Too Much Snow?

Personally, I don't think there's such a thing as too much snow ... but I admit to a hesitancy about wanting MORE. 
I got stuck in my own driveway this morning trying to leave for work.
No big deal. I just kept going back and forth until I'd made enough of a track to get me out into the street. 
Still, if we get any MORE snow, I have a feeling I'll have to use a shovel at the end of the driveway finally. I was putting that off as long as possible. It's finally arrived. The winter, I mean. 

I know that that girl is not me ... but that is indeed a lot of snow ... not as much as we've had in the past here in Michigan, but it seemed a good representation of what we got recently. That and I liked her hat. 

But hey, since you don't know...
My sister Tatum has her own blog on here. It tells the stories of ALL her dogs, her whippets Zero, Khayman, and Squint. 
On Monday after I finished writing  my blog post, I went to the mall with her to have the dogs picture taken with Santa Claus. It was kind of a riot because when it was their turn, 'Santa' was having fun holding onto their leashes and talking to them all. 
So ... ready to see the photo, everyone? Here it is!!!

Squint (far left), Zero (middle), Khayman (far right)

I wound up having a very good time with them. For being allowed in the mall, they weren't frightened by any of the noises, they didn't bark, they didn't pull. Perfect Whippet Angels. 
As soon as I get the web address for her blog too, I'll post it here. Because the stories about her dogs ... hilarious. 
So that was what I did on Monday evening. 
Wanna know what I did on Tuesday? Closed up and got out SUPER early considering that we're now in the holiday rush time. 10:30pm. That's a record. AND I got 32 books donated to Family and Child Services which makes me extremely happy. That's 32 more books for 32 more children who typically don't get a gift at Christmas. 
SPEAKING of the donations in our Book Drive ... I managed to complete my goal this morning. Since this started, I have strived to get one of each Harry Potter book in the series donated. 
The Seventh and Final Harry Potter book was donated as of 10:00am. WIN! 

Has anyone here been waiting for Christmas as anxiously as I have? I think I've finally finished all my Christmas shopping?
Even for my Secret Santa at work. 
Most of the presents are already wrapped and under my little tree that I have set up in my bedroom right now. 
I'm just so excited. I can't believe that Christmas is RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER. 

I'm just very excited about it. 

But that's just me. 

I've been working extremely hard to make that extra money for any additional presents I need to give to people for the holiday season. 

So I have been sitting here at the ChocolaTea with a little demitasse of sipping chocolate. Essentially, that's just really rich hot chocolate. I have been nursing it for QUITE some time, but here is the picture I took of it when I first got it. It looked SO delectable that I almost didn't want to take that first taste. 

I was looking at it and I immediately thought of my dear friend, Jeanne who I miss very much. The first time we had this was when we were playing the game "Chocolate-opoly" and Polly gave us each one to keep the cravings away. *laughs* And tonight, I was feeling a bit nostalgic. So one for me! 

Since the holidays started, I know I slacked in the blogging department. I hope that this week's posts have assured you that I AM in this for the long haul and I am wishing each and every one of you the very best.
Now, I think I'm going to wrap this up but I hope that everyone enjoys the weekend and if you're here in Michigan, be careful ... that snow is still coming. 

Be Open, Be Loving, Be Yourself
Taryn

Christmas Spirit Anyone?

It is that wonderful time of the year. The MOST wonderful time of the year. 

There will be peace on earth. 

There will be giving.

There will be joy. 

There will be love for everyone. 

Anyone want to raise a hand to how great that is? I thought so. 

It sounds like the perfect world. There's just one problem and feel free to comment if you disagree with me at anytime as I am an open minded individual. 

It only lasts 24 hours. 

Think about it. 

I was watching of all things 'The Muppet Christmas Carol' with my dad on Sunday when I noticed this one little detail. The Spirit of Christmas Present who sings about how everyone feels love in their hearts and it feels like Christmas, right? Well then ... at the stroke of midnight ... the spirit grows old ... and dies. 

The spirit of Christmas DIES on December 26th and even though THAT was just a movie/book, there was something so odd about that. 

People around this time of year are open and loving and giving for a grand total of 24 hours on Christmas day. As soon as Christmas is over, everyone's done. The giving stops and the kind words turn into slander against one another again. Peace on Earth shouldn't have a shelf life of 24 hours. 

God created us to be peaceful to one another, didn't He? 

So I kinda think that we should be more kind to each other throughout the WHOLE YEAR. Not a measly 24 hours. 

I don't think Christmas wasn't meant to just amend for our wicked ways until the next year. Christmas was meant to bring families closer together and remind them that they're important to each other. It was meant to remind fellow Christians that Christ was born as a baby from humble beginnings to be the Savior of the world. 

And ... it's sad to think that it's been turned into something that can be celebrated and forgotten the very next day. 

So in case I just ... made you cry ... I'll move on to a happier topic. 
We've been doing a Secret Santa at work and I got to open mine. They KNEW me. I got a cute fuzzy blanket covered in owls and fluffy socks. 
Best. Day. Ever. 
AND ..... I got a TON of books donated in the Book Drive at work today too.

All right, all right! I've gotta take off. I just wanted to leave my thoughts for you to chew on. Feel free to leave a comment or even engage in a light debate. I encourage it. 

As always,
Be Open, Be Loving, Be Yourself.
Taryn

Been Shopping

Exhausted from shopping? 

You might be if you've been running around like I have the past week. 
I don't think anyone will be left out this year. I even managed to get an AWESOME gift for a little girl for the Angel Tree Project. 
It was a giant blue fuzzy elephant. 

Picture the Elephant in BLUE and that was my Angel Tree gift.

I had a lot of fun shopping for that too. I had gone into Target, looking around because I love their toy department and when I came across this big, fuzzy elephant ... I KNEW that that was the gift. 

