Thursday This n That

Yesterday, I heard about a recent 'news' program where a couple of idiots were arguing that egg prices are, in fact, still up.  Not sure what planet they live on, or where they're buying their eggs, but egg prices here are about half what they were just a couple months ago.  I went from paying over $5 a dozen to $2-something last week.  I call that winning.  Now, if we can just get meat prices down, my budget will be happy.

Scammers suck.  A guy in one of my FB groups was contacted and offered the chance to write two articles for publication.  He wrote them, they paid him, he deposited the check.  Shortly after, they said they wanted half their money back for some hyped up reason.  Then the check bounced.  Thankfully, he hadn't spent any of it.  Writer Beware posted about another one where authors are getting contacted via email telling them that their book is being considered for a movie.  I've gotten a couple of these already (for Unequal), but mere minutes after I read the article, I got another one (Project Hermes).  A movie?!  My lil ol' book?  Yeah, pull the other leg, it's shorter.

I think I found the way around FB and their stupid 'anti-spammer' rules.  Post to one group every ten-fifteen minutes.  It's a PITA, but if it works, then I'll do it.  I find this whole thing particularly funny in that this morning alone I saw a couple people actually spamming these book marketing groups, but I'm the one that gets tagged.  Derp.  Those people are probably paying FB for the privilege... a thing I refuse to do.  

Have you ever seen the movie CAVEMAN?  It's from the '80s and it stars Ringo Starr.  (Yes, THAT Ringo Starr.)  It also has a really young Dennis Quaid and Shelley Long.  I remember my sister taking me to the movies to see that.  Well, I found it on Roku and watched it yesterday.  It's silly and stupid and a little crass.  But it was AWESOME!  

My tiny tomato is a little less tiny, but it's still the only tomato.  

I saw a news story yesterday about all these kids in TX setting up lemonade stands and using the proceeds to help flood victims.  

And that's enough out of me.  What's on your this n that list today?

Celebrating the Little Things

I'm so excited.  I have one tiny tomato.  It's about the size of a Jelly Belly, but it's there.  Most of the other plants have buds, so maybe the one tiny tomato will have friends soon.

Last night, while I was out back smoking, I saw a ton of fireflies.  I love fireflies and would much rather watch those than fireworks.  Anyway... one in particular was stationary.  It just sat in a cedar tree occasionally lighting up.  For some reason, seeing it made me happy.  

I spelled stationary right.

Sunday, I made a layer cake from scratch.  It's pretty dense, but it's super moist and yummy, so yay.

Someone bought a copy of FERTILE GROUND yesterday.

I lost a pound.

My WIP is up to 15488 words.

Several of my redbud trees are thriving.  They're about 6-8 inches tall and getting new leaves.

We watched a Sherlock Holmes movie from 1942 that we'd never seen before.  It was pretty good.  (Naturally. Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce are almost a guaranteed good watch.)

Those are my little things right now.  Sometimes I have to look for them, sometimes they pop right up, but they're always there.  What little things do you have to celebrate today?

Marketing Monday - Dying Embers

 The time has rolled around again to whip out the first book and set it free... or rather set it FOR free.  

(Hey! Inserting a pic works this morning!  Yay!)

Now through Friday, get DYING EMBERS absolutely free.  (Always free with Kindle Unlimited.)  Get your copy of this gripping suspense novel today!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TEQK7OU

Revenge is better hot.

Sunday Update - '25 Week 28

 :blink blink:  I just woke up and the coffee hasn't kicked in yet, so bear with me.

I did some writing.  Not nearly as much as I would've hoped, but life's like that sometimes.  I only wrote three days, but I managed to put out 4054 words.  The book is up to 14648 words.  Not NaNo #s, but better than nothing, right?

This week, I marketed Sleeping Ugly.  FB is still hamstringing me, so I get like 3-5 posts up and it tells me they're not letting me post anymore for a while to prevent spamming.  Turds.  I'm following all the rules of the groups I belong to - like only posting one book and only once every 24 hours - but I'm the spammer.  Gah.  So, while I got posts out, they weren't all the groups every day, which meant I only moved 57 books instead of my former amounts of 120-150 a week.  I did manage to sell a couple others, too, so not a total waste of time.  It's just disappointing.

Reading was okay.  I finished one freestanding book and then one of the books in that Poirot omnibus.  :shrug:

Nothing baked.  It's too hot and I'm unmotivated.

On the activity front, I got off my butt 4 days this week.  Two walks, some gardening, and some housework.  I haven't weighed myself.  Again... too hot to be motivated.

In gardening news, the tomatoes all either have flowers or buds for future flowers.  Last night we got heavy rain and when I looked out this morning, most of the plants look depressed.  I'll need to go out today and shore them up with extra slats and yarn.  I hope none of them are actually broken.  That'd suck.  The trees all look fine.  I did manage to repot some of them.  I need more dirt and more bigger pots to really do a good job.  What the bigger trees really need is to go in the ground, but I'm trying to wait until fall to give them a good shot of living through the deer.  After Elmer the Elm's horrific death, I'm hoping young trees without leaves will get ignored and by spring they'll just be part of the landscape and therefore uninteresting.

Ah, Roku... how I love thee.  Yes, I have spent way too much time this week vegging in front of the tube.  I'm watching Midsomer Murders, Murdoch Mysteries, Doc Martin, Yorkshire Vet, Great British Baking Show, and Hometown from the beginnings.  Not binging, just watching an episode each like once a day or once/twice a week.  There are a lot of episodes of all those, so yay.  I'm also watching Emergency!, Red Green, Dr. G, Mayday: Air Disasters, Forensic Files, and MST3K when I feel like it. When we get done, or we get bored, I'll subscribe to BritBox.  I'm looking forward to watching all the episodes of Inspector Morse and Poirot (naturally, Poirot... lol).  

Okay, I think that's about it for me this week.  How are things in your world?

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 7/12/25

 Not the best reading week I've ever had, but not the worst either, so let's get right to it.

No new books.  I still have 6 unread ebooks - three urban fantasy, two thrillers, and a YA action/adventure.  And of course, I have scads of unread hardcopies in case of emergency. ;o)

Books Read: 

27) Space Academy Dropouts by Phipps & Suttkus (7/6/25) - SF humor*# - 5 stars. New to me and underappreciated at the time of download.  Free off the Book Barbarian newsletter.
Review: "This is a pretty neat story, with loads of fun characters. I really enjoyed reading it."

No DNFs.

Currently reading... the next story in that Poirot omnibus.  I'm on The ABC Murders.  I'll probably finish it today and then read another ebook.  The omnibus has two more stories after this.  Unfortunately, I didn't notice when I bought it that Death on the Nile has damage to the last third or so of the story - like the top quarter of all the pages was ripped out.  I won't be able to read that.  Good thing I've already read that story in other formats, and I've seen the movies.  Still, damaged books make me sad.  =o(

Okay, your turn.  What's been on your reading plate this week?

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...

27) Space Academy Dropouts by Phipps & Suttkus (7/6/25) - SF humor*#

26) Sweet Harmony by Noel Bailey (6/25/25) - magical romance*#

25) The Danger by Dick Francis (6/15/25) - thriller

0) Novella by Name Withheld (6/9/25) - SF*

24) The Face in the Water by Kathleen Pennell (6/8/25) - mystery*#

23) Blade Runner (or Do Androids Dream Electric Sheep) by Philip K Dick (6/5/25) - dystopian

22) You Only Live Twice by Ian Fleming (5/29/25) - action/hard-boiled crime

21) On Her Majesty's Secret Service by Ian Fleming (5/24/25) - action/hard-boiled crime

20) The Singing Stones by Phyllis A. Whitney (5/17/25) - romantic suspense

19) Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie (5/15/25) - mystery

18) Bill and the Last Cup of Coffee by Lance Lassen (5/8/25) - dystopian action/humor* (I read the ebook, but this is the link to the paperback. In the time between now and when I downloaded the book, the ebook page has been removed and the paperback was set to 'out of print'. :sadface:)

17) Goldfinger by Ian Fleming (5/5/25) - action/hard boiled crime

16) In Plain Sight by Dan Willis (4/27/25) - magical hard-boiled crime*

15) Dr. No by Ian Fleming (4/26/25) - action/hard boiled crime

14) Scarlet by Marissa Meyer (4/20/25) - dystopian

13) Diamonds are Forever by Ian Fleming (4/16/25) - action/hard boiled crime

12) Islands in the Sky by Arthur C. Clarke (4/11/25) -  science fiction

11) Murder by the Script by Lisa Pevey (4/8/25) - cozy mystery*

10) Festive Fonts and Fowl Murder by Lisa Pevey (4/7/25) - cozy mystery*

9) The Modigliani Scandal by Ken Follett (4/6/25) - suspense

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.

A Cautionary Tale

Saw this just now in one of my author groups.  It's a cautionary tale...

If you use Find and Replace, do not do Replace All.  I did it once years ago to change a character's name.  I think it was Tom and I changed it to something like Bob, so tomorrow became boborrow and tomato became bobato.  Cusbobers? Botbob? Ugh.  It was frustrating and irritating, and kind of hilarious in retrospect.  

Last week, I saw a similar story - only this time it was a reader saying the book they were reading had all sorts of weird errors and after thinking about it for a time, they realized that the author had Replaced all instances of 'ass' with 'arse' (probably to make it more British sounding).  Working on an arseignment?  Going to an arseignation?  Went fishing and caught a big barse?

In the above case, though, I'm not sure what 'too late' would be for a book. Post publication and after a slew of bad reviews perhaps?  Ugh.

If you're silly enough to make this mistake, the fix isn't that hard.  Once you realize you've replaced all your Toms with Bobs, do another Find and Replace, finding Bob this time and going through each separate instance... OR just replace all Bobs with Toms again, and THEN do another search for Tom replacing it with what you meant to replace it with in the first place - each instance separately.  Which is what you should've done the first time, but you got lazy and paid the price.

Sometimes, doing the work the right way, no matter what kind of boring slog it is, actually saves time in the long run.

If you've done it and didn't do that final run-through before you loaded it for publication, only to have people read it and leave bad reviews, you're kinda screwed.  Always check, recheck, and double-check before you hit Publish.  

Thursday This n That

Ding dong the witch is dead... to me, at least.  Yesterday, I had the great honor of killing my account with Brightspeed.  Gah, they suck so bad.  Even the last phone contact with them sucked.  The first person I talked to 'Shannon', who was barely understandable as it was, hung up on me accidentally.  I called back and got 'Sergio'.  He was actually harder to understand, but he got the job done and confirmed my account was cancelled effective 7/9.  Then I asked about the 'final bill' and he said it was like $58+, and I was all like 'whoa whoa whoa, wait a second there'.  I explained how we haven't had phone service for WEEKS and that any bill they sent wasn't going to get paid - very nicely, of course - then I said 'please make that go away for me, Sergio' and he did.  $0 bill and the service is dead.  Long live 1-VoiP.  Of course, I don't trust Brightspeed, so I fully expect to see a bill that they will want me to pay, but I have Sergio's confirmation number and a willingness to call and go all screamin' chicken on them.

By the way, it's really nice to pick up the phone and hear a freakin' dial tone for a change.

I also killed DirectTV.  That dude was also hard to understand, but only because he had his mic too close to his mouth and he was speaking too fast.  He tried really hard to get me to stay.  He offered me a discount.  He offered me a giftcard, too.  I finally ended up telling him he couldn't give me any offer that would be less than FREE.  $0 bill there, too, but no refund (per their Terms of Service according to the dude).  I just still have service through the 18th.  (I already took all the stuff down and put it in the spare room, so nah.)  And since my equipment was so old, they didn't want it back.  Yay.

This new Blogger thing where they want to insert links into my blog posts because their AI told them I should is really irritating.  It keeps flashing a dialogue box at me that I have to dismiss.  If I want links in my posts, I'll put them there tyvm.

I found a new-to-me show on Roku - Yorkshire Vet.  It combines two of my loves - Dr. Pol and All Creatures Great and Small.  And I have access to all the episodes, so I can just sit down and watch one when I feel like it.  For free.  Woot!

The bird of the day is actually a two-fer... Rosy-faced Lovebirds.  I'm not a fan of parrots, per se, but these are okay.  Little cuties.  Aww.

It looks like Lumpy lost her fawn.  We hadn't seen it in a while, and a couple of days ago, I noticed that her milk bag is gone.  It wasn't too unexpected.  Lumpy's getting pretty old and that baby was really small - like premie looking.  Still a sad thing.  On a happier note, we have Sissy and her baby (which would be Lumpy's grandbaby) both doing well and we have another doe with twins who's been visiting.

One of my tomato plants has two flowers blooming! I helped the pollination of them along, so fingers crossed.  Most of the other tomato plants have buds, so they should be blooming soon.  Then we'll get some real pollination action going on.  Woot.

Okay, that's probably more than enough out of me.  Have a great day!

A Morning Rant

When I got close to finishing the first draft of my first novel, I began doing research on everything I would need to do to get it published.  I bought the big book of agents.  I made lists and notes and spreadsheets.  I studied how to write query letters.  I scoured the web for information.  I joined a couple of writers' groups online.  

I did the same thing when I decided to stop looking for an agent.  I went through the process of researching publishers who might accept unagented manuscripts and how to contact them.  When that didn't work, I went through the process of researching everything on how to self-publish... before I made a single step down the path.  

This morning, I saw a gal bitching because she self-published through Amazon in May and made some sales, but it's already July and she hadn't seen any money yet.  A boatload of people told her what is already obvious to anyone who's done like 2 seconds of research - Amazon pays at 60 days from the end of the month that your sales occurred in.  So, May sales get paid at the END of July. 

Even then, she questioned the truth of the answers those people gave her.  She was sure Amazon was out to screw her.  :eyeroll:  And some dude in comments egged her on because Amazon supposedly closed his account within 30 days of him publishing his book, but they didn't take it down and they're collecting all his monies.  Obviously, Amazon is ebil.  

Okay, so Amazon isn't perfect.  Generally, though, if you do your research and you follow the rules, it's easy to navigate the river.  I'm guessing dude didn't follow the rules.  

I often see people complaining about things that are so easy to figure out with a little effort.  But effort is a four-letter word for some people, even when it's little and not really effort.  Here... I'll help... Go to your freakin' search engine, type in what you're looking for, scroll through the answers it spits out.  Voila.  And it helps to not just read the first answer.  Read several until you find the right answer and understand it thoroughly.  

Okay, so that is effort for some people, I guess.  Researching shit ought to be fun because like, you know, we're WRITERS.  :shrug:  But no, they'd rather bitch in a Facebook group.  It probably took more time for the bitching than they would've expended on the research, but hey...

Anyway, long story short... I blocked the chick.  And the dude.  I don't need that kind of negativity and willful ignorance in my life.  The moral of the story?  Don't run around social media screaming at people to chew your food for you and then whine when you choke.

Starlink, VoiP, and Roku... WOOT

Monday, I posted this on Facebook, but it's worth repeating here: "My Roku arrived and it's all hooked up.  This may have been the worst idea I ever had.  It has Red Green and Mystery Science Theater 3000 and all the Doc Martin episodes I never got to see because I started watching late in the game.  :swoon:  Oh, man, this could be bad for my productivity."

Turns out it's only bad for my productivity if I let it be.  Last night, I told myself 'you're going to write today', so I left Hubs in the living room watching some show about people building homes in Alaska and sat my ass down.  I cranked out about a thousand words, had a cigarette, then sat down again.  I ended with 2098.  My hands are ouchy this morning, but it was worth it.

Anyway, I'm loving the Roku.  I spent part of yesterday watching The Great British Baking Show and it's spinoff Celebrity British Baking Show.  Then I watched Dr G. Medical Examiner and a little MST3K.  Later, like I said, Hubs found that Alaska show to enjoy while I wrote.  We decided to go slow on the Doc Martin episodes so we don't get burned out.  There are like 18 seasons of that (2004-2022), most of which we haven't seen.  We're reserving it for one night a week, probably Saturday or Sunday.

It hasn't slowed the internet down at all.  Say what you want about Elon Musk, at the start of the year, Starlink saved us from Brightspeed's slow, sometimes non-existent, internet, and now it's saving us from the BS crappy phone - thanks to 1-VoiP - and skyrocketing bills through DirectTV.  

I'm sure at some point we'll run through all the shows we know we like, but there are scads of shows we've never seen that we'll give a try to at that point.  

By the way, going back to Red Green and MST3K, I laughed myself silly watching both of those, but I'll have to do small doses of them, too.  Too much of a good thing causes burnout.  And my face hurts from smiling too much.  We should all have such horrors visited upon us.

So, anyway, if you're like me and dragging your feet to get some of this newer technology, give it a try.  If I can get good service out here in the middle of nowhere, you can probably do fine with it, too.  It does take a little startup scratch, but in the long run, you'll save money.  Our combined phone and internet bill was $147 a month with BS, double that with DTV - so around $300 A MONTH.  Now, $120 for Starlink, $24 for phone, and the Roku is free.  All that for less than our phone/internet alone.  So the initial outgo for $600 Starlink and the $34 for phone and the $57 for Roku will be recovered by the end of the year.  Woot.

(Private thanks to my sister for recommending Roku and my nephew for getting her onto it.  This shit rocks, man.)

Marketing Monday - Sleeping Ugly

Hello, and welcome to Marketing Monday with your host, B.E. Sanderson.  Today, we'll be marketing a most wonderfully snarky paranormal mystery... SLEEPING UGLY.

It's the story of a supermodel on the verge of greatness who, through no fault of her own*, gets cursed and every night at midnight, she turns butt ugly.  How can this possibly happen every night?  Well, that's the brilliance and the evilness of the curse.  She gets better looking throughout each day until she's her beautiful self again at around 11:59 p.m.  Then WHAM... ugly.  Which super sucks because she can't even pretend to be someone else or people will notice she's getting better looking throughout the day and throw her in some kind of laboratory as a study subject.  

*Well, maybe it's a little her fault.  She's kind of bitchy, foul-mouthed, and self-absorbed, and she did sleep with someone else's husband... But, he's estranged from his wife, so that totally doesn't count, right?

Anyway, now she's got to get this damn curse taken off and maybe along the way, she'll learn something about herself.  Even bitchy models can maybe get a second chance.  

Starting today and going through Friday, SLEEPING UGLY is totally free.  (It's also free with a KU subscription, but this is for everyone else.)  Pick up your copy of this snarky, fun, paranormal mystery today!  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GM24Q48

There's supposed to be a cool marketing graphic here, but Blogger is being a turd.  Just imagine one, okay?

Sunday Update - 2025 Week 27

 Okay, we're over halfway through 2025 and so far, I'm of the opinion that this is the best year we've had in a long long time.  Sure, things are still pretty shitty all over, but things are also looking up.  I'm feeling optimistic.  Which is weird for me.  Anyway, let's get into the past week...

I didn't write much, because I was distracted with other things.  Those distractions are over, so I'm feeling good about the week to come.  I did get over 2200 words down and I like where the story is going.  Yay.

I took the week off of marketing.  Guess what?  No sales.  Not a single one.  Not a single page read.  Crickets.  I need to figure out if I'm going to be marketing this week and what, or if I'm just going to let it slide again.  

I read some stuff, but I didn't finish anything.  

This week, I made a batch of blackberry muffins.  Yummers.  And a batch of chicken wet burritos.  Also yummers.  

On the activity front, I did walk three times for a total of 3.6 miles.  That puts me at 41 miles for the year.  Woot.  Weight: 171.4 - also woot.

The big news for the week... I got the VoiP set up.  (That's voice over internet protocol - which allows you to make regular phone calls on a regular phone using your internet, which for me is Starlink.)  There was a little niggle wherein the Starlink only has two ports for devices to plug into and I need three - my computer, Hubs' computer, and the VoiP device.  So I ordered up an ethernet splitter from Amazon and had it overnighted.  And it was defective. So, I went to Walmart yesterday and bought a better thing from a company I trust, and it works like a champ.  Yay.  Today or tomorrow, my regular phone number should be ported over from Brightspeed to 1-VoiP (our new provider out of Edmund, OK... love them) and then I can officially kick Brightspeed to the curb.  (OMG, they suck so bad.)  Next up, ditching DirectTV.  My Roku device is supposed to be here today through Walmart delivery.  Woot.  If it's everything everyone says it is, DerektTV can go away, too.  Woot.

Okay, I should probably wrap this up so I can get my walk in... and pick berries while I'm out there.  (Blackberries growing alongside the road... hence the muffins.)  Have a great day and tell me about what's going on in your life before you go.  =o)

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 7/5/25

Not the most exciting of reading weeks here.  Eh, it goes like that sometimes.

No new books.

Books Read: 

I didn't finish any books this week.  Well, not free-standing books.  I finished Murder on the Orient Express in that omnibus of Poirot stories, though.  It was awesome, as usual.

DNFs:

7/4/25 - free SF humor - OMG, this was so poorly written I just couldn't even.  It seemed like every single thing a writer can easily catch and fix during edits was missed by this person.  And that was only in the first few pages.  It really bummed me out because I was actually excited about the premise, which is why I downloaded it.  =o\

Currently reading... a different SF humor.  This one is good so far.  I'm over halfway through, so I hope it doesn't take a turn for the crappy.  

What was on your reading plate this week?

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day to all my American friends.  Actually, all my non-American friends should celebrate, too, because us being independent helps make the world a safer place.  And we're getting back to being the place we need to be... i.e. a shining example of liberty.  

Anyway, because I'm free to do whatever I want, I'm going to do exactly that today.  It'll probably be nothing, but that's okay, too.  

Oh, and here's an art pic I made of some kids on their way to watch the Independence Day parade where we used to live in CO.  I just loved the little red-headed trio, so I snapped a shot and then played with it until it looked like a painting.  It makes me happy.  Hopefully, it'll do the same for you...

 

Thursday This n That

 Alligator Alcatraz...  First off, I just saw some liberal chick whining quite incorrectly that it was a wildlife sanctuary and how dare we all celebrate it because it's cruel.  I also saw a cute cartoon of some alligators talking and one says 'did you hear we get to eat them if they escape?'  Which reminded me of this prison just outside Marquette, Michigan.  It's across the street from Lake Superior and it butts up to some of the nastiest, craggy woodlands you'd ever want to see.  Back when I was in college, it had the highest walkaway rate of any prison in Michigan.  But the escapees were rarely ever seen again.  You see, it was filled with criminals from places like Detroit and Flint.  City boys who probably had never taken a survival course in their lives.  The way I figure it, the missing criminals either went into the water and drown, or they went into the woods and died.  Win win, in my book.

Soon, I will be able to kick Brightspeed to the curb.  The VoiP is in place and working smashingly.  I called Mom on it yesterday.  Unfortunately, the Starlink router only has 2 ports, and we have 2 computers to plug in, so I needed a splitter.  It came and after some massaging, it's working, too.  The true test will be calling Mom through the splitter this morning.  Keep your fingers crossed.  I have a temp phone # until my regular # transfers over to the new service, so don't try to call me at this time.

Better internet... check.  Better phone... check.  Next up, replacing the satellite TV with something like Roku.  Woot.

Man, Wallyworld was a zoo yesterday.  Totally spasticness.  

What's with this new crap here on Blogger?  This morning it has a notice at the top - some crap about upgrading something - and it just offered to insert links into my post for me.  Why the hell would I want links inserted into my post?  Wouldn't a link take people away from READING my post?  Derp.  Makes no sense.

My tomatoes might almost be trying to make flowers.  Fingers crossed.

My black walnut tree got root rot and died.  I guess they aren't meant for growing in a pot.  Next time I have to transplant a volunteer walnut, I'll find a place in the woods for it.  =o(

I almost put in -o(... That would be a cyclops, I guess. Rawr.

Okay, that's about all I've got today.  Feel free to drop some this-n-that yourself before you wander off.  Have a great day!

Marketing Monday, or Lack Thereof

 There won't be any marketing today.  I haven't been sleeping well and I just didn't have the drive to create a sale.  And I knew I wouldn't be in any shape to do morning marketing today.  (We finally slept last night, which was good.)

The problem with not marketing is with no marketing comes no sales.  I mean, I'm still getting some page reads, but nothing to shout about.  :shrug:

Unfortunately, even with the marketing, I'm only averaging about $20 a month.  I keep hoping something will take off and fly, but so far, nothing has.  When I look at the amount of effort versus the return, it really makes me not want to market.  

This, of course, is all free marketing.  As in, no money is going to to accomplish it.  On the other hand, I'm spending a lot of time.  We won't go into how many hours I spend to make $20 a month, okay?  That's just depressing.  I get paid more than that for working on a single spreadsheet for an hour.  

Anyway, I know that if I paid someone else for marketing, I'd trade cash for time.  The problem with that is the last time I paid for ads, I made an 11.06% profit.  In 2019, I paid $355.31 and cleared $39.31.  Not sure if 11% profit is awesome or pathetic, but there it is.

With FB being a turd about how much I can market, I'm definitely going to need to start delving back into other sources.  I've started that, kinda.  At least, I've gone through and determined which newsletters are defunct, so I have a good list to use when I start back up again.  Bleh.

Tomorrow's post will be of a personally relevant nature, as opposed to a writerly nature.  Maybe I'll talk more about this marketing thing on Wednesday.  For now, though, it's time to get to my morning routine.  Have a great day, wherever you are.

Screwed by the Liberals Again

In case you missed it, the liberal government passed some new health insurance laws again last year that went into effect this year.  (https://help.ihealthagents.com/hc/en-us/articles/20207003806871-New-Short-Term-Health-Insurance-Law-Rules-for-2025) 

Let me set you the stage for how this effects me (and possibly you)...

For the last several years, I've been using short term health insurance.  It bypasses the Obamacare mandate, which makes it way cheaper.  I can't afford health insurance any other way, so there I am.  It's not great, but it's better than nothing.  Every 6 months, I would have to sign up for a new policy.  When I got the email saying my insurance was expiring, it seemed like it was the wrong month to renew, but I shrugged and got on with signing up.  That's when I noticed that all the new policies were 3 month with a 1 month extension.  I guess when I signed up in March for my new policy, I missed that fact.  Okay, fine, whatever.

