Writing More than Showing On the Stats

Over at my main website, I keep a list of stats on current and future writing projects. Right now, it doesn't look like I'm doing much of anything. My NaNo project is an Alter Ego book, the first in three(?) years. 

Also, I'm double-checking for typos in Magick and Murder after finding a few I missed in Fae and Felonies while proofing the paperback. Also, there's the annual Christmas short to write. I need to have everything done before DH and I set out on our first real vacation since GK was born. (The treks to Ohio to visit family do not count as vacations because they definitely weren't relaxing. Neither were the staycations to fix house stuff.)

After we return from our trip, I've got two eye surgeries scheduled in December to fix the cataracts I have thanks to the tamoxifen. Like I told my oncologist, if there's a weird side effect to a drug, I'll have it. Merry Christmas to me.

But that also means, my writing may be limited until my body processes the new bionic lenses, as my buddy Jo would say, and we figure out if I need glasses or just reading glasses or *fingers crossed* I don't need anything at all. By January, I should be able to drive al night again.

Can I now? Technically yes, but I don't feel comfortable doing it.

This is just one of many things a person deals with on the way the big 6-0. Yet, I still want Barbies for my birthday, and I plan on hitting my favorite comic book shop when I'm in Houston. I feel very paradoxical at the moment.

However, I will be taking Baby Blue with me on vacation. DH no longer flies so the drive to our destination will allow me to only write. While technically a laptop, Baby Blue isn't much more than a glorified tablet with a keyboard. She only has WORD and EXCEL loaded, and the wi-fi remains turned off unless there's a dire emergency that my phone can't handle. And there isn't much a smart phone can't handle these days. However, I only have my personal e-mail on the phone.

If all goes to plan, I should have a few giant updates on stats at the beginning of December. Then, things will be quiet until the beginning of January.

P.S. The entire Justice series is currently on sale at all retailers (or it should be) until December 10th. Pestilence in Pumpkin Spice (Soccer Moms of the Apocalypse #1) is $0.99 until Deember 31st!

One Last Sale

Pestilence in Pumpkin Spice is currently free on Amazon. Yep, that's zero moola WITHOUT joining the Kindle Unlimited club.

So if you need something fun and crazy to read while your uncles argue whether sasquatches and yetis are the same thing over the remnants of the turkey carcass, pick up your copy now!

The sale ends on Friday, November 18th!

Link to Pestilence in Pumpkin Spice on Amazon

Paperbacks Arrived!

Yesterday, the UPS guy dropped off three cases of paperbacks. That's ninety copies. All of Pestilence in Pumpkin Spice. It's a little overwhelming since I've never sold ninety paperbacks in total over the last six years I've had paperbacks available.

The bubble envelopes for the Kickstarter folks who only wanted a copy of the first book already have the address labels on them, so tonight, I'll stuff envelopes while we watch TV.

I've also received some nice comment from folks about the quote magnet sets I've sent out already to the digital-only backers. I wanted to give something to the all backers that didn't cost an arm and a leg in shipping fees. (It's become rather ridiculous to even mail a package to my alter ego's cover designer who lives in Canada.)

Between stuffing envelopes, fixing A Measure of Knowledge, and finishing Hero Ad Litem, I've got a busy weekend ahead. I hope y'all get to enjoy the warm weather and sunshine!

Paperbacks on the Way!

I received the paperback proof for Pestilence in Pumpkin Spice from Ingramspark this morning. After one last check, I approved it and ordered 90 copies.

90!

I normally don't sell a lot of paperbacks, so I was a little shocked when Kickstarter backers bought nearly 300 paperbacks of the Soccer Moms of the Apocalypse series.

Granted, they got a little bit of a discount compared to the retail price, but not that much.

I hope all these books find good homes and don't end up in landfills. That would make me very,very sad.

