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Posts Tagged ‘writing’

Wednesday Update 5/1/13

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged husband update, ROW80, WIP, writing on May 1, 2013| 10 Comments »

Actually, I don’t really have a lot to update. I hope to get back to my Thursday-Saturday writing schedule this week. My WIP has been on my mind, so I guess that’s a good sign. I almost have my office arranged the way I want it, so the writing might be easier.

Hubby is still improving. He had a really rough night a couple of days ago, his chest hurting so badly, I thought I was going to have to take him to the emergency room. We were afraid another clot from his leg had detached and went to his lung. However, when he went to the dr. the next morning for his biweekly blood test, his lung x-ray was actually better. The dr. said he thought hubby had a rib out of whack and did an adjustment. He felt much better after that. Plus, he still has pleurisy from the whole lung ordeal. He REALLY wants to get back to work.

Speaking of back to work…that’s where I am, so I better get to it so I won’t get any further behind.

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Should Authors Review? & Burned Out on PNR

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged authors reviewing, burned out on paranormal romance, different genres, eclectic reading taste, paranormal romance, reading, reviewing, should authors review, writing on April 30, 2013| 19 Comments »

I had a couple of topics I wanted to discuss and couldn’t decide which one to write about today. So I decided to combine them. I apologize in advance for the long post. If you want to read it, maybe you can break it up into two days or something. LOL.

First, should authors review? You do realize, I’m sure, that there’s no right or wrong answer to that. It’s your choice. However, I’m wondering if it even matters anymore since a couple of authors told me that Amazon is taking down reviews from authors. That doesn’t even make sense because authors are readers, too, but it might be because there are so many authors that give bad reviews to the “competition”. Yeah, it happens. I used to review a lot, but to be honest, I did it partly out of obligation. Yes, I loved the books, but if I knew the author, then there’s the chance people think you are just a friend trying to promote a friend’s book. And that can sometimes hurt more than help. Then there’s the situation where you want to review a friend’s book and you really don’t like it. What do you do then? I’ve pretty much stopped reviewing books by authors who are pretty well established and have lots of reviews already. And I might review a book if it has several bad reviews and I thought it was a really good book. I hate to see a book I really like get bad reviews. It’s really getting to the point, though, that trying to review is bogging me down. I read a LOT of books, and I just don’t have time to review every one of them. On Goodreads, you can at least just pop over and give a book some stars, so sometimes I’ll do that even if I don’t review on Amazon. I’m not saying I’m going to stop reviewing altogether, but I’m not going to do it much on retail sites. So I’m thinking I might start doing some reviewing on my blog. I want to write more on my blog anyway, so that might be a good way to have an extra post here and there. I could even do a post on “What I’m Reading” and just give a little comment about each book. I don’t know, I haven’t decided yet. We’ll see.

Next, I want to talk about how I’m burned out on Paranormal Romance. I never thought it would happen. When I wrote and published my first novel, it was a paranormal romance called A Rocky Path. It’s a ghost story. Then I did a couple of vampire books, a couple more ghost stories, more vampire/werewolf books. And I threw in a fantasy romance, Starfane, in the mix. The funny thing is, until I started writing PNR, it wasn’t what I was used to reading. I used to read horror, mystery, thriller, detective…but no PNR. Then when I started publishing that very thing, I really got into it. I was reading it like crazy. I have friends who write PNR, and I tried to read all of their books. I was like a sponge, soaking up the vampire love stories. The Black Dagger Brotherhood series blew me away. But, suddenly, things shifted. I started getting burned out on the BDB series, which I listened to as audiobooks. After I listened to the 8th (or 9th) Brotherhood book, I had to hear something different. I listened to a historical romance by Rose Gordon, which I enjoyed immensely. I’m currently listening to Micro by Michael Crichton (RIP). Next, I’m going to listen to Joe Hill’s (Stephen King’s son) latest book. Then MAYBE I can get back to the BDB. This burnout may be what’s affected my writing and making me change my current WIP. It was originally supposed to be a PNR, but it’s now apparently going to be horror. I like horror, but I never thought I would be able to write it. I was almost afraid to write The Gnome, but many people have told me they really like it. So I feel a little more confident about my WIP. For those friends of mine who write PNR, don’t worry…I know I won’t feel this way for too long. I WILL be reading your books. Just give me a little time. 🙂 But I also want to find some more indie authors who write other things, like horror, mysteries, etc. I do have some author friends who write in these genres, but I want more. I like to support indies, so I would rather read those authors when I can.

So I kind of feel like my post was rambling. I almost did this in kind of a stream of consciousness way, just writing what came out of my brain. If it makes no sense, please forgive me. I’ve had a rough few months. LOL

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Sunday Update 4/28/13

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged families, fundraiser, granddaughter, grieving, husband's health, office, ROW80, thankful for friends, writing on April 28, 2013| 16 Comments »

I thought I was ready to get back to writing, but I really wasn’t. Also, there has been a lot going on in the house. My brother is helping do some things to get my office looking more like, well, an office. 🙂 My son and his family were here yesterday, so there was lots of fun with a two-year-old that calls me “Mimi”. I love having her here, but boy am I ever tired when she leaves! When my son started dating someone with a baby, I was so afraid of getting attached to the little girl and then having to get unattached when they broke up. But after two years, they are now engaged, and it looks like I’ll have this little granddaughter around for a long time. So that makes Mimi happy.

