Not too long
ago, I invited everyone to an Online Party.
Now some of you
might be thinking, Awe crap, not another one those.
If you are, don’t
run just yet!
Hear me out (hmm is it right to say hear me our on a blog?) *shrugs*
read me out, because I don’t think there has been another one like this.
Recently, I read
and LOVED a book entitled; Maker of Angels. This book has it has it all! *raises hand in surrendering motion*
Yeah, yeah, how many times have we all
heard that?
Nevertheless, it
is the truth.
Inserts a short
plug about Maker of Angels.
Once again,
Author Dean Sault finely weaved an amazing adventure, which took me out of
reality and into a world unlike any I had experienced before.
Kaga (although
she is not the main character) is my hero, and by far one of my favorite fictional
characters of all time!
When I grow up, I want to be like Kaga. :)
I highly
recommend this book!
Oh, and another
exciting announcement. If you buy and read the book by December 8th, be sure to
sign up for the Cyber Party!
Author Dean
Sault, every two minutes, he will ask one question about the book.
Until a total
of 25 are asked. The first person to CORRECTLY answer each
question (including all parts of a question) will win an Amazon gift card.
Each
question will stay "live" from the moment it is posted until exactly 2:00
PST. When all answers become final. If you change your answer, the time of the
altered answer will be your official time, so it is best to make sure your
first answer is as accurate as possible.
How to win: The
earliest time of a complete and correct answer will win an Amazon gift card,
plus an extra bonus entry into the Kindle Fire drawing. Bonus entries are
limited to a total of five (5) that may be earned by any single participant.
After the
contest closes (2PM PST), slips with EVERY participant's name, will be placed
in a hat. An extra slip will be added for each "bonus entry" that was
earned by quiz question winners.
After all
participants AND bonus slips have been placed in the hat, one lucky winner will
be drawn by Deans assistants (I am one of them) for the Kindle Fire.
The winner of
the Kindle Fire, will be contact by direct message, via Facebook. He or she has
twelve hours to respond, or the prize will be awarded to the first alternate.
So why blog
about this book or party when December 8th is nearly upon us?
Well my friends,
I guarantee you will fly through this book! It is that amazing, and even though,
Maker of Angels is a full 289 page novel, Sault has a way trapping you into his
adventure with no
chance of putting the story down.
So, for less
than $4.00, you will get hours of entertainment, the opportunity to win up to
5, $5.00 Amazon gift cards, and, a chance to win a Kindle Fire!
For those who
prefer print copies, Dean Sault has your back as well.
Anyone who
orders an autographed print copy directly from him, will receive a free ebook,
so you can participate in the cyber party as well. What a great bundle!
Click here to
order your autographed copies. By the way, all autographed copies come at a
discounted price, with a number verification certificate.
Let’s face it, Author
Dean Sault is a new author, but you never know who will be the next big hit! I
purchased two as Christmas gifts, and I could not believe that I paid so little
for top quality work.
So there you
have it! You get to read an amazing tale, have the opportunity to win fabulous
prizes, and even if you already have a Kindle Fire, if you win one at the cyber
party, it is one less Christmas gift to buy.
Makayla is an aspiring author, the creator and Editor in Chief of Piixie
Dust Magazine, she is thirteen, and a true warrior! .
The meaning for warrior is simple: apersonengagedin,experiencedin,ordevotedtowar.
Well that is Makayla. She has been on the front-line of a horrific battle, not once, but twice.
*Warning* Have tissue in hand when watching the video.
1) Hi Makayla, please
introduce yourself and tell us what life is like for you. Where you live, what
challenges you face, and your future goals.
Hey, everybody.
My name is Makayla Redmon, I am 13 years old, and I just found out that for the
second time, I am in remission from having Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Cancer!
I was
diagnosed in January of 2012, while residing in New York, where my Dad was
stationed due to being a United States Marine. My family and I currently
live in California. My dad is stationed at Camp Pendleton.
After
diagnosis, I received Chemotherapy treatment, which ended in April 2012, and
Radiation treatment, which ended in July 2012, one day before my
Birthday.
After that, in
August 2012, I found out I was in remission and got my medi-port removed! Very
exciting time until the black rain cloud came back over me, just 2 months later
and found out that one of the slowest working cancers out there hit me with a
vengeance, again! This time it was worse and in my bone marrow. I was
re-diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in October 2012 and had another medi-port
inserted in my chest.
