Happy Gobble Day!!!

I hope your Thanksgiving so far has been awesome. Mine was great. Honestly, for my family, the entire day is cooking, talking, laughing about old things that happened when we were kids and eating. My mom is a great cook but this year she was exceptional, and right now I'm about to open the button on my pants, and lay out in the floor like a slug because I am stuffed!

But before I go I just really want to say, THANK YOU SO SO MUCH FOR MAKING MENDED A SUCCESS!!!! This has been the most rewarding month of my life and I owe it all to my readers, new and old, who loved Mended. Thank you for all of the amazing reviews and even the bad reviews are helpful because I take them as a challenge to write a better story. I must say I absolutely love the reviews that tell me what my readers like and what they didn't like they are incredibly helpful. I do read all of my reviews so PLEASE keep writing review that are explanatory! You have no clue how much they help.

Well I am off to find a place to lay out and possibly take a nap.

Gobble, gobble, gobble!

Amazing!!! (In my Oprah sing-song voice)

I've had the BEST two weeks of my life!!!!! Ok anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE Halloween, it's my favorite holiday, and this Halloween was a lot of fun. I'd released Mended on Smashwords.com and it did ok in the first week that it was up there but not too great. I got more sample downloads than actually purchases, which was disappointing because I think this is one of my most favorite books and I enjoyed writing it so much.

When I was writing Mended and scouting out public domain websites, looking for a pretty cover for it. I had decided that I was going to finally (and seriously) publish on Amazon. I put Carlie on there last summer but got nervous and took it back down. I mean Smashwords is basically a small and unknown site but Amazon is international and it scared me to think that my story could not be liked. But this time I told myself nothing ventured, nothing gained and I made certain that Mended was well crafted and put it on Amazon. It exploded! I was surprised that so many people liked it and the reviews, oh my God, I was in tears as I read these beautiful reviews. I live in this shell, I'm an introvert, and for me to come out of my shell is a hard thing. I'm a nervous wreck (I can completely admit that), and I'm a self admitted geek, so for people to like something that I do, or did, is a huge deal to me. I've been on cloud 9 all week and am now thinking of putting some of my older stories, like Carlie up on Amazon.

I just love writing and I love telling a story. When I was a little girl my mom would tell us these fantastical stories. My older brother is married with kids and he still talks about his favorite story that she made up, and he's thirty seven. I never met my grandad, he died when she was ten, but mom said he was a storyteller too, so I guess it's in my blood. I just want to go back to college. Once I finish this degree, to take creative writing so that I can craft my stories much better.

Speaking of school, when I started this blog I was actively in school but I took time off of school because frankly I couldn't afford to pay out of pocket anymore. God willing, I am going back for the spring of 2015! But not to Berkeley College. It was four thousand dollars a semester and no this Berkeley isn't California's Berkeley; which if it were, I could stand that four grand price tag a little more. It was just too expensive to pay for on my own. Needless to say, five years of school and 65 grand worth of college loans and no bachelor degree to show for it. So anyone who is reading this, DON'T GO TO BERKELEY COLLEGE IF YOU'RE POOR!!!! I'm not being slanderous I'm just being real. The best thing about it is that I got far enough with my credits that I only had like three terms left to complete. So I got far before I had to take a break.

I have to say though, I'm six months into thirty two and I'm loving this year. I've told you guys that I have hypothyroidism which means I gain weight easily and it is very hard to take it off because my metabolism is basically dead, so I constantly have to monitor myself. Well I've been really working on it because it can make you really sick and I've lost some serious poundage and my numbers have shot up. Not only that but after about five years of debating with myself I've decided to grow out my perm. Now the hair that is growing in is not the hair that I remember. Maybe I just have awful childhood memories of getting burned by the hot comb while squirming, but it's been seven months since I've started growing it out and this is not my hair, at least not what I remember. There are definite waves and curls and it's soft! I'm excited to see what happens with it.

The only thing missing from this so far great year is a new love, not that I'm searching but the year isn't over and I still have eight more years of my thirties left, a lot can happen. I'm a firm believer in the idea of not searching out love (or trouble for that much, which one can seem like the other sometimes). When I meet him, I'll meet him. I'm not going to jump the gun and end up with another jerk. So sorry mom for still not giving you more grand-brats (as we call them in my family) but someday you'll get them.

