The state of California is on fire, and not just in the “usual” places. The thunderstorms last week were mostly dry, just thunder and lightning, and the lightning strikes hit the ground all around the Bay area, starting fires that are just burning through real estate.
Beyond the danger of the fires themselves, there’s the added danger of all the smoke in the air. It makes breathing difficult. It makes allergies worse. It makes the air stink.
I had to go out into it yesterday for a doctor’s appointment. I woke up this morning with my sinuses all congested and my head pounding. Going to make today fun.
But, it’s Friday and the last day of the day job for the week. I have a small edit job to do this weekend, and hopefully I’ll get some writing time, just need to keep the house closed up to keep the smoke out.
At least it’s a bit cooler than it was earlier in the week. We hit 106 degrees at one point this week. Today it’s only supposed to go up to 93. My air conditioner and fans are getting a work out!
My coffee cup is empty now and I need to log onto a video conference in a few minutes, so I should get going. Y’all be safe out there! And Happy Friday!
There are times when even an introvert agoraphobe needs some human connection, even if that comes in the form of socially distanced socializing. Yesterday I went up to my mother’s house for some of that human connection, and for an exchange of money for a monitor and home baked bread for some peppers harvested from their garden.
We spent some time not touching or hugging, while I crocheted and my mother and brother and I watched some news, talking about the happenings around us and just generally remembering what it is like to have people around.
I should have been in Austin this weekend for our annual shenanigans with Steve Carlson, but it has been pushed out to October due to the plague currently ravaging our country.
But, having gone out to see Mom and David and the nieces, I came home with a new tv/monitor to replace the one I have on my desk that is dying a slow death and I have a bag filled with poblano, dragon and jalapeno peppers that I need to decide what to do with. I’m actually contemplating an attempt at pickling some jalapenos. I know the dragons will kick up my chinese dumplings a fair amount, and I may try my hand at drying some of them because I have more than I can use before they’ll go soft.
Now that I have that new monitor, I’ll be spending time in this office today, clearing the desk, pulling the tower out to clean and make set up easier and getting everything set back up. But first, I’m spending some time writing (I’m currently working on a Sci-fi short story) and drinking some Death Wish Coffee.
I hope you and yours are safe, Readers, and I wish you a pleasant Sunday!
Here we are at Friday again. I have a lot of work to get to today, and I’ve already been up and working for a few hours. My plans for the weekend aren’t concrete, it will depend on whether work comes in on either Job #2 or one of two freelance editing jobs that I am expecting to come in. But, could include the exciting tasks of laundry, cleaning and building a bookshelf.
If no work comes in I may even get time to write and/or research possible literary agents to query.
I will admit that I am really loving working from home. I love the freedom of it. Wake up at 3am and can’t go back to sleep? I can get up and work without having to go anywhere. Can’t be bothered to get dressed? No worries. Need to do laundry in the middle of the week? Go for it. Want to take a break and bake some bread or start some stew in the crock pot? Sure. I made bread this week, and there will be some beef stew later today.
I have days where I work from four in the morning until nine at night barely taking time to go to the bathroom or eat. I have days where I work a few hours, then do things around the house, then come back and work some more.
I have days where I listen to music on Spotify on my TV so it can come through my surround sound system. I have days where I play vinyl on my record player. I have days where I have documentaries on the TV while I work.
Of course, my taste in documentaries is so all over the map that I think I’ve broken the algorithms on Amazon. Their recommendations are getting a bit bizarre.
I should probably get to the next task on my list. I hope y’all have a great weekend, Readers!
It’s Friday. It’s the first Friday in a long time that I’ve spent an entire week working on paying work. I mean, yeah sure, eventually, hopefully, all the work I’ve put into my writing lately will pay off, but this is the immediate…or close to immediate, paycheck kind of work.
Did I mention that I started TWO full time jobs on Monday, or close to full time for the one. Job #1 is with a BI software company where I get to dig into my data analysis background and learn new things. Job #2 is straight up editing work. Granted, it’s editing work for a big company on a big project where the end client is a state government, so think dry and unexciting reading.
I ended up keeping both, even though Job #2 is a contract job through a contracting agency because neither one of them pays me what I’m used to…by a pretty significant amount. I fully anticipate that Job #1 will be my permanent job, and that the pay will increase as we move out of the current economic situation.
I’m really enjoying learning how to use new tools and combine my experience with new things, and at the end of that long day I can unplug my learning brain and edit for hours.
Means not much else is getting done, though my muse Brain is nibbling on something new, based on a dream a friend of mine had. She has the three main characters and the set up, some back story, but there’s a lot of world building to do, and a chunk of research, but she DOES love a good world build!
Just finishing up my first cup of coffee and getting ready to get onto Job #1. So, if I’m a bit scarce for the next little while, forgive me! I promise I’ll be around. Happy Weekend, Readers!
