It's Marketing Monday and even though I'm a little late, I did remember! Yay!
Starting today UNEQUAL is absolutely free. (Always free with a Kindle Unlimited subscription.) Get this action-packed dystopian novel today. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07LDVFWBS
Thirteen weeks into 2025 and I'm feeling pretty good about life in general. Sales are up, soon I'll publish my 18th novel (the first published since 2022), and life is good. As for the past week, here's what went on...
No editing or writing. Once my edit notes come back, there will be a flurry of stuff to do, though, so I'm not kicking myself too hard. I did some marketing this week. This is looking to be my best month of the last few years. Which still isn't going to get me into any higher tax bracket, but I'm hopeful. I need to figure out today what I'm going to do for this week's sale. I'll be as surprised as you are tomorrow. ;o)
The main writerly-type thing I'm focused on is driving ahead on cover art. I even spent a couple hours wandering the local thrift store to see what sparked my creativity. I picked up a couple tablecloths, a fake plant arrangement, and a lamp. Now I just need to make that and some stuff we already have here into something that will sell books. It's all percolating in my head. I'll probably get the camera out and start playing today.
I spent a lot of time reading this week, although it doesn't seem like much when you look at the reading wrap up from yesterday. I did finish that book I said I'd finish, though, and I started another one. Yay.
In baking news, I made another batch of cinnamon rolls and I also did a pizza. So yummy. My ever-widening ass is telling me I need to cut back on the baking, but I doubt I'll listen to it.
Speaking of the old ever-widening ass, I was pretty active this week. I did something active every day - from gardening to tromping through the woods to just wandering. I also did some cleaning. No update on the weight this week. I feel slimmer, but I'm not going to promise myself any fewer pounds.
Speaking of gardening, I have now potted all the dogwoods that were germinating in the fridge. The ones I potted previously... Well, some of them died. On the upside, I have 4-5 that look like they might make it and even have real leaves - 2 each. Nothing is coming up in the redbud pots or the spicebush pots. I think the over-winter neglect killed those seeds. Better luck this fall. I also potted all the buckthorn seeds I could find. Note to self: do not put black seeds in black dirt in the fall. You'll have a tough time finding them come spring. Cecil and Clyde... the cedars... are both doing well and both have lots of new growth. Yay. As for my gardens, I'm not seeing the glads or the lilies coming up yet. Fingers crossed.
On the woods work front, I got a lot of dead limbs off the cedars and the area is looking really nice - at least from the road. Now that it's getting warmer, I'll have to stay out of the woods, so the rest of the work in there will have to wait.
This week, I plan on finishing the clean-out of the last two garden beds that need cleaning - the cedar bed and the shade bed. There's nothing in the cedar bed but weeds, which I hope to change this year. As for the shade bed, I'm not holding out hope that anything I planted is still alive in there. If it's all gone, I'll order up some replacement astilbes and coral bells, and maybe some more lilies of the valley. We'll see. I also plan on knocking some other stuff off the to-do list I posted on Friday. Time and gumption allowing.
And I think that's it for me. What have you been up to lately?
Woot, I remembered to post today!
This week, I added 3 new books to my big list of new-to-me books that I get to read whenever I want because they're MINE. I picked up a Phyllis Whitney I've never read and two Tarzan's (a new collectible for me). Yay!
Books Read:
5) Murder by the Letter by Lisa Pevey (3/27/25) - cozy mystery* - 5 stars. New to me but not underappreciated by my measure of more than 50 reviews. (I was the 50th on Goodreads, as a matter of fact.) After seeing this advertised on one of the FB groups I follow (posted by her husband Seth Pevey, a writer whose books I love), I paid full price for this one after snagging the 4th book in the series for free. I also snagged the 2nd and 3rd.
Review: "What a fun story! I really enjoyed getting to know Mila, Cherie, and Auntie Roma. And, of course, I loved Serif! I also enjoyed the glimpse into the backwoods of Louisiana and the Cajun way to life. This is a fun romp through that world and an interesting mystery to boot."
4) Some Buried Caesar by Rex Stout (3/26/25) - noir crime - 5 stars. Neither new to me nor underappreciated. Snagged this from the thrift store for 25c.
Review: "Excellent story! I love Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin. It does start off a little slow, but it more than made up for it."
DNFs:
3/26/25 - SF - $4.99 - if you know me at all, you know I hate DNF'ing any book I paid full price for. Hell, I hate paying for books if there's any chance I might DNF it. Anyway, I bought this book because the author was in need. I really REALLY wanted to like it enough to leave a glowing review for it. Unfortunately, I didn't get very far before I realized that wasn't going to happen. :shrug: I feel bad I can't leave a review, but at least the sale might help this person out of a jam.
