Dewey’s Dinner Time Check-In

October 24, 2020 Maggie Hemlock

Today has been fantastic and more than a little nostalgic. I expected that a bit, though. I did read Midnight Sun. And then I promptly called my best friend and interrupted her readathon to gush. Yeah, I had to gush and not many things make me gush these days. I’m not a teenager anymore and I’m only 8 days smoke and those things do not add up to gushing under most circumstances. I won’t gush too much here but GAIS!!! It’s better than Twilight, though, it did put me right back in those days – where I was and who I hung around with at that time – the movies, the books. It was around the time of my accident that left me with a permanent disability – but there are so many happy little moments I’d forgotten about. If you enjoyed Twilight I’d recommend this one. If not, move along. No negative needed here. I’m 31 I’ll read about sparkly monsters if I want to. Now, I need Miss Stephanie to rewrite the other three books in the series from Edward’s perspective. No, I don’t ask for much at all.

I originally thought I’d jump back to my reread of the early Anita Blake series, but I was so caught up in the Twilight world that I jumped over to Life & Death: Twilight Reimagined. I’m about 3 chapters in and I’m enjoying it. It’s basically a gender swap of Bella and Edward to Beau and Edythe. Yeah, it’s gimmicky – I don’t wanna hear it, though. I’m enjoying it shameless. The last 14 months have been hell for me. Today, I’m happy and that’s incredibly rare these days.

Oh – I almost forgot to give my brain a break I started an audiobook today while I cooked lunch. I only listened to about an hour of it, but I am counting it towards my 10 hours for this readathon.

The Body Keeps Score has been recommended to me by so many people. Recently, I’ve been diving hard into working with my CPTSD- it’s shaped so much of my life and I didn’t realize the extent until my brother attacked me last year (h if you want that story it’s in other blogs.). So I’m diving into good old fashion physiotherapy. So far it works better than any therapist I’ve tried yet.

I’m at 7 hours and 2 minutes of my 10 hour goal. I need to do some evening stuff and get things taken care of. So, I’ll turn the audiobook back on while I do that. Between tonight and tomorrow morning (I’m usually up by 5) I should hit my 10 hour goal this time around. Maybe a little over since I’m adding in an audiobook this time.

Readathons

My Week 2 Quarantineathon Readathon Wrap Up

May 15, 2020 Maggie Hemlock

Today I’m blah. Reading is blah. Writing is blah. Today is blah. I wrote few really emotionally challenging chapters today for Sky’s book. It’s only 11 AM and I have what I can only call an emotional hangover. I’ve written plenty of emotional scenes, but this is the first time I’ve actually had an emotional hangover from writing. Like pure numb verging on sad emotional hangover. I always knew Sky’s book would be difficult to write, but here it is. It’s moving along.

So, let’s talk about what I read this week for the readathon. This week the prompt was to read a book with an at risk character. This book had 2 of them. One was a chronic pain sufferer, Rachel, seeking a way to live with her pain and break her dependence on abusing narcotics to survive. The other was a terminally ill older gentleman with a neuro degenerative disease named Harry.

The search for a ‘cure’ led Rachel to a fictional island with a greatly written backstory and lore. This book had me with all of its twists and turns.

Also, as someone with chronic pain I related so freaking hard to Rachel. It was good chronic pain rep (if you ignore her extra pills.) But the way the author wrote her with both desperation and determination was incredible.

It wasn’t all depressing and pain, though. There was adventure, mystery, and witty lines like this: The waitress looked like she wanted to be in the middle of an argument with a handicapped person about as much as she wanted to antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea.

It was full of laugh out loud lines like that at times.

Next week’s prompt is to read about an essential employee. I’m reading a autobio/memoir of a medical examiner. Tune in next week to find out if I made it through. This was the recommendation of a friend – HI MEG! Well, hi if you’re reading this. lol I’m excited about it, but also I know anything cardio-vascular makes me squirmy.