Well let me get back to work. I'm completely rewriting The Ghost of Mary Beth. I want to add more of a scare to it and less of the love story. Maybe I'll put this one on Amazon when I'm done.

***P.S.
I wanted to add a little note about Mended. I wrote the extended version of Mended first and I loved it but I thought it would be too long and I was nervous that you guys would not like it. So I shortened it and took out like six chapters and changed the ending of the shortened version. So the extended version has chapters 29-34 and the original ending. I put them both up there so that everyone could choose if the wanted a shortened love story or and extended love story. I just hope you love it!!

http://www.amazon.com/Mended-By-Kimberly-M-Clayborne-ebook/dp/B00OY5NWSO/ref=tmm_kin_title_0

http://www.amazon.com/Mended-Kimberly-M-Clayborne-ebook/dp/B00OY5O1CU/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1415479825&sr=1-1    ***

Enjoy your Saturday, it's a beaut!

Hello!

Hi!
I didn't forget about you, I don't think I can. You're always in my thoughts someway but like with most people and their journals entries, things get in the way.

Well it's been literally months and a ton has happened. No new love, unfortunately, but other things. Mostly writing stuff.

So as with every summer for the past ten years, my niece and nephew spent the summer with me. We had tons of fun and I tried to do something new with them as often as possible whether it was the beach, hanging out in the city, or getting on the ferry. It was nice to see them and sad all in the same breath. They're not little ones anymore, they're almost adults and it reminds you of how quickly time fly's. My niece is a junior in high school now and she's talking about going away to college. My nephew will be starting high school next year and he's already talking about how he can't wait to graduate junior high and be a high school kid. I'm so amazed by how time just zooms by.

They left the second week of August and this time, for the first time since their first visit ten years ago, I cried. Not ashamed to admit that auntie is a crybaby. Hopefully, when I have kids, I won't be one of those mom's who cry off of everything their kid does. I think I will be though. Have mercy!

At the end of August I decided to take off a little extra time from school. Yeah I'm not getting younger but I'm starting to think of changing my path. Mom's getting older and she may need a nurse some day or at least someone who knows what's going on so I'm thinking of becoming a nurse. I can't stand blood though and other fluids, forget about it. Someone will puke and I'd be puking right along with them. Selfishly, I'm nervous about this. At least with Information Tech I can get off of work, sleep and write but if I'm a nurse I'd barely have time to breath. As I said, selfishly. I'll figure it out.

Anyway, to back track, I released 'The Ghost of Mary Beth' on Smashwords.com in July and it was so well received that I'm seriously thinking putting it on Amazon too. I don't know, I still get incredibly nervous when I release a new story. There's always that what if. What if people just hate it, I'd be crushed. But then again with the good comes the bad and I have no choice but to wait and see what people think.

I have another story called 'Mended' that I'll be releasing on Smashwords on October 24th. I love this story. I love a lot of my stories but this one is different. The heroine was so much fun to write but my favorite character in the whole entire book believe it or not was the dog. It's crazy but I loved him. He reminded me of my own crazy dog (RIP Cricket!). I'm just putting some finishing touched on 'Mended' before it's release date and I'm nervously excited.

So, all and all, things have been good. There's been a little bit of change but not so much where life became unrecognizable in some way. If it's another two or three months until my next entry I hope I have some great and juicy things to share. If not juicy I'll always have a bit of good news.

Well I'm going to sign off now. It's a little chilly and late to head out so I'll just say enjoy your night!

Until next time!

Hello!!!!

HI GUYS!!!!

I am so sorry it took me so long to write but I've been in crazy editing mode. It helps having my sister help me edit though. Now I'm editing what she edited which is a little crazy I know but I like to make sure my books are what my readers want to read. 

So I completely changed The Bloody Woman. I gave it a new title, a new cover and changed a ton of the scenes. It's flowing a lot better now and I can't wait to publish it. But while I'm doing this, I'm also editing Runaway, Her Protector, Succulent and like five other stories, so I've been super, super busy.

