Making a change.

Happy Monday morning to you all.  It was a crazy weekend around here, but then again, when isn't it a crazy weekend around here?  LOL.

Before I start rambling and then have to delete it,  I'd like to announce that I've officially started the moving of this blog off of Blogger and over to the website.  I've already copied the last three entries over there, along with NetworkBlogs and Feedburner.  Therefore, this will be the last entry on this Blogger page and all the new stuff will be over at http://www.christiesilvers.com/apps/blog/

If you're following here on Blogger, feel free to delete this site from your following list and add the link above.  I've already tested it and know that it works.  :)

I look forward to seeing you there!

Saturday.

Happy Saturday morning to everyone.  What will you be up to this weekend?  I have laundry to tend to today, but other than that there won't be too much else on the agenda.  We'll be winging it.

It was suppose to rain yesterday, but ended up quite a lovely day.  There was some thunder after dark last night, yet not a drop of rain fell.  It didn't really matter much though, as I had so much to do yesterday that didn't involve relaxing outside.

I went with Tim and FIL to take care of all the will mess.  We had to hang out at probate court for a while.  After all was said and done, FIL surprised me by instructing me that I needed to start looking for a new van because...

He's going to buy my one!!  *Shock*  I assured him that he didn't have to do such a thing, but he insisted that yes, he will be doing it and I need to start looking.  LOL!  It won't be brand new--since I don't buy brand new no matter who's paying the bill--but it will be newer than my '97 Dodge Caravan.

Now to just find something I like well enough to put down someone else's money on.  ;-)  I'll start the search next week while the kids are in school.  Father-in-law is an absolute doll.  He always has been.  *Love*

In the meantime, I'm still looking for a buyer on the old van.  I put out a new ad and have already gotten some phone calls.  However, they came in during the time we were in court yesterday and now I've gotta listen to their voicemail messages again and call them back.  Maybe I can get the van sold before a new one arrives.  :-)

Well, now I'm off to start laundry.  I typed this while sitting out on the front porch.  The temperature is perfect right now, but here in Georgia that won't last long. By lunchtime it'll be too hot to stay out for long.  Therefore, I'm going to throw in a load of laundry and then come back out to make my phone calls.

I hope you all have a lovely day.  :-)

Writing outside.

Yay, it's Friday!  Unfortunately, it's suppose to be a rainy Friday.  Tim is on his way home right now, and after he gets a shower we have to go out with his dad.  Father-in-law has decided to update his will now that Mother-in-law is gone, and Tim needs to go with him to the lawyer's office to sign the papers to be beneficiary.  FIL knows that it'll be me taking care of all that mess when the time comes though.  LOL.

After all that is finished, I'll bring Tim back home to crash in bed for the day.  Poor guy is exhausted from his first week of night shift in over five years.  But, he'll get into the swing of things soon enough.

Since today is suppose to be rainy, I'm glad that I spent most of yesterday outside.  It was cool and comfy until well into the afternoon--when it became stiflingly hot--so I took the 5 year old and Rex the Super Pup outside.  They played while I sat in the shade and worked.  It was quite relaxing and productive all at the same time.

Sitting out in the brightness of a beautiful spring day made me think about the normality of night scenes in urban fantasy.  And in that, Ive decided that we need more battles in the daylight--unless a vampire is required for the scene, obviously.  Therefore, the last battle scene in Kill Me Next Week will be in the sunshine.  Yep, sunshine can be helpful when you need to kill an enemy, don't you think?

Obviously I'm not to the last battle scene in the story yet, but that's not to say I don't already know how it's going to play out.  As a matter of fact, I started writing A Midnight Infatuation knowing the ending and having to create a world where the characters could reach that ending.  Same goes for Time For Death.  The other two, well, not so much.  You never know how a story is going to play out until you begin it.

Speaking of characters, I guess I better get going.  Tim is about to pull up in the driveway and a very busy Friday is about to begin.  I hope you have a nice one.  :-)




*Photo: A beautiful blue, spring sky as viewed from my front porch yesterday.*

Aliens, Vampires & Conferences

Morning, morning.  This has been an interesting week for me.  There's the new schedule of Tim working nights to start with.  However, more than that, I've been on an "old" tv show kick.

Tuesday night I discovered that Netflix has all three seasons of Farscape in Instant Play.  Woohoo!  I love Farscape!  I used that opportunity to share my favorite aliens with the teenager.  She has such similar taste in tv, movies, and music with me that I knew she'd enjoy it.  And I was right!

Then, Wednesday I found all the Buffy the Vampire Slayer shows in Instant Play too!  Yay!  I had to share those with the teenager too.  She was ecstatic when I showed them to her.  So much so that she was begging to stay up half an hour past her bedtime to watch another episode.  I, of course, agreed.  ;-)

Now that we've covered the aliens and vampires...

This week I'm attending a publishing conference.  Luckily, it's an online conference and I don't have to worry about the cash or time away from the family for it.  One of these days I will find the time and money to go to one of the big New York conferences.  Maybe after the kids are grown...

Oh, have you noticed the new banner over there? ---->

If you're a writer and would like to join in, click on the banner and it'll take you where you need to go to lean all about it and to sign up for yourself.  We should all be proud of our writing no matter what your skill level and chosen topic.  :-)

Here at home this morning I'm ready for a few hours of writing.  There is no laundry to wash, the kitchen is already clean, the living room has been vacuumed, and the 5 year old is being quite cooperative.  Here's hoping I can knock out a few hundred words in Kill Me Next Week before she tires of being cooperative and starts wanting to play cards.  If the day is sunny I may just take the laptop outside and work while she plays with the puppies.

