:Heavy Sigh:

I was contacted yesterday by someone who is related to someone who knows someone I am related to asking for assistance with a publishing situation.  I don't want to shame the poor guy.  Lord knows, he's gone through enough, but it makes me want to shout from the rooftops yet again...

MONEY FLOWS TO THE AUTHOR NOT AWAY FROM THE AUTHOR

If you have several books published by several different publishing companies, and you have never seen any royalties, you may have been scammed.  I suggested that this author contact a publishing attorney because from what I understand, he's being contacted again to ask for more money.  

Poor dude.  Like I told him, real publishers never ask for money. Never.  EVER.  If they're asking for money, they might not be a scam.  They could be vanity.  But from what I understand, authentic vanity publishers are upfront about who they are and what they do and the costs involved.  Anything else is shady.  

Especially if they initiate contact.  If someone emails you out of the blue, wanting to publish your work, RUN.  Mark them as spam.  Block their email accounts.  Whatever you have to do to make sure they never contact you again... mainly because it's annoying.  But do not... I repeat, do NOT ever give them money.  

Shit, I've been in this game for over 20 years.  I started out doing every bit of research I could to make sure I was as informed as I could be.  And then I started sending queries out to reputable agents.  And to a few reputable small publishers.  None of them wanted me, so after 11 years of beating my head against those walls, I did it my own damn self.  And by the way, I'm still getting scammy emails from time to time.  The last one wanted me to contact him because he wanted to make one of my books into a movie.  Feh.  Yah, right.  (And by the way, even if were a real offer, I'm totally not interested in any of my books being subjected to the tender mercies of Hollyweird - no matter how much money it might bring me.  My soul is priced higher than they can afford to pay.)

A former friend of mine, knowing I was writing and trying to publish sent me a link to this great place that would publish my books for only a penny - or some such shit.  I'd already heard about this place from authors I developed an acquaintance with and I told him he'd sent me a link to a scam.  He was disgusted... with me for even suggesting that this place wasn't on the up-and-up.  :shrug:  (Not the only reason he's a former friend, but it didn't help.)  

The point is, there are a SHITLOAD of people anxious to separate you from your money.  They will promise you the moon and the stars and whole galaxies of awesome, but their promises are nothing but smoke and mirrors.  Oh, you send them a bunch of money and you might see your book on Amazon, but you won't see any sales unless you are out there stumping and pumping to make sales for yourself.  And you will probably never recoup the money you gave them.  Lord knows, this poor dude likely hasn't.  (We didn't discuss what he might've paid, and I don't want to know.)

Anyway, if you find yourself in the same position, talk to an attorney.  I could be wrong and they've done for you exactly what they promised they would - which is to 'publish' your book and the rest is up to you.  But I could be right.  Either way, only an attorney can help you now.

Thursday This n That

Well, hello there.  One more day left of February.  Woot.  

Okay, so yesterday, I started working in the gardens again.  Lemme back up a smidgen... I went shopping yesterday and before I did the groceries, I picked up 4 bags of dirt and a packet of 16 gladiola bulbs.  This prompted me to get my ass moving on the gardening.  Thus, I spent 45 minutes digging and weeding in the bed where I intend to put the glads.  I stopped when I was tired.  This morning, I am definitely paying for it.  Oh, holy night, am I paying for it.  This should pass once I've spent some time moving around and getting those muscles limber.  I have a lot of work to do and I ain't got time for this achy crap.

My daffodils are about 2 inches high and so are my hyacinths.  I removed the leaves off those.  They're all yellow from being hidden, but they're not warped and retarded, so that's a win.  They'll green up in no time.

The 4 bags of dirt are for planting the tree seeds.

I need to do more shopping today.  I forgot some things.  Derp.  Lucky for me, I have to go pick up Hubs' prescriptions and I have to hit the bank anyway, so it's not really an extra trip.  

By the way, honey from the Dollar General is way better than honey from Wallyworld. Bigger container for about the same price and it tastes better.

