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.