Dark Novels on Facebook, and Accepting Books

I have created a long overdue Facebook page for this blog you can find it here. I am also trying to drum up some interest for a local (Toledo, Ohio) area book club/swap.

I would also like to start a Dark Novel swap on the internet and host chats to discuss books but I need to learn more about the process. Both of these would have a small fee to cover my costs and possibly have some in reserve.

Once again I am offering my services to review books. I will do this for free if I get a free copy of the book. If you need the book read and reviewed very quickly I will charge a small fee. The books must fit my blog. I will take anything with a touch of the supernatural. It must be fiction and I prefer that it has some action or mystery. I am not big on purely romance but if it has a great story to go with it I am all for it.

Thoughts and suggestions are welcome my email address is sundcarrie@yahoo.com. I check my email quite a few times a day except on  Wednesdays when I am useless after a 12.5 hour overnight shift.

I would also like to say thanks to my wonderful mother who gave me the book swap idea on the phone this morning. I just have to work on a plan to get things started.

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Update... and Blue Bloods book review to come

Last week I worked my first overnight shift answering phones for a local non-profit. Things went smoothly except I had trouble staying awake. I decided to read and finished an entire book. Well that is not really saying that much I worked a 12 and a half hour shift. I am also filling in on day shifts at home when they don't have enough staff or for meetings and sick people.

I love the job and I am working to change my sleep schedule so that I don't have so much trouble staying up for my night shift. I have plenty of material to study for the job but after about 11pm I start to need some more interesting material to read. The great news is I should be able to get a few book reviews up each month now. I don't like to work on reviews while I am working but a book is easy to put down and give clients the attention they deserve. Worst case scenario there is I drop the book and have to find my place.

I work another night shift tomorrow so I should be able to finish the next book in this series Revelations. I will soon have a review up for the second book until then you can read my review for the original book Blue Bloods.

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How to Save Money?

I love this blog and I think this is my best bet to get some good money saving tips. So for all of you out there who have great tips on how to save please send them my way.

I have been having issues with my computers and my laptop is running like it is on dial up so I could use a new laptop. On top of that I will be taking at least five classes next semester, and it will be expensive and make it very hard for me to do parties with my Pure Romance business. I have some ideas to work on to get my website business going, although I could always use more.

I have been using Adsense on my websites and have already made more than I have with Adgetize but I am not relying on that for anything big.

I have been listening to Dave Ramsey, who I love to keep me motivated. I don't follow all his advice it is not something my husband wants to do. The only debt we have is our mortgage on our duplex, everything else we pay off each month. The duplex is up for sale and we hope to sell it soon but there are so many foreclosures in our area we are having trouble with that. Before I quit my job I paid rent through January for the home we live in.

I would love to hear tips on saving on regular items. Small or big things I can do to save on groceries or household items and utilities. Cheap cheap meals would be great. Good website links would be great. With just my husbands income we have more than enough to live on but I don't want to take out student loans if at all possible. If one or both of the computers crash I would also like to have a fund for that.

I am looking at selling some stuff on craigslist as well. If anyone knows what sells on craigslist I would love to hear about it. I do have one big item to sell a weight machine and I am not sure how to price it. I am not sure what else sells. I have so much stuff that just needs to go but it is so random.

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I Have a Fun Assignment to Work On.

In my creative writing class he wants us to write the first paragraph to a story in but in three different tones. So I have to write the same story opening three times. I am have been throwing around a lot of ideas. I can also see this class will cause me to loose sleep, I keep thinking about ideas when my mind is supposed to be resting.

I had to listen to my audio book until I was so tired I couldn't stay awake and think last night. Then I had crazy dreams.

I finished The Good the Bad and the Undead by Kim Harrison and should be able to get a review up this weekend. Usually when I say that some sort of family emergency or something big comes up so I am knocking on some wood as I type.

I can say right now I really enjoyed the book, after reading the first book I was not sure this was going to be a series for me. I am now sold on the series, if for nothing else I absolutely love Jenks the pixie.