I've been doing pretty good about not thinking about the old job, but I have to drive by there to get to pretty much everywhere, and when I drive by, I start thinking about it again.  Also, I saw something yesterday that they're hiring again, which got my brain working.  I hope they didn't lose anyone I know, that business is good for them which means more techs, and that they've just learned they probably did need to replace me instead of deleting the position.  It's neither here nor there, but it's on my mind.

Finn doesn't want me to finish this blog post.  He's in my lap demanding attention, and it's hard to type with 13 pounds of cat in my lap wanting pets and scritches and loves.  He's such a sweetie.

And on that note, I'm outta here.  Have a great day!

Meet Duke

I've been inside Duke's head so much lately.  If you don't know Duke, let me fill you in...

Howard Ellington Noble, given the nickname Duke by his grandfather, is a private investigator.  Some people call him Hank, and that's okay with him, but he's Duke.  He's in his 50s and his hair is shot with gray.  He has an eye for the ladies, and they have an eye for him, but he's single and always has been.  He smokes.  He drinks. He drives nice cars.  He's loaded, partly because of an inheritance and partly because he does his job exceptionally well.  He's attractive and fit, even if he's not a young buck anymore.   

He was expected to take over the family business - Ellis Industries - when he completed his degree in business, but he stepped aside to start his private investigations.  His brother, Harry (or Harrison Farnsworth Noble), took over the business when their dad passed away.  He's okay with that, although sometimes his family isn't - even after all these years.

Basically, he's a good guy.  Basically, he's a law-abiding citizen.  Of course, he's willing to be a bad guy if the situation warrants it, and he's not afraid to break a law here or there if he needs to.  He has a healthy respect for police officers, treats people like he wants to be treated, and doesn't suffer fools.  

Intelligent, but not a brain.  Rich, but not a fop.  He'd rather eat at a diner than a 5-star restaurant.  He enjoys poker, but he's not a gambler.  

And he loves his mother, Bernice, even if she irritates him and makes him a little crazy from time to time. 

As an aside, Bernice is named after one of my own great-whatever grandmothers, so no, it's not misspelled. And it's pronounced Ber-niss in my head because that's how Mom pronounces it, but readers can pronounce it however they want in theirs.  I'm not picky.  No clue if the personality of the real Bernice is similar to the fictional one.  My Bernice died before I was born.  I don't think she'd be mad at the portrayal, though.  By the way, Bernice Noble named her sons, so that ought to give you some insight into her.  She didn't figure in RUMOR HAS IT, but she's pivotal to this new book.

The rest of Duke?  Well, you'll just have to read the book... soon to be books... and fill in the picture for yourself.  ;o)

Sunday Update - 2025 Week 8

Woke up late, got distracted, and here we are...

I finished inputting the second round of edit notes this past week, and I started making the next batch of notes.  This batch is the one where I make notes and then go enter them, so I'm done with about 61 pages worth of manuscript now.  Woot.

Marketing this week was focused on Blink on an I.  I only moved 50 copies.  :sad trombone:  I don't have anything set for this coming week because the majority of my books are set to renew their 90 days in KDP on Tuesday.  The only book that isn't with the others is SSS and I'm not sure I'm up to another week of lackluster downloads.  I'll probably wait and hit the genies books starting in March.

Still no reading.

In baking/cooking news, I made some awesome soup that I've now decided to call Chicken Cheddar Chowder.  Say that three times fast.  With that, I whipped together some biscuits.  Yum.  And later in the week, I did Parmesan-crusted pork chops.  Mmm.

On the activity front, I cleaned the dishwasher.  (If you don't think that's an active thing, you try getting in there and scrubbing the inside of your dishwasher.)  I also went grocery shopping - also an active thing if you do it right.  And yesterday, I went into the woods.  Walking up and down the hill in melting snow with mushy ground underneath will certainly get you using muscles you didn't know you had.  I'm feeling it this morning, lemme tell ya.  No stepping on the scale this week, though.  It's too cold to get naked unless it's for a shower and I'm not showering first thing in the morning until the temps rise.  

