Danielle. Wife. Author. Mother.

It's All Coming Together!

2015-05-04T09:50:00.000-06:00

So yes, it's been ages since there was a blog post, but that's for many reasons. One, this blog will soon be moving and I'm busy designing and working and figuring out GoDaddy and Wordpress. It's coming soon! See the countdown here: www.dmpederson.com Two, there is so much more work to get my book out in print than I expected! There's the ISBN, barcode, legal deposit, CIP and a ton more stuff. Plus I am very very busy getting auditions set up for the book trailer. (See the audition ad here) Three, getting all the social stuff done and put together! Doesn't the header above look amazing? Super big thanks to Deranged Doctor Design for all their amazing work. Should be tackling more reviews and fun videos and blog stuff soon! Stick around and I'll make sure to let all of you, my amazing readers, know the second Lasera is available for pre-order :D

Cheers!

My Book Is Going to be Published! -- With Kickstarter's Help

2014-09-05T11:10:00.004-06:00

I am ecstatic to announce that my book will be published! This is the big reason why I haven't been blogging, that I alluded to in my previous post. I am publishing it myself in February 2015. I've been putting in so many hours researching editors and cover designers and the best way to publish that blogging had to be pushed back. But no more! Why? I've launched a Kickstarter for the book! After more than 60 hours of work on a video (not to mention days and days worth of prep) the project is now live on Kickstarter! See Lasera - Book 1: The Mer Archives.

Kickstarter is an all or nothing funding campaign which means I desperately need your help! If I don't reach my goal in the next 29 days, I won't get any of the funds raised. So go and click the big green button on the above page and pledge now to get some great rewards. So far the campaign has been amazing :D The project was chosen as a Kickstarter Staff Pick barely an hour after launch and it has already been shared on facebook more than 90 times. Keep checking back here as I update and share all that is going on.

This kickstarter is not only a great way to pre-order the book now and get some awesome extras too, but it also helps get the book into print. I love the creative journey and can't wait to go through this whole adventure with all of you! Please share, tweet or just chat up the book anywhere you are. The water-cooler, the dog-park, the play group, the library, or even the end of rainbow. This is a -clean- young adult urban fantasy that I can't wait to share with the world and now it's finally on it's way to being done.

Thank you so much for all your support!

COUNTDOWN: 29 DAYS LEFT TO GET LASERA INTO PRINT

Cheers!

Lack of Posts = A Great Surprise!

2014-08-22T18:47:00.000-06:00

I'm loving that I'm still getting amazing book review requests and I've already delved into so many of them (despite my very conspicuous lack of posts). Here's the thing. There's a reason why there hasn't been a lot of things from me or reviews in the last while. I'll be sharing some specific details in a post on Monday, but not the main one.

Some HUGE is coming! And it's the main reason. (If you didn't guess) I can't wait to tell all you lovely readers about it. Keep your eyes glued here and check back, I'm so excited for this you have no idea. I'm staying up way too late all the time working on it and am very zombie like with my kids and hubby the next day. :P The surprise is coming! :D

Cheers!

Keeping the High from a Writer's Conference

2014-05-23T16:08:00.000-06:00

I had the most amazing opportunity to go to the SAOW Word on the Lake Festival this past weekend. It inspired me, taught me, relaxed me and allowed me to find so many new friends and connections.

I'd told some of the people I met at the conference and my family and friends that I plan on attending a type of writer's conference or festival every six months. It both mentally gives me a break from the day to day work of creating and writing, and allows for invaluable networking and connecting, plus I LOVE talking with other writers.

But how to keep the high from that conference? It's a week later and I still feel like I'm going strong. How have I done this now as opposed to any other time I've attended writer's workshops or conferences? Well I started by setting realistic goals for myself and writing them down. Specifically right onto my desk calendar so I can see my deadlines and goals in front of me everyday. Plus I've set aside a big chunk of time to write every week. Many good authors tell you to write every day. I'd say the same, and I try to do so, but as a mom of two very active little kids it sometimes just isn't possible (my daughter got 8 teeth in 3 weeks last month - see teeth, teeth, teeth ) and therefore I PLAN to write for more than 3 hours at least once a week. I also made an agreement with a friend of mine at this conference and actually made a hand shake "pact" out of it. Therefore, I now have to hold myself accountable to her.

In an easy to read list - 3 Ways to Keep the Writer's High

1. Set realistic goals. Write them down. On a Calendar.

2. Set TIME to write weekly. This needs to be a big chunk. 3 hours plus.

3. Get a friend to hold you accountable. Choose one specific deadline and make sure you stay on track and report to your friend.

I learned a lot that I hadn't even considered before at this conference, but I have to keep going and so do all the other writers out there. Unite writers of the world and keep that high as long as possible!
But because of that high I have to get back to writing novel #2 in the Lasera series. :D

Cheers!

