, well, then feel free to blame my groupie and I, because we love it. LOL!

I'll be working on chapter 20 tonight. I'm still hoping to have the writing portion of the book completed by the time the children go back to school, in less than 2 wks. I stay up late to work on my book and that won't be feasible once I have to start getting up at 6am to get them off to school.

I hope that all of you have a wonderful Hump Day!

I've been busy.

It has been a busy last few days for The Silvers Family. My middle daughter turned 7 yrs old on the 19th and then we had her birthday party on the 21st. She requested a SuperGirl party and I happily obliged. We all had a great time and I even surprised her with a gift that she had been begging for since last year. It was very fun to see the excitement in her face. I love watching my children have fun.

I'm also having trouble with my jellyfish sting from vacation. It has been over a week since that nasty jellyfish got me and I thought that it was healing nicely, but for the last 3 days it is having a relapse. My foot is itchy and the marks from the tenticles are swollen and red again. The website that I read about this said that you can have reactions from 1-4 weeks after the inital "sting". So it looks like I'll be enduring this mess for a little while longer. Cortizone and Benedryl are my best friends right now.

On the book front, I just completed chapter 18 of Vampires, Werewolves & Infatuation, Oh My! and I have to say that if this chapter doesn't make a few people tingly in the nether regions then I don't know what will. LOL!! This book is sooooo close to being completed. Well, the writing is. I'll have to proofread and edit before it will "really" be completed, but that's the easy stuff compared to the actual writing part. Of course, I'm not really finding the writing part all that difficult. It's just time consuming and since I only feel comfortable writing my book late at night it feels like it's more work than it really is. I'll be happy when it's completed and published, but then I'll be working on Book 2. LOL!!

Good night everyone! I hope that you all have a peaceful night.

I'm done!

For tonight that is. I just finished chapter 17 and, since it's almost 1:30am, I am going to bed. I'm too tired to type anything with more substance right now.

Good night!

Back into the swing of things.

Ah, yes, I am back to my normal self again. Vacation mode is slowly slipping away and the normal, busy, Christie is reappearing. Last night I managed to submit an article to AC......I haven't published anything since July 1st with them.....and tonight I just completed Chapter 16 of my book. I'll be finished before we know it.

My husband is constantly complaining about my late nights, but what he doesn't realize is that with the big girls home from school for summer vacation there isn't one ounce of peace and quiet from the moment they wake up until the moment they go to bed. That's why most of book writing doesn't even begin until the oldest goes to bed at 10pm. Which in turn causes me to stay up until about 1am, depending upon how long the chapter is that I'm working and how well it flows out of my fingertips onto the computer screen.

Tonight I started writing at 10:15pm, wrote for an hour, took a little break for a snack that I shouldn't have eaten and then just finished up the chapter about 5 mins ago. I still have an hour before my "normal" bedtime of 1am. I could start the next chapter, but I have this thing about starting one and not finishing it in the same sitting. Once I begin I MUST see that chapter through to the end before I can stop the process. My snack break was more of a thinking moment. LOL!

I am hoping to have all of the chapters completed by the time the girls go back to school. Otherwise, I will have a VERY hard time getting up early in the mornings to get them ready and drive them to school every day.

I hope that everyone has a nice evening (if you aren't already asleep) and wake up feeling rested and refreshed in the morning. :-)

Back from vacation!

I am officially back from vacation. We made it home Saturday (the 14th) evening, but I've still been in vacation mode since then. Today is the start of a new week and I am now back!

We had a fantastic week on Tybee Island and we all have the tan lines to prove it. LOL! We had rainy weather on the first day, but once that passed there was a gorgeous rainbow over the ocean and the rest of our week was perfect. I drank far too many alcoholic beverages, ate too many pounds of fresh seafood and spent too much money, but it was FUN!

We played in the ocean every single day, except for one. On that day we roamed around nearby Savannah, checked out the big mall, did some shopping and just spent the day out and about. By the time we made it back to the condo we were all too tired to go to the 102 degree beach.