Speaking of temps, this past week gave us here at Sanderson Inc. LLC a low point of MINUS 5.  (Which was about on par with my mom in Michigan, but way too cold for SW MO.)  We also got like 6 inches of snow.  On the upside, we're supposed to hit the upper 60s sometime this coming week, so most if not all of the snow will disappear.  The robins I saw this week will certainly appreciate that.

Oh, the reason I went into the woods was to see if I could locate tracks near the hole where I suspect some critter has taken up residence.  Well, if they have, they've been inside since the snow fell because I didn't find any tracks near there that I couldn't identify as deer.  Coming back up the hill, I did see fox tracks, though, so yay.

Well... I think that's about it.  Sorry I was late today.  Have a great rest of your day, wherever you are.

Saturday Reading Wrap-up 2/22/25

Umm... welp... I'm still not reading other people's writing yet.  I am, however, reading my own.  Right now, I'm reading the third draft of the second Duke Noble novel.  In the process of reading that, I'm jotting down notes of things that need fixing, and once I get a page of notes, I'm walking over to my computer and entering the changes in the manuscript.  As if last night, I'm through page 61 or roughly 30%.  It seems to be really shaping up.  FWIW, I'm pleased with it. 

Okay, now you talk about what you've been reading. 

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...

1) Child Star by Shirley Temple Black (1/8/25) - autobiography

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy this reading journey with me.

Thursday This n That

That's right, it's Thursday... Derp.

It's freakin' COLD here.  Last time I checked it was -5.  Negative five.  37 degrees below freezing.  Blerg.

The wren in our garage is fat and happy and warm.  I've named him Woodstock.  He's not yellow, but he is a funny little bird.  We're leaving suet nuggets on top of the Jeep for him.  And there's a shallow pan with water.  And, of course, the space heater is keeping it above 40F in there.  (So the pipes don't freeze, not for him, but he gets the benefit of it.)

The news coming out of Israel is pissing me off royally.  If you support Hamas or the P'stinians, please stop coming by here.  I stand with the Jews.  How any person can stand alongside the people who are celebrating the murders of babies escapes me.  It must be some kind of insanity.

Anyway...

I got my first page of edit notes for this round done and entered into the manuscript.  This is the phase where I do that... make a page of notes, enter the notes, lather-rinse-repeat throughout the day.  One page of notes = 3 pages of manuscript.  I hope to make more progress today.  Might as well, I can't go outside or anything.

Last night, we sat down to watch a new series.  I had great hopes for it, but the series opener was unimpressive.  It had a couple spots that made me LOL, but not enough to sustain my interest.  :shrug:  Hubs and I looked at each other and said 'well, we did that'.  For those interested, it was Good Cop / Bad Cop.  Your mileage may vary, but it's not for us.  Still loving High Potential, but the season ender was last week, so we'll have to wait to see how they resolve the mystery next season.  

I made awesome soup the other day.  I'm calling it Chicken-Cheddar-Bacon-Potato Chowder.  I had defrosted a chicken breast and it's cold, so I got the idea for soup, did some recipe scanning, and then just starting throwing things in the pot.  Like I said, it was awesome.  We'll be having leftovers of it tonight for dinner.  Yum.

Speaking of food, now I'm hungry.  Have a great day.  Stay warm.  Eat something yummy.

Sheer Stupidity

As you probably all already know, there's a winter storm headed this way. We knew about this in advance, so I did all my shopping yesterday to make sure we were stocked up.  I had thought to see if Wallyworld had snow shovels - just to have a backup or if we wanted to double-up and work together to move the impending tonnage.  Wallyworld, in their infinite wisdom, has filled the area where they kept all the winter tools with summer stuff.  No snow shovels, but you can buy a lawn mower.  No salt but you can buy hoses.  

