Mystic Monday

Returning to the World

As some of you may know, I've had a long hard road this past year dealing with migraines that just wouldn't go away and conventional meds - including my 100mg Imitrex - didn't even touch the pain. It wreaked havoc on my ability to read and decimated my ability to actually write anything down. In fact, I spent an awful lot of time offline because the pain had been too much to deal with and when I was online, I just didn't have the metal faculties to think or remember anything. 

Then, depression set in. That really made things even harder to deal with. Besides the headaches that just wouldn't go away - caffeine didn't help matters either - I still had to deal with muscle pain and chronic fatigue. I just never felt like I could get enough sleep. In fact, that's what I did a lot...sleep...then there were the bouts of insomnia too. To make matters worse, the arthritis in my joints and spine was so bad that on more than one occasion I was tempted to get one of those red walkers from Walgreens that has the basket on it that can also double as a chair...

...and I'm not even 40 yet...

...hell, I'm not even 39 yet!!!! 

It just seemed like my life was slipping away and fighting didn't seem to matter. Then things got even worse. My head felt like it was going to explode and I couldn't even keep water down. I went to the closest urgent care, but they were too concerned with high my blood pressure to do anything (um yeah, extreme pain like this is going to push it to extraordinary heights, duh!) and told me to go to this newly built urgent care/ER facility.

While I won't be going back to that first urgent care facility, I can honestly say that going to that new facility made changed things. 

The people at the urgent care were smart enough to realize that the pain was the problem (not the blood pressure) and that my bp would return to normal once the pain was neutralized. 

The painkiller they gave me neutralized the headache pain along with a few other things! Whatever it was, it worked wonders. I've been dealing with bad pain in my lower back for years now - 10, I think. Scans and MRI's never showed anything out of the ordinary, and there were no signs that I might have a blockage anywhere in my digestive tract, so I was completely surprised when I discovered that the majority of my back pain was actually curable, even though I thought it was a permanent condition. 

Basically, the anti-inflammatory they gave me intravenously (along with saline) caused the blockage to be shifted out and was eventually passed (long and painful story). The blockage was the true cause for the worst of the pain I felt in my lower back. While I still have some pain from the bone spurs that can make standing in one spot and sitting upright for extended periods problematic, I have experienced a strong reduction in pain. It's so nice to be able to do those pesky things like walk, wash dishes, do laundry and a myriad of other every day things in life many of us tend to take for granted, without feeling overwhelming pain.  

I'm not without some pain, but I'm no longer as debilitated as I once was. Now I can wash an entire load of dishes at the sink in about 10 minutes or so with little to no discomfort where before it would take me 30 minutes minimum to wash half as many dishes because I had to stop and rest every five minutes or so because it hurt so much to stand and my body just couldn't stand up against the pain. 

I'm beginning to take my life back. Because I've been in such extreme pain for the past year and muscular pain from the previous years, things around our house went undone. The place has been a mess, closets remained unfinished for years because I just didn't have the physical strength or ability to deal with the debilitating pain. All that is changing now. After the Packers game (I won't gloat, even though they are 6-0!), my husband and I finally managed to make a huge dent in cleaning out/organizing our garage and move the exercise bike and weight bench in from the garage into the recently finished off exercise room. 

It feels good to have finally made such progress...almost as good as it does to be able to lift things - anything - again without feeling extreme pain and my spine's overwhelming desire to just crumple to the floor. Yeah, that's about how I felt every day for years. I still don't know where I found the strength to stay upright let alone mobile for all those years when all my body wanted to do was crumble to the floor. 

I'm loving this new found condition. I feel like I'm waking up after having been asleep for a long time. For the first time in many years, I feel good after exercising. I know winter isn't even here yet, but I'm excited for spring and the prospect of being able to ride a bike again, and I'm eager to start my weight training program. 

I'm hoping this is just the jump start I needed to finish all the undone projects around the house. There are so many, and I've realized that it's these undone projects that have been interfering with my creativity, stifling it. 

