Marketing Monday - Series Bonanza - A Model Curse

I'm trying something different today.  I'm marketing an entire series.  My A MODEL CURSE series definitely hasn't gotten the love it deserves, so all three books in the series are free starting today and running through Friday.  It's snarky.  It's got a heroine who breaks the rules by being slightly unlovable.  Although, frankly, I do love her, but that's because I know her and she's really a good person deep down.  She's shallow and vapid and self-absorbed, with a foul-mouth and bad habits, but she's also got a big heart.  Once you read the books, you'll see how she got the way she is and how she grows to show her real beauty.  

The book is written in a very conversational style - my conversational style - so don't come into this with your Strunk and White in hand.  It's for fun.  It's for escape.  Oh, there is a deeper message behind it all, but I don't beat you over the head with it.  If you get it, great.  If not, I hope the ride is still enjoyable.

Anyway, enjoy.  The books are free, so why not try them?  What have you got to lose?

Marketing copy:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08MTFRD71
A MODEL CURSE - the entire series - is free for a limited time. Now through Friday, get the whole damn, fun, snarky, paranormal suspense story totally free. (They're always free with Kindle Unlimited. This is so everyone can play.)

Sunday Update - 2026 Week 12

Hello.  I'm up obscenely early for a Sunday, but that's on the cats.  They didn't like last night's food, so they're being turds.

I thought about writing and editing this week.  That may be a sign that I'm jones'n for it.  Shhh, don't frighten the gumption away.  Marketing went crickets on me.  I only moved 15 copies of UNEQUAL.  :shrug:  Tomorrow starts a 'series bonanza' - something different I'm trying - wherein all the books in the A Model Curse series will be free for 5 days.  I've already set up tomorrow's post on that.  

I started reading a book.  Woot.  I'm about a quarter of the way through Leadership by Rudy Giuliani.  

No baking.  I did make a really tasty sweet & sour chicken dish, even if the breading on the chicken did go pear-shaped* on me.

On the activity front, I was a little active this week.  It was mostly garden work - removing detritus from the outside beds and working on the potted plants on the deck.  We did walk once, though.  Go us.  I haven't weighed myself.  Weight: Fat

The potted plants seem to be doing okay.  I'm not sure if I mentioned that 3 out of my 4 pots worth of tiny carrot plants died, but the 4th pot is doing good.  I will be thinning that this week and replanting the other pots with new carrot seeds.  I have 1 tiny potato plant coming up, which thrills me no end.  The repotted green peppers are all doing well.  All six of my redbud trees have leaves.  The redbud I thought was dead is trying, so yay.  Both of my remaining dogwood trees have tiny leaves.  The three mystery trees are all doing really well.  I'm no longer sure that one is a black cherry, but I'm getting more sure that one is a buckthorn.  We'll see.

I did try to do some carving this week.  I was really getting into it when the gouge slipped and I perforated my thumb knuckle.  That'll teach me.  Of course, I wasn't wearing the safety gloves.  I hate gloves when I have to actually do anything with my hands.  Of course, I'll be wearing them the next time I carve, because while I am sometimes foolhardy, I'm not stupid.  Live and learn.  Thankfully, it wasn't a large perforation and I'm a good clotter.  I'm just waiting to be 100% sure it won't open back up before I go back to strenuous hand activities.  

Other than that?  :shrug:  I hope you had a good week last week and that this coming week is amazing for you.

*a British phrase that I appreciate, so I'm gonna use.  What's English if not an opportunistic language that rummages through the pockets of other languages looking for spare phrases and shiny euphemisms?

Thursday This n That

The saga of Brightspeed still lives.   In case you don't remember, we kicked Brightspeed to the curb last July and have since continued to receive information from them.  I've called and called, to no avail.  I finally gave up on them in October.  I figured if they wanted to continue to waste money on me, more power to them.  Well, I gave up on the giving up.  You see, a few days ago, we started getting calls from Brightspeed, giving us updates on the service repair in our area.  After the third time of one of us running across the house to make sure it wasn't family only to see it was Brightspeed, I went to their website, found a complaint email addy, and wrote them a stern missive.  Lo and behold, yesterday afternoon, we got another call about the service repair and I was pissed.  Minutes after that, the phone rang again and it was Brightspeed again.  I picked up with every intention of shouting at the recorded message.  Needless to say, I was shocked to find an actual person on the line.  She was calling about the email I sent.  I explained everything to her, reiterating what was in my email and adding additional info.  She was nice - and American, I might add - and she vowed to get this cleared up.  Fingers crossed it actually happens this time.  No offense to her, but I've heard it before.  :shrug:

I don't know about you, but I get tired of dealing with the same shit every day.  And no, I don't want different shit.  I want a cessation of shit.  Is that too much to ask?