How's everyone else been doing? NaNoWriMo is done as you probably guessed since it's now December and ... let me tell you ... I lost. 
Again.
Once I made it to the 30,000 word mark, it went ALL downhill. I lost my momentum, I forgot where the nonexistent plot was going, and I couldn't keep my characters from running around like chickens with their heads cut off. It was annoying and I got tired of dragging them back to their respective corners to give them a stern talking to about running away from their author. 
It's quite pesty when that happens. ANYWAY!

Tomorrow is Friday. It's been another week. And ... I'm considerably poorer from Christmas shopping but it has been 100% worth it because this year, I have HAD the funds to go all out for people. I'd share what I've gotten but ... some of my readers are that list and then the surprise would be gone. 
Lots of people are getting books (no surprise there, have ya met me?) but they already know that because DUH, it's me and there may or may not be some gift cards involved. One place that I need to hit again is World Market. 
Their jewelry is really cute. I love their bangle bracelets and am regretting not putting some of them on my Christmas list because I think I'd wear them ... like ... every day. 

Plus at World Market, you can get the Hello Kitty Pink Hot Chocolate. Not kidding. It actually makes your Hot Chocolate PINK. 

See? It's pink! 

Moving on again,

You will be pleased to hear that I have indeed read Divergent by Veronica Roth which I mentioned in a previous post. 
And ... I'm in love with the series now. 
Tris Prior was raised in the Abnegation (Selfless) Faction and is now at the age where she will be tested to see where she SHOULD be. Will she remain with the Abnegation and her family or will she walk away to be in another faction? 
Basically, her test was inconclusive and that makes her a Divergent or essentially someone who defies the simulations that were performed in the test. To save her life, the person who tested her ERASED her results and hand wrote in Abnegation. 
Tris, who has no idea why Divergent is so dangerous in the first place, thinks nothing of it other than she has NO CLUE what she's going to pick on Choosing Day.
Deciding to hide among the Dauntless (Bravery), she chooses them as her faction. 
There, Tris meets new friends and one young man in particular named Four who seems to know more about her than she realizes. 
What does Divergent mean? And why is the Government and the Factions so threatened by it? Tris Prior finds out in this epic dystopian novel. 

From Divergent, I have moved onto the fifth and final book in the Shadow Falls series, Chosen at Nightfall by C.C. Hunter. 

In this series, we're FINALLY getting to the end of the actual conflict in the series. Kylie Galen has gone from normal girl to supernatural to freak of nature to ... chameleon? 
Basically, the author decided to cop out and say that Kylie is not JUST a supernatural (i.e. werewolf, vampire, shapeshifter, witch or fae) but she's what is called a chameleon (not a lizard) and she can take on the elements and powers of all the other supernaturals. 
She had left Shadow Falls Camp to train her newfound skills with her longlost grandfather and great aunt, but it only lasts four chapters before she winds up right back at the camp. This seems to be C.C. Hunter's only desirable setting and it gets quite obnoxious because nothing ever changes at the camp except for when some of the supernaturals get rowdy. *rolls eyes* So you can get my disappointment when Kylie leaves this new setting and returns to ... the camp. 
Then the mention of her archnemesis Mario comes up again and the reader gets all excited that something is about to happen ... and you're disappointed again. We get little jumps of adrenaline whenever Kylie 'sees' something in the forest and that turns out to be nothing until the very end when we actually get a CONCLUSION to this too long series. 

I give this book only 2 stars out of 5. 

NEXT on the list ... of books that I have read recently. 
I finished Wolfsbane by Andrea Cremer. Again, another book that I mentioned in a previous post so if you want to see the covers of these books, visit www.bn.com and you'll get all the information you need about each book. Including cover, titles, and prices. (I'm a huge Barnes & Noble fan)

Wolfsbane! 
So it LITERALLY picks up right where it left off at the end of Nightshade by Andrea Cremer. 
This book is the continuation of the story of Calla Tor, the Alpha of the Nightshade werewolf pack and her forbidden love with Shay, who she turned into a werewolf or Guardian as they are called in Andrea Cremer's series. 
I actually really recommend these books. Calla is a strong female character who knows who she is and she really suffers from indecision at times the way REAL PEOPLE do. 
Basically, book two is all about how she has made the decision to walk away from the Keepers who have bossed around the werewolves their whole lives and they expect no questions asked of them. The Searchers are providing those answers. But Calla has more decisions that she has to make regarding her former love, Ren and where he fits into the Keeper's plans for them. Andrea Cremer knows how to write a story that keeps you enthralled to the last page and I know that this wasn't my most epic review of a book for you ... but I just have to say that this book gets 4 out of 5 stars from me. 
Pick up Nightshade by Andrea Cremer! You won't regret it. 

I feel like that's how I should end this entry. With all my book reviews. Sound good, huh?

I hope that you enjoyed this week's entry and I'm really hoping that I'll get back on track with the Monday/Wednesday schedule. This is what happens when you work in retail.

Be Open, Be Loving, Be Yourself,
Taryn

ThanksGIVING!!

... Not ThanksTAKING. 

I'm a giver!! I generally always have been. I like to give my time, my love, and ... plenty of gifts. Usually they're just the 'little' things. A piece of someone's favorite chocolate. A copy of a book they like from a used book store. A coffee to brighten your smile. A card with a gentle message.

I have always wanted to know what happened to those days. 
It used to be a regular thing. People were giving, loving, honorable and thankful. Today, it always seems to be .. about what we WANT. Not what we want to GIVE.

And perhaps that's just the age we live in. Where this little rant is coming from is ... I was watching the movie 'Babe' of all things and there's this scene where the little girl unwraps her present from her grandparents. A dollhouse. It's beautiful and was handmade by her grandfather. The little girl promptly starts to scream, "It's the WRONG ONE. I WANT THE HOUSE I SAW ON THE TELEVISION." 

