In Which I Guest Post

This is a little late, just because it posted while I was on my blogging hiatus to finish my draft of Book 2, but nonetheless, I was a guest blogger over on ReadWriteLove28 talking about one of my favorite topics, how to use Pinterest as a writer.

So, maybe stop by and check it out!

How was your Thanksgiving? I hope it was awesome.

Also, I cannot believe today is the last day of November. Where did the month (nay, the year!) go?

Also, though, Wednesday marks the 60 day countdown until ASSASSIN'S HEART is officially out in the world.

EEEEEE!

 

In Which I Share Some Updates For My Book

It's been awhile since I've done any book updates. Mostly just because there hasn't been much to share.

A round of revisions here, another one there, a third one to round it out. A lot of changes in the manuscript and a lot of ways to make it better, stronger. Faster? (we have the technology)
(sorry).

But now I do have some updates!

The first is a title change. The new title is:

ASSASSIN'S HEART

I've been updating my profiles and other places with the new title, like my Pinterest Board (which includes great inspiration photos like this:

The second is release date update. The new release season is Winter 2016, which means it's going to be here super fast and I'm super excited!

Things are moving forward and soon there will be things like copy edits and cover reveals and arcs. ARCS, guys. Like a real book. A REAL BOOK, guys.

Clearly, it still doesn't fee real sometimes.

I also had my author photos taken a few weeks ago and turned in the photo to be used on the book (eeee!). At some point I might update the blog pic, too, but we'll see. I might just save it for when I make my website (soon, hopefully).

Anyway, how are things with you?

In Which I Talk Pinterest (Again)

So, yeah, I've definitely written a post on Pinterest before. But I still love it and think it's time for me to do another post.

This one, though, will be more focused on how Pinterest can be awesome to use if you're a writer.

One of the main uses of Pinterest for writes is to make a pinboard for your novels or stories. You can keep any inspirational images or character photos or scenery related to your novel.

I have pinboards for both ATR:

 

 

 

And also for my still untitled WIP:

 

 

 

So for specifics, it works really well.

But another way I use it is to try and shore up things I am not great at. Like describing clothing. Nope, not great at that.

Then I realized I could make a more general pinboard for character clothing and weapons, and then whenever I was trying to describe what a character might be wearing, I could look through the board, see if there was an outfit that matched what I was going through, and then use that as a reference for more detailed descriptions.

So, yeah. I wish I had figured that out a lot sooner because it would have been helpful.

If you haven't given Pinterest a try, I highly recommend it! And if you are on Pinterest, fire me your user name, I'd love to follow you! I'm right here or you can search for me via Sarah Ahiers.

In Which I Post Some Inspiration

Just a quick post today, since I've got some things to do, and also because I wrote a longer post for Wednesday for IWSG.

So instead, today, you get a few inspiration pics from my Inspiration Pinterest board. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if you're a writer and you're not on Pinterest, you are missing out.
Anyway, I hope some of these get your brains a turnin'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Which We "Tile"

I know I've spoken about Pinterest before. And how awesome it is. And how much I love it. Sooooo many great recipes on there. SO MANY.

I have a pinboard just of pins I've tried. Twin does as well. I've even blogged about projects here as well.

So, shocker, here's a blogpost about another project we've tackled after finding it on pinterest.

Our kitchen was kinda blah. I mean, sure it was serviceable. But we've been planning on pulling down the wallpaper border since we moved in 4.5 years ago.

Sigh. Sure is "quaint"

Obvs, that didn't happen.

One of the things that particularly bothered us, though, was our lack of back splash. Like, really? Come on. How hard it is to put of a back splash?

But tiles can be expensive. Well, at least the style we like. But then we saw a pin about Smart Tiles. Which are gel tiles pretty much like stickers you put up. They're heat and moisture resistance, and good for kitchens or bathrooms. Sticker tiles? Yeah. We could whip that out a lot quicker than regular tiles that need to be cut and grouted.


