I Did A Thing

So, I did a thing. I cut off most of my hair. Why? Because I wanted to. I'd been talking it over with Deek for a little while, and when I went in for my trim, I asked my hairdresser to just hack it off.

I'm pretty excited about it for a variety of reasons, but one of them is COLOR!! I had purple hair back when we lived in the PNW, and I dyed it blonde before coming back to the South. Well, for the past year, I've been trying to get my hair healthy from all those dye jobs. And it's been boring brown. Ho-hum. With short hair, I can dye my hair a variety of colors, and we'll just cut away the damaged parts. Voila! So, I'm headed back in June to get this whole thing turned white-blonde. And then, I'll have purple added to my bangs (and possibly other areas--the temple pieces or top of the spikes) in prep for the Raleigh SuperCon, where I am a feature guest. All my promo pics show purple hair, so I gotta give the people what they expect! ;) 

I'll be honest, I was a little wary of chopping off all my hair. Our culture, and a lot of men I know, place value on long hair as a sign of femaleness or femininity. So, in this sense, I'm so thankful I went to live in the Pacific Northwest for a while. I grew up in the Bible Belt South, and I never felt comfortable expressing my artistic funky side. But when I went to the PNW, that sort of thing is embraced and celebrated. I learned just how big and diverse this country really is. And I learned it's okay to be me. It's okay not to fit the status quo.

I'm an artist. I'm expressive. I like to try new things. That's who I am. And that's more than okay. 

I'm also incredibly thankful to have a husband who not only accepts this part of my personality but embraces it. When I asked him what he thought about cutting my hair, he said, "Do it. One of the things I love about you is that you're bold and try new things. And changing your hair is one of the ways you do that. So, if you want to cut it, cut it."

When I texted him this picture yesterday, he replied back, "This is about as cute as humanly possible." He loves me just like I am, in all my variety of shapes, colors, and hairstyles. And I appreciate that about him so very much. I'm completely free to be me.

In other news, I recently found out that the cover artist for both BookFish Books and Tenacious Books Publishing is taking a summer vacation sabbatical. Why is that a big deal you ask? Well, she designs the final print covers for the books, and we have TWO releasing while she's away. That means all edits must be completed and all formatting done BEFORE she leaves! We had a schedule in place to complete said edits and formatting in June, but that deadline had to be seriously pushed up. So, I've been working with our authors and editors to get these books ready. Once they come to the formatter, they have to be done-done. No more major changes once a book enters formatting. We can make minor changes (a comma here, a word swap there), but the meat and bones have to be mostly done.

Releases June 27, 2017

Releases July 18, 2017

Releases July 25, 2017

So, big props to the editors and authors for getting everything done and to me for formatting. I'm happy to report that the formatting for ALL summer release books (except The Beacon, which releases after our cover artist's vacation) is DONE! <high fives to my editing team and authors>

And Chrissy Lessey is even offering a sneak peek of her prologue for The Coven, which not only highlights her amazing writing but my formatting as well!

Despite all the work and hectic deadlines, Deek and I managed to have some fun hiking and attending a local festival! 

The journey to who-knows-where

Hubba hubba

Gorgeous bridges

A treat for our hard work! ;) 

Representing BookFish!

Enjoying a local festival

This little presh guy turned one!

When we adopted him, the shelter thought he was about six months old, and that was six months ago!

Happy Birthday, Gussie!

We adore you!

Until next time--BE YOU!

All the Rhews Down In Rhewville

Haha! I probably should have saved that title for Christmastime, so be forewarned, you may see it again! But honestly, whenever fall rolls around, I can't fully enjoy it because it's the harbinger of winter. And as a summer girl, I abhor winter. Cold, coats, ice, snow...blah! Give me beaches, sunshine, shorts, and bathing suits any day.

Da beach! Da beach! Ahhhh, so gorgeous!

Don't get me wrong, I do like fall. I like the lovely colors and the crisp-but-not-too-cold chill in the air. And yet...it always symbolizes that summer has gone and winter is coming. I love me some Game of Thrones, so you KNEW "winter is coming" had to be said! And for the record, #KingoftheNorth (if you've seen last season, you know what I mean)!!!

Blarg...gotta drink more hot tea and wear a hoodie because I'm ALREADY freezing in fall.

Okay, okay, enough whining about the cold weather (although, my hands ARE little icicles while I type this), let's move on to another of my favorite topics: my hair! LOL!

