Thursday This n That

I swear to god whoever's sneaking into our house at night and beating us in our sleep needs to stop. (This is not really happening.  It just feels like it.)

I taught Hubs how to make cake cookies last night.  He had a sweet tooth thing going on and I told him to go make cookies.  I ended up doing most of the work (which is not much work anyway), but now he knows how for future reference.  (Considering the fact that I am a total control-freak in the kitchen, this was a bigger deal than you think.)  I made them BIG because it was necessary.  And as soon as they were cool enough for the chocolate chips to not burn our mouths, we ate some.  Yay.  Warm chocolate chip cookies are da bomb.  

I'm also a control-freak in my car.  His car? Nope.  My car?  I'm in control, baby.

It might snow today.  And that's just about enough of that already.  Sheesh.

We've had a red-shouldered hawk hanging out around the yard lately.  I've named him Rufus.  Yesterday, I saw Beauregard in the woods.  (He's our resident broad-winged hawk.)  Luckily, I think they have different prey.  Unfortunately, I fear Beau might be prey in Rufus's eyes.  Hope not, but nature's a witch sometimes.

Did I tell you someone hit a beaver on the highway the other day?  There's a wet-weather creek right there leading to the lake, about 3/4 of a mile away, and for some reason the beavers cross the highway at that point.  No clue why.  I just know this is the second beaver that's been hit right there since we moved here.

My brother traps beavers in Michigan.  He provides a service for people whose land is being ruined by the pesky buggers and he takes the skinned carcasses to a raptor rehabilitator.  He also makes maple syrup.  This is probably a busy time for the maple thing and according to this, nearing the end of beaver season.  Plus, he works a 'full-time and then some' job.  Bro's a busy dude.  If more people had his drive, this world would be a better place all the way around.

We're a pretty industrious family.  Stop laughing.  I can be industrious.  =op  (I'm not, but I can be.)

I quit watching Grey's Anatomy cold turkey.  I'm not even sure why I liked it.  Don't even get me started on the dysfunctional relationships it regularly portrays as normal and good.  It's certainly addictive, though, which is why I had to stop cold turkey.  Like football.  I'm not a 'wean myself off' kind of person.  It's really hard to not walk in the living room right now and turn on the TV to watch it.  But I'm pushing through.

Speaking of dysfunctional relationships, I have had more than my fair share.  I was talking to Mom about it yesterday.  One in particular was especially nasty and I was telling her I still have nightmares.  They're only about once a year now, but they're always bad.  And no, he never hit me.  He just tormented me mentally and emotionally to the point where I thought about killing myself to get away from him.  And THAT was the point at which I realized I needed to get the hell away from him.  And I still tried to stay.  It took one more week of being treated like crap to put some starch in my spine and I was outta there.  Whew.  Did I learn?  Nope.  Fell into a similar relationship about 2 years later.  Eventually, I did learn, though, and I'm with Hubs.  Who is awesome, by the way.  

Wow, I was a little wordy there, wasn't I?  Got anything to share with me this morning?

Nope, Still Not Dead

I had great hopes for yesterday.  The plan was to hit the ground running and get some marketing done.  Ummm... I woke up feeling like I'd hit the ground alright.  Splat.  I did manage to get the bills paid and the dishes done.  Other than that, I was toast for the day.  Still not 100% this morning.

I tried writing some marketing copy.  One shouldn't try to do that running at less than 50%.  It felt like I was trying to sell the latest in toilet-scrubbing technology on late night TV, so I shut it down and then went to flop in the recliner.  This morning? It isn't TOTALLY awful.  I still feel like a huckster.  Maybe that's what people want in their marketing these days, though.  

Announcing the first in a new series by novelist B.E. Sanderson.  Combining her skill at writing suspense, mystery, and paranormal with her love of all things magical and marvelous, the epic fantasy, Shroudlands: Song of Storm and Shroud is now available at a variety of fine retailers.  Follow Aryl as he learns to wield the magic inside him, as he faces both his fears and his doubts, and as he fights to save his homeland from the evils escaping the Shrouds.  A wild ride for teens and teens-at-heart. Get your copy today.  https://books2read.com/song-of-storm-and-shroud

:shrug:  I suck at marketing.  Unless you think that's awesome, and then I just suffer from a lack of confidence.  

