Happy New Year!

It's less than half an hour until 2009 arrives here in Georgia. I can't believe that 2008 is over. It went by so quickly. Right at this moment I have one of the new year shows on, all three of the girls are at my mom's house, and Tim is snoring on the couch four feet away. Out with 2008 and in with a wonderful 2009!

I hope that all of you have a fabulous year filled with joy, happiness, and prosperity!

Contest Suggestions Needed

I'll have a contest coming up in February with CoffeeTimeRomance.com and I'm wondering what kinds of goodies you'd like to see me give away?

Since it will probably be a Valentine's Day themed contest, I'm thinking *lovey* stuff. Maybe a goodie basket like lotions, candles, sweet smelling stuff, and maybe a copy of A Midnight Infatuation. Then again, maybe I could go for a chocolate theme with candies, edible body paints, etc. Hmmm.....

I'm open to suggestions from my wonderful readers. :-)

You can post them here in the comments section, or email me at christie@christiesilvers.com .

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I'm begging for mercy!!!

Please! If anyone knows how I can convince my insane children to show their dear old mother a bit of mercy, I'd greatly appreciate the suggestions!! Awwwwww!!!!

LOL!

The girls have been home from school for almost two weeks now, and I still have six days of torture left. I'm surprised that my hair hasn't turned white yet... or possibly so thin from pulling it all out that I need a wig. Will January 6th ever arrive?? LOL

If these three haven't been crazy enough, throw in the fact that Tim was home for 5 days last week and after today he'll be home for another 5 days. They are driving me insane!!! Oh, oh, oh and im even had the nerve to ask me if I'd gotten any writing done in Time For Death! Ooohh, yes dear! I've been working with screaming children, holiday guests, cooking, cleaning, a birthday party, and HIM home. *Smacks forehead* Dumbass!

On a side note, my oldest daughter Cassandra turns 12 years old today--at 10:40 p.m. tonight to be exact. We had her family birthday party Saturday and she was so excited about her gifts. Especially the surprise guitar that she'd been asking for, but wasn't expecting to receive. She was soooo shocked and even had tears welling up in her eyes. It was fantastic!

The girls had a great Christmas. They received loads of gifts and goodies. The youngest was so anxious with Santa anticipation that you couldn't help but laugh at her. Here's a pic of her surprise at the Santa gift she opened at 5 a.m. Christmas morning. *yawn*

It was quite humorous! Her birthday is the next on my list. She'll be four years old on January 15th. Then my birthday is 2 days later. My life will finally settle down when February arrives. LOL!

Okay, that's enough rambling nonsense for today. I hope that you're all safe and sound from young children who outnumber you and seem to enjoy the sound of screaming amongst them. If not, then I feel your pain and will be hoping for the swift re-start of school. :-)

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Christie's freezing!

The start of Christmas week has begun here in north Georgia with a temperature of 16 and wind chill of 4 degrees! ACK! It's cooooold here this morning.

Luckily there's no school for the girls so I got to stay bundled up warm in my fluffy bed. However, once I did climb out of bed my toes were awfully angry with me. LOL! The fire I'd built in the fireplace last night had gone out around 4am, so the house was down to 63 degrees (which is cold for me). I quickly rebuilt the fire and here it is an hour and a half later and we're finally up to a comfortable 72 degrees in here. YAY!

The girls are still bundled up under a quilt on the couch together. That'll be the only time you see all three of them sitting nicely together without fussing and fighting. LOL!

On a totally different note...

Tim finally conned me into letting him open his Xbox 360 over the weekend. He's soooo excited and says I'm the best wife in the world. LOL! He played for hours Saturday evening and several Sunday evening. I finally got it hooked up to the internet and set up the gold membership for it yesterday, too. Then he traded in several of his PS2 games to buy a couple of Xbox 360 games. He's loving it. And I'm loving that I can watch my Netflix instant play movies through the system instead of having to hook my laptop to the television. Yay me too!

I have a few errands to run today. I need to get a couple of things for the Christmas Eve party that I forgot about when I went grocery shopping Friday. I figure I better do it today because tomorrow will be hell for anyone doing any kind of shopping.

The girls are excited for the arrival of Santa and I'm excited to see their reactions to the Santa gifts. I did GOOOOOD this year for all of them. LOL!

I hope that you all have a fabulous Christmas!

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Christie is happy!

Yesterday my Annie returned to my lap. I was so anxious for her to load up so that I could see if my files were still there. The anticipation was horrid and her loading process seemed to take FOREVER (even though I know it never takes log).

After what seemed like 10 mins (it wasn't), the screen brightened and there on the background of colorful beach rocks sat the one file I had most wanted to see....

The manuscript for Time For Death!!!

Yep, all of my files are still right where I left them, fully intact. I was so filled with joy that I immediately grabbed the closest flash drive and copied the file (and it's accompanying notes file) right on over to it. That mess won't be happening to me again. No way! No how!

Whew!

What was funny is that since my laptop had been out of commision for 10 days, all of my programs that regularly update themselves when wild as soon as it was connected to the internet. My antivirus, spyware, firewall, etc. all wanted to update at the same time. The Windows Defender was chastising me because there hadn't been a scan run for 10 days. GASP!! LMAO!

All is well now though. Annie is running smoothly. All of the programs have updated and ran their scans (soooo sorry Windows Defender). And I'm happy in the knowledge that my book hasn't been lost. As soon as Christmas is over I'll be back to work on Time For Death with a newfound urgency to get it finished. I love the story and can't wait to stand back and say, "Awww, even after all the trouble and scares, it's done!"

While I'm thinking about it, I must say that the Dell Support was superb during all of this. The people I spoke with, both online and over the phone, were so helpful, kind, and knowledgeable. And alk about fast! My laptop reached their repair facility on Tuesday and by Wednesday they'd shipped it back to me and it arrived home on Friday. Talk about quick!

Thank you Dell! I would have preferred that the motherboard NOT have gone out, but I'm so thankful that it was repaired so quickly. And I'll say it again... Thank goodness for warranties! LOL!

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone! I hope that Santa brings you everything that you deserve. Or at least a little of what you desire.
;-)

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Annie Update

Good morning everyone! It's a cool, dreary, rainy day here in north Georgia. I swear it never seems to stop raining here these days. I *think* we had a few hours of sunshine one day last week, but my mood was so dreary that I hardly noticed.

Well, as I sit here typing this, my beloved Annie is now in Houston, Texas. Very far from home. So now that they have Annie, it will be 5-8 business days for them to fix her and send her back home to me. I'm still being caustiously optimistic that she'll come back with all my files safe and sound. I really, really, REALLY do not want to rewrite the entire manuscript for Time For Death. I wasn't even finished with it, but it was getting close.

On another topic... With just over a week until Christmas, I've already been bombarded by the chants and pleading of, "Can I open my present? Please let me open my present! I can't wait another week to open my present!" And those are just from Tim!!! LOL! He's a 32 year old child! LOL.

The girls only have 4 days of school this week, meaning that they'll be home with me Friday when I'm having to do my last minute Christmas dinner shopping. UGH! I don't know why they couldn't keep then in school for Friday too. LOL! They will be out until January 6th. I'll be finding white hairs before they go back. LOL.

Okay then. That's all for today. I'm off to watch the Prison Break from last night that's sitting in my DVR and obsess over how soon Annie will come home. Have a great day, where ever you are!

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Morning Ya'll!

Yes I used ya'll up there. Did you forget that I'm a Georgia gal? LOL!

I thought I'd stop in while the little ne is eating her bowl of oatmeal and before I have to start a hectic day of errands. I have to go drop Annie off at the FedEx office since it was too late in the day for her to go out yesterday after I picked the girls up at school. So there was really no point in me making a trip to the next town when it wouldn't go out until today anyway. And I'm always over there on Fridays anyway.

So Annie will be leaving on her journey to a new her! No, she's not my only internet access, Sabre! I'd be in utter hell if I didn't have any access at all. UGH! No, I have a 5 yr old HP desktop (which I'm on right now) that still holds up, albeit a little slowly. I'm just not online as much with it because I hate sitting at the desk all day. At least with Annie I could just pick her up and go to the bedroom, or plop her down on the kitchen counter while I cook, or just curl up in the corner of the couch and chat with friends. It's kind of hard to do that on the old desktop. LOL!

Aw well. I'm more resigned to the fact that this is just one of those things that I'll have to move past and hope for the best. I documented everything under creation to make sure that Annie comes back safely and repaired. Hopefully all of my stuff will still be in there. I even wrote on the instruction sheet for Dell, "Please, please, please do NOT format the harddrive." Hopefully that's understandable and clear enough for them to know NOT to do that. LOL!

Okay, today's errands are:

1. FedEx Office
2. Bank Deposit
3. Buy Groceries
4. Get Gas
5. Go to the Post Office
6. Buy a gift for my sister's boyfriend (I forgot about him last week. Oops!)

