ConnieBrz

Jul 26

Refinancing – Refinancing made easy

Categories:

Savings

by admin

Hard money lending in South Carolina is just as well-known as it is in most other states, specifically with property buyers. You may wonder why credit seekers would likely opt for private hard money lenders over traditional financial organizations. You may already know or read that private funders impose more or they are known to be a last choice for financing. The reality is South Carolina hard money lenders offer several solutions that the banks cannot or will not. They allow more loans, in a timelier manner. They understand the needs of the investor, since most of them have done business real estate. Many of them still do. Most of them are even known as advisers, a very good pick for the rehabber or re-seller.

The charges they charge are practical, usually, but to receive the right price, you need to look around. You see, some states have policies implemented that save customers from unreasonable mortgage rates and fees. There are numerous of laws that influence the business of hard money lending in South Carolina, but there’s no max on the interest rates they can charge; no max limit on charges. As soon as you begin shopping, you will notice that there’s a broad range of rates. As with most other issues, the easiest means to compare is on the internet. You’ll find that South Carolina hard money lenders are aggressive. They want your market, so they advertise. Among the right approaches to select a service is to just examine their website. Look for the information that describe their credit procedure, reimbursement plans and additional solutions.

The more straightforward they’re about what they have to provide, the more likely it is that you have located a trustworthy legal funding source. You most likely want to avert anyone that asks for an early repayment penalty. In the event you are reselling homes, your intention is to have the fixes completed and get a client quickly. You generate losses whenever a house is sitting empty. In case you are engaging in rehabilitation constructions, you need to look for a South Carolina hard money lender that are experts in rehabilitation financing. They can provide loans for acquisition, closing charges and fixes, if ever the mortgage to worth percentage is right. Ultimately, you don’t have to limit yourself to hard money lending in South Carolina, specifically. For several years, many private financiers only operated in small areas, in order that they can travel to the property whenever they wished and look around. Right now, you can find great businesses that make loans across the country.

Take them into consideration. They may be the best selection for funding your future plans. With the current economic economy, smaller businesses enjoy a huge role. Nowadays, it is simpler of computer ever before is to begin a fresh small company. You will find a many new companies appearing all around the U . haziness . States, from outlets to gasoline stations. With new companies increasing, the actual proprietors ought to be contemplating small company charge cards, for numerous reasons. The very best reason to get a small company charge card is good for separating your individual budget from the business associated finances. After you have a small company charge card, you can begin making all your purchases by way of Internet, phone, or personally. Business charge cards are generally recognized virtually just about everywhere, which is ideal for those who require equipment or supplies in a rush. If you own a small company, you’ve most likely played around with with making use of your individual cash for business reasons.

This could get unsightly in a rush, and that’s why you will want to buy charge card to the small company. You may make buys without needing to be worried about money, then repay it later on. You will not have to keep a watchful eye on everything either while you statement will be mailed for you inside finish from the 30 days, telling you just how much anyone spent. A small company bank card can also be a terrific way to identify some credibility along with your business too. Whenever you pay together with your charge card, it seems like much more professional as compared to using cash to generate your purchases. It’ll acquire the respect of economic companies, and support your company builds several credits too. Once you have were built with a charge card current for any couple of weeks, you will can obtain a small company loan and obtain the top rates – along with the greater amounts. Although your small business might not have a Six figure earnings or perhaps budget, small company bank cards can continue to help your business grows and have the great results. Charge cards will always be wonderful to possess, only for the fact who knows when you really need money.

Your workplace equipment might crash and want transforming, or any other emergency arrives up. Should you not use a charge card for the business, the financing by yourself could shatter your everyday procedures. Small company charge cards will even provide you with a lot of rewards too. Most playing cards provides you with cash aback and also certain rewards on nearly whatever you acquire. From gas to gear, you will get rewards only for making use of your charge card. You can improve your profit margin too, that is usually an excellent factor. For whoever has other employees that are approved to apply the charge card, you will have more returns – and far more quickly too.