I went into the site, did my thing, found my policy, and went through the process of getting my new policy.  5 days went by while I waited for my acceptance.  Instead, I got an email saying my application for new insurance had been 'withdrawn'.  Unfortunately, I got the email right before I went to bed, so there wasn't anything I could do about it (which didn't stop me from obsessing over it all night).  And time was ticking because my current policy would run out on the 30th.  

The next day, I contacted the company that manages this crap - ehealth, I think it's called - via chat message on their site.  The gal told me she couldn't help me and I would have to call.  So, I called.  I got a really nice lady who calmly explained to me that the law had changed last September and, in addition to the policies only being for 4 months each, they cannot be from the same provider twice in the same year.  They withdrew my application from United Health because I can't have them again this year. 

The only other companies offering short term insurance in my state... because, ya know, Obama fixed it so we can only have certain companies offering insurance in our states... are unheard of to me.  And either of them only offer indemnity policies instead of regular policies (PPO or EPO).  

I picked one and submitted a new application, because what choice do I have?  Even if I could afford to get a regular policy, you can't sign up for one of those outside the month of November.  (Obama again... although in all fairness, it's not just him. It's him and his cronies.  And Biden and his handlers.)  

So, as long as my application got accepted, I would have insurance.  Until 10/31.  (It was accepted, btw. So yay, I guess.) Then I'll have to go with the other unknown indemnity company for 4 months before I can go back to UH.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  On the upside, the new policy is cheaper with better coverage... except for the indemnity thing where we'll have to pay out of pocket and get reimbursed by the insurance afterward.  

While I was doing this, I accidentally ended up in the section for regular insurance quotes, and discovered that the cheapest of those was $750-ish a month.  Almost twice what I was paying UH and more than 3 times what I'll be paying the new company.  That's like half our monthly income.  

Yes, I know some of this is my own damn fault, right?  I could crawl to Obamacare and beg for alms, but my hypocrisy only goes so far.  Come November, I might have to debase myself and do that or choose to go insurance-less.  

I'm a healthy gal.  I can go without insurance, right?  (Don't worry, I'm not that stupid.  Bad things have a way of happening, especially when you temp fate by going without insurance.)

Sunday Update - Week 26

I almost typed Sunday Ypdate.  Yip.  LOL. Yeah, this is what comes of too little sleep and then waking up late.  

Anyway...

I wrote words!  5269 of them.  I gave myself a good talking to mentally and Monday night, I just started adding words to DN3.  I took Friday off because it was a mentally draining day and I just wasn't in a place where words would come out.  Then yesterday I wrote over 1800 words, which kinda made up for the day off.  The point is, I'm averaging over 1000 words a day, which is good.

And I even did some editing.  I stopped writing one night and as I lay in bed, I realized that something needed to happen between where Duke was and where Duke had been before, so I went back... a thing I almost never do while I'm dirty drafting... and fixed it.  The writing really started flowing after that.  Woot.

No Marketing this week.  I'll see what I can come up with this week for a new offering.  It's hard to muster the urge when I have to fight FB every step of the way, but if I don't market, I don't sell.  And I like selling books.

The reading... well, you can see that in yesterday's posts.  I'm not blazing any trails here, unless it's the trail to DNF.

Yesterday morning, I made a half-batch of cinnamon rolls.  They turned out pretty good, even if halving the recipe took some mathing.  

On the activity front, I did something active 6 out of 7 days, so woot.  I only walked three of those days, so 3.5 miles (37.4 total).  I meant to walk 4 days, but I was wandering in the yard before setting out and I got stung by some kind of baby, bastard hornet.  Hurt like a bugger and put the kibosh on that day's walk.  (It's all better thanks to Benadryl gel.)  Now that it's hot, I decided to start dancing in the living room again.  So I did that one day.  And I went grocery shopping.  Weight: 172.0

Look for more information on Friday's drama this Tuesday.  (The post's already written, I just need to schedule it.)

On a gardening note, my tomato plants are huge and they all look like they're getting the beginnings of flowers, so that's something.  My green pepper plants are still tiny, but they're making progress.  Some of my trees are looking pooky, though. I think they need replanting in bigger pots or in the ground.  Ack.  I have no more bigger pots and they're not ready to combat the deer yet.  We'll see how that goes.  I may go pick up pots today.  Also, the blackberry patch I've been watching down the road is getting close to being ripe enough to pick.  Cross your fingers I make it there before the birds do.

Okay, so that's about all I have for you today.  How was your week?  

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 6/28/25

Hello!  Thanks for stopping by my Saturday Reading Wrap-up!  I hope you find something fun or at least interesting while you're here.  Unfortunately, it wasn't a banner week for finishing books.  

I picked up 8 ebooks this week - all free, of course.  In there are 2 SF, 3 UF, 2 thrillers, and a YA action/adventure.  Should be some fun reading in there somewhere... I hope.  No new hardcopies. 

Books Read:

26) Sweet Harmony by Noel Bailey (6/25/25) - magical romance*# - 4 stars.  New to me and underappreciated.  Found this for free off the Kindle Freebies I found Today Facebook group.
Review: "This was a fun story. I loved the premise and, being a former band nerd, the heroine's problem raising money for the music program. But I wasn't 100% keen on the hero's dilemma. I mean, he took care of it, but I think he needed to be more forceful with his father. Be the hero his lady needed him to be. Right then and there. :shrug: It's probably just me."
Additional note: This was a 'magical romance', but there was very little magic or mention of magic in it.

DNFs:

6/25/25 - post apocalyptic - free.  It jumped from 2055 with one MC to 2075 with another MC with no clear connection and then to yet another MC.  Too much in too short a time made it really confusing.  Like I need more confusion in my life. LOL

6/24/25 - suspense - free.  I really wanted to like this.  I'd read several things by this author before and I was thrilled to see this one offered for free on his Facebook page.  Sadly, it read like he either didn't bother to edit it or he ignored his editor's suggestions this time.  I tried, but after a while, I couldn't take it anymore.

6/23/25 - suspense - free.  A suspense is supposed to be quick and... well... suspenseful.  This?  It seemed like the author put every sentence through the 'quotable sentence' generator.  For good story telling, snappy sentences should be sprinkled throughout, not poured on like hot fudge.  (I like hot fudge, so it's over EVERYTHING.)  I gave up after a few pages of slogging through that.

Currently reading... I'm in the middle of Murder on the Orient Express in that Poirot Omnibus I'm reading.  When I finish it, I'll hit the ebooks again.

What was on your reading plate this week?  Yummy things or brussels sprouts?  ;o)

Thursday This n That

Now that I have a phone substitute on its way here, the landline is working.  Like 5 days in a row now, which hasn't happened since like March.  Turds.  I'm waiting until I make sure the new device arrives and works before I cancel the old stuff.

I stopped by the old office yesterday.  They're in the same building as a company that provides us a service, so I stop to pay that bill.  Anyway, I saw one of the guys, which was awesome.  The other guy I wanted to see had the day off.  Bummer.  I spent some time talking to the gal who basically replaced my supervisor.  Nice gal.  I gave her a tip on how to keep the Epson working... it's temperamental and a brat, but it was my baby... and she's going to try that. I also chided her on using after market ink.  That stuff is horrible and can really f-up your printer.  But it wasn't my place to say that.  Not anymore.  Hell, it wasn't my place then.  :shrug:  I have a tendency to take over like the bull I am.  (Taurus, doncha know.)  I spent two years reining the bull in, and now that I don't work there anymore, the bull wants to run through that china shop.  LOL

The roadside blackberries are almost ready.  When I drove by them yesterday, they looked pretty red.  Once they turn black, I can have at them.  As long as no one else gets there first, and the birds leave them alone, and the deer don't find them.  Also, the elderberry plants are about done flowering and they're starting to grow berries.  I'm not sure if I can reach those over the barbed wire fence, but I'm going to try.

Speaking of roadside berries, I belong to a FB page about Missouri backroads and some gal on there was talking about picking roadside blackberries where she lives.  So, see?  I'm not the only weirdo who does that.  ROFL

I did the Wallyworld thing yesterday.  Man, it's hot here and I was all sweaty spaghetti by the time I got home.  But I got everything we needed and some things we didn't need.  My Wallyworld is carrying frozen yogurt, so I picked up one 'half-gallon' of vanilla and one of chocolate.  Yum.  All the yumminess of ice cream with less fat.

Speaking of half-gallons of ice cream... The damn things aren't actually half-gallons anymore and haven't been for a while now, but it still pisses me off when I think about it.  I think Blue Bell still does a full half-gallon, but who can afford that?  Last time I bought Blue Bell, it was like $8 for a half gallon.  Yeowch.  Don't get me started on all the other things that are smaller now but cost more.  Grrrr.