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** Reviews for novels submitted start up again next week. Plus those who are fans of my Recipe Recaps and WAM Moments of the Week? Keep coming back. Tons more content and plans are coming for both of those next week. There's also some great new things that'll be dropping into the blog soon :D

I Finally, FINALLY Made My Deadline

2014-03-20T23:01:00.001-06:00

So yesterday I posted something that I'd originally typed and intended to publish in January. Why did it not go up until then? I started working on my novel revising and polishing and once I got in the grove I couldn't stop :D

The sum of not posting for two months? MY NOVEL IS FINISHED AND POLISHED! I've got to send out the final stuff to my beta readers, but I'm sending out queries and ecstatic to have things actually happening. And knowing that this is going to be my year. Whether I get a good publishing deal or not, I now know enough and I'm confident enough that if I don't get any interest from publishers or agents I'll go ahead and publish this novel myself.

And although this blog languished on the back burner essentially, I'm very glad it did. Now come April, after I've sent off my queries, I'm going to refocus back on this blog and make all the adjustments and tweaks I've imagined for it.

Thanks, dear readers, for sticking with me. This blog and everything wifey, authory and mothery will come back online and on schedule soon!

Cheers!

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p.s. There have been some amazing novel review requests that have come in, and I promise I haven't overlooked any of them. I can't wait to read a ton of these so keep them coming! :D

Do I Want to Work Full-time? That's a Nope with a Capital "N"

2014-03-19T15:45:00.003-06:00

Some moms can totally organize the house and kids and work full-time. I'm not one of them.

For the middle two-ish weeks of January (yes this is a post I wrote in Jan. Why is it just going up now? More on that tomorrow) I was pretty much working full-time as a temp in an optometrist's office. I didn't mind the work at all. It's a great office and place to work, the other ladies were welcoming, understanding and fun to work with. Plus I'm certified as an optometric assistant and so I fell into a groove pretty fast. However, my house and kids didn't fair well. My two little ones did okay considering, (a 3 year old boy and at the time 11 month old girl) but when they're used to having me home all day and I was gone for 8+ hours a day, 4 or 5 days a week, it wasn't that easy on any of us.

my mount doom of clean laundry:
as tall as my 3-year-old

The biggest thing that overtook my house was the laundry. I'd wash and dry load after load, (we all had to have clean clothes, especially me for work) but it would just not get folded. This happened with a couple loads, and then three, and four. And yeah this huge pile that overtook my bedroom was about 6 loads worth, (minus whatever clean clothes we took out because we had to wear them.)

Why am I telling you all this? So other working moms out there who feel like they're the only ones who can't do it all, NOT TRUE! A lot of us have trouble staying organized and we need to lift and support each other.

Understand your own personality, and set realistic expectations. Right now my organizational skills are not at the point where I can make a full-time job work. Will I eventually be that organized? Maybe. Should I keep trying to improve and change and work on my organizational skills? Yes. But something else I learned about myself was that I didn't want to be away from my kids that much. Sometimes we don't have a choice financially and have to work full-time. Thankfully I'm in a position where I can stay home with my kids. Some women choose to work full time because they want to. But I think we all need to be aware of our own weaknesses and strengths. Because when it comes right down to it if you're so stressed out you put your pants on backwards and two different coloured socks on in the morning, yeah something's gotta give.

So what do you want? What can you handle?

Me? I'll keep working part-time and try to rein in the chaos that is my house.

Cheers!

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WAM Moment of the Week:

10 min before we were supposed to leave for my son's speech therapy appointment he lost his glasses. (Like brand spanking new two-day-old glasses) and after tearing apart his bed room for almost 15 mins, I still couldn't find them. We went to rush out the door and the babysitter found the glasses tucked in beside his mattress. So we managed to get the glasses, but when we got to the appointment I realized my son's communication aid iPad had been forgotten on the hook by the door. Yeah, it had been one of those types of mornings. :I Facepalm.

Btw if you noticed there's no Recipe Recap in the post today, stay tuned for Friday :)

Peacock Flock Review #26 - If I Stay

2014-01-02T05:30:00.000-07:00

If I Stay

Author: Sunni Overend

Length: ~ 262 pages

Genre: Romance

Heat level: Clean

Stars: 4 Stupendous Purple Stars

Book Summary:

On a day that started like any other,

Mia had everything: a loving family, a gorgeous, admiring boyfriend, and a bright future full of music and full of choices. In an instant, almost all of that is taken from her. Caught between life and death, between a happy past and an unknowable future, Mia spends one critical day contemplating the only decision she has left. It is the most important decision she'll ever make.

Simultaneously tragic and hopeful, this is a romantic, riveting, and ultimately uplifting story about memory, music, living, dying, loving.

Review:

We really liked this. You know it's a really good book when the characters stay with you. The characters felt so real! Much of what we found out about them wasn't from a lot of telling or info dumps but the small little details -- the way they talked and did things, reactions and hobbies-- really rounded out their personalities. The only real drawback and why this wasn't five stars was because of the flashbacks. As much as they were needed and it was the only real way to tell this story, we found it slowed down the forward motion of the main plot line. But as we can't think of another way to tell this wonderful character's choice and decision and this moment in her life, we accept that the author did a good job of it. The only other thing that was both good and bad: the abundance of music was great and specific references lent realism to the novel, however, not being music gurus ourselves we found it hard to feel the tone of certain scenes when we could only imagine what a certain song might have sounded like (because it wasn't a song we were familiar with). All in all an amazing premise and a good story, we wanted to know what happened next to this girl, but the story still ended in the perfect spot. One great read :)

p.s. Just found out there's a sequel to it. Where She Went. We are so reading it too!

