Coronavirus Pandemic Day 720 - How to Make the World a Worse Place

Known COVID-19 cases in the U.S. - 78,931,739
Known COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. - 948,215

The world is still in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic when Vladamir Putin, the president of Russia and wannabe creator of the new Soviet Union, decided to invade Ukraine a week ago.

He couldn't even come up with a good reason. Instead, he came up with the lamest excuses/lies on the face of the planet.

DH's employer has an office in Kyiv. In a status meeting on Friday, my husband volunteered our house for any refugee co-workers and their families.

Right now, we know several families are headed for the Polish border. Some have decided to stay and fight. And they've lost contact with one person who lives in one of the heavily shelled suburbs of Kyiv.

So this week, I may not get much writing done. I'll be on the phone with my representatives in D.C. to see what we need to do to get visas for the children and get them out of the war zone.

If you can help, and I don't mean thoughts and prayers, call your congresspeople and the White House about extending emergency refugee visas to the people of Ukraine.

If you don't know who your congressperson is, you can find them here. Senators can be found here. And for the White House, here's their contact information.

I love the '10's!

Dear Vlad,



Sincerely, The Rest of the World

Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place

I find myself in the weird no man's land of being a middle of the road writer. I'm not sure what else to call it.

I'm no longer a newbie. I have 54 novel-length individual works under my belt with another six collections of short stories. And that's  not counting the individual shorts in anthologies or simply haven't been published yet.

But I'm not quite where a lot of other writers I know are. The ones who don't pay attention to their income or what they spend because there's enough zeroes after the first digit.

My issue is there's not a lot of learning opportunities out there to help make that boost to the next level. And I can't make that leap without being honest. And, well, honesty hurts.

It hurts a lot.

Why? Because the current batch of newbies don't think you have anything to bitch about. The high rollers don't think they have anything in common with you. And the folks in your position are too busy feeling sorry for themselves for not reaching the next level.

So you end up out in the wilds, fending for yourself. Again. Because you don't belong anywhere else.

I will continue to to move forward because I'm like a shark. If I stop moving forward, I will die.

And that sucks worst of all.

The Joys of Being an Artist/Businessperson

After sun and a sixty-degree weather at the first of the week, it's back to cold with snow on the way.

In the meantime, I'm keeping myself busy with a couple of classes in between writing and marketing. I've made a few alterations to the the Soccer Moms logo so it shows up better on the canvas totes I've selected for the Kickstarter. I'll order a few next week to see how they look in real life.

I'm finishing up Apocalypse? Not Now! this afternoon. It will go to the Alpha readers later tonight so they can pick it apart. I doubt if I finish Pestilence in Pumpkin Spice tonight though I'm at the climax and the downhill slide to completion.

I was hoping to get the Millerburg Magick Mysteries revised and back up at retailers long before now. Rest assured I'm plugging away at those. Hopefully, the recent classes I've taken and the hard look at my time and process will kick those projects into gear and get them back where they need to be.

So that's my Hump Day. How's yours?

Chugging Away at a Novel

I stayed up until five this morning because I was on a roll, as DH puts it. I was so involved in writing Pestilence in Pumpkin Spice that time slipped away from me. It's an odd and wonderful feeling when I'm so deep in a character's psyche that I become the character.

I'm working on the climax of the novel. I feel Penny's panic at losing everything in her life. And worse, her fear of what she's becoming. I hope it comes through in the writing, but I can't step into a reader's mind to know for sure.

However, I think empathy for your  characters is key to being a decent writer, even the antagonists. If your don't understand why the antagonists do what they do, they come across as flat, two-dimensional creatures. Let's face it. Darth Vader became much more interesting when we learned why he turned to the Dark Side.

I Love the '10's!

Should have been a #1 country song.

Ice, Snow & the Apocalypse

While last night's sleet tinked against the windows followed by quiet soft snow, I finished the novella, Apocalypse? Not Now! Unfortunately, it's not the only thing in the completed pile.

I'm taking the holiday weekend to get a lot of editing/proofing done before plunging back into the climax of Pestilence in Pumpkin Spice. Once it's done, proofed, and formatted, I'll launch the Kickstarter for the series.

I'm tickled with this series and I hope the readers are, too!

New Release - Chocolate for Dinner

Here's a odd little story about post-Valentine chocolate and two people bonding over their losses. Of course, there's a fantasy element because that's the way I roll.

CHOCOLATE FOR DINNER

Beth Goodman lost the love of her life on Valentine’s Day to a drunk driver. To drown her own sorrow a year and a day later, she decides to buy lonely bags of holiday chocolate. But an enigmatic, handsome stranger shares more with her than a taste for half-price candy. And maybe, just maybe, the pair can find the courage to live, and love, again.

Amazon, all countries
Apple
Barnes & Noble
Google Play
Kobo
Smashwords

Happy Valentine's Day!

I was awake relatively earlier today to mail the infernal tax package and to pick up veggies for tonight's feast. I was going to make cinnamon rolls for dessert since I still have some cream cheese frosting in the fridge. I still might. It depends on how much energy I have over the next couple of hours.