Well, I'm off.  Tim is about to arrive home from work and he may need to be tucked into bed after his shower.  ;-)

Survival!

Yep, I'm here.  I survived my first night alone.  It took a while to get to sleep, but I didn't wake up too much more than I usually do.  I did have a bout of tears from the 5 year old when her bedtime rolled around because she didn't get to kiss her daddy good-night.  Poor little one.

Tim came home pretty exhausted this morning, but we turned the bedroom into a cave by blocking all sunlight.  He should sleep pretty well today.  It'll take some time, but he'll get use to the night shift again.

Last night the winner of my Time For Death giveaway shared that she'd received the goodies.  Here's what she had to say about it.   Yay, I won – Thank you Christie!  From Karlyn

I enjoy giving goodies to deserving fans.  I'm always thinking about new ways to accomplish just that.  However, due to time constraints and family responsibilities, I can only do it a few times a year.  I don't know when the next one will be, but there WILL be a next one.  :-)

Today I'm working on laundry.  It's not pleasant, but it has to be done.  The kids have a tendency to let their hamper get over full before they bring it to me.  When that happens it takes a lot longer to finish it all.

While all the laundry is doing its thing, I'm going to work on a couple of articles to get the writing juices flowing and then I'll jump into Kill Me Next week.  Only two more weeks until school ends and I'll be able to do my best writing in the dark of night.  Darkness is much more conducive to writing about supernatural beings.  Oh, and sex scenes flow faster in the night.  ;-)

Until then, I'll be working on small daylight scenes and editing. Every little bit helps to move the process forward, even if only at a snail's pace.

Okay, I'm off.  Have a great Hump Day!

Sparkles & Fur

Happy Tuesday morning.  It's a cloudy, windy day here.

I've already had a busy day and it's not even 9 a.m. yet.  Most of my work has been online, but then again, that is where my work world lives.  And I wouldn't have it any other way.  I quite enjoy the online world and all the wonderful people I've met over the years.

Some of those people have been over on the Facebook Fan Page entertaining me with their ideas on sparkling vampires and hairy werewolves. 

It appears that more people would prefer being lovers with a vampire than a werewolf, with the #1 reason being that werewolves are too hairy.  Oh, and dog allergies.  LOL!  Though some prefer werewolves due to their higher body temperature, and you know how us women always have frozen feet.  ;-)

Then I threw out the question of whether or not real vampires sparkle.  That one was funny!  According to the answers, the majority don't agree with sparkling vampires.  One friend made the point that it would be quite difficult to sneak up on someone for a feed if you sparkled.  A very good point indeed. 

It's a lot of fun hearing other people's thoughts on the subjects I love.

I suppose I must be going now.  Tim starts night work tonight & has gone back to bed for a few hours.  I have more work to get done before he wakes up, pick-up time gets here, the kids come home, and I have to make a quick dinner before dashing off to Science Night at the elementary school.  Eek!  Where do the days go?

Have a good one!

Errands never stop.

Monday, Monday, Monday.  Time to start another new week.  Are you awake yet?

Mother's Day was very nice.  My teenager was quite determined that I know how much she loves me.  After visiting FIL we came home and I was going to clean the kitchen.  She said, "No!" and she cleaned the kitchen herself.  Then when it came to dinnertime, Tim grilled steaks and the teenager made the baked potatoes.  While dinner was cooking, she then went to the little girls' room and made sure they cleaned it.  LOL!  She was very helpful and showing her sweet side.  Awww! 

You never know when the teenage attitude will sneak back in though.  You gotta take when you can get it.  ;-)

I have more errands to run today.  They never seem to end.  The school year is coming to an end and I go into crazy mode to get it all done before I have three kids tagging along. Once school is out, most of my daytime errands will involve fun things with the kids to keep them out of the house while Tim sleeps.

Today I have to go buy groceries.  That in itself will take up most of the morning.  This is my one big shopping trip for the month and it always takes a while.  The rest of the month will consist of small trips for staples.

I want to share the first Amazon review on Time For Death!  It was posted on May 1st, but I didn't see it until yesterday.  Stop by and check out what Sherie Anderson had to say in "Her best yet!"

It makes me happy when someone shares that they enjoy the books.  I'm guilty of this myself, but it's hard to get people to leave feedback for books on Amazon, so it's extra special when someone does.

Before I go, be sure to stop by the Facebook Fan Page.  We've been discussing werewolf movies, Supernatural, and romancing vampires and werewolves.  I love reading all the answers!  Some of them crack me up!

Okay, I'm off for today.  Time to head out and get things done.  Tim starts night shift this week and this will be the only day I'll have him awake in the daylight hours.  I better get as much out of him as I can.  LOL!

Have a great Monday.  :-)

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the wonderful moms out there.  I hope you have a relaxing and enjoyable day, no matter what the day has in store for you.  :-)

My girls bought roses for me yesterday.  Three roses for each of my three kiddos.  Awww!

Yesterday we went with FIL to help him smooth out MIL's grave and check on the flowers.  We put some Mother's Day flowers on her grave too.  I do believe it will be a rough day for FIL, but hopefully our regular Sunday visit will help him. He loves to spend time with the girls. 

Tim and I had a great night out Friday.  We saw an early showing of Iron Man 2 and then went to Red Lobster for dinner.  It was quite nice & we both walked away stuffed.  I told you we'd get out of there cheap due to the free movie tickets and high dollar Red Lobster coupons, and we did!  After the coupons, I tossed a $20 on the table and that was that.  That included the tip too!