We have a rainy, dreary day here in Toledo, Ohio a perfect day for writing. I was going to work outside but I don't see that happening. I will work on my writing homework today and my long list of things I put off until today because of school and homework.

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I Need Some Ideas?

I now have three blogs and a website. I am posting this here because it is my most popular blog and my favorite. I am trying to promote my Pure Romance website and hopefully going to make a few cents with adsense as I go. I want to boost my website business, there is not much I can do with the actual website because I really can't alter it. So I created a blog with product reviews and romance tips, Carrie's Sexy Romance Tips and Reviews. The other blog is Sexy For Life, it is just a personal blog.

I am looking for ideas on how to boost my business. I am not under the impression that I am going to get rich on blogging or as a Pure romance consultant. I do have a goal of making 250 dollars a month. I am starting with a small goal and hoping to expand as I learn more.

For my Dark Novels blog I have Adgetize, which I only make money with if I click, click and click some more. For my other blogs I am going to try Adsense. I now have an entrecard widget on all three blogs. I want to send traffic to my website and I have no idea where to start.

I am thinking about letting go of the Adgetize ads and just using Amazon ads for the Dark Novels blog. For the other blogs if I can ever get the Adsense to work I am just going to use that. So far I am having trouble getting those to work. If anyone has any tips and tricks or websites to share please let me know.

I could really use the help.

I only have one Dark Novel left to review, so once I have a business plan in place and I do whatever reading I need to for school I will have to get to reading again.

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Started a Personal Blog

Sexy For Life is my new personal blog. I will still posts some personal stuff here as well but I think I will keep most of it here. I start school on the 24th so I will probably post some of my creative writing on this blog. I have two writing classes an a literature class. If I am gone for awhile I have a lot of class work to do.

The personal blog will talk about my life of course and my weight loss journey. Hopefully my long journey to a better more confident person.

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Will Someone Please Shoot Me!

Well I am going to start with the bad day I had today. For those of you who read my blog regularly I had a sewer line in my duplex backed up on July 22 and today my tenant calls me in the afternoon to tell me it is backed up again. So I call Rotary Man back to let them know and they won't warranty a job done 15 days ago. They said they can't because it is rental property and I don't know what they put down there. How is that different from what I could have put down my home drain?????? I am one of those people that cry when they get angry and I believe it has been a good thing at times and kept me from being able to say what I wanted to. It is a really bad thing when you are trying to get your money back or get someone to come back and complete a half-assed job.

Today I was working on catching up on message boards and going to take the dog to the vet and work on getting my blog posts on the Patrician Briggs books I finished. Well I had to cancel everything and was late for small group. I was not happy to pay another 200 dollars (210 for the crappy job) and I still have to pay more for a scope to be run because there may be something broken. At least I am reasonably sure I can trust the new company because they have a much higher lower rate of complaints on the Better Business Bureau's website. I also know the owners because my step-dad works on all their vehicles and I did all the paperwork for that until a few weeks ago.

Other than that I did have a wonderful week. Loads of fund time with my husband and have been working out everyday except today. I also joined Weight Watchers and am doing well with that except I eat when I am stressed so I had one piece of pizza tonight at group. I had been saving my extra 35 points for a party this weekend but if I must I will eat before.

I got my first Recruit for my business and I have had quite a few RSVP'S for my Open House.

Tomorrow I have a Weight Watchers meeting and hopefully a date with my husband. I also need to pay my over 3000 dollar bill for school by the 14th so I have to talk to my husband about that. We will either have to take it out of our saving for a house fund which won't last long but at least we don't have to pay interest on that or take the federal loan at 6% interest. I think that he will decide that I will make more money when I am done so we can worry about a house then but I would rather ask than assume I know what he is thinking.

I have reinstated my quiet time with God and that has helped immensely with my stress level and getting things done. My house is in much better order and I was doing very well until today. I was caught up and ready to get more done. For those of you that pray, please pray for me to not get to discouraged as I hit these road blocks in my life.
Thanks

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Just when you think you have time to relax....

