So here it is finally, a post about what this blog is actually supposed to be about. If you're reading this most likely you know that I write stories because you've followed the link from Fictionpress and it brought you here. I'm not really sure where I should start so since I have some time I thought I'd just put a brief summary of the works I have up right now and a short progress report.
Loving Sarajevo: The story of Gage who is commitment phobic and who's boyfriend breaks up with him just before he has to leave on a business trip to Sarajevo. Enter Nikola who's the opposite of every man that Gage has ever dated but might be just what he needs.
So far the story is complete but I've been toying with the idea of adding a couple more chapters. If you've read the story and would like to give me some input on your feelings about additional chapters feel free to hit me up. If you haven't read it and would like to check it out here's the link Loving Sarajevo
Falling for Him: The story of Gavin who just went through a messy divorce. His ex-wife harasses him and Lex is one of the cops that ends up having to file reports for Gavin. Gavin and Lex end up in an unplanned threesome that leads to further involvement.
This is by far my most popular story so far, I'm not sure why. I've posted eighteen chapters so far and I've got a few more to go. I've been updating it pretty regularly and right now I'm in the process of editing the nineteenth chapter, it's not going as fast as I'd like. I'm getting to a tricky juncture in the story and it's hard for me to figure out what I can cut without altering the story line. If you'd like to check it out here's the link Falling for Him
The Heart Wants: The story of Shane who's in college and thinks he's straight until one of his teammates catches his attention. The teammate, Zeb has had a tough past and has problems connecting to others because of it. Shane's roommate, Justin has a secret that he's been keeping from Shane for a long time. It's a story of what happens when when love conquers all.
This is the hardest for me to write because it's from Shane's point of view only so we don't know what the other two MCs are up to when he's not interacting with them. There's also a lot of drama but hey, they're young and that's how life is when you're that age. If you'd like to check it out here's the link The Heart Wants
Strip Me Bare: Is Erik's story, he's a little bit chunky and has a lot of attitude. He's sick of not getting the type of guys he wants but when he meets his fantasy man in the flesh and he comes up short Erik has to rethink his idea of what he needs versus what he wants in a boyfriend.
This is a little different because I'm using a different writing style just to see if it works. I'm not really sure how it's going, I've only posted two chapters so far and the response seems a little lukewarm. Maybe Erik's a little annoying for some people. You can check it out here Strip Me Bare
Okay so that's about it. I have a couple of short stories also published on Fictionpress so feel free to check those out also.
Anyway, I always like to hear what my readers think so make sure if you have something to say that you drop me a line.
Also in case you were wondering my hubby is doing well. He's actually having a second procedure done in the morning so do me a favor and cross your fingers that all goes well for him.
Until next time...
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Sunday, March 1, 2015
Sometimes Life Gets in the Way
So when I started this blog I had the best intentions. I was going to use it to update my readers on my progress. But sometimes life gets in the way.
On Wednesday my husband and I took off from home headed to Salzburg Austria. It's an eight hour drive from our home here in Sarajevo. It's no big deal for us, being from where we are in Minnesota, long drives like that are nothing. We used to drive to the twin cities for a shopping trip and home in one day, that's over six hours, so you see it wasn't a drive that seemed like a big deal. Well it turned into a big deal.
We were about an hour away from Salzburg when the hubby started complaining about a pain in his chest. Well, he'd just scarfed down his lunch so I thought maybe he had indigestion. I offered to drive but he said, no he was fine but really he wasn't. We managed to get to the hotel, we checked in and he was still in a lot of pain. When he told me that his teeth hurt that was it. I told him we were going to the hospital.
Do you think he'd let me drive? Of course not. Thankfully we made it there in one piece. Now I'm not sure if you've ever been in an emergency situation in a foreign country but if you haven't let me tell you, it's an experience. We had no idea what the system was like, where did we go, who were we supposed to talk too? We were lucky that Salzburg is a huge tourist town so everyone spoke English. If not for that I'm sure that I would have been curled in a ball in the corner crying.
They took him in right away and after an hour of sitting there in the hallway waiting with no word, they finally came to get me. He'd had a minor heart attack, they said. They took us to another building to the cardio cath lab. Another hour of sitting alone in a hallway and they took us to the cardio intensive care unit. I had no idea what was going on. Nobody explained anything to me, just showed me into his room and left.