THEN I started to think about people who look disappointed with Christmas presents because it's not 'the version' we want and ... of course I think it's okay to a point. If it's something you specifically pointed out and showed, then sure disappointment is there ... but do people have to VOICE that opinion now? Why can't we just be grateful and say 'Thank you' instead of 'That's NOT what I wanted'. 

As we go into the Christmas season, let's not think about what we WANT to find under our trees ... let's think about what we want to GIVE instead. 

Me and my Squishable Unicorn for the SquishGiving challenge.

So since everyone has been posting every single day until Thanksgiving what they're thankful for. 
I'm going to put my own little list right here on the blog.

I am THANKFUL for ...
1.) My family and friends (You know who you are)
2.) Having a roof over my head.
3.) The freedom to read and write. 
4.) My church home in Sparta, MI and my church homes here in Kalamazoo, MI.
5.) My job at Barnes & Noble.
6.) Good health. 

There are many, many more!! 

So ... I think I'm going to call it good for now.
I have to go back to work. Only had so long to post. 
But ... if I am unable to get online again before Thanksgiving ... I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!!! 

Be Open, Be Loving, Be Yourself,
Taryn

Not Forgotten

I Solemnly Promise That I Did Not Forget About This Blog!! 

*repeat until believed* 

Okay, I know ... I might have hurt people's feelings by not being so .... on top of things. It's 110% my fault and I accept full responsibility.

NaNoWriMo is my one and only excuse. 

I'm a BIT on the behind side. By about 2000 words. On the plus side, I have also been working a LOT at Barnes & Noble. This is a very good thing because with Christmas right around the corner, I've been getting a jumpstart on my shopping. I have one person COMPLETELY done. 

And now ... I have ... like ... 12 people to go. Okay .. it's not that many but I swear it feels like that sometimes. 

On a positive note ... I put up my Christmas Tree. 

A couple people at work were like 'Um ... isn't that a little early' but I was inspired by Christmas music and multiple Hallmark Channel Christmas Movies and I got into it and set up my tree. 

It's a plastic, silver tree that stands at over 5 feet tall. I know this because I'm only 5'2" and it's taller than me. I have it decorated with these funny ornaments of chubby birds in different colors too: red, white, blue, and pink. 

A couple of them are wearing hats and scarves too.I'll try to take pictures next time. 

Anyway, as it's Wednesday and I am SUPPOSED to give you something memorable... I will once again give you a snippet from my NaNoWriMo novel. 

“HEY! I love this coat. It’s so cute. And warm. And fuzzy.”

                “Yeah. You just described a cat.”

                “Shut up!” Lily practically chased him down the stairs to the sixth floor. “I’ll just take it all back and go to my own apartment and clean or something.”

                “Don’t do that. I take it back! I give.” Ben laughed out loud, getting a glare from someone returning to their own apartment with a basket full of clean laundry. “We’ll go to the movie and eat a whole bucket of popcorn with butter and the cheese powder over the top and then we’ll get you some delicious candy. Like three boxes of candy.”

                “Yes! I like that idea immensely. I want sno-caps, raisinets, and m&ms.”

                “I like sour patch kids,” Ben interrupted. “One of the three boxes of candy has to be Sour Patch Kids for ME.”

                “I disagree. They’re good, but only the green, yellow, and orange ones.” Ben and Lily walked out into the streets of Brooklyn and they stopped by a frozen yogurt place called Red Mango before walking to the movie theatre. Lily had gotten cocoa frozen yogurt with pieces of waffle cone, strawberries, blueberries, and mini m&ms. Ben had gotten coconut/vanilla with chocolate sauce, strawberries, and crushed peppermint stick pieces,

                “How could you get something minty in February. Brr.”

                “The chocolate sauce is warm,” he said by way of explanation. “Why did you get blueberries?”

                “Because they’re tangy and delicious this time of year.” Lily looked up at him through her thick lashes. “I’m really glad that you invited me out tonight. I … I was … kind of put out when I realized that no one knew me enough to WANT to go out with me tonight. I was really upset. I had asked Cara to go out tonight and she had turned me down. So I kind of … started feeling awful about how I didn’t make many friends yet.”

                “Well … you’ll make more friends at Broadstreet Publications the more you come out of your cubicle. I’ll help introduce you to some of the others. I think you would really get along with Maggie. The … manuscript editor who accidentally sent you the wrong book? Yeah, she’s really smart, she reads constantly like you do, and she’s funny as hell.”

                “Really? Do you think so?” Lily smiled. “That would be great, Ben.” They walked up to a small cinema on the corner. People were milling around outside the building, buying tickets and going inside. “What it like in here?”

                “It’s full of cobwebs, smelly seats, moldy tile in the bathrooms, and cracked dry wall in the walls. Since I’ve been coming here, there have been 6 murders and they’ve saved all the bloodstains to commemorate each death. Also, make sure to keep your feet off the floor in the theater itself. Rats crawl around. Rabid rats.” Ben winked at her.

                “That is so full of shit,” she choked out.

                “Yeah, I know. This place is actually in pretty good condition all things considering. There are four theaters in this building and it’s been standing since the early 1920’s. They’ve updated the seating and the upholstery over the last couple of years, and the lobby is completely modern. But they tried to keep the original feel of being in the theater back in its hay day.”

                “And this movie? ‘About Time’? Wasn’t it not in theaters anymore?”

                “Oh. This tends to play quite a few movies several months after they leave the original theater. It’s how they are able to keep the price so low. Only $4.99.”

                “COOL! So it’s like Celebration Woodland in Grand Rapids?”

                “If I had any idea what that was, I would agree with you,” Ben said with a slight snicker.