The blonde had started fading fast, but my hair isn't healthy enough to withstand another round of bleaching yet. So, I talked to my hairdressers (the one in the South and the one in the Pacific Northwest), and we decided to do an ombre look.

But, a few days before my appointment, I decided ombre wasn't "out there" enough for me. I spent last winter doing a hair experiment for my hairdresser in the PNW, which resulted in a slightly blue-greenish look, so I really wanted to love my hair this winter. And ombre just seemed too...plain. So, I talked to my Southern hairdresser, and we decided to go for a dark brown with violet highlights.

Bye-bye blonde!

I love how Google photos does collages!

Hello, purply brown! 

Deek and I just can't be serious. LOL!

Headed out to a book signing. I love how you can see Deek's hand on my leg in my sunglasses' reflection. He always puts it there when he drives. It's a little thing, but it's a big thing to me. <3

However, the purple is held in place with a red-violet. Well, my hair LOVES red. I have a lot of natural red and a significant number of redheads in my family. Soooo...the purple faded quickly and gave way to the red. I'm headed back to my stylist to get more dark brown and a blue-violet put in instead. Fingers crossed it works because I head off to Comic Con two days later! EEP!

Red invasion

Actually, I'm making this face because I'm peeved I just spent time flat-ironing my hair only to discover it had started pouring down rain outside. GAH!

Deek and I are still on our primal/paleo eating plan and loving every minute of it! Turkey bacon at night for a snack? Yes, please! Sign this girl up! And we've been doing primal fitness as well. I can already feel myself getting stronger, and Deek's muscles...hubba hubba! <3

I'm also trying to incorporate some primal lifestyle changes as well. For example, I try to do an eastern-style squat each day while I'm working on the computer. I haven't quite gotten my back strong enough to sit like that for too long (and my feet fall asleep), but I'm building up to it. 

Doing the "grok" squat while I format the print version of She Runs Away by Jessica Calla.

 Hmmm...I like how my hair looks darker here.

Oh, here's something exciting! The e-version of Deek's book Birth of an American Gigolo is currently on sale right now for only $.99!! You should run over there and get you a copy. My husband is a totally BRILLIANT writer. I can guarantee you'll laugh your socks off when you read this masterpiece. 

I so dig his promo pics too! If you haven't seen them yet, check out his Twitter account!

And right now, I've got my historical fiction, Restore to Me, out on submission. I'm stoked to report that several agents have requested the full, so major fingers crossed on that one!! And while I anxiously wait for word on that one, I'm keeping busy writing my futuristic thriller, tentatively titled Number 25598, although I usually just called it the "Molly and Ryder story."

Restore to Me

Historical fiction -- on submission with agents

Number 25598

Futuristic thriller--WIP (work-in-progress)

I also had a book signing recently. Deek and I traveled out east where we met some cool authors, including Chrissy Lessey, and got to have dinner with some of my family members afterward. All in all, it was a really great trip! 

Bless Chrissy's heart, she said she practiced making crazy faces in the mirror because she knew she'd get Rhewined. ;) 

In a few weeks, I'll be headed out to Crystal Coast Con! Tickets are on sale now, so get ya a few! ;) Guess who will be there?? A bunch of cast members from The 100 (I LOVE this show!) and Lost Girls, but I'm super excited to meet Atreyu from The Neverending Story!

The amazing Anita at Race-Point created a kick-butt banner for me, and I can't wait to use it! I will be SO proud to sit in front of this beauty!! Thank you, Anita! You rule! #AnitaIsAmazing

The whole thing

The banner set up! Deek and I approve! Two thumbs up, Anita!

I hope to see you at Comic Con! I'll be the one with (hopefully) purplish brown hair and a coat on. LOL!

And, as with all things, Deek will be at my side. I know a lot of you would like to meet him--I don't blame you; he's a hottie! But he'll be there with me, so it will be double the fun! I am so thankful to have this wonderful man by my side, through all the ups and downs of regular life and author life. No matter what happens, he keeps me laughing and smiling! Thank you for being the wonderful man you are, Deek! I love you beyond beyond! 

From last year's anniversary celebration. Eeeeeeeee!! Our anniversary is coming up! Can't wait to celebrate my amazing marriage to this blessing of a man!

Crazy Good Times in Rhewville!

Hello, friends! I've been a bit MIA lately, mostly for good reason! I was sick for 10 days, so that's the not-so-good part. But the good reasons are: The Rhew 2 Rhew Tour and Deek's book release!

