Showing posts with label Crystal Collier. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crystal Collier. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 3, 2018

The BIG Fat FAIL Post: IWSG & Being Human

Have you ever had to make a REALLY hard choice?


That's where I'm at. It's been coming for a long time, but it is finally time for me to step away from the blog.


And no, I don't mean for a month, or two, or three... This is an extended farewell.



I know, I know. We've all seen people desert us here on the blogosphere for the continued reason that, "I need to focus on my writing." Basically, when I read those words I think:


I've been doing this for over ten years, and the relationships...oh the relationships! I love this place. Seriously, I do. Watching each person disappear has been painful--like spooning out a peice of my heart and stomping on it. (Sorry, that was graphic.)

But it's time.

And it's killing me.

This won't come as a surprise to some of you, as many have marveled at how I juggle the writing, home schooling, and babies around not just blogging, but leading choirs, writing music, vocal performances, and visiting hundreds of blogging friends each month. The truth is, we could make it work, until now. My oldest is leaving, my baby is walking and getting into everything, and my toddler is in preschool full time (which we teach her). My older middle children are on the cusp of high school. My writing is almost non-existent, and I find that my creative juices really do need to be focused on my children for the short time that I have them. It flies.

I've even cut down (or dropped out of) Facebook, Goodreads, Instagram, and Twitter. And reading. *gasp* (So you know it's desperate.)

And that's it. I'm not leaving to write. (And yes, I'm sorry, the writing thing is a lame excuse. Even if I've used it before...)


So give me a virtual hug, and perhaps if the stars align, I'll be back one day.


In the meantime...



This has been an answer to the IWSG blog hop: How do major life events affect your writing?

Huge thanks for hosting
Alex Cavanaugh
Dolorah @ Book Lover, Christopher D. Votey,
Tanya Miranda, and Chemist Ken!

Last month Sherry Ellis shared BUBBA AND SQUIRT'S BIG DIG TO CHINA along with two truths and one lie. Anyone who guessed was entered to win a signed print copy.

The game:

1. Sherry once played her viola at night in the middle of the Black Forest in hopes of scaring away the wild boars. 
2. Sherry enjoys parasailing and hopes to do it in Australia some day.
3.Sherry once crawled through a window of a locked hotel in Europe to get inside because she was out past curfew.

The lie: #2. From Sherry: I have never para-sailed. I do want to go to Australia, but I don't care about parasailing there. SCUBA diving? Yes. 

And the winner is:

...DRUM ROLL...

Congrats, Shannon!

And a HUGE thank you to Tonipads & Ezvid Wiki Editorial for featuring a surprise review and recommendation of my Maiden of Time series in their Paranormal Romance article! (Click on over.)

WAIT, WAIT, BEFORE YOU GO--!!!


What kind of lame-o friend would I be without a parting gift? Exclusively for you, my blogging buddies, pick any one of these books, shoot me an email (crystal@crystal-collier.com), and your inbox will fill up with cheese and joy:





Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Where's Your Light?

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

What are you doing with your holiday season?



Tis the season to be more loving, more compassionate, more patient. Tis the season to be better. Some people have gotten away from the reason for Christmas, and enjoy the commercial aspects. For me, this season is a time for refocusing. It's a time for remembering people outside of my normal circle. It's a season for family.

Because of that, I'll be on break until the new year, but before I go, three things:

1. There's an AWESOME book up for grabs below. (Don't miss out on the Truth or Lie game.)

2. As a very "Merry Christmas", my publisher has dropped the price of my Maiden of Time trilogy by 40% through December 21. You can get the entire series in eBook for ONLY $9. (Regularly $15.) And this:


Goodreads Book Giveaway

Timeless by Crystal   Collier

Timeless

by Crystal Collier

Giveaway ends January 09, 2017.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.
Enter Giveaway

3. My blog tour rocked! I can't tell you how incredibly blessed I feel to have such wonderful friends on the blogosphere who shared, shouted, reviewed, and made me feel like a rock star. (Almost 100% 5 Star reviews. What?!?!) You are the best! Before you go, here's a quick run down of the posts and people who deserve epic cheese this season. Thank you, friends! (And thank you to everyone who participated. Winners will be notified via email, and prizes are going out December 1st.)


November 1
November 2
November 4
November 8
November 9
November 10
November 11
November 12
November 16
November 21


Two weeks ago, Rachel Schieffelbein shared DON'T FALL along with two truths and one lie. Anyone who guessed the lie correctly was entered to an eBook.

The game:


1. I caught a Snorlax in my living room.
2. I almost died when I was four. 
3. I saw Patrick Swayze at a horse show.

The lie: #1.  

From Rachel: I still don't have a Snorlax and I'm kinda bitter about it. Lol.

Way to guess everyone! And the winner is:

...DRUM ROLL...

Julie Flanders!

Congrats, Julie!

And now, here's a giveaway for a wonderful author who is super supportive of other authors and whose debut novel JUST came out. Ooh!

Too pretty.
Too smart.
Too perfect.

