Taking a Break

All right, I think I've finally reached the breaking point. I need a blogging break. I woke up this morning with absolutely no idea what to blog about. All I could think of was to ramble in a way that would sound like one of my Livejournal entries from high school (I should probably go delete that thing...). I've been putting off the idea for a while but I think it's probably a good idea. So I'm taking the rest of this week off. But first I think I will ramble a bit...

What I really want to do is get back to editing/writing. I realized I want to rewrite about the first 2/3 of the first chapter of UL (say that 10 times fast). So that's my first project. Then I've still got to rewrite the whole ending and edit pretty much everything along the way.

That dress I was waiting for came on Friday and IT FITS! Spanx are entirely necessary, though. And I did lose two pounds since I started dieting and exercising last week, so hopefully I can keep it up.

All right, that's enough rambling. In case you missed my attempts to pimp them out last week, go check out these other posts:

- Last Tuesday I had a guest post on Adam Gaylord's blog about finding your muse.
- On Friday Jordan was interviewed on "Will Scarlet's Kiss & Tell" over at Danielle E. Shipley's blog.

So go show them some love! Because I'll be taking a nap...I mean, writing! Writing! See you all next week!

Jophiel Release & Review!!

Before I get to the actual post, there's just one more interview for you to check out! Don't ask me how it worked out that all of my guest posts/interviews happened within a week of each other. Just a weird coincidence, I suppose. ("Your interview?" Jordan asks, tapping his foot.) Oh, right. Head on over to Danielle E. Shipley's blog where Jordan is being interviewed on Will Scarlet's Kiss & Tell. It's a talk show for characters and at the end they have to choose either to reveal their author's deepest, darkest secret, or kiss the host. Guess which one Jordan picked. GO ON, GUESS. *wink wink*

But anyway, onto the actual post! Earlier this week the third book in Patricia Josephine's Path of Angels series was released: Jophiel! I'll spare you my usual blabbering. Take it away, Patricia!

What’s in a name?

A character’s name can be important. It’s not always random. Sometimes there has to be a meaning behind it. I had some conflicting information on Johpiel. A few sites he wasn’t listed as an archangel, then others said in Jewish lore it was the name of an archangel. Either way, I decided to keep the name.

Jophiel
Angel of Enlightenment
Some believe Johpiel to be an archangel. This angel inspires us toward awareness, enlightenment, open-mindedness and freedom of thought. He teaches our consciousness to discover the Light within.

Joe is a huge joker, but knows when to be serious. Sometimes you wouldn't think he would be an archangel.

*  *  *

They must fight to stay on the path.

Joe embraces his duty without fear or hesitation, always ready for the next battle. But the path has never been easy. With Michael’s return, they uncover a truth more dangerous than they ever imagined. Their enemy plans to unleash the devil himself, Lucifer. Help comes in the form of an unlikely alley: a member of the fallen.

Mariangela is trying to make amends by protecting the child she is carrying. After blindly following Lucifer in the rebellion, her misguided allegiance came with a price: banishment from heaven. Now, as she strives for forgiveness in the human world, she must fight to prevent Uriel, a fallen archangel, from using her child to free evil from Hell.

The path becomes a battleground, one which may already be lost.

Check it out on Amazon and Goodreads! 

About the Author:

Patricia Josephine never set out to become a writer. In fact, she never considered it an option during high school and college. She was all about art. On a whim, she wrote down a story bouncing in her head. That was the start of it and she hasn't regretted a moment. She writes young adult under the name Patricia Lynne.

Patricia lives with her husband in Michigan, hopes one day to have what will resemble a small petting zoo, has a fondness for dying her hair the colors of the rainbow, and an obsession with Doctor Who.

