Last Day for a Chance to Win A FREE Book!

Because I’m a person who needs constant reminders for all sorts of things, I’m just going to assume that the rest of the world needs them, too. And so, my Public Service Announcement is a reminder that one very random person who supports my blog and/or sporadic newsletter will be selected to win a FREE paperback book! I will contact the winner via email/message at the end of this week and publicly announce the winner on my July 2nd post. More info below (as posted on June 13, 2019):

To get you into the summer reading spirit, and to thank the nearly 1,200 of you for your support – it means so much! – I’m giving everyone who supports my blog and my mailing list a chance to win an awesome FREE book!

As you likely know by now, my latest novella involves a love triangle. I was attracted to the messiness of it all, and as a writer, I wanted to explore the trope in all its ABC triangular glory. Luck of the Irish will be released on August 8, 2019, but for those of you who are looking to enjoy some geometrical hot mess romance right now, I’m giving away a FREE copy of a book that really had me turning the pages (well, mine’s a digital copy, but yours could be this sweet paperback version, wrapped in delicious cellophane). Yes, I enjoyed it so much, I bought it twice.

want-a-free-book-join-my-newsletter-

Meant To Be Broken by Brandy Woods Snow includes one heck of a love triangle that’s sort of like a bouncy ball, but that’s not the only interesting thing that happens. Not by a long shot. This sucker is a roller coaster that pretty much doesn’t slow down until the last page. Check out this trailer about the book on YouTube:

So, to show my love to all of you, I’ll randomly select one name to whom I’ll send a complimentary copy of this book. Why? Well, because I appreciate you, I’m a fan of this book and the author, and I’m sure it’s cool to see me plugging someone else’s awesome work other than my own for a change, haha.

If you’re interested in getting my attention, just leave a comment below or mention #AtinaReads on Twitter @Atina_Atwood. I’ll announce the winner on my Tuesday post on July 2, 2019. Be sure that you’re active on my mailing list (my sort of every other month newsletter) or following my blog to be eligible. Good luck, and THANK YOU!

Sending Love and Light to all of you.

Luck of the Irish, Holiday Heartbeats#3, is now available for preorder.

©Atina Atwood 2019 Exploring Love and Life, One Word At A Time.™

– Atina Atwood is a southern girl who moved from Europe to the West Coast. A former university professor in Germany and California, Atina stepped away from Academia to focus on her miracle child, life, love, food, quilting, and of course, Romance. She is the author of the Holiday Heartbeats series. Follow her on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook for more, and sign up for Atina’s newsletter here.

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Motivational Monday: Find a Way to Get What You Want

when-you-know-what-you-want-and-want-it-bad-enough

“When you know what you want and want it bad enough, you’ll find a way to get it.” – Jim Rohn

Sending Love and Light to all of you.

Luck of the Irish, Holiday Heartbeats#3, is now available for preorder. Remember to join my mailing list for a chance to win a free copy of Meant To Be Broken, A Carolina Clay novel by Brandy Woods Snow! The winner will be announced on July 2nd.

©Atina Atwood 2019 Exploring Love and Life, One Word At A Time.™

– Atina Atwood is a southern girl who moved from Europe to the West Coast. A former university professor in Germany and California, Atina stepped away from Academia to focus on her miracle child, life, love, food, quilting, and of course, Romance. She is the author of the Holiday Heartbeats series. Follow her on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook for more, and sign up for Atina’s newsletter here.

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Love is a Teacher

Love is a great master. It teaches us to be what we never were.

“Love is a great master. It teaches us to be what we never were.” – Molière

Sending Love and Light to all of you.

Luck of the Irish, Holiday Heartbeats#3, is now available for preorder. Remember to join my mailing list for a chance to win a free copy of Meant To Be Broken, A Carolina Clay novel by Brandy Woods Snow! The winner will be announced on July 2nd.