That's it from the flock!

A Writer's House

2013-12-27T05:30:00.001-07:00

Although I admit that there are many other voracious readers out there whose houses are overflowing with books just like mine is, I'm sure every writer out there can relate to my current dilemma. Books are overtaking my house. I love it, but it is a bit of an organizational nightmare. In fact, the last time we moved when my brother-in-law was helping and carrying out his fifth box of books, he couldn't believe it "How many books do you have?". "Another one?" he said as I hand him a large bin marked books.
Now I am more than completely glad to have this many books in my house and always will, but I'm running out of room to store them :I :) Which makes me both annoyed (in the organizational part of my brain) and ecstatically happy (in the creative part of my brain).
So here's a little peek into the overflowingness of books in a writer's house. :D

My wonderful writing books smack dab in the centre of my desk,

as I need to refer to them, a lot!

My overflowing bookshelf beside my desk

The bin of books which don't fit on the shelf,

currently underneath my desk

Book I'm reading right now, on the edge of my desk

Another book I'm reading right now,

in the pocket of the rocking chair

Books in my bathroom that I'm chipping away at

More books in my bathroom that I'm trying to chip away at

My cupboard of cookbooks

(which overflows into the bookshelf by my desk)

My Narnia books on display with their fabulous bookends

The books currently on my bedside table

I'm also very proud of how much my children love books!

This is their little bookshelf

Plus the overflow of more of their books

And even more overflow into the drawer of the above bookshelf

Plus a couple of my random books on the same shelf

Yeah, I've got a ton of books, and I want even more. Ideally I'd love to eventually have my own library. But for now I'll just let the wonderful pages upon pages overtake my house :D

Recipe Recap:

Dinner From Last Week: Beef Barley Soup

Went really well (and this was actually made a number of weeks ago, but I'm just catching up now :D). I had to use actual tomatoes because I didn't have any canned tomatoes. But it was quite tasty and warm and hit the spot on a cold day.

Dessert From Last Week: Cranberry Bars

So for these after I started mixing the dry ingredients, I realized that my cake mix package was only half the size of what this recipe called for. I had to half all the other stuff for the crumble. Plus all I had was chocolate cake mix, so it was quite different than the actually recipe and only had half the crumble it was supposed to, but they were so tasty! Loved them with the chocolate. And I might just have to make these again with the full crumble instead of halving it!

Dinner For This Week: Slow Cooker Venison Roast - This sounds good, but the reviews seem pretty divided. I'm going to follow a lot of reviewer recommendations and sub potato for the fresh onion and use garlic powder instead of garlic salt.

Dessert For This Week: Chocolate Shortbread Sandwiches - Even though it's not Valentine's Day, I gotta try these!

WAM Moment of the Week:
- my husband was playing a lego videogame with my son and had moved the remotes of my daughter Kaia's reach. All of a sudden he said he felt something on his back. He looked around and Kaia had climbed up on the couch to get to the remotes! :O So yes my daughter is quite the climber now, but I had to laugh at how surprised my husband was at her determination to get to those really fun remotes :D

Cheers!

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The Saviour of My Soul and a Merry Christmas to All

2013-12-25T05:30:00.000-07:00

On this day many are celebrating a variety of things, I myself am celebrating Christmas with a special focus on my Saviour Jesus Christ.

It doesn't matter to me what you may or may not believe and may or may not celebrate. Personally? Wish me whatever you please, Happy Holidays, good Kwanzaa, Hanuka or Christmas, if it's said with a smile and good intentions then I'll smile right back! :) This is a time for people to come together and spend time sharing and caring.

Although for some, this is a particularly hard season as they may not have family or feel like anyone cares. If you notice one of these people please reach out and give them a smile, invite them over to join in your family celebrations, be inclusive, be kind. It can not only make someone's day but keep them going and in good spirits for a long time. We all need those happy memories to hang on to when the hard times come. If you happen to be someone who's feeling all alone and unloved and you're reading this, please reach out to those around you. So many people care that you may not think do. I care too and hope that you find peace and happiness.

For me this is a season of family and good tidings and giving, but it is also a time for me to Honour my Saviour. I know that Jesus Christ is my Saviour and that He died for me and that He Lives. At this special time of year I hope to show how much I try to follow him, both in how I treat others and in the smile and kindness on my face.

I hope each and every one out there has a very wonderful season, filled with joy, laughter, good company, and snuggling into the warm blankets on a cold morning. (Or trying to stay cool and still enjoy the season if you're in the Southern Hemisphere :D)

Merry Christmas! Laugh and Love and Please Drive Safe!

Cheers!

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Let's Be Honest. I Bit Off WAY More Than I Could Chew.

