This n That Thursday

I finished the edits my editor sent me.  Now I just have a couple little things to find and change before I send it off to her on Friday night.  Yay!

I walked around the yard talking pics yesterday morning.  Here are my new mums:

Eight in all - in that order and then in reverse order.  (The last ones were supposed to bloom redder. And yes, the white ones look like daisies, but they're mums. Honest.)

Dying Embers is on sale for 99 cents - here in the US and in the UK.  Go grab a copy.  Gift a copy to your friends.  Send one to the old boyfriend or girlfriend who cheated on you in college.  You know, as a remembrance.  ;o)

LOL, no, I wouldn't do that last thing.  What's passed is in the past.  Fun thing to think about sometimes, though.  "Hey, Dork! Remember me?"  ROFL

I have a bug bite on my arm that will not go away.  It's not big and it's not painful.  Not a mosquito or a spider.  It just itches like crazy.  Bleh.

Did I mention my edits?  I'm a little cwazypants right now.  Edit brain and all that rot.

Anyway, what's the this n that in your life right now?

Scattered

I'm editing and my deadline is Friday.

I'm working with a new cover artist to bring my genie series together as a cohesive unit.

I'm working on a few things to generate sales.

I'm trying to keep a clean... err... tidy house.

Max is a rollercoaster of 'feels good kitty' and 'crashing kitty'.

It's college football season.

I'm 10 books behind in my reading challenge.

The squirrels won't leave my iris bulbs alone so I keep having to replant.

Facebook

Twitter

Spreadsheets

Baseball playoffs

I need exercise of some sort so I don't meld with my desk chair.

Dishes... who keeps using all those dishes??

Kira wants out on the sun porch, even though I moved her special secret water into the office.

Author interview.

News

We need food in the house.

Hubs is working on something at the computer kitty-corner from me.

Leaves need raking.

Max killed a mouse.

There's a centipede on the ceiling.

The neighbor's new truck is loud.

I forgot to write that blog post.

My coffee needs refilling.

:wanders off:

Sunday Update - Week 40

Sorry I'm late, but I didn't sleep much last night and felt like doodle most of the day, so here I am - finally - at quarter to 4 feeling almost human.  Better late than presenting you all with a troll.  Am I right or am I right?

Anyhoo, updates...

I've completed this round of edits through pg 134 of 380.  I wanted to be up to pg 200 by last night, but I felt like doodle - the pre-doodles of the last 18 hours, I guess.  I should still have this to my editor by the 16th. She'll then have it back to me by Halloween, and I'll still be on track for a November 24th release day.  Unless, you know, something comes up that derails everything.  Always prepared for that to happen, doncha know?

In other news, I believe I have a new cover artist for the Djinn series.  Gah, I really need to find a catchy name for the series.  "Jo's Genies" "Mayweather Djinn" "The Djinn Liberation Network" (That last one was from the first incarnation of this book when I emphasized more on the network.  :shrug:)  Anyway, if any of you can come up with a series title I like, I'll shoot you a $10 Amazon gift card. 

Back to the artist.  She's a pretty cool gal who's done beautiful paranormal covers and she's willing to re-do WIOH along with doing the others so I have continuity across the series.  And she won't cost me the farm, if ya know what I mean.  I hope to have something next month that I can show you.

Because you're faithful followers of this blog and most likely my other blogs, I'll let you in on a little secret.  Dying Embers will be going on sale Wednesday.  It's a Kindle Countdown Deal that'll run through Saturday - for both Amazon and Amazon UK.  I'm hoping to have some news to go along with the sale, but since I have to sorta schedule these puppies in advance, I'll just have to hope I get the news I want, and if I don't, then the world still gets an awesome deal.  Tell your friends, tell your family, tell your exes (because they should all be on their toes after reading this book :wink:).

Okay, well, I've got books on the brain, so that's all I can think to update you all on.  You got anything for me?

This n That Thursday

Kira has formed an unnatural attachment to the secondary water dish out on the sun porch.  This morning I'm having an intervention. The door stays closed until we're ready to go out there. Hence, it's very meowiful in here right now.  She always has her main bowl of water in the kitchen.

Coffee is awesome.

I'm up to chapter three on the edits.  I will have these finished by the deadline or die trying.

I finally got Kira interested in her toys, but then she was sticking to the carpet, so I clipped her claws.  She's forgotten about the water dish for the moment.

Wait. I spoke too soon. She's really turned on the cuteness, too.  Reminds me of when she was a baby and the first week I had her.  She must've been experiencing separation anxiety from her foster home.  That week, she would walk around the house all night, meowing. 

Yesterday on the drive home from Wallyworld, I almost hit a red-tailed hawk.  It swooped up out of the ditch on the right side of the road, right in front of my car. A gasped and took my foot off the gas, which gave the car just enough hesitation to let the hawk pass safely in front of my bumper.  If I'd hit it, I would've been crushed.  I love those birds.

My local bookstore will be closed for 6 weeks while the owner and sole-employee goes on a long vacation.  :gasp:

I don't know if you saw it on FB, but Accidental Death finally came back from the black hole of being entered into the library system here in SW MO.  (Don't know where Dying Embers or Wish in One Hand are.)  I know because I saw it in the newspaper yesterday.  The library has a little blurb every week where she lists the new books.  Mine was there.  Problem was, she spelled my name wrong.  Derp. She left off the ON.  So, I'm now B.E. Sanders around these parts, I guess.  She's the second local person to do that.  Must be an Ozarks thing.

Also yesterday, my WIOH ad for ENT was denied again.  It was not a banner day for book marketing.

