The only thing that was really making things hard was the distance. Hell, that’s a pretty big deal, I’d say. And as time went on and the yearning to be in his presence grew deeper, I decided that I couldn’t go beyond a year in the relationship without at least a visit.

So David and I talked about it and began saving money (Yes we both saved. What a bitch I’d be to ask him to fly 7k miles and not even be willing to pay half of his nearly $800 air fare?) and he promised that by the time our one year anniversary came, we would meet.

Well, our anniversary was two days ago, but not to worry, we shall meet in person next Thursday and spend two wonderful weeks together.

Am I nervous? Hell yeah!

Am I excited? Are you freakin’ kidding me?

I don’t know that I’ve ever been more nervous or excited about anything.

So there you have it.

5 days…

They’ve only been here a week and were super easy to integrate into the family; mostly because they had been with a loving person from birth and it showed.

Funny thing is that the one I thought was going to be mellow (Buttercup) is the one who is the most playful, friendly and outgoing. The one I thought would be into everything (Chou) is the most mellow; always finding somewhere to sleep or hide.

They’re both adorable, and like kids, most adorable when sleep.

Two adorable little kitties whose pregnant mother had been rescued by a nice woman who was caring enough to get them spayed, vaccinated and take care of them until she found them loving homes.

And now my home is home to two new kittehs: Buttercup (calico) and Chou (tortie).

Aren’t they just so CUTE?

I won’t go through a full run-down of everything I’ve been doing lately, I’ll just say that I’ve been tired all week because I’ve been super busy. And not just with work; my social calendar has been full. I was almost wondering what happened that could cause such a change. Maybe it was just me deciding I was tired of being sad and lonely. I started accepting invitations even when I thought I was tired.

Today was awesome. Y’know, some people you work with are just co-workers but I’ve actually become friends with some of the girls I work with. I mean, why not? We’ve been sitting right next to each other for almost a year and while we all started at the same time, we are the survivors of the turmoil that had our department in a stranglehold. After all of the craziness, we actually like to get together outside of work and its becoming more frequent.

So, today I went to San Diego with one of the girls Art Walk at the Bay and a class at Culture Shock Dance Center. The dance class was fantastic; we got sweaty and started our day right with an aerobic workout. I’m sure I’ll be sore tomorrow, but I’m also pretty sure I’m going to sign up for more classes so we can go back again.

Art walk was alright…Mind you I love the arts, but most of the stuff presented was so…unoriginal. That’s not to say that there weren’t any talented artists, because there certainly were. However, most of what was being shown just looked like I had seen it before. One artist and a friend of the friend with whom I was traveling today, Corey Rice, had quite possibly the most unique paintings and prints at the festival. His work is at once humorous, quirky and surreal. The little guy to the left is one from a multi-frame piece one of which depicted the wooden doll, dancing.

Anyway, I’m tired, but in a great mood because I spent all day in the sun walking around along the bay. It was great; now I’m going to crash.

From beginning to end, you are pulled into this intriguing story of Alex “The Fey;” a femme fatal intelligence expert, trying to pull together the shattered pieces of her life, while enduring continued psychological torture.

Truthfully, I’ve never been much into mysteries or even fiction for that matter. But The Fey’s quick pace with harrowing details, romantic subplots, and remarkable clarity made it an intensely compelling read.

I couldn’t put it down!

Every time I stopped reading, even for a second, I wandered what was coming next. Once after I had already gone to bed, I was so curious that I turned the light back on to read just one more chapter…

Claudia Hall Christian has a gift for intrigue and for creating intricate yet easy to read story lines. For anyone looking for something fun to read, The Fey is a page turner that will make your heart race and even when it’s over, you’ll want to know more about the dynamic cast of characters you’ll no doubt have grown to love.

You can read The Fey online or purchase a hard copy (don’t forget the discount code: XQGB8SVR). Whatever you do, make sure you set aside a good block of time; once you get started, you won’t want to put The Fey down.

But I’m here.

Living the life.

What life is that, you may ask.

The life of a single mother, author, friend, lover, mother, aunt, cousin, caretaker, counselor…I wear quite a few hats…sometimes it’s exhausting.

I mean, such is life though…right?

The go go go, the wait wait wait, the cycles of transformation, transition and growth.

