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April 25, 2008 | Book Stuff, Calendar of Events, Life in General, The 4-1-1 on Me

I’m going to be signing and selling copies of Secrets and Kisses and Dance Jam Productions at the following event:

LAVEEN BOUTIQUE
Thomas Jefferson High School
5625 S. 51st, Ave
Laveen, AZ 85339
Saturday, April 26
10am-4pm
FREE ADMISSION

If your’re in the neighborhood, please stop by and Holla!

EDIT: The first (50) entrants will receive a sneak peek of A Royale Pain, Book One of the Draven Atreides Teenage FBI series coming out April 2009. Send your name and email addy to draven_the_snitch@yahoo.com. Adobe Acrobat will be req’d to view document. NOTE: Once you submit your name, you will be put on the DA Book One Pre-Order Notification List and my mailing list.

Technorati Tags: Secrets and Kisses, Dance Jam Productions, LAVEEN BOUTIQUE, Thomas Jefferson High School, A Royale Pain, Draven Atreides Teenage FBI series

Posted by Celise @ 7:29 am | Criticisms

April 18, 2008 | Calendar of Events, Life in General, The 4-1-1 on Me

I’m going to be here on Saturday peddling copies of Secrets and Kisses and Dance Jam Productions.

Spring Shopping Boutique
1105 W. Behrend Dr.
Phoenix (Hwy 101 and 7th ave)
11am-4pm
Saturday, April 19th

Come Eat, Shop and Have Fun with following vendors:

COOKIE LEE JEWELRY

FINDERSKEYPURSE & PURSE HANGERS

WATCHES, RINGS & KEY RINGS

GLASS NAIL FILES

MARY KAY PRODUCTS

PARTY LITE CANDLES

PAMPERED CHEF

KAT’S COFFEES AND FOODS

SHAKLEE

POWER POPS

WOODEN ROSES

ENVIRONARTS (soul wraps, zrii healthy drink and CDs by Zephryn Zen)

WEEKENDER’S/JOCKEY CLOTHING

CRAFTS by Shirley

Technorati Tags: Secrets and Kisses , Dance Jam Productions

Posted by Celise @ 10:30 am | Criticisms

April 14, 2008 | Book One, Book Stuff, Calendar of Events, DA Series, Draven Atreides, Life in General, Revision Hell, Writing Movements

Friday night I had a book reading at a coffee shop. I normally don’t forget to post events on here, but I forgot to do so for this event. However, Draven was kind enough to post it on her blog. Thanks, D. This is my second time doing it and it’s hosted by Monsoon Voices Live Literary Magazine: Spoken Word, Poetry, Prose and Song. Authors and musicians submit their pieces and if chosen, have approximately 6 minutes to read or sing their piece. Hence, the Live Literary part. If you’re a musician or an author wanting some exposure, and live in the Phoenix area, contact Traci and Patrick at monsoonvoices@cox.net. The next event is Friday, May 23rd and the submission deadline is May 9th. If you have merchandise, you’re allowed to sell it. I sold two books.

This time it wasn’t as packed, but normally, by the time we get started–or even after the first two performers–it’s standing room only. Those are good, but this time was better. Our musician of the nite was Darin Mahoney of Mahoney Guitars. He makes and repairs instruments. He plays guitar too and he does it beautifully. The first song (all of his songs are instrumental, by the way) he played was called Woodland and it was about his mother’s favorite place. He set the scene by giving us a visual:

“Picture yourself by a lake, anyplace, anywhere, the sun is starting to go down, birds calling, crickets chirping lazily, a slight wind rustling thru the trees…this piece starts out with a few chords from my mother’s favorite song.”

Her favorite song is Amazing Grace.

Tears welled up in my eyes when he began to play. It was a different version of a song I’d heard so many times, even though it was only the first stanza. The whole song, beginning to end, just moved me. The songs he played after were just as fantastic. Maybe it’s because he’s 10 yrs cancer free (creative people tend to write great stuff and we’re going thru something). A cancer that was terminal but obviously not, because he was performing that night. I can guarantee the chemo he went thru was more vigorous than what my father got. His CD comes out at the end of the summer and I’m looking forward to buying a copy. He said that sometimes be performs with a violinist. I can just imagine how that would sound and would like to see him perform again.

My other favorite was Nadine Lockhart, who had some great poems about an 87 yr old aunt who’d recently passed away and a poem that had the word “panty” in it 36 times. LOL. That one got a lot of laughs. After the event, as I was driving home, I called my BF because Darin’s music was still resonating with me. I was reminded of her and I knew she would’ve liked it, too. For the next 20 minutes we talked and cried. She had been going thru a spiritually cleansing exercise that night and she suspected I had felt her energy. I think I was feeling Darin’s too.

Saturday was a do-nothing day. The hubby went hiking with his BF, so I had a little quiet reading time in the morning. He was in the mood for ice cream later, so we hit up Swensen’s. Sunday, I did laundry (GOD, HOW I HATE DOING LAUNDRY), spent some time typing up revisions, and working on the book cover. I hit a 4 ft wall in the writing movement process on Friday. Rader had just dropped a verbal bomb on Draven and I was instructed by my editor to get to “the plan” quicker; and throw more obstacles in their path in getting to the bottom of the case. If I think about it too much, I might get stressed. The hubby hates it when I get stressed because he can’t do anything about it. My BF says I should meditate more and I think she’s right.

Sunday night, we had dinner with friends at the Salty Seniorita, a place with great Mexican food and 50,000 different types of margaritas. Okay, not that many but close to it. For the record, I rarely drink. A few years ago, I tried the berry sangria at Olive Garden. That’s the only alcoholic drink I like–and am willing to drink–and since most restaurants we go to don’t have it, I hardly drink. If they do happen to have it, it’s in a glass so freakin’ big there’s no way I’d be able to finish it. In general, my family is not a drinking family. My Dad always had a semi-stocked mini bar, but it was only for guests. The bottles of liquor had been down there for so long, they were caked in dust. When they moved into the new house, he probably tossed it. Or my Mom did. We both have a nasty habit of just throwing stuff away, thinking we–or anyone else–will ever need it again. Anyhow, dinner was fun. It was us and two other couples. Lost of laughter and margarita drinking(on their parts) abounded.

So, how was your weekend?

Technorati Tags: Monsoon Voices Live Literary Magazine: Spoken Word, Poetry, Prose and Song, Darin Mahoney, Mahoney Guitars, Woodland, Amazing Grace, Nadine Lockhart, Salty Seniorita, , Olive Garden

Posted by Celise @ 9:00 am | 2 Criticisms

March 21, 2008 | Book Stuff, Calendar of Events, DA Series, Draven Atreides, In the News, Life in General, The 4-1-1 on Me

EDIT: For those that tuned in to the online interview that didn’t happen today, I apologize. I couldn’t figure out how to disable the call waiting feature on my phone. The interview will be rescheduled for next month and we’ll try it again.

I’m going to be interviewed on Book Bites for Kids today at 2pm CST, 1pm MST. The first three people who call or email a question during the interview will receive a “teaser” from my third book, A Royale Pain, Book One in the Draven Atreides, Teenage FBI YA series. Be sure to tune in and listen!

Technorati Tags: Book Bites for Kids, A Royale Pain, Draven Atreides, Teenage FBI

Posted by Celise @ 8:00 am | 5 Criticisms