After a Long Hiatus...

I'm officially back to blogging. It's been forever, so I can't say it just "feels" like forever. I've launched my second book and started the final preparations on the third. I'm working on another entire series and getting ready to start a new career. There are a lot of things going on for me right now, but I missed blogging.

I can't say that I'll be posting something new everyday, because I don't know if I'll have the time to do that once my new job begins. But I will do my best to post something every other day or every few days. It's the least I can do for the readers who have stuck with me and who are still coming back after my long break.

At the moment, I've just finished putting up three reviews on Ley's Library, and I'm working on finishing the next book. I'm so behind in all my writing and blogging that it isn't funny. I missed it all, and I'm so glad that I can be back with it.

For the time being, I'm going to focus just on writing and getting things caught up. That's my first priority right now.

And getting ready for everything that I have to do in the next few weeks. It's going to be something that takes a long time, and it's going to be a bumpy ride.

But a fun one.

Back to Blogging

I know it's been a while since I've blogged here, and it's mostly because of some personal and business issues that I've been dealing with. Of course I launched my second book in July, and I've just accepted a new position. So I'm trying to get things put together so that I can start blogging again.

I'll be picking back up on posting in the next few days and will be adding new content to the website. Thanks for sticking with me, and I hope to see you around!

Short Blogging Hiatus

I'm taking a short hiatus from daily blogging as I get ready for the next blog tour and deal with some personal issues.

I'll be back in a few days.

Things I Wish I'd Known as a Teen

As I get older, I think back on the things that I did as a teen and a young adult and wonder what I was thinking. There are so many things that go on in the life of a young adult now that it's nearly impossible to figure out what's supposed to happen. And people will give opinions about how you're supposed to behave and what you believe, but in the end it's all about you. It's all about what you are and who you are and how you want to live your life.

I've been thinking for the past few days, as I think about my sister graduating from university and the years that have passed since my own graduation, and it's occurred to me that there are a lot of things I wish I could go back and tell the younger me. Things that would have changed the way I lived my life and where I am right now. It sounds cliche and more than a little stupid, but I know that there are choices that I would have made differently if I'd known what I know now.

So here are some of the things that I would tell a younger me:

Follow your instincts. I started out university as an education major, but switched to science because I was talked out of teaching and into a "better paying" job market. But I knew deep inside that I wanted to be a teacher, and now I'm five years out of graduation trying to figure out how to get into the teaching game. I should have followed my first instinct and not let anyone talk me out of what I wanted because of their own bad experience with it.

Learn to take care of yourself. This is something I still have trouble with, but I'm getting better. But as a young adult, it was all about the grades and the community service and the job. I never got a chance to really sit down and take care of myself like I should have. I didn't go through my own emotions and figure out what they were and what they meant to me. And now I'm living with the consequences of keeping everything bottled up for so long.

Make your own conclusions. I think of myself as a smart girl. I think that I have the capability to take on the information that is coming my way and figure out what to do with that. But I spent a large portion of my life being "brainwashed" into believing that something was right and something was wrong based on someone else's opinions. Now I have to come to terms with the fact that what I was told might not have been right.

Figure out who you are. And do it on purpose. Dolly Parton was right. You have to figure out who you are, what you want, and what you believe. And then you have to act on it, take it out into the world and do what you have to do to make sure that you are being true to yourself. I never knew that as a young adult, and I wish I did.

Creativity Cravings

I wonder if I'm the only one who starts craving really strange things when I start working on something new. It's always something that's crazy and strange, but I still crave it when I get started writing. And lately it's been brownies.

And more importantly--my Gran's homemade brownies.

It's always lovely to have something that reminds me of being a kid and a time when I was able to be creative and happy. So the other day, just before I sat down to get some work done, I threw together a batch of my Gran's brownies and put them in the oven. Then I sat down at the makeshift writing desk in the living room and waited, spending the time looking over the last few pages that I wrote in order to make sure that everything was okay and ready to work.

When they were done, you wouldn't believe how much work I actually got done. I grabbed a piece and sat it by my computer and got to work. I tore through those chapters while I was snacking on the brownies. Not the healthiest of snack foods, but still.

I suppose it makes me feel at home and comfortable when I have something like that--my creative comfort food. And I let my creativity flow so much easier when I have something that allows me to relax. I just wish I could have that in my life forever.

Hmm, maybe I need to look into life comfort food.

The Best Thing About my Job

When people ask me what I do for a living, it's strange to put a label on it. Mostly because I do so many different things. I'm not sure whether I should say that I'm a teacher, because I don't really "teach" in the traditional sense. And saying that I'm a tutor seems to fall so far short of what I actually do with my students that it seems inadequate.

Whatever I call what I do to make money, I know that it's what I was meant to do--aside from writing that is. Working with students is something that has been a desire of mine for so long that I don't know what else I would be able to do. I've worked retail and I've worked customer service, but nothing is as satisfying as working with students and seeing the ways the students light up when they begin to understand something.

Perhaps that's the best part of my job. I love teaching material to students, but I love it even more when they come up with the answers on their own. That is the most fulfilling part of my job. When I see a student who came into our appointment so frustrated and ready to give up make a one-eighty and become confident with what they're learning, it absolutely makes my day. It's why I do what I do.

It's almost the same as the feeling I get when I make it to the end of a run, when I've gone just a little further than I did the day before. It's exhilirating to see students take control of their learning. It's an amazing feeling.

And that's why I do what I do.

Shows I'm Catching Up On

I feel like I spend so much of my time worrying about reading and writing that I forget about the shows that I want to watch. Or the rest of the world that's moving along outside of me. So I feel like I've missed out on a good number of shows as I've spent the last few weeks and years working on material for my books and blog tours.

But I am trying to catch up on some of the shows that I've either missed or let fall by the wayside as I spent most of my time doing other things. Especially this week as I finish prepping posts for my second blog tour I'm having a bit of a hard time keeping up with the shows.

I suppose the shows can be described as shows that I'm getting into and shows that I'm catching up on. I'm finally getting into Game of Thrones and I actually have the books on my list to read as the show is pretty interesting. I absolutely love fantasy and pseudomedieval worlds. I think my favorite character on the show is the Khaleesi Daenarys Targaryen. She's the best character on the whole show, but there are so many great stories that it isn't funny. I'm definitely sad that I've missed out on this one for so long.

The shows I'm catching up on are True Blood, The Walking Dead, and Supernatural. I've fallen so behind on those because of all the work I've been doing. I'm looking forward to catching up--even though for some shows I'm several seasons behind rather than just a few episodes. I'm about 3 seasons behind on Supernatural while I'm just a few episodes behind on the others. I'll probably start at the beginning of the previous season and try to catch up before everything starts over again.

I miss being able to sit down and watch television to enjoy it. It's something that always made me feel relaxed. And now that I'm working so much in writing and getting other things done, it's hard to keep track of when the shows are on and how far behind I actually am.