Sunday Update - 2026 Week 38

 Okay, so I was sleeping really good this morning when I went to roll over and pulled a muscle in my back.  Talk about going from snoozing to wide awake in .001 seconds.  That'll get ya up if nothing else does, but I don't recommend it.

Anyway, this week...

I wrote on 4 of the 7 nights for a total of 5863 words.  Unfortunately, I had to snip out 1558 of those words because they were in the wrong place.  I set them aside to be worked into a place closer to the end, so it's not a total loss.  The book is at 58840 words total.  I think I worked out a crinkle in the ultimate solution to who did what and why, and how to save the day, but it will involve weaving in some stuff earlier on.  Eh, that's what edits are for.  I'm not sure if this book will be awesome or not, but I'm enjoying the creation of it, so yay.

Marketing...  Ugh.  I did move more books than usual, but that was still only 28 books.  No sales at all yet this month and it's the freakin' 20th.  Blerg.

So, baking... I did a batch of Outrageous Chocolate Chip Cookies and a pizza - both on the same day.  That'll make you remember your arm muscles, lemme tell ya.  I also made a vat of chicken noodle soup.  Yeah, it's hotter than blue-billy blazes and I made soup.  Wanna make somethin' of it?

On the activity front, there was the usual watering the plants thing - picture me lugging gallon jugs back and forth between the greenhouse and the garage sink.  I also went for a couple walks.  AND I did some sweeping.  Then I scrubbed the front porch.  (Is it any wonder my back muscle went sproing this morning?)  Going from sedentary to active should be a slow process, I guess LOL. Weight: 180.4

The greenhouse is doing it's thing.  I lost the grape tomato and, as of yesterday, the early girl tomato was looking like it's on its last legs.  The original beefsteak is getting roached by the heat, but the offshoot beefsteak appears to be doing fine. (The offshoot is in a pot that has a water basin attached, so it was bound to do better in this heat.) This may not be a good tomato harvest year for me.  Derp.  The peppers are all doing well.  In fact, I think I might've seen buds on one of the pepper plants. Time will tell on that.  The trees are all doing fine.  The potatoes are toast and so are most of the carrots.  Better luck next year, I guess.  I'm still watching gardening videos.  They aren't helping right now, but I'm looking toward the future.

The fawns are almost totally spotless now.  A few of them have a few spots left on their hindquarters, but otherwise, they're just brown.  The does are all turning gray for the fall.  

And I think that's it for me for the week.  Time to go veg out and let my squonky back muscle chill out so I can do things later.  Have a great day and an awesome week!

Thursday This n That

 I'm up early and I remembered to write a post. That's one for me. You can thank the cats, darling little turds that they are, for getting me up.

Ut oh.  It looks like Sawyer is stalking my desk chair.  He thinks it's his kitty bed and he's more than prepared to oust me from it whenever the mood strikes him.  His standard operating procedure is to jump onto the back of the chair and then pat at my shoulders until I move.  If I don't move quick enough, he slides down the back of the chair behind me and thunder-butts his way onto the chair.  I usually give up and switch to my back up chair.  Life's easier when you just let him have his way.  Spoiled brat cat.

I haven't weighed the brats in a while, but I'm pretty sure Finn finally caught up to Sawyer.  I like big cats and I cannot lie.

I'm pretty close to the end of Old Magic.  (Not final title.)  I just need to scrap the last 1300 words I wrote and re-do that scene, then write the ending and the denouement.  I'm not going to try to guess how many more words.  It'll be what it'll be.  Maybe when I finish the first draft of this, I'll finally edit DN3.

The fawns are losing their spots.  :sadface:

This heat has got to go.  It's the middle of September, for pitysakes.  I mean, this is getting a little ridiculous.

And I walked away from the computer and forgot I was writing this, so an hour has gone by.  Derp.  I'm like that all the time.

Which reminds me, I've been watching Steven Wright videos.  He slays me.  If you don't know who he is, go forth and find him.  Watch the videos of him.  If you don't laugh, you're probably not going to get me either.  :shrug:

I've also been finding videos made from old footage of people doing things in the old way - an 80-year-old guy in Kentucky making a chair, a group of dudes in Finland building a log home.  Those two were made in the 1970s and they're pretty awesome.  Sometimes the old ways are the best ways.

Okay, I know I thought of other things to put on this post this week, but I can't remember them now, so they'll have to wait or remain lost to the recesses of my addled brain.  Have a great week, wherever you are.  :hugs:

Marketing Monday - Wish in One Hand

 Well, it's Monday again, and I decided last night that I would keep pushing the free books in hopes that I would then sell books.  I mean, it's worked before, so don't fix what ain't broken, right?  To that end, this week, I'm putting Wish in One Hand out there again.  It's the book with the most sequels and all told, the whole series equals roughly 1500 pages, which works out to some nice moolah if read in KU.  It's also nice moolah if someone gets the first one free and then buys the other 3, so there ya are.  There is a method to my madness.

