I got zapped by the big bug zapper. It was awesome. They discovered a brain metastasis. It was not awesome. I got a great prognosis of 95% chance of full recovery. It was awesome. I go back next week for results. I hate waiting. I am writing this from my phone. It is not so awesome. I got the coolest drawing ever from Dean at deanzdoodlezdeanzdoodlez
Needless to say: awesome.
I feel like complete shite. I’ve never felt better in my life!!!!
I love you guys! A few days to get back on my feet and I will be the neighbourhood terror once more. Thank you everyone for the love, support and well wishes. You mean the world to me.
Here is the sixth installment of Ten Top Lists of What Not To Do by Marie Ann Bailey of 1WriteWay at http://1writeway.com and John W. Howell of Fiction Favorites at http://johnwhowell.com. These lists are simu-published on our blogs each Monday. We hope you enjoy.
10. When on your first date, do not tell your date that you’ve just decided to join the Peace Corps to save the world. Your date may think they need to be saved or, at best, that you are already thinking of running away.
9. When on your first date, do not declare in advance that you are picking up the tab even if that’s what you want to do. Your date might be the kind of person who orders the most expensive cocktail, appetizer, salad, soup, bottle of wine, entrée, digestif, and dessert, followed by a carry out order.
8. When on your first date, do not talk about your ex, particularly if you have more than one. As with job interviews, such candidness may only lead to your date thinking of you as an ex as well.
7. When on your first date, do not talk about sexual activity, either yours, your date’s, or who ever happens to be running for mayor of your city. It’s not so much to respect the morals of your date that you would avoid talking about sex; rather, it’s because your date just might be the kind of person who will want to better your story and heaven help you if they know a lot about it.
6. When on your first date, don’t dress like you are going to go dumpster diving. First appearances mean a lot and you don’t want your first date to think you’re too poor to actually afford nice clothes. Then again, if dumpster diving is your first date, then ignore this caution.
5. When on your first date, do not talk politics or religion. This is the surest way to find out if you have anything to talk about at all which will be a damn sight better than coming to blows over some little point you are trying to make.
4. When on your first date, do not question your date as if the date were a job interview. You do not need to know your date’s KSAs (knowledge, skills, and abilities), nor do you need to know where your date expects to be in five years, nor do you need to know why your date thinks he or she is the best person for future dates. These are the types of questions your parents are supposed to ask.
3. When on your first date, do not drink alcohol at all, even if dirty gin martinis are your favorite beverage. While you may argue that a little of bit of alcohol can be relaxing for both you and your date, the bridge between relaxation and alcohol-induced coma is more narrow than one usually thinks and often comes crowded with the sharing of too many secrets that are best left unsaid, frequent and precarious trips to the bathroom, and undesired invitations to burping contests. None of these things is likely to leave a good impression on either of you.
2. When on your first date, do not suddenly change your plans and take your date to a family reunion of your one-hundred-plus relatives, most of whom haven’t agreed on anything since the Korean War. While you may think this is a perfect opportunity for your date to get to know you and your family at the same time, your date may think it’s the perfect opportunity to hook up with one of your cousins.
1. When on your first date, do not talk about how much you want a family of your own nor ask if your date wants a family, even if you do. Your date might get the wrong impression and start thinking of you as a couple rather than a casual acquaintance. It may get way too creepy.
I have shielded my eyes against her bright beauty, her brilliant wit, her shining soul.
I have bowed before her rapier tongue, welcoming the fiery warmth of its lashes against my back.
I have kissed the coal-burning footprints she leaves behind as she tours her universe.
I am but one of her many minions, grateful to be counted among them.
I speak in hyperbole, but I speak with love.
I speak with a sly smile, but my heart breaks.
I speak only a few words, but my mind explodes with all else that I want to say.
I beg the forces that be, let her rise again.
Let me again feel her fiery words as they blaze through the fiber optics of our connection.
The heat of her love purifies me.
Her words sing to me.
Her generosity humbles me.
Her silence is deafening.
I beg the forces that be, bring her back from the ashes,
This is very exciting as uploading it there and getting it right was a bit scary for a newbie at this self-publishing business like me, so I’m delighted to find it was relatively easy to do and is now a finished product available in the Kindle store.
This is especially because Kindle was the beginning of this whole self publishing journey for me in so many ways. It was seeing the Amazon Self Publish Guide on my tablet that inspired me to bring the draft of the novel out from the virtual darkness of old computer discs and revise for this millennium (yes, the first draft was actually written last millennium!!).
So now having it on Kindle is like a major part of the journey achieved, and a major…
I wish for you a dragon’s fire
To breathe freedom to you
To raise you up on crystal wings
Far away from darker lands
It seems the purest souls
Are tested most these days
As though in exchange for generosity
Come ravages and pain
And so I cry to the heavens
Not this, not this again!
Let this dear friend find
Safe passage home
Victorious and complete
Hear me universe
Hear me now!
The essence of the earth to rise and comfort you
The essence of water, to quench your soul’s thirst
The essence of air, to gift you wide expanses
The essence of fire, to burn away all pain
I invoke all the elements
To be with you now
And bring you back to us safe
And healed in body and soul.
“Looking for romance authors who want to promote their work on both sides of the Atlantic during the month of September.” Great opportunity for romance writers!
Visit Readful Things
Where this impish angel sits
Directing the circus
As our humble Queen
Creating games and mischief
Keeping spirits high
And teasing those held dear
With smiles and fun in mind
I owe her much
For her support and care
As many others do
My best and dearest friend
A wordsmith and a muse
Please raise a glass of what you wish
To make her blush and squirm
As we thank her for all she does
Thank you, Ionia, for everything you’ve done for me and every other author that has been blessed to cross your path.
Totally awesome review about a totally awesome author! Sarah M. Craditt, Anne Rice, and Dickens all in the same breath. Go to Sarah’s blog now and find links to purchase her novels St. Charles at Dusk and The Storm and the Darkness.
So, something incredibly cool happened to me this week. And its just Monday!
It started a few weeks ago when Becket, who is the endlessly interesting and endearing assistant of Anne Rice, posted on his page that he was interested in knowing what other indie authors were working on. He is getting ready to publish his own stories, and has been very supportive of the indie community as a whole. I responded with some info about my novels, and a link to my Amazon Author Central profile. He replied that he had read the sample offered by Amazon (you can’t adequately imagine my surprise at that), so I offered to send him a copy, and he accepted. He was incredibly kind and gracious about the whole thing, and of course I was completely useless to the world for the rest of the day.
Marie at 1 Write Way 