I’ve been between transitions for a while now. Sort of this mucky area where my vision is a little blurred and I have this idea about the next level but I’m not really clear where to place my foot in this climb to the top of the mountain.

But life keeps rolling on. It doesn’t matter that we’re unclear.

Funny because my theme, the word I was supposed to keep in mind all year was clarity. I need to be clear about my intentions, deliberate about everything I do, clear about my goals…Hard to do when you feel like you have no idea where you’re going.

I’ve been here before and I always move past it. The quiet before something stormy followed by something great. Such is the cycle of life. Up and down, spinning ’round, dodging fast balls and learning to catch them with one hand and throw it back.

They had the information, knew it was correct and reported the news of Michael Jackson’s death first.

I suppose there are people who don’t “expect” TMZ to have accurate information. Those people either forget or don’t know that Harvey Levin–the man behind TMZ–is both a lawyer and entertainment journalist.

That story would not have run if it were not accurate.

Granted, the LA Times and CNN perhaps have a bit more credibility than a celebrity gossip site like TMZ; unless of course you know Levin’s credentials. It has been my experience though that Harvey Levin is a good journalist and expects the same from his team.

It would seem that TMZ was the dark horse in a race for quick and accurate information. He came out on top and the only defense the other mainstream media (as if anyone who’s into US pop culture and celebrity gossip doesn’t consider TMZ kinda mainstream and the whole idea of people in the media being surprised that TMZ broke the story accurately is such bullshit) has is, “but what if they had gotten it wrong?”

TMZ got it first, got it right, and you–dear “mainstream media”–had your ass handed to you. `

Related articles: My tribute to Michael Jackson.

I haven’t read the book yet – I’m anxiously awaiting the hard copy. I read online all day every day, a hard copy will be a welcome escape for the internets – but every review I have read thus far has been supremely positive and Mrs. Christian is developing a cult following. She’s done this by using building an online community of both readers and writers and by leveraging the power of social networking.

I asked her about her journey to becoming a successful book author but before we get to that, a few goodies for you my dear readers:

• Win a free copy of The Fey. The lucky winner selected from comments on this post. I don’t get many comments, so anyone who comments has a pretty good chance of getting a free copy of the book.
• Purchase the book from Create Space and get a 10% discount. Just enter this discount code: XQGB8SVR.

And now, without further ado, inspirational words from author, Claudia Hall Christian.

Your blog mentioned giving up everything familiar to pursue your dream of being a writer. What has that journey been like and what have you learned in your pursuit?
It’s been a long and winding journey to become an author. When I started working on the first edition of The Fey, I was simply filling my time on sabbatical with a good story. I figured writing a book was a worthy pursuit for a year long sabbatical. It never occurred to me that writing fiction would become my life. I completed a draft and left for a month long backpacking trip down the Colorado Trail.

Certainly, like a lot of people, I loved writing and reading as a child. I had planned on becoming an author, but life intervened. I forgot that dream until we were about a hundred miles into the Colorado Trail trip. We were miles from anything familiar. Sitting around our camp stove, my husband and I began talking about what we wanted in our lives.

This trail trip was an amazing experience. The trail is steep, treacherous and, in many places, over ten thousand feet. We faced the mountain every day. And every day, we were forced to face ourselves, our attitudes, and beliefs about ourselves.

It’s possible that I was hallucinating when I said that I wanted to pursue a career in writing. My husband said he wanted to go back to school to get a Master’s degree. Snowed out after one hundred and fifty miles, we returned to our home in Denver and began pursuing our dreams.

My husband is almost done with his Master’s degree. The Fey is published and Denver Cereal, my serial romantic fiction, is almost a year old.

How did you go from publishing your books online to getting a signed with a publisher? What were the advantages of publishing online first?

This is a complicated question because we actually chose to form our own publishing company. I don’t talk about it much because I’ve been inundated with manuscripts.

We felt that traditional publishing was missing the boat on modern, easily accessible modes of publishing. We wanted to pursue a new model of publishing that included releasing the novels on the Internet in a blog format. Because The Fey is the first in a series of books, we expected the series to take a fairly traditional path for thriller series. (The first book sells some copies, the second does a little better and the whole series takes off with the third book.) This type of series is currently not supported by traditional publishing houses.