©Atina Atwood 2019 Exploring Love and Life, One Word At A Time.™

– Atina Atwood is a southern girl who moved from Europe to the West Coast. A former university professor in Germany and California, Atina stepped away from Academia to focus on her miracle child, life, love, food, quilting, and of course, Romance. She is the author of the Holiday Heartbeats series. Follow her on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook for more, and sign up for Atina’s newsletter here.

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5 Ways to Make the Most Out of Less

Do More By Doing Less

I’m finding myself in need of some inspiration for the summer.

Don’t get me wrong – even though the next fews weeks are going to be a lot less huffing and puffing in the work-work-chug-along, I’ve still got a To-Do list that’s a mile long. But don’t we all – and in this day and age, don’t we always?

My goal this summer is actually to do LESS.

This ought to sound like an amazing list, but to be honest, it’s one of the toughest ones I’ve created in a long time. So far, I only have 5 things on it:

Worry less.

Dude, just don’t watch the news. Just. Don’t.

Sit less.

It’s so tempting to find that cozy little nook and let one of the most gorgeous times of year pass you by, but your body needs you to show it a little more TLC. Besides, you’ll get more Vitamin D in the process, so it’s a win-win.

Eat less.

Okay, so summer is a wonderful time to eat whatever you want and eat as much of it as you can. (As an unashamed Foodie, I also call this the Foodie International Anthem.) Actually, this point alone could be misleading; Personally, I have a tendency to under-eat. Here, I simply mean “eat less” of what you know you shouldn’t.

Buy less.

Hey, if I could, I know I would buy more, but to be honest, it’s still a little hard for me to be specific about exactly what I’d buy with a huge sum of money. Probably, true Millennial style, I’d still lean towards experiences, but I’m starting to get to the point where I want to develop some roots. To do that, it takes this thing called “substantial savings”. I know, I know – in today’s economy, especially in suburban California, that’s like saying “Find a unicorn, make it your pet, and then teach it how to speak five languages fluently.” Still, we hope. (Unicorns exist somewhere, right?)

Try less.

This last one is a doozy for me. I am probably the hardest tryer I’ve ever met. Sure, often I succeed. Yet, most of the time, I’m far too busy trying to learn something new, and at the same time, I’m trying to find the perfect way to reinvent the wheel when all I really need is a paddle. In the end, I’m more exhausted than anything. My ultimate goal is to simply be a doer – skip the middleman of trying and just get right to the doing already.

Who knows how successful I’ll be with this summer list. Ultimately, each day that I follow through, crossing one thing off of my list, I’ll already be doing a fantastic job of being a success.

5-ways-to-make-the-most-out-of-less

What does your summer look like? Do you still have new goals for this year, or are you still on course for accomplishing the ones you (may or may not have) established six months ago? Feel free to share in the comments below.

Sending Love and Light to all of you.

Luck of the Irish, Holiday Heartbeats #3, is now available for preorder. Remember to join my mailing list for a chance to win a free copy of Meant To Be Broken, A Carolina Clay novelby Brandy Woods Snow! The winner will be announced on July 2nd.

©Atina Atwood 2019 Exploring Love and Life, One Word At A Time.™

– Atina Atwood is a southern girl who moved from Europe to the West Coast. A former university professor in Germany and California, Atina stepped away from Academia to focus on her miracle child, life, love, food, quilting, and of course, Romance. She is the author of the Holiday Heartbeats series. Follow her on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook for more, and sign up for Atina’s newsletter here.

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Motivated Monday: What the Optimists and Pessimists See

the pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. the optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.

“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity.
The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.” – Winston Churchill

Sending Love and Light to all of you.

Luck of the Irish, Holiday Heartbeats#3, is now available for preorder. Remember to join my mailing list for a chance to win a free copy of Meant To Be Broken, A Carolina Clay novel by Brandy Woods Snow! The winner will be announced on July 2nd.

