Labor of Love

What happened to Tuesday?  :shrug:  

Anyway, it's Wednesday.  There's really not much going on in my life right now.  I did spend a couple hours yesterday setting up for cover photos and then taking a bunch.  And then doing a mock-up of a cover.  They're pretty good pics, but I'm still not 100% in love with them.  I'll try something else today.  

Being self-published means wearing a lot of hats.  Not only am I a writer, I'm also an editor, a marketer, a cover artist, PR... chief cook and bottle washer.  It's kind of tiring sometimes.  Ya know?  And all of this for a paycheck that would make a mouse starve.  It's a labor of love, I guess.  

One really big upside to this is I don't answer to anyone else.  (Good thing, too, because if I was working for someone and not making money at it, I'd quit or they'd fire me.)  The cover choices?  Mine.  Wording?  Mine.  Ideas?  Mine.  Stand or fall, it's all on me.  It's kind of freeing.  I don't have anyone breathing down my neck pushing for me to get the book out.  Okay, so that's both a negative and a positive sometimes, but on the whole, this is a pretty good gig.

I mean, seriously.  I work when I want.  I write what I want.  I don't have to pay anyone a percentage of anything.  If I want to hire someone to do cover art or marketing or editing for me, I have that option and I still have creative control... mostly.  

Of course, working for myself by myself means I don't often have the scratch to hire someone to do anything for me.  I mean, I made $25 last month, and I was excited about it, but that don't put food on the proverbial table. $25... I spent that much on stuff at the thrift store to make the cover I'm working on.  Oh well. :shrug:  Labor... of... love.  Damn it.  ;o)

That being said, I'm not sure if I'd recommend this vocation to anyone.  Of course, if you're inclined to be a writer, you won't need recommendations and cautionary tales won't stop your drive to write.  If you're inclined to be a PUBLISHED writer, you'll make it happen, no matter the hurdles.  You do you.  

I do me - all the time.  

Marketing Monday - UNEQUAL

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

Sunday Update - 2025 Week 13

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?

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 3/29/25

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?

It's on the List, Man

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.)

2025 Books Read

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...

8) A Murder in Cursive by Lisa Pevey (4/3/25) - cozy mystery*

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.

Thursday This n That

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!