Anyway, it's creeping up on time to call Ma, so I'll leave you with that last thought.  What kinds of thoughts are you having today?

What I Did

Despite the risk of jinxing this, I'm going to tell y'all what I did yesterday.

I wrote words.  1558 of them to be exact.  Which puts Duke Noble #3 at just over 3000 words.  It's a start.  No promises.  No judging.  Just write the words.  Every day.

I also exercised.  Not walked... exercised.  5 minutes dancing (which freaked the cats out... like 'eek! hide! mama's having a spastic fit' or something), 4 minutes doing regular exercises, 4 minutes more dancing and then walking around the house to get my heart rate back to normal*.

I told you all I just needed to give myself a good talking to.

Now, I just have to keep it up.  I'm shooting for 1500 words a day but any words will do.  And I'm aiming at ramping up the exercising until I'm back to my old stamina - walk = 1.6 miles 3 or 4 times a week, exercise = 20/10/20 on the days I'm not walking.

No excuses.  I need this for both my mental and my physical health.  Lord knows, I'm not getting any younger.  If I don't want to end up as an old lady sitting in a chair watching the world go by, or drooling on myself in a corner, I have to do something to make that not happen.  This is it.  

Join me, if you're able.  

*Safer than just stopping on the exercise.  You've got to ease your heart up and then ease it back down again.  

No Marketing Monday

As you can guess from the subject of this post, there's no marketing today.  I need to regroup, reassess, and reanimate.  I'll try to take this week to walk through everything in my head, pull myself out of the quicksand, and get on more solid ground.  We'll see what July brings and what I can make happen.  

That's all for now.  Go on about your day and make it a good one, if you can.  :hugs:

Sunday Update - 2025 Week 25

I'm not exactly sure it is Week 25, but it follows last week, and I'm not inclined to go check, so there you are.  

I thought about writing this week.  I really wanted to be able to say that I wrote something when I did my update, but alas, I can't.  I also thought about giving up on writing this week, cuz it's not like I'm actually doing it and haven't done it for a long time.  But I'm a mule, so I guess we'll all just sit here and wait for me to write some stuff.  Or I'll sit here while what few followers I have left wander away.  I need to take a walk and give myself a good talking to all the way around.

Marketing was done.  I'm still hampered in my efforts, which isn't helping with the whole malaise, but I moved 83 books.  And someone somewhere is reading WIOH, so that's $$.  Not sure what this week will bring for sales or marketing.  Stay tunes.

Reading went slow this week.  I finished one book and then started on an omnibus of Hercule Poirot stories.  Not sure why I started this behemoth, but there it is.  I'll probably pause between stories to read something else.

On the activity front, I did stuff 4 out of 7 days - 3 walks for 3.35 miles, cleaning, and weeding.  Then it got hot and I retreated into my shadowy lair.  We won't talk about weight this week.  The heat is making me fluffy.  Yeah, yeah... that's the ticket.

Speaking of hot, no baking this week.  I meant to make cookies or cake or something, but meh.

Big news this week.  After eons of trouble with Brightspeed, I finally took the first steps to kick those assholes to the curb.  I'm going with a VoIP - Voice over Internet Protocol - service.  VoIP uses a widget that connects to our Starlink via wifi so we can use our regular phone over the internet to make calls like anyone else.  I researched it and found a company out of Edmund, OK that seems stable.  The device will be shipping to us and once I have it, I'll start the process to port our phone number from BS to our new provider.  Once that's done, I'll call BS and tell them to pound sand.  Woot. Steppin' into the 21st century like a boss.  

Okay, I think I've about updated myself out.  Have a great day wherever you are.  

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 6/21/25

Well, hello there.  It's that time again.  Let's see if I have anything interest to impart today.

I picked up one new ebook this week.  It's a magical romance of some sort that I saw on one of the FB groups I post to.  We'll see how it goes.

Books Read:

25) The Danger by Dick Francis (6/15/25) - thriller - 5 stars. Neither new to me nor underappreciated.  I picked this one up at a thrift store for a quarter.
Review: "Wow. This is an excellent read. Everything I love about Dick Francis with a twist of the likes of Fleming's or McLean's knack for international intrigue thrown in. Definitely more thriller than mystery. And totally awesome as a result."

No DNFs this week.

Currently reading... I started an omnibus of Hercule Poirot stories.  I might read one and then read something else, so a bit of back and forth until it's finished.  Which reminds me... I still haven't finished that HG Wells anthology.  :shrug:  Sometimes life is that way.  I'm currently 7 books behind on my reading goal, so I better get some stuff finished, I guess.

What was on your reading list this week?

Friday This n That

 Yeah, I've been brainfart central all week.  No reasons. No excuses. Just brainfart.  Or slug.  The result is the same.  I lay around doing not much of anything, babbling and drooling.  (Okay, the drooling is perhaps a mite dramatic.  It's figurative. Or something.)

The family drama is like 90% done.  We're mostly out of it, aside from the worrying - which we shouldn't do because there's nothing we can do about it, but we're not the kind of people who just stop worrying, so there ya are.

I have things coming up in my flat where I planted pepper seeds.  One pepper seed per dirt cup.  The problem is that I have more than one thing growing in several of the cups.  I did leave the flat thing out on the deck for a while, so who knows what might taken root.  And I had originally planted redbud seeds in those, so maybe something made the freakin' redbud seeds wake up and grow.  :shrug:  We'll see when the seedlings get a bit bigger.  

My tomato plants are HUGE.  They're monstrosities.  And they're only now starting to get the beginnings of flowers.  Turds.  I want tomatoes, damn it.

Finn is Camo-Kitty.  Sometimes, I can be looking right at him and not see him because he blends in.  But he's just a tiger-stripe, so I'm not sure how his camo works.  Maybe he's like the Predator and bends light around himself to hide more efficiently.

I just paused doing this to reload my freakin' phone and then renew my freakin' health insurance, which jacked up again.  :headdesk on repeat:

I have nothing else to add.  I'm gonna go for a walk and talk myself down from wanting to go screamin' chicken on the whole insurance industry.

*for the uninitiated, 'screamin' chicken' is when you fly into somewhere flapping your arms and squawking up a storm. My oldest sister coined the term decades ago and it stuck with me.

Marketing Monday

 Today, I'm on the ball and have scheduled a freebie for FERTILE GROUND.  Yay!  Get it while it's hot.

Yes, it's about the hunt for a serial rapist.  No, it's not graphic.  And it has a really satisfying end.  Nothing to fear here.

Anyway...

Blogger's being a turd and won't let me upload pictures to this damn thing again.  So here's the verbiage...

Now through Friday, FERTILE GROUND is free. (Always free with Kindle Unlimited.) Get your copy of this spine-tingling suspense today! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FOPNE9Y

And there'll be a pretty graphic I made to post along with the verbiage and the link, with text and a picture and junk.

I swear, between Blogger being a booger and FB being a turd, I'm lucky if I sell anything.  I really need to suck it up and pay for advertising.  

Sunday Update - 2025 Week 24

 Hello.  It's Sunday and I woke up late.  Bear with me.

Nothing on the writing or editing front.  I did some marketing, but I'm still hamstrung, so I can't do as much as I hope.  I only moved 59 copies of WHTF.  On the upside, I sold a copy each of the other OUAD novels.  Yay.

I did some reading.  I'm really into this Dick Francis I picked up.  I should finish that today.  I'll tell you about it next Saturday.

Monday, I made pizza, but that's it for the baking update.  I almost made cake yesterday, but I don't need cake.

On the activity side, I did something 4 out of 7 days.  Three days were walking and I added about 3 miles to the total, which is now over 30 miles for the year.  The other day, I did garden/yard stuff.  Weight: 171.6

In gardening news, some of my tomato plants appear to have the beginnings of buds. I've been begging them to flower so they can make fruit, so I can have something to show for all this work.  Also, of the 18 green pepper seeds I planted, I have 17 seedlings. Yay?  We'll see if they all make it to adulthood and give me fruits.  When I did my yard/garden stuff last week, I found a bunch more volunteer trees and have most of those in pots now.  I had to ditch a couple cedars to pot them, but that's okay.  (Because I ran out of dirt.)  There are 2-3 that I don't actually know for certain what they are, but I'm okay with that, too.  I need to buy more dirt for when the peppers are ready to transplant.  Maybe I'll do that today.  

As you can probably guess, I'm not my perky self today.  Blame it on the gray day.  Blame it on the lack of constructive anything regarding my writing.  All I want to do lately is sit and read or watch tv or play poker or maybe putter in my garden.  I'll go for a walk shortly and hope not to get rained on.  Maybe that'll shake me out of my funk.  No worries, though.  I have these funks and I always manage to shake out of them one way or another.  

Have a great day wherever you are out there.

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 6/14/25

Hello again.  Not the most exciting of reading weeks, but reading was accomplished and DNFs happened, so here we are.