Talk about a cheap date.  Woohoo!  We even made it home in time for Tim to watch the Nascar race.  LOL.  Not bad at all.

Well, I better get off of here before all the kids wake up.  I have no idea what they have planned for the day, but hopefully it will include less arguing from them.  ;-)

Escaping...

Tim is home this morning.  Yesterday was his last day of day shift.  Starting next Tuesday he'll be working nights, and I'll have to learn to sleep alone for 3 days out of the week.  Luckily, once the kids are out of school I won't have to worry about going to bed at a decent hour in order to wake up at 6am.

Years ago when Tim was working nights, I discovered that my most favorite time of day to write was actually when he was at work and everyone in the house was fast asleep.  The silence of midnight is golden when you're trying to write a vampire sex scene.  I'd stay up and work until 2 a.m., knocking out 2-3 chapters a night, and then sleep until 9 a.m., when the kids would finally demand some sort of morning nourishment.  I loved those nights!

Unfortunately, my writing day yesterday wasn't as successful as I'd hoped it would be.  The 5yr old did not comprehend the part about me actually working.  What's funny is that most of her demands were for me to spell words for her.  When they're this age and interested in the spelling of words, well, you just gotta do it.

On the upside, I did manage to edit a few chapters, even if I couldn't find any quiet time to write a few chapters.  Editing sucks at times, but at other times it actually helps to keep you in the story.  Especially when you're not writing regularly and need to be reminded of what you wrote previously.

There are only three weeks of school left until I can get into late night writing.  THEN, the 5yr old will go to school with her sisters when September arrives.  YAY!  I love my time with them, but mommy needs her escapes on a regular basis.

Speaking of escapes...

Tonight is date night!  I'll be taking the girls over to my mom's as soon as they get out of school and then Tim and I are going out.  I have free movie tickets to go see Iron Man 2 and some high dollar discount coupon for dinner at Red Lobster afterwards.  We should be able to get away with spending less than $20 on dinner and a movie tonight.  Not bad in my book!

Before I go, I promised a picture of our freshly bathed puppies from last night before a couple of them headed off to new homes.  Unfortunately, the new owner of the white & brown puppy arrived hours before  was expecting.  I hadn't even thought about giving them baths yet when he showed up.  LOL.  Oh well, he simply got a head start on getting to know his new owner.

In the meantime, here are the other puppies after their bath.  The second couple did arrive and adopted the other boy pup.  Here's hoping both boys have long, happy lives.  :-)

Okay, I must be going now.  Time to get some housework done before the day gets away from me.  Have a great Friday and weekend ahead.  :-)

A day of freedom.

Thursdays are so close to the end of the week it's like a little bit of the weekend seeps in around the edges.  Today's Tim's last day of work for the week.  He's done well and is starting to settle into his new position.  I don't think it's a bad gig to be able to work three days a week and always have a four-day weekend.  Not bad at all.

I have absolutely no errands planned for today.  Not a single load of laundry needs to be washed either.  I have a full day of freedom to WRITE!  Some people make think I'm crazy considering that writing is my job.  What?  You don't like your job?  I love my job! 

Writing is freedom for me.  Freedom to do my own thing, create a new world, convince characters to do what I want them to do (though sometimes they have other plans).  Writing makes me happy, gleeful, creative, and at the end of a good writing day I'm relaxed and feeling like a new person.  So, today I'm looking forward to ending the day with a smile and feeling of accomplishment.

Now to make it happen!  :-)

Speaking of the end of the day...

I have some families coming this evening to take some lovely, cuddly puppies to their new forever homes.  Yay!  One gentleman is coming for the brown & white male, and the other couple wants the other male with the possibility of taking one of the females too.  If everything works out, 2-3 of our sweet babies will be going home with new owners.

After the kids are home from school we'll be giving all the pups a nice bath and brushing in preparation of meeting their new puppy parents.  It should be a fun moment for the kids and the pups.  I'll take a picture of all the clean, fluffy pups before anyone leaves and post it tomorrow.

That's it this morning. Time for me to go start my work day.  I have my Kill Me Next Week file open and waiting right behind this window.  I hear Liz telling me to get the f**k back to her story.  She's bored with waiting around.  ;-)

Have a great Thursday! Make it the best one you can.

Character Dictionary & Twitter Backgrounds.

Good morning everyone.  How has your week been?  I've had a good one.  Tim started his new job yesterday.  He's working days this week for training(even though it's a job he's done for 16yrs, lol) and then next week he'll be on night shift--which is what he was hired for.  So this week I'm enjoying not having to keep the 5yr old quiet while he's sleeping all day.

I was asked earlier what I would do with my hours all alone today.  I've already started filling them cooking, cleaning, errands, laundry, and book work.  Not only that, but I've found an acceptable home for one of the puppies, and another couple has shown interest in one of the others.  With them eating solids, we go through a 50lb bag of dog food VERY quickly.

Nonetheless, my days are always full whether Tim is home or not.  I'll just have less distractions while he's at work and be able to get more done in the hours I'm given.  :-)

Speaking of work, last week I put the finishing touches on the Character Dictionary update on the website.  You can now see all of the characters in Time For Death at one glance.  I started it as an interesting addition to the website and people liked it.  I plan to update it for each and every future book, as well.

Speaking of Time For Death,  was approached yesterday by a podcast host who wants to do a book review on Time For Death for his show.  Woohoo!  Well, actually he wanted to do A Birth at Dawn, but didn't realize it was part of a series.  Then I suggested he do Time For Death since it's the new book and needs the publicity.  He agreed and that was that. 