Currently reading... a fantasy called The Riddle-Master of Hed by Patricia McKillip. I'd hoped to finish this last night, but it was late and I was tired. I'll finish it today.
What kind of reading fun have you been up to this week?
I have so much to do and it seems like every time I turn around there's another thing to do, so I've begun saying "It's on the list, man." It's not a written-down list. It's an in-my-head list, but this is it...
- finish potting the tree seeds
- clean out the cedar bed
- clean out the shade bed
- plant the wildflower and the marigold seeds I bought for the cedar bed
- order plants to put into the shade bed because I think everything nice in there has died
- finish cutting dead limbs off the cedars by the road
- finish replanting the irises bulbs that the critters had moved over the winter
- vacuum the hard floors
- wash the hard floors
- dust
- wash windows
- clean the kitchen
- clean my bathroom
- clean the smoking porch / sunroom
- redo the irises by the big rock (which may have to wait until after the blooming season)
- take furniture polish to the kitchen cabinets
- tidy up the spare room
- clean the fridge
- create a cover for my new book (which includes setting up stuff for a pic and taking said pic)
- hit the thrift store to find something to use for the above pic
- finish editing my new book
- format my new book
- create next week's sale
- sort my books to decide what stays and what goes so I have room for my unshelved new books
- tidy up the storage closet
- shred old paperwork I've tidied out of the storage
- create a donate box of everything I've picked to go
- go to a thrift store and donate the stuff (which should coincide with going to find pic stuff, but probably won't)
- hammer in all the loose nails on the deck
- work on getting Wrenegade out of the garage
- clean bird poop off the garage floor
- clip the cats' claws
There is a longer list Hubs and I have together, by the way. Stuff that requires money as well as time. That one includes things like repairing the deck, fixing the roof, and putting in a wood stove. One day, I'd like to remodel the kitchen by turning the wall between the kitchen and the living room into a pony wall, so I can get some natural light into the kitchen, but that is so far down any list that I doubt it'll ever happen. Maybe if I win the lottery... ROFL
Since I started typing this out, I added about a half-dozen things I need to do that I had forgotten. You see what I mean about 'things keep getting added'. Just thinking about it all makes me tired. I need a nap. Too bad, naps aren't on the list. ;o)
What's on your list to get done today?
(I might come back here and put a line through stuff as it gets done, but then again, I might not because seeing stuff NOT getting checked off over time will depress the hell out of me.)
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...
7) The Ebony Swan by Phyllis Whitney (4/1/25) - romantic suspense
6) The Riddle-Master of Hed by Patricia McKillip (3/29/25) - fantasy
5) Murder by the Letter by Lisa Pevey (3/27/25) - cozy mystery*
4) Some Buried Caesar by Rex 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.
My arms look like I've been attacked by an itty bitty swordsman. Only a tiny portion of the damage is cat related. The rest of it is thorns and woods work. I didn't even feel most of it when it was happening and only noticed it later. Eh, it's visual proof I've been working. And the yard is looking quite nice, if I do say so myself.
Oh, and the spot on the back of my middle finger? That's a burn I got while making dinner. I'd show you, but I don't want to flip you off. ;o)
By the way, 100% pure aloe will take care of minor burns for you. Slather that crap on as soon as you can after you've burned yourself and it'll be unpainful in no time. Works for sunburns, too. And dry skin patches. And sometimes bug bites. (Depends on what bit you.) I use Fruit of the Earth. And I get mine from Wallyworld.
I'm having a sale. I'm not being good about marketing, though. I missed it on Monday and today's not looking good either. Still moving books, though, so yay.
We've now located 4 redbud trees on our property. And I found a honey locust yesterday. Thankfully, I didn't find it the hard way. Those things have nasty spikes on them. I hacked all the spikes off the trunk up to Hubs' height, so either of us can walk around the damn thing without getting speared. I also spent some major time removing dead limbs from the cedars.
Yep, I hurt today. 90 minutes of sawing can do that to a gal.
Okay, I'm running late, so that's it for me for now. Have a great day out there!
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.
Accidental Death: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XM6VJ9U
Natural Causes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06Y44BXTM
Enjoy!
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?
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?
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...
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!
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:
Well, hello again. I almost forgot it's Sunday and time for my weekly update. (Yes, I did forget yesterday was Saturday and even though I did have stuff for a Reading Wrap-up, I didn't post one. Oops.)