You take on a new job. Your rental property has a sewer line back up and you have to go back to the doctor. Well I guess it is a good thing I quit my real job and took on a work when you want to job.

I don't really want to complain things could be a lot worse. I just wanted to get this blog and my other blog up to par. I have only done one book review and nothing else really but a few updates.

I thought I had tomorrow to do more but now I have to clean up a yucky mess in the basement of our duplex. It was also super expensive! It doesn't help that I have not seen any money not a dollar since May 15th. I won't get paid from the government until August 1 but then I will get a regular check.

Okay that is enough I am going to go find my bible study book and try to focus on something positive. I could have it much worse and I know it. I will just have to budget my time more wisely.

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I am a Pure Romance Consultant

So I made the plunge into the sales business. I am going to sell fun stuff to spice the love lives of many people. Well at least I am going to try to. I bought the cheapest package so if I hate it or can't make a go of it on with the website I won't be out much.

I am excited about it but I don't plan to have tons of parties I don't want to make a lot of money I really want the discount on the product. I am not that great at sales but I think I could promote a website and I will get one of those.

I don't know the rules on blogger about linking to a website like that, is there a page where I can learn about that. I would want to know if I could put a link to my website with a disclaimer that there was adult material. If not I would just add a piece in my about me spot with an email so one could email me and then I could send the a link.

I don't know I don't want my blog to become about adult material at all so maybe the latter idea is best. My blog itself needs to stay on the mild side, even though half the books are anything but mild.

Well I hope you are all having a great night.....I mean early morning. I am off to bed soon.

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Back to Blogging

First I want to say thanks to the people who visit my blog all the time. I will soon have time to write more reviews and the other stuff that makes my blog interesting. I am going to try to work a little on my creative writing too. I will post some here and others at the associated content site.
I am determined to get this stuff done, but it seems every time I get back into the groove something else happens. I am thinking I will start thinking of my writing as a job and sit down for a few hours every day and work on something writing related.

I am so glad to be done with the inspection on my duplex. All is fixed and the inspection passed so I have a new tenant. We will get our rent money every month from the government for a year. It will take a few months to make up for all the repair costs but it is worth it. That also means we don't have a lot to do to accept Section 8 in the lower unit. It would be nice to have the money every month. The lower unit is occupied but they don't always pay on time, I really hope they can get some assistance as well, they are good people.

I have a Pure Romance party tonight and I am working on getting the house cleaner, which is not so hard when you have been keeping up on it. I actually can't wait I usually get out of the house once a week to meet with friends. We call it small group, and we talk about our weeks and what we need prayer for. Some of the ladies are going to be here tonight. I don't get to hang out much although that may change until I finish school. As long as I can manage it I am just going to take classes on two days a week. I love my husband but it is really nice to have other women to talk to.

I will have 2 credits on Audible next week and I will be buying Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs so I can catch up with the Mercy Thompson series. I started another book but I can't get my mind off that one. I have also been listening to The Scarlet Letter and I am sorry but at least the first few chapters are boring. I suppose it doesn't help that I listen late at night.

I have been a little bad finding time to catch up on a few supernatural series. I won Blood Ties Season One in a blog contest and quickly got addicted. I also am getting Supernatural from Netflix to watch while on the boring treadmill. I really like this series and my husband seems to enjoy it as well. We just finished season one I think I will probably do a post on these two programs. I also caught up on Medium just before I quit my job and I have a lot to say about that show so I am sure to do a post on that.

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Please Help Me

I am asking my readers to come visit my Associated Content page http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/44333/carrie_sund.html. I am going to try to post some of my book reviews and some original creative writing. I will post most of it here as well. That won't make me money but I do want to get my name out there. If you would be so kind as to follow me at the Associated Content site that would be great as well.

I am hoping to make a few dollars a month on some original content or some assignments. The main reason I signed up was to get my name and my writing out where more people could see it. Even if it takes me years I want to be a writer. I feel that I will be taken more seriously with an English degree so I am taking a major step toward that by starting school in the fall. I hope to be accepted into the masters program by next fall or the spring after that.