Twitter | Website | Google+ | Wattpad | Goodreads

Path of Angels

Sarah's Review:

Jophiel’s story continues right where we left off with Zadekiel in Book 2. I really enjoyed Joe as a character. He’s funny and compassionate, and it was interesting to get into his head, as well as watch him learn how to control his powers. Mariangela was an interesting character as well: a fallen angel trying to seek forgiveness and protect her unborn child from falling into the hands of the other Fallen. I wasn’t quite as invested in the relationship between Joe and Mary as I was in the relationships featured in the first two books. While all the relationships happened suddenly for these characters, this one didn’t have as much time to develop. I think that’s because the focus is more on the path itself and the brothers’ mission to stop the Fallen. We start to get a lot of answers in this book: what the Fallen’s plan is to free Lucifer, and what Jophiel and his brothers must do to stop it. Something huge is revealed and it turns out they really have been on the path all along, and the people they meet and come to love play a large role in that. I’m excited to see where the story goes in the next book. 

Leave a Message After the Beep...

I'm not here right now.

I'm probably reading something. I've got book reading and beta reading and...no wait, that's it. Or maybe (if a miracle has occurred), I'm writing something!

Or I may be exercising. Because I'm going to New York for one night in less than three weeks and I have to fit into a dress. I would have ordered an XL but they were out so I ordered a large and prayed to the Spanx god. It won't be here until Friday, but I figured trying to lose a few pounds won't hurt (plus I really need to anyway).

But if you'd like to check out something cool, head on over to Adam Gaylord's blog where I had a guest post yesterday! I wrote about--what else?--finding your muse. Or when they find you. Which is usually the case.

Otherwise, leave a message. BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP.

Wasted Inspiration

I really didn't know what to blog about today. Pretty much every part of my brain is screaming at me to take a blogging break, even if it's just for one week. But then there's that other part of my brain that says, you've already made it this far. You might as well keep going. But I don't know. It's tough to blog three days a week for a whole year, but I'm never this consistent with anything so I'd kinda like to keep going with it.

I feel like I almost wrote something this weekend. I know that sounds really lame, but whenever I actually do want to write (and that doesn't happen very often), I still hesitate for some reason. I think a lot of times I just end up staring at the blank screen, unable to come up with the words at all. I know I hesitate to write a sentence down until it's already perfect in my head. So sometimes it's hard to write anything at all. I don't know if it's because I'm trying too hard or maybe I'm just not as inspired as I thought.

But I had two ideas in my mind and I didn't work on either of them. One was a scene for the third book and the other was actually a scene rewrite for the first chapter of UL. I mean, I never want to work on that, so why the hell didn't I take the inspiration and run with it? I feel like figuring out how to fix problems in a draft is a lot easier than actually fixing them for some reason. I figured out a way to neaten things up a bit, get rid of an unnecessary character and replace her with someone more important. So if I've already got it all figured out, why don't I just write it?????

I DON'T KNOW. Ok, I know this post is getting all "woe is me." I have no idea why I don't use inspiration when I get it. Sometimes I'm too busy doing other things. Sometimes all I can get out is dialogue and I hate when that happens (although I'm sure writing anything is better than nothing, right?). Sometimes it's easier to picture something in your head than it is to actually write it down.

I'm hoping to get some writing done this week. I don't even care what it is. Don't care which book or if it's just dialogue or even if it comes out horrible. I'd say any words are better than no words.

Playlist Commitment

Hey, everyone! Today is particularly awesome because I'm being interviewed over at Chrys Fey's blog! So you should go check it out. I'll keep this brief because this is about as close to a blogging break as I am willing to take (and you should go to Chrys' blog instead).

When you have a story idea in your head but you're still figuring it out, at what point does it become real? When exactly do you commit to it and say, I'm definitely going to write this?

I feel like I made a huge step of commitment yesterday because I started a playlist for Book 3. It's completely psychotic, right?? I haven't finished editing Book 1, haven't written Book 2 yet, but here I am picking songs for inspiration for the third book. Why? I don't even know. There have just been a few songs that make me think about it, and I'm sort of addicted to playlist making.

I'm sure part of this is just because I'm in love with the idea for Book 3. I also don't think I'll ever be able to come up with a playlist for Book 2 (it gets a bit dark and also focuses more on family issues than romantic relationships). So I don't know. It's just a lot of fun, I guess. And it gets the inspiration going. I guess I'll take any inspiration I can get if it eventually leads to words.