Anyway...

Starting today, WISH IN ONE HAND is free. (Always free with Kindle Unlimited.) Get a copy of this fun and snarky, paranormal mystery now! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B013RVEF0Y

Here's hoping I move some books this week.

Sunday Update - 2026 Week 37

Okay, I think last week was Week 37, but it's hard to tell.  Don't ask.  Anyway, here's how the week, whatever number it was, went for me.

I wrote some stuff.  Actually, I added 4656 words to my WIP, bringing the total to 54535.  Yep, that's right, I crossed the 50K barrier.  Go, me.  Yay.  I'm this > < close to the end.  Of course, then comes the editing, which I dread, but there ya are.  I still don't know the ultimate answer to the main question, so gah.

I did some marketing.  It didn't go very well.  And then Friday, I decided not to market at all because it just felt wrong.  I did move 18 copies of Fertile Ground, which sucks but is still better than previous weeks' numbers.  This week?  Well, I don't know.  I've given away 30 books this month and don't have a single cent sold to balance that in any way.  :sad trombone noise:  

Baking was done.  I made a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies and then two loaves of chocolate banana bread.  My ever-widening ass doesn't need the carbs, but there ya are.

Speaking of EWA, my activity level sucked this week.  I watered the greenhouse like 3 times, went grocery shopping, and vacuumed.  I haven't stepped on the scale because the baked goods ingested more than made up for the exercise accomplished.  I'm hoping to get more active as the weather cools, but you know what they say... hope in one hand and shit in the other, and see which one gets full faster.  (Okay, I paraphrased that, but you get what I'm saying.)

In greenhouse news, my two little potato plants died.  One day they were fine and growing along, and two days later when I watered again, they were gone.  Not just dead, but so dead, I had a tough time finding their little corpses laying on the dirt.  No clue what happened there.  The tomatoes and peppers are okay, but still not throwing blooms or fruit.  In happier news, the cedars have added to their heights by a couple inches each, so yay.  All the other trees seem to be holding their own.  They'll go into the yard/woods as soon as it's cool enough to do yard work again.

I'm not sure why I'm still blogging.  Only one person really comments anymore.  (Waves at Silver.)  I mean, it's cool to have a record of events, because my memory is so bad it helps me to figure out what happened when, if I have to look back.  But my memory is so bad, I forget to post most days, and that doesn't help keep fans in the seats, so to speak.  Hell, most days, I forget to comment on other people's blogs, too.  It doesn't bode well for my social levels.

Anyway, I'm still here.  Feel free to comment.  Or if you just want to stop by and read without commenting, that's okay, too.  I'll still be here.  Until I'm not.  

Have a great day wherever you are.  :hugs:

Never Forget

At the end of June 2001, I moved with my daughter from Michigan to Florida.  I had a tough time finding work, but in early September, I'd finally gotten to where I was in the process of landing a job.  In fact, all I needed was for my blood test to come back clean.  I went, they drew blood (poorly because they popped a vein), and I waited.  Meanwhile, life went on.

On the morning of September 11th, I got Owl ready for school and saw her off on the bus.  Later, I hopped in the car and drove down to the Walmart, which was on the south side of Tallahassee.  It was about a 20-30 minute drive from my apartment on the north side.  I listened to my CDs for the most part, but every once in a while, I'd turn on the radio to see if they were playing anything good.  During one of those times, I heard a news report about a plane crashing into the WTC, but other than 'oh, that's too bad' and 'how stupid', I didn't think much of it.  In fact, I assumed it was no worse than the other time a plane crashed into the WTC - small plane, not much damage, etc.  I returned to listening to CDs.

At the Walmart, I proceeded to do my grocery shopping.  I did see people clustered around the TVs, but I wasn't paying attention to what they were watching.  I was on a mission to buy food.  I did that and got back into the car for the drive home.  No radio that time, so I was totally unprepared for what awaited me when I walked into my apartment.

During that particular time, I was living with someone.  I walked into the apartment, fully expecting him to help unload the groceries.  He didn't.  He was standing in the living room, glued to the TV.  No matter.  I didn't actually need help.  I got all the groceries into the house and then went to see what was going on.  My first view of what was on the TV was approximately 9:03 a.m.  

I know this only because I just looked up the timeline on that day.  At 9:03, the second plane hit the towers and that was what I saw in real time when I looked at the TV.

I don't remember much after that.  Not the specifics anyway.  I remember being worried because we lived not awfully far from the President's brother and that was a possible target.  I remember picking up Owl from school.  I remember crying.  A lot.  I remember being pissed and appalled that such a thing could and did happen.

In the days after, I started a campaign of writing letters to the editors of major newspapers all over the country.  I scoured the internet to find the email addys and then sent dozens of letters.  Several of them got published.  I was trying in my quixotic way to make people see that this could never happen again.  Never forget, everyone was saying, so yeah, I was trying to help with that.  