So, this past week, I finally finished the edits for Duke Noble #2 (Thicker Than Water... Secrets and Lies... Whatever Title I Think is Better Than Those Two). It's been sent out to readers. If you did not receive a copy and you were expecting one, email me. Right now, it's just about 63000 words. I don't expect that to change overly much. That's about 2K less than the first book, but it is what it is. I could shove more words into it but they'd just be filler. :shrug:
I did marketing for Cinder Ugly. Not great turnout, but I didn't push it nearly as much as I should've, so I only have myself to blame. I need to figure out which book is up for marketing this week. Stay tuned for that. It'll be a surprise for tomorrow's Marketing Monday post.
I finally read another book. Woot. I'm also about halfway through a third book. Also woot.
In baking news, I made pizza this past week. It turned out really yummy, so yay. The plan today is to make carrot cake again. I still have loads of carrots left and why the hell not? LOL
On the activity front, I did something active on 4 days, but two of those days had multiple activities. It was mostly outside/gardening stuff. No weight update. I'm chunky and I'm okay with it.
Ah, gardening... I finished the south bed that runs along the garage and 1) put all the irises and lilies back, 2) planted new gladiolas. Then I worked on cleaning up the other beds for Spring. On a happy note, not all of my grape hyacinths died in the neglectful times. They're not blooming, but also not dead. I still have a lot of work to do to bring my gardens back to nice, but I'll get there. Oh, another thing I did this past week was pot the dogwoods that germinated in my fridge over the winter. I ran out of pots, though, so I didn't plant them all. Now I have new pots, so I'll be planting the remainder of the dogwoods this week, along with the buckthorns. Everything I planted previously - redbuds and spicebushes - have been watered. I think this was the week where I also potted a volunteer cedar. I've named him Clyde. Fingers crossed everything survives and thrives.
We had weather go through, but it was mostly wind. No storms and no swirlies. We lost some dead branches. Nothing major and nothing damaging to anything else. We barely got any rain.
I think that's it. Oh crap, I just remembered a project I was supposed to be working on for the pay-job. One that I said I'd have ready for them on Monday. Guess what I'll be doing today? :shrug: I'll make cake tomorrow.
Anyway, have a great day. Peace out.
I started this an hour ago and then got distracted by social media. There are some really interesting things out there. And some really awful things. Some days I can't handle wading through the awful to get to the interesting. There are also a boatload of ludicrous things. I was also supposed to do marketing and I woke up in plenty of time, but the time I have left before I call Mom is running out. I guess I'll market after I talk to Mom.
Yes, I call my mom almost every morning. She gets Friday and Sunday off from me. We talk about everything... and nothing. Sometimes we talk about the same things over and over. Sometimes we gripe about stuff over and over. I don't care. She's not getting any younger and eventually there will come a day when I can't talk to her ever again, so I'm grateful for every word now.
I need to cut Hubs' hair again. It's been a while and he's starting to look shaggy. Plus, it's driving him nuts. Maybe this afternoon I'll finally get 'er done. I would've done it yesterday, but my wrist was giving me trouble after Tuesday's pizza kneading.
I love making pizza, but it's hell on the wrists. Oo, that reminds me... I'm out of cinnamon rolls. Lucky for me, those don't require a lot of kneading.
Oh, I finished the 5th draft of my manuscript last night. And I sent it off to my first reader. I need to contact others to see if they're still willing and able to read for me. I'm still torn about the title, so for ease's sake, let's just call it DN2. Now that it's off to be read, I need to work on cover art. And maybe get back to writing again. But not today. Today is a day of rest. And reading other people's books.
Tra la la.
Okay, I need to go use the little writer's room, fill my coffee mug, and get ready to call Ma. Have a great day out there, folks. And leave a comment if you're so inclined. Thanks!
Okay, so back in late October, I gathered a bunch of seeds to try my hand at germinating and growing native trees and shrubs. Here's where we are right now...
The dogwood seeds that have been in the fridge after being soaked in boiling water are germinating. Yesterday, I started putting them in pots. I didn't count how many I planted, but I ran out of small pots and gumption, so there are at least 3 more in the bag, which I put back in the fridge.
The redbud seeds that I put directly into pots after soaking have spent the winter in the garage. I may have forgotten to water them regularly and of course, Woodstock the Garage Wren may have been playing in their dirt. I watered them all yesterday and left them outside on the deck. Fingers crossed some of them live.
The spicebush seeds spent the winter in pots on the deck. Those also didn't see much watering. We'll see.
The buckthorn seeds are still in the fridge in a bag. I didn't notice any germination yet. As soon as I acquire more little pots, I'll try planting them and see what happens.
Like the spicebush seeds, the acorns I planted spent the winter outside in a pot. If they don't germinate, I'll give that up and find some volunteer seedlings. We're always getting at least one or two acorns growing in our flower beds. I wanted to grow them from acorns so I knew what variety I was planting. Getting a seedlings out of the garden is a crap shoot.
