Marketing Monday - Rumor Has It

Hello!  Welcome to another installment of Marketing Monday.  Today, I'm pretty excited because not only do I have a free book to offer you, but for the first time in three years, I have a new release!!  

First, the free book...

To celebrate the release of its sequel, RUMOR HAS IT (Duke Noble, P.I. #1) is free today through Friday. (Always free with KU.) Pick up your copy today!

Hearken back to the gritty, 1950s crime novel with Duke Noble. Duke's a guy ready to tackle anything the world throws at him, but this time, he's facing something much harder to dodge than bullets and fists… His past.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08ZNXQKPC

Then, if you hadn't already heard, THICKER THAN WATER hit the Amazon 'shelves' on Saturday.  WOOT!  It's $3.99 and available wherever Amazon sells ebooks, plus through Kindle Unlimited.  

So basically, you'll get both books for the price of one this week!  Double woot.

Sunday Update - 2025 Week 19

First off, Happy Mother's Day.  

Next, I didn't get any writing done this week, but I did get a boatload of editing done.  And a cover made.  Then formatting, etc.  Thus, as of last night, THICKER THAN WATER is live on Amazon.  Here it is in all its glory:

Family ties and blood… Duke Noble’s had more than enough of both.  When he receives a frantic call from his mother, Duke’s not the kind of man who can simply ignore her pleas.  But discovering a body in his brother’s apartment wasn’t at all what he expected.  Wondering whether the body belongs to Harry means there’s no turning back.   He’ll have to work his way through both secrets and lies to get to the facts.  Even if it means digging up truths better left in the dirt.

Which brings me around to marketing...

Starting tomorrow Rumor Has It will be free for 5 days.  I'll be marketing that.  Last week, I marketed Song of Storm and Shroud.  Here's hoping RHI does better than that did.  I could use some sales this month.

Today, I'll be formatting TTW for print and getting that process underway.  This week, I'll get back to working on Duke Noble #3.

Now back to my regularly scheduled updatey stuff...

Reading - check out yesterday afternoon's post.  It was a good week for reading, and I'm now only 6 books behind on my reading goal.  Woot.  

No baking this week.  I'm trying to cut back on the breaded products for a while.  Not sure how long that will last.  I do love me my baked goods.  Not baked, but I did make a lovely beefy-rice dish that I'm jokingly referring to as Beef Risotto.  I also made a vat of turkey/chicken noodle soup that was quite yummy.  And a pulled pork that was so good, I was walking around going 'mmm...meat candy'.  

On the activity front, I was an animal.  There was only 1 day that I didn't do anything active.  I walked, I gardened, I did yard work, I moved some furniture around.  I walked 3.8 miles last week. Whoa.  Weight: 173.2 - you'd think it would be lower, but meh.

Gardening... my little trees are doing well.  The baby redbuds are about 4-5 inches tall and have several leaves now.  The dogwoods are about 3 inches and have about 4 leaves each.  The oak is looking good, but only 2 leaves so far.  The cedars are thriving, of course.  The tree seeds I planted last week aren't doing anything yet.  Yesterday, on the way home from Wallyworld, I stopped at the feed store and bought a flat of Roma tomatoes.  Those went in pots when I got home, so hopefully one or two of the six will flower and fruit, giving me yummy treats.

Well, I think there's probably more to update you on, but that's probably enough out of me for now.  Look for a marketing post tomorrow.  Have a great rest of your day and if you're a mom, I hope you get to spend time with the kids today.  :hugs:

Sunday Update 10/27/24

 :blink blink: I just woke up, so bear with me.

Still not writing.  In editing news, I finished the first round of edit notes on Friday - 21 pages worth of single spaced notes on college ruled paper.  Not the most notes I've ever made on a book, but still, that's lots.  Yesterday, I sat down and started inputting those notes. Then I had to refer back to Rumor Has It about something and I discovered, to my dismay, that I wrote the entirety of TTW in the wrong person.  Should've written in first person.  Wrote it in third.  Derp.  Much swearing occurred and then much laughing because really, how silly can one gal get?  Sooo... I need to fix that, too.  I did manage to get one page of edit notes entered and five pages edited for notes and POV.  

