Adventures in Crafting with Words

You never know where it will take you. Growing up I wanted to be Sarah Dessen.  She tackled the 'issues' - as I call them - without being overwhelming about them. I've found myself doing that at least twice.  In Keeping Secrets Gwen deals with the murder of her father, Mitchell deals with an abusive father, and Rilla with an emotional drain. In my NaNoWriMo project I've found myself with an emotionally abusive and controlling character that I never expected.  I started off dealing with toxic friends and ended up with a toxic relationship. Here's the thing, folks, writing will take you and your characters in directions that you never expect. Alicia

Around October 30th or 31st I "finished" the manuscript for the mash up that I've been working on since August 2014.  The idea came to me while I was teaching Biology - interim position - and had some spare time.  I adore fairy tales.  Simply adore them and discovering their various variations.  Even the original tales have minor nuances that create five different tales from the same origin.  This was before I'd discovered Heather Lyon's The Collector's Society Series.  (Go, read the books. The last one comes out Nov. 7th!  I can't wait!)  So... what happens when a descendant of Alice finds herself in a strange land?  A land where fairy tales and children's stories were real?  Where a magic council can freeze the story's tales in a loop or allow them to continue on for generations?  I don't have the synopsis yet.  I don't even have the manuscript completely edited.  Only 54 pages.  But that will take a handful of days to finish

I am absolutely horrible about posting updates.  There is seriously 4 books on my blog list and I keep adding to it.  I have no excuses. I spend half my day tackling Etsy shop business (marketing, orders, etc)  www.abookwormcreates.com btw I spend the other half of my day writing and editing.  Add to this mix NaNoWriMo I think my head is about to spin around.  However... my next post will be about ITEF... Alicia

This is where my ability to remember stories and plot lines come in handy.  I was about to write the blog for this middle grade level book when the previous blog post occurred.  We're all home now, things are settling in, and I can go back to writing and blogging. Learning to Fly (Dana Burkey) is the first book in the TNT Force Cheer series.  It follows 12 ("But I'll be 13 in January") year old Maxine "Max" during the summer.  While playing with her neighbor Peter and his younger brother, Kyle, it starts to rain so they decide to go to the indoor trampoline park.  While there Max (don't call her Maxine) spots some girls her age practicing flips and other cheer stunts. Only Halley and Lexi aren't the typical cheerleaders - they belong to a gymnastics cheerleading squad.  All of those competition squads that do flips and flying stunts and dance rountines? Yeah, that's TNT Force. They start showing Max some of their stunts and Max

Things have not been okay around this writer's family. On Father's Day my grandfather suffered a stroke.  A week in the hospital. 3 weeks in rehab. Then we moved him into a retirement village.  Before that he'd spent a week in the hospital followed by a week of us staying with him 24/7.  All that was after the Alabama trip. Then about 10 days ago, right as we were settling into our new routine, my mom had a mild heart attack.  Thus yet another week in the hospital. That week I made a lot of chainmaille for the etsy shop.  The etsy shop has gotten a lot of attention, mostly because I can easily send out tweets with projects. My brain had stalled on me.  I was doing things by rote.  That's why chainmaille was so easy once I'd gotten the patterns down.  Go ahead. Look. Not everything is posted, but enough is already available for sale. Www.overthinkercreates.etsy.com And now we're back to 24/7, only this time I'm doing all

Okay.  I'll admit it.  I absolutely judged this book by its cover.  At the time I was looking for a young adult steampunk read.  I was just in the mood for one.  Sadly, this book wasn't released yet when I found it.   I was drawn in by that superb cover and terrific blurb.  Add in the setting of London.  As per last week's blog, most of you recognize that I have a mild obsession over books that take place in England.  Or maybe their language and slang - much different than American slang. Right. This was my first C.J. Archer book.  I'd seen her Ministry of Curiosities series floating around, but never picked up a copy.  Big  mistake.  India Steele is desperate.  Her father has died, her ex-fiance has legally stolen her shop, and the other watchmakers won't have anything to do with her for some not-yet-explained reason. That's why I hate series, but they seem to be so popular to write... Moving on. Matthew Glass needs a watchmaker,

