Sunday Update - 2026 Week 32

 It's Sunday again.  How does this keep happening?  Yeah, yeah, time... social constructs... the inevitable march toward death... Wait, what?  Never mind.  It's time again to wrap-up the week, so here goes:

Writing went pretty well, but not great.  I got 4271 words out during 4 writing sessions.  Old Magic is now at 33078 words and 101 pages.  That title is subject to change.  I thought Hex After 50 sounded awesome, but then I googled it and saw that someone else has a whole series with a similar series title, so nope.  Hex in the Ozarks?  :shrug:  I'm not even sure if I want it set in the Ozarks.  Eh, it's neither here nor there.  Right now, Old Magic works as a title/filename.  I hate not having a title of some sort - hence my irritation with DN3 that still has no working title*.

Marketing occurred.  UNEQUAL moved.  Only 15 copies, but better than nothing.  And someone is reading UEQ in KU, so I've got that going for me.  This coming week, Up Wish Creek will be free.  After that, Song of Storm and Shroud will be free.  Then my KDP 90 days resets and I can start all over again.

No baking for me this week.  Hubs made a batch of my chocolate chip cookies on his very own, which is good.  The man wants to learn to bake, I'm not going to harsh his groove.  Otherwise, it's been too damn hot to bake.

On the activity front, last Sunday, we washed the windows out on the sun porch.  Just the insides and the storms, but it took the two of us an hour to do that.  It looks so much better.  I convinced Hubs he didn't need to climb the ladder to do the outsides.  Maybe when the temps drop sometime this fall, we'll revisit the outsides.  I also did a little other cleaning and the groceries.  Otherwise, it was a lot of greenhouse stuff, every other day.  Weight: 180.4

The garden is doing well in the greenhouse.  The beefsteak tomato is taking over, and has been named Audrey II.  As I told someone recently, Audrey II is encroaching on the peppers, but the peppers are mounting a counter offensive.  I planted carrot seeds and they're starting to come up.  One of the seed potatoes I planted is coming up, too.  If all goes well, I might still have a good harvest, but fall instead of summer.  Yesterday, we ate the fingerling potatoes I harvested last week.  I sliced them thin-ish and sautéed them in butter with a little black pepper, and we ate them with pork chops.  Yummers.  Next spring, I plan on trying to grow strawberries in the greenhouse.  And maybe a blueberry bush.  We'll see.

In deer news, most of the deer are doing well.  The fawns are getting big and they all look healthy.  We saw Sonny this week.  Yay.  We were pretty sure he didn't live through the last deer season, but there he was in the yard, looking awesome.  On the other hand, his mom, Lumpy looks like shit.  I'm pretty sure she isn't long for the world.  Her foster baby isn't with her anymore - although that could mean it's back with its own mom or transferred to another foster mom.  Lumpy is mostly just laying around in various spots, and when she has to move, it's the deer version of shuffling down the nursing home hallway.  It's sad to watch, but there's nothing we can do for her.  We figure she's probably about 9 years old, which is pretty old for a wild deer.  Still, it's tough to watch.  

On a happier note, the twin little foxes are doing well.  I need to come up with a name for them - Frick and Frack maybe.  Rusty and Dusty?  :shrug:  I'll think of something.

Other than that, not much is going on around here.  Life, the universe, and nothing (to riff off Douglas Adams).  How are things in your world?

*Maybe that's why I can't seem to get excited about editing that sucker.  It doesn't feel like a real book if it doesn't have a title. Derp.

Friday This n That

 Maybe I should just give up trying to remember to post on Thursdays.

I wrote 31545 words between 7/7 and 8/6.  Not exactly NaNo amounts, but hey, whatever gets words on the page, eh?  (It would've been more, but last night's storm put the kibosh on writing.)

I don't write during thunderstorms.  The idea of a power outage while I'm in the groove makes me nauseous.  It's not like I don't have autosave on, but it only saves every 5 minutes and when I'm in the groove and the fingers are flying fast, that could be a page or more worth of writing gone in a flash.  I'd rather not chance it.

Somewhere this morning, I saw where walking in the woods improves your immune system.  Between that and the benefits of drinking coffee, I should probably be immortal.

Yesterday, Sonny was in the yard.  We honestly thought he'd been taken during last year's deer season, so we were extremely happy to see him.  How do we know it was him?  Well, we don't with 100% accuracy, but between his tameness and his total level of comfort in our yard (not easily spooked and knew where everything was - went right to the food and water), we're like 95% sure it was him, which is good enough for us.  He looks awesome, by the way.  Go, Sonny!  

My beefsteak tomato plant has taken over the NW quadrant of the greenhouse and is starting to encroach on the peppers I have growing in the center.  I keep trying to tame it back into the spot it's claimed as its own, but I think I'll have to move the peppers.  I think I need to name it Audrey II.  (Bonus points if you got that reference.)