                “It’s what we called the Cheap Seats when I was in school at Cornerstone University. If we were ever really bored or just didn’t want to study for a while, or even just poor, we’d pool all of our change for a couple of tickets to see something fun. It was about $3.99 for a ticket there.” Lily followed Ben into the lobby and she looked around in awe. The lobby was all reds and golds and blacks. The walls were a plush dark red velvet with a gold stripe moving horizontally along the wall that pointed towards the stairs to go to the concession stands. The floors were polished black and white marble that clicked and clacked under her feet like when she walked into Broadstreet Publications that first time. Above her head was an enormous golden chandelier. The candelabras had been replaced with lightbulbs and the crystals glimmered like enchanted mirrors on the ceiling. She got so sidetracked she ran right into Ben’s back, crashing into him with an OOF.

That is LITERALLY where it leaves off. 
I'm actually kind of proud that I've been able to keep up with writing a book that has ABSOLUTELY no plot. 
That part is very true. I have nothing to go on. No bad guy. No real problems. Just a crabby narrator, an odd ball main character, and sexy guy who is her boss. 

I wonder if I could catch up just by creating a bad guy. Maybe one who kidnaps the main characters narrator. That would make the story interesting. The characters would all be looking around, repeating their lines and waiting for the narrator to speak. 
"We have to save the Narrator" they'd all say and then jump off the pages of the computer screen and start running around amok in real time. *laughs* I can picture it now. 

 Yeah. Something like that (points to above)

So there have been other things on my mind the past couple of days. Mainly ... Christmas. 
I've been thinking of Christmas gifts for people and someone told me about this awesome idea for kids. And I think it could totally be implemented for adults in a way too.
It's a Book Advent Calendar! 
Here's how it works! You get 25 books! New or used. But either way, you yourself have never read them or your kids have never read them. 
Wrap them up! Don't leave any clue as to what book is in what wrapping paper.
Every night, you or your child picks up a wrapped book. 
And THAT book is the bedtime story that is read that night. (Still not sure how to work this out for adults because ... how does one read a whole novel in one night/day) 

So what do you think? Pretty interesting idea, huh? 
And if anyone has ANY ideas for how to somehow use this arrangement for adults, I'd LOVE to hear them. You can either post them below in the comments OR you can always find me on Facebook and leave me a message there too. 

Christmas is just that time of year that brings out my Love Language: Gifting. 
Whenever someone is having a good day, bad day, celebration, sad day, or for no reason at all, I show love to people through gifting. 

So this is the time of year that it comes in handy. Because then I get free rein so to speak.
My favorite thing in the whole world is finding something that I know someone wants or will really like, wrapping it up, and giving it to them. They open the paper or ... gift bag and they pull out the gift and ... there's that moment of pure happiness that comes over me when they get to see what's inside. 
The problem is that now I have to get through Thanksgiving first. Dumb turkey. Why you be so tasty and intervening in Christmas? *snickers* 

Sometimes it's a hard thing to remember that Thanksgiving is an important holiday too. 

Oh well. 

Well, I think I'm going to call this done for the day. But ... I will attempt to get back to you readers in a couple of days. I'm seeing the new Hunger Games: Catching Fire movie on Friday at 2:45pm. 
So ... yeah, I want to tell you all about it with no spoilers. 
Until then,

Be Open, Be Loving, Be Yourself,
Taryn

Ordered The Soup

What a gross day! 

It's rainy, it's cold, it's dark. 

All I've been able to do was reorganize the kitchen closet, do some dishes, clean the kitty litter (Naughty kitties), and read a book. Big shocker, huh? I read. 

So today while writing to you dear readers, I had the soup. Tomato and pasta soup. Must be that kind of day because at work in the cafe, the soup of the day was Tomato Basil which was just an ... eh ... kind of soup for me. I love the Tomato and pasta soup at ChocolaTea though. 

It's great to have something nice and cozy and warm to eat on cold days. Especially when NaNoWriMo is killing your spirit and your free time. 

Yep! As of right now ... my current standings are: 10,012 words. So I'm right on track at 1,667 words per day to hit 50,000! 

I'm sensing a WIN in my future! That would be awesome. 

Three cheers for me?

*looks around at any bystanders who might cheer* No? *puts arms down* Oh well. 

Anyway ... it's Wednesday!! 

Which usually means it's the Wednesday Writers Workshop 

But because it's NaNoWriMo, my topic for today is kind of muddled. 

What I wanted to share instead was just another portion of my novel for this year to prove to all my fellow writers that I'm just ... writing ... this month. So be prepared. 

Meanwhile, before we get to that, I have .... sitting next to me, a Gingerbread Chai tea. It's amazing and spicy and sweet all at the same time. And it gave me some very much needed energy to give you .... my book recommendation of the day! 

This time, I have a romance novel featured. 

Wicked Little Secrets by Susanna Ives. 

Now, before everyone goes running off to get this book, the version I read was the Advanced Readers Copy ... so it's not officially released yet. 

This book is about Vivienne Taylor. She's a bit of a wild child, but she did exactly what her parents wanted her to do. She's engaged to John Vandergrift and he's exactly who she's expected to be with. He's respectable and had a good reputation. 

But her neighbor and childhood friend Hadrian, Lord Dashiell, a notorious rake and womanizer ... has had his sights set on her since Vivienne grew up.
He sees his chance when a blackmail scandal threatens to overturn her entire family and even her engagement. 

Will Dashiell get his chance to be with the woman he has truly loved from afar? Or will family responsibilities and rumors about Dashiell's womanizing past keep them apart? Time can only tell in this hilarious and romantic book. 

So far, let me tell you ... I love Vivienne. She's so funny because she's so naive about the real England she lives in. And that makes for putting Dashiell in the best situations trying to keep her out of trouble. 

When this book is officially released, I highly recommend anyone to pick this up. Especially romance novel lovers will get a thrill from this. 