So, here's the rundown: Deek's publisher set his release date for April 5, 2016, and my publisher decided to spotlight feature my trilogy for the month of April! Wut? Yep! So, Deek and I decided to make a thing of it and do a tour together. We love doing all things together, so this situation was perfect.

We love to be together!

Deek and I love Faith Hill and Tim McGraw. In fact, one of their songs is "our song," so we decided to pay homage to their Soul 2 Soul tour by doing a Rhew 2 Rhew tour. Our friend, Heather, set us up with her friend, Nancy, and Nancy made beautiful tour banners for us!

I love how she blended our two very different stories together with this graphic!

Of course, I love this one because it has our wedding photo on it. This picture is so "us." We're always goofing off and having fun with one another.

Deek and I have set up an amazing blog tour! SO many wonderful bloggers have open their blog homes to us. You can expect fun interviews, guest posts on a wide variety of topics, and Top 10s. We can't wait to share this epic event with you!

While we were preparing for everything, I got sick with a terrible cough. I didn't sleep for 8 days!! OMG, talk about exhausting. But Deek--being the loving, handy MacGuyver that he is--built an incline for me, and I finally slept. I'm on the the mend now, thankfully, but I had a rough go of it there for a while. Still, even as sick as I was, I worked on the blog tour. So, if some of the posts are a little loopy, you'll know why! Haha! 

I was too sick to celebrate our engagement day on the actual day, so we celebrated a few days later. Deek took me to a restaurant he's always wanted to take me to. The food was amazing, but the company was even more amazing. Later, we grabbed some coffee and headed to the local bike/walking trail where we walked hand-in-hand, drank our coffee, and talked. Such a lovely time!

This is the actual day we got engaged.

 Here we are celebrating a little late at the restaurant he wanted to show me.

Here we are on our lovely walk. Our picture software makes collages, so that's totally fun!!

Finally, April 5 rolled around. After years and years of working and waiting, Deek's book 122 Rules released!!! It's a monumental moment to because we began talking in the margins of that book. So, it's a full circle moment for us relationally too. Critique partners, friends, dating, and now married. Kinda crazy how time flies when you're having the time of your life!

I'm SO proud of Deek. He definitely embodies the word "tenacious." He put his nose to the grindstone and spend years working on this book. When the time came to receive edits, he did so with an open mind and learned many tools of the trade. And during his edits with Anya, his content editor, he learned even more. PS. Anya is a genius, so if you're looking for edits, go to her. In addition to working for publishers, she has a freelance business, so contact her if you're looking for a top-notch editor! Through it all, Deek worked hard and believed in his work. And today, it's published!!! I must tell you, friends, my husband is a BRILLIANT writer. His slew of 5 star reviews attest to the natural genius and storytelling ability he possesses. He's always willing to give credit to me and Anya, but you should know he's the real deal all by himself--a rare, raw talent.

The box-o-books we got in the mail! If you're impressed by the amazing cover (as we all are), props for that go to the supremely talented Anita at Race-point!

Happy Deek!

So cool!

Our book babies all in a row!

And, of course, we celebrated!!

I hung up Deek's reviews all over the house (with pictures of people he'd selected as cast members for his dream cast)

And he got coffee with balloons attached! CONGRATS, DEEK!

If you want to pick up your copy of 122 Rules (and I highly recommend you do!), you can get it here: 122 RULES by Deek Rhew!

In the meantime, I'd been working with Ellie Siplia at my publishing house to get the insides of my books revamped. She did an AMAZING job! I got the proofs of my books in the mail, and I may have petted them all "my precious" style. In addition to working for a publishing house, Ellie has a freelance business where she can make you incredible book layouts. Totally check her out! Ellie at Move To The Write! Also, if you're a writer of quirky books and are looking for a different kind of publisher, Ellie's started a house called Common Deer Press! 

They're so beautiful! I can hardly handle it!

Meanwhile, I got my purple re-purpled in preparation for our upcoming book signing. My stylist usually flat irons it, but this time, she decided to curl it. I'm all up for different! 

Deek and I can't help but sing "Purple Hair" to the tune of "Purple Rain" every time we talk about my purple hair! 

We hope you'll join us for the Rhew 2 Rhew tour starting on Monday (April 11)! Deek's up first, so I can guarantee humorous posts! I mean, he made this picture for his launch day, so you know his posts will be good...

See you around the internet! ((HUGS))