A Time For Everything

 

Yesterday was National Spouse Day--a day created to spend time with and appreciate our spouses as opposed to Valentine's where were we celebrate love and romance.

We met in Omaha, Nebraska while he was in the military and I worked for a private contractor servicing the dining facility where DH ate--basically I was a kitchen worker!

We dated for the less than a year, much to my mother in law's consternation probably, but DH and I have been married for 28.5 years now. We had some rough and rocky patches along the way as all couples probably do, but we're here now for the longer haul.

We left Omaha and moved to Texas back in '99 when his mom went through some dicey medical issues. Thankfully, she's still with us. And now we're facing the next phase of our journey as my mom comes to live with us.

Here's to another 28++++ years.

Have a great weekend & spend some time with your spouse / significant other.

If I'm not on a trip, I'll be planning a trip...

Next up--Lake Conroe...

After that--a road trip home to see the fam...

And after that--a readers/writers conference...

And after that...it'll be time for the holidays. Oh joy.

This past weekend, my JAG ladies gathered in Dallas. We hadn't seen each other since May of 2019, so it was def nice to gather with everyone willing and able to make it. I skipped out of Sunday events in order to get ready for and rest up for my work week as I am wont to do.

In preparation for the conference I was working on my website and FUBARed it, so will have to ask an employee for help today. Ugh. I'm a menace to myself sometimes...

DH managed the tree-trimmers this weekend. The tree that grows along the fence in the neighbor's yard, covers the corner of our yard as well. But it'd finally reached the point again where it was weighing down the power and internet lines. So now I--or rather, the lawn guy--can actually walk upright on that side of the yard and we're no longer in danger of power our internet outages due to tree.

The also cut back all the stuff touching the roof. Not just that original tree, but the one hanging over my office. It's a bit odd, but nice, to go outside and have so much openness. The squirrels are now in a bit of a pickle since they can't get from the roof to the trees any longer.

Hope you're well and have a great week...

 

The latest addition to the collection! :0) Aren't they cute?? I'd seen them when I was out and about with DD a few weeks ago, but didn't buy them as I didn't want to or need to spend the money even they weren't terribly expensive.

But DD ended buying them for me as a belated Mother's Day Gift (she did take me to lunch already), so that was a pleasant surprise.

 * * * * *

Yep, I missed two days last week, but life has been terribly boring. I've done little but work, read, and write.

So I hope you're well.

No guarantees of blog posts for the rest of this week. I've actually been considering dropping to once or twice a week anyway, so this may be a good time to transition. If I have something exciting to share, I'll let you know.

Have a great week.

I know y'all don't care about the NHL trade deadline, but DH did a little trading of his own this weekend...

I have a new car!

DH did the math and determined that leasing a car costs the approximately the same as owning a car for 10 years and you get a new car every three to four years. So--

I went from the 2018 RAV4 to the 2021 RAV4.

I was a little unsure at first because DH did all the legwork and all I had were pictures. BUT! Once I sat in the car and got a feel for some of the new features, I was super pleased. The center console arrangement is a little different, which is not a big deal. The screen however, where you can see your backup camera feed and radio stations, etc, *is* different and I like it much better.

The new models also have Apple Car Play which means my Google Maps will show up on this screen as well, which is fabulous.

I was hoping for the plum color again, but apparently a lot of other people also like the plum too. All the dealership had on hand were the basics--black, white, pearl red (looked like shiny pomegranate to me), silver, and dark gray. Ultimately, color isn't the most important feature and I ended up with the gray. I like it just fine.

Hope you had a great weekend.

Some humor to lighten our day...









Hope you had a good weekend. I had big plans for writing. Alas, I shot myself in the foot by volunteering to host a four-hour write-in early Saturday morning for a writers conference that had transitioned from an in-person gathering to online sessions, utilizing various social media platforms as well as ZOOM.

I was going to be up and writing anyway, right? I have a ZOOM account since my own group was going to use it for our monthly meeting, right?

Problem a) I'd never attended a ZOOM meeting before and didn't know how the platform worked. Problem b) I didn't do a trial run the day before to iron out technical issues which led to wasting a full hour of writing time finding a work-around.
Problem c) Everyone arriving at various times kept distracting me from my work and so Saturday was a complete bust for me.

