My Diary

My Goals for 2012

by ** Tatiana Caldwell ** on January.31.2012

I took some time this month to reflect on the goals I set last year, my progress against them, and what I’d like to accomplish this year. Last year, I listed ten goals, and only accomplished four and a half of them.  They were all big goals, and I faltered under the pressure I put on myself. So this year I’m going to keep the list sweet and simple, and attainable. If I do above and beyond, fantastic, but otherwise just achieving the items on this list will put me on the right path towards where I want to be.

  1. Write 1 story each quarter. Can be any length – short story to full-length novel. Doesn’t matter if it’s a polished manuscript ready to be submitted for publishing or just a rough first draft that may never get read by another living soul. Every three months I’d simply like to have one of the hundreds of stories in my head captured from beginning to end.
  2. Get 3 works published, or at least have 3 works contracted or scheduled for publishing by the end of the year.
  3. Continue to exercise 5 days a week for at least 40 minutes. This will be a cinch because I’ve found some great exercises that I love, including various cardio dance routines, aerobics videos, strength and flexibility training routines in 10 minute increments, speed walking, skating and stair climbing. Family Exercise Time will also continue to be a big deal in our house.
  4. Play more. All work and no play makes Tati a dull (and unhappy) girl! I will make board, card and video game time with the family a bigger priority, as well as taking a little time each week to play the kind of solo games that I love.
  5. Complete one big side project  that I’ve either started or have been itching to start, such as my visual novel project, an anthology of short-stories or novellas, audio books, and other ideas. I just have to make up my mind which one to focus on – unfortunately, I can’t do it all at once (even though I keep trying :) ).

There, I’ve publicly proclaimed my goals for 2012 before January ended!

Tagged as: goals

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13 Things Distracting Me

by ** Tatiana Caldwell ** on January.19.2012

So I’m only now realizing that it’s almost 20 days into the new year, and I haven’t posted a single thing. *laughs* I mean sure, I did take a week off for vacation and got caught up in some other things, but man – I could have sworn I’d posted something like already.

Here are 13 things that have me starting off the year so distracted:

  1. Skyrim. What an addictive game! This isn’t the first RPG I’ve played and enjoyed in this series or by Bethesda Game Studios, but it just may be the first one I actually complete. It’s that good. Bethesda  is well known for making HUGE fantasy worlds players can openly explore for hundreds of hundreds, and where you can pretty much play it any way you want. 
  2. My hormones. Not sure what’s been up with me lately, but sex has been on my mind an awful lot. Okay, by awful lot I mean WAY more than is usual. For me.
  3. My husband. Due directly to distraction #2. The poor man isn’t sure if he’s one lucky bastard or an unfortunate victim of marital sexual assault these days. I say the former (and its not like husbands get the right to say no anyway :-P )
  4. The job. I just deployed a new time and resource management software system to a new part of the business this week, and have been working overtime to get prepare before we went live and afterwards to support the kinks.
  5. Dance Central 2. Finding the motivation to get my daily cardio in has never been easier. This game is for the Xbox Kinect, which means you there is no holding any controllers or cheating by only moving your arms when you play – you are really, truly, dancing. And burning mad calories and breaking a sweat. All the while working to improve your score and top your friends’ scores or challenge them to dance battle. It even has 2-player mode, which make my husband and I the life of the party with we bust out the game and show off our couple-coordinated grooves. Love this game! 
  6. The bills. Let’s just say that somewhere between Halloween and New Year’s we spent way too much. Both the hubby and I have been working out a new budget plan for 2012 that will hopefully not have us in this same situation by the end of this year.
  7. My children. They’re at an age where they’re soaking up everything and craving interaction and attention, and there’s so much to show them, teach them and engage them in. I love how being a parent continuously challenges me to re-evaluate my outlook on and appreciation of almost everything on life, from the child’s perspective.
  8. The family. My family tree is more like a forest, and I swear that all of them were ready to party this holiday season. Every single weekend since like Thanksgiving there’s been a party, dinner or some other invite that I was harassed into attending.
  9. YouTube. Seriously, who needs to subscribe to cable television these days? There’s some seriously funny stuff out there (both unintentionally and brilliantly done) that I wish wasn’t so easy to watch over and over. And to add insult to injury the site has the nerve to recommend similar videos.
  10. The fiction writing. These stories are begging to get finished, and are complaining that it’s taking too long!
  11. Glee. It takes a special kind of teen show to not only hold my attention, but have me laughing or yelling at the screen and constantly craving more. This show is one of them.  Not sure why I avoided it for so long, but I am now several episodes into the first season and I’m absolutely loving it! 
  12. The news. Between grown men opening fire on teenagers, mothers sexually abusing their daughters and debates about the SOPA bill, 2012 has started off with some seriously hot topics. I try not to pay them too much attention, but it’s hard not to get sucked in.
  13. … I’m way too distracted to come up with a 13th one.