Selling books is awesome.  Not selling books is the opposite of awesome.  (Yeah, I'm a wordsmith today, aren't I?  Don't pick on me this morning.  I'm beginning to think this is Feel Like Crap, Round Two.*)  What I mean, if you couldn't parse that from the awesome/not awesome thing, is that when my books sell, I feel like I could take on the world.  And when they don't, I feel like I can't do any damn thing.  

Anyway, I'm going to crawl back to my recliner.  I just wanted to pop in and give you a glimpse into the glamorous life of this writer.  Whoopee.  And, of course, to prove I'm not dead.

How are things in your life these days?

*Stomach, not respiratory, so no worries about 'rona in any of its many variants.

Sunday Update - Week 12

 :blink blink:  Sunday, huh?  

Well, the big news for last week was that I finished the proofing for SSS and published it.  It's now available at the major retailers and a few of the smaller ones.  Here's the universal link for them what want it.   I still haven't formatted for print yet.  I'll work on that today.

In other news, I did something I don't usually do.  I started the sequel.  I'm 5650 words into Shroudlands 2 now.  It'd probably be more but my wrists were killing me last night, so I only got about 700 words out.  That's what I get for making buns earlier in the day.  But a gal's gotta do what a gal's gotta do, eh?

I didn't do any marketing, really.  Shame on me.  I hate marketing more than editing, if that tells you anything.  I sold 3 copies of SSS, and one of those was to me.  I also had someone buy a copy of WIOH, so that was something unexpected.  I'll try to get some marketing posts created and posted to social media tomorrow.

In reading news, as soon as the book was uploaded, I went back to reading and I completed 2 books last week.  Yay.

On the baking front, I didn't bake anything until yesterday, when I made a batch of buns.  I made 12 smaller buns than I did last did, which gave me leftover dough.  I used that to make cinnamon rolls.  Not sure bun dough is exactly right for cinnamon rolls.  They're super soft.  But they taste good and that's the most important thing.  

As for activity, I only had two active days.  Both walks.  But I am up to just over 11 miles for the year.  Weight: 179.8

I discovered yesterday that all five of my peonies survived their garage experience.  New buds are poking up from the spots where I planted them.  Yay.  No news yet on the mums or the columbine.  I'm seriously thinking about putting vegetables in the rest of the bed.  We'll see.  

Lumpy the doe is looking kinda of thick around the middle.  I hope she carries twins to term and that they survive the birth.  We didn't see her with any babies last year and she's such a good mom.  

Monday, I won a sizable poker tournament.  1st out of 225.  Prior to that, I'd only won the small tourneys - a couple of 6-people sized ones.  So, I got that going for me.  Yesterday, I finished 12th out of like 550 people in a poker tournament.   I'm finishing in the money on a regular basis now.  Thanks, stupid Obama for making online real-money poker illegal.  Turd.  I could never do this in person.  I have no poker face.  And I say insulting things to my competitors.  But here, they can't hear me, so it's no big thing.  Oh, and I think you can't smoke at casinos anymore.  Not smoking would totally harsh my game.

And I'll leave you with this for your entertainment... Spirits by The Strumbellas.  (Because I woke up with it in my head.)

What was your week like?

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 3/26/22

Hello again.  It was a busy week for me professionally, with the formatting and publication of my latest book, which Goodreads in all its infinite wisdom added to my book goal.  With as much time as I put in on that thing, I'm leaving it.  I read it like 6 times for pitysakes.  

I did pick up a slew of new-to-me ebooks this week.  Yay.  I still have 5 left - SF, Mystery, Paranormal Mystery, Historical Mystery, and Romance.  

Books Read:

16) The Redemption Man by James Carver (3/25/22) - Suspense*# - 5 stars.  New to me and underappreciated.  Picked up for free from the ENT newsletter.
Review: "Interesting and thrilling suspense with the kind of hard-hitting hero I appreciate. It took a little supernatural bent there toward the end, which I assume is a lead-in for subsequent novels. I didn't expect it, but it was okay. All in all, an enjoyable read. Good guys win, bad guys lose. It's all good."