And I have to get all of that done before noon; preferrably before 11am. Then after I pick the girls up a school at 2:30 (after sitting in line for an hour), I need to get home in a hurry, have the oldest clean up and change clothes and have her over at the 4-H office by 4pm. She's going on a "field trip" to a big Christmas play/show in Chattanooga and won't be back until nearly midnight tonight. Hopefully I can convince Tim to go pick her up when it's time. LOL!

Of course I'd already be out on the road if little miss would hurry up with the blasted oatmeal. Now my stomach is growling, so maybe I should eat something too. I'll be fnished before her, I'm sure. LOL!!

I hope you all have a fabulous Friday and enjoy your weekend. :-)

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Update about yesterday

Well, you all know that I had a hell of a day yesterday. Luckily, even though it's still pouring down ran here, today seems to be a bit better.

I talked to Dell tech support yesterday, did all the tests they asked me to, and it was determined that the laptop's motherboard has gone bad and needs to be replaced. Sooooo, they are sending me a box to ship the laptop to them in and then it'll be 5-8 buisness days after they receive it to fix and return it to me. So basically, I'm looking about 2 weeks without my baby. *Sniff, Sniff*

I'm hoping that all of my files will return in perfect condition since the problem is just the motherboard and not the harddrive. My computer savvy friends (or their husands) have said that my information *should* be safe. We'll see in 2 weeks.

In the past 6 months with my laptop--who we'll call Annie--I've been more productive, more accessible, happier, busier, and all around a better writer. Yes, you guessed it, I'm addicted to Annie and HATE having to sit at the desktop computer now. Annie makes working in bed much easier than the old, slow, 6 year old HP sitting in front of me right now. Blah!

Farewell Annie! Hopefully you'll return happier and healthier than you are now. And fingers crossed that all of my files will still be intact when you return to my lap. :-)

As for the van, Tim came home from work and fixed it for me. The stupid belt use to slip off anytime I hit a puddle of water, but Tim replaced the tensioner and that hadn't happened in about 3 years... until yesterday. UGH! It's a '97 Dodge Grand Caravan that's about to hit 180K miles. I'm thinking it's about time for a new one. It's been a good one, but I'm tired of it and it keeps needing more and more work over the year. Yep, time for something else so poor Sally (the van) can rest. LOL!

Okay, that's it for today. I'm off to watch a Mickey Mouse Christmas Carol with the 3 year old on this rainy, dreary day, and wait for the FedEx guy to show up with my Dell shipping box. *Sniff, Sniff*

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Having a bad day

Yes, it's only 8:30 in the morning, but I've already had a day's worth of crap all around me! I'm so mad, so disappointed, and so upset that I could cry. Well, actually I've already done that.

Last night my brand new, six month old, Dell laptop--the one that contains my whole life--shut down without warning and will not come back on. I've done everything I know to do, and even everything the Dell website says to do. Nothing has worked.

And yes, for those of you wondering, the entire manuscript for Time For Death is trapped in there. Family pictures, hundreds of favorite links, all my friends' email addresses, music, two e-books I've been waiting to find the time to read... all of it in there with no way to access it.

I'm just devastated at the moment. On the upside, Time For Death is so fresh in my mind that I can rewrite it with little difficulty. It won't be word for word, of course, but if the need arises then that's what I'll do. That's just a lot of work.

Anyway, I have a ticket into Dell Tech Suppot, but if have to send it in to be serviced who knows when I'll get it back. :-(

And as if all that wasn't bad enough, it's been storming so bad all night that the road in front of the girls' school was flooded just enough to knock the belt off my van this morning. I had to send the girls off across the school's parking lot with a umbrella while I attempted to make it home with no power steering and the van running solely off the battery. Thank goodness for a great battery and living only 5 minutes away from school.

You really find out just how strong you are when you have to steer a van with no power steering.

I'm having a bad day. Tim is on his way home from work to save me from it, but I doubt even he can help with more than just the van. I'm now in the most sour mood I've been in in a long time. Heaven help anyone who crosses me today.

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Nine days and counting....

The big girls only have nine days of school left before being let out for Christmas and New Year's. ACK! I'm not sure if I should be excited for Christmas, for the fact that the holidays are almost over, or if I should be terrified of the fact that all of the kids will be home for weeks. LOL!

I love the holiday season. Or maybe it's that I love the thought of the holiday season. However, this time of the year is so busy, so stressful, so, so... just SO! I definitely have more headaches during this time of the year, but I enjoy seeing the girls excited and happy. I like watching the lights twinkle on the Christmas tree late at night when there are no other lights on in the house. I like the smell of all the holiday goodies that we don't normally make any other time of the year.

With that said, come January 1st, I'm always soooooo happy that it's all over!

Between now and the end of January I have Christmas Eve Day (2 different family gatherings), Christmas Eve night with the kids, Christmas Day lunch (which I'll be preparing), my oldest daughter's 12th birthday on the 30th, New Year's, my birthday, and my youngest daughter's 4th birthday. December 18th is my mom's birthday, as well as the older girls' last day of school until next month.

Next month will also include the girls' 6 month dental checkup, yearly checkup at the pediatrician, and my oldest will be getting the braces we postponed from October.

Is it time for summer vacation yet??? LOL!

I just want to lock myself away in a room with nothing and no one except me and my laptop. Just for a day or two. Please? Can't I? Ah, come on! It's not fair! *Stomps foot childishly*

Well, alright then. I'll just go back to work, pop two more Excedrin Migraine pills, and get ready to go pick the girls up at school as my youngest throws a fit because she wants to watch Dora a little longer. Joy, joy!

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The last of Thanksgiving.

Today the last of the leftovers from last week's Thanksgiving feast exited my refigerator. The turkey was gone last Friday, but a few goodies still lingered. I'm glad they're gone, and before they started smelling bad. LOL! It won't be long before the Christmas leftovers will be hanging out in there!

Yesterday I finally forced the kids to sit still for a few minutes so I could take pictures for this year's holiday card. I decided not to do a whole famil thing this year--I just wasn't feeling it. So it's just the kids this time.

After about twenty pictures and numerous "sit up straight" comments, this one turned out to be my favorite...

So this morning I finally placed the late order for our cards. Luckily I'll be picking them up at the local CVS rather than waiting on them to arrive in the mail and then trying to send them out on time. Usually I'm already mailing cards out by now. For some reason I'm running behind this year though.

Well, it appears that I'm back to abut 99% healthy now. I still have a little cough, but that's tolerable for now. I hate getting sick. Some people can just bounce right back and keep going--not I! It takes days of feeling rough before I even start to feel human again. And I hate taking meds. So if you see me taking anything I must be feeling pretty darn bad.

Now that I'm feeling better I'm starting to look forward to Christmas. This year I'm making he hubby pick out my gift all by himself. In all the years we've been married, he's only chosen my gift alone on our first Christmas. After that it was always me pointing and saying, "I want that." Not this year. I want to be surpised. I want to see if he knows as much about me after 15 yrs as I know about him. I can already tell that he's having trouble as he keeps whining about needing hints or a list. LOL! Poor guy. I torture him so. LOL!

Alrighty, I'm off to fold some laundry and compile a Christmas card list. Hav a fabulous Wednesday!

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Welcome to December!

Wow, here we are in the last month of 2008. This year has gone by very quickly. So many things to look back on, and even more to look forward to in 2009.

I'm happy to say that I'm feeling much, much better this week. I finished up NaNoWriMo last week and am taking it easy this week. I have a tendency to run myself down and then have to take a little time off to recoup. It's when I'm hit with a sickness that really forces me to take a step back. So this week will be spent just rummaging around the house performing small, menial duties.

Since it's a new month, most of you know to expect my monthly newsletter this week. Sure enough, it's scheduled and ready to go out first thing Wednesday morning. If you aren't yet subscribed and would like to be, there's still time. Just click the newsletter link at the top of the page and it'll take you straight to the sign-up page. :-)

Alright, that's it from me today. I think I'll go clean my laundry room. It's the one room in the house that's always used and abused, but very seldom cleaned. LOL!

Happy December 1st to all of you!

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Thanksgiving's over.

Happy Saturday everyone! I'm finally starting to feel more like myself. Yesterday I woke up physically feeling better, but had a case of laryngitis. The 3yr old kept telling me to "talk louder, mommy." LOL! I can speak louder today, but not back to 100% yet.

We went to buy groceries this morning and I was surprised at how few cars were on the road. I guess everyone made sure to sleep in today after being up so darn early yesterday. Not I! You couldn't pay me enough to go out at 4am to shop. Besides, I'm done with my holiday shopping anyway.

Even with the flu this week, I did manage to reach the 50,000 word goal for NaNoWriMo! Yay! It was kind of iffy, but I made it. Now it will take me the next few months to get "Time For Death" completely finished and polished the way I want it to be.

Okay, I'm back off for more family time. I need to start snapping pictures of the girls for this year's Christmas cards. Yes, I'm pushing it. LOL!

Writing,Thanksgiving, and the Flu

Well, I was planning to be finished with my NaNo story today. Unfortunately, last night I came down with what appears to be the flu. Headache, sick stomach, chills, fever, and every joint in my body hurts. I feel like I've been hit by a truck. So I went to bed early and slept just terrible off and on all night.

