"When I'm not writing" with Kelly Meding

The talented Kelly Meding is joining us this week for "When I'm not writing"! She's the author of the urban fantasy Dreg City series and the superhero series MetaWars. She's here today to promote the upcoming third MetaWars novel, TEMPEST, which builds on the two previous novels in the series, TRANCE and CHANGELING. Please join me in warmly welcoming Kelly to the blog!

I'm half tempted to complete the sentence with "…I feel like I should be writing." Because that's very, very true. I suppose it's part of trying to balance writing with working a full-time job. I tend to feel guilty when I'm doing something else besides writing. But since that would make for a very short, very boring blog post, I do actually have a few hobbies that I occasionally find time to indulge in.

One of those hobbies is making jewelry. I've been dabbling in this for years. I grew up in a very crafty family. My aunt sews, scrapbooks, and crotchets. My mother can sew and knit. My grandmother was also a knitter. I'm pretty good with a sewing machine (I even made a corset once!), but I never picked up on knitting. My crafty habits skew away from fabric and thread. Over the years I've played around with ceramics painting, candle making, and glass painting.

The one hobby that's stuck around since high school, though, is jewelry. Jewelry is my thing, and it's one of the ways I express myself. I have two jewelry boxes worth of funky earrings, wild necklaces, rings shaped animals, and all kinds of bracelets. Most of these are store-bought, but my own pieces are sprinkled in here and there.

The majority of what I make is pairs of earrings. I still own the first pair I ever crafted:

I made these when I was in junior high. I found the gems in a tourist trap store in the Smokey Mountains during a family vacation. All I did was attach them to French hooks. They're twenty years old now, those earrings, and I still love them.

This is my work area:

All of those plastic containers? Yeah, you can guess what's in them. Lots and lots of beads, gems, findings, and other random things I've decided will one day make fun jewelry.

Did you know packs of wine charms are great for earrings?

And bits of pins and broken jewelry can be repurposed into a necklace?

I don't get to sit down and make things as often as I'd like to nowadays, but I still collect items to use in the future. I pick them up at yard sales, flea markets, and in the bargain bins at Michael's. One day they'll become something beautiful.

Thank you for listening to me ramble! And a big thanks to Tynga for inviting me to be a part of this!

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Thanks for stopping by, Kelly!

For more information about Kelly and her books, check out her website or follow her on Twitter or Pinterest.

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Here's the scoop on TEMPEST:

The public doesn’t trust them. The government wants to control them. Being a superhero has never been this hard, especially for Tempest.
Two months after the discovery of the powerful, non-Meta Recombinants, the former Rangers—Meta-powered humans dedicated to preserving the peace—have made no progress in uncovering the newcomers’ origins, or convincing the public to trust them. Newly powered Metas are popping up and causing trouble, while the former Banes—Metas who harm humans and create chaos—show no inclination that they even want to leave the island prison of Manhattan. With a presidential election looming, the hot political debate is all about Meta rights—and whether they deserve to have any.

Still haunted by the murder of so many in the Meta War fifteen years earlier, Ethan “Tempest” Swift accepts an assignment in Manhattan, working with a team that’s interviewing Banes to determine which are still threats and which have reformed. But Ethan has a personal reason for going to the island as well. Armed with questions for the Bane who just might be his father, Ethan’s quest for answers is interrupted by an unexpected assault on the island. Forced to side with old enemies to uncover who's responsible for the devastating attack, Ethan begins to question more than just his past—he questions his place in defending a world that sees him as its enemy.

Read an excerpt

Purchase: Amazon

Here are the earlier books in the series. Click on the cover of TRANCE for my thoughts:

And here's Kelly's other series. Click on THREE DAYS TO DEAD to see Tynga's thoughts.

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Do you guys have suggestions for who you’d like to see featured on the blog? If so, you can make your suggestions on this page. No guarantees that your favorite authors will be able to participate but we’ll try!

Authors, would you like to visit and share with us? Please email me at jennblogs (at) gmail (dot) com and we’ll set it up!

Posted by jenn at 07:00

 Kelly Meding, Simon Schuster, When I'm not writing  5 People left their mark

Born and raised in the Toronto area, Jenn moved to St. John's, Newfoundland, eight years ago for school. She's still in school (thankfully on another degree!), now trapped in her dissertation. When she's not dissertating, which happens more often than it should, Jenn spends her time reading, watching movies, playing volleyball, travelling, and enjoying the local music scene. Her latest addictions: yoga and Almond Crunch cereal.