Me, Mom, and Harry Potter Part 1

Wasn't she a cute little girl?

Although my mom and I are close we've never been able to find the kind of similar interests that pull most mothers and daughters together.  Often it has felt like our interests just barely slip past one another.  We are both crafty but wire jewelry and cross stitch seem like a foreign language to my mom who loves sewing clothes and making wreaths.  She was able to share a love of cooking and baking with her mother while growing up and I still remember seeing her cry when she realized that even mac and cheese is beyond my ability.  I've always been a huge book worm and movie enthusiast but in the past my mom has had a really hard time sitting down for more than a few minutes before jumping up to get something else done.  I'll admit that her attention span always seemed a bit lacking when it came to those things.  And I should probably add how much I hate to shop for clothes which is something that has always mystified my mom and sister.

No matter how much we tried to find some mother-daughter activity it always ended with one of us trying to humor the other person and neither of us really having fun.  I think that our first real turning point was when my mom watched the tv show My So Called Life about five years ago.  Oddly enough when I was first a fan of this show I hid it from my mom.  I was quite young at the time, maybe 8 or 9 and I knew that she wouldn't like some of the subject matter.  If you aren't familiar with it, it is about a teenager who is struggling to find out who she is and where she is in her life.  Since watching her three children leave the house my mom has really started to mellow out and what once would have stressed her out she was now ready for.  As soon as she saw me order in the box set of the series she asked to borrow it and instantly fell in love with it.  I think that it might have helped her understand some things about us.  Most of the TV moms that she knew and loved were all very close to their kids and fully in synch with them but the pair in this TV show didn't understand each other.  The mom wanted her daughter to remain the sweet child who wore matching outfits with her and the daughter believed that her mother was blind and inexperienced.  Both were wrong of course.

So what does this have to do with Harry Potter?  At the urging of my husband I've decided to blog a bit about the most recent interest that my mom and I have bonded over.  This first blog is to help you understand the context of what has really been achieved and also to help you understand the strange but special relationship that I have with my mom.

It is a bit late but Happy Mother's Day anyway.

It Is Out!

My husband's first e-pub release is now available on Smashwords and Barnes and Noble!  I am so proud of all of the hard work that he has done to get so far.  If you are in the mood for a fun children's ghost story, buy The Whispering Ferns now!

Checking In

This wonderful cover is by Deepy Dapper who created both of my covers

I thought that I should at least pop my head in to say hi, even if I don't have that much fun and exciting news.  Well actually I do have great news.  It is about a new book coming out.  But nope, it isn't about my books coming out.


My husband is about to release his first e-pub book on the 26th!  It is a wonderful children's story that takes place in the misty woods of western Washington beside a mysterious and quaint coastal village.  One adventurous boy is about to find himself amidst the Whispering Ferns.  I think that he might turn it into an online series, which I would love since it is such a fun book.  I'll let you more of the purchasing details when it is released on Tuesday.

Until then Happy Easter!

The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow

I used to really hate that song when I was little.  Maybe it's because on days that I wanted to feel glum and depressed my dad and Grandma Graves always thought that it was time to break into song.  Oddly enough, it never worked to cheer me up.  But somewhere in my recent years it has actually changed.  I'm not really sure that a pessimist can turn into an optimist but maybe they can at least feel like one sometimes.  Let's just say that life moves on or some other little catch phrase of your choosing.

My new disappointment is a temporary set back with my book.  Before it can be formatted properly there are a few little changes that need to take place and right now I am not able to complete them.  Getting my wisdom teeth pulled ended up being more of a worst case scenario than I had expected and it has greatly set me back.  The swelling and bruising still hasn't finished and I've now learned that I have severe reactions to codine.  Pushing my book back even a week, maybe more, is very difficult for me but it looks like it is also unavoidable.  I've been looking forward to this for so long.  But the truth (grumble grumble grumble) is that the sun will come out tomorrow and some time very soon my book will be released and my jaw will stop hurting.

Unless the world gets destroyed before then.  Did I mention that I'm a pessimist?

An Introduction to Mrs. Brentley

Not every young Victorian girl had the means of going to London or Bath for a season to look for husbands. Luckily there were wealthy friends and family members who offered to sponsor marriageable girls in town while they served as a sort of champion to various events.

This unique form of generosity is what spawned the wonderful character of Mrs. Brentley. I took the custom a bit further than I have found evidence of by making her an official husband hunter. Every year she sponsors one young lady in London while trying to catch the year's most eligible bachelor for her new charge. I loved the idea of someone who had gained so much through her own marriage that she was then trying to help others do the same. Of course Mrs. Brentley didn't expect the kind of problems that the Wellings twins are about to give her.

You can read more about Mrs. Brentley and her charges in my first novel, A Taste of Honey, coming out March 29th.

Movie Review-Tangled

Tangled

Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi

This movie was fantastic.  I could tell you about the fantastic mother guilt of Gothel or talk about how much I loved the voice cast.  I could explain why my husband laughed so hard when they went to the Snuggly Duckling tavern.  Or I could just tell you that if you haven't seen this movie then you are missing out.  I am a huge fan of the original Grimms fairytale and I was a little worried to see what Disney would do to Rapunzel (which is my favorite of the Grimms' tales).  They took the story and owned it in their own way while still giving a huge nod to the original version.  But I might be a bit biased because of how much the horse reminded me of my dog.  All around I give this movie two huge thumbs up!

5/5

Reluctantly...Pushed Back

When I released the book cover for Reluctantly in Love I thought that I was done with the book. I had edited it numerous times and was quite pleased with how it had turned out. What I didn't anticipate was the number of people who would come rushing forth offering to help me. It is true that help is always at hand, you just have to ask for it. Right now my wonderful worker bees are helping me with ideas on how to strengthen my novel and turn it's somewhat flabbier parts into a tightly honed new product. I am excited to see what comes out of this experiment.

So why aren't they working on A Taste of Honey as well? There comes a point at which editing can become destructive and that wonderful shine that it first had gets lost in the many revisions. A Taste of Honey is a wonderfully fun book that my body, mind and spirit has decided is done. I feel great about getting it into the hands of my friends and family members as well as some adventure seeking strangers.

As for Reluctantly in Love, it is holding up wonderfully under this newest round of scrubbing. It's shiny new edition will be ready to release sometime in June of this year. Until then I hope that you will stick with me as I better learn the strange ins and outs of becoming a self-published author. For my fans I think that A Taste of Honey will be a great chance for you to try out my writing style.