Another Great Book Review!

The Key of Kilenya by Andrea Pearson

When two vicious wolves chase fourteen-year-old Jacob Clark down a path from our world into another, his life is forever changed. He has no idea they have been sent by the Lorkon—evil, immortal beings who are jealous of powers he doesn’t know he possesses—powers they desire to control.

The inhabitants of the new world desperately need Jacob's help in recovering a magical key that was stolen by the Lorkon and is somehow linked to him. If he helps them, his life will be at risk. But if he chooses not to help them, both our world and theirs will be in danger. The Lorkon will stop at nothing to unleash the power of the key—and Jacob's special abilities.

As a parent, if you are looking for a great adventure story, without the heavy or dark storylines that are so prominent in much of today's YA books, then this is a book for you. Packed with adventure and fast paced chapters and colorful characters, The Key of Kilenya is a fun, clean and well-written story just for those readers from the 10-14 age group. Author Andrea Pearson creates a wonderfully imaginative world for the young reader, and they will not want to put it down.

The book is available in both the book and ebook formats. Check out this link for more on the Kilenya series.

http://www.kilenyaseries.com/  You can also find the book and other reviews on amazon.com.

Book Review: Bitter Blessings by Christine Mehring

Bitter Blessings by Christine Mehring

Megan has the perfect life, but when her mother dies in an accident, everything spins out of control. With the rest of her family falling apart, Megan must confront her past to uncover the truths that will keep everyone together. Thought-provoking and heartfelt, this book shows that even in times of trial, you can often find blessings.

Christine Mehring has delivered with precision a clean LDS story that will leave you believing in friendship and faith. Though the author deals with some hard topics such as substance abuse, grief, financial hardships,etc, she approached them with grace and hope. A wonderful read that will captivate you from the beginning and make you feel like you are a part of the character's lives. A great story from a great storyteller. Looking forward to reading more from this author.

Check out other reviews and purchase a great gift. Here is the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Bitter-Blessings-Christine-Mehring/dp/1599555239/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320698186&sr=8-1

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Book Review! The Outer Edge of Heaven.

The Outer Edge of Heaven by Jaclyn M. Hawkes

Little did Charlie know the summer after her college graduation would change her life forever. Her “all-powerful” parents want a clout wielding attorney. She just wants to teach kindergarten. Bound for law school, Charlie decides to spend the summer in Montana with her best friend Fo, working on his cousin’s sprawling ranch in the heart of the Montana Rockies.

Filled with colorful characters of all shapes, sizes and species, including an orphaned baby pig, the Langston family puts the fun in dysfunctional, and captures her heart, just like the attractive Luke Langston does. She has the time of her life, but will her heart survive?

Jaclyn Hawkes paints a beautiful picture of a Montana summer in this story of love, friendship and forgiveness. Filled to the brim with charming characters, and plenty of those familiar scenes of growing up in a large family from the disastrous mess left by the kids trying to help make breakfast to the precious moments of love and laughter spent around the dinner table, this story makes you feel at home.

A clean romance that grabs your attention from the start, so get comfortable in your favorite chair, stock up on the Oreos & milk and settle in for a heartwarming story.


Her book can be found at @
 http://www.amazon.com/Outer-Edge-Heaven-Jaclyn-Hawkes/dp/0615517773/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1318106772&sr=1-1

And the WINNER IS!!!!!

Hey There,

So after a very successful Sept. Blog Hop, I've found more followers. I really am hoping that I don't disappoint and that you will keep coming back to check in with me. I have a couple of Book Reviews coming in the next couple of months, the 1st scheduled for Oct. 22nd. So look out for that!

OKAY, now the official business...And the WINNER of the Sept Blog Hop is.....................

Cindy M. Hogan, Author of Watched. YAY!!! Congrats to Cindy!!
She won an autographed photo and CD from the rock band Built By Stereo, band t-shirt, shout out on their Facebook page (over 16,000 followers!) and a $10 gift card to the store of her choice!

For those that didn't win, you didn't lose either! You can check out the band's website www.builtbystereo.com and download a free copy of their single, "Looking Back" as well as view the music video for the song! Also for those in the Salt Lake area, the band will be performing at "The Depot" with 80's Rock Band Tesla! on November 1st! Check out the band's facebook page for more tour dates! www.facebook.com/builtbystereo

Oct. Blog Hop will be coming soon! I'm planning on "hopping" onto that one, too. Check back soon to see what I'll be giving away next time!

Again, Congrats to Cindy M. Hogan!

Love Always,
Kris

Blog Hop!

