Faerie Book Loft

ABNA 2012 is on

2012-01-30T22:15:00.000-08:00

Thanks for visiting my blog. If any of you are writers, there is still time to enter the annual ABNA contest. Just Google ABNA 2012 and read all the info. Novels need to be between 50.000 and 150,000 words and not previously published BUT self-published is ok. Check out the site for more details on formatting.

I have entered my ghost story, Haversham Hill, in the contest this year. I did give it another round of edits first.

Also, all of my books are available on kindle now. I intend to turn them into other ebook formats too as soon as I have the time to delve into that. For those of you who have purchased my books, please leave a review on Amazon, just a few words would be nice. I try to post reviews for everything I've read and I regret I've been too busy lately to read less than I'd like to.

For you people who stop by, please feel free to post a comment or become a follower. I would appreciate that.

Blessings all,
Sunni

ANNOUNCEMENT - My books now available on kindle

2011-12-28T19:51:00.001-08:00

Hello All,

I hope the holiday was merry for everyone. I spent it getting my three novels into kindle format. Iwill have the other ereader formats available soon.

Thanks to all who visit my pages. I wish you the very best in the new year. Never give up on your dreams.

Blessings,
Sunni

A Winter's Poem

2011-12-28T19:42:00.000-08:00

Pull my cape close and tight
On the cold frightful night
Winter's snow upon the limbs
All your dreams are but whims
Alas it’s time for the plants to rest
So summer flowers are at their best

Huddle by the winter’s fire
For soon you’ll have your heart’s desire
And when the spring returns
You’ll bask in what your body yearns
To be warm again is what I require
Oh how it is my heart’s desire.

A lovely moon above my head
Winter’s gloom I can shed.
Flowers bloom again at my feet
I’m thankful for spring again to meet.

BOOK REVIEW - A Band of Gypsies

2011-12-28T19:22:00.001-08:00

A group of exchange students meet up in turbulent Spain to spend seven months working there. We get to know them as they navigate a foreign country amid all the chaos and random attacks. However we never learn the backgrounds of the other interns even though we know they are full of enthusiasm and a sense of adventure.

Jaime Aragon flees the violence of Manila only to enter another country where violence is run rampant. The picturesque city he imagined to be arriving in is anything but – full of pollution and crumbling tattered buildings, but he grows to like the place that is made even more pleasant by his new-found friends.

He must learn Spanish quickly before he takes up his new job in two weeks time. This is all prearranged for him before he arrives in Bilbao as well as his assigned apartment space that accommodates different interns from across the globe every year. He manages to learn enough of the language to get him by until he learns more and he ends up excelling in his new job.

The small town called Bilbao that he lives in temporarily is in the Spanish Basque country where everywhere there are acts of terrorism going on. This book contains lots of action while also describing local events and characters in detail. For instance, there may be an ambush at a marketplace full of party goers celebrating some event. You never know when and where disaster may strike.

Two of the people in the group, Allison and Jaime, fall in love but are afraid to let go because they both have a terrifying past where people they love have met demise. Tragedy seems to follow this couple around.

This novel is well written and intriguing with all the festivals, bombings, love and lust between the interns, etc. The book is full of captivating stories and is a fast moving tale that will keep you reading to see what happens to all the people involved. The cover is colorful and is a good match for the story being told.

Be prepared for lots of excitement and adventures as our group of interns gets into all sorts of predicaments. I think perhaps it would have been nice to know about the other intern’s backgrounds, but we do get to see the background of Jaime and Allison as the story goes on and thus know why they have a slow moving relationship.

There were many Spanish words and phrases used in this book, but it was all translated so non-Spanish speaking readers could follow the story with no problem.

This is a novel of romance written from the male perspective. Jaime is smitten with Allison but too shy to tell her so. He finds her mysterious and beautiful and she captivates him, but she always seems to be out on dates with different Spaniards he meets. When he finally makes his move, the story is written around them as they yearn to uncover each others backgrounds.

BOOK REVIEW - Banshee Fires of Revenge

2011-12-28T19:15:00.000-08:00

There are many misspelled words and left out words in this book, but the bones of the story are very good and it was an interesting read despite that.

The whole story centers around a haunted cottage in the woods that has sat abandoned since the 1960’s when an unsolved murder took place there. But the stories of it being haunted persisted way before that. There was one girl who escaped the murders by jumping from an upstairs window. When she’s found on the street the next day she claims amnesia and soon after leaves town only to return when her nephew is murdered in the same cottage thirty years later.

After the funeral she confesses to her sister she has been plagued by nightmares and knew she must come back to put an end to the banshee that lives in the cottage. At first no one believes her until the banshee decides to leave the woods after a hundred years and venture into town on some evenings.

The inspector on the case finds it hard to let it go because even though he doesn’t believe in ghosts he still has a niggling feeling there is something there that they are all missing. However, his boss tells him the case is closed and so his hands are tied until the nephew is murdered.

Add to this a nosey reporter trying to make a name for herself at the local paper by coming up with the big story. She seems to turn up where the inspector is and is doing a behind-the-scenes investigation of her own by talking to the local historian and questioning the gossipy neighbors.

The book is a bit predictable in places, but still interesting enough to keep reading with new action happening throughout.

This is haunting story with a surprise conclusion that would make a good Halloween read.

BOOK REVIEW - Remix

2011-12-28T19:10:00.000-08:00

Caz Tallis restores rocking horses for a living. We learn quite a bit about the horses throughout the story. Caz isn’t used to living an intriguing life. She’s more like the nice, hard-working girl who puts a lot of hours in for little pay, but pursues her art for the sheer joy it gives her of seeing the completed rocking horses like the day they were first made. Many of them come to her as broken down wrecks with pieces missing from lots of wear and tear. She enjoys the calm peacefulness of restoring the horses in her workshop and the casual friendship she has with James, her childhood friend, who she sees at least once a week.

But suddenly her world is turned upside down when she finds a supposedly dead rock star and his dog on her roof terrace. She isn’t quite sure what to do with this scruffy but charismatic character. As Caz finds out the real story from Ric she agrees to help him find the actual murderer of the crime that he supposedly committed three years earlier – the murder of a band mate. The case has been closed long ago by the police who were convinced that Ric did it.

The more Caz talks to Ric the more she becomes certain he didn’t commit the crime. It doesn’t hurt that he’s gorgeous and polite and she feels herself falling for him. She ignores the pleas of James to turn him in to the police and decides its okay for Ric to stay at her place temporarily. Thus begins a page turning read.

Ric can be quite persuasive and although Caz is reluctant at first, she agrees to be a private eye and to question all the possible suspects for him. Of course she’s totally out of her element here and James is crazy with worry over her safety. In his mind it is bad enough with her letting Ric stay in her flat not really knowing if he is a murderer or not. Her sleuthing around leads to many dangerous situations and lots of action and there are times Caz wonders why she even agreed to help in the first place and perhaps her judgement is clouded by the growing feelings she has for Ric.

As the investigations continue, they both learn that there are people who will kill to keep this secret hidden.

All the characters aren’t as lovable as Caz, Ric and James, but they are wonderful and well drawn and fit in the novel perfectly. It’s easy to picture all these people and the nerve wracking situations they face as the story unfolds to a gripping conclusion.