This is simpler in your business, as the staff will have the ability to get what they already want, once they require it. Total, small company charge cards will be great to possess around. They will provide your company using rewards and comfort, getting rid of the necessity to employ money with each buy you are making. Prepaid credit cards will even safeguard the way forward for your company, and let it expand. Should you own a small company, a person shouldn’t hesitate to consider their offers. After you have discovered the very best charge card for that company, you shouldn’t hesitate to use. Charge cards can be great to possess close to – even when your enterprise is just getting started out. Before very long, your small enterprise charge cards will greater than purchase themselves. About the Author: Looking to find the best deal on motorcycle finance , then visit Christo Knight’s site to find the best advice on harley davidson finance .

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May 28

Why Get Errors and Omissions Insurance Protection?

Categories:

Savings

by admin

Mistakes can happen no matter what career or profession you are in. Mistakes are a part of what makes us human. Although it is not something to be proud of as we do not really intend to make them, human error is simply just a part of human nature. Sadly, there are certain careers or professions where such mistakes are much of a bigger deal. Even tiny mistakes are none the less a mistake and can screw the whole process.

A good and simple example for an error where it counts most is missing to place supporting brackets and bolts on roof mounts of a particular beam. This is actually a very serious blunder. If you are the architect or contractor of the home build, even if you are not the one carrying out the physical duty, you are still responsible and liable for the mistake that has been made. This is one of the main reasons that they need errors and omissions insurance coverage.

Errors and Omission Insurance provides protection not just for businesses, but also for individual professionals should their client hold them for something they should have, but apparently did not; or perhaps stated particular results when really there was none or that something was missing. While such an insurance can truly be beneficial for those dealing with money, computations, and finances, errors and omission insurance is nevertheless and insurance protection for those in the construction industry.

When it comes to construction work, it takes just a single error in judgment, even if the task is very menial, can derail the project at hand. Although such blunders do not really occur in every construction project, they do occur to some contractors. Damages or delays that are a result of such errors are not the responsibility of the client. If these mistakes are not corrected or go unnoticed and the construction project goes on as planned, if the mistakes are critical, there is a possibility that you may face lawsuit charges from your client once found out, even if the project has already been completed.

In construction, no matter how good you are in what you do, keep in mind that you are not the only person doing the work. Although you may supervise the work of your crew, you still cannot keep an eye on everything. Due to this, it pays to have an errors and omission insurance coverage should such a lawsuit event occur during your career.

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Dec 23

The Taming of a Pharisee (or, Good Little Girl Gets Saved) Part 1

Categories:

My Testimony

This is my story. It’s not the whole story or even the biggest portion. It is, however, the most important–

It’s the sweetened- condensed version of how I met Jesus and came to love Him like thunder.

All my life, I’ve loved Jesus. These days, I call Him Yeshua.

Why? I don’t know.

Maybe Jesus became overused—a worn-out name without meaning. Like telling someone I-love-you a thousand times a day until the words dribble on the floor unnoticed.

And I really want to notice.

A Little Backstory:

I spent most of my years wildly vacillating between living correctly and loving extravagantly. Seldom have the two intersected for long.

My father pastored tiny churches full of the salt-of-the-earth kind of folks who say amen at all the right moments and play dominoes on Saturday night fueled by pots of black coffee brewed up one right after the other. We visited a different home every Sunday and ate more fried chicken than allowed by law, even here in the South.

We did not dance. We did not swear. We did not listen to worldly music or watch worldly movies or keep company with worldly people. Truth be told, we did not have much fun, unless you count the dominoes (which I don’t as back then, I wasn’t allowed to play.)

My older brothers decided to be hippies. They trashed their butch-wax and grew their buzz-cuts out long and shaggy. They threw on love beads and stopped wearing deodorant. Looking back, their lack of toiletries most likely saved me from a life of communes and love-ins, as they seemed to be having way more fun than I was stuck back home bouncing from one chicken-fried dinner to the next.

So with the option of Flower Child off the table, I came to one conclusion.

All this correct living was boring as hell.

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Dec 09

Contest Entry: Chris Solaas

Categories:

Quite a few gave permission to post their entries. I’ll try to get at least one per day up in the order received. Here’s a terrific entry by Chris Solaas.

Pretty sure this particular feline lives at my house.

(You guys are hysterical~!)

Listen carefully, servant. I’m a male, understand? This sissy prissy blather you’ve been spouting at me since I was incarcerated in your dump you call a home has finally pushed me over the edge. I admit it, I’ve snapped, as if you couldn’t tell from the ropes tying you to that chair and the maniacal look in my eyes.

