Earlier this month I talked about leaving behind some old hobbies as I got more into new hobbies. One of those is miniature gaming, which means I have gotten into the realm of painting minis. I love this hobby! It's super hard yet super relaxing at the same moment. Today I thought that I would share some of the minis that I have painted recently. These are all either D&D minis or from Age of Sigmar.

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 Did you know that in addition to writing fiction that I sometimes dabble in poetry? Well I do. Now I am really not that good of a poet, but that doesn't mean that I don't put feeling into what I write. Here are a couple short poems that I have written recently. I mostly have been just tapping them into the Notes on my phone. Ah new technology!

Why open my eyes
I know the nothingness I'll see
Better to keep them closed
Slipping into oblivion
Leaving this place forever

​
Alone
People look through me
It's like I don't exist
Am I so hard to see
Am I so hard to love
Apparently so


Pain
Pain in my head
Pain in my body
Pain in my mind
Will it ever go away
They say it’s here to stay
My eyes water from the pain
Yet I smile and pretend to be sane

​No matter how hard Kelsey Martin tried, she couldn’t shake the deliciously sinful Tucker Peters out of her mind. He’s everything she wanted in a man and more. There’s only one problem—he’s also her best friend. Tucker is a bear shifter, and being thrust into his world without warning didn’t deter her feelings in the least.
 
From the moment Tucker Peters laid eyes on Kelsey he knew he’d do anything to be with her. After what seemed like forever, she finally agreed to give him a chance, but of course, nothing is ever that easy.
 
Danger and secrecy is the name of the game, and it hits close to home. Kelsey falls victim to an experiment gone wrong, and accepting her fate may be impossible. Something Tucker may never forgive himself for…

Buy links
 
Unbearable: https://books2read.com/u/bwWOkG
 
Operation Wildcat: https://books2read.com/u/49xEqd
 
Cherry Bomb: https://books2read.com/u/baP8Xq

From Megan:
This has been a labor of love over the past year and I can't even begin to tell you how great it feels to finally put it out into the world! It's been a long time coming, but it's finally here!
Drumroll please....... I give you UNBEARABLE! The third book in my Keystone series. The long awaited book for Tucker. Everyone's favorite bear shifter!

Author bio
Megan lives on seven acres of land in rural Alberta, Canada and enjoys the simple country life. Paranormal romance allows her to create the places and characters she has always wanted to read about. She enjoys bringing her stories to life every chance she gets. When she isn’t writing she’s spending time with her husband and daughter whether it’s camping, riding ATV’s or just hanging out at home. Her family is the most important thing to her. 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authormeganmichelau/
 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MeganMichelau
 
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/dashboard
​

I strongly believe that it is an art form to just sit and do nothing, an art form that I am in no way good at. I always have to be doing something. Working the day job, hitting my step count, writing, reading, cleaning, cooking, painting, etc. Basically I have to be doing something each and every waking hour or I feel guilty about not doing something productive with my time. As my partner likes to point out, this is not a healthy way of living. Doing nothing has it's place in a life and I am slowly trying to learn that place. 

As some of you may know, I have health  issues that make is necessary to rest and relax. I'm just bad at doing that, though I do count reading as relaxing for the record. Still, there are times when my brain just doesn't want to do anything and I usually bully it into working. Instead I'm trying to take more time off. Just watch tv and not do something while I am watching. Trying to take a nap in the middle of the day, which I find almost impossible still but at least I'm trying to rest. I think that if I actually learn to take some down time that I will start to feel better physically and mentally, it's just hard to get to that point. After all I am going against my very nature to stay busy, busy, busy. But I know that learning to take breaks is for the best and I will keep trying to take better care of myself.

Are you good at doing nothing? Any tips on relaxing that you would like to share? Comment below.

As I continue to re-evaluate my life and what makes me happy, I have been thinking about what I consider writing success and how I should adjust my goals accordingly. Do I want to have a huge best seller and make enough money to not have to worry about money for awhile? Of course, but if that never happens does that mean that I am a failure? No, I don't think that is how I want to define my career because lets face it, that kind of success is hard to come by.