This is a great book and not just for female readers.

BOOK REVIEW - The Mountaineer's Dance

2011-12-28T18:58:00.000-08:00

The Russian “mail order” bride meets a lonely American bachelor. Claudia is working hard as a nurse’s aid trying to make ends meet while living with her mother and sister whose husband left her with two kids to support. The five are living in a run down apt. while Claudia commutes by bus on a two hour journey to work everyday at Ambrosi Hospital a couple of towns away. Dr. Maddiwar, a new Indian doctor notices all the extra things Claudia does for the patients and the dedication she gives to her nursing. Ultimately, she falls for her boss, the Indian doctor, and moves in with him, glad to be out of the squalor she’s been living in. He has a deluxe and roomy apt. near the hospital. However this romance is short lived and she ends up back at the apt. with her mom and sister because the Indian doctor’s wife is coming for a visit. Once back home Claudia’s sister, Marina, talks her into entering her picture and info into a Russian “mail order” bride’s catalogue, which Claudia isn’t too thrilled about. Marina was always the pretty one and she was just ordinary and thinks it would be a waste of time. Nevertheless, she follows Marina’s advice.

Meanwhile, across the ocean in America there is Freddie, a cab driver in NYC that never has fit in with the family. He lacks self esteem and keeps trying to impress his parents through his various endeavors. They are somewhat appalled when he takes the job of driving a cab, but he becomes quite a good cab driver and learns all the ins and outs of the business. After dropping off a fare he finds a catalogue about “mail order” brides. He stuffs it away to look at later and when he does he decides to write to Claudia whose picture catches his eye because she’s different than the other girls and isn’t all made up and blonde like so many of the available women in the magazine. Claudia’s family is shocked when she gets a letter from Freddie in NY. After corresponding they decide to meet so Freddie goes to Russia on a tour sponsored by the people who put out the catalogue. Everyone in the small dilapidated village Claudia and her family live in become very excited at the thought of an American coming to visit, so in anticipation of Freddie’s arrival they go all out to prepare a feast for him

Deciding he needs a wife to impress his parents, Freddie ends up taking Claudia back to America where they marry and live in a small apt in NYC. She quickly makes friends with other Russians immigrants in town and starts to fit right in to her new life while Freddie is out driving his cab. All is well and good until Freddie decides it’s time to stop driving the cab, get a better job and to move closer to his parents. Of course by then he can afford the big house with the manicured gardens and swimming pool, etc., but Claudia is anything but happy. She had to leave all her new-found friends behind and there is no one to talk to in the area of big estate homes. She had grown used to the lifestyle of sitting around talking to your neighbors daily and seeing children playing in the street and the new environment was very sterile to her with not a soul around and something she can’t get used to. Of course there is a big fight and she feels awful because Freddy has given her money to send home to her mom and sister all this time.

They take off in separate cars after storming out of the big, new house. You’ll have to read this book to find out if Claudia and Freddie can pull their relationship together. This is an interesting, worthwhile read and is well written.

BOOK REVIEW – No Cure for the Broken Hearted

2011-10-12T22:18:00.001-07:00

This is a somewhat predictable but enjoyable story about a childhood romance that never really died away. Nick and Katherine met one summer as teenagers while vacationing at the lake. Nick’s mother let Katherine know she was beneath her son when she was invited to their big estate for tea. They had servants for everything and it was all so formal that Katherine felt very out of place. Nick got on well with her parents and yet she found his mother “scary” and it was soon after this that his mother sent Nick back to the city, so there were no more daily visits to the ice cream shop where she worked and she didn’t hear from him again until years later even though they both promised to stay in contact after the summer ended.

As Katherine grew up she immersed herself in school and then in work and never left any time for relationships. She becomes a world class, highly respected architect. One day years later Nick walks back into her life and asks her to design his dream home at the lake where they met. Of course by this time Nick is quite the playboy and has travelled all over the world. Because of the family wealth there was always plenty of news about his escapades in the tabloids and newspapers. All the memories of that summer came flooding back to Katherine and at first she didn’t want to get involved in designing his house, however she changes her mind after he calls her to bail him out of jail instead of calling his fiancé. The picture of her and Nick taken by the paparazzi is spread all over the front page and this causes the fiancé to burst into her office and throw a fit as she waves her huge engagement ring in the air while she’s ranting at Katherine about stealing her man.

This is a good clean read in the romance department, which you can’t say about all books out there. Instead of sex scenes this book delves into the minds and feelings of the characters. It’s a sweet story about two people who meet again as adults. Katherine is a bit disheartened in the beginning and pretty indecisive about her feelings for Nick. At first she wanted to have nothing further to do with Nick after he never stayed in touch with her after their summer romance years before. Besides he wasn’t the sort of man you could take seriously anyway – or was he?

Nick doesn’t realize she still has feelings from long ago and she’s a bit hurt at his disappearance from her life after he went back home after that summer at the lake. Nick is somewhat immature and has always followed the dreams of his family and isn’t really the person he wants to be. He was a troubled teen and is still troubled as an adult. Will he find the courage to break away from what his family expects of him?

There are characters in this book that are easy to hate as you route for Nick and Katherine to get back together like they were as teenagers. This book moved along at a slow pace and even with the couple of typing errors it was a very enjoyable read.

Lightbulbs?

2011-10-12T18:54:00.000-07:00

I'm really astonished at what Americans find important. Or at least should I say "the people in power find important?" Here there are thousands of Americans living in poverty and starving and the government is worried about what light bulbs we all use? I'm just amazed and wonder if I should move out of the USA and not for the first time.

We truly have people starving over here, so many out of work and we are told to use environmentally safe light bulbs? I think the government has their priorities mixed up. I would be trying to find more jobs for the American people and trying to help with the things everyone has to deal with on a daily basis. To heck with light bulbs! I'm sure the people who can barely put food on the table are worried about environmentally friendly light bulbs.

It really pisses me off and I want to go out and buy and hoard light bulbs like the lady I read about that had a whole room of them, enough to last her a lifetime.

Tell me, if you're reading this, what do you think?

Sunni

BOOK REVIEW - Tales from a Mountain City by Quynh Dao

2011-08-24T17:00:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a story! This is a true account about a family during the Vietnam War and the rise of Communism. This powerful story is told by one of the daughters in the family. The writing of this memoir is excellent and contains many bits of history as well as family stories.

When the Communists move into Vietnam this family is thrown out of their house with nowhere to go. The troops want to use their house as a base for their operations and living quarters. The family finally finds refuge with a lady that the mother of the family had done business with in the past. They stay in the attic of her house along with another family who has fled their home. Many people lost homes to the troops. You were especially in danger of being homeless if you were wealthy and had a big house. Everyone was experiencing a time of great upheaval with normal daily life abruptly changed. Books were burned in the streets and Communists broadcasts blared out through speakers erected in the towns and on the streets.

The author shows how they had to live during this turbulent time, accounting for every place they went and told if and when they could come and go. At this time a lot of brainwashing began with the children having to learn slogans at school as well as having to dig trenches and go on other assignments as needed to help the troops instead of studying regular school subjects. At a certain age everyone had to fill out a form called "the declaration of personal background," which was basically your whole family history. The communists wanted to find all the counter-revolutionaries in the country. These undesirables were then either executed or sent to prisons, or as they called it "re-education camps" until they were reformed. Many friends and relatives were sent to prison to be reprogrammed. Some fled to the woods where a lot of them perished because of disease and lack of food. Luckily most of this family escaped that fate, although as a teen the author was taken from her home in the middle of the night by the soldiers with no explanation to her parents as to why. When taken by the cadres you never knew if you would be reunited with your family or not.

The soldiers would come along and take the young people to do various tasks for them. The author was in a group of other girls who had to pick tea at a secret location for a month. Others taken weren't as lucky as they had to dig up land mines, etc. Living during this time was quite dangerous. Everything was very uncertain and food was terribly scarce. Many people starved to death. Families would set up stands to sell what they could, hoping to make enough money to buy rice and other necessities.

This family, along with many of the Vietnamese people, witnessed some dreadful scenes as people were executed and everyone lived in fear from day to day. Bombs, air raids and gunfire became a regular occurrence.

This is a heart wrenching story of sacrifice and a family's hope to escape the horrible atrocities they had to live with everyday. This book also contains some wonderful old family photos.

Some of the things in this book are shocking and some will make you mad because you really care about this family and what happens to them. Quynh Dao shares a couple of funny moments as well, which lightens the mood of this book. I highly recommend this behind the scenes look into the lives of real people living under Communist rule.

Sorry to be so sporadic with my posting here

2011-08-24T16:47:00.000-07:00

I had to have major emergency surgery a couple months ago so it's taken awhile for me to get back into the swing of things. I hope to get caught up soon and will be posting some more book reviews.

If any of you are authors I encourage you to sign your book/books up for a FREE review. It does take awhile to get to your book and have it read but it is definitely worth it because the review gets posted to your Amazon book page as well as to a couple of independent blogs.

Most genres are allowed by the site but not all. Those excluded and a few rules are listed at the top of the page. It only takes a minute to put your book on the list along with a link to your book, the genre and a brief synopsis.

Good luck everyone! Here is the link. Now go and check it out!
http://llbookreview.com/pick-me/

BOOK REVIEW - Growing up in Mississippi

2011-08-16T19:56:00.000-07:00

This book is a memoir about growing up working on the cotton plantations in Mississippi. Not only did this family struggle because they lived in poverty, but they were also black and living in the south when African Americans were discriminated against and looked down on just because of their color.

When I read the synopsis for this book it sparked my interest because I was also raised on a cotton farm in the south in the 50's. I was interested in Bertha's story. I thought perhaps I could relate to what happened to her, not because I'm black but because we were also very poor back then and did our share of picking cotton when we weren't in school. I also knew very well what blacks were treated like in the south during that time.

Some of the things the author describes are horrible and are certainly things that no one should have to witness and certainly not a child. They are things that should have never happened, but most of the people in the south in those times were raised with a prejudiced attitude. It's very unfortunate when we can't just view everyone as human beings regardless of our differences. Today things have changed for the better, which is a good thing. It was hard enough growing up in poverty but I think it was downright dangerous to be a person of color in the 50's and even the 60's. You never knew when someone would shoot you dead for no reason at all.

As a reader we get to look inside the plain houses this family lived in; live the turmoil in their lives, hear the tales of what they ate, which was sometimes very little. They worked hard all day everyday and lied in their beds at night listening to the rats and the snakes in the walls. But they weren't without a few fun childhood moments. They would sneak out of the house when their mother was gone and take the boat out and go wading in the rivers, never once thinking of the dangers of snakes swimming in the same waters. My siblings and I used to wade in the muddy ditches too when we were growing up and lie in bed listening to the rats in the walls of the sharecropper's shack we lived in until I was about 13.

I could relate to this story on several levels. There was a lot of poverty in the south with people drifting here and there to find work. I found this book to be an enlightening read and a sad story. This family was treated so badly, but it's also uplifting because they stuck together through everything they had to endure and rose above the poverty and the prejudice after the civil rights movement. The author was able to go to college, which was a childhood dream, and graduate with a degree.

There wasn't a father figure present, but Bertha and her siblings had a strong mother who wanted the best for her four kids and she moved them around a lot to different plantations as she tried to give them the best life she could under the circumstances. This memoir also has some nice family photos. I would recommend this book to anyone who really wants to see what life was like back then from someone who knows firsthand. The reader can get a good feel for the characters and the places by all the description in the story. I felt like I was right there with Bertha, laughing and crying along with her. The cover on this book is a collage of family photos and quite the appropriate choice.

Just finished my first magazine

2011-08-16T19:15:00.000-07:00

And what a job that was! I had been working on this for about three months and never realized what a job it is to put a magazine together. I began to wonder if I had taken on a job too big to handle, but it felt awfully good to get it done and was quite an acconplishment. Perhaps I'll have a greater appreciation for magazines now although I love books much more.

This job got delayed several times. I had to have emergency surgery and it was one thing and then another after that.

Of course I'm way hehind on my bloggiong posts. I have several book reviews to post and other things.

And it's hot here in the desert being summer and all, although we've had it lucky this year overall as far as temps go. Usually several weeks in the triple digits by this time of year and we've only had 3-4 days is all.

Take care everyone.

ABNA 2011 ENTERED

2011-01-26T21:17:00.000-08:00

Entered the ABNA contest for this year late Sun night. I stayed up until it was midnight EST but of course I would have been up anyway being the night owl that I am. I couldn't fill out any of the entry form until I had made a last minute check of all my files, even though I had already checked them a dozen times for the right formatting, as if I thought it would somehow change when I wasn't looking. I spend way too much time checking things several times. Maybe I do suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder. But that's a whole other subject entirely.

Now we all play the waiting game as they read and critique our pitches to see if we even move forward to the next round of the contest when our excerpts will be read. I'm hoping to make it that far at least.

I plan on working on my works on progress while this contest is going on. Now we'll see how far I get on any of that stuff. If things go the way they usually do around here it won't be as far as I think or I'd like. I'm working on four or five projects, so with any luck I'll get one of them finished this year.

Today I got sidetracked unloading and moving the contents of a storage building. All that physical labor about wore me out. I went and had Mexican food after that and don't have the energy for anything else today. I was starving after that ordeal as I'd only had a bowl of cereal this morning.

Once home again, I fed the cats and hopped on the computer to do my email. Then had to doctor my problem child. This one cat I have chews on herself and always gets a rash. I thought I needed to post on this blog too before I'm neglecting it again. My main intent right now is posting updates about the contest for anyone reading this.

There seem to be a lot of entries in the fantasy or sci-fi category from all the excerpts I read before the contest started. The competition seems to be fierce in those genres. I'm not sure how well those are liked by the judges either. We haven't had a fantasy or sci-fi piece win the competition in the last three years of this contest, but every year is a new contest so way too early to give up hope on that.

I've got to go and get my butt to bed after I drink a pitcher of water. I'm so dehydrated after the storage building ordeal today. I'm not used to going that long without water. I feel like I'm spitting cotton balls tonight (as my grandmother used to say.)