I did determine, however, that I prefer straight typing chats much better for that sort of thing and should we do them in the future, I will use a different platform to host.

I also spent some time Saturday afternoon using one of my favorite writers tools (a particular book) along with notes I'm made while on the cruise to get the story arc / plot onto large post-it notes to make sure I hit all the marks. Which I mostly did. Sunday's early morning writing session was very productive as a result, so whew. I was beginning to stress out that I wasn't going to ever get to write again. :0)

If you like to learn, The Great Courses if offering a one month free trial. They have a ton of really cool and interesting subjects to choose from. They do require a CC to create your account, but I just set a reminder for 27 days out to login and cancel the trial.

Here's to another week of social-distancing.

Take care--

But her cat keeps snuggling with me in the early mornings. I don't know if Karma snuggles with DD that much, but she does with me. Not any time anyone is around to see, but every weekday morning around 3:30 when she realizes I have woken up, she creeps over and lays down for some lovin'.


Speaking of workouts...I've made a concerted effort to get back to working out--for all that sitting on my recumbent bike and burning 100 calories or so could be called a workout--twice a day. That twice-daily burning of energy has helped me feel a bit more energetic. I have a ways to go, but I'm headed in the right direction at least.

I still have quite a few things on my plate and just got another, but I'm working at getting some things off it too.

About a decade ago, I was juggling two presidencies--band booster and writers group. I made it through the six-month overlap and I can do it again. It was a matter of taking care of the tasks that were next up on the schedule, which ever organization it was. Now band booster was a weekly cycle, luckily writers group was only monthly.

Anyway, I just need to keep my lists handy and updated. I need to plan ahead and stay on task. two things I'm pretty good at.

Hope you had a enjoyable and/or productive weekend.

I thought the first half of the year whooshed by too quickly...

The rest of the year looks like a luge.



I might be in big trouble, y'all.

On the other hand, I manage my time much better when there are a lot of things competing for my attention.

Today, though, I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed. I need to make a list and then work on whatever I can each day.

As the old adage goes: How do you eat an elephant?

One bite at a time.

So.

I got this...

Hope you had a great weekend.

How is it June?

Where has the year gone?

What have I accomplished?

The answers are: it just is; good question with no answer; and not a whole heck of a lot, to be honest.

I wrote a book, so that's definitely something. And a something I'm definitely proud of. The book will be part of anthology to be released in July. More details and a cover when I have them.

I spent a lot of time bonding with DD and at the same time living life, as it were. All that hockey and the playoffs were such great experiences. Sharing it with DD before she leaves home again was super and I'm grateful for the opportunity.

Sometimes things happen for a reason, and even though someone else was supposed to be president, I think maybe I'm here for a reason....

For the last several weeks, I've gotten a lot of writers-group-related tasks done, so there's that too. I want to start my tenure with as much in place and done as I can. I want my President-Elect to be able to easily step into the presidency come next fall, with us both having streamlined the duties of all board positions.

So that's what I've accomplished (along with gaining ten pounds, but whatever).

What are my goals going forward?

Two writers with whom I interact on a mostly daily work on their writing business plan / writing schedule every quarter. I'm sure many other writers do this too, I just don't know them or know this about them. Now, both these ladies write for income. I don't. But I'd still like to actively write/publish at least two books a year. One of my goals for the near future is to really think about my writing process and plan for those two books a year. Plan out the projects, from idea, to character building, to series planning.

I have ideas for two different series at the moment, one with six to nine books, the other with four or five books. At two books a year, I'm busy for the next five years at least. I'm good with that. Ideally, I'd like to publish three books a year, but I'm going to have to build up to that I think.

My other major goal, to lose those ten pounds, but I'm having an awful hard time overcoming my sweet tooth right now.

Hope you had a lovely weekend and may the coming week be productive.

I feel like I'm about to hit the crest of the first hill on a roller coaster ride. Life is about to get crazy.

This past weekend, we traded in the cars. The lease on the Rav 4 was almost over and the Scion was about on its last wheels. I joked that we now have his and hers Rav 4s, because we replaced the Scion with a Rav 4. Mine is a lovely plum color and DH's is the standard storm cloud gray.


Not only did I get the 2018 version, but DH upgraded me to the XLE as opposed to the base model LE, and between the two, I've been blessed with some lovely new bells and whistles.