15) The Breaking Point by Daphne du Maurier (3/21/22) - Suspense/Short stories - 4 stars.  The author isn't new to me, natch, but I hadn't read this one before.  It's not underappreciated.  I picked this up in 2019 from one of the thrift store for like 50c.
Review: "Fairly interesting group of short stories. Some of them were quite good. Others were just weird. A few were weird and good. Definitely different from some of her more well known works."

14) Song of Shroud and Storm by B.E. Sanderson (3/20/22) - Epic Fantasy*# - My own book, so not rated or reviewed.  I bought a copy like I always do - $4.99.

No DNFs.

Currently reading...  I got caught up in writing and other stuff, so I didn't start another book yesterday.

What did you read last week?  What'cha reading now?  Looking forward to anything?

Thursday This n That

I won a poker tournament this week.  Wanna see?

First out of 225.  Yay.  I hit final table with the least amount of money.  The two guys with the most amount went out like third and fifth.  When we got to heads-up, the other guy had like 3.7 million to my 800K.  We went back and forth for about 20 minutes.  Then when I had like 2/3rds of the chips, he went all in and I made a flush.  Woohoo.

In other news, my book went live at Amazon on Wednesday.  Yesterday, it went live on Apple, Kobo, B&N and some other places.  Click here for the universal link.  So pretty.

I spent most of yesterday being a toad.  Today, I'll get back to work.  The voices in my head are having a war about which book to do and they're bombarding me with scenes.  One side is throwing scenes for SCIU #4.  The other side is chucking bits of Shroudlands #2.  Gah.  Not sure who'll win yet, but the battle is fierce.

There's a big black dog running loose in the area.  He's gorgeous.  A black lab mix of some kind.  I swear if I see him out by the highway again, I'm coaxing him into my car and bringing him home.  I'll look for his owners.  Honest I will.  Stop laughing... I'll do it.  Okay, maybe not super hard...  But his coat is clean and shiny, so someone has to own him.  If I see him hit on the highway, though, I'm going to be very sad and extremely pissed.  I think I will call him Rochester.  Of Jane Eyre, not Jack Benny.  

I do have a affinity for Rochester of Jack Benny fame, though.  Have had one since I was a little girl.  I was also super fond of Jimmy Durante.  Ha chatta cha.  And Lou Costello.  Can't watch the old Abbott and Costello movies anymore.  I still love Lou, but Bud pisses me right the hell off.  

There are tiny red buds on my redbud tree.  And itty-bitty leaves on my lilac.  It's supposed to get cold again tonight.  If it freezes and kills my tiny buds, I'm going to have a sad.

This winter has been really weird.  Hot and cold, hot and cold.  Blerg.

Okay, time to toddle off.  Have a great day.  And feel free to drop whatever comments you may before you leave.  

Things I Remember Fondly

 As I was laying in bed not sleeping last night, I came up with a list of things I remember fondly...

- not laying in bed for hours thinking

- size ten jeans

- wearing jeans

- drinking

- $1.78 gasoline

- eating whatever I wanted whenever I wanted it

- running

- typing anything without feeling the psychotic urge to edit it

- putting 'brown' down as my hair color

- surviving on four hours of sleep

- sleeping

- having a dog

- my smokin' hot bod

- the excitement of release day

- wearing makeup

- going for long drives

- eating out

- my best friend from high school

- my childhood dog

- a whole day without something hurting

- the vocal range I had when I was younger

- enthusiasm 

Yeah, I didn't actually get to sleep until after midnight and I was up at 6, so I'm not the cheeriest person this morning.  Eh, stuff happens.  

What are some things you remember fondly?

Sunday Update - Week 11

Well, here we are again.  Another Sunday in 2022.  Almost exactly two years from the start of this crap.  Two years ago last week was when I was out in the pouring rain amidst the lunatic fringe, trying to find toilet paper, and I locked my keys in my car.  Two years ago this coming week was the circus of trying to get Owl from up there to down here.  Blerg.

Anyway, that was then and this is now.  