Blessings all,
Sunni

Proofreading Now Available

2011-01-18T12:07:00.000-08:00

I have added proofreading to my website and will be offering my eyes to read your work. I know a second set of eyes can be invaluable after you've read your novel a jillion times. Its easy to skip right over things that someone else will see. I will check for punctuation and consistency as well as spelling errors.

I want to especially help the indie writers out there in your goal to become published authors. I'm offering my services for below the average price for proofreading to keep it affordable. I hope you will check out my website for more info: http://www.faeriemoundbooks.com/

Blessings to all,
Sunni

It's Contest Time Again

2011-01-18T08:18:00.000-08:00

Well its contest time again. I've been working on that for the past month and ignoring this blog again. Shame on me but this time of year all of us are eating and breathing this contest. Getting all my stuff in order as well as helping others with theirs and answering questions. In less than a week now we'll all be sitting back waiting to see if we made the first cut.

I feel fairly confident in my entry but you never know from year to year how things will go. As we all know, writing is very subjective and sometimes it seems like it just takes the right person seeing it. So you could have something fantastic and if it isn't the reviewers cup of tea, you get the boot before the thing gets started. You definitely have to have something unique and interesting to along with superb writing skills.

Fantasy is what I write and it has never won this contest. Will this be the year for a fantasy manuscript to take the prize? We can only hope so. I thought about writing in a different genre but fantasy is what I do best, however I have started a couple of other novels. One is a literary fiction piece and the other is a mystery. I have no idea if and when I'll finish them and what shape they'll be in when I do. You never know what genre the publisher is looking for from year to year, but it seems so far a human interest story has taken the top prize except for the first contest when it was a mystery story. But we can't give up hope. I'll be happy if I just advance a few rounds in the contest even if I don't win. You meet a great bunch of people on the boards and we all share with each other, so its also about camaraderie as well as entering the contest.

I'm entering last year's novel "Saving the Rainbow." I feel confident its a fairly original idea and that counts a lot. And I didn't have anything else ready anyway. I wasn't about to put myself through the stress of finishing and polishing in a months time. I did that last year and it was very hectic.

I'll keep updates posted here as things go along.

Blessings everyone.
Sunni

Winter is Definitely Here

2010-12-29T21:46:00.000-08:00

Well here I am being tardy again with my posting. Time goes way too fast for me. It's very hard to write, edit, do all the holiday thing, etc. Sorry about that.

Now I'm turning my attention to the ABNA contest of 2011. Getting my entry ready. More on this later. I'm afraid the power will go out here since it always does quite frequently when it storms.

Winter has definitely arrived here. We've had nothing but rain and lots of it. It rained 7 days straight here in the desert, which is very unusual. We got two years worth! Now the weather has turned cold today and we had rain all day long, but it is turning into the "s" word now. The dreaded "s" word. I hate that because it is too cold for my blood. I dream of those tropical islands or the 100 degree summer days. The howling north wind has found us again too. It has hardly blown at all for a few months now.

I have read more indie books too, so have those reviews to post later.

Hope everyone's holiday was great and you all have a healthy and happy New Year. And hopefully the economy will get better and 2011 will be more prosperous for us all.

Blessings,
Sunni

BOOK REVIEW - Marigold: Book One of the Elven Chronicles

2010-12-02T19:35:00.000-08:00

I finished this book about a week ago and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's the debut novel of a new indie author, Marya Ashworth, and although this book is for young readers (8-12), I think it could be enjoyed by any age group. The book is full of adventures and activities that young teens could relate to; horseback riding, skating, and listening to music, dances, relationships, shopping and homework. And of course there are adventures with good and evil and bits of magick scattered throughout the pages.

I liked all the characters in this book. They are well drawn and we get a sense of what everyone is like. There's also good description throughout the book, so the reader can easily picture all the places and events in the story.

Our main character Marigold (or Maggie as she likes to be called) is a half human and half elf child and because of this she's always felt different and is very lonely, especially after moving from Ireland to Washington state, so her workaholic dad could start his new job. The kids at her new school make fun of her and she generally doesn't fit in. Maggie is self-conscious of her pointed ears and keeps them covered with her long hair. She hates the school and takes solace in her best friend, a horse named Biscuit.

Marigold's life begins to change after she rescues a boy and is able to follow him to the kingdom of ElvenHome, which is home to the elves. It isn't long and she finds herself enrolled in ElvenAcademy. Here she makes new friends that she shares things in common with, plus she gets to sharpen her magick skills.

Maggie is full of courage as she battles the banshees and rescues her new schoolmates. She is always up to a challenge and tries to do the right thing as events unfold. The conclusion leaves you wondering what will happen next.

Calling Authors Who Need Book Reviews

2010-11-29T19:34:00.000-08:00

Listen up - all you author's out there. If you want a thorough, honest review of your book you'll be interested in this post. The following site does book reviews for indie authors, but the book must be published and available on Amazon. They don't take every genre either - but they do take most of them. You'll have to check the following link for all the details. The main thing here is to be patient and professional when you list your book. You'll need to give book title, author name, publisher, genre, page count, a short synopsis, a reason why your book should be picked for review and a link to the book on Amazon. Good luck everyone! Here's the link:

http://llbookreview.com/pick-me/

And remember, it takes awhile to get reviewed, but it's free and we all need reviews, right?

Thanks to all who joined me on Book Brew in Nov

2010-11-29T19:21:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to thank everyone who came over to take a look at my excerpt that was part of the Book Brew event over at Coffee Time Romance and More Book Blog. And congrats to Sandra Cox,the winner of my medieval fantasy book: The Medallion - Book One - The Prophecy.

Now the nanowrimo is coming to a close again this year and I barely got anything written on the novel I started. Just ended up with way too much on my plate, unfortunately. I hope the rest of you that entered did better than I did.

Time to bundle up and hunker down for the dreaded winter. It's supposed to be 14 here tonight! I hate that! Already counting the days until spring, but I know the trees need to rest.

Fall Is Upon Us - Is this good or bad?

2010-11-18T21:34:00.000-08:00

That all depends on your state of mind of course.

Yes, I've been slacking again unfortunately, but I'm just too darn busy at the moment to keep up with everything I have going. Maybe that's a good thing because fall is here and that's not a happy thought for me. I hate having to play with the clocks. What a bunch of silliness that is. Now it's dark way too early for me and even dark lately when I've been getting up in the morning so that I can accomplish everything I have to fit into the day. Before long it is getting dark again and so early now. It doesn't seem like it was this dark at 5:30 pm by Nov in other years, but it must have been.

At least I can be thankful for the nice few days we've had lately - weather wise. So sunny and mild - no jacket needed. Now I can shout about that! But it won't last. They say we have a cold front coming by Mon. I imagine I'll have to drag out all my stuff and cover the plants soon. So far we haven't been below 40 at night and I wish it would stay that way, but I know better.

