Sunday Update - Week 2

Well, it was another week of 2021.  I saw something on the webz that went like this: 2021 = 2020 won.  Umm, yeah.  It sure feels that way.  But enough about that...

I'm over here still plugging along.  I wrote 8167 words last week, writing every day but yesterday.  I needed a day off.  All I have left to write on this book is the denouement.  Wrap everything up in a neat little bow.  Anyway, I took yesterday off partly because I wasn't sure how to proceed with the end.  Then, as I was trying to go to sleep last night, it hit me.  I got up and wrote the idea down.  Then shortly after I went back to bed, it hit me some more, so I got up again and wrote that idea down, too.  I can write the ending today.  Yay.

And I think I have a title finally:  Duke Noble: Consequences.  We'll see if I come up with something better before I'm ready to go to publication.

And I've been pondering cover art.  Actually, I can picture the cover in my head.  It all depends whether I can pull it off.  

Marketing?  Umm, no.  My brain is all into the creating right now.  

Last week wasn't bonza for reading.  I only finished one book.  Well, actually, it was a five book omnibus, of which I'd already read three.  So I read two of the others all the way through and the beginnings of two others to the point where I realized I'd already read them.  But yeah, technically, only one book.  Yesterday, I DNF'd four books.  Blerg.

I got in 5 days with active stuff last week.  But I didn't weigh myself at all.  It probably hasn't changed from my last record: 181.6.

In the activity was a bout of clearing the south plot.  And then it snowed, so no more progress on that.  I'm still not sure if I'll do a garden there, but the work will keep me busy.

On the baking front, I made applesauce bread yesterday.  I also planned on making cookies, too, but I ended up vacuuming and then the gumption ran out.

Not sure if I mentioned it before, but Pierre the skunk seems to have moved on.  The leaves we packed around the wood pile haven't been moved.  I'd move, too, if my whole house smelled like moth balls.  Sorry, Pierre, but your stink was becoming an issue.  May you be happier elsewhere.

Yesterday, Lear the buck stopped by for some noms.  He's antlerless now, but that broken ear will always tell us who he is.  He looks good and yay, he made it through all the hunting seasons.

That's it for me for the week.  How did things go in your world?

The Cat-Less Cover

Quicker than expected, because she's so damned awesome, Jessica got me my new cover back already.  So, here it is...

Okay, so there's no beast on the cover.  And I miss the cat.  But the cat isn't really the beast anyway.  And putting the hellbeast on the cover would've been kind of art intensive since he's a figment of my imagination.

Additionally, I got some encouragement toward going ahead with publication sans my Awesome Wonderful Editor.  Still sitting the fence on that one, but I'm leaning farther now.  What I really need to do is finish writing Cinder Ugly, then finish all the edits for Ugly and the Beast.  And then decide what I'm going to do.  That'll give me plenty of time to hash this out with myself.

Part of the fun of life is not knowing what's gonna happen.  Right?

Sunday Update - Week 2

Good morning!  I hope it's awesome wherever you are.  And if it's not, I hope it will be awesome soon.

The writing isn't going as gangbusters as I would like, but it is going.  I'm over 10K on Cinder Ugly now.  I'm not sure I like where it's at right now, which isn't helping, but I told myself to get over it.  Write through it.  Get to a place where you do like what's going down on the page and you can always fix the crappy parts later.

I contacted my cover artist and she's removing the cat from Ugly and the Beast's cover.  I'll miss it, but it was necessary.   I should have a new cover that's pretty much the same as the old cover, sans cat, in the next couple weeks.  Woohoo.

Yesterday, I set up sales into the first week of March.  Starting Wednesday with a sale on the Dennis Haggarty Mystery novels and running pretty much through 3/7, there should be something on sale or free from my list.  I'll let you know about the sales as they happen.  I haven't set up any advertising yet.  We'll see what the budget looks like farther down the road.

I also finally sat down with the spreadsheet that details income and outgo for this writing business.  I hadn't updated 2019 since last January's numbers, so I did that and then made a sheet for 2020.  I might talk more about that tomorrow.  It's kind of depressing, which is why I hadn't updated it.

In reading news, it was a pretty good week.  Three books read and a couple DNFs.  I'm ahead on my goal, which is always good.

No baking this week.  I should be making granola bars sometime this week, though.

On the activity front, I did something active 5 out of 7 days.  It was all housework of some kind - washing windows, scrubbing the kitchen sink, cleaning the light fixtures, dusting the ceilings, etc.  I've lost a pound since the beginning of the year.  Unfortunately, when I stepped on the scale after the holidays, I had gained some weight, so I'm now at 181.6.