©Atina Atwood 2019 Exploring Love and Life, One Word At A Time.™

– Atina Atwood is a southern girl who moved from Europe to the West Coast. A former university professor in Germany and California, Atina stepped away from Academia to focus on her miracle child, life, love, food, quilting, and of course, Romance. She is the author of the Holiday Heartbeats series. Follow her on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook for more, and sign up for Atina’s newsletter here.

Atina AtwoodLeave a comment

Love Must Be Light and Flame

 

Love must be as much a light as it is a flame.

“Love must be as much a light as it is a flame.” – Henry David Thoreau

Sending Love and Light to all of you.

Luck of the Irish, Holiday Heartbeats#3, is now available for preorder. Remember to join my mailing list for a chance to win a free copy of Meant To Be Broken, A Carolina Clay novel by Brandy Woods Snow! The winner will be announced on July 2nd.

©Atina Atwood 2019 Exploring Love and Life, One Word At A Time.™

– Atina Atwood is a southern girl who moved from Europe to the West Coast. A former university professor in Germany and California, Atina stepped away from Academia to focus on her miracle child, life, love, food, quilting, and of course, Romance. She is the author of the Holiday Heartbeats series. Follow her on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook for more, and sign up for Atina’s newsletter here.

Atina AtwoodLeave a comment

Your Chance to Win a FREE Paperback Novel (Meant To Be Broken by Brandy Woods Snow)!

Whatcha Reading This Summer?

Okay, so now we’re finally in the month of June and SoCal is living up to its sunny reputation! Now that June is here, for me, it means kicking back a little bit and catching up on some summer reading. Last year, I simply recommended a great book to you (Home by Jezz de Silva). This year, I’m upping things up a notch.

To get you into the summer reading spirit, and to thank the nearly 1,200 of you for your support – it means so much! – I’m giving everyone who supports my blog and my mailing list a chance to win an awesome FREE book!

As you likely know by now, my latest novella involves a love triangle. I was attracted to the messiness of it all, and as a writer, I wanted to explore the trope in all its ABC triangular glory. Luck of the Irish will be released on August 8, 2019, but for those of you who are looking to enjoy some geometrical hot mess romance right now, I’m giving away a FREE copy of a book that really had me turning the pages (well, mine’s a digital copy, but yours could be this sweet paperback version, wrapped in delicious cellophane). Yes, I enjoyed it so much, I bought it twice.

want-a-free-book-join-my-newsletter-

Meant To Be Broken by Brandy Woods Snow includes one heck of a love triangle that’s sort of like a bouncy ball, but that’s not the only interesting thing that happens. Not by a long shot. This sucker is a roller coaster that pretty much doesn’t slow down until the last page. Check out this trailer about the book on YouTube:

So, to show my love to all of you, I’ll randomly select one name to whom I’ll send a complimentary copy of this book. Why? Well, because I appreciate you, I’m a fan of this book and the author, and I’m sure it’s cool to see me plugging someone else’s awesome work other than my own for a change, haha.

If you’re interested in getting my attention, just leave a comment below or mention #AtinaReads on Twitter @Atina_Atwood. I’ll announce the winner on my Tuesday post on July 2, 2019. Be sure that you’re active on my mailing list (my sort of every other month newsletter) or following my blog to be eligible. Good luck, and THANK YOU!

Sending Love and Light to all of you.

Luck of the Irish, Holiday Heartbeats#3, is now available for preorder.

©Atina Atwood 2019 Exploring Love and Life, One Word At A Time.™

– Atina Atwood is a southern girl who moved from Europe to the West Coast. A former university professor in Germany and California, Atina stepped away from Academia to focus on her miracle child, life, love, food, quilting, and of course, Romance. She is the author of the Holiday Heartbeats series. Follow her on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook for more, and sign up for Atina’s newsletter here.

Atina AtwoodLeave a comment

Motivated Monday: A Goal Without A Plan is Just A Wish

A Goal without a Plan is Just a Wish

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” – Unknown

Luck of the Irish, Holiday Heartbeats #3, is now available for preorder.

Sending Love and Light to all of you.