Readathons, Uncategorized

My Quarantineathon Readathon TBR List

May 1, 2020May 1, 2020 Maggie Hemlock

So, I enjoyed last month’s O.W.L.s Magical Readathon so much that I had to find another one to participate in this month. I considered Bout of Books, but that one is for just reading more. Honestly, I’m reading more than ever. That’s not a challenge this year. So, I went on the search because I wanted prompts and this one hosted/created by Getting Hygge With It on YouTube is a readathon I can get behind.

Quarnatineathon – is a readathon for the modern times and reminder that staying in doors is good not only for our health right now, but for those who have to go out to work and those at high risk. I won’t tell anyone what to do – but honestly, my state’s starting to lift restriction soon and they can kiss my arse. I won’t be going out and resuming normal activities. I’ve been telling everyone I know to listen to scientists and doctors and watch the data roll in themselves. The economy will never be worth your life. That’s why I love the message behind this readathon. The prompts the host came up with are fantastic and suit the situation.

I’ll link her video at the end for everyone to check out, but here’s how it works. Short. Simple. To the Point. Just the way I like things. (Well, sometimes I like things like a long list of prompts relating to my Hogwarts courses, but I like stuff like this too. I’m complicated.)

The readathon runs from May 3- 30th. One prompt for each week of the month.

The Prompts!

WEEK 1 – Read a book that explores the hard times humanity has faced before. We WILL get through this too!

WEEK 2 – Read a book about a character who would be at risk from the coronavirus. Stay inside for them!

WEEK 3– Show essential workers some love by reading a book about an essential worker as a main character.

WEEK 4– Read a book about what you miss most from the normal world. Live vicariously through it!

Since this readathon only has 4 prompts I’ll read other books throughout the month too, but my TBR is as follows.

WEEK 1 – Read a book that explores the hard times humanity has faced before. We WILL get through this too!

The Am Spiegelgrund clinic, in glittering Vienna, masqueraded as a well-intentioned reform school for wayward boys and girls and a home for chronically ill children. The reality, however, was very different: in the wake of Germany’s annexation of Austria on the eve of World War II, its doctors, nurses, and teachers created a monstrous parody of the institution’s benign-sounding brief. The Nazi regime’s euthanasia program would come to determine the fate of many of the clinic’s inhabitants.

Through the eyes of a child inmate, Adrian Ziegler, and a nurse, Anna Katschenka, Steve Sem-Sandberg, the author of the award-winning The Emperor of Lies, explores the very meaning of survival. An absorbing, emotionally overwhelming novel, rich in incident and character, The Chosen Ones is obliquely illuminated by the author’s sharp sense of the absurd. Passionately serious, meticulously researched, and deeply profound, this extraordinary and dramatic novel bears witness to oppression and injustice, and offers invaluable and necessary insight into an intolerable chapter in Austria’s past.

WEEK 2 – Read a book about a character who would be at risk from the coronavirus. Stay inside for them!

Once a century, for only six days, the bay around a small Washington island glows like a water-bound aurora. Dr. Rachel Bell, a scientist studying the 100-Year Miracle and the tiny sea creatures that create it, knows a secret about the phenomenon that inspired the region’s myths and folklore: the rare green water may contain a power that could save Rachel’s own life (and change the world). When Rachel connects with Harry and Tilda, a divorced couple cohabiting once again as Harry enters the last stages of a debilitating disease, Harry is pulled into Rachel’s obsession and hope as they both grasp at this once-in-a-lifetime chance to save themselves.

But the Miracle does things to people. Strange and mysterious things. And as these things begin to happen, Rachel has only six days to uncover and control the Miracle’s secrets before the waters go dark for another hundred years.

WEEK 3- Show essential workers some love by reading a book about an essential worker as a main character.

The fearless memoir of a young forensic pathologist’s rookie season as a NYC medical examiner, and the cases, hair-raising and heartbreaking and impossibly complex, that shaped her as both a physician and a mother.

