The Fear Behind the Smiles

The World is Spinning and I'm the One At the Wheel

OK, where to begin? The end.

Now that we've got THAT out of the way, here's the middle and beginning to entertain the masses.

Got to hear a guy in a web meeting today pronounce passe (should have an accent over the e, and is pronounced pass-ay) as 'pass'. WRONG, dude. I don't care if you sound scrumptiously adorable and are from the land of tall, blonde and GQ-esque. Bastard.

This past weekend got to travel into Gettysburg, PA for much fun and romping. First stop was The Mannings, which isn't actually in Gettysburg but in East Berlin. Close enough as the crow flies, really. If you haven't been to the Mannings, well, jumping Jesus, get there! ... Well, only if you're a fiber freak like me, anyway. If you don't play with yarn or make yarn/felted objets d'art, then The Mannings might be kind of boring for you.

The purpose of this pilgrimage? To meet up with the gals (and hubby of a gal) of LSG on Ravelry. What a crazy awesome time. I may or may not have come off as a raging alcoholic to my new friends, but in my defense, we did have some awesome food and atmosphere by camping out in the Gettysburg Hotel bar.

After the adventure, came back home to ponder what exactly to do with the ends of yarns that have no home. Enter the hair ties, shown here to the left in lavender and black with glitz. They are available on my Etsy shop for the yarn grrl in your life.

I have to admit, they do amuse me greatly, and they come in assorted colors. These are a limited edition, so hurry up to BizarreYarns.etsy.com!

That is all. Until next time, of course.

~Suzi

BizarreYarns.com and Other Sundry Happenings

My insane obsession with knitting continues, as does my spinning of yarns in the literal sense and the storytelling sense. BizarreYarns.com is a direct link to my yarnish Etsy shop.

Since last we met, I've been hosting Literary Night at the Virtual Hotel Chelsea in Second Life. Before you scoff, it's not solely poetry, and we use voice, so it's not all geekery. I read short stories and chapters from my novels, we've had a fantastic rendition of 'The Raven' in the spirit of Halloween, and others test out song lyrics before playing them live. If you're not in it, you should be. IM me at Cinnamon Zemenis and I'll give you the location info. Time is Thursday nights at 9pm ET.

Also of the latest and greatest, many things are in the works behind the scenes. Think 'movie deal' and 'podcasts'. That's all the details I can give for now until I find out more and contracts are signed. Also be on the lookout for the upcoming info about the international anthology I'll be in. Woot-woot indeed.

Keeping up with What's Gone Down

Craziness. Sheer craziness. For those following the saga of the day to day of one Smiling Goth: I'm 3 Etsy shops up past my eyeballs, three novels in over my head, and now have about three projects I'm working on simultaneously. 

It's been a busy time, and it promises to become far busier before the year is out.

Bizarre Yarns is doing well. Better than I had initially expected, honestly. I spin all yarns posted, and work primarily in different fibers, from milk protein to soy silk, bright colors, regular colors, and always unique products. The stitch markers are entertaining, I have to admit. :) There's even a Zazzle shop now with some cool merch. 

Also doing well is the writing gig. Sales on the Bookstore go up before Halloween, you see. Apparently people just LOVE vampires. :) All titles are also available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and various other online book retailers. There's even Kindle editions, so go search out NEMESIS, LAMIA, and THE TOWER by Suzi M.

The Smiling Goth Shop is also doing pretty well. Unique jewelry, Halloween costume accents, and perfume. Check it out. There's even my first free standing sculpture box.

For those in Second Life, there is a weekly event on Thursday nights at the Virtual Hotel Chelsea. Literary Night, come on out. Bring some of your writing to read. Good times had by all. IM Cinnamon Zemenis for more info.

Catch you in virtual land.

~ Suzi

The Yarns can be found at BizarreYarns.etsy.com

Due to a naming conflict with the old shop, all yarns and cool yarn stuffs can be found at http://BizarreYarns.etsy.com.

THE TOWER reviewed in The Monsters Next Door Magazine!

OK, slackers. For those of you who just needed ONE MORE REASON to go buy my books, now you have it: three good book reviews by people I don't know personally.

THE TOWER was met with a good review by the lovely and talented Samantha Sterner in The Monsters Next Door, Issue #7. Lucky number 7. She dug it. So should you.

Allllll the cool kids are reading The Immortal War trilogy and it's way cooler than Twilight. No seriously, it is. Adult vampires in very adult situations. Bram Stoker eat your heart out.

Still need proof it's a good book? Read the Review here. Once you've said 'wow, Suzi M, huh?' you can click here to buy the book.

If you feel like feeding the corporate machine, you can also snag a copy at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Oh, yeah, there's a Kindle edition and electronic version for cheap, too. The PDF will display on the iPhone just fine. It's how I went over edits with the editor.

New Store, New Updates

And so we begin again...

Got a TON of shipments of various parts of new projects for the Etsy shops, more along the original art vein. Also got a bunch of essential oils to make perfumes.