I almost forgot... SLEEPING UGLY is free starting tomorrow.  Kind of a Halloween thing.  

I read a book this week.  Unfortunately, it doesn't count toward my goal because it was a book I volunteered to proofread for the author.  It's now out for sale, and I bought a copy, so I'll read it again and then count it.  The book?  Oh, it's Silver James' Moonstruck Mafia: Boston.  It's wicked awesome.  Pick up your copy today.

This week in cooking, I made a vat of chicken soup, a crockpot worth of pulled pork, and applesauce bars.  Oh, and I used leftover pulled pork to make Cuban sandwiches, which is no small effort.  (I mean, if I had a panini press, it wouldn't be hard, but I don't, so it is.)

On the activity front, well... you see... Falling on my ass in the woods and twisting my knee kinda put the kybosh on that.  I did get into the woods once and I went for one walk, which wasn't far and I had to turn back for home because my knee was being a whiny little bitch.  Sitting on my butt and eating copious amounts is not helping my overall physical well-being.  Weight: 175.2

The reason I went into the woods is to start putting my 'grow your own trees' scheme into motion. I've been researching what needs to be done to grow these trees from seeds, so I'm working on that.  I gathered seeds from the redbud in our front yard, a couple of spicebushes along the side, the buckthorn up front, and then went down into the woods to gather dogwoods seeds.  Yesterday, I separated all the redbud seeds from their pods, put them in a coffee mug, and doused them with boiling water.  They need to sit in that for 24 hours and then I can hit the next step, which if memory serves is to put them in dirt.  The other seeds all require different magic, so I could be remembering wrong.  Dogwood seeds need to be cleaned and scarified (i.e. the process of artfully damaging the seed hull to allow for germination), then they need to live in the fridge for 3-4 months.  Same with the buckthorn seeds.  The spicebush seeds just need to be cleaned, I think, and then chilled.  As I do this, I'll make sure to apply the right method for each seed.  Should be fun.

I'm also thinking about doing wood carving in my spare time.  Right now, I'm researching the tools and trying to see which ones to buy.  We'll see if I keep at it or get bored before I even start.

Oh, we went fishing this week.  It was only for a couple hours and I only caught one fish, but it was good to get out again.  And now I have nightcrawlers, so I can go whenever and not have to worry about waiting for my bait shop to open up.  

While we were driving to the fishing hole, we saw two bald eagles flying low and dancing in the air around each other.  It was AWESOME.  We also saw yellow-bellied sapsuckers this week, so yay!  I love fall migration.

Okay, that was a lot of read, so thank you for getting all the way down here.  Have a great week!  And feel free to drop a comment to let me know how your week went.

Sunday Update - Week 12

 :blink blink:  Sunday, huh?  

Well, the big news for last week was that I finished the proofing for SSS and published it.  It's now available at the major retailers and a few of the smaller ones.  Here's the universal link for them what want it.   I still haven't formatted for print yet.  I'll work on that today.

In other news, I did something I don't usually do.  I started the sequel.  I'm 5650 words into Shroudlands 2 now.  It'd probably be more but my wrists were killing me last night, so I only got about 700 words out.  That's what I get for making buns earlier in the day.  But a gal's gotta do what a gal's gotta do, eh?

I didn't do any marketing, really.  Shame on me.  I hate marketing more than editing, if that tells you anything.  I sold 3 copies of SSS, and one of those was to me.  I also had someone buy a copy of WIOH, so that was something unexpected.  I'll try to get some marketing posts created and posted to social media tomorrow.

In reading news, as soon as the book was uploaded, I went back to reading and I completed 2 books last week.  Yay.

