Character Monday

This week I'd thought I'd discuss some of my favorite characters on tv. There has been a slew of new programs this fall and I'm loving it. In fact there are so many new programs I am interested in, my DVR can't keep up. Though this list isn't restricted to the new shows, some of the characters might come from them.

Winter is on it's way, or so my thermostat says

So winter is definitely coming. They're saying this year will be a hard one, too. Winter's always been hard on me, because I'm very conflicted about the season. I love snow and Christmas, but I don't like cold. As I said, conflicted. I spend a lot of time wishing for a big storm, the kind that shuts down the city. I don't wish that too loud because people tend to get mad at me for it. I also love ice storms, the whole state is all shiny and filled with wonder. I know it's hard on the trees and dangerous for people, so the wonder is a little sullied, but it doesn't seem to diminish it much.

Natural Selection Book Tour Giveaway

Welcome to my blog. Whether you followed me here from the book tour or are a regular reader, you're going to be glad you checked me out, This blog is your ticket to win. At the end of my tour, on November 12, I will be drawing one random winner for the grand prize pack.

Fantasy Friday

It's really sad that the focus of my writing, urban fantasy, is the most neglected of my new scheduled posts, so I will remedy that. Though it is Saturday, I intend to do a Fantasy Friday post today. And for that guest post I would like to discuss a topic a lot of people have mentioned about my writing. Today I'd like to talk about my supernatural creatures.

I do not like reading the same old books. I want new, original and creative. I don't want someone to chew Twilight, Vampire Diaries, and Interview with a Vampire and spit out some regurgitated version of a vampire book. I'm not asking an author to reinvent the wheel, but don't go cliche, and don't give me the same books I'm sick of. A little creativity never hurt anyone. And I'm not saying I won't read vampires, because that's not the case either. I just like to read something new.

Blog Tour

Come along as I hit the virtual road. Promotional Book Tours has put together a great book tour for Natural Selection. Everyday I will post the day's stop so you can all join in for the contests, reviews, guest posts and interviews.

Today's stop is For the Love of Books. Check it out for a review and a chance to win. :D

Writer Wednesday

Every writer has gone through it at some point. Call it writer's block, a missing muse, a lack of inspiration. Whatever you want to call it, it's never a pleasant feeling to stare at the blinking cursor, your mind as empty as the page your blank gaze looks through. It's not that you don't have an idea, you just can't seem to find that connection. It happens to us all. Even the greats. But fear not, my scribbling friends, there is hope on the horizon. Today I am chock full of tricks to get that inspiration back.

Character Monday

Sariah here, and welcome to Character Monday. I have hijacked this blog since it is seriously lacking in style, so I thought I'd spruce the joint up a little. If there's one thing I know, it's what looks good, but sharing my sense of fashion with others is a little more challenging. I know people believe I roll out of bed looking perfect, and while the cards are stacked in my favor on that front, it's not entirely true. I start my morning with a long steamy shower with exfoliating wash to slough off dead skin cells and give me the radiant glow I am known for. Then after the proper application of lotion and perfume, I blow dry and style my hair to perfection. This usually involves a blow dryer, a curling iron, lots of hair spray and a good comb. Finally I apply my makeup, a smoky eye usually, since it suits the cat shape of my eyes. Finally I choose my clothes. I'm currently into a layered look, lacy cami, well cut shirt and tailored jacket.

Writer Wednesday

So today for Writer's Wednesday, I thought I'd let you in on what in my opinion is the most important tool in a writer's arsenal, your support system. It great to have family and friends rooting you on, but that's not necessarily what I'm talking about here. I'm talking about other writers you can turn to for advice and help, critique partners and beta readers.

A writer's mind is a very unique place. The average person goes through their day cataloging events that seem important for later recall. A writer on the other hand, is constantly cataloging every minute detail that would make for interesting characters. Every twitch, fidget and overly loud phrase becomes fodder for use to feed into the giant maw in our heads that chews up our day and spits out compelling fiction--or at least we think it is. The ordinary people in our life just don't get that while our conversation about the person they sat next to on the bus is very interesting, our minds are recording every detail of the strange man pacing while yelling into his cell phone, creating his back story and possibly even a little bit of plot for him. It's not our faults, it's just so hard to turn off. And everywhere we go there is a story.