On our very last night there, Tim & I went down to the beach alone (We brough mom with us & she babysat several times for us) to frolick in the waves before heading home the next morning. We were having a great time when suddenly I felt a poke/sting on my left leg. I reached down into the water and sort of swatted/rubbed the area and then I was attacked by a nasty little jellyfish on my hand and all over the top of my left foot.

We rushed back to the shore and then went as fast as we could to the condo, before my foot went completely numb. We made it back in the nick of time. My foot and hand swelled, stung, burned and just downright HURT for about two days and then it was over. I still have red marks on my hand and foot from where the tenticles touched me, but there's no more pain or anything. At least we know that I'm, apparently, not allergic to jellyfish stings. LOL!

Other than the jellyfish, the only problem I had on vacation was that my curly hair did NOT enjoy the island's humidity. Most of the pictures of me will show enormous, frizzy hair sprouting from my head. LOL! My husband wants to move there. I'd never have decent hair if we did. LOL!

Ok I better go for now. My girls are fighting. Only 3 more weeks until school starts, only 3 more weeks until school starts, only 3 more weeks until school starts.

Tomorrow's the day.

Tomorrow morning we will head out for our week long beach vacation. I can't wait to be sitting on the beach soaking up the sun. The van is packed, with everything that can be packed a day in advance, the house is clean, the laundry is done and I will only have to run one loaf of dishes and put them away this evening. We are SET!

I'm taking my laptop, but don't expect me to check in very often since our condo does not have Wi-Fi, or any internet connection at all. I'll have to go to the public library or the local McDonald's if I want to get online. I will have to get online once or twice to check emails, but not much more than that.

Well, I have a 2yr old yelling, "Mommy, mommy, mommy" at me so I better go. I hope that everyone has a fantastic week and I will "see" you all when I return on the 14th.

I'm in love!

With my book characters, that is. I am absolutely in love with the two main characters in my book. They seem to have developed a life of their own. I just finished up chapter 15 and I'm ecstatic with their progression towards each other. They definitely have a lot of animal magnetisim between the two of them. I can't wait to see how this book ends between the two of them. I mean, I KNOW how it will end, especially since I've had the last sentence of the book planned out since before I started writing it, but this story has taken on a life of its own and I feel like I'm just along for the ride.

Now I understand the sayings about a good story writing itself. This one is certainly doing that. I was just telling my friend, Shannon, that it was like I was just a simple reader, instead of the author, because I can't wait to find out what happens next. LOL!

Good night all. May you have sweet dreams and get to sleep in late tomorrow. :-)

An early night.........

I was able to get an early start on my book writing tonight. The girls went to bed early and the husband fell asleep on the couch before 9pm. I had the perfect quiet house before 9pm. YAY! It is now 10:50pm and I have gotten a whole chapter and half of the next completed. I'll be able to go to bed before 1am tonight!! YAY!

On the AC front, I wrote an article today, but never got around to editing it and submitting it. It's sitting on my laptop just waiting for me. I was thrilled to find out that my product review about the Nekkie Blankie was in the Showcase on AC's front page! I'm very excited, especially since I wrote the article for my friend Kayli (who is the owner of Nekkie Blankie). I hope that it heps bring in more sells for her. She's great and totally deserves every ounce of success that has and will come her way.

Ok, I better be off to finish this chapter and head to bed. I hope that everyone has a great 4th of July tomorrow. Please stay safe and don't drink and drive!

Only 4 more days until I leave for vacation!

When do you write?

It's an interesting question that I've been contemplating lately. It's not about just finding time to write, but more about the actual time of day that you write. I've found that I write different types of things at particular times of day.

It seems that I can write my articles for Associated Content any time of day. As long as the children are keeping occupied and I have a good 20 minutes then I can crank out an article for AC. When it comes to my book, Vampires, Werewolves & Infatuation, Oh My! I absolutely MUST do my writing at night.

