It isn’t always easy to condense your answers down to one word. I took this challenge because a dear friend, Andrew Butters from Potato Chip Math, inspired me to do so. (Check out his site here.)  Here are the answers to 50 questions. Feel free to play along in the comments if you dare. Surprisingly, it’s not easy. Many times, I had to backspace and remind myself that I could only use one word. My habit of blathering on and on is a hard one to curtail.

1. Where is your cell phone? Charger

2. Your significant other?  Monster

3. Your hair? Simple

4. Your mother? Sweet

5. Your father? Clever

6. Your favorite? Fire

7. Your dream last night? Nothing

8. Your favorite drink? Tea

9. Your dream/goal? Cabin

10. What room you are in? Rec

11. Your hobby? Gardening

12. Your fear? Clowns

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Farm

14. Where were you last night? Movies

15. Something that you are not? Brave

16. Muffins? Bran

17. Wish list item? Safety

18. Where you grew up? St. Catharines

19. Last thing you did? Write

20. What are you wearing? Casual

21. Your TV? Off

22. Your pets? Cats

23. Friends? Delightful

24. Your life? Cravings

25. Your mood? Anticipation

26. Missing someone? Yes

27. First Car? Tank

28. Something you usually wear but aren’t? Fitbit

29. Your favorite store? Amazon

30. Your favorite color? Grey

33. When is the last time you laughed? Always

34. Last time you cried? November

35. Preferred flavor of gum? Cinnamon

36. One place that you go to over and over? Facebook

37. One person who emails you regularly? Publisher

38. Favorite place to eat (cheap)? Sunrise

39. Favorite place to eat (pricey)? Wineries

40. One goal in life? Success

41. Favorite movie? post-apocalypse

42. What is your worst habit? paranoia

43. Desired superpower? Telekinesis

44. Your favorite food? potatoes

45. Favorite Band/Musician? Vivaldi

46. Favorite veggie/fruit? Spinach

47. Your driving style? Careful

48. What is special in your bedroom? weaponry

49. Own or rent? Own

50. Who will comment on this? Nobody

2015 was a bumpy road for me, my lovelies. Between my surgery, and stumbling blocks post-recovery with food issues, and an osteoarthritis diagnosis (knees, ankles, and knuckles, so far) and trying my best to support my daughter through her ongoing mental health struggles, I made some bad choices. There were forks in the road, and I took the path that seemed most comfortable. When the forks were on the table, you better believe I stuck them in the potatoes. I tried to baby myself. I looked for comfort in food, painkillers, and alcohol. I abused one of those things, and that thing was food.

2016 comes with a renewed desire to return to health. I’ve been a long-time yoga addict, but had let that slide. I want it back. I used to jog (that, thanks to the arthritis, might not come back any time soon, if ever.).  I’ve enjoyed healthy eating in the past, but I said “fuck it” and picked cake over fruit, and then had another piece, and another. But I enjoy vegetables, and it won’t kill me to eat properly, I know that. Food is an acceptable drug most of the time. Very few people will sit you down and say “Honey, I’m worried about you” and take the bag of Cool Ranch Doritos off your lap. In fact, the most well-meaning friends will bring you junk food when you’re blue, even when you say you feel sluggish and pudgy.

The funny thing is, I know how to eat well. The logic says “eat when you’re hungry and make good choices.” I’m so frustrated that I don’t just …do that. “I deserve a treat, don’t I?” becomes my daily lament.

What I deserve more, though, is to feel good in my skin. I’m not just talking about losing weight, though for me, that’s a big part of it. I need to get 20-25 pounds off in order to take the pressure off my knees and ankles. That will help with the pain. If my knees feel better, I may be able to distance-walk/jog again. I’ll certainly be able to do yoga more easily.

So! Yoga. Bellydancing. (Fun!) Weight loss. Maybe back to jogging (if possible, depending on what the docs recommend). And of course, returning to my 4 AM writing habit so that I can feel good about myself; I am only happy when I feel I’m accomplishing something, when I’m making progress, when I can see that word count build and build, and I’m happy with what I read back.