I'm excited as this will be the first time any of my stuff has been on a podcast, that I know of anyway.  LOL.  I'll be sure to post the podcast link when/if it goes live.  :-)  Fingers crossed that he likes it as much as others have.

Okay, one more thing before I go.  In my time on the 'net I've met lots of super great people.  I'm always talking to talented people who are the kindest, most interesting folks.  That's the fun on socializing online!

During last week's author chat and goodie bag giveaway I met another person.  She came to chat with me and then ended up being the winner of the goodie bag the next morning.  After that I roamed around her website and discovered her talent for creating Twitter backgrounds.  I'd been meaning to have someone make me one for a while now, but never got around to it.

So I ordered one from her!  And it turned out awesome!  Stop by my Twitter page at http://www.twitter.com/christiesilvers to check it out.  And if you want one of your own, stop by Karlyn's page at http://www.karlyns.com/ .  She does great work and is more affordable that I've seen anywhere for such quality.  Oh, and she does other things aside from the Twitter backgrounds too.  She's is very talented and such a nice lady.

All right, that's it from me this morning.  I have to go get to work before the hours slip away from me.  I gotta make the best use of the few hours I have before school is over.  The days seem to fly by lately.

Have a great Wednesday and Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Normality is subjective.

We woke up to wet and sogginess this morning.  It stormed all night, but has stopped at the moment.  Some may think that doesn't bode well for the new week ahead, but I'd rather have rain during the week than over the weekend.  And we did enjoy our dry weekend.  :-)

With no funerals, no book releases, no goodie giveaways, nothing special planned for this week, I'm hoping we'll be able to get back to normal around here.  However, as I tell people often, normality is subjective.  Everyone has their own "normal" and mine will have Tim going back to work tomorrow!

I have plans for this week that include a trip to the post office, lots of writing, and my regularly scheduled work-outs.  Throw in domestic chores, mommy duties, and errands, and well, my week is packed.  I enjoy a busy, productive week as long as it's within MY realm of normality.  The occasional surprise dinner invitation, trip, or gift are perfectly acceptable variations on my normal week though.

Sooo, I'm off to have some breakfast and get my day started.  Here's to everyone having their own normal week with only good surprises! 

And the winner is...

Last night's chat was a blast.  I had so much fun talking to everyone about all sorts of stuff.  It's fun talking to people in real-time that I know online.

I do believe this was my most successful release day and goodie giveaway.  Sales, both pre-orders and yesterday, were super nice and we had over 600 entries into the giveaway for last night. After all of that, I drew the name of one lucky winner first thing this morning.

Congratulations to Karlyn C.!  I hope you enjoy all the goodies.  :-)

I'm a happy author this morning and closing out a highly successful month.  April was a great one.  Here's to making May one, as well.

Now I'm off to mow the lawn before rain comes in.  It's petty dark and cloudy out there, but the yard needs it terribly.  Have a lovely weekend.

Happy release day!

Amazon -- Kindle edition --  Autographed copies --  Excerpt

Time For Death has been born!  Welcome to the birthday of a brand new book series.  I'm so proud and overjoyed.  :-)  I have a lot to share with you this morning. 

First off, the Release Day Celebration has begun with the first reader review.  I was happy to receive an e-mail late last night from a pre-orderer (is that even a word?) letting me know that she LOVED the book and can't wait for book 2.  I thanked her, and we discussed the ending a bit (no, I won't tell you), before she popped over to the Facebook Fan Page to leave a little note.  I'm thrilled to hear from her, and as a reader who has read all of my books, I hope to hear from her in the future.

I greatly enjoy when readers want to talk about actual events in the books.  It means people are reading and thinking about what I've written.  I especially enjoy the statements of love for the characters.  It's really all about them in the end.  :-)

One other thing that jump started the celebration today was when I checked the Amazon rankings and found that the Kindle edition is already selling.  Yay!  I don't know who ordered, or when, but I hope you enjoy it.
As I've mentioned numerous times, the Author Chat will be tonight at 9pm EST.  I always plan for at least 1 hour, but we tend to still be chatting up a storm when that tie arrives.  The chatroom link has been added to the website, and here it is for the blog.  Release Day Author Chat &Giveaway  I hope to see you there!

Remember, by making an appearance at the chat you'll gain another entry in the goodie bag giveaway.  There is only 1 person who has already collected all 4 of the previous ways to enter and she plans to try to pop in at the chat for her 5th entry.  However, keep in mind that someone with only 1 entry can have their name drawn just as well as someone with 5 entries--though the more entries, the better chance.

Next up, I was surprised the other day with an article by M.J. Joachim.  I didn't even know she was going to write about me.  Stop by and check it out.  :-) "Christie Silvers, Author of Vampire Books"

Now, as a side note, and before I go, today is the last day to receive free shipping on any of the Alex & Fiona books.  Stop by the Contests, Giveaways, Discounts page for details.

I think that's it.  That's enough though, isn't it?  LOL.  I'm off to take care of some domestic responsibilities before tonight.  Have a great day and I hope to see you at the chat. 

Time For Death excerpt

Tomorrow's the big day.  If you haven't already started collecting entries into the goodie bag giveaway, now is definitely the time to do so.  Tomorrow is chat night.  I can't wait and always have a fun time chatting with all of you.  :-)

Since it's excerpt day, I'll just get right into it.

