Pre-orders and artsy things

So Serena’s novel is available in the kindle store for pre-order. Release date is May 1st.

Between edits I have been doing art to rest my mind.

Cover design and resin pieces. The newest poetry volume is the cover above. Next week I will be posting details about Soul’s Door. It will be published soon, as writing is done so I still have edits and layout.

I have also been writing. Poetry, and short stories. This has been a busy year. After my birthday next week, I intend to be more active here. Twice monthly is the plan. So stay tuned, there is going to be so much more coming. I may even get a couple of guest bloggers this year to help boost my content.

That time of the year

This is the hard time for me to keep up with my blog. So I apologize. Between sick, which seems to be a yearly thing, and birthdays… February and March are busy months for me. I am also working out the details for publishing another poetry volume (Soul Door), a novel as Serena (Rust, Gore, And the Junkyard Zombie) and I have a poem that I submitted to a new E-zine (Creatives Rising)

that is releasing soon. I am also still writing more poetry and the next novel. I will be updating this blog as I can, and I promise that I will post a couple more poems here by the end of the week. Still, Please have patience with my erratic updates.

Productivity Faeries

So I am on almost all of the social media outlets…. Though it is hit or miss on some as to how often. Tumblr is not something that I am on quite as often…. And yes I use it for poetry not porn…. Lol. It has been the best for poetry prompts. I really like prompts, as it gives me a focus to help the muse.

I finished writing Word Petals, my latest volume of poetry. However, editing and layout will be putting the likely release in January. Still, It meant that I needed a new volume. So I put in play one of the titles that I have in reserve, Soul’s Door. The new volume is already started.

Rust, Gore, and the Junkyard Zombie is still in the first round of edits. We just moved in a new home so I have been very busy, and the edits have been back burnered a couple of times. It is a priority but I have to have things like coffee and clean clothes for my editing time.

The blog/newsletter that I am doing with my sister is up and doing well. We post at least four times a week, often more…. Makes me feel like I am neglecting this one, though I have even gotten better at keeping it up.

If you are wanting to find me on the various social media outlets…. I am pattimouse nearly everywhere. Or just comment and I will answer.

2017: Reflecting

I sat down to write this morning and realized that though this has been a rocky year personally…. It was a great year for my writing. I finished and published three volumes of poetry this year and am nearly done with a fourth. I put in play a pen name, Serena Mossgraves. As Serena I released a Novella (The Death of Neverland). I am nearly done with my first novel (Rust, Gore, and the Junkyard Zombie)… Just have to finish the editing, the writing is done. I have done several short stories and worked with two children’s stories. I also started collaboration with my sister on our Spiritual Gardening blog.

Looking it all over, it really does not seem like as much as it is. Still, it is more than I have accomplished before. With the end of the year nigh, I find myself looking back at the things that I wanted for 2017…and thinking ahead to what I want from 2018. I refuse to measure my life in regret, so I do not dwell on the things that went sideways. However, I do look at them and see what I can learn from what I have done. This year, though a personal hot mess, I was able to redirect myself back to my writing. I was able to make it a priority. That is behavior that I plan on continuing.

What about you? Was 2017 a good year? Why? What will be carried over into the new year?

Preparing New Year goals

I Know it seems early to consider my goals for the new year…but I am not one who does well with “new years” goals. I do have a lot of changes coming for 2018. I have been asked to assist my sister doing a new blog/newsletter that we may try to turn into magazine later. It will be posting weekly(thankfully I am not the only blogger on this so the schedule should be able to be depended on)

Spiritual Gardening with the Mindful Faeries

Life is also settling down for me some, so I am hoping to update this blog at least twice a month as well as doing that.
I am well over half done with Rust, Gore, and the Junkyard Zombie…and the poetry volume Word Petals. So there will be some book releases that can be expected from both Serena and I. Serena has a couple of stories she is working on, and a couple of stories planned. I have two children’s books in the works as well as my poetry volumes.
This time of year tends me towards self doubt and introspection, as it does many of us. So please be patient with me and I will hopefully be able to give you more to ponder in the days ahead.
In the meantime, Go check out the Spiritual Garden and be prepared for the Mindful Faeries to help your knowledge grow!

Energy sapping Monsters

zoffttttlyyyy

 

With so much requiring our attention, this time of year is not always a productive time for us writers. Well at least in a personal sense. Between Nanowrimo and the November PAD challenges, and other writing, there is more than enough people looking for our attention. Add in normal Seasonal blues that many have, and it can be overwhelming.

Personally, I find myself an anxious mess about the amount I am expected to join in. I chose not to do Nano this year because of the amount of stuff I have going on in my personal life…still I am finding that other writers are looking for me to join. I am so glad that I have friends that include me. There is always something to be said for that.

I have been doing the PAD challenge. I also have managed to get a bit farther in Rust, Gore and the Junkyard Zombie.  I believe that 2018 will be a wonderful year for book releases. Many wonderful writers are doing Nano this year. I am cheering them on.
However, with all that I have going on, life is weighing heavy on this girl right now. It means that I am finding my spoon supply a lot smaller. Forgive me my sweet ones if I fail to post more that a couple times during the next two months. I will do my best to keep all my balls I am juggling in the air, but if one falls…I will just have to dust myself off and try some more.

Another teaser from Serena

Walking around the town with a badge and a gun tends to create a attitude. Especially since the whole town knew that I was a seal. I had been considering going detective, even took the initial tests for it. Still, in the moment, walking my beat. .Well I felt like a bad ass. Even the asshole drunks didn’t tend to fight when I sent them home.
Yeah it’s easy to allow it to go to my head, so I would let the idea of being a bad ass run through my mind to boost my confidence before I patrolled. Confidence helped to prevent the idiots from challenging me. Jarvin really was not a place where violence is a concern. ~Tara Robinson

From Serena

An excerpt from Rust, Gore, and the junkyard Zombie :
Jimbo actually tried to bite him. Dad’s reflexes have never dulled in the twenty years since he left the military. He was always a more physical person, it was one of his more annoying personality traits. His exercise routine was nearly a religious thing. He jogged five miles every morning, and did other muscle builders as well. He claimed it was how he kept his body in shape. I was so stunned that all I could do was stare.
Dad dodged away and started cussing. “Jimbo, you damn fool! What the Hell is wrong with you? “ Jimbo only groaned, and followed Dad. Again, Jimbo lunged and tried to bite.
“Have you been in my good stash again? You know that you have no tolerance for the booze! Get your drunk ass up to the couch to sober up! And how did you get so damn bloodied up boy?”
Dad clocked him, as Jimbo tried yet another time to bite him. Not the first time Dad sent him flying, but this time something was different. Dad knew it too. A look of deadly steel settled in his eyes.
“Jimbo, I am done playing with you. This is the last warning. Back off!” Dad pulled out his Colt Desert Eagle, and grimaced as if he really did not want to use it. To be honest, he probably didn’t. He rarely did. “Pull your head out your ass boy!”
Dad snarled as he backed away, but Jimbo didn’t seem to hear him. Dad aimed for the knee. The shot rang loudly, ringing painfully across the entire garage.

Inspiration monsters

Well I have been extra prolific this year with poetry. I just published my third volume for the year. That was three times what I have managed before. So I was not expecting to do much else poetry wise this year. I have two children’s stories I want to finish, a novel half written(as Serena), a novella that needs more(again Serena) and two stories due to an anthology I am doing by March. So I was sitting down to work on Serena’s Rust, Gore, and the Junkyard Zombie.

I found myself distracted…and so to clear my mind I started to write out my thoughts. A mental cleansing if you will. Next thing I knew I have seven poems for my next volume. I don’t have any idea of why I have been this inspired, but I am not going to complain.

Go peek at my author page. I have added Literary Drops already. There are other great volumes available too. It seems that my muse has decided to be kind, so I will be releasing more soon. Tomorrow, when I type the new ones in, I will be sure to post at least one for y’all to enjoy.

And in case you are curious about Serena, she has an Author page as well. Currently it only has a single novella, but keep your eyes out for that to change.

Stranger than fiction 

My life has been unusual to say the least. I am not sure that I have it in me to tell every story of a crazy life lived with survival in mind. I have told some of my story. And I will likely tell more.  Still tonight I was talking to other writers in a get to know you kind of way.  I realized that to an outsider my life sounds like fiction. 

      Which is fine,  it is what made me. I have seen the monsters that hide behind the eyes of men. I learned how to survive,  after living with no running water and living homeless. I learned how to be adaptable for living with moving often during formidable years. Still learning.  I am now learning how to see my own worth through the eyes of amazing women who see me as being worthwhile.  They are strong and creative with amazing talent.  And I am a part of this group.  Over the next six months I will be in the Fiction expedition hosted by the amazing Debbie Burns.  By the end of it I will have Rust,  Gore,  and the Junkyard Zombie ready for my editor’s lovely care.