I know it's been awhile since I've posted. I've had my ups and downs since I had to put my dog down in August and work has gotten nuts with the holiday season. I've been working longer shifts and Sunday's 8am-noon, BUT...this weekend we're free!!! We managed to get caught up and did not have to work today...aannndddd, starting tomorrow I go back to my regular hours. Phewwww! I'm exhausted and my lack of writing the past couple months shows it. I have managed to write some ideas down along with a chapter or two in notebooks. I have a notebook for each book idea so when something comes to me I can capture it right away. Plus, I like putting actual pencil/pen to paper. Perhaps I was a scribe in one of my past lives lol!! It's been really quiet in my house the past few months without my boy here and I have felt the pull to get a cat. I haven't had a cat for quite a few years since my last one passed suddenly at the age of 14. She was such an amazi

     I have set myself down a new road. It wasn't intentional, but it appears to be a good one none the less. Sometimes I think the unintentional changes in direction are the best ones. Who knows what you'll find? Traveling into the unknown can be exciting. After all, isn't that what we do as writers? Don't we take the reader somewhere they've never been before? Or at least hope to...I know I do. I hope I can have them set sail to new worlds and new ideas...and then, I want them to come back.      I went back to the town I moved from (a 2.5 hour drive) to take care of the last bit of business I had there...and now I have finally snipped that thread of connection for good...woohoo! High fives all around! I then continued on to see my sister and mother (another 2 hours), spent the night there and came home the next day.      I prefer not to do this much back-to-back driving (unfortunately I didn't have 3 days to spend on this trip) but all-in-all I do like

I apologize for the long emptiness of posts here recently, but things have been a bit draining. My faithful companion of 14 years, Saber, was having a really hard time...he was in a great amount of pain with his hips and back legs (which have been an issue most of his life) and was only eating now and again. The new medication the vet put him on caused other issues, including trouble with his bowels, too much blood, until he finally stopped eating all together. I stopped giving him the medication, but he still wouldn't or couldn't eat. He ate only 3 days out of his last 10. Finally I couldn't do it anymore...I couldn't bear to see him in so much pain and distress...so I made one of the hardest decisions in my life. I decided to have my friend put down. I cried for days before I even made the decision, as I knew that was where all this was leading, and I cried the whole day of. I stayed home from work to be with him. We sat outside for awhile and enjoyed the nice br

I am moved. Not unpacked completely, but moved. I had forgotten how much I hate packing and unpacking. Not to mention renting U-Hauls, loading U-Hauls, unloading U-Hauls...ughhhhh. Thank goodness I have a child (and son-in-law) that I could convince to help me lol! They were great and we got it all done. Some days this being single business sucks, but on the other hand I do what I want, when I want to....or just do nothing...because I want to. So I guess, six of one half a dozen of the other. Is it possible to find that perfect blend? Someone to help out and hang out, but leave me alone on the days I don't feel like peopling??? I sure as hell hope so. On the writing front I am getting close to starting up again. I have the computer desk and laptop set up in their designated area (yes they have an "area" now). I have had the one story I started sent to an editor for editing...only 3 chapters so not too expensive...and got good feedback on it. It needs lots of work of co

So I'm still hanging in there after the big move....ahhh....kind of. I finally found a place to live, but I can't get moved in until the 15th of this month. Sooooo...I have been staying with my daughter and her family for the past month and driving an hour to work every day. We are going back to get the rest of my stuff (my whole house lol) the weekend of the 15th and I will finally be back on my own and writing again.  I've thought about trying to write while I'm here, but I just can't concentrate enough to get it done. I leave at 7am everyday and don't get back until 6pm. Then it's dinner and 2 very active young children...my grandkids (who I love dearly, but make me very tired). So it will have to wait until I am back in my own place. I have everything figured out on how and where I'm putting everything now. I'm renting an apartment that is actually the bottom floor of an older house, so the floor plan is all chopped up...each room is separated

