Happy New Year!

A little Barry to end the holiday season.

Coronavirus Pandemic Day 295 - Small Towns Shooting Themselves in the Foot

As I write this post in the early morning hours of Wednesday, known COVID-19 cases in the U.S. have reached 19,745,674 and known COVID-19 deaths have reached 341,801. Yesterday, we lost more people due to COVID-19 than we did during the 9/11 terror attacks. Yet, there are those who still think the disease is a hoax.

And even worse, people in rural areas are harassing and threatening to kill healthcare workers for trying to do their jobs.

Back in 2010, Newsweek talked about the rural brain-drain, how small town America was losing their best and brightest. What the reporter and the two writers she interviewed failed to address is how some people are driven from their home towns.

If a person excels in the arts or find an interest in anything outside of what is considering the norm, they are treated as a problem to be solved. The person is shamed or coerced into activities they may not find as fascinating as their relatives do. If they continue pursuing their own interests, they are isolated. Ostracized. Until they dream of "escaping" their home town.

And yet, these are towns that need healthcare and education professionals. Professionals the towns are already having a hard time attracting. Professionals that these town have spent thousands of dollars to recruit.

With the pandemic, things have grown exponentially worse. Now, healthcare professional are actively being driven from their posts. Death threats against the former head of the Ohio Department of Health Dr. Amy Acton and her children forced her to resign from her post. The person Governor DeWine picked to replace Doctor Acton refused the job, citing the threats Dr. Acton experienced in the post.

When this pandemic subsides, many of these small towns are going to find themselves without knowledgeable professionals, especially in the healthcare industry. So what's going to happen when you have a heart attack? Or a stroke?

Urgent care centers are great for basic first aid, but their personnel can't perform some of the lifesaving procedures you might need. More people will die from accidents and illnesses because they are too far away from qualified professionals.

Why are we letting fear, anger, and resentment turn a large swath of our country into a third world nation?

Last Call!

Need a post-Christmas pick-me-up? Got some holiday cash burning a whole in your pocket? Want a great collection of stories?

The sale ends at midnight tonight! The Good Cheer Holiday Bundle is still available!

Grab it now before it's too late!

Music I'm Listening To

I know this song is controversial with some people, but I take it as a woman finding a way to get what she wants in an oppressive culture.

Pain, Presents, and Pinwheels

It's been a crazy month at the new Casa Harden. I'm learning the hard way I can't do everything I used to do. My joints and muscles are barking with my immuno-compromised issues. And worse, my CBD has been back-ordered for over a month. Even when the shop gets it in, I'll be lucky to get it before the new year.

That's not a slam on the shop, their supplier, or the delivery folks. Every business is having some sort of trouble thanks to COVID-19. For those of you trying desperately to do your work plus that of your ill coworkers, I salute you.

It's simply that the naproxen isn't making it's usual dent, acetominophen does nothing for me, aspirin aggravates my acid reflux, and ibuprofen interferes with my high blood pressure medicine.

And this is why old people are grumpy. LOL

Unfortunately between the move and the shipping delays, I didn't get presents out to everyone I intended. So a lot of friends will be getting New Year's presents this year. Even the people for whom I did get orders out may not have their present before Friday. Alas, the poor delivery people have a zillion packages that everyone wants to send theirs NOW!

I'm glad I got the presents for the small children in my life sent back at the beginning of November.

The best thing is GK is home. I have fresh dates to make date pinwheels. So I have some cookie baking to do now that I know where the mixing bowls, the rolling pin, and the measuring utensils are.

And that's the thing I have to remember through this year's holidays. My family is safe and healthy and we're all working. May your own gods be watching over you.

Coronavirus Pandemic Day 286 - Family and Pack

The U.S. tolls have jumped as the Thanksgiving foolishness has come home to roost--18,036,341 known infected and 321,097 known deaths from COVID-19. Those are sobering numbers. Approximately, the same number of Americans who died on 9/11 are dying each day.

I realize people are tired of the restrictions and the masks. I really do. Personally, I like sitting in Starbucks at this time of year, sipping a hot peppermint mocha and watching people. I've come up with some excellent story ideas by watching people at their best and worst this time of year.

But I haven't been inside any cafe or restaurant for nearly a year, other than to rush in to pick up a carryout order while wearing full protective gear. And it's okay.

My father-in-law sits nervously in his apartment, as more of his friends are taken to the hospital, never to come home. My niece has been in and out of quarantine the last two months because other parents won't keep their children home when someone in their household becomes infected. Granted leave by the Army, Genius Kid slept in his car to prevent exposure at any hotel in his 24-hour trip home.

But GK doesn't dare go see his Papa. There are limits to the risks we all take, but that doesn't mean we don't care. GK called his Papa and talked to him. We won't have the big family gathering on Christmas or our game night on New Year's Eve. But DH and his sisters are texting each other more this year than they have in the last decade. GK texts his cousins. I e-mailed mine.

Physically apart does not equate to emotional distance, and vice versa. You may not be in the same room, but that doesn't mean you don't care. Or they don't care.

There's a light at the end of this tunnel. Vaccines are coming, albeit slowly.

Or you could take a page from Bella's book. Pack is pack, no matter where a pack member may be.

Music I'm Listening TO

Whitney had such a beautiful voice.

The Week Before Christmas and All Through the House

...it looks like a chaos bomb went off.

I've barely made a dent in the unpacking, I can't find my address book to save my life, and my mind's so frazzled I've had to reset most of my internet passwords.

Well, the passwords needed to changed anyway. A lot of them were pretty old.

So my house is filled with moving boxes instead of wrapped boxes, and the living room looks more like a warehouse depot than the pretty picture above. It's okay. The important thing is all the COVID-19 precautions we've been taking means we're together and healthy this holiday season. For that, I thank all the gods.

Also, Genius Kid will be arriving sometime this weekend. He's being super careful--to the point he refuses to stop and spend the night in Memphis which is the halfway point. "I'm not taking the chance of bringing COVID home to you and Dad by staying in a hotel."

If you see people sleeping in their cars at rest stops along the freeways, that's what their trying to do. Keep their family safe.

Pfizer's vaccine was rolled out this week, but we have a long way to go before the pandemic is over. A Sgt. Esterhaus always said, "Let's be careful out there."