I think that the reason I am writing the book so much easier at night is because 90% of the book takes place at night. I have found that I have to be sitting in my empty livingroom, while everyone else is sleeping, with pitch blackness outside my windows in order to concentrate on my book. My husband comments often about me staying up until 1am so many nights, but you have to do what you have to do in order to complete a task......especially when it's something that you love doing and are passionate about.

Oh well, at least I know that no one will be bothering me while I'm writing late at night. LOL!

Book Update: Chapter 13 COMPLETED!

Busy day that ends with a ringing phone.

My family & I had one busy, hectic day today. Our Fridays are usually busy since I save up all of my driving around tasks for this one day each week. Well, today we had new tires put on the van (we have 6 hrs of driving to do next weekend) and that took a lot longer than expected because the tire delivery truck was late arriving.

After that we had to do our grocery shopping, bill paying, library trip and all of the other Friday errands that I have to contend with each week. We left the house at 8:30am and finally made it home at 2pm. I was tired!

So about 3 hours after we arrived home my phone starts ringing. The caller id states that it's an anonymous caller. That's nothing new so I answer it. All I hear is "beep.......beep.......beep.......beep" on the other end, so I hang up. This happens about four more times until I finally decide to turn on the anonymous caller block on my vonage account. This put a stop to it.

Turns out that it was a fax machine calling. Now, I don't have a fax machine and never had owned a fax machine so why in the world would someone be trying to send me a fax? It was very annoying to say the least. So if you know me, and want to call me, you will have to make sure that you display your id or it will be blocked. If someone is wanting to send me some information, you will have to do it through my email and not by fax. I don't have a fax machine! LOL!

Good night everyone. I hope that you all rest peacefully tonight!

Life with children.

Life with children is hectic. They can drive you completely insane. When you have had a mirgraine for two days they will still scream their little heads off when something doesn't go their way.

Life with children is crazy. They will argue over the most rediculous things. They can make you want to pull your hair out of your head with the way they justify their craziness.

Life with children is fantastic. They can make you laugh with their silliness. They can make you forget about your migraine simply by smiling at you and saying they love you.

I love my girls. They may drive me crazy on most days, they may make me go bald at an early age and they may make my migraines worse, but I wouldn't trade my life with these girls for anything in the world. They are the loves of my life and always will be.

Hug your little ones tightly and remind them of just how much you love them.

One more chapter completed.

I just finished chapter 12 in my book. With this chapter I am officially halfway. I planned on the book having around 20-25 chapters and with the way it's going that looks to be correct. I can't wait to have it completed and to get into the editing aspect of writing. Once you start editing you know that the writing portion is almost completed.

Now that it's close to 1am here in Georgia, I think I will head to bed. The children wake up early so I need to get as much sleep as possible before they are chanting "breakfast, breakfast, breakfast" in my ear.

Monday night.

It's Monday night again. Mondays are always so blah around here. I get bored and yet I'm uninspired to write much of anything. I managed to write a product review and that was about it. I did finish Chapter 11 in my book last night. I doubt I'll get much done on it tonight though.

I just finished attempting to change the background on this blog, but apparently that isn't as easy as I had hoped - so I reverted back to this one. Maybe I'll figure it out later; when I can think a little straighter.

My toddler has apparently decided that she has no use for naps any longer. I knew it was just a matter of time, but why now?? It's not fair! *stomps foot & pouts* Oh well, I guess I'll survive, but I don't like it one bit.

Good enough.

It is now the end of Saturday and I accomplished enough time, thought and energy to crank out nine articles for AC this week. I think that's a great thing for a busy mom of three girls, who are very busy little people. It shows promise.

As for my book, I have completed 10 chapters and will work on chapter 11 (and hopfeully more) in the upcoming new week. It is going very well. The characters seem to have taken over the story completely. It's very fun to feel completely intranced by the storyline and it's characters. I'm loving the process and feeling shocked at how smoothly the story is flowing. The book is at a pivotable point, so I'm having to think hard about how I want the second half of the story to continue. I know how it will end, and I love the last sentence that I will use, but I need to get the characters from where they are at the end of chapter 10 to where they will be at the end of this first book of the series.