On the baking front, I didn't bake anything until yesterday, when I made a batch of buns.  I made 12 smaller buns than I did last did, which gave me leftover dough.  I used that to make cinnamon rolls.  Not sure bun dough is exactly right for cinnamon rolls.  They're super soft.  But they taste good and that's the most important thing.  

As for activity, I only had two active days.  Both walks.  But I am up to just over 11 miles for the year.  Weight: 179.8

I discovered yesterday that all five of my peonies survived their garage experience.  New buds are poking up from the spots where I planted them.  Yay.  No news yet on the mums or the columbine.  I'm seriously thinking about putting vegetables in the rest of the bed.  We'll see.  

Lumpy the doe is looking kinda of thick around the middle.  I hope she carries twins to term and that they survive the birth.  We didn't see her with any babies last year and she's such a good mom.  

Monday, I won a sizable poker tournament.  1st out of 225.  Prior to that, I'd only won the small tourneys - a couple of 6-people sized ones.  So, I got that going for me.  Yesterday, I finished 12th out of like 550 people in a poker tournament.   I'm finishing in the money on a regular basis now.  Thanks, stupid Obama for making online real-money poker illegal.  Turd.  I could never do this in person.  I have no poker face.  And I say insulting things to my competitors.  But here, they can't hear me, so it's no big thing.  Oh, and I think you can't smoke at casinos anymore.  Not smoking would totally harsh my game.

And I'll leave you with this for your entertainment... Spirits by The Strumbellas.  (Because I woke up with it in my head.)

What was your week like?

Thursday This n That

I won a poker tournament this week.  Wanna see?

First out of 225.  Yay.  I hit final table with the least amount of money.  The two guys with the most amount went out like third and fifth.  When we got to heads-up, the other guy had like 3.7 million to my 800K.  We went back and forth for about 20 minutes.  Then when I had like 2/3rds of the chips, he went all in and I made a flush.  Woohoo.

In other news, my book went live at Amazon on Wednesday.  Yesterday, it went live on Apple, Kobo, B&N and some other places.  Click here for the universal link.  So pretty.

I spent most of yesterday being a toad.  Today, I'll get back to work.  The voices in my head are having a war about which book to do and they're bombarding me with scenes.  One side is throwing scenes for SCIU #4.  The other side is chucking bits of Shroudlands #2.  Gah.  Not sure who'll win yet, but the battle is fierce.

There's a big black dog running loose in the area.  He's gorgeous.  A black lab mix of some kind.  I swear if I see him out by the highway again, I'm coaxing him into my car and bringing him home.  I'll look for his owners.  Honest I will.  Stop laughing... I'll do it.  Okay, maybe not super hard...  But his coat is clean and shiny, so someone has to own him.  If I see him hit on the highway, though, I'm going to be very sad and extremely pissed.  I think I will call him Rochester.  Of Jane Eyre, not Jack Benny.  

I do have a affinity for Rochester of Jack Benny fame, though.  Have had one since I was a little girl.  I was also super fond of Jimmy Durante.  Ha chatta cha.  And Lou Costello.  Can't watch the old Abbott and Costello movies anymore.  I still love Lou, but Bud pisses me right the hell off.  

There are tiny red buds on my redbud tree.  And itty-bitty leaves on my lilac.  It's supposed to get cold again tonight.  If it freezes and kills my tiny buds, I'm going to have a sad.

This winter has been really weird.  Hot and cold, hot and cold.  Blerg.

Okay, time to toddle off.  Have a great day.  And feel free to drop whatever comments you may before you leave.  

Sunday Update - Week 13

What a week...  and I'm late again, but at least it's Sunday and not Monday this time...

Monday, I pushed Duke Noble, P.I.: Rumor Has It out into the world.  The initials reviews are good, so yay.  I haven't finished the post-publication checklist on that yet, but I did format it for paperback and I'm waiting on the proof of that so I can make it live, too.  My first paperback through Amazon - not Createspace - so we'll see how it looks.  The process wasn't too bad.