2013-12-21T10:14:00.000-07:00

So I went to the most amazing Writer's Fair at the beginning of November. I got all motivated and excited about my writing again. Therefore I readjusted my deadline for sending out my manuscript, and I decided to do NaNoWriMo which for those who don't know means you start a new novel at the beginning of the month and try to write 50000 words in that month. Both of these on top of my day to day chores with a house and two kids, plus teaching a women's class at church and being a single mom for three weeks out of the month because my husband was taking a longer shift at his job out of province. Then my health tanked, problems that not the least of which was severe exhaustion (despite 7-10 hours of sleep most nights) and some huge issues with postpartum depression. See How I Deal With PostPartum Depression

How did it all end? I still didn't make my deadline and I only got about 1000 words into the book I started for NaNoWriMo. Now a part of me really thinks of this as a failure but another part of me realizes that I still tried, and that you have to tackle life as it comes. Am I upset that I didn't make my deadlines or meet those goals that I wanted too? Darn right I am. However, I am honest enough with myself to know that my health and exhaustion contributed to this. I actually finally began to feel like myself again (for the first time in months) in the past couple weeks.

As much as I would've loved to do everything I tackled it didn't happen. But at the same time I can still keep working towards those goals, just because I didn't finish them when I wanted to doesn't mean I should just give up on them. I will accomplish my goals, it may just take some extra time.

The end result is that day by day I'm slowly becoming more of the person I want to be. With the aid of good doctors and friends and family my health is getting back to normal. When I take bites of the proverbial sandwich I'm going to take smaller bites for the next little bit, and once I swallow those begin to take bigger and bigger bites. Time marches on, but so do my trials, and hopefully my strength grows as I take them on and work and push past them, because I know I can.

So if you're having a bad day, or week, or month, remember that if you get help and understand yourself and keep working, a good day is on it's way to you.

Cheers!

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p.s. If you are also dealing with depression like I was, please talk to someone and get some help, one of the best and most informative and truthful videos about this that I've ever seen is this one here:
***Make sure to watch the whole movie all the way through

Peacock Flock Review #25 - March

2013-11-15T23:52:00.000-07:00

March

Author: Sunni Overend

Length: ~ 300 pages

Genre: Romance

Heat level: Moderate - for details highlight between parentheses

(Some explicit terms in foreplay, but jumps over the full 'scenes')

Stars: 3 Enjoyable Purple Stars

Book Summary:

A creative wunderkind who once topped the country's most prestigious fashion school, Apple March is now languishing behind a retail counter. When fate shifts and her imaginative passion is reawakened, so too is the threat of a past secret.From the cool heart of Melbourne to Paris and New York, in a vibrant world of Pimms and croquet, crocodile boots and cocoon coats, Apple seeks the thrill of creative freedom and the one man worth sharing it with.A page-turning debut novel written with fun, stylish wit, March is too satisfying to miss.

Review:

We liked this. Most of the characters had distinctive traits and we thought the descriptions of everything fashion and designer were done well. However. That's about all we have for positives. There were a fair few typos and some larger ones where the sentence had to be reread a few times to understand. The main character Apple had little direction and although this did give her character some room to grow it made for a very lagging beginning. Plus Charlie and his whole family were in desperate need of some flaws. Everything about them was too perfect. Too picturesque. And did Apple come from money or not? It wasn't really clear and if she was more middle class why on earth wasn't there more reaction to the obscene amount of opulence experienced by Charlie and his family? Going to a croquet tournament and having a private area with rugs and your own personal waiter serving champagne? Yeah Apple took all the richness too much in stride for me. And the plot was just so-so. Not a lot of unexpected or unpredictable. We wanted more from it. This book hovered dangerously between 3 stars and 2.5 stars, but it was a cute (albeit very transparent) ending, so we put it into the 3 star bracket.

This review would've been 3.5 stars but we had to take .5 star off for language. There were 40+ f bombs. That is way too much swearing. And that's just the f words. We didn't even count other swears. We specifically state in the review policy that we don't like excessive language. Maybe it's different in Australia where much of the book takes place, but anything more than 5 f words and we just do not like it. We'd prefer there to be none at all. This was just time after time. From an authors stand point as well this was too much repetition. Even if it's common in Australia for f bombs to be dropped that often (which we honestly don't know) the characters began to sound all the same. And it begs the question whether or not these characters have any depth to them as they're using the same words and expressions.

So it's a light read with okay characters. But only pick it up if you can handle a lot of language.

That's it from the flock!

Remember

2013-11-11T05:30:00.000-07:00

Peacock Flock Review #24 - Wings

2013-11-07T05:30:00.000-07:00

Wings

Author: Aprilynne Pike

Length: ~ 290 pages

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Heat level: Clean

Stars: 3 Enjoyable Purple Stars

Book Summary:

Laurel was mesmerized, staring at the pale things with wide eyes. They were terrifyingly beautiful—too beautiful for words.

Laurel turned to the mirror again, her eyes on the hovering petals that floated beside her head. They looked almost like wings.

In this extraordinary tale of magic and intrigue, romance and danger, everything you thought you knew about faeries will be changed forever.