©Atina Atwood 2019 Exploring Love and Life, One Word At A Time.™

– Atina Atwood is a southern girl who moved from Europe to the West Coast. A former university professor in Germany and California, Atina stepped away from Academia to focus on her miracle child, life, love, food, quilting, and of course, Romance. She is the author of the Holiday Heartbeats series. Follow her on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook for more, and sign up for Atina’s newsletter here.

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Love is Seeing Imperfection Perfectly

Love isn't finding a perfect person. It's seeing an imperfect person perfectly.

“Love isn’t finding a perfect person. It’s seeing an imperfect person perfectly.”
– Sam Keen

Sending Love and Light to all of you.

Luck of the Irish, Holiday Heartbeats#3, is now available for preorder.

©Atina Atwood 2019 Exploring Love and Life, One Word At A Time.™

– Atina Atwood is a southern girl who moved from Europe to the West Coast. A former university professor in Germany and California, Atina stepped away from Academia to focus on her miracle child, life, love, food, quilting, and of course, Romance. She is the author of the Holiday Heartbeats series. Follow her on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook for more, and sign up for Atina’s newsletter here.

Atina AtwoodLeave a comment

When You Don’t Hit the Mark

Almost – But Not Quite

First of all, Happy June! It’s hard to believe that we’re already halfway through the year. (No pressure, calendar goal-setters.)

I went for some pretty big things last month – and two out of four times, I didn’t get what I wanted. Granted, on those two occasions where I didn’t get what I wanted, both times I was “close”. To me, being “close” is more aggravating than missing the thing by a long shot.

You’d think I’d be concentrating on the two awesome things that totally went right, but no. That’s not the way we humans are wired. Instead, I’ve kinda brushed off the two victories and moped around focused on the one thing out of the four that I sort of wasn’t sure I wanted in the first place (because it has nothing to do with writing) but went for it anyway… and almost got. It’s the “almost” part that I’m obsessing over.

It’s when you can see your target clear as day. You take a deep breath, aim and shoot – and you miss it by a quarter of an inch. You ask yourself why things went only slightly off-kilter. Was it something you did? Was it the wind? What happened in those last seconds before you let the arrow fly?

when-you-dont-hit-the-mark

Now, you’re at a crossroads. Yes, it feels quite comfortable to mope around for a little while, get some extra confirmation that the ones who “wronged” you are jerks and be reminded by the inevitable cockeyed-optimists that “Rejection is God’s protection”. (In that case, I’m incredibly sheltered, lol.) But what happens after that?

Set a Time Limit for Getting Over Rejection

As for me, I like setting timelines for my pity-parties. I can wallow and mope all I want for that set length of time, and then when that time is up, I can look at the situation from a more pragmatic perspective. After that, I reassess my goals, tweak my strategies, set my targets and go for them – again and again, and again. If I don’t use this method, I can imagine that it could become difficult to emerge from the self-pity cycle. So I don’t give it a chance to stay long.

I think this method worked perfectly for me when I was a performer, and at this stage in my life, I can already see how useful it’s going to be as I start approaching larger, more intimidating entities as I start asking for what I want. Sound crazy? Well, in a way, it is. But, if your goal is really what you want, you’ll do what it takes to get to it. The challenges are simply a means to an end.

What methods do you use to help you stay track towards achieving your goals? What do you do when you reach a setback that distracts you from appreciating the progress you’ve already made? I’d love to hear from you. (I’d also love some ice cream, so send some over. I already have a spoon in my pocket.)

Sending Love and Light to all of you.

©Atina Atwood 2019 Exploring Love and Life, One Word At A Time.™

– Atina Atwood is a southern girl who moved from Europe to the West Coast. A former university professor in Germany and California, Atina stepped away from Academia to focus on her miracle child, life, love, food, quilting, and of course, Romance. She is the author of the Holiday Heartbeats series. Follow her on Twitter for more, and sign up for Atina’s newsletter here.

Atina Atwood2 Comments