I think that I am torturing my poor friend, Shannon, by making her wait so long for the next chapter. LOL! That's ok though, because she will forgive me once the next chapter is waiting in her email inbox. LOL!

I'm still hoping to have the book completed by Fall, and it seems to be an easily obtainable goal if the story continues to go as it has been. I'm seriously amazed with the way that the story's characters have drawn me in. You would think, that as the author, I would already know how each chapter would go, but that's not true. I start out with an idea at the beginning of each chapter and then it just goes from there. Sometimes the chapter ends up being something completely different than I thought it would be. That's ok though. They are always better than I had hoped they would be.

Ok enough rambling. I'm off to bed and hoping for a more peaceful night than I had last night. Of course I'm sure that as soon as I start to fall asleep something great will pop into my head and I'll have to get up and write it down before I forget it. LOL. Oh well, the life of a writer!

Have a good night and may you all have wonderful dreams. :-)

One more day.

Today is Friday so that means that I have one more day to meet my personal goal of 10 articles submitted to AC in one week. I wrote #7 & 8 today. Two more tomorrow and I'm set! Yay me! Tomorrow is also 2 weeks, exactly, until my vacation. Woohoo! I'm excited and oh so ready!

Ok, I've taken two Tylenol PM and I'm starting to feel the effects. So I'm off to bed for the night and hoping that my toddler decides to sleep late tomorrow. Night all!

I did it.

Yay, I did manage to get two articles submitted to AC today. Only four more before the end of Saturday and I will have reached my goal of 10 articles this week. Anyone willing to give me any good article ideas for the remaining 4? I'm out of ideas at this moment. LOL!

Only 16 more days until my vacation!!!

Ah geez!

Well, I haven't been able to hold true to my promise to post on here more often this week. With the big girls out of school, and me still trying to write on a somewhat normal routine, I just haven't had the time to post as much. I sincerely apologize to my readers for that.

I have managed to get four articles submitted to AC so far this week and have two more ready for today.....once I get them written at naptime. I'm aiming for 10 this week to see where that puts me for my weekly income. My new goal is $100 per week from AC and according to my estimation I will need 10-12 articles per week to accomplish that. After today I should have 6 waiting for review.

Last night, around 1am, I finished Chapter 10 in Vampires, Werewolves & Infatuation, Oh My! Things are going so smoothly in this book that it actually surprises me a little. My friend, Shannon, is still enjoying each new chapter and she makes me laugh when she says that she hated to see the chapter end. I hope that bodes well for the rest of the world when the book is completed....or at least bodes well enough for a reputable publishing house to grab it up.

Ok that's all for now, my girls are yelling for lunch and then it will be naptime for my toddler so that I can get busy writing. Please keep your fingers crossed that she naps today; she didn't Monday or Tuesday and I was going insane.

Until next time, I hope you all have a great day!!

It's been too long.

Wow, was Tuesday really the last day that I posted on here? I was trying very hard to post on a daily basis, at least during the work week. Oh well, I apologize to all of my readers (if there are any, LOL) and I promise to try to do better next week.

My family has had a majorly hectic and busy couple of days, so I really do have a good excuse for neglecting you. We only have 21 days until vacation and the countdown has begun to go a little quicker than I'm comfortable with. Before I know it I'll be running around in a panic because everything isn't packed and ready to go.

On top of the busy days I've had, I just haven't been in the mood to write. The last thing I wrote was on the 12th......which was also the last day I posted on here, now that I think about it. I have to be "in the mood" to write and the mood just hasn't struck me in the last few days. Hopefully, I will pick right back up when Monday rolls around.

