Time is Flying By Way Too Fast

Where has this year gone?

Shortly after the girls left for mission and college, I started working for our POA (Property Owners Association). I love all the people I work with. We have a great time. The job itself is customer service and full of procedures that make my heart happy. Seriously, it keeps my OCD under control in a way never possible with substitute teaching.

The girls are both home. Kiah is working full time and saving for when she goes out to school this September with Ashlee. We are waiting for Ashlee to follow suit.

The boys are out of school as of this week. I don't know what they will do all summer with me working. I already miss our pool days and we haven't even reached that point of the summer yet.

Nathan has survived all the layoffs at Walmart so far. He recently was moved to a new area/team that he is excited about. In his free time at home, he still refinishes furniture sometimes, and we built a room in the garage for the girls to stay in. This weekend he's putting a shower in the half bath that's already down there.

Since I'm working, there isn't a lot of time to write, but I'm taking all the little steps I can, whenever I can. This month I released my first clean romance under a pen name. Nathan doesn't understand why I used a non de plume. It isn't because I'm embarrassed or anything. On the contrary, I'm really excited about it. However, I chose to use a pen name for romance so that any future readers will know what to expect. If everything was under "Charity"they would have to figure out if it was contemporary romance or science fiction/fantasy. This way, there is no doubting what they get. It makes for happy readers and that's what's important.

So, if your interested, check out the new author website River Ford Romances. There is also a goodreads giveaway right now where you can win a signed copy of the book.

Better yet, sign up for the newsletter and get the first 3 chapters free!

My Next Novel is Coming Soon With Your Help!

Today is November 1st!

That means National Novel Writing Month (Nano for short) has started. Some of you may know that my first published novel, THE MAGIC WAKES, started as a Nano project in 2008. This year I'm continuing to edit the second novel in the series AND get the third one drafted for Nano. Wish me luck!

As if that wasn't enough to keep me busy, I'm actively working to get another novel ready for publication. I'm joining the ranks of Indie Publishers with my Urban Fantasy titled FADE INTO ME. This book also started with Nano.

Nanowrimo 2011 was the only year I didn't explore Talia's world. Instead I met a troubled girl named Ryanne. She had secrets I didn't want to uncover, but her desperate need to be loved in spite of her scars kept drawing me back to her. I finally finished her story in 2013. Early this year I dug into revisions with a drive I hadn't felt since THE MAGIC WAKES (WiDo Publishing, 2013).

I was on fire.

FIM has been through multiple beta readers and grown into something I never could have planned. Some people will love it. Others won't get it. It's about a co-dependent girl who protects those who hurt her and runs from those who can make her whole.  Her reactions and inner struggles are based on similar ones of many women I've met in my life. All of us had to learn we are worthy of love and embrace those who knew too.

This month I'm running a kickstarter to pay for a professional editor and typesetter. With any luck, I'll make my goal and this book will be available early next year. Please take a moment to watch my video about the project. The book trailer is at the end. Then think of it this way, a $12 pledge is like pre-ordering a signed print copy of FADE INTO ME. I will be selling the print copy for $12 on Amazon and other places when it's available, but it won't be signed!

Thanks in advance for any support you can give. Even if that's just tweeting, facebooking and telling your neighbors and family about the project.

Blurb:

Aliens live among us. Their purpose: to protect and nurture their greatest mistake—mankind.

Caedan Frey’s family has fulfilled this duty for thousands of years, but it doesn’t free him from his obligation as prince of the Reparation. Although he doesn't believe humans will evolve to see the magic, much less control it, he has two months to marry one or face the wrath of the High Council. Bitter about a responsibility he thinks prevents him from marrying for love, he figures any human girl will do. He's ready to propose when his soul mate stumbles into—and right out—of his arms.

Human, Ryanne Killian might be his one shot at happiness while still fulfilling his duty. Unfortunately, she guards a dark secret within her co-dependent personality, and she thinks the only way to protect Caedan is to push him away.

Caedan must convince her she’s worthy of his love before the men who hurt her before steal more than her virtue. If she can see her own worth, she just might save herself and his people.

What do you think? Does it sound like something you'd read?

Click HERE to read the first 2 chapters.

Early Praise for FIM--

Fade Into Me was a remarkable read. I couldn't put it down! Bradford writes the story with so much conviction, I wondered if she was trying to tell us all something about the human race. The book is clean and well written. The character building hooked me from page one. The author's imagination helps make the book come to life. I give the book a 5 out of 5 rating! Great read for all audiences! I can't wait for others to be able to discover this new Urban Fantasy!

