It’s a small world…

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I cannot believe this happened. It’s too funny! In an effort to perfect my daughters Halloween costume (yes, I plan ahead, and?) I have been searching for the perfect rapunzel crown. Disney, who is generally great at marketing, just hasnt released one that looks remotely like the one from the movie. It’s not a huge deal, but if I’m shelling out money for a toy crown, I’d rather it look like the right one.

I found this picture on google images. Finally! The right crown, but i couldn’t find a place to order it online. So Isent it to some friends who live near Disney stores. One of these friends live in California, and visited her Disney store this weekend. When she showed the picture to the guy behind the register he burst out laughing.

“What?” She asked.
“That’s my picture. That’s my hand and that door.”

Turns out, this random guy in a California Disney store took a picture in 2010 at the disney store, posted it somewhere online and never thought of it again.

In 2012 I found it attached to a wiki about tangled. Not from this guy. The photograph traveled across space and time and eventually landed right back where it came from.

Crazy small world.

Unfortunately, this crown is no longer made by Disney. So all that small world was and the search was moot.

Oh well.

Six degrees of lost

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The Book:
Olive’s mother is headed to jail and her brother to join the Army, so thirteen-year-old Olive is uprooted from sunny California and dumped in Washington State like a stray. That’s exactly what she feels like surrounded by her aunt’s collection of homeless dogs, cats, and horses.

Fourteen-year-old David’s future is already carved in stone. From a military family with two brothers serving overseas, he’s been pointed towards the Air Force Academy his entire life – but a rafting trip gone awry might ruin his chances.

When a runaway dog is almost hit by a car, the search for its owner leads Olive and David, two kids from entirely different backgrounds, to an unlikely bond. Will their growing attraction to each other be enough to keep Olive from a foolhardy journey to find her mother? Will David risk his family’s plans to save her?

My Thoughts: Six Degrees of Lost by Linda Benson put me through the wringer emotionally speaking. The characters were compelling and the story line had me sniffling more than a few times. It’s a great book for animal lovers and has a very cute story time. It’s a bit younger than the young adult I’m accustomed too, but it was still a fantastic read.

Want to try it? http://www.amazon.com/Six-Degrees-of-Lost-ebook/dp/B0087XI14E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1343603627&sr=8-1&keywords=Six+degrees+of+lost

Fortune Cookies

My husband got an awesome fortune cookie today. It said “you will perform very well on a test, which will lead to a more positive outlook and financial relief. My husband is in the middle of a series of tests which could lead to paychecks, so this was a surprisingly relevant and very welcome fortune cookie.

Bella’s fortune said she had a secret admirer. She probably does. My toddler is a shameless flirt.

My fortune, “Discontentment and anger breeds change in a nation.” fantastic, so we’re going to war soon? I’ve got a bad history with fortune cookies. That got me thinking about a place I used to eat at when I lived in Columbus. I don’t remember the name of the actual restaurant. But it should have been called the creepy fortune place.

My first fortune there was blank. Cause that’s not ominous. My second one was a bit more direct.

“live today, because you won’t tomorrow.”

Yeah, I was eager to leave my home the next day. Let me tell you.

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

Okay, maybe a bit less ominous on the heels of the other two, but still!

And the last one before I got the hint and started frequenting restaurants with happier fortunes, “Enjoy your life while it lasts.”

Anyone else got a great/creepy fortune to share?

Blog Tag

Michael over at My Glass House has tagged me in a game of Blog Tag. Thanks Michael for thinking of me!

I’m required to post the rules which are to answer the questions sent to me by Michael, come up with new questions (or keep using the old ones), and as is always the case with these things, tag eleven more bloggers.

1. Who is my favorite author? There are so many to choose from, it just depends on what I’m in the mood for! Most of the time it’s Kelley Armstrong. Her work reminds me of grown up versions of L.J Smith’s nightworld (the old books, I don’t know what happened with the new stuff). Great plots, interesting concepts, and I love the characters.

2. If I could live in another time period, what period would that be? I don’t want to live in another time period. I’d go back in time and visit, make some bank deposits and such, but I wouldn’t want to stay. I like my life here just fine. That, and indoor plumbing.

3. I’ve been published and just landed a movie deal. Which actors would I cast in the two main roles? I’d want Skyler Samuels from The Nine Lives of Chloe King to play Persephone, and David Giuntoli from Grimm to play Hades. I’d also take the girl from Kick Ass (Chloe Grace Moretz) as Persephone.

4. What is my most treasured possession (not people or animals)? My ipad. Yeah, shallow. I don’t have any major family heirlooms, but my ipad has everything on it, my books, my music, my pictures. Honestly, I don’t know how I functioned before it.