Just two months before the September 11 terrorist attacks, Dr. Judy Melinek began her training as a New York City forensic pathologist. With her husband T.J. and their toddler Daniel holding down the home front, Judy threw herself into the fascinating world of death investigation, performing autopsies, investigating death scenes, counseling grieving relatives. Working Stiff chronicles Judy’s two years of training, taking readers behind the police tape of some of the most harrowing deaths in the Big Apple, including a firsthand account of the events of September 11, the subsequent anthrax bio-terrorism attack, and the disastrous crash of American Airlines flight 587.

Lively, action-packed, and loaded with mordant wit, Working Stiff offers a firsthand account of daily life in one of America’s most arduous professions, and the unexpected challenges of shuttling between the domains of the living and the dead. The body never lies, and through the murders, accidents, and suicides that land on her table, Dr. Melinek lays bare the truth behind the glamorized depictions of autopsy work on shows like CSI and Law and Order to reveal the secret story of the real morgue.

WEEK 4- Read a book about what you miss most from the normal world. Live vicariously through it! (More on why I chose this one for this prompt in a later blog.)

In this follow up to CALL THE MIDWIFE, Jennifer Worth, a midwife working in the docklands area of East London in the 1950s tells more stories about the people she encountered.

There’s Jane, who cleaned and generally helped out at Nonnatus House – she was taken to the workhouse as a baby and was allegedly the illegitimate daughter of an aristocrat. Peggy and Frank’s parents both died within 6 months of each other and the children were left destitute. At the time, there was no other option for them but the workhouse. The Reverend Thornton-Appleby-Thorton, a missionary in Africa, visits the Nonnatus nuns and Sister Julienne acts as matchmaker. And Sister Monica Joan, the eccentric ninety-year-old nun, is accused of shoplifting some small items from the local market. She is let off with a warning, but then Jennifer finds stolen jewels from Hatton Garden in the nun’s room.

These stories give a fascinating insight into the resilience and spirit that enabled ordinary people to overcome their difficulties.

This is just part of what I’ll read in May, but I invite everyone who is able – stay home, read, game, make art. Try making sourdough bread and dalgona coffee (I like this one) and all those other things that are becoming cliche as we stay inside. Try them or try something else and start a new trend.

Readathons, Uncategorized

What I Read for Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon

April 26, 2020 Maggie Hemlock

So… I participated in Dewey’s this year again. I really enjoyed most of the day, but didn’t get to read at much as I wanted. It was stormy. I have weather anxiety after living in the Midwest. It interrupted my day. Though, I really enjoyed the 6 hours and 12 minutes I did read. I probably would’ve hit ten if the storm didn’t come when it did. I was never going to read for 24 hours or even 12. I have to move around. I get stiff and brain fogged if I don’t. I was aiming for 8, but since no one’s counting in the long run I’m okay with the fact I didn’t manage it.

So what did I spend those 6 hours and 12 minutes reading?

I started with a great audiobook. I still haven’t finished it, because my brain will only take so much audiobook at a time. I listen while I do chores or play Stardew Valley. (And when I make book covers! lol)

What If It’s Us? By Becky Albertalli

This is a YA Romance. It’s cute and funny and insightful. I love that the characters are well fleshed out. Ben’s character gets a bit preachy at times for me. He talks with insight that surely comes from the author and not his teenage self. I’ll forgive that, though, because this book has made me laugh, cry, and just bang my head on the proverbial wall of ‘why did he do that?’ I’m loving it. I still have about an hour left of it and will likely finish it up today while I do laundry and stuff.

Then I read Quidditch Through the Ages, because I wanted something fun to read. It took me all of 20 minutes, but it was a nice trip back to Hogwarts.

Then this one is probably what really slowed me down – I don’t know why I choose to read a memoir – no matter how short- in a readathon where continuing to read is the goal.

I Have Lived a Thousand Years by Livia Bitton-Jackson

It’s been on my TBR shelf for a long time now. It’s the book I mostly read at night for the prompt. I love memoirs and history. Even heart-breaking history. I just think if I would’ve read something more light-hearted I would’ve finished more books.

What did you read yesterday?