The fox twins are hanging out around here regularly.  They're so damn cute I just want to snuggle them both up.  Too bad they're wild critters and would probably run away before I could get my arms around them.  (Which is a good thing, I guess, because if I could get my arms around them, they'd probably bite and scratch the hell out of me.)

I keep seeing this old chick hanging out in my mirror.  I really do wish she'd find somewhere else to go.  

Good news from this week's election.  The chick who is our county prosecutor lost her primary and since she usually runs unopposed - both in August and in November - this is a good thing.  (I actually whooped when I read of her loss and scared the cats.)  I don't know how well the guy who beat her will do, but she's been so ineffectual, he'd have to work really hard to NOT improve on her work.  (I don't know if he's running unopposed for November, but around here, the R's take the race, so even if there is a D on the ballot, he'll win.)  

And on that note, I really should get back to work.  Marketing, doncha know.  Have a great day wherever you are, and stop back by on Sunday to get the weekly update.  Peace out.

Marketing Monday - UNEQUAL

 It's Monday, which means Marketing.  Facebook is a turd, which means it's not letting me market from my personal page today.  C'est la vie.  It's still letting me market from my business page, so nerts to them.  The pain about that is that my business page has less reach than my personal page.  Damned if you do, damned if you don't, eh?

Anyway, here's the deal...

UNEQUAL - a fast-paced, dystopian novel - is free now through Friday. (Always free with Kindle Unlimited.) Pick up your copy today! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07LDVFWBS 

Sunday Update - Week 31

Sitting here right now, after waking up late, the past week is a blur.  Let's see if I can recreate it.

I only got out 4018 words last week.  That's three night's worth of writing.  Not great, but could've been worse.  I'll be working toward a better week this week.  On the upside, the writing I did get out is really fun.  I mean, it was fun to write, so it should be fun to read, right?  

Marketing happened.  I still only moved 10 copies of Sleeping Ugly.  FB being up to its usual tricks hampered some of it.  I think FB is also shadow-banning me.  Not much I can do about that.  I'm not in a position right now to pay for ads, so I guess I get what I get and I'd better like it.  Last month's sales totals were 4.73 books for like $9.43.  I'm rich, I'm rich, I'm a wealthy miser.  Umm, yah.

In baking news, I made Outrageous Chocolate Chip Cookies again.  Other than that, it was way too hot to turn on the oven.  

On the activity front, I mostly did stuff in the greenhouse - watering, moving plants around, repotting stuff.  I also did a bit of cleaning.  I weighed myself at one point and it wasn't good, so I didn't jot down of the exact number.  Weight: around 180.

Speaking of greenhouse activity, I harvested my oldest pot of carrots.  And :drumroll: there were no viable carrots in there.  Loads of greenery, but maybe a half dozen piddlin' things that wouldn't even qualify as baby carrots.  I tossed the lot of them into the yard.  Then I took an empty pot and planted a new batch of carrot seeds for fall harvest.  We'll see.  I repotted a couple of peppers, so they have more room to grow.  I also added more dirt to a few of the pots that looked like they needed it.  I'm watering every two days and everything seems to be fine.  I have flowers on a couple of my tomato plants, so yay.  Also, the beefsteak looked like it was growing roots on one of its branches, so I snipped that off and poked it into its own dirt.  Fingers crossed there.  Oh, one more thing, I harvested some more potatoes.  I got about 6-8 potatoes big enough to eat... fingerlings, so they're small anyway... and a few potatoes I can replant.

This week, we saw a mama raccoon and her 4 babies.  Yay.  The deer are doing fine, the fawns are growing like weeds.  Lumpy, on the other hand, is not doing well - which sucks, but there's nothing we can do about it.  She's an old deer.  I just hope her foster fawn does well without her.  Then again, we've done a death watch on Lumpy before and she's pulled through.  Time will tell.

Today, we're talking about cleaning windows.  yippee.  I know it needs to be done, I'm just not motivated at the moment.  I need more coffee to jumpstart my gumption.  

Okay, I should probably toddle off.  Have a great day and an awesome week.  

Friday This n That

 What the hell is wrong with me?  I totally didn't even think yesterday was Thursday, so I then totally didn't do a damn post.  This is becoming a regular thing with me.  Derp.

I saw a neat news story about a kid in Montana who lassoed a guy drowning in a river and pulled him to safety.  Awesome.  I like news about good kids.  It kinda makes all the bad stuff a bit better, ya know?

Speaking of good stuff, yesterday evening, we had four baby raccoons and their mama in the yard.  They were all just sorta hanging out together near the deer feed and munching on leftover protein pellets.  Then mom left.  A few minutes later, the four babies trundled after her in a line, following her scent trail like she'd drawn a line behind her.  She walked through the two water pans, so they walked through the water pans.  I mean, she was already out of sight when they went after her, so it had to be a scent trail, right?  They were so cute.  And yes, I know raccoons can be destructive little bastards, but we haven't had a problem with raccoons being destructive.  Ours are just cute.  :knock on wood:  And no, I didn't have my trail cam out.  I keep forgetting to put it up.