Changes are happening. I'm excited about them and eager for what I might find lurking in the crevices of my brain! I'm also looking to jump back into offering author interviews and more book reviews! :D

Wistful Wednesday

Catching Up With Me

Hello, All! Lots of changes happening with me lately, so I figured I'd take the opportunity to catch you up on them.

First, my personal author's blog has a new home, thanks to the wonderful Moonlight webmistress Carrie. It's still a work in progress, but please stop by and visit me here.

Next, I have a new publisher! MuseItUp Publishing is releasing my next book at the end of this month, which I am very excited about! I will share more details soon. In the meantime, I was interviewed by a fellow Muse author and would love for you to stop by and check it out here.

And probably the most exciting news for me is that I have a new book coming out entitled Sloane Wolf. I will be posting more about it in the future, but for now, here's the awesome cover:

And the blurb:

For more than a hundred and fifty years, the gray wolf has failed to roam the hills of Massachusetts, leading to the belief that they are extinct. But with a spattering of sightings across the Berkshires, the legend of the gray wolf comes to fruition. The product of that legend, Micah Sloane will go to great lengths to protect his kind from the threat of outsiders, who seek to exploit the legend for their own interests. One thing he didn’t count on, however, was finding his soul mate in the company of such men.

From the first time she predicted a stranger’s imminent death when she was little more than a child, Shiloh Beck knew she was different. Wishing to cultivate her gift, her parents made the fateful decision to enroll her in a private school for paranormally gifted children. Unbeknownst to them, the school was just a front for a research facility simply called the Institute, whose secret board members weaned gifted children from their families to exploit their gifts. Shiloh has spent the better part of her life trying to escape the Institute and reunite with the family she was told had abandoned her.

From their first meeting, Micah and Shiloh share a connection that goes beyond the normal to bond them in a way that love alone cannot. But before they can build a life together, they must deal with the fall-out when the legend of the wolves collides with the men behind the Institute.

Twilight Thursday

Spotlight on Sherry Ficklin

Born of Blood

***Palmetto Moon, Book 1, Born of Blood is due for release on October 9th 2011 from Tell-Tale Publishing.***

A young mother has vanished without a trace and Sophie D'Angelo has been hired to solve the cold case that left police stumped. Tensions are high between the local cops and the newly 'out of the coffin' vampire community, landing Sophie smack in the middle of the toughest mystery she's ever faced and in the middle of a possible civil war. Her only allies are her loud, overbearing italian family and her ex-fiancee turned-vampire, Caleb, who shares her house, her business, and generally gets on her nerves. If he wasn't already dead, she'd probably kill him.

As if that wasn't enough, Sophie has become the fixation of a twisted killer who is leaving a trail of bodies straight to her door.

Can Sophie uncover the truth behind the strange disappearance and unmask her stalker before she, or someone she loves, becomes his next victim?

About Sherry:

Sherry is a full time writer from Colorado where she lives with her husband, four kids, two dogs, and a fluctuating number of chickens and house guests. A former military brat, she loves to travel and meet new people. She can often be found browsing her local bookstore with a large white hot chocolate in one hand and a towering stack of books in the other. That is, unless she's on deadline at which time she, like the Loch Ness monster, is often only seen in blurry photographs.

Her teen fantasy series, The Gods of Fate Trilogy, is forthcoming from Dragonfly Publishing. Book 1, Foresight, and book 2, Second Sight, are now available everywhere books are sold. Her first adult horror novel, Palmetto Moon, is forthcoming from Tell-Tale Publishing.

http://www.sherryficklin.com/

(Note: This was slated to be a review of Sherry's new book, Born of Blood, but as it was a dnf for me, I decided to spotlight the author instead. I will let the readers decide for themselves. What was difficult for me to get into might be just right for them.)

Mystic Monday

Unbound

- communique 2

It's been a few days since I last posted. I'm alive, but still hunted by the soul binders. While I have eluded capture thus far, they see me as a threat to their "order" and wish me eliminated...to make an example out of me.

I do not plan to go down easy. I plan to fight!

In my travels, I have learned of others who are free like me though they say I am different and that's why the binders hunt me. It's worth exploring though. I thought this would be a reliable mode of communication, but the binders have located it, and can track me when I post. The people I met have a place I can contact you without risk of being found.

