I like to Move it Move it!

A lot of different writers write for a lot of different reasons. To entertain, educate, and to make a statement are just a few. I remember really enjoying writing in school and making up all sorts of dark and twisting tales to entertain my friends during lunch. We each had our own stories, but characters and concepts often spilled into each other’s pieces as we wowed (is that even a word?) each other with strange and unpredictable plot twists.

Nowadays, I still enjoy writing, but I find my reasons for writing have multiplied. Have you ever finished a book and found yourself motivated to take on the evils of the world and make everything right? I have. And it’s something I hope to replicate in my writing.  Maybe not in every piece I write, but someday I want to inspire someone to get up, use their voice, and take a stand. There are a lot of things wrong in our world and as individuals a lot of us feel helpless as the tides of time and life erode our wills to do anything about it. Change doesn’t always have to be a big, grand production either. Most times it isn’t. Sometimes is can be as simple as a smile or a short line on a page. The tiniest things we say and do every day are the things that form the foundations of the big and grand.

Of course I still enjoy writing just because I can, but sometimes it would be nice to know someone took something important away from having read my book. :)

So tell me, why do you write?

Stopover at the Backworld's Edge

The Backworlds Book 2 is Out!

The sequel to The Backworlds is now available. Craze and his friends continue their adventures in Stopover at the Backworlds’ Edge. See what role chocolate plays in the galaxy this time.

The interstellar portal opens, bringing in a ship that should no longer exist. A battleship spoiling for a fight, yet the war with Earth ended two generations ago. The vessel drops off a Water-breather, a type of Backworlder thought to be extinct. She claims one of Craze’s friends is a traitor who summoned the enemy to Pardeep Station. A betrayal worse than his father’s, if Craze lives to worry about it.

Available for all ereaders from:

Amazon / Amazon UK / B&N / Smashwords

iTunes and Kobo will be available shortly.

If you haven’t read The Backworlds yet, it’s available as a free read from many outlets. See HERE for links. [http://mpaxauthor.com/the-backworlds-series/backworlds-the/]

Inspiring the words M. Pax writes, Mary spends her summers as a star guide at Pine Mountain Observatory in stunning Central Oregon where she lives with the husband unit and two loving cats. She write science fiction mostly and has a slight obsession with Jane Austen. Mary blogs at http://www.mpaxauthor.com/blog/

Oh my...

This morning I rolled out of bed and mosied into the kitchen only to stop, glance back into the living room, blink a couple times, then nearly shriek! I love my cats, but I DO NOT love the presents they bring me. My dear sweet Tazzy, who just recently learned how to use the dog door, seems to have come into the idea that she needs to either earn her room and board, or she simply wants to show me she's thinking of me because, this morning I found, neatly set out on the rug for me, a dead baby mouse. Not only that, but while I was writing at the kitchen bar counter last Wednesday, she brought home a live bird. Luckily I was able to catch the it before it flew into too many windows and release it outside where it will hopefully become a little more wary of cats. It kinda made me feel like a modern day Snow White though, cradling the poor thing out to safety. Hehe. J At least now it's safe.
Speaking of Wednesday, I had my first official critique with my new critique group in Bend. It went great and we even had a little of everything to look at too, which was really nice. ^^ There's some great writers in our group and I can't wait to see what they bring next time! Speaking of writing, I should be getting back to mine. I hope everyone is having a great weekend and staying cool with these toasty temperatures here in Oregon. Until next time! ^^ J

Vacations and Happy 4th of July!!!

Vacations are very nice, but sometimes so is coming home. After 5 days at the coast, it was kind of nice to come home and relax before getting back to day to day life and what better to be home just in time for the 4^th of July! J Last Thursday after three hours in the car we arrived at my aunt and uncle’s beach house for our family reunion and headed straight to Mo’s. On Friday we enjoyed cheese cube samples and ice cream at the Tillamook Cheese Factory. If you’ve ever been curious about how they make and package cheese, I’d highly recommend you take a trip down there. They have a viewing area in which you can watch the factory employees cure, package, and box up the cheese. It’s pretty educational for anyone interested in learning about cheese. J



The next afternoon my brother, future sister-in-law, and I headed out to Netard Beach and tried our hand at clamming for the first time. We actually turned out to be pretty successful! ^^ We pulled up 24 Purple Varnish clams and 6 ghost shrimp. The shrimp didn’t have much to them, but the clams were absolutely delicious and tasted fresher than any store bought clams I’ve ever eaten. Digging through all that sand though made my arm awfully sore, which didn’t help at 4:30 a.m. the next morning when my step dad, brother, and I stumbled, bleary-eyed out of bed and headed to down to Tradewinds Charters in Depot Bay and boarded the Amigo to go deep sea fishing. With a crew of fourteen we set out passing three fat and sassy seals basking on the rocks, enjoying a comfortable life of ease. Maybe twenty minutes out, we dropped 10 crab pots, one of which I got to throw out personally, and headed out to catch some monster fish. All in all we reeled in about 10 fish. ^^ I pulled up four; three were sea bass and the other a tiny fish I didn’t catch the name of. For bottom fishing it was actually pretty quiet and when the wind started to pick up, the fish stopped biting.

What we didn’t catch in fish, we hauled up in crab. Altogether the total tallied up to 70 keepers (you can only keep males that are over a certain measurement). From there we headed back to the bay and disembarked. They cleaned the fish and cooked the crab right there by the docks were seagulls and seals gathered around in hopes of catching a stray morsel. Once we got back to the beach house, I took a good looong nap hehe. ^^
The whole weekend stayed pretty overcast with quite a bit of rain here and there, but the sun did make a nice little appearance on Sunday afternoon for the tail end of our fishing trip. Now I'm home much to the relief of my two cats, although they aren't very happy at the moment with all the fireworks going off.

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July and set off plenty of fireworks!!! Now it's time for me to go to bed. It's waaay past my bedtime. ^^ J