I LOVE to write...no really, I LOVE it!

Through out the years of our friendship and our writing partnership one thing has become loudly clear; Erin is a realist and I am a romantic. And I don't just mean roses and long walks on the beach. I am a true believer in love and all that it can encompass. I live my everyday based on the beautiful ideas of how love can transform us and our individual worlds. Yes, I am crazy in love with my husband and with him the amazing little people we have created (Mariah and Jaidyn), but I also love to love! I passionately love the food that I eat, the friendships I carry on, my macbook, my sweet pug, the music blasting through my beats by dre, and even my small little home. I throw as much heart into anything I encounter and find that because of it I am always so much more satisfied when I lay down to sleep at night.

So with all of this love bubbling around inside me having an outlet to let it all out has become inspiring. (Yep, I inspire myself) Not only can I love everything, but I can write about everything that I love. And I can love writing it. For 28 years I walked around this colorful world bursting at the seams with thoughts and feelings that overwhelmed the limbic system in my brain....and now I have finally found a place for them. For all of them.

Now..if only there was a place in my brain that would auto-write queries!

xoxo- Crystal

Queries...critique, edit, and critique again!

Finding our way into the super awesome online writing community has become our most recent goal! 

We are so exited about this, as we have just started to get to know some of the amazing writers and we just know that we have found the place where we "belong". A place that is consumed with an abundance of others who, like us, will lock themselves in a room without social interaction...and it's not only normal, but the cool thing to do:) 

Now...we are ready to get our toms dirty and jump right in. Having said that; here is our latest and greatest query for our second completed MS; Broken Eros. 

Broken Eros

YA modern mythology

Completed at 79,000 words

Eros, the god of love, is supposed to save humanity from their loneliness and despair, however he is the one in need of saving.

After his love, Psyche, was taken from him by the hands of the mother he adores, Eros fled Mount Olympus and renounced his duties, inevitably leading to the downfall of altruistic and unconditional agape love. For 2,549 years, torn from his family and estranged from his mother, Aphrodite, Eros has lived amongst the lust and deceit of humans in an attempt to lose his identity completely.

Until the moment the essence of Psyche looked back at him through the briny sapphire eyes of her descendent, Mariposa.

As their fates are woven together the hope in Eros’ heart is restored. But Aphrodite’s jealous nature leads her to interfere once more, setting Mariposa up to betray him. The pain of losing his one true love again forces him to escape back home to Mount Olympus, leaving Mariposa defenseless in the hands of the spiteful Aphrodite.

To fight for a chance to get Eros back, Mariposa becomes Aphrodite’s captive and is forced to endure excruciating tasks. But when she is sent down through the gates of the underworld she finds herself without a chance of escaping and ever seeing Eros again. Eros must find a way to look past his shattered heart and find her before her fragile human life is eternally lost in his world’s darkest place.

Bringing selfless agape love back to humanity must begin with his sacrifice.

The only constant is change

Both Crystal and myself have some serious changes that are occurring in our lives currently and while Crystal is taking her changes in stride (which she always does), I have been struggling with my changes a little. Which is ironic because it is true, in my life more than most, that the only constant is change. Just when you think things are calm and settled down, life will throw a wrench in all your plans, crumbling them to the ground and forcing you to build new plans from the bottom up.
And what I'm learning is that it never gets easier, and you don't even necessarily learn to handle them better. What happens is that you just learn to accept it, to let go, and let life take you where it needs to, and trust that where you are going is exactly where you are meant to be.
For instance, I never ever thought I would be a writer, never gave the idea any purchase. But I had also never written anything in my life in a creative fashion other than a book, which I also illustrated, about a giraffe in the third grade. I always considered myself a creative person but thought that my creativity was best expressed through visual mediums as has been passed down through my family tree. It wasn't until Crystal approached me with an idea about a novel and asked if I would help her write it that I gave the thought it's fair due. It wasn't until I sat down that first time at a blank computer screen, staring at it for an hour, before finally just starting and realizing that I was creating things that didn't exist before. Much like I was at a blank sheet of paper with a paintbrush or pencil in my hand. And it wasn't until I reread what I had written that I realized that I may actually be pretty good at this writing thing. My confidence in writing is ten fold what it was as a visual artist, and I have Crystal to thank for opening my eyes to the possibility. But I also have myself to thank. While most people would say things like, "I could never write a book", or "I wouldn't know where to start", I opened myself up to the idea and trusted it. I wasn't expecting myself to be any good at it or to love it as much as I do, but I gave myself the chance.
This is what I mean about letting go and trusting that life knows where to take you. This is the reminder that I have been trying to give myself, every morning, and praying that this truth will implant itself in my brain so I can walk through the changes of life confident and in grace the way I feel Crystal does. But in the meantime, I feel lucky that she is my best friend so she can pull me out of my moments of doubt.

