The Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge

I must confess that I haven't gotten ANY reading done as of yet. I have been watching a whole bunch of Christmas movies. We started off with Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas. My daughter absolutely loved it so much that she has added it to her Christmas Wish List. We then watched Jingle All the Way on the Hallmark channel. My daughter has now added Jingle and his book to her Christmas wish list. Then, I moved on to "Mommy movies." Hallmark supplied a great line up last night. First it was Debbie Macomber's Mrs. Miracle, followed by Debbie Macomber's Call Me Mrs. Miracle. I absolutely love both of these movies. Mrs. Miracle is my favorite of the two. I would love to read both of the books. So, after these came this years new Macomber movie, Debbie Macomber's Trading Christmas. I recall reading this book, but the movie did not line up with what I recalled. It was still an excellent movie, don't get me wrong. I am currently sitting here watching Hallmark channel. The current movie is called The Most Wonderful Time of the Year. It seems familiar, so I may have watched this last year. 

So, as for the reading. The trend in movies yesterday sort of fits with what I am thinking for my book. The first book I will begin reading is Christmas in Cedar Cove. I love Debbie Macomber, so it is a great place to start. 

Now that I have finished my NaNoWriMo novel, I have time to actually read again. Don't get me wrong, there is still much editing and rewriting to do.on the novel. If you are curious, there is a couple of [unedited] chapters available to read for free over on my other blog. I'd love to hear some feedback, but please remember these chapters are first draft.

I am not entirely sure how much reading I will get done before Christmas, but fortunately for me the reading challenge goes until January 6th. The first couple of weeks of December are going to be busy. We've Seen Santa has been booked for many events. We have a parade on the 2nd, two readings on the 6th, an elementary school visit on the 9th, Cookies with Santa on the night of the 9th, and then we have a "seminar about writing and publishing" for 1st through 5th graders on the 12th. We are nervous, but excited for all of these events. I even made sweatshirts for the entire family to wear for these events and just to wear. I've also designed posters to put on the truck for the parade.

Sweatshirt

Poster

Somewhere in there, we have to manage Christmas shopping. Oh, and I have a dentist appointment on my birthday. My kids also have various appointments coming up during the course of the reading challenge. But, I will get some reading done. I need to curl up with a good book and take a break from my own novel anyways. 

I bit off way more than I can chew

I love Stephen King. He is one of my all time favorite authors. That being said, I was so excited to participate in the Bag of Bones read-a-long. However, it just is not to be. Here is what I posted over on the Castle Macabre website.

Sadly, I am going to have to drop out of this read-a-long. :( Tomorrow marks the end of the first week, and I have not even managed to finish the first page. When I signed up, I had forgotten about NaNoWriMo. Then, I insanely thought that I could still do both. This is apparently not the case. Thank you Michelle for thinking of me and extending the invitation. Happy reading to everyone still going. :)

Not only am I working on writing my first ever full length novel, but I also have to make time to promote We've Seen Santa as it is the holidays now. We are also scheduled for a few events during the first weeks of December, and are preparing for these as well. I am not ashamed to admit that with the read-a-long, I overbooked myself.

I know I am not posting nearly as often as I should be. I don't make it here to my blog or onto my Facebook Page or Twitter as often as I should. I apologize for that. Please bear with me while I sort out all these things. I think my alter ego and I need to clone ourselves so that we can both work at the same time. On the plus side, I have almost made it to the end of my novel, and my goal of 50,000 words. This means that I will start to have my time back to keep in better touch with all of you.

Thank you for being so patient with me while I attempt to learn how to function as yet another person while still being everyone else. Current personality count-SIX.

1. Mother
2. Wife
3. Daughter
4. Friend
5. Children's Author
6. Novelist

Let's just hope none of them rise up and revolt against me or the other personalities, and we will all get along just fine.

Bag of Bones Read-a-Long & The Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge

Technically, the read-a-long started two days ago. I am so behind already. I have gotten as far as finding Bag of Boneson my bookshelf and bringing it down stairs. By Saturday I am supposed to read Chapters 1-9. I will be able to read some of it today while I wait for my son to get out of school. I still am working on the NaNoWriMo 50,000 [or more] word novel. You can still follow my progress for NaNoWriMo here. I also have a TBR stack that is miles high. I think my husband may ban me from putting books on my Christmas list, LOL.

Speaking of Christmas, I am also participating in The Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge. We would love for you to join us.

Here is what I will for sure be reading during the challenge. I will start with:




Then, I hope to have time to read:




And it is possible I will even find the time to read more. I have a few other Christmas books saved on Kindle, and a few more on my shelves. And, who knows what Christmas books Santa will get for my kids this year. He brings them a new one every year.

So that about sums up what's going on with my reading. I haven't read anything in a couple of weeks now. Looking forward to settling back in with a good book. Now if only I could find the time. Happy reading everyone!

