S.I. Mathews: August 2010

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Fleeing Faturday [16]

This is Fatty trying to break into the basement.

Sydney Bristow he is not.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Do you? Love where you live, I mean. Not where I live. Though I'm pretty sure you'd like it right now. Tennessee. It's great. The weather, while still on the hot side, is slowly fading into Autumn and I love it.

This very second I am sitting outside, writing this on my sister's laptop. I've been working on my WIP (mostly while outside) and doing other things recently (like re-watching Alias and reading books about writing) which is why I've been invisible (again).

Sorry about that. I love blogging and the book/writer blog community. I'm just really busy. No excuse, I know, but straight up truth.

I will try to remedy the invisibility by posting some reviews soon. I think I said that in my last update a couple weeks ago. Soon doesn't mean the same thing to you that it means to mean.

Back to where I began:

I love where I live.

Tennessee, and my town especially, has a great mix of rural and urban. Lots and lots and lots of trees, but you don't have to be out in the sticks to see them. I get to experience every season, for better or worse, and I can see mountains, fields, wildflowers, deer, all within a mile of my house. Which also happens to be only a few miles from a Wal-Mart.

I have awesome local coffee shops to get awesome coffee-less drinks, and bigger store chains to shop from. I can get fast food or local food. I can walk down the street without fearing for my life. I can catch a demolition derby at the fairgrounds and then catch the latest blockbuster at our twelve screen theater. I can watch a Shakespearean play at the local park or go beat people in laser tag (I'm a laser tag sniper - which equals awesome).

Did I mention nature yet? Oh yeah, I did, but I'll mention it again. I love driving through the twisty back roads barely big enough for a car and right in the middle of a mountain forest. I love the rivers and lakes that are nearby. I love the sky and the sunsets I can't see for the trees. I love the high places where I can see clear across town.

So really, do you love where you live? What's the best thing about it?

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Giveaway Highlight - Babbling Flow Saradise ARC Extravaganza

Sara over at Babbling Flow is having an awesome ARC giveaway!

Go check it out!

Enter HERE!

Giveaway Highlight - Carol's Prints ARCs Galore Giveaway

Carolina over at Carol's Prints is giving away

...you guessed it...

ARCs galore!

There are more than ten titles up for grabs!

Go enter HERE!

Fighting Faturday [15]

So this is Fatty trying to take my camera from me via the wrist string:

Happy Faturday!

Monday, August 16, 2010

Teaser Tuesdays [12]

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the TITLE & AUTHOR, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teaser:

His pale-blue eyes bore into hers, and for a second she couldn't breathe. "But it's all up to you," he whispered.

Wings (Wings #1) by Aprilynne Pike, page 101

Happy Tuesday! ^_^

Who's the lucky quirk??? (Giveaway Winner)

Thank you to all my followers for a great first giveaway!

And now, for the important stuff!

The winner of

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer

and the album
Memento Mori by Flyleaf

is...

<<<<<<<<<<<Meg @ Fantasy LOL>>>>>>>>>>>

YAY! Congratulations Meg!

And everyone should definitely go check out Meg's blog,

Fantasy LOL!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Flapping Faturday [14]

No, I did not get Fatty into a flapper costume, but he seems to like the whole “long-cigarette-holder” prop that usually accompanies such a costume. Here’s how it happened: I was waving around a paintbrush handle, trying to get Fatty to play, and like the predator he is, he snatched it, claws and fangs out, all the while I was snapping photos. Here is the product of that incident:

Happy Faturday!

Friday, August 13, 2010

ONE DAY LEFT!!!

Only one more day til the close of my

first ever giveaway!

Click HERE to enter!

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Teaser Tuesdays [11]

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the TITLE & AUTHOR, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teaser:

"I feel the same way about you."

Then he turned around and disappeared inside the black Town Car that was carrying his twin.

Blue Bloods (Blue Bloods #1) by Melissa De La Cruz, page 206

Happy Tuesday! ^_^

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Yay!

As of today I have reached my goal of 50 followers!

Yay! Thank you to all my fellow quirks, new and old!

And don't forget about my

FAVORITES & FOLLOWERS CONTEST,

where you can win a copy of

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer

and the album

Memento Mori by the band Flyleaf.

Thanks again!

^_^

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Faturday in a Box [13]

Fatty in a cardboard box; need I say more?

Happy Faturday!

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Top Ten of the Moment [8]

Top Ten of the Moment is a meme from Swimmer over at Breaking the Bookshelf to be hosted every Thursday.

How this meme works is that Swimmer will choose a topic (food, books, etc.) and will pick her current top ten. If you want to participate, all you have to do is create your own top ten for Swimmer's selected topic and put your TTotM link in the Mr. Linky on her post. Easy enough, right?

This week's topic is: Favorite Books of 2010...so far!
(Choose your favorite books of 2010 up till now. Must have been read in 2010 but could have been published any time.) (To see Swimmer's top ten, click HERE.)

I've only completed 16 books this year, and some of those are not at all what I would consider "favorites," so I'm going to include a couple of the books I am reading that I already like a lot.

My Top Ten:

1. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella by Stephenie Meyer (Quirk Review)

2. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (I'm only about halfway through the audio book, and I love it! Can't wait to go to work tomorrow and finish it!)

3. Midnighters #1: The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld (Quirk Review)

4. Midnighters #2: Touching Darkness by Scott Westerfeld (Quirk Review)

5. Forgive My Fins by Tera Lynn Childs (Quirk Review)

6. Alanna: The First Adventure (Song of the Lioness #1) by Tamora Pierce (This book reminded why I like fantasy and makes me wonder why I don't read more of it! Expect a review soon.)

7. Sweetblood by Pete Hautman (I loved reading this book and getting to know the MC as she got to know herself.)

8. Blue Bloods (Blue Bloods, Book 1) by Melissa De La Cruz (I'm not done with it yet, but I like it a lot so far.)

9. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher (A well-written book I was afraid to read - expect a review soon.)

10. Infinite Days (Vampire Queen) by Rebecca Maizel (Quirk Review)

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Thinking Prohibited Due to Combustible Creative Brain (Just Follow the Bullets)

You may have noticed I haven't been around much in the last several days. I want to explain as well as do shout outs for a few things going on that I've been meaning to post about but just...haven't.

I'm a bit blog-invisible because I've been doing some actual writing, like on my WIP writing. It's going great, really moving along, and I'm excited about where the story is going.

That said, writing is draining, mentally, physically, everything. My creative gray matter feels like its dried up and my eyes feel like they're going to fall out by 9pm every night. Therefore, there is less going on here at the blog. I'm a little OCD when it comes to how I do a post, and it takes a lot of energy and focus that I'm just not finding at the moment.
But I knew I should update and let ya'll know what's going on. You quirkies are awesome for just sticking around this long (it's going on three months, can you believe it?) and I LOVE you for it.
What is coming up: WRITE ON CON!!! AUGUST 10-12, 2010!!! I'm registered on there and am excited about it. Find out more about it HERE.
A month later is BLOGFEST 2010!!! SEPTEMBER 10-12, 2010!!! I am participating and hope to have some great things to giveaway! Find out more about it HERE.
FAVORITES & FOLLOWERS GIVEAWAY ends AUGUST 14!!!! Only ONE more follower to reach my goal of 50! Spread the word and enter HERE!

That's about it. Continue to comment, email, contact me however. I'll be checking in as much as I can. I'm planning on taking a WIP hiatus soon, so expect some reviews and such in the near future. Later!