In a crumbling, futuristic Las Vegas where the wealthy choose the characteristics of their children like ordering off a drive-thru menu, seventeen-year-old Sienna Preston doesn’t fit in. As a normal girl surrounded by genetically modified teens, all of her imperfections are on display. But after the death of her father, everything she's ever known and loved changes in an instant.

With little skills to help provide for her family, Sienna clings to the two things that come easily—lying and stealing. But not all thief-for-hire assignments go as planned. When a covert exchange of a stolen computer chip is intercepted, she becomes entangled with a corrupt government official who uses her thieving past as leverage, her mother as collateral, and the genetically modified poster boy she’s falling for as bait.

In order to rescue her mother, there may only be one option—joining forces with the Fringe, an extremist group, and their young leader who’s too hot to be bad. Problem is, these revolutionaries aren’t what they seem, and the secrets they’re hiding could be more dangerous than Sienna is prepared for. In the end, she must be willing to risk everything to save the one thing that matters most.

Catalyst is a thrilling adventure of danger, romance, intrigue, and deception.

Get Your Copy HERE.

Ready to meet the author?

Kristin Smith writes young adult contemporary and science fiction novels. When she’s not writing, you can find her dreaming about the beach, beating her boys at Just Dance, or belting out karaoke (from the comfort of her own home). Kristin currently resides in the middle-of-nowhere North Carolina with her husband and five incredibly loud but extremely cute boys. To read more about her obsession with YA novels or her addiction to chocolate, you can visit her at kristinsmithbooks.com.

You might find Kristin pretending she's in a fancy restaurant while sitting at her scratched-up kitchen table, eating goat cheese on a cranberry, walnut salad.

Kristin gave me two truths and one lie to test your "lie detector" skills. Those who figure out either lie will go into my magic hat for the chance to win an eBook (open internationally):

You have until Tuesday, January 3 at 2 p.m. EDT to guess. Be sure to come back for the answer (and some FUN trivia) on January 4, 8 a.m. EDT.
TRUTH OR LIE

1. I'm the mother of five boys, and when I was pregnant with my oldest son, we were told by the ultrasound tech that she was 99.9% sure we were having a girl. Surprise! We ended up with a bouncing baby boy.

2. By the time I was 18, I'd traveled from the east coast to the west coast 3 times, but the first time I ever rode in an airplane was when I left home for college.

3. I once chatted for five minutes with Woody Harrelson outside of a bathroom in a casino in Las Vegas and didn't realize who he was until after he walked away. 

So sleuths, which is the lie? Have you met Kristin? Love sci-fi thrillers? What does the Christmas season mean to you? What are you doing with your holiday season?

Monday, November 21, 2016

FINAL day of Timeless Book Tour + Win cool Books


It's final day of the book release blog tour. Yippee!

First of all, don't forget to guess Rachel's lie to win Don't Fall, a contemporary retelling of Rapunzel. 


Tis the season to be grateful. I feel like I've been drowning in cheese with all this awesomeness, and I have you to thank for reading, supporting, and being incredible you. So thank you for participating, playing, and commenting. It means the world to me. As you look around at life this week, I hope you'll take a moment to ponder what makes it rich, and the abundance of blessings you experience, even in the darkest times. (Especially in the darkest times.)
The Maiden of Time Series:

The romance of Jane Eyre meets Supernatural.

In a world where people can heal with a touch, kill with a scream, and rob a person of their memories, Alexia is struggling to find her place and learn her gifts--before the Soulless come for her.


on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or get signed print copies from yours truly!

Tour stops


(Email address is required for awarding prizes.)


After today is over, I'm taking a cheese holiday. I'll be back on November 30 with a final post and giveaway for the year.



Where would you go on your cheese holiday? What are you grateful for this week? Do you celebrate Thanksgiving--and if so, how?

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

When Life has Got You Down


It's day 16 of the book release blog tour. Yippee!

Are you feeling down? Feeling like life is coming at you with unfair force?


Combat it with cheese! Let's lighten some of that today with a few EPIC and fun posts.



The Maiden of Time Series:

The romance of Jane Eyre meets Supernatural.

In a world where people can heal with a touch, kill with a scream, and rob a person of their memories, Alexia is struggling to find her place and learn her gifts--before the Soulless come for her.


on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or get signed print copies from yours truly!

Tour stops

November 16

November 17



(Email address is required for awarding prizes.)



Last week, Joylene Nowell Butler shared MATOWAK: WOMAN WHO CRIES along with two truths and one lie. Anyone who guessed the lie correctly was entered to an eBook.

The game:


1.  Joylene trained a wild tomcat by attaching a hair-brush to the end of a yard stick so she could brush his coat at a distance of three feet without having her legs torn to shreds. 
2. Robert Goulet, singer, actor, best known for The Naked Gun 2 & 1/2, and for being portrayed by Will Ferrell in Saturday Night Live is Joylene’s cousin. 
3. Joylene once won 10 bags of jujubes by eating 15 jujubes in one-minute while being blindfolded and having to pick up the candy one at a time with a toothpick.

The lie: #3. 

From Joylene: I do love jujubes, but because I live such a boring life, I had to look up a good lie. I found this one in the Guinness Book of Records.

Way to guess everyone! And the winner is:

...DRUM ROLL...

