I've been a little absentee lately from my blog, mainly because I've been dealing with life and I've had a lot of it to deal with lately. One of the ways though that I've been relaxing is taking online art classes. "What you're not writing?" You're thinking...LOL Yes, I'm still writing and yes that's relaxing too, but I've always wanted to be able to draw and create art and quite frankly I didn't think I had it in me. So, I've always wanted to draw, so one day when I was putzing around online I came across this delightful lady Tamara Laporte who had a few free art classes. I checked out her work, loved what I saw, the playfulness and comfort of her art I mean and thought, "I want to learn how to do that!" So, I took her free 4 week course Art, Heart and Healing and loved it. Suddenly I found that yes, I could draw, how about that! And now I'm working my way through some of her other free Life Book offerings that she has on her website and some lessons I purchased as well. What I love about Tam is that she believes anyone can learn to draw, and there's a lot of self-care information mixed in with her lessons. They frequently include meditations and other stuff that makes you feel really good about yourself. Can you tell I think she's awesome?! LOL

Okay, so before I share some of the art I've created based on her lessons and one that just sort of came to me while I was working on a piece, here's the free lessons she's offering now:

Art Heart and Healing This is the free 4 week art course that I took initially.

Layers of You This is a full blown art lesson that is from a year long course that Tam teaches along with other mixed media artists every year called Life Book. And she's the founder and creator of Life Book as well.  I loved this lesson and the fact that she offers it completely free to anyone who visits her blog, you can even download the videos to your computer just makes it that much better.

The Happy Traveler This is another Life Book lesson taster and one that I haven't taken yet. It will only be available until November 7, 2016, so if you like what you see I'd suggest downloading the videos and materials to your computer before the 7th so you can do the lesson when you're ready.

What can I say, Tam's lessons make me happy, doing art makes me happy, and I wanted to share the love! Want to learn even more about Tam and her art? Check out her website/blog at www.willowing.org

Okay, rather than post all the art at the bottom here, I'm going to insert it to the right and left of different paragraphs. If you'd like to use any of these pieces as desktop backgrounds, please feel free to do so. I don't mind sharing as long as you don't claim them as your own.

I am so excited to share this awesome cover with you all. I've been talking about this book for over a year now, and posting snippets and I finally got have the cover now to share. Super exciting! So, without further ado, here is the cover for The Last Jumper. The Last Jumper will be released on July 31, 2016.


Blurb:

From the moment his family was murdered, Rain has been on a mission to kill or send back to hell as many demons as he can. To do so he has had to "jump" from one body to another, allowing him to live the equivalent of several lifetimes, and to follow humanity and the demons out into space.When Rain awakens, it is not in the place he fell asleep. It isn't even on the same planet, and there are no more Jumpers. He discovers that while he was sleeping the demons have been very busy.

Connor, Stephen, and Jessie are husbands and fathers. On a world where some men are able to procreate, quad relationships are the norm, and Jumpers are just a part of their ancient history, Rain is something of an anomaly. But maybe a welcome one. The three men take Rain home with them, and help him to recover, at least physically. It becomes clear though that Rain hasn't just been fighting demons outside himself, but ones from within as well.

Will these three men and their sons be able to help Rain heal? Love isn't part of the bargain for Rain or so he thinks, but bonding with Connor, Stephen, and Jesse may be the only thing that can save his new family and their world.

I recently completed a book that I've been working on for the better part of two years. It's different from some of my other books in that it is an M/M/M/M polyamory romance. And there is a bit of gender bending as well, but in a good way I think. At this time I'm looking for beta readers. You don't have to have been a beta reader before to be one of mine, but I do suggest that you read the article What Makes a Good Beta Reader by Belinda Pollard. This will give you a good idea of what is expected of you as a beta reader. If you would like to  participate and read a copy of The Last Jumper and give me some beta reader feedback you can e-mail me at regina@reginapaul.com

Here's the tentative blurb:

From the moment his family was murdered, Rain has been on a mission to kill or send back to hell as many demons as he can. To do so he has had to "jump" from one body to another, allowing him to live the equivalent of several lifetimes, and to follow humanity and the demons out into space.When Rain awakens, it is not in the place he fell asleep. It isn't even on the same planet, and there are no more Jumpers. He discovers that while he was sleeping the demons have been very busy.

Connor, Stephen, and Jessie are husbands and fathers. On a world where some men are able to procreate, quad relationships are the norm, and Jumpers are just a part of their ancient history, Rain is something of an anomaly. But maybe a welcome one. The three men take Rain home with them, and help him to recover, at least physically. It becomes clear though that Rain hasn't just been fighting demons outside himself, but ones from within as well.

Will these three men and their sons be able to help Rain heal? Love isn't part of the bargain for Rain or so he thinks, but bonding with Connor, Stephen, and Jesse may be the only thing that can save his new family and their world.

If you've been watching the news or hanging out online (or Amazon) then you've probably noticed the digital and paperback piles of adult coloring books, and supplies. Coloring for adults took off in a big way in April of last year, and experts are saying they don't see any slow down anytime soon. Believe it or not this is a good thing if you're an author. I've actually been experimenting with different coloring pages, and even creating some of my own and the amazing thing is I'm finding benefits beyond what the experts are saying, mainly in huge boosts of creativity.

Here are five reasons you want to start coloring if you're an author and you haven't already:

1. It's relaxing. If you've been trying to work out a scene, or you don't know where you're going with a scene, coloring for a while may help your mind relax enough to find the answer. I know it has for me.

2. It calms the amygdala. The amygdala is the part of the brain that is affected when we become overly stressed which can happen when we're trying to meet a deadline, or we have too much on our plate and we can't calm our mind enough to sit down to write. Coloring calms the part of our brains that deal with panic, and anxiety.

3. Coloring trains your mind to focus. With all the different stressors many writers have including things like a day job, kids, spouse, grocery shopping, house cleaning, you name it, focusing can be difficult. Those who color regularly find they can more easily focus on the things that matter.

4. Coloring turns on the logic part of our brain, and as writers we need that part! Let's face it if we write something that doesn't seem logical, our readers are going to notice. And we don't want that! So, activating this part of your brain can help you with keeping it real in your fiction.

5. Coloring induces a creative mind set. Coloring is creative in and of itself. You can choose a page that really appeals to you and then choose whatever colors you want to.

If you're an author (or even if you aren't) and don't already color then you're missing out on a great way to relax, be creative, and have fun!

And just for fun, here's a little plug about my new coloring book, Pretty Mandalas available through my bookstore on the website here! It has 25 different mandala designs that you can print out and color for only $2.99!

Also, if you'd like the occasional free adult coloring pages, please sign up for my newsletter, the form is to the right of this article. :-)