Marketing Tuesday?

Okay, so I woke up late yesterday and I was a total toad, so I didn't get to my marketing. :shrug:  Which means that we get Marketing Tuesday instead of Marketing Monday.  

To that end, both of the books in the Dennis Haggarty Mystery series are up for marketing. 

For a limited time, get both books in the Dennis Haggarty Mystery series for the low price of only 99c. (Both are always free with Kindle Unlimited.) Now thru Friday, ACCIDENTAL DEATH is free and NATURAL CAUSES has been reduced to 99c. Pick up both today!

Accidental Death: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XM6VJ9U

Natural Causes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06Y44BXTM

Enjoy!

Sunday Update - 2025 Week 12

Well, howdy there.  It's Sunday and I'm feeling pretty good, so let's get started with the week...

I did no writing, editing, or marketing.  Yep, I had a week off of all things writerly.  Woot.  There's not much for me to do with editing until I get my notes back from the beta readers.  And I don't really write while I'm in the throes of getting a book ready to publish.  (I could, I guess, but I don't.)

This coming week, Accidental Death will be free and Natural Causes will be 99c.  Look for marketing here tomorrow on those and throughout the week on social media.

I read some stuff.  See yesterday's post.  Yep, I actually did a Reading Wrap-up.  

This past week, I made carrot cake... which is almost gone, so I need to think about the next bake... and I made chocolate oatmeal cookies.  Yum.

The big deal this week has to do with activity.  You see, Hubs and I have started working on our land to the south.  It's about an acre of forest we haven't had a chance to touch yet.  So we're touching it.  Mostly moving deadfall and cutting vines.  Gah, so many vines.  Oh, and cutting dead limbs off the freakin' cedars.  So many dead limbs. It feels like every time I turned around in there, I was at risk for putting an eye out or getting skewered.  That will change.  Unfortunately, it's getting a little late in the season to spend too many more hours in the woods.  Ticks and snakes... :shudder:  On the upside, we found a redbud tree we didn't even know was there.  Yay.  Weight: 174.8

Speaking of trees, my little dogwoods are doing okay.  Some are doing better than others, but if I get 3-4 trees out of this experiment, life is good.  Nothing else is showing any signs of growing yet.  Except for the cedars.  They're awesome.  Cecil has new growth and Clyde is starting to green up now that he's in a pot instead of dirt under the deck.  I might take today and do some more potting.  I have a few more dogwoods to get in dirt.  All of the buckthorns need potting.  And I have a few more volunteer cedars that can be transferred to their unwanted spots into pots.  

I think that's it for me for the week.  What have you been up to lately?

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 3/22/25

Hello.  I know it's been a long time since I did one of these. Sorry about that.  I got so far away from doing it that I don't THINK about doing one until it's too late.  Okay, so let's see what's happened since the last time...

I picked up a boatload of books - both ebook and hardcopy.  Since my last installment, I got 16 books from the thrift store - mostly hard-boiled crime and mystery, but some SF and romance, too.  I also downloaded 6 ebooks - 4 of which are from an author I love who wrote this series under his wife's name.  Suffice it to say, I have a lot to read and I'm working on it.  At this point, though, I've only finished 3 books this year.  

Books Read:

3) Moonstruck: Retribution by Silver James (3/20/25) - paranormal romantic suspense* - 5 stars. Silver's books are definitely not new to me, but they sure are underappreciated.  I paid full price for this - $4.99.
Review: "I'm sorry this took so long for me to get around to, because it was AWESOME. I love the Wolves and their mates, and all their stories, so much. This was no exception. All the action, all the thrills, all the suspense... all the LOVE. And, of course, all the satisfying ends. Good guys win and bad guys die. That's my kind of happy ending. Woot!"

2) President Fu Manchu by Sax Rohmer (3/14/25) - noir crime - 5 stars.  Not new to me but this one only has 20 reviews.  Sad that more people don't pick up Sax Rohmer novels.  I got this for 25c at the thrift store.  Woot.
Review: "Ooo, this is a good one! Evil Dr. Fu Manchu is trying to take over the United States by putting his own man in the White House - but as dictator, not president - and it's up to Sir Denis Nyland-Smith to stop him. The twists and turns are as awesome as always. Mr. Rohmer knew his stuff, lemme tell ya."

DNFs:

3/20/25 - romance 25c - I picked up this '80s romance because I loved the author once upon a time, and I had collected the entirety of this series (which I sold at a thrift store in FL because I needed the money).  Unfortunately, this particular installment of the series was lame.  The heroine was a whiny, snotty kid and I couldn't envision how the older hero would EVER want to get to know her, let alone fall in love with her.

