Almost my favorite season...

Well happy September to all of you! And happy birthday to my godson, Wyatt. We are coming up on my favorite season, and I can't be more excited. Pumpkin everything, cool days, beautiful colored leaves...oh, and writing season! Yup, now that summer is almost over, I will be spending more time indoors and getting my "write" on.

I know that I have been M.I.A a lot this year, and I apologize. I haven't stopped thinking of all of you and it's because of all of you that I am still in the writing chair.
I have just had a lot of personal stuff going on in my life, and my computer has been in the fritz. But at the current moment, things seem to be giving me the green light (computer included) and I am playing catch up now.

Yesterday I spent all day writing. It felt great. I got about 3000 words typed and the words are still flowing as of this morning. I can't wait to finish the sequel to Finding Keith. I have some fun ideas for it.


After that I have plans for a bunch of stories, but I am not rushing it. I want to give you a great story, not just some rushed one. Therefore, I'm never going to be that author that pumps out books every month. My books will take longer but I promise I will put my heart and soul into each one. I will try to create a world that pulls you in.
That's my promise.
That's my writing style.
My characters mean everything to me. I want them to mean everything to you too. In that moment you are reading, I want you to feel you know them. I don't want to give you just a story. I want to give you friendships. I want to give you emotions.
So please bear with me as I write slowly.
And please excuse my lack of constant updates.
I don't want to post just to post nonsense. I  want to post when I have something important to say.

Thank you for understanding.
Thank you for being great.

Enjoy my favorite season to come!!

Summer is here...

Happy July 1st, everyone! I can't believe that we are starting the 7th month of 2014 already. It's crazy how fast time flies.
I hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine, but being careful to apply the sunblock (Trust me on this one, I'm STILL peeling from a burn I got about 2 1/2 weeks ago)
Do any of you have some exciting plans for the fourth of July?
My weekend is so booked that I highly doubt I will do any writing at all.

And speaking of writing, in case you are wondering Losing Time is still going well. Up to Chapter 7 now. My YA romance I don't have a title for yet, is about the same place. And my YA paranormal is currently being reviewed by one of my readers for some serious critique. (Can't wait to finish that one- it's been a long time coming.)

Also, I wrote two new kid books last month. I am currently in the midst of going through the edits. Hoping to have them published by the end of the week, but since its a holiday weekend, might be the beginning of next. We will see.

Anyway, that's all for now.
My best friend in the world is down this week, and I just spent yesterday with her like we used to back in high school. I can't wait to catch up with her again before she heads back home.
I had a blast yesterday laughing and being crazy just like old times.
I sooooooo wish she lived near me still.

Well, that's all for now.
Xoxo,
Natalie

And she writes...

So it' s been one week more or less since I started writing again, and let's just say my life was swallowed right back up into my addiction. I missed the writing, but I am now starting to miss my sleep. My brain is on overload, I swear thoughts can't be put on paper fast enough, and even when I try to sleep at night, my mind is still going.
I picked up one story to work on, for fun, just to see if I could get back into the swing of things... the next day I picked up another story.... this weekend I just picked up another story...
Now I've got so many things open, i don't know which to concentrate on first....
I want to write them all, and I want to write them all at the same time.
Not possible, I know. I know.

My diet got messed up too, in the first few days. It was very easy to just write and forget about the important things I've been working on the last six months. So I quickly had to whip that back into shape, I can't go eating like crap all the time again. My health won't allow it.

I'm starting to think maybe there is a happy medium for me... it's either all in or not in at all. I can't do the easy, breezy, just write and see thing. Nope. My ADD, and OCD won't allow it.

So what does that mean? Not sure. Just that right now, my mind is buzzing with ideas and I'm just trying to figure out how to escape with success.


In the mean time, here is one of the WIPs I am working on:
(This is not a cover reveal)

Why I've been M.I.A, blog updates and summer specials.