From
October 2012 to July 2013, I received several different types of chemotherapy
and it seemed hopeless. In July 2013, my cancer got really bad and there
was only one really harsh chemo left to try, called I.C.E. chemo, the letters
stand for the different types of chemo medication.
I received
it for 7 days straight, in-patient, then had a week off and did another 7
days. I waited for testing to see if it worked. You see, all this
chemo I was getting was to get the cancer gone enough for me to get my bone
marrow transplant, and nothing was working… until the I.C.E. Chemo!
Yes you heard
it, it worked. So on July 18th, I was admitted to the BMT (Bone
Marrow Transplant) wing of the hospital and received my own Stem Cells on July
31st. I had to celebrate my birthday here in BMT too. Needless
to say we found out in September of 2013 that I am back in remission!
Unfortunately,
during my stay in BMT, I got VOD; it is a liver disease that some kids get
after receiving stem cells. It got so bad that they inserted another
medi-port in my arm and sent me down to PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit),
put me to sleep, and put me on life support for 8 days.
During that time,
they did dialysis to remove the fluid from my lungs. As of today, I have
been in BMT for 3 months, still having some problems with fluid in my lungs,
but nothing major, back problems from being in bed and re-learning to walk.
I was told by the doctors, I SHOULD BE GOING HOME THIS WEEK!!!!
WHOOHOO!!!
I feel this video best describes what I am going through!
2) You run a
magazine, congratulations! What inspired you to create this magazine, and why
Piixie Dust Magazine? Is there a meaning behind the name?
Well Sass, no
there is not a meaning behind the name but kind of a story, if you don’t mind
me telling it. I’ve always loved faeries; I just thought they were so
beautiful, delicate, sweet, and interesting little creatures. I loved how they
would dance, sing, the food they ate, the life they lived, but most of all I
loved there gorgeous wings. There wings are all different and each has a
beautiful design. As you see I love faeries, but the thing is faerie were so
over rated, so the next best thing was pixies! But… Pixie magazine, no that
doesn’t sound all that interesting, I thought I wanted to change it up a bit so
I changed it to piixie, this time with two I’s, but piixie magazine still not
interesting enough, so I thought what has to do with faeries and pixies of
course there is dust, so that is how I came up with piixie dust magazine.
Pretty interesting story huh??? :)
3) Can you share
your experience as an author/writer?
Of course!!!
Ever since well, I started reading I’ve always wanted to create my own book,
have my own characters, my own world, everything made by me, controlled by me,
created by me. I started out small, writing only one page short stories, they
weren’t the best, but I kept on reading, writing, and trying my best. But, I
felt my best wasn’t good enough, the very first time I got a computer I
searched up writing tips, writing techniques, even how to write. I learned so
many things that still help me till this day. There were a couple times I
wanted to give up, but my family encouraged me, so I kept on trying, eventually
I got better, my hand writing and typing got better, my ELA, reading, and
writing grades went up, I even started writing longer books. Now till this day,
I don’t give up, I still search up how to write, techniques, and tips to help
me, I even edit and critique other people’s books so that way I can get ideas,
and learn different writing techniques and styles. Writing has been such a
great experience for me; it is practically my life now.
4) What inspires
you?
A very good
question, Sass, what inspires me… First off my family inspires me, they always
encourage me, the way they have different personalities, how they live life,
and even their emotions it helps me in my writing. Everyday people inspire me,
they help me create realistic and relatable characters, and I can take flaws
and perfections all from different people and create someone new. The outside
world inspires me, the different settings, the different things going on, and
even how the day is if it’s a nice day, I usually think of a good event for my
book, a not so nice day I think of an obstacle for the characters to go
through. Those are just a few things that inspire me, there are many more, but
to many to name.
5) What are your
future goals?
My future goals…
When I was little I wanted to be a fashion designer, but now I want to be an
artist or a writer, too hard to pick just one. Some of my other future goals,
are to have the best birthday ever, have my dream room, start a family with my
hot husband who is either a doctor, or actor. I want to invent something new,
travel to Paris France, go to the top of the Eiffel tower, eat a croissant in
Paris, go shopping in Paris, meet my favorite celebrities, and much more, way
too many to name.
6) What do you
prefer writing? For example, fiction, nonfiction, supernatural, chick lit
YA, and so on.