Growing old sucks.

I have been a total toad lately, especially about being active.  Thus, everything hurts.  I know it's anti-intuitive, but it's true.  The less active I am, the more I end up hurting.  Now that the temps are finally beginning to be not-gross, I'll get back outside and do some active things.  Maybe I'll take a walk today.

Speaking of toads, we had one in the garage.  Hubs saw it about a week ago, but he couldn't catch it.  I saw it yesterday and tried to catch it myself.  It was probably quite a sight to see this old lady bent over trying to catch a toad.  Anyway, it hopped under the Jeep, so I got the fishing net.  I'm happy to say the toad is now outside and no one got injured in the process.  (Okay, the toad peed on my hand.  That's what toads do.)

Yesterday, my Roku kind of freaked out and disappeared most of my saved programs, so there I was trying to figure out what was missing, which ain't easy for a memory like mine.  Later in the day, it showed that stuff again, so yay.  Except now it's trying to put all my programs back at the beginning.  It better fix that crap, because I have no idea what seasons/episodes I'm at in those programs, damn it.  I mean, MasterChef UK has a ton of seasons and each season has a ton of episodes, so it'll be a bitch to locate the exact one we last saw so we can watch the next one.  I think we're on season 4 or is it 6, and episode twenty-something... Argh.

I cut my nails yesterday and now I can't type.  Derp.

Okay, I probably should go do something constructive.  Have a great day, and drop some comments if you're of a mind to.  Peace out.

Marketing Monday - Sleeping Ugly

I wrote last night so, of course, I overslept.  It's a fine wire to walk, but I'll sacrifice on the side of marketing if I have to.  In the same vein as the book I'm writing - paranormal mystery - comes today's offering - Sleeping Ugly.  Now, this one is a lot more 'not safe for work' than the one I'm currently writing, but it's fun to read and it was a helluva lot of fun to write.  Enjoy!

Starting today, SLEEPING UGLY - a snarky, paranormal mystery - is absolutely free. Get your copy now! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GM24Q48

Warning: this story of a supermodel struggling under an ugly curse is rampant with foul language and bad attitude, and it's oh, so much fun.

Sunday Update - 2026 Week :shrug:

 Hey all.  I just got back inside from tending to the greenhouse and now I'm sweaty, dirty, and tired.  I'll take a shower in a minute, don't rush me.  That pretty much sapped my motivation for the day.

Writing went pretty well this week.  7665 words during 5 days where I wrote.  Not great, but not bad.  Those two off days were necessary to my existence.  Anyway, OM is up to 23331 words as of last night.  I'm pleased with where I am and where it's going, so yay.

No marketing.  No sales.  Blerg.  Okay, fine, I'll so something markety this week.  Maybe.  We'll see.

I was baking this week.  So was Hubs.  I made pizza and a loaf of banana raisin bread.  Hubs made cake cookies.  Considering the impending furnace, I doubt I'll bake this week.  But hey, it was like 99F when I made the BR bread, so take that stupid heat.

Activity?  Well... it's hot.  Mostly, I tended the greenhouse by watering every other day.  I did some grocery shopping.  I vacuumed.  But I haven't weighed myself, so meh.  Again, it's hot and I am unmotivated.

As for gardening, like I said, I water everything every two days.  Today, I also harvest potatoes - mostly to get them out of my way.  I came up with about a half-dozen fingerlings, which is better than nothing.  And I replanted about 4 tiny potatoes that had started to grow roots themselves.  I'm hoping for a fall harvest.  The peppers are doing good.  A couple of the tomatoes are, against all odds and the heat, flowering.  Fingers crossed for those.  

Other than that, I mostly laid around in the AC.  Hell, the day I went grocery shopping was the coolest day and I still got it done early so I wouldn't broil.  Bake, yes; broil, no.  

The deer and the fawns are mostly doing well.  There's a dead doe about a quarter mile down the road.  I stopped the car and got out to see if I could recognize her.  I couldn't.  I know it's not Lumpy - she was here in the yard later that day.  It might be Lily.  Or it was that one skinny doe I saw last week.  I don't know if she was hit by a car or died because she was sick or the heat got to her.  Her body had already been fairly wrecked by the vultures, so no real clue.  Nature really is a bitch sometimes.

Anyway, I need to pour some more coffee down my gullet, have a smoke, and then take a shower.  Have a great day and stay cool*.  Peace out.

*That reminds me of when I was in middle school and everyone seemed to write 'stay cool' in everyone else's yearbooks.  Heh.