The model of releasing books electronically, as well as in paperback, was initiated by Cory Doctorow, one of the founders of the Creative Commons movement. He believes that authors suffer more from obscurity than from plagiarism. Further, in his experience, people want to try out a novel, see if they like it, before they commit to purchasing. Using his model, we released Denver Cereal in paperback as well as electronic .pdf. So far, we have had over twenty thousand downloads. The Fey is released a chapter a week at AlextheFey.com. An electronic version of The Fey will be available near the end of November.

How important was building a reading/writing community to your success? How did you build that community and where should other up-and-coming writers start building their own?
There are two processes for my writing: the banging out of the words and making sure that people understand what I’m writing. When I had completed the first edition of The Fey, I asked twelve of the most critical people I know if they would mind reading it. I was overwhelmed at their generosity. As I worked through the second edition, then the third, I asked a few different people and some of the original people.

The Fey is a better book at the insistence of these readers. For example, one woman said, “These are great characters. They deserve a better story.” Talk about a call to battle! I went straight to work to create a story worthy of these characters.

As for starting your own reading group, there’s a couple things you have to decide first. I wanted to write books for real people, so I chose real people to be in my reading group. If you want to write great literature, you will need to find people who appreciate great literature. If you want to write mass marketed books, you’ll need to find people who read mass market.

More than anything, listen to your readers. I’ve been asked to read a few novels. When I attempt to give feedback, the author doesn’t really want to hear it. My readers guided me, helped me, and made my work better. I have little ego when it comes to my work. I want it to be the very best it can possibly be. So I listen to any and all feedback. Sure, some people are jerks. But most people really want to help.

How did you come up with the idea of a blog book tour for your new book The Fey? What is the goal of this blog tour? How many blogs have you visited thus far? How will you measure the success of the tour?

I noticed other authors were doing book blog tours. I was curious about how they were set up so I followed a few authors doing them via GoodReads. Many authors pay marketing people set up their blog visits. I’m fortunate to know so many bloggers. I’ve visited only friend’s blogs for this tour.

I’ve been on seventeen blogs for a total of twenty days. The posts have ranged from interviews to reviews of the book. A few people have posted side stories from The Fey. I even did a crayola stick figure synopsis of The Fey.

My hope was to raise awareness of The Fey and the Alex the Fey thriller series. Unlike a single book tour, I’m hoping to introduce people to the world of The Fey as well as the novel. The blog tour has generated a lot of interest in The Fey. I’ve received some amazing reviews which encourage and support me to continue working on the series. Overall, it’s been a wonderful experience.

We keep hearing that the print publishing industry is dead or dying. What words of encouragement can you offer other aspiring writers looking for book deals in today’s publishing industry environment?

Right at this moment, there are more people capable of reading than in any other time in history. People want to read good stories. In many parts of the world, people are desperate to read fiction in English. Fiction provides not only an escape but a look into the customs and culture of a society.

If you are an aspiring writer, go down the list of your favorite authors. Then ask yourself – Did they have more people capable of reading their work? Or less?

Remember that the great authors – Mark Twain, James Joyce, Charles Dickens, Willa Cather – never made it to any best sellers list. And they still made a living by writing fiction that people wanted to read.

If you have one book in you? Go for the best sellers list. You don’t have a choice but to hold on to your story. It’s the only one you have to tell.

If you want to be a author, write fiction that people want to read. There’s lots and lots and lots of stories to be told. Tell them. Then let people read it. Set up a blog for your short fiction. Start a serial fiction. (I’ll tell you, writing Denver Cereal, my romantic serial fiction, is the best thing I’ve ever done.) Get your work out there. Dig out that novel that’s languishing in your drawer and release it into the world. See what people have to say.

Stop focusing on large paychecks, movie contracts, and best sellers lists. Just write and let people read. Go for it.

I believed so hard it made me angry yesterday when he wailed like a little girl and said he didn’t think he could do it.

“Yes you can!” I snapped, irritated with his lack of confidence. After all, his mother had been a competative swimmer from the age of…whatever age they let you start competing…and there was no way I was going to raise a kid who couldn’t swim. Pa-leeze *rolls eyes*

I ignored his tears and cries that it was cold, held him out in the middle of the pool, pointed toward the wall, told him to kick his feet and move his arms. As I felt him start to push himself, I would move my hand from under him.

Every. Single. Time. Without fail, he’d panic waiting for me to save him from drowning, instead of focusing on getting to the wall.

“Go toward the wall, not me, ” I would say moving out of his path.”

