Too Much Not Enough

Posted on by

Up to my eyeballs in revisions and going slower than planned. I am in awe of these writers who can work at such a brisk pace. When I know what I’m doing I can draft quickly but sometimes it takes me awhile to figure out what I want to do. There is no short cut to that part.

Or if there is, I haven’t figured it out.

Friday my MLS team started the new season. I’m a season ticket holder so I go to all the games. My favorite pre-game ritual is Hot Lips pizza and an IPA. Season opener is like Christmas, birthday and 4th of July. So happy we’re back.

The Apple Tree is Finished

Posted on by

This is a before photo of the apple tree. The apple tree was neglected for years. We started getting it pruned and magically, more apples came. They never tasted that great and they weren’t pretty, but I made applesauce every year and we were in compost heaven

The tree has looked a little poorly lately and I fretted about it a bit so this wasn’t a complete surprise. During the ice and snow I had an eye on it but you couldn’t tell from the house. You had to go outside. Fortunately, it didn’t destroy the fence.

Our neighbor wanted the applewood so we gave him some cash and he hauled it all off.

I’m taking it hard. Fruit trees are going into the ground, soon. Maybe.

I have finished a very not-pretty first draft of book #2 this afternoon. It’s due at beta readers in a month so I will be working like crazy to whip it into shape.

Technology Has Been Having Its Way With Me Lately

Posted on by

Last weekend my desktop computer died. It took its time going about it and I wasted most of my writing day trying “one more thing” to get it back up to speed.

I use multiple back-up methods so that wasn’t an issue, although one of the troubleshooting things was to remove Chrome and I was in such a hurry I neglected to save my bookmarks.

New machine arrived and I was able to get up and running on it fairly quickly until I opened my Scrivener document of my work in progress and it was empty. Again, I am good with backing up and I was able to figure out what happened and where to find a back up that was about 98% current but all this technology froofing around has wasted a lot of my measly writing time. I am behind.

I think I said early spring for Book 2. HA!

Pushing it back to early summer. I’ve learned that it’s not that I can’t write that fast. But I can’t that fast without letting down in every other area of my life: friends, family, health, household, work. Not a good plan for the long run.

Meanwhile, this is today’s sourdough loaf. It’s the prettiest loaf I’ve done in awhile. I’ve written posts about how I make bread at my other website. Part 1 and Part 2.

Super Fan

Posted on by

Watching UCLA warm-up on beam. Photo by Robert Hughes.

Yesterday I fulfilled a longtime goal by going to my first NCAA gymnastics meet. UCLA was at Oregon State. I was in full geek girl mode — enthralled every minute I was in the room. I was even clapping during warm-ups. It turned out super fun. Both teams had a great meet with lots of amazing routines. It was fun to actually hear the floor music for a change. I liked seeing how the teams warm up from event to event. And I enjoyed watching the coaches watch their athletes during the routines.

The entire meet was a highlight but particular favorite moments: Peng Peng Lee on beam, UCLA on floor, UCLA on the sidelines, Maddie Gardiner and Kaytianna McMillan on floor.

UCLA highlights are here. Be sure to watch Kyla Ross’s 10 on bars. (Scroll down)

Oregon State wrap up is here.

One last favorite moment was at the end of the meet when they invited all the kids to the floor to dance with the gymnasts. When Madison Kocian joined her teammates on the floor you could see the crowd make a major shift in her direction. They started a conga line before a riot started.

Hip Circle

Posted on by

I was obsessed with icicles during the big freeze. I ran outside to take pictures numerous times. It seemed like every time I looked outside, the icicles looked bigger or the light was better. The snow and ice are gone now but there may be more photos in the future.

I don’t think I’ve ever written about it but I am HUGE fan of NCAA gymnastics.

I got into it quite a few years ago when I found a special about the Georgia Gymdogs on one of my cable channels. This must have been back during the time when they won something like 5 championships in a row. Year to year it seems like my access to meets changes. One year I had tons of PAC12 meets but now the selection is stingy. I can access a ton of meets through streaming but often the timing isn’t where I can drop everything to watch gymnastics. I prefer to DVR them and then watch a few rotations when I have time to sit in front of the TV.

I’m not invested in any certain team. I end up liking the teams I get to see on a regular basis. One of my favorite teams is UCLA and they will be competing in Corvallis at Oregon State next weekend during the day. We’re making a day trip to see the meet and I am geekishly excited. We were going to see Utah a few years ago and we both had one of those viruses where you’re on your back in bed moaning and groaning for days. We had to miss it.

Fingers crossed we have good weather and a great meet.

Spot the Snow Bunny

Posted on by

I’m still not used to seeing all this when I look out my windows. I had to go into work on Thursday and I wasn’t too happy about it but once I set out, it was a beautiful day. The commute was longer than usual but the views more than made up for it.

