Monique Bucheger, Middle Grade author

Want a chance to win an Amazon gift card or a free set of books? Check out the blog of Monique Bucheger. She's a great author and friend.  moniquebucheger.blogspot.com

*The giveaway ends On February 1st. * Monique is an author who knows how to work hard. It's been incredible to watch her journey in the literary world.  She's not the kind to let success go to her head. She's helped many people along the way. And many a times she's helped me figure out what to do with my own writing. 

At the moment, Monique's running a blog tour to promote her books. Her most current one, Simply West of Heaven is something that my little niece adored. She wants horses so she can be like Ginnie West. My niece is anxious for Monique to return to Utah so she can meet her fave author. (I don't blame her, I wanna see Monique too.)

Major congrats, Monique. We're rooting you on all the way.

A fave Author and believe in your self

I've been in a serious reading mood lately and my fave author's right now is Candace Gleave. She has a way with writing fresh and real characters. Plus, she always chooses stunning scenery to mesh with her books. In her latest short story, Scarecrows: The Jilted Bride, she combined weddings and freaky scarecrows to make for a freaky ambience.

All her books make for a good read.
Here's a link if you are curious. http://www.amazon.com/Screams-Night-Terror-Prose-Design/dp/1479190497/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1357605916&sr=8-7&keywords=screams+in+the+night


The New Year has brought many surprises. My little brother gave me a card that read: I will always believe in you. One little sentence struck such a nerve with me. I needed to hear his words. We all have a dream that we are pursuing. We give our heart and energy toward this one goal. We need people to believe in us but we also have to believe in ourselves.

Maybe you want to be a writer, artist or whatever just know that your dream is not out of reach.

You can be whatever it is you want to be but you have to believe in yourself.

My holiday filled with 50 Shades, erupting chocolate pots and more

Before I forget, I wanted to send a major congrats to a good writing friend, Monique Bucheger. Her first novel The Secret Sisters Club was nominated for a 2012 Whitney Award. For anyone who wants to read her novel here is a link on Amazon.http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Sisters-Club-Adventure-ebook/dp/B007IK2WF6/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1357177594&sr=1-1&keywords=the+secret+sisters+club

So my good friends, did ya survive the holidays? I hope the festive season treated you well. Me on the other hand, the holidays were an adventure. I got covered in chocolate while sitting at the dinner table.

Here are the details; every Christmas eve my family does a fondue meal. We have boiling pots of cheese, beef broth and more. This year we decided to try a chocolate pot. And that didn't work. Did you know that a boiling pot of chocolate will explode? Well, it does.

I was the first to try the pot of chocolate. I had my marshmallow on my fork ready to dip it in the chocolate. Looking back, I should've lightly plopped the marshmallow in the chocolate but nooo, I had to all out jam the marshmallow in the pot. Needless to say, the pot erupted like a volcano. I had chocolate in my hair and dripping down my cheek.

If that wasn't bad enough we all had an enlightening dinner discussion, my cousin gave the whole story line of Fifty Shades of Grey. Aren't you jealous?

The holidays are always filled with hijinxs. I hope you had a great holiday season. Here's hoping 2013 treats everyone well.