It's a pleasure to have Rebecca Ryals Russell, author of
ODESSA: SERAPHYM WARS
, here today to share with us her favorite ways to relax. And check below for her generous giveaway!
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10 ways I relax
1-Every Tuesday night my 21-year old daughter and I have a standing date to go to the movies. She used to work there and sometimes they give us passes, so it doesn’t always matter what’s showing, although anything scary or funny works. We share a tub of popcorn and each get giant sodas. If the movie is scary enough we share a bag of Twizzlers as well. It’s my favorite day of the week because I look forward to our ‘date’ all day.
2 -On cool Spring or Fall evenings, sometimes on a cool Sunday morning, my husband and I sit on the wicker porch swings of our Victorian house and drink a beer or eat. Sometimes we discuss issues or the children, sometimes we just read in companionable silence. The kids usually check on us a few times, starting up a conversation or just spending some quiet time with us.
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It doesn’t happen often anymore, but whenever my hubby of 35 years and I can get away for a weekend it is wonderful. This year, for our 35 Anniversary which happens to fall on Valentine’s Day each year, he suggested we go back to Savannah, Ga. It was the most relaxing weekend we’d spent together in a long time. We strolled all over the waterfront, through antiques shops and around the squares. I found some wonderful boho shops for skirts and jewelry—that always helps me relax. Then in early April I was invited south to Naples, Fl to speak at a writers conference and he came with me. We spent another awesome, relaxing weekend strolling 5th Ave in Naples—and I found another terrific clothing shop where I bought a cool linen skirt outfit. Success!
4 -Reading a really good book that I get caught up in. Right now it’s Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series. Wow, what a writer!
5 -Getting wrapped up in a book I’m writing. The house is silent, kids are all at school or work, hubby is at work, cat is napping. Sometimes I’m transported to the worlds I create and I am the character and whatever is happening on the page, is occurring to me at the time. So cool!
6 -
Another sweet place my hubby and I sit and have a beer after a hard day working outside, on the five acres of property we own, is on the small deck my father built beside the stocked pond beneath a spreading pecan tree. A warm breeze blows across the shady deck while we sit in our Adirondack chairs, feeding the giant Carp, Koi and other fish. Turtles sometimes poke their noses up to check on the disturbance.
7 -In the evening, after dinner has been devoured and the boys have cleaned the kitchen, I’ll read blogs and email while our evening shows begin. Each night we have a few shows we especially enjoy. Sometimes I’ll play Brickbreaker on my computer, just to keep my puzzle skills sharp.
8 -Twice a year the Friends of the Gainesville Public Library hold a huge sale of books, posters, audiobooks, vinyl records, comics, movies—you name it. I LOVE shuffling through these sales and always come out with treasures. Just this past weekend I took my 16-year old son, who’s into 20th Century History at the moment, to their Spring sale. He walked out with an armload of books he’s been looking for as well as some surprises. And I had 2 bags full of audiobooks to listen to in the car on my daily school-pick-up runs. What fun!
9 -It’s always fun spending a day hitting as many big thrift store and consignment stores as I can. There have been day when the car was so full of treasures and goodies I couldn’t fit the kids in after school. But, oh what fun!
10 -Occasionally my hubby does out of town overnight and my daughter is at work. That leaves me and the two boys for dinner, so we’ll go to Pizza Hut. On these occasions, my older son and I discuss philosophy, social issues, politics, religion, you name it. I’m constantly amazed at the depths possible in a 16-year old brain when put to use.
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Thanks for stopping by. Your home looks amazing! Always love those library sales. And congrats on a long and happy marriage!
You can win a copy of ODESSA: SERAPHYM WARS or one of the wonderful prize packs that Rebecca has but together. Fill out the form below. There will be two winners!
18-year-old Myrna is drawn into the middle of an epic battle between Seraphym and Demons. An average High School student from Florida, struggling with inner demons resulting from a rape two years earlier, she wakes one morning on the Steampunk planet of Dracwald, home of the demon-dragons responsible for her brother’s recent murder as well as many other atrocities in the news.
To to get home, she must lead a group of teen warriors, battling dragons and monsters, and deal three different men who join the quest. Will love and lust, jealousy, greed, deceit and distrust break the delicate ties that bind the group? Can they help the Seraphym finally defeat the massive empire of evil dominated for eons by the demon-dragons of Dracwald?
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- Fill out the form below
- Must be 13 or older
- Open Internationally - thanks Rebecca!
- Enter by May 7
Prize Pack 1
– choice of 1 Wall Calendar (Majikals or Monsters)
- Odessa pen
- Odessa Sticky Pad
- Odessa Notepad
- Odessa Author-signed Cover Art Postcard
- Odessa Cover Art Bookmark
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Prize Pack 2
- Seraphym Wars Character Wall Calendar
- Odessa Mug
- Odessa Pen
- Odessa Key Ring
- Odessa Author-signed Cover Art Postcard
- Odessa Cover Art Bookmark
you were practically frothing at the mouth - stopping random strangers on the street and forcing them to listen to your 