I finished inputting my beta notes on Monday.  Since then, I've spent every day this week going through SSS with a fine-toothed comb and really trying to catch every little thing.  110K words worth of every little thing.  I'm up to page 219 out of 377 now.  158 pages left to go.  I did 81 pages yesterday, with brief breaks for food, baking, and a walk.  Nothing else much is getting accomplished, but hey, the book is nearer to publication every day.

I also wrote like 4000 words on SCIU 4 early in the week before I started pushing to get SSS done.  And I reworked my blurb yesterday morning.  Busy busy busy.  I tried editing and writing on the same day, and I am totally not up to that speed yet.  I'll keep trying, though.  Just not this week because I want... no, I need to get this done.

In reading news, I finished one book last Saturday and read most of another book before I leapt into the deep proofreading on Tuesday.  I'll read when this manuscript is published.

On the baking/cooking front, I made a roast chicken, pizza, my version of Mexican pizza, and yesterday I did an Applesauce Coffee Cake.  Yum.

In activity news, I did something active 5 out of 7 days.  Mostly it was walking.  I put over 4 miles on my legs this week, which is about half of what I've done so far this year.  Woohoo.  No weight check.  The scale and I aren't friends these days.

That's about it.  Time for me to get back to proofing.  I proof from early morning until lunch and then I veg until about 3 then it's back to proofing until dinner.  I eat then I proof.  Then I take a break for a walk.  Then I proof until about an hour before bed.  I'll be so happy when this is over and the book is published.  

How was your week?

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 3/19/22

Not much to talk about this week because I'm back to work on my manuscript.  Proofreading for the most part, but it's taking a lot of my time.  And it's keeping my Kindle occupied.  Needless to say, I'm two books behind on my reading goal.  

No new books this week.

Books Read:

13) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (3/12/22) - Literature - 5 stars.  In no way was this new to me or underappreciated.  No clue where I picked up this copy.  I didn't find the exact edition I was reading on Goodreads, so I picked the edition I used to have.  Not sure where that went or when.  =o\
Review: "I haven't read this in ages - although when I was younger, I read at least once a year - and I still love it as much as I ever did."

No DNFs.

Currently reading... a short story collection by Daphne du Maurier that I picked up in 2019 at one of the thrift stores (the year I started keeping track of my book purchases).  I made it about 2/3 of the way through before I got sucked into the proofreading vortex.

What did your reading week look like?

Thursday This n That

Since the weather is nice, I went out into the garage to move my baby trees out onto the deck.  Elmer, the elm tree I planted from a seed last year, has loads of little leaves.  He's just a stick with green popping out all over it right now, but it looks like he might be trying to make branches in a few spots, too.  Yay.  I was inordinately happy to see Elmer had lived.  Also, the twins - the two tiny cedar transplants - are alive, too.  They have new growth, too!  Yay.  I will move them back in if the weather turns nasty.  

I've been trying to write AND edit on the same days.  Two different books, of course, but yah, it ain't easy.  I think I just need to get into the swing of it again.  I only edited yesterday.  Well, actually proofreading, but I'm still making notes and tweaking things.  My beta readers did most excellent jobs, but I'm finding things we all missed.  This tells me that the book was gripping engaging enough to pull readers past missed words here and there, so it's all good.

After seeing damn near everyone using gripping in their title info, I'm beginning to hate the word.  Not everything is gripping, damn it.

We have a red-shouldered hawk that's been hanging out in our woods.  Here's a photo of it.

I believe I shall call him Rufus.  No, I don't know for sure it's a dude hawk.  Not sure how to differentiate gender on that species.

Hey.  Wanna see a picture of my naked buns?

I call it my gratuitous bun pic.  :gigglesnort:  I need to make more of those.  They're pretty tasty.  I'm also thinking I can take that dough and use half for buns and the other half for cinnamon rolls.  We'll see.

I need to get a fishing license for this year.

Someone came walking up the hill yesterday.  He went straight up my across-the-road neighbor's driveway, up onto their porch, and stood there.  I never saw him knock.  Then he left.  Not sure what was going on there.  I think I might know who he was - his property butts up to that neighbor's on one side - but I'm not 100% sure.  I've only seen the dude with his wife and alone he doesn't quite look the same.