Other than posting about the release, I haven't done any marketing.  We'll see what happens in the coming days.

It was a nice reading week.  It's always easier to read when I don't have writerly stuff going on.  Yesterday, a friend of mine, who was purging her book collection, posted about the books she was letting go and offered them up for basically the cost of shipping.  I picked out 8 - 3 Agatha Christies, 3 Rex Stouts, and two Piers Anthony.  Here's hoping the mail doesn't lose them.  :fingers crossed:  I know Piers Anthony doesn't seem like my usual fare, but I love his Xanth books (well, the early ones anyway) and I hope to start a collection of those.  If you're not familiar with Rex Stout, he writes the Nero Wolfe mysteries.  Anyway, I haz a happy.

In baking news, I did French bread pizza, frittatas, and granola bars last week.  Nothing exciting, but necessary.  I was also going to do a coffee cake, but I ran out of walnuts when I did the granola bars, so those will have to wait.

Guess what?  We went fishing!  Didn't catch anything and only got one bite, but it was fishing.  I had heard weeks ago that they were redoing the place where I fish, and yup, they did.  The parking lot is awesome and so is the boat ramp.  Unfortunately, the took huge chunky rocks and lined the river with them, so it's kind of hard for me to bank fish there.  So, maybe a third of my regular spots are messed up, but in that third is one of my most productive areas.  Drat.  Eh, when the water level goes down, I'll be able to walk around the rocks.  

As for other activities, I did something active 5 days out of 7, with 4 of those days having two activities.  Loads of gardening, yard work, and cleaning.  Yesterday, I was a cleaning fool.  I'd let so much stuff slide, my to-do list is hefty hefty hefty.  I didn't weigh myself at all, though.  

Speaking of gardening, I still haven't started my container garden.  Whoops.  That's on the to-do list for this week.  In other garden news, the peonies, the lilies, the columbines, and the lilies of the valley are all poking their heads up.  The lilac is covered in little green leaves and the beginnings of loads of flower drupes.  The hydrangeas are working on it.  The last remaining azalea has this season to get its act together or it'll be on the wood pile and I'll put a peony in its place.  Let's just say it ain't looking good for that one.

Well, I supposed I ought to get my buns in gear and start the day.  How are things in your neck of the woods?  

Sunday Update - Week 11

Whoops.  Way late again today.  At least today I can blame the time change.  Stupid stupid time change.

In editing news, I finished the edits for Duke Noble: Rumor Has It and it's off to readers now.  It tops the scales at 55190 words.  Which is 192 pages of pure story in MS Word (TNR 12 point) pre-formatting.  I'm not rushing my readers.  They'll take as much time as they need.  Once I get it back, figure a week for tweaking and then formatting, and I'll upload it for publication.

I readjusted the cover a bit.  

With new cream colored text.  Woohoo.

Then I made a Coming Soon graphic.  (Look over there ----->)  And I made new banner graphics for FB and MeWe.  

Sixteen books ain't easy to fit on a banner and still have them all legible, lemme tell ya.

Also, I started working on the back cover copy for the book.  LAME.  Lame lame lame lame lame.  When I can produce something that doesn't suck, I'll show it to you.  Today, I'm going to read the backs of all my noir crime books and see if I can't produce something as zippy.

In reading news, I finished the book I was saving for when I got the edits done.  Yay!  It was made of awesome.

In baking news, I made Chocolate Streusel Coffee Cake - tweaking a recipe my friend, Silver, posted on her blog last week.  Yummers.  I also did quesadillas and french bread pizza and pot roast.  It was a food filled week.

On the activity front, I spent one day removing leaves from some of my gardens and three days I got walks in.  As for weight, let's just say I stepped on the scale and got right the hell back off of it.  Somehow (perhaps it's all the baking) I'd gained 4 lbs.  Gak.  Then I lost one.  185.6.  I haven't weighed myself since.  

