Things I Try To Remember, But Never Do

We all get a little scatterbrained at times. As people, it's totally normal. In fact, if you don't have a moment of "What the heck was I doing?" in your life, I'm going to say you're probably a robot, and hopefully you come in peace and won't destroy our world a-la evil Transformers style.

This could get ugly.

If you've ever asked a writer some of the things they haven't done yet, but probably should have, they'd most likely give you a look reminding you of Filch's petrified cat in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. We're writers- we're not supposed to forget things, especially things like important plot points or hair colors of characters or how many times we ran the wash cycle on the washer for the same load of clothes. But usually we're clustered, forgetful of appointments or dates or meetings with friends, occasionally forget the USB drive at the printer shop, and if we ate that day. Or yesterday. Or maybe last week. I essentially discovered just how bad my forgetfulness was while I was hunched over my lovely tomato basil soup from Cosi, which is delicious by the way, and thought that I'd share some of the biggest things I tend to forget.

1- Did I charge my phone/ipad/MP3 player/thing of usual importance the time I forget to charge it?
This is my most common culprit. You know how it goes- you're setting up to write all la-de-da, and next thing you know BAM. It smacks you in the head you forgot to charge the thing you need most! How the heck can you write when your ipad is dead?

2- Commenting and liking ALL THE THINGS on Facebook. Also counts for RTing ALL THE THINGS on Twitter. 
 Yes. I like your post. I also will go down my news feed and like, well, pretty much everything I find remotely interesting. Twitter? Same thing, only they call it re-tweeting (RTing). After a day or two of relative inactivity I will actually go back through half of the day and freakishly comment on just about everything I can find something to say about. This is called spamming. I am lame.

3- Not commenting back on reviews (for the most part).
I'm still trying to understand why this is such a faux pas, like say when the review is good. Usually I'll see a review and say aloud, "SQUEE! LOOK, NEW HAPPY REVIEW!" And then proceed to type that out and hit send. Somehow, this is wrong. Because nine times out of ten if I do that, all comments afterwards NEVER HAPPEN. And then I feel like I totally did that, and crawl into a hole where I write all the depressing parts of my books because I am a depressing soul.

4- Did I put pants on? 
Yoga pants do not count. Sweatpants don't count, either.

5- Blogging regularly? HAH. 
Remember my little vow to routinely blog early on in the year? Yes, I've remained consistent that I'm still posting (most because I love writing blog posts, it's like an open invitation to show you guys my brain and just how bonkers I absolutely am (the Hatter and I would get along VERY well)) but I'm still trying to learn the whole 'blog on this day and that day EVERY WEEK, ALIVIA.' I can't do that! Well, I could, but that would mean scheduling posts and losing the spontaneous weirdness and all the fun things that make me absolutely batty. So yeah.



Speaking of, I totally forgot to refill my cup of soda. Crap.



Is there anything you try to remember to do?

OBUMBRATE Sneak Peek, Part 2!

I know these kinds of unveilings are typically reserved for Tuesdays or Thursdays, but I'm going to do a little breaking of the rules here and give you guys a little teaser of Obumbrate that no one's seen yet! Also, don't forget Obumbrate's cover reeal will be April 20th! Trust me, it'll be here before you know it.

(Please note- I have nothing against sharing my sneak peeks, but please provide a link back to this blog and let me know. This way, I don't think you're stealing, and I won't come after you with rabid penguins and a rusty spoon.)

