Sunday, July 26, 2015

My Whovian Adventure in the Great Northwest

A couple weeks ago my son and I went on a trip to Seattle and the surrounding area. I had told him years ago when he turned thirteen I'd let him pick anywhere domestically he wanted to go as his present. This is partially selfish, because I adore traveling. And, this year he turned thirteen! A terrifying prospect. And I had to pony up on paying for this trip :) His birthday was actually in February, but a friend that lives out there said the weather is awful in February, and that summer was best. So, we picked July, which happened to be my birthday. It was a pretty epic time. We had a blast, both in the city, and doing a lot of hiking in Olympic National Park, as well as Mt. Rainier. We went whale watching, too, though I didn't get any good pics of the whales due to the boat pitching back and forth. One other thing that was cool about the trip was that my novel Martinis with the Devil is set in Seattle, so I got to do some setting research since I'd never been there. Google Earth only gets you so far :)


Anyways, I thought I'd share some of my favorite pics!



The Chihuly Glass Museum


On the Needle with a jaded teenager (he loved it, he just kept pulling these ridiculous faces for the camera)


A Dalek at the EMP Sci-Fi/Fantasy Museum (my kinda museum!)


The Needle at night


Chihuly at night


The glittering lights of the city


Pikes Place (a magical place - the Diagon Alley of Seattle)


Atop Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park


Overlooking the Sol Duc Falls at Olympic


Rialto Beach (my absolute favorite - stark and gorgeous)


Rialto


Sunset at Rialto to finish up my birthday


Ruby Beach


Selfie at Ruby


Lake Quinnault I think


Mt. Rainier


The Paradise Visitors Center at Mt. Rainier


We're now back home safe and sound, but I wish we'd had more time to explore out there! How about you - any fun trips recently, or coming up? TTFN!

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Black Magic and Mojitos Cover Reveal and Pre-Order!!

Today is absolutely surreal. My first book, Black Magic and Mojitos, is available for purchase!!!

This day is the culmination of many years and many, many words written. I've known I wanted to be a published writer since I was twelve. And now I can finally reveal my book baby to the world! I gave a little sneak peek of my cover a few weeks ago, and now, without further ado, here is the whole shebang:



Isn't it gorgeous??!! I have the very talented Steven Novak to thank for its loveliness. It's up on Amazon now for pre-order at 99 cents, with a release date on August 7th! Pre-orders help bump me in the ranks on release day, so I'll give you a big cyber hug if you click here to order. Also, check out my Amazon author page! I'm now searchable by book title and my name on Amazon - such an amazing feeling! If you don't have a Kindle or other e-reader, you can download the Kindle app to your phone or PC for free really easily. 

I would greatly appreciate any help with promoting my debut book, from something as simple as a tweet or Facebook share to a mention on your blog or a review on Amazon or Goodreads. It takes a village and you guys are my village! 

In a few days, pop on back and I'll be sharing some of the amazing pictures from my epic Seattle trip, which I took in part to do setting research for Martinis with the Devil, the next book I'll be releasing. It was a fantastic trip, and my son and I had a blast.

Questions? Comments? Any exciting news to share? Let me know! And a big THANK YOU for stopping by here and helping me celebrate this HUGE breakthrough moment in my life.