Almost two years!

Ok.. So it's been almost two years since I last posted! Yikes.

You might wonder what I've been up to. Well, lots of writing, but not fiction! I started a doctoral program in Fall 2016, so all my words to go my faculty.

There are a few things that have been interesting about this whole experience (aside from never watching TV or reading fiction, and the sharp decline in my social life). For one, I'm much less daunted by the prospect of a dissertation than many of my classmates seem to be. A dissertation is generally 100-150 pages, which just doesn't actually sound like that much to me. I'm sure it is, in practice, but I don't panic about it the way my classmates seem to.

The other is that because I write SO much for school, whenever we have a break I find myself with the writing itch - BAD. I've built the habit, which is awesome. So I'm kind-of hoping that with this next break I might channel that itch into actually writing some fiction. It will be interesting to see if I can do prose'y writing anymore, or how much practice it will take to get back into it.

I'll let y'all know! ..or maybe I won't post again until I get my degree. We'll see :)

My "very messy chores" pants!

Look out world, it is a 'very messy chores' pants kind of day! #jeans #paint #bleach #homeownership

A photo posted by AJ Lauer (@ayjaylauer) on Jan 23, 2016 at 7:45am PST

This IG post is a little old, but I've been wearing my getting sh*t done pants a lot lately. :)
In relation to last week's post... These pants have been around for a good 8 years. Adulting. Just sayin'.
Also come follow me on IG!

What do you do when you need to tackle your to-do list? Drink caffeine? Make epic lists? Run and hide and watch TV instead?

I'm getting old.

Aww look at that baby face!

I remember once when I was a kid, an adult telling me she'd had a pair of jeans for over five years. And of course, to my still-growing and quite tomboyish self, that was unfathomable. How could you possibly fit into a pair of jeans for so many years? Furthermore, how could jeans last so long without being utterly destroyed??

And then.. I ordered new glasses this week. And I realized that I've been using the frames that are in this picture for almost ten years. I bought them the summer I taught English in South Korea. And I absolutely have jeans that are more than five years old.

I remembered that childhood conversation and thought, How did I get so old?! How is it possible that the summer I spent in Korea was ten years ago? I do have a birthday coming up, so age is on my brain a bit, but still.

Have you ever had one of those "where has the time gone?" moments?

2015 retrospective

You know how sometimes you look at a period of time and think "how did I make it through that?" ..that's how I feel about a lot of 2015. To say that this year has been a rollercoaster would be an understatement. It's been more like a ride on a tornado - alternating between exhilarating freedom and having flying objects violently smashed into my head.

To recap: Being bullied, lied to and gaslighted at work. Quitting my job, and as a result leaving my chosen field - possibly forever. A six month writing sabbatical. Unexplained infertility. Wildly successful April A-Z (click to read the novella I wrote that month!). Meeting the incredible ladies in my writing group - the Charming Characters. The entire month of June was pure bliss. And then there was the #AMEshooting. I ran my first half marathon, went on backpacking trips at Lumpy Ridge, and Mt. Zirkel, and Maroon Bells, and Lawn Lake. Six months later, still having post-traumatic stress symptoms from the old job BS. Had an editor request a full manuscript of one of my novels! Got a cool new job. Figuring out how to be awesome at new job, but also dealing with feeling like I abandoned my writing dreams for a steady paycheck.

I've never really liked the New Year Resolutions thing. I make a lot of resolutions throughout the year. Why limit myself to what I can imagine for the year at the beginning of it? If I did that I wouldn't have run my half marathon :) I much prefer the retrospective, introspective approach of looking at what I've learned and/or realized:

Solace in movement. Strength of my marriage. Joy in writing. Appreciation of learning opportunities, teachers, incredibly supportive friends and family. So many reminders of resilience - that I have it, and how to use it. Patience while breathing. Patience while waiting. Patience with emotions, doctors, medications, my body, my writing. Patience with myself for not being patient enough. Creativity. And a teensy weensy little bit of learning how to let it all go.

This year I've spent a lot of time (and running and hiking miles) trying to figure out who I am and where I belong in this world. There have been some nasty surprises and failures, but also some successes. I'll settle for 2016 being a rollercoaster. Or, ya know, a chill year would be really great. Regardless, here's to a year of more miles, mountains, and making up stories.

