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
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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?