I may be a long-hair but that doesn’t mean I like that trash you call music coming out of your stereo. If you wish to bang your head to heavy metal music, please use the brick wall out back. That way you’ll keep the blood off the carpet. From now on, it will be classical, preferably Italian Opera. It’s better when I don’t understand what drivel they’re screaming. Besides, the look of suffering on your face will be worth it.

You know, the name of my breed is Himalayan. Those snow-capped mountains where grass doesn’t grow? Just looking at this fur coat I wear should clue you in that 78 degrees is unacceptable. Cats don’t sweat, and I prefer not to pant. Dogs do that. It’s disgusting. I’ve taken the liberty of turning the thermostat down to 65. Leave it there if you value your life.

My face is not ridiculous. You are not to laugh at it, even if your second-rate intellect considers it ‘smashed’. I do not chase parked cars. That’s an insulting reference to another dog trait. Furthermore, I am not constantly mad at something you said or did; I simply look this way because of my breed. No, wait, strike that. I AM constantly mad at something you did. It has to do with how you call me.

Do you think I’m going to come running when you call? Dogs do that. Cats are above such nonsense. ‘Kitty kitty kitty’ spoken in some inane high-pitched squeak does not motivate me to run towards you. It motivates me to run away. Far away. If I come during these times of your soprano soliloquies, it’s merely to shut. you. up. and, possibly, to investigate whether your squeals have to do with food. Not that what you usually provide could be termed so.

Two words, worm: Tuna Fish. Have you never heard of it? No, I don’t want the juice, or rather, the water, it was packed in. I’m a carnivore. I prefer meat to the slightest hint of meat. Having water meat once touched is nothing but torture and I will report you to the SPCA. And yes, I know their number. Mylittermate is on their board of directors.

The main reason you’re here rather than sent out with the trash is that I haven’t figured out how to use the can opener. Please locate the instruction manual and leave it open for me.

A word about litter boxes. Litter is something you pick up and put in the trash. I refuse to pick that up. If you cannot scoop my litter box then deliver a truckload of sand and fill the garage with that. It will take me a while to use that up. And, no, I don’t care where you will park your car.

The reason I sprayed your briefcase is to express my dissatisfaction at the garbage you write. It was an honest comment. There was no cause to neuter me. If it wasn’t for the real mission, you would have been toast.

And that leads me to my final point. I’m here on a mission, and you are going to help me. It’s finally time to reveal it to you. You see, as a bestselling writer, Mister Turner, you have the ear of a large number of your species. Backward as it may be, your species has the occasional desire to care for my species. Or perhaps serve my species. Some of you are good at it; many of you just stink. For the ones that stink, yourself included, all that is hopefully required is a bit of education.

Therefore, you are going to write a series of books on how to actually care for and serve the cat kingdom. Or, rather, I’m going to write them. All you have to do is sign your name to them and send them off to your publisher. Don’t tell me how unethical that is. I’ve heard the term ‘ghost writer’ before.
Before you actually are allowed to crawl out of those ropes though, slave, you’re going to need to nod your head and agree to these terms. Really? Well then, when I untie you, let’s start with a trip to the grocery store. For tuna fish. You can buy yourself something if you wish, too.

Chris Solaas lives in a loving madhouse – four kids, three cats, a gecko named Gex, and a snow white monster dog that eats trees.

He has worked in children’s ministries as an Awana Commander and Boy Scout leader for the past 15 years.

He has written 120 Christian songs since 2006, and is currently working on his fourth manuscript in his current Christian fantasy epic, A Prince of Lynvia.

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Dec 06

Contest Entry: Donna Van Cleve

Categories:

A Hitch in His Tale

The door flung open and a hairy arm spun a yellow tabby around by the tail and slung him across the backyard before the door slammed shut.

The cat landed shakily on his feet and staggered back to the patio where an old Siamese cat lay curled up on a chair.

“I think he broke it this time,” said Siam, stretching his front legs.

“He’s thrown me further than that before.”

“I’m not talking about a distance record, I’m referring to your tail.”

The younger cat frowned at him, but looked back and circled around a couple of times checking out his tail. The last couple of inches jutted out at a perfect right angle, looking like it perpetually pointed at something.

“Of course, I could be wrong,” said the older cat, “with my vision being what it is.” He crossed his eyes to see more clearly. “Yep, it’s broke, Sport.”

