What I Read, Watched, and Rocked Out to in 2016

My blog has been rather dormant this year, but I have not been! I've been busy teaching kindergarten, editing my middle grade novel, being a distributor for It Works health and wellness products, momming my three awesome kids, and all this below!

Here is my annual list of what I read, watched, and rocked out to!

BOOKS READ
I mostly read in the summer or on school breaks, so the list isn't as long as I'd like, but I read some amazing books this year!

ROOM by Emma Donoghue  (need to still see the movie!)

YES, PLEASE by Amy Poehler

ONE TO KEEP by Tia Louise

ELEANOR AND PARK by Rainbow Rowell

WILL GRAYSON, WILL GRAYSON by John Green and David Levithan

EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING by Nicola Yoon

BLUE LILY, LILY BLUE by Maggie Steifvater

SIGN OF THE GREEN DRAGON By C. Lee McKenzie

THIS ONE MOMENT By Stina Lindenblatt

SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS by Ann Brashares 

THE RAVEN KING by Maggie Steifvater

PERFECT TIMING By Robin Mellom

SEVEN DEADLY SINS by Corey Taylor

 

THANKS FOR THE MONEY by Joel McHale

Oh! And looky! Here's me with that handsome and hilarious author/actor Joel McHale!

 

 

MOVIES WATCHED

I am happy to report that I read more books than watched movies this year!

 

Grease Live on Fox

Daddy’s Home

Trainwreck

Civil War

Magic Mike XL

The Secret Life of Pets

The Legend of Tarzan

Batman vs Superman

Bad Moms

Rogue One (Sigh. Very sad about Carrie Fisher.)

 

CONCERTS ATTENDED

And you know my huge passion for my rock music. Concerts are my therapy for sure. Here are the bands I saw live this year! (And a sidenote: been dancing to George Michael tunes for the last few days. What a loss for the music world!)

Justin Bieber  (yes, I have a teenage daughter)

Skillet (a five dollar concert- man, they rocked it!)

Buckcherry - 5 times!  (my total count of Buckcherry shows is 15 now)

Sebastian Bach

Me and the Buckcherry boys

 

Goo Goo Dolls/Safety Suit

Click HERE to see me singing with Doug, the lead singer of Safety Suit! :)

 

 

WHAT WERE YOUR FAVORITE BOOKS, MOVIES, AND CONCERTS OF 2016?

 



 

 

Wild, Wild Midwest Conference 2016

This writer finally attended another SCBWI conference, and it was amazing! I feel like my brain is still processing and downloading all the wonderful information I learned there this past weekend.

Here's a quick rundown of my whirlwind weekend:

1. Look! I came prepared to learn from the wonderful Cinda Williams Chima, author of many bestselling books, including the Shattered Realms series. I attended her Ensnaring the Wary intensive, and learned so much about how to strengthen my middle grade manuscript.

2. Roaring Twenties Party!

What a fun way to start the weekend! The Charleston was taught. I danced to some Prince songs. And SO many fabulous costumes. So fun to mingle with so many talented people! Here is YA writer and friend, Gwen Flascamp, and I (photo taken by the wonderful Linda Sue Park - who was a speaker and part of the faculty. I attended an amazing session of hers on Saturday).

3. Saturday was jam-packed with session after session. I loved learning from agents, editors, and authors. Also, the attendees raised almost $4000 for the ‪#‎WeNeedDiverseBooks‬ ‪#‎WNDB‬ cause, funding diversity programs and publishing internships. Pretty awesome, right?!

4. Art Show Saturday Night

Beautiful art by illustrators were showcased. Here are some fave art pieces and people I met that night! Illustrators Matt Vincent and Michael Trujillo, middle grade novelist, KW Penndorf, and YA writer, Gwen Flascamp!  We had such a blast!

5. Sunday sessions and critique pick up!

Even more amazing sessions on Sunday plus a thorough critique of my manuscript by faculty of the conference.

If you haven't attended a conference in a while, don't wait! I came back with so many ideas to strengthen my manuscripts, met so many wonderful people and contacts, and am so INSPIRED by the weekend!

Happy Writing!