Like a sun roof!! Like dual temp controls! Like push button start! Like GPS capability on the display screen (it needs a specific app to be loaded on my phone, but no more squinting at my Google Maps on my phone). Like a pull screen for the cargo area so no one can see what kind of stuff I might be hauling around. There are probably a few more handy dandy perks I haven't yet discovered, but this car is awesome and the best perk: it's costing us slightly less than the original.


In other equally exciting news and the cause of mi vida loca, hockey season officially starts this week. For the Stars, opening night is Thursday and yours truly will be there!! More than likely, I'll be at the AAC on Saturday as well for the second game.

Friday, I'm hoping to get to Dallas for the book signing of a brilliant young woman who is probably 90% responsible for me being a hockey fan.

But tonight--keep your fingers crossed for me. DD and I will be heading to Sig Flags over Texas this evening for the Dallas Stars Season Ticket Holder Event. There will be players available and interacting with fans!! Please send good vibes towards North Texas that DD and I will come across our favorite players and be able to get pictures with them.

If we're all lucky, I'll have pictures later in the week. >>insert big cheesy grin here<<

And then my con is now just around the corner. Two weeks from tomorrow, I'll be board a plane toward the east.

There will be as much down time and naps as I can muster so I have the energy for the rest.

Hope you had a lovely weekend.

Get some free romance novels...


I'm participating in the promo...they are not all male/male romances, so take a look if you're so inclined.

And now for an update...I heard back from KDP and I spent almost an hour on the phone with a lovely, patient gentleman named Christopher who helped me (hopefully) get the book accepted for print so that I can order copies for my conference.

The bleed issue--that my cover graphics (back and front cover images) weren't long enough for when the book gets trimmed was insane. The cover template I was sent--by KDP--was 2475 pixels high. After two print proofs with issues, I made those graphics 2510 pixels high (35 additional pixels) and there was still an issue on the back end. They could see it, but it never shows up on the screens and views that I have access to. That's a problem.

But, as I said, Christopher walked me through an alternative method and reviewed it on his end and said there is now 99.9% that it will be accepted this time. *cross your fingers please*

The other issue was with pagination. The main book is numbered and the excerpt of the second book is numbered although not continuously--why would it be?? According to the notes in my files, this could be an issue and cause a print delay.

WHUT???

My print proofs arrived within days of ordering with nary an issue as far as the page numbering was concerned. *sigh*

BUT-- I just need print books right now, so I deleted the page numbers of the excerpt and re-uploaded the manuscript.

Please, please, please...let that work. I will have an email within twenty-four hours.

Now to get book two sorted... Wish me luck and have a great weekend.

Into the giveaway box this week goes an assortment of tablecloths, table runners and curtains/sheers.

I'm counting this collectively as the third thing.





Hope you had a lovely weekend. I had a good time at writers group and even more lovely time at the meeting after the meeting even though we were missing a couple of peeps.

Have a great week--see you Wednesday.

I had a great weekend. How about you?

My writer friends came over for a day of sprinting (writing in sprints, not running). In between, as we are wont to do, we chatted.

One friend said she enjoyed coming to my house because she liked that I put my stuff out to be enjoyed even though it's not what one might call "decorator approved," if you will.

For example...

The kitchen wall with my decorative Christmas dishes that stay in place all year round rather than hiding them away in a closet.

Or the fall paper chain that DD and I put together several autumns ago, but that still loops across my front window.


Now, my office, which I shared a few weeks ago is a mish mash of my collections and fandom treasures and is another story altogether. I keep that kind of thing contained mostly to my personal space. :0)

As conversations wound around, another friend mentioned a 1000 item giveaway challenge that she and her husband had embarked upon. I'm not a minimalist by any means as my office can attest to, but I know I have a lot of stuff that I never use anymore. I've been meaning to go through closets and cabinets and the garage and start downsizing if you will.

I didn't find anything about the 1000 thing except for radio stations giving away money (yes, please!) but I did come across a blog about 100 things. So using that as a framework, I'm going to challenge myself to get rid of 100 things in however long it takes.

Also, the original challenge from Dave Bruno is to get down to 100 things, but that's unlikely for me at the moment. So instead, we'll just get rid of 100 things for now. And maybe, someday, I'll try for 100 more.

