Sunday Update - 2026 Week 8

Well, we're bombing the hell out of Iran.  Yay.  The Ayatollah is dead.  Also yay.  We're hitting military targets, those fuckers are hitting civilian targets.  Not so yay and also proof that what we're doing needs to be done to completion and not half-assed like the Gulf War.  The good people of Persia are happy we're doing what we're doing.  Anyone not happy can go pound sand.  But they better do it fast before we turn it into glass.  Glass up your ass.  :gigglesnort:

Anyway, my life...

No writing or editing.  I'm not sure when I'll do that again, but I'm not calling it quits, so the blog title stays.  I did some marketing, which for some reason took off like a rocket and garnered me some sales.  I finished February with 17.16 books sold for $29.76.  Not big money, but better than a sharp stick, so I'm happy.  And I've already got page reads this morning so my March dashboard doesn't look like a ghost town.  I'm not sure which book I'll pimp tomorrow, so stay tuned.

I read two books on wood carving this week.  One on whittling and the other a more comprehensive volume.  I'm also slowly making my way through The Flight of the Falcon by Daphne duMaurier.  

No baking.

Activity... It was a busy week for me.  I did something active 5 out of 7 days.  Early in the week, when it was still cool, I worked in the woods.  Other days, I did cleaning projects.  One day I did gardening.  I surprised myself by actually discovering visible biceps.  Woot, I have muscles again!  Unfortunately, I also ate like a horse this week, so... Weight: 177.2  =op

My wood carving hobby is getting exciting.  Like I said, I read two books about it, and since my tools arrived on Friday, I can now get started learning by doing - which is my preferred way to learn anyway.  

As for gardening, I moved all my baby trees outside.  I also filled pots with dirt and I'm ready to plant carrot seeds.  I'll be ready to plant potatoes once I cut my starter spuds into quarters, dry those cut edges, and buy more dirt.  All things in their own time, I guess.  I'll also be planting tomatoes once the local store starts carrying seedlings.  Oh, and I have three green pepper plants that made it through the winter in my spare room, so those'll be going into pots and outside once the weather is guaranteed to not turn to freezing.  

All in all, life is pretty good here.  I'm busy-busy, even if it's not writing related, and I'm okay with that.  (Not super-okay, otherwise, I wouldn't feel the need to go on and on about it, but okay enough for now.)

How are things in your world?

Sunday Update - 2026 Week 1

Well, we wrapped up the first week of the new year and lemme tell ya, I didn't have this stuff on my bingo card for the year (i.e. the Venezuela stuff, the Iran stuff, the Minnesota stuff).  Wow.

Anyway... Writing didn't happen, because I just finished a book and I took the week off.  Editing was supposed to start yesterday but, while I did email the book to my Kindle, I didn't do any.  I did write a short blurb.  And I think I have a title - JUSTICE: PAST DUE.  (Sucks, doesn't it.  Titles suck.)  I do hope to have this book done by the end of the month, so I'd better get cracking.

Marketing happened.  I moved 30 copies of PH.  I also sold a copy of DE and someone read pages of both TTW and PH, so yay.

I finished that book I was reading, so I have a new Books Read post for 2026, and I'm currently reading The Night Manager by John LeCarre.  It's pretty gripping.

In baking news, I made Raisin Pecan Quick Bread.  It's super yummy.  Yesterday, I did a vat of pulled pork.  Also yum.

On the activity front, I did three days of woods work and one day cleaning.  Woot.  Hang on, I have to go weigh myself...  Ack... never mind, you don't want to know.  I know I didn't want to know.  Weight: 177.8

Speaking of woods work, I moved the summer clean-up pile to the permanent pile.  (Summer clean-up pile is for any crap that falls in the yard during the hot months when we don't go into the woods due to ticks and snakes.)  Hubs went through all our old firewood and threw out anything that was roached, then reorganized the pallets for more efficient wood use, which gave us a couple of empty pallets for the newly sawn wood.  That black cherry tree is probably going to be a couple cords alone.  (Don't ask me.  I never did figure out how many chucks a woodchuck could chuck or how many logs are actually in a cord.)

The Boyz are currently fighting in what I've begun to call The Box Maze.  Some days.  Ugh.

Other than that, not much going on.  It's pretty same-same here.  How are things in your world?

Oh.  It just occurred to me after I hit Publish that this is the 11th, so I had to come back to add this.  It's my accident anniversary.  32 years today.  :shrug:  Ya know, this used to be a bigger deal, but now I'm kinda over it.