And more of this. Definitely more of this. Mt. Zirkel, CO. July 2015.

IWSG - October

Insecure Writers Support Group is a monthly opportunity for writers to support one another, gripe, whine, cheer, and jeer about this crazy thing we do. It was created by Alex J Cavanaugh, and this month's super-fab co-hosts are: TB Markinson, Tamara Narayan, Eva E. Solar, Shannon Lawrence, and Stephanie Faris.  

So... I started a new job a few weeks ago. Awesome! I had a lovely six months of sabbatical, during which I learned so much about writing. Craft, and business, and found a writing group. Fantastic. During that time I started gearing my blogging more toward writing-centric topics, because that's what I was doing at the time, and it's what I'd heard people (fans?) enjoy reading - about the process, where you're at with writing, etc.

And I started dreading writing blog posts.

Not my IWSG posts, because those are more about connecting with other writers. But the ones about what I was up to and how my writing was going, and interesting tips or things I'd learned? Ehhhhhh... Not that I don't care about those things, but I don't seem to care to write about those things. And so my blogging slowed.

And then, the weekend before I started my job, I attended a writing conference. Awesome! Met incredible people, learned a lot, watched a gal from my new writing group place in the top five of a competition. So great. I pitched one of my novels to an editor and she requested a full manuscript.

Holy. Crap. Let me say that again - she requested a full manuscript. Not just the first couple chapters. The Whole Thing. So freaking amazing! I never in a million years imagined that my first ever-in-my-life pitch would result in a request for the full manuscript.

Said manuscript is currently in a first-draft pantsed version that is in no way ready to be seen by an editor, agent, or anyone else.

I'd rather write about places like this than about writing,
ya know? (This is from our Mt. Zirkel trip in July)

So for the last three weeks I've been getting accustomed to my new job, schedule, etc, trying desperately to figure out how in the heck I am going to edit the pantsed beast I have on my hands, and utterly ignoring my blog.

I've made a decision. I'm going back to my blog being about whatever random thing I want to write about - recipes, hiking photos, thoughts on current events. If people want to hear about writing progress they can sign up for my email list. Hopefully this will mean that blogging goes back to being a fun thing, and I can feel less anxiety about writing as a whole.

And then maybe between now and next IWSG I will have something written on my blog that isn't just about how much I suck at blogging.

What do you do when you've lost focus on your blogging or other writing? Any fun accomplishments lately?

IWSG - September 2015

Yesterday I watched Brene Brown's talk "Why Your Critics Aren't the Ones Who Count". The talk is directed at creative people and is a pep talk, of sorts. A timely pep talk for me.

After this month, I needed it. August was one of those months where I felt like nothing quite worked right. I didn't get as much writing done as I wanted to in July or August. My inner critic was LOUD about calling me a 'failed blogger' and 'insufficient writer' and telling me, 'you're so unskilled - how can you think that you are good enough to tackle these projects?' I had some health issues that made me just.. exhausted.

But I got some stuff done and actually if I concentrate on the good, August was a pretty great month. I accepted a new job at a company I will be proud to work for. They'll be paying me an appropriate wage for my work (no more being massively underpaid in education), and they won't expect me to work any over time (omg amazing). We went on an incredible, stunning five day backpacking trip. I started attending a writer's group of ladies that I adore.

And yet it's the bad that I think about. *shakes head* Those inner critics are beastly creatures.

This is a quote Brene shared in her talk. I've decided to take it to heart, and hope y'all will too.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly..." Theodore Roosevelt

And seriously - go watch the whole talk.

Insecure Writers Support Group is a monthly opportunity for writers to support one another, gripe, whine, cheer, and jeer about this crazy thing we do. It was created by Alex J Cavanaugh, and this month's super-fab co-hosts are: Heather M. Gardner, Christine Raines, Dolorah at Book Lover, Julie Flanders and Murees Dupe

Just a quick update

I haven't been feeling super great the last couple days, so a quick update this week.