What I read, watched, and rocked out to in 2015

Happy New Year, friends! I hope 2015 was good to you, and I hope 2016 is even better.

2015 was busy. I taught kindergarten and reading, helped coach my son in basketball, went to three weddings in June, hosted a Spanish exchange student, chauffeured and watched my kids play sports, and traveled to Arizona, Iowa and Wisconsin. My newest picture book I'M A LITTLE GREEN WITCH was released in September. I became an It Works! distributor (I'm healthier!). And I finished the year wrapping up my rough draft of a middle grade novel on December 31. I'm determined to make more time for writing and improving myself in 2016.

Here is my usual what I read, watched and rocked out to throughout the year!

Books

 

Bark Until Heard by Becky Monroe

Paper Towns by John Green

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

The Terrible Two by Mac Barnett and Jory John

One to Hold by Tia Louise

The Silent Wife by ASA Harrison

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

King of the Mutants by Samantha Verant

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Demon’s Ink By Kimbra Kasch

Into the Dark By Caroline Patti

Auggie & Me by RJ Palacio

 

Movies

Fifty Shades of Grey

Insurgent

The Spongebob Movie
Home
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Jurassic World
Inside Out
Minions
AntMan
Vacation
Goosebumps
The Outsiders
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (3x)

 

CONCERTS

Buckcherry for the 10th time

Papa Roach 2 times in January

Seether

Sixx Am/Apocalyptica

Taylor Swift/Shawn Mendez

Kip Winger (see below)

and Papa Roach (for the 13th time)/In this Moment/Pop Evil

What were some of your favorite

books, concerts, or movies of 2015?

 

 

Mondays Music Moves Me: Movie Soundtracks

Mondays Music Moves Me is something I stumbled upon last month. How cool that Xmas Dolly hosts this twice a month! Today's theme is Movie Soundtracks. This is such a great theme with so many possibilities!

As you can see, I had trouble narrowing songs down for this theme.

First is "A View to A Kill" by Duran Duran from the James Bond movie soundtrack of the same name. Did you know that when that movie came out, I went to it fully expecting to see Duran Duran somewhere in it? Yup. Spoiler alert: they weren't in it. But this cool song was!



Speaking of the 80's,  I listened to the movie soundtrack Purple Rain quite a bit. All are great tunes, but my fave from the movie is "Let's Go Crazy." I couldn't find a youtube video though to embed!

Next is "American Girl" by Tom Petty from Silence of the Lambs. I cannot hear that song without picturing the girl in her car singing it before becoming a victim!



We rarely take a road trip without blasting this song from Vacation at least once!




And lastly, who can't listen to this Queen song without banging their head like Wayne and Garth in Wayne's World! :)





I'm noticing my picks are all from the way past! I guess I need to see more current movies!
Though I did love the rockin' Avengers Assemble soundtrack. It had some of my fave bands like Papa Roach and Buckcherry plus Bush and Evanescence!





Visit Xmas Dolly for move links of songs from the movies! What's your favorite song from the movies?

The Listing Hop!

Welcome to the Listing Hop! Looking forward to seeing everyone's lists!

If you've been here before, you know I love music.
So my list is a list of all (probably most, I may have forgotten a few) of the bands I've seen and how many times!

Here goes! In ABC order even! I told you I love music! Papa Roach is at the top of the list with 13 times live!