Welcome to the September Blog Hop! Celebrate the beginning of fall with me and my blogger friends by hopping around, visiting our sites, and entering our contests! There are no limits - you can enter the contest on every blog. With over 40 blogs participating, that's over 40 prizes you could win. Just click on the links below to move on to the next blog.

On my blog, you can win …

An autographed photo of the rock band Built By Stereo! Their Debut CD autographed (once it is available, in a couple of weeks), a band T-Shirt, stickers and a shout out on their Band pages like Facebook as a Winner!

($30 value) along with a $10 gift card to a store of your choice!

That's a total value of $40!

Would you like to win this prize? You just need to do two things.

1. Become a follower of this blog.

2. Leave me a comment in the trail and tell me why you'd like to win this prize.

That's it! You are now entered. The contest ends on Saturday night, September 24th, at midnight MST, and the winner will be contacted shortly thereafter. Please either leave your e-mail address in the comment trail or make sure it's visible through your profile so I can contact you to tell you that you're the lucky winner.

Now go visit my other friends ...





September Blog Hop Participants

1. Tristi Pinkston, LDS Author 2. Joyce DiPastena 3. I Am A Reader, Not A Writer 4. Mandi Slack 5. Michael D. Young 6. Six Mixed Reviews 7. Pam Williams 8. Laurie Lewis 9. Kristy Tate 10. Marilyn Yarbrough 11. Stacy Coles 12. Kristie Ballard 13. Lynn Parsons 14. Pushing Past the Pounds 15. Sheila Staley 16. cindy Hogan

17. Jamie Thompson 18. Jaclyn Weist 19. Cathy Witbeck 20. Secret Sisters Mysteries 21. Tamera Westhoff 22. Tina Scott 23. Lynnea Mortensen 24. Danyelle Ferguson aka Queen of the Clan 25. Jeanette A. Fratto 26. Bonnie Harris 27. Melissa Lemon 28. Mary Ann Dennis 29. Stephanie Black 30. Jane Still 31. Janice 32. Laura Bastian

33. Tamara Bordon 34. Betsy Love 35. Maria Hoagland 36. Amber Robertson 37. Debbie Davis 38. 39. Christy Monson 40. Carolyn Frank 41. Rebecca Birkin 42. Melissa Cunningham 43. Emily L. Moir 44. Ronda Hinrichsen 45. Lisa Asanuma 46. Joan Sowards 47. Jordan McCollum 48. Diane Stringam Tolley

Learn more about September Blog Hop here.
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Blog Hop starts tomorrow!

Hey Everyone. The September Blog Hop Starts tomorrow! It runs from Sept. 22 to midnight on Sept. 24th!
There are over 40 different blogs that are participating, which means there are over 40 different prizes that can be won!

Come check out my blog tomorrow, and see what I've got planned! Then HOP on over to my friends and see what they have planned!

Good Luck and Happy Blog Hopping!

Love Kris

Blog Hop coming up!

I'm going to be participating in a Blog Hop next weekend. There will many opportunities to win great prizes, and hopefully a great way of finding those little "gems" in the blog world.

It's going to happen next weekend, so keep checking back for information and the links to other great blogs.

As you visit the blogs on the hop, you can register to win prizes at each stop. At the same time, you will be able to come in contact with the different blogs and might find a great new spot to frequent.

I'm excited to be a part of this, and I'm hoping you will want to take a look at all the great blogs out there.
 Look for more details next week!

Love Always,
Kris

Book Reviewer - A New Credit to the Resume...

Hello, Look at my cool award! Deirdra Eden-Coppel from astorybookworld.blogspot.com
thinks I have a pretty cool blog! Thanks Deirdra! I'm loving yours as well!

SO today I was asked to become a book reviewer for a Virtual Book Tour Company run by Tristi Pinkston, LDS Author (among her many talents). I'm so excited to get involved. Within a couple of hours of accepting, I already have my first assignment. YAY!
So keep checkin back with me over the next month. This will be my second time doing a book review. I was able to be a stop on Tamara Heiner's Blog Tour last year. I'm really looking forward to getting my feet wet and of course getting to read lots of books! Thanks, Tristi!

Oh and BTW, a follow-up to the last post....I've already lost 3 lbs! Yay me!

As Always,
Thanks for listening~
Love, Kris

Taking care of...myself? That's such a hard thing to do!

I'm extremely busy. Working full time, school full time, church activity calling, driving son to and from boy scouts, housework, laundry, grocery shopping, dinner...I could go on and on..So having time to take care of ME...has never been on my radar. So the decision to make time for my own health and losing weight is very difficult, but necessary.
I've never been able to think about myself. I always feel guilty. But, I do realize that being unhealthy does take away from my family's time with me. SO, I want to take control and get in shape.