CHAPTER 1

“Come on, Liz. You know it’ll be a blast. We always have fun when we go out to Fosters Cemetery,” Rick begged while straddling a bar stool in front of me as I poured long-time patron and mother-figure, Adele, another shot of Jack Daniels.


Rick’s green eyes sparkled with the thoughts of our previous romps around the county’s supposed haunted graveyard. Not that I blame him, we do always have a good time out there. I resisted the urge to swipe his blonde hair away from his face--it would just provoke him further--and started wiping down the bar counter top instead.


I’ve known Rick ever since high school. He was the small, skinny, geeky guy friend that most girls have. He hung around like a lost puppy, trying to include himself in any activity I was involved in, until I finally had to give in and notice him. He’s been one of my best 6


friends ever since, even though he has wanted more than that ever since.


Two years ago, a drunken, lonely evening turned us into a little more than friends. He’d always had his women, as I’ve had my men, but we also had each other when things went sour in our other relationships, as it always does. I suppose it was just natural that we would finally gravitate toward one another after all these years. Not that we were technically dating, or linked together by any other means, but everyone who knew us referred to us as “Rick and Liz”.


“Not right now, Rick. You can see how busy it is tonight,” waving my hand around to acknowledge the large crowd waiting in line for drinks. “Susan didn’t show up for her shift and Chad has no idea how to mix drinks.”


Susan, my longtime waitress, has trouble remember to come to work sometimes. I often wonder why I keep her around. Chad, well, Chad may be smoking’ hot, but he was only trained as the bar’s bouncer.


“Please, Liz,” Rick pleaded. “Just for a little while?” He batted his eyelashes and stuck out his bottom lip in his favorite pouty expression.


I couldn’t help smiling at his persistence. I knew that I was the only girl who would go romping through the graveyard with him. His eagerness was showing, and the begging was distracting me from my duties behind the bar.


Shouting over the roar of the blender mixing yet another strawberry margarita for the petite red-head in the corner, I conceded, “Okay, go away and I’ll meet you after I close up.”


He flashed his bright smile at me and hopped off the bar stool instantly. “Victory!” he shouted with arms raised in triumph. I rolled my eyes, switching off the blender and pouring the icy mixture into the awaiting glass. “I’ll see you later then,” he smiled, with a quick peck on my lips and a dash for the door.


I knew that I shouldn’t, but I glanced over at Adele. She was grinning like a loon, and even though she hadn’t spoken yet, I knew what she was thinking. “Don’t say it, Adele,” I pleaded.


But she did anyway.


“That boy has the hots for you more than you realize, Liz. When will you put him out of his misery and just marry the guy?” she asked with a sincerity that I imagine my mother would have if she were still alive.


“Ah, Adele. I don’t know about that. Rick enjoys having a willing fuck-buddy, but I doubt he’s the marrying type,” I replied with a wink and a smile, before mixing a Long Island Iced Tea for the next customer in line.

 
 
 

Welcome to Wednesday

Happy Hump Day!  This has already been a very productive week around here, and I hope that the rest of the week will be, as well.  Productivity makes me happy.  I like having something to show for my week when it draws to a close.

Tim is off to his second day of orientation at his new job this morning.  This week he's "at work" during the day, but next week when his actual job begins he'll be working nights.  It has been five years since I've had to sleep alone.  Luckily, this time it'll only be for 3 nights a week.  However, the hardest part about him working nights isn't the sleeping alone, it's having to keep the kids quiet during the day when he's sleeping.

Nonetheless, I'm thrilled that he has a new job and I know he'll be quite happy having something to do now.  He mentions often that he misses his last job.  In particular, the locomotive he use to drive a few times a week.  While he won't be driving a locomotive at this job, hopefully it'll keep him busy.  LOL.

This morning I'm doing some laundry while watching a movie from Netflix.  Once it's over & the laundry is put away, I'll be able to jump into some book work.  Time to get back into the routine of writing every day.  I've missed it so, but it's quite difficult to work when Tim's home vying for my every moment of attention.  Now I'll have three days a week of uninterrupted work time.  Woohoo!

Before I go today, I wanted to let you know that tomorrow I'll post an excerpt from Time For Death.  With its release on Friday it seems like the perfect time.  :-)  Now, off I go to check on laundry and jump into Kill Me Next Week. 

Going red for Liz!

As you can tell, the blog has gone red for the week.  The website has also gone a nice shade of crimson in honor of Time For Death.  The release is only days away.  How exciting!

I noticed yesterday that Amazon already has the book loaded into its system, with its own page and everything.  Woohoo!  It's a few days early, and I don't mind.  :-)  The Kindle version isn't available yet, but it should be all set by Friday as well.  In the meantime, I've updated the ordering links on the website.

As promised, here are some pictures of the bag of goodies I'll be giving away Friday night.  There are still several ways to enter into the giveaway if you haven't already.  I'll recap those after the pictures.

Goodie Bag Goodies
Alex & Fiona bookmark,  ChristieSilvers.com Ink Pen, Wheel of Being key chain from Breath of the Dragon, Autographed collage poster, Time For Death notebook, and lastly, the winner will also receive an e-book copy of Time For Death.

I think this is the most I've given away in a long time, and it's a lot of great stuff.  Hell, I liked the ink pen so much that I got one for myself.  I wanted to have some Time For Death bookmarks by giveaway time also, but they won't arrive in time.  :-(  With the stress and sadness of last week, I'm forced to give up on perfection.

Before I go, here's a recap on how you can gain entries into the goodie bag giveaway.