Soon it will be time to tuck in and just wait until spring. At least we still have leaves on the trees, actually still some of them are green too. I guess that's good. But around here all it takes is one good wind storm and it will knock off even the green ones. But I could live in a colder place. Although I was cursing the other day when I brought in my garden ornaments and put them in the garage for the winter, along with some tropical specimens I've moved from place to place. It would be a shame to let them freeze at this point. Anyway I had my hands too full, like I always do, and tried to carry too much at once and dropped a turtle and broke it. It's head and a leg snapped right off when it hit the tile floor. I was so mad, but mostly at myself for not making two trips to the garage, instead of one. I was so frustrated that I live in a place where putting things away in the winter is a concern. The tropics were looking real good about then as they will be again when the snow gets here. Ugh! I'm dreading that! But there's nothing I can do about it at the moment. Someday I'll move further south and when I'm still young enough to enjoy it, I hope, or to even care.

OK before this gets too depressing I better sign off. It's past my curfew anyway already. Never enough hours in a day. I think that will be engraved on my tombstone one day along with "normal is only a state of mind" since my husband is always telling me to act normal. So what exactly is normal anyway? I bet everyone you ask will have a different explanation for that one. But that's a whole other subject I can't get into right now.

Night all. Be blessed.

Announcing a blog interview and chat

2010-10-29T22:42:00.000-07:00

I'll be discussing my historical book on a blog chat on Mon, Nov 1st from 1 pm - 10 pm
Please come by and log on for a chance to win a free copy of The Medallion - Book One - The Prophecy. This is a medieval fantasy about two sisters separated as children when their parents are killed by raiders coming through their village. I would be happy to answer any questions about my book. Here is the link:
http://coffeetimeromance.com/CoffeeThoughts/november-book-brew-event-my-book/

Feel free to log on at any time during the event.

Sorry for Slacking

2010-10-29T22:32:00.000-07:00

Well it just seems like I've had a terrible time keeping up with things lately. October has been a terrible month this year. I lost one of my furry babies a week ago. I sure do miss him something terribly and I think I see him all over the house. I know that can't be because he's in my curio cabinet now in his little urn. My little Wizard will always be in my heart. I've put a memorial album for him on Facebook. Here's the link:
http://www.facebook.com/inbox/readmessage.php?t=1107849551106#/sunnimorris?ref=name

Imagine

2010-10-09T22:50:00.000-07:00

Imagine!

Well I must say that word brings to mind a lot of things doesn't it? Mainly I was thinking about John Lennon today and what would have been his 7oth birthday. His beautiful song "Imagine" playing through my mind. Such a shame a great man and song writer left this earthly plane so soon, but I suppose it was his destiny this time around to do so. He must have done what he was here to do.

It's been a week of sorrow - losing two friends to cancer. Both wonderful people. One on Mon and the other on Thurs. This life we have is fragile and we best be doing something useful with it if we can.

I'm very tired and need to just relax awhile. Light some candles and think about this life and how it would be if we all could get along and just be peaceful. Of course I know that will never happen, but I can do my best to live a peaceful existence.

Blessed be.

Advice Paid Off

2010-09-30T22:28:00.000-07:00

Well you're never to old to learn new things. Lately, I've been taking my little sister's advice and taking a copy of my latest book around with me. What's one more thing added to the purse after all? Today that paid off because I sold a copy to someone I was showing it too. I wasn't exactly expecting that, but it made my day. The lady was very much in awe that anyone could write a book.

In fact, looking back on this month, I have to say it was pretty good. I had lots of compliments out of the blue, which was surprising. I always try to be encouraging to people and I guess I really must have helped some of them. That really felt good because I do try to give everything I do my all. That's why I get consumed in all my projects, I guess. I don't mind sharing what I know with others and helping other writers realize their dream of seeing a book in print. I think a creative mind would understand that. Maybe.

I really feel things are starting to turn around for me, so we'll see what October brings besides cooler weather. I have high hopes, but then I am always the eternal optimist, even when things seem bleak. I don't know why I'm that way, but in my mind I live by the mantra "things can always be worse." And indeed they can be if you really think about situations.

My website needs re-doing again, my husband informed me today, but I was thinking about re-doing the whole thing anyway - as soon as I get the time. He had some good ideas that I'm mulling over.

Okay, I need to get off here and get some rest. I need a massage after all the long hours at the computer lately. I'm glad the weekend is coming and I won't have to get up so early. I'm sure some of you know the feeling. It's tough on a night owl. I have to set the alarm for sure when I'd rather throw all the clocks out the window, but that's a whole other subject I can't delve into just now.

Finally got my website updated

2010-09-27T21:03:00.000-07:00

Good evening all,

Well it took me way longer to update my website than it should have. What else is new??? Honestly, I've been doing my freelance job all day and thought I would hop on real quick to do my email and update the website. It needed it since my new book is out. Of course I should have known nothing is quick if I'm doing it. As luck would have it, I ended up putting in a wrong link, so had to go back and fix that - not once - but twice. It just goes to show you, haste makes waste as they say.

Then I wanted to go and watch Castle just to relax. Heaven knows I need to do that. I recorded it earlier. But of course my husband is calling me to catch the cat, so we can doctor her tummy and legs. One of our cats is a real problem child and chews on herself until there's no fur left in places. Unfortunately, that's not her only problem either, but that can wait for another post.

Sometimes I feel like I'm living in a rat-race. And what does my husband do, kick back with his feet up in front of the TV or the computer. That's what retirement does for you I guess. It would drive me batty to do that all day - everyday.

Well I'm off to relax a bit before bed.

Gorgeous Harvest Moon Out Tonight

2010-09-24T21:59:00.000-07:00

I don't know if any of you take notice of the moon or not, but it's gorgeous tonight. I always feel the urge to go out and dance under it. It's quite tempting and is an act of will to stay indoors. It lights up everything like daylight and the world seems magickal. I wish it stayed full longer.

They were shooting off fireworks tonight in the little town next to ours -a celebration for their Swiss Days. We can always watch them from the patio since there's basically nothing in the way except desert. They place wood cows all over town and decorate them. Pretty comical really.

The crickets are chirping and it's a balmy evening -in the 80's. You would think we had spring coming instead of cooler weather. The only indication that fall and winter is around the corner was the bat roosting under the eave tonight. We have very high ceilings and they like to get under there by the entry way and courtyard - quite fitting when Halloween rolls around. They nest in the cliffs behind us during the day.

On another note, I finally got the children's book printed and it's on Amazon now for sale, with a blurb on my website. I hope you'll check it out. Comments are welcome as always.

Blessings to all. I'm calling it an early night - haven't slept much all week. Have a great weekend! We're planning to take a drive to look at fall color tomorrow.

Absolutely never enough hours in a day!

2010-09-17T22:44:00.000-07:00

Here we are at another weekend. Didn't Sept just start? It seems like it and the month is half over already. Went out to a lovely lunch with some friends today, Mexican food, one of my favorites, but of course it was about 3pm before I ever got to the computer today. Needless to say, not a lot got accomplished. I did work at my freelance job and that was about it.

I'm still waiting for the proof copy of my latest book and now think it must be lost in the mail because it's been over a week since the publisher supposedly mailed it out. That has me stumped.

I've made a few notes for my next book and have a lot of typing to do on that. The folder of notes is getting bigger, now just to make sense of it all because sometimes I can't read my own scribbles.