Speaking of volunteers, I dug up and potted another cedar tree. I named this one Clyde. He's kinda funky and didn't start his life out straight, but he's about 6" tall. We'll see if I got enough of his root base to keep him alive. He couldn't stay where he was, growing under the deck, so he would've died anyway. This way at least he gets a chance. We have several other volunteer cedars I may try to grow. The problem with cedars is they are slow growing. Cecil is about 4 years old, I think, and he's only about 2' tall. Of course, he's been growing in a pot. Maybe he'd be taller if I put him in the ground.
Anyway, the idea here is put all of these in the ground at some point. Hubs will build cages around them to keep the deer from doing what they did to poor Elmer (i.e. munching them to the ground). That's a long way off, though. Fingers crossed we get at least a few of each of the varieties to grow large enough to have to worry about it. If we get more than a few, I may need to find homes for them. We'll see.
Next fall, I may try germinating persimmons. We have a big persimmon tree that drops loads of fruit. I just have to snag some fruits before the critters get to them.
What about you? Have you ever tried growing trees?
Welcome to another installment of Marketing Monday. First off, I did it right this time! It's Monday and the book I want to be free is actually free, so yay.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08LW3ZB5Y
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Also, in case you missed it, my friend Silver James has a new book out - Moonstruck: Retribution.
It's like 7:30 and I'm just now getting around to posting because it's NOT actually 7:30 to all the little grey cells and other parts of my being. Damn time change.
Anyway, I've been motoring along on Edit Notes - Round 4. (Which I just now realized I've also listed as round 3 and round 5, depending on the day and how tired I was when I backed up the files. But I actually think it's round 4. :shrug:) As of last night, I passed the 50% mark in notes. Yeah, I thought this would go quicker, but it's not. I keep finding stuff I missed and finding places where I said something early that I didn't explain later. Derp. Anyway, I've made progress, which is always good. It'll be published when it's published. Oh, and I think I have the title... Duke Noble P.I.: Secrets & Lies - how does that grab ya? It grabs me better than any of the dozen or so titles I've played with, so there's that.
I did my usual week of marketing. Okay, so I didn't do as much marketing as I should've. I still moved 306 copies of Wish in One Hand this week. Time will tell if that equates into sales later. The freebie I had for DE last month has gained me some sales this month, so I'll keep doing it. To that end, I'll be starting another freebie tomorrow. I think one of the Ugly books. We'll see. Update: CINDER UGLY will be free starting tomorrow and going through Friday night.
I actually started reading a book this past week. It's my new-to-me old copy of a Sax Rohmer novel. I meant to do a Reading Wrap-up yesterday, but I forgot. Maybe this coming Saturday, I'll remember.
In baking news, I made another batch of cinnamon rolls. I think I nailed the inner goo. (Embrace your inner goo.) I also did beef stew one day and chili another. Yummers.
On the activity front, I spent about 4 hours over three days digging up the south garden. Another hour should see that bit finished. Also, we spent about 45 minutes walking around in the woods. And I did a massive grocery trip. Unfortunately, despite the actual activity, I gained 2 pounds somewhere along the way. Weight: 175.2 - damn cinnamon rolls. LOL
Gardening... Well, I've dug up the whole south garden bed to a depth of about 12-18 inches, thrown all the weeds out, and shifted all the irises. Somehow, I ended up with a pile of dirt in the middle, so I'll be moving all the irises out of the east side, spreading the dirt around, and replacing the irises today. (I've already done this with the west side.) I'll be using the middle of the bed for my new gladiolas and my old lilies. Once I get this done, I really need to start potting the tree seeds I started last fall. I've also found two volunteer cedars that need to be potted or pulled. They can't be allowed to continue growing where they are. One of them is under the deck, for petesakes. Oh, and I need to start cleaning out all the other beds. One thing at a time, eh?
In other news, Woodstock, the wren, is still in the garage. Despite our best half-assed efforts, he will not be moved from his new home. :shrug: He's in there singing right now. The cats are fine. Hubs is fine. I'm fine.
How are things in your world?
A few minutes ago, Hubs and I were out in the smoking room, which overlooks the woods. The sun is just coming up here and what do we see silhouetted against the dawn? Vultures. The trees are filled with vultures. I counted 85 and that was just what we could see from those windows. I expect if I had opened the door out onto the deck, the count would've been well over 100. As I said on FB, "I'm not dead yet. Go away." It's kinda creepy out there, but also cool.