I've been an entire week without ice cream now and I ate the last of the potato chips this past week, so I won't be buying anymore of those.  Instead of ice cream, I'm eating vanilla yogurt with canned fruit.  It's an okay substitute.  I'm also trying to eat smaller portions of everything else.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Today, I'll be making chili, finishing the light fixture cleaning project, and washing the floors in the sun room.   ( I was just out there and it's too cold to wash floors out there today.)

The bucks are losing their antlers.  We now have one we call Half-Rack and one called No-Rack.  It's that time in the cycle.  As always, we hope to find a dropped antler or two somewhere on the property.  Haven't yet, but there's always hope.

Friday a storm blew through and dumped 3 inches of rain on us.  It also dropped a couple tornadoes within like 90 minutes of here.  Then Saturday, we got nano-hail.  Tiny clear balls of ice dropped on us for a while.  They were bouncing everywhere.  Maybe a half inch of accumulation.  What fun.  I stayed inside for all of it.  Actually, I haven't stepped outside since Wednesday, when I went to Wallyworld.  =oO

Okay, I think that's everything.  How did your second week of 2020 go?

Sunday Update - Week 5

It's February!  How did that happen?

Anyway, I did stuff last week...

I'm finally back to writing, albeit in fits and starts.  As of last night when I scheduled this post, Evil Space Bunnies was at 8.5K.  Ron and Marcy are in the thick of it.  Stuff's happening.

The Once Upon a Djinn sale starts today (US and in the UK), so I've been busy working up to that marketing spree.  An acquaintance of mine will be putting it in her newsletter today.  I have an ad in Bargain Booksy on Tuesday for Wish in One Hand.  And I'll be pimping the FB groups throughout.  Oh, and I made a new banner for my Once Upon a Djinn FB page.  (If you haven't already followed it, shuffle on over.)

February means my spot with my cover artist came up.  This spot is for Cinder Ugly.  She gave me the option of putting it off, but I know if I put it off, it'll never get done, so I'm doing it.  Maybe that'll light a fire under my ass to write the damn books.  You know, once I'm done with ESB.

Reading was slow.  

Let's not talk about exercising and weight, shall we?  We walked the loop on Friday and I was so out of shape that I spent yesterday sore as hell.  I'm not letting that stop me, but I think I need to go back to babysteps until I'm back into shape enough to do the loop.  That last hill to the house is a killer.

Sore or not, I spent about an hour in the woods yesterday.  Mostly I was sawing dead limbs off cedar trees.  There's something wonderful about the smell of freshly sawed cedar.  Of course, most of the work was at the bottom of the hill and when I was done, I had to trudge back up the hill.  Ugh.  Then I had the bright idea to go for a walk. 

We were supposed to do the bedroom carpet yesterday, but by executive decision, I called it off.  It'll either happen today or next weekend.  If my leg muscles aren't so damn sore.

Thursday, Hubs made Thanksgiving Dinner - turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce.  Yummers.  But it totally messed up my time continuum.  You have a holiday dinner when it isn't a holiday and see how you fare.  =op

The Super Bowl is tonight, I guess.  I'm not watching.  I quit football cold turkey back in the sumemr of 2017 and haven't looked back.  I won't even sneak a peek for the commercials - because those will be on TV sooner or later.  Some of them are already on YouTube.  Someone did a poll and like 60+% of those polled don't care about the Super Bowl this year.  That's the free market at work there, folks.  You piss off enough customers and your income goes down.  Tada.

Alright, that's it for me.  How was your week?

Sunday Update - Week 42

Well, would ya look at that... it's Sunday again.  Embrace it while you can because Monday's a comin'.  Now let's wrap up last week.

No new writing, but I did get some editing done.  Not nearly as much as I would've liked, but it was one of those 'god, I can't bear to look at this thing' weeks.  This is due back to the AWE by November 5th, so I better get my buns in gear.

The cover artist has my ideas for UatB's cover.  She's jammed this month, but she'll start work and get it to me in early November, which is cool by me.

Reading also did not go as well I as I wanted.  Maybe it's the books.  Maybe it's me.

I got the iris bulbs replanted.  All those little leaves poking up make me feel like Spring, even if it has gotten chilly here.  And it's the least they can do since I spent all that time putting them back in the ground. 

Friday I made a batch of corn bread and then made a batch of cake cookies in bar form.  Now that it's cooler, I feel all bakey.  Hubs is happy because he gets yummy things to eat.

I found this new online timesuck - WordRage.  I'm not linking to it because it's a timesuck.  Like any of us need more of those. Ugh.

Let's not talk about exercise and weigh loss, eh?  I was pretty active in the gardens, but it's not a huge calorie burning activity.  I also went fishing, and while that is an activity, 90% of it is spent sitting on my butt.  The biggest exercise I get is hauling my stuff from the car to the fishing spot and back.  

Nothing much else going on.  What's up with you?

Oh, I almost forgot...  Sleeping Ugly goes on sale Wednesday and will be 99c/99p through Devil's Night (October 30th).   Actually, I kind of did forget, but I remembered a little this morning.  I need a freakin' assistant.  One who works for free.  Ugh.

Rambling

I woke up this morning thinking it was Monday.  Took me a bit to reset the brain and convince myself it wasn't. 

Saw someone this morning who'd misspelled the title of their own book in the marketing copy of a FB post.  Thankfully, the cover was spelled right.  Proofread, people.

So, I contacted my cover artist yesterday to let her know I was ready when she was.  She's jammed, so I gave her the option of pushing the UatB cover back.  It's not like I need-need it right this month.  Hell, if I don't get off my dead ass, I might not need it this year.  We'll see what she says. 

We took a walk yesterday.  It was only 48 degrees.  I am so not ready for that cold yet, especially considering it was in the 80s last week.  I bundled up in a turtle neck, a sweater, and a fleecy jacket.  I was even wearing gloves.  My core was comfortable, but my face and legs were chilly cold.  Bleh.  I guess I need to get back to exercising inside.

I DNFd another book yesterday.  Which kind of made me sad because it was in a series I had once enjoyed.  But the book was irritating the bejeezus out of me.  Life's too short to continue reading irritating things.  It was probably just me.  There's only so long I can continue reading a series before I'm just annoyed with it.  Familiarity breeds contempt and all that.  I had the same thing happen with The Cat Who series and with the Dresden Files series.  Which is probably why I stopped writing Once Upon a Djinn at four books.  Enough was enough for me.  Sorry to the readers who wanted more but writing more of those wouldn't have been a good thing for anyone.

Sitting and thinking about Ugly and the Beast, I realize the problems I was having were caused by a need to rewrite the thing.  I got off on a weird tangent and it was turning into a book I didn't want to write.  Do-over!  But not right now because I got the edits back for Unequal. 

I am so not ready to face the edits.  But I'm going to get ready because I need to get this book out this year.  I've made a commitment and I'm sticking to it.  So, suck it up, buttercup, and get your butt to work.  =op

That's enough rambling out of me this morning.  Comments?  Questions?  Whips to crack? 

Sunday Update - Week 36

So, here we are in the middle of September.  Not sure how that happened.  I guess publishing four books in a year (three down, one to go) will do that to a gal.  Well, that and other things.  :shrug:

Okee doke, here we go...

I slacked off last week on writing.  I'm at just over 27K words.  I hit that thing I talked about earlier in the week over at OTB and fell flat on my face.  So, I spent some days not thinking about it.  Friday and Saturday I sat my ass down with a notepad and really thought about where I was at and where I was headed. I'm hoping to get some major writing done today.

Work began on the cover for Unequal.  Umm... yah.  I know what I want to do, but I don't think it'll be what dystopian readers are looking for.  Lord knows, I thought the first cover I did for Blink was awesome and it flopped.  The second cover of that ain't blowing people's skirts up either.  If my cover artist wasn't up to her eyeballs in work, I'd see what she could do.  I do have a slot in her schedule next month, but that's supposed to be for the cover of UatB.  And I need that done, so I think I'll leave it.  Cross your fingers for me on Unequal's cover.

I finished reading four books last week.  Three of them are on my reading update and the fourth got finished yesterday.

I've been trying to think of some kind of marketing plan for this month, but meh.  I should've been thinking about Sept marketing in Aug.

The ol' activity thing fell down last week, too.  Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday I did some form of exercise.  Wednesday I cleaned.  The other days I sat on my ass for the most part.  Still, I managed to reach a milestone on Friday and finally got below 180.  Two-tenths of a pound below, but hey, there's a seven in the tens spot after about a decade, so I'm ecstatic.  Anyway, I think I lost some weight (technically, about a half a pound overall) despite my laziness because I ate smaller portions of smarter foods.

Oh, hey, one of this year's fawn has tiny baby buttons*!  He's so cute!  I love it when you can finally tell their genders.  Unfortunately, they're all losing their spots, too.  My babies are growing up.  :sniffle:

We've been seeing a lot of different birds in the yard again, so I'm declaring migration is in session.  At least here in MO.  We've had a girlie tanager hanging around (not sure if it's a Summer or a Scarlet) and a vireo (either a Warbling or a Red-Eyed) and some different little warblers.  I love migration season.  Soon, we'll have Bald Eagles again!

Well, I guess that's it for me this week.  How are things in your little corner of the world?


*Antler buds.

Sunday Update - Week 28

Hello there.  Fancy meeting you here.  =o)

It's Sunday in the Ozarks.  Here's a look at last week...

I finally got that round of edits done and sent off to AWE on Friday.  I think I ended up adding like 7K words or something.  So, Sleeping Ugly is sitting at around 61K right now.  We'll see if she gives me anything else to add over the next round of edits.  It's due back to me on or around the 11th of August.  Which means I'm still on track for a release date of August 29th.  Might not make a pre-release, though.  We'll see. 

Also, in the writing category, I got some more words done on Ugly and the Beast.  I had an epiphany for later in the book and also an epiphany for a new beginning - which I started last night.  (The unwritten epiphany is jotted down on a sticky note so I won't forget.  As if I could.  It's a game-changer.)    I didn't get a lot of words written yesterday, but that's because I was second-guessing every word.  That's what I get for trying to write new words after a marathon editing session.  I'll get back to work on UatB shortly.

And I'm working with my cover artist on the cover for SU.  Should be really awesome.

It was a limited reading week because I was so focused on getting the edits done.  I only finished one book by the time I posted yesterday's update, and I finished Rebecca last night.  It was kinda disappointing.  :shrug:

I managed to get out and go fishing once.  Caught two little bluegills.  But that wasn't the point.  I've been jones'n for the shore and being out really helped clear the cobwebs, so it's all good.

Last week was not a banner week for being active.  Only four days worth.  But I did get my shot and after adjusting for the scale's 7 lb inaccuracy, I'm at 181.4lbs.  Which means an overall weight loss of 6 pounds since April.  (194.4 minus 7 = 187.4) 

Something ate all my lilies right to the ground.  Hubs said he saw a buck headed down the side of the house (where they don't usually go) and the next day the lilies were gone.  Jus' sayin'.  As if the gardens weren't having a hard enough time with the damn drought.

Speaking of drought, we got a real gusher last week and then a few little rains.  So, like 2" worth of moisture.  The grass might actually need mowing this week.  Hubs hasn't had to mow since early last month. 

Well, that seems like about all I have this morning.  I might've forgotten something, though.  I have edit brain.  What's up in your little slice of the universe?

Sunday Update - Week 27

Well, hello again.  Welcome back.  Grab a cup of coffee and set yourself down a spell.

In the writing sphere, I finished the pretty pink, line by line edits on Sleeping Ugly on Friday, as scheduled (which felt like a major win for me lately - hitting a deadline).  Next up, the deep content suggestions my editor made.  And some tweaking of my own.  Still on target for having this ready no later than Wednesday.  I'm looking at an August 29th release date.

I'm currently working with my cover artist for SU's cover.   We've got some good ideas and a cool cover model picked out.  I'm sure she'll make it awesome.

I read 7 books last week, too.  Crankin' and spankin'.  And no DNFs.  Yay.

And I got a boatload of work from pay-job.  I'll have that done by Monday morning.  

On the activity front, I did 5 out of 7 days (6 if you count watering the gardens as something active).  Still no more weight lost.  But shot day is Tuesday, so fingers crossed that helps.

We're still only seeing one fawn.  Little Prince has two almost solid stripes of spots down either side of his neck, so it's easy to confirm that every time we glimpse a fawn, it's him.  I picked up another water pan for the deer.  It's been so hot and so dry they're chugging the water down and we have to fill the one pan we had three times a day.  So, I got another one.  They're still getting used to the newness in the yard, but Little Prince wet right to it and drank his fill. The others will get there, too.

This weather is crapping out my gardens, even with the every-other-day watering I'm doing.  Rain!  We need Raaiinn!  We had thunderstorms roll through yesterday evening and not a freakin' drop.  Bleh.  It's supposed to get a tad cooler next week, so there's that.  Too little too late probably.  =o\

Well, that's all from me, folks.  What's up with you?

Sunday Update - Week 16

Like sands through the hourglass, so are the weeks of our...

Early Grave went live in the wee hours of Thursday morning, so I didn't write or edit at all last week.  I did some marketing posts, updates, and tweets.  And I updated all the blogs so the cover image links to Amazon.  And I updated the SCIU page over on Outside the Box.  Busy busy. 

Friday I saw on FB that my cover artist is booked through to mid-July, which sent me into a panic because I want to have her skills for the cover of Sleeping Ugly and I had planned on releasing that in August.  I wrote her and asked her when she could squeeze me in, so I can plan for it.  She wrote back and told me she can start my cover in mid-July and have it ready for my release in August.  Whew.  Then I spent Friday night and Saturday morning trying to figure out what I want on the cover.  I totally was not in the place in my head to do that, but I think I finally shook something out of the monkey tree.  We'll see.

I need to get to work on editing Sleeping Ugly so it will be presentable when my editor gets a space in her schedule at the beginning of June.  

I contacted a marketing venue about some advertising next Friday.  Except the form brainfarted.  She hasn't gotten back to me yet.

Release day was a non-event.  I sold one book and that was to myself.  Someone read a few pages.  I assume I know who that is and she's on such a tight schedule, she can only read a few pages at a time.

I went fishing yesterday.  It was also a non-event.  The first place I got a few bites but no fish, and then someone else showed up to fish there, so I went to my go-to spot.  My go-to spot was so packed with cars and their trailers, I couldn't find a place to park, so I went home.

I've been reading right along now that I have a break in work.  Nothing that really blew my skirt up last week, so I'm not going to bother with titles.

As for the 'getting healthier' thing, I've been doing it.  To that end, I bought a new scale.  And promptly discovered my old scale was off.  :shudder:  Stepped on the new scale and freaked out.  Then I made Hubs get on the scale.  Then I made Hubs get on the old scale.  Yep, the old one was off.  Eight pounds off.  Which made me feel a little better because I had NOT gained 8 pounds.  Makes me a little nauseous when I think about what I used to actually weigh, though.  There I was all proud that no matter how much I'd gained, I still hadn't rounded the 200 mark, but that was a lie.  Oh, well.  I'm under 200 now, so that's all that matters.  I also learned that my jammies weigh 3.5 lbs.  Even better.  Weigh naked, folks.

That's it for me right now.  How'd your week go?

To Dos and To Dones

So, anyway, it's Tuesday.  I was a busy gal yesterday and I'm kind of burned out this morning. 

- The sale for the Dennis Haggarty books started, so I spent a bunch of time posting about that on FB. (AD is #11 on the free Noir list this morning and #61 in overall free Crime, so that's something)
- The new cover for Blink is live.
- The name change for Blood Flow is working on it.  The Amazon page already says Project Hermes, but the cover isn't there yet.  Createspace, on the other hand, is giving me fits with the cover, which was built off the cover for Blood Flow, but suddenly it's somehow not the right size even though the book itself hasn't changed.  Derp.
- I bought 5 bags of marble chips for the front walkway and spread those.  Need about 8 more because they ended up being way whiter than the old chips and now it looks weird.  Ten would be ideal.  Plus, I need about 6 bags of river rock, but the store was out and I can't carry that many bags of rock in my stealth pick-up (i.e. my little four-door sedan).
- Worked on spreadsheety stuff
- Edited 29 pages of Early Grave, only 30 to go.

Today, I need to...

- Finish those last 30 pages of inputting edit notes and get started on the major points AWE made in the edit letter, so I can get this to her by the end of the week (or earlier, if I bust my butt).
- Figure out what the hell is up with the cover of PH.
- Do some more marketing stuff for the sale.
- exercise
- Touch base with the office to see if there's anything they need me to do today.
- Do whatever they need.

There are probably more things.  There are always more things.  And I'm tired just thinking about the things I have to do without adding more to the pile.

What's on your lists today?

Sunday Update - Week 1

Well, here we are again at the beginning of another year.  2018.  May it be our best year yet, eh?

I started the week editing like a regular writer and ended the week editing like a madwoman.  Big fun.  I'd start somewhere between 5am and 6am, edit off on on all day, then call it quits between 7pm and 8pm. Because of this, I got 'er done.  Blink of an I is now in the hands of my AWE (Awesome Wonderful Editor).  It'll be back by the end of the month. 

Meanwhile...  I went through the usual black hole void of post-editing, wherein I sit around feeling like I OUGHT to be doing something and wondering what the hell to do with myself.  That took about 28 hours.  Then I figured 'screw it' and got back to editing on Early Grave last night.  I hope to have EG edited to a point where I can turn it over to AWE after Blink goes live.

I spent some of my downtown between finishing Blink and getting back to EG working on book covers for Blink.  Check out Outside the Box tomorrow for a fun post about that.  

Reading?  Well, I'm kind of sucking already on my Goodreads goal, but I'm reading a behemoth of a book - Shogun by James Clavell.  It's like 1200 pages and I'm on page 150-something. 

Let's not talk about fishing right now, shall we?

Actually, I don't have much else to talk about.  It was too cold to do anything outside.  And I was too busy to think about doing anything inside except sitting here editing.  There was sleeping, too, but not a lot of it and what there was wasn't very good.  I slept better Saturday night because the book was out of my hands. 

What was up in your worlds for the auspicious beginning of 2018?

Sunday Update - Week 30

Good morning. It's morning and I'm still waiting for the coffee to kick in.  Bear with me.

Writing - I laid down 12695 words last week.  It should've been over 14K, but I took Friday off.  As of last night, Sleeping Ugly is sitting at 43833 words.  Everything feels rushed right now.  Natch, because I'm trying to get this on paper before I get distracted with the edits for Wish Hits the Fan.  Which I don't actually think I'm going to get 100% of this first draft done by then, so I really need to chill out.

I received the preview of the cover for Wish Hits the Fan.  It's so shiny and pretty.  It has Jo.  It has a magical swirl.  It's red this time.  And that's all I can tell you until she gets it all finished up. 

Reading - I started Jennifer Lyon's Savaged Vows.  It's awesome.  It's also harshing my ability to sleep, so I had to set it aside for a few days.  Maybe after Monday I'll be able to take some time and finish it.

Fishing - See yesterday's post.

Yesterday we saw a doe leading three fawns out of the woods.  I suspect we have our first set of triplets.  Whitetail does do have triplets about 15-20% of the time, so it's not outside the realm of possibility.  They're not identical fawns, though, which is why I'm not totally certain.  Two look alike and the third one is a bit bigger.  Still possible, though.  How exciting.

We have a little baby raccoon visiting the yard all by itself.  I'm pretty sure they aren't supposed to leave their moms this early, so it makes me kind of sad, but it's eating and it looks healthy, so we're keeping our fingers crossed.

Okay, time for me to infuse some more coffee into my system and wake up a little.  Have an awesome day everyone. 

How are things in your world?  Anything to update?

Sunday Update - Week 27

Hey All.  My eyes are full of grit and I'm kind of brain fried.  And the coffee is working its magic sloooow this morning.  But here we are...

After a few days of marathon editing, the end is in sight.  As of the time of this posting, I have 5 pages of edit notes spanning the last 72 manuscript pages left to go.  Considering I wound up with 19 pages of edit notes, I'm gonna say it's a definite possibility I will be finished by tonight.  I don't think there's anything major left to do.  Could be wrong.  Like I said, I'm brain fried.

In other news, the paperback copies of Up Wish Creek arrived.  I was going to set up a Goodreads contest, but I discovered I never set up a paperback page for that book.  That has to be done first and right now, it's on a back burner.  Monday, I'll do that and set one up for Natural Causes.  Then I'll set up a contest for UWC.  Once the NC copies arrive, there'll be a contest for one of those, too.

Speaking of contests, Deb Salisbury will have a copy of Blood Flow headed her way once she confirms her address via besanderson at gmail dot com.  It's a copy with the original cover, which I still think is totally cool.  I just had to change it to match the ebook cover, which I changed to be more 'in line' with what readers are expecting to see on a political suspense cover these days.  Anyway, congratulations Deb!

New Cover

Original Cover

I didn't do any reading last week because of the looming deadline thing.  I fully expect to be reading tomorrow.  First up, Silver James' latest Harlequin - Claiming the Cowgirl's Baby.

I managed one good morning of fishing.

And lastly, not but leastly, we saw the first fawn of the year last Sunday.  Since then, we've seen two others - twins.  Here's the single:

That's not the back of her mother, btw.  Mom's off to the right.  That's her older sister - a 2016 model.

Well, that's it for me this week.  Whazzup with you?

Sunday Update - Week 26

Here we are at halfway through the year.  Time flies, eh? 

Okay, so for the halfway week of the year, here's how it went down...

I'm motoring my way through the edit notes on the 2nd draft of Wish Hits the Fan.  Oh my god, it's so bad.  Well, not bad, per se.  The story is still awesome.  The writing?  Definitely needs a lot of work before any other human sets eyes upon it.  Not sure exactly where I'm at in it - since I'm working off the Kindle and I don't remember the last percent number and I'm too lazy to walk across the house - but I'm getting there.  Plan is to have these notes done and input into the manuscript, so I can send this off to JC on the 9th.  Still on target for a September release, good lord willin' and the creek don't rise.

I ordered copies of Up Wish Creek and they've shipped.  I also have proof copies coming of the new Blood Flow cover and of the print copy of Natural Causes.  Once those get approved, they'll be available for sale and I'll order copies.  Why I'm doing this when I haven't sold a print copy in a long freakin' time?  I'll write about that tomorrow on Outside the Box. 

Not sure what's up next for actual writing.  I should be finishing Early Grave, but the current social climate in America is making that an uncomfortable proposition.  And I'm a coward.  I mean, I should be able to write about whatever I damn well please, but the people on the other side are scary and I don't want them visiting my house.  Know what I mean? 

I did some fishing last week.  It's getting too hot and too summer-peopley to be out for too long.  If you read yesterday's Fishing Report, I did go out and I did drive by the park.  It was still closed.  The bait shop gal told me the opening was planned for noon.  Ugh.  I fished elsewhere for an hour.  But the river traffic was annoying and the fish weren't biting anyway. 

I've been reading stories from Masterpieces of Mystery and Suspense.  It's a big anthology of short stories, so it's taking a while.  I think I'm about a third of the way through.  It's been a good break from longer stories and loads of fun.  I read a story, wander off and do other stuff, then read another story.  All without having to maintain the thread of a whole book in my head.