So my challenge is to clean out a drawer or a closet or a shelf in a closet or whatever at some point during the week and move it to the Goodwill pile in the garage or to throw it out. Hopefully, most of the stuff will be in good enough condition to give away rather than needing to be thrown away.

I'll report here with a picture at some point and we'll see how things go.

One of my first challenges is the baker's rack in the garage that holds a lot of appliances and bake ware and other random kitchen items. There are a couple of things on the floor I'd like to get off of the floor. So finding space for those items is number one.


The top shelf is now mostly clear. Since I don't eat cereal anymore, I'm passing along all my Tupperware cereal keepers as well as a produce/salad spinner.



What about you? Are you up for getting rid of a thing or two you don't use??

So...writers group was this past Saturday and it was fun as it always is. I caught up with three out of five posse members.

In light of needing to get all my ducks in a row for the conference in October--mainly getting physical books printed, I asked my friends what the first thing I needed to do is.

The answer: format the manuscript for print.

Okey dokey--Google is my friend. Found several tutorials and I was on my way. Once I got the gist of what was required, it was a snap. All things I'd done before for another project.

One of my friends also had a coupon code (allowing me to do them for free) for one of the print-on-demand (POD) vendors, good through June. So I have two weeks to get at least two books formatted and uploaded along with a full cover (front, back, and spine) images... Yikes. I'm hoping to get four done.

Along with the proofing job and the series guide I'm working on and all the other things going on at the end of the week, it looks like I'll be busy busy busy... Yikes again.

Hope you had a lovely weekend.

On May 4th, I wrote about the state of Jen. I vaguely remember the things that were weighing me down at the time, except the weather which I mentioned specifically.

I've moved on and things have gotten better mostly. The weather has warmed and turned sunny (and humid) and is better for my general outlook on life.

The one major thing that happened is still there. At the time, I was upset and angry and scared. I've had time to process the issue. I talked with a friend, did a little more research, and I was able to get a better grasp of what the issue really is. Unfortunately, there's not much I can do at the moment but work around the issue. So work around it I will.

Another issue is... I haven't written much for months. As I've said more than a few times, I should be writing...

BUT

I've also said that this is my journey. A Facebook friend (a person I have met in person) and fellow author recently wrote a post reminding all of her writer friends that our journey is indeed unique. It doesn't matter if you write fast or slow. If you publish 1 book or 5 or more in a year. We each have real lives to work around. Jobs, partners, children, pets, extended family, and on and on. And we each have to accept that about one another. Unless we walk a mile or spend a day in someone else's shoes, we cannot know what's best for that person. We cannot judge.

I have author friends who seem to be chained to their computers a lot and they seem miserable. I've never wanted to be that author. Also, unlike many, I'm not trying to make a best-seller list and I'm not trying to make a living. The only pressure I want is the pressure I put on myself for the right reasons--I'm ready and willing to get the next book written, edited, and published. The wrong reason is that much of the publishing world says I need to churn churn churn.

I'm going to turn fifty years old tomorrow. I want this time in my life to be as fun as I can make it. That means I write when I'm damn good and ready to do so. I make no excuses when people ask. I made the choice and there are consequences. Here comes the pressure though: I need and want to get back to it soon. I do enjoy it and I have a conference to get ready for.

Of course, now I have a proofreading job and a series-guide-updating job and several clients for whom I do website updates and places to go and 4th of July coming up. *sigh*

It is what it is, I guess. Better get to it.

Have a great week.

The process of publishing six (and more) books gets exponentially more task-riddled as the days go by. I now have a  FIVE-PAGE TO-DO list, because for most of what I have to do, I have to do for six books.

When I became an independently published author back in November of 2017, I did so by publishing directly with major retailers where I could and using two aggregators (virtual distributors for all intents and purposes) for the the ones I couldn't, as well as for the dozen or so smaller retailers.

I had one file for everybody--meaning that purchasing the next book was a two- or three-click process rather than a one-click endeavor. At the time, I just needed to get the books out into the world, and I did that. The rest had to wait for the new year.