Last night, mixed up a heavenly batch of what I'm calling 'Summer Sunset'. It's light, clean, uplifting but with a sensual earthiness. The scent goes through some transformation, depending on how overheated you're getting. I was sans air conditioning in 80 degrees, and the scent held pretty good for about 6 hours (when I finally went to bed). It went more earthy toned, but the hint of citrus was still there. Definitely not an overpowering scent, and not as grab-your-nose scent as Cinnamon Zen is. Summer Sunset is like a day at the beach, Cinnamon Zen is a night in the forest.

Also on the up and coming to the shops: belly chains! I love these things, and now I'm getting creative with them. My theory: why should your belly fade into the background, and why should only the size 00's get to show theirs off?? Enter my belly chains, which will be offered at both http://xirconnia.etsy.com and http://CinnamonZen.etsy.com and will fit up to a 42 inch waist COMFORTABLY.

I'll also be making some jewelry specifically for bellydancers. And now you might ask what I know about bellydancing... to which I reply: I know how. And I do. :) That jewelry will be posted at http://xirconnia.etsy.com for the interested.

There will be some really cool and new stuff getting posted to my Etsy shops over the next few weeks, so keep checking. One project will include art and writing, with more to follow.

Etsy Buy Handmade CinnamonZen

Night of the Living Updates

So there's more updates than I can shake a stick at. And no, I don't sleep on weekends.

Here's the latest, new jewelry and art on the Xirconnia shop at Etsy. Check it out, y'all.

Etsy Buy Handmade Xirconnia

Quick Note: Store Updates Scheduled for Monday, May 18th

There will be store updates to http://xirconnia.etsy.com on Monday, May 18th at 5:30pm ET.

What to expect?

Xirconnia items to be listed include:

• earrings

• art
• bracelets
• rings
• necklaces

For up to the second info and updates, you can catch me on Twitter @Xirconnia.

That is all.... for now.

#LOFNOTC

Update At Last!

Soooo.... for those anxiously awaiting stories of my Denver train trip, here's some pics. Keep in mind some were shot at 75+ mph. If you click through them really fast, you, too, can experience the train ride.

My letter to Amtrak will be between me and the powers that be at Amtrak. No need to air the dirty laundry, especially when the storm that caused the issues wasn't their fault... the ensuing other stuff, however, was.

In other news... I've been doing some more work on Etsy merch. See some yummies below:

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade Xirconnia.etsy.com

Over the last few weeks I haven't had a particularly easy time of sleeping, writing, and what-have-you. This weekend I'll be traveling to the mountains for some R&R (I hope). Next week finds me once more in Philadelphia. Strange how much has changed there since I moved.

And today, mark it down, I actually felt GOOD. Content, even. I was making myself a cup of tea, and I just stopped and looked around me at the kitchen, the backyard, the dining room and felt at peace.

There's a dogwood tree outside the kitchen window, with pink flowers on it. It had just rained, so the trunk and limbs were black with rain, and those flowers just popped. Everything in the yard popped today. The green was so green, pinks were just stunningly pink, and I felt fantastically optimistic.

Book sales are picking up amongst the Kindle crowd on Amazon. If so inclined to purchase an actual physical copy of my novels, you can snag them here.

And I've even started doing the Twitter thing.

For excitement beyond compare, feel free to follow me @Xirconnia.

A Quick Update, with More to Follow...

For those who may not know me that well, I have a few passions. Music, freedom of speech and expression, knitting, photography, writing, etc.... these are a few of my passions.

Trains are another passion, and a big one at that. And not model trains (although I did love my Lionel train set as a child, I must admit), but trains trains. Big, hulking, fast trains. I'm a member of NARP (National Association of Rail Passengers - if you're not a member and take the train/would like more info on getting more transit, JOIN at narprail.org), and I read the newsletters. I got to meet a fellow member on the California Zephyr coming back from Denver (more on that in the next post). We chatted a lot about the sad state of affairs for interstate and local rural access to trains. We noted quite a few broken down abandoned stations along the route into Chicago.

I take Amtrak from Harrisburg to Philadelphia quite a bit for work, and the amount of abandoned stations along the way is depressing. History groups only want fidelity to their ideas of what history looked like, after all, so scrap the connection between Gettysburg, PA and other station stops up to Harrisburg. That train line was only a HUGE reason for the battle to begin with, and a major milestone at that, due to the ability of the north to ship supplies to the troops fighting off the Confederates... but I digress.

According to the latest issue of NARP News, the federal government is giving tons of cash to programs that will increase service and bring a bunch of old Amtrak cars up to date, along with some tracks. This is good. However, there's a project in the works to create another tunnel into NYC that will NOT connect with Penn Station. Huh??? So, being the good citizens they are, folks have been trying to bring this to the attention of Washington, and the reply was basically it's up to local and state to do what they will. Ummmm.... if it's connecting states, shouldn't that be federal?

Sigh... it's like running a marathon, being the winner, and running straight into a brick wall.