Hi! I have a new website. Please visit me at marypascual.com. My book is coming out June 6th! There is also a Goodreads Giveaway. You can sign up here until May 25th for a chance to win one of ten copies. This is my book! Continue reading

I love when I check my inbox and there's a new tune waiting for me. I don't know if this happens to you, but when I start the morning with music, I crave music all day long. (Sort of like eating sugar for breakfast.) But since music makes me happy, that can only be a good thing. - wg specialistsubject · FRESH - Babyface Continue reading

So. A lot has happened since I took my blog hiatus. Like a lot! First off... I signed with SparkPress to get my first book published! Yeah, I know! I can't believe it either! Part of the problem with being a writer is you have to build up a really thick skin to keep going. Otherwise you get buried under the heaps of opinions, and rejections, and empty vortexes where you send emails and then never ever hear back. The thick skin in itself is not necessarily bad - it helps you to keep working on your art. But sometimes... Continue reading

I'm taking a brief hiatus... yeah, I'm switching from briefs to thongs. Ba da DUM! (That was the drum and cymbal crash for that terrible joke. Because the only thing that makes a joke worse is by explaining it! Always go all out, I say.) No, really. I've been meaning to write here all month and it hasn't happened, so I'm taking a brief hiatus while I finish up a project. Because I'm... almost... done! But a lack of distractions would help mitigate some of the free-floating, ever present production-guilt in my life (as all writers have) so I'm giving... Continue reading

I'm microblogging today because my back has gone out, but I can't stand the idea of just sitting around, waiting to go to my chiropractor, so I'm attempting my daily word count and writing in pain! That's called commitment. Or lunacy. I forget which. Anywho, I'm keeping it short. We got a new TV! Our last TV wasn't that old but it was getting harder and harder to see and I figured it was just ME, getting old. (Also, what is with these producers filming everything in such deep, dark, noir-tinted angst? Like seriously? People don't live in perpetual night... Continue reading

Sometimes I think my ears hurt when I'm doing something I'm not supposed to be doing. Like... scrolling social media instead of writing. I'll be plugging along looking up obscure authors to stalk and my ears will start aching. Or... I'll be playing a game on my phone instead of listening to a conversation. Or watching anime instead of cleaning. (Although in my defense, watching anime can be justified as studying story structure.) Things start off OK and then eventually my ear feels achy. And a little echo-y. Like someone's shouting into a canyon. Can you have inner ear Jiminy... Continue reading

I'm having mixed feelings over California re-opening. On the one hand, I'm super glad that the mask wearing is minimized, that shops can open fully again, that hugging people is okay. I didn't like the world being closed but I totally understood the necessity. Now that we're opening, we bought tickets for a concert at the end of summer (Green Day!), and we have a mini-vacation (Disneyland!) planned for July. I'm happy that the worst is behind us. On the other hand, I'm out of practice having a busier schedule. And part of me wonders... do I want one? Life... Continue reading

I did not get very far on my plotting experiment. First, I had resistance, but I tried to push through. Then I crashed. So hard! But I am sticking to my whole Pavlovian alarm system for writing time, so I’m building awareness, or at the very least, guilt. (Hear alarm, don’t write, feel bad.) Then I got edits from my freelance editor and covid shots around the same time. It’s taken me a good month to go through everything. It’s like: review, get shot, recover, review, repeat. Anywho, long rambling intro short… I’m excited to get back to big project... Continue reading

My house is falling apart. Not literally. But the housework keeps piling up and I have very little desire to do anything about it. Wait, scratch that… I do WANT a clean house. I dream of freshly dusted shelves and a spotless floor, of bathrooms with no mysterious stains. I fantasize about how nice it would be to have every dish clean and in its proper place. I toy with the idea of putting out bowls of fresh milk each night in hopes that friendly OCD brownies will scrub everything until it shines while I sleep. But I don’t, because... Continue reading

I got my covid vaccine last week! Yay! Shot number 1. I had more of a reaction than I expected. I developed chills about four hours after the shot and felt a little "off". Then the next day I felt great! Then the day after that, I had chills, fatigue, and a massive headache that lasted a couple of days. So worth it though. I have no regrets. Hopefully, that reaction is only with the first shot, but just in case, I’ll keep my schedule free the week of shot number 2. Because even though this reaction only lasted 2-3... Continue reading

I love this! Continue reading

I don’t know how to start this one. I have been SO excited about it… and yet, it’s weird. I mean, not completely circus clown freaky weird, but probably not something most people would get that excited about. And yet. I AM! I have been doing laser hair removal this year of our pandemic. I wasn’t excited to begin with. I was hesitant, and curious, and wary, and struggling with the decadence of it all! Laser anything is pricey and there are just more important things than burning your hair follicles to a crisp. However, due to age and fricking... Continue reading

OK, so I know I said I was going to reduce playing games on my phone (and I AM! Really, I am,) however, at the reduced, allotted times I DO play I have been increasingly disturbed by the ads for other games that are playing on my game. (You followed that, right?) Especially the ads for Makeover Games. I really feel like that should be followed with a dun dun DA! Or at least said in a voice of doom. These games' storylines center around girls receiving makeovers so they can catch the guy's attention. The girls in the ads... Continue reading

