Author M.M. Shelley

Dead Relatives is now on Amazon.com and will soon be on Smashwords, B&N and IBOOKS I will post the links as they become available! Also my other book Mishap & Chaos will be going on tour in January and so I decided that while it's on tour it will be available for $0.99. I hope that everyone has a Happy and Safe New Year!

I first started learning martial arts when I was fifteen and my very first class I speant learning how to throw a good punch. Having four brothers it should have been easy, but ... I was horrible. Also learning how to roll was most difficult for me I think it may have been because when I was seven I broke my elbow in two places and tore through the muscle-- I was quite the daredevil. After my broken elbow I decided to play more safe. And as a side note learning how to do a Kung Fu roll where you use your arm and elbow to balance was not fun. In 2007 I began learning the style of  Tai Shing Pek Kwar, and it has been a rewarding and challenging journey ever since. This video shows two basic self defense techniques that anyone can use.

So far this week I've written 1100 words on Monday, 1250 on Tuesday and 1100 again today. I have not been able to workout at all as I've been fighting a cold. Which means I am losing out on learning the new forms in my Kung Fu class. I'll be able to learn them when I go back, but I'm missing the step by step training and I will have to pick them up quickly before we begin training the next form. This Saturday I'm taking two of my nieces to see Wicked, it's what they told me they wanted for Christmas and I love that they enjoy going to the theatre.

This week I've been averaging 1500 words a day some days a bit more. I started working on two stories at once, I like that they are completely different from each other. I'm not so sure if its a good idea to work on them both at the same time I know that other writers do this and do not have a problem.  My goals for the rest of this week are to read a book from my pile and to finish the week strong by continuing with my 1500 a day word count. I will let you know on Sunday how it goes.

I have been making time for my martial arts training in between work and my writing. At the moment I am training the basic patterns steps. This is important because it teaches muscle memory, in the video you will see that before Master Furtado turns he looks first this helps in order to avoid an attacker and so that you don't walk right into one. There are different patterns, this video shows patterns 1 - 5 and each pattern has different arm and hand movements, again this is repeated for muscle memory. If you notice at the end of each pattern Master Furtado bows, this is a reminder to always stay humble. Martial arts is more then about the art of war, it is about the art of understanding and to train hard and diligently.

I've missed a couple of my Row80 check ins, I have been busy writing I just have not logged on to update my progress! In my last post  I talked about FABA TV and their fundraiser, well good news they did have a good turn out and raised $3,688 for Covenant House which is a Charity for homeless teens. I am making progress on the third book in my mishap trilogy- Mishap and Retribution and I am looking at a February release. My Zombie Chronicles which is really a tongue-n-cheek series is with my editor which means Dead Relatives should be out this month. My book tour for Mishap and Chaos will be running during January! I also created a character guide on my website and I plan on adding a brief history of the war between the Leonids and Perseids. I'm not sure how I'm going to do that, I have a few ideas that  I think will be fun.

On December 2nd the artist at FABA will be doing online web classes for free all day long! What is FABA? It is an online community where face painting artist teach classes, there are beginning, intermediate and advance classes and it is much more then just face painting a flower or a star. I refer to the face painters as artist because that is what they are, imagination and a little creativity bring to life fantastical creatures and incredible monsters. This is an all day event to raise money and awareness of homeless Teens of Covenant House and 100% of proceeds will go to this charity. Take a look at some of the pictures and be sure to check out the link below... Here is the link for the fundraiser FABA TV Paint-a-thon As for my ROW80 check in this week...I am so behind but I plan on making this coming week count because I will be on vacation and will make use of this time and devote it to my writing. (And more then likely squeeze in some shopping! I h...

        I set a goal at the beginning of ROW80 to finish up the third book in my Mishap series, but at times found myself getting distracted from them. Ideas for another story have been pushing themselves to the forefront and I’ve been spending some time working on the outline for that story instead. I don’t feel too bad about this maybe I should, I’ll just see what happens.             An interesting place that I found inspiration has been my Church, at mass instead of paying attention to Father Cumberland like I should have. I found myself taking in all of the parishioners, thinking about them and wondering what their stories were.          There are so many different types of people who come to mass for different reasons, quiet a mixture, I saw a man with a rosary in his hand say a prayer, he seemed lost in that moment. There were fathers in the back of the C...