No new books this week.

Books Read:

24) The Face in the Water by Kathleen Pennell (6/8/25) - mystery*# - 5 stars. New to me and underappreciated.  Snagged this one for free off Amazon's top 100 free Murder list.
Review: "A fun combination of gritty suspense and cozy mystery! I really enjoyed reading it."

DNFs:

6/11/25 - 25c mystery.  I just couldn't get into it.  Of course, it didn't help that the cover fell off when I started, but that's the risk you take when you buy used books.  I'll repair it and then take it back to a thrift store.

6/10/25 - 25c SF.  It wasn't bad, per se, but I just wasn't in the mood for a story with thinly veiled leftist politics.  Eh, I'm never really in the mood for that.  Back to the thrift store this one goes.

Currently reading... a Dick Francis paperback.  It's different from the other Dick Francis novels I've read, but it's still pretty awesome.  (Yes, it still has a tie-in to horse racing.)  

What have you been reading lately?

Wandering the Countryside, Eating Nature's Bounty

When I was a kid, I spent countless hours roaming the surrounding countryside.  One of my favorite pastimes was searching for edible stuff.  I knew where the one currant bush was and the patch of wild asparagus.  I cultivated the back hill's plethora of wild strawberries.  I tended the roadside bramble of boysenberries.  I snatched grapes from the wild vines and was brave enough to actually eat them.  (Wild grapes are SOUR, btw.)  

Some of my fondest childhood memories, of which I have woefully few, are of those summer days wandering with my dog, eating what I found.  Or searching for things that were rumored to be out there somewhere.  

One summer, my brother heard there was a gooseberry bush in the fallow cow field across the road, so off we went in search of it.  We never found it, but the hunt sticks in my memory.  Another time, the same brother was sure there was a butternut tree in the woods on the other side of the landfill.  (Yes, I grew up near a garbage dump.  Don't knock it.  It was a magical, if stinky, place for a kid.)  Off we tromped for that tree.  I don't remember if we ever found that one.  Part of me thinks we did and another part suspects it was another wild goose chase.  

I was heartbroken the day I got home from school to find they'd bulldozed the back hill.  I guess they were trying to make it smoother or something, but in one day, they eradicated my strawberry patch.  I'd spent hours and hours on that hill, pulling weeds and tending plants.  Every spring/summer for several years beforehand.  I'm pretty sure I cried.  I know I called Mom at work to rat them out, only to find out she okayed it.  I'm sure I never felt so betrayed.  (I was a kid, though, so I'm sure much worse betrayals came about since.)  I talked to Mom about it the other day and she doesn't remember it.  She said I never told her I was tending those strawberries, which is probably true.  They were my secret garden and my summer feast that I never had to share.

Recently, on a walk, I discovered a patch of blackberries, growing along the barbed wire fence beside the road.  I picked the ripe ones and brought them home.  There's another patch farther along that isn't ripe yet, but is loaded with berries.  I just hope the property owner doesn't come along and cut them down, or mow, or spray for weeds to kill everything on the fence - all of which they've done over the course of the past 12 years.  There's also a stand of elderberries that came back after the last cutting and they look like they might fruit this year.  Right now they're covered in flowers, so yay.

After we moved here, I was so happy to see what I thought were wild strawberries all over the southwest part of the yard.  Except the flowers were yellow.  (Strawberries have white blooms.)  They're not strawberries.  They're mock strawberries.  Same leaves, similar but yellow flowers, similar looking fruit - except the fruit isn't tasty.  It's pithy and watery.  They're so flavorless, even the critters don't eat them.  Bleh.  (I tried it, trust me.)  It was a disappointment, let me tell you.  

We also have black cherry trees.  Edible, but SOUR and very medicinal tasting - not surprising since they're used to make cough medicine.  The critters love those.  

I really do wish I had the cornucopia of edible things around this house that I had access to as a kid, even if it's just for the nostalgia of it.  Wandering the countryside eating nature's bounty... :happy sigh:

Thursday This n That

 Sawyer is being needy-kitty this morning and is now locked out of the office.  So he's outside the door meowing.

Life would be easier if it wasn't so hard.  Deep thought, eh?

If every tomato and pepper plant I have now actually fruited like it was supposed to, I'll be up to my armpits in tomatoes and green peppers.  Not a horrible situation, but what am I going to do with all that food?  Freeze it, of course.  Maybe I could sell them by the roadside or get a table at the farmer's market.  We'll see.  First things first, of course...  They need to grow and bloom and produce fruit.  :fingers crossed:

I have a tough enough time convincing myself to do marketing without getting things thrown in my way.  The urge to market against a sea of troubles is woefully low.

One of my sisters gave Mom something called a waterfall begonia for Mother's Day.  It sounds really pretty.  I got her mixed nuts and a tin of Walker Shortbread cookies shaped like Scottie dogs.  The begonia will last longer and not go to Mom's hips, but I hate buying plants for other people.  I never know what it'll look like when it gets there and whether it'll live.  

I got nothing for Mother's Day.  Yeah, I'm whining.  Wanna make somethin' of it?

Last I heard about the novella I read for that son of that dude was that the son went ahead and uploaded it for pub without listening to his writer dad or apparently waiting for input from me.  :shrug:  You can lead a horse to water, but sometimes all it does is eat the weeds and wander away. 

I'm not writing, so what do I know?  Like I have the right to tell anyone anything about this business.  Feh.

And that's more than enough out of me.  What's going on our your way?

Marketing Monday

I'm dragging a little bit today, so my marketing is suffering.  Still, it is the first day of this freebie cycle for WISH HITS THE FAN.  

Now through Friday, WISH HITS THE FAN is absolutely free.  (Always free with KU.)  Get your copy of this snarky paranormal mystery today! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075C7FCXG

It’s up to Jo to gather the genies and save the world. But who’s going to save her?

Sunday Update - 2025 Week 23

The first week of June went by... whoosh.  And today is already whoosh.  Of course, I got up late, so part of that can be excused.  The rest?  No Excuses.  I'm not really sure how much reading the minutiae of my life interests anyone else, but these posts help me, so there you are.

Anyway, there hasn't been much in the way of writing or editing lately.  Sorry about that, too.  As for marketing... Well... FB, in its infinite wisdom, decided to limit the amount of posts I can do in a row.  I can get 5 out before it tells me that in order to avoid 'spam', it won't let me post anymore for a while.  Not clue as to what amount of time that is.  An hour later, I might be able to get another post or two out, but not always.  The next day I can rinse and repeat with the same or worse outcomes.  Still, I managed to get posts to most of the groups I belong to and Friday, Project Hermes took off - moving 121 that day alone.  Still, with the other drab days added in, I gave away 161 books.  I'll try again tomorrow with Wish Hits the Fan.

Reading went okay, I guess.  I DNF'd more that I would've liked.  See yesterday, but also stay tuned for next Saturday's Wrap Up.

I made oatmeal raisin cookies this week.  Woot.  They turned out a little dry this time around, which sucks and is weird because it's the same damn recipe I've been using since I was a kid.  I also did a round of pulled pork.  Yummers.  I might make pizza today.  Or Cuban sandwiches.

On the activity front, I did three walks for a total of 2.7 miles (27.6 miles for the year so far).  I also moved some plastic tubs around and went grocery shopping.  (And if you don't think shopping is exercise, you're not doing it right.  Or I'm doing it wrong.)  Weight: 173.8

The deer are all getting un-pregnant, although we've only seen babies with Sissy and Lumpy so far.  They'll come around eventually.

I think a couple of my tomato plants might have buds.  Other than that, they're growing big.  Nice plants, but make with the fruiting already. Sheesh.  One of the pepper seeds I planted has germinated and is about an inch tall.  I think it has a friend that is trying to peek through.  Two plants producing green peppers would work for me.  The trees are doing well.  I lost one dogwood to what I assume was a squirrel digging in my pots on the deck.  It also got a cedar tree.  It dug in my walnut and my hickory, but those are fine.  Stupid squirrel.  I have weeding I need to get to this week, which I should've started doing last week.  I'm blaming the rain.

Speaking of rain, we've gotten about 2.5 inches in the past 7 days, with more on the way this week.  Enough already.  Sheesh.

And that's about it for me for now.  I'm sure there's more, but I'm about done sitting at the computer for this morning.  Time to start the day whether I want to or not.  Have a great day!  And feel free to tell me all the minutiae of your week.  =o)

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 6/7/25

It wasn't the busiest of reading weeks, since I only finished one book, but I did spend some time on a couple books I ended up DNF'ing.  

I picked up one new ebook this week - a suspense novel by an author I'd read before, but it was free, so yay.

Books Read:

23) Blade Runner (or Do Androids Dream Electric Sheep) by Philip K Dick (6/5/25) - dystopian - 5 stars. New to me but not underappreciated.  I picked this up at regular price from Amazon, so $7.48 for the paperback. (I needed to round out an order to get free shipping and this was it.)
No Review.  What could I say about this book that hasn't already been said?