I was planning on being at 46,500 words by the time I went to bed last night. I ended up being 2k under that. :-( Which means I won't be reaching 50k today. I don't think I can manage 5,500 words today with as bad as I feel right now. Luckily, I still have 5 days before NaNo is over.

Today is the last day of school for the older girls until next week. Tim has to work tomorrow and then he'll be home until next week as well. He says if I don't feel better he'll cook for Thanksgiving. I may just have to still be sick then. ;-) At least sick during the cooking time, but better when it gets eating time. LOL

It's a good thing he doesn't read my blog. Hahaha!

I love Thanksgiving. Not only because of the good food, but it's more of a relaxing holiday than Christmas. Christmas is fun, and I always have a good time, but it's more busy, noisy, hurry, hurry, hurry. Thanksgiving, well, I'm all for a day that you spend eating and lounging around. LOL!

Okay, that's all the typing I can take at the moment. The 3yr old is starting to become demanding and my head is throbbing. Thankfully the sick stomach is gone for the moment. I'm going to see if some hot chocolate will stay down.

I hope you're all having a better day than I am. Happy Thanksgiving!!

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It's started!

My first guest blogger entry is now upon Coffee Thoughts. I'll be posting a few more throughout the day, so stop by and check them out. :-)

http://coffeetimeromance.com/CoffeeThoughts/


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Christie's Blogging on Coffee Thoughts

I'm so excited! Tomorrow I will be the guest blogger on CoffeeTimeRomance.com's blog, Coffee Thoughts. I'll be there all day posting entries, answering questions, and giving away a free book.

I'll post my first entry around 8am EST, and then add several more throughout the day.

For the free book giveaway, I'll ask a single question in my second entry. The first person to find and post the answer will win one of my books (winner's choice). The answer has been hidden on my website, but you'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out the question.

If no one finds the answer right away, I'll be posting hints throughout the day until someone does. It should be lots of fun!

I hope that you'll stop by, join in on the fun, and even ask any questions you may have. Don't make me sit there listening to chirping crickets all day. ;-)

Christie's Blogging on Coffee Thoughts

Happy Monday!

It's Monday again. The start of a whole new week. What will you do with this fresh week?

Me? Well I'm busy with NaNoWriMo for yet another week. I'm also planning Thankgiving next week, finishing up my Christmas shopping, tending house, raising kids, and all those other day-to-day life chores. I even wrapped one of the hubby's gifts this morning.

On the NaNo front, I'm happy to say that I'll be hitting 30,000 words by the end of the day. However, it's highly unlikely that "Time For Death" will be anywhere near complete when I hit 50,000. Which is fine with me, because I planned for it to be longer than the others.

Death is happening all around Liz Baker. Yet she refuses to see that the man she thinks she loves could be the one responsible for such loss. Throw in the fact that he has a unique knack for mind control, and she's left helpless against him....

Or is she?

How you like that one? LOL!

The finished product is still months away, so get in huge rush to get a copy. LOL! However, remember that all three of my Alex & Fiona books are still on sale this month on ChristieSilvers.com. You'll get all three for only $31.99 + shipping.

Okay, that's it from me for today. I hope you all have a fabulous new week. :-)

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Welcome to the weekend!

I love the weekend. There's no schedule. No getting up when it's still dark outside. No worries about getting somewhere late. I can just laze around, do the occasional load of laundry and make everyone eat sadwiches if I want.

The weekends are also great for catching up (or getting ahead) on my NaNo word count. When Tim is home, I can plug my ears up with my mp3 player and ignore everyone around me. The girls are forced to ask him all the stuff they usually ask me. He's also under strict instructions to ANSWER those questions so that they don't come stnd in front of me waiting for my eyes to drift up to theirs, meaning that it's time for them to mime whatever it is they want.

Today started out with a quiet house. The kids spent the night with my mom last night. Tim & I even did some Christmas shopping last night. YAY!

Before lunch, we had gone to buy dogfood, pickedup the kids, got some breakfast, I'd started laundry, started the dishwasher, started dinner in the crockpot (sweet & sour chicken), and wrote 1,000 words.

After lunch, we took a pair of Tim's pants to be exchanged for another size, washed another load of laundry, painted the last wall of the bedroom, worked on painting the window edges, and wrote another 1,000 words. Oh, and Tim put a 2nd coat of stain on the dresser drawers. Once they're dry that's it; it'll be finished. YAY!

Now it's dinnertime, everyone is scarfing down the chicken and rice, and I'm about to dry the 3rd load of laundry for today. I'll be working on the last 1,000 words for today here in a bit. Later on I'm going to watch a movie in my bed while Tim watches a Nascar race.

It's the weekend! I love the weekend. Tomorrow we'll have lunch with Tim's parents, go buy another pint of paint for the bedroom (2 gallons wasn't quite enough), put the last coat of paint on the last wall of the room, and move the dresser back into the bedroom. I'm sooooo ready to have my dresse back. I had having all my clothes piled up in a laundry basket. Then I'll write tomorrow's 3,000 words.

May seem insanely busy, but I feel that it's actually been a pretty mild Saturday. Anytime I'm not having to watch the clock is a good day.

I hope you're all having a fabulous day and will have a great Sunday. Back to work I go!

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Coming along, slowly but surely.

I've been hard at work on "Time For Death" this week. My NaNo numbers are moving right along, and the story is as well. I'm about to start work on chapter 9 and there's already been more action than I should list (wouldn't want to give it all away). Just know that there's sex, murder, more sex, lust, suspense, blood, more sex... LOL!!

I'm really liking the direction the story has taken. I know what the ending will be (I always know the ending ahead of time), but I like to let the characters lead the way in getting to that ending. I never know which way they will go, who they will meet, or what they will enjoy until they let me know.

Liz has turned out to be one cocky gal that enjoys nail polish, high-heeled boots, corsets, sex, and isn't a skinny minnie. She's tall, curvy, and voluptuous... and loves it!

Okay, that's enough rambling about her.

Next week is my guest appearance on Coffee Thoughts. I'll be giving away a book sometime during the day. I hope that you'll all stop by. I'll post a reminder as the day draws closer.

I'm off. You all have a fantastic Thursday! I'll be here trying to reach 22,000 words. LOL!

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It's a new week. Time for new goals.

Soooo, last week's writing goal was a bit short... like 3,000 short. *blush* Shame on me.

However, it's a new week and therefore, time for new goals!

I did a lot of playing catch-up over the weekend wih my word count and finally got up into the 10,000 range. I'm hoping to be around 25,000 by the end of the week. We'll see. For now, I'm going to aim for 3,000 words today and then go from there.

Luckily, the story is really picking up now. There's already been sex in a cemetery, a car wreck, a mysterious man, and a murdered night nurse. And that's only the first four chapters! LOL! This is the part I love, once the introduction of characters is out of the way and all the good stuff gets started. That should help the word count tremendously. :-)

Now if I could get the three year old to stop begging for food even though she just ate breakfast. LOL!

On a personal note, Tim is doing a great job refinishing the bedroom dresser. The color is looking fantastic and will be a perfect match for the new decor in there. We still have one wall left to paint, as we didn't even pick up the brushes over the weekend. My new Egyptian Cotton sheets arrived Saturday and they are to die for. Love them!

Okay, that's it for today. It's time to throw some more food at the eating demon so that I can get started on today's work load. Have a fabulous Monday!

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TGIF

Wow, what a week it has been! We welcomed a new President Elect. I was disappointed by some people who I thought were bigger than they actually are. Tim & I made great progress on the re-decorating of our bedroom. And my house is a disaster because all the bedroom stuff is scattered throughout until the painting is finished. LOL!

It's been a very distracting week.

The writing of "Time For Death" is moving along... slowly, but moving. It's very strange to write about totally different characters after doing three books all about Alex & Fiona. Luckily Liz seems to be more tolerant of me than I am of myself when it comes to getting down into her story. She's slowly revealing more about her lifestyle, inner thoughts, and how she really feels about certain people. And here I thought I knew all I needed to know about her before I even stated writing. She'll teach me! LOL!

This weekend I'll be playing word count catch up for NaNoWriMo. I'm behind by a few thousand words, but I can easily make that up if I could get a few hours of peace and quiet. And if Liz will cooperate instead of clamming up. We'll see. I think my mom is going to try to take the girls Saturday night. That will help with getting some peace and quiet. *Fingers crossed*

Well, that's it for today. I have a kitchen to clean up while the 3 year old is watching "Dora Saves the Snow Princess" for the 5th time this week. Hey, whatever it takes! LOL.

Have a fantastic weekend!

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History Made Right Before Our Eyes!

Wow! Last night marked such a historic moment for this country. Granted I slept through it, but I'm still happy and amazed. LOL! Even my older girls were excited when I woke them up this morning and informed them of the new President Elect. I told them that they were so lucky to be alive and able to see these events. Then my oldest says she hopes to be around when we get our first woman president. LOL She's truly my child!