30 Seconds to Mars (5), 3 Doors Down, 5 Seconds of Summer, Aerosmith, Christina Aguilera, Alice Cooper (2), Alter Bridge, Anberlin, Apocalyptica, Avenged Sevenfold (4), Sebastian Bach (2), Bad Company, Pat Benatar (2), Big Time Rush, Black Eyed Peas, Blondie (2), Bon Jovi, Brides of Destruction, Buckcherry (10), Bush, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Chevelle (3), Chicago, Coheed and Cambria, The Connells, Crash Kings, Creed, Sheryl Crowe, Daughtry (5), Def Leppard, Disturbed (2), Dokken (2), The Donnas, Dovetail Joint, Duran Duran (4), Eve 6, Foo Fighters (2), Lita Ford, Goo Goo Dolls (2), Great White (2), Guns n Roses, Halestorm, Hollywood Undead, Hoobastank, Billy Idol, In This Moment, INXS, Jet, Billy Joel, Elton John, Juke Kartel, The Killers, Kiss (2), LA Guns, Lovehammers (2), Maroon 5, Bret Michaels Band, The Monkees, Motley Crue (8), My Chemical Romance (2), Vince Neil solo (4), Nelson, Neon Trees (3), New Medicine (3), New Politics, Otherwise (2), Our Lady Peace, One Direction, Owl City, Ozzy Osbourne, Panic Channel, Papa Roach (13), P!NK,  P.O.D., Poison (3), Pop Evil (2), Prince, Puddle of Mudd (2), Queensryche (2),Ratt, RED, REO Speedwagon (2),  Rockstar Supernova, Gavin Rossdale, Safety Suit, Saliva (2), Mike Sanchez, Saving Abel, Scorpions, Seether (3), Seven Mary Three, Shinedown (2), Silvertide, Cody Simpson, Sixx AM (2), Skid Row (2), Slash, Slaughter (2), Smashing Pumpkins, Rick Springfield, Billy Squier, Stone Sour (2), Styx (3), Sum 41, Survivor (2), Taylor Swift, System of a Down, Tantric (2), Third Eye Blind (2), Three Days Grace (3), Justin Timberlake, The Plain White T’s, Toadies, Trapt, Tremonti, The Tubes, Van Halen (2), Velvet Revolver, Warrant, Weezer, Weird Al Yankovic,  Whitesnake (3), Kip Winger (3), Winger (2)

I told you I love music! Here's a song  for  Xmas Dolly's Monday's Music Moves Me Halloween edition! Love MCR and this creepy song!


And speaking of Halloween, my newest picture book, I'M A LITTLE GREEN WITCH is available at amazon, barnesandnoble.com and select bookstores!

Have you seen any of these bands live? What was your last concert?

Check out more links for lists here and here! Congrats on eight years of blogging, Bish!

 

Poetry Friday

Today I have my own poem to share from my new Halloween picture book, I'M A LITTLE GREEN WITCH! Halloween is big in our house, so I really wanted to write a book that my kids would enjoy. I'M A LITTLE GREEN WITCH is a collection of Halloween inspired nursery rhymes and songs. I recently was a guest author at a local school, and the kids loved guessing which nursery rhyme each poem was based upon.

Here's I'M A LITTLE GREEN WITCH, the first in the collection.

Here's me reading another poem from the collection.



Can you guess which nursery rhymes or songs I based those two on?

You can purchase I'M A LITTLE GREEN WITCH on amazon, barnesandnoble.com and select bookstores!

Poetry Friday is being hosted by Jama at Jama's Alphabet Soup this week. Stop by for more wonderful poetry!

Enjoy the tricks and treats of this Halloween season!

Demon's Ink

Do you want a paranormal YA for Halloween? How about DEMON'S INK by my blogger friend, Kimbra Kasch!

Here's the spooky premise:

There are lots of dangerous things hanging (or, maybe I should say, dangling) around Portland lately but, when a Demonic tattoo artist comes to town, everything goes to Hell, in DEMON’S INK.

 This young adult novel set in Portland, Oregon is available on Amazon now and with Halloween coming, you'll want to have a story to share...

DEMON'S INK: It's about art, that's more than anyone bargained for.

 Drake and Bartos come to the Pacific Northwest, where they open yet another tattoo shop but Bartos has no trouble dealing with the competition because there’s nothing normal about his art. And he’s stealing more than clients from the local skin artists. He's stealing their souls.

Customers fall in love with Bartos Slinderman’s tats but end up paying the ultimate price for their purchase because unlike Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray, they can’t walk away from this art and it’s beautiful until the artwork takes on a life of its own...

 

Tattoos are cool, but YIKES! I stayed up Friday night reading this book! There's a bit of a love triangle as well as the mysterious happenings. You can purchase Kim's book on amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com!

Go visit Kim at her blog, too!  Speaking of tattoos, do you have one? I have one tiny heart tattoo. Hope to get another someday. But NOT from anyone named Bartos!