Then the other day I found an old box of floppy disks that have tons of my old stories on them. I had to use my old laptop to check them out. There were stories on there that dated back to when I was in high school so it was a real time trip for me. I think I'm going to chuck most of the stories but I found an R.L. Stine-esque story, that wrote when I was a junior, that I want to rewrite and publish. I think I have to slow down though. I have so many stories bouncing around in my head that I have incomplete stories written down everywhere. I can't wait to finish them though and start a new crop. 

So just keep an eye out for The Ghost Of Mary Beth which is the new name of The Bloody Woman. I'll be publishing it very, very soon. I also hope to have Runaway and Succulent(which will be free) out soon and the Alexia Barrett Mystery Series out soon as well.

Anyway, I'm going to enjoy a day out. It's sunny and warm and I'm going to take a stroll. This morning when I was doing my three miles in the park near my house, I saw that the frogs where out now and it was like a plague of them. I mean there were so many that this lady literally ran out of the park and into the street. They are so tiny, I know I stepped on a few. I've always loved them though. When I was a little girl I'd catch the really big ones and bring them home for my mom to see and she would freak out, which gave my dad a real chuckle. And if I caught a garter snake, forget it. She would ban me from the house for the day. Apparently she has a bad snake, frog and turtle phobia. 

Maybe I'll head into the city instead, I'm already branded a frog killer. Enjoy your day, it's a beaut!! Don't forget your sunscreen. Trust me, you need it today!


With Love, 
Marie

Webpage!

Hi everyone,
I'm going to be quick today, my sister just had an operation so I'm hanging out with her today. I just wanted to let you guys know that I made a webpage after months of trying to decide if I should or shouldn't make a webpage I finally decided to do it. On my webpage I will let you guys know when a book is going to be released and what books are available. So bookmark my page and keep an eye out for my book releases and rereleases.

My page is: http://rockedit82.wix.com/marie-writes. You can even leave a comment.

Enjoy this gorgeous day!!!!!

Runaway, TBW, Mended and others.

Hi guys,
I can't believe March zoomed by so quickly. I'm excited about April, not just because it's my birth month but because I love to watch spring emerge. I've already started to notice buds on the trees and disgusting looking bugs. Seriously I saw one the other day that looked like a hornet mixed with a roach on this fence I was passing, I quickly made my way past it. I don't know what it was but I didn't want it on me. It's crazy though because even though I hate gross looking little bugs, I love being outside. I love the sounds of the birds, the feeling of the sun on my skin and just seeing the sights. I guess it's kind of like how I hate beetles but love ladybugs, which are beetles.

So now I have a new fan of my writing, my big sis (I have four). She didn't even know I was writing because honestly it's just something I told a few friends and family but now she's bought a copy of all of my stories. It was so funny, the first time she read a sex scene in my story she called me and was like are you fucking serious? Is this autobiographical? and I was like maybe/maybe not(which it's so not I can only wish for the future!!). I had to laugh because she went into total overprotective big sister role because I'm the baby sister. I guess it's hard for her to see me grown up and writing grown up things but come on, I'll be thirty two my birthday. Now she calls and she's like you've gotta write part two of this story, and continue this as a series, and this guy was a jackass and this chick was a bitch. She wants to read everything I write before I publish it because she wants to be first, which I love because it helps me and I love that she's such a fan of my writing. She thought I was weird when I was a teenager. I was always writing in a notebook or had my nose stuck in a book somewhere. I had this enormous pile of notebooks full of stories and ideas by my bed when I was a kid and packs of pens stacked up beside them, and I would write for hours on end, I still do. So now I have a club of proofreaders, my mom, a few friends, and two of my older sisters.

Well as you guys have probably noticed, The Bloody Woman and Her Protector are currently unavailable as is Runaway, I'm reediting them. Runaway I had finished but I started rereading it and I didn't like it so I cut like fifty something pages and started over, I'm thinking of shortening it. With Her Protector, I found that I had some paragraphs that made people, and myself, go wait, what happened?, so I'm going over and smoothing out the kinks. Her Protector, by the way, is my sister's favorite story that I've written so far. For some reason she wasn't big on Carlie. She thought that Carlie, the heroine, was too timid. I did the same thing with The Bloody Woman as I did with Runaway. I didn't like all the stuff I put in to flesh out the story so I chucked it all and I'm rebuilding it. So soon, hopefully by June, I'll have all the new and improved stories back up. Oh and I'm still working on Succulent too, which is a book of erotic short stories. I wanted the stories to be a little more spicy so I'm reworking them as well.