Speaking of dealing with shit, Facebook is intermittently preventing me from reacting to posts.  There's no rhyme or reason to it.  I just can't do it and get a snotty message when I try.  Blerg.

From the tiny acorn grows the mighty oak.  Well, yeah, but have you ever seen a sycamore seed?  Those things aren't much bigger than dandelion seeds and from those suckers grows an even mightier sycamore.  Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of oaks, but sycamores are huge.  (Says the woman who just watched her husband chainsaw a 50 ft sycamore that had fallen on our land.)  For that matter, have you ever seen an elm seed?  They look like tiny frisbees - smaller than a dime - with a lump in the center.  From those grow the majestic elm.  All I'm saying is trees are amazing.

I just started reading Leadership by Rudolph Giuliani.  The first chapter is all about 9/11.  It's a hard thing to read about, but I guess I'm finally ready to revisit that horrible day.  I never realized how close we were to losing Rudy in all that.  I wish he'd run for President in 2008 and beat what we ended up with.  He would've been an amazing President.  I wanted him to run with Connie Rice as his VP.  They would've made an awesome duo for the leadership of this country.  

Okay, well, I think that's enough out of me today.  What's up with you?

My Love of Israel: How It Started

One of my favorite pastimes in my pre-teen years was walking down the road to the horse barns near my house and standing in the road watching those magnificent beasts.  Sometimes, if I was feeling especially brave, I'd cross the ditch to stand by the fence, hoping one of the horses would see me and come over for a pet.  And hoping I wouldn't get caught trespassing.  

One particular day, early in 1983 I think, I was engrossed enough in the horses to not notice I was being watched.  A tall, dark man with an exotic accent called out to me waving for me come over to him.  Being the rural kid I was, I didn't think anything of doing as he asked.  It wasn't as if he was a total stranger.  I knew him by sight.  He was obviously the guy in charge of the facility.  

He told me his name was Itzik and he was Israeli.  Over the course of several such encounters, he suggested I take riding lessons, which my family could in no way afford.  Then he proposed a way for me to pay for them.  I could clean stalls - after school and on weekends - in exchange for which, he would give me riding lessons.  

I learned to ride English - which is different from the riding you usually see on TV.  Think more 'equestrian event' than 'cowboy' and you'll get the picture.  It was also an amazing opportunity to interact with the horses.  A couple years into it, he paid me to clean the little house he lived in on the property with another of the Israeli workers, Ophir.  Every Thursday, after school, I would walk up to the house and start cleaning.  Two single guys sure do make for a messy house, let me tell you.

While I worked for this man, I learned.  Itzik told me all about his homeland.  He spoke about his time in the military and his life on a kibbutz.  He taught me some Hebrew.  He showed me pictures of the beauty of Israel.  He also talked to me about his studies and the classes he was taking at Michigan State to become a doctor.

Over the course of a few years, I spent a lot of time around Israelis.  The owner of the stables was an American with ties to Israel and he would bring young people over so they could gain work experience.  His own daughter went the other direction and emigrated to Israel.  They were all very nice people.  For a while, I considered emigrating there.  I even looked into majoring in Hebrew and becoming a teacher in Israel.

Yes, I had a tremendous crush on Itzik.  My first case of puppy-love, in fact.  If he knew, he never let on.  The Israelis I met were never anything but nice to me.  Itzik himself was helpful and encouraging at a time when I needed it.  

Eventually, life took me on past the experience.  Life took him elsewhere, too.  Last I knew, he was married and had reached his dream to become a doctor.  Obviously, I didn't go to Israel or even become a teacher.  Hell, the last time I was on a horse was in the 80s.  The only thing that lasted from that series of encounters all those years ago was my love for Israel and the Israeli people.  

Marketing Monday - UNEQUAL

Good morning.  And welcome to Marketing Monday.  Today's offering is UNEQUAL.