As we start a new week, I find myself very worried about money, but still optimistic overall. I have a little bit of work, with a vague promise of more on the horizon. I haven’t been paid yet for my first week, just submitted my hours for the second week, and we embark on the third.
The other job I was supposed to start is on hold, due to the fact that they can not complete the background check, because the courts in San Francisco are not open. So that means I have space for more editing or writing work, if you happen to know of any work that needs doing.
I’m on Upwork, but will work with folks outside of that as well.
So other than that bit of the work I’m doing for one client, I’ve been working on The Blood Witch. I hope to have this final edit done by the weekend. Which is when the work to sell the book begins. Which starts, as most things do, with research. Then query letters, which will hopefully lead to an agent, who can help with that whole selling part.
As I do, I’m also watching a lot of documentaries, particularly true crime documentaries. I found a motherlode of new-to-me tv shows and movies on Hulu.
I hope you and your families are staying safe and not going a little stir crazy. Be smart, as we start opening things back up. This virus has not yet done its worst, and I fear that loosening restrictions too quickly will send a wrong message to too many people, opening us up for a strong resurgence of victims. Mask up. Wash your hands. Stay home if you can, and don’t let people closer than 6 feet. You never know whose life you might be saving. It could be your own.
Happy Friday, Readers! I meant to post earlier in the week, but I have actual, paying work at the moment, so my attention has been on that.
How are you coping? I’ve had a few bad days, but between work on The Blood Witch and working in my container garden, I’ve found ways to keep my head up. I hope you can say the same.
I’ve also been indulging in two of my favorite things, Star Wars and Supernatural. I find it soothing to re-watch something I am so familiar with.
Today though I feel beat up and sore all over, probably from trying to do too much with very heavy stuff last night (ordered a bunch of soup and it all came in one box…like we’re talking 16 cans of soup. I’d have been better off taking a few cans out at a time, but no…like an idiot I tried to move the whole box). I’m hoping a hot shower can help me feel a little better.
Aside from that, I’m going to try to finish up these edits I’m getting paid to do, if the website ever comes back up. Right now I’m just getting a blank page. I assume no one in the support team is currently online.
And, maybe some work on the book. Depends on how long my beat up body can tolerate the office chair.
I hope your Friday is filled with good things! Remember, kindness matters. Please be kind to yourself too.
There comes a point in every book where I want to chuck it all in and never write another word. I start to question my plot. I start to think my characters are crap. I become fairly certain that the whole thing is a steaming pile of garbage left to rot in the sun.
Thankfully, a few days away from the book is usually enough to cure me of it, and then I fall in love with my characters again. I plug up plot holes. I draw maps to make sure I’m using consistent language and direction when I’m writing about travels. I fortify character descriptions, using sensual language to really let the reader see the character. I read through the book, making notes on things I need to thread deeper into the story, and then I go back to the beginning and I edit.
I hit the first point the other day, as I was finishing my first edit pass on The Blood Witch. I was pretty sure I was just going to toss it, and the year or so I’ve spent writing it, in the bin and stop calling myself a writer.
This morning, as I sit here sipping my coffee and contemplating my day, I’m reaching the second point. I know where my holes are and I have good ideas on fixing them. I have a list of little things I want to carry forward because I wrote them in with good intentions, and then forgot about them completely. I have a deep abiding love for my two main characters, and character notes on how to improve the secondary and tertiary characters.
My one remaining quandary is that my narrator main character is witty and fun in the first half of the book, but some of that bleeds off in the second half. Part of it is due to the circumstances, and that will remain. But, I know that when I am under stress I get more sarcastic, not less, so I want to work on building some of that back in.
So that is the mission I will embark on today. After the coffee is gone, the garden watered, breakfast eaten, for at least two hours today, and every day this week, I work on filling in the gaps and making this book something to be proud of.
Of course, then the real work happens because it is time to start querying. Which is vaguely terrifying.
So, off to do those precursor things so that I can get to the words. Have a pleasant Monday, Readers. Stay safe.
I’ve been working all week on my first edit of The Blood Witch. I’m up to chapter 25, which is where I will be starting this morning. I have so much love for this character. Well, all of them, honestly.
I need to work on establishing some of them a little more, make them stronger side characters with stories all of their own…you know, make them real. This is particularly true for some of the main character’s family.
As I work through this and build up the weak spots, plug up plot holes and all of that, my muse is already spinning up the world building for the second book, because, yes, this is at least a two book series.
I’ve added over 5,000 words so far, and there are probably another 2,000 to 3,000 to come, which should drop me close to 90K by the time I’m done tinkering. Then, provided I have the cash, I will be hiring my favorite editor to give it a good going over before I start the terrifying part: querying agents.
Having never done it, and having perpetual impostor syndrome, the thought is terrifying. I think these characters deserve my best, however, and I aim to give it to them…and the best is not just giving it to the publisher you know will take it, but won’t do much to support it once it’s out in the wild.
