Coronavirus Pandemic Day 110 - Denial Is a River in Egypt

Denial of the seriousness of COVID-19 has been running thick and strong in the United States. However, reality is catching up with a lot of people's wishful thinking.

Greg Abbott was on the Texas Supreme Court back when I was first licensed as an attorney. To say he's right-wing is like saying Yosemite Sam likes guns. Now, Abbot is governor of Texas, and he very much was opposed to shutting down the state. He did so in March under duress. He also was one of the first governors to reopen his state.

But in all the years I've observed Greg Abbott, I've never seen him scared like he was at last Friday's press conference where he closed down bars and limited restaurants once again. On Friday, hospitals in the major cities were at 97% capacity.

By Saturday, hospital were full.

I still have a lot of friends who live in Texas. Hell, my son is currently stationed there.

And he was supposed to be sent to a new assignment next month. That likely won't happen either. Nor will he get leave for Christmas if he is still in the States. The Armed Services can't afford for that many people to get sick.

I won't even get into the hellscape that is Florida right now.

People talk about the second wave, but Holy Cthulu! The first wave hasn't crested yet. We didn't give it a chance to crest. Our leaders were in denial. A good chunk of the population were in denial. And now COVID-19 has a firm grasp on all our throats.

Not even Baby Yoda can save us now.

I Love the 90's

Editing in Brain Fog

Normally, I do my own editing. That drives readers and a lot of other writers damn near psychotic. I'm not sure why. I had to edit any tech manuals or legal documents I wrote during my other two professional incarnations.

In indie publishing, I'm also the first person to advocate do what you're good at and hire out the rest. I can edit. I still can't quite get the hang of covers. I'm practicing, but I simply don't have the eye my cover artists do.

However, I didn't realize how deep my brain fog from the COVID-19 pandemic was until I started to come out of it a couple of weeks ago. I'm in the process of re-editing Hero De Jure. Holy Cthulu! What a mess. I am usually much, MUCH cleaner than this.

That damn brain fog is also the reason I pulled the Millersburg Mystery series from Amazon.

Now, I could sit here and berate myself, but is that really doing any good? That's the reason I advocate being kind to yourself right now. We're all going through some variation of brain fog with our jobs.

Even the rare times we've done carry-out for dinner over the last couple of months, our orders have been screwed up more times than not. The poor kids working at the local restaurants are having as much trouble with brain fog as the rest of us.

However, life goes on, and I'm working on fixing my work. Luckily, the story I'm releasing for July is already written. Hopefully, that will give me a little time to clean up shit and get back on track with my writing.

All's Quiet on the Western Front

The U.S. publishing industry has been rather quiet for the last three and a half months. Bookstores across the country have been closed for the first couple of months of the states' stay-at-home orders. Even now that most of the stores have reopened, people aren't shopping in brick & mortar places.

The truth is COVID-19 still exists. Over 123,000 have died. Most people are cautious in where they go, even with the phased openings in the states.

Add to the pandemic issues, the U.S. unemployment rate is running around 14%. Readers that still have their jobs are looking for a little more bang for their buck. Why shop in an open bookstore when they can save gas and time by ordering online, whether it be e-books or print?

And that's assuming readers aren't out protesting in the wake of a series of brutal murders of black civilians by white police officers. Reading seems frivolous after watching George Floyd being slowly suffocated by an officer's knee on his neck.

The weird thing is the usual sniping and arguments within the industry have been at an all time low. Not even publishers, agents, or scammers have the band-width to deal with bullshit in the midst of the pandemic and the civil unrest over police violence.

In a odd way, I'm glad for the silence. We don't need to be bitching at each other. I hope any creators our there are still creating. If you're a creator who feels stuck in the morass of the craziness, that's okay, too.

Be gentle with yourselves and each other during this time.

Coronavirus Pandemic Day 103 - Cabin Fever and Condolences

I ordered masks for DH and me last week. We're running out of the supply his employer sent us at the beginning of this insanity. But just because we're taking the health risks seriously, it doesn't mean everyone else is.

Hey, I get it. The sun's out. The air's warm. In the U.S., we were cooped up indoors for an extra three months after a gray winter. We want out!

But we still need to wear masks when we go out. Just like we need to wear sunscreen.

I can't make you take care of yourselves. If you and your family don't wear masks, that's your decision. But please, PLEASE don't make me send any more condolence cards to your families. I'm running out of tape because you definitely don't want me licking the envelope I send you.

I Love the 90's

Last Chance for Seasons of Magick!

The Seasons of Magick Anthology e-book is currently on sale for $0.99 across all retailers, but the sale will be ending on June 24th. It collects all four books of the Season of Magick series in one glorious volume.

By the way, if you want a copy of the paperback, Amazon currently has that on sale, too!

Why I Don't Read My Reviews

Seriously, I don't read them. Heck, I can't remember the last time I went on Goodreads. I grew up with a parent who had to be "realistic". No matter how good I did, it was never good enough. I could have done better. Or even worse, why did I embarrass her by doing so poorly?

You'd think I'd be over it. I even did therapy for a couple of years to get those phrases out of my head. However, no matter what a review says, I still hear that parent's voice saying those words, especially if it's critical. And it puts me in an emotional tailspin. Even if it's a good review, I hear, "Well, they're just being nice."