And now ... 

since the tea shop is closing ...

I leave you with my Wednesday Writers Workshop! 

Or should I say ... my extended preview of the 10,000 word novel I've written so far. Let me know what you think of my quality-lacking piece. 

“You always know just the right thing to say, Clarabelle.” Lily sighed and walked out the door to her apartment, locking it tight behind her. I think she forgot that I was there and wouldn’t actually let anyone take anything. Well, I wouldn’t let them take anything of mine. I’m a bit selfish. I admit it’s one of my many follies. Lily walked to the apartment across the hall and knocked on the door. An old woman answered, surrounded by five Yorkies all yapping at her feet. I really don’t like dogs.

                “Hello. My name is Lily,” she greeted. “I just moved into 7B across the hall and wanted to say hello and get to know my neighbors.” She kind of sputtered it out in a rush, a little nervous.

                “Why hello, dear!” the old woman replied. “I’m Miss Samantha Grey. You can call me Miss Sam. And these are my darlings, Reggie, Georgie, Fifi, Harvey, and Lottie. There was no way that Lily was going to memorize all their names that fast.  Lily put on a broad smile.

                “It’s very nice to meet you, Miss Sam. My name is Lily Patterson.” She knelt down near one of the Yorkies, catching a glimpse of the name on its tag. “And hi there, Fifi.” Lily pet the dog’s head and it shook its whole body happily. “I’m a big animal lover, so it’ll be nice to know that there are other pets in this building.”

                “Oh! You’ll have to come over for tea sometime then, Miss Lily. You seem like a real doll, huh?” Miss Sam replied happily. “It was very nice to meet you, dearie.”

                “Well I just wanted to say hi. I don’t want to keep you,” Lily said, trying to keep the conversation polite as her mother had always taught her. The two of them said their good-byes and Lily went down the hall a little further to her next neighbor’s door. She kind of felt like she was living in a dorm again. It was a time honored tradition to walk up and down the halls to get to know your neighbors or suite-mates since you had to live with them for a year, Lily had mused to herself. She knocked on the next door. The smell of patchouli and incense billowed out into the hallway as Lily was greeted by an impossibly tall woman with a hooked nose and nearly bird-like appearance. She was all skin and bones and she was wearing long robes that fell to the floor like an elegant ballgown turned bathrobe. However, it had a bold pink, orange, and lime green print with macaws covering it.

                “Can I help you?” the woman’s deep voice boomed out.

                “Um … my name is Lily and I … I moved into 7B. I just … wanted to get to know … my neighbors and such.” Lily was profoundly unnerved having never met a woman with that many colors before.

                “I am the Madame du Fleur” replied the bird like individual. She frowned. “You have a very particular aura I’d like to explore. Please, would you come in for a reading?” Madame du Fleur asked. Lily was about to decline when the door across from the woman’s opened and a young man peeked out.

                “Hey Flurry,” he said very casually. “Sorry, she can’t come in today. I told her to meet everyone on the floor, but she’s … busy. In fact … we were just on our way out.” The man gave her a very long look that said ‘go with it’ and Lily nodded her assent.

                “T-that’s right. I was just going. But it was very nice to meet you, Madame du-” But the door slammed shut before Lily could say anything else. She turned around. “Thanks. I think.”

                “Hey, if you go in there, you’ll never get out with your wallet. You HAVE to be from out of state. You don’t just walk up to people’s doors in New York. Are you nuts?” The man came across the hall and extended his hand. “I’m Ben. Ben Gable. You’re … Lily?” he asked.

                “Yeah,” Lily looked up at him. He had intense blue eyes and thick eyebrows that were pursed in concentration. She shook his hand and it was calloused. She guessed he was some kind of musician. I knew right from the beginning that this Ben guy was going to be awesome. Just saying. Anyway … Lily shook his hand back. “Well, I just … wanted to … you know,” she stuttered.

                “-Get to know the neighbors. I heard,” Ben said. “Well, have you met Miss Sam? She lives with only her dogs and occasionally will ask you to get her groceries and she’ll talk your ear off if you give her half a mind to. The quack psychic Madame du Fleur? Her real name is Matilda Franks and … she’ll con you out of every dollar you’ve got if you give her half a mind. You’ve met me. There. You know everyone on the floor now.”

                “I … I suppose so,” Lily said a little hesitantly.

                “Now … can you stop all the banging around so I can get back to work?” Ben asked. “All the knocking is taking away from my concentration.”

                “Oh. Right. Sorry.” Lily nodded. “See you around.”

                “I hope not. You’re noisy.” Ben turned around and went back into his apartment and closed the door with a loud CLICK. Lily returned to her own apartment and pushed the door shut, locking it again behind her. She looked at me and smiled sadly.

                “I think this is going to be a little different than living in a dorm room isn’t it, Clarabelle?”

                “I wouldn’t know,” I replied, blinking at her slowly.

                “Who really wanted to get to know the neighbors anyway?” Lily asked.

                “Technically, you did,” I said.

                “I know, I know. It was me. I can tell what you’re thinking,” she said to me.

                “You never listen to me,” I said. That much is true. No matter what I say or what I do, Lily rarely takes my advice. Most people would be offended by that. Not me. I’m used to it. We’re just roommates who live together and occasionally make conversation. I actually think that that is the reason why we ARE best friends. It’s because we don’t HAVE to fill the void with mindless chatter. Too bad that Lily doesn’t heed that part of our friendship with anyone else. Don’t tell her I told you this, but when she starts talking or working with a group of people for the first time … Lily never shuts up. When she first started to work at a coffee shop as a barista, her co-workers called her a Chatty Cathy. Not the most original nickname in the world, but it was just true. Lily was one of those people who could talk your ear off and about nothing in particular and about everything. It’s one of her endearing and annoying traits. On January 2^nd, she’d start her new job. Lily felt nervous. She changed outfit after outfit before finally laying down a pair of freshly ironed khaki pants and a light pink blouse.