Remember about a month and a half ago when I finished my last book and I was trying to channel all my productive momentum into the next project? Well, I failed. I stumbled around, flailing my arms, jumping from project to project, trying to stave off “the crash” but, inevitably, the crash came. I was mentally and creatively exhausted. I would start projects and then stare blankly into space, my mind refusing to budge beyond the vaguest of plans. I could do research fine but implementing creativity wasn’t working. But I kept fighting it! I thought, if I just keep... Continue reading

I just spent two and a half hours planting flowers. I kept waiting for winter rains to start here and it just hasn't happened (worrisome given our wildfires), so I finally went out front and filled in the scraggly, empty patches in my flower beds that, when it's raining cats and dogs, I AM PERFECTLY JUSTIFIED TO IGNORE! But, no rain, no justification, so off to plant I went. Sooooo... you know those TV shows and movies that always have some elderly lady happily gardening in her front yard? Like, almost every time you see her she's in her garden?... Continue reading

As a writer, I’m primarily a pantser*. I get a line or an image or a snippet of conversation in my head, I sit down to write and just see where it goes, letting events unfold before me. I also, often, will get a portion of a story in my head. These sections are larger than the snippets but they are far from complete. For example, the last book I wrote I had the beginning chapter and the final battle in my head before I began, but not a whole lot in between. The story before that, I had all... Continue reading

So, years ago I did a post about introducing a new kitten into our household of older cats. One of those older cats being a massive, jealous diva queen whose temperament towards new kittens was like Johnny Lawrence’s reaction to Daniel-san in Karate Kid. (No Mercy!) Our kitten, Ginger, was and still is a sweetheart; very non-confrontational, would prefer to sleep than fight, and enjoys belly rubs from strangers (and no, it’s not a trap! She really likes her belly rubbed!). Rather than deal with our older terror, Ginger often hid in my lap under a throw blanket. And jealous... Continue reading

Okay, so. I finished my second full-length novel two days ago. That means the story, beginning to end, all the words, is complete. No parts of "oh I should fix that" or "let me get back to that section" or "what should I do here". Complete. And pretty clean. That doesn't mean I won't have edits... I sent it off to my freelance editor; I've got a beta review lined up and others to schedule. But the story itself... IS... FINISHED! I don't know how to explain the feeling of having the story that's been in my head for so... Continue reading

Recipe first, blather second. (I don't know how to do those fancy schmancy recipe layouts so bear with me.) Cranberry Orange Baked Oatmeal Cups 2 tablespoons melted butter (I used salted butter) 1 egg 1 cup orange juice 1/2 cup milk 1/3 cup of packed brown sugar (plus a little more, I made mine a heaping 1/3) 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 cup dried cranberries 1 1/2 cups rolled oats 1 muffin pan Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a muffin pan and set aside (or use a silicon muffin pan). Mix together all ingredients - except oats - until well... Continue reading

Phone shoulder is real, yo! You know that aching stiffness in your non-dominant shoulder? The one that holds the phone as you swipe at it like a cat batting a fly? I've got to stop playing games on my phone. Especially Redecor. I got sucked into that one because I really do like decorating a room and, between you and me, my house looks great! But that game is fixed for a very particular aesthetic AND they don't give you enough color options without you paying out a ton of cash! Not that the extra colors really matter because everyone... Continue reading

It is so blazing hot here I feel like a cheese slice cut into the shape of a woman and melted onto my couch. We don't have AC. Usually we deal with the heat fine because we're used to it but Humidity has decided to come for a visit. What the fuck Humidity? Haven't you heard of COVID?! You shouldn't be traveling. We don't want your sticky germs and sapping damp, thank you. Just because you don't have to wear a mask doesn't make you cool. Besides, this is California. We don't DO Humidity. (We do fire season. Duh.) That's... Continue reading

I feel, simultaneously, like I'm getting a lot of long-neglected things done AND I am the laziest person alive. Motivation has slowed down as much as our economy has in this shelter in place era. Which on the one hand, I would never ever wish these circumstances or anxiety on anyone, and on the other, I am very well rested. I've read some good books, watched good shows, and played a game I'm enjoying very much on my phone (you can do it Lily, you can save your garden!). It's amazing what the step back has put into perspective. It's... Continue reading

Well, I've reached the point of the shut in where I'm breaking into spontaneous song. ESPECIALLY if my son is playing video games! There is just something about a teen concentrating ferociously on a screen that brings out the jazz hands in me. Me (dancing in front of the screen): Hey, whatcha doing? Am I BOTHERING you? Chance: Mom! Stop it! I've got to kill the thing at the time in the place for the team! Muted voice from his headphones: Tell your mom you like big butts! Chance: Shut up! I'm not telling my mom that! Me: Ha! You... Continue reading

I thought this was just beautiful. Continue reading

This is Blood-Visions with 01604ever. Continue reading