A Reminder of a Great Deal

Feeling grinchy with the current worldwide mess? Need something to brighten your festive spirit? The Good Cheer Holiday Bundle is still available!

Lots of good stories ranging from traditional romance and mystery to zombie and superhero shenanigans during the holiday season.

You can pay what you want, but for only $15 you can unlock the entire bundle!

If you're looking for a last minute gift for a reader you can't visit over the holidays, this is an awesome idea.

Or even better, buy one for yourself, too, and read the L. Frank Baum Santa stories (yes, the guy who wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz) to your kids or grandkids over Zoom, Google Chat, Facetime, or Skype. Or you can use a plain, old-fashioned phone.

Check out some new-to-you authors because most of you already know A Very Hero Christmas is awesome!

Coronavirus Pandemic Day 279 - Hope!

We're at 16,368,406 official infections and 302,141 deaths from COVID-19 here in the United States.

But there's a glimmer of light on the horizon. The FDA gave emergency approval to Pfizer's vaccine last week. The first trucks rolled out from Pfizer's Michigan facility yesterday morning, filled with special refrigerated units containing vials of the vaccine. The first frontline medical workers were injected this morning.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed. That the vaccine works. That there's no horrible unknown side effects from the rush to develop it. That this vaccine will safe the thousands of lives that might otherwise be lost over this winter.

I am by no means an anti-vaxxer. However, I balked at getting a shingles vaccine until its efficacy improved. When it was first introduced, the shingles vaccine was only 30% effective. I finally got one this year once I was comfortable the efficacy was above 90%.

Two months ago, I made a point of getting both the flu and pneumonia vaccines. If I happened to get COVID-19, I didn't need those two diseases piling on. For people with compromised immune systems like me, such things could mean death.

You see, January of 2007 started with a little head cold. Then flu. Then the flesh-eating staph. Then another case of the flu. For four months straight, I was so fucking sick I often had to crawl to the bathroom.

So I'm keeping my fingers crossed this vaccine works as advertised. In the meantime, I'm wearing my mask, social distancing, and washing my hands until the are raw.

Music I'm Listening To

Damn, I feel old watching this video.

How to Give Your Mother a Heart Attack

Ah, the story about Genius Kid's car I mentioned on Wednesday...

 

Any parent knows the terror of a teen with a driver's license. However, Genius Kid has always been an excellent driver. Safety-conscious. Aware of his responsibilities. When he was about to leave the house, I'd say, "Be careful." He'd roll his eyes, and I would add, "It's not your driving I worry about, sweetie. It's the other assholes on the road."

 

So, Monday night, Darling Husband got a text from GK. It read, "I was just in an accident."

The last time I saw that particular expression on DH's face was the night his mother died. For a moment, I couldn't breathe.

DH texted back, "Are you okay?"

GK: "Yeah. I'll call you in a while."

 

It was a tense couple of hours before GK was back at his barracks and called us.

Sure enough, it was another asshole who rear-ended GK. Thankfully, no one was hurt, and there was another soldier with GK, who insisted on calling the cops. Their sergeant stepped in as the parental figure and helped GK with the details. Our insurance company jumped on the situation that night. GK dropped off his car at the auto body shop today. If all goes well, GK will be able to depart on his holiday leave next Friday as planned.

But those two hours waiting for GK to call were the worst in my life.

 

Even though DH pointed out the kid was well enough to text us.

Goes to show your child is never too old for you to worry about them.

Learning to Say No

One of the hardest parts of owning my own company is learning to say no. There's always some cool new thing coming down the pike, and there's a part of of me that's worried about missing the next big idea. But at some point, there's simply not enough time and/or energy to do everything I want to do.

 

Of course, the hard part is figuring out which offers to take up and which ones to leave by the wayside. Let's start with my current situation. Darling Husband and I just moved into out new house over the weekend. We haven't totally cleaned out the apartment yet, mainly because my comic collection is a bitch to move, and I trust third parties to touch it even less than my couple of pieces of nice diamond and gold jewelry.

Add to that is the upcoming holidays. Even though there won't be a huge gathering of the family, Genius Kid has three weeks of leave, and he plans to come home for Yule and Christmas, assuming his car is fixed. (That's a story for Friday.) So everything is already chaos at Casa Harden.

I've got my regular publishing schedule, which the December release has to be moved back two weeks because of the aforementioned move. I tried to get everything done on time, but there was too much packing to do at the apartment.

And in the middle of all that, I got an invitation to participate in an anthology for next year. I was going to graciously decline, but as I lay in my recliner, eating pizza while watching the Steelers-Washington game and waiting for the naproxen to kick in, an idea for the anthology sparked in my brain.

Then yesterday, a friend sent a proposition concerning his new venture. As much as I wanted to participate, I hit a wall. My own work was languishing. I still hadn't read and returned a novel someone else asked for comments on back in June.

And dammit, I really needed shower!

I should have said no to some other stuff much earlier than I did. I'm achy and exhausted. And I have to admit I can't do things or stay up all night to complete a project like I could in my twenties.

So, learn from my experience. Decide what's important. You can't do everything. And that's okay.

Your mental health and physical well-being are more important than anything. You can't do anything if you've burned yourself out.

Coronavirus Pandemic Day 272

As I type this on Monday morning, most of last week's snow is gone except for a few splotches here and there. Official infections in the U.S. have reached 14,879,831 and official deaths have reached 285,564.

Why do I keep track of this stuff? Because in twenty years, I want to be able to look back at everything and say, "We survived."

 

In the meantime, life plugs on. We're in the new house. I've got a space heater for my office, but I'm still in my recliner. Partly because my body is still recovering from the stress and physical exertion, and partly because Bella is used to napping in my lap as I work.

The moving stuff got in the way of several projects I was in the middle of, including the stories for the Bloodlines Shorts Anthology, so the next few days will be me playing catch-up between unpacking a couple of boxes.

You know how it is with a move. No matter how carefully you pack and label, things get lost in the process.

Music I'm Listening To

There's just something about the first snow and Bruce Springsteen.

Coronavirus Pandemic Day 265 - The Winter Holidays

As I type this, the United State has officially reached 13,506,766 known infections of COVID-19, and 270,520 known deaths. Even as we face numbers not seen since April, people had their Thanksgiving gatherings despite recommendations not to do so for fear of spread.

Yet, everyone is looking forward to the winter holidays. Kind of.