I'm participating in #CampNaNoWriMo this month, and so far it's going really well! I am having a ball with my project. I've been spending mornings writing and afternoons editing another project, so things are just humming along :)

Here's a pic I shared yesterday:

Modern #mystery #writing - keeping Sherlock close at hand by using him as a mousepad :) #amwriting #CampNaNoWriMo #mylife

A photo posted by AJ Lauer (@ayjaylauer) on Jul 12, 2015 at 11:56am PDT

What are you working on this week?

It's kind-of a big deal

Happy to be done!

Happy Monday, all!
I hope my US friends had a great 4th of July. And did y'all see that Women's World Cup Final? Incredible!

I completed my first half-marathon on Saturday. Crazy, right? Yeah I think so too. It seemed like a good idea when I signed up, and then for a couple days before (and for the last 3 miles of the race hah) I was like, "why did I think this was a good idea??" And then I finished, and the excitement and runner's high said, "this is why this was a good idea."

I find that writing is similar. I often get to a point halfway through a project and think, "why am I doing this? Why did I think this idea was worth all this work?" but then when it's finished and I finally get to show it to other people I am reminded why I do this. I do it because it's hard. Because it allows me to connect with people I might not otherwise. Because being able to say "I published a book" or two, or three, is a BIG DEAL.

I ran a half marathon. I wasn't the fastest by any stretch, but I did it. I put in the work, the sweat, the blisters, and I did it. It's a BIG DEAL.

What are you working on right now that is a BIG DEAL in your life?

Sign up for my email list for monthly updates on my writing progress and a free ebook novella!

July #IWSG - a revisit to my Challenge from last week

The first Wednesday of every month is Insecure Writer's Support Group day. It's a day for lovely people to bop around and support one another through this crazy thing we call 'being writers'. If you consider yourself to be a writer I highly suggest joining :) 

I am a co-host this month, along with Charity, SA, Tamara, Allison, and Tanya. And of course, Alex! Check them all out!

In my other professional life we talk about growth through provision of both Challenge and Support, so today I'm offering my fellow writers a dose of both.

June was an emotional month for social justice and civil rights in the USA. In just two weeks we had the shooting at Emanuel AME Church, subsequent burnings of other black churches (7 as of this writing), and the SCOTUS's decisions to maintain Obamacare and legalize same sex marriage in all 50 states. Issues of freedom, justice and safety have been on everyone's minds. We have celebrated and mourned. On the 26th President Obama gave a celebratory speech in the morning, and sang an emotional (and ever so slightly off-key :) ) Amazing Grace in the afternoon. The US has come a long way toward equality, and we have so much further to go.

Last week I challenged my writing friends to write more diversity into our books, and today on IWSG day I want to re-issue that challenge. America reads. More and more we are seeing our books turned into movies and television shows. If we as writers commit to writing more diversity of all kinds into our literature, think of how many minds we can influence!

I challenge you all to commit to write: people of all races/ethnicities as main characters, as lovers, as friends; LGBT people as positive, functional, happy, normal people; and women as powerful agents of their own lives. If all of us writers (including us white writers.. *ahem*) look at our stories and are intentional about not only having white male protagonists, bad guys who are people of color, damsels in distress, we can show our readers what the world could look like. What the world should look like. What the world does look like.

Writers have always been subversive and political in our own ways. I'm challenging you all to join me in this particular subversion. Are you in? How can I support you?

Click here to read my original, more lengthy post about the AME shooting, which contains the initial challenge and more detailed reflection.

Reflections on the #AMEshooting and an author's call to action

On Thursday, I was shocked (or not shocked? Which is worse..) and saddened to hear about the shooting at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.

Sunday's service at the
AME Church - from npr.org

On Friday and Saturday I read others' reactions and tried to process my own emotions about the incident. I thought about our history of race issues, gun control, perceptions of mental illness. I answered questions on FB about 'the other crazy white guy who shot people in Colorado' and grieved that white men who shoot people are 'mentally ill' and taken alive to jail, while poc who shoot people (or are even suspected of it!) are 'terrorists' who often never make it to jail or a trial. I cried as black friends expressed fear for the future of their children. Again.

