tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81157950084127537702023-11-15T06:16:17.447-08:00Kioni Hall: The Hall of Science Fiction and Fantasy Erotic Romance LiteratureKioni Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04799354274775291861noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8115795008412753770.post-48603014565834915352021-02-03T14:15:00.004-08:002021-02-03T14:15:45.928-08:00The vision of 2020 and the reality of it in 2021<p> Well I, like most everyone else, had high hopes for the New Year of 2020. I was going to continue to get my shit together, push harder in my fitness regimen, get a bit out of my comfort zone to achieve set goals and finally, FINALLY, finish editing my rough draft of my first solo project and publish it at the end of the year.</p><p>Spoiler alert: None of that happened.</p><p>In the beginning of the pandemic I thought to myself, "<i> Okay, so we'll get this coronavirus thing under control. We'll stand home for a few weeks and kick it a bit and then get back to the regularly scheduled program." </i></p><p>Only we didn't. People we're getting sick everywhere, people were dying and as employers needed people to come back to work and schools needed students to start back with their classes thing gained a weird holding pattern. It was the beginning to the return that stayed just out of sight. Friends passed that I wasn't able to go to their funerals. Weddings happened. Births happened. Life happened but through the lens of my phone or the screen of my computer.</p><p>I loss my job teaching yoga as I needed to stay home for the kids virtual learning. The time that I had planned for finishing up at least one writing project fizzled away and I felt like I was at risk of loosing everything. Anxiety of the past ramped up and set me into a depression. I felt unmoored. I got a therapist.</p><p>She helped me so much with 2020 feels and then some. Slowly but surely I started to come back but I was different. I was ready to face reality, ready for a challenge that I was hungry to succeed in. I was sick of overthinking and letting my anxiety have the wheel of the What-if nightmare train of thought. I wanted to step into my life and live it. I wanted to nurture that kindling to love my husband fiercely and honestly, have nothing between us but time and God. I wanted to pursue that crazy-big wish to be an award-winning author and make people eager to read as I am. </p><p>This year isn't going to be like any other any of us have had before but it's a time that we're blessed with in a life that is not guaranteed. This year wasn't so much about resolutions as it was the year I made my <i>'This scares the shit out of me but I'm going to do it anyways because I don't want to stay were I am'</i> list and push through all that distress until I reach that summit of breakthrough. </p><p>Tell me, what's something that scares you or makes you uncomfortable that you want to achieve for yourself?</p>Kioni Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04799354274775291861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8115795008412753770.post-47795592466833257832018-09-30T18:48:00.002-07:002018-09-30T18:48:34.310-07:00I had a vision of love: Fantasy Heros and why I adore themShifters, Vampires, Aliens and Fae aren't everyone's cup of tea. <div>
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For some folks I know the shifting ability from animal to human creeps them out or that Vampires are more like mosquito zombies than cold, mysterious hunks. Aliens are more likely to be little, microbial germs rather than huge human-looking with crazy skin colors. And Fae, fair folks, are just fairy tales that the reader never outgrew. </div>
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For me, however, all these beings are a beautiful break from the mundane. We all get up and do what needs to be done, working whatever hours we need to to earn the money we need to pay for the ability to keep everything up. The rat-race of everyday life beats you down, causes you to daydream of different career paths, potential changes to make.</div>
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What if such a change collided with the humdrum of your life? What if your best friend started going steady with an elf? Or that guy you've been crushing on at the gym that looks too hot to be legal, invites you out for coffee and confesses he's a dragon? </div>
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Or, just hear me out, what if you were making a bank deposit and during the middle of it, the bank got robbed! Your teller behind the counter burst through the bullet-proof glass as a huge direwolf and took down the would-be robber single-handedly? Err, paw-ly? What then? You can't tell me you wouldn't be happy about your teller turned Kujo right then!</div>
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Anyways, my point here is our paranormal people give a fantastic twist to the everyday same ol' same. Love has a undeniable ( and sometimes irritating) strength about it that once you've fallen under its spell it feels more supernatural than any of these creatures could ever be. </div>
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Of these lovable fantasy creatures I've got a few favorites and a few more that I would love to explore by writing them into a story. I mean, I can count on one finger how many unicorn shifter stories I've read and the elven people, imho, are super underrated. Aliens will always be a favorite but there are so many more out there.</div>
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In addition to stand alone books I have an idea for a book series to include all sorts of different Mr. Fantastics. And this is where you come in. I want to know what mythical or fantastic being you're into and want to read! Are Ogres not getting enough love? Do you get hot around the collar for Dragons? Does your heart flutter for Griffins? What being can you not get enough of?</div>
Kioni Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04799354274775291861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8115795008412753770.post-5888607653785247812018-09-26T17:05:00.002-07:002018-09-26T17:05:54.001-07:00When dreams become reality: penning my first formally published workI remember when I was struck with the unshakable urge to storytell.<br />
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I was sitting at the dining room table looking over my kindle, trying and probably failing not to be scandalized at the fiction I was devouring. I finally gotten to the juicy part and it was a battle to not do a spit take with my coffee.<br />
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In that moment I was in love with the story, in love with the characters, in love with love and I wanted more. The want became a need as I began to beta for my favorite authors. Then I wrote my first story and posted it on fanfiction.net.<br />
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It was <b>horrible</b>.<br />
Just <i>awful</i>. LOL, downright beat-with-the-ugly-stick bad.<br />
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Riddled with typos and filled with stilted conversations, I cringe any time I revisit it. The story was okay but my basic writing skills were just that, basic af.<br />
And as much as I'm embarrassed by it I left it there as a reminder. I could have stayed the same, unchanged, stagnated. I could convinced myself to stop writing while I was ahead because I was clearly not very good at it.<br />
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But for the first time in a long time I was driven to be very good at something. I wanted to write a story that made readers feel what I felt when I read swooning tales of love. I wanted to write characters that they could relate to because they looked like them or had similar experiences. And not just one story but as many as I could each as sweet and spicy as the one beside it but unique as a fingerprint. That's what I desired, to leave an impression just like a fingerprint.<br />
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So I plodded along with one fanfic after the other until I started to see that I was getting better. There were less typos, an easier flow to the paragraphs. My notorious run-ons weren't as glaring. My dream was coming true because I was working hard to achieve it and faith had seen it through.<br />
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Publishing an actual ebook though of my own characters seemed like a pipe part of my dream. And for a while it was but I hadn't counted on Zena Wynn offering me as much as she has. It is great to be one of her trusted betas and even sweeter to have her friendship but nothing could prepare me for the joy I had in her proposal to help me learn to publish a book by writing alongside her! I might have screamed and danced for a maybe five minutes. I couldn't believe it.<br />
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Seriously, there I was six years ago a new mother dealing with postpartum depression and other issues that feed that beast, now writing with one of my all-time favorites on something that I thought would pan out to be nothing more than a hobby.<br />
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And I hope it doesn't pan out that way. I'm still writing and have 'books' in the works but I'll need your help. I promise you, the reader, that I will do my very best each time I put a book up for submission. I promise to make characters that pull at emotions, make you love, lust and angry on their account. I promise to do my best in writing compelling and unique plots. I promise you this.<br />
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I hope it is enough to make you a loyal and happy reader :)<br />
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Live long and prosper, Space cowboy<br />
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Kioni HallKioni Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04799354274775291861noreply@blogger.com0