He was feeling pretty good. I was surprised after all that that he was sitting up and told me he was fine. He was worried about how I was going to get back to the hotel. He knows that I don't like to drive in places I'm not familiar with and get nervous about getting lost. We discussed leaving the car in the parking garage at the hospital but the nurses told me it was very expensive. I assured my hubby that I would be able to find the hotel just fine. I had to leave because it was past visiting hours. They told me I could come back at 14:30 the next day. I had no idea how I was going to pass all that time alone.
I kissed my hubby and left. I got lost. My fifteen minute drive to the hotel took me over an hour. I'm proud to say I didn't cry or even get upset at being lost. Normally I'd have pulled over and freaked out, then looked for the nearest gas station so the attendant could call me a taxi. Instead I drove aimlessly until I found the signs pointing to the airport, which my hotel was conveniently located near. Having just realized that life was short and anything could happen and it would be over just like that put my little adventure into perspective for me.
I have to say that the hotel staff was great. They bent over backwards to make sure that I had a room even though I didn't have a reservation past the one day we'd originally planned to stay there. They offered to help me in any way they could. I have to say that the staff at the Star Inn, Salzburg went above and beyond to accommodate me. I had to give them a shout out for all their help.
So anyway, my husband is fine even though I learned that his heart attack wasn't as minor as they first told me. He had a stent put in and needs further care for another artery that is a ticking time bomb. I'll make sure that he's taken care of though, it's my job you see, to take care of the ones I love. It doesn't pay much but the job satisfaction is tremendous.
So when all is said and done, my writing and my blog may have to take a back burner to my life for awhile but that's okay because somethings are just more important.
On Wednesday my husband and I took off from home headed to Salzburg Austria. It's an eight hour drive from our home here in Sarajevo. It's no big deal for us, being from where we are in Minnesota, long drives like that are nothing. We used to drive to the twin cities for a shopping trip and home in one day, that's over six hours, so you see it wasn't a drive that seemed like a big deal. Well it turned into a big deal.
We were about an hour away from Salzburg when the hubby started complaining about a pain in his chest. Well, he'd just scarfed down his lunch so I thought maybe he had indigestion. I offered to drive but he said, no he was fine but really he wasn't. We managed to get to the hotel, we checked in and he was still in a lot of pain. When he told me that his teeth hurt that was it. I told him we were going to the hospital.
Do you think he'd let me drive? Of course not. Thankfully we made it there in one piece. Now I'm not sure if you've ever been in an emergency situation in a foreign country but if you haven't let me tell you, it's an experience. We had no idea what the system was like, where did we go, who were we supposed to talk too? We were lucky that Salzburg is a huge tourist town so everyone spoke English. If not for that I'm sure that I would have been curled in a ball in the corner crying.
They took him in right away and after an hour of sitting there in the hallway waiting with no word, they finally came to get me. He'd had a minor heart attack, they said. They took us to another building to the cardio cath lab. Another hour of sitting alone in a hallway and they took us to the cardio intensive care unit. I had no idea what was going on. Nobody explained anything to me, just showed me into his room and left.
He was feeling pretty good. I was surprised after all that that he was sitting up and told me he was fine. He was worried about how I was going to get back to the hotel. He knows that I don't like to drive in places I'm not familiar with and get nervous about getting lost. We discussed leaving the car in the parking garage at the hospital but the nurses told me it was very expensive. I assured my hubby that I would be able to find the hotel just fine. I had to leave because it was past visiting hours. They told me I could come back at 14:30 the next day. I had no idea how I was going to pass all that time alone.
I kissed my hubby and left. I got lost. My fifteen minute drive to the hotel took me over an hour. I'm proud to say I didn't cry or even get upset at being lost. Normally I'd have pulled over and freaked out, then looked for the nearest gas station so the attendant could call me a taxi. Instead I drove aimlessly until I found the signs pointing to the airport, which my hotel was conveniently located near. Having just realized that life was short and anything could happen and it would be over just like that put my little adventure into perspective for me.
I have to say that the hotel staff was great. They bent over backwards to make sure that I had a room even though I didn't have a reservation past the one day we'd originally planned to stay there. They offered to help me in any way they could. I have to say that the staff at the Star Inn, Salzburg went above and beyond to accommodate me. I had to give them a shout out for all their help.