He’d gasp for air when he reached the wall, giving me that can I please get out now mommy look.

Today though, he went with my sister. I didn’t feel like swimming and my halfway-around-the-fucking-world boyfriend wanted to talk as soon as I got home…so I didn’t go tonight. I was sitting in my room watching John Stewart on Hulu, when two wet people walked in breathing hard and excited.

“Mom I can swim!” The boy said before I could tell him to go back out and close the door. “I swam in 8 feet!”

My sister told me some long ass story about how great a teacher she is and then asked if I wanted to see him do it. She must’ve been reading my mind because, I was sitting there in utter disbelief. Who was this confident man-child I saw before me the same crying little brat I who had scratched me a couple days ago when he tried to jump on my head and I moved away?

I grinned from ear to ear as we walked to the pool…My sister was asking me if I was really proud and all I could do is smile like an idiot.

When we go to the pool, the boy climbed down the ladder. He pulled his goggles down over his eyes and turned to my sister while still holding onto the wall.

“You read?” She asked.

“Ready,” he said.

“And…go!”

As soon as she said it, he pushed off the wall and was off. Kicking furiously, moving his arms and moving across the pool!

OMG! OMG! OMFG!

He stopped, winded on the other side of the pool. “I want to go back.”

“Go.”

I cheered as he swam across the pool, pushing himself hard, completely focused on making it all the way to the wall. He looked like he was working so hard, but I could tell he knew he could make it and that all he had to do was keep going.

And he did.

Two more laps later, he climbed out of the water, exhausted and breathing heavily.

I beamed at him as my heart swelled.

“That was a lot of work man,” I said holding back tears. “I’m so –” my voice cracked. “I’m so proud of you.” I hugged him tight as the tears spilled down my cheeks.”

As we walked him, I was filled with such pride. For so long now he thought he couldn’t do it and I reminded him that he would learn. And today…the boy swam from one side of the pool to the other.

The boy can swim and I am one proud momma.

On a macro level, sustainability is about systems being able to thrive and live symbiotically. On a micro level its about systems within systems being able to survive and thrive even, so that the bigger system stays alive and well…I think you get where I’m going.

We have finally accepted there are certain non-renewable resources and the scarcity of those resources is increasing. What I’ve been learning, and on some levels sort of knew already, is that corporate greed is at the heart of almost everything that has led us to our unsustainable standard of living. These large companies whose only goal is to make more money, by selling more goods, produced in mass quantities, without care or consideration for how this eternal thirst for gold will affect the rest of the system.

A few weeks ago I watched the Story of Stuff and today The Future of Food. While one was a simple lesson on how broken production —–> market system is and the other is a detailed account of the corporate take-over of agriculture, they both have the same message. The corporatization of production on a mass scale are not beneficial to the system of life. It is not good for the environment, it is not good for living things, it is not good for anyone other than the corporations; and even then, only the few people who own those corporations.

Now I don’t mean corporations in the legal sense. There are many small businesses that are incorporated. What I am talking about is huge companies that come in and take over a market by any means necessary. The goal of these large companies gobble up everything around them, killing off and throwing off balance, natural systems with underhanded means.

In the end, there is less competition, less choice, less quality and people become slaves to corporations for subsistence, working their own land just to pay huge companies with deep connections and deeper pockets. Slaves to consumer goods because we have been socialized to think we need a television, cable, wi-fi (well dammit I need my wi-fi), the latest shoes, the latest video games, the latest whatever to replace something that is perfectly good still.

The lack of choice and the dependence on companies that only care about making money scares the shit out of me. There is no human connection, no consideration for cause and effect when it comes to living things.

This consideration for the system at large is at the heart of the sustainability movement. What tickles me is that it also brings us back to our local neighborhoods, where we live in smaller systems that can practically sustain themselves. While on the one hand I can build relationships and communities in a virtual world, there are benefits beyond mine and the health of my family, of living off of and supporting local systems; the sustaining of life.

So my goal is to start living more sustainably…even in the city. Already, I’m looking for a local farm to buy shares in (pay a weekly fee for locally grown produce). I probably won’t go so far as making my own clothes, but I have been picky over quality, favoring smaller retailers over large ones.

I want to live healthy and largely independent of large corporations for my subsistence. I may have to pay for electricity and wi-fi (I told you its a necessity) but I can get my food locally.