Isn't it weird how sometimes you can see someone out of their usual context and you don't recognize them?  Or it that just me?  In Colorado, I used to hit the thrift store regularly and I got chatty with the owner.  Once day a gal comes up to me in the store and starts talking to me like she knows me, and I had no idea who she was.  Basically, I made small talk with her for like ten minutes without knowing how she knew me.  After she walked away, Owl whispered in my ear that she was the owner of the thrift store.  ROFL

If I ever ran into any of you, I would be totally clueless - mainly because I've only seen pictures and have never met any of you in real life.  

And on that note, I'll let you go.  Feel free to drop your this-n-thats in the comments.  The more the merrier.

Today is Another Day

Yesterday on Outside the Box, I talked about getting myself back into the right mindset to work.  I had big plans for yesterday and it started out pretty good.  I got the edit notes completed first thing and then sent it to my Kindle for final proofing.  Then I planned on sitting down to write the blurb.  

Unfortunately, I then made the mistake of turning on the TV.  Watched an hour's worth of Grey's Anatomy while I wrestled with myself about whether to go grocery shopping.  I finally sucked it up and went to Wallyworld.  If that doesn't drain the gumption out of you, I don't what does.  

Gumptionless, I continued the slide back into my old routine by eating lunch and then sitting down for poker.  While I was waiting for a tournament to commence, I did start my blurb, though, so not a total loss.  And after I finished the tournament (17th out of like 275, by the way), I finished the blurb.  I haven't looked at it again.  It most likely sucks. 

Last night was a lost cause.  I planned to write.  Really, I did.  But we dined late and then there were things on TV to watch.  

I'm not kicking myself.  Today is another day.  A fresh time to get back to work.  If I fall down, I need to get back up again and not kick myself until I can't get up.  Lord knows, the world is kicking us all enough that we don't need to do it to ourselves, too.  

So, today I will hit that blurb again.  And I had a dream last night that gave me some additional insight into Justice Served - and :gasp: I got up and wrote it down.  So, I've got that going for me.  Onward and upward.

And here's a little inspiration for y'all... Harber Row - Shine On

Keep shining, folks.  

Sunday Update - Week 10

Here we are again.  Another Sunday morning in the year 2022.  I don't know about you, but that statement feels like I fell into a SciFi novel.  Sometimes the world feels decidedly dystopian, so maybe we all did.  I know this morning is weird because of the stupid time change.  Don't get me started on the stupidity of that.

I began writing the sequel to S3 this week.  Then I got the last of my beta reader notes back and I started on that because it takes precedence.  Then I got derailed because life overrides other stuff.  I'll finish the beta notes today.  Honest, I will.  Also this week, I got some reader interest in both the SCIU books and the Dennis Haggarty books, and last night my brain was skipping around in those worlds.  Not sure where I'll go from here.  I do know I need to finish this book so I can get it on the market.  I actually sat down yesterday and wrote the song in Song of Storm and Shrouds.  Which may get slipped into the novel and may not.  We'll see.

I looked into the legality of using a pseudonym in the state of Missouri.  It's actually a misdemeanor to use a name other than your own for business purposes here - which I'm pretty sure includes making money selling books under another name than my legal name.  Fortunately, getting a DBA (Doing Business As) only costs $7 and I can do it online.  I'd rather pay the $7 and cover my ass than accidentally commit a crime.  Although, I'm still undecided as to whether I'll actually use a pseudonym or throw caution to the wind and publish this book as B.E. Sanderson.

In reading news, I only finished one book before the wrap-up went live.  I did finish Jane Eyre yesterday, though.  I love that book.  And I have loved it since I first read it back in the '80s.  It's just been ages since I read it last.  I'm one book behind on my reading goal because I didn't read anything last month.  Shouldn't be that hard to catch up.

On the baking front, I did granola bars, pumpkin bread, and pizza.  I also crockpotted up a bunch of roast chicken thighs and made pork PARMESAN-encrusted pork chops.  Yummers.

I only got one active day this week.  And I haven't weighed myself because reasons.