Being a mother is the greatest gift in the world!

Happy Mother's day! On a day that we celebrate being mothers and having wonderful influences in our lives I would like to send a special mothers day message out. As you all know snowmen write consists of both myself and my best friend Erin; we are both so blessed with the opportunity to stay at home and raise our babies in hopes of them being able to actively follow all of their dreams the way that we have.

Erin is not only a mom but she is an amazing role model to her two beautiful kids. She has this ability to be completely unselfish in the way she parents and because of it her kids are able to absorb everything life has to offer them. As I sit back and watch the way she loves them and all of the self sacrifice she submits to I can't help but aspire to do the same for my kids. She is not only an amazing and talented writer but a mother above all else.

Happy mothers day to Erin!

The Writer's Voice Contest #15 -- BROKEN EROS

Broken Eros
Young Adult Mythological Fiction 
78,500 words

Eros, the god of love, is supposed to save humanity from their loneliness and despair, however he is the one in need of saving.

After his love, Psyche, was taken from him by the hands of the mother he adores, Eros fled Mount Olympus and relinquished his duties, inevitably leading to the downfall of selfless and unconditional agape love. For 2,549 years, torn from his family and estranged from his mother, Aphrodite, Eros has lived amongst the lust and deceit of humans in an attempt to lose his identity completely.

Until the moment Mariposa, a descendant of Psyche, walks into his life.

When the destined pair is brought together, Eros finds himself whole again. But Aphrodite’s jealous heart leads her to interfere once more, setting Mariposa up to betray Eros. The pain of losing his one true love again forces him to escape back home to Mount Olympus, leaving Mariposa defenseless in the hands of the spiteful Aphrodite.

To fight for a chance to get Eros back, Mariposa becomes Aphrodite’s slave and is forced to endure excruciating tasks. But when she is sent down through the gates of the underworld she finds herself without hope of escaping and ever seeing Eros again. Eros must find a way to look past his broken heart and find her before she is eternally lost in his world’s darkest place. Bringing selfless love back to humanity must begin with his sacrifice.

Please enjoy the first 250 words of BROKEN EROS below:

BROKEN EROS

ἡμέρα Ἕρμου (Wednesday)

On my sixteenth birthday a celebration that was larger than life itself went on amongst my family. I was finally of age. Of my forever age. I was now able to live out my purpose on Earth; to serve others in ways that no being ever has before. It has been 3007 years since that birthday, to the day. And since then, my world has flipped completely upside down. What was once celebrated is now a tragedy. My family, who once found harmonious joy in my existence, now punishes me in ways that the human world is blind to. My purpose in this world has been lost in the depths of the darkness that encircles me. Every moment that I am awake I fall further and further away from anything I have ever known to be real. In the thousands of years since then, I have been running; trying to leave that former life behind me. However, every year on this day I am overtaken with the memories, the pain, the betrayal, and the loss. 

Buried deep in my black hoodie, I keep my head down as I walk up Main Street to the school I have been attending; shielding my eyes from the blinding sun that bounces off the frozen mist clinging to my face. My heavy charcoal boots crunch over the blanket of dried leaves that have long since made their transition from life giving luscious shades of green burning out in a blaze of glorious reds and oranges. 

Exciting things are afoot!!

Crystal and I have decided to enter our newest manuscript in a blog contest hoping to generate some interest. This is our second manuscript and has not been released to any agencies yet, so we are hoping that this contest will help us get this book out there and on shelves faster than would be normal.

Please check back here tomorrow for an update on the contest and *hopefully* a short description of the new manuscript as well as the first 250 words.

Editing is the pits....