A Mountain of Work and Identity Theft

Between my Kickstarter campaign and the FIL's passing, I was way behind on the personal finances. So I spent the last four days paying bills, entering data into our accounting software, and reconciling statements.

Which brings me to this little bit of advice--always, ALWAYS check your monthly statements!

Someone used one of DH's credit cards to buy themselves an Amazon Prime membership. I think the person who tried to purchase $300 worth of chicken in October with my credit card had a better idea, but that's neither here nor there.

Anyway, calls were made, and hopefully, shit will be taken care of on the bank's end.

Now, that the personal finances are done, I need to order the Pestilence in Pumpkin Spice paperbacks. I dropped off the second round of stretch goal magnets at the post office during this morning's tea run. Once I get the rest out tomorrow *fingers crossed*, I've got nothing to do until the paperbacks arrive except write.

Ah, storytelling! I've really missed you over the last three weeks!

Awesome News!

The news is awesome on two fronts!

First, Apocalypse? Not Now! and Pestilence in Pumpkin Spice are going through their final tweaks with my formatter. I swear it doesn't matter how many eyes I have on a manuscript. Invariably, I will find a typo or five when I go through the e-book and print files. So, Jaye is slipping the final corrections in, and the Kickstarter backers will have their e-book copies before the end of the month.

Second, our plumber had a cancellation and will be at the house tomorrow! For those who might have missed the tragedy of our primary bathroom, DH managed to yanked the entire shower arm out of the wall our second night in the house.

Then the painter accidentally broke the toilet lid while he was painting the bathroom a couple of days later. He offered to replace the lid, but I declined. The previous owner is a tiny woman. (Seriously, she'd reach five-feet with hair extensions and an entire bottle of Aquanet.) And she had a tiny toilet. Which was killing both mine and DH's knees to the point where we didn't use it. I used the broken toilet as an excuse to replace it with a bigger unit.

And then both sinks and the garden tub developed leaks. I was beginning to think I was never going to use the primary bathroom as it should be used.

I put off getting the stuff in the bathroom fixed right away because the new grandbaby took precedence last year. Then we came home early from that when our basement flooded. And then,a couple of weeks into the new year, the dishwasher croaked.

Upon receiving our tax refunds, we called our plumber with the list of issues. She came out on Monday to take look so she could write up the estimate, but she was booked for the rest of the week and had vacation scheduled for next week. No problem, we said.

But she texted yesterday and said she could come tomorrow! Yay! I can finally use my purple bathroom!

Now, I'm off to get some editing done on a different book before I have to clean out the cupboards in the kitchen and bathroom.

May everyone's toilet flush properly and their sinks, showers, and tubs not leak!

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.

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!

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!

Early, Early, Early

There's just so much going on in my life right now. We're fairly certain Significant Other's due date was calculated incorrectly, so Adorable Spawn may be making his appearance any day now. If he comes early, DH has already stated he'll load me on a plane, and then drive out to Texas.

(DH no longer does planes. For our honeymoon to Hawaii, he popped a sleeping pill, washed it down with the complimentary champagne, and was out for the entire six-hour trip. The flight attendant was a little worried about him, but I said, "Trust me, you don't want him awake while we're still in the air.")

So the projects I wanted to get done before spending time with the new grandbaby have taken on a new urgency. My morning projects are getting  the paperbacks formatted for all the latest three Justice books completed. In the afternoon, I work on A Hand of Father. After dinner, I write Pestilence in Pumpkin Spice. Then after DH goes to bed, I've been reading Loren L. Coleman's Crowdfunding Your Fiction and studying some ongoing fiction Kickstarters. And in between all of that, I'm rewriting Spells and Sleuths.

I've found several pirate sites that have the old versions of the Millersburg Magick Mysteries. All I can do is shake my head. The first half of Spells and Sleuths was salvageable because it was written prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The rest? Well, they definitely show signs of my low-grade depression through May of 2020.

I feel much better now.

Onward. There's many words to add to my works-in-progress