So, that’s how I’m muddling through the week, Readers. That and coffee. Lots of coffee. Maybe that’s why I’m vibrating? How about all of you? How are you hanging in there?
Fancy a bit of “virtual hang out” time with me…and whoever of my friends happens to show up? I’ll be hosting a Zoom meeting this evening. No pressure, just a chance to see faces and chat. I’ll put the details in the Events section over there on the right, or you can check my FB Author’s page for the link. We did it last week, and there may have only been a few of us, but we had fun! So come join us!
Okay, coffee’s getting cold so I’m off to slurp it down and get on with that editing business. Y’all stay safe out there!
Oh, and if you’ve missed any of the Read Along for Through Shade and Shadow, you can find the recordings on my You Tube Playlist.
Hey there, Readers! I hope this Easter Sunday finds you well and in good spirits. I haven’t celebrated Easter in over 20 years, but I have many friends and family who still do. I have a complicated relationship with Easter, to be honest.
Living alone, as I do, and not having kids around has done a lot to reinforce the “out of sight, out of mind” aspect of what Easter was for me as a kid, then a deeply religious Christian, then an aunt with small nieces. Once the kids were old enough to not really care about the Easter bunny and all the attendant hoopla, the holiday just sort of faded from prominence for me.
However, this time of year is so full of rebirth and the absolutely amazing way that nature wakes, making food grow out of dirt, decorating our environment with flowers and greenery, and that is certainly something I can celebrate.
This evening, I plan on celebrating in my own way, with a tasty adult beverage, and reading the second chapter of Through Shade and Shadow over on my Facebook author’s page. If you missed the first chapter, it’s loaded up on my You Tube Channel, and I’ve put it here for your happy viewing.
I will link them all in a playlist to make it easier for y’all to watch in a continuous stream. If the weather stays nice this evening, I may even move this chapter outdoors.
I’m knee deep in consolidating feedback from my beta readers on The Blood Witch, and once I have it all noted down in my printed out copy, I plan to do a slow read through it to mark up with my own notes/additions, etc, before I bring it back to the computer.
I really love these characters, and I can’t wait until I can share them with all of you, though that might be a while, as I plan to do the “query” fun to maybe find an actual agent to represent me, because as much as I appreciate my current publisher, I am ready to move beyond what they can provide.
In the meantime, I’m sure we can find other stuff to keep you entertained.
Did you know I have an Instagram? To help relieve my own boredom, I’ve started an impromptu photo project with a Porg named Joe and his good friend, the Child from the Mandalorian. The hashtag #theadventuresofbabyyodaandporgjoe will take you to their shenanigans, though I missed tagging the first few. (Yes, I really am that dork).
Okay, on that note, I should get my day going. My edits are staring at me and my coffee’s gone cold. I should probably think about eating something too.
I hope you have the best day. Stay safe, stay home and wash your hands! Love you all!
Wow, how did we get to March so fast?! Seems like we were only just sludging our way through the year of January, and now we’ve made a slide into March. My plans to take over the world have fallen seriously behind. Something must be done!
No, seriously, while things are ugly in the world of politics and the scare of a global pandemic is emptying shelves in the stores around the country, and the fact that I still do not have gainful employment, I’m doing pretty good. At least through April, because I have my rent paid that far ahead. So, I better find something pretty fast.
Honestly, I’d be surprised if some of the sluggishness in hiring is the uncertainty of the world right now. I’ve seen the same technical writer jobs with the same companies posted and reposted on all the job boards since early in January. At least one of them every few weeks since last summer, YIKES.
Add to that the fact that I refuse, at fifty one years old, to spend four hours of my day (on a good day) in the car to get to and from a job, and I’m left here trying to manifest a job that has yet to come into sight. It is out there though. I’m sure of it.
In the meantime, I write, I rummage and ransack job boards, I keep lists of places and jobs I have applied to, and I have rediscovered my love for story based video games. I suck at them (as an example, I spent almost two hours yesterday trying to defeat the first serious “boss” in Jedi: Fallen Order…and gave up for the day without doing it…got her down to about half health a couple of times, but I’m not coordinated enough to dodge and stuff, and she’s wicked fast).
I am considering developing an online course for writers struggling with the concepts of Point of View and maybe a few others like it, but I have no concept of what to charge for something like that. I’ve been coaching and beta-reading for years, but always in areas I can’t claim on a resume, so I’m thinking maybe I could formalize what I’ve been doing. I’m also going to revamp my editing offerings, make them simpler.
Plus, it’s time for Pride to ramp up. Had my first management meeting yesterday. Got some exciting new ideas flowing there. I hope it pays off.
For now, the coffee is hot and I need to start my daily haunting of Linked In and Glassdoor and Indeed…I’ve stopped using Monster (because holy hell the crap recruiters try to shovel in my direction from there) and even Career Builder (for much the same reason) which used to be my go-to sites for job hunting.