In other news, yesterday was a terrible writing day for me. I was soooo distracted all day, and then when the big girls came home from school all they wanted to do was talk to me. Talk, talk, talk! LOL So I complained the Tim when he called me on the way home. He says he'll take care of it when he gets home. So what does he do when he gets home?? Works on the dresser he's refinishing (and doing a crappy job at, might I add)! Sheesh! Then when I get a little inspiration and start writing, he comes in and wants to work on the bedroom. GEEZ!

Hopefully today will be much better. However, if my jabbering 3 yr old is any clue, it may be just like yesterday. Blah!

Speaking of the bedroom... the make-over is going nicely. The new paint color matches the bedding set almost 100%! I'm loving it. Now if I could find a lovely black & burgundy wallpaper border to go around the top. Half of the room is done now. We need to move the bed this evening and then start on the other half. We *should* be done with paint by the weekend.

Okay, enough rambling from me. I must get to work. Dora the Explorer is about to come on, so at least Kaitlyn will be occupied for 30 minutes. LOL!!

Have a great day and enjoy this momentous day in history!

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My goals for this week.

This is going to be a busy week for me. Most of that revolves around writing. If only that was all I had to do. LOL

I'll be working on NaNo, of course. My goal for this week is another 10,000 words. That's 2K a day for the next 5 days. That should be more than do-able if the 3 year old will allow it.

I finished 6 loads of laundry over the weekend and did some taping off in my bedroom in preparation of painting. So at least I won't have to worry about that today. I'm planning on painting being my project of choice when I need a writng break. Should help with the sore behind from sitting for too long.

If those weren't enough to do this week, I've scheduled a teeth cleaning at the dentist's office for Thursday morning. I've been soooo busy the last year that I've neglected getting my cleanings regularly. I'm sure I'll be chastised severely once he sees me. LOL! Shame on me, I know.

Well, I better go. I need to get dressed and take the big girls to school in half an hour. Then once home, I'll have to get the youngest fed and get a jump on the first day of this new week.

Have a great Monday!

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The day after Halloween.

Last night the girls had a great time. We took them trick-or-treating in their Halloween best and they raked in the candy. Today, well today has been all about seeing just how much of that Halloween candy they can devour in a 24 hour time frame. LOL! I finally had to cut them off after dinner this evening.

Today is November 1st. I've taken care of today's NaNoWriMo word count, went shopping for painting supplies (for my bedroom) and I'm on the 4th and 5th loads of laundry today. Oh, and we took the kids out for lunch today. It has been a long day.

My NaNo count is pretty good for day 1 and for it being a Saturday. Tomorrow's count will be bad though. I have to go visit the inlaws and then go make a bank deposit via the ATM 20 minutes away. Luckily I will have all the laundry done, but the kids will be busy in a competition to see who can interrupt my writing the most. I can't write anything sensible when they interrupt me one right after the other, over and over again.

So anyway, today's word count was good, but that's only to make up for how bad tomorrow's will be (if any).

Okay, I'm off for tonight, but I'll leave you with the picture of my three girls last night. We had a zombie bride, a vampire witch, and Tinkerbell (though mommy forgot to put her wings on).

Yay for Amazon!

Tomorrow is the "official" release date for my newest book, A Twilight Abduction. Well, I just found out today that Amazon now has it available on their site! YAY!


It has seemed like a long time since I started this book. All books take a while, but with this being the last of Alex & Fiona (for a while at least), I really wanted to get it out there into the world.


Now it is!! Woohoo!





I also noticed that the second edition of A Midnight Infatuation has made its way through the Amazon system and is now available for purchase. All on the same day! Makes me happy. :-)


Keep in mind that if you're new to my series, there will be a huge book sale on the entire series during the month of November on ChristieSilvers.com. You'll be able to get all three books for one low price. And just in time for holiday shopping!


Also, next week my monthly newsletter will go out (1st Wednesday of every month), so if you aren't already signed up to receive it, now would be the perfect time to do so. There's a link at the top of this page to do just that. :-)


Tomorrow is Halloween, and the start of my busy time of year. All of the Halloween costumes are set out and ready to be put through their paces tomorrow night. The 3yr old has just enough excitement that everyon can feel it. The oldest is thrilled that she's going to be a vampire bride (wonder where she got that? LOL). Even the middle one is ready to show off her black and orange tutu that I made for her.


Then come Saturday, I'll become consumed with the new book I'll be writing. NaNoWriMo will begin and I'll be busy cranking out 50,000 words in one month. I'm excited about the new story. It's all new characters, all new places, and all new situations to get your heart pumping. The new main character is named Lizabeth Baker and she's ready for action... and maybe even some lovin'!


Okay, that's it for today. I hope that you all have a fun and safe Halloween. Look for some pics of the kids in the next couple of days. They'll be happy to show off their Halloween bests. :-)



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It's almost Halloween!

I've been enjoying these last few days as I know they will be the last peaceful ones for a while. Halloween starts the busiest time of year for me. One holiday or birthday right after the next. Christmas shopping that needs to be finished (though I'm almost half-way finished. YAY!).

Even with all of the challenges lying in wait for me, I do like Halloween. Well, let me rephrase that and say that I love the sights, sounds, costumes, and overall "feel" of Halloween. However, I do not enjoy taking the girls trick-or-treating. I don't like being out in large crowds, in the dark, with three little girls.

The girls get so overexcited that they run at 200% and I'm being pulled along behind them, wishing I was warm at home.

Some years Halloween still has warm weather. You'll be sweating and wishing it was cooler. Then other years it's so cold that you have to put clothes under the costumes and coats over them. It appears that this year is going to be a cold year (I woke up to 28 degrees this morning). Did I mention that I don't like cold weather?

I do enjoy dressing the girls up in their costumes, painting faces, and pretending that they scare me. Some years I dress up and some years I don't bother. This is a "don't bother" year. Here's last year's costume though.



I thought about dressing up this year, but I'm not interested in being cold or having to cover up a nice costume with a jacket. Maybe next year.

Luckily, once Halloween is over I can lose myself in the world of NaNoWriMo. I'm so ready to get the new book underway and occupy my free time with it. My new main character, Lizabeth, is waiting not-so-patiently for me to show her some attention. LOL!

So, if you don't hear from me, just know that I'm probably barricaded in my bedroom with nothing but a bottle of water and the laptop. LOL

Have a great day and I hope you're warmer than I am. :-)

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Sunday, Sunday, What a Dud-Day!

Today has been such a BLAH day. I woke up late this morning, even though Tim knew I wanted to leave the house at 10am (I woke up at 10 til 10). The girls had spent the night with my mom last night, so it was quiet in the house.

After we picked them up, it was nothing but fussing and fighting between the three of them. This is nothing unusual, however they're always worse when they come home from the grandparents' houses. They stay up too late an spend too much time together, and it makes it worse on me the next day.

We then had to suffer through a couple of hours at the in-laws' house for a visit & lunch. They smoke, so I always come home with a headache and our clothes reek. Once I got home it just got louder.

Soooo, I'm in a pissy mood today.

My sister called and wanted to come over... that was 6 hours ago and I haven't seen or heard from her since.

On the plus side, I bought a new bedding set yesterday. It's gorgeous! I ordered some egyptian cotton sheets to go with it. They should be here in a few days.



We're going to be doing a complete re-model of our bedroom as it hasn't had one in about 6 or 7 years. I've picked out paint and will be looking for curtains and decor over the next week. It will all be quite lovely and elegant once it's finished. Now I just wish I could afford a new dresser to go with it. LOL!

On another note: NaNoWriMo starts in only 6 days! I'm looking forward to submerging myself into my new book. It's definitely time.

Have a great evening and I hope your Sunday was better than mine.

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Nothing spectacular. It's just Thursday.

Yep, that's it, just Thursday. There's nothing special or exciting going on around here today. I'm feeling a little blah this morning, so I haven't really done much.

I watched the movie called, "The Strangers" and it was very good. A lot of suspense and a little mystery, all rolled up in a puddle of blood. LOL!

Then I loaded my middle daughter's new mp3 player with music. It's one of her Christmas presents, so I wanted to mak sure it works and plays (it does) before putting it in the closet where it will stay hidden until Thanksgiving. We always put our Christmas tree up on Thanksgiving evening and put the gifts under it to wait until the big day.

Gosh, I can't even believe that it's nearly time for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I have a shopping list a mile long, and the kids keep adding to it each day. I'm hoping to be finished by Thanksgiving though. After that, they'll be outta luck. LOL.

Well, I better get going. I need to start putting things into the crock-pot for our beef stew dinner tonight. Lots of chopping and slicing need to be done before I can turn it on. But at least the house will smell yummy and I won't have to clean up a whole slew of dishes this evening!

Have a great day!

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It's almost up.

I've been keeping a close eye on the progression of A Twilight Abduction into the online bookselling systems. The book now has it's own Amazon.com page, though there's no information or price, and it says that the book has "limited availability." Shouldn't be much longer now! Woohoo! Seems like the Halloween release is still right on schedule!

Gosh, I just can't believe how quickly this year has rushed by. It will be November next weekend. Just crazy!