• 
  
  Be a member of the Facebook Fan Page.
• 
  
  Share the fan page with others on Facebook (be sure to let me know when & where you've done this).
• 
  
  Give me a shout out on Twitter by adding @christiesilvers to any of your posts.
• 
  
  Lastly, there will be a chat April 30th at 9pm EST. Join in and you'll receive a bonus entry.

The chat link will be posted Friday morning here on the blog, both Facebook pages, Twitter, and the website.

Okay, that's it for today.  Tim has left for orientation at his new job and I'm hoping to get a good bit of writing done before he comes home.  I'm looking forward to getting back into a normal work routine, even if it has to be at night starting next week.  :-)

Have a good day!

Life returns to normal.

I'm back!  After the stress, sadness, exhaustion of last week, I'm finally back in motion this week.  Here's a quick recap for those who aren't connected with me through Facebook (cause I post everything on Facebook).

-- Tuesday morning:  Tim had his second interview.
-- Tuesday night:  Ambulance was called to the in-laws' house.  MIL passed away.
-- Wednesday: Tim is sick as a dog... vomiting, fever, chills, didn't get out of bed all day.
-- Wednesday: I went with FIL to make sure all the funeral arrangements were made.
-- Thursday: Spent most of the day at the funeral home.  Tim feeling better (thank goodness).  We're working on very little sleep for the week.  Oh, and Tim got the call we'd been waiting on...  HE GOT THE JOB!
-- Friday:  Took the kids to Mom's for the night.  Tim & I were at the funeral home until 10pm.
-- Saturday morning: Woke up to rain.  MIL's burial will not be graveside due to it.  Was at the funeral home for almost 6 hours before picking the kids up and spending another 4 hours at FIL's house.
-- Sunday: Visited with and had lunch with FIL before taking the girls to the cemetery.

After all that, we finally made it home.  Exhaustion took over and we all crashed.

Here we are on Monday.  Whew!

We'll be getting back to normal this week.  I have a lot of work to catch up on after a week of no work.  Especially considering that Time For Death releases at the end of the week!  Yay!!  Tim starts his new job on Tuesday.  This week he just has orientation and paperwork and all that jazz.  Next week he starts the actual job.

Tim's new job will be Tues, Wed, Thurs at 12 hours a day.  He'll be working nights (again, boo, hiss!) from 7pm to 7am, but at least it's only three days a week, and he gets a 4-day weekend every week.  Not too bad for someone who hasn't worked in almost 9 months.

Okay, I just wanted to let everyone know we survived a week of hell and came out the other side into a new week.  Hopefully this week will be much better.  Tomorrow I'll be posting pictures of all the release day goodie bag stuff and we'll get into all those details for Friday.  I'm excited that the world is about to meet Liz Baker.  She's a lot of fun!  :)

Have a happy Monday.

A sad day for my family.

First off let me start by saying that Tim's second interview went very well yesterday.  Unfortunately, we won't know if he has the job until sometime over the next three days. It does sound promising though.

Last night ended very roughly for us.  An ambulance was called and his mother passed away a little after 9pm last night.  She'd been very sickly for the last two years, requiring breathing treatments and oxygen tanks.  Last night she took her last breath and couldn't be revived.

Tim didn't make it home until 2am and has been sick ever since.  He can't keep anything down and hasn't slept more than 30 mins here and there.  I don't know how long it'll take him, but I'm taking care of things until he can.

The girls were heartbroken when they woke up this morning.  I gave them the option of going to school or not.  They chose not until about 7:50am and then they wanted to go.  I signed them into school 30 minutes tardy.  The oldest said she just couldn't sit at home all day.  I don't blame her.

Since Tim can't do it, I'll be heading to the funeral home with FIL in a few minutes.  He and MIL had already made their final preparations last year sometime, but he needs to make sure everything is confirmed and get the details finalized.  I sat with him for about an hour this morning helping him get paperwork together and making sure he had everything.  Then back home to check on Tim before I head out again.

It's going to be a difficult next few days.

Keeps those fingers crossed!

Good morning everyone.  :-)

Tim's birthday went well yesterday.  I baked him a cake and the girls and I gave a loud rendition of "Happy Birthday" right before he blew out 14 melting candles (that's all I had).  After the way those 14 melted so quickly, I do believe that if I'd actually had 34 candles it would've been considered a fire hazard.

It's back to normal today.  He has his second interview from the one he interviewed with last week.  Hopefully we'll find out one way or another today if he has the job.  *Fingers Crossed*  Please send happy thoughts, if you're so inclined to do so.

In other news, the Facebook Fan Page reached 500 members yesterday.  Yay!  And congratulations to Timi Harris-Rutter for being chosen as the e-book winner.  She won her own copy of A Midnight Infatuation.  I hope you enjoy it, Timi. 

Not only is Timi the winner of this giveaway, but she, and all her fellow fan page members, already have entries in the Time For Death Release Day Celebration.  There are five ways to gain entries before I give away the goodie bag, so don't forget to try your hand at it.  The key chain from Breathe of the Dragon arrived yesterday and it looks great.

Now I'm off to get a shower and start my day.  I have writing to do in Kill Me Next Week (Liz Baker, book 2) and all the normal household stuff.  I should get a decent amount done while Tim's gone for his interview. That is, if I'm not waiting on pins and needles to hear from him.  LOL.

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Happy birthday, baby!

Welcome to a brand new week.  It's not so bad, especially when you have a birthday to celebrate right at the beginning!

Today is my honey's 34th birthday.  Yesterday we went out for lunch with his parents to celebrate with them.  Today we're planning a cook-out here at home.  He swore he didn't want a birthday cake, but I got the stuff to bake him one anyway.  We'll grill out and have cake this evening.