Tomorrow is Father's Day so there won't be any time for writing tomorrow. The girls & I bought my hubby a DVD that he's been anticipating the release of, Ghost Rider. He is thrilled. Tomorrow morning we will let him sleep late and then cook him a nice big breakfast of waffles and scrambled eggs (yes, that is considered a BIG breakfast in my house). Then, we will have to leave to go visit his dad. My dad passed away 4 yrs ago, so I have no one to honor. :-(

On the upside of things, my good friend Shannon has thoroughly enjoyed the first 7 chapters of Vampires, Werewolves & Infatuation, Oh My! and the suspense is killing her for MORE of the book. I hope that is a good sign of how the public will feel about it when it's completed. Thank you, Shannon! You know I luv ya! Shannon is super great for a girls ego. LOL!

I hope all of the dads out there have a fantastic Father's Day tomorrow. To those of us without dads, keep them in your thoughts and they will always be in your heart.

Moving right along.

I just knocked out chatper 6 and half of chapter 7 in the new book. I am really surprised at how quickly these chapters go, once I sit down in a quiet house with no distractions. It looks like my 10pm-midnight writing times are my perfect time of day to work on the book.

I can, usually, write an article for AC during the day, but for some reason I can't get "into" my book until the sun has gone down and everyone else is in bed. Maybe it's because the book is about things going on at night, for the most part? Maybe I need to darkness to get the juices flowing? Whatever it is, my hubby isn't appreciated my continuous late nights, while he HAS to go to bed by 10pm in order to get up at 4am the next morning for work.

Anyway, I'm really happy with the way the book is flowing. I hope that it continues to do so. I can't wait to share it with the world.

How many chapters are you going to write?

That is the question that my husband asked me today. I was working on chapter 5 of my book and my husband asks me "How many chapters are you going to write?". How do you answer that? I simply said, "As many as it takes to finish my story. That could be 20 or it could be 50. I just don't know." His next statement was, "Oh goodness! That's going to be a big book!". Then I had to explain that the size of a book doesn't depend on the number of chapters. It's how long those chapters are that makes the difference. LOL!! He's killing me slowly, I do believe.

So how do you explain to someone who has never written anything more than a note saying, "I'm going to the store. Be back later. Love, Tim"? Am I the only writer who doesn't go into a storyline knowing how many chapters it will end up? Surely I'm not. I'll end up with however many chapters it takes to feel like my book is completed and I've taken the characters as far as I want to take them.

Hopefully, eventually, he will realize that this isn't as easy as I make it look. Heaven knows I love him though. :-)

Before Bed.

It is now after midnight here in Georgia, so I figured I would jump in here before I head to bed. Midnight seems to be my bedtime lately. I didn't get a stitch of writing done all weekend, but I'm ok with that because we had a nice weekend.....aside from having to go to a funeral yesterday for one of my hubby's aunts.

We bought the girls a kiddie pool yesterday and they have played in it for the last two days. It is so fun to watch our two year old enjoy a $10 pool. She won't sit on her bottom, for fear of the water being too deep, but she loves to lean over and pretend to swim. She even has little sound effects to go with it, "Fwim, Fwim, Fwim!" she says while moving her arms. It's too darn funny and yet so very adorable.

On another note, the older two girls have decided that they would like a bunkbed for their bedroom. So, being the thrifty and resourceful mommy I am, I glued a white piece of paper, with the words "Bunkbed Money", onto the front of an applesauce jar and instructed them to save up for their bunkbed. Now they think it's a huge game to see who can put the most money into that jar, and how long it will take to save up for a bunkbed. They are 10 & 6, so they are plenty old enough to save up for what they want just like the rest of us have to do. Of course mommy & daddy will be sneaking a few dollars here and there into that applesauce jar. LOL!

Ok, I'm off to bed. I'll be back tomorrow for another installment of my routine/mundane/normal life. :-)

Friends & Fun.

Tonight my family & I spent about 5 hours with my friend and her kiddos. We cooked out, made s'mores and just relaxed, talked and enjoyed ourselves.....while the children ran wild together. Everyone should have days like these. If you haven't gotten together and just had a good time with a good friend then you should schedule that immediately. An evening like that is a great idea for anyone! These are the evenings that you can make memories to last a lifetime.

