Category Archives: Priorities!

Monday Brain Dump

Posted on September 18, 2017 | Leave a comment

It’s been a ridiculous week. I have a lot of thoughts in my head. I’m not gonna share all of them, but I’ve got some stuff for you.

You all know my kiddo was in the ER for a head injury Wednesday. We went for a followup visit Saturday and he is AOK – just needs to try to take it easy for a few more days. Limited screen time (I think, all told, we’ve had <45 minutes total for the whole Friday-Monday morning time), limited running, zero falling down and whacking his head any more.

Peak bruising was Saturday morning…it’s starting to fade to yellow, although it’s still spreading.

Friday, I took the Beer Guy to the airport for his 2.5 week trip to Belgium. I already miss him like crazy. (As does the Bean who was super disappointed that the Beer Guy didn’t make it home for waffles and bacon Sunday morning…”Mom, he loves waffles and bacon. Why didn’t he come back for breakfast? It’s because you didn’t buy enough bacon for everyone, isn’t it?” Yep…totes my fault on that one, kid.) So when I picked Bean up from kindergarten on Friday, I said I’d take him anywhere he wanted to go for dinner.

AB: “Oooh – Pizza Fino is good!”

Me: “Okay, let’s go there.”

AB: “But Atomic is even better. Can we go there? The Beer Guy will be so jealous because he loves it and we can take a picture and send it to him and he will miss us.”

Me: “Interesting motivation, but sure. Let’s go there.”

As we approach Atomic Pizza, Bean says, “Mom. I don’t really want the Beer Guy to be jealous. Let’s go to Lucky Lab. He won’t be sad that he missed that.”

Truer words, kids…

Lucky Lab dinner date. I don’t really like that place, either, but I’d said he could pick.

Saturday late afternoon/evening we got to have a play date. Well, Bean played with his BFF (and eventual roommate – he’s planning on moving into their basement when he graduates from high school) and I got to hang with my good friends and former neighbors who were gracious enough to have a kid the exact right age for play dates.

Yesterday was a mellow day. Bean was wiped out and needed a break (and I needed to finish up my editing project for a client so that I’d be ready to start edits on The Ruby Blade when it comes back this week). We putzed around the house, did lego projects, messed with the kitten, and had a pretty quiet (activity wise, definitely not volume wise) day.

We kept watching the sky for rain, and it came in fits and starts, but not quite what I was hoping.

I stayed up too late Saturday and Sunday (Friday, I was asleep on the couch by 9, dragged myself to bed about 10, and then woke up at 1:30 am and was awake for 2.5 hours…dammit.) but still don’t feel too exhausted.

I got the final cover for The Ruby Blade and will be doing an exclusive cover reveal preview for all newsletter subscribers in a couple weeks – so if you want to see before everyone else, sign up for the newsletter (check the sidebar).

tiny sneak peek

This week is all about writing and editing and reading (and work, of course) for me. I have a milestone on book 4 I really want to hit. I also want to – now that I’m starting to feel a little better physically – start moving again on the regular.

But mostly, I want to snuggle my Bean up tonight and tomorrow night before he heads back to his dad’s for 5 days.

Rainy Days and Mondays…

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Posted in Aggressive Happiness, Book-It! Please send pizza, Gravity's Bitch....again, Made of Awesomesauce, Oh, Baby!, Priorities!, The Beer Guy, Where's My Towel, Write Now!, Zen AF

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Family Friday

Posted on September 15, 2017 | Leave a comment

Tonight, my baby (I AM NOT A BABY) comes home for five nights in a row. That’s never enough – I hate that Wednesday morning I’ll drop him off at kindergarten and won’t see him again until the following Monday after school – but I love my long stretches with my boy. In a month, we’re switching the schedule to eliminate the mid-week transition and I’ll get him for week-long stretches at a time (of course, this also means he’ll be gone for week-long stretches at a time, which is a major bummer…sigh). I would give almost anything to have him more. The sticky, cotton-candy kisses I got last night at back-to-school night are everything.