Speaking of November. Some of you may have noticed the new, blue NaNoWriMo banner over there ------>

Yep, I'll be doing the contest again this year. That banner is *suppose* to keep updated word counts for me. I say suppose, because I've never used it and have no idea how well it works. Nevertheless, keep an eye on it come November 1st to see if I'm making the grade or falling behind. Last year I finished nearly a week early; I'm hoping to do the same this year.

My NaNo book will be something completely different. Alex & Fiona are taking a break and my new friend Lizbeth May Baker will be taking over. I'm looking forward to learning all about her and writing down her adventures with a new bloodsucking fiend. ;-)

Alrighty, I'm off. The hubby is almost home and dinner is nearly done in the Crock-Pot. I need to wrangle the children into the house for some washing up and get them settled to eat dinner. I hope you havea fabulous week!

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Let the weekend begin!

Woohoo! It's finally Friday. This has been one long, dragging week for me. You'd think that I'd enjoy it because as soon as Halloween hits, my life will move into uproaring, crazy busy mode. LOL!

As a little notice: The website will be down for about an hour on October 24th, sometime between the hours of 1am - 7am EST. Thought I'd throw that out there so no one wonders what's up. Since it'll be in the middle of the night, hopefully no one will notice. :-)

Okay, back to my schedule. Today has been cold, rainy, and dreary. I don't mind it for a day or two, but more than three days will start to get to me. So fingers crossed that it's only for a few days and Monday will bring the sun back into focus.

I don't have any plans for the weekend. The oldest thinks that it's boring to stay home all weekend, but we'll see what she says when she's in her 30's and a weekend home is appealing. LOL.

Today marks 2 weeks until Halloween, and the day that A Twilight Abduction officially releases. I'm very excited! The pre-orders have been wonderful and I hope that the orders after the release will be just as great, and more so!

Then on November 1st, the big book sale will start on my website. Buyers will be able to purchase all three of the Alex & Fiona books for one low price.

November 1st also marks the start of NaNoWriMo... National Novel Writing Month. I'll be participating in the NaNo contest again this year (50K words in 30days). Hopefully I'll win again like last year. :-)

November 19th is the day I'll be guest blogging on CoffeeTimeRomance.com's blog, Coffee Thoughts.

Then throw in Thanksgiving Day! I'll be cooking and hosting the family Thanksgiving meal again this year, so that'll be a busy day with absolutely no writing time on the agenda. LOL

And all of that is just for November. December is almost as busy, and it leads right into January!

Now that I've rambled your eyes off with my insanity, I'll let you escape gracefully. Have a great weekend!!

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Is it the weekend yet?

Blah! I can't believe it's only Thursday. Isn't it the weekend yet? I went to bed early last night and still woke up feeling like I could sleep for a week. Usually my morning workout will remedy that, but not today.

On the upside, I did get some housecleaning done and watched a Netflix movie that's been sitting on top of my tv since last week. I'm usually much quicker with the movies, but the new Indiana Jones movie came Tuesday, so we watched it. Then new tv shows came on, and well, this movie got pushed aside. LOL!

My middle daughter would like me to announce that she (and her whole class) was in our local newspaper. She was so excited to see her picture in there, especially since my oldest has been in it so many times during her school years. Nevertheless, she was in the paper because her class has a recycling program going where they want to recycle 10,000 plastic bottles before the end of the school year. They've already done 2,000 bottles and have only been in school for 2 months. Needless to say, they are very excited.

On to a different subject now. Moday I received my poster for the new book cover of A Midnight Infatuation. I aways order a mini-poster for myself to hang up in the house. They make me happy and are great conversational pieces when company comes over. LOL. Anyway, my current order came Monday, but I just got around to opening it today. All I can say is WOW! The cover is beautiful online, but the actual book, and now the poster, are far beyond stunning. Makes me appreciate the artist and designer even more!

Okay, before I end this or today, a little reminder that starting November 1st there will be a sale on buying all three of the Alex & Fiona books together. This sale will only be available on my website, and only during the month of November (just in time for holiday shopping).

If you're ever curious about upcoming events that I may have planned, feel free to check the Events Calendar on my site.

Have a fantastic day!

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Good morning!

Even though today is Tuesday, it's the start of a new week for me. The big girls went back to school today and the house is as it should be.

My youngest ended up with a strange fever right after lunchtime yesterday. She was sick the rest of the day. This morning, the fever's gone. I have no idea what that was all about, but I'm glad it's done now.

Yesterday morning I had to go out and buy a new printer. My 5 yr old $30 HP printer went kaput last week. It was giving me errors left and right and wouldn't print anything... it wouldn't even attempt to print. So, I had to break down and buy a new one.

I've been wanting an all-in-one printer/scanner/copier, so I took this opportunity to get one. I ended up with a very nice HP one (since the last one lasted 5yrs, I might as well go with a HP again, lol). It was very easy to set up, though the software install too freakin' forever. It prints beautifully and scans just as well. I was set up and ready for printing in about 20 mins... for the desktop computer that it was hooked to anyway.

I took me the rest of the day to get it to work with my network so that my laptop could use it too! UGH! Ridiculous! It was literally half an hour from the start of dinner when I finally got it to work properly. I've never had such problems with something as simple as a printer. Craziness I tell ya!

Anyway, it's all done now and I'm back in business. I had so many receipts sitting in my email program that needed to be printed out for filing. Now those are cleared out and I'm happy again.

Okay, I better get to work. I have more character development and story outline work to tend to before I start my next book soon. I'll be doing NaNoWriMo again this year, so the actual book writing will have to wait until November 1st. Until then, I'll just spend as much time as possible getting to know my leading character. She's quite the sassy one already!

Have a great day!

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I'm home

Yep, we finally made it back from the race in Charlotte. The hubby and I had a great time all alone for two days. Grown-up time is something I miss having on a regular basis.

The weather was just pefect. The temps were comfortable and the sun was shining. The 6 hr drive is a pain (in the behind, lol), but we survived.

I'll update more tomorrow. Right now I'm tired and getting ready to settle back and watch True Blood. If anyone needs me, just email. :-) christie@christiesilvers.com

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Anything you wanna see?

Okay, while the kids are currently playing quietly together, I thought I'd pop on here real quick to ask....

Is there anything that you'd like to see added to my website? I think there's something lacking/missing, but I can't seem to figure out exactly what that component is.

If you've been with me for a while, you know that my website and blog are always a work-in-progress. I love changing, adding, moving things around whenever the mood hits. I'm always changing something.

So? Take a peek and tell me if there's something else you'd like to see on there. All suggestions will be considered. :-)

http://www.christiesilvers.com/

Okay, I better go before the kids catch me on here and decide to start fighting again. LOL! Hav a good day!

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It hasn't been a busy day.

After yesterday's flurry of activity, today was as far from that as possible. I woke up to rain, clouds, wind, and cool temps. It was the kind of day that's made for laying in bed all day.

I wasted the day by watching "The Happening," chatting online, playing on Plurk, and teaching the 3yr old how to use a computer mouse. You can read about her internet gaming meltdown here.

The big girls are now out of school until next Tuesday. I have no idea why. Luckily the in-laws decided to take the two older girls for the night (after confirming with me that they were indeed out of school tomorrow). So now it's pretty quiet... if the 3 yr old would stop begging for dinner when it's nowhere near dinner time.

I did manage to read several more chapters in "Undead and Unworthy" by MaryJanice Davidson. She's one of my favorites. I should be done with this book by Friday and then no more reading while I get started on the writing of my next book.

I don't know if I'll be able to post again until next week. I have a frantically busy few days coming up and with the kids being home... well, lets just say, think happy thoughts for my sanity over the next five days. LOL! Thank goodness Tim & I will be out of town Saturday!

Until next time...

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It's been a busy day.

Today was a busy day around here. My older two girls only have three days of school this week, so I'm trying to cram all of my week's worth of work into just three days. Plus the hubby and I will be out of town over the weekend, so that's two less days for me to work.

Nevertheless, I was extremely busy this morning with advertising, blogging, more advertising, setting up event invitations for my "guest appearance" on Coffee Thoughts next month, and all that jazz. Before I knew it, it was time to go pick up the big girls at school. *Shock*

The day just flew by with a WHOOSH.

After I got the kids home from school, I spent half and hour on my hair. It needed a refreshing of red coloring before I go away in a few days. This red doesn't come naturally I'm afraid. LOL! I've been a redhead for a year now, after being a blonde for more than a decade, and I still love this color. Since my hair is naturally dark, and the red is dark, it takes much longer for me to start seeing my roots through the color. Meaning that I don't have to color as often as I did with the blonde. Either way, I love this color.

I did manage to make more notes for my next book. I try not to be too "planning" when I start a new book. I like to let the characters evolve on their own (as if I have a choice, lol). But when something strikes my fancy, I have to make a note about it for later inclusion somewhere in the story.

Okay, enough rambling for today. I have to get dinner started. Well, I have BBQ chicken in the crock-pot, but I need to start the side dishes.

Have a great evening!

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Back to work!