I feel a bit guilty about not spending more time with my elderly cat, so I really should do that if I can squeeze it in somewhere. He's 18 and a half and not well at all. The problem is I have all these deadlines staring me in the face that I have to deal with and I get interrupted more than you know when I'm working. One of the drawbacks of working from home. I think flying up and down the stairs twenty times a day helps to keep the weight off though, if you look on the positive side of things.

I suppose it's time to call it a night again, ready or not, since its almost the bewitching hour of midnight. I usually want to go out and dance under that moon, but that's another story and it isn't full tonight anyway although it's still beautiful. Can you imagine how magnificent it would be to live on Jupiter and have all those moons in the sky all the time, probably at different levels of fullness. Wow! What a sight!

Feel free to become a follower of my blog

2010-09-11T18:49:00.000-07:00

I welcome you to follow my blog. I write fantasy books mostly, but read about any genre. My favorites are fantasy, time-travel, paranormal, mysteries, thrillers and the classics. I welcome all fantasy writers or writers in general, as well as readers, to talk about the writing process. Maybe you don't write, but would like to tell me about a wonderful book you've read, or are reading. That's welcome too.

I have cats and love them. I'd like to hear all your cat stories, if you want to share.

I also collect faeries and have always been a night owl. I try to keep a positive outlook about everything. If I undertake something I think is worthwhile, I will persevere until the job is completed, to my satisfaction, no matter how many times I get knocked down in the process. If you fall into this category, I'd like to hear your stories too.

Blessings,
Sunni

My thoughts on e-readers

2010-09-11T15:40:00.000-07:00

I was in the shower this morning thinking about the commercial I saw yesterday. I'm sure a lot of you have seen the one with the two gals in the beach chairs, on the beach, reading on their kindles. The kindle e-reader has really come down in price. I think it was being advertised for $139, or some such price, and if I remember right when they first came out a year or so ago, they were $359. Now that's quite a difference, which led me to wonder if they were indeed selling very many of the devices. I also wondered how the people felt who paid top dollar for the new devices when they first came on the market. Of course the people who have to have the newest things probably bought the kindles knowing they would go down in price the longer they were available for sale. That seems to be the way it is with just about everything electronic.

I also wondered if anything could ever go wrong with them and cause you to lose all the books you have stored on them. I imagine it could fail, just like any computer, after awhile. Would the books be able to be recovered somehow, or perhaps backed up in the way we back up our computers to an external hard drive or Cd's?

My thought is that I will never own one of the devices and there are several reasons for that. The least of which would be product failure, although that would need to be considered by anyone giving this some thought. If the books were not able to be recovered, would you have to purchase them again, once you replaced your e-reader? A very good, legitimate question.

Now that being said, my main reason for not going out and splurging on one would be because I like the old fashioned book. I love the smell and feel of a book, and turning the pages the old fashioned way. The e-readers seem so clinical to me, although I know they are able to hold lots of books one tiny device. What will happen to the libraries, and things of that nature, if everything starts being produced in e-book format only? I keep an extensive library in my house and it's such a cozy room to be in. I love sitting in my chair in there and reading, surrounded by books and a couple of my cats. I would really hate for all of that to go away.

I think I'm probably living in the right time now because I'm sure a couple generations from now perhaps the old fashioned book will have totally disappeared, or be such a rarity it will be hard to get your hands on one. That would be one big shame!

A holiday is like any other day in my world

2010-09-06T22:17:00.000-07:00

Hello there,

Well it hardly seems like a holiday at all. In fact, I can't believe labor day has come and gone already. I worked as usual. I spent most of the time editing on my book when I wasn't cooking or cleaning. I'm re-editing my proof, so my children's book will be delayed a couple of weeks. I honestly think I could edit until doomsday and still find the need to edit. However, I can't let it get published when I've left quotation marks out in two places. That's what happens when you get rushed, but then it seems I'm always running a rat race at my house. Long story short, I'm rewording other areas too as I go through it again. Good news is, I'm a little over halfway through, so hoping to finish it up in the next day or two, if the creek doesn't rise - as they say. Around my house things can change quickly, so I never really know if I'll have a flood and get called away or not.

I'm a rather tenacious person and if I didn't have a househld to care for I would have the book finished by now. It was my intention to upload new files by today or tomorrow. Really I should know better. Instead I find myself running up and down the stairs twenty times a day. My ofice is upstairs, for any of you who haven't guessed. To look on the bright side, at least I'm getting excercise everyday.

Today I cooked more than I usually do, so it took me an hour to cleanup the kitchen, which was an hour I didn't really have for such things, but what can you do? We are taking care of the old man next door, who has bone cancer and lives alone, so I wanted him to have a nice meal.

I hope everyone had a nice holiday. Tomorrow is back to the trenches as I try to work on my book edit and on the edit of a book I'm doing freelance. More next time.

Night time Ramblings

2010-08-28T21:34:00.000-07:00

Well I'm still waiting for my proof which won't get here until next week now. I was hoping to get it read this weekend to see if I need to make any changes, but alas, it wasn't meant to be. Kind of have my hands full now anyway, but wanted to start writing and it will be distracting to go back to the finished book.

A friend left for Idaho yesterday and today I found out another guy I know has terminal cancer. What a bummer. The old man next door has terminal cancer too. Don't know which one will go first, but I'm pretty sure they'll be gone by Halloween or Thanksgiving. It just goes to show you that this life is short and you never know what's coming. It's best to seize the day, or the moment, or whatever you have, and fill it with what counts. I try to live by that, but sometimes it's hard to do. Been trying to take the old man, Bob, some food etc. and check on him because he's all alone. He has a grown son who lives out of state that visits once in awhile, but he just trashes the place and doesn't pick up after himself. His father sure can't do it. A lot of times he can hardly move or get out of bed all day.

I did go out last night and had way too much mexican food. We met some friends at this new place that opened up and the food was terrific. I rarely eat that anymore anyway, so if it's in moderation I guess it's okay. That's the only kind of food my family can agree on when we all get together, which isn't very often. They eat that a lot in TX. It's no wonder almost everyone is over weight. Most of the time I try to stick to salad if I can. anyway this restaurant last night had one downfall and that was a table of kids run rampant. They screamed and ran around all over and the adults simply ignored them. It looked like pigs ate at that table and not children, with food all over the table, floor, chairs, etc. I felt sorry for the wait staff. I know we would have gotten killed if we acted that way when we were kids.

I think it's probably a good thing I never had any kids. Having kids doesn't mean they'll be there for you when you get old, like a lot of people think. Kids do grow up, move away, and have their own lives. I like to write and tell children stories, but then send them home to Mama. I think I would be to much of a disciplinarian in todays world. I have too much of my grandmother in me. She'd always tell us "children could be seen but not heard from, so you couldn't speak unless spoken to." I think all seven of us grew up all right in an atmosphere like that.

Ok, I better get with it. It grows late again and, even though I'm a night owl by nature, I have to halfway watch the time. I hate being a clock watcher, but I posted a sign above my desk - at eye level - that says "Watch the time" so I don't get myself in trouble all the time with the rest of the family. So I'm off to do my night chores which include giving my old cat a pill, scooping cat boxes, locking all the doors, etc. so I can get to bed and listen to Coast to Coast until I doze off.