Readathons, Uncategorized

I Finished My O.W.L.s (To be a Healer) (An O.W.L.s Magical Readathon Update)

April 22, 2020 Maggie Hemlock

Yesterday evening I finished reading Nicholas Spark’s Message in a Bottle. It was the last book I needed to fulfill the prompts to be a healer through the O.W.L.s Magical Readathon (along with my extra lectures.) Since there are still 8 days left in the month I’m going to go for a clean sweep of the prompts. Yep, I was that kid in school too.

The books above in green are the ones I needed for my readathon goals and have finished readidng. The ones under those are the ones I need to make a clean sweep of the readathon.

I think besides being stuck at home what helped me the most this time around is the fact I changed out books that fit the prompts and my reading whims and moods. We’ll see how the rest of the month goes, but either way I’m ready for my N.E.W.T.s come August 2020!

Readathons, Uncategorized

O.W.L.s Magical Readathon Reading Update

April 8, 2020 Maggie Hemlock

Finally! I’m writing a blog at an appropriate time and not when I should be working on my novel! Book 9 of the Hemlock Wolf Pack Saga is off to the editor! I can’t wait to bring it out for everyone to read, but for now it’s time to catch up on my own reading. My O.W.L.s are going a bit slower than I thought they would.

I know it’s only the 8th, but I’m behind by my own logic.I should finish a book about every 2 days to get through all 8 of them this month. It’s the eighth and I’ve finished one. My Potions O.W.L. at that. I’m in the middle of my O.W.L.s for Care of Magical Creatures and History of Magic. My TBR has shifted a little bit as my mood has changed. I switched from the Christmas Carol to the Most Dangerous Game for my Potions O.W.L. Then I switched my History of Magic to The Witchcraft of Salem Village. It’s non-fic about the Salem witch trails. I think it’s in the spirit of the O.W.L. I’m currently reading that one and Hum if You Don’t Know the Words. I’m enjoying them both for different reasons.

I’ve put together a handy spreadsheet to track my progress. I should say I’ve also finished two books I wanted to read that were not for the O.W.L.s and that’s why I’m behind on the readathon. I’m reading just not what I should be reading. lol As usual, this list is subject to change on O.W.L.s I haven’t started.

How’s your O.W.L.s Magical Readathon Going?

Readathons, Uncategorized

My O.W.L.’s Magical Readathon TBR

March 22, 2020March 22, 2020 Maggie Hemlock

It’s almost April and you know what that means! It’s time for my second attempt at the O.W.L.’s Magical Readathon. Last year my O.W.L.’s were flawless. My N.E.W.T.s not so much. So, this year I won’t be going after writer/journalist again. I”m going the healer career path. While also going for the add-ons of Animagus Training and Legal Defense of Fantastic Beasts.

That’s 8 books which is more than doable with my reading record this year. (32/100 books so far as of 3/21/20.)

To accomplish my career and side courses I’ll need to accomplish the following.

Herbology: Mimbulus Mimbletonia: A title starting with M

This book is a reread for me, but it was the first book that came to mind when I read the prompt. It’s a really good series that I hope eventaully to reread in its entirety just not next month. lol

Charms: Lumios Maxima: A book with a white cover.

One thing that helps me in readathons is to leave some of the books up to what I feel at the time. This is one of those. Just glancing at myself I can see 6 books that have white covers. I have plenty to choose from and will when the time comes.

Defense Against the Dark Arts: Grindylows: A book set at sea or the coast.

This is another reread for me, but I haven’t read it since I was a teenager. I know Nicholas Sparks if famous for breaking hearts, but I really love some of his books.

Potions: Shrink Solution: A book with less than 150 pages

I swear not every book for the readathon is a reread! There are some I haven’t read yet! BUT of course this is another reread. My copy of the Christmas Carol has about 125 pages. It’s an easy read I can finish in a setting and assure I get my potions O.W.L.

Transfiguration: Animagus Lecture: A book/series with shifters.

This is another reread from a favorite series. It’s not my favorite in the series that is Micah, but Micah was one of the books left with a friend after I moved. We were planning to ship everything soon, but… COVID19. My stuff can live where it is for now.