I made cinnamon rolls again yesterday. It's getting kinda easy to make them now, after all the batches I've done in recent months. And I think I have the filling down now. So yay. I'll try to remember to post the recipe sometime soon.
If you make a cinnamon roll filling that's spreadable, it oozes out when you cut them. If you do the filling so it's sprinkle-able, your rolls are dry. So, I devised one that is just short of spreadable and has to be crumbled by hand. It's messy as hell and you end up with gooey hands, but it's worth it.
I just dribbled coffee on my keyboard and my desk. Derp. So wasteful.
WISH IN ONE HAND is free right now. And it's moving nicely this time. Without too much help from me, which is good in a way because I've been a toad this week.
There's a lot of craziness on the internet right now. For the most part, I'm avoiding it. I block at least a dozen people every day. These aren't friends, per se, but strangers who've commented on a friend's post - spewing idiocy, etc. Some of the stuff I'm seeing is really quite shocking, to use an antique turn of phrase. :shudder: TDS is high. Antisemitism is off the charts. I'm not sure what this world got itself into while I was working, but GAH.
I need coffee. And I'm about out of things to say, so I'll leave you at that. Go forth, drink coffee, and try to stay sane out there.
Okay, so this morning's marketing went off without a hitch. Yay. The book actually is free right now and should be free through Saturday, barring Amazon glitches and what-have-you.
Starting today... as in not yesterday... and running through Saturday, WISH IN ONE HAND is totally free. (It's always free with your Kindle Unlimited subscription. This is so everyone else can play, too.) Don't wait to get the snarky genie goodness that started the series!
I hope it gets a lot of attention, but we'll see. And no, I did not use my time yesterday to create marketing graphics - which is why you just see the cover here. I'm not promising anything creative today either, as I am this close > < to being ready to send Duke Noble #2 off to readers and I really want to focus on that.
I'm just over here trying to juggle selling books and writing books. Fingers crossed I don't drop anything. :cue circus music:
It's kinda hard to have a Marketing Monday when you forget to actually set up the friggin' sale, doncha know. So, there I am doing my marketing posts when it occurs to me that I didn't actually check to make sure the book was free. Umm... yeah... it's not.
Cue me going back to all the pages where I had already posted that it was free and deleting the posts. Derp.
So anywayyyy...
It'll be free tomorrow through Saturday instead. Not a huge deal in the scheme of things. I've just learned that a Monday through Friday push gets me more attention than a Tuesday through Saturday push. Plus is leaves my Saturday mornings free. :shrug:
Ah, well. Now I'll have time to work on some marketing graphics before tomorrow's big freebie. Woot.
Always look on the bright side of life... :whistles:
It's Sunday? Well, yeah, I guess it is. I have no clue what happened this past week, but I'll try to rebuild it somehow.
No writing, but I did editing work every day, and thus, my 4th draft is complete as of last night. I'm thinking it needs one more re-through and notes before I send it off to my readers. I could just be being nitpicky though. This is the first book I've brought to publishing in 3 years, so I have reason to be cautious, but there's a fine line between cautious and anal.
I didn't do any marketing this week for reasons and because of because. I have WISH IN ONE HAND going on the freebie starting tonight at midnight, though.
I started reading a book last night after I got done with editing. YAY!
In baking news for the week, I did a pizza last Sunday, and another carrot cake. I also made a vat of BBQ ribs in the crockpot. Yum.
I also got kinda active. I started turning over my garden beds in prep for planting. Three days I did that, for a total of 2.75 hours. It doesn't sound like much, but it's about all I can do until my stamina improves. I'm old, I'm tired, and I'm flabby. I'm also counting the day I shredded carrots for the cake. That's a workout, lemme tell ya. Unfortunately, my weight went up a freakin' pound. Weight: 173.2 Now that the weather is changing for the warmer, I hope to turn that around and head it back to a reasonable tonnage.
Speaking of gardening, I bought a bag of gladiola bulbs, so I'm turning over the south garden bed in prep for those. Right now, that bed is mostly weeds, but there are some not-weeds in there. Lilies, for one. I've already found 4 lily bulbs, so yay. And irises, of course. Scads of those. Also years ago, I put anemones in there. I thought those were all dead by now, but I found like 3-4 still alive. They look pathetic, but I'll try to resurrect them. Anyway, I'm about half done with the turnover. I did the middle part that had nothing in it first and now I'm working on the end that had lilies and irises. Then I'll work on the other end with it's irises and anemones. THEN I can put it all back together again. I'm tired just thinking about it.
In other garden news, I uncovered my daffodils and my hyacinths. I can't wait for them to bloom. :fingers crossed: I love spring so much.
Other than that, not much going on. What's up in your world?