29 Days!

Ooohhh, I just noticed that there is only 29 more days until vacation. No more months or weeks, now it's just days away. My days are looking brighter every time I turn around. Today I'm paying off my washing machine bill (YAY for one less bill), yesterday I sold another copy of my book (always a huge plus in my day) and there are only 29 days until I'm relaxing to the sound of the ocean's waves. I love it! Life is great!

Oh and anyone who is interested will be happy to know that I knocked out chapter 4 of my new book last night. It is flowing right along and I'm thrilled with it. I didn't make it to bed last night until 12:30am, simply because I couldn't stop typing and was afraid I'd forget something if I stopped and went to bed. LOL!

It's coming right along. :-)

A little variation.

I've suddenly realized something about this writing job/hobby/enjoyment of mine, sometimes I need a little variation. Yes, it's true, a writer needs the occassional variation on the types of writing that they do. Maybe that is why my article ideas haven't been flowing out as easily this week. Maybe I just need a small change. That's why I have so many beach themed articles lately, I was tired of the parenting articles. Now that I've done the beach ideas to death, I need something else. I suppose I'll figure something out eventually. For right now, I am occupying my time with my new book. There's nothing like going from packing for a toddler to vampires and werewolves to get your creative juices flowing again. Unfortunately, my book doesn't make me quick cash like my AC articles do.

On the upside, it is only 1 month to the day until my beach vacation. Seven days of sand and sun with my hubby and daughters (and my mom is going - can you say YAY for a built-in babysitter) will be fantastic. I plan to come back with so many pictures to share that all of my online friends will be disgusted with them. LOL! Maybe even a nice picture of myself to use on the back cover of my book? That would be nice!

I'm annoyed.

I am a little annoyed with myself this evening. After three weeks of consistant, mulitple article ideas, I am stumped. I've been racking my brain all day, and I did manage to write one article today, but I am empty on AC article ideas. I think I'll go see if any ideas will flow out for my book, especially since I didn't manage to write anything for it last night. Shame on me!! I'll never get finished if I keep going at this rate.

Household appliances.

Why is it that we never think about our household appliances until something is wrong with them? We just take them for granted until the day that they don't perform to our usual standards. For example, I vacuum my carpets about three times a week (I have three kids after all) and I take it for granted that my poor overworked vacuum cleaner will perform like it always does, each and every time that I plug it into the outlet.

Not today. My poor overworked vacuum cleaner decided that it didn't want to pick up anything, unless I used the extending wand. Can you just imagine me cleaning a whole livingroom carpet by only being able to use the wand? It was not fun, but the carpet HAD to get cleaned. My poor husband took it apart, cleaned everything that could possibly have been clogged, cleaned the filters and then put it all back together.......nothing! It didn't help at all. Looks like it's time for another vacuum cleaner. Gosh, I hate shopping for things like that. HATE IT!

Other than that, I had a pretty good day. I got one article submitted to AC, received a HUGE surprise from a bunch of my online girlfriends and now (at 10pm) I'm happily tapping away on my laptop keyboard with everyone in bed. Ahhhh, some peace and quiet for at least two hours, or however long I can stay away. Now if I can just tap out a chapter to my new book. There are far too many distractions online and my email is always chiming that I have a new message. Ah, well, the joys of being popular....at least online. LOL!

Writing

I love writing. It entertains me, keeps me occupied, makes me think, teaches me about new things and yet I find it difficult to write when the girls are running around like wild animals. They distract me to the point that I don't even recognize what I had just written. I find it much easier to get any writing done while the toddler naps, and the big ones are outside playing, or once all three are in the bed at night. It's no wonder that I find myself tapping away on my laptop keyboard at midnight on some nights. Poor Tim likes for me to go to bed with him, but he has to trudge off to bed alone when I've had a busy day with the girls. A writer HAS to write, even if she can only do her writing late at night.

I have managed to get a decent amount of writing done on my new book today. Not as much as I would have liked to do, which may be remedied late tonight, but a decent amount. I suppose a chapter and a half is ok for a day with wild girls vying for my attention. LOL!