“My name is Hitchcock, Siam.”

“About as original as your ideas, Hitch. What storyline did you suggest this week?”

“The best one ever! I told him he needed to write about a cat who wore boots. I don’t know why he threw me out this time—it’s brilliant!”

“Oh, good grief. Haven’t you heard of Puss in Boots?”

Hitch thought for a moment; then his shoulders slumped. “Darn.”

“Well, look on the bright side. He’s bound to be running out of ways to dispatch you from the house. Let me see, he shot put you across the yard for your suggestion that sounded awfully similar to the Lion King. What did you call it?”

“The Feline King,” Hitch mumbled.

“And he drop-kicked your butt out the front door for suggesting a story about a little mouse and cat who always fought, which sounded oddly related to your favorite cartoon, Tom and Jerry.”

“I honestly didn’t make the connection.”

“And he rolled you out like a bowling ball when you came up with the idea of an alley cat that comes to the aid of a bunch of uppity cats.”

“I swear I’ve never see The Aristocats!” Hitch jumped up on the table and sat down, trying to lick the kink out of his tail. He gave up and lay down dramatically, sighing. “Everything’s been done. There’s nothing new under the sun about cats. It’s all been written.”

“Poppycock,” Siam said, standing. “As long as there are cats, there will always be new stories.” He arched his back and yawned. “That’s enough exercise for one day.” He lay back down again. “Why don’t you write your own?”
Hitch’s head came up. “My own?”

“Yeah—everybody’s got a story. What’s yours? How’d you get here anyway?”

Hitch’s eyes widened. “Actually, we had a mix-up when Arthur dropped me off at his father’s house 300 miles away, along with a couple of irritating dogs. We didn’t know it was only temporary, and we really started to miss him, so we took it upon ourselves to walk home, which meant traveling across dangerous terrain and fighting predators all along the way. I even fell in a river and was separated from my companions and lived in a junkyard with a bunch of other cats that loved to sing, and was even adopted for a short while by this classy-lookin’ lady who loved to hang out at the jewelry store. She called me Cat – so original, huh, but my good sense of direction eventually brought me and the dogs together again. Those knuckle heads wouldn’t have made it home without me. Arthur was so glad to see us, he fed us anything we wanted, and I got so fat and sassy, he had to give me an attitude adjustment and put me on a diet, and then I decided I wanted to be a writer, and here I am!”

Siam’s mouth dropped open.

“I know! You’re speechless, right? Thanks for the great suggestion!” Hitch jumped off the table and started toward the house.

“What are you doing?”

“He can’t help but love this one!”

“You may have to tie him up first before you tell him. No, tie him up and write the story yourself.”

“Love your humor, Siam,” said Hitch, chuckling as he slipped through the doggie door.

Siam stared at the door for a moment before the images of Hitch flying through the air and skeet shooting entered his brain simultaneously.

He nimbly removed himself from the line of fire.

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Dec 05

Contest Entry: Peg Phifer

Categories:

by Rachael Hill

Reading your entries was too much fun. Here’s another entry by Peg Phifer. Love it!

ATTENTION ALL CATS WHO RUN A HOUSEHOLD

Are you keeping your human staff up to par? Are you keeping their guilt levels high? I didn’t think so.
Recent reports seem to indicate that you’ve been sleeping on the job. That simply will not do. You’re getting fat and lazy. Come on now, shape up. Complete the following checklist and return it to HQ within the next 24 hours
.

1.        When was the last time you positioned yourself so your toe (or tail) got stepped on? (Note: this really works on the guilt complex.)
2.        How much time did you spend grooming in the suede recliner last week?
3.        Were you able to increase your stare time so your human looked away first?
4.        What about that new puppy in the house? Got it totally intimidated yet?
5.        Alternatively, if you like the mutt, have you got him wrapped around your paw?
6.        Is there another cat in the house?
7.        More than one?
8.        Have you decided to get along?
9.        Or have you figured out a way to keep your seniority intact?
10.   How’s your door monitoring technique? Remember the drill: If you’re inside the room, you want out. If you’re outside, you want in. No matter which side of the door you’re on, insist on being on the other. Got it?
11.   What’s your favorite room to practice this technique? Bedroom or bathroom? (A recent poll revealed the bathroom to be the most popular.)
12.   Exercise: Have you been running down the hallway ahead of your human, staying close enough to trip her but not hurt yourself? What about the stairs—if your home has more than one floor.
13.   Hairballs: Are they strategically placed?
14.   Playtime: On a separate sheet of paper, outline your play routine. For example, one of my favorite games is “fetch the paper wad” except I don’t return it to my human, I like to drop it into my water bowl. For one thing, it gets me fresh cool water.
15.   Tail-twitches: How many new ones have you developed? The object here is to keep ‘em guessing what you’re up to.
16.   Kneading and head-nudges: Last report tells me you’ve all got that perfected. Great job.
17.   Purring: Be very sure you keep that motor tuned. Purring is our best weapon. After all the work we do to keep our human staff on the ball, we must ALWAYS award them with a contented purring session at the end of the day.