Thanks
Carrie

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Another Day in the Life a Blogger

It is a little before noon here in Toledo Ohio and I am still working on dropping my 300 cards for Entrecard. It might help if I didn't stop to read so much stuff, but then what would be the point. I have been moving around widgets and clicking Adgetize buttons too. I am thinking my Dark Novels site needs a tune up. That will have to come a little at a time.

I have a guest post to work on after I drop my cards I have 212 but wanted to max them out. I am looking to drive more traffic. Even if only a few become followers of my blog, it will help with making a little money with my advertising stuff.

So other than that, today I have been doing laundry and playing around on my Pet Wars game that my awesome husband found, for my iPod. I have quickly become addicted. He also wants me to earn some achievements in his Viva Pinata game but I am afraid I will loose the rest of the afternoon if I start that. I loved the first game as silly as it was I couldn't put the controller down.

I also have a person from the gas company meeting me at the duplex sometime before four. That means I can't get on the treadmill because I know about the time I get all sweaty they will call. If they call early enough I can get on when I come back.

I would like to invite anyone who cares to help me with my editing. I will be going back through old posts and fixing mistakes. Mostly the book reviews and profiles I am not so worried about my silly life posts. I realize I post in a hurry sometimes (like right now) and miss grammar and spelling mistakes. So if you just love to tell people how many mistakes they have made leave me some comments so I can correct it.

By this time next week my goal would be to have the book reviews up for the 3rd Cassandra Palmer book and the Audio book I just finished Cry Wolf.

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My First Audio Book: Cry Wolf

Well I thought I would make a list of the books that I will be reviewing soon. I will start with the one I am listening to right now. I also have a hard copy of the book. I received one free audio book at Audible, so I chose one I already had to see if it was the same.

Cry Wolf by Praticia Briggs so far it is great except I think it gave a way a crucial piece of info on the Mercy Thompson series I didn't need to know yet. Well I suppose I could have read the back of the book and figured that out. I didn't realize it was an extension of another series.

So far I have listened to the prologue and two chapters. That took almost an hour and a half and my legs were getting sore from walking on the treadmill the whole time. I had no trouble paying attention so I no longer think I wasted money on a few audio books.

If the book stays this exciting I am sure I will have a great review for you soon.

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Fun Stuff to Make My Life Work

Well I got off work early today and spent the time needed to have the utilities turned on for the vacant unit in the duplex we own. I let them turn them off as it was not being used and I never had the time to spend over an hour waiting for assistance with the gas and electric company. We have always paid the water for all tenants so that already comes to out dwelling.

I also put our duplex on a list that will accept government assistance. After having to fight for rent I would just prefer to get my check from the government. I would really like to sell the place but the market here is saturated with foreclosures and we can't find a buyer to pay us what we paid for the house.

As soon as the electric is up and running I will have the carpets clean and work to get it rent worthy. I am done with my job after this week. I hope to find some one to rent by mid July and I will have to worry a lot less about money lost from my job.

As it is we pay the water bill that also includes a trash fee. We make the repairs and we pay the mortgage, taxes and insurance. That ads up to several hundred more dollars than we get for renting just one unit. If we were to rent the top half that would at least cover all of our fees and leave us with a little to save for repairs. It won't make up for any of my lost income but it will at least make sure we break even on the duplex.

It looks like I won't have a lot of time for reading until I get these things in order. Then I should be able to get book reviews out as soon as I finish them. I really want to write the review for the third Cassandra Palmer book. It was a lot of fun so the review will be fun I am sure. I know I am a little crazy but I just love John Pritkin. There was a lot going on with him in this book and I can't wait for more. Unfortunately I have some real life I need to take care of first.

Thanks for the tips on writing jobs. I was not looking for an actual job just places where I can post articles and get paid a little or where people are looking for articles. I was not looking for employment more like paid by the article stuff.

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Just Checking In

Well I think next week sometime I will be done training. I may have to go in a few days because she had already planed some long weekend trips.