In the meantime, we're moving into the new house this week. And of course, Mother Nature decided to drop 2-4 inches on us today.

We've been so careful. We haven't made more than one appointment a day with folks delivering appliances, connecting services, or cleaning the place. The carpet cleaners are supposed to come today. I'm waiting to see if they will be able to come. In the meantime, I'm still laying shelf liner through the house and putting things away.

 

We'll see if the snow is gone by Friday for all the big furniture to get moved.

The Good Cheer Holiday Bundle!

I'm thrilled that my short novel A Very Hero Christmas was selected by Dean Wesley Smith to join the Good Cheer Holiday Bundle!

 

What is a Story Bundle? It's a group of e-books made available to the public at a special price. You decide how much you want to spend. If you pay between $5 and than $15.00, you get the first four books. If you pay $15.00 or more, you get all ten books.

 

And you can donate 10% of what you pay for the bundle to Able Gamers, a 501(c)3 charity that assists people with disabilities get the solutions they need to join in of the fun of video games.

Who are the writers involved? How about we start with the oldest gentleman, L. Frank Baum? Yeah, THE GUY WHO WROTE THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ!! Oh, and there's a bunch of award-winning and NYT Bestselling authors involved besides Frank and me.

What format are the e-books? They are available in both MOBI and EPUB. Plus, they are DRM-free, which means you can read them on your preferred device.

How long will this bundle be available? Until December 28th.

Why is this a value? 10 books at a minimum of $15.00 plus a couple of bucks for Able Gamers? That's a lot of light, fun holiday stories for less than $1.50 each.

So, check it out before the holiday crazies hit, and you forget!

Thanksgving Prep

I'd hoped to announce a holiday project I'm involved in. Unfortunately, it's been delayed a couple of days.

Instead, I'm working on packing up our house. Tomorrow's big project will be Genius Kid's room. Fortunately, he packed up his gaming consoles before he left for the Army. We shipped his TV and PC to him once he was allowed to have them. Most of his clothes will go to Goodwill because he no longer fits in them.

In the meantime, I cleaned out the refrigerator at the new house and loaded it with Pepsi Zero and water. I just need to take a box of granola bars over with me tomorrow. I'm happy having my own office, but I'm at the point I never want to move again.

Other than cooking, I am definitely taking Thursday off!

Coronavirus Pandemic Day 258 - Moving During COVID

As the U.S. closes in on 12.5 million infected with COVID-19 and over 260,000 deaths, most of the state of Ohio has gone red. Columbus (i.e. Franklin County) is firmly in the purple range as far as infection rates and hospitalizations go.

Yet, in the midst of this chaos, Darling Husband and I found a darn near perfect house. We're in the process of moving, i.e. taking boxes over before the moving guys haul the big furniture to the new place.

Once everything is inside the new place, we won't be going anywhere for quite a while. Not while the 'Rona rages around us.

Amidst the insanity of moving to a new house during a world pandemic, we will find what comfort we can. And I'm especially thankful for lamburgers and cherry cheesecake!

Disney Refuses to Pay Author!

And this time, it is TOTALLY Disney's fault!

The dicks at Disney are refusing to pay the royalties due to famed SFF writer Alan Dean Foster.

 

You see Foster was hired as a ghost writer by  George Lucas for the original Star Wars novel back in the '70's. Foster then adapted Lucas's unproduced script into the novel Splinter of the Mind's Eye under Foster's own name.

Foster also write many of the movie tie-in novelizations for what was 20th Century Fox, including the Alien franchise. Heck, he's even done move tie-ins for Disney's own movies, like The Black Hole.

Now that Disney bought the rights to Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox, they think they don't have to honor the old contracts. That's not how the law works, but the execs at Disney are banking on their own legal team to outspend and outlast the pesky little writers like Foster.

And they're still making money of Foster's work.

Disney sucks! And this in one of the many reasons I would think twice before licensing some of my properties, much less submit anything to a large corporations.

Look, I understand wanting success, recognition, and acceptance. But bending over and letting big companies have their way with you does not guarantee those things.

And even if you do everything right, like Foster did, it doesn't mean someone down the road isn't going to screw you over.

The only thing we can do is publicly shame the executives at Disney, like fans did with another company Disney bought--Marvel. Here, there's no question about ownership of characters. Foster did the work according to contract.  Disney cannot have all the rights of the companies they bought without accepting the liabilities.

I know, I know. Sometimes, there are exceptions. However, there's a reason Disney discontinued the publication of books, comics, games, etc. that made up the Star Wars Extended Universe. They wanted to go in a different direction, and they didn't want to pay the creators.

But Disney still publishes Splinter of the Mind's Eye, along with all the other movie tie-ins. In fact, they issued a new version in both mass market paperback and ebook. So if they're still using Foster's material, then they should be honoring his contract.

In addition to protesting, you can donate to the Science Fiction Writers of America's legal fund to support Mr. Foster and any other writers being screwed over by Disney

Amazon Causes Problems Again!

All right. I admit it's not all Amazon's fault.

Here's a HUGE lesson for any of you newbies who haven't started publishing yet. SET UP A BUSINESS ACCOUNT ON AMAZON BEFORE YOU PUBLISH YOUR FIRST BOOK!

You see, my big mistake back in 2011 was not doing that. I published under my personal account. At the time, I didn't know any better, but then most of us indies were a little clueless. We didn't know where indie publishing was going. Amazon didn't have the option to have a business account either.

 

Oh, I finally set up an account under my publishing company's name. There's some advantages to a business account that regular customer accounts don't have and vice versa. Things like generating codes for giveaways instead of gifting books. However, the Prime account costs twice as much.

And everything continued just fine until two weeks ago when Amazon allowed indie publishers to control series' links.

 

Don't get me wrong! I love the fact that we have more control over a series order, add a overall description, and link related books together.

However, the changes can only be applied if all of the individual books of the series are on the same account.

Oops!

Honestly, I've been moving books over for the last couple of years. Slowly.

The recent changes have forced me to accelerate my schedule. So if links aren't working (in the books or on the websites), it's because I haven't gotten them updated yet. But I swear I'm working on it.

And now you know how I'm spending my Thanksgiving vacation!

Coronavirus Pandemic Day 251 - Another Shutdown Is Coming

People are calling the current COVID-19 uptick in cases the third wave. However, here in Ohio, the numbers have been one continuous wave. An ever-growing wave. There is no trough. There has not been a trough since the first diagnoses in the state back in March 3.