Tagged as: Thursday Thirteen

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I Am Author, Hear Me Read!

by ** Tatiana Caldwell ** on December.21.2011

Me pretending to wear glasses in hopes that I look smart

Earlier this year, I recorded myself reading a couple of pages from two of my novellas for a audiobook contest. I didn’t win the contest, but I learned a ton about narration, doing voice recording and the challenge of getting quality audio recorded, plus I had a lot of fun in the process. So much fun in fact, that I just may consider creating audiobooks for all of my work on my own at some point. After I get in some more practice, of course.

That is, unless folks really don’t think I have the voice for it and highly recommend I get a professional. :) Take a listen, and please let me know what you think!

CLICK THE LINKS BELOW TO HAVE A LISTEN

~ SAY MY NAME Audio Sample ~

~ THE SUMMONING Audio Sample ~

 

 

Tagged as: audiobooks, extras, media, SAY MY NAME, The Summoning

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Tati’s Checkup: 12.19.2011

by ** Tatiana Caldwell ** on December.19.2011

Feels like it’s been so long since I’ve last checked in with an update. How about I start by getting some of the not-so-good things out? Unfortunately it’s a list:

The Bad:

  • I haven’t finished a single of my works in progress since WAY OUT OF CONTROL.  Yup, I’ve been a bad, bad writer. Please forgive me, Santa!
  • I’ve been feeling so guilty and upset about not finishing anything, that I’ve avoided the blog and social networking for the most part, because it’d meant I’d have to admit that nothing’s been completed.
  • This has not been a good year for the spirit – two deaths in the family, mild case of depression, and work deadlines up the wazoo hasn’t get me climb out of the glums.
  • My website got hacked. It got it back up again, but I’m still in the process of cleaning up some of the mess in the background.

The Good:

I may not have completed anything in a while, but I have been writing. I have several works in various stages of progress. All of the premises feel exciting to me and I’m struggling with staying focused on just one at a time, but I’m working on disciplining myself.

Spent some good quality time with some great writerly friends in person. It’s so therapeutic and motivating to talk with others who have or who are going through similar ups and downs. Don’t know why I don’t do this more often.

My paranormal novella THE SUMMONING, was nominated for Best Erotic PNR – Angels and Demons 2011 at The Romance Reviews last month. It didn’t come in first place, but I’m still stoked just for even receiving the nomination. Thanks for all of your votes!

I finally finished the revamped website / blog design, too. Hopefully this color scheme is easier on the eyes than the white text on black background. What do you think?

The Work In Progress:

I still have those same FIVE manuscripts in various stages of progress. I’m setting myself a goal to finish at least one of them by the end of this month, and I’m letting you all know so you can help keep me accountable. Threaten to spank me, bite me, or pull my hair if I don’t.

On second thought, don’t – I might like that.

