But then the Beckster doesn't feel the need to drag me around her latest landing place. She had frozen pizza in the oven and a martini waiting for me when I arrived. We're getting Greek take-out tonight for dinner. There's just some friends who get you, and they are a royal treasure behind measure.
Wednesday, I head home, but I think the break to visit family and friends has done me a world of good.
With music, I'm not addicted to a particular genre. I threw people off in the old days when one could look at a person's vinyl/cassette/CD collection and get a feel for someone's tastes. Mine was literally all over the place.
Dolly Parton, Madonna, Barry Manilow, Mozart, Prince, The Statler Brothers, Genesis, Elvis Presley, Metallica, ABC.
I've realized the commonality is the honest emotions in the song writing and the performance.
Last night, my friends took me all over Wilmington, NC, to see the sights. However, the highlight was a concert at UNCW by the Chatham Rabbits.And those qualities of honest emotion in their lyrics and performance makes me love their work.
The Chatham Rabbits are currently on tour if you want to check them out..
Here's a taste. . .
If you're an introvert, you understand what I'm talking about. If you're an extrovert, you probably won't. All I ask is you give us introverts some grace and kindness.
It's not that we don't like socializing. But the more people involved, the more strength we use to keep up. It's. . .exhausting.
At two of the four stops so far, the people I saw wanted me to meet their friends. The other two wanted to got out to eat at fancy restaurants in major cities. I just wanted to see the people I love. And I would have been perfectly happy to catch up over a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Right now, I'm ensconced in my room at a Charlotte Holiday Inn. Thankfully, check-out isn't until noon. It's only a three-hour drive to my next stop. So, I have roughly 18 hours of me time.
I need it. I mean I REALLY need it because my next friend is taking me out to dinner with her friends and then to a concert.
And the friend at my last stop just texted me about making reservations for dinner when I get to her house. I texted back, "Please don't make me go out! We order in or I'll cook." And she replied that was no problem
I'm glad I bookended my entire trip with people I've lived with at one time or another. They understand me.
The inevitable necessary hard drive replacement has happened. However, everything from the operating system to my folders have so many extra protections on them it's been a royal bitch to restore all the programs and files.
Not to mention the innate fear that I'll accidentally erase something I need.
Hell, even the free tools to correct PDFs and EPUBs have given me headaches while I try to reinstall them.
It doesn't help that the temperatures have plunged after a storm system rolled through Saturday night. Even with bright sunshine today, my space heater can't keep up in my office. The only way you can tell it's three days from Spring are from the buds on the trees and the squirrels chasing each other across the back yard.
While I wait for items to copy to this computer from my external backup drive (yeah, I have a ton of books, partial books, ideas, my music for inspiration, and various pictures for covers), I'm going to try to write up all the random thoughts about the publishing industry and work/life balance that have been rumbling through my head over the last few months.
Also, if you want some tidbits to read, I've started posting chapters for Sapphire (War of the Witches #1). This series won't be out until next year. I've got to finish Justice and The Books of Apep first. But I've been dabbling on Sapphire for a few minutes most nights before bedtime. When readers are expecting something in particular, I sometimes let the pressure to mess with my head. Writing on a private project of the heart makes a nice relief valve.
Or in the case of Justice, I don't want the adventure to end. I've had that problem with past books. I unconsciously slowed my writing because I love the characters so much, and I don't want to let go.
It's time to get more coffee and warm up my hands as I wait for files to finish copying.
Have a great Monday!
It's not just us. Everyone's losing business because of the current round of inflation. One of my fantasy cover artists had a full 2025 schedule on January 1st. Now, she's got authors canceling their slots left and right. My romance cover artist closed her website because it had become too expensive and rarely takes new clients for custom covers. My other fantasy cover artist and I had a long e-mail discussion about the change in the industry.
DH's employer had a round of layoffs. If Medicare is trashed, neither of us will be able to retire any time soon.
My friends who've already retired fear losing their Social Security on top of watching their 401Ks in free fall.
And to top things off, the entire world economy is still recovering from the chaos caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Governments are killing sick chickens in mass in an effort to keep the mutating avian flu from turning into another health disaster.
Which is why a carton of 18 eggs is now more expensive than a pound of ground beef in our town.
How the hell can we expect people to buy our books when they can't afford nutritious food? I say that as someone who has health issues and is making that very same cost/benefit analysis.
And then there are the tariffs against our allies, which is prompting boycotts and other retaliatory measures.
So here's what I'm thinking--
To my fellow Americans, if you like my stories, but can't afford my books or feel in good conscience you can't buy them from a mega corporation, I get it. I'm looking into opening my own store so I can give you discounts, and I'm not getting overcharged by certain companies. Also, contact your local libraries about carrying my books so you can read them for free. If it's a question of your library's budget, I'm more than happy to donate both e-books and print books to your library. Have your librarian contact me.
To my readers outside of the United States, I understand why you might be boycotting any U.S. vendors, including me. I didn't vote for the current administration, but everyone's suffering under his idiotic policies. Frankly, you've got to look out for yourselves. Hopefully, both I and my books will still be around once the current chaos is done.
Until then, remember this quote from The Last of the Mohicans (1992):
You're strong! You survive! You stay alive, no matter what occurs! I will find you! No matter how long it takes, no matter how far. I will find you!
The danger part is unusual. I'll be heading down to West Virginia to check on my cousin at the end of the month. From there, I'll drive down to DC to see my sister, then spend a week in North Carolina visiting friends.
That's where it gets weird. Nearly every friend has extolled me to be super careful driving through NC. They worry about me driving through the state as a woman alone.
I've done countless roadtrips by my lonesome. I've been to NC by myself before, and never worried.
But this time? Yeah, I'm taking their warnings seriously.
It's nothing personally against NC. It's because of my last trip back in October to see my cousin.
Depending on the route I take, I drive through small sections of Pennsylvania and Maryland in addition to Ohio and WV. In October, I had just passed through Delaware, Ohio, on my way home. But that time I was driving GK's Challenger because my car was in the shop for repairs (I had been sideswiped by a teenager in town).
Anyway, a couple of guys in a pickup swerved into my lane. No biggie, right? Except they tried to run me off the road two more times. I looked over, and the men were laughing. At me. And the sun was setting.
There's a long stretch of fairly straight road before we reached the U.S. 30 interchange. No one else was around us except for some traffic a mile behind us. The pickup started to swerve again. So, I punched the accelerator.
Now, I'm usually very careful about my speed between Delaware and home because Ohio state troopers patrol pretty heavily along this highway.
I could hear the pickup's engine above the growl of the Challenger. These guys were actually trying to chase me. Any ticket would be worth getting away from these jerks.
Except the chase lasted less than 30 seconds. A horrendous noise came from the pickup. If you've ever heard an engine throw a rod, you know what I'm talking about.
I kept going, glancing in my rearview mirror until they were out of sight. Only then did I feel safe enough to slow down. I look at the speedometer. I was going well over a hundred. I took my foot off the accelerator until I reached the speed limit.
I'm thankful I was okay. I'm thankful no one else was on that stretch of highway who might have been hurt. And I believe karma stepped in that night.
So, yeah, it's not just the people in NC I need to watch out for. I honestly don't get why people get their kicks from terrorizing, or attempting to terrorize total strangers.
However, DH installed a dashcam on my car in case I run into more careless or crazy drivers. The video is automatically sent to DH's phone, so no matter what happens, he'll know about it.
Cameras are everywhere these days, kids. You can't get away with stuff anymore unless you're a billionaire asshole.
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