I asked a worker if they still had shovels in the back.  The kid blinked his eyes several times, looked at me as though I was speaking another language, and repeated that they don't have any snow shovels.  Did they ship all the snow shovels back to some unknown warehouse?  I don't know.  Apparently so.  I went farther into the store to continue my shopping and ran into another worker.  This one was older and seasoned.  I asked him about the snow shovels.  He gave me a wry grin and said they didn't have any.  He then pointed to an aisle behind him and said they got rid of the space heaters, too.  The aisle he pointed to was filled with fans and AC units.  The only heaters they currently have at my local store are propane camping heaters.  Sure, pick one of those up and asphyxiate yourself.  Woot.

At the time, they were predicting a winter storm that would drop 6-9 inches on us and drop the temps to below freezing.  (The snowfall has since been upgraded to 8-12 inches.)  The people around here are NOT prepared for winter, but the sheer stupidity of the higher-ups at Wallyworld decided February would be the perfect time to shift to summer stock.  

I didn't check the clothing, but I wouldn't have been surprised to find swimsuits and shorts where there ought to be coats and sweaters.

Right now, Wallyworld could be selling the hell out of their cold-weather gear and make huge profits.  Instead, they're pissing people off with items no one in their right minds would buy right now.  No wonder they're losing the battle to places like Amazon where you can find snow shovels in August and bathing suits in December.  

We all joke about them having Halloween stuff out in August and Christmas crap up before the bats and witches are put away for the season, but this is ridiculous.  Don't get me wrong. 90% of the time, I love Walmart, but this stupidity is mindblowing.  

:endrant:

Marketing Monday - Blink of an I

Okay, so I started this post around 6:30 this morning and then discovered just now that I never finished or posted it.  I guess this explains why no one has commented on it yet.  Anyway, here it is... 

It's Monday and that means marketing.  This week, the book is BLINK OF AN I, and it's totally free.  Here's today's ad copy:

Starting today, BLINK OF AN I is free worldwide.  (Always free with Kindle Unlimited.)  Pick up your copy of this gripping journey through a dystopian future we can only hope to avoid.

In the blink of an I, the world can change.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079X142G2

Run out right now and download a copy.  

Sunday Update - 2025 Week 7

 Yeah yeah, I know you know what year it is, but I started putting the year there so there wouldn't be any confusion if someone was doing a search.  (Not that there are many people coming here or searching for stuff, but I'm like that sometimes.)

This week was a slug week.  

I'm up to pg 107 in the edit notes, which means I did notes for 69 pages.  And this put me about halfway through.  If I could muster the gumption, I'd be done with this by now.  I am gumption-free at the moment.

I did do some marketing this week.  Dying Embers was free and I moved 814 copies.  I thought it was all me, but then it occurred to me that I had received what I thought was a spammy scammer email talking about they had promoted my book and all they were asking was that I share the link to their page... or something.  Like I said, I thought it was a scammer, so I marked it as spam and deleted it.  Oops.  If you're from there, email me again.  I'll put you out of spam.

I also got an email this week from someone who said they were a talent agent and they were interested in talking to me about taking UNEQUAL to the movies.  The agency they supposedly work for has a website, but no internet chatter.  The person isn't listed on their website as an employee.  And there's no chatter about them either.  Plus, their email address isn't from their website.  No movie deals for me, I guess.  (Not that I would want anyone in Hollywood coming anywhere near any of my books.  I don't trust them to do it right.  Especially not a book as philosophically driven as UNEQUAL.  They'd fuck that story up in a major way.)

Speaking of... well, books and freebies and philosophically driven stuff... BLINK OF AN I will be free starting tomorrow.  Woot.

No reading.

Loads of baking.  I made carrot cake for the first time.  :muppetflail:  I also made another batch of cinnamon rolls.  These turned out awesome.  I think I've got them down now.  Yay.  And I did bread pizza again.  Also, not baking but I made beef stroganoff in the crock pot yesterday and it was awesome.