With hundreds of pages to edit we decided the only way to do it would be to do it our way... go to a movie marathon, get there 10 hours early, and pull out the red pens. Plenty of quiet time to read aloud (With only a few strange looks pointed our way) and then a giant 8 hour cinematic reward!

My kids have a way of making any bad day better...or any good day worse:) I am so blessed to be a stay at home mom. But when it comes to "me" time I am extrememly thankful to have found my passion to write. It feels sooo good.
Introducing...my babies- Mariah and Jaidyn <3

Yup! As I meltdown in 88 degree Texas weather my beautiful co-author had a mid april spring surprise in chilly Colorado!

Why such a long break from our last post? Well, let's just say that as we try and get some action on our first novel we have decided to get back on the horse. (The horse being of course silver in color with a brightly lit Apple on the outside) We played a few ideas of each other and once we found a great concept we just started to write...and write...and write. And now we are knee deep into our second book. And when one is writing the other is most likely editing, researching, or our minds have been exploded from excitement! Not ready to talk about the new novel's concept yet...but all good comes to those who wait. And this is god! Oops, I mean good!!! This is very good!!!
xoxoxo

Snowmen

Why the snowman you ask? Well, let me tell you a little story...

One upon a time, several years ago, Crystal and I reconnected and became fast friends... again. While our friendship was based 99% on text messaging we were still able to share many good times, bad times, and mostly the ins and outs of everyday life.

During our friendship over the past four years we have yet to live in the same city. Crystal currently resides in the wide expanses of Texas while I remain in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Which, in case you were wondering, is where Crystal and I met as impressionable teenagers in the first round of this friendship.

With the great distance separating us and the constant sounds of toddlers preventing us from having an actual telephone conversation we found ourselves in a constant texting conversation every single day. Through the amazing invention of the app called Emoji on the iPhones that we are both so glued to we are able to express almost every emotion needed to convey how we were feeling. With one exception... a hug.

Like the silly girls that we are we tried out several of the other remaining Emojis that were available but not regularly used in our daily conversations. We decided eventually on the snowman that has his arms extended and the smile on his face.

Ever since the snowman has made the cut as our official symbol to express a hug he has also been promoted to being something of a mascot in our friendship that explains who we are as friends, and as writers.

So when the time came to come up with something that described us both to use as our writing personality the first thing that came to mind was this simple little symbol that has meant so much in our lives.

So thank you to the snowman, and to whoever invented Emoji for the iPhone. You have not only brought Crystal and I closer with a metaphoric hug whenever needed, you have also given an identity to this dream that we are living out.

In the beginning....

Wow! Okay...so here we go...this is the first post! And to be honest, it is my first ever blog post. I have always been a reader of others blogs, but I have never thought that anything I had to say was worth reading. Turns out, I was WAY wrong. Let me explain....

Back in the end of Sept 2011, my very best friend, Erin Rosch, and I decided to go on a journey with each other, we decided to turn some of our most sacred thoughts into our debut novel. Let me start from the beginning...

Erin and I met our freshmen year in high school, and were instant BFF's. By the middle of our softmore year we decided that boys and other friends were a bit more important than our friendship. (crazy, i know, but that is the life of a 15 year old.) Many years later we reconnected through the wonderful world of social networking. We were surprised to learn that our similarities, although different as an adult than as a teenager, were still as strong as ever. Both happily married, each with a son and a daughter, and we were both blessed with the opportunity to stay at home and raise our children. Our friendship rapidly grew into one of love and mass respect for one another. More than any other similarity, we share the love of literature. We found ourselves pulling all nighters just to finish a great book.

This brings me back to September of 2011 when our journey began. While struggling to find ourselves in this great big world, we realized that we already knew who we were. We were passionate readers, and ones with the intelligence and creativity to live out our own dreams. Dreams of becoming writers. So with that, our laptops, facetime, text messaging, and one wild dream we began to write.

January 13, 2012 we finished the last chapter in our debut novel, which currently holds the title of Grace Eternal. With much persistence and enjoyment, we hope to find the perfect agent to represent our work, and ultimately we dream of seeing our very own manuscript transformed into a book sitting on the shelf.

Welcome to our blog! We are excited to take you all along with us on this amazing journey!

xoxoxo