Happy Saturday, what have you been up to this week?
Here is a rundown of highlights for the week. I hope you find them useful in
your life! My goal as a person and a writer are
to always Pay-It-Forward, so please let me know how I can help you. YES, YOU!
Enjoy your weekend & this post! Amazing things to come!
~Amy
Enjoy your weekend & this post! Amazing things to come!
~Amy
What am I Reading? - Quick read this week – not a lot of time – Meet Meredith by Dee Vious. This is a horror
story and took about an hour. I thoroughly enjoyed it. So many books, so little
time!
What am I Listening to? –
This week my son has been on an Attack on Titan kick. For those who do not
know, this is an Anime television serious. So I have been inadvertently forced
to listen to the show from the adjoining room. I usually make him use the Bluetooth
sound, so I do not have to endure the distraction, but it is temporarily out of
order, so thus I am enduring. The story for the show is actually pretty
interesting. It revolves around a set of characters trying to defend their
lives against this monstrous human-like creatures. From a writing perspective,
it is actually pretty layered and magnificently written. The overly dramatic
music and screaming dialog is a little annoying but overall pretty enthralling.
All of my kids are into
Anime. Most people think it is silly or for kids. Two things – NOT for kids.
The topics are very adult-focused, and the story-telling is usually pretty
imaginative and engaging. #2 Anime is
the Japanese mainstream. It is their prime time television, so if you look at
it from an entertainment perspective, it is hugely successful. It is just
different.
Different is good. We should
all try to be open to experiencing new cultures and ideas.
What Quote am I pondering? – Everything Happens
for a Reason ~ this is my life mantra. The single sentence that runs through my
head at any given moment. I firmly believe every interaction, every emotion,
feeling, introduction, and conversation influences how we move forward with our
lives. So I discount nothing. Looking back over my life, they are stepping
stones on the path. Signals sometimes of what we have learned and where we are
headed. Good and bad. Take heed to them and learn from them.
What am I Researching? – Marketing. I am always
researching marketing. As an author, I am constantly looking for new ways to
get noticed and rise above the masses. We are all right? As a human being, we
are all looking to get seen somehow. Especially in the age of social media.
Likes and comments are food for our egos.
For me, rising above the
masses equates to readers looking and buying my books. This is a fact. I knew to
go into this business no one is going to sell my book except me. So how do you
do that exactly? The book industry has changed so much in the past ten years,
and everyone is still trying to figure it out. Somethings work and some things
do not. It is literally a try and fail scenario.
Succeed or fail you have to get up and try again.
Pretty much life.
Yummy Meal of the Week – Chicken
Rice – so very easy! I love my pressure cooker so much. Take rice, and replace
the water you would typically use with chicken stock, add 2 cans of cream of
chicken soup. Cook it on the Rice setting. Add in some shredded chicken and voila!
YUM!
What did I Learn? - Referencing my pondering
quote, everything happens for a reason, this week was all about reflection and
the realization that people and experiences come in and out of our lives for a
reason. The reasons are not always what we think at the time. Sometimes they are
not even about us, they are about someone else. There are times we enter people’s
lives for them. While we will also learn and grow from the engagement, the
focus is on them. When we realize this, our perspective changes. It is all
about growth. Acknowledging this fact is growth in itself. We have to be continually
moving forward, not backward. Learning from our lives, our mistakes, our
successes, and our failures. This is how we live full and fulfilling lives.
What am I Watching? – The Man in High Castle ~ I know I am long
overdue for this Amazon series. Season four is about to be released, and I am
just starting season two. *sigh* This
series, loosely based Philip K. Dick's novel of the same name, takes a look at
what the world might look like had the outcome of World War II turned out
differently. In this dystopian scenario, the Axis powers won the war, leading
to the United States being divided into three parts, an area controlled by the
Japanese, a Nazi-controlled section, and a buffer zone between the two. Despite
the oppression, a new hope emerges when films turn up that seem to show a
different world. A woman believes the films contain the key to freedom and is
determined to find their mysterious guardian. – Google
I am absolutely hooked. So well written, acting is fantastic
and the drama-good lord. The thing I like most about it is there are no good
guys or bad guys. It is all gray. All of the characters are inherently good
people coping with their lives and the situations they find themselves in the
best they can. Do not wait to watch this
series. You will be missing out.
*BONUS
Content ~
Today is the beginning of PRIDE month! Look for my
blog posts this month about my engagement in the Tulsa LGBTQ community and my
experiences volunteering at TULSA PRIDE!
Have any thoughts on my week’s activity or want to
make a recommendation? Drop me a line or a tweet. One lucky commenter will win
a free Romine book of their choice! Never want to miss a blog post or a
Saturday Seven? Join my mailing list, and I will be happy to send it straight
to your inbox!
Special
Treat! ~ If you haven’t seen it yet, please check it out my teaser trailer for
Finders is out! https://tinyurl.com/y4zkjugu
Come Find Me!
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