So It's Been a While...

What can I say?  Life lately has been one crazy, hectic, and basically out of control roller coaster.   I've been up writing in the quiet hours of 11:00pm - 6:00am, trying to bust out the last 65-70 pages of my book.   Yes, I am that close to finishing!  This is being made possible by my amazing hero of a husband  who has been waking up with the kiddos so that I can finally sleep.   That is not to say that I will be anywhere near done polishing The Beast.  Unfortunately, that will not end until it shines with a pearly white complexion.  And then comes the process of writing a query...argh my head hurts thinking about it.

So anyway, since my brain is usually the consistency of mush when it comes to writing anything during the daylight hours, I've decided to list the top authors that have intrigued me in the last let's say year.   Yes, I know that is a huge stretch of time, but give a girl a break!  Plus I wanted to stretch it that long so I can include a favorite that I keep rereading.  The following are in no particular order.  Feel free to let me know if you agree with my choices, or for that matter disagree.

1.  Suzanne Collins-  The Hunger Games trilogy  (I finally got around to reading these and they blew me away!)

2.  Kiersten White- Paranormalcy  (I love love Kiersten and freely admit that I stalk her on her blog, facebook, and twitter)

3.  Cassandra Clare-  The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices series  (Honestly, these books could go on for years and I would continue to read them)

4.   Maria V. Snyder- Poison Study trilogy and Glass Study trilogy  (If you haven't read any of her work you should, they are amazing!)

5.  Lauren Kate-  Fallen & Torment  (I really think that her series on  fallen angels are the best in the angel genre)

6.  Julie Kagawa- Iron King, Iron Daughter, Iron Queen  (Her fairy books are superb)

Now I want to add two Kindle Authors that I found on Amazon that I really liked.  What I would like to add it that they are self-published authors, therefore there are numerous grammatical and punctuation errors within both.  But if you can get around this fact, both of these series have original ideas and really pulled me into the story.

1. Imogen Heap for her Portal Chronicles

2. Amanda Hocking for her Trylle Trilogy  (I wouldn't really recommend any of her other work, as I was seriously disappointed in her other series.  They felt rushed and unoriginal)


  Back to the grindstone, as I leave you with a little something that helps to inspire my writing.