About Me
I am a thirty-two year old woman who has been married for over five years. We have no kids yet, but we are trying. I love to read and write, but also like to be adventurous. Some of my exploits include international travel to two other continents besides North America, jumping from planes, rappelling, white water rafting, skiing, and shooting various types of weapons. I served in the military so some of those things were a result of my service, but I loved (almost) every minute of it.
My sense of humor can be dark at times, but I still always believe in being respectful of others. The world is full of diverse people with differing opinions, customs, and beliefs. I love learning about them all and hate when people fear what they do not understand.
I set up this blog as a place for readers and writers to meet and discuss books. The topics posted here cater to both groups. I do try my best to help the published authors (indie and trad) get the word out about their books. It is great interacting with everyone as I learn a lot from other people’s thoughts and experiences.
Please do stop by and comment. I will look forward to the various visitors coming in to see what I post. Should you need to email me about anything regarding the site and do not wish to do it on the suggestions page, please refer to the Contact page.
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Note– The photo you see of the woman looking away is actually me. It was taken at a medieval fair I attended in 2012. I commissioned Claudia at Phat Puppy Art to cut my body out of the original and put me into the background you see. Please do not copy or repost without my permission. There is a button if you scroll down the right hand side of the page that includes the blog title. You are free to copy it in whole and post on your own site if you wish. Even better if you link it back to this one!
Angela Wallace
kerraangelsandwarriors
Suzie
Tim Greaton
Musings of Mistress of the Dark Path 
My ex jumped out of planes too – never quite understood why anyone would choose to do that!!
Looks like you’ve got a great bunch of books listed. I’ll keep checking back!
It makes you feel alive, particularly after it’s over, lol. Also, they gave me a whole $150 a month to do it. How could I pass that opportunity up?
Well Susan, you’d have to drag me out screaming and kicking the whole way!! If the plane was going down, I’d probably take my chances staying inside. My hat’s off to you, girl! You’ve got guts.
MM, even though I did get injured doing it a number of times (back, elbow, neck, and sprained ankle, along with an assortment of bruises), it really was fun. I admit toward the end I started to get scared of it. The problem is once you sign the contract, you are legally obligated to jump because the military spends tens of thousands of dollars training you. If you back out and refuse then the punishment is not fun. Besides, all the guys just expected the women to get scared and back out. I would have rather leaped out of that plane into my death before prove them right. I know, the whole “pride comes before the fall” thing really fits here.
Jeez, I would not make a good travel companion. I’m afraid of heights, haven’t flown in 25 years (except in my dreams), I’m afraid of the dark, the Wizard of Oz gave me nightmares, yet I write about ghosts, shapeshifters, the paranormal, and everything else X-Fileish.
lol, Sandy, at least you can live vicariously through your writing. That is something!
Love the site changes and I have sent you site to all the authors that I know 🙂 Hope they join the fun that you have created here!
Thanks Kerra. Glad you are joining as a contributor. Will look forward to your post about the radio show.
Susan: Thanks so much for the opportunity to post and communicate. ‘Hope we can return the favor in a big way 🙂
Tim Greaton
I’m glad to see you posting Tim. Hope you can make it by often!
Hi Mistress Suzie,
One of the few places I can actually be an Author, since Amazon took that little link away from me. I am so proud of all that you have done and all that you are doing. You remind me of my son, a very strong willed, even handed full of life person. When the going gets tuff you get tuffer. Keep on trucking girl, and keep up the good work.
Rhonda
Ahh, Rhonda, thanks. My day is always brighter for chatting with you all. I’m glad there is a place we can do it freely!
Best of Luck with your writing,
I’m a student, though not a very accomplished writer, I love to read and write, especially those which I can relate with myself.
I hear(actually i see), that you have done some study in Middle East, – You know I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions about it, since I am a part of it ;/
Best of Luck!
Thank you for stopping by! I’m not a published writer myself, just do it for fun, but I host all the published authors on this site so they can get the word out on their writing. Please do feel free to contribute if you are interested in any of the topics.
As for the Middle East, I have traveled to Iraq, Jordan, Qatar, and Syria so I have some personal experience of the region along with my studies. I’m also married to an Iraqi and speak some Arabic. Your blog mentions Pakistan, which I have limited knowledge, but not nearly as much as other areas since I focused on Gulf countries. The Middle East is rich in history, culture, and political intrigue which can easily take a lifetime to begin to understand.
My opinions on the region are more balanced than most because I tend to look at all sides. I have a very good idea of why there has been so much conflict and it has a lot to do with outside influences, particularly since WWI and the fall of the Ottoman empire. To go into any further detail, though, could end up becoming a rather long comment. If you are curious about specifics, feel free to ask over in the off topic page of this blog. I will be happy to answer questions as long as their not personal in nature.
Yes, Pakistan is not actually a middle eastern country.
Its nice to see that you are interested in the Middle – Eastern culture, I see that you are a person that looks at all the sides, before giving an opinion.
Thats good, because half of us, including myself sometimes, believe and get influenced by what is being portrayed by the media or the people around us.
These countries really do have a diverse, beautiful culture with wonderful people. We fail to appreciate it, and rather base our opinions on what other people, mainly the media portray it to be.
Thanks for replying, 🙂
I am glad to see you are doing well and happy, hope you live long and prosperous
Well the grass certainly is greener here, literally. I cant say I miss the swamp ass summers of Oklahoma, that humidity and those insects are just unbearable. Not to mention the police, many people have lived there and never had an issue, and ive ran into some nice cops there, but the majority of them, well, I suppose due to a severe lack of real crime to deal with, and perhaps a surplus of time and resources, have a penchant to look at me as if they would like to shove a nightstick where the night is predominant, I will never go back, only thing I miss about the place is friends and family, and my son. Maybe its just me, but I never get tickets here, there, I cant even keep a drivers licence, ive detected a clear pattern, and regardless of the reasons, be it my fault or otherwise, Oklahoma is not a nice place for me. Its not healthy for me, nor is it safe. I prefer to steer clear entirely if I can afford to do so.
Now I have lived in both states and have a basis for comparison. You know the only parking tickets I ever got were in California? Hardly my fault if they don’t have enough places to put a person’s car! California is still trying to make me pay taxes for the years I lived there despite the soldiers ans sailors relief act that says a service person only has to pay to one state (their home state). I sent them the appropriate paperwork to verify this, but they keep nagging me. On the flip side, it is a more beautiful state and there is a lot to do there. The skiing at Lake Tahoe was great and the beaches were nice even if the water was too cold. I do give it that, but found the average Oklahoman is much more friendly. Mostly all I got from Californians was harrassment when wearing a military uniform. They were very mean to me for that. Not all of them, of course, but enough to put a sour taste in my mouth. I didn’t appreciate being told to “get the hell out of their state” and another soldier didn’t like having fruit thrown at his car. You would never see that happen in Oklahoma. When my father was staying with me out there, he used to flip the protestors off since I wasn’t allowed to, lol.
Oh I just looked around and realized I should post something, I am working on my first book! Its just about finished, I will post it.
I saw the post you put up and replied. It can’t be added to the listings until it is released, but once you have a place for people to buy it, let me know. Looks really interesting. Also, I will need the genre and wordcount for it.
I posted two books but I don’t know if I did it right. Let me know! Eileen
Eileen, you did fine. Your books are officially posted on the main genre pages and I have added you to the author listings page. Thank you for stopping by!
California is a state with quite a history that we can be proud of. The latest trouble is the politicians that have dug a hole that they are finding it difficult to get out of. The sad part is that same hole is being dug around the world. I feel for the men & women returning from service to their country. We had better give some thought to what they will be doing. After all there are enough people looking for jobs, that we should consider problems that may be just around the corner.
thanks for leaving your address—what is the name of book with vampire you were talking to Kitty about?
Joy, here is the book. Ignore the cover for it as that doesn’t reflect the book at all! The introduction is a bit slow, but keep faith because things will get crazy soon.
appreciate it–Joy
Hi Susan,
All this time on your site and this is the first time I noticed the About me page.
I’m glad that I found it. I’m glad to get to know a little bit more about you. I don’t think I mention it often enough. You are a wonderful ‘hostess’ and I really love your site. I share it quite often with others.
Lynn
I’m surprised you didn’t notice it until recently as well Lynn. I get visits on this page nearly every day. They’re probably people wondering who the crazy woman running this blog is.
I guess because I get the others directly on my e-mail. I was looking for something else on your blog and ran across it.
I don’t think you are crazy. I think you are fun-loving. I have a former brother-in-law who also jumped out of perfectly good air-crafts for the Army.
We won’t talk about my experience with a Chinook…let’s just say I discovered I don’t do well in heat and movement. One of my friends reminds me from time to time of what I did to his shoes on that trip. Heck, I was in high school…what did I know. (smile)
Lol, that makes sense. If you want another page to explore, go check out the new “A sentence at a time” that got started this morning. We are all having a lot of fun making a story on it. You can find its title link just above this one.