Chapter One – The flow of Blood             It was chaos in the street. Orlando and Ruben had begun their patrol of the streets of Los Angeles . Every night there seemed to be more freshly made zombies that they had to deal with. They had come upon a zombie attacking a homeless man, pulling him out of his make shift bed. The old man was yelling in fright.             Ruben went in first. Orlando held back to scan the area. A flash of light caught his eye. Ruben’s cry in pain drew Orlando back into focus. The zombie was no longer alone, Orlando didn’t know where it had come from, but Ruben had been pinned to the ground as one of the zombies was tearing at his arm.             Orlando ran, jumping on top of the zombie grabbed it around the neck in a chook hold and pulled it off of Ruben.     ...

This takes place five years before the twins arrive on the islands...                                       Prologue: ‘Ele 'Ele Ua The year 2040           Kana’i rested on his surfboard above the water off the coast of his home; the Big Island of Hawaii. He was several miles out to sea, drifting with the sea, haunted by memories of his father. A spirit of peacefulness was in the air, it was the fall season and the island was always quiet in the fall. This was the season that Kana’i liked best, his grandmother Pele, the fire goddess of Hawaii , always left him alone during the fall.           In his solitude, Kana’i had time to reflect on his father’s words. His father always told him to play it straight...

       Halloween is tomorrow and I am all set for it! Decorated with Partylite decorations (Partylite consultant here) along with tealights, and I am quite proud with how it all turned out. I went to Costco and bought candy bars for the trick -or- treaters and plan on watching the Ghost Hunters Halloween special and give out candy. Saturday I went to a Halloween party and saw my nieces and nephews in their costumes. I have eight of them and one on the way, have I mentioned I have four brothers?               As for  writing I did not get much done this past week, but I did workout so I think that counts for something. However I will get some writing done today and get back on track. In the meantime here is a cute photo of some of my nieces and nephews in their Halloween costumes... 

Check in time! So far, so good! I have been sticking with my Row80 goals and even found time to write on the two days a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays) that are my busy days! Unfortunately I have not had any time to go workout, but my friends understand. This weekend is a GLAWS meeting, it’s my writers group, GLAWS stands for Greater Los Angeles writers society. I usually miss the monthly meetings and so I making it a point to make this one. I have also managed to work on some research for a future story and while doing so I found out that there will be a POW WOW in Long Beach next year. Off topic, I bought my favorite cuff bracelet at the last POW WOW I visited.

    I started off #ROW80 with a rough start, my goals were to write Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays leaving Sunday as my day for editing. I've also managed to find time to workout daily! My progress: I've been staying with the goals I set... I met with the lovely lady who is now my editor! (I wish  I found her sooner.) Going to keep this check in short because I have a lot to keep me busy.

I have been working on the next installment to the Chronicles of Orlando and I wanted to share the book cover and the trailer! It should be available in November!

       I decided to join A Round of Words in 80 days. By doing this I'm hoping I will stay on track because I've been really busy, and now that the holidays are approaching I'm going to need to make sure I stay on track.       The only days I know I won't be able to write or edit are Tuesdays and Thursdays. My goals are to write 1,000 words on Mondays, Wednesday and Friday, and that is without editing. Sundays will be for editing/revising/reviewing.        By the time this is all done I should be ready to give the third book of my Mishap series to my editor!

Studying Kung Fu has been a challenging path, there are so many ways to describe it and I would fail with it if I tried. There is much more to the art then what you may believe. There is a Chinese story called Journey to the West , about a monkey who has magical powers and uses them in battle. So, as I enjoy learning new things and since I would be devoting much of my time to learning this craft I looked into the story. The monkey king was created from a stone of chaos, which is an early sign that life for this monkey king was going to be anything but normal. He created chaos where ever he went, not because he was wicked, but because he felt he may not have been treated fairly. He fought against imprisonment against those whose respect he wanted and after centuries the monkey king found what he was looking for. It’s a journey that I think can be relatable as life can be chaotic , but good friends and teachers help make the journey adventurous and worthwhile.   I found ...