Even worse, we've hit 10 million cases and 250,000 deaths nationwide. Those health professionals who've managed to survive are exhausted. And there are still people calling this a hoax.

With the cold weather settling in the northern states, everyone will be forced indoors and in close proximity. That means things are going to get worse.

A lot worse.

 

Gov. DeWine is talking about another curfew. Other states have already implemented partial or full shutdowns. And we're ten days away from Thanksgiving. That means cases will increase through December because Americans just can't handle being told not to do something.

I don't look at the subdued holidays as a punishment though. As I've been telling friends, I didn't go through the bullshit of breast cancer to be felled by the common cold's pissant little cousin.

We going to start stocking up on things as we move into our new house. Once we're in the new place, we're going to limit our trips out and about. I mean, I'm only going out to medical appointments and food pickup as it is.

It means no holiday celebrations this year. We'd hoped to host a tiny one in the new house, but it's not going to happen. It's just too risky with all the various health problems among the family members. And that's before we add COVID-19 to the mix.

So I have no excuse not to complete a bunch of things over the next two months.

As long as I can stay healthy.

A Day of Rememberance

It's a shame most people in the U.S. have forgotten how Veterans Day started. A little over a century ago, WWI ended, and people wore poppies to commemorate their lost loved ones.

Americans have changed the holiday to honor all members of the military, alive or dead. I don't have a problem with acknowledging our troops. The U.S. is rare in that it currently has an all-volunteer military. My son is one of those volunteers.

The real problem is a lot of our civilians fetishize the military. They don't treat these men and women as real people. And the weird worship makes a lot of our military uncomfortable.

The point of Veterans Day was to remember all the godawful numbers of dead of the Great War. It was supposed to be a reminder that WWI was the War to End All Wars. Alas, that reminder didn't last long.

Here's to all the veterans living and dead. I pray to all the gods there is no longer a reason for your service.

Half-Price Classes!

WMG Publishing is having another class sale! Yep, you can get any or all of their classes, including the lifetime subscriptions, for half-price. The code for checkout is

HolidaySale

 

 

The code is good for as many classes as you want. For more information, go to Dean Wesley Smith's blog. The sale ends tonight at midnight PST.

The sale has been extended through 5PM PST on November 10th!

New Short Story Sold and the Fabulous Kickstarter That Will Publish It!

It's been a while since I've even sent a short story to an editor, but now that the contract has been signed, I can announce this.

Please check out the Kickstarter for WMG's Holiday Spectacular 2020! This is the follow-up to WMG's Holiday Spectacular 2019.

 

The difference this year? They've included two more holidays to the Spectacular's schedule: Valentine's Day and Halloween!

And if you're one of my long-time readers, you already know where my story landed. That's right. "A Place at the Table" will be in the Halloween Harvest collection.

This is an awesome way to have stories delivered to you daily via e-mail during your favorite holiday season, or all of the holidays if you choose. So many people loved last year's Spectacular, the Kickstarter funded in its first four hours!

But there's plenty of stretch goal prizes to go! So if you want some excellent reads during the cold, dark days of winter, donate to the Kickstarter now!

How do I know these are awesome stories? I've already read most of them. *grin*

Coronavirus Pandemic Day 237 - F*** the virus! It's NaNoWriMo Time!

 The U.S. is at 9.3 million known infections and 234,567 deaths (believe me, I wish I WAS making up that number). And tomorrow is election day in a heated race for the soul of America.

You know what? There's only so much I can do about those things, and I am doing them. So, it's time to focus on National Novel Writing Month.

Now, a lot of professional writers hate this concept because they feel it demeans their profession.

Which frankly, I find ridiculous. NaNo is whatever you make of it. Plus, a lot of our detractors find out how hard it really is to write that first novel. Once you get over the initial hump, it gets a lot easier (for most writers, not all).

For me though, NaNo is the time of year where I give myself permission to experiment. To have fun. To enjoy the process. Then I can carry those feelings over to the rest of my projects through the year.

It helps that NaNo started on the Celtic New Year's Day. So have some fun!

And Happy New Year!

Happy Samhain!

Really? You were expecting '90's music on Halloween? Guess what? I can combine them both!

Coronavirus Pandemic Day 230 - It's Not Going to Stop Until Everyone Takes This Virus Seriously

Over 8.7 million confirmed cases. Nearly 229,000 deaths. And this is in the United States alone.

Yet, so many of my fellow citizens still don't take this pandemic seriously.

 

Two weeks ago, I made a dash to West Virginia. A cousin had to have surgery. It was a laprascopic procedure, so the down time would be minimal, but she needed someone at home with her for a few days.

So many, so, SO many people weren't wearing masks on that. And they can't figure out why the coronavirus is surging in that part of the state.

 

But me? I still had the travel pack from the Texas dash in August. Disposable masks, latex gloves, and a huge bottle of sanitizer. I got weird looks, but I didn't care. My life, my cousin's, and DH's were more important to me.

The whole situation makes me sad. This pandemic should never have been politicized or lied about by national officials. The American eople needed timely accurate information to protect themselves.

And now, we have a huge number of people dead who shouldn't be.

COVID-19 is not going to magically go away, not matter how much we wish it would. The FIL's assisted living center has stopped visitation for the third time in the last eight months. They aren't taking any chances. No one should. It isn't worth your life.

I Love the 90's!

What Are You Reading?

I know a lot of people thought the COVID-19 pandemic would be over by now. Unfortunately, the Spanish Flu pandemic a century ago took roughly two years to play out. I resigned myself to that fate back in June. Ironically, accepting that potential outcome helped me shake off the low-level depression I had in the spring.

Like many of you, I've taken refuge in books. Not so much new ones though, for which I apologize to my fellow authors. I've been reading a lot of things I found comfort in while I was in high school.

Stuff like the Star Trek Original Series novels. Hell, Barbara Hambly managed to cleverly insert the cast of Here Comes the Brides into the Star Trek Universe in Ishmael. (For those who don't get the joke, Mark Lenard, who played Spock's father Sarak in the original series, also starred in the other TV show.)

Then there's Patrica McKillip's Riddle-Master series, Katherine Kurtz's Deryni series, and Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series. I could keep going, but you get the gist.