We lost the apple tree. I was worried about one branch coming down but the entire tree split in half and one half fell on the fence. I think the fence is going to make it but we need a new fruit tree.

Movie recommendation: Shaun the Sheep (2015). We watched this the other night and woke up in the middle of the night still giggling.

Today in Important Announcements

Posted on by

This is not the current scene around the neighborhood. This is from 2014. This weekend we got barely enough snow to cover the ground along with some freezing rain which the weather forecast says is not done yet. It looks pretty slushy out there so hopefully the commute won’t be a mess.

Announcement #1 is: I figured out that I misspelled Tahlequah in Book 1. Tahlequah is the home of the Cherokee Nation and I’ve even been there and I still messed it up. Apologies, apologies. If you have a book with the error and want a fixed copy — contact me and I will fix you up. Sorry I haven’t fixed it in the for sale versions yet either. A lot going on and I haven’t managed to get to it yet.

Announcement #2 is: we found out on January 2 we need a new roof. All tentative travel plans went back into the dust bin. My sweetheart has a big zero birthday this year so we will probably try to do something for that. But otherwise no big trips or adventures this year. Boo!

Announcement #3 is: Heartbeat Braves made Jayne’s 2016 best list (Dear Author). The only book on that list that I’ve read is Shannon Stacey. I need to figure out to do more reading.

Happy New Year

Posted on by

I keep a haphazard record of all the romance books I read. This is a separate list from all the other books I read. I don’t have a great system for differentiating what is romance and what isn’t. The lists overlap in places. Why even separate the lists, you ask?

Good question. I understand why I do it in my head but I can’t explain it.

I also keep a list of authors or books I want to try because of good reviews or friend recommendations. That list is down to three authors so I’m either on the ball or falling behind on the job.

I’m not the best resource for discovering new books because I’m always behind and reading books that I bought years ago.

According to my list, I read 32 romances. Of those I DNF 6. I’m not sure how accurate that is because I don’t always keep track of the DNFs. Also my rating system is wishy-washy so unless I’m doing backflips about the book or the book doesn’t work for me at all, they’re mushy in the middle.

After that long introduction, these are a few of my favorite books I read last year. If I had more energy I would link but I’ve got about 30 more things on today’s To Do list. You know how to find them.

Nalini Singh — Angel Blood I finally started the Guild Hunter series and loved the first one. I’m so happy that I have so many Nalini Singh books to look forward to.

Kristan Higgins — The Best Man I loved this one, too. I was upset about one scene that I thought was uncharacteristically mean-spirited, but I’m looking forward to reading more from KH, too.

Lisa Kleypas — Secrets of a Summer Night In my list I leave myself notes to help me remember what the story was about. This one I wrote “scene in the train foundry.” I like contemporary better than historical but I loved these characters.

Tessa Dare — A Night to Surrender Another historical but I fell in love with these characters, too, and I loved the humor.

Sarina Bowen — Understatement of the Year and The Fifteenth Minute I finally finished the Ivy Years series. Those were my most reliable books when I needed something I could disappear into quickly. I’m sorry I’m done with that series. She’s got plenty of new stuff so I expect I will read more in 2017.

I also haven’t managed to get to Courtney Milan — Hold Me yet. That’s high on my list, too.

My favorite non-romance books were The Expanse books by James S.A. Corey. I read the first 5 in 2016. I have #6 sitting here and then I have to wait for new ones with everyone else. I also loved The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold. Why haven’t I read her before? I’m thrilled to have a huge backlist from her to look forward to.

But first, my main job (besides my day job and keeping the house from falling apart) is to get Crooked Rock Books 2 and 3 out before the end of the year. I set some ambitious goals. We’ll see how I do.

Merry Christmas

Posted on by

As per always, I had some fun clipart but I can’t figure out how to make it do what I want it to do and I’m out of time. Enjoy Santa floating in the clouds.

I’m going to be offline for a few days. Don’t get into too much trouble while I’m gone.

Enjoy your holidays.

Dear Author: Recommended Read

Posted on by

Here are critter tracks across the back deck. They all look like kitties except for one. We have no pets. We do have raccoons and opossums wandering through our yard.

The big news of the week is that Heartbeat Braves received a *Recommended Read* review from Jayne at Dear Author.

I knew there was a reason I still hadn’t worked on my best of list for this year and this book is it. Yep, it’s going on it for a number of reasons but I’ll cut to the chase and say it’s one of the best overall books I’ve read this year.

–Jayne at Dear Author.

Self-publishing is personally satisfying but it’s tough to find readers and I appreciate Jayne giving the book a chance. I am thrilled that she liked it.

Now look at this cute kitty print, all clean and delicate.

Meanwhile, I am hammering away on Book 2. I also have a prequel story about Arnie and Linda in college that’s going to be a freebie with the newsletter. Luckily, I have a little extra time off for the holidays so in between family time and cookie time, I hope to get a bunch of work done.