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Now, don’t let the title fool you, I freaking LOVE Pinterest. I love the organization ideas, pretty home decor, awesome make up ideas and writing tips. Starting my journey withÌýPinterest I knew that I, for all intents and purposes should stay away from DIY ideas and cute, quick recipesâ€� I knew thisâ€�

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I saw the recipe for the delicious looking, fresh, hot, Chocolate Chip cookie microwaved in a ramekin.

Single serving yumminess, just for me??

I had to try.

Now, let me preface this story.

I have three types of people in my Ìýlife.. I say types, because if I said I only had like three people in my life I’d sound kinda awkwardâ€� anyway.

FriendÌýAâ€� “You should really eat Yoplait’s new whipped chocolate yogurt instead, it will be much better for you.â€�

I love friend A, but when a bitch wants a cookie, now matter how much I may complain about my jeans feeling snug, bitch wants a damn cookie!

Then there’s Mom- “You were just complaining about gaining weight, you don’t need a cookie, and check the sugar content on that yogurt.�

Thanks Mom.

Friend B� “I don’t see why it’s such a big deal to make one, if you want a cookie, just make some.�

Me� “But if I make a dozen cookies, I’ll eat a dozen cookies.�

Friend B� “Then eat a couple and throw the rest away.�

**Gasp**

Me� “I don’t know which circle of hell you clawed your way up out of, but here in Middle Earth if you make a dozen cookies you eat freaking 2 dozen cookies!�

Friend B� “Huh?�

Me� **eye roll** “Well the recipe makes 1 dozen, but by the time you get your fix eating the cookie dough you really have enough for like 4 cookies, so you have to make 12 more.�

Friend B� “No wonder your jeans are getting tight.�

Me� “Fuuuuuccccckkk yooouuuuu!�

So you see, when I saw the mouth wateringÌýpicture of the cookie in a cute little dish, I thought I had found the perfect solution.

So, I gather my ingredients. I’m really feeling the baking thing, got my flour out, I’m eating chocolate chips, I’m measuring shit. Good Times!

Now the recipe calls for 1 tb butter melted, 1 tb white sugar, 1 tb brown sugar, 2 tb chocolate chips, pinch of salt, 1 egg yolk, 1/4 cup flour and 3 drops of vanilla. So, like everyone else in the country, my vanilla extract didn’t come with a damn eye dropper, I totally guestimated that shit. I start stirring everything and I’m feeling stoked!

It smells just like a chocolate chip cookie! Yes!

I pop that precious baby into the microwave and set the time for 50 seconds.

I am literally standing in front of my microwave bouncing up and down as I watch the little bowl spin. I was a little concerned until the 36 second mark, but then it started to rise and get puffy and brown. By the time it was done my mouth was watering.

I use a towel to pick it up and set it on the counter. I look down. It doesn’t look like the picture on Pinterest, but I am a cynic, I know this is real life, and this shit smells great. So I get my fork and lift the steaming fork to my lips.

It tastes just like�

Betrayal! Betrayal and Broken promises!

It actually tasted Ìýlike a bland, sugar free flour cobbler. Bleh! By now, I really have my mouth set for this damn cookie! So I stir it up and take another bite.

Holy fuck! How did 50 seconds in the microwave transform my cute chocolate chips into pools of burning lava!?

After the second bite I realize that I have been lied to, that the person on Pinterest probably threw a Chips A hoy into a ramekin and took a picture.

That is why Pinterest was created by the devil. It’s a field of dreams and promises that burn your tongue with molten chocolate chips and send you spiraling into a self hate funk where you question your worth as a human being.

Can’t even make a damn cookie. This sucks! Maybe I did something wrong? It was only like 6 ingredients how could I fuck this up?

Then I realize I didn’t fuck up, Pinterest just tricked me.

So I grab a Yoplait whipped chocolate yogurt, pick up my iPad and head to the recliner.

Then open up Pinterest�.

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Christmas Lights and Bees

Dec 5th-ÌýI only hang two strand of lights for Christmas, just enough to drape across the front porch and wrap around the corner pillar. Hey I’m single and there is a step stool involved. So I figure today its nice out like almost 70, so I think perfect, its not cold I’ll get the lights up. Why in the hell are bees still alive in December!! Don’t those bastards die off like in October (j/k). I had like a swarm (no j/k it was like 10-15 dive bombing me) while I’m trying to hang two f’ing strings of holiday lights on a step stool swaying in an uneven bed of mulch, that is when I’m not running for my life and darting around like a lunatic with a steady stream of obscenities flying out of my mouth and screaming “Die Fuckers!!â€� While spraying the equivalent of bug nerve gas at something the size of a lima bean going like 100mphâ€�.. Lights are up, some bees are dead, I didn’t get stung, I need a Damn drink!!