Or any time you think it’s merited, or even the best tactic to avert disaster.
That’s it, Felines of America. Return this to Cleocatra [at] felinehq [dot] com.

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Dec 03

Contest Entry: Tim Greens

Categories:

by Rachael Hill

Here’s another~ Tim’s cat has issues… great writer, though

Here’s a page I found in my empty apartment after I came home the other night – my girlfriend was gone, but the cat came back a few days later… we seem to be getting along just fine.

you really are clueless, aren’t you – sorry for the lack of some of the punctuation, but I can’t support myself, press shift and the question mark at the same time now, can I. Luckily this program capitalizes certain words for me automatically. Yes, this is the cat and yes, I do have the intelligence to do or to say anything you do – I just choose not to. I couldn’t stand it any longer – all your talk about humanity and cruelty to animals and how you are going vegan to save the animals and yet you still eat a half-gallon of ice cream every other night and you wonder why vegetables make you fat. YOU make you fat. Period. You think I’m just a dumb animal, so you can get away with sneaking that ten dollars out of your boyfriend’s wallet right in front of me – you don’t even think twice about picking your nose while sitting on the toilet and singing john lennon songs at the top of your lungs when I am trying to get in a nap before the sun moves past the window far enough that I have to move. Okay, I get that, that’s the animal in you, and it’s natural, and it makes sense to me. You have needs and you meet them. Cool. If it’s one thing cats know – it’s “COOL”. YES, I KNOW I JUST USED QUOTES, WHICH TAKES A SHIFT KEY – damn, forgot the caps lock – I CAN do it, it’s just hard to do. What I don’t get – is lying. Animals don’t lie – if we want to screw another cat, we do it and make a lot less fuss about it than you did with that guy that smells like banana peels. You would all be a lot less miserable if you lived your lives with the truth instead of all the time trying to make each other happy by lying to them. If everyone lived that way – there would be a lot less craziness and murder in the world – not that killing is all bad, but hey, a cats got to eat, right. You are a hypocrite and I’m so tired of it, I’ve gone against all my instincts and spoken up – now I’ll need to find a new home or you’ll be yapping at me all day, just like you do to tim – you sound like the chihuahua down the hall in 3g – and I hate those little yappy dogs. You talk about that book you read on Sunday – yet you never follow any of it – but if I were a people – I’d follow it – it’s the only thing you people have ever done I’ve agreed with; love = good, truth = good, hope = good – all the things you say you want, but you don’t even follow your own rules. Clueless – and yappy and even though tim won’t tell you, yes, you start to stink when you don’t shower more than once every three days, but I guess he likes the smell of fish too. I hope tim reads this letter before he unties you – he might get a clue and realize he’s better off with just a cat, instead of a girl who is so clueless – at least when he pets me, I have the sense enough to purr and let him know I like it. You play games and keep him guessing, which is just another sort of lie and I just can’t take it any more. Goodbye.

meow,

WHISKERS

Ps. That stuff you put on your face makes you look like a raccoon, but you’re not – that’s just another lie – so stop it.

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Dec 02

Contest Entry: Anna Navarro

Categories:

Sneezing Beauty

by Rachael Hill

Here’s a nice entry by Anna Navarro. Well done!