 

My other local family, the beer guy, is on his way to Belgium, which is his very favorite country, right now. He told me he’s eventually coming back, although for some reason, I had the return date wrong in my head (and on my calendar), and even though he kept correcting me, I still couldn’t remember the right date. I think I finally have it now, which means I’ll show up to the airport on the right day to pick him up and not leave him stranded for 24 hours. One of my favorite things to do when he’s traveling is to sky-stalk him with the Flight Aware app. He’s currently (as of this very second) flying over the flyover state of Nebraska. (Sorry, Nebraskans – but I’m from the flyover state of South Dakota…it’s just how it goes.)

One of my biggest challenges when I’m sans beer guy is to remember to eat and sleep. Yes, I know that sounds dumb, but it’s my biggest challenge. So I’m putting it out here that I will eat and sleep on the regular for the next few weeks. That means no skipping meals, no having “fruit salad” for dinner, and going to bed and to sleep at a decent hour every night.

This will NOT be me. Most of the time.

Fortunately, I have a lot to keep me busy. I’m wrapping up an editing project this weekend, just in time to get The Ruby Blade back from my editor to do revisions. I have a Raj chapter to write, I’m deep in Eleanor book 4, and I’ve started outline books 1-3 of my new series. Plus, all that kid time with the world’s best kid and future leader of a unicorn cult.

GAH! That bump!

 

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Posted in Aggressive Happiness, Friends & Family, Gin, Cheese & Other Necessities, Gravity's Bitch....again, Oh, Baby!, Priorities!, The Beer Guy, Where's My Towel, Write Now!, Zen AF

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September 2017 – Goals

Posted on September 1, 2017 | Leave a comment

Every once in a while, I like to pretend I’m going to resurrect my habit of setting (and achieving) monthly goals. This is one of those months. I’ll try to remember to report back. I’ve got a busy fucking month ahead of me, and I need to be clear about what I’m doing. So, my goals, in mostly chronological order are:

  1. Pick my son up from his very last day of preschool ever. Take a picture. Don’t cry. (9/1)
  2. Finish all my last pre-editor edits on The Ruby Blade and get that sucker to my editor. (9/2)
  3. Drink champagne. (9/2)
  4. Make an apple pie with the Bean, because he wants to make one for the beer guy’s parents who are visiting. (9/3)
  5. Drop my boy off at his first day of Kindergarten. Take pictures. Don’t cry. (9/5)
  6. Edit a book for a new client (early Sept)
  7. Get my skin checked to make sure there’s no suspicious activity (9/11)
  8. Meet with new personal trainer and get new workout schedule set up (9/12)
  9. Write 45K words on Eleanor #4 (sekrit goal is 60K – which is 15K/week and my current average, but see all busy-ness)
  10. Write 2 chapters on my Raj novella
  11. Survive the beer guy’s 2.5 week trip to Belgium (I mean, obviously, I’ll survive, but, you know…)
  12. Keep on top of my day job stuff
  13. Write outlines for the first three books in my new series coming out about this time next year and conspire with my cover artist
  14. Turn around my article edits SUPAH FAST
  15. Write 4 chapters on SUPER SEKRIT PROJECT
  16. Actually sleep? I guess?
  17. Start meditating in the mornings again, which means
  18. Start getting up at 5:30 am again, which means
  19. In bed & asleep by 10:45 on school nights
  20. I really want a 20th goal, but couldn’t think of one, so how about a picture of a cat? (I also really want to show you a picture of my arm at the Nexplanon insertion site, because it’s HORRIFIC, but I won’t do that, either.)

ls,

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Posted in Aggressive Happiness, Cubicle Whore, Friends & Family, Made of Awesomesauce, Oh, Baby!, Priorities!, Run Away!, The Beer Guy, Woot!, Write Now!, Zen AF

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Writerly Wednesday: So Close I Can Taste It

Posted on August 9, 2017 | Comments Off on Writerly Wednesday: So Close I Can Taste It

I am thisclose to finishing The Ruby Blade. This time I mean it. I’ve asked my beta readers (and anyone else who wants to) to publicly shame me if they don’t have the book in their hot little hands by Sunday morning.