Unfortunately, DH gets a little too excited whenever I have a new release. He's the one refreshing the screen constantly, waiting with bated breath for that first review. And he's so excited, he HAS to tell me. No matter how many times I ask him not to.

He doesn't truly understand. And in a way, I'm glad he doesn't. The in-laws didn't lay a whole bunch of insecurity on him or undermine his accomplishments, growing up or as an adult. In a way, I'm a little jealous of him.

So, he had to report the first review on Amazon for Hero De Jure.

We ended up having a long discussion about what it does to me when he feels the need to report those reviews. To him, it was a good review. To me, not so much. And I hate the feelings a review trigger in me, good or bad. So I don't read them.

Deep down, a review shouldn't matter to me. It's a reader's view on something they consumed. They bring their own pasts and foibles and desires with them when they read a story, any story not just mine. I can't change them. Nor do I want to. Because then I'm just like my parent saying, "You're not doing it right."

Coronavirus Day 96 - Starting Over

Today was the release of Hero De Jure. I took yesterday off and tackled the piles of stuff that collected over the last six months. The low level depression hanging over me for the last three months has eased a bit.

I'm sure part of it is I finally hit an acceptance level of the new normal. DH and I wear masks when ever we go out. Even when we go out, it's for essentials like food and prescriptions. Phone calls, e-mails, texts, and video chats have become the only way we socialize.

I've always been watching and reading light-hearted fare. Binges of The Big Bang Theory, Leverage, and Scorpion. Reading stuff like Ellie Moses's witch cozies or Lilith Saintcrow's sword and sorcery series.

It doesn't mean the danger of COVID-19 is over. It doesn't mean I don't support the needed social reforms. I do what I can from my living room, but the internet gives me a worldwide reach.

As much as other people try to divide us across the globe, we are all literally in this together. There's no place else for the human race to go. No matter how much we dream of other worlds.

I Love the 90's!

Thank Goddess, It's Friday

I woke up this morning, feeling as of I had a huge weight off my shoulders. It was more than finishing a book yesterday. Something in the world shifted.

But Monday, Hero De Jure goes live, and I'll send the link to a "publish every month for a year" group (this is my first month). Then get the paperbacks set up since I'm so behind on those.

Today though, I'll write a few words on A Twist of Love, get some more caffeine, and start putting away all the crap that has piled up in my living room/office while I tried to get a bunch of books finished during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The coronavirus isn't over by a longshot, but I'll take what little peace I can get.

I'll leave you with a little amusement for your weekend!

Hump Day!

As I wind up Hero De Jure, here's a little amusement for your Hump Day!

Coronavirus Day 89 - Lasting Change?

Our county stayed steady at 39 cases of coronavirus for roughly three weeks before the state started phasing in a lifting of restrictions in May. Over the last two weeks, the cases have been creeping up again. When I checked this morning, we're at 56.

I'm sure that's an undercount. Not because Governor DeWine and the county officials are deliberately undercounting like the government officials are in places like Florida. It's because in the milder cases of the diseases, the affected person doesn't realize they have COVID-19, or if they aren't suffering from major symptoms, their doctors are telling them to stay home so they don't spread the disease. In either case, the people are aren't being tested.

Add in two full weeks of protesting across the country because of racial violence by police officers, and we're looking at another spike of the disease occurring around the Fourth of July holiday.

The U.S. already has over 118K dead from this disease. The president and other local officials have ordered teargas and pepper spray used on our citizens. The combination of the chemical irritants and the disease on citizens' lungs is not going to be pretty. In fact, the combination will probably result in increasing the July spike.

Think about it. We're in the middle of a global pandemic, and people are marching in the streets for racial justice.

Maybe this time, things will change, and justice will prevail.

I Love the 90's!

And yes, I still have the t-shirt!

I Can't Breathe

The Wisom of Rick Grimes

Coronavirus Pandemic Day 82 - And the U.S. Burns

His name was George Floyd. We watched a police officer grin gleefully while he crushed the neck of Mr. Floyd in the street gutter for no other reason than he could. And snuffing out his life was simply the last straw in a string of incidents over the last few months.

Genius Kid called Saturday night, upset and worried. Have you seen anything like this? What about the spread of COVID among the protestors?

My response--yes, I have, but what's the difference if you're going to suffocate from a police officer kneeling in your neck or suffocate from the effects of the disease?

Maybe that's why I write books with casts of different races, religions, and genders. I have seen this before. Too many times. Some of my earliest memories is of the 1968 riots. Of Dr. King's and Mr. Kennedy's assassinations. I didn't understand why adults kept telling me to share and get along with other kids when they obviously couldn't do it amongst themselves.

For the last sixteen years, other writers have told me not to talk politics. On the other hand, I'm accused of writing political propaganda by simply creating diverse cast of characters in my stories. I think deep down the race issue is why I created Justice Anthea. With her infrared vision, she quite literally cannot see skin color. It's a challenge writing books from her point of view. It also throws off a lot of assumptions and conventions I didn't realize I had until I stepped into her boots.

I want to write stories about people working together. About people getting along for the greater good. About people who stop and listen and don't make assumptions.

And I'm going to continue writing those stories. Maybe someone will listen. I can't stop the country from burning, but if one person realizes they can make a difference, then hopefully, the next one will, too. And the next one. And the next.

Until no one has to worry about going outside to enjoy the glorious summer sunshine because they're not going to die in the gutter.