On Sunday and Monday I once again found myself struggling with what I can do as a white ally to help stop the violence against people of color in our country. When I worked at universities, the answer to that question was 'easy', even if execution wasn't always - talk to white students about our privileges and support students of color in whatever way I could. Now that I work from home, that answer is more difficult. I felt hopeless because my sphere of influence has shrunk. After all I go hours at a time without speaking to another person.

I came up from my pit of white guilt this morning knowing that I am not helpless. As a white author what I can do to help effect change is to write diversity into my books. Think about it: my book has entered hundreds of homes, further books that I write will reach hundreds, maybe thousands more. My writing mostly falls into the category of Young Adult. If I write diversity into my books and young folks read them, that is one more voice of equality speaking to the next generation.

So I want to talk to my white people for a second.

In a lot of cases I think we take the 'write what you know' advice too much to heart. What we know is white culture. As white people, we rely on people of color to talk about 'black people things' or 'hispanic things', or whatever. As white people we don't want to make a misstep and say something bad or accidentally racist, so it's better to just leave the talking about non-white people to non-white people. Right? Wrong.

I am issuing a challenge to my fellow white writers. Look at your fiction through a lens of social justice and equality. I've written about this before when I was at an LGBT conference, but let's expand upon it. I want us all to be honest with ourselves while considering these questions (I'm including myself in this):

• How can you, as white person, write diversity into your fiction?
• How do stereotypes and prejudices inform your writing? (and they do, for all of us) I'm not just talking archetypes here - really look at it. Are the good guys white and the bad guys black? All the people of color uneducated or 'urban'? All the children of color from broken homes? These are tropes we see constantly in popular fiction.
• Is white'ness a necessary component of all your characters' story arcs in your current WIP? Is there someone who could be non-white, and is it possible that it might enhance their character development?
• As writers we are not just creative people. We are also researchers. When was the last time you learned about a culture outside your own for a piece? When was the last time you went to a place where people of color worship? A cultural celebration? The 'other' side of town? Interviewed a non-white person to hear their story?
• What about the books you read? Do they have multicultural protagonists? Non-white authors? Do you know about We Need Diverse Books? or the Unconventional Librarian?
• Have you ever, in the course of your creative development, written a non-white protagonist? Are you uncomfortable with the thought of writing one? Why? No really, why?

I'm asking my literary friends to: consider the questions above and commit to writing more diversity into our works of fiction. Comment below and let me know your thoughts and how you are committing to expand the worlds you create.

I'm not saying we should be striving to speak for people of color, because we shouldn't (and that's a whole other blog post). I'm asking all of us to stretch our writing to include people who don't look like us, and to let them be real, not just the asian lady in the grocery store, or hispanic woman praying a rosary who don't even get names because they are so unimportant. When we show people of color as being well-rounded, intelligent, non-violent agents of their own destinies we give our readers a more truthful portrayal of reality.

What an impact we will have if we all focus on bringing more diversity to our fiction! If each of my literary friends writes with diversity in mind we will reach thousands of people. We quiet, introverted people who sit alone in rooms with keyboards, can aid the revolution. It may not be fast, but it will be potent, and the impact will last for as long as people read our words.

In fiction we create worlds - let's make those worlds better than the one we live in, and maybe someday reality will catch up.

Just a couple quick notes this week!

So we are actually out backpacking right now, but I realized Sunday morning that I hadn't written my post for this week yet! Oops.

This week I've been attending LitFest at the Lighthouse Writers Workshop in Denver, and it has been fabulous.  You all should come next year! We have a lovely guest bedroom ;) Since I don't have much time, I figured I'd just share a couple things that I've learned and experienced, so others can learn them as well:

• A panel of agents ALL said that they don't care what kind of online platform an author has. They only care about the work, and will worry about platform later. This flies in the face of a lot of things I have read, and I've been chewing on it for several days.
• Some agents are, indeed, really intimidating. Others are super sweet.
• Authors are some of the best people out there. I have found my flock. I haven't felt so 'with my people' since summer camp.
• The Jesus story fits almost perfectly into the Three Act Structure that Aristotle wrote about. (draw your own conclusions from that)
• One of the women who taught a writing session did so one hour after finding out her father had passed away. She stole wine from the party downstairs and turned the session into a celebration of her father, who was known as a great teacher. I am glad that kind of beautiful act happens in our world.
• Stories are everywhere if we know where to look for them. Occasionally getting the full story will require getting out of our introvert caves, but it's so worth it.
• On a related note, I think I really do want to try some freelancing. Eek.
• A reminder: write the damn words. You can edit later. If you realize you need to edit something, make a note and write the rest of the piece as though you've already changed it. Will save your mind now, and time later.
• Imposter syndrome: We all have it. Even people whose books have made NY Times bestseller lists.
• It is possible to run 10 miles in the morning and sit through class all afternoon. But... you probably want some caffeine to do that.

Ok I have to go! I will check in with the blogging world this week, I promise!

Yeah.. I'm on #Instagram..

(Armageddon is still on sale!)

So I don't have anything to tell you about pirates this week, because my in-laws were in town and I haven't read even a page of anything. But! I have been learning how to use Instagram.

I still kinda feel like this about it:

Oh dear. I have joined Instagram...

A photo posted by AJ Lauer (@ayjaylauer) on May 26, 2015 at 4:28pm PDT

But I'm enjoying sharing pictures like this, so it might not be so bad:

Ominous crow is ominous #rmnp #100years

A photo posted by AJ Lauer (@ayjaylauer) on Jun 1, 2015 at 8:15pm PDT

If you use Instagram, come find me and we'll hang out :)

A learning sort of week

So I decided to take last week off of blogging (other than a quick foray for a Blog Blitz). I'm slowly figuring out what my work habits will look like, as well as what I want my every day life to look like. I spent last week learning, exploring my community, and planning. So for today's post, just a list of things I've figured out and learned in the last week:

• I think I am going to try having regular posts on Mondays only, with exceptions for special events (IWSG, blog hops, book blitzes, etc). This may change if/when I do another Pick Your Plot series, but it also may not :)
• Preparing to write requires a fair bit of research, even when writing mostly from one's imagination, so I'm going to share something interesting/cool that I learned that week. I'm a total nerd, so sharing factoids appeals to that side of me!
• Small business owners are awesome! I had a great chat with a couple of them this week as I spent time in my community. It was also super cool to attend the Women in Business Brownbag at my local Chamber of Commerce. Neat ladies.
• I'm going to do a writing workshop for teens at my local library in the fall. More info once we've got the details worked out, but it will be part of doing promo for the Bold New Worlds writing competition (which I am judging this year!).
• I ran 6 miles for the first time ever on Thursday. I chose a flat course thinking that I should go easy with the terrain since it was a new and potentially difficult distance for me. MISTAKE. The flat'ness ended up being boring, which made my run more difficult despite its lack of hills. This week: a far more interesting route.

I'm researching pirates right now, so the fact of the week for you mateys is this:

The "Golden Age" of piracy was actually only 40 years long, from 1690 - 1730. Kind-of a surprise considering how much attention we give seafaring pirates, don't you think? - factoid from Pirates: Predators of the Seas

 Have you learned anything interesting lately?

#AtoZChallenge and IWSG!

Happy April everyone!
It's going to be a busy month round these parts, what with April A-Z Challenge, and also participating in Camp NaNoWriMo. Oh, and today is Insecure Writer's Support Group as well (see bottom of post, though I encourage you to read the whole thing!).

My theme for A-Z this year is interactive fiction. So every day I will write a short bit of a story, and then my lovely readers will get the opportunity to vote for what direction they want the story to go next by leaving a comment. I have absolutely no idea where this is going to go because it is up to y'all, so it should be fun! Here we go...

A:
Amy had never been to the bazaar. She'd read about it of course, but this was her first time walking into the heady swirl of colors, music, smells and humans. And not humans. Monkeys? Eew. Frankly, it was overwhelming. Also entirely enchanting. She found herself trying to focus on just one item, one person, at a time, allowing the rest of it to wash over her.

Each time she engaged with a vendor, she gave them her entire attention. However she was indiscriminate about what booths she stopped at, and that was how she found herself poring over a table of objects of dubious origin. Her best efforts to deflect the vendor's sales pitch failed so she tuned him out with the rest of the clamor of the bazaar. Several objects on the table attracted her attention, though.