Slowly, life began returning to what we were coming to call 'the new normal'.  I passed my drug test and started my new job.  Owl went back to school.  Life hadn't really changed that much.  Not yet.

The changes would come later.  Little things.  I had to fly up to Baltimore and got to experience the new security measures first hand.  That sucked, but I figured it was the price we paid to be safe.  I also assumed that once everything died down, those measures would go away.  Yeah, I was that naïve.  Freedoms, once lost, are rarely regained.  

I was also naïve enough to believe that we, as a nation, would never forget.  I mean, enough people were saying NEVER FORGET, so it wasn't hard to believe.  Then the years went by and people forgot.  Oh, every September 11th, people would still thump their chests and tear their hair and cry NEVER FORGET, but they were no longer remembering the whats and the whys of 9/11.  The only thing they never forgot was to make a big scene about their sadness on the day.  

I remember.  Hell, I have brain damage, and I fucking remember.  This date... 'Patriot Day', she mutters with more than a little sarcasm... the anniversary of the day muslims hijacked our planes and flew them into the WTC and the Pentagon.  The day those brave people stopped the muslims from taking out a fourth target and instead took the plane into a field in PA.  

Even back in 2001, I heard mutterings from the slime that somehow we deserved it.  I was pissed then.  Since then, I've heard more and more often.  2977 people were murdered by muslims.  The religion of peace where the killings just keep right on happening.  They haven't changed their tune.  We've changed ours.  We've forgotten.

That there's a muslim mayor of the very city that was attacked on 9/11 is proof enough that they've forgotten.  It's disgusting that he was even in the running, let alone won.  

Day by day, inch by inch, we're being taken over.  They attacked us 25 years ago.  They're still attacking us today.  This time, it's not as obvious as planes being flown into buildings, but it's an attack just the same.  Either way, the goal is to eradicate us and our way of life.  

THIS is what we, as a nation, should never forget.  Sure, remember the events of that day and the people whose lives were tragically cut short, but the main thrust of your memories of that day should be that their goal is to eradicate us.  They want to wipe the world's slate clean of everything that isn't devoted to islam.  Don't let them do it.

NEVER FORGET.

Monday Marketing - Fertile Ground

It's Monday and I'm marketing.  Not sure if this is doing too much good right now, but it's got to be better than nothing, right?  

Anyway...

Well, crud.  Blogger doesn't seem to be letting me embed photos this morning, so no graphic.  This morning is shaping up to be a hoot.  First, I got up late, and now this.  

Anyway part 2...

Starting today, FERTILE GROUND is free.  (Always free with Kindle Unlimited.)  Grab a copy of this gritty suspense now.  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FOPNE9Y

And now I'm going to crawl off into a hole.

Sunday Update - 2026 Week Meh

It's Sunday.  There was a week.  It had a number.  I'm too apathetic this morning to go see what # it was.  Despite my general malaise this morning, the week was actually pretty okay.

I did a pretty good job of writing this week.  6334 words and I wrote on 5 out of the 7 days, so woot.  I ended the week at 49879.  Yeah, I know... so close to 50K, but it didn't happen and I'm not kicking myself for it.  I'm still fighting with myself mentally about whether this book is crap.  Eh, if it's crap, it's crap.  I'm enjoying writing it, so there.  =op

Marketing went.  I moved 12 whole copies of UNEQUAL.  :toots tiny horn:  This week, we'll see if I can double that number with whatever book I choose between now and tomorrow morning.

I started reading a book this week.  Twice Shy by Dick Francis.  It's not really grabbing me yet, so we'll see. 

Due to the heat, I only baked once this week and that was a pizza.  Hell, even general cooking is at a low point.  Last night, we had fish (pan fried tilapia that took like 5 minutes) and salad.  Tonight will probably be pork and salad.  Because I am slightly deranged, I might make Irish Soda Bread this morning, while it's still cool enough.

In activity news, I was not very active.  It was all 'water plants', except for going grocery shopping and one little wander around the yard - which I had to truncate because it was too damn hot to be out there for too long.  (I'm VERY ready for summer to be over.)  Weight: 180.6 - one would think I'd be dripping the pounds right the hell off in this heat, but I'm not.  

Speaking of plants, the greenhouse is doing okay.  The peppers are going well.  The tomatoes are okay, I guess.  The two I repotted are struggling - especially the grape tomato - but the two beefsteaks are green, and one of those was a transplant off the other one.  I have hopes they'll fruit if it ever gets cooler.

Ugh, I just looked at the temps for today/this week.  It's supposed to get to 102F here today and still be up in the 100s through Wednesday.  This is NOT what I ordered for early September.  Meh.

And on that note, I have to go water the greenhouse while it's still in the 70s.  Not sure what else I'll do today.  Hide from the heat and try not to move around too much.  (Yes, we have central air.  It's set at 75 and I still get too hot.  Damn menopause.)

Have a great day wherever you are.  Stay cool.  Peace out.