Si, Se Puede--Yes, you can!

1. It's been a LONG week. Been dealing with 'issues' with sixteen-year-old. Does anyone have suggestions on how to get him up in the morning?  This is son almost every time I tell him it's time to get up: 5 minutes turns to 10 which turns up to us being 'late'. Just UGH And it's exhausting. Not sure what else to do. 2. On the plus side though, teen is doing well in school. So I guess I shouldn't complain. 3. Still working on this revision. NEED. TO. FINISH. SOON. 4. This week's reads include a few Cybils nominated books: I know that my teen and I have our 'moments', but the premise of this book is what happens when your parents try to kill you off.  Fast-paced, suspense that will keep you guessing until the last page. 5. I'm listening to the audio of this powerful tale of a black teen who witnesses first hand the shooting of her friend by the police. The voice is so authentic and haunting especially when Star re

1. Had a great time Saturday with other Indie and small press pubbed authors! The librarian did a great job! I had little swag bags filled with bookmarkers, a 'What Would Audrey Do' buttons, and a Blow Pop( Selena's favorite candy!). The swag bags were a hit. So were the new covers to the Goddesses series! 2. Been reading! Love this collection of short stories that deal with the theme of teen love triangles. 3. Think YA meets  Talented Mr. Ripley. Twists and turns throughout this novel with a very twisty ending. 4.  Totally loved this story of a teen who blames himself for the tragic death of his three best friends after he texts them while they are driving. Mostly though this is a story of forgiving, not only what happened, but yourself. Highly recommend! 5. Satisfying twist on the whole premise of murdered teens getting revenge. Fast-paced ghostly tale of not only revenge, but redemption. **Guilty Pleasure: Plan on get

1 A reminder: I'll be at the Anaheim Central Library this Saturday from 1-4pm 2.  Love when the feedback I receive from my critique group is positive. My writing mentor wrote this on my pages: Excellent job! The scene I shared had been driving me crazy. It really felt good to know I might be back on the right track with this story! 3. Thank goodness for yoga. It's been helping me so much during all the craziness going on with our country and world right now. 4. Been going over Cybil's nominated books! You can still nominate your favorite book of this year! http://www.cybils.com/2017/10/4794.html 5. Books I've read: My YA Books Central Review: http://www.yabookscentral.com/yafiction/21919-bad-girl-gone Teaser: ** STOLEN SECRETS: Really loved the twist on the whole idea of what would you do if you found out your grandmother might have been on the wrong side of WW2? And what if in fact she had been in contact with the famous Anne Fra

1. This week started off with the horrific news about the shooting in Vegas. You all know by now that I lost a younger sister to gun violence. Her ex-boyfriend stalked her, and then ambushed her and shoot her point blank in the back of the head numerous times. Then the coward went on a high speed chase through Sacramento, before killing himself in front of the police and his grandmother. After Colette's murder, my views on the NRA and guns totally changed. What made the Vegas shooting incident even more haunting was my younger brother and his wife were in Vegas that same weekend. I remember my husband waking me up around 11pm on Sunday, asking if my brother was in Vegas? And at a concert? Then he shared that there was a shooting there. I texted my brother but didn't get a response. The whole time I'm praying, "Oh, god. No. Not again."  I finally was able to get a hold of him. They left at 2pm and were safe. Teen son's mother was at the concert and heard