Mended is the story I'm publishing on Amazon. It's going to be, in a lot of ways, my debut story on Amazon. I've had an account with Amazon longer than I had one with Smashwords but I chose to publish on Smashwords first. I've finished Mended but I'm editing it right now and making certain that everything flows easily but I'm in love with this story. I love all of the stories I write but for some reason this story really gets to me. I like the tone of it most of all, it just feels so different. I'm trying to publish Mended by the end of the month.

I also have my mystery series that is also waiting to be edited and on top of that I started writing three stories in between reediting my published stories. One story is a fantasy, the other is story about a bounty hunter and the last is a story about a biker. Not to forget the mounds of stories in notebooks on my desk because ideas always pop up in my head. I can't wait to finish writing them and publish them. I'm even thinking of doing a World War One interracial romance. That's still a thought and not yet written down. I have to flesh it out a little in my head.

And my sister pointed something out to me the other day. We were watching television together while I was waiting for her to get ready (as always) and there was this car commercial. In the commercial the guy is with his girlfriend and they're driving; he's getting all his calls played back to him after he has like this really wild night with his friends and during his wild night he got his "man meat" tattooed. Which if you read The Bloody Woman, is the same thing that happens to Caleb, the hero when he was celebrating his last night of freedom before Keya had the baby. My sister was like maybe someone who worked on that commercial read your story and I was like maybe but I doubt it (hint, hint modesty). Nine times out of ten it's a coincidence. I mean that happens a ton right? Not thinking too much of it, it's just a funny scenario for a guy to do that during a crazy night out. Like you have to be pretty wasted to get your junk tattooed, that has to hurt.

Well I'm heading out for my Saturday night. You guys enjoy your night!!!
With love, Marie

Bad Week!!!

Hey guys!!!,
I've had a crap bag of two weeks that started on Valentine's Day. No Valentine this year!!!!! But I'm cool, better luck next year right?  

Monday started off the actual week of terribleness. First I fell in the snow and ruined my pants. If you've seen NYC snow after a day, let alone a month, you know why my Monday was horrible. I felt like I needed to disinfect my entire life after that, I still feel grossed out. Tuesday really wasn't bad, I can't complain honestly and neither was Thursday or Friday. Wednesday was just horrible. I'm a good daughter (I hope) so when mom wrote out a list for the market, I told her I'd go before I left. 

I go to the market for mom and this guy starts talking to me, trying his hardest to strike up a conversation, I tell him I'm not interested because the dude was old enough to be my father. He doesn't take the hint so I ignored him. I don't like being rude to people, it's just not me but sometimes though getting a little New York on people is the way to go, whether you want to or not. 

So I leave the area and go to another part of the market to get mushrooms, low and behold he comes strolling around the corner and tries to strike up the conversation again. I'm starting to really get pissed off by now and I'm like look pal get lost and walk away. I figure he'd get the hint right? Nope! 

I go into the freezer section and here he is, following me again. He's like you're so beautiful, you captivate me every time I see you I can't take my eyes off of you, but by now I'm just really annoyed. I don't say a word I just walk away from him and to the register. 

So I leave the market after I bought my stuff and the moment I walked out of the store he's there offering me a ride. Like I'm going to get in the car with him. He even tried to pull my cart to his car and I tugged it away and kept walking. Like some nerve right? 

So I ignored him and said hello to a cab driver I know. This guy is in front of the market begging me to get in his car and trying to give me his number. I started to get on the bus which was how I got to the market but I didn't want him to try to grab me while I waited, so I took a cab. I noticed this guy was waiting around for me to leave and I told my cabby to keep a eye out for him and he did. This guy followed my cab, my cabby took other streets and tried to lose this guy and he still somehow caught up with us. So we get to my street and my cabby pulls up at a different house, the guy drives up the other block and my cabby is in like total disbelief, so am I. I get out, take my bags out and go into the house. Lucky break I got inside before the stalker could see where I lived. But he drove up and down the street twice trying to see which house I went in to before he left. 