So am I completely nuts or just having fun? When do you usually make a playlist for your books? 

Still Not Writing

It's the first Wednesday of the month, which means it's the posting day for the Insecure Writer's Support Group! Click the link to learn more and sign up!

Well, I think I'm finally done with blogging milestones for a while. My 4th anniversary and my 300th post were only a week apart. From here on out I think it will just be normal blog posts. I know I should probably take a break from blogging for a bit but I've already made it this far into the year with a perfect record (posting every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday), so I'd like to see how far I can get. 

It's also been exactly a year since I quit my day job, and I can't believe it's been so long already. I feel like I haven't accomplished anything. I am still making some money, but I haven't even tried to break into freelance writing. I haven't finished my novel or started querying it like I thought I would. I haven't even submitted any smaller pieces to literary magazines. That was kind of the point to taking the time off, so I would actually have time to work on these things. Well, that and the fact that my job made me completely miserable. But I just thought we'd have life figured out at this point. I wasn't supposed to look for another job until we figured out where we were moving, but that still hasn't happened. 

I think the writing thing is what bothers me the most. I still have this mental block when it comes to working on my WIP. I just don't want to work on it. I think about my sequel ideas more than the first book, but I don't actually work on those, either. I don't know, maybe I'm just scared because I know how hard it's going to be to try to get this book published. Maybe there's a part of me that just doesn't want to bother. But I've worked so hard on it already, and I feel like there has to be a reason that I started writing it. I just wish I could get the desire to work on it again, because I'll never be able to even try to publish it if I don't finish it first. 

Well, I guess that's about it for this month's insecurities. Maybe by next month I'll get to tell you that I actually wrote something. That would be incredible.

Jordan Takes Over: The 300th Post

**The first Monday of every month, I let my muse take over the blog. I apologize in advance.**

I know what you're probably thinking. Has Jordan really taken over 300 times? YOU WISH. Nope, this is the overall 300th blog post. And it's all mine. You can't have it.

So what are we doing for the 300th post? Well, seeing as how we threw a giant party last week...not so much. I'm just winging it, really. What, did you think I have a master plan for everything? That would be exhausting. So, 300 posts. That's a lot of writing, right? This is only my 17th time taking over, if you can believe it. I hope you're not sick of me. Not because I care what you think, but because I know how to get revenge on people, so watch out. I mean, just ask my old friend Brian from high school. People started threatening him; he had to transfer schools. You don't want to end up like him, do you??

But anyway, blog posts! 300 sure seems like a lot, doesn't it? Although I'm sure a lot of you reading this blew past that number a long time ago. When you reach a milestone, it can be tricky figuring out what to do with it. You could make a huge deal about it, just casually mention it, or do nothing at all. When we hit 100 it was kind of a big deal, so that post featured 100 facts about my book (no I will not link you. I looked at it recently and like half the facts aren't even true anymore. But I guess that's what editing will do to you...). 200 wasn't such a big deal. This one's not that huge of a deal, either.

You can choose to celebrate milestones or anniversaries. Since we had a huge party last week for the 4th anniversary, it seemed silly to make a big deal about the 300th post just a week later. Plus it just happened to fall on my posting day and I sure as hell wasn't going to give it up. PLEASE.

But you love me, right? I kind of feel like a famous person already. We've got two guest posts/interviews coming up in the near future and one in the works. Well, ok, technically they're Sarah's posts, but my name comes up. Trust me. The third one, though, is all me. You're excited, I know. I'm sure she'll let you know when they happen. Because I'll be too busy.

Busy doing what, you may be wondering. Well, if you think about it, I pretty much only do four things. Actually, five if you count muse-type stuff (like writing this!). Who wants to play a game?! Guess the four things I do with my life. Whoever guesses right will receive a, um....a nice comment back! Not from me, though. I'm going to take a nap *hint hint*............

JP