Wow, how is it mid-December already?

Posted: December 13, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: NaNoWriMo, Odds and Ends | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Between NaNoWriMo and holidays time has slipped away from me.

I’m working on getting ready for a family trip, as well as (okay, I admit it, slowly) working on fixing the mess I made out of my NaNo project. Somehow I managed to make a 30k word project take up more than 50k. How? By changing things in the middle and rewriting scenes with out going back and removing the wrong stuff. Now I’ve got to do that. It’s not what I want to do… I want to binge watch Bones… but it must get done so here I go.

Book number 8

Posted: January 29, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Odds and Ends | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

it’s off to my beta readers…. They are some really good friends. good enough to be honest about what’s missing and what sucks. They’ll also help me name it… I don’t have one yet. Usually the name comes to me somewhere about half way through, but this time I’ve got nothing. When I know what I’m gonna name it, and figure out a release date, I’ll let you all know.

And the Ants go Marching One by One

Posted: January 13, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Odds and Ends | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Hurrah, Hurrah. Nothing really thrilling here, other than working hard at my second revision. It’s going well. I’ve finished about 80 pages in three days, not a bad showing. I’m totally exhausted so I’m going to crash soon. I was up way too late last night working. That didn’t keep me from having to get up and take kids to school. I tried to nap twice today, neither worked out. It’s probably going to take about 2.7 seconds for me to fall asleep tonight.

How are things over your way?

Coming Up With Ideas.

Posted: October 7, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Odds and Ends | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

One thing I’m often asked is how do I come up with my ideas. Honestly, it’s more difficult to keep track of and remember my different ideas than to come up with them. I’ve recently started writing my ideas out on 3×5 cards and sticking them to the wall. It may not be the most efficient way to do it, but

I was inspired by a pic of one of my favorite authors in her home.

<—-  See. This is Laurell K. Hamilton. I love this pic, and have hunted for it for a couple of years.

Anyway, I write my ideas down stick them to the wall, and move on with whatever I’m currently working on. It’s not a perfect system but we’ll see how it works for me.

A Look Back at 2013

Posted: December 31, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Odds and Ends | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment

This year, instead of looking for new things to accomplish over the next year I’ve decided to look at what I’ve accomplished for the last year.

All in all, I think it’s been a good year.

  • I’ve published two books this year, as well as got new covers for the ones I already had out, and I have more releases scheduled for next year.
  • I had my first author appearance, as well as several more, they’ve all been wonderful experiences. (with more scheduled in the coming month.)
  • I’ve made some great friends and met some wonderful fans.
  • I’ve got three great kids and a wonderful husband. (I had those before, but I feel the need to list them.)

So it’s not a complete list but it’s a start, and it shows that things are on the way up for me. I’m happy with it. So what’s on your best of 2013 list?

It’s been a rough couple of weeks.

Posted: July 11, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Odds and Ends | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

About two and a half weeks ago I got one of those calls that everyone dreads getting. One of my sisters-in-law had been in a car accident and she hadn’t survived. She had been a single mom, with three teenage daughters. The oldest was 18 and had been away at college, though she was home for the summer, but the other two have not yet started high school.

It fell to me to relay the news to my husband, as well as his father. I’ll just say there’s a difficult relationship between my father-in-law and most of the children from his first marriage, and leave it at that.

Thankfully, it’s summer and my own children are not currently in school, as soon as I got the first call, I started them packing their things. After I made my calls, I started packing myself. By 6:00pm we were on the road. We drove all night and the trip took 13 hours.

We ended up staying two weeks. It was difficult for everyone involved, making decisions about where the girls should go and how to deal with it (their father passed away several years ago,) planning services, high emotions and general family drama.

I was glad to get home. I’d missed my bed, my own pillow and the quiet comfort of not having to walk on eggshells to keep from inadvertently hurting someone’s feelings. 

I’m not quite back in my work groove, but I’m getting there. I’ve been doing a lot of not-actual-writing business. Getting ready for an appearance and household stuff that was just put on hold when we left. I’ll get back where I should be, but it may take me a few more days.