Why I wrote War of the Seasons & Happy Birthday Will, TK8432

I sometimes get asked why I wrote War of the Seasons: The Human. Today seemed like an appropriate day to answer that question. If you own a copy of my book and you look at the dedication you'll see it's "For Will." Who was Will? William Harrell Snell was born on March 26, 1990 and died in a car accident on Aug 4, 2008. This was the memorial I wrote about Will a week after he died: I first met Will in the Spring of 2003. I was walking down Elm St in Swansboro, NC. I was looking for a place to rent, since my apartment in New Bern was in the ghetto and there had been a drive-by shooting, and Ron (who was currently stationed in Pensacola, FL) was not comfortable with me living there alone any more. I stopped at a home (204 Elm st) that had a man working on a bike outside. His name was Jimmy, and I asked him if there were any homes for rent in the area. He said he didn't know, so called for his wife, Beth to come out side and answer. Beth came out, and we were introduced, and was very shortly followed by a young, gangly looking boy. That was Will. ☺ We talked and socialized, and I met Laura too (her daughter) & Beth took my name and number, and said she'd call if she thought of anything. Well, she called not 30 minutes later and said she couldn't bare to think of me living all alone in the ghetto, and would I like to move in with she and her son Will? (her daughter was at school, and her husband lived in their home in Columbia, SC, and Beth was renting that house since she was an activated Naval reservist). Of course I said yes! Living in a charming 100 year old home, on the water in Swansboro, NC with a sweet woman and her adorable son was about a million times better then living alone in the ghetto. I started moving my things in the next day. Will and I clicked instantly. He was so much like my litt [...]

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Thrifty French Fashion & a guest fashionista (plus a bit of MidSouthCon)

I'm on my way home from MidSouthCon & I'm completely exhausted. But in a good way. My con experience was great - I met a lot of really wonderful new people (see above photo), forged new friendships, and my books found many new homes. I'll post a full con recap in the next couple days (after I get the pics off my phone). So for now I give you... You might be asking yourself (because I know I'm certainly asking myself), why the heck is this author/Marine/mother/wife writing a fashion blog? Aren't there like a bajillion fashion blogs out there? Why do we need another? We probably don't, and I don't think I'm a fashionista at all, but apparently some of my friends and family do, and they asked me to do one, soooo... I figured this would be kind of fun to do. So there. You can see my first post HERE, where I go into the basics of my style & kind of what my shopping "motto" is (never pay full price for anything), and that patience is a virtue (wait 3 years to find a specific pair of $250 Fluevog shoes for $40? Why yes I did...) ~~~~~ French Fashion Special Agenda? Not really - Congress wasn't in session on this day, so I decided to go for a more casual, yet femini [...]

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My very own Rue, a Hunger Games Fashion (er, costume) Post

I realized tonight how old I am - 10pm rolled around and my eyes were heavy & I thought how in the world am I going to make it to midnight? But I did, and of course went to see the The Hunger Games in costume (because that's how I roll). But before I go off on a tangent let me just say that YES I LOVED THIS FILM. It was probably one of the best film adaptations of a book I've ever seen. Everyone played their parts perfectly, and Effie Trinket stole the show for me! I cannot wait for Catching Fire! Now back to costumes. The Hunger Games trilogy, aside from being a set of books that both my husband and I adored, were also the first books our daughter loved - they were her "gateway books" if you will, and she is always reading now. You have no idea how happy this makes me (or perhaps you do :) ). As soo as she finished reading The Hunger Games she asked me if I would make her a Rue costume. Um YES. Given that she was 12 years old, Rue's exact age? HECK YES. SO, one weekend before Christmas I whipped out a Rue costume for the Youngling, a Katniss for myself, and Peeta for my husband, because why NOT make it a family affair? And it just so happened that we spent Christmas right near where they filmed the movie in North Carolina, so of course we HAD to get pictures. SPOILER ALERT *STOP READING IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM OR READ THE BOOK*[...]

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Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Dear Readers, YES, I am still working on my book! In fact, I think I may have finally cracked the code on Chapter 1, which has been giving me FITS. Fits I tell you! I've never been this blocked before. But, I don't know, Thursday during a run my mind cleared up and I was able to combine some advice from my many beta readers and fellow authors (I LOVE conventions for this very reason - the creativity just energizes me), and I think I came up with a solution to my problems. The Half-Blood should get back on track shortly. YAY! That said, while I did not intend to do another Thrifty Fashion post this soon, in honor of St. Patrick's Day, I give you a fun green themed post! You might be asking yourself (because I know I'm certainly asking myself), why the heck is this author/Marine/mother/wife writing a fashion blog? Aren't there like a bajillion fashion blogs out there? Why do we need another? We probably don't, and I don't think I'm a fashionista at all, but apparently some of my friends and family do, and they asked me to do one, soooo... I figured this would be kind of fun to do. So there. You can see my first post HERE, where I go into the basics of my style & kind of what my shopping "motto" is (never pay full price for anything), and that patience is a virtue (wait 3 years to find a specific pair of $250 Fluevog shoes for $40? Why yes I did...) ~~~~~ Green Vintage Special Agenda?Yes! Given that it was the day before St. Patrick's Day and the last day of the work week is typically more casual (because Congress is usually not in session) I wanted to wea [...]

