Monday Got Away from Me

Yesterday was just f**king busy.I finished putting together a bookcase. The plan is to finish cleaning out the storage unit. Which means I need to get the home library's bookcases out and cleaned up, as well as putting together the new cases so I have enough room for everything. Anyway, yesterday's job would have been done a lot faster if the Princess Puppy and the Grandpuppy didn't insist on supervising the process.

I also FINALLY got the Outlook Groups for my publishing e-mail lists pulled from the previous laptop to the new one. UGH! I hate Microsoft sometimes. "Let us handle the information transfer, but we will leave out random shit!" Anyway, the newsletters will be out later this week.

I reviewed everything I need to do for the Kickstarter that's supposed to launch this month. I'm a lot closer to being ready tan I thought. The last things I need to do for the campaign are to draft the story portion and take photo of the swag that will be offered.

I attended last night's yoga class and managed not to cry. Our instructor is closing her studio at the end of the month thanks to the current economic crisis. I wouldn't have been able to go if my readers hadn't graciously bought lots of copies of A Barrel of Vintner and Amazon hadn't paid me early. Tonight is the last night, and I may lose it at the end.

And last night, I took a much needed break since my sprinting partner wasn't available since she was babysitting her niece. I watched The Last Stand with DH and then resumed reading Jonathan Moeller's Ghost in the Hunt.

None of this may seem like a lot, but every niggling thing takes time, effort, and concentration.

But hey, things are getting done! And in time, it will all turn into something beautiful!

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

A power anthem to end LGBTQIA+ month! Thanks for joining me!

I Love an Artist Who Doesn't Take Himself Seriously

How can you not love Mark Hamill? He has the best Star Wars jokes in the galaxy!

Real Summer Is Here!

I got spoiled with last week's super-pleasant, super-sunny mid-70's weather. Mother Nature ratcheted the temps back to the 80's today. The A/C has been running most of this afternoon. Tomorrow morning's rain front will cool things back down to the 70's for a couple days. And then...

It'll be in the 90's, baby! With lots of fireworks in the neighborhood!

I'm glad I grabbed a bottle of calming chews for the Princess Pup and the Grandpuppy during last month's dog supply run! Neither of them shake in sheer terror like poor Haley did decades ago, but they feel the need to reply to every little crack and boom with three times the barking. Honestly, the calming chews are for mine and DH's sanity, not the dog's.

In the meantime, I finished proofing the paperback of A Barrel of Vintner in the wee hours of this morning. My lovely formatter has already sent the final files back to me by the time I rolled out of bed and grabbed my first cup of coffee. Now, it's just a matter of getting everything uploaded and letting the retailer process roll through.

Which means paperbacks should be available for order late next week. Not in time for the July 4th festivities, but definitely for any other vacations for this summer.

In the meantime, I'm trying to wrap up edits on Death Goddess Fighting and getting words in on Death Goddess Redeeming while taking occasional forays into A Sprout of Wild for a palate cleanser.

I hope the rest of you are enjoying a lovely slice of summer sun and fun!

It's a Monday

I did not get all the proofing and editing done over the weekend that I'd planned. But I made DH happy by taking him to Dietsch's, a hometown shop where the ice cream is made on the premises! It's amazing what a caramel cashew sundae do for a man's mood. I also made scallops and spaghetti in a lemon garlic cream sauce for Father's Day/Litha.

Today, I'm trying to finish the final proofing for the paperback version of A Barrel of Vintner. I thought I had a fairly clean manuscript when the ebook was published in April. Alas, I was wrong! But I'm trying to make things right!

Unfortunately, today was also the semi-annual dental exam. I'm always paranoid that the dentist will find something expensively wrong. But it was an observation that I had a LOT of caffeine staining on my teeth.

Hey, I admit I have addiction, but sometimes, I also need something to sip on when I'm going through a manuscript for the umpteenth time. Not even my own action-adventure stories can keep the eyelids open when the entire text is nearly memorized. And there in lies the reason for the caffeine. I need to be awake to smash the typos with my shoe!

(Not literally, but I view them as the spiders I do not want crawling into my mouth while I'm sound asleep.)

At least, I don't have to cook tonight since there's plenty of leftover scallops and spaghetti for dinner tonight.

Now, back to the proofing!

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

Thirty years ago, I was told I wasn't allowed to listen to Melissa Etheridge because I was straight.

Busy Summer Day

I don't remember having a lazy summer since my sister was born. Then came my brother. The summer after kindergarten, we moved to the family farm. Fifty-four years later, I still haven't had the proverbial lazy summer day.

This morning started with mailing bills and a 90-day notice to the storage unit place. We're getting the last of our boxes out, come hell or high water.

I then went to Starbucks for two hours to get words in on Death Goddess Redeeming.

Got home for DH to point out I forgot to drop off the Grandpuppy's stool sample at the vet's. Which was still sitting in the fridge. Don't worry. It was double-sealed.

On the way home again, I stopped for gas so DH can drive to the stadium up in Toledo for the Flag City Phantoms last home game. I also bought a lime to make the pico de gallo for tonight's dinner.

Seriously, there's nothing like fresh, homemade pico de gallo!

The rest of tonight will be spent editing Death Goddess Fighting and proofing the paperback of A Barrel of Vintner around dinner and catsitting. A visit with the Niece's cat Miss M with require allergy and decongestant meds a half hour prior to attending the Dark Queen.

When we get home, I'll probably spend the rest of the evening working on beaded bookmarks for the upcoming Kickstarter while a movie plays in the background.

I hope the rest of you can enjoy a lazy summer weekend!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

It's been raining for the last couple of days. The dark clouds do not help my waking in the morning. In fact, my alarm went off at its proper time, I turned it off, and I laid back thinking about my to-do list.

Next thing I knew, it was an hour later. Oops!

Not even a shower and a cup of peppermint coffee has helped. I'm still yawning.And yes, I followed my nighttime rituals of cutting off caffeine and reading before bed.

However, writing and editing must be done. Plus, I need to finalize my campaign page for next month's Kickstarter.

Maybe starting some cinnamon rolls would help. 

I'm F**king Depressed

I got an e-mail last week from the owner of the yoga studio I go to. They're closing at the end of the month.

 @*$@(*@*#)!&#$#&*@(*!!!

I've got my meds balanced, I'm eating better, and I've been exercising regularly between walking dogs and this class. Should I be taking the closing of the studio personally? No, I should not. The owner's in the same boat as everyone else, including me. Food prices and gas have doubled, and there's no end to the bullshit in sight.

It's still disappointing as fuck. I'm one of those people who needs a push to reach my exercise goals. Even the gentle nudge of the instructors of this particular studio helped me tremendously.

Why? Frankly, I'd prefer to sit all day and write, but that's not healthy for your body in the long run. The Public Service Announcements that sitting for long periods being as bad for humans as smoking aren't joking. My back and hips are aching just from the writing I've done over the last two weeks.

So I need to find a way, and the emotional push, to continue practicing yoga at home.

*sigh*

This totally sucks! 

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

Could anyone beat the soundtrack music Queen did for the original Highlander?