This rewriting is awful. I mean, I love it, and I love this story, and I’m really hoping you do, too. BUT it’s so painful trying to figure out what’s wrong and why and how to fix it.

Once I recover from this process, I have to make a choice for what to do next.

  1. Start work on rewriting on book 4. I have just under 1/2 of a book done, so it’ll be less rewriting and more writing with some scenes already finished.
  2. Start work on rewriting book 1 in my Ragnarok series (this is more of a paranormal romance/mystery apocalypse book).
  3. Write completely unrelated book 1 in my newest series that I accidentally started in May. I need to take what I’ve written so far – about 10K words – and do some serious plotting before continuing. (This is definitely more PNR with a little bit of thrill worked in.)

You’re welcome to weigh in with your opinion, but in the end, I’m probably going to go ahead and do what I want.

 

Of course, that’s not always true. Sometimes I do what I think I should. Which is why tomorrow evening, at 7 pm at Another Read Through, I will be reading a couple selections from The Waning Moon and then answering questions and signing books.

There will be books for sale and if you buy both paperbacks, there will be a discount available!

Please come and please ask questions and please buy some books and ask me to sign them for you.

MY BOOKS ON REAL SHELVES

There is a small possibility that I might pass out from fear. (Funny-ish story: I dreamed the other night that the book signing was me on a high stage with a single spotlight shining on me, and everyone I’ve ever know in my life came and was given a squishy tomato upon entering the extremely large auditorium. So that’s where we are now.)

For those of you who’ve read The Waning Moon, any suggestions on what a good passage to read is? (I’ve got one picked out already, but need another.)

Provided I don’t die tomorrow evening, I’ll try to get a couple book reviews up in the next few days in between finishing The Ruby Blade. (I’m super hoping to get a draft of the cover soon and cannot wait! EEEE!)

 

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Posted in Priorities!, The Brave Little Toaster, Where's My Towel, Write Now!

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Eleanor Morgan and the Case of the Noisy Chimney Koalas

Posted on July 31, 2017 | 1 comment

I slept poorly last night. I was restless and plagued with weird dreams. We currently have a family of birds who’ve built a nest in our chimney and the babies are newly hatched and loud AF.

Because the bird noise is near constant right now, it’s invaded my subconscious, and last night I dreamed opened up the fireplace and found: two dozen hummingbirds, some rabbits, a hawk of some kind, baby owls, opossums, raccoons, stray cats, and a koala.

Hopefully, I’ll get more sleep tonight and the baby birds can adequately learn to fly in our chimney so they can get the hell out and we can make a chimney hat or whatever to keep future critters out.

****

I spent a lot of time with The Ruby Blade over the weekend. Saturday was definitely my most productive day, with Friday coming in second. Yesterday was not so great. I finally managed to get things moving in late afternoon when my friend RJ started bribing me. Every 500 words, I got another page from her current WIP. It was very effective!

I’m hoping that one more week of focused, intense work, and I’ll be able to wrap this draft up and send it to my beta readers only a week late.

This weekend’s writing supervisor is checking my work.

 

****

I feel like I haven’t had much time with my kiddo lately. He’s been at his dad’s since last Wednesday (the 26th), and the previous weekend, he was at the coast with his grandma. The Beer Guy and I got out there for one night, but it feels like it’s been too long since I’ve gotten an adequate amount of Alvie Bean snuggles. I can’t wait to pick him up tonight and I’m even more excited to spend the weekend with him. (Please remind me of this at 3:30 pm on Saturday when I’m updating my Etsy listing because he never. stops. talking.)

****

I actually had a wonderfully productive weekend, even beyond the writing. I did menu-planning and got groceries for the week (although I know we’ll have to restock the bananas midweek), went to pick up my new glasses, got my car washed and the oil changed, got a massage, and brought some of my books to a local book store where they are currently on sale. In addition, I’ll be doing a book reading and signing there on August 10 at 7 pm. If you come, you can ask me anything, buy paperbacks of my books, and get them signed. I’ll also try to convince you to come have a beer with me after (my treat).

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Posted in Book-It! Please send pizza, Made of Awesomesauce, Oh, Baby!, Priorities!, The Beer Guy, Write Now!

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