I--very slowly and Marilyn Monroe-like--sang him "Happy Birthday" this morning, but I'll be required to do the shouting/screaming/off-pitch singing with the kids this evening.  LOL.  It's all fun though.

This morning I've already dried & put away three loads of laundry, ran to the post office to drop off a package and buy stamps, and then over to the grocery store for hamburger buns (whole wheat since Tim's older now, LOL).  Since I went by my lonesome, I got a taste of how quickly errands will go when the youngest is in school and Tim is back to work.  That was quite odd!  What will I ever do with myself when the house is empty all day and I have to (get to) go to town all alone?

I can't wait to find out!  :)

Well, that's it today.  I'm off to do some writing while Tim's playing Xbox and then all attention is on him for the day.  Have a good one!

Simple Saturday

Today has no plans, no expectations, no nothing.  We did run out for a not-so-quick trip to Lowe's for wire and house wash.  Unfortunately, we didn't leave Lowe's with anything we went for.  LOL!

Tim did manage to get some house wash at Ace Hardware and sprayed the house down as soon as we got home.  Oh, did I mention that he also got the a/c unit fixed?  Yay!  The house is staying a comfortable 74 degrees now.  And it only cost us $48 for a new breaker. Whew!  That was much better than what the a/c guy would have charged.

This morning I woke up to the sounds and smells of Tim making breakfast.  It was 8:30 and he'd let me sleep in.  I was quite surprised.  When asked what made him decide to cook, he replied, "I just felt like it."  I don't eat a big breakfast very often (mainly because I don't want to cook it), but when he cooks for me I'm all too happy to enjoy it.  :-) 
Speaking of the hubby... His job interview Thursday went very well.  He now has a 2nd interview scheduled for Tuesday morning.  Hopefully that'll be the day we find out one way or another if he has the job.  Fingers and toes are crossed that he does!  Oh, and this job pays more than his minimum salary requirement, too!

Since this seems to be the day for updates, I updated the website this morning.  While doing that (adding the Twitter widget, updating the contests page, etc.) it hit me that I need to work on the Character Dictionary next week.  Time For Death is almost here and I need to add all of its residents to the dictionary.  It takes a couple of days to get all the info together, and then I'll have it ready to add to the site.  I'll post when it's done.

Before I go today, the Facebook fan page is now only 9 members away from reaching 500.  At 500 I'll be giving away an e-book to 1 lucky winner.  I share all kinds of stuff on that page, and absolutely love talking to all the members.  If you'd like to join, pop on over!  Feel free to say hello, the wall is open to all.  :-)

Want free shipping?

By using the links below to order, and entering the code FREEMAIL305 at checkout, you'll receive a $3.99 credit toward your shipping.  This code lasts until 5/1/2010!

Order by using these links:

A Midnight Infatuation

A Birth at Dawn

A Twilight Abduction

Time For Death celebration details.

Good morning everyone.  We're now at two weeks away from Time For Death's release day, and I decided that today would be the perfect day to share all the details of the big day.

First off, the giveaway goodie bag is currently stuffed with the following (with the possibility of more stuff added before the drawing):

• Autographed collage poster of all my urban fantasy books - Time For Death, A Midnight Infatuation, A Birth at Dawn, A Twilight Abduction
• Ink pen personalized with my actual business card
• Notebook with the cover of Time For Death on the front
• Bookmarks
• Wheel of Being keychain (this symbol has big meaning for Liz in book 2)

As you can probably guess, I'm big on both reading and writing.  That's why I added a notebook and ink pen.  I have always felt that everyone should write down their thoughts on a daily basis (or near-daily, at least).  You may not blog, write, or even leave notes behind, but I hope whoever wins the goodie bag will enjoy using them, and think of me when you do.  :)

Anyway, here are the details on entering to win the goodies.  There are multiple ways to gain entries into the giveaway.  You can only do each item once for 1 entry, for a grand total of 5 entries per person.

• Be a member of the Facebook Fan Page.
• Share the fan page with others on Facebook (be sure to let me know when & where you've done this).
• Give me a shout out on Twitter by adding @christiesilvers to any of your posts.
• Readers who pre-ordered* their copy of Time For Death have already received a surprise entry!  Didn't know about that one?  Duh, that's why it's a surprise entry. ;)
• Lastly, there will be a chat April 30th at 9pm EST. Join in and you'll receive a bonus entry.

Keep in mind that a name with one entry can be drawn, but if you have five entries you'll have a better shot.  This is all for fun and I hope everyone will enjoy it as such.  I'm looking forward to giving these goodies away and hope who ever wins them will enjoy them.  I may be adding more to the list of stuff, so you never know what'll arrive.

All right, that's it for today.  You may now commence collecting entries  You have until the April 30th chat ends at 10pm EST to get your entries in.  I'll draw a name and announce the winner the morning of May 1st.  Have fun!



*Pre-orders will stop being taken on April 23, 2010.  You still have time to get your order in for an extra entry.

Errand Thursday.

Morning everyone!  I made it through the heat last night and woke up to a much cooler house.  Luckily my sister loaned me her favorite oscillating fan yesterday and it worked like a charm.  I haven't even owned a room fan since we built the house.  Now I'm feeling like it may be a good idea to have one around, just in case.

Today is my weekly errand day.  I've already paid some online bills this morning, but in a bit I have to get dressed and head out.  Today's list of errands consists of dropping books by the library, buying groceries, filling the car with gas for next week, making a bank deposit, a trip to Lowe's, and lastly, a stop by the local tag office to buy the new car sticker (we have to get it before Tim's birthday on Monday).  I have so many places to go that I've made a list so I don't forget one.