Hilary Melton-Butcher!

Congrats, Hilary!

And now, how about a wonderful book giveaway? (This one is one of the INSTANT prizes you can win in my Wheel of Death giveaway game.)

In this modern day retelling of Rapunzel, Anya has her books, her photography, and her daydreams. She doesn’t think she needs anything else.

She lives in a house on the edge of town with her adopted mother, who goes to extreme measures to keep her daughter safe. Anya doesn’t even go to school, but instead has a private tutor. Anya tries not to acknowledge her loneliness; she puts her efforts into pleasing her mom, and gives her heart to her stories, secretly wishing for a story of her own.

Then one day at the library, the only place she's allowed to go, she takes a picture of a beautiful boy.

Before long she's lying to her mom, and sneaking out late at night to meet Zander. But Zander wants more than a secret romance. If Anya wants to be with the boy of her dreams, she will have to risk her relationship with the only other person she's ever cared about.

Get Your Copy HERE.

Ready to meet the author?

Rachel grew up in a tiny town in Minnesota. She still lives there, with her husband and their four kids. She coaches high school speech and theater, rides Arabian horses, reads as much as she can, and writes stories.

You might find Rachel, kicking back with her kids and eating Colby Jack in crackers. Meet her on her FACEBOOK PAGE.

Rachel gave me two truths and one lie to test your "lie detector" skills. Those who figure out either lie will go into my magic hat for the chance to win an eBook (open internationally):

You have until Tuesday, November 29 at 2 p.m. EDT to guess. Be sure to come back for the answer (and some FUN trivia) on November 16, 8 a.m. EDT.
TRUTH OR LIE

1. I caught a Snorlax in my living room.
2. I almost died when I was four. 
3. I saw Patrick Swayze at a horse show.

So sleuths, which is the lie? Have you met Rachel? Love fairy tale retellings? What's got you down lately? And more importantly, how are you going to fight it? Now guess the lie and get out of here--on to the next tour stop!


Monday, November 14, 2016

Suicide Cheese, Huntress Found, and Golfing


It's day 14 of the book release blog tour. *jiggle dance*

But first... The FABULOUS Alexia Chamberlynn's new book is out! If you haven't read this woman, you're missing out. Humor, awesome stories, wonderful characters, amazing backdrops... So what are you waiting for? Go pick up your 99 cent book!

Title: Huntress Found
Series: The Timekeeper’s War, Book One
Author: A.A. Chamberlynn
Release Day: 11/11/16
Category: New Adult
Genre: Contemporary Fantasy, Mythology Mashup with Sci-Fi and Steampunk
Price: 99 cents!!

About the Book:

From the author of the bestselling Zyan Star fantasy series comes a new world of magic...

Evryn’s got mad skills at playing hide and seek. She can find lost children, hack the most secure databases, pretty much anything. Except for the one thing she desires most: the knowledge of who her parents are, why they abandoned her, and what her special talent means about who and what she really is.

So, when a guy named Seeker appears quite literally out of nowhere, claiming to know about her past and offering her a job, Evryn can’t say yes fast enough. Even if it does mean following him to another realm. As in, mind-blowingly, not Earth. Apparently she’s part of an elite clan of Hunters descending from Artemis who can find just about anything in all of time and space. As the last of Artemis’ direct lineage, Evryn is her clan’s best shot at finding a lost city before rival clans do.

Not just any city, but the flying, realm-hopping city of Skye. Aboard Skye is the Artifex, a magical device with the power to create or destroy worlds. Everyone wants the device, and with Evryn’s super-powered lineage, it means everyone wants her, too. It’s hard to decide who she can trust, even within her own clan. After she discovers a strange, alluring connection to the Artifex, she’s not even sure she can trust herself. Worse yet, the only person who may be able to help her is the Timekeeper, the sadistic ancient being who created the Artifex. An interdimensional war is brewing, and Evryn is right at the epicenter of it all.

Let the hunt begin.

Snag a Copy!

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Kobo 

About the Author:

Alexia lives in Florida with her son, two cats, and a bearded dragon. When she's not writing or reading, she can be found playing with horses, drinking wine, traveling to the next place on her global wish list, or maybe doing yoga. Dr. Who, unicorns and katanas make her very happy. She is represented by Sandy Lu of the L. Perkins Agency.  Connect with her at www.alexiachamberlynn.com.

$50 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


And back to our regular schedule...


I hope you don't have epilepsy. Quick, look away! Death by cheese is the theme of the day. 

This is your last chance to guess Joylene Nowell Butler's lie in her Truth or Lie game!

And now to kill you with AWESOMENESS...

The Maiden of Time Series:

The romance of Jane Eyre meets Supernatural.

In a world where people can heal with a touch, kill with a scream, and rob a person of their memories, Alexia is struggling to find her place and learn her gifts--before the Soulless come for her.


on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or get signed print copies from yours truly!

Tour stops 

November 14


November 15




(Email address is required for awarding prizes.)

Have you ever experienced death by cheese? What do you think that would look like? Did you get your copy of Alexia's book? And if not, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!



Follow the cheese golfer to the next stop on the tour. Seriously. I promise there will be epicness!