I keep thinking it's Sunday.  Every morning this week, I've woken up and thought it was Sunday.  On Sunday, I'll probably think it's Wednesday. 

The yellow-bellied sapsucker has returned for the winter.  Still waiting on the bald eagles.

You got any this n that for me today?

26 Unpleasant Things I'd Rather Do Than Edit

1) Clean toilets
2) Pull weeds
3) Medicate the cat

4) Watch Bones reruns for the dozenth time because there's nothing else on.
5) Do the dishes
6) Use the internet to identify bug species
7) Plant iris bulbs. (My ass muscles are still complaining about that one.)
8) Plumbing repair
9) Dust
10) Walk around the outside of the house with a flyswatter, killing bugs - webworms and wasps, mostly.
11) Vacuum
12) Bathe the cats
13) Play 'what's that smell?' followed closely by 'locate the source of that smell'.
14) Check the sticky traps for spiders
15) Reorganize my office
16) Build an entirely new spreadsheet that does what three other spreadsheets are supposed to do
17) Book marketing
18) File
19) Wash all the glassware on all the chandeliers.
20) Scrub floors.  (Ri-ight, that expensive thingamajigger was so much easier than scrubbing by hand.  Hmph.)
21) Clean the bathrooms
22) Clean out the fridge
23) Discuss politics
24) Socialize
25) Walk up the big hill next to the house
26) Pull vines out of the trees

Regardless, I have editing to do and I shall do it.  But I'd really rather do something else.  On the bright side, though, when I get done, I'll have an awesome book to offer all y'all.  And hey, that's worth a little unpleasantness.  Right?

What are some things you avoid doing?  What are some unpleasant things you're rather do?

Sunday Update - Week 39

Yo.

It's early Sunday.  I'm a half-cup of coffee into the day, and I just lit my second cigarette.  The Hubs is still in bed.  Max is still sleeping.  Kira's out on the sun porch worshipping her secondary water bowl.  Life's good, but I'm dragging butt today.

Wednesday, I received my edit letter and marked up copy of BloodFlow. 

Friday, I finished the first draft of Fertile Ground.

I was supposed to work on BloodFlow yesterday, but I wimped out.  I truly dislike editing.  In fact, I think I'll make a list of things I'd rather do than edit.  Look for that on Tuesday.  I will get to work today.  I have until the 16th to get this back to Awesome Wonderful Editor.  Still shooting for a November 24th release date.

Somewhere in there, I dug up the iris beds and replanted all the irises.  They were getting choked.  I also built a new bed in a corner by the garage because I had so many bulbs I couldn't fit them all in the beds I already had.  There are still at least a dozen bulbs in a bucket on the front porch.  Hubs doesn't want anymore beds, but then again, he said that before I made this new one, so we'll see. 

I've come to the realization that when I built my sales spreadsheets, I wasn't thinking ahead.  Right now, when I check my sales data, I have to open four spreadsheets - one for each book and one for the Master Plan.  It's a pain in the buns now with three books.  The 4th book releases next month.  So, I need one sheet for book data and one for the Master Plan - which has all sorts of pretty graphs.  This will be much easier, but building it and populating it with data will be a bear.  :shrug:  I'll get to it in my spare time.  Or when I'm trying to avoid editing.  ;o)  What I really need to do is built a splash page with buttons linking all the sheets together then I would only have one main spreadsheet open and it would work for all sheets.  Unfortunately, I have forgotten how to do that and relearning it would take more time than I'm willing to put forth. 

I read a really awesome book called Vulcan's Kittens by Cedar Sanderson (no relation).  It really refreshed me - being totally different from my own work and by its awesomeness. 

What's up at your place?

This n That Thursday

Welcome to October!  It's my second favorite month.  Except for the scary stuff.  I don't really do scary stuff, unless it's old movies - which aren't really scary IMO.  Except for the original version of The Fly.  My siblings used to torture me by saying "Help me. Help me." in a tiny, squeaky voice.  :shudder:

On our walk yesterday, we saw a huge black and yellow garden spider.  I'd only ever seen one once before.  This year, I've seen three around here.  It's a banner year for spiders.  And tent worms.  I hate tent worms more than spiders.  :shudder:

You know how sometimes you see someone on TV shoving their gun down the front of their pants?  Yeah, bad idea.  Well, yesterday, I saw a news story of a guy who accidentally shot his own penis.  Darwinism at work.

Still waiting for the bald eagles to arrive. 

I used to have long nails all the time.  Mine grow really fast and I'm not inclined to cut them unless one breaks or they get annoying.  I decided to let them grow again - until one of the two factors came into play.  I'm about at the point of annoyance to whack them all off.  They're pretty and I'm great at opening things right now, but they're making typing interesting.  Problem is, once I cut them, I'll have to get used to typing short-nailed again.  I'll probably wait until after Fertile Ground is finished.  So today or tomorrow.

Finished an awesome book yesterday - Vulcan's Kittens by Cedar Sanderson (no relation).  It's as fun as the title promises.  Not that it's a humorous book.  It's not.  But it's damn good, has an interesting premise, and a unique spin on mythology.  I really needed this book, too.  Just the right break from my own writing to make me feel refreshed.  Yay.

Yesterday when Hubs removed the window AC unit in the garage for winter storage, we found a big brown bat on the window ledge underneath.  Poor baby.  Hubs nudged him off so he wouldn't fly inside, and then I went outside with a box to move Bat Masterson to a safer location for the remainder of the day.  Here's hoping he flew away last night and found better lodgings this morning.

What's on the this n that downlow for you today?