As for Chinooks, the only time I rode in one inside the US was to jump out of it. I also rode in them a number of times in Iraq and thankfully did not have to jump out! They are better than riding the blackhawk, though. That is a much more nerve racking experience. Especially if you have to hang your legs out the side while its flying. That probably would not have been good for you at all!
I’ll have to check that one out. (I do have things to do but having fun…helps balance out the day.)
Yes, hanging my legs out the door…not happening. I don’t care to much for heights either. Well maybe it is the fear of falling and landing in a tangled mess.
How often do you do your writing competitions? Are they of your own generation? What are the themes of other competitions? I’m a young writer, hoping to get published. I don’t normally write short stories, more like novellas. I’ve written some but I prefer a more extended format. As for jumping out of planes, I’ve never done it but I’d do it in a second.
I do the competitions toward the end of each month. They are of my own generation. No one knows what the stipulations will be until they are released for the competition. There isn’t necessarily a theme since I allow for any genre to be used. The only requirements are the ones I name. All rules are posted each time I do the competition. The stories are kept short for several reasons. One being time, since most people don’t have a lot of it. I also want the competition to be something that people feel comfortable participating in whether they have published books or not. The winner for the last compeition is not published and doesn’t normally write much so it goes to show that anyone has a chance to win so long as they are creative and have a way with words.
The point of my competitions is to inspire writers and challenge them. Short stories work well because my prompts give just enough that even someone facing writers block feel they can come up with something. I have had people who actually want to take their short stories later and flesh them out further. That is, of course, entirely up to them. You are welcome to participate in the next one. It will begin in just a couple weeks. Now that several competions have passed, I plan to put up a seperate page listing winners as well as links to each of the monthly competitions. That should be up soon.
You can find the previous three competitions and their stipulations by going to the top of this page and clicking on “Categories” and selecting “contests”. That will give you a listing of all the competition posts. Click on them to see how the others have gone. You will see the subject matter changes each time and is rather unique. I have yet to see anyone write anything boring with my prompts, no matter what kind of writer they are. It actually makes my job of selecting finalists that much harder! Feel free to ask any other questions 🙂
Your blog deserves a big following for the chances you give to authors to list books. As soon as my book is listed I intend to broadcast your site to anyone who will listen starting with 900+ Facebook friends.
Keep up the good work.
It is still a relatively new blog, created just a few short months ago, but I’m happy with the steady increase of new followers. Thanks for stopping by! Your books is now listed 🙂
Hi Mistress, nice site… Thanks and well done. If it’s okay with you, I’ll post Firebird in a few days (I’ve got an improved cover going up soon)…?
Good to see your writing progress and it made a few (possibly useless) thoughts spring to mind from my own experiences. I offer them only in the hope that you might find them helpful or encouraging:
1. Write when you want to (not when you don’t)
2. Just sitting thinking about your story is a good thing (i.e. don’t berate yourself, you may well be surprised at what suddenly starts to happen)
3. Don’t try to write fully finished prose; it’ll never happen, editing is a must – not least because your writing style and skills will increase dramatically during the process (so if you get stuck just mark any dodgy text with [square brackets], keep pouring the story out and sort the rough edges later)
4. Don’t try to write front to back (if you suddenly find yourself in a future scene, write it down while it’s alive in your head and then bring all the pieces together later)
5. Theme music helps… loud (optional)… and headphones (mandatory, if you want to keep your friends/neighbours!)
🙂 Cheers, AB
Hey Anthony! Definitely post your book over on the advertisements page when you get a chance. You have some great writing tips and I appreciate that you imparted them to me. Every bit of advice helps. Music can certainly be an inspiration for when I’m brain storming, but I usually have to leave it off while actually writing. You are right that I shouldn’t try to make everything so perfect the first time around as well, though it can be hard not to try!
Thanks Susan 🙂 I’m with you on it’s “hard not to try”… try out the square brackets thing – it’s a trick I picked up from working with lawyers over the last few years… they’re easy to search and I find they help me to keep with the flow when the creative juices are flowing… Cheers!
Thanks, it will most definitely be worth giving a try.
Cheers!
Wish I had your traveling experience. You can keep the jumping from planes bit though. 😉
Congrats on the Bachelors and good luck with your writing! This site is awesome. THANKS!
Thanks, glad you stopped by! As for traveling, I love seeing new things. The more different the place is, the better. My husband think I’m nuts, though.
Hi Susan,
You have been tagged for a special award. Please see our blog for the details:
http://callsignwreckingcrew.blogspot.com/2011/12/being-honored.html
Hope you’re having a great one!
Lynn
I nominate you for the Liebster Award!