We got another 2-3 inches of snow.  Which blows considering it's March and I'm in the SW of Missouri.  But as of this morning, it's mostly gone.  With it being in the 50s-60s today, the rest of it should disappear shortly.  Lucky for me, I knew it was coming and didn't need to go out in it.

And I think that's it for me this week.  I'm sure other things occurred, but nothing of note, so why bore you?  

Your turn.

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 3/12/22

 Hello again!  Not an exciting reading week, but it's something.

I didn't pick up any new books of any kind this week, but I'd better get on that because I only have one unread ebook left and that's The Three Musketeers.

Books Read:

12) Dark is the Grave by T.G. Reid (3/7/22) - Suspense* - 5 stars.  New to me but not underappreciated.  I heard about this freebie on the Crime Fiction Addict Facebook group.
Review: "What a great read! Suspenseful. Tight. Well-written. I loved the characters and the plot and the premise. Just all-around awesome."
Available in Audio.

DNFs:

3/5/22 - free - romance.  Meh.  There were a few problematic things right at the start and I didn't feel like trying to sort it all out.  I definitely didn't feel like sticking around to see what else the author/editor hadn't caught.  

Currently reading... Jane Eyre.  It's been ages since I read it and it still holds up as being an awesome book.

What was your reading week like?

Thursday This n That

The coffee is hot and strong today.  May yours be, too.

I finished looking up and saving all the songs I have written in my little notebook.  Then I shared some with Hubs last night.  He seemed to enjoy the video for Someone to You by BANNERS.  (Watch it all the way to the end.)

Yesterday, while I was on the phone with Mom, Hubs saw a coyote trotting through our woods.  He went to grab the camera, but the bugger was too fast.  We also saw an armadillo a few days before that.  Since the dude who used to kill critters died, and the gal who used to live-trap animals and move them moved herself,  the 'nuisance' animals are slowly coming back.

On the other hand, we've had a big brown dog wandering the neighborhood, too.  Someone we didn't recognize stopped yesterday and asked Hubs if he'd seen the dog, because it had gotten into their garage and stolen a bag of food.  As soon as she drove away, it wandered unconcerned past our house.  I hope it belongs to someone and isn't a drop-off.  Although, a dog as smart as that needs to be my dog... you know, if he doesn't already belong to someone.  I shall call him Rogue.

The unrecognized neighbor (after almost 9 years, we still haven't met most of the people in here, by the way) said Jerry tried to catch it but it ran away.  The only Jerry we could think of is old and doesn't strike us as a dog lover.  Then I remembered there's a female Geri on the other side of the hill who owns a corgi.  It was probably her.  (Turns out there's another dude Jerry, but he is also old and probably not spry enough to try and catch a dog.)  Funny how this gal we'd never met assumed we knew who she was talking about.  Anyway, we think she might belong to the house that's being remodeled.  

In our neighborhood, there are lakeside people and hill people.  They rarely associate with one another.  The gal who moved in next door has lived in the neighborhood for years, but at the beginning of the neighborhood.  (I've known her husband, but just met her.)  She doesn't know many of the people back in here either.  So, maybe there's a third group of people.  

It's an interesting dynamic in this little rural neighborhood, I tell ya.  Like the gal who used to be married to the guy across the street, but now she's married to a guy who lives down the hill.  I don't think I could live in the same neighborhood as any of my exs.  Hell, I don't live in the same state as any of them.  LOL

Okay, I should probably go do something constructive this morning.  Got any this-n-that going on in your neighborhood?

Randomosity

I'm totally scatterbrained right now, so here's a randomosity post...

I started writing again last night.  Shroudlands Book 2.  I only got out about 850 words, but I like them, so it's all good.  

The other day a reader contacted me on FB messenger, asking if I had any plans for more SCIU books and whether it would be any time soon.  The answer is yes and no.  Yes, I have plans, but 'any time soon' is problematic.  I'm one of those writers who had to follow where the words take me.  If I try to force them where they don't want to go, it all comes out flat and crappy.  You don't want flat and crappy.  Right now, the words are taking me down the fantasy path.  They might take me back down the SCIU path soon, but I can't tell that ahead of time.  It is what it is.  I was bright enough in that moment to encourage her to try my other books, though.  Time and Amazon will tell when or if she follows through with buying those.  Since she's buying my books in paperback, I have to wait until they ship to see they were purchased.  