So anyway, my husband is fine even though I learned that his heart attack wasn't as minor as they first told me. He had a stent put in and needs further care for another artery that is a ticking time bomb. I'll make sure that he's taken care of though, it's my job you see, to take care of the ones I love. It doesn't pay much but the job satisfaction is tremendous.
So when all is said and done, my writing and my blog may have to take a back burner to my life for awhile but that's okay because somethings are just more important.
Monday, February 16, 2015
Please Excuse Me I'm Old School...
Maybe you can tell, I'm new to the whole blogging thing. I have a confession to make. I'm new to all of this. Not just the blogging. Sure I've had a computer and a connection to the internet since 1997. Don't believe me? I can prove it. I still have and use my original AOL email address. Yep you heard me, I. Still. Use. AOL.
I get unlimited amounts of groans from my two teenage sons every time my computer blurts out "You've got mail." It's always greeted with giggles and jeers from one kid to the other of "Your mama's so old she still uses AOL." I don't let it bother me because I like AOL, it's familiar, it works for what I need it to and I can remember my email address and password.
Up until a couple of months ago, I just used my computer to look at Facebook, get book recommendations on Goodreads and Google random facts (seriously random, like when did the first Nintendo Gameboy come out and what was it's original cost?). Then of course I started writing and remembered that I'd read a few unpublished books on websites like Fictionpress.
I decided to start posting my writing on Fictionpress, That was an experience all it's own but I managed it without once having to ask even my eight year old for help. There were a few bumps but overall I have to say I did fairly well. Then as I started looking at what other people were doing, mostly promoting their stories on other sites, I started to look into all the ways people connected and shared things on the internet.
Now don't laugh...I had no idea what LightJournal, Tumblr, or any of those other sites like them were. I have heard of twitter but my kids gave up trying to explain to me what the hell the whole hashtag thing was all about, even going so far as to post a status on facebook with #mymomisacluelessnoob. I'm still confused as to what that's all about but maybe someday they'll come out with an old people's handbook for twitter and it will explain it in old school English that I can understand.
So what? You ask. What does this have to do with anything? Well I guess what I'm trying to say is that I have no clue as to what I'm doing. I just read somewhere that if you want to get your name out there and get people to actually read what you've written you have to have a blog. You have to get people to read your blog (no idea how I'm supposed to do that),
I even Googled 'how often should I update my blog' to see because I have no clue about blogging. I almost got sidetracked by the second option on Google which of course was 'how often should I poop' but I managed to stay on track and found that some people blog everyday! No way you're getting me to do that, what the heck would I say? So what you can take away from that information is that I have no schedule. I'll blog whenever the urge strikes I guess.
Also there will be no theme for this blog. It will probably be random stuff for the most part because that's just who I am. Of course I'll use it to keep my FP readers updated on my current writing but that would take exactly two sentences and make for some pretty dry reading.
Anyway, I'll be here rambling about something if you're interested.
Next Blog post: I'm going to have brief summaries of the stories that I have posted on FP and maybe some progress reports. (See I've already got a plan, go me!)
I get unlimited amounts of groans from my two teenage sons every time my computer blurts out "You've got mail." It's always greeted with giggles and jeers from one kid to the other of "Your mama's so old she still uses AOL." I don't let it bother me because I like AOL, it's familiar, it works for what I need it to and I can remember my email address and password.
Up until a couple of months ago, I just used my computer to look at Facebook, get book recommendations on Goodreads and Google random facts (seriously random, like when did the first Nintendo Gameboy come out and what was it's original cost?). Then of course I started writing and remembered that I'd read a few unpublished books on websites like Fictionpress.
I decided to start posting my writing on Fictionpress, That was an experience all it's own but I managed it without once having to ask even my eight year old for help. There were a few bumps but overall I have to say I did fairly well. Then as I started looking at what other people were doing, mostly promoting their stories on other sites, I started to look into all the ways people connected and shared things on the internet.
Now don't laugh...I had no idea what LightJournal, Tumblr, or any of those other sites like them were. I have heard of twitter but my kids gave up trying to explain to me what the hell the whole hashtag thing was all about, even going so far as to post a status on facebook with #mymomisacluelessnoob. I'm still confused as to what that's all about but maybe someday they'll come out with an old people's handbook for twitter and it will explain it in old school English that I can understand.