Tagged as: Weekly Update

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13 Life Lessons – 2011 Brithday Edition

by ** Tatiana Caldwell ** on August.11.2011

Two days ago, I  just celebrated my birthday.  Another year lived.  Another year of lessons learned.  As part of my annual birthday blogging ritual, I’d like to take a moment to share a few of the ones I’ve learned this year (go here to see my previous ones):

  1. Do have a plan.
  2. Do have a backup plan in case the first plan fails.
  3. Don’t overplan. Be careful – it is possible to do so much planning, that you don’t leave any time for actual doing.
  4. Avoiding and ignoring are not the same thing. Avoiding is the prevention of something from happening. Ignoring is pretending that what already happened, didn’t.
  5. Avoid unnecessary drama and your life will be much less stressful.
  6. But not all drama is unnecessary … there are some things worth fighting over, worth getting upset and loud about, worth defending. Learn to tell the difference between what’s petty and what’s hefty.
  7. Sometimes, it’s not what you do that’s the problem. It’s who you’re doing it for and with, and why.
  8. The way you present or position something will drastically affect how it is perceived. Little girls dancing with a horizontal pole? It’s called Ballet and is widely praised. Little girls dancing with a vertical pole? It’s called Obscene and widely detested.
  9. There are some absolutely brilliant, amazing women in this world. Don’t underestimate the female persuasion.
  10. Rebooting fixes way more than just computers.
  11. It’s easy to be your own worst enemy. Stop fighting with yourself and become your biggest champion, your most generous supporter.
  12. Doesn’t matter what you look like – you will find it hard to see the pretty on the outside if you feel shitty on the inside.
  13. The better you understand something, the greater your potential to love it. This goes for works of art, skills, spouses, children, and yourself.

What are some of the lessons you learned this year?

Tagged as: life lessons, Relationships, Thursday Thirteen, writing life

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Tati’s Weekly Checkup: 08.08.2011 & Giveaway!

by ** Tatiana Caldwell ** on August.8.2011

The Good:

My third book, sci-fi novella WAY OUT OF CONTROL, comes out next week on August 15, 2011. It stars a bi-racial cop, a female doctor who’s cautious of men, a crazy science experiment, and sexual tension so intense, it’s borderline dangerous. My most explosive story yet!

You can learn more about this story on the book’s page. If you’ve already read the excerpt, you may want to take another look at it as I’ve just updated it with the final, edited version which includes a brand new, sexy flashback scene.

The Bad …

… is far outweighed by the good this week, so let’s skip this section, shall we?

The Work In Progress:

Oh my goodness, my muse has been all over the place, and so at this exact moment in time I have … *pauses to count* FIVE (that’s 5 ya’ll) manuscripts in various phases of in-completion. I’m setting myself a goal to finish at least one of them by the end of this month, and I’m letting you all know so you can help keep me accountable.

The Appreciated & The Giveaway:

Exactly one year ago, I became a published author. Nervous, a little sheepish, and worried about never finding any readers or support. I’m still just as nervous and sheepish, heh, but I no longer agonize about whether or not anyone cares to read any of my work.

Thanks to you.

Without you reading my books, visiting my blog (even you quiet lurkers), leaving supportive comments and sending me emails to personally tell me how much you enjoyed my stories, I might have lost the courage and motivation to continue to pursue publishing.

So in effort to show my appreciation to my supporters, I’m going to giveaway a free digital copy of WAY OUT OF CONTROL to two people who have read one of my books and share their review of it by 7pm central on Saturday, August 13, 2011. Enter by leaving a review for SAY MY NAME at Amazon.com, SAY MY NAME on Barnes and Noble’s website, or  THE SUMMONING on Amazon.com. If you’ve read both of my books or would like to share your review on more than one website, each review posted will count as a separate entry. Winners will be announced by 6pm Sunday, August 14, 2011.

(If you haven’t read any of my books yet, there’ll be a chance for you to win WAY OUT OF CONTROL in a different contest next week, so stay tuned!)