I think that I want to define success by writing from my heart, writing what I want, and getting it read by people. Money is just an added bonus, a nice bonus but it can't be what drives my writing or I will never be happy in this writing life. So what direction should I take now to make my writing more fulfilling? I suppose it means following my heart, writing what I truly want to write even if it doesn't have a definable market for me to give publishers. That may me more self publishing. More genre combining. More weird and dark writing sometimes. Probably a little less romance, or different romance genres. It means taking more chances, writing more short stories, writing some super long pieces. It means not following the market. It means being true to my vision and seeing where it takes me.

Am I playing with fire by deciding to not care about the market or the wants and needs of publishers? Probably, but it could also lead to my best writing ever. Only time will tell.

Like I talked about on my last post, I have been decluttering my life of late and that includes what I spend my time on. Turning 40 has really made me re-evaluate my life and what I want to do with it. That means that I have decided to let go of some hobbies to help make more room from the things that are bringing me joy now at this stage of my life. So after much thought I have decided to get out of the jewelry making business. I have some supplies to finish using up, but I am freeing up my time and space for other interests. That means that I will be having an incredible sale of jewelry and some art very soon. I mean crazy low prices. Keep a look out here and on my social media to grab some pieces. I might even being doing some combos of jewelry and book giveaways in the near future.

Not only am I going to stop making jewelry, I am also only going to paint in watercolor from now on. So I am getting rid of a lot of acrylic paintings as well. I have just found the right medium with watercolors and I want to learn and grow in that area. It's all about learning what makes you happy and pursuing those goals and dreams. As we grow and change so do our interests. For instance I have become pretty heavily involved in the gaming area of late and that brings me a lot more joy than jewelry now. I will be posting more about games and my new hobbies this month and going forward.

If my horrific allergies are any indication, spring is indeed here and here to stay in New Mexico. That means it's time for some spring cleaning. This is the first year that I am doing a serious clean and purge and I must say that the more I get rid of the lighter I feel mentally and even physically. My closet has been really lightened up and now I can actually find what I want to wear and what actually fits. What a concept right? My closest was the hardest thing for me to purge, as I was sentimentally attached to some items that are now sadly way too small. But hanging on to these items only serves to make me feel bad about myself and my now 40 year old body. I'm trying to let go of things that make me feel bad about myself in the here and now. Am I working out and trying to get healthy? Yes. Am I likely to get back into the jeans I wore 10 years ago? Probably not, and if I do my fashion sense has changed anyways. 

I am even going through and getting rid of some books! Shocking if you know me, but there are some books that I know that I will never read again and I should let them find their way to people who will enjoy them. This will make my husband happy when we move next, unless I of course replace all those books with new ones, which is likely. LOL

It really is amazing though that the more I clean and get rid of, the better I feel physically. My apartment seems to be a lighter and happier place to be. It just goes to show that it is not possessions that make you happy. By the time summer rolls around I think that I will be in a better place simply thanks to some good old fashioned spring cleaning.

I am not only purging physical items, but I am re-evaluating and getting rid of other things in my life, like hobbies that no longer serve or interest me, but that is for another post.

Have you ever wanted to know the inner workings of an author's mind?  Want to know where writing ideas come from? How I work through writer's block? What I am working on now? My biggest challenges in this writing life? Anything else? Well simply ask this author questions below in the comments and I will answer them! Ask away! Nothing writing related is off limits!

I am happy to announce that you can new read A Whole New Life for free on Kindle Unlimited! I can also offer you signed paperbacks now! Just message me if you would like a personalized copy to be sent to you! I am still so proud of this sweet romance and this is probably a good indication of how my writing will be going in the future! So grab a copy and let me know what you think!

US: http://amzn.to/2F7ny2B
UK: http://amzn.to/2CJ8Dqe
CA: http://amzn.to/2FwZ3ti
AU: http://amzn.to/2EZJLwh