From now on, I'll be making posts via the

Unbound Soul Network.

...until next time...

  - Chai-Lee

Wistful Wednesday

Seers by Heather Frost:

A Review

When Kate Bennett survived the horrific car accident that claimed her parents' lives, she knew her world would be forever changed. But she never could have imagined how dramatic these changes would be. Feeling like a freak, Kate tries to hide her unwelcome new ability to see people's auras – that is, until she meets Patrick O'Donnell, who seems to be able to disappear at will. When Kate and her remaining family begin to be haunted by Demons, her only hope is to stay close to Patrick and other Guardians like him. Somehow, Patrick lies at the center of the mystery, and Kate soon realizes that both she and her heart are in big-time trouble. Caught up in a war she barely understands, with enemies only she can discern, Kate quickly learns that in war everybody loses something...or someone. (Blurb taken from NetGalley.com)

What I thought:

From the blurb I thought this book had promise. An interesting premise, the basis for a fascinating paranormal world, potentially engaging characters. Sounds good to me. I really enjoy this type of book. But as I delved into it, I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd read it before. Something about it was oddly familiar. The horrific car accident that killed her family but that she, somehow, survived. A new "ability" she didn't have prior to the accident. A mysterious new guy in her life who seems to know more about her abilities than she does and disappears and reappears in her life at will. Yes, this all seemed very familiar. And then I realized why: I had recently read a book by a well-known author that begins with almost exactly the same premise - horrific car crash, only the heroine survives, new psychic abilities, mysterious new guy in her life. 




I must admit that I was tempted to stop reading this book because I feared it was going to be a rip off of the book I'd recently read with the strikingly similar premise. But something about it kept me reading. As bothered as I was about the familiarity factor, I was curious to discover if this author could differentiate herself from the other one. And while I wasn't blown away by this book as I was by the other one, it still had its merits. Namely, the hero, Patrick. I have to tell you if I ever develop mysterious new abilities I know nothing about and am suddenly dogged by beings that might want to use me/them, I want a Patrick to come into my life to aid me! He is, quite simply, a drool-worthy hero and from the outset, you can't help but root for him and hope he achieves his goals - and gets a happy ending. Then there's his friend/accomplice Tony. What can I say about Tony except that he's a character and a half? He may provide a lot of the book's lighter moments, but when the chips are down, he's there to provide assistance. And Kate was okay, but not a spectacular character. Maybe that's one of the reasons I struggled with this book - because I kept wondering why I should care about this character. Still, I have high hopes for her - maybe she'll evolve more and blossom in the next book.




The villainous aspect of Seers was interesting, too, but I had my issues with it, too. Without giving too much away, I was kind of disappointed with the way it (sort of) resolved itself. I felt like it happened too quickly. The villain was steadily built up throughout the story and then...it just didn't live up to its frightening potential. It just...stopped. I would have liked more fight, more action, more - something. Maybe more of Kate actually being responsible for saving herself. It was almost like she did so by default, not so much effort on her part. And although I'm all for the heroine saving herself scenario, in this case, I would've been more satisfied if the hero actually saved her. I love you, Patrick, but seriously, where were you?


So although the book did start out in similar territory as another, wildly popular book, Seers did manage to differentiate itself from its predecessor. Somewhat. And despite my initial reservations with it, despite its flaws, I did end up enjoying it and wishing for more Patrick and Tony. It's a good, light read for anyone who enjoys paranormal romances in the vein of Mari Mancusi, Alyson Noel, and Stephenie Meyer. Will I read the next book? Sure, I'd love to see where the author is going with this story. If nothing else, it will give me more Patrick. And Tony. Can't lose with that combo.




(ARC provided by NetGalley)

Twilight Thursday

Juggling Act: Guest Post

by

Heather Frost

It's been said that life is like a roller coaster; full of ups and down, twists and turns. Sometimes we scream, and sometimes we laugh—sometimes things happen fast, and sometimes we progress slowly. We can choose to face each new hill with trepidation, or excitement.