Arithamancy: Magical Qualities/Balance/Opposites.

I read all over the place, but one genre I don’t read a lot of is sweet adult romance. I’ve read the other books in this series slowly over months, because they’re a nice change of pace but not my favorite by far.

Care of Magical Creatures: Hippogriffs: A creature with a beak on the cover.

I’ve heard really good things about this one and it’s set on my shelf long enough. Time to finally crack it open. lol

History of Magic: Witch Hunts: A Series with a witch or wizard.

Those of you who know me know this one is going to be an HP book. I’m doing a reread through the series this year as I’m in the mood for it. I don’t think I’ll start the next one (Order of the Phoenix) before next month so I can save it for this prompt.

That’s my TBR for next month. If I finish early (Which I might. I’m averaging 10 or 11 books a month this year I might try to add in some of the other prompts too just for the extra O.W.L.s

Are you participating in O.W.L.s Magical Readathon next month?

Readathons, Uncategorized

Readathons and Reading Challenges to Enjoy While Flattening the Curve

March 19, 2020March 19, 2020 Maggie Hemlock

I’ve talked to friends, family, and readers who are all looking for a way to fill in time they’re spending at home. Of course, reading is our number one go-to, but everyone could use a bit of spice in their life.

So without any further ado… Let’s get onto it. readathons first. Of course, I’m biased and my favorite readathon is

O.W.L.’s Magical Readathon.

It’s fun and a two parter with the first happening in April. Yep, I’m a big HP nerd (Proud Slytherin for life!!) and though the readathon doesn’t have to include the HP books it is based on the exams given at Hogwarts. I participated and passed my O.W.L.’s last April. My N.E.W.T.s in August were interrupted by some crap. So, I didn’t finish the challenge. This year, I’m trying again. Except I’m not going for writing. I’m going for healer. I might blog my readathon experience, but I’m not 100% positive I will.

Book Roast from Youtube (the host and creator of the readathon) can explain it much better than me. I’ll link her video below. FAQs, Career paths, and prompts can all be found in the description below her video on Youtube. The first part of this readathon runs the length of April.

Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon

This happens on April 25th this year according to the director’s Twitter. I participated in this one once or twice last year. It was great fun. Basically, you read as much as you can in 24 Hours. If my writing schedule allows it I will be doing this one this year. You can find more information here.

The PopSugar Reading Challenge

This is a year long challenge and you’re not behind if you didn’t already start. You can check out the prompts here.

Off the Grid Readathon April 17-19

This readathon encourages readers to put down their phones and read. This readathon encourages you to take as much time as you can away from all the daily distractions and really focus on reading. You can find more information here.

Queer Lit Readathon March 28 & 29 (weekend edition.)

This readathon’s title explains it all. It’s all about LGBTQ+ reading and books. Hope my schedule let’s me participate in this one before O.W.L.’s start.

There are many many more readathons and reading groups spread across the internet. One I’m personally active is r/52Book over on Reddit. It’s a subreddit for those trying to read 52 books in a year, but anyone with a yearly reading goal (bigger or smaller) is welcome over there. It’s a friendly place to chat with other bookworms and to get reading recommendations.

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Reader Q&A

October 24, 2019 Maggie Hemlock

It’s that time again! I love getting questions and comments from readers. Interacting with all of you really makes my day. Writing is by nature a solo profession. You have to sit at the keyboard and ‘see’ and then translate what you ‘see’ into words and sentences that make sense to other people. It’s not always easy. Some days getting words on the page is like getting blood from a turnip. Other days it’s like I get to play with my imaginary friends all day and they’re nice to me. At the end of the day , though, it’s about the stories I tell and how they can touch my readers. Without you guys, I’d be a kook with a wild imagination. Okay, maybe that’s exactly what I am, but you guys help me make a living from it. lol

I have three questions I’m going to answer today,. They’re simple questions, but the answers may be long and winding. I’ve touched on some of these in other Q&As, but I think I can expand those answers and really give you guys a look into how I started writing my Hemlock Wolf Pack Saga.

