Gratitude

*teary eyed*

I just wanted to take a pause and thank everyone who commented that they loved my stories. Each bride is different and each one has her fans. But *hand to heart* it really means a lot to me that there are people out there that enjoy reading these stories. I really appreciate knowing what people liked and didn't like about the stories.

I'm just really touched and all in my feelings that people took the time to tell me how they felt. Even those who didn't like it. I don't take it personal as I know not every story is for everyone. I've read books I didn't particularly like either. So it goes that there would be some who didn't like my stories.

Just to those who did and took the time to say so, thank you so very much. I am really humbled and touched. *waves hand in front of dampening eyelashes*

Okay, now I will get back to work before some folks come shoo me off the internet. If I spend too much time online they always find me (Jill, Monica, Barbara, and Wanda) and send me back to story land. I've got sequels to write!

Thank you and my best to you all,


Sunshine

Elyrian Brides II: Sancecrea is FREE today on Amazon!

And it's live! You can pick up your free copy of Izan's and Crea's revised story on Amazon here: Elyrian Brides II: Sancecrea

It is free today only!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Sancecrea Revision!

Sooooooooooooo...since I did a revision of Sancecrea I decided to offer her free to all and sundry tomorrow. The ending hasn't changed, I've just added some details.

My muse is on somewhat of a hiatus. She's sending me ideas but we haven't hatched anything yet. I figured I'd take the holidays to relax and reconnect with the family. That's what I decided. *lqtm* But the ideas they still get me.

I truly have to reconnect with family and friends. I have the tendency to shut everyone and everything out. I have to salute the writers and storytellers who can do it with children under the roof. You can't tell the little one mommy or daddy will play with them after the release date. You'd miss so much if you did. I don't know how they do it and again I salute them.

I'm getting my house back in order over the holiday. *chuckle* It looks like a cyclone hit a paper factory and then my house. Ideas all over the place. I need to get them back where they belong. I have a feeling after our holiday break my muse will have me typing away again.

I know I didn't give a release date for my next and I'm working on that. I'll announce it here on my blog. I like having a deadline. It keeps me to my writing schedule.

Welp, other than that, all is cool with my world and I hope everyone is enjoying their particular holiday(s). There are pics up on my page of my birthday dinner at Medieval Times this year. *chuckle* Got to love my family.

Happy New Year!

Sooo busy!

Ok, here I go again! *chuckle* The holiday season is upon me and I'm working like mad on my day time JOB and my stories.

I'm trying to put out TWO stories just before the holidays! *smiling* I love it!  I'm revising Sancecrea while I'm at it, too. Me and someone who loves Izan had a chat. They felt I left out some stuff. So, I added some stuff. *smirks* I'll be offering it at a discounted price some time this month.

Then there's Seven! Me and my muse came to a conclusion. There are a lot more adventures to Seven. *points at Muse* Don't blame me! So I finished this portion of Seven's story and published it this morning! At 3:00 am! I bounced right back up at 8:30 am to get back to work. I took today off from the full-time JOB to enjoy my birthday and I am!

Seven's complete first story can be purchased TTOC HERE for $0.99 today only.

Now, I must get back to work. I've got people side-eyeing me for more stories. I must type faster!

NaNoWriMo starts today!

Sooooooooooo much happening with my Elyrian Brides.  I am tooling away on Octavia's next book when I realize that I may need to look at Athena's story again. Ugh! I hope I can make my deadline.  So to that end, I'm going to use NaNoWriMo to help me push Octavia's story out. Then once it is out maybe then I can see what has to be done with Athena's story to make them mesh. Why do they have to mesh? Because they are sisters and I wrote that they would talk. Ugh! Why did I do that? *smh lqtms*

NaNoWriMo says I should write 1667 words a day. That's around 50,000 words. If I follow their rules I'll be over that for Octavia. So maybe I won't even take the whole month. But it is my goal to write at least the recommended wordage per day.

So I'm going to be super busy for the rest of the year. Especially with personal commitments and the holidays coming up. So I won't be around to blog. Hopefully, Athena will be launched without much revamping to be done and on time. Then I can settle down and tune into the brides on Elyria.

It is my aim to publish the next series of books all at one time. I read the criticisms and was perplexed. Then I remembered, those who so graciously chose to read my stories don't live in my head. *chuckle* So they can't see the rest of the story until after I write it down and publish it. So I'm going to publish them all at once. I want to do them right so that all will hopefully be made clear. I really do love where the story is going.

Also, I am very tickled to have had my first interview here. I was just tickled and humbled to be asked. I really enjoyed doing it and Nulli Para Ora asks some great questions. Not to mention she is an awesome writer in her own right.

So, bear with me. I've suspended story time until I'm finished with Octavia's story. Besides, I am impatiently yet patiently waiting for the drawing of Shawntiqua. I've seen a sketch. *bounces happily* She is a hottie! *chuckle* Can't wait to get going on her again.

Also, shout out to the universe of writers and storytellers: Talk to your muses! *chuckle* Seriously! I'm getting ideas for stories I don't do. I declare one morning I woke up with the best idea for the sequel to a popular movie. I remember thinking what an awesome idea and fell asleep again. I woke up not being able to remember the idea but knowing I had it before or at least dreamed it.