I've been watching Grey's Anatomy reruns again.  I tell myself I won't, and then invariably, I do.  It's an addiction.  

We're supposed to get snow again tonight, I think.  Blerg.

I need to make granola bars.

My mom got one of those Ancestry DNA test things.  The results are pretty much what I thought they'd be.  Scottish, Prussian, Eastern European on her side.  The genealogy told me that, so it's good to know the tree is on point there.  No native American, so that myth's now firmly put to bed.  My sister also got hers done, but she hasn't got the results back yet.  Since hers and mine are the same, it'll be interesting to learn what genetics Dad brings into the whole thing.

I'm enjoying discovering more new music.  I have pages and pages of songs that I still need to look up, but it's a neat little side timesuck.  I like this one - Colder Heavens by Blanco White - a lot.

And I think that's all for me today.  Anything random going on in your world lately?  Are you as scatterbrained as I am?

Sunday Update - Week 9

It's been a week and I am toast.  

I got the edit round finished last Sunday and sent the manuscript off to beta readers on Tuesday.  Thursday one of the betas was already finished, saying that she couldn't put it down.  Yay.  But I will wait until all the notes are in before I start entering them.  It makes it easier for me to sort through them that way.  

In reading news, I finished two books and DNF'd 3 others.

Last Sunday, I made cake cookies in bar form.  Yellow cake with chocolate chips and walnuts, so they're like blondies.  Kinda.  No other baking went on and all the cooking was simple stuff.  Today, I might make pumpkin bread.

On the activity front, I took two walks and did two sessions with the gardens.  Then yesterday, after my walk, I also helped Hubs with the home drainage system.  Basically, we're creating a new way for the water to go around the house to help ease up the erosion we've got going on in one place.  I didn't weigh myself at all last week, so your guess is as good as mine.

Today it's supposed to rain a lot, so we'll see how yesterday's work actually works.

I played a lot of poker.  It's good for taking my mind off everything, ya know.  Anyway, I've been doing tournaments.  My best finish this week was 28th out of 450.  Top 7% at least.  I've also been finishing in the top 10% on a regular basis.  I wish I played this well when I was playing for money.

Another notable thing... I filled my car's gas tank.  It was $3.15/gal when I stopped, and when I went to pay, the cashier told me I got in under the wire.  Gas was going up as soon as the truck got there.  Another local station was already at $3.29, so cha-ching for me.  With as little as I've been driving, a tank full should last me about a month.  

And I stopped at the thrift store.  In case you missed yesterday's post, I didn't get any books because they'd jacked the prices up on me, so I said screw it and moved on.  I did pick up a nice metal baseball bat for $2 - for home defense purposes.  The thought of hearing that PING as I wallop a burglar fills me with glee.  Sort of like this clip from 50 First Dates.  ROFL.   I also found a cute metal wall hanging for $3.  It's geese in flight.  So pretty.  

Okay, so I think that's about all.  Not the most exciting of weeks.  At least not on my little patch of ground.  The world?  Well, that's going right down the crapper, but there ain't a damn thing I can do about any of it, so I'm muddling along in my life the best I can.  

How are things with you?

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 3/5/22

Hello!  I finally finished the round of edits on my own book, giving me time to read other people's books.  Let's just say, it didn't go well this week - until yesterday.  Yesterday's book was awesome.

No new books.  I did stop by the thrift store, but upon discovering they'd jacked all their book prices up, I stopped looking, put the one old Zane Grey I'd found back, and went on with my life.  In the 9 years I've gone to that thrift store, they've gone from 5/$1 paperbacks to 4/$1 to 50c each and now $1 each.  And $5 each for any book older than 1970.  Screw that.