I really hope to get back to writing this week. I just couldn’t make myself do it last week, so I guess I wasn’t over the stress enough. I know a lot of writers actually do better when they are full of angst, but not me. I like to be happy when I write, even when I’m writing dark stuff.

I lost my best friend two years ago, and I don’t feel like I’ve really grieved like I should. I’ve had a few moments, but not REAL grieving moments. While I was cleaning things out of my office yesterday, I found a box of her jewelry that I got to keep after she died. Inside was the little two page thingy (I can’t remember what they’re called) that was given out at her memorial service. I actually put the thing together and printed it out. It had some scripture and some quotes picked out by her family members. And there was a lovely poem on the back written by a good friend of hers. I started going through her jewelry, then I read the poem. The floodgates opened, and I cried like a baby. It took me two years to really cry like that. I used to cry more easily, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve hardened a little. I was just glad my husband was still in bed. That kind of grieving needs to be done alone.

As far as my husband’s health goes, we’re frustrated because his blood isn’t thinning out as fast as it should. It’s actually not as thin as it was while he was in the hospital, but he was also taking an extra blood thinner there that was an injection. His doctor has upped his Coumadin dosage twice. He still has the clot in his leg, and if his blood does’t get thin enough, that could be a potential problem. We don’t want another lung clot! Keep us in your prayers, and if you don’t pray, send us good thoughts and vibes. We need all the help we can get. The doctor thinks he might be able to go back to work a little sooner than we thought, but only if he can get his blood thinned out better. I keep wondering when the hospital and doctor bills will start coming in. Again, I can’t thank Kait enough for setting up that fundraiser for me and I thank all of you that donated to it. There’s enough there right now for a mortgage payment and a car payment. You guys are the cream of the crop!

Wish me luck for actually getting writing done this week. Hopefully, the rest of you are making progress!

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Sunday Update 4/21/13

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged broken garage door, broken shower head, broken sink, exercise, flylady, it pours, no writing, ROW80, when it rains, writing on April 21, 2013| 12 Comments »

Now that my husband is back home, I’m going to try to get back to a semi-normal life. I haven’t written or exercised in a couple of weeks. I haven’t been eating right. Let’s face it, who can eat right when they’re stuck at the hospital? Not only is there not a lot to choose from (the hospital cafeteria hasn’t been open for dinner), there’s also the stress that makes you want to eat comfort food. You know, like burgers and pizza. So this week I want to get back to good routines. That includes getting back to the FlyLady way of getting one’s house de-cluttered and cleaned.

I also want to again thank everyone who has donated to Kait’s Fundrazr campaign for me as well as those who have stopped by my blog to send good wishes. Sometimes I don’t know how much to say about all that.

When it rains, it pours. During my husband’s hospital stay, our garage door has stopped working. I’m having to manually raise and lower it, and it’s hard because it’s not really made to be done that way. Also, this morning, the sprayer on my kitchen sink came off. It can’t be put back on because the end that goes into the pipes is broken. What this means is that the faucets don’t work either. When I turn on the faucet, the water comes out under the sink. So that’s going to have to be fixed. And…I have a shower head that you can take off and hold in your hand. The hose that connects it to the shower is leaking so that half the water is being wasted. This means getting the garage door fixed, getting a new sprayer, and getting a new shower head (it’s only a couple of months old-I should have invested in a better one). Grrrrr. But on the bright side…my husband is still improving. 🙂

I hope the rest of you are getting some writing done. Maybe this week, I can, too!

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Sunday Update 4/7/13

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged goals, ROW80, WIP, word count, writing on April 7, 2013| 16 Comments »

Last week was so much better on the writing front. My goal is to write three days a week. Well, I was lazy Friday, so I did some things I wanted to do instead of actually, you know, WORKING. But, even though I only wrote two days, I churned out 3,822 words. If I was averaging 500 words a day, seven days a week…it would be better than that. LOL. I wrote about 2900 words on Saturday. I just sat down and words started flowing. I was by myself, there was silence, and I was in the mood. It’s really hard for me to write that many words in one sitting, but I did it. 🙂

My WIP is evolving into something totally different than I originally planned. It was going to be a paranormal romance, but it looks like it’s going to be a mystery/horror. I started out with a ghost. Then I suddenly had a “not quite human” murderer. So I had to figure out how the ghost was relevant now. But I finally figured that out. Now there’s a mine. There wasn’t originally a plan for a mine to be in this story, but it really helps explain some other things in the story. This story is starting to write itself and surprise me at every turn. That’s usually when I start loving it. 🙂