Sunday Update - 2025 Week 25

I'm not exactly sure it is Week 25, but it follows last week, and I'm not inclined to go check, so there you are.  

I thought about writing this week.  I really wanted to be able to say that I wrote something when I did my update, but alas, I can't.  I also thought about giving up on writing this week, cuz it's not like I'm actually doing it and haven't done it for a long time.  But I'm a mule, so I guess we'll all just sit here and wait for me to write some stuff.  Or I'll sit here while what few followers I have left wander away.  I need to take a walk and give myself a good talking to all the way around.

Marketing was done.  I'm still hampered in my efforts, which isn't helping with the whole malaise, but I moved 83 books.  And someone somewhere is reading WIOH, so that's $$.  Not sure what this week will bring for sales or marketing.  Stay tunes.

Reading went slow this week.  I finished one book and then started on an omnibus of Hercule Poirot stories.  Not sure why I started this behemoth, but there it is.  I'll probably pause between stories to read something else.

On the activity front, I did stuff 4 out of 7 days - 3 walks for 3.35 miles, cleaning, and weeding.  Then it got hot and I retreated into my shadowy lair.  We won't talk about weight this week.  The heat is making me fluffy.  Yeah, yeah... that's the ticket.

Speaking of hot, no baking this week.  I meant to make cookies or cake or something, but meh.

Big news this week.  After eons of trouble with Brightspeed, I finally took the first steps to kick those assholes to the curb.  I'm going with a VoIP - Voice over Internet Protocol - service.  VoIP uses a widget that connects to our Starlink via wifi so we can use our regular phone over the internet to make calls like anyone else.  I researched it and found a company out of Edmund, OK that seems stable.  The device will be shipping to us and once I have it, I'll start the process to port our phone number from BS to our new provider.  Once that's done, I'll call BS and tell them to pound sand.  Woot. Steppin' into the 21st century like a boss.  

Okay, I think I've about updated myself out.  Have a great day wherever you are.  

Sunday Update 11/10/24

I feel like there isn't enough coffee in the world to make me human this morning.  Ah, well, let's muddle forth anyway and see where the day takes us.

I'm still not writing, but I am back to editing.  I actually put together three days in a row and edited 25 pages this week.  I know that doesn't sound like much, but considering the fact that I'm changing everything from third person to first person, I'm pleased with the progress.  And I've complete almost 6 pages of edit notes.  Little yay.  I still haven't decided whether this will be book 2 or book 3.  :shrug:

My marketing fell apart this week.  I did a couple of days worth of marketing on Project Hermes and sold exactly zilch.  Ah well.  In happier news, I sold a paperback copy of Dying Embers, and people are currently reading KU pages of both Sleeping Ugly and Blink of an I.  Yay. Oh, and before I forget, Early Grave will be free this coming week - 11/11-11/15.

In reading news, I finished two books this past week - a Perry Mason twofer and a Zane Grey western.  Woot.  Not sure what I'll pick up next.  I really need to get some new ebooks.

I didn't do any baking this week.  My ever-widening ass does not need to calories.  I did do a batch of pulled pork and used the leftovers to make Cuban sandwiches last night.  Third time's the charm, as these turned out awesome.  Mmmm.

On the activity front, I managed to get out into the woods and drag some wood around.  Not much because I am back to being stamina-free, but it's a start.  I also joined Hubs for a walk and did a mile worth.  I haven't bothered to weight myself.  I don't need that kind of negativity.

This past week, we got a boatload of rain.  I think we ended up with like 7.5 inches total.  Sploosh.  

Also, this past week, we had the election.  Needless to say, I'm pretty happy with the results.  Let's start moving this country back to where it needs to be.  I don't expect immediate results, after all, he still needs to get inaugurated, but if she'd won, we would move farther away, so any progress will make me happy.

And on that note, I'm going to wander away, refill my mug, and try to wake up somehow.  Have a great day, everyone, and drop a comment if you're so inclined.

Thursday This n That

Happy Halloween.  We're not doing anything, but hey, this is a better holiday than Labor Day, even if you don't automatically get the day off.  I did buy a couple Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkins and a couple Russell Stover Marshmallow Pumpkins, so life is good.  

I'm in the middle of another freebie thing.  I really should be posting marketing stuff right now, but I'm tired, so I'm blogging instead.

