Archive for category: Aside

Happy 2013!!

Happy 2013!!

A year ago I wondered if I’d ever finish STERLING, or have it in me to take it all the way. I now officially have a critique partner, Sarah, who I met on Nathan’s forums and a real drive to put this on print.  One of the things that’s helped me is the network I’ve made on twitter of both aspiring writers and debut writers who are still unknown to the general public. One of those little ladies is Lindsay Cummings, whose debut book, THE MURDER COMPLEX, comes out next year! She is doing this awesome giveaway to celebrate the new year AND the one year mark until her book is published.  Way too much good stuff to give away! Check out the contest and Lindsay!

http://lindsaycummingsblog.blogspot.com

I’m finishing up my first book for Silverwood Books, and it’s definitely different than anything I’ve ever read before. The blog tour kicks off at the end of February with yours truly. I’m also going to be interviewing the author for it too! Once that book is reviewed I can take advantage of the B&N gift card my brother got me for Christmas (Boundless is going to be my first purchase!!!!) since with a temporary fall in income I’ve had to cut books out of my budget. It’s okay! New job to begin shortly!!

-AB

January 2, 2013 0 comments
The neglectful blogger

The neglectful blogger

Oh, have I been awful about this blog lately. Really, there is no excuse. Well, there is kind of.

In September I was informed by boss (who lives in Florida) that something happened with the company and he was getting rid of everyone, and I’d be “on contract” until he could afford to hire me back. His “heads up” was one whole pay period. Not helpful. So I’ve literally not been buying books, which is ridiculously, but true. My GoodReads to-read list is piling up like WHOA and I can’t even afford freaking $10 for an ebook.

“Go to a library,” you say. I KNOW that, but the library closest to me SUCKS and to “go” anywhere in L.A. is such a hassel. That, and there are waiting lists MILES long for the good book — even their ebook list, which I’ve been on FOREVA.

So the past months have been me scraping by with my job at the barn. I ALMOST got the Sickest. Job. In. The. World. but they “froze” hiring. I DO have another awesome job opportunity, but it won’t start until January and it won’t be full pay right away.

In writing news, I’m back to editing. Again. This will be the last round, I SWEAR. What happened to NaNoWriMo you ask? Well, I was sick for two weeks and if I wasn’t wanting to die at work I was curled up in my bed in complete darkness. Then I was away at a horse show and you tell me if you could write sharing a room with four people after working 12 hour days. No? Didn’t think so.

In reading news, I was asked by UK based Silverwood Books to be on their book review team, which is AWESOME. Silverwood is an alternative to self-publishing and everyone really needs to check out their website. I can promise you I will be buying (and reading) Boundless the DAY it comes out even if I need to borrow the money from my Dad.  My first review for Silverwood (it’s a PIRATE book!) comes out at the end of February!

All right, its 2:30am and I need to work in a few hours.

-A

December 8, 2012 0 comments
After the storm

After the storm

It’s about time I wrote an entry about the storm.

The word hurricane doesn’t strike as much fear into me as the average joe, since living in Florida for ten years I went through my share. I lost power for two weeks once, after we were hit by four storms in less than two months. So shame on me for not paying that close attention to the weather reports and warnings.

I didn’t sleep the night it hit. I sat here, 4,000 miles away, watching footage after footage. Stalking northjersey.com to see how my hometown was fairing. To see if anyone had died. The next morning I managed to get a hold of as many people as I could: My mom, my brother and his wife, our friends who played the telephone chain game. No power of course, but their homes were spared. And then the pictures started coming in and it’s just…mind blowing. This is NEW YORK and NEW JERSEY. We are big and tall and have been around for centuries. The pictures of the shore broke my heart. Blocks upon blocks of the boardwalk are gone. The Victorian houses that have stood the test of nearly two hundred years are ruined. The lives of those who call LBI home were literally washed away. It feels so…different than 9/11. Obviously, because it is in a million ways, but while one was an attack, this was just…erasing history. They don’t even know how much of the shore will be able to be rebuilt yet. Entire sections of Staten Island have been decimated and twenty lives lost.  STATEN ISLAND. I can’t wrap my mind around it.

You can’t help but notice the crazy changes in weather over the past decades. And while we’re busy fighting wars over religion and politics with both guns and words, mother nature came in and just ripped us a new one. Time and time again she has proven to be our ultimate opponent, and if this pattern continues, she’ll take us out way before we destroy each other.

November 2, 2012 0 comments
Never forget

Never forget

I knew yesterday’s date. I clocked my hours. I checked a due date.  I knew it was September 10th. It wasn’t until hours ago, I really realized it.

I will never forget the seven hours I sat in a new apartment, 2,000 miles away from home, having no idea who was alive or dead. Seven hours before my Mom got through to me. Dad is all right, she tells me. You brother wasn’t on the train. Other than that, we don’t know. I remember staring out my dad’s window a month later, feeling an unbearable amount of sadness. Like every soul lost was crying.

Two years ago, while I was living with my dad, I went to go see the film, Remember Me. I didn’t know what it was about. It was horrible. I sat in my car afterwards to try and calm down. And I did…until I walked into the apartment. All my dad asked was how the movie was. I burst into tears and ran to him. Because for seven hours, I thought it was him.

It’s been Eleven years and I’ll never forget.

September 11, 2012 0 comments
QoTD – C.S. Lewis

Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.

-C.S. Lewis

September 5, 2012 0 comments