Speaking of gardens, once I removed the leaves, I have hyacinths, crocuses, and daffodils.  Only the hyacinths are flowering yet.  Two peonies are coming up.  Another one is usually later.  And the fourth one died last year.  The lilac has leaf buds.  The Charlie Brown hydrangea is growing up from the ground again.  The irises are doing their thing.  Still waiting on several plants to show me whether the cold snap hurt them.  :fingers crossed:

In general, life is good.

How are things in your world?

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 3/12/21

 Heh.  It's Saturday, isn't it?  Whoops.  Sorry I'm late...

Not a whole lot went on this week because I was hip-deep in editing my own book and getting it out to readers.  Once I got the edit notes completed, I could finally read a book.  Then I had to input the notes and do other tedious but necessary stuff, so I didn't get a chance to read anything else.

No books acquired this week/

Books Read:

13) Uptown Blues: Herbert and Melacon #5 by Seth Pevey (3/10/21) - Suspense* - 5 stars.  Not new to me, but definitely underappreciated - especially since it's a new release.  I really wish more people would fall in love with this series.  It really deserves more fans.  Picked up after the author contacted me to let me know it was out - full price: $3.99 and worth every penny.
Review: "The worst part of this book was that I finished it and now it's over. Seriously awesome book, people, and if you haven't read the other ones yet, I'm a little sad for you. Because you don't already know and love Felix Herbert and David Melancon. Still, you can read this story without having read the others and not worry about getting lost in the allusions to previous books. Instead you can start reading here and get lost in this story. You can meet and love Andre, which you certainly will. And his story... It's big and it's deep, and it comes to a most wonderful and satisfying conclusion."

No DNFs:

Currently reading... I sent my own book off to readers right before bed last night, so I haven't picked out my next read yet.  I'll start something today.

What was on your reading list this week?

Thursday This n That

So, let me see if I have this right...  I, a person who has never owned slaves and hates the idea of slavery of any kind, will be forced based on my skin color to pay reparation money to people... people who have never actually been slaves... based on their skin color, because I am automatically guilty of things my ancestors may or may not have done to their ancestors who may or may not have been slaves.  Makes perfect sense.  :note sarcasm:  While I'm at it, let me whip out some money to pay reparations for the branch of my family tree that split off sometime in the late 1800s and became Nazis after my direct ancestors left Germany.  Makes about as much sense.

Shit like that makes my brain hurt.

We're having some beautiful weather this week.  I hope this doesn't encourage the trees and plants to sprout and bloom and then we have another cold snap.  It did that one year and all the blossoms on my redbud tree died.  That was sad.

I've started following the comedian JP Sears on FB and MeWe.  He's a hoot.  

In other happy news, I was contacted by an author I follow.  He messages me when he has a new book out.  YAY!  I snapped that sucker right up.  Unfortunately, I'm in the middle of edits on my Kindle and I'm trying to be all adult and junk so I can't read his book right yet.  If I weren't being adult, I'd set my editing aside (heh, like I need a reason) and inhale his book.  However, and utnostly, I made promises to get this book done and I will do that before I treat myself.  :dangles carrot:  

Yesterday morning, I was at loose ends - taking a break from editing and not wanting to just sit around - and I mentioned to Hubs that I might go out and finish some yardwork stuff.  He reminded me that we were going to do windows sometime this week and asked if I wanted to put that off until Friday.  Well, nope.  Windows and yardwork... same same.  Something to do that needs doing.  So I started working on the windows while he finished up his work and then he joined me.  I did the insides, he got a ladder and did the outsides.  Took about three hours to do the five windows in the sunroom - inside and out.  (Those are not tilt-in.  Thunderation!)  I'll get through the rest of the house windows by myself today and tomorrow.  