The hardest part is finding the motivation to keep going when the finish line is SO FAR AWAY!..
I'm so embarassed that I let myself get to this point in my weight. Especially coming from a background of 18 years of coaching cheerleading and teaching the girls on my teams to take care of themselves and stay in  shape. I mean, really, what kind of example have I been in my life, being the overweight cheer coach?

I think that is one of the reasons I finally retired from coaching. I lost my confidence. I've always loved coaching, and I think I was pretty good at it. But, the more weight I gained the harder it was to build up the courage each time to get in front of a group of fit girls and instruct them in dance and cheer.

Another thing I've realized is that I need help. I need someone to be accountable to...so I'm hoping that my friends and family can help with that. I'm going to need tips and tricks and inspiration. Some encouragement and reminders that I'm worth the effort when I mess up and get depressed... I'll try to keep you guys updated regularly on my progress, but if I don't PLEASE ASK! Make me accountable!

I know that losing the weight will help my think clearer, breathe better, and enjoy being with my family more without being so tired. AND I can go on roller coasters again! HAHA....

So...Here we go!  :)

Hello Again

This month was crazy. I took a Mythology class, and I learned that Mythology is SO much more than just stories about Gods and Goddesses.


But the biggest surprise for me was coming out of it feeling like I had taken a writer's class on storytelling. Because, let's face it, that's what myth is: Storytelling.

We were assigned a critical analysis essay on theories that had been presented in the text. I chose to write my essay using Joseph Campbell's Theory of the Hero's Journey and Carl Jung's Theory of Archetypes and their grounding in our unconscious mind.

So, I probably sound smarter than I really am, but I really feel like I came away from this class with more knowledge and understanding of characters than I had before. This class not only gets me one class closer to gaining a BA in English, but will help me become a better writer.

For those writers out there, I would highly recommend looking up these men and their theories on the Hero's Quest and mythical archetypes. It will help you alot. It did for me.

BTW, I wrote my analysis essay on Simba's Journey in The Lion King. If you haven’t watched this movie in awhile, I suggest you do and try NOT to analyze the Hero’s Journey. It’s like watching a writer’s course that even your kids can enjoy. :)

It has several archetypal characters that help our Hero along his journey:

King Mufasa / Queen Sarabi – Father / Mother archetype

Uncle Scar - Villian archetype

Nala – Love Goddess archetype

Timon & Pumbaa – Trickster archetype

Raffiki – Wise Old Sage archetype

Just food for thought. Disney movies are great for breaking down characters and storyboarding.

Wow..Time did it again!

Finding time to write and blog seems to continue evading me.
I work full-time, have a church calling, a 5th grader to help, I'm in school to finish my BA in English, and then there is the dishes, the laundry, the dusting (well, honestly that almost never gets done lol).

Everytime I finally sit down to write or blog the mind goes blank! It is so frustrating.
UUGHHH!

But, I'm just being a whiner! I'm sure ya'll all have the same time-stealing activities, too.

So, maybe I need some help. What are some of the things that work for you in allowing you to have the time for writing? That is of course assuming you have time to read this blog!  HeHeHe...

LDStorymakers Conference was awesome. It was my 2nd year, and it was so much fun running into familiar faces and seeing their successess. Two of the people that had been at my bootcamp table in 2010 had their work published this year! I'm so jealous I could actually spit nails!  Just Kidding! ;)

No, really I'm so happy for them! This year I had Rebecca Cornish Talley at my bootcamp table, and had a great time with our table. One of my biggest obstacles with my writing is my own self-confidence. I struggle everyday with it, and I think it is part of my time-stealing issues. I just can't seem to get myself to think that I can actually do this, and write a novel. But I received some pretty decent feedback from bootcamp, and my critique group, so I'm gonna keep on truckin'!

One of my WIPs, has been really frustrating me. I've been beating my head around an idea, and trying to fit a story around it. The more I brainstorm, the more the story wants to go another direction. I seem to have too many ideas, and can't settle on which direction to go...AARRGGHHH!

I really enjoyed Larry Brooks, Story Engineering class, and that is what I've decided to do with my WIP. I'm going to go back to the drawing board, and really try to blueprint the story out. But the longer I do that, and not write, the more I start to feel like I'm not accomplishing anything!

Sorry, I'm whining again. I know I just need to sit down and break down my basic storyline, and the build from there. Now I just have to figure out when to do that...

