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!

:-)

My Favorite Artist & a book cover update!

Those of you who have read A Birth at Dawn have probably noticed the name and contact info of the artist who drew the image for that book's cover. Well, my upcoming novel, A Twilight Abduction, also has an image from the same artist.

This woman has more talent than I could ever dream of having. I've never been able to draw/paint, but she surpasses anything I've seen. Not only is she uber talented, but she's one of the most generous indiviuals that I've met. So I wanted to give a huge shout out and a sincere "thank you" to Zindy for the use of her beautiful art and her generous spirit for letting us use these pieces.

Stop by and check out her website. You're bound to find something that pulls at your heartstrings! http://zindy-zone.dk/

Now, on to the book cover update. Because of Zindy's generosity and my cover designer's speed (thank you again Mis!), A Twilight Abduction now has a gorgeous cover for its impending release on Halloween. I'm in love! Completely and utterly in love with this new cover. The colors, design, and layout are more than I could have expected. Mis has a talent all her own when it comes to graphic design.

So, if you'd like to be one of the first to see this new cover, stop by and sign up for my monthly newsletter. I will be showing the book cover in the next issue, scheduled to go out on Sept 3rd. So hurry and sign up before you miss it!

Sign up for newsletter here!


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Ortho Update

Well, I took the oldest for yet another orthodontist appointment. Today he was just going over her x-rays and teeth problems... blah, blah, blah. Yes, yes, I know her teeth are crooked and she needs braces... that's why we're here. DUH!

All in all, she'll be getting her top braces on Monday, October 27th. With the bottoms going on about a month later. She's glad to be getting them (poor child doesn't know what she's getting into), but she's not happy that it's going to screw up her Halloween candy eating. LOL!!

Apparently wearing braces these days is much easier than it was when I had them 16-17 years ago. You don't have to go every single month for tightenings... it's more like 6-8 weeks, he told me. They are made differently now so that it's the least amount of pressure needed to move the teeth. Back then, they were tightened as tight as the could get them. LOL!

The total cost for her braces is $5,370.00, with my insurance paying a measly $1,000. Bringing the total down to $4,370 with a monthly payment of $150, after an $800 down payment. What's funny though is that the financial lady said, "If you pay it all up front, he gives you a discount of $437.00." I was dying laughing cause that brought the total down to $3,933.00. Yeah, I have that lying around. I'd be happy to fork it all over to you right now! LOL!! I told her, "Yeah, that ain't happenin'!"

Anyway, looks like I'll be in debt to the orthodontist for many years to come. Not only will it be 2 yrs for my oldest, but then it'll be time for the middle to get her's when the oldest is paid off. Then, a few years later it will be time for the youngest. Awwww, the life of a parent. LOL!

Full Moon Tonight!

It's full moon night again. I just love a full moon; especially the big, bright ones in the winter (even though I generally despise wintertime). Unfortunately, I won't be able to see the full moon tonight. We're under cloud cover here and the best I can hope for is a rare glimpse of the bright orb through breaks in the clouds.

What is it about a full moon that draws our attention and admiration? Is it the brightness? Or maybe it's just the feeling that there's someting that big up there for us to look up and marvel at? What would we do if there was never a full moon?

I don't really notice the moon during the rest of it's lunar cycle, but when there's a full moon my thoughts go right to it. I love to sleep with my shades open when the moon is bright. There's just something about waking up in the middle of the night and basking in the glow of our lunar friend. I love it!

Maybe all of this lunar love is related to my obsession with creatures of the night. Then again, it could be from my teenage adventures of sneaking out of the house late at night and being led by the bright rays of a full moon. Oops, Mom don't read this!! LOL!!

Ok, now that I've dug myself into a hole, I'll be off. If you can see the moon tonight, go out and enjoy. Think of me, covered in clouds, and unable to see my bright friend tonight. Maybe tomorrow will be better. :-)

A Twilight Abduction Pre-Orders

So, yesterday I was reading over a writers group that I'm in and I came across the topic of book pre-orders. I've never offered pre-orders of my books (meaning you order a copy before it's released to the public and it will ship out to you as soon as it does come available) and I've never ordered a book for myself via a pre-order. So I'm not sure how popular this is.

So, my questions for today are:

• Do you pre-order books if given the opportunity?
• If you wanted to pre-order a book, how far in advance would you consider it? 1 month? 2 weeks?
• Would any of my readers be interested in doing a pre-order of A Twilight Abduction?

If I did jump onto the pre-order bandwagon with A Twilight Abduction, the buyers would most likely receive their copies before the actual release date of Halloween. You would only be able to order from my website. And as an extra bonus, all books would be autographed. I might even throw in a matching bookmark or postcard.

First though, I need to see if there is an interest in this and how big of an interest. So, please leave a message here or drop me a line at Christie@ChristieSilvers.com and tell me what you think. :-)

Happy Friday to all!

Always with the planning....

I'm always planning something. I don't care what it is, but if it's important to me it must be planned out in advance. I've always been a planner.

My husband, on the other hand, likes to just get up and do something. We wouldn't have even thought to do it and he'd just up and say let's go. His spontaneity is fun at times, but when it comes to money and finances, or wanting to do something when we have sick or cranky kids, it gets on my nerves.

Unfortunately, the best laid plans can come crashing down in mere seconds. Luckily, I'm a pretty laid back woman and things like that don't rattle me. I just go with the flow, but that doesn't stop me from trying to plan out where the flow might take me. LOL!

