Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Goals

Each year I like to take a little time to set some goals for myself. Usually these are things that I will have no trouble doing while also adding in a few that maybe a bit harder.

This year my goals are:

1. Finish and publish Book four. 

I'm really looking forward to getting this done. This will more than likely be the last book in the Obscured series!! (Unless of course the characters decide they aren't done telling their story! We all know how tricky they can be!)

2. Plan out my next TWO books! 

This goal will be a bit harder. I have lots of idea swirling around in my brain and getting the whole concept out and ready for writing is sometimes difficult. And yet, this is something I'm really excited about, meeting new characters, learning all about them, etc... So while this may be hard it will still be fun!

3. Balance. Balance. BALANCE 

This. Is. Life. Balance is probably the most important one of my goals. My goal is to make a schedule. Yes a schedule. In a planner and everything. (if you know of a great planner, drop in in the comments. I'd love some suggestions!!) For not just my writing, but also juggling the rest of the chaos that fills my time, between dance classes, dance competitions, swim classes, karate, helping run our other business, etc... My time is split in 100 different directions and I would love to get to the point where I can get more than one book out a year. Wouldn't that be an amazing thing?


So those are mine. Maybe yours are similar? Tell me yours! Tag me in the post or drop them in the comments below!!

CM

#jumpin17




Tuesday, December 27, 2016

JumpIn17

Throughout the year there are moments where you look around yourself in awe of the amazing people you have around you, kids, family, friends, and of course pets. 😉 But then there are the others in your life that you sometimes can take for granted.

Who could I be talking about? I listed everyone right?

Nope.

If you know my writing journey, you know that my family didn't even know I had begun this writing journey some 9 years ago. I kept it hidden. Hidden because of fear that I wouldn't succeed, fear that what I was writing wasn't good enough. And even though I've now published three books, I still have those fears, but that's not the point. When I finally took the plunge 2 and a half years ago and published Obscured, I didn't know where that would lead me. I didn't know anyone in my industry, but as I said I was hiding.

All that time that I spend crippled by fear, not allowing myself to dive in and go for it left me with a very little, sort of non-existent support system. Until recently.

About two months ago I was brought into a circle of other writers by a successful writer that I had been following for quite some time. She had created this smallish circle of writers that help each other All. The. Time.

In the short time I have been in the group, they have come through to help me with a few problems I was having when I otherwise would have been torn on what to do. In addition to that group, they have since introduced me to another group as well. It's like an enormous web branching out with all of these people who have so much knowledge to learn from.

The point of my post is that as the new year dawns, I want someone to learn from me. Branch out, don't hide. You never know what you might be missing out on. Something big might be just around the corner for you, but if you don't take that leap, you'll never know what might have been. So put away those doubts as you are thinking of New year's resolutions, something I don't really believe in, change your mindset and instead of saying "I'm going to change this this year..." Set a goals. Start small, Things that are attainable. For me if I said to myself "For the new year, I'm giving up soda!" 😲 Well. That just wouldn't be realistic for me.

I'd love to know what you've been on the fence about, is it writing a book? Is it learning to cook? Or bake? Maybe you've always wanted to be an artist, but you were scared that you have nothing amazing to create? Or you want to be a blogger, but feel that you have nothing insightful to blog about.... I challenge you to jump in and just do it. A little at a time.

Let me know if you do, I'll follow along with you. That's one of my goals this year, to connect more with my readers, I'd love to get to know all of you!

Let me know what you think! #jumpin17

CM

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Winners!

Hey guys! That giveaway was so fun, I loved hearing from you guys a bit!
Thank you for making it so much fun!

Here are the WINNERS! 



Congrats! The gift cards have already been emailed directly to you!! Enjoy!

And don't forget, Obscured is still on sale at all retailers for 0.99 until Christmas Eve!!



Follow me on bookbub: http://bit.ly/2haU9HU
Here you will get updates on new releases and when there are sales on my books! 

Monday, December 12, 2016

Tie!

Holiday weekends are always jam packed with 'things'. On Saturday, we went to our annual Cookie party. Have you ever been to one? You know you bake 3 dozen cookies and make sure you bring the recipe, and then you get to vote for your favorite one! Oh, and don't forget getting to take home a box filled with all the cookies you sampled at the party! Win-win! 

This year I picked a recipe off Pinterest for S'mores cookies! And we tied for first place! They were so good I figured I would share the recipe with you guys since we did deviate from the original just a bit! 


  • 3/4 c. butter, softened
  • 1/2 c. white sugar
  • 1/2 c. packed brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 t. vanilla extract
  • 1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
  • 1 c. graham cracker crumbs
  • 1/4 t. salt
  • 1/2 t. baking soda
  • 3/4 c. milk chocolate chips
  • 2 Hershey bars, broken into bits
  • 1 c. mini marshmallows
With a mixer, mix together butter sugars; add egg and vanilla. Then mix in flour, graham cracker crumbs, salt, and baking soda until smooth. Stir in chocolate chips. Then scoop cookies dough onto a cookie sheet leaving room between for spreading.

In a 375 degree oven, bake for 10 minutes. Take the cookie sheet out of the oven, and press marshmallows into cookies. Then place them back in the oven until done, approx. 3-4 mins. 

Once out of the oven, wait a couple minutes before adding the broke Hershey bars pieces to the cookies. 

Enjoy! 

CM

P.S. Don't forget that Obscured is on sale until the 24th!! 
And make sure you enter the giveaway HERE

Friday, December 9, 2016

Happy Holidays!!! *Giveaway*

The best thing about the holiday season is giving!! And it's my turn to give back to you, my readers!! I would love to buy your next book, so I'm giving away TWO $5 Amazon gift cards. 

As a bonus, if there are more than 300 entries, I will throw in another one!! Share, share, share!! 

In addition, I've discounted Obscured to 0.99 until Christmas Eve! 




Whoa! Information overload! :) I can't wait until the winners are drawn! Good luck!!

CM!

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Runner up!


Obscured earned runner up in the 
2016 Shelf Media Group's Best Self-Published book competition! 
Check it out! 





It's pretty isn't it? 

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2emoIps
Nook: http://bit.ly/2fMaseW
Kobo: http://bit.ly/2fntmGo
Apple: http://apple.co/2gOqjcK


Thursday, December 1, 2016

December!!!



Happy December!! It's December 1st!! 
Who's as excited as me?? I love all things Christmas, including snow, which is pretty typical since where I live we don't have snow..like ever. So when we can take a trip to see the snow I get excited...like little kid excited. 

This year were going up north to cut our own Christmas tree! This is the first time we've had a real tree in years!! But of course that's not the only reason I'm excited, we've been waiting just to make sure there is snow on the ground when we go. I have to get that white Christmas vibe somewhere! 😉

I can't wait! What are your special plans this holiday season?? 

C. M.