So here's the before pics:



Clearly we'd already pulled down some of the border here
 



Ignore the mess. We were in the middle of cleaning up and moving stuff before we could start when I took this photo

There was a bit of a learning curve using the smart tiles, but not much. They were easy to use and we did a big chunk of our kitchen in just a few hours.

close up photo of the Smart Tiles

 

Finished pic of the new wall

We're super happy with the finished result. Now we just have to paint the remaining walls and then at some point in the future do something about our shitty counters.

How about you? What did you do over the weekend?

In Which Pinterest Helps Me Prepare

So, as mentioned before, I love me some Pinterest. I have a whole inspiration board, but then Twin was all "why don't you break out your NaNo 2011 stuff and make a separate board for it?".
And, after I told her to shut her face, I realized that was a pretty good idea.

So! Here is the link to my 2011 NaNo inspiration board!

I'm totally loving it. Especially since I don't have a NaNo soundtrack for this year (and probably won't have time (or really the energy) to make one)

Seriously, the NaNo pinbaord is possibly one of the best things Twin I have ever come up with.

What about you? Do you have a NaNo pinboard? Or, if you're not on Pinterest, do you have a folder or file where you keep inspiration for your current MS?

Friday Fun

Yay! Yvie's back, babies, because it's the weekend! And you know what's awesome about this weekend? Next week Mom and Anne have the whole week off from work, which means plenty of time for them to hang out with me (so I don't have to hang out with Tula. Who just won't. Leave. Me. Alone.)

Mom also wants me to mention that this means she won't be blogging next week, or really on the internet much at all since there will be yard work and stuff happening.

And by stuff, I mean, playing with me. Because I'm awesome.

Just like you ape-friends. Just like you.

Onto the fun!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

In Which I Have A New Obsession

"A new obsession?" you ask.

Yes. Yes I do.

What is it?

Why, it's PINTEREST!

"Pinterest is a Virtual Pinboard.
Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.
Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests."

So let's say you're on a website and you see an awesome picture of, oh I dunno, a cat. Because, you know, the interwebs is bereft of cats. So you click your little "pin it" button, select which pinboard you want to add it to, add a caption, and voila! It's pinned, while linking back to the original source.

The best part about pinterest is, you can repin - so if someone pins something to their board and you love it, you can repin it to your board. The original pinner still gets credit AND the original source link is never lost, so you can repin to your heart's content, knowing you can always get back to the original pinner, or the original source.

Or, if you find another pin that you like, but you don't really want to repin it to one of your boards, you can "like it". Your account will keep track of your likes as well.

You can also comment on people's pins, and use @mentions to draw someone's attention to a specific pin.

Better yet, if you have an etsy shop (and I know a few of you do) you can install an easy "pin it" button next to your etsy items. So then if someone sees something on your shop they love, they can pin it on their board and it's like FREE ADVERTISING.

Seriously, guys. I. Am. Obsessed.

You can request an invite to get started, and once you do, you can make as many pinboards as you want. I currently have 6. Here's a list of mine, with examples of my pins.


Books, Writing and Stuff: Anything to do with the aforementioned title

Home, Garden and Cooking: OMG, guys. I have found THE MOST AWESOME recipes on pinterest - I find anywhere from 2-6 a day. I actually had to stop looking at pins of recipes because I found too many

I'm actually making these potatoes tonight!

Tattoos: A pinboard to highlight all the awesome tattoos out there

Themes I Love: A pinboard specifically for themes I love (for no specific reason), like paths, doors and doorways, eyes etc. Similar to the next board, but with more focus







Inspiration: I use this pinboard to pin things that creatively inspire me and make me want to write a scene or a story. Seriously, sometimes I look at this board or the Themes I Love board and they just hit me in the gut





Awesome Things: Which is kind of a potpourri of "awesome things" I find on the interwebs or on other people's pinboards. Honestly, it's probably my favorite pinboard because it makes me laugh a lot.










If you decide to sign up, you can follow me by clicking on any of my boards. If you do, I'll be sure to follow you back! I'd love to have more pinning friends. You can also find my whole pinterest account by clicking on the little red Pinterest banner on the right hand side of my blog.

Hope to see you there!