No activity.  Like I said... slug.  I did weigh myself, though.  Weight: 172 - down a pound from the last weight.  Yay?

Wrong Way Wren is still in the garage.  I saw him yesterday and we can hear him singing in the mornings.  I thought I got him out after then, but Hubs heard him this morning and he ate his last suet pellet, so I guess he'll be a guest for another few days.  Once this polar snap is over, I'll try to encourage him out again.  

Sawyer's been a turd these past few mornings.  I figured out why today.  He likes to sleep in my desk chair, but I'm using it in the mornings.  This morning, he was meowing all over the place and making a general nuisance of himself.  Then I got up to do something.  He jumped into my chair, curled up and went to sleep.  I am now sitting in my old desk chair to preserve the quiet.

This week, I got a new project from the pay-job, so I've been hitting that pretty hard.  I have to pull data from 12 months and compile sales figures for that span according to the parameters the boss has given me.  It's a slog, but I like playing with data, so it's all good.  I've gone as far as I can without some needed data from the office, which isn't open on Sundays, so I can try to focus on editing today.  

Other than that, we're supposed to be getting a winter storm again this week.  We got a little bit of snow last night, and the temps are dropping.  Fingers crossed that whatever this is hits and moves out quickly and without too much fuss.  I don't like fuss.  Thank goodness I don't work outside the house anymore, but it does make errands a little iffy.  

Okay, I think that's it for me.  What's been up with you?

Thursday This n That

Wow.  I mean, just... wow.  The freebie thing for DYING EMBERS shot off like a freakin' rocket this week.  When I checked the stats this morning, my orders said 777.  705 of that is DE.  (71 was from last weeks freebie of PH. And I sold one FG.)  I've never moved that many copies of anything at one time.  Hell, I haven't moved that many copies of all of my books in an entire year since my first year. That year, I moved like 1016, which is fewer books than I've given away this year.  I am shocked.  This is my wow-face =oO.  Anyway, thank you.  Thanks to all of you who've read my books, and to all of you who've downloaded my books, and to all of you who've reviewed my books.  You're all awesome and I love you. :HUGS:  You're really making my anniversary special.  Special thanks to Silver and Debs and Janet for sticking with me all the way.  You guys rock.

Today is officially the 10th anniversary of DE going out into the world.  On 2/13/15, it went live on Amazon and I got my very first sale ever.  Woot.  

Speaking of sales, I've officially made more money this year than all of 2023.  Sure, it's $28.82 vs $28.08, but we have to take our little successes where we can find them, eh?

Man, these last few years have been a little depressing for me with regards to being a writer.  I mean, I haven't broken $100 since 2021.  The last year I made more than my average of $400/year was 2019.  But there's always hope.  And more than a little of a masochistic nature, LOL.

Okay, enough about that... I think I might've already mentioned it, but I made carrot cake.  It was good but unimpressive the first day.  Every day, it's gotten a wee bit yummier, though.  Mmmm.  Next time, I definitely need to add raisins.  I do love me some raisins.

The weather here has been gross.  Wet and cold and icy.  Blerg.  Good thing I got all my errands done over the weekend or we'd be screwed.  Eh, it's all about planning ahead when you live in the back of beyond.  

Ack.  I need to wrap this up so I can call Mom.  It's a thing.  Every morning M-Th, I call her at 7am and we talk for an hour.  She's 84 and, let's face it, she's not going to be here forever, so I like to get as much chatting in as I can.  Plus, I really enjoy our conversations.  There's no better way to start the day for me.  (I also call her on Saturday, but that's at 7:45.  She gets Fridays and Sundays off from me. LOL)

And with that I bid you all adieu.  Have a great day wherever you are!

Ten Years

I had a great idea for a post for today, but that was last night, and now it's gone.  So, let's see what I can come up with...