So do you know why you should support your favorite authors and buy their books? Its so they can afford exterminators and ham.

So I head downstairs dreaming of melty, cheesey omelets and I spot the four pack of toilet paper I had chucked down like an hour ago. Feeling like a real adult since I was in the process of not only replacing toilet paper but also about to cook, I’m grinning like an idiot. That was when I saw it. The slightly darkish spot next to the skirt of my couch.

“What the hell?� I put down the toilet paper and mostly empty can of Diet Mug root beer and grab a tissue. It was a spider, holy every loving fuck was it a spider! With legs sticking out it was bigger than a quarter. So I strike!

And I miss!! Fuck! Fuck! Where is it???

Want to know where it is? It’s running up the back of my couch on a vertical climb heading towards my hair! Agghh

So I am batting at this thing like I am playing whack a mole and finally get it on the floor and in the tissue and smush. Or I think I smush. I feel it moving in my hands. Every follicle of hair on my body just shriveled up and my spine twitched.

“Die!� I put the round tissue covered bump between my fingers and press. I can HEAR IT POP. OMG

So with the heart rate of an Olympic marathon runner after a race I immediately head to the trash can, which in my house is the official resting place for dead bugs.

I head back to the den and pick up my toilet paper and can of root beer. When I look over to the sink I see movement! A largish black beetle scurries across the rug next to my sink. I quickly grab a paper towel and pull back the rug.

He’s not there! Where is he?!! I search frantically but like a Special Forces op, he has disappeared.

(Side note- I am 5�3 so all my pajama pants drag the floor a good 3 inches)

With visions of beetles running up my legs I head to the bathroom to go pee.

I do my business, then remember. My toilet paper is on the kitchen table. I grab one of the disposable paper towels from the cardboard box I keep on the back of my toilet for cleaning and take care of things then go get the toilet paper. I put more on the roll and head back to the kitchen.

I think to myself “Fuck omelets!� I’m not standing down here in bug central!�

So I make myself a ham and cheese sandwich and come back upstairs.

So please support your authors� kay?

Okay.

So those of you who know me, know that I am an unabashed animal lover. I pick up earthworms off of hot pavement, I spoil my cat rotten and I damn near needed therapy when I accidentally ran over a baby bird mowing my backyard. (That coupled with the discovery of a tick on my clothes prompted for extra overtime so I can pay a nice college boy to mow my lawn, that was two years ago).

Anyway. I love animals.

Except Geese. I hate those bastards with a passion. Now there is a caveat. I love goslings. They Ìýare an exception since they are so damn cute, but once they become adults all bets are off. Once they mature they become assholes.

Below is the asshole goose that has become the bane of my existence.

For the past two years, every spring, I live in fear. Every spring this goose’s idiotic mate lays eggs right near the entrance of the building where I work and this macho featherbrain has to protect every square inch in a two mile radius.

Every spring its the same thing. Early April we show up to work and long, green cylinder tubes of goose shit cover nearly every inch of the walkways leading up to the building. By mid April KillerGoose starts making his rounds. Last year I was walking up to the door at work and he steps onto the sidewalk in front of me. I’m sipping my Iced Caramel Machiatto and feeling pretty good because I’m kinda early. I take a few steps and all cute like I’m like “Shoo shoo�.

Wrong.Fucking. Idea.

This goose becomes something out of a horror movie. He opens that god awful mouth and this demon like hiss erupts. My blood runs cold. It is only then do I realize that my dumb 5�3 self isn’t much taller or bigger than this monster. He opens up his wings and hisses again.

Fuck.This!

I, homo sapien, top of the food chain with a genius level IQ back down from a damn goose. I walk the long way around to the door completely rattled. Evil Bastid!

This year I’m thinking that he has moved to Florida, or hopefully got hit by a car and I would be safe. But no! He was there. Waiting. I get out of my car and I’m like. That can’t be the same bird. Now mind you I am across the lawn looking at him. I shut my car door and his little head swivels around and he stares me down with his beady eyes. He recognizes me! I know he does. He follows my steps all the way to the door. Heart racing I rush inside and pull the door shut behind me.

I hate geese, I really do, but I cannot do anything about it. If this spawn of Satan flies at me and I “happen� to be carrying a baseball bat for protection, and kill this sucker I could be facing fines! Not little fines either the fines range from $5,000 to $10,000 dollars!