Tagged as: Contest, release date, Way Out Of Control, Weekly Update

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Tati’s Weekly Checkup: 7.18.11

by ** Tatiana Caldwell ** on July.18.2011

Girl Cave
The Good:

  • I took the full first week of July off for vacation, and had a BLAST! We threw a BBQ party, celebrated my oldest’s 7th birthday, visited a waterpark and my favorite museum – Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry. If you’ve never visited, I highly recommend it. It is a very interactive museum with plenty of things to learn, see and do for everyone.
  • Small home renovations in various stages of completion. The guest bathroom on our first floor and the master bathroom have been redecorated, including new paint, new accessories and lovely new light fixtures. We’re working on a full master bedroom makeover now, and making a few small changes to the family room. There’s just something I find so reinvigorating about improving the space I live, work and play in.
  • One renovation in particular resulted in me finally getting my private home office. We already had a shared office on the first floor, but I needed a place where I could kick everyone out, close the door and have my work meetings in quiet and write in solitude. It was a long time coming, but I finally got it. I LOVE my Girl Cave! Thanks to my wonderful hubby for setting it up for me!

The Bad:

  • My vacation ended. And even though I worked overtime to make sure my plate was cleared before I left for vacation, when I returned to work there was piles of stuff I needed to catch up on. This is the start of week 3 of July and I still feel like I’m playing catch-up.

The Cool:

The boys and I got new skates! I love to skate – on roller skates, roller blades, ice skates, but I hadn’t had wheels on my feet in over a decade and my boys had never skated. But last week we remedied that, and now we have  family activity that I’m happy to say builds muscle, burns calories and is a lot of fun.

Also, I’ve been playing around a little bit with the new Google+.  I think it will really grow on me. If you’re on and looking for more circle buddies, feel free to add me. Or let me know if you still need an invite.

The Work In Progress:

The final line edits on my next book, WAY OUT OF CONTROL,  are done, meaning it’ll be soon be ready to hit the virtual shelves. I have a tentative release date of August 1st, so it’s coming soon!

And speaking of renovations, the hubby and I hit a bit of  a stumbling block with the new look for my website, so it is still a work in progress. We’re almost done though, I just need to make up my mind on how I want a couple of things to look. If all goes well, it should be live by next week’s update …

Tagged as: Way Out Of Control, Weekly Update, writer's office, writing space

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Tati’s Weekly Checkup: 06.28.11

by ** Tatiana Caldwell ** on June.28.2011

The Good:

  • A new review for THE SUMMONING has been posted at The Romance Studio. Yay, I like it when people read my
    Boy with Great-GrandmaR work and share their thoughts on it. :-D
  • We went up to Michigan this weekend to visit my husband’s relatives, something we don’t do often enough. It was great to have the kids spend time and bond with the family. I was quite pleased to see my grandmother-in-law up and about, looking happy and healthy, as well as able to chase after my little boys!

The Bad:

  • My father-in-law’s cancer returned. Fortunately, the doctors believe they removed most of the tumor during the surgery last week, and  he is recovering quite well.  Still, it’ scary, worrisome, expensive and draining. Hopefully the cancer stays gone this time …

The Unnerving:

The 6-year-old is trying to understand procreation. LOTS of questions from him recently about babies, pregnancies and gender.

  1. “Does a man and a woman have to be married in order to make a baby?”
  2. “How does a cat get kittens? Do cats get married?”
  3. “If two ladies get married, can they make a baby?”
  4. “How does a baby get out of the mommy’s belly? Does it break through her belly like a baby chicken breaks through the egg shell, and then the doctor glues her belly back together?”

*sighs* As if I didn’t have enough grey hairs already.

The Cool:

My husband and I are taking customers for our website and design services again. We had an especially fun time working with our latest client on her blog/website. Danielle Monsch and her husband were a pleasure to work with, and we are delighted with how the site turned out:

If you or someone you know are looking for an affordable and uniquely customized website or WordPress design, just let me know.

The Work In Progress:

The hubby and I are working to create a new look for our web design site and to slightly alter the layout of this one (I’m beginning to have enough of all the white text on black background, and want to change that up a bit). Both designs are still very much under construction, but hopefully at least one will be done in a week or so.

The revisions and major edits for WAY OUT OF CONTROL have been completed. Now the book just has to go through final line edits and then it’ll get a release date. I suspect it’ll be released by the end of July / early August, so I’ll have to start preparing for promotion soon (plus I have a contest or 2 in mind, so stay tuned! ).