 

So, what are y'all reading that's gotten you through the last seven months? What's on your list for the next seventeen?

Knowing Your Worth

I had a, well,  it wasn't strong enough to be an argument, but it wasn't exactly a discussion either with my cover artist. I've been working with her for five and a half years now, and she hasn't raised her prices once. Nope. Not one penny.

 

To top if off, she's working on the first cover for the Soccer Moms of the Apocalypse. And she came up with a super-cool logo for the series. So cool, I want to slap it on t-shirts, totes, cups, etc.

 

So, not only do I need the extended license from the non-royalty photo supplier, but I wanted to pay her for coming up with the logo. 

The logo for a company is valuable property. A logo is a company's brand. It's identity to the public. Think of Apple's silhouette of the fruit with a bite out of it. Or the Nike swoosh symbol. Or Disney's signature of its founder. And those companies paid a LOT of money to develop those logos.

So, in my mind, my cover artist should be charging more for her work. I see too many talented, hard-working women sell themselves short.

She disagreed. She didn't think she fell into the category of selling herself  short, and she gave me a lengthy list of her thought process of why she charged the amount she did. While part of me understands her reasoning, I still feel like I'm ripping her off. So after an extended talk, we came to an agreement. She would continue charging me an amount she felt comfortable with, but she would add a tip space on her invoice so I could pay her an additional sum I thought she deserved.

I'd still like to remind EVERYONE reading this to know your worth. Your skills are valuable. Your time is valuable. Your life is valuable. Don't give anything away for free unless it's part of a thought-out plan. KNOW YOUR WORTH!

I Love the 90's!

Saving the Earth one alien at a time.

We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Program

Another musician of my young adulthood has passed. Eddie Van Halen died of cancer this last Tuesday, and the would is a poorer place from his loss. My salute to '90's music will return at it's regularly schedule time next Saturday.

Down to the Wire

This post is going to be short and sweet. Hero In Camera is dropping next Thursday. Normally, I have time to prep for the release, but right now, I'm trying to wrap up the final chapters and edit this puppy before I leave for West Virginia on Monday.

Why am I heading south in the middle of the pandemic? A family member needs a rather important surgery, and they need someone to stay with them a few days to cook and wash up. And I would willingly do anything for them in a heartbeat.

I'm try to get a proper newsletter out the week after next because there's some cool things I want to do before NaNoWriMo kicks in.

Stay safe, everyone, and WEAR THOSE MASKS!

Nice Boots, Hugh!

A commercial that would never air in the U.S., and I love it! (Link courtesy of Writer Joseph Bradshire)

Coronavirus Pandemic Day 208 - Why Am I Keeping Track?

 7.5+ million cases of the disease so far in the United States. 213+ thousand dead. Now, allegedly the president and first lady plus a good chunk of the White House staff have the disease.

I read an interesting article over the weekend concerning President Woodrow Wilson's handling of the Spanish flu pandemic. He followed a route of downplaying the virus similar to our current leadership. The result was he ended up with the flu as did many of his staff. In Wilson's case, the flu weakening his body may have led to the stroke that felled him a couple of months later.

From a more creative standpoint, watching the pandemic unfold has led me to changing the rough outline of the Soccer Moms of the Apocalypse. I rearranged the order of the series, and Penny (AKA Pestilence) will take center stage in the first book. Especially since she runs a coffee shop.

 

Damn. I really miss writing in the local coffee shops.

It's odd how this crisis has triggered new ideas and changed some old.

I Love the 90's!

I think I lost mine some time ago.

Thank Geb It's Friday!

It's been an insane week at Casa Harden. I'd forgotten how much documentation I needed to submit to the bank and how much of their stuff I needed to read and sign. So far, everyone's been cool with doing everything online that can be done online.

 

But alas, I have a book to finish in addition to a house to buy, so longer posts about writing must wait until next week!

Coronavirus Pandemic Day 201 - What the Hell Was I Thinking!

 7.2+ million infected and 208+ thousand dead are the known numbers in the U.S.

These numbers are staggering. And yet, we pretend life goes on.

Case in point, DH and I are in the process of buying a house.

Back in July, we kind of given up on looking between the buyer's market and finding something that would work for us. Our primary criteria is having home offices on opposite sides of the house. When you both work from home, it can get disruptive. Especially in an apartment where I'm stuck working in the living/dining room and DH has to go through it to get a soda refill in the kitchen.

(Before anyone suggests it, yes, we do have a mini-fridge. No, we don't have any space in the apartment to put it.)

So,with all the pandemic crap, we resigned ourselves to living another year at the apartment and saving our money to build the type of house we need.

And then this house just kind of dropped in our laps. DH got the notice two weeks ago. Listing indicated this place met most of our criteria. We looked at it two days later with a super-critical eye. Man, this could actually work for us.

We called the bank to renew our pre-approval. We put in a bid, and six hours later, we had an agreement. Technically, it took that long because our realtor had a ton of stuff lined up, and it was a Saturday.

Now, I have to pack the apartment and make arrangements for various maintenance things once we have possession. Frankly, having a bunch of strangers in and out of the house worries me.

Okay, it worries me a lot.

But my new office will be the Florida room. All kinds of natural light and a space that's all mine. And we're only going across town, not 1200 miles across the country.

I hope it's worth the risk.

I Love the 90's!

I still love Jagged Little Pill.

The Publishing Challenge

 During one of WMG Publishing's class sales, I bought The Publishing Challenge. It sounds stupid on the surface, paying someone to make me accountable for sticking to a publishing schedule.

But with the COVID-19 pandemic and the U.S. descending into facism, this challenge has helped keep me on track with my writing through the chaos.

Each month, I need to publish one of the following:

- a novel

- a novella (minimum of 20K words)

- a bundle/anthology/boxed set (minimum of five short stories)

 

I can hear some of you say, "But, Suzan, you just published a single short story this month!"

Yeah, I did. Under the Suzan Harden name. I published a novel under Alter Ego, and that counts. It doesn't matter which pseudonym I use.

So what's the point of this post?

Do whatever you have to keep going through hellscape 2020 has become!

Coronavirus Pandemic Day 194 - Moving again

6.8+ million cases. 202+ thousand dead. Those are the REPORTED numbers in the United States alone.

 

I say reported because some governors (looking at you Florida Governor Ron DeSantis) and White House representatives are doing their damnedest to hide just how bad things are. Most citizens are doing what they can to slow the spread. But between those who STILL claim the disease is a hoax and the lack of a cure or a vaccine, more people will get sick.