Didn’t these things used to be dinner? Christmas Goose right? Wrong! As of 1918 these bastards were under Federal protection.

All I can do is pray that the babies hatch soon and they head to water. Once they are on the move they will disrupt traffic with their clumsy drunken waddle. You have to wait for each dumb bird of the flock to figure out they want to cross the street. It can take 5-15 minutes for them all to get across. That is if you’re lucky and you’re not waiting for the brain damaged one who wants to walk North/South instead of East/West. I love spring, butÌýI hate geese!!!

Die Goose Die!

“Canada Geese are protected under theÌýÌý. This Act makes it illegal to harm or injure a goose and damage or move its eggs and nest, without a Federal permit. Not complying with the Federal Act can result in fines ranging from $5,000 to $10,000 and this also applies to an untrained dog’s actions.â€�

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Okay so these bad boys have a story. It’s long so get comfortable.

So I’m upstairs doing my thing, posting on Facebook, writing, cursing Tumblr templates, you know the norm. When I’m like, man I’m kinda hungry and its dark out. Shit. It’s like 10pm. So I turn on the office light and walk my happy self downstairs dreaming of the frozen processed chicken patty that is about to become my happy place when I realize its dark in my kitchen.

That may be normal for most of you but not me.

I live alone, that bad boy is on all the time. I’m like flip, flip, flipflipflipflip!!!

Dammit!

So I turn on the florescent overhead light and wince, the light,, the light. I look over the sink at the normal light that is usually on and I’m feeling betrayed. As I’m looking up I’m like Holy Shit,, that’s kinda high up. I have like 9 foot ceilings. I am like 5�3. Now I’m really grouchy, because I don’t think my short ass is going to be able to even reach this thing without the 40lb aluminum ladder that is conveniently behind my car. Did I mention I was hungry?

I get some crushed ice in my tumbler so that when my tea is done, I’ll be ready to make my iced tea.

As its snowing in my tumbler I get the great idea to make sure I have a lightbulb first. So feeling really proud of myself I go upstairs and sure enough I have a lightbulb. I walk back downstairs and look at this height difference again. Then I figure, I might as well try the step stool, if it doesn’t work I’ve only wasted like 1 minute, but if I could reach I don’t have to wrestle with the ladder.

So I get my step stool out (same trusty step stool that helped me when I was hanging the Christmas lights and fighting my war with the out of season asshole bees� another story)

Score! I can reach……sort of. The step stool basically helped me to stand on the counter, which I’m kinda leary of because it has me straddling my 33� wide double capacity sink.

So I’m pulling on the globe and twisting it, only to discover there is a screw. In the background I hear my cat digging in my candy stash in the dining room. So I’m now in a rush to get this screw undone and get this light bulb in before he gets past a wrapper and into chocolate.

I get the globe off and Son of a Bitch! It isn’t one largish light bulb but two little ones. My bright idea to check to see if I had a light bulb has back fired.

So I unscrew the two little ones and climb down. I go chase Bailey out of the candy and head back upstairs. I dig through my stash and find that I do have two little light bulbs. Yes! My “Just In Case� living pays off now and then.

So I go back downstairs and screw in the new light bulbs and put the globe thing back on. Flip the switch and let there be light! There is the familiar glow that has illuminated my kitchen for the past two years!

I put the step stool back in the garage and put my mug in the microwave to make a cup of tea for my tumbler of iced tea. I get out my frozen chicken patties and when the water is done I pop them into the microwave. As they are cooking and the tea bags are steeping I get my hamburger buns out and begin to add my condiments.

Chicken Sandwich is always= Miracle Whip + Ketchup + Ovals (dill pickles)

I’m almost out of Miracle Whip, I check the date, Aug 13. Damn it. I trudge back to the garage and get a new Miracle Whip. Open up the new Miracle whip and coat my hamburger bun. Its not good unless its messy right?

I open up my Ovals and start digging into the jar, I am of course too lazy to dirty a fork and since its the last of the pickles I just use my fingers. Then my hand sort of gets stuck. Microwave goes off BEEP BEEP BEEP Patties are done.

I’m kinda laughing at myself and working my hand lose, because my fingers are starting to hurt because the pickle juice is freaking cold.

I get my hand out of the jar. BEEP BEEP BEEP. Patties are done.

I rinse off my hand and pour the pickle juice down the drain before throwing the jar away. Now time for ketchup. Squirt! Its the most pathetic squirt in the history of ketchup. Mother Hummer!!!!

Back to the garage I go and get a spare ketchup. BEEP BEEP BEEP, patties are done.