Well, I think that's about it.  Enjoy your Independence Day holiday if you're here, enjoy Canada Day if you're up there, and otherwise, enjoy your week. 

Thursday This n That

First off...

I said I'd give you the cover when I had the cover, and there it is.  It's uploading to Amazon as I type this.  I still need to put it up everywhere else the old cover is posted.  Should be done by the end of the day. 

A former employer approached me with an interesting business proposition yesterday.  A non-writing business proposition.  I'm considering it.  Expectation is that it would take 10-20 hours a week.  During regular business hours, so it wouldn't really interfere with my writing - which I do at night for the most part.  Weighing the pros and cons now.  I should make my decision one way or the other by the end of the weekend.  I'll let you know after I let them know.

So, yesterday, some dipshit attacked an off-duty police officer at Bishop International Airport in Flint, MI.  He was reportedly shouting 'allahu akbar'.  In Flint, MI.  For those of you who don't know, I grew up in a little farming community outside Flint.  I mean, Flint sucks and it has for most of my life.  I grew up knowing to stay the hell out of Flint proper because it was such a hole.  But Islamic terrorists haven't been on the radar there.  At least not for me.  Murder?  Yep.  Robbery?  Oh most certainly.  Rape, etc.?  Definitely.  But Islamic terrorism?  Wait, what?  No way.  I mean, Bishop is only an 'international' airport because it has some flights into Canada.  (I think that's it.  It may have flights to Mexico and the Caribbean by now.  I haven't actually been to Bishop since 2001.)  Of course, Flint is only about 90 minutes out of Dearborn, which has a huge - and so far low-key - Muslim population, so it probably shouldn't be as surprising as it was to me.  It's just that I wouldn't have expected to hear about this shit there.  Hell, it's only about 30 minutes from my mom.  =o\

The world, she is a changin'.  In scary, weird, asinine, unexpected ways.  I don't know about you, but it kinda makes me want to dig a bunker and become heavily armed.

But I have books to write and promises to keep and miles to go before I... Well, you get the picture.

To that end, I'm at pg 131 in my edits.  Even with the business proposition looming in my head.  Even with a phone call from the Kid last night.  Even with the world spiraling into a craptastic mess.  I'm still working.  Finally.  You have no idea - okay, maybe you do - what a relief that is.  And I'll keep working as long as the world lets me.  Cuz this is America.  And fuck those who would make it NOT America.  Am I right or am I right?

That's it for me today.  How's about you?

Sunday Update - Week 8

I woke up late this morning... well, after 6 which is late for me, and I'm a little bleary-eyed, so bear with me.

I finished Wish Hits the Fan's first draft yesterday morning.  It ended up being just under 48K words.  No worries, though.  I have tons of stuff I need to weave back in - description, setting, back story...  LOL, yeah, it sounds like I actually didn't write a book there, doesn't it?  :shrug:  Right now, it's bare bones.  I can give it flesh later.  Skeletal story.  Skelestory! 

Umm...

I did a little reading, but all of it was yesterday.  I finished a novella called Scaling the Rim - a SF romance.  It was good.  Not great.  But good.  4 stars.  I think I would've enjoyed it more if it were fleshed out more.  But I'm a long writer / reader. 

Which reminds me.  Yesterday I posted something about not having to write last night and a friend suggested I write a short-short or something - because there's always writing to be done.  Umm... yah... I don't write short.  In fact, WHTF is probably the shortest first draft of a novel I've ever produced.  (The longest was 147K, btw.)  Yes, I do have a couple short stories out there that I did when I was struggling with a novel.  But they aren't my length of choice.

I did a bunch of fishing last week.  If you're interested see yesterday's Fishing Report. 

I also got some progress done on the cover for Natural Causes.  So far, I'm pleased with the results.  I took the pic I'd posted before, found an old cross and cobbled that in, found a cover model and I'm working on getting her tweaked so she can be put into the scene.  I tried some stuff with the title that I hated, but it's progress.  I'll get the cover closer to done this week. 

All of our flower beds are uncovered now.  The hyacinths are blooming.  The crocuses are barely even up.  Weird.  The lilac bush has leaves.  The redbud has the first little red buds on it.  Spring.  Ah.  Then we got a cold snap yesterday.  Fingers crossed it didn't kill off anything.

Let's see...  Ah, yes.  I also did some Spring cleaning last week.  My desk is dust free for the first time in months... err... weeks?  Yeah, weeks sounds better than months.  (But it was probably months.  I'm not known for my housekeeping abilities.)  I still have to dust the book shelves in the office.  That's a chore and a half, so I'm dragging my feet.

That's it for me.  What did you do last week?  Did I miss updating anything you're interested in?  Always feel free to ask if you're waiting for news on something and I'm forgetting it.