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Thrifty Fashion: First Post

You might be asking yourself (because I know I'm certainly asking myself), why the heck is this author/Marine/mother/wife writing a fashion blog? Aren't there like a bajiollion fashion blogs out there? Why do we need another? We probably don't, and I don't think I'm a fashionista at all, but apparently some of my friends and family do, and they asked me to do one, soooo... I figured this would be kind of fun to do. So there. I guess since one definition of the word is "a woman with a penchant for shopping and a natural flair for combining both current and vintage fashionable trends" and I do like to combine styles... That said, my personal style is constantly evolving (i.e., when I was 16, to me the height of fashion was jeans, Birkenstocks, and a Beatles t-shirt... okay I'll be honest, some days this is still the height of fashion for me). Now, what I wear is driven in part by the situation. For example, I am currently working on Capitol Hill as a Marine Liaison Officer for the House of Representatives. I wear a uniform one day a week instead of everyday - this means I wear a lot of professional civilian clothing. Still, I try to show my own flair and personality in my clothes, while still maintaining a professional appearance appropriate to my surroundings. Oh, and I absolutely LOVE thrift stores, vintage, used, handmade clothing, clearance sales, you name it. In fact, I get a bit ill if I pay full price for anything. Bleh. So yes, it IS possible to look great without spending half your pay check doing it! You've got to go by the old adage (my friend Caitlin told me about): [...]

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StellarCom 2012 Wrap-up

My, I've gotten younger and cuter... Attending StellarCon as an invited guest was instead of a paying attendee was both surreal and a bit like coming full circle. Eight years ago when my husband and I were stationed in Eastern North Carolina I'd first heard about StellarCon from my friend, Podcasting's Rich Sigfrit. When I looked online at the guest list I became ridiculously excited: Aaron Allston, Michael Stackpole, and Timothy Zahn, my 3 FAVORITE Star Wars authors, were going to be there! That was it, we were going - I packed up all my Allston/Stackpole/Zahn books in a suitcase (I had a LOT), dug out my Jedi costume, and Ron, Rich, & I piled into our car. Like the the fan girl I was I went absolutely joyful/crazy upon meeting these three men, who had kept me entertained in my teens and early twenties, and in some part, the X-Wing books had given my my initial love for flying. This weekend was also when we were first introduced to the 501st, the largest Star Wars costuming fan club - a club we joined later that year. Little did I know that in the course of that weekend I would forge lasting friendships with Aaron, Mike, Tim, and the many members of the Carolina Garrison in the 501st (that weekend specifically, Cheralyn Lambeth, Chris Burnside, and Todd Lacey). Here I am meeting Tim Zahn for the first time, 8 years ago. I went on to win first prize in the costume contest that night - my very FIRST costume contest! So to come back eight years later as a guest author and find myself on a pan [...]

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What's in a name? pt. 2

In my quest to delay actually starting on the final draft of my most recent novel, I give you a blog post. Last year I received many questions about my last name, Spendlove, so I went into that (it happens to be my maiden name) along with why people choose pen names in this post. Now I'm going to talk a bit about novel names, or more specifically why I just changed the name of my second novel in the War of the Seasons series from The Hunter to The Half-blood. I had been debating swapping book titles between book two and book three for a while once it became clear that book two was not as focused on The Hunter as I'd previously thought it would be. *Caution* Mild spoilers for books two and three from here on out. When I originally came up with names for the books, I decided on "The Hunter" for book two, because it was supposed to be about saving the Hunter. I decided on The Half-Blood for book three because it was supposed to be about saving the Half-bood. I chose The Human for book one because it started with an H and sounded nice with the other two book titles. I do like alliteration, just in case you hadn't figured that out yet. ;) After writing The Hunter I realized swapping titles might be appropriate. The Human is in reference not just to Story but to what the story needs - a human/someone from another world. Essentially everyone is after the human, and the human, or rather, "other-worlder" is the focal point of the story. In book 2, the half-bood, NOT the hunter, is actually the focal point of the story. The same could be said about book three, the focal point is actually the hunter, NOT the half-blood. My only hesitation in swapping the titles was that for the past 9 months I've been talking about Book 2: The Hunter. But really, that's a small thing, and the tit [...]

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