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?