Monday in My Coffee Cup

Monday morning for me is meditation time.


I know a lot of people choose Sunday, to reflect on the week past, but I am choosing to meditate on what is to come, and how to prepare for my week.


I am not necessarily a religious person, but I like to think that every religion has something to offer.  Today I am feeling a passage from the Tao Te Ching.


Verse 11:

Thirty spokes share the wheel's hub;
It is the center hole that makes it useful.
Shape clay into a vessel;
It is the space within that makes it useful.
Cut doors and windows for a room; It is the holes that make it useful.
Therefore profit comes from what is there;
Usefulness from what is not there.

The part that sticks out for me is the part about the vessel.  The space within makes it useful - moreover, being empty gives chance to become full.


I have been letting a lot of things out of my inner prison as of late.  This is to allow myself to become full with the new life changes I am going through; the new adventure I am starting.


I am dealing with moving my entire life to a new state, starting a new (and serious) relationship, starting a new job, and all the little things that come along with these changes.  All these things are happening within a month, and I'm a little freaked out.  But if I read this passage from the Tao Te Ching, it reminds me to purge all my bad energy to be able to receive all the positive good energy that is on its way.


Sorry for such a deep passage on a Monday morning, but this is how I felt with my coffee this morning; a new sun on the horizon.


Thanks for reading my lovelies!

RemembeRED: Personification

I am a pen.

I bleed for my owner; red all over the page. She can only write with me.

I am special.

Her warm fingertips curl around me, taking away any doubts I may have had about her using another pen. Impossible!

She taps me against the blank paper; I can see her green eyes ripe with ideas. Ideas she will write with my ink.

At once she starts writing, her thoughts mixing with my blood red ink. I hemorrhage on the page, every word draining me.

Suddenly, a realization fills my chamber. I know that eventually, I will end up in the trash with my dead brothers and sisters.

I wasn't aware of how much ink I had left in me – I was too distracted by my selfishness. I took a moment to gauge my levels. I was too low! I felt a scream building in my plastic shell. My tip skipped across the page, ink catching in my throat but not escaping. I faded into a dull pink on the page.

“Well, this one's dead.”

Darkness spread through me; I knew it was the end.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This was a practice in personification from Write on Edge

We had to write a story in 400 words or less from the point of view of an inanimate object.

Mine is a bit short, but I think I get my point across.  Hope you like it, and go check out the other posts at Write on Edge!!

--edited the end line per comment suggestion!--

Teaser Tuesday (6)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


My Teaser Tuesday choice is Juliet Immortal by Stacey Jay.  

 "These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which as they kiss consume."
—Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

The most tragic love story in history . . .

Juliet Capulet didn't take her own life. She was murdered by the person she trusted most, her new husband, Romeo Montague, a sacrifice made to ensure his own immortality. But what Romeo didn't anticipate was that Juliet would be granted eternity, as well, and would become an agent for the Ambassadors of Light. For 700 years, she's fought Romeo for the souls of true lovers, struggling to preserve romantic love and the lives of the innocent. Until the day she meets someone she's forbidden to love, and Romeo, oh Romeo, will do everything in his power to destroy that love.


Teaser:

"I can never love him, no matter how much I might fear the hell he describes.  Fear can force obedience, but it can never transform a heart."

 Page 116


The few pages I read were full of beautiful, captivating words - and from the looks of these two lines it's going to be even better as I read on.  Hope you enjoyed my teaser, and go check this book out!!

(and isn't that cover amazing?!?)

 

Winter's Respite Read-a-thon #2

This is a small update to say "I DIDN'T EVEN READ YESTERDAY"

Horrible, horrible, horrible.  Shame on me!!

I did other things like liquidate old clothing and clean my house.

Today will be different.  Today WILL be different.

Winter's Respite READ-A-THON!!

The True Book Addict - Starting Line Post

The True Book Addict is hosting the Winter's Respite Readathon starting TODAY!!  Had I known I would have NOT packed up all my books this past weekend.  I think I may still have some laying around.

So here is my list:

I Am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells  -  Link to Goodreads
Sacred Prey by Vivian Schilling - Link to Goodreads
(ebook) Hater by David Moody - Link to Goodreads 
(ebook) (finish) Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake  -  Link to Goodreads 
(ebook) Juliet Immortal by Stacey Jay  -  Link to Goodreads


And I think if I can actually finish 5 books in a week (with packing my house and cleaning) then I can call it good.  If I run out, I'll read more!  But I hardly ever finish my list for read-a-thons, and I'd sure like to finish at least one.

Don't forget to tweet at #wintersrespite !!

My Book Boyfriend (1)

So today I am participating (late) in a meme hosted by The Unread Reader called My Book Boyfriend.

























Anyway, here are the rules:

Here is how My Book Boyfriend works:

1. On Wednesdays, make a post about a fictional boy that totally made you swoon! In your post, make sure you include your book boyfriend's stats, a picture of what you imagine he looks like and some quotes from him that had you at hello. Credit the book and please include page numbers when you can.
2. Grab the My Book Boyfriend button to include in your post.
3. Be sure to come back here and add the DIRECT link to your post on the Mr. Linky Widget that will be provided here on Wednesdays. 
4. Don't forget to check out other people's My Book Boyfriend posts. Everyone that agrees to participate will try to visit others and leave comments. Bloggers love comments.
5. Anyone is welcome to join at anytime, but no one is obligated to participate every week.
6. In your post provide a link back to this My Book Boyfriend introduction post so that other people can find the information about participating.