Well, my two week "vacation" between books is now over. It's time for me to get back to work and start on the next one. For the next couple of weeks, I'll be working on character development and trying to organize my thoughts, writing snippets, ideas, etc. all into a more manageable jumble. I have to get everything in order before I can sit down and start writing the actual book. I need to "get to know" my main character, her life, her friends, her job, her likes and dislikes, before I can write her story.

Since this isn't an Alex & Fiona story, it's like meeting a complete stranger. You have to go slowly, feel out who they are and what they think about. You can't rush the feeling of knowing someone forever. It has to come slowly, carefully, until you're so "tight" with them that it seems like they've been your best friend all your life. You have to build a relationship with your characters in order for them to feel comfortable enough to tell you their story.

Sound insane? Probably is! LOL!



On a side note: The hubby and I will be out of town this coming weekend. We are heading up to Charlotte, NC for a Nascar race. We'll be leaving early, early Saturday morning and coming back Sunday evening. The kids are staying the weekend with my mom. YAY!

I don't care for the races, but it's so much fun being away from home without the kids. LOL! I'll be guaranteed some fun times with the hubby. ;-)

If you're interested in my take on this race... from our trip last year... check out my article, 10 Things to Expect at a Nascar Race in Charlotte, NC. Ignore any misprints or wrong words, as I think I wrote it the very next day, and was so exhausted I didn't notice how badly it was written. LOL! Nevertheless, it's a good read if you've never been, or even if you have been. :-)

Okay, that's it for today. I'm off to make some lunch and spend some time with the 3 yr old. Spongebob has been entertaining her while mommy works, so now it's my turn! :-)

Have a great week!

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A Special Announcement!

As many of you may know, I used a different cover designer on the last two books of my Alex & Fiona series than I did on the first one. I've never really "liked" the cover to A Midnight Infatuation... much less loved it like the last two.

Sooooo, I've been working with the artist and cover designer of the last two to come up with a brand spanking new cover for a re-release of A Midnight Infatuation!!! It will take a few weeks for the new cover to trickle its way down through the book-selling systems and start showing up on bookstore sites, but the cover will be available immediately on my site. And it will be the one you get if you order all three during my sale in November.

So, here it is! The drawing was by the same artist as the other two and the design is from the same cover designer. It really makes this a "set."




I think it's fantastic! Now the three can be the set I intended them to be! I'm very excited about it and hope that my fans will be as well.

Now, not only is A Twilight Abduction scheduled for release on Halloween, but I'm hoping that the new version of A Midnight Infatuation will have made its way through the system by then as well. It's all very exciting, and if it weren't for the migraine I'm battling, I'd probably be jumping up and down with joy. LOL!

Like I said, this copy will be available through my website almost immediately (think next week or so), but I will announce when it finally makes its way into the Amazon system for those of you who prefer shopping with them. :-)

And lastly, I'd like to add a special thank you to my favorite cover designer Mis and our favorite artist Zindy. You're both spectacular!!! Lots of love.

Well, that's it from me today. I'm fighting off a migraine and I still need to go run my Friday errands (though I'm running later than usual). I hope you all have a fabulous Friday. :-)

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Brrrrr, it's cold here!

I woke up this morning to a brisk 43 degrees here in north Georgia. Normally it's still pretty warm in the beginning of October; not this year! Yesterday only rose to a high of 70 and it was o wind that I felt cold al day long. This morning I haven't even bothered to open the windows in th house because I was freezing without doing so.

Usually by Halloween we are finally in jeans. Well, this year we've been in jeans for the last week, or so. Right now I'm sitting here in sweats, fuzzy slippers, and a jacket! I refuse to turn on the heat though. We are in Georgia, after all! LOL!

Okay, that's enough talking about the weather, lol.

Last night I got some exciting news. Turns out that I will be a guest blogger on the CoffeeTimeRomance.com blog on November 19th! I'm very excited about it, as this will be my first time as a guest blogger. I have no idea what I'll talk about, or even what people would like for me to talk about. But, I will be giving away one of my books to a lucky winner on that day!

I'll post a reminder as the day gets closer. :-)

If you're not familiar with CoffeeTimeRomance, then you should definitely pop on over and check them out. I have lots of fun over there, and even have my own authors section in their forum. Stop by and say Hi if you have time. :-)

Christie's Forum on CTR

Okay, that's it for today. Tomorrow I plan to release an announcement that's been a while in the making. I'm very excited about it and hope that all of my readers will be too!

Until then...

Have a great Thursday!!

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I was awarded!

I was surprisingly awarded today by ~C~, with this...



Awwww! Thanks! :-D

Since there are always rules to these things....

-Only five people allowed
-Four have to be dedicated followers of your blog
-One has to be someone new or recently new to your blog and live in another part of the world
-You must link back to whoever gave you the award

So since I think that I have met all the rules I feel that I should pass this award on to :

1. Stef at My Love Knot
2. Kaylene at Five Times Blessed
3. Cailin Marie at My Pretty Face
4. Mis at Lil Mama's Laundry Day Chronicles
5. Robin Renee at Chasing Dreams


Ok, now that that's out of the way, I was without internet half the day today! Even after an hour on the cell phone (I have Vonage) with tech support, they couldn't figure it out. Finally the lady gives up and sets me up with a housecall tomorrow morning. How the heck am I suppose to go without internet until tomorrow morning???

So I scramble the 3yr old and decided that we'd just run to the closest Wi-Fi hotspot so I could check my hundreds of emails that would be piled up on top of each other after hours of not checking them. Of course the closest hotspot to me is the local Krystal's resturant.

I decided one last time to reboot everything for the 100th time this morning before heading out. Low and behold the internet was now back on. YAY! I still had to take the 3yr old out for lunch because she didn't understand that mommy only wanted to go out because she wanted to get online. LOL!

Anyway, I'm back now. Oh, and the tech support housecall for tomorrow has been cancelled. Who wants to bet that the tech guy shows up tomorrow anyway?? LOL!

Lastly, the contest winners for my "Hooray They're Out of My Hair" giveaway have been announced on my website (and in the newsletter that went out this morning). Thanks to all who entered, and don't worry if you didn't win as there will be many more giveaways in the future!

Happy October everyone!

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My numerous points of interest

As many of you already know, I'm alllllllll over the internet. I have pages on more sites than I even have time to visit on a daily basis. Not only that, but I have hundreds of emails coming through my inbox each and every day. Plus I have my actual writing that needs to get done. Needless to say, that makes me a busy lady without even adding my family requirements into the mix

Nevertheless, I'm always here, around, and fully accesible at almost any given time throughout the day, by some means or another. Emails always come first on my list, so if you need me immediately that's your best bet for a timely response. My blogs and MySpace are next. And then you have sites like Plurk and CoffeeTimeRomance. Numerous others have their own spots on my list of importance.

One of my newest favorites is a site called Good Reads. It's a book cataloguing site, but with a more personal networking feel to it. There are message boards and groups, as well as being a place to keep lists of the books you've read, want to read, or are currently reading. You can rate and review the books you've read, as well. I've found it quite enjoyable and there are so many fun and interesting people to chat with.

If you're a member of Good Reads, come on by and be my friend. :-)


Christie on Good Reads


Okay, that's it for today. I need to head out to pick the big girls up at school soon. I hope that you're having a fantastic day and hope to see you back here next time! :-) Remember that my newsletter goes out tomorrow. It's not too late for you to receive it if you sign up today!



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Contest ends tomorrow!

Tomorrow is the last day for you to enter the "Hooray They're Out of My Hair" contest. If you haven't entered for your chance to win an autographed poster or e-Book of your choice, then now's the time to do it! Stop by the website and check it out.

http://www.christiesilvers.com/


My monthly newsletter will be going out on Wednesday, so sign up now before you miss it. :-) I'll be announcing the contest winner in the newsletter, as well as many other new and exciting things.

Sign up for newsletter here.

I guess that's it for today. I have a busy day here at home. I'm still in my two weeks "off" period between books. I always have housekeeping to catch up on during those two weeks. I have some deep cleaning to do and some playtime scheduled with the 3yr old. She's excited that mommy is going to pull out the play-doh this afteroon. It's only allowed outside, so it's not pulled out very often. Anyway, have a great day an don't forget the contest! :)

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Burrrr it's cold!

This morning I woke up to 43 degrees outside here in north Georgia. Talk about a shock to the system! For the last two weeks we've awakened to temps in the mid-60's and highs in the low 80's. It has been very comfortable. But today it's just cold.

The girls and I went out in jeans and jackets when I took them to school. Then I had to run the heat in the van. It's crazy how fast the weather can change around here. Next week we may have highs in the 90's again. LOL!

Halloween is getting closer. My girls are so excited as they just love trick-or-treating and dressing up in costumes. I love to see their excitement, and last year even I dressed up in a costume. This year, I probably won't be doning my own costume, but we've already started on the girls'. My 3yr old wants to be Tinkerbell, so I found a nice costume on eBay and we're awaiting its arrval. The 11yr old wants to be a vampire (hmm, wonder where she got that, lol). And the 8yr old has absolutely no idea what she wants to be. I'm sure she'll come up with something at the last minute.