Oh, and Tim has another job interview today.  Woohoo!  My fingers and toes are soooo crossed for this one.  It's not as close as the one he interviewed for last week, but it's closer than his last job that was an hour away.  Plus I know a bit more about this company than the one from last week, and this one shouldn't have any problems offering him enough pay.  I still don't understand that one from last week not even paying enough to match what he draws in unemployment each week, much less more.  Geez!

Anyway, today's interview is at 2pm, while I'm parked in the school pick-up line waiting.  He'll call me as soon as he's done there to let me know how it went. *Fingers Crossed*  I'll update the my personal Facebook page as soon as I hear from him.

Okay, I'm off.  Time to get started with my day.  Here's hoping it all goes smoothly and Tim has a job offer by the end of the day.  But if he doesn't I know that something good is right around the corner.  We just gotta wait and see which one arrives first.  :-)

Have a great Thursday and be sure to stop by tomorrow for details on my Time For Death release day celebration.

A hint at the summer to come.

Here in Georgia it tends to get quite warm fairly early in the spring.  This year is no different.  The mornings are brisk and jeans are usually a good idea before 10am.  However, after lunchtime the heat zooms up and it's tank top and shorts weather. 

With the temp changes you need heat in the morning to knock the chill off (no more than 45 minutes of heat) and then around dinnertime the A/C is required to keep you comfortable while cooking.  Unfortunately, Tuesday morning I woke up to a strange smell.  After that our heat & air unit no longer worked.  Ugh!

We built the house while I was pregnant with the oldest in 1996.  The heat/air unit has been a pain ever since.  Every couple of years we have to have a guy come out to fix something on it, and every time it costs us a couple of hundred dollars, most just in labor.  This time, Tim's going to see what he can do for it... since he has no job, and we can't afford the heat/air guy.

He has decided that he "thinks" he found the problem.  We'll pick up a small part tomorrow so he can see if he's correct. I hope, hope, hope he's right and gets it fixed.  Our house stays pretty cool all day long, until about 6pm when it's hotter in here than it is outside.  Sweltering is the word that comes to mind. 

If the part doesn't work then I guess we can only do one of two things... call the a/c guy, or buy a window unit, or two.  At this point I really don't give a damn as long as I can cook dinner without having a heat stroke.

Anyway, this Georgia heat is just a small hint of the heat summer has in store for us. 

Thrilling Tuesday

Monday's over, Tuesday begins. 

Today will be the busiest day of the week.  I have articles to work on, books to write, school to run back & forth to, the oldest has an orthodontist appointment right after school, and then we have to rush back after that for Open House.  Tim asked me last night what we'd be having for dinner tonight and I shared that I hadn't gotten that far in my ultimate plan yet.  Then he reminded me that we wouldn't even be home for dinnertime tonight.  Oops!

Not only that, but I think he's suppose to go help his dad with some things today, so I may be handling all the craziness alone with all the kids.  Fun.

No matter what happens I'll make it through fairly unscathed.  I work best by moving from one task to the next in sequential order.  Finish one before beginning the next and go from there.  Don't worry about the next task until you've completed the current one.  However that doesn't mean you shouldn't keep and eye on the clock.  I'm a stickler for being on time, or better yet, at least 5 minutes (preferably 10) early to every appointment.
In the meantime, this morning will go much more smoothly than the rest of the day will.  At this very moment, the older girls are already gone to school, the youngest is quietly eating  Go-gurt and watching Blue's Clues, and Tim has jumped back in bed for a little while.  The only sound in this room is the sound of my fingers dancing across the keyboard of my purple laptop.  That's the kind of peace a writer can only dream of on most days.  And dream I have!

It won't last.  She'll finish her yogurt or get bored with Blue's Clues.  He'll grumble and growl his way back out of bed when his back starts to ache from being in bed too long.  The phone will ring.  The dog will bark.  An e-mail will chime its entrance into my in-box.  And then we'll go about our day...

But at this moment I'll simply finish this entry while enjoying the silence that surrounds me.  It won't be long until it's an every day occurrence and I may miss the noise.  :-)


*No fingernails were painted for the making of this blog*

Manic Monday, or maybe it should be Maniac Monday.

Monday.  *Yawn*  It's Monday.  The first day back from Spring Break.  Did I mention *yawn*?

Tim just drove off to take the older girl to school, and the youngest is still sleeping--though that won't last much longer.  At this very moment everything in my world is quiet.  That won't last much longer either.

This will be a very busy week for me.  Not only do I have the normal weekly stuff (house cleaning, back & forth to school, writing work, etc.), but there's more.  Tuesday the oldest has an orthodontist appointment right after school, and then we have to come back to school for Open House.  Wednesday she'll have Quiz Bowl & I'll be running some errands.  Thursday she has a talent show.  Friday I have to get all the left over errands done and buy groceries.  Then Saturday we're loading the car up and heading to Fairburn, GA for this year's Georgia Renaissance Festival.

All of this on top of the already short enough days filled with my every day normal "stuff".

Oh, oh, and please, for all that's good in the world, please do not let me forget that Tim's birthday is next Monday and I'll need to bake him a cake sometime before then.

Now, before I have a panic attack thinking about the week ahead of me, I'll take a nice deep breath and move forward.  I'm now off to enjoy the last few minutes of quiet this morning will allow me before the 5yr old wakes up and Tim comes back home.
Have a great week!