My mother couldn't believe it, I was just disgusted. I mean when a girl says no she means no, not for you to follow her home. Not to toot my own horn or anything but I've had guys tell me I was beautiful before but they were always so respectful. 

Like I went with my mom to a local flea market a few years back and I was helping her pick out these little crystal figurines she likes, we were teasing each other like we always do and joking back and forth. This guy walked up to us, excused his-self and told me I was beautiful, I was flattered and like taken aback. But I thanked him and he walked away, that was it. He didn't follow me, he didn't harass me he said it and that was all.  

Every woman has something they hate about themselves. Me, I feel like I'm too tall and have bucky teeth which they are bucky. I don't mind admitting that at all. But that whole thing made me really angry. Essentially he was stalking me. I told my mom I don't mind going to the market for her but I was going to do it on Saturday mornings from now on, just to avoid possibly bumping in to this guy. Next time I may have to go back to my old ways. There was a time where I didn't mind embarrassing a guy if he couldn't take a hint but as I got older I saw how wrong it was and I stopped doing it. Besides it made me feel bad when I made other people feel bad. 

Anyway, I'm not sure if I wrote it here last time but I've been writing three new stories and rewriting a mystery. My mystery is a female sleuth story that I wrote so long ago and I found it on an old drive. I decided to make it into a series so I can't wait to get that out. I'm just not certain if it'll go to Amazon, Smashwords or Kobo.  All of my books have been released on Smashwords but I've had Amazon and Kobo accounts longer than I've had Smashwords and I never published on any of them. God knows I've got a billion stories rattling around in my head so there's enough to go around.

My other stories are romances. One is about a woman who divorces her movie star husband after she find out he's cheating and moves back to her home state. She falls in love with her neighbor who is totally different from her ex. I'm still panning it all out.

The second one is about a woman who in her youth, dated a criminal. He was a headbanger, he drove a Thunderbird, had a motorcycle and hung out with bikers. The girl in the story came from an extremely wealthy family and her father didn't like the fact that she was seventeen and dating a twenty three year old man. Years later she basically breaks up with the guy because her father threatened to take away her trust fund. But the story speeds ahead seventeen year when the she decided to leave everything behind to go find her ex. She still loves him and along the way she realizes that things in their relationship weren't as perfect as they seemed back then. 

This story is a bit of a nod to my love of 80's and early 90's rock, I grew up listening to Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, Ratt, Tesla and all those old bands before I went straight hip-hop in fourth grade then grunge in sixth grade. I LOVE music, you would never believe how many of my friends are shocked by my playlists. On my IPod I have a classical, classic rock, 80's,  Back in Da Day with all my old hip-hop and rap(you know Salt -N- Pepa, Kid N Play, A Tribe Called Quest, Heavy D and the Boyz, Mobb Deep, early Jay-Z, all of the good old stuff), Disco, 90's, 90's Alt. rock, New Jack Swing, Jazz, Jazz Standards, a list called Headbangers Ball(I used to sneak downstairs at night to watch it on MTV when I was a kid), and I even have a Selena list. 

The last story is a time travel tale. I'm still working out the kinks. I'm not sure if I'll have my hero dropped in to this world or a future world or if I'll have him come here in conquest of this world. Either way he's going to fall in love with a tough as nails streetwise woman who tries to save his life and she's going to discover something about herself that she didn't know before. 

I'm so excited to get these stories going. I absolutely love creating stories and I love when my fans love them too. It's so much fun!
Oh and by the way speaking of stories, I know that I've not put Tessa back out yet but first of all I'm changing the name back to Runaway after weeks of debating with myself over the title. And second I'm reediting it so that there are no grammatical errors in the story. I try to make certain my fans are getting what they pay for which is a good story that they feel is worth their money. So bear with me please and I will have it out ASAP. 

I wrote on my twitter that a woman named Marlene wrote me about a book of erotic stories I wrote and she couldn't find it, I will put it out again soon, I'm reediting that also. I may offer it for free since it's been such a long wait. But I'll try to get it out soon as well. 

Well I'm gonna hit the bricks, it really beautiful outside today. I'm going to hang out with big sis today. Yesterday was her birthday and we're having dinner. See ya!