Well, Thanks as always for listening to me rant!

Can't wait to hear your ideas for how to find the time to write more.
Help Me!

Love Always,
Kris

Wow! How'd time get away from me?

It's been awhile since I posted on my blog. I feel like I've been completely out of touch. School, work, writing, critiqueing....It all takes up so much room in this brain, and doesn't leave much room to remember other things like buying toilet paper, or thawing the meat for dinner, or washing the enormous pile of laundry that has taken up residence in the hallway... UGH!

Anyways, I decided to take two months off from school to prepare for the LDStorymakers Conference coming up in a few weeks. I'm looking forward to getting out of town, taking in the clean air of Utah, and shoving every bit of writing information I can into this already overcrowed brain. My mother, and possibly my father will be hitching a ride with me to Utah, and we will get to see some family as well!!!

I'm excited about seeing my grandmother especially! Love ya!

I've got so much to tell her. She'll be so proud of her granddaugher.

So, in preparing for the conference, I bought Larry Brooks new book,"Story Engineering. Mastering the 6 Core Competencies of Successful Writing". I signed up to take his 2-hour master class at the conference, and I'm wanting to be as prepared as I can to get the most from the class. The book is awesome! I was struggling to find my groove as a writer. Too many questions, do I outline?, do I not outline?, can I just write with no end in mind, and figure that out later? The answer according to Larry...NO!

LOL. I'm really enjoying his advice. Learning to recognize all the components needed to write a successful novel is so much fun. I love movies, and I've found that after reading his book (as well as the screenwriting book he recommends) I am breaking down the stories as I watch. This gives me a much deeper appreciation for the method behind creating a great story. It's fun!

I highly recommend reading his book if you're like me and wanting to one day call yourself a "published writer". As for now, I'm taking his advice and trying to really outline and engineer my stories, before I sit down and write the scenes. It really does help.

BOOK SHOUT OUT!
I just finished reading the third book in Dan Wells' series. I HIGHLY recommend this series. I loved them!
Book #1 - I Am Not a Serial Killer, Book #2 - Mr. Monster, Book #3 - I Don't Want to Kill You.

Dan Wells is a master at weaving suspense and keeps you flipping pages until the end.
16 year old John Wayne Cleaver is a sociopath that you find yourself rooting for!

Love Always,
Kris

I'm Movin On!

Sometimes the words to a song seem like they were written specifically for you. I love when I find songs like that. They can convey exactly what is in someone's heart, and remind you that you aren't alone in the way you feel, or on the road you have travelled, the exits and detours taken, or mistakes made. You realize that someone else has been there before, and that can be comforting knowing that you aren't alone.

Lyrics are great places to find story starters too. One of my WIPs came to me from a LeeAnn Womack song...

But the Rascal Flatts song, "I'm Movin On" talks about the exact place I'm at in my life. On this coming Saturday, I'm planning on closing the door on a part of my life that has been holding me back for way too long. I'm leaving behind those people that have not only stopped my forward progression, but actually began to pull me back further and further until I almost forgot who I truly am and who I truly want to become. I'm looking forward to the future, and taking the lessons learned and saying goodbye to the person I used to be,and I'm Movin On.

Love Always,
Kris

More Followers!

So Amazing, and Welcome to my new followers.


I must apologize. I haven't checked in since Dec 28th. I seemed to have grown by about 10 new followers. What a way for you guys to start out, with me ignoring my blog the last few weeks.

Well things have been kinda crazy lately. School started back up on January 3rd, American Literature I.
I'm now on my last week on that class, and American Literature II starts next week.

The critique group I joined started Jan 1st as well, and that is SO exciting. Lots of reading and realizing I'm in the company of some great writers...wondering why they let me into the group! HaHa..just kidding. But I'm learning alot from my group members. They are amazing.

For those of you that know what I'm talking about, my husband and I are celebrating our 12th anniversary, (Jan 30th) by finally attending the Temple for the first time, with our 11 year old son, who was recently baptized back in November, just before his 11th b-day. It's been a long road, and lots of lessons learned. We've been working for 12 years to get there, and finally Feb 5th we will make it there with our family surrounding us. AWESOME!

As for writing, like I mentioned, I joined a critique group which has forced me to working on 2 of my Work In Progresses. I'm so busy, but I couldn't be happier.

I'm getting ready for the LDStorymakers First Chapter Contest, and will be attending the Conference again this year. My second time around, and I can't wait!

Well, That's enough for tonight. I will try to get back in the habit of posting once a week!

Love Always,
Kris