Thunderation... Have you seen the new Geico commercial with Captain Ahab helping a woman find a parking spot?  When he says 'Thunderation!' I about fall over laughing.  Every time.  Too funny.  And so now I've been saying thunderation because it's funny and it makes Hubs laugh.  Gotta find the fun where you can these days.

Okay, that's enough out of me.  What's the this-n-that skinny in your world?

Tuesday Stuff n Junk

I do posts like this when my brain is incapable of holding a single thought long enough to write an entire post on one subject.

Yesterday, a comment to yesterday's post arrived in my inbox for moderation.  They said something nasty about me and then tried to coax me to their religion by implying it could fix me or some such nonsense.  ROFL.  You'll note the comment did not make it through moderation.  Comments like that are deleted.  My readers don't need to see that crap.  

I'm kinda derailed with my writing/editing/etc. Thus, my previously stated schedule for having Duke Noble out is on pause.  This may be due to my not being able to hold a single thought in my head for any length of time.

In release news, my friend Silver James' latest Red Dirt Royalty: Twice the Temptation (through Harlequin) is available in ebook format as of yesterday.  (Paperback due out on the 9th.)  Also, the children's book my friend Cedar Sanderson illustrated - One Hungry Werewolf went live today.  And another acquaintance Sarah A. Hoyt has a new book out today, too - Draw One in the Dark (urban fantasy).  Yay for all of them!

Facebook keeps trying to suggest pages that are supposedly 'for me'.  Umm, no.  About one in five, they get it right.  Like the Michigan photography page or the lighthouse page.  Eco-freako pages?  Nope.  Feminist pages?  Nope.  Trans-whatever pages?  Ut-uh.  Leftist loony pages?  No way.  Football pages?  Yeah, they missed the part where I quit football cold turkey and never looked back. 

Speaking of football, until this morning I had no clue who made it to the Super Bowl.  The Chiefs, apparently.  And that was because they're Missouri and a news-weather site I follow said something about the weather on game day for the Chiefs.  Meh.  I have no clue who they're playing and I don't really care.

I know I mentioned thinking about creating a garden.  I'm not sure if I mentioned I'm leaning toward a container garden I can set up on my deck.  It would get rid of the need to fence the damn thing to keep the deer out of it.  Anyway, it's an idea.  It wouldn't be too hard, either.  And we have most of the stuffs to get it going, or we can get the stuffs cheap at the thrift stores.  Basically, I need dirt and seeds.  And probably those platforms with casters so I can roll the plants around to get the best sun and protect them from storms.  

PBS is showing a new version of All Creatures Great and Small on Sunday nights here.  It's a pretty good show, if you can distance it from the books.  (If you never read the books, you're home free.)  They've also got a show called Miss Scarlet and the Duke - a mystery set in the Victorian era, I think - that's kind of fun.

Okay, I probably better get a start on my day.  What's up with you?

Sunday Update - Week 45

 Well, as I said yesterday, it's been a week.  I don't want to talk about all that right now, so let's just talk about regular stuffs, eh?

Yeah, still not in a writing place, but I did spend some time thinking about writing and trying to make the next SCIU book work in my head so I can get it on paper (virtual paper, but still).  Cinder Ugly went live on Monday, so I did some FB posts about that.  The series went 'live' as a group, too, so there were posts about that.  Tomorrow, the sale for SU and UatB starts, so there will be posts and junk about that.

I did some reading.

I don't remember when I made cake, but I ate the last piece yesterday.  Chocolate oil cake with chocolate peanut butter franken-frosting.  I keep planning on making yeast rolls, but I take the recipe out, set it on the counter, and then later in the day, I put it back.  The thought of kneading makes my arms hurt.  Today, I'll probably use up the last of the apples and cranberries in a crisp of some sort.

Let's not talk about activity and weight, eh?  

A few days ago, I was looking through my CDs for something different to listen to and found my Chuck Mangione 'best of' album.  So I've been listening to that.  I'd forgotten how much I loved Chuck.  He gives me a happy.  