Go out and enjoy the beautiful sunny day!!!! This upcoming week will be icy again.

All the delicious things-Part 2.

Hey guys,
I just wanted to let everyone know that I finished All the Delicious Things-Part 2 and it is now available on Smashwords.com. I was really excited and surprised by the reception story one received and so many people asked for a part two, I just had to write it. Hopefully it lives up to book one. So please feel free to give me as much feedback as possible, if you liked it or thought it didn't live up to book one let me know. You can write me here or tweet me at MarieRockedit31. Yes, I finally got a twitter account. So follow me if you have one too. I'll send out updates when I'm about to publish another story or tweet just when I have something to say.

Not to forget that Tessa's Escape is being republished very, very soon. I'm editing it right now and will hopefully have it out by the middle of next month. I'm trying to figure out if I should switch the title back to the original title, Runaway, or leave it as Tessa's Escape. I'm leaning more toward the original title. I changed it to Tessa's Escape in the first place because after I published it the first time I went to find the page, so I typed in Runaway and found like seven stories with the same title. But Runaway fits so much better than Tessa's Escape because Tessa and Kyle actually are on the run.

Also I've started a story called Mended and I'm so excited about it. It's the first story I've written in a long time that just flows easily and it's so unique. I'm releasing it on Amazon because honestly Amazon was the first site I signed up for but when I found Smashwords I kind of left them in the dust. Mended is like The Bloody Woman and Her Protector in that they were easy to write also, they kind of just flowed. I wrote Her Protector in three months, it was that fluid. Carlie was a little harder because I'm like Carlie in a ton of ways.

The other day I found a few stories in an old notebook that I'm thinking of publishing. One of them was really good, I don't know why I stopped writing it. I have boxes and usb drives full of stories I've written over the years that I'm going through. Some of them are complete and some of them I stopped before finishing. I have to figure out which ones I'm refining and which ones I'm chucking. But I will always update you guys on what I'm planning to do because I like for my fans to be informed of what I'm doing next.

Well I'm going to head out into the elements so I'm going to sign off. It is SOOOOOO cold outside today. I'm not even out there yet but it looks freezing cold. I'll talk to you guys later. Stay warm and safe!!!

BTW,
RIP to Pete Seeger. You were really an inspiration. Like I said on Twitter, if only everyone could share your ideals and message.

Happy New Year!!!

Hey everyone,
I hope you had a peaceful, quiet holiday, I did too. There is something so relaxing about spending time with your family. I had fun just talking and cooking with my mom, sister and niece. It's funny, when you're a kid Christmas is all about the excitement of opening gifts but when you get older that fades. Now it's about family and togetherness, I mean the gifts are still really nice too but I enjoy the company a lot more.

So I basically stayed inside last night shockingly. I was going to go watch the ball drop but it was absolutely icy, I stayed home, ate popcorn and watched it on television. I must say I will miss Christmas but I'm looking forward to Valentine's day. Who knows, maybe I'll find a guy who is worth the Valentine this year.

I recently republished Her Protector and The Bloody Woman on Smashwords.com. I took them off because I found some editing problems when I was rereading them. I always try to reread my stories before I publish them but sometimes there are things I miss. My sister said she finds that problem with a lot of the independent books she reads but I told her when you write independently you're the author, the editor and the publisher. No one sets out to write an error filled story it's just the way it is so independent writers have to reread their stories at least three or four times. I don't mind proofreading my stories though because I get to relive them word for word. It's always fun, in my book, to take things out and add new pieces. I love doing that, proof reading somethings open up new possibilities and directions for your story.

Also, I've been thinking of joining Twitter. I was apprehensive because I hear such terrible things about Twitter all the time. My niece has a Twitter page and she said she hates it, she rarely gets on it. But I think you only hate something when you invite people who are not much fun to join you. Like I have this blog and my FB page. On my FB page I write when I publish a book and some of my favorite things to do. My blog I treat as a journal, I invite people to comment if they want but really enjoy, more than anything, the fact that people read it. I don't know, I'm still thinking about the Twitter thing. When I decide I'll post back and let ya know.

Well I'm going to go but before I do I want to wish everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!! Hopefully this upcoming year is full of conquests and all the happiness and joy you can stand.