Sunday Update - Week 25

Nothing witty to say here, so let's just jump right into it...

I got the deep edit for Up Wish Creek done on Thursday night.  Then I took Friday off.  I was supposed to jump back in yesterday for some more little tweaks, but I couldn't muster the will, so I took that day off, too.  I still should have this to my editor on the 30th.

Someone awesome sent me the neatest prezzie last week.  It's a little leather-bound notebook with my initials on the front cover.  It's my BS notebook!  =o)

This is the last few days to take advantage of Accidental Death being on sale.  It's 99 cents right now.  I'll be raising the price back to $2.99  on Thursday.

Wish in One Hand is now 99 cents and probably will be until I launch Up Wish Creek.  Although, I might throw in a few free days when it gets closer to release day.

Just because... here's a teaser of the Up Wish Creek cover:

I haven't been writing anything new lately.  Not sure what's up with that.  It's almost as if I can't seem to put new words out until all of these other books are set free into the world.  I really need to get over that.

You've already heard of my car troubles, so no sense rehashing that.  All is well.  Except when we were poking around under the hood, I noticed something has made a nest up in there.  Not sure what until a couple days ago when I was pulling out of the driveway and noticed a mouse running out from under my car.  Umm, yeah, she's getting evicted this morning.  After Hubs wakes up and has his coffee.

The bats are back under my bathroom window casing.

No fawn sightings yet.

What's going on in your world?

Worldwide Cover and Blurb Reveal - Fertile Ground (S.C.I.U. #2)

No consent required.

Adam Wyte has been nothing special his entire life, but everyone will remember him once his mission is complete. His diabolical plan to sow his seed and reap sons is so far along, no one can stop him now. And his carefully chosen list of women will help him—whether they want to or not.  

Justice is essential.

With the shadow of Jace Douglas’ success hanging over her, Agent Teri Buchanan transferred away from the S.C.I.U. headquarters intent on proving she’s as good as the next woman. And if moving to the Detroit branch also lets her bury the memories of her own attack, even better. When her first assignment means hunting down a serial rapist turned killer, she can’t let her fears interfere with her job. Even if she ends up confronting a need to carry out more justice than she ever received.

----------------------
This is not available for pre-order yet.  I plan to have it loaded to Amazon on the 16th.  Meanwhile, head on over to Goodreads and Want to Read it.  

Sunday Update - Week 11

In Deep Wish is almost live.  Pre-order now to get it on your ereader first thing Tuesday. 

Wish in One Hand's ad with Bargain Booksy did pretty well.  Sold some copies of that, got a few new orders for IDW.  WIOH is still 99 cents, if you're interested in snagging a copy and haven't yet. 

I got the print cover for IDW, uploaded it to Createspace, and ordered a proof copy.  That'll be here Wednesday, so if all looks peachy, it'll be available to order soon.

I finished the read-through on Up Wish Creek.  It needs a pinch of something, but that's what edits are for.  I think I might have to change the end entirely and add a little somethin'-somethin' to make for a smoother transition into the next book.  (I have not even begun to think about Once Upon a Djinn #4, so don't ask.)  Today, I'll be looking at background images for the cover for UWC so I can get the artist started on that.

Thursday night I got a book idea right before I went to bed.  SCIU #3.  I started writing it last night.  Not sure if I'm headed in the right direction, but it has begun.  800+ words so far.  No title yet. This one, I think, will be out of the Denver office.  LOL, all D towns so far - Dallas, Detroit, Denver.  Maybe I should move the field office to Salt Lake City, just to stir things up a little.  If you were going to open a field office in the Rocky Mountain region, which city would you pick?  Oh wait, never mind.  I just had an epiphany.  We'll see how it plays out.

I'm trying to ignore the time change this morning, but it ain't working.  Woke up at 6am (7am) and according to my 'puter clock it's a quarter after 8, which means I need to get my buns in gear if I want to hit Wallyworld before 10.  (I avoid crowds if I go before 10.)

I heard about something mildly annoying this week.  It seems Amazon is beginning to tag authors who have their Table of Contents at the ends of their books.  I put mine at the end because, as a reader, I hate having to scroll past the TOC to get to the story.  But having one at the end farques up the Kindle Unlimited page reads, I guess, so those of us who have one at the end seem like we're trying to game the system, which pisses Amazon off.  Sooo, I'll be moving my TOCs and re-uploading books to stay ahead of any potential nastygrams.  I already did Blood Flow. 

Oh yeah, I changed the cover for Blood Flow.  It looks like this now:

Still not seeing any sales, but I'll keep trying.  Next up might be a title change.  We'll see.

I can't think of anything else to update y'all on, so it's your turn.  What updates do you have?