Which object should Amy inspect?

A Basket full of Bits of fabric

The Blue Bottle, decorated with riBBon and twine

The Bouquet of interesting herbs and grasses

Please vote below for your favorite option for tomorrow's bit of adventure! I will tally the votes after 8pm Mountain Time and use them to write my next post.
Voting has closed for this post! Please visit the Blue Bottle post to continue reading :)

IWSG reflection:
Last week I saw one of my favorite authors, Jacqueline Winspear, speak in Fort Collins. She ended her talk by telling us that she does not allow herself writer's block because so many have lost their lives to give us our freedom of speech:

"What a privilege to be able to make up stories for a living. There are those who would, and have, died for that privilege. If you have it, you MUST use it."

Gives new meaning to the phrase, 'I write because I must,' and was exactly what I needed to hear last week as I embarked upon writing full-time.

Happy 2015 Theme Reveal Day!

Phew. Y'all. It's been a crazy couple weeks. Long story short, I was passed over for a promotion at work, into a job that I created for myself to be promoted into, so I quit my job. Can't stay in a place that doesn't reward hard work and vision. My last day was Friday. While it has been disappointing and frustrating, this change has also given me an opportunity to try something I've always wanted to do. I'm going to dive headlong into being a full-time writer! Eeek! It's a very exciting and also terrifying time and I'm extremely thankful that my family has the means for me to be able to take this dive.

One of the fun things about this is that I'm feeling much more confident about my ability to be successful with my A-Z theme this year! (and I will have a LOT more time to dedicate to the Challenge overall. Yay!) And so on this Theme Reveal Day I present to you....

An interactive fiction adventure from A to Z!
The concept is simple: We are going to follow a character through an adventure and my visitors every day will vote in the comments section about what direction they want to see the character go. Options will have to do with the appropriate letter of the day. So on A day, you'll receive choices that have to do with the letter B, on B day you'll find out about what happened with your choice and vote on what happens for C, etc.

I'll be writing the post for the next day every evening before bed, once the tally is in. I have absolutely no idea where this is going to go, as it depends upon what my blog visitors tell me to write about. It's going to be SO fun! Also, I have a minor surgery partway through April, so my awesome co-author Dan is going to write for you for a couple days while I am recovering, and that's going to be great too :)

Happy Theme Reveal Day! Can't wait to see what you all are doing...

Happy Galentine's Day!

SO GOOD!

My dear friend Katie invited all us ladies out to lunch today, in honor of Galentine's Day. Which, for those of you who don't know (I didn't) is a holiday created by Leslie Knopes of Parks & Recreation. It's basically an opportunity to get together with all your favorite gals on February 13th, to celebrate how awesome we all are. Not bad, right?

I had been wanting to try making chocolate covered cherries for a while, and realized that Galentine's Day would be a great opportunity to try it out, and spoil some of my favorite people in the process. Don't they look delicious? Mmm.. 

We don't have any plans for Valentine's Day. If the weather is as nice as it has been, maybe a hike? *shrug* February is a big month because it's our date'iversary, Valentine's Day, AND my birthday! So yeah.. Lots of chocolate happening here in these couple weeks. :)

For reference, here's a video of Leslie explaining Galentine's Day. What's not to love?

Super awesome dresser!

One of the items on our project list for The January Cure was to get a dresser or table to put on the wall between the bathroom and closet in our bedroom. The wall just.. needs to have something, and we needed somewhere that could take in odds and ends.

Also tights and leggings are a must in the winter in Colorado, but I swear the darn things multiply when I'm not looking! They were piled high in the closet but are now tucked safely away in adorable little drawers:

So many drawers!

That black binder is *packed* with
travel information

There's room for more...

 Actually the top right and top two left 'drawers' are cabinets, which my adorable husband promptly insisted were to be for storing maps. We have a lot of maps due to all the hiking and traveling, and they were previously piled up on a shelf in the office. But look how nicely they fit in there!

One of my greatest goals in decorating our home is that it be full of items that have significance. Either because we got them while traveling, or they came through our families somehow, or are art created by us or loved ones. I love to be surrounded by things that remind me of my favorite places and people.