I would have to
say I would prefer writing teen fiction, supernatural, fantasy, and romance. I
like to write fantasy because I love creating an entire world of my own, you
have to create an economy, laws, government, and much more. Romance is because
I love hearing and writing about dating, marriage, kissing, and more. Teen
fiction mostly because I’m a teen, so it’s much easier to write. Supernatural
is just because it’s fun to write, all about different creatures, and their
abilities.
7) What is your
favorite time of day to read and or write?
I would have to
say the morning for writing, because I just woke up my mind is fresh and ready
to go, I just had dreams, and I could use those dreams for ideas for books or
for in my books. I would have to say night time for reading, only because at
night the darkness makes the light just that much better, it makes scary books
scarier, and when I finally go to sleep after reading I always come up with
ideas for my writing in my dreams.
8) If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
Paris!!! I LOVE
Paris, they have the best food, it’s the city of love, I love all their
accents, they have the best shopping venues, at night the Eiffel tower is
beautiful, you can go on a boat while having people play songs for you, there
are places everywhere for you to get a painting of you or you and a friend, and
so much more.
9) For aspiring
authors or future magazine creators, what advice would you give them?
Here is a very
big tip, don’t go for the obvious answer, think outside the box, when writing a
book you think of the first thing coming to mind, a sappy vampire romance, but
if you think outside the box maybe something about an actual vampire killing
people and not caring about any soul, you don’t see that anymore. So, here is
my big tip, THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX, DO NOT I REPEAT DO NOT GO FOR THE OBVIOUS
ANSWER, IT MIGHT BE EASIER, AND JUST BECAUSE IT’S EASIER DOESN’T MEAN IT’S
BETTER.
Like any other morning, I shuffled my way down the hall and few stairs, while
checking each bedrooms as I passed.
Nice! I thought,The boys went to work with dad, which means
I get uninterrupted writing time.
The welcoming silence confirmed it. I was alone.
"Sweet," I whispered and turned on the kettle.
While prepping my
mug, I notice the empty milk jug sitting on the counter. In Canada, we have
bagged milk. Knowing fore well it was my youngest, because I recalled him
telling me he finished the jug while we were watching Under the Dome, but I did
not care.
Nothing was going to ruin my day! It is Tuesday, and I am alone with the
voices in my head!
That's alright, at least 'Kiddo' did not
leave an empty jug in the fridge. Kudos, Mom, you trained him right! I
mentally praise myself while heading to the fridge.
I search the fridge.
"Darn, guess I'm going shopping today."
I take a bottle of water out of the cupboard and head to my writing area,
because NOTHING is going to stop me today!
Now, the OCD in me must do things a certain way.
1) Turn kettle on and prep mug
2) Let dogs outside while waiting for kettle
3) Make tea
4) Take first sip while waiting for dogs to come back in
5) Retrieve bottle of water from cupboard
6) Light candle, say prayer and create ambiance by turning on music or a
form of background noise. It is the best way to block traffic and other
unwanted interruptions.
7) Emails
8) Updates
9) Write! Until I notice the dust. :(
While reading an email from a fun reader, I am quickly wrapped up into her
story, when, suddenly, a man snorts behind me!
No joke!
I literally scream and stumble to my feet.
That is when Copper (my 140 something pound dog), jumps up from behind my seat
while barking and backing into the chair.
It causes a domino effect!
The chair startles him more, he spins back and head-butts the chair, which
causes me to back up when the chair crashes into my foot.
"Copper, it's momma!" I shout as I back into the computer stand.
Fact: I am FAR from graceful!
Luckily, I catch my laptop (by the screen) while the stand topples to the
ground.
Copper sees me, and I've see those wide eyes before, they usually
occur during thunderstorms.
Damn!
"Wait," I command, while carefully placing my lifeline (laptop) onto
the couch and my wide bottom onto the coffee table, which by the way, has
wheels.
*shakes head* Smart like dump truck, I know. However (inserts pathetic attempt to
defend self), for the record, it was not even seven in the morning!
Copper (the coward) puts his front paws onto my lap, smothers me with kisses
and away we go! He takes me for a ride across the living room.
Why did this happen? Well ... yesterday, on Facebook, I foolishly welcomed
Monday with open arms and not a darn thing happened! Lesson learned, and I will never welcome Monday until 9:55pm. Clearly, Under the
Dome is the only reason to welcome Mondays.
of 25 are asked. The first person to CORRECTLY answer each
question (including all parts of a question) will win an Amazon gift card.