“It is said, we had been told in a revelation from Heaven, that God had given to the Yaquis a homeland around the Yaqui River . The Yaquis trained themselves to fight, withstand pain and die if necessary to protect God-given land and family life.”   Ernesto Quiroga Sandoval, Historian, Pascua Yaqui Tribe.            While doing research for a book that I am working on that will focus on the Aztec mythology, I thought I would look into the tribe that my father’s family is from. The Pascua Yaqui Tribe, it is the only tribe recognized with having dual citizenship in both the U.S. and Mexico .             I thought this was interesting, considering that there are many tribes in the U.S. and Mexico . I thought I would start by talking with my grandmother Emily about any family history that had to do with the Tribe; she didn’t have much to share. She told me that her grandfa...

           It was the summer of 1916; my grandfather Patricio was born into a large family. His father Rufugio, was a silver miner who would later take his sons with him to do some mining. The miner’s lifestyle was not what my grandfather wanted, he had dreams of becoming an engineer, he was smart enough and eager enough, but it eluded him. Over the course of several years his family moved from Arizona through Texas and settled in California where he married and began his own family. When Bethlehem Steel put out a job posting my grandfather answered even though he knew nothing about how to work in a steel mill. He stood in the line with others who were seeking work and when they were all asked which one of them had experience my grandfather raised his hand and said he did. They hired him that day and he worked there until he retried.             I just wanted to wish my g...

Deep within the Hawaiian islands is a hidden danger. An island witch who wants nothing more then to end the line of Pele, the fire goddess. Her influence has breached Pele’s inner circle. The twins are also faced with the consequences of a freed Mnemosyne who no longer stands alone. As others from her world have traveled to earth with unclear intentions. Grasiella and Tatiana’s only focus is to find their missing grandmother. Risking everything, not knowing if she is dead or alive.

             I've done a lot of volunteer work, different causes, but there is one organization that I have known about since I was a young girl. The Special Olympics.   I have two uncles who were born with special needs. They will never be able to live on their own. My grandmother always wanted my uncles, Michael and Marty to be involved in activities. The one activity that they both seemed to enjoy was bowling. My grandmother enrolled them in the Lincoln Lions bowling league. The league also hosted dances and Christmas parties, plenty to keep them active. The league turned out to be a place that my grandmother was able to talk to other parents about the needs of their children, these women became some of her closes friends. After my grandmother's unexpected death, her remaining children wanted my uncles Michael and Marty's lives to remain intact as much as possible.   It was very difficult for my grandfather to take...

There is a new review up of Mishap & Mayhem from Aobibliosphere. Be sure to take a look! You can read it by clicking here...

Per my sister in law, Letty's urging I started watching Sons of Anarchy. It is not a show for the faint of heart, but turns out it is a really good show and it just drew me in. Now I'm hooked! Which works out now that Doctor Who just aired its mid-season finale. Which I must mention I was surprised to finally learn who River Song was. There was a lot of debate between my friends and I as to who she was. None of us saw this one coming. And as for Sons of Anarchy ... it has Charlie Hunnam who I know from the movie Nicholas Nickleby and all I can say is, "Nicholas Nickleby what are you doing!"  Also, I am working my way through the next installment of the Orlando Chronicles and I should be done by the end of June maybe early July and then its on its way to my wonderful editor!  

The Workman Temple Homestead in City of Industry is not known for its hauntings. But I've had an experience there. My brother John had offered to help me with a school project. I had an idea to do a video presentation for a class assignment and John had agreed to be the camera man. We set up the tripod in front of the main door of the Workman Homestead. I began my monologue and I noticed that John kept looking at the second floor window. He said someone had moved the curtain and was looking out. When I looked up I didn't see anything moving. We later asked the Docent if anyone had been in the house while we were filming and she had told us no. That there had been no tours. I added a portion of the video, I am standing by the front door. Visiting this Homestead is like stepping into a time machine. Everything is kept as it once was. Almost as if the Homestead is waiting for its owners to return. For more information about the Workman Temple Homestead you can click on this l...