Some of you know that I have a hard time taking a day off, but there are days when it can’t be avoided. Days when the family is all free, the sky is blue (and it happens to not be giving me a headache), and adventure calls.

This past Wednesday was one of those days, and it happened to also be Canada Day.

Instead of blabbering on about the amazing day we had, I thought I’d just share some pictures. It really was fantastic. We packed up and headed to Twillingate (NL) for the afternoon, which is packed with so much natural beauty it’s almost overwhelming. We didn’t get out on a whale-watching tour (I’ll get you guys out for one of those soon!), but we did see some amazing things.

And since the landscapes in the Bound trilogy are inspired by places in Newfoundland (including Twillingate), it seems entirely appropriate to share these here.

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This isn’t Twillingate. I took this the night before our adventure when I was out walking the dog. But LOOK AT IT.

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Bright skies and good company. Newfoundland is covered in fantastic spots for hiking, climbing every mountain (or every other mountain if you’re feeling sluggish), and relaxing.

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We spotted a sea monster basking near the shore. It stayed very still until we left. Must be shy.

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Sand is swell, but I do love a good pebble beach.

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And there was some climbing of rocks, because they were there.

Mind that first step. It’s a doozie.

The highlight of the afternoon (okay, besides finding amazing praline-caramel fudge at a lighthouse gift shop) was watching an iceberg roll over. The only people there with us to see it were a very nice couple from Vancouver, so it felt like a private show. The berg kept making booming noises, first when a piece fell off and then as it rolled. Very cool.

This is how it looked when we came over the hill:

And then a piece broke off and crashed into the water at the back, sending the whole thing off balance so that it rolled toward us.

At this point I realized, hey, I could be taking video of this, so the last picture is after it stopped turning:

It was fairly amazing. It took about three minutes for this massive chunk of glacial ice to flip completely.

You can find the video on my Facebook page (just scroll down)

We ended the day with a trip up to the lighthouse at Crow Head, where I found the aforementioned fudge, and we took a little walk behind the lighthouse.

It was funny last year, it’s still funny now. #Maturity

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So that was it, aside from a little chilling on my in-laws’ back deck to end the day. I hope you all had an amazing Canada Day, Fourth of July, or whatever else you may have celebrated last week. Let me know in the comments what you’ve been up to!

GIVEAWAY on a fantastic book! Click on over for details.

Reblogging for author types who may be confused, or for anyone who sees click-bait headlines trying to freak people out. Authors are still getting paid the same amount as we were before for every book you purchase on Amazon. We still set our prices and get the same share. Amazon’s new payment system only affects borrows through Kindle Unlimited, and it now pays more for gripping, high-quality, and longer books than it does for short stories and books people don’t want to finish. I consider this a positive change, even if it means some of us need to make adjustments in our plans or marketing tactics. This post is a great explanation if you’re looking for one.

A few days late (oops!), but here’s the release announcement for the first book in Krista Walsh’s Cadis Trilogy, which we did the cover reveal for here a while back. Ebook is on sale for 99 cents! I read this one before publication. It’s a great read if you’re into adventure and intrigue, and if you love a salty-mouthed heroine as much as I do. Many of you are familiar with Krista’s work (and Venn) from the Meratis trilogy, and this is a good place to either jump in or continue the story. First chapter reveal included if you click through!

I know, I usually do cover reveals on Mondays. But when a super nice debut author asks whether people can help out on a Tuesday, I’m definitely not going to say no. I haven’t read this one yet, but I know Mariella’s been pouring her heart and soul into it, and I wish her all the best!

No release date yet, but she’s aiming for some time in June at the latest.

-K

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DISSONANCE

Fifteen-year-old Allie Grant lives crippled by her illness. Though kept in isolation, she’s never alone: A spirit named Song lurks in the silence of her bedroom.

When Song reveals its dark nature on the night of her recital, the show ends in tragedy. Verging on death, Allie’s taken in by an uncle she’s never met.

Julian claims to be a Muse with power over music and answers that’ll heal her. The cure she needs is rare, requiring of him a difficult sacrifice. Allie soon suspects her uncle has a secret that’ll turn her world around.

But with days left to live, she might fade without learning the truth…like the finishing chord of a song.

(YA Urban Fantasy)

About the Author:
Mariella Hunt is a writer with a strong love for coffee and guinea pigs. She likes using big words in everyday speech, and keeps journals of quotes from the greats.

Most days you’ll find her on a well-loved armchair, reading–or working on one of her many projects. As she cannot stick to an outline, she rewrites way too much.

FREE BOOK! YAAAAY!

…again. I know.

I was going to share something this week, but I’ve already shared part of the scene I re-wrote today.

Yeah, re-wrote. From someone else’s POV. It was interesting, actually. Time-consuming, but interesting. Here’s hoping the rest of the re-writes I need to do go so smoothly.

Anyway, there’s not much point sharing it again. Also, I don’t have time to visit everyone in the hop (because WORKING), and it feels selfish to ask people to read mine when I can’t reciprocate.

*sigh* Maybe next week.

ROW80 Update

Okay, so my big goal right now is just getting through these edits, which were more in-depth than anticipated. Things are going well. I’m not saying that a few days of (horribly distracted) meditation have made a difference already, but today I got through rewriting a full chapter (~4000 words) and editing the next one without getting distracted by Facebook*, etc. Yaaay!

This means I’m ready to crack chapter 5 tomorrow. Assuming I can continue to average nearly 2 chapters a day, I’ll have this done some time in the second week of February.

I hope I’ll get a few weekend days to work, which would speed things up, but there are no guarantees. My husband works shifts, and isn’t necessarily around to watch the kids when they’re home. They kind of need supervision, y’know?

And there’s something happening that may eat his only weekend off this month… but we’ll talk about that another time.

Maybe.

IN ANY CASE, things are moving forward, I’m learning to focus a tiny bit better, and things are looking good.

I’ll have a release date ASAP (meaning after edits are done and after readers take another crack at it to make sure I haven’t messed things up with all of this awesomefication. Yeah, it’s a word.)

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Okay. Time for me to go help smallish people with homework and spend some quality time with largeish person.

Bye for now!

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*Okay, it’s not that I’m ignoring Facebook completely. I use it for word sprints with other writers. The point is, I’m getting through the sprints without getting distracted. This is huge for me. Really.