This meme is just for fun! Likeness represented are all fictional fantasies.

(Note: all the "here's" refer to www.theunreadreader.com/ )



So without further ado, here is my book boyfriend for this week:

From "The Path to Freedom" by Lisa Pietsch

A man.  A man who can handle himself.  A man with a gun who takes no crap from anyone.  Vince.

Sexy to no end.   

"Broad shoulders so amassed with muscle that the weight of the world shouldn't make the stoop.  His chest appeared chiseled from granite, rock hard with edges yet to be sanded and filed.  Her eyes trailed lower to his legs, like tree trunks, they were solid and well defined.  So well defined that even the drape of a finely tailored silk suit couldn't hide the power contained within.  No, he wasn't pretty, but he was a man so completely male, so absolutely masculine that she couldn't help but be totally drawn to him."

Page 59

"The idea of Vince, the guy she had walked away from at Pure, haunted her.  Her instant attraction to him was so powerful it was dangerous.  He had the kind of voice a woman wants to hear in the dark from the pillow next to her.  He was twisted steel and sex appeal.  He was too much to let in and way too much to forget, try as she might."

Page 73

"In a flash, Sarah found herself on her back, on the bed.  Vince had thrown her there and pinned her arms and legs with his.  She could feel his breath on her lips.  Vince stared into her eyes.  "I had that coming but so help me God, don't you ever slap me again."  Vince dropped to his elbows and kissed Sarah.

 Oh, God, yes.

His kiss was hard and demanding and Sarah responded in kind.  She wanted it every bit as much as he did.  The press of his hips against hers made her wet with anticipation.  Every breath he took brought his body closer to hers until they were a tangle of arms and legs. 

After the longest, most passionate kiss she'd ever experienced, Vince pulled away.

"Thanks for saving my ass and my team.  Now let's go have a drink and forget this ever happened."

 Page 157

• Vince is a man's man!  
• He knows how to handle a woman
• JUST LOOK AT HIM!
• He has a twin brother! There are TWO of them!
• He can be both sensitive and serious
• JUST LOOK AT HIM!

Lisa Thibault Pietsch is a fantastic author.  These excerpts are from her first book in the Task Force #125 series.  Yes, THERE ARE MORE!  Get out there and start reading folks!!  They are action packed, swoon-over-hot-men ready, and funny to boot!

Thanks for reading and go check out Lisa's crazy blog and GET THESE BOOKS!!

Booking Through Thursday

I didn't have anything scheduled today, so I went out and found something fun for Thursdays.  It's called "Booking Through Thursday" and it's a meme hosted over at Booking Through Thursday , every, well, Thursday!  It seems pretty fun so here goes:

Instructions:

Copy the questions, paste them into your blog and answer them.
When you're done, come back here and post a quick comment or trackback letting everyone know so we can read your responses. Be sure to leave a link to your actual post!

1. What’s your favorite time of day to read?
At night.  It's the only time I'm not distracted by everything else.
2. Do you read during breakfast? (Assuming you eat breakfast.)
No, breakfast is for EATING.  I don't want to get bacon all over my books...!
3. What’s your favorite breakfast food? (Noting that breakfast foods can be eaten any time of day.)
BACON!!!
4. How many hours a day would you say you read?
Not nearly enough.  Wish I could read even just an hour a day.  I have a short attention span.
5. Do you read more or less now than you did, say, 10 years ago?
I read WAY less than I did 10 years ago.  I guess I had less things to be stressed about.  Reading came easy back then.
6. Do you consider yourself a speed reader?
No, I relish in all the words on the page.
7. If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
Flight?  I guess if I could read AND fly that would be sweet too.
8. Do you carry a book with you everywhere you go?
Unfortunately no, but if I did carry one it would probably be one of my other language dictionaries.
9. What KIND of book?
Dictionary!
10. How old were you when you got your first library card?
Probably about 5 or 6.  I started early.  I used to check out like 10 books and speed through them all.
11. What’s the oldest book you have in your collection? (Oldest physical copy? Longest in the collection? Oldest copyright?)
Well as I have so many I don't have time to go through them all.  I have NO idea.  Shame on me!
12. Do you read in bed?
Every night.
13. Do you write in your books?
OMG NO! Only the reference books like my Idiot's Guide to whatever books.
14. If you had one piece of advice to a new reader, what would it be?
Stick with it.  Find the type of books you love and read!!
15. What question have I NOT asked at BTT that you’d love me to ask? (Actually, leave the answer to this one in the comments on this post, huh? So I can find them when I need inspiration!)
Well I just discovered BTT, so I'm not sure what you have and have not asked.

So that's it for my answers to this week's BTT, what are yours?  Head on over to Booking Through Thursday and link up your answers!!

Happy Thursday folks!  Hope it's a great one!

New Year, New EVERYTHING

IT'S TIME.

I have slacked off enough in the past two years that I've had this blog.  I've promised and promised all of my followers (who thankfully have not stopped following me) that I would stick to a schedule and blog my little heart out.  Book reviews, writing insight, read-a-thons, and more - all of which did not happen.

THAT'S ENOUGH FIBBING CHARLIE.

IT'S TIME TO CHANGE.

So anyhoo, a schedule has been made, and between moving across the country next month, starting school and a new job, I WILL be blogging.  :)

Stay tuned for my adventure through regularity.