I grrrr at the microwave as I’m using my teeth to get that little seal off from under the cap. I finally am able to get my ketchup! I put the ketchup away.

Buns are ready for chicken.

I look over and my tea looks as dark as coffee. Shit! I forgot it was steeping. So I hurry over and get the sugar down. Not paying attention I pour one tablespoon of sugar over the floating tea bag. Dammit!

BEEP BEEP BEEP. You know what? FUCK YOU MICROWAVE I KNOW THE GOD DAMN PATTIES ARE DONE!!!!

In my rush to get to the tea bags I drop my half filled sugar spoon on the rug. I ignore it and begin to press the tea bag against the side of the mug. I finally lift the tea bags out and throw them away. I pick up the rug and dump the sugar into the sink. I add the sugar to my mug and stir until it dissolves and pour it over my crushed ice.

BEEP BEEP BEEP **sob sob sob**

I finally get over to the microwave pull out my chicken patties and put them on the bun.

Phew

All I wanted was a damn sandwich!

What it like to be me�

It’s so funny, when you start writing,Ìý it’s mostly to entertain yourself. You have to get these crazy characters and their stories out of your head, they become your escape. At first you try to tell people about scenes in your head, but after the third of fourth person edges away from you, you realize maybe the things you think isn’t exactly normal. So you make the decision to take a huge chance and share these stories with someone else. You want more than anything, yet fear above all else the feedback from another human being. You feel completely naked and exposed. You’re not just sharing a story you wrote, but putting your very soul on display. Others will be able to walk the sacred corridors of your mind and they are able to see, and judge what goes on in your head. If you’re extremely lucky someone who decides if you can be shared with the world or not says yes and you become published. But then a whole new set of anxieties begin.

You look at your baby, the object of hours of love and painstaking crafted perfection and you hate it. What were you thinking? You second guess every inflected tone, word choice, scene, character and the meaning of life. You fall into a bottomless self hate spiral until someone snaps you back to reality. After hours and days of editing you hesitantly submit it back to your editors and then immediately open up the word document you just sent them and begin to find more errors. Unable to look at the screen without feeling like a complete failure you decide that its time for booze and coffee, or coffee and chocolate, or chocolate and booze, or �..screw it you make a Godiva and Kahlua infused alcoholic nectar like beverage and try to drown your feelings of doubt and self loathing.

Weeks later you go through one more round of edits and submit the Final product back to the editors. If you’re a complete Masochist you open up your word document again and start re-reading.

Next up is release day. You lose your shit.

You don’t get any sleep because you just know people are going to hate it. You agonize over your choices for the title,, that slight twist you put in Chapter 3,,, that Doctor Who reference.

By 8am you gave already given up on coffee and are receiving Sugar Free Red Bull intravenously. Your eyes are gritty, vision blurred, but you can mumble “No I’m okay.� You refuse to eat because why give your stomach ammo?

Then a tiny speck of light appears like a beacon of hope in the tumultuous abyss you have sunk yourself.

An email pops into your mailbox- “A review has been posted to MER� You take a deep breath and read. You take another deep breath and smile. They liked it. But, that’s just one person. Surely the majority of people are going to hate it and demand that Facebook remove you so that they don’t have to look at your profile anymore, because how dare you think you’re a writer missy!

Then you get another glowing review, and another and another!

They all not only like it, they freaking love it! You don’t get to appreciate this heavenly feeling because you haven’t slept yet, so you crash with a smile on your face and your brain begins to tease you with ideas for the next fifty books.

This in an extremely condensed and abbreviated version of what I go through every time a book is released. Its hard to truly capture the hours and hours and hours of agony one experiences in bringing a book to life. And every author is different. The cycle described above was my life from August of last year through Jan 1st of this year as I released five books in my Kindred of Arkadia series. I pushed myself to the limits to get my Christmas book done on time. For those who have read the series, you know what a pivotal book that turned out to be. It also showed me exactly what I was capable of and how much the support of my readers could do.

Their excitement for the next book carried me forward on days where I couldn’t keep my main character’s name straight in my head since I was, at any one point working on two sets of edits and writing a whole new book. I can’t tell you the number of times I typed Ashby when it was Sebastian, or Sebastian when it should have been Felix!

Now it’s February and I’m in a blissful daze. I woke up this morning and of course checked my Facebook. I was stunned to discover that I had won in four of the five categories I had been nominated for in the 2014 Erotic Menage Romance Fan’s Award. The site hosting the awards is run by It’s a wonderful blog ran by a woman dedicated to reading and the authors that she reads. It has become a very respected source for reviews and to find new books. So you can imagine that I was simply grateful just to been amongst those who had been nominated. There were so many amazing writers nominated that just being listed with them was exciting.