Books Read:

11) A Spell in the Country by Heide Goody, Iain Grant (3/4/22) - Paranormal Mystery* - 5 stars.  New to me and while it does have more than 50 reviews, I still think it deserves way more appreciation.  Free off the BookDoggy newsletter.
Review: "This book is wicked awesome. At first, though, I wasn't sure where the book was going. I mean, it was a fun ride, even then, but I was all like 'what?' Still, I was having too much fun to stop, so I stuck it out and sure enough, the author pulled all the threads together into a well-woven cloak of awesome. I read the last half of the book straight through, staying up way past when I'd normally close a book and go to bed. Could NOT put it down. It's quirky. And interesting. And fresh. With loads of action. And did I mention fun? Super well-written novel, too. If my budget allowed, I'd be slapping down all my book monies for more of this author."
Available in Audio.

10) True Blue Murder by Elise M. Stone (3/2/22) - Cozy Mystery*# - 3 stars.  New to me and less than 50 reviews.  Tons of ratings, though.  :shrug:  Free off the ENT newsletter.
No Review.  (If you're new here, I don't review books with less than 4 stars.  For what it's worth, I rarely finish books I think will get less than 4 stars.)

DNFs:

3/3/22 - free - suspense.  It started out pretty good, but the next scene was all present tense.  I hate present tense unless it's done really really well.  This wasn't.  Plus the shift from past tense to present was jarring. Who needs that? Life's too short.  Blerg.

3/3/22 - free - UF.  Meh.  It said it was the first book in the series, but it felt like there were probably more before it.  Maybe it was a spin-off series from an established series.  The whole beginning I felt lost, so I gave up.

3/3/22 - free - paranormal mystery.  So formulaic, I felt like I'd read it before, but I hadn't.  

Currently reading...  I stayed up late to finish that book last night, so I haven't had time to start anything new.  Maybe I'll read The Three Musketeers next.  Or one of the two new-ish ebooks I have left on my Kindle.  Come back next week and find out.

What was on your reading list this past week?  

Thursday This n That

I finished reading a book yesterday!  First time since 1/21.  It wasn't a particularly good book, but I finished it.  And I started another which is looking like a DNF.  Oh, well.

The weather was so awesome yesterday I started putting plants back into my garden.  The irises I took out of the cedar bed are now lining the back of the front garden.  The peonies are all in the middle.  And the mums are lining the front north-side curve.  Fingers crossed they're all still alive.  The lariopes are moving to the south bed today.  They both still look really good, but they thrive in dry soil.  I went over to the azalea bed to move my one pathetic peony and I couldn't find it.  Bummer.  I also moved my terracotta bowl and its stand from the cedar bed to the front bed, underneath where the gutter tends to overflow, so the water will fall in the bowl rather than making a puddle in my flower bed.  Meanwhile, Hubs started weeding the driveway.  You know, to make it so it looks like a driveway again.  Yay.

I've been listening to a lot of new music lately and writing the good stuff down in my little notebook, so I can look it up later.  If I still like it, I paste the link into a draft email, so I can listen to it whenever I want to.  There's probably an easier way, but I don't care.

Spring.  I know it's not here yet, but it's acting like Spring.  And my sinuses are stuffy this morning. Yay?

I saw something on FB this morning that went something like this: "If you don't trust the media, but are now hating the Russians because the media told you to, you haven't been paying attention."  I'm a Cold War kid.  I've hated the Russians for a as long as I was old enough to know what Russians were.  And not because the media told me to.  (Okay, maybe that was true when I was a kid, but not later.)  I hate communism/socialism in all its forms.  I wish I could say I always have, but there was the brief time in college when communism had its allures.  (In college... shocking, I know.)  I got over it.  No one has the rights to what anyone else produces.  No one is entitled to what I've earned, just as I'm not entitled to what they've earned.  

In happier news, the robins came through on their migratory route and pretty much stayed instead of moving on.  I passed through a whole flock of the buggers on my way to the store the other day.  Dozens of them flying all over the place to get out of the way of my car.  Luckily, I was driving slow and didn't hit anyone. 

A couple of days ago, I defrosted a pork roast for dinner.  And then forgot about it until it was too late to cook it.  Happened again yesterday.  Today, I have to cook that roast or lose it.  Derp.  We ended up having pancakes with ham for dinner last night.

Okay, time to toddle off.  Got anything to add to the this n that stream today?