Chapter Two

January 2^nd:

                Lily woke up the next morning with a fresh attitude and a piping hot cup of coffee. She went into the kitchen in her pajamas covered with tea cups, made some scrambled eggs with cheese and opened the front door to get her newspaper. A copy of the Brooklyn Times. Ben Gable was opening his door too at the same time. He got a good look at her jammies and snickered. Lily stuck her tongue out at him and slammed the door shut before he could say anything.

Let me know what you think of Ben Gable, her neighbor. I know I kind of just left you with a random beginning to chapter 2 but I loved how I ended it for you. 
Okay, I'm really going now. 

It's bedtime and I'm sure Polly wants me to leave her tea shop now. 

Be Open, Be Loving, Be Yourself
Taryn

30 Days of Literary Abandon

Today is November 4th! 
As of today, I should be up to 6,667 words of 50,000 words in a novel that I'm making up as I go along. I tend to get a little wacky during this month, attempting this feat of 50,000 words in a month. Want to see a typical day of me writing after a couple of hours? Here you go. 

Good thing that I'm in such a giving mood. I'll share a couple hundred words with you all today. 

And please note again that National Novel Writing Month is not about creating a QUALITY piece of fiction. It's about FINISHING a novel in as short a time as possible. *laughs* So no mocking my novel that I have no idea where it's going. 

January 1^st

                Lily moved to New York City at 25 years old. She had just graduated from Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, Michigan and had finally decided to take that leap and go to New York City to pursue her dreams of being a world class editor at a publishing company. She had always wanted to work for Simon and Schuster Publications and work her way up to being an Acquisitions Editor. So up she moved, bringing me, your humble narrator with her as her roommate. I had no job lined up …. But I was working on it. Lily was someone who always knew what she wanted to do. I envy her that. She didn’t have much of a plan when she moved out there. The only plan she had was New York City. I warned her about the idea. I remember how I always told her that we had to take it the slow, methodical way, but did she listen to me? Nope!

                Lily didn’t get a job immediately at Simon and Schuster of course. That’s now how life worked. But … she did land an amazing job as a Copy Editor working for a tiny publishing company just off of Seventh Avenue and she got an apartment just the right size for two in her budget. The apartment was in Brooklyn so she had to take the subway into work every day which she LOVED. It made her feel like she was a real part of the city. Lily was 25 (as I mentioned) with long brown hair that she frequently cut short in the summers to survive the heat. She had chocolate brown eyes and ivory-toned skin. Lily was also extremely well put together. She was a bit of a perfectionist with nothing out of place and perfectly pressed clothes. Personally, I just shoved my things anywhere I wanted and as long as it fit, I was happy. Sometimes I envy her organizational skills. Sometimes. Deep down, I also really love my organized chaos. What’s not to love about that, after all?

                On that cold, January 1st, Lily unpacked her bags and began to put away all of her clothes in the new, musty smelling closet. The whole apartment needed a whole can of Febreze and FAST. She color coordinated all of her outfits and matched each with a pair of heels. She only had four pairs of shoes and she hoped that she’d be able to buy more as she started getting her paychecks. She wanted to look professional and stylish.

                “I just want to look professional and stylish,” she repeated as she turned to look at her roommate a.k.a. ME, Clarabelle, but she didn’t call me that much. Just Clara. “Is that so much to ask?”

                “Nope,” I said simply. I let out a silent yawn. I had already unpacked.

                “I’m just saying that it’s not out of the ordinary for an editor to look like she knows what she’s doing,” Lily said. She grabbed her now empty suitcase and shoved it into the back of the closet. “I think what I really need is to just take a break and not think about this for a little while. What do you think, Clara?” she asked me. I had just shrugged in response. Half the time, Lily didn’t really want a response from me. “Well, I think I’m going to explore our apartment building and see if I can meet some our neighbors … maybe make a few friends. You think that anyone’s going to mind the crazy girl living in 7B, Clara?”

 There are a few lines from the novel I've cranked out in the last four days. Obviously, it needs work.
I love NaNoWriMo. In the 8 years I've done this, I've won twice and it's totally worth it because I have taken bits and pieces of each novel and have used paragraphs in other works. 
My dear friend Jeanne and I used to sit for hours at a coffee shop, talking, comparing notes and ideas, and just writing our novels together. It gives my writing a boost every year. 
And speaking of writing, how much reading have I done? Oh yeah. A LOT! Shall I share? Oh yes, I do think I'll share my favorite book of the week. 

This is a book about a young boy named Nobody "Bod" Owens. He is only a toddler when his entire family is murdered by the man Jack. The killer can't seem to track him down right away and gives Bod the chance to wander into a graveyard. By the time the man Jack tracks him down, the denizens of the graveyard have already made it their mission to protect him. Mr. and Mrs. Owens adopt the boy as their own, giving him his name "Nobody" because there's 'nobody like him'. And what kind of adventures can a boy being raised by ghosts get into? Many! 

The book was one that was different and inspiring and absolutely spellbinding. It's definitely one of those books that I couldn't believe that it had ended. 

So there you have what I did last week. OHHHH! And this year for Halloween, my friends, Faith, Alice, my sister Tatum, and I went to the Niles Scream Park and went into their attraction The Field of Screams. It was a lot of fun and really creepy. The only part I couldn't handle? The clowns. WHY do people think that clowns should be in a maze, huh? It's just sick. 
Even though I had to work on Halloween, I made the most of it. When I got home, I had a Halloween movie marathon that was on SyFy channel. Halloween: H20 is still my favorite movie in that whole series. It made for an excellent evening. 

Did anyone else have a fun Halloween weekend? Anything planned for this coming weekend? 