5. If I could live anywhere in the world and money where no object, where would I live? On a beach somewhere. I want lots of space, but I also want a grocery store and fun activities to be less than a fifteen minute drive away.

6. When I was a kid, what did I want to be when I grew up? Did I achieve it? I wanted to be a writer. So, yeah. I guess I did.

7. What’s my perfect day? A day with no plans and lots of cuddles with my toddler. I’m really really happy just hanging out at home with my family. When that gets boring, a perfect day involves having enough in the bank account to drive somewhere without worrying about gas, and to eat out, go to a movie, or go do something fun. It doesn’t matter what as long as I’m with them.

8. I get a HUGE advance for my first novel–$250,000. What’s the first thing I’d do with the money? I’d pay off my house, car, and student loans for myself and my husband. I’d probably also buy an electric car. I’m getting really sick of gas prices. What’s left over would go into savings for Bella’s college fund and retirement and all that good stuff.

9. How many times a day do you check your e-mail? I’m sort of always checking my email. It all gets sent to my phone, which I look at every few minutes…

10. What was my nickname in school and how did I get it? Kat and Kitty. Kat was just what I went by, and Kitty just kind of evolved from Kat. I’m short, and I was much cuter as a teenager. It fit.

I’m tagging: Dusty Crabtree, Sharon Ledwith, Amy Severson, Cornell Deville, Arley Cole, Stephanie Campbell, Liz DeJesus, Jack Hillman, L.K Mitchell, Sage Collins, and Cordelia Dinsmore.

Thanks for tagging me, Michael!

Shadow Eyes by Dusty Crabtree

Shadow Eyes reminded me of books like this present darkness and piercing the darkness. There’s angels and demons and they are intimately involved in the day to day struggles of human morals. Everyone struggles with right and wrong, but Iris Kohl understands that struggle more than most. When characters in her world consider making unwise decisions she sees shadows appear around them. Sometimes she sees light figures giving guidance and driving the shadows away. When a new teacher and two mysterious new students transfer to Iris’s school her life gets complex. This novel kept me engaged and curious right to the end. I worried for Iris and her loved ones and wondered about Iris’s mysterious past. I’m interested to see what the rest of the books in this series will be like.

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Blog Tour

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So today begins the Persephone blog tour. Click the link above to view all the stops.

Here’s the stops that have already happened, be sure to drop in and comment if you want to win a free copy of the book.

The very first post was with a Musa author named Sharon. Sharon is an amazing author and just seems to have endless energy. Seriously, she writes, she runs her blog, and she’s ALWAYS posting great resources for the rest of us. You can read my guest blog here

My book was also of course featured on my publishers blog here.

The users over at Truu confessions were given an extended excerpt and had a chance to win a copy of Persephone here.

The first chapter of Persephone is available here along with another chance to win!

There’s a blog about MY favorite character here

And a blog from another fantastic Musa author, Dusty Crabtree here. She even made me a book trailer! I’m so excited!

And last one for the day is on Kayla’s blog here about how I became a writer.

Most days won’t be quite so busy, but expect a new blog a day for the next two weeks. There are personal interviews, guest posts, reviews, excerpts, and character interviews. Enjoy!

The winner is in

So I took all of the comments from Facebook, twitter, and the blog and put them in a random number generator, and the winner is….Amber! Amber please send me an email or a fb message with your email address and ebook reader file type, and I’ll send you a copy of Persephone. Congrats!

It’s live!

Check it out, my book is now live on amazon.com!

It’ll hit the rest of the ebook stores soon. They all have longer waiting periods. Want to win a copy? Post a comment on my blog, facebook page, or twitter page sometime today or tomorrow and you’ll be entered to win.

Release Party! Win a copy of Persephone!

I’m having a release party! Since Persephone is an ebook, having an erelease party made sense to me. To “attend” just share this blog and post a comment on my blog, facebook, or twitter Friday at 5 pm, through Saturday at 5.

You can post questions or comments. I’ll reply, and one lucky commenter will win a copy of Persephone in whichever format they prefer. At 5:30 I’ll be bringing snacks to my writers group for an in person celebration, and they’ll help me choose a random winner.

Spread the word!

One week to go!

I can’t believe my release date is a week away! For so long I’ve been playing hurry up and wait, and now it seems like there’s no shortage of stuff to do.

I’m doing a blog tour (the details will be posted soon) the week after my release, so I had to make sure all the bloggers had an arc, and make sure to have all my blog posts written. Writing about myself is painfully hard. Clearly. I have three blogs, and I write about just about anything but me. I don’t know why that is, but I’m glad to be done with the blogs for the blog tour,

So keep a look out, I may even have a release party with a book giveaway. 🙂