~Alicia Rivoli - Author of The Enchantment Series

I love the glimpse into two different worlds and can't wait to see how they collide! I have a clear picture in my mind as I read, I can't help but visualize Caeden's world-not something I can usually do in the first chapter of a book. I'm only disappointed I can't read the rest yet!

~Trish

Weekend Warriors

In the past we've put off house projects to the point that nothing ever got done. When we did all the work necessary to sell our house in Charlotte, I came to realize one thing.

Never again.

That's when I decided that I would do little projects as soon as I could. That way I could enjoy the house the way I wanted. We've done well so far. We've repainted the wood trim outside. Made the garage more of a statement, and we are slowly working on building some landscaping.

Two weekends ago, we completed another project.

 Before

 Middle

 Using Math!

After

July 2013

I can't believe an entire month has passed by so quickly! To be honest, I'm not even sure what we did in July. The girls had Girl's Camp and Youth Conference in June and July, Adam had his last year at Cub Scout Day camp, and then we traveled to TN for two weeks.

There were a few things in between in there, but mostly we've just been busy trying to see everyone and relax in between.

Nathan has now lost a total of 25 lbs, and I was half a pound away from 20 before leaving for TN. My only hope now is that I didn't gain too much while traveling. There are just too many tempting foods at my mom's house!

While in TN I did a book signing at Hastings. Of course I forgot my camera, but Adam took this picture for me with my phone.

I think I sold 7 books that night. However, the fun part was seeing some good friends from high school. Thanks Adam, Elise and Jen for being there!

Home Improvements 101

It's amazing the difference one month can make. When we bought our new home the grass hadn't even turned green yet. The previous owner had ripped out all the landscaping leaving us a blank slate to work with. Even better he included a certain dollar amount that he would pay us to put into the landscape because the HOA has certain requirements.

The day we moved in.

Stage 1: We planted the three plants and painted the wood on the porch/shutters a dark brown.

Stage 2: Painted the garage door to make it "pop" and planted some flowers.

Stage 3: Planted two maple trees and put in the mulch.

This side will be very pretty when they fill out.

This side needs a bit more work but it's a start.

And once again so you can compare:

 

No Rest for The Weary--And We Like It That Way

Our family enjoyed a nice two months with Nathan getting to sit with us. I'd like to say I got to sit next to him, but Cole pushed me down the pew every week. He never really got to sit by his daddy and he needed that time.

However, today we returned to the seating arrangement we had grown used to over the last 4 and 1/2 years. Our ward was bursting at the seams and today they created a new branch. Nathan was called to serve as a counselor in the branch presidency. I'm excited for him. As a naturally shy person, this will really help him get to know the members of our new area better much faster.

I also got a new calling. One that I'm very excited about. You know how much I've loved serving with the youth in North Carolina. They are the people I miss the most. I hope that isn't weird, but they were such a large part of my time, thoughts, and life in general. Today I was called to serve in the YW presidency. I can't wait to meet these girls and find ways to support the president.

Nathan and I are both excited to serve, but especially with the presidents we will be working with. They are wonderful people. We were invited to their house for dinner right before Christmas and they are going to be so fun to work with on top of the wonderful spirit we felt in their home.

In other news, the kids return to school tomorrow. Yay!
And Nathan and I start our training schedule for a 1/2 marathon in April. yay?

Actually we are both excited to get moving again. We've missed running and now there are no excuses. It's time to get into better eating habits as well as adopting a more active lifestyle. We're dragging the kids with us and hopefully by the time the weather gets nicer they'll be glad we did.

I've also been preparing for FHE tomorrow night. Today I asked the older kids to read the talk by President Uchtdorf so we can have a good discussion tomorrow night. I'm going to keep it general for the first lesson and introduce our first quarter focus.

Allowing Ourselves To Be Happy

We are going to pull out a piece of poster board and divide it into 6 sections (1 for each of us). Every night during scriptures we have to write down 1 positive thing from our day. The hope is that as we focus more on the good things in our lives we will become more positive and less porcupinish. Some of us are worse than others--oo! that was a porcupine comment. :)

Since my kids like visuals and making powerpoints (weird, I know) I'm going to share these pictures with them.