I don't even remember how I came across this book.  I can say that it was a throughly enjoyable escape while things were falling apart around me.  First off - Not a Young Adult.  I promise, the next couple of books will be YA books.   This book appealed to me on a few levels.   Like Ellie, I had a job that caused me to be miserable a good part of the time.  Like Ellie I love to bake. Unlike Ellie, the Choffee Cake wasn't appealing, but I'm not a fan of coffee, much like many of you might be.  Reading about Joe fighting his feelings for Ellie as Ellie works on getting over her ex (more getting back on her own two feet than anything) and learns about running a tea shop was exactly what I needed.  This was a charming British read.  Yes, a UK author! Castles! Dragons and moats!  Okay, no dragons and moats, but a simple lighthearted read that can make anybody feel better when things aren't running smoothly.  Again, not much commentary.  Pick up a c

There are few books that draw me in like this one did.  From the very beginning we learn that Kit had a twin sister that was kidnapped by fairies, or so she dreams. She also has an ex-boyfriend, Tommy, who is clearly still crazy about her. There's a few reasons why Kit doesn't do serious relationships, even though the reader can tell she wishes otherwise with Tommy.  Our main character has issues stemming from her missing sister and a genetic disorder - Cystic Fibrosis.  She doesn't want Tommy to end up resenting her as her disease progresses. So she flirts with David Terry, eventually agreeing to go on a date with him even though a mysterious stranger warned her against him.  Even though she initially had a bad feeling about him. On their date, she inexplicably revealed details about her life that she hadn't even shared with her roommates or Tommy.  Despite their connection, Kit feels uncomfortable when David comes on too strong.  For him, &quo

It should be little surprise to some that I released The Bookworm Next Door early. There was a support indie authors event I wanted to be in on. Here's the other surprise.  Tomorrow and Saturday BND will be free.  Then the price will go to its full price of $2.99. BND is also available for Kindle Unlimited. The Expanded and Revised Bookworm Next Door

First up, why am I expanding and revising The Bookworm Next Door?   At first I seriously thought that The Bookworm Next Door (BND) was complete.  I had been working on it for over seven years and the overall story never changed.  I've had so many possible endings, but I kept coming back to the one I ended the story with.  Then I hit publish and the prequel short stories started appearing.  Then the questions of "what happened to Aimee?" Kelly?  What about Jennifer?  Wesley?  Gloria and Brady?  That was when I realized that BND wasn't finished.  What is different about the current Bookworm Next Door and the revised and expanded edition? Over a hundred pages of new material.  What caused Grace to be shy and quiet when she's the oldest of X number of siblings?  What caused Aimee to set her sights on David? Some names have changed.  A Beta reader pointed out that she was having trouble keeping Grace and Gloria straight, so Gloria is now Hannah.  Some sce

As promised... the cover reveal. Stay tuned for more later.

I took a bit of a break.  Went camping. Waited impatiently for Betas to finish reading and making their comments. The good news is that one Betas has finished and has submitted her edits and comments.  Final reviewing begins tonight and the new version od The Bookworm Next Door will be released soon. I just have to decide how I'm going to do it... Stay tuned, readers.  Cover reveal and release date coming soon. A

Something about this book caught my attention.  The adorable cover?  The unique title?  The book blurb? All three.  The trio promises a quirky ride through one senior's brain. Sally Spitz (unfortunate name that) is unlucky enough to have a boy crazy best friend determined to help her find Mr. or - in the opening set up's case - Ms. Right.  It doesn't help that her own mother is willing to help out Hooker (poor best friend with another unfortunate last name).  This didn’t actually make sense to me.  We learn early on that Sally's mother divorced Sally's father because he was cheating on her.  Would she be so willing to set up her daughter repeatedly while the girl is in high school?  I doubt it.  It's more likely she'd be content to let her daughter not date or find her own boyfriends.  Especially since she hasn't moved on and started dating again herself...  Maybe if Sally was 30-years old... But this is one of those things w

My Facebook news feed is filled with images of reminders about what Monday is really about.  My grandfather is a veteran.  He was in the Navy during the Korean War.  All my life I was aware that he was medically discharged. It wasn’t until recently that he told anybody (me) what happened during the hurricane that resulted in his medical discharge.  But that is not my story to share. Someday I will end up connecting Memorial Day with him.  Remember those who lost their lives to protect our freedoms.  Toast a hamburger or hotdog in their memory.