Review:

We enjoyed this book and read it really quickly. However we read this for the story and the world, not the characters or the depth. Most of the characters had a serious lack of flaws and there was very little conflict in the story besides a couple outside influences about 3/4 into it and the all too stereotypical choice between two guys. The concept was amazing and we loved all the scenes between Tamani and Laurel plus we liked some of the details about the world building. (Like the hair/eye colour change of the faeries) But the whole faerie world created really could've been fleshed out better. That entire King Arthur aspect should've been left out and substituted for more details about the people and the culture. This book was also quite slow. Not a lot happening. Especially in the beginning. 30 pages in and very little had happened. We wished Tamani had been introduced sooner. And we had a problem with the lack of depth in the characters. Very few if any flaws. And hardly any substantive conflict at all. We wanted more mistakes. More tension. More doing the wrong thing. But that said we did read it in two days and will be reading the next book in the series. Make of that what you will. It was a good read.

That's it from the flock!

When Your Writing Gets a Burst

2013-11-02T19:36:00.000-06:00

So the posts I'd planned on writing this week didn't happen because I was getting ready for the Kamloops Writer's Fair. Worth every single penny and definitely planning on making this an annual
thing for me!
There was an open mike night, blue pencil interviews and I went to two amazing workshops that were exactly what I needed for my writing right this moment. (Editing and ebook publishing)
Even though I'm totally drained I'm happy I went and I'm inspired and gunning for doing a lot more with my writing. If any of you, my readers, live in and around the interior BC area plan on making it to the writer's fair next November! If not I'd encourage any of you other writers out there to find a local group to attend. Nothing beats rubbing shoulders with other writers when you're in a slump. You talk and discuss writing and in conversations about your current WIP (that's Work In Progress for all you non-writerly folks) and what you love to write, all of sudden you can't wait to get back to your computer.

So get back to it! Write and enjoy the writing, find the passion that started you on the writing path to begin with. If you're not a writer, explore and discover your own passion and then set aside time each week to enjoy your passion just for yourself. As for me? I'm going to go polish off a new scene in my Lasera novel and then set about typing more in Book 2 :D

Cheers!

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Tact. The Lost Ability.

2013-10-25T23:43:00.000-06:00

Yup, you read that right. What this world really needs is yes, more kindness. But in the lack thereof please at least have a little tact!

We live in a world where so many harsh and ugly words are constantly exchanged and used in day-to-day conversation, that it is a truly sad state of affairs. Too many times a person states something that is harsh or cruel. Sometimes upon seeing others raised eyebrows and incredulous expressions the abrasive person will back track a little and say, "Well it's the truth", "I call it as I see it" or "I'm not going to apologize for how I feel", or even the dreaded "Oh I was just joking". All of the above phrases are simply excuses for being rude. And even though a person shouldn't be reprimanded and such for feeling a certain way I have never heard anyone state "I'm not going to apologize for how I feel" in a way that is at all kind or tactful. And maybe in some cases the above phrases might actually be said in a good way, but both phraseology and tone are major components of tact.

My thoughts are dwelling on this topic lately because of this article: Letter to My Daughter After Watching The Bachelor. (this blogger totally got down everything I wanted to say and more, so I focused in on having tact) Most of the time I'm only able to watch maybe one or two episodes of bachelor/big brother type reality shows before I can't stand anymore. It is one thing to speak your mind and be an independent person who owns their feelings, it is entirely something else when what you say is meant to inflict injury or pain. Cattiness, revenge, and vulgar vocabularies are all things that count against you. It will be hard to get/keep a job, friends will leave you, relationships will fail and connections with people you know will be superficial if a person is incapable of learning a little tact.

The hardest of these is when a person means well, but continually alienates and offends others because they have not learned the much needed ability of conversing with eloquence and grace. And it truly is a learned skill. You are taught how to be cognizant of someone else's feelings and experiences while talking. You are taught how to listen intently and then respond accordingly, instead of interrupting and bull-dozing in with your own opinions. You are taught how to choose your words and moderate your tone.

Some might say that you spark more discussion and get noticed more if you're abrassive or hype-up controversy and anger. In the case of media and blogging that is certainly true. Headlines that are accusatory or blog posts with harsh words are much more often clicked than those that are more moderate. I recall one blogger specifcally stating that he wasn't going to tone down his comments or posts because those harsher words and phrases equates to more people reading his blog. And you know what? He's right.

But that's not what I want. That's not what I want this blog to be. There will on occasion be a post that leans in a ranterly direction. But that's part of life. We all get upset sometimes. However despite the fact that some issues and people really do make me want to rage against the world, I have made a conscious choice not to. I will post points that I think are relevant, and I will debate things, sometimes even controversial things, but I will always try to have some tact and to make actual points. Hence my lack of excessive use of ALL CAPS (which on the internet is most often equated with yelling) and tons of exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I admit that I can't please everyone though, some things I say will not be liked by everyone. But I reserve the right to disagree with you, and it would be really nice to not have you fly off the handle and get upset and start ranting and raving.

So let's make sure we're using the tact we know we have, learn some if we've got a weakness for being abrasive, and let's also make sure we're teaching our kids to be good, kind, considerate and tactful people.

Recipe Recap: With the depression I've been dealing with, yeah it was mostly chicken nuggets and frozen pizzas for dinner. Boo! That's changing though. Yay!