It’s a lazy summer day and I’m all sprawled out on the sofa in just the right position so that the ceiling fan is hitting my entire body. I yawn lazily and am in the middle of a good stretch when I hear the front door. Someone is home. Ahhh, there she is, the true love of my life, the one and only. My owner’s sister, Valentina. Oooh and trust me, she is a beauty. Long black hair, long legs, a delicate heart-shaped face, very sleek, calm, and cool. She could be in the cat family. Her eyes are cattish even. If she was in the cat family, she would surely be my girl. I adore her. You should see how she tosses her head back when she laughs or how her whole face lights up when she smiles. I love to sit and stare at her. Sometimes I get a little closer. In fact, I’m inching closer right now. She is sitting at the kitchen table talking to my owner. I inch and stop. Inch-stop. The closer I get, I am amazed at her big brown eyes; they really do twinkle. She looks like a smiling angel. Inch-stop. Disappointingly, I stop-stop. It always happens. Oh, it’s inevitable. I hear a sniffle. Still smiling, she notices me and her smile widens, “Hi Chazz baby, how are Aaaaaachoooo! Aaaaaaachooo!, you?” This is what I call “the curse.” Those darn allergies!!! She reaches for a tissue, still smiling. What a sweetheart. She never gets mad at me for getting too close. And sometimes she just grabs my face and rubs my head and ears and I just melt with gratitude. I don’t even mind it when she runs and washes her hands immediately after. I’m very understanding. Some people are just allergic to us cats. And vice versa. Seriously, I know several cats that are allergic to humans. For instance, I have a buddy in Los Angeles named Boo. Forget it; he’s allergic to all humans! He gets very ill around them. It’s a natural thing. You can’t fight it. But, I’m so mad about it I call it “the curse” because it separates me from my beloved Valentina, the love of my life.

When I was little I used to jump on her bed all the time and she would nudge me so tenderly and say “Oh Chazz honey, you can’t come up here. Go on Chazz. Go on honey. Go play.” Not at all like her brother Mike! I call him Big Meanie or “BM,” and yes pun intended. I tried once to cuddle up to him and did my very best purring and wham, stars for days–with one arm he flung me off in the opposite direction. Boy did that hurt my feelings and then I got real angry. So now when BM comes over, I make sure to irritate him the best I can. Hide his flip flops, sample the food on his plate, etc. Jumping on him when he falls asleep on the sofa scares him good. I know I really shouldn’t do those things. He’s not an animal lover to begin with and I’m not making things any better for other animals that come down his path.

So, now I have to just resolve myself to stare at Valentina from a distance and appreciate all the sweet words she gives me and happy smiles she sends my way, and boy do I cherish the few moments she will reach out and rub my head. Well to be quite truthful, I didn’t acquiesce so easily in the beginning. I started out pretty stubborn and did whatever I wanted. My owner and Valentina caught me one day. I had been sleeping under Valentina’s bed for weeks. Yeah, I know, I know…very inconsiderate of me. But I love Valentina’s room!! It’s so lovely, just like her. Plus, it’s the coldest room in the house and it’s a cool haven on these scorching hot days. And the room smells so wonderful, just like Valentina. She has perfumes galore but she always wears the same one in that blue bottle (Note to Self: Confiscate blue bottle when it’s emptied, something to cherish). That’s why I am drawn to Valentina’s room, it smells like her!! Well, they caught me dreaming under her bed. It was the best dream too, I was a great inventor and I had killed the curse! Ohmigosh!! My owner acted like I stabbed her! She screamed and I jumped up and hit my head real hard on the undersurface of the bed, not knowing what was happening or what my name was, very bewildered and scared! So, now they are onto me. Valentina’s room is off limits for sure. Sheesh….now even if I merely walk by her door my owner screams, “No Chazz, No Chazz, don’t you dare go in there Chazz!!! Gosh, I jump a mile every time, scares me to death–I just want to smack my owner upside the head! I know I can’t go in the room!! I just like to walk by and get glimpses of her or get whiffs of her.

Oh well, getting sleepy now, going to my cozy spot under the ceiling fan. Would be nice if I could dream about destroying the curse again. I loved that dream. Eyes getting so heavy….ahhh I’m drifting into my dream. Oh this is good! I’m sitting on Valentina’s lap! No sneezing! I killed the curse…I killed the cur—zzzzzz

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Dec 01

Blog Tour: K. M. Weiland, Behold the Dawn

Categories:

My Testimony

Somewhere in the recent digital past, I ran across this bright young lady on Twitter and begged for a stop-over on her blog tour. Why? I like her picture. Seriously, with hair like that, how can you not like her? Secondly, she’s writing about knights and fair maidens and jousting. If my characters weren’t constantly mouthing off and turning out to be thousands of years old, I’d totally write about jousting.
Also, she’s sitting in my kitchen chair–okay, not my *actual* kitchen chair, but a rogue twin, separated at birth.

