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Build Report: Parisian Restaurant
Over the holidays this year, I added to my growing LEGO metropolis (currently reigning supreme atop a bookshelf in my guest room) by constructing the Parisian Restaurant Creator set. I started on the afternoon of Christmas Eve and spent a few hours each day (after my writing was done!) until it was complete on the…
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December Wrap-Up & January Goals
Happy new year from all of us at Casa Siamese! Though you won’t see this post until it goes live on Wednesday morning, I’m writing it late Monday afternoon with a tummy full of amazing New Year’s Day brunch and a hot mug of tea. I’m excited to start 2018 with a bang, and by…
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Build Report: 2017 Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar
I honestly can’t remember the last time I had an advent calendar as a kid. I have vague memories of the ones with cheap chocolate in middle school, which is when my littlest sister was a toddler. Now that I’m an adult, for various definitions of the word, it was time to start the tradition…
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Build Report: Cargo Railway & Octan Twin Tank Rail Tanker
My husband and I have been married for five years, and living together for almost nine. And every time we think we’ve gotten all of our random belongings from our respective mothers’ houses, something else gets dredged up from a dark basement corner. This past summer, it was a ratty box of various LEGO pieces.…
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Build Report: Women of NASA
I recently took a trip to Orlando, Florida, to attend a series of workshops for the day job. This was not exactly a hardship, because the conference was located at one of the Disney World Resorts. This meant that the first night I was in town, I hopped on the shuttle to Disney Springs to…
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October Wrap-Up & November Goals
Happy Halloween! I’m traveling tomorrow, so getting a jump on my monthly round-up post today. Please enjoy this picture of a vampire writer in her natural habitat from a Halloween party I attended this weekend. Apparently Waldo has gone to the dark side. Tonight I’ll be packing for my trip and giving out candy to…
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SLCC Panel: So I’ve Written a First Draft: Now What?
The panel I’m most excited about at Salt Lake Comic Con this week is definitely “So I’ve Written a First Draft: Now What?” (Saturday 9/23, 7 PM in room 150G). I’m a weird sort of writer. Putting the first draft on paper is often like pulling teeth (even though once I actually start writing, the…
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LEGO Build: NASA Apollo Saturn V
I’m pretty sure I’ve said this here multiple times (and at some point I should post the blog I wrote about it), but once upon a time I was totally going to be an astronaut. In the past two years, I’ve also become completely, hopelessly addicted to LEGOs, so it was only natural that I…
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July Wrap-Up & August Goals
We are officially at two months in a row where I manage to accomplish everything on my list of goals (sort of). Obviously the biggest accomplishment this month was the publication and launch of my third novel, book 3 in the Steel Empires series. If you haven’t yet gotten your copy of Steel Blood, it’s available…
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Book excerpt: STEEL BLOOD Blog Tour Stop #14
It’s been a whirlwind two weeks, but today is the last stop of the Steel Blood blog tour! If you missed any stops along the way, you can find the full roster at my Guest Blog page. For our final stop, author Weston Kindcade was kind enough to discuss his thoughts about Steel Empires Book 1:…
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Not your typical vampire: STEEL BLOOD Blog Tour Stop #13
Author Jennifer Loring asking me the ever-important question about writing in the fantasy genre. What makes my vampires and other supernatural creatures stand out from the crowd? How did I put my own spin on the mythology while still making my characters recognizable? Take a quick look: My vampires fit the mold in that they’re…
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But I’m not a horror writer!: STEEL BLOOD Blog Tour Stop #11
Yesterday, we got a look at the more “human” side of my main character, the vampire Victory (over here, if you missed it). And while I love that scene, it’s not unique — being a vampire is just part of who Victory is, which also includes being a partner, a mother, a politician, a mercenary,…