So in the picture above you'll see a couple items of significance. The picture on the wall is from a local artist that we found on our visit to Greenwich Village just outside London when we went to see the Prime Meridian Observatory. It depicts the Village with the Meridian cutting through it. The roses are from my bouquet when I stood up in the wedding of one of my best friends, and the vase was a 'big purchase' for my first apartment. I think I need to add a little more something to the vase. Need to receive more flowers! hah The fabric on top of the dresser will actually be hung on the opposite wall over our bed, and came from my husband's grandmother's home.

I'll have to figure out what actually goes on top of the dresser, but I'm so pleased with it both functionally and aesthetically :)

What is your process for deciding how to decorate your home?

Kleenex!

So.. Tissue packets count as souvenirs, right?
I hope so, because we found tissues from three different countries while cleaning our bathroom baskets tonight.

Left to right those are from England, Spain, and Korea. The Korean package is big because sometimes they don't have toilet paper in the restrooms, and you don't want to be caught without!

Still plugging away at the January Cure. It has definitely been interesting :)

January Cure

Hydrangeas!

This month, more as a distraction to keep my mind off other things than as a New Year resolution, we decided to participate in Apartment Therapy's January Cure. The Cure is pretty simple. You sign up and every day they email you a task to accomplish for that day, all with the mind of making your home a better place to live. This could mean cleaning your pantry, or buying flowers (actually that one is every week :) ), or deep cleaning all your floors. They're really good about keeping large tasks to the weekend and assigning smaller tasks on work nights.

Last night's task was to walk through the house and make a list of all the things you'd like to improve/clean/work on. We went room by room and the final list was over 2 pages single spaced! Yikes. Per the instructions though, we pared the list down to just a couple things per room, and this is what I've decided to try to accomplish this month.

Kitchen (seriously needs a remodel but this is what can actually be accomplished this month hah)
Replace grate covers on wood floor
Tie-backs for curtains by sliding door
Rug that does not slip by sliding door (the Roomba keeps stealing it!)
Decoration by window

Bathrooms
Better shower curtain rod in guest bath (it likes to fall at 3am)
Toothbrush holders
Storage in guest bath - shelf above toilet?
Plant in master bath

Bedroom
Decoration above bed
Clean dresser tops
Table/small dresser between closet & bathroom doors
Buy better pant hangers (any suggestions? I'd like to do this right ONCE and be done with it for the rest of my life)

Living Room
Need a small bookshelf
Make/find a key hook to hang by garage door
Rug by garage door

Guest/sewing Rooms
Clean closets
Finish hemming pants

Office
Redo childhood picture albums into smaller ones that aren't water damaged
Retie the couch cover

Obviously some of these tasks are larger than others - that was intentional to help keep things feeling manageable. We'll see how it goes! I will try to update as we do things that are picture-worthy (hemmed pants aren't really that exciting...).

What are you doing to kick off the new year?

Read Tuesday 2014!

At our book-signing in Madison.

This is me and my co-author Dan. We both read - a LOT. We love books, and words, and well, that's probably why we wrote a book together :)

This year we decided to participate in a great event called Read Tuesday, which is like Black Friday for books. During most Black Friday events, books are NOT discounted by retailers. Especially those offered by indie publishers like us. That's why we've joined ranks with other authors to offer our awesome book at a discount! We want to help other lovers of words get as many great books as possible (for themselves, and as gifts this holiday season!).

Starting today, and going through the rest of the month, we are running two deals on our book, Armageddon: Pick Your Plot:

1) Kindle Matchbook - Buy a hardcopy of Armageddon here on Amazon, and you will receive a FREE Kindle copy! This is a great option for gifting - one copy to wrap, one to keep for yourself!

2) CreateSpace - Use discount code 9T62RFQ3 to get 30% off your copy of Armageddon at CreateSpace. This is a good option if you're not interested in receiving the Kindle book at Amazon.

Thank you for your support of us, or any of the other authors participating this year. Happy Read Tuesday!
(Check out the list of Authors, or deals separated by Createspace, Matchbook, Smashwords, or Kindle countdown!)