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Sunday Update 3/31/13

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged ROW80, sick cat, Sick husband, writing on March 31, 2013| 14 Comments »

I really don’t have a lot to say this morning. The three days I planned to write this week…well…it didn’t happen. Yep, life got in the way again. I sliced my palm on Thursday, had a church thing to go to on Friday night, had a sick husband on Saturday…. Yes, after all this stuff with his ankle, now he has a toothache. A BAD one. And all the emergency dental places he called weren’t working this weekend. He almost passed out yesterday, so I didn’t leave him all day. My mom went to the drugstore for us and filled a pain prescription he had. His regular dentist can’t see him till Wednesday, but he’s going SOMEWHERE tomorrow. This is hurting him worse than his broken ankle. So it makes me hurt, too, almost to the point of crying. 😦 And his face is starting to swell.

Oh, and I have a sick cat. It’s Oz throwing up this time instead of Willow. So it looks like a vet visit.

I hope everyone else had a better week!

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Wednesday Update 3/27/13

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged cleaning house, flylady, flylady.net, getting organized, ROW80, working hard, writing on March 27, 2013| 12 Comments »

Well, work is still hopping at my full-time job, but it’s slowing down a LITTLE. Except on Mondays and Tuesdays. So here’s my plan for awhile. Instead of fretting about not getting writing done, I’m going to change my goals to only include three writing days per week. Those days will be Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. They seem to be my slowest days at work (and no work on Saturday), so there will be less stress. I’ve been coming home with headaches the past two days and feeling just awful. Then I feel bad for not writing. As soon as things slow down a little more, I’ll add Tuesday back. Then we’ll see how that goes. I want to focus more on my house since I’ve started working on FlyLady’s routines. I really want to have a house that is company ready at all times, with no scrambling to hide stuff in the bedroom. If anyone is interested in her way of getting our houses looking great, here is the website: FlyLady. I think it’s a great way to get organized, and when our houses are organized, other things in our lives follow right behind. 🙂

Have any of you tried FlyLady’s methods?

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Sunday Update-A Day of Reflection

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged best friend, coffee cups, exercise, health, reflecting, reflections, ROW80, writing on March 24, 2013| 10 Comments »

When my best friend died two years ago, her husband gave me her set of coffee cups. These cups have faces on them, and the noses stick out. There are four, all of different colors. I was so glad to have them because these were the cups we always drank out of when I was in Indiana visiting her. So as I’m sitting here this morning drinking my coffee, my mind is on my friend and how much I miss her. And how proud she would have been of me for getting the 20 lbs. off. And how proud she would have been that I’ve written so many books. And she would be so glad that I’m still good friends with her husband, author Jonathan Eli. I miss her so darn MUCH. I miss her sarcastic sense of humor and her kindness. But she would have wanted life to go on for me, her husband, and the rest of her family and friends. So even though I miss her with sadness, I miss her fondly.

Looking back at some of the things I’ve accomplished, I realize I shouldn’t be so frustrated about my writing right now. Don’t we all have periods where we slow down for awhile? I used to be able to release at least three novellas a year. Or two novels. Yet I’ve struggled lately. I know that part of the reason was because I was feeling so bad physically when my diabetes wasn’t diagnosed, therefore, not controlled. Am I just having trouble getting back into the routine? So many things have happened to hinder me, especially my husband breaking his ankle. And at my full-time job, work has been overwhelming. Not the best of conditions for writing. The past couple of weeks, I’ve really been trying to focus on getting my house in order. I’m really seeing how much work my husband actually was doing before hurting his ankle. I haven’t been exercising because I’ve been only taking 10-20 minutes for lunch every day. That’s going to stop. I HAVE to make time for exercise. I haven’t done anything for about two weeks. Next week, I’m going to make a point of taking my full lunch hour so I can go exercise. Then I’ll feel better when I come home in the evenings, and I can get back on the writing. It’s time to take charge. I can call those customers when I get back. Those sales tax reports can wait just a little longer. I NEED to exercise.

Those are my thoughts for today. Now it’s off to get ready for church, a place where I can forget about everything for a little while and focus on the most important things. 🙂

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A Hectic Week

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Housework, ROW80, writing on March 17, 2013| 13 Comments »

I got no writing done this past week. None. As most of you know, my husband broke and sprained his ankle 2 1/2 weeks ago. He’s now having some complications that caused us to take a trip to the doctor this morning (ours is open on Sundays). I’ve always known my husband does most of the housework. But now that I’m having to do it, I’m realizing just how much he’s doing. I’m having to do what he usually does, plus wait on him a little since the doctor told him to stay off the foot as much as possible. He was trying to walk on it too soon.

Anyway…I decided to concentrate on the house and on hubby last week. To me, that’s first priority. Between being so busy at work plus the extra work at home, it’s about all I can do. I’m not going to push myself or my writing will suffer. I’m going to try to write at least two or three days this week, but its not set in stone. Part of that will be determined by what hubby’s ultrasound shows tomorrow. We’re hoping it’s not a blood clot.

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