So what? You ask. What does this have to do with anything? Well I guess what I'm trying to say is that I have no clue as to what I'm doing. I just read somewhere that if you want to get your name out there and get people to actually read what you've written you have to have a blog. You have to get people to read your blog (no idea how I'm supposed to do that),
I even Googled 'how often should I update my blog' to see because I have no clue about blogging. I almost got sidetracked by the second option on Google which of course was 'how often should I poop' but I managed to stay on track and found that some people blog everyday! No way you're getting me to do that, what the heck would I say? So what you can take away from that information is that I have no schedule. I'll blog whenever the urge strikes I guess.
Also there will be no theme for this blog. It will probably be random stuff for the most part because that's just who I am. Of course I'll use it to keep my FP readers updated on my current writing but that would take exactly two sentences and make for some pretty dry reading.
Anyway, I'll be here rambling about something if you're interested.
Next Blog post: I'm going to have brief summaries of the stories that I have posted on FP and maybe some progress reports. (See I've already got a plan, go me!)
Thursday, February 12, 2015
So this being my first post, I figured I should probably introduce myself and maybe explain the name of my blog so nobody calls the men in white to take me away.
So a little about me, I'm an American originally from the great state of Minnesota but I currently live in Sarajevo, BiH. I'm happily married and have four sons. I like to read and write and an occasional glass of red wine.
I recently started writing. My stories are of the M/M romance genre but most of them have to do with the fluidity of sexuality. I like to explore the notion that sometimes it's not the sex of the person so much as it is the actual person that we fall in love with. If you're interested in reading anything I've written you can find the stories here https://www.fictionpress.com/~clmustafic
So then here's a little more about me to help you understand why I decided to start writing. Ever since I was a little kid, I'd make up stories in my head. Most of the time it was just because I was bored. I did it everywhere. I'd tell myself stories while I was getting ready for school, eating, going to school, studying, swimming and sometimes even when I was reading another story (the authors never gave me enough, I had to add on).
I have a very active imagination. It continues to keep me entertained even to this day. Of course my school days are behind me now so the stories now accompany me while I do dishes and wash laundry. I'm a wife and mother now but my kids are all in school so that leaves me with a lot of time to fill.
A few months ago I decided that I'd try to write out some of the stories that were entertaining me and see if they could entertain anyone else. Hence this blog. So far I've been busy tapping away on my keyboard for as long as the people in my house will allow. Between the actual people in my life and the ones in my head, I'm a very busy person.
So that's where the Living With the People in My Head title comes from. I have so many different people clomping around up there that sometimes it feels a little too crowded. I've found that when I get them out on the page they quiet down some, not needing as much attention from me. At first that discovery made me do a little jig (woohoo, a little peace and quiet up there) but I soon realized that for everyone I evicted, it seemed that two more moved in.
I'm not sure that I'll ever get them all out but I guess I'll die trying.
So a little about me, I'm an American originally from the great state of Minnesota but I currently live in Sarajevo, BiH. I'm happily married and have four sons. I like to read and write and an occasional glass of red wine.
I recently started writing. My stories are of the M/M romance genre but most of them have to do with the fluidity of sexuality. I like to explore the notion that sometimes it's not the sex of the person so much as it is the actual person that we fall in love with. If you're interested in reading anything I've written you can find the stories here https://www.fictionpress.com/~clmustafic
So then here's a little more about me to help you understand why I decided to start writing. Ever since I was a little kid, I'd make up stories in my head. Most of the time it was just because I was bored. I did it everywhere. I'd tell myself stories while I was getting ready for school, eating, going to school, studying, swimming and sometimes even when I was reading another story (the authors never gave me enough, I had to add on).
I have a very active imagination. It continues to keep me entertained even to this day. Of course my school days are behind me now so the stories now accompany me while I do dishes and wash laundry. I'm a wife and mother now but my kids are all in school so that leaves me with a lot of time to fill.
A few months ago I decided that I'd try to write out some of the stories that were entertaining me and see if they could entertain anyone else. Hence this blog. So far I've been busy tapping away on my keyboard for as long as the people in my house will allow. Between the actual people in my life and the ones in my head, I'm a very busy person.
So that's where the Living With the People in My Head title comes from. I have so many different people clomping around up there that sometimes it feels a little too crowded. I've found that when I get them out on the page they quiet down some, not needing as much attention from me. At first that discovery made me do a little jig (woohoo, a little peace and quiet up there) but I soon realized that for everyone I evicted, it seemed that two more moved in.
I'm not sure that I'll ever get them all out but I guess I'll die trying.
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