Well, it's the new year and it's time to do the nitty gritty grunt work of creating unique files for each book for each retailer so that if you bought your book for the Kindle, the link at the end of the excerpt of the next book is going to take you directly to that book's purchase page in Amazon. Same for iBooks, Kobo, Nook... Well, you get the picture. Six books, six retailers, plus a generic link for miscellaneous use... You can see that it's quite a project.

Back in November, I used an aggregator to get my books into Barnes & Noble because the aggregator offers pre-sales and Barnes & Noble doesn't when publishing directly through them. Fast forward to January, and I want to publish the live books directly so that as much of the royalties go into my pocket as possible. Well, shoot-- I didn't even think that doing so was going to render the original purchase pages/links (through the aggregator) unavailable because Barnes & Noble was going to generate a its own new purchase pages/links. Add a new task to the list: updating all Barnes & Noble links.

I'll have to update links again when I'm able to upload to the Apple Store directly... *sigh*

Of course, once I get all of this figured out and done, it'll be one book at a time and much less daunting.

As I mentioned a post or two ago, I may be called upon to talk about aggregators vs. distributors to my writing group... I think I'll call it "To Aggregate or Not To Aggregate, That Is The Question..." Anyway, I think the specific issue of transitioning books and the hassle it causes needs to be a talking point for sure.

Maybe there's an easier way, maybe I'm making things way more complicated than they should be, but...

I didn't pay much attention to this stuff when it may or may not have been discussed in front of me. It's not fair now for me to constantly beleaguer my friends for information. So I'm plodding through the best I know how, learning as I go. But maybe that's better. I'll certainly remember how to get things done!

On a more exciting note, I get to attend my writers group meeting for the first time in four months. I'm so excited to see my chapter mates and especially my writer besties. I published all my books during that absence, so I get to return as a published author. I get these really cool jumbo pencils, one to celebrate each book. I get charms for writing min 25 pages each month, as well as a charm for completing a book. I can't wait. It's going to be so fun.

Hope your weekend will be as fun as mine--!!

See you Monday.

For the last five years, I've run one of my writing group's contests. Things ramp up in the middle of January.

For the last two years, I've been in some phase of getting books written or ready for publication.

At my day job, January is always hectic because it's the start of the new year and there are things that need to happen not only as a business, but as an employer.

And then there's fireworks season to wrap up.

Several times, I've been neck deep in proofreading jobs. Not this year, though, thank goodness. Although I do have a couple on the books...

I'm not keen on the beginning of my new year being quite so crazy, but what can I do?

I've tendered my resignation as contest coordinator, effective as soon as this year's contest is complete--sometime in June.

The writing/publishing thing is just a matter of timing. I'm the boss there, so I can decide if I'm taking an extra long holiday or not. But now that the first five books are out in the world, I don't think I'll have that level work going on at any given time anymore. That's kind of a mixed blessing though, yeah?

Unless I get fired or quit, there will always be the day job. And my tasks are generally spread throughout the month, so it's not really terrible.

I guess all I can do is roll with punches!

Hope your new year is starting off well.

It wasn't for a person I knew well. I attended out of respect for my father-in-law as it was a member of his family. I did get to spend some time with my mother-in-law, which was nice and which I don't do often enough (so maybe an item for next year's goal list, eh?).

Anyway, the point of today's post is--I know what kind of funeral I don't want. That's not to say yesterday's service wasn't lovely, because it was. If it reflected the person it was for, then great. But a service like that wouldn't reflect me.


So I got to thinking...do I need to sorta-kinda plan my own funeral? Leave a package of notes as to what I want, even though, as my mother-in-law pointed out, funerals are for the living, for those left behind, and not for the person who died?

I'd like to think my kids would be pretty sad if/when I die--I mean, I was sad when my dad died, and I was there when choices as to caskets and music and stuff were being made, but I didn't know my dad that well anymore-- We'd lived so far apart for so many years. --and while I wasn't so overcome emotionally at that point, I didn't know what he would have liked.
My kids may or may not know me well enough upon my death. I hope they do, of course, but they may not. Or they may be so emotional that it'd be hard to think past how they're feeling right at that moment...

So maybe some general notes and a letter to each of my kids. That sounds like a good place to start.


Happy Friday!! Hope you have a great weekend.



P.S. ~ Please don't take this as me being morbid. The fact is, we're all going to die. Making the process easier on the people I leave behind isn't a bad thing.