DNFs:

6/5/25 - free - noir mystery - The beginning of this was written three different ways and they were ALL in the book I downloaded.  Like first draft, then second draft, then final draft.  By the time I got to the third iteration, I was confused and tired of it.  Too much work for what might've been an interesting story.

5/31/25 - free dystopian/SF - I made it over halfway through this and then it got weird, and not in a good way.  Which is too bad because I was really enjoying where it had been heading before it shot off down a murky, ill-advised path.  :shrug:  I paused this to read something else and then decided to just DNF it.  Life's too short.

Currently reading... A little underappreciated cozy mystery.  I'm not sure yet if I'll finish it.  The beginning has the same problem as that noir mystery I DNF'd this week - repeating info, which is annoying but not as bad as here as with the noir.  We'll see if it gets better.

What have you been reading lately?

Thursday This n That

Oh, joy... I'll be in the jury pool here from July - November.  That's how it works in MO... you get notified that you'll be in the pool for a certain time and then, if they pick you, you'll get another notice that you have to serve.  THEN you have to call the night before to see if they're actually going to have court or if it was cancelled.  I've been in the pool a lot in the past 12 years, and I've been picked several times, but it's always been cancelled the night before.  Whew.  Especially the last time because I went to Michigan while I was still in the pool and it would've sucked if I'd been called up while I was away.

FB is still screwing me hard on the marketing thing.  Turds.

I saw something this morning about how like 54% of Americans can't read above a 6th grade level.  And like 1 in 5 is functionally illiterate.  And how like 1 in 3 is like math-illiterate.  Which all sucks.  On a happier note, I saw how 2nd Lady Vance has a reading initiative this summer that kids can sign up for and win prizes and maybe win a trip to the White House.  I don't care what your politics are... that's a good thing and everyone should be all for it.  Anything that gets people reading more is awesome.

And if you're actively against Mrs. Vance's summer reading program, what the hell is wrong with you?  Illiteracy is everyone's problem.

Lumpy's baby is super cute!  A couple days ago, it walked right under the window where we were watching.  So tiny!  Awwww.

I'm really feeling that last walk.  I did the loop, which is only 1.1 miles, but it's very hilly and my calves are mooing this morning.  

Last night was not a good night for sleeping.  I was too hot and then the cats decided it would be an awesome night to run around the house playing with their jingly ball and then they found something interesting in the corner of the bedroom that HAD TO BE investigated right then.  They were being good boys, but their goodness was certainly noisy and I was not in the frame of mind to ignore them.  Oh well.  Naptime later and for now, lots of coffee!

Right now, though, I think I'm going to go finish my book.  Maybe snag some breffest.  Have a great day and feel free to leave whatever this or that your mind spits out.  

Scams Abound

I hate that we have to be constantly vigilant so we don't get ripped off, but we do, so here are a few tips that might help...

In Facebook groups: 

If you see someone with a new account complaining about all the scammers... they're probably a scammer.

If you see someone boohooing about not getting any sales for their new/first/unloved books... they're probably a scammer.

If they comment on your marketing posts telling you how awesome your book is and asking you questions that they could answer on their own if they read the post or followed the link (like what genre it is)... they're a scammer.

If you can't pronounce their name (usually African, but sometimes middle eastern), but they have all sorts of awesome ways to market your book... they're a scammer.  (Like the Nigerian prince emails of yore.)

If they have some other sob story about anything... cats, kids, health... their probably a scammer.  Take it all with a grain of salt.

On the phone:

If they say they're calling from any one of several government agencies - the IRS, the local police, the prosecutor's office... they're a scammer.  Those agencies don't call you.

If they say they're from any one of several computer companies - Microsoft comes to mind, but also Amazon - they're a scammer.  Those companies don't call you.

If they say they're from your credit card company or your bank, they are most likely a scammer.  Hang up and call your bank or your card company using a number you already have.  Do not call any number they give you.

If you get a call telling you a family member is in jail, either here or overseas... they are a scammer.  If you are worried, though, call the family member in question before you do anything.  If you can't reach them, call someone else who would know whether they could possibly be where they're supposedly in jail.  Do not send money without verifying.

If you get any kind of call where someone wants you to send them a gift card to pay off a 'debt' or a 'bill'... definitely a scammer.  

You can also get a variety of these same types of scams via regular mail or email, chat message, text messages, etc.  Verify everything before you hand over any personal information or financial data.  Hell, I don't even use the word 'yes' when talking on the phone with a potential scammer.  "Is this B.E. Sanderson?" "This is.  What do you want?"  I'm not sure if it's an urban myth that these scammers use your spoken word yes to bypass actual authorization and take your money, but I'm not taking any chances.

Being paranoid helps keep you safe.  Hang in there out there and remember... Scams abound.

Improvise, Adapt, Overcome

Okay, so FB hammered me yesterday for posting too much.  I did five marketing posts over about 5 minutes and they wouldn't let me post anything else.  They didn't tell me for how long.  They didn't tell me what the limits are.  They just blocked me from posting to any groups and to 'try again later'.  So, I did.  I tried at 15 minutes... nope.  I tried at 30 minutes... nope.  I tried at an hour... huzzah!  And got 3 posts out before I got blocked again.  Then, I gave up.  

Yesterday afternoon, I came up with a new plan.  I would try again this morning, but only post to one group every 5 minutes.  So far, it seems to be working.  I've gotten 4 posts out.  It's almost time for #5... and #5 went up.  Yay.  

In the interest of data, yesterday, I posted to FB and X asking for anyone who saw my post to wave, so I could see who is actually still seeing my posts.  I have like 270 followers on FB and 600-something on X.  So far, like 20 people have 'waved' on FB and one on X.  And I'm paying for X.  Either way, that's disheartening.  Which is why these posts in marketing groups is so important.  It's the only way I'm reaching readers.

Sure, a lot of the people who are downloading my free books aren't actually doing anything with them.  I'm not exactly burning up the world with reviews for any of my books.  People aren't talking about them as far as I can tell.  But I am seeing residual sales here and there.  It's worth the time and irritation.

Five minutes went by and #6 is up!  Yay!

Anyway, as I was saying, it's worth the time and irritation.  This new wrinkle takes more time and is more irritating, but a gal's gotta do what a gal's gotta do.  

I was actually pretty gung-ho to get to marketing yesterday.  I'd even joined about a half-dozen new groups to market to.  Fresh eyes!  Yay!  And then the FB retardage happened.  I went from gung-ho to ;sad trombone noise: in an instant.  Life is hard enough without added pitfalls, doncha know.  But I'm trying to remember and hold to the Marine motto: Improvise, adapt, overcome.  (I need to buy that t-shirt.)

This other one is good, too... ONWARD AND UPWARD.  Let's do this.

Oh, and if you're reading this, drop me a 'wave' so I know you're there.  Just for data purposes.  

:WAVES:

Added: I just tried to do #7 and got this message again - "We limit how often you can post, comment or do other things in a given amount of time in order to help protect the community from spam. You can try again later. Learn More.  

If you think this doesn't go against our Community Standards let us know. Give feedback."

Turds.

Marketing Monday - Project Hermes

Hey, Folks.  It's that time again... Marketing Monday!  Woot.  :throws confetti:  

From now until Friday, PROJECT HERMES - my medical/political thriller - is free.  (Always free with Kindle Unlimited.)  Get your copy today.  And remember, it's the little things that kill.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017Y6G0EW

(Full credit to my BFF, Silver, for today's graphic.  She rocks.)

Sunday Update - 2025 Week 22

What a week I had.  Let's see if I can reconstruct it...

Okay, so I didn't do anything writerly.  I took the week off from marketing, too.  I didn't even get my spreadsheets ready for June - which is something I have to do today.  We'll see what tomorrow brings.

There was reading... see yesterday's post.

I made banana bread and pizza this week.  Woot.  And yum.  The pizza was yesterday, so I'll have pizza for breakfast today.  Yay!

The big update is activity, because I was busy busy this week.  I got in 4.8 miles worth of walks on 4 separate days.  Plus, I did a bunch of errand running, plus groceries.  Unfortunately, it didn't equal weight loss, so... Weight 173.8.  :shrug:  

So, you're saying to yourself, what made you so damn busy?  I guess in the scheme of other peoples' busyness, I wasn't really.  But for me, this was a busy week.  Tuesday, I did groceries.  Wednesday, I went northwest to get my car inspected and then over to the DMV to get my plates and my license renewed. (and pick up Chinese food for lunch.)  Friday, I went northeast to get Hubs' prescriptions and run errands up there - bank, supply store, grocery store, thrift store.  Since I stopped working, I don't get around much anymore.  Anyway, all that made me tired, so here I am.  And yes, I would like some cheese with that whine.