Was 2015 rough for you? I know most people don’t prefer to think of goals for the new year as “resolutions,” but I will call them that today, because I am making myself a promise. I vow to put my health back on the list of things that are important. If not now, when? I’m too young to feel this old, and I’m too old to waste time with shitty habits that only make my body feel worse. 2016, I make my health important again. What are your 2016 goals?

So Deadhead is live, now. I feel like I should be calling it Livehead, but that sounds like something performed at a sex show. My book is definitely not sex-show material, although there might be pollinating and other saucy business within. You can buy this new Marnie Baranuik short story for your Kindle here. Here is my lovely cover, crafted by the awesome Greg Simanson.

And happily, pre-orders for Wrath & Bones, Book Four of the Marnie Baranuik Files, is ready here. We’ll be having a Facebook launch party on December 17th, and then the book itself is expected to release December 28th. It took me a long time to write this one, mostly due to the scope of the project. I didn’t want to mess up or skimp on the opportunities; Marnie was feisty, and some serious shit went down, and I often (to my editor’s chagrin) had to push back and take breaks from some of the more troublesome scenes. Trust me when I say, this book could have gone no other way if it were to be true to the characters and to their voice and needs. I have never felt more like the helpless historian than I did this time around. Also, trust me when I say, if there is a part in this one that infuriates you, I’m RIGHT THERE WITH YA. If there’s a part that upsets you, I CRIED TOO. Lots. I never cry. I cry so rarely that my mother dubbed me the “Coolest Cucumber in the Patch” when I was just knee high to a grasshopper. But I cried writing Wrath & Bones. It was ugly-crying, too, with my mouth gaping and goobers leaking from my nose and into my whiskey. You know you’ve done something right when you ugly-cry in your whiskey, folks. Trust me one more time, stick with me through the dark times, and come out on the other side with me. The light at the end of the tunnel is not your average train. (It might be a three-alarm fire or a bomb–or a fire train! That’s cool–but it isn’t your average train. I can promise you that much.) Marnie’s already showing me some shocking and ridiculous new things, and I can’t wait to share them with you in the coming fifth book (which I am temporarily calling IDonTHaveAFuckingClue, Book 5 of the Marnie Baranuik Files. Schnazzy-ass title, amiright?). Until then: brace yourselves. Heh heh.

Art by: Booktrope cover artist Greg Simanson. 

Marnie Baranuik is confident that her new psychic detective agency will be a great success, and she has eight million business cards to prove it. But before the paint even dries on her open for business sign, she’s summoned to face the Demon King Asmodeus in His own playground, the revenant court, home of the undead nobility, to participate in a conclave of the most powerful immortals on Earth.

Orc prophets have forewarned her that danger is looming in the far north. In her most ambitious adventure yet, Marnie must harness her powers, gather trusted friends to wade into battle, and complete an international treasure hunt that would make Indiana Jones break into a cold sweat, before raising a new revenant house to rule from the Unhallowed Throne… and do it all without getting her heart or legs broken. Storms are brewing, threats are piling up, and the stakes are higher than ever, but Marnie is determined to dance with danger to the very end. There’s only one thing left to do: deal with it, Baranuik-Style. Does anyone know if yetis like take-out? And when you’re on a date with a mummy, who picks up the check?

Lots of exciting news!

Firstly, I apologize for being missing for so long. Partly, I was working very hard. Partly, I was struggling with depression. I went on a medication vacation to try and jolt myself into a manic phase but it didn’t work. That doesn’t sound like a very intelligent idea, but at the time, it was an act of desperation. I’m slowly crawling back out of an emotional hole.

Secondly, we’ve got release days planned for the next Marnie Baranuik “Between the Files” short story, called Deadhead, and Wrath & Bones, the fourth full-length novel in the Marnie Baranuik Files. Deadhead will launch December 3, 2015. Wrath & Bones will be released December 17, 2015. There will be plenty of fun, and prizes, and shenanigans, including nudity* and chocolate. (*this is a fib) Cover art is almost done, and there will be cover reveals soon. Editing is coming along smoothly.

That’s all the news I have for now. Cheers!