TALK TO YOUR MUSES AND LISTEN TO WHAT THEY ARE TELLING YOU!

That's all for now.

Inspiration, vacation, and pictures!

*yawns and stretches*

Man! I am burning the candle at all the ends these days. Since I came back from my vacation my muse has been on a roll. She is double thinking! Maybe even triple thinking!

I try to sleep and she’s talking kings, queens, and things unseen! *chuckles* Truly, she gave me two new story ideas on vacation. She’s showing me my next series. She’s mapping out the story that I’ve had in my head the longest. That heffa, the character not my muse, snagged yet one more song! *lqtms* She has a soundtrack going on now!  When I publish the first story in her series, I need Tyler Perry or someone to call me about making her movies.  Seriously.  Her tale is epic!

Plus, being on vacation made me see Baltimore differently. I took a cruise with my sister who is not a partier so I ended up resting more than I normally would on vacation. I even *gasp* left my laptop at home! You have no idea how much I did not want to leave it behind. But my muse wanted me to leave it and I did and I'm glad I did. I actually relaxed and when I relaxed the ideas flowed like water from a babbling brook. It was and still is just sweetness!

I took all the tours at each port we stopped in.  I realized that I didn’t know nearly as much of Baltimore’s story as I should. I found each little town fascinating for different reasons.  Baltimore’s history is just as rich and it is where I live.

So I have started doing the touristy thing with Baltimore. *chuckle* I took some pictures too! I uploaded them to my Facebook page and I figured I might as well put them here too.  A few of the pictures are of the buildings and one place in particular mentioned in Elyrian Brides: Sancecrea.

And yes they were taken from inside my car! Stop playing! The hood is real. People were looking at my parked car funny as it was. *chuckle*

Really funny and strange thing is that while I was debating if I wanted to take more than two quick pics of Crea’s spa, from inside my car, two little Caucasian girls jogged by me just as unconcerned.  I watched them in awe and shock. My thoughts were: What the hell are y’all doing out there? This is the hood! *smh smiling*

They jogged on by seemingly oblivious.  Or maybe they were shadows of things to come. Seriously they looked like two college girls, no older than 19-20.  There is a revitalization project going on but as you will see, it ain’t reached that part of North Avenue yet. I don’t expect it for another 20 years or more. But one never truly knows what the future holds, do they?

But several blocks down from the building are some new condos. Still, that was a far jog and I wouldn’t have advised it. *shrug*

The picture above is the Baltimore Cemetery that is mentioned in Elyrian Brides: Sansecrea. It is where North Avenue dead ends as if to say that if you stay here too long, it is waiting. But then Death is waiting for us all but it would be nice to die somewhere a lot nicer if you got the chance.

This is the front building of Crea's spa. I know I took a few liberties in the book but that is how I would redo it if given the chance. And no I would not make it into a spa. *smirk* You may be seeing more of this building in other stories.

Here is the side view.  As you can see there is a front building, a connector and then the back building which is three stories tall. Man the things that could be done with this whole block. As you see there are more houses just past the buildings. Most are boarded up and empty. Not a good spot for me to park or two little Caucasian girls to jog past. However, I did and they did. *still smh*

There are more pictures of Baltimore on my Facebook page here: Baltimore to my touristy eyes.

So that is what is going on with me. Oh! One more thing! I've started what a friend has entitled #RatchetStoryHour on Twitter. *chuckle*

It is basically a very ratchet and hood fairytale about two fairies named Shawntiqua and Booty and their quest to restore Majic to the hood. Yes, Majic. If you have a chance, do tune in. I do it on the fly. Seriously, with the other stories I am working on I don't have time to write anything out before hand. I just type what my muse shows me and hope it makes sense.

I do story telling Monday thru Friday from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm EST in the USA. So do feel free to check me out if you are looking for some free entertainment. My Twitter screen name is still CCDreamz.

Just a reminder, I'm human and have human things to do.  So I sometimes have to skip a day or two. Or like with my vacation a week! So have patience with me when I'm not able to get online. I do try to announce if there will be no story hour that night so people can plan accordingly.

That is all I can think of for now.

And I'm back for more!

Whew! I'm still going through all my stories. I found yet another box full of stories, ideas and poems.  What so often happens is that once I get bored with a story or I've got too many of them running around in my head, I'll jot down some notes.  I've been doing that for years!

Hence the file cabinet, boxes, and bag of stories.  Do I have enough time to write all these stories out?  I can only hope and dive in and do my best.  I hope I will entertain others as I have entertained myself down through the years.

Nothing like laughing at the pictures in your own head and having people give you the whole seat on the bus. What? *wide eyed stare* That's what I wanted in the first place! *lqtms* Hey, the buses in Baltimore city are almost always over crowded.  I swear the only reason I broke down and bought a car this year was because of one of the last bus rides I had last year.  The bus was so crowded that I had had more pelvises pressed against me than a hooker when the sailors hit the harbor.  Ugh!  Not a fond memory.

So the cataloging continues. Thinking about stories that I'd like to flesh out and others that make me wonder what I was drinking at the time I wrote them up.  Those stories do not resemble any fantasy I've ever dreamed up.  However, the handwriting is all mine so I know I came up with the idea just not how or why.

Eh! It is entertaining me while the summer reruns bore everyone else.