Starting today, this dystopian suspense - UNEQUAL - is absolutely free. (Always free with Kindle Unlimited.) Get your copy today! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07LDVFWBS

Sunday Update - 2026 Week 11?

 I counted and it was week 11, but I could've miscounted.  :shrug:  I could go online and check, but meh.  I'm unmotivated this morning.  Big surprise, I know.  Bu then I haven't been overflowing with motivation this year, have I?

You know the drill... no writing, no editing.  The usual marketing.  I moved 20 copies of Project Hermes.  No residuals there yet.  On the upside, my previous marketing efforts have gained me 20+ sales this month so far.  It might not seem like much, but it's better than all but 2 months in the last couple years at least.  So yay.  This week UNEQUAL will be free.  The week after that the entire A Model Curse series will be free.  

No reading.  I DNF'd the book I was reading because it wasn't holding my interest enough.  :shrug:  I might try some non-fiction for a while and see if that sparks me.

No baking.  Which works for me because my ever-widening ass could use a break from all that.

On the activity front, I was pretty busy.  I only spent one day sitting on said EWA.  It's Spring and all the things need doing.  Plus, we had what appears to be the last cold days until next fall, so we were in the woods doing work.  I don't know my weight because stepping on the scale is depressing.  

One of the 'needs doing' things is clearing my garden beds of the leaves from last fall.  Yesterday, I hauled about 4 wheelbarrow loads of leaves out of the front garden.  My peonies are happy now.  Today, I need to do the shade bed and the south bed.  That'll leave me with the cedar bed in the middle of the yard, which needs weeding more than leaf removal.  

I've also been working on my deck garden.  (See Wednesday's post.)  Unfortunately, it seems like I killed two pots worth of carrots somehow.  I suspect I either knocked them down the day I had to water with the big jug or the first really hot day zapped them.  It disheartening, but I have more seeds, so I can plant again.  Still no sign of the potatoes.  They have until the next time I hit the grocery store (10 days at least) and if I don't see any signs of growth, I'll buy more potatoes to plant.  

I went to Wallyworld.  Yes, prices are up again.  No, I'm not pissed... well, not much... because at least there's a good reason behind it.  I can bear the burden of higher prices if it means crushing the Iranian regime.  The little bit of pissed I am comes more from the idea that some of these prices were raised in anticipation of rising costs.  

Not much else going on in my life, really.  It's hot but I'll get used to it.  I'm a little sore from bending over the garden yesterday, but I'll get over it.  All in all, I don't have much to bitch about.  (Not that that's ever stopped me before. LOL)

Have a great day out there, whatever you're doing.  Peace out.

Thursday This n That

Facebook is screwing with me again.  Now, it won't let me react to any posts, including my own.  This is the image I screen-captured:

I mean, how ridiculous.  I can post and comment and share, but I can't like, love, or make angwy* face or wow face... turds.  If I didn't need FB to market my books, I'd chuck the whole damn thing.

Finn's walking around the house meowing like he's lost.  Silly cat.  Kira used to do that from time to time, and I never did figure out why.  Oh, the mysteries of the feline brain.

And Hubs just informed me that Finn had jumped up on the bookshelf to get beside the TV and was sitting there like the RCA dog while Sawyer watched from down below.  When I went to investigate, they both ran to the treat cupboard like they hadn't just committed an act of pre-vandalism.  I swear... those boys... bang zoom, to the moon.

I had someone comment on a marketing post for AD this morning, giving me a cover critique like I'd asked for his help.  As if I didn't know what that cover looks like.  I gave the guy what his opinion was worth and blocked him.  If that's a new method to get me to engage so that he can spam me, he's sadly mistaken.  A friend of mine calls that sending them to Blockistan.  Heh.

Have you ever been with a guy/girl who critiques everything you do so you'll never believe you're worth anything and therefore never leave them?  I have.  It's a dick move.  Classic mental abuse.  Don't buy it.  Ever.

So, Monday, it was cold, so Hubs and I went into the woods and worked at clearing out the wet-weather creek so it isn't all junky looking.  Afterwards, we both paid for it.  And I learned something - you never know when you're overdoing it until after you've overdone it.

And on that note, I'll leave you to get on with your day.  Make it a good one.

*I meant to spell it that way.  It's what I call this 😡**.

** Blogger call this 😡 'pouting face', which is just stupid. It's angwy face.