Blessings all,
Sunni

Finally finished my children's novel

2010-08-22T21:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I can hardly believe I've reached the end of the road with this novel. The writing process is such an ordeal at times, especially editing over and over again to get it all perfect. Now as if all this editing wasn't enough by itself, I still had the cover to do after reading the ms a jillion times.

Then silly me, I decided to use the wacom tablet I got for my birthday to design the book cover. I've always used photoshop, but this was a real learning curve. Actually once you get the hang of it, it's kind of fun although very intense. You're actually painting pixels on the computer screen. It's really neat how it works. But it's a real challenge to keep things straight. And also to remember which color you're using, although that can be fixed if you make a boo-boo. In that way it's like oil painting. The bright colors are very hard on your eyes, though, after awhile. It's kind of like seeing spots after someone's been taking pictures or coming in out of the bright sunlight. In fact it was so intense, I had to take a day off in between when I was working on it. I think it turned out real well considering it's my first stab at it using that tablet, and it certainly fits the theme of the book which is what I was going for. I'll post a pic here and let you be the judge for yourselves.

So what do you think? I uploaded this book to my publisher today, so if my files are in order I'll be recieving my proof soon. It should be out the end of August or first part of September 2010. You can read an excerpt at my website if you like. http://www.faeriemoundbooks.com

All feedback is welcome and appreciated.

Now it's on to my next venture. Until next time, blessings to all.

The Editing Goes On

2010-08-12T20:48:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm still editing which I guess is no surprise. The book desperately needed commas added so while I was doing that, on the umpteenth read through, I changed a few other things as well to make it read better. I still have about a hundred pages to go and then I'll be tackling the cover.

Some days it's slow going and I don't get to it at all, so when I do I try to edit at least two chapters before I have to quit. If it was up to me, I'd just stick with it until it was finished if I had to stay up all night. But alas, it's not up to me.

I'm still hoping to have it to the publisher by the end of August, but that hope is dwindling more everyday. What can I say? I know this story front to back and back to front from reading it so many times. Of course that's the way with all my books. I've read them all fifty times before I'm ready to get them published.

I already have thoughts for the sequel buzzing through my head, as well as thoughts for the sequel to the medieval story I wrote last year. I have so much writing to do, if I can get out of editor mode, and find all the scraps of paper I've made notes on along the way.

I better get back at it. It's already 10 pm here and it won't be long until I have to quit for the night. I simply hate that. I'm a night owl and do my best work in the wee hours, but I have to keep the peace.

Hopefully my next post will be announcing the new book. Wouldn't that be nice?

Still Editing My Next Book

2010-07-22T21:28:00.000-07:00

Well as my life goes, I'm still working on the edits for my last novel. I was buzzing along and then went back over it again, and then a third time, each time changing or correcting something else. I'm now on chapter two going over it a fourth time. Hopefully this one will do it. I also have the manuscript out to a couple people to read and give me feedback. Still planning on publishing it sometime in August 2010, but next month is approaching quickly.

I'm also designing the cover and using a new program for that, so it's slow going. I didn't get a lot accomplished today. Unfortunately, I can't work on this full time since I have a life going on here as well. Sometimes, I simply have to take a book and go downstairs and read, after dinner and the dishes are done. And as I do this, I think about all the things I need to do - like update my website, and finish my edit, and write. But my husband thinks I'm obsessed with my "projects" so I have to make my appearance downstairs, on some evenings, even though he's engrossed in politics or on the net himself. Anyway, eventually I'll finish everything - I hope.

The book I'm reading now (Cloud Chamber by Michael Dorris) was so very boring and finally started getting good after the first 150 pages. I know why it was boring - too much narrative and very little dialogue. Just goes to show you how important dialogue is to a story. A writer should never go on and on with pages of rambling narrative. If I wasn't persistent, I would have put the book down long ago.

If anyone would like, you can check out my book page on Facebook at this link:
http://www.facebook.com/?tid=1487649949721&sk=messages#!/pages/Adrift-in-Fantasy-Realms/134266636610429?ref=sgm

I'll post an excerpt to my new book on my website soon, so stayed tuned.

Until next time. Never give up what you love to do.

Sunni

Finished Novel Three - My First Children's Book

2010-07-06T18:22:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

I'm exhausted and really have neglected this blog. Shame on me. The ABNA contest is over and I edited and polished my entry and will be publishing it in Aug. This will be my first kids story. I'm now working on the cover while a couple friends are reading the novel for any last minute changes.

I have an old cat who has seizures, among other problems, and he fell out of the cat tree this afternoon with another seizure. That's about an eight foot drop. I'm thankful he didn't hurt himself - that's all he needs.

I've been trying to get some online freelance work too so that takes a lot of time plus I'm working on another story. There's no time for everything and I constantly run on about four hours of sleep a night. I'm getting too old for this. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with this and updating my website on a regular basis. I'll post a short excerpt from my new book soon.

Good News and Bad News

2010-03-04T15:55:00.000-08:00

Well I made it past the first cut in the ABNA contest so I'm very happy about that. A couple of my friends and my sister didn't so that was sad since we all put a lot of time into writing.

I'm dealing with a sick cat right now so can't really write more than that at the moment. I think his time has about come to leave us and that's very hard. Any of you cat lovers who read this will know what I'm talking about there. I've had him since he was a kitten and he'll be 18 on May 6th. Poor darling.

I'll update soon on other things.

I Entered The ABNA Contest For The Third Time

2010-01-28T14:24:00.000-08:00

Well let me tell you it's been a long two months for me. Trying to get my book finished in time for the contest and dealing with all my family issues. I lost one of my dear cats on the 7th of Dec. so that was a blow but he was 17 years and 7 months so had a pretty long life. Now his brother pines away for him, poor thing. They were from the same litter. He has lots of medical problems anyway so I've had my hands full.

Then the announcement for the contest came, which I was expecting, so it was onto polishing and more polishing. And the polishing was after I had to add 30,000 words to the manuscript in two weeks. It was a story I had originally written as a short story in 2005 and wasn't long enough for the contest at its present length. Of course I could have taken the easy route and just entered the one I did last year since they let self published books in the contest this year but I wanted to enter something new. I've been burning the midnight oil on all that and am completely wiped out.

I'm entering Y/A this year - my first year to do so - but it was the only thing I had finished enough that I could polish in time since I opted to enter something new. Hopefully I'll make the first cut but what will be - will be. At least I'm entered and can catch up on my 700 emails now. Oh my! A daunting task since I have to read them all. I'm so behind on my email that I should be ashamed of myself. I owe notes to a few people but they know what my writing life is like. Thank goodness. Of course my house needs a good cleaning too etc. etc. etc. And I have three manuscripts left to read and review since I promised that before the holidays. You know how it never ends. Sometimes I think I bite off way more than is do-able but that's just me. I do eventually get to it. I'm glad most people are understanding.

I guess I'm hopeless because I'm already jotting notes down for the next book. Sigh... I guess they'll join all the other notes I keep in my writing folder for now.

Lost one of my beloved cats

2009-12-08T21:33:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

This is not book related but thought I would share this moment with you as it weighs heavily on my mind. I lost one of my beloved boys yesterday. He was 17 years and 7 months old so pretty good for a cat. He had kidney disease and we knew it would claim him in the end but it's still hard to believe he's gone. He was such an angel and was actually doing better than his brother from the same litter or so I thought. His brother has alot of other health issues.

Anyway, he never complained and even let us know when he needed to use the litter box so we could carry him there as he couldn't walk the last few days. Now how many cats would bother to do that? I sure wish one of my girls (the retarded devil cat) would have taken a lesson or two from him.

I miss him terribly and the house seems lonelier and quieter which is only in my imagination I know. I keep hearing his meow and seeing a vision of his black and white form in the corner of my eye. I'm so dreadfully tired after sitting for three days at his bedside with only three hours of sleep during that time. I'm consoling myself that he had the best life I could give him and he's now in the summerland chasing butterflies and grasshoppers and sitting in the sun spots again like he used to love to do.

I've neglected my writing, blogs and email and need to get back to all that after I've rested. I just wanted to share this with any of the cat lovers who may read this.

Blessings,
Sunni

A very cool thing!

2009-11-19T22:20:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone,
The link I just posted is for my books on BookBuzzr. It's a way cool site. You can read the excerpts just like reading a real book with turning pages. This is the cleverest thing I've run across in awhile. Check it out!

About Sunni Morris-fReado

2009-11-19T22:19:00.000-08:00

Check out my books here: About Sunni Morris-fReado

DON'T FORGET TO CHECK OUT MY BOOKS

2009-11-07T13:08:00.000-08:00

Don't forget to check out my books on my website here: http://www.faeriemoundbooks.com/

Or on my Amazon author pages here:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002SOKFS8

Thanks for reading.

Blessings, Sunni

MY LIFE IS TOO BUSY

2009-11-07T12:54:00.000-08:00

Making notes here and there for my next book. It's slow going with trying to promote this one everywhere I can plus handling the daily things going on in my life. Then my sister's boyfriend asked me the other night when I was going to write a mystery thriller. Hmmmm.... Well I've always wanted to and maybe someday I will but as it is it takes me a good two years to turn out a book. People don't seem to realize I have a husband and six cats to take of. That alone keeps me pretty busy. Especially when my "boys" are 17 and 1/2 and one has seizures. I make a lot of trips to the vet.

Anyway while I'm stashing away notes for future novels I'm also reading and reviewing some others that have come out. If anyone stops by and reads this and would like to read a little more of my books here is my page on authonomy. I've got about 7 or 8 chapters of each one posted there. http://www.authonomy.com/Profile.aspx

Happy reading,
Sunni

2009-10-30T20:18:00.000-07:00

Second Novel Finished

Well I did it! Wrote two books now and this new one is the first in a series. Of course the way things go in my life it will probably be another two years before I get book two finished. What can I say? I don't get to spend as much time writing as I'd like.

Anyway, I really like the way this one turned out. It's a medieval tale about two sisters who get seperated during childhood. I hope you'll check it out on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1449538509 and to read a longer excerpt go to my website here: http://www.faeriemoundbooks.com/

Thank you so much for reading.

Blessings,

Sunni

NEW BOOK FINISHED

2009-02-08T14:41:00.000-08:00

Well it seems I have not been on here in the longest time. Been working on my new fantasy novel and finished it. After five edits, I decided to enter it in the ABNA contest this year so it will not be available in print for a few months. This contest is nerve racking but a great experience and meeting lots of great fellow writers out there in the process. We'll see what happens with this. I am not expecting alot since there are 10,000 entries this year.

For anyone reading this that may be interested, I do have another novel out and it is posted on Amazon at this link: http://www.amazon.com/Haversham-Hill-Sunni-Morris/dp/1434858936

Or you may read a longer excerpt of the book at this link:
www.faeriemoundbooks.com

Back to my life now.

Website Finished

2008-06-29T16:15:00.000-07:00

Another project was my website which I am happy to say I sent for publication today 28 June, 2008. It took me about three weeks to build that thing. Again, like I mentioned before, I am no computer guru. Sometimes I question my own sanity as to why I get myself into things like this that I know nothing about. I think it boils down the fact it was a challenge as well as a money issue of course. It is always cheaper to do things yourself right? Plus doing it yourself gives you ultimate control over the outcome.

Again I can say I learned so much by the experience and it's always good to learn something new although I can say I am quite thankful that is done. Again at times I was pulling my hair out but it really turned out well and I can always revise it if I think I need to when I learn more about designing websites. It should be up and running but the 30th of June. Please visit at www.faeriemoundbooks.com. You can read an excerpt from my novel Haversham Hill and inform yourself about other things I am working on.
Happy reading. Sunni

First Book Published

2008-06-29T16:09:00.000-07:00

My first book, Haversham Hill, was published on 16 May, 2008. As you can imagine that was a happy day for me. A big accomplishment fulfilled. It is now available to buy at Amazon or in my Createspace E store.

All this came about, or maybe I should say came about sooner, because of my entry into the ABNA Breakthough Novel Award contest put on by Penguin Books and Amazon. I had already written this piece but that gave me cause to polish it out in time to enter it. Of course there can only be one winner and out of 5000 entries the odds weren't too good at being that one. You ask if they were to hold the contest again would I enter it? Absolutely. It was a very good experience for me and there are some awfully good writers out there.

As a result of being an entrant I had the opportunity to self publish my novel through Createspace. This was another experience. Working with them was great and I will use them again but everything you have to go through is something else again. That is if you are no computer guru - like me.First off everything had to be put into a PDF file and uploaded to the publisher. One file for the insides and one file for the cover. I hardly knew what a PDF file was much less how to make one. That entailed a month of research on my part while I pulled my hair out and anguished over it until I finally found a program I could work with that would make PDF files. Now it is so easy I wondered why it took me a month to figure it out. I probably shouldn't even admit that. I am an endless pit of story ideas but when it comes to computers and computer programs I really do need a show and tell.

The cover was the next challenge to tackle. Createspace gives you a template to work with so that part is all fine but it had to be done in Photoshop or some program similar to that. I am not at all familiar with programs like that as I have never had any call to need a program like this. This is where the indie author guides helped me tremendously. There is a fellow ABNA entrant who posted the how to's on her website. I could easily follow the cover instructions step by step. Now she has the guides published in one book to help indie authors with the whole process. I highly recommend it if any of you are thinking about an endeavor of this sort.

I know there are some of you who will wait to get picked up by a publishing house the old fashioned way but I think it is highly unlikely for a publisher or agent to take a chance on a new unknown author. I really see self publishing as a wave of the future. It fits in so well with the world wide web and the times we live in.With self publishing you have the satisfaction of doing it all yourself, the price is reasonable, the royalties are probably better than what you'll get with old fashioned publishing unless you become a big name, and you keep control over your work. I would recommend it if there is someone out there who wants to publish a book. As a reader, I am not concerned about purchasing a self published book if it is an entertaining read.

To those of you out there going through this process, I say never give up. You can do it. It was a big learning curve for me but it is always good to learn something new. Right? And I am much smarter now so the next one will be easier.If you would like to read an excerpt from my book or to buy my book please visit my website at: www.faeriemoundbooks.comIt should be up and running by the 30th of June, 2008. Blessings. Sunni

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