Oftentimes how I pick my next read - or review - isn't complicated.  In this case I was scanning titles on my kindle.  I don't often go into the Young Adult section on my kindle.  There are mostly big names and I'd like to support the new, not-big-names authors.  But The Yearbook by Carol Masciola caught my attention.  It might have been the cover.  It was definitely the blurb. Lola, an orphan in foster care - a group home at that - manages to find herself in the library reserve room at school.  She took over a job of throwing out fire and water damaged books out of self-preservation - she's trying to hide from someone.  In the room she finds an undamaged yearbook from 1924. Falling asleep, she finds herself transported during a Fall Dance in 1923.  There she meets Whoopsie, Thumbtack, and Peter the professor.  Not wanting to leave her new friends and the feeling that she's finally found where she belongs, Lola goes back to get her things from the reserves

Sometimes you sit down and realize something. Okay.  I sat down and realized something as I was writing Jennifer's part of the Bookworm story. The Bookworm Next Door wasn't finished when I self-published it.  It's a disturbing reality that faced me with two difficult decisions.  I could close the door on The Bookworm Next Door and leave it imperfect or I could rewrite it and make it perfect. I decided to do exactly that.  Perfect is better. So then I was faced with the daunting task of piecing everything together exactly the way it needed. There was also the fact that I was faced with continuity issues with some of the characters names.   Last night I finished The Bookworm Next Door.  It has all of the short stories combined.  It has new material.  It has a never before seen ending that only I knew was going to happen. Is The Bookworm Stories Series over?  No.  There's still Aimee Kirkland's story.  Grace and Kyle.  David. Delilah. Jennifer.  Wesley.  

It's been a few weeks since I've written a blog post of any kind.   I've been diligently working on my own manuscript and it's getting closer and closer to being finished. There...  moving on. Gryphon's Heir written by D.R. Ranshaw has been on my kindle for weeks.  It was a big part of my #gymandbooks routine, but getting about an hour read at a time takes a while.  It became a habit that took a little while to break.   This is decidedly a 'boy' book.  There is no obvious romantic interest; actually, this grabs my attention even more because I'm already trying to decide who Rhiss (Rhissan) will end up with at the end.  (I am a hopeless romantic after all.)   World creating is extremely important, even more so when creating your own world for your characters to live, work, and love in.  I believe that Ranshaw did a superb job of creating his world.   More on that later. When we first enter the story we are in Arrinor at a crucial and

Sometimes time catches up with you.  I haven't finished a single new book this week.  Not a single one.  My intended review for this week is - according to my kindle - 36% read.  That actually kind of disturbs me because sometimes reading, for me, is like breathing.  I need it. Like with writing or creating something out of jewelry findings or polymer clay.  The urge to read and create are fundamental urges for me; necessary for life.  At 31 years old it might seem silly to be chasing a dream with very little financial stability, but there you have it. My dream is to write and I'm going to try it.  Anyway, I first encountered this book when I was a junior or senior in high school (2001 or 2002 - it definitely wasn't 2003 because... well... I'll finish my story.) I was in theater class (which was not taken my last semester of high school, thus the not 2003 part) and one of dear friends, at the time, surprised me by suggesting a book.  Old Magic.  She couldn'

Sometimes things get frustrating over on my side of the laptop.  Keep watching reviews and determining ways to bounce back, to create better.  Watching the numbers and wondering if those handful of bad reviews are just pulling the rest of the potential readers down where they don't want to read, not even with Kindle Unlimited.  I have to watch the day by day because at the end of the month if I don't hit minimum page reads and sold books then I'm losing out. I'm running out of time.  I'm running a gamble here by wanting to be a full-time writer.  A crafter of words. But this and etsy don't always pay the bills.  They certainly aren't paying me enough to get out of my parents house. Who am I? I am a writer.  I've been a writer since the seventh grade. And Yet... It hasn't even been a year since I've started.  I really need to not lose hope. A