***Got a moment, check out all the changes and updates I made to the blog today.***

 I know that I have been M.I.A lately. To all my readers who follow me, I apologize for kind of doing a disappearing act since the end of last year. It wasn't completely intentional, though a writing break was much needed. At first, I thought I just wanted a timeout for the holidays, but then my time off kept expanding.
I needed to have two medical procedures done in the past 6 months, and it was kind of an eye opener for me. I realized writing was good for my soul and my mind, but terrible for my health. Perhaps this doesn't happen to you, but when I am writing, I am so wrapped up in my fantasy world that I don't even remember to drink water half the time. And I would write hours upon hours, not exactly a good thing for someone with low blood sugar condition.
Anyway, so my obsessive focus that usually landed on writing, was quickly switched to my diet and my fitness.
I have been actively getting myself back into shape, and I'm confident that I'm on the right track now that I can trust myself to balance my health and my writing. And all my other time constraints. (Full time work, family, etc)

Another reason I haven't been posting, has to do with mental and emotional stress that sadly comes with being in the writing business also. Sometimes you can roll it off your shoulders, other times things make you sit back and rethink why you are doing what you do. I guess with my health under par and the holiday stress, I finally hit that point where I was tired of brushing things off and truly considering "quitting."
But there is a saying, "Once a writer, always a writer..."and no matter how many times I told myself to just "stop" I could never shut off the stories in my head. And that was enough to prove to me that I need to continue with my writing. For myself. And of course, for all of you readers out there. Those of you that read and love my books, your faith in me has reassured me that despite all the stress, writing is still worth it. And I can't just leave you hanging. Not when you love my characters just as much as I do.
Their stories need to be told.


And last, the other major reason I have hardly touched my computer besides a few days here and there is because the hubby and I are putting the house up for sale. And for anyone that has sold their house, they should completely understand my lack of free time.  Home renovations, packing, excessive cleaning... between my longer work hours at my full time job, and our new puppy (well he's 5 months now) and the joys of relocating, time is swallowed up quickly and my days have a "Ground hog day" effect now.

But FINALLY, my to do list isn't longer than I can handle, my mind set is almost completely back to "full stream ahead" and  I'm in better active shape then I've been in a long time.  So though, I may have disappointed some of you from being away (I am truly sorry for that) I will admit I am happy I took such a long break.
It helped me learn  a lot of things.
And it helped me remember why I wanted to write in the first place.
For the love of it.
That's all that truly matters.
I love it.

So what does that mean exactly? Will I be going on a publishing frenzy? Will you see all the sequels by the end of this year?
To answer, I don't know. I'm not pushing myself over my limits again. I'm keeping my writing "fun and enjoyable."
It could take me 30 days to write my next novel or a year. Or more. I won't know until I start writing.
Once I know, trust me, I will let you know.
Until then, I will keep up with my blog posts.  I will offer some giveaways. I will post some discounted rates on my previously published works.

This blog was about the journey of an author. About my journey. Some journeys are easy. Some are harder. But we don't know where the road ends up, just the direction it leads. I just know the journey doesn't stop here. I won't let it. But sometimes when your tired, you just need to stop and sit for awhile. That's what I did.
Consider it - I had to take  a detour.
It happens.
At least it does in my journey.
But I didn't quit, nor will I.

I can't wait to share more stories with you.

Thanks for following me and for your patience. You are all awesome!


xoxo,

Natalie

P.S.
As promised, summer special going on right now! Get my Finding Keith novel on Amazon Kindle for only $ .99 cents. Now through 6/15/14 only.


Don't pass up this good deal!Get it HERE

"Zombies. Hot guys. Romance. Nonstop Action. Friendship. And One Faithful Pit Bull."

Earth Day and Arbor Day

 In honor of Earth Day and Arbor Day this week, I am giving away a free copy of my children's book, "Greyson Breyer and the Ugly Tree."

I wrote this book last year in honor of these two special days. A percentage of proceeds earned on the sale of this specific book is donated to the Arbor Day Foundation.

All you have to do for a chance to win is leave me a comment on this blog, on my facebook page or tweet me on my twitter account. I will be choosing a name randomly at midnight on Friday.



Best of luck.

New Year, New Stuff...

 Hey Everyone! I've been M.I.A for a few months now. I'm sorry. A lot been going on in the home front and at my full -time job. It's hard to find time to finish all my to-do lists and unfortunately writing was put on the back burner for awhile but I think it's just about time I'm done with that. There hasn't really been any updates, no new books out, but my Emerson Academy Series is now available in print too! So if you have been waiting for it to be in paperback, now is your chance to pick up a copy for your shelves!

I will be back on shortly, this is a just a quick H-E-L-L-O during my lunch hour!!! I just wanted to let you all know I'm thankful for your support, I love your feedback on my stories, and I am glad people are falling in love with my characters just as much as I have.

There's a few things swirling around my head lately, and I need to take a moment to put it all down on paper. Once I do that, I will have more progress to report.