I already have my plans for November 22nd set in stone. And I'm psyched about it. For all the book lovers in the world ... you know what I'm excited about, I'm sure. Here's a hint ...

Oh yeah! The movie premiere of Catching Fire! I'm hoping that they improve Katniss' character in the movie. Because after book one, I wasn't a fan of her because she became so self-righteous and egotistical. Everything became about her. 
But what I'm EXTREMELY excited about is seeing Finnick in the film version. He's my favorite character in the trilogy and I would have loved to know his whole story. He's kind of like Cinna. Everyone loves him but no one KNOWS him. 
A couple of my besties, Ashleigh and Emily are going with me and they're going to dress up for it. I don't think I could afford to do that. But ... I will go as moral support. They have amazing costumes made up as members of the Capitol. 

Emily (on left), Ash (on right)

I can't wait to see what they pull off for the actual movie premiere. I'm sure they're adding to it. And no, Ash did NOT dye her hair purple. It's a wig. An awesome wig. 

Okay, now I'm going to make my big Book Recommendation in honor of NaNoWriMo. One of my TOP favorite authors wrote her novel during this wonderful month. 

Don't Let Me Go by J.H. Trumble is the story of Adam and Nate. Together, they're like a yin and yang, two halves of a whole, and perfect for each other. But when Adam agrees to take a dream job on Broadway, he and Nate have to make a long distance relationship work amidst all the odds against them. 
It was a book that made me laugh, cry, and cheer and it has easily made it into my Top Ten list. Heck, my Top FIVE, which is very difficult for a book to get into if I do say so myself. 
I love her books so much that they've been on my Recommendation list at work too. Right now, I have her book, Just Between Us featured at work too so seriously ... if you love my recommendations so far, readers ... go for J.H. Trumble's works at a full out run towards the bookstore. You will not be sorry. 

I wish you all the best of luck and I hope that you fellow writers are having the time of your life this NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)

Be Open, Be Loving, Be Yourself
Taryn

It's All In The Details

Little Factoid about Moi: I have been told that I have a very wry sense of humor. 

A lot of people told me that I should START a blog because I can make people laugh without ... trying. Half the time when I say something and my friends start laughing, I am completely clueless.
This happened to me the other day when I was at work. 
A customer asked me ... "What do you think of the Salted Caramel Mocha?" 
I replied with something like "It's sweet, and salty followed up by DELICIOUS!" Apparently, that was too funny for her because I was making a funny face and she laughed really loud and said "I'm getting it."
I got a pretty good tip from her that day too. YAY!!! 

Anyway, sometimes I wonder what makes me say stuff. Words. And stuff. I've always gotten in trouble for running my mouth too much. Trust me ... it's not pretty when you're a little TOO honest with people. Youch!! 

Words are pretty powerful things, aren't they? What we say can and WILL have an effect on people. Sometimes, we're not around to see it. Sometimes we are. But ultimately, I think I have to remember to THINK before I speak. It is NEVER my goal to hurt someone's feelings. Never. Ever. 
If it was up to me, I'd just keep making my wry little zingers to make someone's day but bad days CAN happen. 
I always think back to a verse in James 3:5 

"Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark." 

Sometimes if I'm blatantly honest, I hurt people's feelings. And when I decide to hold back my real feelings, I'm holding it ALL back and eventually I blow up. It takes a great deal of effort and meditation to keep everything in balance. (Yin and Yang can be quite pesty) I have a bit to atone for, but that's the blessing of God. He always forgives. 

Oh the joy of being able to KNOW when to shut up. 

Speaking me talking too much ...? I haven't been reading since this week started. I am ashamed. I probably read 10 pages of Rush by Maya Banks. And ... it's a bit ... dull. I get that I was told that it was amazing ... and if you love the book, I apologize if I'm making you upset. 
I just think that the character Mia is really whiny. She's all 'blah blah, I'm in love with Gabe and he'll never love me', but then she acts like she doesn't really care and still follows him around like a lovestruck puppy. It's just NOT very believable to me. Granted with that kind of book, I'm not exactly looking at a Pulitzer prize winner, but still ... I was hoping that it would be more entertaining.
Don't worry. I'll finish it.
Another little factoid about myself: Once I start a book, I can't NOT finish it. I will fight my way to the last page. Even I have to drink 10 gallons of coffee to keep me awake to do it. 
For example, I'm going to tell you a book that I had to FORCE my way through. Conveniently enough, this book is ALSO the book chosen for the Barnes & Noble Book Club this month. I told a couple of my friends to not bother. Save themselves. Run away now. Hahahaha. 
Here's the book. The Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet by Jamie Ford. 
It was just ... so ... BORING! 
I mean, I get what the author was trying to say, but did he have to do it in such a way that made the reader WANT to go to sleep? 

It's about the friendship and love between Henry Lee, a Chinese American boy and Keiko Okabe, a Japanese-American girl. And it's in the time of World War II when the government was forcing the American-born Japanese people into internment camps where there was little food and poor housing. The story is told by an older Henry who is on a renewed search for Keiko when some of the Japanese people's things are found in the basement of this abandoned hotel. 
And that's IT! Seriously, the story just drags from there. I just wanted him to hurry up and start looking for her instead of moping around and talking about Keiko and wishing his relationship was better with his son. 
I've heard Jamie Ford's other books are better. Perhaps I will give him another chance. I just didn't get into this book. But. I. Finished it. 

Any books that you have NEVER been able to finish reading? What were your reasons? Would you ever go back and finish it? 

I'm nosy. Sue me. 

Let's go now into my Wednesday Writers Workshop. 
This is a lesson that I have learned from classes in the past. 
Today's Topic: The Little Details. 