You probably wouldn't believe it, but I have specific things planned out well into next year. And Tim will fully admit that without my planning our whole existance would come crashing down around his ears. LOL!

Anyway, I'm just rambling on today. I've been writing all week, so I thought I'd take a break to jump in here and bore you to tears for a minute or two. A Twilight Abduction is coming along nicely and I'll be doing the finally edits/rewrites during September. My cover designer is working on getting the cover ready by the end of August. I'm excited to see it and share it with all of you.

Speaking of my cover designer. If anyone needs graphic work done, she's excellent and so reasonably priced. Just drop me a line and I'll send her in your direction. :-)

School days mean good writing days!

So today started the first full week of school for my older girls, and it proved to be a very productive writing day for me.

I'm down to the wire for getting A Twilight Abduction polished and ready to go for its Halloween release. So I'd determined to have everything finished by the end of the month in order to have time for re-reads, re-writes, and numerous edits before October arrives. With that said, today I had such a fantastic writing day and I'm determined to have another one tomorrow. LOL!

Yes, I apologize to all of my friends and forum pals that I ultimately had to ignore in order to have such a good writing day. But, once I'm done you'll have me back full blast.... well, at least until NaNoWriMo in November. LOL!! I still haven't decided if I'll do NaNoWriMo this year, but I'm planning on it, just in case. :-)

Anyway, here's hoping for another great day tomorrow and that my characters can find the light at the end of the tunnel while they're telling me their stories.

Happy Monday!!

And they're off!!!

YAY! The big girls are off to their first day of school. The house is so quiet and peaceful with just the toddler and I here. It's not even 9am yet and I've already started the dishwasher, fed the little one, cleared out my emails, and did my workout for the day. Nice!

I don't have too much to do today. I need to fold & put away some laundry, return a library book, and then after school I have to take the oldest to pick up her new glasses. Other than that I'll actually have time to...... WRITE! Wow! LOL!

Ok, so here's a pic of my girls getting ready to head out the door to school.




The youngest only has 2 more years before she'll be tagging right along with her big sisters.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Wednesday and that you're able to enjoy a little peace and quiet of your own. :-)

Money, money, money!

One of these days I'd like to have a money tree in my backyard. Anytime an unexpected bill arises you could just walk out the back door and pick a few dollars off the money tree and be done with it. When the weather starts to turn cold you just pick and harvest all you can before the tree shrivels up.

Awww, the things I could do with a money tree...

Why am I going on about the mythical money tree, you ask? Well, apparently money keeps leaving my house faster than it's coming in these days. Which in turn, gets me to wishing for a money tree. LOL!

My oldest had yet another orthodontist appointment today. I came home $150 poorer than I was when I went. We have to go back on the 20th for yet another consultation and then it's time toput the braces on. $5,000 is just an insane amount for this mess, but there's nothing a parent can do except to just pay it. It's that or let the child go through life with crooked teeth... and I won't allow that.

While I was sitting in the waiting room I chatted with another mother there. She had two daughters getting their braces put on today. TWO! At one time! $10,000!! Holy hell! But she was looking on the bright side and said that at least it would all be over with at once. LOL! Good for her, but there's no way I could afford to pay for two in braces at once. Nope, nada, no way in hell!

We both rambled on about the price of kids' clothing, gas, the ortho bill, and then how fast the kids grow. LOL! It was a collection of nothingness, but it wasted some time and who knows, we may even chat again with each other over the next two years of our lives sitting in that ortho's waiting room.

Now we have to go back on the 20th, then the oldest has an appt with her regular dentist in September, and then I'll have the ortho put the braces on in the end of October (the checkbook dictates that) and THEN it will be time to buy Christmas gifts, the oldest one's birthday, and the youngest one's birthday. AHHHH!!! More money, money, money.

Where's that money tree when you need one? Anyone have some seedlings you'd be willing to send me???

Here's hoping you're not having money issues today.

Only 2 more days until school starts here. That will help me relax for a change, at least. :-)

Been a crazy week around here.

This was the last full week of summer vacation for my older girls. And I believe it was the most stressful week of summer vacation as well. We seemed to be going constantly.

I did manage to get some writing done, a webiste update completed, and posted several new movie reviews on my cinema blog. Other than that, not much of my personal work has been finished this week. All I can do is sit back and be dragged along for the ride until school starts next week. Next Wednesday, August 6th, is my day of sanity salvation!!

All of the school supplies have been puchased, the new bookbags have been packed, we've discovered the name of their new teachers, and new clothes and shoes are neatly in their closets. Tomorrow, I'm taking the oldest for her yearly eye exam and she'll probably get new glasses. Then Monday both girls will go meet their new teachers before school begins on Wednesday. We're all set!

The next big day for me will be October 31st! That's the day that my new book, A Twilight Abduction, will be released. Over the next 2 months, I'll be revealing the cover and posting the blurb for this exciting new book in the Alex & Fiona series. I'm excited about this book as I've taken it in a different direction than the previous two. There are new people, new settings, new situations, and of course the normal sex, blood, battles, and death that accompany any of my vampire/werewolf stories. I can't wait to share this stage in their lives with the world, and I hope that all of my loyal readers will enjoy it as much as I have.

Ok, I'm out for now. The hubby gets off work early today and will probably want to go out to dinner. Have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend!