Monday, December 17, 2012

Where the Hell Is the Next Book?

The last two-and-a-half months have been...weird, I guess is the best way to put it.

First, back-to-back colds waylaid me. It's one of the drawbacks of having a chronic health condition that leaves me immune deficient. A friend blames my diseases of the month on my trips to the B&N Cafe' or Starbucks, but there are times when you just need to get out of the house. And I can stay away from strangers, but that doesn't mean DH or GK won't carry some germ home that doesn't affect them in the slightest but sends me to the hospital.

On top of my illnesses, one of GK's wisdom impacted against the twelve-year molar that hadn't erupted yet, shoving it under the six-year molar. This happened in the two months between regular dentist and orthodontist visits (I saw the x-rays), which meant it had to be dealt with NOW. Of course, the kid bounced right back within two hours after surgery.

Mom, on the other hand, had massive amounts of parental stress and financial anxiety. First, the orthodontist and the oral surgeon decided to put me in this middle of their argument over the best course of treatment. Then, the money I had put aside from this summer's excellent sales for the fall slow down had to be used for GK's surgery because the insurance company decided to be dicks about covering the amount that, according their own f***ing policy, should have been covered.

Unfortunately, illnesses, the professional prick-waving contest, and yelling at insurance personnel over the phone meant I fell wa-a-ay behind on my word output for both the Suzan books and the Alter Ego's holiday release. And we won't even talk about editing.

I got the final edits done on Season of Magick: Winter and uploaded the story two weeks ago. That means it was only five weeks late.

I thought if I plowed through, I might get Blood Sacrifice finished and up before the end of this month. Then this weekend happened.

In the wake of certain events, I realized how little time I was spending with GK, how damn lucky I am to have him. I spent a lot of time hugging him over the last three days. At twelve, he's starting to hit the "Mo-o-o-m, really?" stage when it comes to displays of affection. But he's been pretty tolerant after what happened in Connecticut.

On top of everything else, GK found a stray dog in our driveway when he went out to bring in our garbage can Thursday night. Buddy (we had to call him something) appears to be a full-bred Yorkie about four-five years old. We've spent the last four days combing the neighborhood for his owner, posting his picture on our subdivision's Facebook page, and hitting the local vets and pet stores.

The three of us humans agreed we couldn't take him to a shelter. We also couldn't leave him outside when the temps were dipping into the thirties, and a coyote pack has been known to eat other small pets from the neighborhood. Dax the Wonder Dog gave in when he realized he had a playmate closer to his size.

So Buddy the Elf Dog is staying with us until we can locate the owner. This means I get to referee between a long-legged beagle and a Yorkie whose balls are bigger than his brain. It's been interesting.

So what does this all mean?

Hug your kids. Cuddle your puppies. And you'll see Blood Sacrifice sometime in 2013.

3 comments:

  1. My gosh, my gosh. I wish we lived closer so we can go out for a cuppa. Sorry to read about all of this. Although the balls being bigger than his brain, did make me laugh.

    Our dogs have chips in them. Not sure if Buddy does.

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  2. Thanks for the thought, Ivy. I think I'm more frustrated by my time being eaten by piddly stuff. I spent the morning writing, and I feel much better!

    We took Buddy to our vet the very next morning. No chip and no tatoo. We've only had one lady call about him, but her missing Yorkie was a girl.

    He's obviously someone's pet because he's well-fed and recently been to a groomer. I started dropping off pictures at some of the local dog groomers at the beginning of the week, but so far, no one recognizes him. I'm going to have to wait until after the holidays to hit the rest of the places on my list. People are just getting stupid on the streets!

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  3. People really can be stupid.

    In the meanwhile, it's nice that you are keeping him warm and safe.

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