The deer are getting ready for the rut.  The boys are being turds and pushing everyone around.  The ladies are being all standoffish.  The kids are on their own and not liking it.  This, too, shall pass.

Hubs has been raking.  There are too many leaves right now to use the mower.  Once we get the big piles taken care of, he'll mulch the rest.  I've been raking a little, too, but he's doing the lion's share of the work.  I finally got into the woods and started moving deadfall into the piles.  Tidying up a bit, doncha know.  

The eagles and the sapsuckers are back.  Yay.  And we've been seeing flickers in the yard again.  I also saw a golden-crowned kinglet.  The only winter visitors we haven't seen yet are the juncos.  They'll be here soon.  Oh, and I might've mentioned that this was a banner year for berries.  The robins came through and took care of that.  Whoosh.  One morning we had scads of berries on the spicebushes and the dogwoods, etc.  By afternoon, they were gone.  A couple days later, a single robin was hopping around one spicebush, looking everywhere for berries to no avail.  Sorry, bud, you snooze, you lose.

Anyway, I think that's about it for A Week in the Exciting Life of B.E. Sanderson.  How did things go in your life?

Thursday This n That

 In case you missed it, I have a new book (Cinder Ugly) up for pre-order right now and a sale going on (Once Upon a Djinn).  

Amazon, in its infinite wisdom, isn't showing pre-orders.  It's been a long time since I did a pre-order, but I'm pretty sure they used to show how many pre-orders I had.  I should have at least one (cuz I pre-ordered it).  

Amazon has also not grouped my A Model Curse books into a series yet.  I have a request in to them.  We'll see if it gets done before CU goes live.  (They used to do this automatically.  At least, they've done it for my other series.  :shrug:)

I'm not sure if it's the 'rona or Halloween or the approaching election, but twice this week I've had people screw up the attachment thing on emails I need.  Once, there was no attachment.  The other time, the attachment was wrong.  From totally different people.  Blerg.

Sometimes I have to remind myself 'you can't know what you don't know' and not feel stupid about things people point out that I didn't know.  (I don't think they meant to make me feel stupid.)  I mean, maybe I should've known.  But I didn't know such a thing even existed, so how could I have known that I didn't know?  Ya know?

I've been feeling kinda low these past couple days.  No big deal.  I only mention it because I woke up this morning with 'High Hopes' stuck in my head.  A positive song out of nowhere.  Part of me is all like 'yay'.  Part of me wants to punch myself in the brain.  It's like facing a cheerful person before you've had enough coffee to deal with all that cheer.

It's raining raining raining here.  The lake's gone up a foot in the past day or so.  Not a problem since the lake was a 'normal level' which means it can go up another 15 feet without causing a major problem.  Still, all this rain is making my yard look like a waterfall and it's really mushy out there.  It's also harshing my ability to take walks.  

I saw the cutest kitten posted on one of the rescue sites I follow and I wanted it in the worst way.  It was killer cute.  Death by cuteness cute.  This is not the time to be taking on a new pet - especially a kitten or a puppy.  I don't have the time or the energy or the patience for a baby animal right now.  And then there's Kira.  The old lady doesn't need that kind of irritation.  She's gotta be... what... 86 or so in cat years?   She takes up a lot of time and energy and patience all on her own.  Throw a new pet into that?  Nope.

And that's enough out of me.  What's up with you?

Sunday Update - Week 17

First, let's get something out of the way.  Ugly and the Beast went live last night.  Any errors, flaws, gaffs, screw ups, etc. are entirely mine.  It's $2.99.  Sleeping Ugly is 99c right now here in the states and should be comparably priced elsewhere in the world.  And will be through the end of the month.

Yeah, so umm, last week.  Well, it was pretty much devoted to getting UatB out into the world, so loads of proofing and editing and formatting, etc.

If you stopped by yesterday, you'll see I didn't read much last week because of the above.