Dinner This Week: Beef Barley Soup -- I'm going to make this recipe as is (except put it in the slow cooker on low instead of a soup pot) and then let you guys know what I would've changed and altered for next time.

Dessert This Week: Cranberry Bars -- these sound really good :D

WAM Moment of the Week:
- changing the garbage and my son puts his head in the can once there was no bag in it and says doh doh doh. To hear the echo. I'm like GAH! No! that is so gross dude! He has yet to do it again, but can I really blame the kid? When he was yelling into that can it really did make a good echo. :| :)

Cheers!

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And Now Back To Our Regularly Scheduled Blogging Program

2013-10-23T23:58:00.000-06:00

And I'm back (yet again) and oh so happy to be here! I'm consistenly going into long periods of not posting, which I'm totally not liking and I wish it wasn't happening, but yeah, life happens.

One Fantabulous H2O bottle

It seems like I'm dealing with some postpartum depression again, -- see How I Deal With Postpartum Depression -- Which is really hard. What didn't help was getting a cold twice as bad as when this one hit me. I was totally out for the count for almost two weeks. SO not fun. But thankfully I am in the process of getting the help and support I need and so I'm slowly finding my way back to my old self. FYI if you are dealing with depression DRINK WATER! It so helps, and for me the best way is a Contigo Water bottle. (I love the auto seal) - the large easy open spout makes it simple to drink lots at a time. Drink three of these bottles a day and you've met the general quota for most people -- eight 8oz glasses. My family owns six of these bottles we love them so much!

Writing is my escape (most of the time, sometime it's work) but I'm excited to start working on my novel again, to type out some short stories and to just enjoy the time I spend blogging. Oh and by the way you are now reading the words of the new Blogmaster for the Kamloops IAG or Interior Authors Group. So expect to see some changes on that blog soon. I'm really looking forward to it and I'm excited to be a part of the Board and all that it entails. Our next meeting is on Nov 7th and it's all about Formatting Your Book for Self-publishing and Conversion for E-book Publication. We meet at 6:30pm in the Tricia Sellmer Studio in the Kamloops Art Gallery -- which is located at the corner of Victoria Street and 5th Ave in downtown Kamloops.

As for my personal blogs I will continue to post book reviews staring next week and will be emailing prospective authors for reviews in the next couple of days. First post back up will be this Friday and the Lasera blog will have an awesome post on Monday called Don't Have Stupid Characters. :D (UPDATE: view that post here)
Also sometime in November there'll be some more info going up about a great little project I'm working on. Stay tuned to find out!

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Blasts From The Past

2013-09-21T13:01:00.001-06:00

We all know that blogs we like have great content but sometimes there are quite a few hidden gems in the archives. So starting now, today and then the first Saturday of every month I'm going to be posting
some 'Blasts From the Past' and link and post some older posts I've written. Enjoy!

So today's all about honing our writing craft, being in awe of Hermoine again, and exploring the crazy workings of a writer's mind. :D

3 Way to Hone Your Writing Craft & How I Did It (for like 0$)
- I really liked writing this one and there are lots of other authors out there like me who have next to nothing in their budget to learn more about writing

Why Hermione is Amazing!
- I'm the biggest fan of all things Harry Potter, but Hermione is someone I adore all on her own. She's fiesty, she's smart and she loves books!

The Strange Workings and Writings of a Mind that Skips Too Far Ahead of Itself
- Enjoy the weird inner babblings of an author's mind

Check out today's post on Lasera: Discover Them Over Again

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And It's Makeover Day!

2013-09-18T09:34:00.004-06:00

It's makeover day, and the blog's begun to look all shiny and new, like cinderella's shoe. :D

Hooray!

Over the course of the day I'll be adding new content and new design elements. I'll also be posting more often for the next little bit as well. Let me know what you think at the end of the day as I'm pretty excited for all the changes! :D

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Get A Designer and Brand Yourself

2013-09-18T00:48:00.000-06:00

Readers want niche blogs. No one wants to read about every topic under the sun with no particular slant or theme. It'd be like slogging through a ball bit of all green balls to find the only purple one.

No not this kind of brand :P

Both bloggers and authors need to establish themselves as a brand. A brand can also be a name. In essence you establish your content whether its a blog or in your novels so that readers know what to expect when they read what you write. Jodi Picoult, Agatha Christie, Stephen King. When readers pick
up these authors' books they know what to expect. This is one reason why many authors use a pen name for when they write in a different genre from their usual.

For me, even before I hit publish on my first post for this blog, I knew I wanted a brand of some sort for it. And it took a while but I finally decided on Danielle. Wife. Author. Mother. And I'm really happy with it. Because in a few short words anyone can see what this blog is all about. Which is exactly what a brand should be. If you can't tell at a glance what a brand is, then that company/blog/author isn't marketing properly.

I've loved being able to establish my brand and really enjoyed learning along the way. For the blog makeover tomorrow I'm going to be going even further as I now have a logo to go with my blog and brand.