Where I'm going with this is ... do you know WHO you're writing for? Who's your audience? 
I think that in order for you to get an idea off the ground, I think you need to think about WHO YOU ARE WRITING FOR. 
Age range: Are you writing for Adults? Teens? Kids? (Example: Let's pick Teens since that's who I mostly write for)
Next question. Will it interest them? Think about what's selling at the moment. For example, if it's the historical biography of Marie Curie, but you're only going to talk about the science and use huge words .... then no, I wouldn't say that's a great book for Teens. Now if you take that same topic and go the route of 'This was her life and what brought her TO the science and what she's known for' then you have a better chance of capturing a Teen reader. 
Are you stuck? Ask for feedback? Tell a friend or better yet, ask another Teen ... would they read what you're writing? Show them a bit of what you've written and ask questions. The worst thing that can possibly happen is you have to start over! It sucks, but it's easier to fix something that's not fully completed in my opinion. 

The last thing I can suggest with remember your audience and who you're writing for ....? 
Here it is! 
Remember your Purpose! If you feel like what you're writing is SO changed compared to what you'd typically write ... don't hesitate to change it. Ultimately you have to be yourself. If you're writing for a teen and what you're reading back to yourself sounds childish and not in your voice ... CHANGE the tone to your own voice. If YOU don't believe your writing ... your audience won't believe it either. 
The point of writing is to let your soul free for you to express yourself. Not change who you are. 
WHOA! That sounded really philosophical. 

Another piece of writing advice for today?
Who you're writing for? Is it for you as well? You're never going to be able to actively be a part of your own book if a piece of you doesn't LIKE what you're writing. 
Before you decide who you're just going to randomly write for ... think about what you most typically READ. If you typically read Young Adult ... don't just suddenly decide to write for Adults until you're absolutely SURE you know what the story is. Or at least ... if you DO decide to do that ... don't change your voice to suit that audience. Make it your own. 

All right, there's my Wednesday Writers Workshop for today. 
I hope that it was helpful. It sounded a bit jumbled to me.

But it's my blog. 


I can do what I want. *snickers* 

And hey, I'll improve as this blog continues on. 

Be open, Be loving, Be yourself
-Taryn

Last Week ...?

It was busy, busy, busy. 

I got SO MANY hours at work and it was awesome. On top of that, it was blissfully quiet where I was staying. 
One of my besties, Faith moved into a new house in Mattawan. It's really cute and has this gorgeous living room and the whole place just has a lot of charm.

I'm still voting on them getting a pony. And a goat. And ... probably some chickens since there's a barn. 

I finished that book 'Openly Straight' by Bill Konigsberg and am now on 'Rush' by Maya Banks, 'The Graveyard Book' by Neil Gaiman, and 'Wolfsbane' by Andrea Cremer. Oh I know that I have a full plate ahead of  me. I'm trying to create a small pile to put by the bed of ALL the books I have yet to read. There are some that I found from a LONG time ago that I just kinda forgot about. Whooops! 
Why? Why? Why? Bibliophilia is both a blessing and a curse! 

This page from The Library by Sarah Stewart pretty much sums up where my life is going. I think I'm okay with that. 

On another note, I'm sitting at the tea shop. Guess what?? POLLY MADE A NEW TEALATTE!!!!
It's called Pirate's Treasure! It's made from my fave tea, Glitter and Gold and has the vanilla syrup and a butter rum syrup, all steamed with nonfat milk. I'm. So. Happy. 
I love tea. 
I might have mentioned that before. 
Especially on a day like this. For those NOT in Portage, Michigan ... the last several days have been nothing but cold, dreary rain. We got some relief on Saturday with some sunshine, but then it returned to the rain. So with nothing else to do, I grabbed my books and just started reading. 

I have been looking forward to reading these for a while. 
This book -------------> 
I read book one, Nightshade, a WHILE ago and I remember getting SOOO mad at it because I wanted Calla (the main character) to come to her senses and return to Ren. 
And when she didn't ... the love triangle continued and I put THIS book, Wolfsbane at the bottom of the pile. I finally decided to buck up and just read book two. So wish me luck that I don't get mad and throw THIS one against the wall. 


I'm hoping for a nice week. After all, it's only Monday. I get a few days on the book floor this week, which only makes me smile more. :D You're just going to have to bear with me while I sort through all my books. And of course ... keep you suggestions coming.
I'll get to each of yours. In time.

In other news, I STILL have no word from that job in Alaska. But I'm still praying and hoping that something will come of that. I'd be an amazing copy editor for them. I'm sure of it. So please ... keep me in your thoughts and prayers as I continue to reach out to them about the position for the Anchorage Daily News. 

Meanwhile, I suppose I shall continue working really hard this week and making myself look awesome on the book floor. For tomorrow. YES! 

And I think I'm rambling. 

Shall we move on? I think so. 
I just wanted to mention ... again ... that Halloween is right around the corner and there are SO many more decorations hanging up on houses and in front yards. This year must be the graveyard theme. I've seen a TON on Romence road alone. And one looks like they put up this creepy gate to make it look like they're driving up into the cemetery. I wish I'd snagged a picture of it. 
What do you guys like decorating with? Do you do themes? Or do you just kind of wing it? 

This just looked kinda cool. I love the tombstone that says 'You're Next!' Hahahaha!
Sometimes, my mom will go all out for Halloween but this year, it's been a bit more difficult. Everyone has been super busy. So this year we have a really nice set of pumpkins on the front porch and these really Autumn-y colored mums. Our house never gets Trick or Treaters anyway, so we don't HAVE to go all out. That makes it nice. 

Feel free to leave me any comments or questions! I love them and am happy to talk with any readers. 
*winks* You know where you can find me. Just look at the back tables of Chocola-Tea and I'll be there, typing away. 

I will see you all on Wednesday for the Writers Workshop. And I promise not to stand on my soapbox too long. I just get passionate about writing, books, and authors. 

Be Open, Be Loving, Be Yourself,
Taryn