"Essallie, Essallie are you still there?"
"I'm still here."
"Listen to me, right now. You need to go to the police. Let them know what you saw. I'm getting in the car right now."
"Jayson, if I go to the police, they'll arrest me on the spot. It's too much like Chase's death. How coincidental can you get? The second I'm home, and they're dead?"
"Running from the police is the last thing you want to do-"
"And turning myself in is on the same list," I sighed. "It's me they're after, not Gram, not Grand, not Chase."
"Who's after you, Essie?"
I started to answer when another set of footsteps sounded behind me. I turned around to come face-to-face with the woman I'd spotted in the apartment. Slowly, I lowered the phone from my face, pressing it against my leg so Jayson couldn't hear.
"Who are you?"
"Now, must we start with all the tense formalities? Or can we skip them and get straight to the part where you come along with me?"
I held out my free hand and ignited a ball of brilliant blue flame. "Why does nobody answer my questions?"
She gave me a sharp, cryptic smile. "Who I am is none of your concern." She extended a hand out to me, flicking tresses from her long ponytail over her shoulder. "This can be done easily or painfully. I'd rather take you in whole, and not in a jar. But I can promise you that, voluntary or not, we will get what we want from you."
"What is it you want?"
"The same thing everyone wants. Your blood." Her fingers wiggled at me impatiently. "It'll be over before you know it, just come with me."
My eyes locked on her outstretched hand. I studied the curvature of her fingers, the slender black nails sharpened to small points at the top. Just at the peak, a fleck of dried blood clung to a single one. I thought of my grandfather and grandmother, fighting off the woman before me, her nails slashing through skin and muscle and veins, their blood forever on her hands.
I exploded.

Why We Fall For The Bad Boys

Ladies, raise your hand if you've read a book with a residential 'bad boy' you just couldn't get enough of.

If you've read any of the books published in the last billion years, you know exactly what I am talking about. That's right, the bad boy. You know the standard clichés; Tall, dark, brooding. May or may not have a motorcycle. May or may not have wild and unkempt hair. Secretly holds a heart of good under his rugged exterior. I could go on all day! Our hearts hold a secret soft spot for these guys, and no matter how bad they get we still find something inside of them worthy of redeeming. But why? Why do we love these obvious bad choices in men?

They draw you in, virtually against your will. Let's take Noah Shaw from The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer as an example. Mara knows early on that Noah is the stereotype bad boy, a rebel, and vulgar at that, whispers of him having bedded every girl in school circling him like a bad odor. Yet as if it were beyond her control, she finds herself falling in love with him. Was it luck? Not even close. Bad boys are automatically built to be seductively cunning, and when paired with the occasional act of redemption blended into the mix it forms one hell of a potent drink for any girl to sip.

Sprinkle in some love! Perhaps one of the most enticing parts of the bad boy is the redeeming quality hiding just under the surface. Take Kayden from my book Illumine for example. He's a terrible guy in every bit of the sense- he's killed, manipulated, used and abused. So why doesn't Essallie drop him like a hot rock? Because deep down, Kayden still shows that random moment of kindness, a spark of possible humanity. And more often than not, that's only one piece of the puzzle leading to...

The heart of gold. At the center of every crafted bad boy is a pure heart, a flourish of gold stronger than their darkest behaviors. I could use two people here easily to prove my point, but I'll stick to Serverus Snape for this example. Snape carried a torch for Lily Potter his whole life, even after her death, and that drive to protect what was left of her in Harry is what kept his heart pure despite everything he'd done to the contrary.

With all the staggering evidence mounting, how can you not want to cozy up to Mr. Multi-Piercings and his biker gang? Well, maybe that's a little extreme.

The Lunar Blog Hop Giveaway!

Oh my! Sorry this is going up late!

Alright, so who's ready to get their hands on a copy of Illumine?! I've got a beautiful paperback copy of Illumine right here for you- all you have to do is enter in the giveaway! That's right- I'm participating in my first Blogger Hop giveaway- namely the Lunar Blog Hop!

So what do you have to do to enter in the giveaway? Oh, that's easy. Ready? Read the Raflecopter below and "like" my author page on Facebook! Easy peasy. The list below the Raflecopter will list other blogs in this HUGE giveaway- so 'hop' from each blog and enter to win other awesome prizes!

*Please note, my giveaway is only for US residents this time around. But I'll be hosting an international giveaway in April, so check back then!