As to the other works in progress I have, I’m going back and forth between three of them. I’ve really been an Indecisive Daisy lately, with my ideas and attention-span wavering all over the place. I’ve decided to quit fighting it for a while and just go wherever my creative juices float me to on a daily basis. Eventually, something will prevail and get done, right?

Tagged as: reviews, The Summoning, Way Out Of Control, web design, Weekly Update

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Tati’s Weekly Checkup: 06.13.11

by ** Tatiana Caldwell ** on June.14.2011

The Good:

  • THE SUMMONING is now available on Amazon.com. So if you’ve been waiting for the book to come out in Kindle format, the wait is over!
  • I accomplished some writing-related (see “Work In Progress”) that didn’t feel crappy. First time in many weeks.
  • I haven’t had any chest pains at all in almost a full week now. All in all, I think I’m finally on the road to recovery. *glee*

The Bad:

  • Realized that I have to be very careful when playing word games. I can easily get sucked into Scrabble on Facebook or Words With Friends on my android. *sighs* Unfortunately I think I’m going to have to slowly ween myself from them. Again. Unless I can keep it under control, but we’ll see. You hear that, friends? No more having 3, 4 and 5 games going with me at once!!

The Cool:

  • We’ve forgone cable television for 2 weeks now. The husband and I haven’t missed it a bit – we were pretty much gamers and Netflixers anyway. Not even the children have complained about the lack in cable channels, and actually seem to prefer being able to just look at whatever they want through Hulu, Netflix and Youtube on our Smart TV.

The Work In Progress:

I’m just about finished with the first round of revisions for WAY OUT OF CONTROL suggested by my editor. I’ve sent it to my critique partner and as soon as I get her feedback on the more extensive changes I’ve made, I’ll send it back to the editor.

Now I’ll have the time and the energy to focus again on one of the many unfinished manuscripts I have in the works. Let’s see, which one should it be? The human/alien romance one? The paranormal one? The one set in space? Or the (yet another) new idea I’ve been brewing? We shall see! Hopefully soon. :)

Tagged as: The Summoning, Way Out Of Control

{ 732 comments }

Tati’s Weekly Checkup: 06.06.11

by ** Tatiana Caldwell ** on June.6.2011

Gardening

The Good:

  • So far so good with the new job. I have a great team with some really interesting projects lined up, and a lot of autonomy and flexibility about how I get my work done. And I’m finally in the part of the organization I’ve wanted to join for years. I’m an excited gal!
  • I’ve been having a lot of fun getting some therapeutic gaming time in, and sharing it with Fly Girl Gamers. I was most recently over there reviewing the anime Ouran High Host Club.
  • The lovely weather has also played a big part in brightening up my mood. It’s hard not to have a smile stuck on my face while teaching my sons how to hop on a  pogo stick, or gardening with my family.

The Bad:

  • Still having minor chest pains that come and go, ever since the ER trip. I’ve been taking it easy, not stressing too much about writing, making sure to get some fun game time and taking long family walks in the in the evenings after work. There’s a few more stressors in my life that I’m working to alleviate, so if all of this is just the physical manifestation of the anxiety I’d been keeping bottled up, I’m optimistic that I’ll remedy all of this soon.
  • Our beloved television died. Just started randomly displaying oddly colored blotches right over the images on the screen. There’s an emotional and financial attachment to a nice TV set.

The Cool:

  • The new television is better than the old! With features like SMART TV (Internet TV) and 3D viewing options, we’re not missing the old one a bit and were able to get rid of our pricey cable subscription. Best of all we got it for quite a bargain, and I love getting a good deal.

The Work In Progress:

Right now I’m working with my editor on revisions for WAY OUT OF CONTROL. We have a deadline to get all major editing done by the end of the month, so I’ve been focusing on that. Once that task’s done, I have another novella in the works that I need to heavily revise before I submit it for potential publication. So although it seems as if I’m moving slower than a turtle on the writing front, at least there some progress happening.

Tagged as: Way Out Of Control, Weekly Update

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