As you know, it's my 10th Anniversary celebration week.  Woohoo.  It's been one helluva ride (which is something you apparently can't say on FB because I had several marketing posts declined there yesterday using the made-up word 'helluva' when without the word, they were approved.)  

In the past ten years, I've published 17 novels in 8 genres - suspense, mystery, thriller, urban fantasy, paranormal mystery, dystopian, hard-boiled crime, and fantasy.  I have 4 series in the works (with more than one book in them) and two books that are waiting for their sequels.  One of those will have a sequel out either this month or next.  I have three books that will never have sequels - the two dystopians and the political thriller.  Hell, I didn't PLAN for any of my initial books to be the start of a series, but they worked out to be Book Ones.  SLEEPING UGLY, while planned as the start of a series, was not one of my initial books.  Just sayin'.

Over the decade of publication, I've sold almost 3300 books for nearly $4000.  So, that works out to about 330 books and $400 a year.  Ummm... woot?  I've also given away just over 8000 books.  

My biggest seller is DYING EMBERS, of course.  It's also the one that's been out there the longest, so no big surprise.  Then ACCIDENTAL DEATH.  Then WISH IN ONE HAND.  That's the order they were published in, so again no big surprise.  Unfortunately, the fourth oldest book is not next on the top sales list.  PROJECT HERMES isn't for everyone and that's fine.  It's #9 and has been passed by all the books in the genie series and the second book in the SCIU series.  

Sadly, my lowest seller has been my last book - SONG OF STORM AND SHROUD.  Poor thing.  It didn't get a whole lot of marketing love from me, since I went back to a day job shortly after it was published.  It's also supposed to have sequels which would help sales, but I haven't mustered the will to write those books yet.  I expect it will continue to languish in obscurity until I get those done.  The ideas for them are there, just not the words.  

Only 8 of my books have earned me more than $100 each.  The rest of them are still in the double digits.  It can disheartening.  Believe me.  I lost count of the number of times I swore I'd quit this endeavor.  It ain't for the faint of heart.  It might be a sign of a tendency toward masochism, but I'm undiagnosed by medical professionals, so we'll ignore that.  ;o)

I also lost count of how much money I've spent on this.  Last tally was over $11000 - most of that in the first year.  I'd like to eventually have this publishing thing fund itself, but I'm not holding my breath.

If I could go back and do it all over again, would I?  Yeah, I think I would.  I'd do a few things differently.  I wouldn't pay that first cover artist for WIOH for one thing.  All in all, though, I think I've done all of this the best way I knew how at the time.  I'm still at this and I don't foresee quitting any time soon.  

Anyway... here's to Ten Years!  Thank you to everyone who's helped me along the way and to all the readers who've enjoyed my work.  I can't wait to see what the next ten years bring.

Marketing Monday - 10th Anniversary!

 Hey all.  This week I'll see the 10th Anniversary of being a published author.  On 2/13/15, DYING EMBERS was pushed into the world.  So...

To celebrate my tenth anniversary as a published author, this week DYING EMBERS is absolutely free. (Always free on Kindle Unlimited.) It's been a helluva journey. Thanks for sharing it with me.

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

And it has been one hell of a journey.  Who knew when I started this writing thing back in January of 2004 - that's right, I've been at this for 21 years now - that I'd be a self-published author with sales and reviews and junk?  I certainly didn't.  Of course, when I started writing back in 2004, I thought that I'd be represented by an agent and have loads of traditional book sales by now.  

We all know how that turned out, eh?

Anyway, I'll talk more about that in the week to come.  Until then, pick up a copy of Dying Embers and enjoy my gift to you.  And if you enjoy it, pay it backward by leaving a review.  ;o)

Sunday Update - 2025 Week 6

Six weeks into 2025 and I'm feeling pretty good about life in general.  Specifics?  Eh, the jury's still out.

I finished the second round of edit notes on Tuesday, took a day off, and began inputting them.  I'm only at pg38, but it's going well.  I guess.  I'm trying to just go from note to note, but I keep finding things I missed making notes on, so it's going slower than anticipated.  Like I said, I won't meet my goal of having this finished by Valentine's Day.  Not even close.  I am shooting for before the end of the month now, but that will depend on how fast I can get these notes entered, the next pass through and notes completed, sent out to readers and how quickly they turn it around back to me.  Then there will be formatting, etc.  Actually, typing all that out now makes me wonder if I can have this done by Easter.  (And I don't know when Easter even is this year.)

I did some marketing this week.  Not nearly enough.  I slacked off on this one.  Project Hermes did move 71 copies and had some page reads, though.  Tomorrow, Dying Embers starts its freebie week in celebration of its ten year anniversary.  Woot.

Reading still isn't happening.  I can't seem to muster the urge to read right now.  :shrug:  This, too, shall pass.

In baking news, all I made this week was Italian bread pizza.  It's like French bread pizza, but with a loaf of Italian bread.  Big shocker there, eh?  Anyway, it was totally yummy, and I still have half a loaf of bread left to make it again sometime this week.  Also, this week, we need cinnamon rolls.  We ate the last two a couple days ago and I'm jones'n.  Oh, and I plan on making carrot cake this week.  Maybe today.  I bought a huge bag of carrots for this purpose and for the beef stew I made yesterday.  OMG, that stew turned out amazing.  Yummers.

On the activity front, I did something active 5 out of 7 days.  Cleaning, walking, woods work, etc.  Oh, and I went fishing one afternoon.  I didn't catch anything, but lugging the gear around after ages of not going fishing was a real workout.  Speaking of real workouts, day before yesterday, in addition to my puttering around in the woods, I lugged a couple dead dogwood tree trunks up the hill.  And I paid for every inch of both the trees and the climbs.  Dogwood is not a light wood.  OMG, ouch.  I'm still feeling that one.  Weight as of Wednesday: 173.0

I found a couple really neat rocks in the woods, too.  One of these days, I should take pictures of all my neat rocks and let y'all see them.  Anyway, one of them was small and has interesting differently colored stripes in it.  The other is bigger and has some kind of translucent brown mineral layered into the white base rock.  Not sure what it is, but it's cool, so home it came.  Hey, Hubs didn't tell me this time, as he often does, not to bring any rocks back with me, so I went for it.  LOL

Yesterday, I hit Wallyworld ahead of the coming weather scuz.  And this morning I remembered that I forgot coffee :gasp: and some other essential, but less important, things.  This means a Dollar General run shortly.  

And that's about all I have for you today.  I hope wherever you are, life is good for you, too.  Have a great day!  And leave me a comment or two when you get a chance.  

Thursday This n That

 I woke up late, hurried through some marketing, and called Mom.  Then I forgot I needed to post until I saw a friend talking about how her post was late today.  I'm so derpy sometimes.  Anyway...

Yesterday, I spent the morning scrubbing the drip pans on my stove.  Bar Keeper's Friend is an amazing product for stuff like that, but it's not infallible, and these were pretty far gone after 12 years.  After a while, I gave up and ordered new ones.  And new burner covers... because at least once a year, I accidentally turn on the wrong burner and end up burning the cover over it.  (If you've never done this, all kudos to you, you awesome person.)  While I was looking for new covers - I got black, by the way - I saw someone selling WOOD burner covers.  That seems like a horrible idea, especially given my penchant for burning the damn things.  A metal one just gets discolored.  A wood one would set the whole damn place on fire.  

Do you use burner covers?  My mom doesn't, and I didn't used to, but I got tired of wiping off the damn burners after every meal, so I got burner covers.  I can throw those in the dishwasher, easy peasy.  I'm lazy that way.

We heard foxes in the woods yesterday.  I think I found a spot where they're making a den.  There's been this hole in the woods for years.  Just recently, I've noticed fresh excavation signs... like a big pile of dirt outside the hole.  No paw prints in it, but someone is making a home.  I do hope it's foxes and there's a female making a home.  Baby foxes!  Yay!

On the way out of our neighborhood the other morning, I came around a curve on a hill and up ahead were several vultures huddled around something in the ditch.  As I approached, the vultures flew off and that's when I noticed the bald eagle standing over whatever carrion was there.  When I got closer, the eagle tried to take off with the carcass still clutched in one foot.  He made three attempts to fly away and finally dropped the dead thing in the middle of the road.  He perched in a tree and watched me as I continued past.  He was gorgeous.  The perfect example of an adult bald eagle.  Breathtaking.  (Yes, Virginia, eagles are carrion eaters.  Not exclusively, but hey, a bird's gotta eat.)

My dogwood seeds are germinating.  I checked the baggie in the fridge and I can see several white 'hair's in there.  So, we have roots!  Yay!  Not sure about any of the other seeds.  Time will tell, I guess.  If all I get are dogwoods, I'll still be happy.  

Okay, I think that's enough out of me this morning.  Time to get on with the rest of my day, especially since I'm running behind.  Derp.

Marketing Monday - Project Hermes

It's Marketing Monday again, and today thru Friday PROJECT HERMES is free.  

Starting today, PROJECT HERMES is absolutely free for a limited time. (Always free with your Kindle Unlimited subscription, but this is so everyone else can enjoy it, too.) Get your copy of this delicious medical, political thriller now!

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

But I think Marketing Monday probably should also be about you, so if you have any book(s) to market today, drop it in the comments.  Or if you know of an awesome book you didn't write that's on sale or new release or something, drop that, too.  If it's not too out there, I'll let the comment go through.  No spammers, please.  (My blog, my rules, doncha know.)

Have a great day and read loads of books!  (Starting with mine... lol)

Sunday Update - 2025 Week 5

Happy Groundhog Day!  (also known around here as Hubs' emancipation day and Ayn Rand's birthday)

Okay, so the weekly update goes something like this...

I am up to 83% of the book on edit notes.  I expect to finish the notes today and start inputting them.  I do not expect to have this ready to publish by the 14th like I hoped, but stranger things have happened. All in all, though, I worked on the notes every day and went from 34% to 83%, so that's a win.

I didn't do any marketing this week.  I do have a freebie starting tomorrow, though.  PROJECT HERMES is next up on the rotation.  Then, DYING EMBERS will be free the week after, in celebration of its 10th anniversary of being a published novel.  Woot.

No reading yet.  I'm just not feeling it at this time.  

In baking news, I was busy.  I did cinnamon rolls and pizza.  Talk about an arm workout.  I also did a vat of pulled pork, which gave me the opportunity to do Cuban sandwiches.  

As for activity, it went better this week.  Not great, but every journey begins with a single step and all that.  I got out of the house and wandered the yard one day.  Yesterday, I did some tree maintenance - cutting some pesky limbs and snipping others.  I also took out the last lilac stalk and pruned the rose bush in the side yard.  Then I went into the woods and threw some logs, after which I wandered around in the woods for a while.  All good exercise.  I haven't weighed myself lately, so... :shrug:

Ah, the lilac... Here's hoping it grows new shoots.  If not, it's outta there.  I'll replace it with something else bushlike or I'll just let the irises take over that spot.  We'll see.

I'm pretty sure we got the wren out of the garage.  Yay.

I did some genealogy research that I didn't have to pay for, so I could answer a question for Mom.  She was wondering if her grandmother ever became a citizen.  I don't have proof positive, but on the 1930s census, under Citizenship, it's marked YES.  So, we've got that going for us.  I've got the naturalization papers for Dad's dad and his grandpa.  I just need to find and download the papers for the others.  (No reason.  And nothing to do with the current panic about deportations.  Just for our own edification.)

Other that that, it's pretty tame around here.  How are things going in your world?