Tonight's dinner is filet mignon, loaded baked potatoes, and roasted broccoli. Even if we didn't have the pandemic still ongoing, I refuse to go out on Valentine's Day. The restaurants are nuts, and I have an issue with the whole "Prove you love me" vibe of the holiday.

I told DH on our first Valentine's Day together that I'd kick his ass for buying me overpriced flowers or anything else that reeks of desperation or smarm. So what did he do? He took me to a farm to pick out a beagle puppy.

And that was how we got our first dog.

I Love the '10's!

Do we WANT to be Royals?

Catching Up on the Writing

I don't think I realized how much I needed Tuesday's break, even if I was filling a trashcan with used tissues and trying to swallow comfortably with a LOT of green tea.

I finished up our tax stuff on Wednesday while still getting a ton of words done. I highly recommend WMG's classes on Making a Living Writing Novels and Pulp Speed. Just the first two weeks of lectures and homework have helped me take a very hard look on my efforts and how I spend my time.

Our twelve+ inches of snow from Winter Storm Landon is disappearing beneath the warm air over the last two days and today's steady drizzle of relatively warm rain. I already miss watching the squirrels cavort in the drifts in the backyard.

Now, I just need to wrap up Apocalypse? Not Now! and Pestilence in Pumpkin Spice this weekend or possibly early next week so I can pass them on to the people who do their magic.

Anyone want to take bets whether we'll get more snow? Spring is just a hair over a month away.

Words, Taxes, and Stuffy Noses

On Monday, I was bebopping along on doing tax stuff when I hit my usual snag. No matter how careful I am over the year, medical transactions were effed up. After working through the transaction detail reports two times (I swear it's the same as proofreading a manuscript), I gave up for the evening. DH and I hit the grocery store, dropped off bills at the post office, and ordered pizza to pick up on the way home.

I was tired and had a bit of a headache, which at the time I chalked up to staring at numbers all day. So I went to bed at 1 AM, fairly early for me. I only stayed up to watch Nathan Chen's short program. I'm not much of an Olympics fan, but I do love figure skating.

Unfortunately, I woke up in the middle of the night with a sore throat and congestion. By daylight, the body aches and chills had started. Therefore, Tuesday was spent curled on the couch, watching more Olympic coverage, sipping tea, and toodling with Apocalypse? Not Now! and Pestilence in Pumpkin Spice.

I felt a little better when I woke up this morning, but by the time I finished my third round on the medicals and everything reconciled, I was exhausted. I don't know if I have Omicron. This feels more like a middling cold, but DH isn't taking chances and won't be going to see his dad regardless of what I'm infected with.

It is funny how drugs and disease got me to see some issues in both manuscripts I'm working on. I spent yesterday forming the connective tissue between the two. I'm really hoping readers enjoy these books!

Classes and Life Rolls

Yes, I've been taking two writing classes this month because even with all my releases, there's always new things to learn. Both of them are through WMG Publishing (aka Dean Wesley Smith and Kris Rusch). Both of them involve adjusting my mindset when it comes to productivity.

Part of the initial coursework in both classes is taking a very real look at your output over the last three to five years.

My best year was 2020: 342,816.

2020 was also the first year out of the last five where I wasn't a full-time parent, plus I didn't have a major life roll until the end of the year. *eyeroll*

I'm keeping my fingers crossed 2022 doesn't have any looming disasters.

The more interesting class involves the old pulp writers of the beginning of the 20th century. Back when they were paid a penny a word (because a penny went much farther in those days), so they wrote. A lot.

And much of it survives and is read to this day. People like Erle Stanley Gardner and Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Gardner's goal was writing 1.2 MILLION words a year. That's roughly four times what I write in an average year.

I know I can't do 1.2 million this year, but it's a quota to work towards over the next couple of year.

I Love the '10's!

Just add a little Bruno, and you'll have an instant hit.

Post-Landon Baking and Writing

I baked lasagna Wednesday night as we anticipated Winter Storm Landon. In our part of the country, it rained all day. We got an inch of snow before DH went to bed about 1 AM. We looked at each other and shook our heads at all this worry over a non-event.

However, there was six more inches on the ground by the time I got out of bed around 3 PM. DH snowblowed the driveway. Then we got another five-six inches.

Drifting snow erased the path DH dug for Bella to do her constitutionals. He had to re-dig it this morning. Despite wearing her coat, she's now curled in my lap to warm her paws.

I'm baking date pin wheels this afternoon. Next weekend, I'll make more cinnamon buns. I've gotten quite a bit done on my ongoing wips along with taking a couple of online classes. I also unpacked two suitcases, two boxes, and a bag of tablecloths and cloth napkins.

Maybe I need more snow to get things done! I also need to take some baked goods to the neighbors before my doctor gives me crap about about me eating them all. LOL

Mother Nature Flipped a Coin

 ...and it looks like we're getting both rain and snow with a glaze of ice in between thanks to Winter Storm Landon. The problem is the timing of the ice, which is right around when school lets out today. Several schools in our county have just said screw it between COVID absences, the ice, and the near blizzard conditions expected for Thursday and canceled classes for the rest of the week. Time to harness up the reindeer!

I think there's a reason Milltown Mel, New Jersey's furry winter prognosticator, died yesterday. The weather is too crazy even for a groundhog.