I received awards for Best Shifters, Best Straight Characters, Best Gay/Lesbian Characters and Best in Paranormal.

It’s awards like this that makes the anxiety, depression, despair, worry, and gut wrenching fear associated with every book written and released, well worth it. Not just because it’s an award, but to me it’s a visible badge of how much my readers care, and that means more to me than anything.

Good news and bad news. Bad news is that #FatedRedemption won’t be out as soon as I thought. Ìý Good news is that it will be longer than expected. I also sat down and expanded on my Timeline for upcoming books. So more good news, here is what we have to look forward to.

I hope to get most of these done this year in addition to the MainStream Urban Paranormal Fantasy I am working on. If for some strange reason I finish all of this this year (HUGE IF), then I will start on the Zodiac Matchmaker series this year as well.

My tax return may just go to Starbucks this year!

Kindred of Arkadia- Book 8- M/M

Neighbors of Arkadia- Book 1- M/F

Kindred of Arkadia- Book 9- M/M

Sentinels of Arkadia- Book 1- M/F

Kindred of Arkadia- Book 10- M/F

Kindred of Arkadia- Book 11- M/M

Kitten Tales- Book 1- M/M

Kindred of Arkadia- Book 12 M/F/M

Cousins of Arkadia- Book 1- M/F

Kindred of Arkadia- Book 13- M/F

Kindred of Arkadia- Book 14- M/M

Neighbors of Arkadia- Book 2- M/F/M

Kindred of Arkadia- Book 15- M/F

Sentinels of Arkadia- Book 2- M/F

Kindred of Arkadia- Book 16- M/M/M

Kindred of Arkadia- Book 17- M/F

Kindred of Arkadia- Book 18- M/M/M

Kitten Tales- Book 2- M/M

Kindred of Arkadia- Book 19- M/M

Cousins of Arkadia- Book 2- M/F

Kindred of Arkadia- Book 20- M/F

When I started down this crazy path about this time last year I didn’t even know what questions to ask about publishing. A very dear friend was kind enough (**coughHeatherRainercough**) to recommend a blog to me that to a beginning writer was a gold mine of information.

If you are interested in writing I highly recommend Kristen Lamb’s Blog at Warrior Writers.

You be sorry!

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I have met so many amazing people since my first book was published. Tammy from Evil Tammy’s Brazen Book Banter is one of them. She was not at all shy in letting me know exactly how much she enjoyed my books. Little did she know how much impact those words had on a brand new writer.

She now has her own blog and let me tell you she is doing fabulous things over there. She knows what she likes to read and supports the authors that she follows.

If you want an honest opinion Tammy’s blog is exactly what you need. Please visit her blog and let her know what a terrific job she is doing.

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ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 2013 was an amazing year for me. I became a published author, a lifelong dream. I have met so many amazing people who have supported me this year that at times it was overwhelming. With almost every release on BookStrand my readers astounded me with their support, putting me in the Top 3 of whatever category the book was released in. They have also placed me as BookStrand’s 2nd most reviewed author (rolling 3 months). Most days I don’t think it has sunk in, exactly what I have accomplished this year. I know that I was shocked, yes shocked to find out that I had been nominated for two Reader’s Choice Awards on the Grave Tells Reviews website. Though I didn’t win, I was honored to be competing against amazing writers like J.R.Ward, Linsay Sands, Lara Adrian, and Gerry Bartlett. It just goes to show that anything is possible. If you would have told me 7 months ago when my first book was published that I would be competing against Linsay Sands for Most Sensual Vampire and J.R.Ward for Hottest Same Sex Couple, I wouldn’t have believed you in a thousand years.

ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý I was also nominated in 12 of the 15 categories presented by the Inner Goddess Forum. Best Hook, ÌýBest Cover, ÌýBest Menage, ÌýBest Romance, ÌýHottest Romance Scene, ÌýMost Romantic Scene, ÌýBest LGBT, ÌýBest Heroine, ÌýBest Bad Boy, ÌýBest Paranormal, ÌýBest Bad Girl andÌý Best Alpha. I still can’t believe my name is showing up nominated next to such amazing authors.

ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý I’ve learned a lot about myself and writing, on what I want to write and what I want my writing to say about me. I have 6 new series planned within the Arkadian Universe and a brand new Mainstream series planned for release in early of 2014. It is my hope that when I sit down this time next year to reflect on 2014, I will be just as amazed as I am now.