 

More people will die.

 

And yet, the earth spins on.

 

A weekend ago Sunday, DH got an alert on a house for sale. Last month, we'd pretty much given up looking. We hadn't found anything that worked for us considering we both, well, work from home.

 

Like I've told several friends, arthritis is starting to become an issue. I'm going to have to switch to dictation sooner rather than later. I can't be dictating a sex scene while DH is on the phone with a client, walking them through journal entries. So, we need offices on opposite sides of the house, or sufficiently distant our devices can't pick up the other one.

 

But yeah, we'd given up last month, renewed our apartment lease, and planned to save up to build exactly what we needed. And this house pops up, so DH said hey take a look at this while we were watching the Steelers game.

 

I looked, not expecting a whole lot. But damn. This one could work. I mean, the only thing I could nit-pick on Realtor.com was the white stove in a refinished kitchen with hickory cabinets, granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. So, we made an appointment to see the house on Wednesday. I was absolutely sure there would be something wrong.

 

The only thing I could bitch about, besides the white flattop range, was the puke yellow paint in the master bathroom. An easy fix. But most importantly, it has rooms on the opposite sides of the house for our offices. Heck, DH and I can't even see each other when we go to the kitchen for drinks or head to the bathroom.

 

We got the financing pre-approval arranged on Thursday and Friday and put in the offer on Saturday. Six hours later, we had settled on terms. I swear that was the fastest negotiation on real property I've ever been involved in.

 

So yeah, we're moving again. In the middle of a pandemic. GO TEAM HARDEN!

I Love the 90's!

The Purple One reigns!

The Print Book Shuffle

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown how interconnected we all are, whether we like it or not. My paperbacks from my July release finally arrived yesterday.

 

I can't blame anyone. COVID-19 has slowed everything down. The shipping companies are overwhelmed by the increase in the number of packages and the new safety measures, plus their own people getting sick. And that's not taking into account the new Postmaster General attempting to sabotage the Postal Service.

 

The printer I use is overwhelmed. Their orders are up, thanks to another major book printer going under this year. Their own personnel are sick, and the remaining folks have to do the PPE dance. On top of everything, they are starting to have trouble with their suppliers.

 

The paper and inks suppliers are having the same shipping problems, their personnel are getting sick, and their remaining employees are doing the PPE dance.

 

And so on. And so on.

 

It's an ugly cycle, but it's not going away any time soon. But later today, I'll do my part to keep the Postal Service in business. Because no matter if it's rain, sleet, snow or gloom of night, readers need their books.

New Release - Murder Most Fowl!

Murder Most Fowl is officially out in the wilds!

I had a lot of fun writing this story, and I really hope you enjoy it. Plus, it's only 99-cents!

So what's it about? A murder inquiry takes an odd twist over the possession of a prize rooster. Yep, a rooster

Amazon, all countries
Barnes & Noble
Google Play
Kobo
Smashwords

Coronavirus Pandemic Day 187 - Exhaustion and Science

I slept until two p.m. today. The stress of getting a new book out and the hellscape our country has become wore me down. Not even DH's birthday helped. We had a low-key celebration at home with a lot of takeout food.

We're at 6.6M+ cases in the United States and 197K+ deaths, and the numbers are still climbing.

After six months, everyone's tired of the disease, the deaths, and the drama. I get it. But if you go back and read the account of the Spanish Influenza pandemic, COVID-19 wasn't going to go away after six. months. I know a lot of people were hoping so, but it ain't gonna happen.

Nor am I an anti-vaxxer, but I want a vaccine with proven effectiveness. I refused to take the shingles vaccine for years until its prevention rate was above 60%.

Despite the propaganda being bandied about, we aren't getting an effective, safe COVID-19 before the end of 2020. I never had hope that we would. One of the research studies had to shut down their human trials because of some serious side effects. It sucks, but you can't rush the research.. It always needs to be refined and tested over and over again.

I believe the research facilities WILL find a vaccine, but it takes time. Time is something some of my fellow citizens will not allow. Or else they believe the disease is a hoax. And that belief will kill hundreds of thousands of more people, and the thought makes my heart ache.

I Love the 90's!

Madonna never disappoints.

The Thursday Blues

Yes, I know it's Friday. I'm venting about all the shit that happened yesterday. I was doing pretty good. I managed to haul my ass out of bed by ten a.m. to write the last five chapters of the Alter Ego novel that must be uploaded today. Not a problem, right?

 

I managed to get one sprint done before the waste started hitting the spinning turbine.

 

- DH needed to vent to me about one of his employees.
 

- My eye doctor's office called and rescheduled my appointment for the 5th time in 2020.

- My pharmacy has a new computer system. Instead of calling me when all my refills are ready. Instead, the automated system was calling me as each prescription was ready. I have 10 effing maintenance drugs I'm on.
 

- Our meal delivery service had a software glitch and sent us meals we did not order instead of the ones we did order.
 

- A publishing service provider sent a series of e-mails in need of validation of their choices, which is totally weird  because they can usually read my mind.
 

- The army decided NOT to stream GK's graduation online.
 

- GK first called because he was stressed about getting his dress blues ready for graduation.
 

- GK then called exhausted and angry because he had been up half the night getting his dress blues shaved and steamed for graduation, and he was then told they would be wearing their standard uniforms.

- Blogger has a new upgrade that I'm struggling to figure out how to do things. It's so confusing I had to resort to the old version in order to write this freakin' post. (And I can see why my friend Angie gave up on using this f***ing thing!)

 

-  And to finish the day, DH was going to stop at Steak N Shake to pick up dinner after he was done at the high school (he runs the clock for all the soccer teams) since I was having a rough day. Steak N Shake closed earl.y

To top everything off, I feel guilty bitching about my minor problems when friends and acquaintances in the Pacific Northwest are evacuating from the massive wildfires or are on standby to evacuate if the wind shifts. They don't need my hopes and prayers. They need a miracle snow storm to douse the flames like some friends in Colorado.

Now? For me?

Now, I'm going to read a friend's vampire novel I promised to read back in April. And then I'm going to have some fun with Harri and Aisha by seeing what kind of hot water I can dump them into this weekend.

I'm so ready for some football...

Deadlines!

I've got an Alter Ego book that has to be finished today. So, I'll leave you with this funny:

Coronavirus Pandemic Day 180 - Happy Labor Day!

We're getting some unexpected thunderstorms, so it's a good day to curl up with the puppy and write.

I hope everyone is enjoying their three-day weekend!

I Love the 90's!

I could feel this song so much!

TGI Labor Day Weekend! Or Maybe Not

I'm officially done with quarantine, but it's not like I can, or want, to go anywhere this weekend.

So, I'll be doing a lot of reading, writing, and television watching over the next three days. I feel like this is the new normal, and honestly, it fits with my introverted personality. However, I'm blessed to have DH and the Princess Pup at home as well as friends I can call, text, e-mail, and/or Zoom with when I feel the need for human contact.

If you're having issues dealing with the stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic and its fallout, and you need someone to talk to, there's NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

There's no shame in needing a little help. We all do these days. So please call or e-mail them.

We really are in this together.

Sprinting through the Pandemic

I admit it. Getting words done while the world is disintegrating around me has been difficult for the last six months.

So I've been trying something new. I've been doing writing sprints with just a few friends online. We're only writing in twenty-minute stretches for a few hours, but I've been getting in a lot more words in those short sprints.

Why?

1) Part of it is breaking the stupid myth in my own head that I need a solid block of two hours to get anything done.

2) I feel more comfortable writing with people I know even if we do live hundreds of miles apart.

3) The sprinting got my competitive streak going. Not with the other writers, but with myself.. If I could do 100 words in that sprint, can I do 150 in the next?

I'm not going this is the end-all, be-all solution for everyone. For me being trapped at home under quarantine for the last two weeks, this has helped immensely.

So don't be afraid to experiment with your daily routines. You never know what you might discover about yourself.

Coronavirus Pandemic Day 173 - Insanity

Just when I think things can't get worse in 2020, it does.

So far we've had

- COVID-19
- travel bans
- economic chaos
- record unemployment
- murder hornets
- cops gleefully killing black people on camera
- cocaine boars
- protest marches
- a president who is trying to establish a fascist regime
- meth gators
- parents attempting to homeschool/parents refusing to homeschool
- record heat
- record number of hurricanes

Then came the week of August 23-29

- Both Hurricane Laura and Hurricane Marco hit the U.S. coast
- Jacob Blake was shot seven times and paralyzed by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin
- Protests in Kenosha resulted in an alt-right teenage sympathizer killing two people and wounding a third
- Wildfires rage out of control in California
- The number of dead from COVID-19 surged over 180K in the U.S.
- The number of confirmed infections crossed 6M
- BLM supporters and white supremacists clashed in Portland, resulting in one death
- Unmasked white supremacists, many of whom were armed, stormed the Idaho House of Representatives
- The Milwaukee Bucks walked of the court in a wildcat strike over the Jacob Blake shooting
- Other NBA, WNBA, and MLB teams followed
- Sportcaster Kenny Smith walked off the set in solidarity with the NBA players

And last, but hardly least, I got an e-mail late Friday night from my buddy Jo, saying actor Chadwick Boseman died.

That news was a punch in the gut. Mr. Boseman had a heck of career, and I expected to see more from him. He brought a singular gravitas to the role of T'Challa.  When DH and I went to see Black Panther, Mr. Boseman had the entire audience, black and white, standing and cheering at the end.

There are no words, and I'm a middle-aged, middle-class, white woman. I can't imagine how all the little kids who saw themselves in Mr. Boseman on the big screen feel right now.

The chaos seems to be growing exponentially. I've got to find the strength to write Hero In Camera because I want it to reflect an America where everyone has a fair chance, and they don't have to worry about being shot.

I Love the 90's!

The Latin explosion! Even in utero, GK danced to this one!

Vivian Stephens - The Founder of RWA

In the wake of the RWA racist implosion, Texas Monthly has published an in-depth article about Vivian Stephens, the black founder who was forced out by Nice White Ladies.

This article came out in the September 2020 issue of Texas Monthly Magazine. It's an eye-opening look at racism in America.

RWA's Slow, Self-Inflicted Death and the Phoenix

When I left Romance Writers of America, it had problems. Lots of problems.

There was an anti-erotica (really it was anti-sex) bent. An anti-ebook bent. An anti-Black bent. Guess what my first romance series had? Yep. All three.

It made me sad. I did learn a lot from the authors in the chapters I belonged to in Houston. But as time passed, I felt more and more uncomfortable. Finally, I slipped out so quietly most people didn't even realize I wasn't there.

Courtney Milan wasn't that lucky. She was tossed out on her ass in a ham-fisted attempt to silence her. Because she was a woman of color, and she was loud, and the Nice White Ladies who really controlled RWA and its purse strings couldn't handle someone like Courtney, other than to make shit up and totally bypass the organization's Ethics Committee.

So, what's happened since last winter?

RWA has lost roughly half its membership. COVID-19 forced their annual conference to go online, but I haven't heard of anyone who's going. I honestly don't know how it will work. They plan on using ZOOM, but all the schools across the country using ZOOM managed to crash the system last week. RWA has lost its biggest money-makers, the RITA and the Golden Heart contests, because so many entrants and judges withdrew.

But what about Courtney Milan?

She's finally put out a new book, the proverbial book of her heart, The Duke Who Didn't, which will be released on September 22. Personally, I'm looking forward to this story.

In the meantime, Courtney talks about her experience with RWA and how her maternal grandmother was the inspiration for her newest novel in a article on Entertainment Weekly.

Coronavirus Pandemic Day 166 - Back to Writing

I'm under quarantine for another ten days since getting back from Texas. Over the weekend, I spent most of my time editing or catching up on household and business management tasks. But today, I need to hunker down and get some writing done.

The final version of Murder Most Fowl is already uploaded and ready to drop on September 15th. However, I'm also trying to reboot Alter Ego's career.

Frankly, it was hard to think about romance and sex while facing breast cancer over the last couple of years. Now that I'm finally starting to feel like myself again, I've jumped back into the romance pool. I put up a boxed set of a series last month that included a brand-new novella. Right now, I'm working on a prequel novel of a spin-off series. Plus, I was dared to write a dirty Jane Austen Fan Fiction book by a couple of friends, so I'm looking forward to doing something new and fun.

But don't worry folks! I did work on Hero In Camera while on the road last week. I'll do my damnedest not to fuck up that release!

My work keeps me from looking at the pandemic stats too much. Honestly, quarantining makes me feel better about not being out and around other people right now. Our county cases are closing in on 500, and nationwide, we're closing in on  6 million cases and 179,000 deaths.

It was a gratifying to see most people take this damn disease seriously while we were on the road last week.

Now, back to writing some fun shit...

I Love the 90's

His name will always be Prince.

Home at Last!

Mission accomplished! GK has his Charger, and we've returned home intact.

I have to admit driving a silver Dodge Charger on the freeway is a blast. Many law enforcement agencies in the U.S. use them. It was hysterically funny watching people about to pass us panic and slam on the brakes.

If it weren't for the damn pandemic, I would have wanted to spend a lot more time in Memphis. Or even stopped at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, which we normally do if only to pick up t-shirts to add to our collection. But the full parking lot dissuaded us from stopping.

So we arrived at home. Other than dropping off the rental car, picking up Bella from the kennel, and grabbing a few groceries from the store, we plan to hunker down for the next two weeks.

Or I do. DH is going to the first high school soccer game of the season tonight. He's already been on the phone with the district's athletic director. It'll be just DH and the announcer in the booth with masks and sitting six feet apart.

While he's gone, I'll see about getting writing done.  And give lots of attention to the furball who's been stuck to my legs for the last twenty-four hours.

On the Road Again

I'm writing this blog from a hotel in Memphis. I'd like to explore it more thoroughly. It's rich in culture and history. Every other time I've been here, I'm passing through to somewhere else I need to be by a specific date and time.

Today, I have the time, but I'm trapped in my hotel room by a disease.

It's been an experience traveling across the Midwest and South. The dichotomy between those who take COVID-19 seriously and those who still believe its a hoax. There was a McDonald's in San Angelo,Texas, where everyone wore gloves and masks. They even offered us a antiseptic wipes at the drive-thru window.

Then there was the Pilot Travel Center in North Little Rock, Arkansas. Eleven women were crowded in the tiny bathroom together. The manager and a customer were both complaining about the mask rules, and I watched the manager rip his off his face. Fewer than a third of the customers wore masks despite signs on the doors that they were required. I turned around and walked out. At the car, I told DH I would hold it until we found another spot.

Up until that Pilot this evening, I felt relatively safe. Most people were taking appropriate safety measures. But the crap I saw explains why over 170,000 people are dead.

All I can do is shake my head and bath in hand sanitizer.

Coronavirus Pandemic Day 159 - There's No Escaping

We took Genius Kid's car to him over the weekend. He's about to change duty stations.

Originally, he was supposed to have leave in between assignments. He planned to fly home and take his car with him to his next assignment. But with the pandemic, no one's allowed off base.

So we drove his car down to Texas with the plan to meet him at the base's visitor center. Guests are not allowed on base right now either. And to top everything off, the night we got to our hotel, we found out GK's sergeant had been exposed to COVID-19, and he may have inadvertently exposed the entire platoon. They were awaiting word on the sergeant's test results.

Then, there was our very careful 1300-mile trip. I had a reusable Halloween grocery bag full of paper towels, tissues, antiseptic wipes, disposable latex gloves, cloth masks, disposable masks, a giant bottle of hand sanitizer, and Ziploc bags for safe disposal of all of the above. And we used everything.

We took meat, cheese and drinks in a cooler for the first day along with granola bars, bananas, nuts, and buns in a Wonder Woman reusable bag. Our couple of stops for gas and a bathroom break were at Pilot Truck Stops along the way. I swear they had the cleanest bathrooms I'd ever seen.

Everyone at our hotels in Memphis and San Angelo took safety precautions seriously, including providing masks and hand sanitizer for guests.

We saw GK for about three minutes, only because his sergeant's test had come back negative that morning, and GK's doesn't face a two-week quarantine. The heart-breaking part is we couldn't do more than first-bump. This may be the last we see him for a couple of years.

This fucking virus sucks, but we all did what we had to in order to prevent exposure. But to play it safe, DH and I are quarantining ourselves for the next two weeks and keeping our fingers crossed. I can't bitch too much. I have books to finish.

I Love the 90's!

Sometimes, just sometimes, you hit the lottery!

Qapla'!

A Twist of Love is officially live!

Here's the new link on Amazon!

I'll be spending the rest of the day updating links in various places. So take care, stay safe, and enjoy!

A Twist of Love and Suzan's Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Week

By now, most of you are aware of the cancellation of A Twist of Love. Except it's not really cancelled, just the original Amazon pre-order was cancelled.

A little bit of background first. Amazon requires us to have the final book file uploaded four days before the release date. Then the record is locked until release day. That usually isn't a problem, except...

I freely admit I had difficulty writing the finale for this novel. But I pushed through and finished it. I uploaded the file with fifteen minutes to spare, pressed "PUBLISH" and breathed a sigh of relief.

And that's where things went wonky. I don't know if it was a software problem, my ISP, my own computer acting up, or the thunderstorms that had just crossed the Indiana border causing a power surge. But the screen started flashing like it was caught in a programming loop.

That's when my panic attack started. By the time I got it cleared, it was past the deadline, and the record was locked.

However, the status said "PUBLISHING" so I crossed my fingers.

Tuesday morning, I opened my e-mail. At the very top was the notice from Amazon that the pre-order for A Twist of Love was cancelled for lack of a file.

I didn't want to say anything to you all while I dealt with Amazon and devised a definite plan for going forward. On the plus side, I wasn't punished with the removal of all my other pre-orders (which is usually what happens). On the minus side, the record for A Twist of Love is considered dead and they cannot restore it.

So, here's what's going to happen:

1) I will take Wednesday and Thursday to double-check the file.

2) I will upload A Twist of Love Thursday night under a new ASIN.

3) Amazon can take anywhere from two hours to three days to actually have the book ready to buy. So if you see the landing page, it doesn't mean the books available yet.

4) I'll post here to let y'all know I've gotten the official notice from Amazon the book is live.

To everyone who pre-ordered A Twist of Love, I sincerely apologize for the brouhaha.

For those of you who've pre-ordered Murder Most Fowl? The final file was uploaded when I uploaded Snowfall, so you folks are good to go!

And I will do my Twelve-blessed best not to wait until the last minute ever again!