Currently reading... Some Buried Caesar by Rex Stout.  I love Nero Wolfe stories.  I'm not loving this one yet, but there's hope.  :shrug:  I could be his one dud.  We'll see.

Okay, that's it for me.  I'll try to do these EVERY Saturday like I'm supposed to.  How's your reading been?

I Need Some Good News Baby

 Wow, the world has definitely gone crazypants lately.  I mean, have you seen it?  I can't seem to get away from it when I'm online.  WTF is wrong with people?    

Anyway, here's a song that kind of speaks to me today...

https://youtu.be/TX9ODx2_Vqk?si=a-PcrBVqo0Loe1_x

Other than that, I just don't have words...

2025 Books Read

Here we are with my 2025 Books Read post.  I started it a little later than usual this year because it took me a while to finish that first book.  

If you haven't been following along all these years, here's how this post goes.  The books I read are in reverse order - newest first.  * means ebook.  # means 'new to me and underappreciated'.  If there's a number at the end, it's where the book's at in a series.  The links go to Goodreads where I may or may not have written a review.  (Check back on Saturdays for my weekly Reading Wrap-up to see reviews.)

I set my goal for this year's reading at 70.  We'll see how that goes.

Okay, with that out of the way, let's begin...

4) Some Buried Caesar by Rec Stout (3/26/25) - noir crime

3) Moonstruck: Retribution by Silver James (3/20/25) - paranormal romantic suspense*

2) President Fu Manchu by Sax Rohmer (3/14/25) - noir crime

1) Child Star by Shirley Temple Black (1/8/25) - autobiography

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy this reading journey with me.

Thursday This n That

Well, that super secret good news thing I talked about a while back is now in the books.  I still don't want to talk about it publicly.  Suffice it to say, it's a happy thing.  And no, I'm not pregnant.  ROFL.

Speaking of being paranoid, have you seen the news about the conservatives getting SWATted?  Horrible, nasty bastards are putting in fake calls to the police and getting the police to show up at innocent people's homes ready for an armed standoff.  In the middle of the night.  I saw one poor guy (a conservative pundit, if I recall correctly) captured on his own doorbell cam, standing on his own sidewalk in nothing but his boxers with his hands on his head.  This was after the image of 3-4 armed officers in tactical gear standing in the same spot to get into his home.  That's one of dozens of similar occurrences.  Seriously, if you think any of this is good or right or funny, just don't bother associating with me anymore.  Shoo shoo.

So, anyway... Hubs and I went to town yesterday.  It was REALLY WINDY.  And the temperature was dropping, so it was COLD.  We started the day at 62.  By the time we passed the bank near here on the way home, it was 51.  Derp.  But we saw some stuff and did some things, so it's all good.  

The tree butchers are at it again.  This time on the really nice and pretty drive up to the town we went to.  They were, in fact, in the middle of cutting, so we had to stop going and coming.  It's kind of gross looking now.  All those hacked tree limbs.  Ewww.  Yeah, in the long run, it'll probably help keep the road safer, but right now it's just nasty.

Oops... I started this first thing this morning and just now noticed that it was still sitting here.  At 7, I called Mom.  We talked for an hour like usual, and then I went outside to play in the woods on what might be our last cold morning until fall.  Sorry about the delay.  Have a great rest of your day!

Excuses, Excuses

 I wish I had a legitimate answer for why I'm such a toad, but it all comes off as excuses.  

1) DN2 is out of my hands right now and I'm taking some time away from the computer.

2) With everything going on in the world, I need time away from the screen to preserve my sanity.

3) I have so much to do around the house that I don't have much time to spend at my keyboard.

4) Cats

5) I got blasted with a special project at the pay-job and all my computer time was being shunted over to that. And now, even though I'm done with that project, I have all my regularly scheduled work coming in that needs doing.

6) It's gardening time.

7) Those yummy treats aren't going to bake themselves.

So, you see, I've got a lot going on over here.  And I'm a toad.  The long and the short of it is that if I wasn't a toad, I could find time to do what needs doing.  Sometimes I have ever intention of doing stuff and then I forget.  (Brain damage... could've put that on the list of excuses, too, but that's a REALLY old excuse.)

And on that note, I really do have some spreadsheets that I need to get done before the start of the workday in Michigan.  

:wanders off in search of coffee, wishing she could still smoke at her desk: