OPEN THY HEART teaser, IIST sale, monkey bread and more

I've been MIA! Well, kinda. My blog was lonely there for a bit. The past week-ish has been chock-full of scrambling to do OTH edits and get out the eARCs. But I'm done, for now, finally! (Boy does it feel nice to finally take a breather!) Gotta go over stuff one more time, but it's all good. And guess what? OPEN THY HEART is up for pre-order! *throws coffee bean confetti* The tour starts up on release day (September 15th--there's going to be TWO awesome giveaways), but I wanted to share one of the teasers, because I'm really excited for what happens in Flora 2. And, in celebration of this, IF I SPEAK TRUE is now 99 cents! (By Sun & Candlelight is as well, but being a novella, it'll stay at that price indefinitely.) 

And now for my quick summary for this week:

1) If you want to have dessert lying around the house, do NOT make monkey bread. Especially not the quick, easy-to-make kind with pre-made biscuit mix. (The entire thing was gone in less than 24 hours.) If you DO want to inhale large doses of sugar, then I highly suggest this quick, simple recipe. Monkey bread is not just for breakfast, ya know. It can be for all of the time dessert, too.

2) My new go-to song for Cozenage 2 (one of two projects I'm currently working on) is Stay Awake by Will Sutton. It's from the What The Night Said album, and I love it! Totally encompasses the feel for Logan and Jennifer Dawn. I guarantee the more you listen to it, the more you'll love it. (Oh and Katydid, too.) You can check it out HERE.

3) I finally get to read again--Woohoo!--and there are *so* many books on my TBR! Here's some of my most recent Kindle purchases... Have you read any of them? (If so, what did you think? I'd love to hear about it!) 


4) September's Reader Interview will be with Geeky Chiquitas! I'm very excited for you to learn more about them next week. They're great gals!

5) Amber's Swag September at Paradise of Pages is ON! Amber is spreading the author love all September by sharing book swag (yay!), so check out her blog and enter HERE to win some of my bookmarks (and a secret something I haven't shared yet. Surprise!)


Well, that's pretty much it! Now I'm off to do boring adult stuff, like dishes and other non-entertaining chores. Have a blessed weekend, everyone! :)

This week's writerly news: Writing Inspiration while on vacation

Hey, guys! Last week our family went on our annual summer vacation. I try not to post things about being away from my home while I'm gone, so even though I took a ton of pictures that I wanted so badly to share, I did not. And yes, this might have meant a bit of angst on my part, but guess what? It means more pics right now for you! Yay! (Didn't that work out swell?) 

We went to the beach, more specifically, where pretty much everyone from the valley goes... Pismo. (But if you go to Pismo Beach you basically always also go to Avila Beach, Oceano, Grover Beach, and the nearby San Luis Obispo, because they're so close.) 

As usual, we writers are always a few steps ahead of the game, so while the second Flora book is coming out soon, I'm already over here working on book three and the second Cozenage book (after Pity Isn't An Option). And sure, blogs and Pinterest boards are great to capture ideas and whatnot (oh hey, here are mine, by the way...) I love coming across visual inspiration the natural way. So here you go... a few photos I took recently that will most definitely end up in my books in the not-so-distant future. 

Do I even need to explain this one?

On the beach. Loved the sunset coloring and
how very dark that one low cloud was.

Looking up from inside a
eucalyptus grove.

Another beautiful sunset.

A house even worse than the Pulman residence!

Took this whilst driving down a lonely road.
It has the Cozenage series written all over it.

Through the passenger window. Soooo
someplace Jonas would come across! 

I actually filmed this. It was evening, and these
birds flew by in a continual line for almost FIVE
minutes. They were all heading south, further out
to sea. (To feed, maybe?) It was CRAZY.

Trying to look through the eucalyptus. 

The grove again -- wanted to show the
dense foliage on the grove floor and
also how dark it was inside even in
the early afternoon.

Have a blessed weekend! 

This week's writerly news + music love + Ode to #Arrow

Pssst. Come here. Let me tell you a story.




There once was a girl who constantly read and wrote
She stayed away from the TV because her #booklove was no joke
Then Twitter brought her a show 
Featuring a whiskery guy named Arrow
And now her writerly/readerly stuff 
Has suffered greatly. (She blames Amell.)

Ode to Arrow
By Jessica L. Brooks

That should really be the end of my writerly news, 'cause it's basically all I've got. Seriously haven't read a lick since last week because Lovemuffin and I have watched almost 40 episodes of Arrow since last Saturday. I mean, talk about a marathon. (But us fanperson-ing together *has* been fun, so there's that.) Now that I've caught up (not counting the last episode, DO NOT GO THERE), feel free to squee with me on the interwebs, because I'm totally down.

Quick recap on what I actually have done this week...

News/Noteworthy

* After a Hellogoodbye hiatus, I am back full-force in love with them and they are fueling the writing I am getting done (because, you know, some *is* getting done, as Lovemuffin does work and I'm not allowed to watch an episode without him). 

Their most recent release

** Songs to check out: Just Don't Let Go Just Don't, The Magic Hour is Now, Die Young, Die Dumb; Not Soon  

There is a VINYL of this and I am totally freaking out.

** Songs to check out: Coppertone, Getting Old, The Thoughts That Give Me the Creeps, When We First Met

* I have something exciting (for me, anyway) that I get to announce soon (coming out in enewsletter next week) and I can't wait to share it here in a week or so! *woot*

* If you haven't purchased Ghiradelli brownies, you're missing out. They are the best thing since sliced bread (and pizza. And brownies that are plain, because, yes... these HAVE chocolate IN them. TRIPLE the chocolate. THIS IS IMPORTANT). If you have a Costco, they'll hook you up with six (yes, six) batches in one box. I can't even.

* I've been getting bits and pieces of the second Cozenage book popping into my head (which is awesome). Don't want to say much, but it involves something Jonas does that is different (but neat, IMO). So... yeah.

* My author pal Cheyanne (@NormalChey) and I are going to watch the first two (probably... one for sure) episodes of Arrow tonight together on Twitter (I jumped the gun and started watching it before this, so she's the newbie, but it's all good), so if ya'll want to join in, we'll be on at 8 central (for the love of all things, do not tweet spoilers, yo!)! The hashtag will be #Arrowthon. 

Giveaways

The Man in the Iron Mask still has two weeks to go... enter to win it here! (The hashtag for this monthly feature is now officially #JLBgivesawayaDVD.)


And... that is all I've got, because I was up until two a.m. this morning thanks to Baskin Robbins and their super-caffeinated Blasts. (Thank you, Lovemuffin... totally my bad.)

Have a very blessed weekend, everyone! 

Imagery in your writing

The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

I just finished reading The House of The Scorpion and man do I love Nancy's writing. (Recently, I received a coupon from Barnes and Noble in the mail... guess what I'm buying with it? The sequel.) This is one of my favorite descriptions in the book (there were more, but the further I got into it, the faster I read, so I'm going to have to go back and reread it to find the parts I liked). Just had to share, as sentences like these are what pull you into the story and help you see exactly what Ms. Farmer wants to you see. (And is that what all of us writers aspire to do?) 

Light 'Em Up: Igniting This Summer's Writing Inspiration

Writers look for (and find) inspiration everywhere, including throughout the artistic and unique melodies and words in music. ST Bende and I are over at the Indie Ignites blog sharing our current writing inspiration (including Fall Out Boy, Of Monsters and Men, and Philip Philips). 

We were trying to keep the post short, but two more current inspirations for me (one sparking ideas in my head for years now) are 

1) Mayday Parade's A Lesson in Romantics album (You Be the Anchor That Keeps My Feet On The Ground, I'll Be The Wings That Keep Your Heart In The Clouds being my absolute favorite song ever and inspiration for If I Speak True a couple years ago -- link)

and 

2) Hillsong United's ZION album (Mercy Mercy, reloaded being one of the ones I can have on a loop and just keep writing forever -- the louder the better -- link)

Whether you too are looking for some writerly inspiration, or simply wanting to enjoy some new songs this summer, I'm sure you find a few you like. :) Check our post out HERE and share some of your current favorite songs with us! See you there!