Chronicles of the Order

My Chronicles of the Order short story has dropped! Just in time for Philippa Ballantine's release of her novel Geist, you can tune in to my story here: BROTHERS, a story set in the world of Geist. There you can also view a trailer for the novel. This is exciting, I hope you get a chance to listen, and if you do, please let me know what you think.

Rid 1 Thing

Are you overwhelmed with clutter? Join me on my "Rid 1 Thing" mission. I feel constantly plagued by clutter. I don't consider myself a "hoarder" or even a clutter bug, but it just seems to add up, doesn't it? We have long term plans to relocate, short term plans to move in the same area and the thought of packing up all this...stuff results in the cold sweats and shakes. Not so long ago, when we first started talking about moving, I gave myself the mission of getting rid of 1 thing per day. It didn't have to be anything big, could be something as small as throwing away an old expired bottle of vitamins I never touch, or recycling a container we never use anyway, to as big as cleaning out my closet and bookshelves and donating boxes of stuff. I let myself be flexible, depending on my schedule and mood. I kept it up for a few months. You'd be AMAZED at how long you can keep it up and how much stuff there is you can throw away, recycle or give away. At first the things were obvious, then it became fun to find things. I eventually would pick a room and challenge myself to find something to get rid of.

You know what? It worked! I really started noticing a difference. Our home had a noticeably lighter, more open feeling to it. Then, I stopped. I think we went away on vacation or something and I got thrown off my habit. I've tried to go back to it, kind of half-heartedly over the last several months but it hasn't stuck.

I want that decluttered feeling back!! So I'm announcing it right now, starting today, I'm back on my mission to get rid of 1 thing every day. I'm going to tweet my progress with the hashtag #rid1thing. Twitter is great for accountability and I know if I tweet it, people will hold me to it.

Want to join me? It's a great feeling. Just 1 thing. Look around, I'm sure you'll find one thing pretty fast. Then tomorrow, look again. Anything you can donate, give to a friend, garbage or recycle? Give it a try, I promise the results will be worth it.

Warning: be careful when giving away things to friends, they may start to catch on that you're just dumping your clutter on them. My mom caught on pretty quickly. ;)

Wish me luck on my mission, and if you join in, let me know!!

Bitten By Books

The authors from Evolve are going to be on the website Bitten By Books tomorrow, Oct 13th from noon (central time) to midnight. It's going to be an awesome event, with multiple authors appearing thorughout the time. I'll be there, chatting and answering any questions. BBB is a great site, I'm excited to be able to take part in one of their events. Please stop by if you can and ask me a question or just say hello!! I'd love to see you there. :)

VCON 2010

Last weekend I attended VCON, Vancouver's local fantasy, sci fi and gaming convention for the third year in a row. The first year, I'd barely started writing and followed the two author guests of honour, Kelley Armstrong and Patrick Rothfuss around to every panel about writing and publishing. Then I started taking my writing seriously. The second year at VCON, I had my story accepted for Evolve and went to the Book Launch as an author to help promote it, even though the book wasn't out yet. This year, Evolve is out and I signed copies at the Book launch. I also did a reading and sat on four panels, two of which were with the amazing author guest of honour this year, Cherie Priest. It's been a great couple of years.

I can't say enough in support of VCON, local conventions and of course the bigger ones if you're interested in writing or becoming a writer. You can learn so much from other authors, publishers, editors and agents. When I first started competing in fitness, it was so new, there were no coaches, no one to tell me what to do. I had to learn by trial and error for YEARS. Once I made it to the top 5 at the National level, I began passing on what I'd learned by training others. I constantly joke with my clients that I wish there'd been a "me" when I first started competing. Now I'm making the leap into the writing world, I'm taking full advantage of learning from those who've been down the many roads to publication, using their experiences to seek out my own path.

Next up is the World Fantasy Convention in Columbus, Ohio and I can't wait. :)

Unfortunately, I didn't take many pictures at VCON. I'm hoping the official photographer for the event got at least one of me sitting on a panel, so I can prove I really did it. ;)

I did get a shot of some of us hanging in my room having drinks on the Saturday night, and on the last day I got a picture with this lady, I don't know her name, but she sat in some of the writing sessions when I was on the panel and she was just so darn cute I wanted to get a pic.

The Inkpunks

That project I mentioned the other day? Well, it's launched. It's our new site, Inkpunks.com and you have to come visit. I'll tell you why. First of all, it was my idea, so it flops like a Sunday morning pancake, it'll be my face with egg on it. (What? I haven't had breakfast yet). Second, it's an awesome idea. (ha!) I've been fortunate to find myself part of a great group of writers, creative minds and overall awesome people. We support each other, cheer each other on, listen to each other whine, and generally lift each other up. I thought it would be great if we could share what we've created, with each other. Hence, the website.

We're going to be rotating the blog posts, so there will be new content every Tuesday and Friday. We're not claiming to know it all or anything, really, we just want to share what we learn on our journey ourselves and from those more knowledgeable than us. We want to spread the support. We have a Resources section that we will continue to update. There is also talk of a submissions page, keeping tabs on new submission openings. LOTS of reasons for writers to drop by!!

Since it was my idea, I got the honour (and the pressure) of writing the first blog post. (yikes) Please come check it out and leave a comment for us. We're excited about this new endeavour and hope to reach out to as many people as we can.

Come join the Inkpunks! ;)