Question: How did you come up with the names for your shifter families?

Answer:

This one depends on which family/pack/flight you’re talking about.

Hemlock Academy came to me before the pack did. It started in a dream I had, but was nothing like you’ve read in the books. In the original dream it was an all girls boarding school where I taught that had been invaded by zombies. I’m a huge Walking Dead Fan and my dreams often get zombies if I watch the show too much. The school in the dream was not Hemlock Academy. It has a name that sounds sort of close, but I’m not disclosing here. I always knew I was going to turn that dream into a book. I still might. Not in Mpreg, because I don’t think babies and zombies mix. Maybe I’m wrong. Let me know in the comments if you think Mpreg and the zombie takeover go hand-in-hand and would make for a good read. The pack ended up named after the school once I got to know Darian in Omega Studies.

I’m not saying what the school was called in the dream, because who knows. If I ever switch genres in the future I still might write the book in the original way I saw it.

The West Appalachian Wolf Pack were just named after the area they come from. I was born in West Virginia and just sorta tacked on West because of that. I love the nature and mountains of the region. Yes, Monta’s pack in part is based on some people I knew growing up. No one was killed from their crimes against their families. So, it’s really loosely based, but it’s there.

The Moonscales are the tricky ones. The name just came to me while I was writing a standalone which is yet to be released or finished. I’m hoping to finish it one day, but it won’t be until after the Hemlock vs. Raven Hallow War. It’s given us the characters of Clarence and Medwin and all of the Moonscales, though. They first showed up in that book that’s half finished. One of the MCs of that standalone novel is still a hatchling at the moment. So, for the sake of the timeline I won’t be worrying about that book just yet.

The Raven Hallow Wolf Pack is a bit more complicated. I could say it just came to me, because a lot of them do and it did. It came from their lore of being connected to ravens and crows. Though, they have heavy elven influence too despite it not being represented in the name.

I think I’ve covered all the main ones I’ve actually introduced this far. There are others on the map, because I needed to mark them because I knew they were there. If I’ve left anyone out drop me a message on FaceBook and I’ll include it in the next Q&A.

Question: What got you into writing MM?

Answer:

Do you want the short answer or the long one?

The short answer: Harry Potter.

That doesn’t make sense unless you were part of the 2000s HP fanfiction communities. The first story I ever wrote to completion on a computer was when I was 14 and it was a Draco/Harry slash fanfic. Yep. The real reason I turned into a writer was because my young teenage self thought Harry and Draco should get together. I guess I liked tension even back then before I could explain it.

It probably has something to do with my gender identity too, but I’ll touch on that in the next question.

Question: What made you decide to write MPREG?

Answer:

This one’s complicated too. I’ve touched on a lot of these things in my previous Q&A, but I’ll expand here since the question is what made me decide to write MPREG. I’m nervous about this one, because though a lot of my friends know and are super supportive I’ve never really talked about it in a professional setting. This is very personal to me and it’s taken me a long time to be comfortable talking about any of it in a public forum.

Since I was little gender has confused the hell out of me. Not just gender stereotypes, but gender itself. It’s like umm…. so there are two boxes and I have to stand inside of one? It’s not that I don’t like the boxes. It’s that neither box is for me. I identify as gender non-binary despite being born AFAB (assigned female at birth.)

What I love about Mpreg is being able to explore different ideas about gender roles and gender expression. Being able to not have to write inside those boxes. Yes, some of my omegas are what my dad and uncles would call ‘pretty boys’ (Hence, why the Appalachian Wolf Pack got it’s name and attitude.) but I’ve always admired men who are softer and gentler and love things that aren’t inside that box we’ve labeled “Masculinity.” And of course, vice versa. One of my favorite characters from the series is one who has only been mentioned. I hope to get her on screen soon.

I’ve been accused of having inadequate female representation in my books. I don’t think that’s quite true. Sure, male characters out number female characters, but I write gay romance. I need a pool of side characters to pull from and play matchmaker with.