Character Monday

Please forgive the late post, in the hustle and bustle of getting ready to leave home I forgot to schedule my blogs. Today I am pleased to welcome Amelia Hoffman with this weeks Character Monday post.

I am honored to be invited to share with you all this lovely September day. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Amelia Hoffman. I'm just about to turn 16 (later this week) and I live in Jacksonville, FL. At least for now. It's been a little crazty for me the last year,  but things finally seem to be calming down now. 

When I first was invited to share a post I had no idea what I should talk about, but I finally found a topic i could discuss. Sotoday I'm here to talk to you about some of the organic things I use, since my body can't handle anything man made. 

Do you have any idea how impossible it is to cut all chemicals out of you life? The hardest one for me has been water, but after many mishaps I discovered the answer to this one is actually very simple. I use regular tap water and boil in a special bottle that passes the vapors through a tube and cools them until they condense back into water again. All the impurities and chemicals that were added are left in that white film on the sides of the now empty bottle. It looks somewhat like a mad scientist's experiment or maybe a moonshiner's still. It's a little easier for me since I have some connestion and get regular shipments from a Gaia colony in Canada  who get the stuff from glacial springs.

Makeup wasn't easy. I was lucky that my mother was really into makeup and taught me everything she knows. There are a couple brands that use natural products, and thanks to the internet they're available everywhere. My favorite brand is Aveda, though I have to read the ingredients because a few of their products have preservatives. I do a lot of holistic things, like olive and almond oil instead of lotion for my skin. If I wanted to color my hair, there are options for that too, most notably henna (though why would I want to make it redder?). There are options to make me look like any other woman in the world, I just have to work a little harder at it. But if you think about it, the ancient Egyptians had both makeup and dye, so there has to be things out there to use. 

Aside from makeup, food has been a major obstacle. I can't think of a restaurant that I can eat at, because the need to mass produce things doesn't allow for things to grow naturally. My food comes from my garden with a little bit of supplementation from an organic market. But it's hard. Even organic food sometimes still uses some man made substances, and I can taste it if the farmer's field was down wind from a farm that sprayed pesticide. 

I tell you what. Kermit the frog hit the nail on the head. It ain't easy being green.

Thank you for stopping by, And thank you Amelia. Hopefully next week I will have our first guest post for character Monday, but we'll see.

Fantasy Friday

With the premeire of Secret Circle airing last night (I did not watch it, though I wanted to.) I thought the perfect topic for my first Fantasy Friday would be the topis of the changing roles of witches. Today they can be found everywhere, from televison, books and movies to your local Borders (Errr.... Maybe not anymore, but that's where they used to meet here...). My, Boomhilda, how you've changed. So how did we as a society move from mass killing in the name of religion to Samantha and the Halliwell sisters?

Witches have been around for as long as there have been men struggling to understand the world around him. In the bible (Exodus 22:18) it states "Suffer not a witch to live." And the word witch appears in seven other scriptures, all declaring witches as an evil force to be gotten rid of. And witches have played the villain countless times throughout history, both in fiction and real life. Whether the play that must not be named (*cough*Macbeth*cough*), the witch-goddess that turned Odysseus's men into pigs, or a green faced hag after her pretty, witches were believed to have struck a pact with the Devil in return for unholy powers.

So how did we make the move from die, witch die to which witch to watch? In the middle ages some "white witches" or "wise men or women" (You, one belief on the Biblical travelers is that they practiced white magic), so there have always been good witches. But the shift didn't really start in force until the 19th and 20th century, with the rise of neo-paganism, or Wicca. 

A change in thinking, a fall off in rabid religious views and a young country where people were free to practice whatever religion they chose brought the witch out of the shadows and began to paint her as the misunderstood hero. We still get evil witches, but now there's just as many if not more good witches. It has been a long and terrifying journey, but the witch is back and i don't think she's going anywhere anytime soon...

Edit:  Sorry, stupid Blogger didn't actually post this this morning...