Sorry for my neglect

I would like to take this time to apologize for the fact that I have not had much to post lately. Since completing The Daisy Chain by Erica M Goros, I have not read anything new. I'm still working on my NaNoWriMo novel. Before getting started on my novel, I did enter a few giveaways. This past week I've hauled in a few new books. So, here are the books I have recently added to my TBR stack.

From Michelle at Castle Macabre, I won:



From over at Popcorn Reads, I won:




And from Author Lia Fairchild herself during a blog hop, I won:




I would like to thank everyone for hosting these wonderful giveaways. I apologize that it will be quite a bit of time before I have time to read and review these or any of the other books in my TBR stacks. But, I promise that as soon as I wrap up NaNoWriMo, I will return to reading and reviewing for all my fellow authors. Meanwhile, happy reading/writing/or whatever venture you are caught up in.

The Daisy Chain by Erica M Goros

Please accept my sincerest of apologies that this review has taken me so long to post. Sometimes, life conspires against us and we don't get to focus on the things we want to do, but rather must focus on the things that we have to do. This in no way reflects the quality of the story or the ability of the author.

I loved reading The Daisy Chain by Erica M. Goros. In a note from the author, Goros wrote

We all take parts of our past, whether tragic or just tragically part of life, we bury them. Twisting them into a space that fits snuggly into our minds, distorting reality into what could only be called, ourreality.

I'm sure that everyone will agree with this statement. We are all guilty of changing our memories to suit what exactly we want to remember. For some, you will only remember the good, and no matter what bad they have done, you forgive them anything and forget that it ever transpired. For others, you only remember the bad. Regardless of what they have done for you, your memory is forever tainted by the way that they hurt you. This is how you remember them.

Such is the case of the main character, Dannah. Throughout the story, you follow her through her mind. The story simultaneously travels both the past and the present. Perhaps, we only see what Dannah wants us to see, but more likely is we only see what Dannah herself is willing to see. The storyline itself is tragic and beautiful. It is well written, and will leave the reader turning pages as fast as they can. Putting this book down is a chore. You must force yourself to admit that the clock has defeated you and head to bed or you will pull an all-nighter to complete the story.

Nearing the end of the book, I was shocked when Dannah's eyes were opened wide before us. When the truth came to light, as it has a tendency to do. I will not reveal anything that I found in those pages, as you must read the book yourself to discover. I do not produce spoilers, but I will say this. I NEVER saw it coming. Even upon going back and reading it again, there was never any clue. There was a few things that, upon rereading, I could take a different way now that I knew how the story would end, but it never gave so much as a clue that that's what they referred to.

Goros did an excellent job with this story. Her hope is that you will be able to relate to each of her characters. Perhaps you have a little bit of Cole in you. Perhaps you are more like Elizabeth. The characters are well drawn and easily real.

I look forward to many more by Goros, and I strongly recommend this book to everyone who has ever dreamed.



Or you can purchase it in e-format:

NaNoWriMo posts have moved

In order to keep things organized and separated, I have created a second blog. This blog is strictly devoted to the goings on of NaNoWriMo and my in progress novel. If you would like to keep up to date on what is going on with those things, please visit me over there.

In the meantime, I will continue to post here about all things We've Seen Santa, and my own thoughts on everything I read.

First up for review, I have finished The Daisy Chain, and I promise to post my review soon. Please bear with me as November has suddenly become the busiest month of my year. I also have strep, so I am not feeling 100%. But life continues to happen around me, and therefore there are children to care for, a husband to tend to, and chores to be done. I thank you for your patience with me while I settle into my new role as novelist.

NaNoWriMo day 1

NaNoWriMo started today. I set myself a goal of 3000 words per day. I should easily reach the 50000 words goal by November 30th, even with expecting to take days off for my son's birthday and for Thanksgiving, both later this month.

So, knowing that I had to write at least 3000 words today, I began shortly after the kids left for school. I was unsure where I was going when I began this morning. I had a rough sketch idea of the kind of story I wanted to write. A brief idea of the plot line I intended to follow.

I feel extremely accomplished today. I set my goal at 3000 words. I managed to write 4619 words. There are 5 completed chapters. I have even given it a title and a brief description now.

"Huntress"

Plagued by memories of an abnormal childhood, Tabitha devotes her life to chasing the thing that destroyed life as she knew it.

I also managed to get a little more reading done. Erica M. Goros has managed to catch me completely off guard with the plot twist she just threw into The Daisy Chain. I cannot wait to finish reading it and share my thoughts with all of you.

As for NaNoWriMo, just imagine, if I could write 5 chapters of more than 4500 words today while washing dishes, shopping, and having to pick my kids up from school, then what do you think I can do the next day or the day after that. Perhaps this story has been inside of me all along and just beating at the cage bars in my head, trying to escape. I hope it continues to flow from my fingertips as smoothly as it did today.