Speaking of tired, I didn't get out of bed this morning until almost 7, which meant I had like 10 minutes to get to semi-functional before I called Mom.  

The DirecTV bill went up again.  Bastards.

The temp when I got up was 59.  It's only supposed to get to 66 today.  Woot.

I'm not sure anyone is still seeing my posts on Facebook anymore.  Every rare once in a while, someone will react to one, but not like they used to.  Between my marketing posts and my political posts, I think FB has throttled my reach.  Bastards.

Old Pervy Bill was up in Michigan stumping for the Hyena and admitted that the economy was better under the Big T, but Bill said we should all still vote for Hyena because reasons.  Go away, ya perv.

My cats are obsessed with pens.  I thought I'd hidden the pen I keep on my desk well enough, but nope.  It was pilfered in the middle the night and found on the floor.  It already had little teethmarks on it, so no harm done.  I don't think they're interested in chewing it enough to get to the ink.  They just want to perforate it a bit.  On a lighter note, it's fitting that a writer's cats should be pen-obsessed.

Some days, I'm not sure if I should call myself a writer.  I'm not actually writing much.  Hell, I'm not even editing much.  I'm just lazy.  I think I'll do like an Edit Wri-Mo thing for November.  Give myself 30 days to get this book done and ready to publish.  It's doable. We'll see.

Okay, I'm off to wreak havoc elsewhere.  Have a great day.  Eat some candy.  Watch a scary movie or something.  

Sunday Update - Week 1

Well, hello there.  The first week of 2023 is in the can.  Onward and upward.

No, I'm still not writing.  I'm not sure if I can while I'm working.  It feels like the entirety of my brain space is taken up with the job and my creativity has curled into the fetal position in a corner. Every once in a while it mumbles something to itself and I try to write that down, but I'm not getting more than a whisper of an idea here and there.  It's been a while since I even got that.  I think it's comatose now.  It's funny (in a warped-sense-of-humor way) that before I went back to work, I had scads of time and no money. Now I have money but no time.

Anyway, I'm working 40 hour weeks with 2.5 hrs of lunch.  Bills are getting paid, the fridge is full, and that's all that matters.  Downtime is for decompressing.

I am reading in my downtime.  I've already completed two books for 2023.  I set my goal for 50 this year.  I should be able to do that even if I find myself too tired to read here or there.  I hit St Vinnys yesterday and came home with 8 books for $6 - a Vince Flynn I didn't already have, a couple of Phyllis Whitneys, a couple Victoria Holts, an Anne Rice, a Rex Stout, and a Ngaio Marsh.  Yay.  I'm reading the Flynn now.

In baking news, for New Years, I made a chocolate cake with strawberry frosting, and I substituted wine for some of the water needed to make the cake.  It turned out a little denser, but was pretty tasty.  I also made beef bourgignon for dinner that day.  (Someone gave me a bottle of Pinot Noir, and since I don't drink, I figured I'd better cook with it.)  It was super yummy.  

As for weight, I clocked in the year at 165.2.  Then I made a pig of myself all week.  (Pizza and donuts at work, cake at home.)  I'm a bit afraid to step on the scale today LOL.  No activity to speak of.  Hubs and I did take a walk early in the week, which was good.  I need to up the activity level before my arteries clog and I give myself a coronary.  

I'm currently doing genealogy again.  Yesterday, I discovered my great-great grandpa had a middle name.  I found his wedding certificate - in German - and using both an online translator and a print-out of German characters as they equate to English, I parsed it out.  Yep, Adam August was my 2x grandfather and just plain Adam was my 3x grandfather.  Genealogy is like working a puzzle combined with solving a mystery.  Right up my alley.  I found out another grandfather had fought in the War of 1812.  And I got one branch of the tree all the way back to a man who was born in 1475 and his sons all have Sir in front of their names.  

Yes, I could be using that time to write, but refer back to the creative portion of my brain being comatose.  I'm all analytical now, so this pastime suits me.

Oh, and I got a new-to-me wool dress coat yesterday.  It's a Larry Levin, or something - which run like $150 and I got it for $8, so woohoo.  Mid-thigh with a cross-button thing.  All I care about is that it's warm and that it goes with my dressier work clothes - for those days when I can't wear my leather jacket.  (My leather has never seen the rain/snow and I don't want it to.)

Well, this update thing turned out way longer than I meant it to, but I wanted to address some things and I'm feeling chatty.  But I think I'm done now.  Have a great week wherever you are.  :hugs: