My Writing Studio

As a writer, I think WHERE you write is super important.  For instance, I find that I cannot write well when I'm seated at the kitchen table, between my two children who are throwing chicken nuggets at one another.  For whatever reason, I find this distracting.  Go figure.

So instead, I write in my studio.  I call it my 'studio' because, up until 4 months ago, I spent the majority of my time painting.  (Well, let's be honest here, I spent the majority of my time eating and watching TV.)  But when I wasn't eating chocolate or watching reruns of Psych, I was painting.  In the back room of the house.  AKA the 'studio'.

But since my life has changed a bit and I now find myself reading and writing every minute of the day (wow, that's almost not an exaggeration) my 'studio' has become less of an artist's free-for-all and more of a writer's workshop.

So anyway, I have this great studio that my awesome husband made for me and it's so wonderful and inspiring but...I'm messy.  :(

I can't deny it. "Messy" just comes with my personality.  I'm loud.  I'm artsy.  I draw tattoos on people with sharpies.  I let my kids throw food and color on the walls....I'm the epitome of "mess".  Here is a picture of my studio earlier this afternoon:

Pretty wrecked, eh?  Did you notice the dead plant on the piano bench?  *sigh*  Yeah.  I fail at gardening.  You'll

I love the 90s...just saying.

Remember the 90's?  *sigh* If not, I've decided to post some pictures as a refresher.  Hope you enjoy!

Ah, SAVED BY THE BELL.  I mean, was there ever a better high school show? (Don't answer that!) Remember the episode where Jesse freaked out?  "I'm so excited...I'm so excited..I'm so...scared."  The ultimate after school special, right there.

I don't know about you, but I was in love with Mike Vitar.  

"You're killing me Smalls!"

Wait, does that mean strangers are reading my book?

I'm having a good day.  Partly because I spent the morning cuddled up with my babies on the couch (*love* my children).

But also because Sophie & Carter is doing much much better than I ever anticipated.

When Sophie & Carter was first published four weeks ago, I thought approximately five people would buy it (and all five people would, of course, be friends of mine) and then it would disappear into the oblivion of Amazon books.

But that hasn't happened...yet.  :)

My sales rank with Amazon started out at #60,302 out of 750,000 Kindle books.

Not bad.  :)  I was feeling victorious because my book---written by ME, a newbie author---was in the top 100,000 ebooks.  Awesome!

But this morning I checked my sales rank again and...     drum roll please.... 

Meet Blaire Kensley

Over this past week I had the opportunity to meet an awesome up-and-coming writer by the name of Blaire Kensley, author of the soon-to-be hit series THE CREED. And guess what?  She agreed to let me interview her!

See below!

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1) Blaire Kensley, who are you?  Tell us about yourself.

I guess the simple version is, I was born and raised in Texas but unlike most tried-and-true Texas folk I would love to actually travel and even live in different parts of the world if the opportunity presents itself.  I have an almost irrational sense of adventure, which frightens my husband to no end; especially when I attempt to plan my irrational acts and make them appear more rational than they really are. (Yeah, he’s not fooled either.)  I was the only girl raised in a house full of boys (4 to be exact) and am ranked somewhere close to the top in age, so I’m pretty tough, a little quirky, I smile a lot and possess the tendency to ramble on and on when I get nervous.

Because A Raccoon Attack Makes Sense

I took my first lesson in archery a few weeks ago as research for my next book. I'm not sure what my expectations were, exactly, for lesson #1, but I'm almost certain they didn't include 1) the equation for kinetic energy 2) a smoking audience and 3) my medieval death.

Allow me to elaborate.

1) The Equation for Kinetic Energy
I took my lessons at Sportman's Warehouse which, for those of you unfamiliar with the store, is like a Costco--but instead of crates of spaghetti sauce, and mouthwash by the gallon, Sportman's has guns, knives, kayaks, tents, fishing poles, deer heads, men with beards...you get the picture.

Amidst the plethora of dead creatures and weapons with which to execute such mammals, there is a small area in the back labeled: Archery. It was to this area I went for my first lesson in the subject.

After weaving my way through ammunition and bear spray (a real thing), I approached a gentleman at the archery counter. We’ll call this gentleman "Bert". So, up to Bert I went, all excited to learn about bows and arrows.

Hot Male Fairies...Ahoy!

I'm officially retracting my previous fairy post. (The one about male fairies not being hot because of the whole wispy-iridescent wings thing.)

Don't get me wrong--I still think butterfly wings are lame on a hot guy...BUT...I just finished reading C.C. Hunter's "Born at Midnight" (staring a male protagonist that just so happens to be part fae) and I'm hooked.

Now, for those of you who have read "Born at Midnight", I want to make it clear that, although I'm crazy about Derek (the half-fairy guy), I'm still totally Team Lucas (the other hot guy in the series).

Why am I Team Lucas?

For the same reason I'm Team Jacob (Twilight), Team Damon (Vampire Diaries), and Team Eric (True Blood). I root for the sexy, misunderstood, somewhat-dark-and-evil hot guy. Always.

Because I can't resist a 'monster' with a heart.

...And I don't want to. [insert wagging eyebrows here]

Anyway... starting today, I'm onboard with hot male fairies. Just FYI. :)

Love like WHOA

I have great friends. I mean truly, fantastic friends.

I had a meltdown in my kitchen two days ago. Like a real cry-my-eyes-out-snot-all-over meltdown. And not because I'm a terrible chef and should never be allowed to construct a sandwich or pasta dish without supervision. But because I was feeling overwhelmed by two incredibly powerful things:

1) The fear that I might not be able to make my next book good.

2) The all-consuming desire to MAKE my next book good.

Essentially, these are the same thing. And, although I started rewriting Promise Me Not earlier this week, I'm already 28,000 words in...so I'm feeling better about it. Which means it's not hopeless.

But my point, is that my friends (and by friends, I also mean family members) are awesome. Because they love me like crazy and they tell me so. I was re-reading some of the facebook messages my friends have been sending me for the last few months and I almost started crying again--geez, I'm such a girl!--because of how encouraging they all are. It means so much to me. More than I could ever verbalize to them.