Sunday Update - Week 14

:blink blink:  It's Easter, isn't it?  Happy Easter to them that celebrate!  Or Hoppy Bunny Day for those of us not into the religious side.  Eat some chocolate or something.  Personally, I totally forgot it was this weekend and even after I remembered, I couldn't figure out what to fix for dinner, so we're having a Stouffer's frozen meal of some sort.  Nothing special going on here.

Anyway... let's get back to the regular Sunday stuff...

On the writing front, I didn't write anything or edit anything, but this week was filled with writerly duties.  I updated the back matter for all 16 books.  I created a paperback version of Duke, got the proof, and approved it for sale on Amazon. Then I fixed all the print listings for all my books.  I also redid all the print covers for OUAD - to reflect the series title on each cover now.  Then I formatted UatB and CU for print and sent a letter to my cover artist.  (She replied this morning that she's ready for me, so I'll get the page counts and cover copies to her today.)   Today, I'll format Blink of an I and Unequal for print and get those covers done.  Whew.  I got tired just typing that out.

I did a little marketing for RHI on Monday, because I belong to one FB group that only allows self-promo on Mondays.  

I had a pretty good reading week.  Plus, I finished reading another awesome book yesterday.  That one will be on next Saturday's update.

In the baking/cooking realm, I was a busy little monkey - I made pizza dough, coffee cake, and oatmeal apple raisin cookies to bake, and also pot roast, chili, and leftover pot roast soup.  

It was also a busy week for activity.  I spent three days doing yardwork and garden stuff, one day walking and cleaning.  I'm up to just under 15 miles walked for the year, which is off where I should be, but still pretty darn good considering.  Weight 184.8. Up three pounds since the beginning of the year, but I'm not kicking myself about it.

Speaking of garden stuff, my lettuce is sprouting!  Yay!  No signs from the carrots or the tomatoes yet.  I planted zucchini in pots this past week, too.  The cedar seedlings I transplanted are doing well.  Oh, and the new peony is already sprouting up through the ground.  Yay.  No signs from the hollyhocks yet.  Spring is awesome.  Oh, and I created a spreadsheet to track my gardening.  (Quit laughing.)  I'll now be able to track everything from the time I planted it through to harvest.  

The deer are starting to show that they're pregnant.  At least 6 does are looking bigger around the middle.  Yay.  Lumpy must be pregnant, too, because she finally kicked her twins loose to fend for themselves.  

Oh, and lastly, eight years ago today we arrived at this place.  Yay!  It's been every bit as awesome as we imagined it would be.

How was your week?  Do you celebrate Easter?  How are things in your world?

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?  

Busy Busy Busy

Okay, so after much foot-dragging and toadness, Cinder Ugly is available for pre-order.  (I will explain my reasoning for pre-order versus actual order tomorrow on Outside the Box.)  Now that it's live and I have a linky-loo, I have loads of work to do.  As in my post-publication checklist... 

Goodreads listing – add ASIN before the book goes live
Add book to your Amazon author page.
Verify book is on Amazon UK author page.
Update FB header.
Add book to all blog sidebars.
Update internal links inside book to Amazon
Post to the blogs
Post to FB pages
Post to Pinterest
Post to MEWE
Add book to appropriate Outside the Box book page
Update links on book page – US, UK, CA, AU
Bookmark Amazon pages – US, UK, CA, AU
Update back matter of all other books
Post to FB groups
Fall apart.

(The last item is optional and can be inserted anywhere along the way.)

The crossed off items are done.  Other items have to be done today.  Some of the other items are partially done.  (7:42pm Updated to reflect what I've done since this posted.)

I'm questioning the wisdom of doing all this and having a sale going on at the same time.  Really, I am.  It's a little crazypants right now. (In my head.  All outward appearances show the usual calm and relaxedness of every day life here.)

Launching a new book is a bit frazzling.  Thank goodness I make lists or I'd never remember all the things I have to do.  And I still have to do print versions of Cinder Ugly and Ugly and the Beast - which a totally different list.  Ugh.

I know I said I'd have a sale on the first two A Model Curse books next week, but I hit a speedbump.  Sleeping Ugly's 90 days in Kindle Select is up on the 5th, which makes it hard to schedule a sale to overlap two 90 day windows.  So, the sale will begin after Sleeping Ugly renews for another 90 days and it allows me to schedule a Kindle Countdown Deal.  All the little variables.  Blerg.

I need a clone.  None of this is hard, it's just all so tedious.  Not a fan of tedium.  I'd rather hand this all off to someone and say 'do it' and then not have to worry about it.  

So anyway, I'm busy busy busy.  Like a little bee.  Or a beaver.  Personally, I feel more like a beaver - fat and waddling and ready to curl up in my den and sleep.  But I'll get it all done.  Hopefully before the book goes live live next week.