Since I was launching a new book, I had to update my spreadsheets to reflect a new book in the month of May, which was tedious to the max, but needed to be done.  It's done.  Which is good because I had my first sale last night, too.  (Umm, it was me.  I always buy a copy of my books when they release.)

I did get some exercise last week.  Unfortunately, I gained back some of the weight I lost, too.  I blame that on it also being the week for my shot.  I always gain weight right before I get my shot.  No biggie.

Today, I have to do all the after-pub things - updating blogs and Goodreads and Pinterest and backmatter.  I have to add the series info to Sleeping Ugly's Amazon listing, too.  And marketing!  Blerg.  I'd forgotten how much stuff is involved in a book launch.

In local news, there seems to be a whole new flock of free range guinea hens wandering the neighborhood.  They've taken to visiting our yard.  And they ARE the silly, noisy, rusty-windmill birds I've been hearing since the newish neighbors moved in last year.  :shrug:  They amuse me.

I don't think I baked anything of note last week.  The week is a blur.  I need cake.  Maybe today I'll make some.

So, what's been up with you?

Release Day!

Unequal is out in the world now.  $2.99 for a limited time.  Get yours today.  =o)

We are all the same.  Equal.

 

In a world where being different is against the law, Rue Logan lives in fear of being branded Unequal and getting disappeared like so many others.  The Department of Equalization had other plans for her life, but she couldn’t let that stop her.  Now, she works her assigned job as a janitor by day and prowls the hospital’s corridors at night, saving lives.  

Until she’s caught.

On the run from the DOE, Rue finds others like her, Unequals working in secret to achieve their goals and live their lives.  But their leader has a mission of his own.  With war brewing, both sides need her skills to help them win.  Torn between her own deeply held beliefs and her desire to save the people she’s come to love, Rue must find a way to stop the conflict before any more lives are lost.  Even if it means uncovering secrets and lies that could break her world apart.

Sunday Update - Week 50

Two more weeks to go before we put 2018 behind us.

My week was devoted to getting Unequal ready to publish.  Yesterday, I finished the last of the editing/polishing.  Did a couple hours in the morning and then worked from 2pm to 7pm with a short break for dinner, but I got it done.  Today will be formatting and uploading so it will be live tomorrow.  As promised.  (Unless Amazon delays it for some reason.  I have no control over that.)  I'm sure things aren't perfect.  They never are.  As I told Hubs last night, I could probably pick up any of my published novels and find things I would want to change, but at some point, I have to say 'enough'.

If there's anything in there that doesn't make sense or is flawed for some reason, the fault is entirely mine.  AWE tries to whip me into shape, but she doesn't always succeed.

Got the Goodreads listing up.  Go forth and Want to Read it, if you're so inclined.

I finished reading one book at the start of the week.  Didn't even bother to start anything else.

I got out in the woods and did some trail raking for about an hour.

Yesterday, during my morning break, I ran down to Wallyworld and picked up our Christmas present to ourselves - a carpet cleaner.  Walmart on the Saturday before the Saturday before Christmas is an interesting experience.  Especially since I did not get there as early as I usually do.  Whoa, Nelly.  It was very peopley out there.  But the cleaner we wanted was on sale, so I braved the peopley.  Our carpets will be cleaned by the end of the year.  (We both promised to not clean carpets until our work was done.)

Let's not even talk about activity or exercising.

Last night, after I had finished the typo-checking, and after a pot of coffee, I was WIRED.  Holy cow.  You coulda put me on a treadmill and powered Des Moines with the energy.  Then I crashed, which was good because I really needed sleep.

The plan for the rest of the year is to enter a vegetative state.  Unfortunately, I have spreadsheets to do and marketing stuff and a sale coming up and...  I'll vegetate sporadically.

How are things in your world?  Ready for the end of the year?  Ready for Christmas?  Ready to read Unequal?  ;o)