I’m also very aware of how strong women can be perceived. I didn’t have my first female Alpha on screen until The Sleeping Omega Prince. Mostly, because I wanted to avoid the question of ‘How do female Alphas get their mates pregnant?” Many people have given their thoughts on this and if you don’t understand it, want to know, and are old enough to read my books – send me a message. I’ll tell you in the cleanest way possible. lol I write sex scenes, but I’m not that comfortable discussing anatomy publicly.

What actually lead to me writing Mpreg was a number of things. First, as I mentioned in my previous Q&A my early roleplay years had a lot of mpreg in them. Then mpreg fanfiction. I never knew it was a thing until two things happened very close together. A good friend introduced me to the genre on Amazon. Then an old ghostwriting client (yep that’s what I did before I went indie) e-mailed me and asked if I’d be interested in ghostwriting some Mpreg for her. I don’t do ghost work anymore and didn’t at the time. But I was mind blown that this was a thing in actual books now.

So, my little fanfiction heart had some original characters of its own to share with the world and on December 9th, 2017 I penned the first few chapters of what would become Omega Studies.

Thank you so much for submitting your questions. If you have more feel free to send them my way on Facebook to be included in the next Reader Q&A blog.

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Where Have I Been? (Life, Book, and Publishing Updates.)

September 11, 2019 Maggie Hemlock

Over the past few weeks some of my friends, followers, and readers have accused me of playingCarmen Sandiego as the title character. I understand why some of you were worried. I’m usually a planner with a pretty predictable schedule. I post on Facebook a lot and am always working on one book or another. Life just got in the way. Things got exciting in all the wrong ways and then in the correct ways. Either way on August 29th I posted this gem to Facebook.

Yep. I moved 726 miles without telling everyone ahead of time. Sure, I made a quick post in my FaceBook group for readers and told a few close friends, but I didn’t stop to blog or think of my brand when I did it.

Since the tail end of December 2017 when I started Omega Studies I’ve thought of little outside of my books and my author platform. I love what I do and story telling runs in my veins. I’m notoriously bad for not taking time off unless a medical condition knocks me on my ass. So what the heck happened?

Those who follow the blog and all of my social media accounts know I’ve dealt with a toxic family member for sometime now. I’ve even posted about it here on the blog and made posts about not enabling toxic family members. Well, push came to shove and my give a damn broke. Yep, I quoted a country song. #Noregrets I still adore that Jodee Messina song. He’s my brother and not my ex, but it’s busted so bad not even Gypsy from Gilmore Girls could revive it. I’ve just finished rewatching the series for I don’t know what time, but “GET A NEW CAR!” I stuck in my head now. Thanks a lot, Gypsy!

I know the exact date my give a damn expired and the warranty ran out: August 21st. Then in 8 days I rehomed my furbaby, shipped what I needed, and a hopped a Grey Hound bus half way across the country. Some days it still feels like I’m not far enough away. I miss my baby like crazy, but we’re both better off away from the toxic donkey.

This means I didn’t finish my N.E.W.T.s Magical Readathon. That’s okay. There’s always next year.

So, what everyone is probabaly wondering is what does this mean for the Hemlock Wolf Pack Saga and the Hemlock Fairy Tales Series.

Not much really. I’m in a new apartment. I’m still me. Writing and stories still flood my brain. What it does affect is my timeline for publishing this fall. I hoped to publish book 6 of the Hemlock Wolf Pack Saga on September 6th. It’s now September 11th and the book still isn’t live. I’ve lost 3 weeks of writing time and now my editor and I have been working around the clock since Monday afternoon when my internet was officially turned on at the new apartment to finish the edits. We’re almost there and the book should be live soon. Once edits are finished I’ll resume working on the second book in the Hemlock Fairy Tales and then onto a Holiday novella to ensure it can come out the day after Thanksgiving. (That’s when it’s appropriate to start celebrating the winter holiday. 😛 )

I’m behind where I wanted to be, but I enjoy playing catch up. I hope to publish every book listed here by the end of the year. My editor is going to hate me or love me, depending on how you look at it.