My publishing journey is just that...mine. I've been of a mindset to publish the first three or four books in June as a sort of birthday present to myself. Disappointingly, I don't think that's going to happen.

Two things are at play and both are a subset of my friend and yours: TIME.

First--

If I want to publish my books on or around my birthday, I have five weeks from last Friday to ensure books one, two, and three are ready to go. That includes all final revisions based on comments from my editor, as well as having all file formats ready to upload, and having my website capable of processing payments. Those are just off the top of my head. There are probably a few more things I could come up with.

Twenty-eight days after that, all that same stuff for book four needs to be in place and same for book five twenty-eight days after that.

I'm struggling to get book six written (that plot issue I mentioned last Wednesday) so that it can go to the editor at the end of June.

The best recipe for success with indie publishing is to be able to publish something new every twenty-eight days for five or six months. I don't have enough "stock" yet. I'm in a better position than a lot of debut authors, especially ones that aren't part of any sort of writers group and don't get the benefit of learning from others paving the way. I could go forth with what I have and everything would work out fine. I know this. I'd still need to postpone at least a month though.

But I just don't feel like I'd be starting out on as firm a foot as I would like.

Second--

If I worked eight hour days just at this writing/publishing gig, I could probably get everything done and ready. But I can't work eight hour days just at this writing/publishing gig. I have a day job and a life. There might be a trip to Seattle in my near future before Sonshine's ship deploys for real. Fireworks season is also around the corner. Two of them actually--the State of Texas has added several and one of them falls over Memorial Day.

Plus if I want to work on my plotting skills, I need to read books or take workshops, and that requires time too.

I've also mentioned how I don't want to be a slave to the writing either. I know other writers who, it seems, are always chained to a deadline and a keyboard. They're grumpy and tired and have little fun.

Since it is my journey, I get to decide when to pull the trigger. I thought of waiting a whole 'nother year and doing it to celebrate my FIFTIETH birthday. I don't necessarily want to wait that long, but it's not off the table.

Seems like I have some serious thinking to do and some important decisions to make.

I'll keep you posted.

Hope you had a great weekend.

Yes, so last Friday, I was playing around with creating the appropriate files for my books--mobi for Amazon Kindle and epub for everything else.

And guess what? I did it. It took some tweaking and adjusting and previewing and a bit more tweaking and adjusting and previewing, but eventually I got a finished product that tickled me pink. I tested in both Kindle and iBooks and they both worked and looked FABULOUS.

It was so COOL to see a finished product after all the writing and the hair pulling and the fear.

It's so tempting to just hit that publish button now, although book 1 is not ready for publication at the moment (I played with book 3 cuz it was the shortest). Just a minor but time-consuming tweak, that will take a couple of weeks.

The important part of this is--I can do it. I won't need to pay someone to do this for me, which is great considering the cost of good book covers and good editing and ISBNs and copyright filing.

Every day it's something new.

But one day at a time. And still having fun. :0)

Friday I mentioned the struggle of getting out of bed and going to the gym. For what it's worth, I'm on track still. :)

My new motto has become "the next level"--reaching for, striving for, getting to--whatever. Not only at the gym but with my writing. And DH is working at that as well in his business, so I'm trying to step up at work as well.

This past Saturday was writers group and, as usual, I spent a lovely day with some of my favorite people on the planet. One of my writer friends mentioned an audiobook she was listening to about the 10 myths of publishing. I scribbled a note for later and later I looked it up.

Turns out the myths are also available via blog by the same guy, so I tucked into the first myth, and then the next, and the next, and, well, by last night I'd read all twenty-some-odd that are available (three series, two done, one in progress), and every single thing the author said made sense. Many of his myths resonated with me for other reasons, but I'll be going back through the series to re-read and make note of his suggestions, decide what I want from my writing and -- you got it -- take it to the next level.

N--you know who you are--you need to email me, my friend. Turns out this author is married to another blogger you refer to me often. Which makes sense because they think in tandem.

Needless to say, I have a lot of pondering and then a lot of work to do.

I can see now that life is not slowing down any time soon on any front. I'm gonna have to pace myself, and like the title of this blog says and I believe whole-heartedly--there is a time for everything.

Hope you had a great weekend. Mine was enlightening and inspiring.