I am going to be scouring the Internet for real writing jobs. I don't have anything to do but read the material from my reading list, provided by one of my future professors. I found some of the books on free audio books.

That brings me to my amazing hubby who bought me an ipod touch! I can do all kinds of things with it including audio and kindle books. Not to mention listen to music, practice Japanese (I took two semesters in college the first time around) to playing cool word games. I can even get on the Internet and keep track of my assignments. There are a ton of applications for learning and for fun.

I can't wait to spend the extra time with my husband and to get to a few really good books.

I would however like to ask my readers to for a few things, if you stumble by my site and know of places with real writing jobs on line please drop me a comment or send me an email darknovels1@yahoo.com I have an account at constant content but have not had time to write much for it.

Also I would love to answer more questions about myself or the books I read, please feel free to ask if they are too personal I will let you know but it does help me with daily posts. I do have an feature I am getting ready for another book blogger. I will also work on my Cassandra Palmer review.

I am not really looking forward to my loss in income but I don't think I can work for family ever again it was really straining my family relationships. I do love my family all of them but working side by side with them everyday is not always a good thing.

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Why I Like Darke Novels

Jeff King asked why I like Dark Novels. This is a good question and I have thought about it a bit in the past. I think it started in High School when I was really into the Gothic scene. I loved dark stuff and had a fascination with vampires. I read Interview With a Vampire by Anne Rice because I was not allowed to watch it. I do believe that I would not have been allowed to read it either if my mom had known more about it.

Some of it may be because I was a very sheltered child an my big way of rebelling was to wear black and smoke. I never got into drugs or alcohol but I did like to escape into a world that doesn't exist. I like a good hero or heroine but one who struggles with the line between good and evil.

I like the dark stuff I did as a teen and I do now. I also believe that few things are impossible and that humans would actually learn a lot by attempting to put themselves in another persons shoes real or fantasy.

As I mentioned earlier I grew up in a very sheltered Christian home. I had good but over protective parents. I wouldn't do any of my childhood over again because I believe it has made me the person I am now. I also believe there are a lot worse things than overprotective parents. Just want you to know I am not one who hates my parents I loved my dad who has passed on just as much as I still love my mom.

The sheltered life in church and Christian schools also stifled my imagination, I believe. So as I got older I found ways to let it out or bring it in. It started with vampires because they are such a part of the Gothic culture I was into and still am to a much lesser degree. They were also less likely to be associated with witches and witch craft the things my parents worried about because I was a weird child. I was also not allowed to watch or read much with magic, my mom and I to this day can not talk about Harry Potter because I love it and she thinks it is wrong.

It took me a while to get to the point where I began to realize fantasy is just that. There may be real people who practice witch craft out their but they are also the first people who will tell you that they don't throw fire balls or thunder bolts. The more I learn most people call themselves witches are just normal people following an alternative religion.

I am not sure myself why the Christians I have across are so afraid of competing religious belifs but I think that fear of others is what has driven me to learn more about it. It has driven me to challenge my own faith. I am still a Christian but I don't take others assertions to what is right and wrong so seriosly anymore. I also don't belive it is my duty to convert everyone to my religious views.

I feel like the odd one out a lot of time until I get the occasion to meet a parent who has an odd child like me. I get to advise them to let thier child express themselves in the small things, compromise with the way they dress. If they are old enought let them get a pericing or color thier hair black.

I deal with a lot of crap sometimes from the Christian community who equates darkness with evil. I say God invented black and he also invented darkness. If they would recall thier Biblical history He made day and night, light and dark. If they belive how can they belive that darkness is evil.

So all of that background just to tell you I am attracted to dark novels because they are my favorite way of escaping the real world I have to live in every day. I love supernatural worlds that I can not really live in. Even the stuff that has potential to be such as ghosts or psychics is not something I actually experience. It is something that gives me the most vivid and fun dreams. So the reading usually extends to my sleeping creating wonderful new worlds to play in. I guess it is like the mental version of a video game or something.

I will be back to edit this just wanted to post it now before I have second thoughts about sharing so much of myself.

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