Well, that's it for today. I'm cold and distracted this morning, so I'm going to go lie down and watch some tv with the 3yr old. :-)

Raising my girls.....

Most of you know that I have three daughters. Some days they make you wanna scream your head off and other days they are the most adorable, sweet, and carrying children you could ever know.

Anyway, I started another blog that is all about life with my spoiled girls. LOL! If you'd like to read about the craziness, or just have a good laugh, then stop by and check out Raising My Girls.


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Pre-Orders for A Twilight Abduction

Pre-orders for A Twilight Abduction are now available on my website. If you're interested n reserving your copy of the book, then hop on over. All pre-orders will be shipped out on, or before, October 31, 2008.

New blog look & other ramblings.

So yesterday I goofed off and changed the blog's look (which you can of course see if you're here reading this, lol). I figured I'd change it up for the release of A Twilight Abduction... like I did with A Birth at Dawn. I love how each book seems to have its own color scheme. Makes it easier to work with it when I'm changing the blog. Oh, I also added the new colors and banner to my MySpace page since I like them to match. :-)

Reminder Alert: There are only 9 days left in my "Hooray They're Out of My Hair" giveaway. I'll be announcing the winners on October 1st, so stop by and get your entry in before it's too late. http://www.christiesilvers.com

We took the girls to the mountains yesterday and did some apple-picking. The orchard that we go to lets you pick on only three weekends in September. They have all kinds of activities and games for the kids to enjoy, as well as a shop filled with all kinds of apple goodies. We had a good time and came home with a bushel of apples, two jars of apple jelly, a jar of fresh honey, and three candied apples. This morning, I made the girls an apple pizza. They loved it and I used up about six apples. LOL! I'll make some apple bread, apple crisp, caramel apples, and numerous other apple goodies over the next few weeks. The girls love when I get in a baking mood. Let's just hope my wasitline can tolerate it. LOL!

I guess that's it for today. I'm preparing for the new week by doing laundry and making sure the kitchen is clean. I like Monday mornings to be fresh and free of too much housework. I also have a nice big goodie of an announcement, but I'll save that for another day... maybe even my October newsletter. I know, I'm a tease. LOL!

Have a great week!

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It's International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

So, did you walk around shouting "ARRGH!!" today? No? Well what kind of pirate are you?! Sheesh!

Don't worry, I didn't know until a few minutes ago. LOL! I did happen to find out that my pirate name is:

Captain Charity Rackhem

Even though there's no legal rank on a pirate ship, everyone recognizes you're the one in charge. You have the good fortune of having a good name, since Rackham (pronounced RACKem, not rack-ham) is one of the coolest sounding surnames for a pirate. Arr!

Sounds like a great character name in one of my books. LOL!
You can find out your pirate name at http://www.piratequiz.com/

That's it for today. I'm looking forward to the weekend. I hope you've had a great pirate day and will have a fantastic weekend. :-)

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It's Thursday, already?

Wow, this week has really flown by for me. I can't believe that tomorrow is my errand day. I got a lot of work done and it makes me happy to have had such a productive week.

The sun finally came out today. After nearly a week of grim, gloomy, cloudy days the sun is shining bright for me! That could also have a lot to do with my happy feelings today. :-)

On a work-related note, A Twilight Abduction has received its ISBN# today. That's one step closer to the Halloween release date! I can't believe it's so close. This book has been in the works since A Birth at Dawn was released in April, and that seems like sooooo long ago.

I'm about to start working on my next book. It doen't have a title yet, and who knows when it will be released.... I'm guessing around late 2009. As usual, I'll update here whenever there's more information.

Ok, I guess that's it for today. Have a great day!

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Clouds, Clouds, Go Away!

Man, it's cloudy yet again tonight. I'm missing the full moon this month! It makes me sad because the weather is just perfect for sitting out under the stars and spying at the bright orb above us.

I'm a creature of the night. I've always enjoyed stayig up late, playing under the stars, and even sneaking around with the hubby all those years ago when we were only dating. But on the opposite end of the spectrum, I love sunlight, need sunlight, gotta have sunlight to functin properly throughout my day.

So I've been abandoned by both the sun and the moon lately. I miss you both! Clouds, clouds, go away!

I'm off to bed, dealing with a headache, and hopefully will see the sun tomorrow morning since themoon has abandoned me tonight. Night all!

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Don't forget the contest!

Just a little reminder that I'm still running the "Hooray They're Out of My Hair" giveaway this month. :-) I'm still enjoying the kids being back in school and I want to share that enjoyment with all of my readers.

So if you haven't already entered (only 1 entry per person), stop by the website and enter to win either and autographed poster of A Birth at Dawn or your choice of e-Books!
http://www.christiesilvers.com/contestsgiveaways.htm

While you're there, check out the new look of the website, as well as the new book trailer for my upcoming release, A Twilight Abduction!

Have a great new week!

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It's Sunday.

I'm happy to say that I did manage to finish all the book edits before tomorrow. LOL! Now I can move on to the next stage of development first thing tomorrow. YAY!

This new week will bring about some exciting things for me. ATwilight Abduction will finally be moved into the rotation for its Halloween release. I can't believe that it's almost Halloween already.

The hubby and I will be running off to Charlotte, NC in October, too. He's gotten tickets for the Nascar race on October 11th, so he's counting down the days until then. We're sitting at 27 days today... or though he says. LOL!

I don't care anything for the races, but it is fun to be away from home with no children in tow.

I've been feeling a bit blah this weekend, so I'm hoping that will go away in the new week. It could just be that the husband is annoying me this weekend. LOL! He's on a Resident Evil 4 kick and I can't get him off the PS2 so anyone else can enjoy a tv show, or something. Nope, he's glued to this game and gets so annoyed when his character dies. It pretty much just annoys me and I can't get any work done when he's whopping and hollering at the tv.

Soooo, thank goodness for Monday tomorrow. I'm ready for a new week, and some peace and quiet.

Thankfully, True Blood comes on tonight! YAY! At least I'll have an hour of good, old, vampire lovin'!

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Where'd the motivation go?

Ahhh, I hate edits. I love that it takes less time to edit than it does to originally write a book, but I still dislike edits. rewrites, revisions, whatever you wanna call it.

I would be done with the entire book today if my motivation hadn't gotten up and ran away this morning. I slacked yesterday, too. I've already done one chapter this morning, but the other three for today are sitting here, glaring at me, wondering what the hell is up. Sorry chapters 15,16, and 17!!!

I have decided to be done by Monday, and I actually could have been done today if it weren't for how unmotivated I'm feeling at the moment. LOL! I have to get done though. I have other plans for next week regarding the book that require the edits are finished before Monday. So either way, I have to be done.... BEFORE MONDAY!

Now that's not to say that I've been goofing off all day. Nope! I've been working on advertising, networking, and research. But, I did wasted some time watching a goofy movie, playing with my 3yr old, and chatting with some friends online.

I only have one more hour here before I have to head to school for pick-up time. Once the two older girls get home all hell breaks loose and I definitely won't get anything done.

Oh well, that's life. I will get finished by Monday. I will get finished by Monday. I WILL GET FINISHED BY MONDAY!

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Alex & Fiona series, in order!

Some people seem confused as to the correct order of my Alex & Fiona series. So I thought I'd post it for all to see. :-)

Book 1:

A Midnight Infatuation

Description: 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 he 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?

Book 2:

A Birth at Dawn

Description: The big day is fast approaching. All of the arrangements have been made, the cake and flowers have been ordered and the invitations have been mailed. The only thing left to do is to find the perfect dress. But, once that's done, Fiona feels like someone is watching her. Who could it be? The wolf pack wouldn't dare try anything again.

Once the big day arrives, both she and Alex have the feeling that a terrible storm is coming... and fast! All they want to do is make it through their wedding day with no interruptions. Unfortunately, there is a familiar scent in the air during the ceremony. A scent that they both hoped they would not detect for a long while.

When Fiona's honeymoon is interrupted because of a vanishing groom with nothing but a broken lamp and a drop of blood left behind for clues, she must find out what has happened and rescue her beloved from an undesirable fate.

What will happen to Alex? Will Fiona get to him in time? And what about Isabella?

Book 3:

A Twilight Abduction

Description: Since day one, loving a vampire hasn't been an easy task. Life with Alex has been as much of a difficulty as it has been an adventure. With the wedding and the birth of their daughter, Fiona dreams of living a peaceful family life with the love of her life. But when they are attacked and abducted one evening, everything changes.

Lilith, the vampire queen, is sick of hearing her "children" dreaming of becoming mortal. So she abducts Alex & Fiona's child for testing and dissection in order to discover a way to prevent other vampires from returning to their mortal state. Luckily, baby Isabella has a few tricks up her own sleeve and paves the way for her parents to escape the clutches of Lilith. But, for how long? Fiona escapes with her life, husband, and child to the home of her Aunt Belle. Here Fiona finds out more than she ever knew about her Aunt Belle, as well as the fact that she, herself, has been destined to fight an impending battle of doom and gloom that will determine the safety of her daughter, and the rest of the world.