My superstar designer Gary Jensen created everything for me and I'm super happy with all of it. Feel free to check out his website here: www.sytheriousjones.com

As time's gone on I've realized what takes me hours and hours is much shorter and easier work for those who know what they're doing and are trained to do so. So hire someone! If you're on a budget try asking local first year university design students. I'm sure they'd be happy to expand their portfolio. So make sure you check back tomorrow and see all the changes that are gonna be happening! :D

Check out today's post on Lasera: Editing, One Weird and Hard Hat to Wear

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WAM Moment of the Week

2013-09-17T13:39:00.000-06:00

Blog makeover day is tomorrow! Just saying :D

We all have times when something happens where you know that it's annoying and totally not funny, but the back of your brain is laughing at you cause you know it'll be funny later and that if it happened to anyone else you'd find it hilarious! Or there's times as a mommy where it's simply a situation that other moms can totally relate too.

I've decide to share one of these moments with you each week. Hoping you laugh or chuckle along with me, or even have a smile and an "Oh my gosh, I so know the feeling" moment. It's the Wife. Author. Mother. Moment of the Week and it's starting right now! :P :D

WAM Moment of the Week:

Standing at the front of the line at the checkout in a gas station. I'm trying to buy a litre of oil for my van. Just as it's almost my turn I remember that payday isn't until tomorrow and this happened to be one of those weeks where we needed every dollar. So I'm frantically punching at my phone to check the mobile banking app. I don't have enough on the one debit card, or in the other debit account. (don't have credit cards right now cause we gotta pay down some debt) Oy vay! I have to use two separate debit cards, plus transfer a couple dollars into the chequing on the one of them just to make it work. What? Confirm transfer? Yes. Confirmed transfer for the third time already! Smashing the button again and again. Stupid touch pad. Meanwhile there's a pile up of six people behind me and feeling all their eyes on my back doesn't make it any easier to do the thing quickly. 2 debit cards and one money transfer on a mobile app later I walk out the door with oil in hand, hooray! I then proceed to walk right back in again as I've left my keys on the counter. Yeah, I am that person. But I really don't mean to be, don't even want to be! :| :S :D LOL

Check out today's post on Lasera: 5 Ways Your Novel Can Stand Out in the Vast Sea of Fantasy

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My Rad Recipe Plan

2013-09-15T00:55:00.000-06:00

So as many of you, my oh-so-wonderful readers, might have noticed my recipe tab above is pretty much empty, it just references the fact that I use allrecipes.com a whole lot. Well no more!

I'm actually going to start adding recipes to it now. I know, I know, should've been done a long time ago, but I'm finally getting to it. And there'll be recipes up and posted for when the blog makeover
happens THIS WEDNESDAY!
(Can you tell I'm excited for it?)

Plus, and here's the best news of all, I'm actually going to start consistently trying new recipes. Barring any major catastrophes (both with nature and my two kids), every Saturday I will be trying a new recipe for dinner and every Sunday I'll be trying a new recipe for dessert. I'm actually really looking forward to this. Should be pretty fun continuing to experiment and learn and taste new things.

What I'm hoping to do is find both recipes each week from a magazine/website so that way I can share the link with all of you. Each friday when I do my weekly post at the bottom there'll be a 'Recipes I'm Tackling' section where I'll tell you a little about what I'm going to try and make. And there'll also be a 'Recipe Recap' section where I'll explain how the cooking sessions went from the previous week and what the dishes actually tasted like.

Here's to trying new things! Watch for those recipes!

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Peacock Flock Review #23 - The Ugly Stepsister Strikes Back

2013-09-05T05:30:00.000-06:00

The Ugly Stepsister Strikes Back

Author: Sariah Wilson

Length: ~ 224 pages

Genre: Romance

Heat level: Clean

Stars: 3 Enjoyable Purple Stars

Book Summary:

Everyone knows how all those fairy tales go. The princess gets beautiful, nabs her prince, falls instantly in love, lives happily ever after and leaves her evil stepsisters in the dust.

But what happens when you’re the ugly stepsister and your obnoxiously perfect—read pretty, smart, and, worst of all, sickeningly nice—stepsister is dating the charming, tall, devastatingly handsome guy you’ve had a thing for since you were nine years old? Quirky, artistic and snarky Mattie Lowe does not lead a charmed life. Her mother is constantly belittling her on Skype. Mercedes, the school mean girl, has made it her personal mission to torment Mattie. But worst of all? Her stepsister Ella is the most beautiful, popular girl in school and is dating Mattie’s secret longtime crush, Jake Kingston. Tired of being left out and done with waiting for her own stupid fairy godmother to show up, Mattie decides to change her life. She’ll start by running for senior class president against wildly popular Jake. Ella can keep her Prince Annoying. Mattie’s going to rule the school. And no one, not even a cute and suddenly flirty Jake, is going to stop her.

Review:

We thought this was a good cozy up book. Albeit quite stereotypical, and nothing too particularly different from other chick flick type books of its kind. Mattie was a likable character most of the time and the dance scene at the end of the book was fun and with a little bit of a surprise too. However there was a significant amount of telling the reader exactly how the characters felt or using dialogue to give the reader information which felt off and not like a real scene. We liked some of Mattie's decisions and Jake's too, we also really liked the cultural references, especially the fact the Mattie likes John Hughes so much. The other thing that stood out as a little too run of the mill was how often cliched and common phrases were used to express feelings and emotions. Eg: ___ hit me like a tidal wave - etc. We wanted there to be more conflict within the plot that didn't feel contrived, as Mattie's continued stubbornness felt a little like conflict for the sake of conflict (instead of something the character would actually do.) But all in all a good book to read when you want something light and fun.