It's a great metaphor, but for the purposes of this post I think there's a better comparison out there. I think that life is more akin to a juggling act. We each stand on a crowded corner, juggling more and more responsibilities with every year we age. Sometimes people toss us a quarter in recognition, but more often than not our only reward is surviving another day without dropping everything.


It's easy to feel bogged down with everything life throws at you. I'm going to use myself as an example. I'm the oldest daughter in a family of twelve. I'm a full time student, working toward my Bachelor's degree. I work as a writing tutor. I'm an author. And somewhere in there I try to fit in a social life, and some much needed me time. I realize I'm pretty lucky, and my life could be a lot crazier, but learning to balance your responsibilities is never easy. I've found that organizing your time is a lot like budgeting your money. Learning to distinguish between needs and wants is essential. If you try to do everything you need and want, you're going to end up a nervous wreck. I find that making lists is helpful, and in the end you just need to remember that there's always tomorrow.


For Kate Bennett, surviving the car wreck that killed her parents means big changes and even bigger problems. As she begins to see auras and invisible people, Kate must learn to trust Patrick O'Donnell, a handsome Guardian, or risk her life being overrun with Demons. She soon realizes that both she and her heart are in big-time trouble.


And now, an excerpt from Seers:


Lee stood, pulling her tray up with her. “Well, guess I'll see you guys later. Wish me luck.” Without waiting for a response she stalked away, leaving me alone with Patrick.


I took a quick bite of my mashed potatoes and slid a few inches away from him, pulling my tray with me.


I didn't look up when he sighed deeply, or even when he angled himself toward me. “Kate, what's the matter? Did I do something wrong?”


“What makes you think anything's wrong?” I grunted, staring at my food, propping my elbow nearest to him on the table to better cut us off.


“You. You're acting like I've got some kind of disease or something.” His voice sounded far too accusing, considering the fact that there was more off about him than there was with me. But I didn't point that out. I just shoveled another spoonful of potato into my mouth.


He sighed deeply and picked up his fork, only to stab his unfortunate piece of chicken. He didn't bother to eat it, though. “You avoided me, at Lee's party. I just want to know why. Because I thought we were getting along just fine. Did I offend you somehow? Do you like the British?”


I let my elbow slip off the edge of the table, and I turned to stare at him, fighting to keep emotion from twisting my face. “I do. I do like the British. They have a great sense of humor.”


“So, you're shunning me because I mocked the English?” The disbelief in his voice was almost comical.


“No.”


“Then why?”


I bit my lower lip, knowing that I'd regret anything I blurted out at this point. Not that that stopped me, of course.


“Look,” I hissed suddenly, leaning toward him. “I know about you. I know that you're different. I know, because I'm different too. I can see auras. You know, read peoples emotions. But not you. You're different. You have a silver aura, and I can't see your emotions.” I waved my hand in the space between us, back and forth, groping for the right words. “And this, this friendship you're trying to achieve, well, it's not going to work. I was playing along because I was curious about you. But now, I just want you to stay away from me—and from all my friends. You got it?”


He was staring at me, his eyes blinked slowly. He didn't look as scared or as nervous as I sort of imagined he would, but he didn't look angry either. He just looked . . . surprised? Maybe a little unsure. I suppose he'd never been confronted like this before, but I could understand that. It was a first for me too.


“Kate . . . ” his voice trailed off, and in his momentary hesitation I stood, gripping my tray tightly as I walked away.


“Wait!” I heard him call out behind me, but I didn't stop. I dumped my mostly uneaten meal into the garbage and deposited my tray before turning on my heel and walking firmly out of the room. I wasn't entirely sure about where I was going; just away from Patrick.


I heard him stumbling along behind me, but that only caused my step to quicken. I wanted to end this conversation as strongly as I'd begun it. I was going to have the last word; even if it meant getting into my car and driving home. Forget about school. Defying Patrick in all his weirdness was worth a few absences.






To learn more about Seers, or the author, follow one of these links!


http://seersthebook.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Seers-The-Official-Fan-Page/158893460846605
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4983261.Heather_Frost