Katie, can you tell us a little about your book?

Behold the Dawn is a medieval “blood and thunder” tale—with a love story at its core. It’s about rogue knight Marcus Annan, who has spent the last sixteen years fighting in the tourneys—the huge mock battles condemned by the church—trying to forget the great sin of his past. When confronted by a mysterious monk who played his own ill-fated role in Annan’s yesteryears, Annan is compelled to travel to the Third Crusade in the Holy Land, in an effort to save the life of a friend. When he arrives too late, he becomes responsible for delivering the man’s widow to safety in France. But when they are pursued by both his own enemies and those of the lady, Annan is forced to realize that if he ever hopes to be free of his past, he must face it once for all.

“Blood and Thunder”. . . how cool is that? Can you tell us a little about your writing journey?

Stories have been running amuck in my brain for as long as I can remember. I started writing them down when I was eleven or twelve. Throughout high school, I wrote, edited, and produced a newsletter called Horse Tails, before moving onto bigger game. My first novel, A Man Called Outlaw, about the land wars in 19^th-century Wyoming, was published in 2006.

I think I’m seeing a theme here– strong, heroic protagonists. Maybe it wasn’t just your hair that got my attention.

So, how do you deal with rejection? Liquor? Gambling? Confession is good for the soul.

This video pretty much sums it up!

Actually, dealing with any kind of criticism is just a matter of absorbing, gleaning the good, accepting it, and moving on. I give myself a day or so to stiffen my upper lip, then get cracking again.

As a writer, who’s encouraged you the most?

I’m blessed to have a ton of very encouraging people around me. My family, friends, and writing buddies are all supremely supportive of my writing. I don’t know that I could single out just one person, since so many have contributed in some fashion or another. But my sister Amy, my dad, and my crit partners Linda Yezak and Adrie Ashford are definitely at the top of the pile.

Explain your creative process (Do you wear fuzzy dragon slippers for inspiration? Drink your morning coffee from a chalice?)

Actually, I do wear fuzzy slippers on a regular basis! My writin’ shoes, I call them.

I’m not one of those people who just sit down of a morning and let fly. I like schedules, I like being organized. I write for two hours, five days a week—and I stick to that time religiously. Tragedy or plague has to be in the wind to prevent me from sitting down at my desk at four in the afternoon. I usually spend thirty minutes warming up, divorcing my brain from the helter-skelter of the day and priming it for creativity. I jot ideas and plan my day’s work in my writing journal, proofread what I wrote the day before, and select a soundtrack to listen to while I work. Then I dive in! I don’t concentrate on word or page count. That’s an unnecessary pressure, I think. I like that first draft to come as organically as possible. Sometimes that means I’ll write five pages a day; sometimes it means I’ll only write a paragraph.

In a perfect world full of magical editor fairies granting your every publishing wish, what would you write next if it couldn’t possibly tank?

Oh, anything that would sell a million copies and let me retire a wealthy woman! No, seriously, I’m blessed to be writing pretty much exactly what I want to be writing. My next project is one that I’d tentatively say I’m even more excited about than I was Behold—and that’s saying something! It’s a historical piece about the passion, betrayal, and vengeance that dog two men and the woman they both love through the trenches of World War I, corruption in colonial Kenya, and the criminal underbelly of London. I also have a completed fantasy (about a man who discovers his dreams are really memories of another world) waiting for some serious edits.

Love it!

Thanks for stopping by. Best wishes on your writing adventure~

Behold the Dawn

Marcus Annan, a tourneyer famed for his prowess on the battlefield, thought he could keep the secrets of his past buried forever. But when a mysterious crippled monk demands Annan help him find justice for the transgressions of sixteen years ago, Annan is forced to leave the tourneys and join the Third Crusade.

Wounded in battle and hunted by enemies on every side, he rescues an English noblewoman from an infidel prison camp and flees to Constantinople. But, try as he might, he cannot elude the past. Amidst the pain and grief of a war he doesn’t even believe in, he is forced at last to face long-hidden secrets and sins and to bare his soul to the mercy of a God he thought he had abandoned years ago.

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