That's it from the flock!

Mini-Makeover Finally Happening!

2013-09-02T13:51:00.000-06:00

Yes a lot has been happening but I'm finally back on the writing bandwagon. And although it should've happened in August I'm happy to announce that a mini-makeover of this blog will be happening on September 18th! Hooray! So stay tuned as there'll be some great posts leading up to the new blog reveal and some more awesome posts after the reveal.

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The Curse of The Creative Side

2013-07-29T01:49:00.000-06:00

So anyone with even the smallest tiniest creative bone in their thumb knows that when an idea takes you it's pretty dang awesome. But for all of us whose creativeness is something we absolutely thrive on, well, it can sometimes be a hinderance. That's what today's post is gonna be all about. (Hooray for being back on the wagon for posting! Although book reviews don't start up again until Aug 16th, but that's coming up fast :D )

Like recently, I was exhausted after a day with my two kids and ready to crash. I'd just finished reading an email and was settling into my pillow when my brain started chugging. I've got this whole love/hate relationship thing going on with novels turned into movies and I've had a number of ideas churning in my brain on the subject. This particular night, my brain twisted on this whole new concept of it. I'm actually so excited about it that I won't mention exactly what this concept was, because I hope to implement it and put up a website for it soon. (After I'm well into book 2 of Lasera of course :D) But the concept I figured out isn't the point. The point is that after going to bed at 10:30 I was up until past 2am thinking about it!! Gah!

I know, I know right? I've got a 3-year-old and a 6-month-old, what in the heck was I doing just lying in bed thinking about this awesome new website for 3+ hours? I should've been sleeping, but someone else needed to tell that to my brain, cause every time I tried to halt my thought processes and actually sleep I'd think up some other detail that would spawn a whole new thought path.
It's a real problem. Being too creative. Nope, scratch that, the problem is not being able to shut off the creative when it's an inconvenient time.

There's a reason why writers carry notebooks around, artists bring their sketchpads everywhere, and musicians are rarely seen without the added luggage of their instruments. It's because for all of us creative types, inspiration can, and truly does, hit us anywhere and anytime. It's great and wonderful, but the flip side is how hard it is when those creative bits encroach on what we need in order to function and survive. Like SLEEP! Oh my goodness, (and yes there is a post coming up soon about the ever so much importance of adequate sleep) is it too much to ask that the inspiration come, I don't know in the morning or afternoon maybe? Not a chance, it never fails, my best ideas hit me the second my head flops onto the pillow or somewhere else just as aggravating like while I'm in the shower ("never fails, you get in the bath and there's a rub at the lamp" lol)

Honestly, we have to write it down when that great idea comes to mind, cause do you think we can remember it even 30 seconds later? That's a huge N to the O. I've had it happen. Thought up the perfect blog title for the subject I wanted to write about, just the right mix of play on words and tone to exactly be what I was going for. Could I think of it again 30 seconds later when I stopped what I was doing and had just pulled out my phone to type it into my notes? Nope. So now I have to settle for what just might be a second rate blog post title. Although come to think of it I really like the new one I came up with and as I can't remember the old one, maybe this one is better? (And no it is not the title for this post) This goldfish like remembrance habit is fairly typical of the curse of the creative, at least in my experience (if you're a creative and don't have this, please contact me, like now, as I so want to pick your brain and figure out how to make it work on me)

How do creative types combat this curse? We don't, and mostly we shouldn't. As hard as it is to be tired, irritable or late because inspiration hits at the wrong moment, for the most part, I think the world will cut us some slack. Because when all is said and done, some of the most beautiful, genuine and breathtaking things have come from those little moments of inspiration that we need to take a beat for.

So next time you see me, or any of your creative type friends, with bags under our eyes, it probably means we were struck by lightning with some sort of great idea or inspiration in the middle of the night. That or in my case it might've been because my kids were up umpteen times during the night, but let's stay positive and hope that it was cause I just couldn't stop thinking about my next big creative idea. :D

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Update: Moving Stinks and My Computer's Down

2013-07-05T11:45:00.001-06:00

So a rather short post today as I'm typing this on my cellphone because the power cord on my laptop is toast. Bah humbug. Which also means my writing has come to a standstill. And in case any of you lovely readers haven't noticed I didn't make my April deadline for my book which is why the blog's been dead for a couple months. I have been able to get a lot of work done on my novel and submissions just not enough. The fact that I just moved from Langley to Kamloops though might have something to do with that. Moving is so annoying and frustrating. Not knowing where anything is and having to organize and unpack. Blech. Thankfully now that I'm actually in Kamloops I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Right now the plan is to be doing book reviews and weekly blog posts again by Aug 16th. On a different note keep sending in those book review requests. I've seen some great ones that I can't wait to read. Have a great summer everyone and make sure to take some time once in a while to sit underneath a tree and read a good book! (Or e-book :D )

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