I have decided to move and now my life is upside-down. Partly because I am a procrastinator...I will wait until the last damn minute to finish packing. Why? I have no clue, but let me tell you I am hell on wheels once I get going! One would think that once I was aware of the problem (which I have been for years) that I would correct said problem....ummm no...this is apparently not how I roll. So I will slowly work through my house and pack here and there, all the while staring at my back yard hoping someone will magically appear to mow it for me. FYI, that has not happened yet either. I had 5 days off this Memorial Day weekend. Three of them were spent driving in nearly every direction on the map. I have two more days at my current job and then I am off until I leave on Saturday....man I hope I can get everything fricking done. Please pray for me if you feel moved to do so 😬 I think I'm going to need it lol! Thursday was spent driving 3 hours southeast to my new home to be, to

So when I started all of this I only had my laptop and I was writing wherever I felt like sitting...the couch, the chair, wherever. My problem was, I tend to lean forward as I'm typing so my neck and shoulders would end up hurting. This was not very conducive to productive writing sessions, and so there came the light bulb moment, buy a desk! Of course, but which one?  So began the search for a desk. I didn't have a lot of room to put one...although I could have had a whole room, but I have put off cleaning the extra bedroom for the entire 6 years I've lived here, why start now??? So I measured how much room I had in the living room, after a small amount of furniture rearrangement, and went from there. I find a small desk (and chair) I really like and that I think will fit fairly well it it's designated corner. Order desk and chair. Get desk and chair. Put desk and chair together (with only mild frustration, irritation and moderate cursing). Done. Ta da!!! I am now a

I have begun the fusion of my two story versions and I have to admit my head already hurts. I've gone through the second version of the book and picked out the pieces I want to keep....now I just have to figure out where their going to go. Great plan, but it's a little harder executing it. So I've decided I'm going to have to start over from scratch.  Yep...I'm starting from page one....again. *heavy sigh* I know it's the best way to do it, but that doesn't make it any easier, or make my head hurt any worse. The only thing that does make it better is knowing that the end product will be a greater, more cohesive story. So here I go, plugging my nose and diving in the deep end. I've been fighting the urge to sleep today as my cold medicine is making me extremely tired. I even took a nap today, which is very unusual for me. I not a napper. I woke up with a sore throat yesterday and which made me a very not-so-happy camper. I hate being sick, plus w

Well, I've decided that I'm going to combine the two versions of my first book....at least in theory. I'm going to print out the second version and mark what I want to keep....then go through the printed first version and mark where I want the new pieces to fit. Ok. Sounds like a good plan.  Except....I forgot to print out the second version before I left work on Friday (my printer and my laptop are having a bit of a tiff and are not currently speaking to each other) and my Saturday got blown to hell, with random minutia and an attempt to mow the jungle I call a backyard. It's been raining quite a bit lately so I've been waiting for it dry up enough for me to mow and I finally decided to take a shot before I lose my dog back there. I gave up after getting about a little more than half done....I got really tired of restarting the mower after the heavy wet grass kept killing it....so it's still on "the list".  Now today it's laundry (lik

Happy Easter Everyone! I hope all of you are enjoying wonderful food, friends and family. 💗 Today seems to be a day of reflection for me...a bit serious I know, but I've learned just to run with whatever my brain comes up with because it's going to keep talking about it anyway. I was thinking about why I want to write a book. I know I said yesterday that it was to get it out of my head, and that's true, but that was more of the beginning "why". When I first started all of this my cousin asked me "why do you really want to write a book?" She said once I knew the "why" I'd have the basis for the "how". My true motivation would help me write it....and I thought I knew. I wanted to get this story, that had been bouncing around in my head for years, out and onto the page. Into book form, on paper, computer screen or whatever. Something I could look at and say "Hey, there it is!", but the more I got into it the more

Ok....so....a few months ago I decided I needed to write a book. Why? Mainly just to get it out of my head. I have a tendency to have these story ideas in my head and they won't leave me alone until I write them down. Some of the impertinent little buggers even wake me up or have the utter audacity to not let me go to sleep until I've gotten back up to scribble some random idea down on whatever piece of paper I happen to find. Then...back to bed....ahhhhh sleep. Maybe. Ughhh. Now I'm back up again after telling the next idea that I'll be sure to write it down as soon as I get up in the morning, but does it listen?? NO, it does not. It's a lot like a toddler walking into the room and standing by the bed saying "Mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom." So here I go again to stick my nose onto some piece of paper (I'm legally blind without my contacts and I refuse to put them in to do this) and scribble more ideas down. Now I'm going to sleep no matter what my