Ever just watch a movie and think - I know I have read this somewhere .  That is this movie.  Where have I read this before?  Where have I watched this before.  A plethora of ideas pop into my head.  The Ugly Truth with Heigl and Butler.  Various contemporary romances that I've undoubtedly read.  The Kiss That Launched 1000 Gifs - Sheralyn Pratt Charlie All Night - Jennifer Cruise I imagine there is several more.  I'd have to go through my kindle book list into order to be able to tell and the first book listed (Pratt) was read months ago.  I seriously read books like I breathe air, consuming them mostly on a daily basis.  It's an expensive hobby.  I guess that's what Kindle Daily Deals ($1.99) or sales are for.  So, a few weeks ago I started watching this movie.  It hit a cord with me.  I couldn't help wondering exactly where I'd read this movie from?  Which book was it?  Sadly, there is no book.  For a bookworm that is extremely disappointing,

It started off rocky. There was no great opening line for me to report because a graphic covered most of the opening paragraphs.  It's a formatting issue in the ebook that can be fixed. Once I went in, tinkered with my margins (as wide as it could go), line spacing (same as margins), and the font size (as big as it could get)... that was a different story. "A cold night in early spring, many years ago..." Then after a page or two size 5 font... Despite the hassle the map graphic caused, the imagery of the opening is vivid.  I found myself shivering with the cold, forming my hands into claws, and walking along an abandoned path in my imagination.  Then I was able to return my settings to what I liked best.  A mild hassle... easily tackled... still an annoyance. The descriptions are amazing, but there were times I just wanted to put the book down.  I can't quite explain why.  Maybe it was the use of Beauty and the Beast tropes. We all know th

I know, I know.  I missed Writing Prompt Wednesday.  I've been busy getting ready for an Arts and Crafts show on Saturday.  I also knew that there was 70% chance of rain today.  If you want to see the blog post for my Overthinker Creates account just look to your left for the link.  It should read Etsy Shop Blog.  Today's writing prompt is courtesy of WritingPrompt.com @DailyPrompt on Twitter.  It began - A green glow could be seen in the cave.  Curious, they entered.    I kinda like what I did with that prompt so I might add more to it later.  And now... The Prompt  _____             A green glow could be seen in the cave.   Curious, they entered.   They never expected that the cave was emitting the glow in an attempt to pull the unsuspecting into its grasp.               Within moments of entering the cave, they started to notice that the glow was beginning to fade in bits and pieces until all that was left was a trail of lights leading deeper and deeper into

I have a weakness for a few things.  String cheese (with a dairy allergy on top). Chocolate. Cupcakes. Yarn. Books. Books. More books. My particular guilty pleasures are romance novels and retold fairy tales.  How many different ways can Beauty and the Beast be retold? How many endings does the original Sleeping Beauty have? (I've found 4!) Does Cinderella ever get her Prince? Ella by Jessilyn (love the name, btw) Stewart Peaslee caught my attention with its stunning cover and enticing blurb.  Dare I let it jump ahead of my book review reading list? I'm only posting them on Tuesdays so... I can probably write more than one a week and get a back log going.  So, while suffering from a sinus infection brought on by West Tennessee tree pollen - pesky Bradford Pear Trees - and too many string cheese sticks I'm going to pick comfort over adventure.  Let's see how it goes.  ______   The Prologue nearly brought me to tears. I only say ne

WritingPrompt.com  @DailyPrompt The date was going well until he proposed.   It wasn’t the best of proposals.   He hadn’t gotten down on one knee.   There was the ring she had already told him that she hated.   They were in a crowded restaurant and every single eye was focused on her, waiting with bated breath for her answer. Panic raced up her spine.   A choking feeling clogged her throat.   Trembling started at her hands and climbed up her arms.   The room felt as if it was closing on in her.   Sobbing she raced to the restroom, leaving him there stunned.   Things had not got exactly as he’d intended.   Reviewing what he’d said and done through his mind, Jared realized a few things.   One – He wasn’t on a date with Rachel.   Two – Sarah was not an outgoing person and a public proposal was not the way to go.   Three – He never should have started dating identical twins.   Pulling out his cell, Jared quickly dialed up a number.   “Hey, Rachel, I think I just m