With Alex on the mend and unable to help, how will Fiona battle evil and ensure that she lives to see another day to watch her child grow into a powerful witch? You'll discover the answer to that, and many more questions, when A Twilight Abduction is released on Halloween 2008! (October 31, 2008)

My Passion!

Your Passion is Red!

You've got that spark - a good dose of intensity, power, and determination. You do whatever you want in life ... to hell with what anyone thinks! With so many interests and loves, you're always running around doing something new. You have fire in your eyes, and it shows. Bet you're even wearing something red!

What Type of Passionate Woman Are You?

Yep, I'd have to say that sounds just like me. I'm always running around doing something new and a bit intense while doing so. I've always been that way. Whatever project I'm currently working on is my most favorite thing in the whole wide world.... until the next brand new project that I'm working on. LOL!

Yes, yes *nodding* I will do exactly what I want to do, and to hell with what other's think about it. I've even been known to actually tell someone to their face that I don't care what their opinion is of me. Makes you curious about how many times the hubby has heard that over the last 15 yrs, doesn't it? LOL!!

Ok, that's it for today. I really need to get to work on the 5 chapters I plan to edit today. Maybe I should drink a Coke and get a dose of caffeine to get me started.

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True Blood

Last night was the first episode of True Blood on HBO. I have been anticipating that premiere ever since I heard there was a show coming... months and months ago. As the first episode drew to a close, I was begging for more and hating that the hour had passed by so darn quickly.

The show is moving right along with the first book in the Sookie Stackhouse series. The only way I'd be able to tolerate a week of waiting for the next episode is that I've already read the books and know what to expect. LOL! I'm a terribly impatient person. Just ask the hubby! LOL!

All in all, I loved the show and can't wait to see the next one. It's so intriguing to see a fictional character, that so many people love, being brought to life. And even though I know how the book turns out, I'll still be watching every single episode and hope that it continues for a very long time. :-)

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I am soooo excited!

Tonight is the premiere of the HBO show True Blood! It's based on the Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris. I love, love, love those books, so it's no wonder that I called last week to order HBO onto my cable line-up just for this show.

I only have one more hour until it airs here and by then everyone will be in bed and quiet will descend upon the house. It will be nice!

My fingers are crossed that the show is as good as the books. I wish I'd had time in the last month to re-read the first book in the series before the show comes on, but I just didn't have the extra time to spare with the upcoming release of A Twilight Abduction. But I'm soooo looking forward to this show and 9pm can't get here fast enough for me.

I hope you all have a great Sunday evening, and if you're into the vampire scene (which I'm guessing you are since you're reading my blog), then you should definitely check out True Blood on HBO tonight!!

A great response to the new cover!

Well, yesterday was filled with nothing but a great respons to the new book cover. Everyone who had anything to say about it was offering up congratulations and commenting on how gorgeous the cover is. I'm thrilled with the response, and so is the designer.

Since the cover release is out of the way, I wanted to share the new book trailer for A Twilight Abduction as well. I hope you like it. :-)

ATwilight Abduction -- The new cover is here!!

So, many of you will find this old news as you saw the cover asoon as you opened your email this morning and read the newsletter. But for those of you who simply read the blog, here's your chance to see my new favorite thing in the whole wide world.............





The colors are extraordinary and the design is superb. I love my cover designer and the wonderful artist who created the drawing in the center.

So what do you think???


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It's all up now.....

Just a little update on the website situation. The domain hosting finally got transferred completely yesterday. Took them long enough, but it's all done now. Whew! I thought for sure that it would screw up the givaway for this month.

Anyway, stop by and check out the new look for ChristieSilvers.com. And don't forget to enter the giveaway while you're there. :-)

Lastly for today, don' forget that my month newsletter will be going out first thing in the morning. So, if you aren't already signed up to receive it, now's the time to do so! Just click on the link at the top of the page that says "Newsletter" and proceed from there.

Don't forget that tomorrow I'll post the brand new cover for A Twilight Abduction on here. Everyone who gets the newsletter will see it first thing in the morning, but I'll be sure to post soon after here on the blog. It's a beautiful cover!

Have a great day!

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Contest time again!!

UPDATE: The website is finally up!! YAY! To enter the giveaway go here http://www.christiesilvers.com/contestsgiveaways.htm

The "Hooray They're Out of My Hair" Giveaway

During the month of September, I am holding an exciting giveaway in order to celebrate the arrival of a brand new school year (and my older girls going back).

Details:

On September 1st, enter your information in the form below (any entries sent before Sept 1st will be discarded). Only one entry per person, email, mailing address. These entries are all personally checked by yours truely so don't try to slip in multiple entries using different email addys, as multiple entries will be discarded.

Prizes:

The winners will be annouced on October 1st!

This giveaway consists of two prizes...The grand prize winner will receive an autographed poster of A Birth at Dawn.The runner up will receive an e-book of either A Midnight Infatuation or A Birth at Dawn (winners choice!).

Have fun and good luck to all who enter!

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Website Updating......

If you've tried to visit my website over the last 24 hours you probably saw one of those "Page Can Not Be Displayed" pages that we all hate to run across. Well, don't worry! I'm in the process of changing my website host over to a new one and anyone who has done this knows what a pain in the ass it can be. And boy has it.

It's *suppose* to be all done tomorrow, but we'll see. If something happens and the site isn't up by Monday, don't worry cause I have an alternative way for everyone to enter my September Giveaway from right here on the blog. But, hopefully, the site will be back up before then.

I hate doing all of this at such a short amount of time before the giveaway, but my old host was about to charge my monthly fee on the 1st, so I wanted to get it cancelled and switched over to the new host before I was charged for a month's worth of service I wasn't going to be using.

Once the change is complete, there will be a brand new website for you to enjoy! Yes, yes, I know, I change the sites alllll the time. But this time it's a lot nicer, neater, and easier for me to update everytime I have something new to share. Plus it's a cheaper host than the last one. So it's all good... if it would hurry the hell up and work! LOL!

All in all, ifthe site isn't up by Monday, I'll just run the contest from here. It's no biggie to change, but I'm hoping the site is up by then.

Tomorrow I'll update about A Twilight Abduction progress! 'Til then, have a great Saturday night! :-)

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It's soooo close!

I can't believe that next week is the start of September. I'm dying to show all of you the new book cover for A Twilight Abduction. And, yesterday the new book trailer was finished. BUT, I can't show it to all of you because it has the book cover in it. LOL! This waiting mess is for the birds. LOL

I promise that it'll be well worth the wait when all is revealed next week. I have a time schedule for everything and I'm very controlling about that. So, even though I'd love to show you all right this very minute, I have a schedule and I'm sticking to it.

Also, don't forget that next Monday starts my September giveaway. So anytime during the month of September, stop by the website and try for your chance to win an autographed poster or e-book of either A Midnight Infatuation or A Birth at Dawn (winner's choice).

With all these special days coming up, I need to make a calendar just to remind myself. LOL!

Have a great week, everyone!

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I may not feel like it, but I'm still here

Last Monday, my middle daughter came home from school with a case of the "it's-a-new-school-year" sniffles. It happens every year during the first month of school. For some reason, when you throw hundreds of children into a school building, even in the hottest part of summer, there will ultimately be an illness to soon follow.

So she came home with the sniffles and promptly passed it on to the three year old. The youngest, of course, doesn't realize the strength of her own coughs and sneezes when they are happening right in mommy's face, and ultimately passes it on to me. So Thursday, I began to have that little itchy/tingly feeling in the back of my throat. You know the one--the feeling that tells you not to make any plans for the weekend cause they ain't happenin'!

Thursday night I went to bed at 11:30pm, knowing I would feel bad the next day, but it shouldn't be too bad. Well, I was wrong. The 3yr old decided it would be a good night to wake up 15 times to go potty, cough, talk, beg for food, and cry to watch tv at 3am. I got a solid 3 1/2 hours of sleep that night.

By 5am I'd said "screw it!" and got out of bed for the day. I felt awful! By the end of Friday I felt worse than awful. I was sooooo sick. When Saturday rolled around (after me dosing up on cold meds and sleeping for 12 hours) the sickness part was much better, but I had a migraine. I'd rather be sick than have a migraine.

The migraine lasted until Sunday night, so basically my whole weekend was shot to hell in a handbasket. But at least I'm feeling better now and ready to get back to work. Whew!

I have four chapters left to write this week and then the big edit-fest begins. Edits, rewrites, rereads, more edits, another reread, etc, etc, etc. September will be a busy month.

Today I finished up the book trailer for A Twilight Abduction, but I can't show you yet because it has the book cover in it, and I don't want to release the book cover until Sept 3rd. So, I guess that will have to wait until then. But no worries, I'll post the book trailer here (and everywhere else, lol) when the time comes.

Ok, that's all of my pointless rambling for today. If you aren't too bored of me, stop by and check out my entry on the LTTM blog today. It's all about the loveliness of a brand new week!

:-)