Gardening update... Everything is growing, except the green pepper seeds I planted a week ago yesterday.  I wasn't really expecting anything there, but I wanted to be happily surprised.  :shrug:  The tomatoes are getting tall, but not really spreading out much and no flowers yet, so no fruit on the way.  The little trees are all doing their things.  Yeah, not exciting news.

This week, I really need to weed the beds again, and continue to work on weeding the front rock path.  I also need to vacuum.  The dustbunnies are starting to gain sentience.

What's on your list for last week?  What's on the menu for this week?  

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 5/31/25

Whoa... last day of May.  Where's the time going this year?  

Last week, I stopped at the thrift store and picked up 4 books for a dollar - mystery, suspense, fantasy, and NF.  The NF was Trees of Missouri, and it's awesome.  It didn't even look like it had been opened, but the spine is light like it's been sitting in the sun.  Hubs was very impressed that it was only a quarter.  No new ebooks this week.

Books Read: 

22) You Only Live Twice by Ian Fleming (5/29/25) - action/hard-boiled crime - 5 stars.  Neither new to me nor underappreciated.  Got this for a quarter at a thrift store.
No Review.
Extra note: This is the last of the Bond paperbacks I picked up.  I probably won't be reading more of these unless I happen across some at a thrift store.

21) On Her Majesty's Secret Service by Ian Fleming (5/24/25) - action/hard-boiled crime - 5 stars.  Neither new to me nor underappreciated.  Got this for a quarter at a thrift store.
Review: "I really should take a star away for what Fleming did at the end of the book, but I can't. This is an awesome story, so well written and thrilling. Lucky for me, I have #12 sitting right here to start, so I can find out if James really does exact some justice."

No DNFs.

Currently reading... a SF/dystopian ebook.  So far, it's pretty interesting.  As long as it stays that way, I'll finish it.  If not, into the DNF bin it goes.

What's been on your reading list this week?

Thursday This n That

Obviously, I have no idea what day it is.

Gah, busy week.  I'm not used to it being busy anymore.  

I went to town this week to get my plates and driver's license renewed.  Of course, I left it to almost the last minute and made it even more fun.  The people waiting to use the license office were cluttered in the hall of the court building.  (It's a really small office in a corner of the court building.  Three places to help people and only one of them can do driver's licenses, so we happy few had to wait longer.)  It wasn't really that bad... except for the lady who wanted to tell her life story to all of her trapped listeners.  And for the really hard benches we had to wait on.  And the fact they were painting the inside of the building... with a sprayer that sounded like rayguns from an old SF movie.  I laughed to myself through most of it.  I got it done and then went for Chinese takeout.  Yay.

My new license photo makes me look really old.  I mean, I'm old, but that thing makes me look REALLY old.  I blame the fluorescent lights.  Those thing highlight every gray hair.  Blech.

Lumpy's baby is really tiny.  We saw it again yesterday.  So cute!  It looks healthy, though.  It's just tiny.  I think it's less than a week old.  I want to snuggle it up so bad.  Of course, Lumpy would kick my ass if I tried, so I won't.

Today, I get to go pick up Hubs' prescriptions.  Yay.  No seriously.  My best thrift store is across the street from the pharmacy.  I'll get the scripts and then get to some thrifting.  I hope they have some more old crime novels, like last time.  Then I'll hit the grocery store and snag some ice cream (because I forgot it when I went to Wallyworld and I'm almost out.)  Oh, and I have to hit the building supply place because they carry suet and those birds are gorging themselves lately on suet.  They went through a brick in just over a day.  Greedy buggers.  They must have a lot of babies out there somewhere.  

Anyway, life is good.  How are things for you?

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is for remembering and honoring military members who died in the line of duty.  I used to think it was for any military members who were gone.  Nope.  Line of duty only.  Okay, so I don't really know any of those personally.  

I've had a lot of my family that were in the service in one branch or another.  Many of them are gone.  Dad... Great Uncle Ray... Uncle Barney... Great Uncle Franny.  None of those died in the service.  (Although Mom says one cousin died shortly after he came home from Vietnam due to his exposure to Agent Orange, which ought to count, imo.)  

Then I remembered Orville*.  Orville was the nephew of one of my great grandfathers.  

He was missing in action/lost at sea in the Pacific Theatre in July of 1945.  His bomber group was flying missions out of Alaska and it seems like he might've been lost during a bombing run over some islands where the planes somehow ended up in the USSR.  That's about all I can find out about him this morning, other than he's got a grave marker in Arlington and his name's on the site for MIA military in Honolulu.  

Anyway, this is a day for remembering those who gave up their lives to defend our country.  Like they say 'we don't know them all, but we owe them all'.  We Americans owe them, and so do a lot of people in a lot of other countries that we defended over the years.  

So, as you're out there today, having a barbeque or doing whatever it is people do on this holiday, take a moment and think about those men and women who made it possible for you to do what you're doing.  No guilt attached.  Really.  I don't think they would want that.  Enjoy your lives, but remember.  And remember to do everything in your power to make sure it never happens again.

*his last name is blurred out for reasons and account of because.

Sunday Update - 2025 Week 21

 I missed last week, which messed me all up, but I'm pretty sure last week was week 21.  Anyway, here goes...

I did some writing.  Not much, so don't get yourself too excited.  Still, it was better than nothing.  I also did some marketing.  Woot.  

Loads of reading, but not many books finished to show for it.  Hey, I did remember to do a Reading Wrap-up yesterday, so go look at that.  I finished a book yesterday, but that'll be on this week's wrap-up.

Last Sunday, I made pizza.  Yesterday, I made pulled BBQ pork.  Woot.  Other than that, nothing exciting to speak of in the baking/cooking category.  I really need to get off my butt and make cookies for Hubs.  He's earned them.

On the activity front, I walked three times for 3.2 miles worth (20.10 YTD), I gardened some, and did a bit of cleaning.  Weight: 172.4, down 1.2 from last week, so whatever I'm doing is working.  Increase activity, decrease food intake.

Gardening... Well, I've been working on cleaning up the rock path in front of the front flower bed.  That's slow going.  Lots of shoveling to turn the rocks over and then bending to pick out the weeds, then smoothing it down and tamping it down.  Patch by patch, so it's still walkable between exertions.  (I can't do the whole path at once anymore.)  Week before last, I repotted a bunch of the little trees into bigger pots.  They seem happy.  My tomatoes are getting big.  I'm seeing some new growth on most of the little trees.  And yesterday, I planted green peppers seeds from the green peppers I used to make deconstructed stuff peppers.  If they grow, they grow.  If not, not much time or money wasted.  

Yesterday, we saw our first fawn of the year.  It was Lumpy's!  Yay!  Then later, when I went for my evening walk, I heard a fawn beeping and looked for it, and there it was with what had to be Sissy.  (She's so tame, it had to be her.)  Double yay.  They had to have been born within the last couple of days.  Aww.  Unfortunately, it's been raining.  And raining.  And raining.  I'm a little worried about those little babies.  They're so tiny. 

Also, we had a HUGE raccoon on our porch the other night.  That hasn't happened in a while.  And we had bobcats tussling in the backyard one night.  Spooky, but cool. 

Okay, I think that's it for me.  I'm sure other stuff happened.  (Like I turned 55 in there somewhere and we had an anniversary.  Oh, and I got TTW's print version approved and up for sale.)  I'll try to be better about posting this week.  I hope you have a happy rest of the weekend and a nice Memorial Day.  :hugs:

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 5/24/25

Sorry I missed last week, but here we are today.  Unfortunately, it's not going to be the most exciting of wrap-ups, even given that it's two weeks worth.

I got a new book in the mail yesterday - Blade Runner (or Do Androids Dream Electric Sheep) by Phillip K Dick.  I hope it's the actual Dick story and not a rewrite based off the movie.  We'll see.  I also snagged a bunch of free ebooks (4 to be exact) - All in the crime genres.  And I bought a copy of my new release - in ebook and in paperback.  I'm up to 37 books acquired this year and $40.53 spent.  Woot.

Books Read:

20) The Singing Stones by Phyllis A. Whitney (5/17/25) - romantic suspense - 4 stars.  Neither new to me nor underappreciated.  Picked this one up at the thrift store for $2.
Review: "The writing and the story were pretty good. I enjoyed the characters and most of the premise. She got a little 'woo-woo' in this one with the spiritual stuff for my liking, though."

19) Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie (5/15/25) - mystery - 5 stars.  Neither new to me nor underappreciated.  I got this one from the thrift store for $1.
Review: "I bought this not realizing I'd read it before (and already had the exact same copy). I didn't catch the mistake until I was about a third of the way through. It was even better the second time around, even if I did know who did it."

No DNFs.

Currently Reading... On Her Majesty's Secret Service by Ian Fleming.  I'd hoped to have it finished last night, but sleep called.

What have you been reading lately?