We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Program

My work schedule is random enough that grabbing dedicated writing time is more miss than hit. I’m sure it will even out eventually. What that adds up to for you is that I haven’t finalized the Meet the Cards post for today.

Instead, here are some posts which rocked my world recently.

Jenny Hansen is a must read for me and posts like Can One Person Make a Difference? is one reason why. Recently, Jenny had Lisa Hall Wilson over with this post on Fun Facebook Tricks.

Maria Zannini is another must read for me, she keeps things real with posts like Yellow Jacket Attack, and she’ll also be a panelist in this weekend’s Coyote Con — Writing Sex Scenes.

On Maria’s Back to Basics blog I found this great recipe for Healthy Homemade Dog Cookies — Beastie Girl approved. Maria also had this amazing tip on Recycling Pour Tops. Be sure to like The Frugal Way on Facebook for great deals. Maria does her research!

Natalie Hartford is a guaranteed laugh most days of the week like this post, on a product we’ve all likely seen advertized, Worlds Collide: Pajamas and Jeans. Every Friday, however, this amazingly dedicated woman puts a personal face on the victims of drunk driving. Check out this great product doing double duty as support for a worthy cause — Recovery Tags.

Brinda Berry has a regular feature, Social Media Savvy with Sanity, on Gloria Richard’s blog and this week was more on Facebook — This is a Test. This Is Only a Facebook Test.

As part of Coyote Con, this Sunday is my Tarot in Writing panel with the amazing Diana Castle, who you’ve seen me mention here on the blog under her pen name of Jenna Reynolds. The panel starts at 11 AM EASTERN time (AKA New York time). Diane and I hope to see you there

An Olympic Sunday Summary

I got nothing, zip, nada, zilch done this week.

It’s been one of those weeks. Y’all may remember our upstairs A/C unit blew up — which isn’t much of an exaggeration as the repair guy said we were lucky it didn’t result in a house fire — a few weeks ago, well, this week the downstairs A/C unit decided it was its turn. The ol’ wallet took one look at that repair guy and ran screaming from the room, leaving a trail of coins (just like a scared mouse leaves a trail of poop when it runs, LOL). We simply followed the trail of coins it left.

That was followed by replacing a fan, the kitchen facet, and a few other small repairs. By the time our storage freezer said it saw the light yesterday, the ol’ wallet was huddled in a corner petting itself and muttering, “Precious, my precious.”

Perhaps it is due to having one son heading to 8th grade in a few weeks — our eyes turning toward high school and beyond, and the activities which help that academic resume — but we’ve been watching a lot of Olympic coverage, more so than I can remember in recent years. Water Polo has struck a cord in #2. We’ll be looking into the local team this coming week. One kid down, three to go. Hey, with four…can we say, scholarship?

I’ll leave you with some linkage…

Misha Gericke talked about the motto faster, higher, and stronger.

Meredith Jaeger had a fabulous post on what the Olympics have taught her about writing.

See the Olympic reference wasn’t completely out of the blue

Yay, there’s a reason I don’t work well under self-imposed deadlines. However, for those deadlines we can’t avoid, August McLaughlin has some great tips for sharpening creativity under pressure.

Contest time: Joely Sue Burkhart is running a Read an Ebook Giveaway for the month of August to support her latest release, The Bloodgate Warrior.

Sunday Summary: July Goals

Holy cow…where is this year disappearing to?

First off — Happy Canada Day to my family and friends North of the Border!

I’ve spent more time scrappin’ this week than writing but I’m starting to hear whispers, so must have been just what the doctor ordered

The plan is to relax this month. To dabble in whatever strikes my fancy at the time. I do have a stocking to finish cross-stitching for #4 before Christmas. And Nicole is always teasing me with socks to knit. However, I need to get back into the writing. It’s not just a want anymore. So for the month of July my writing goal is to spend 30 minutes each day butt in chair, internet off, hands on keyboard, and the door shut to wee beastie distractions. Crossing fingers those whispers turn in to shouts or demands.

Coyote Con is back! Joely Sue Burkhart snatched up the domain and has set October 26-28 for this year. The main site is still under construction but she’s got forums started and some exciting plans. I’m tentatively set to do a Tarot Panel. Be sure to check out the forums for the other panels and workshops.

I’m taking this Round off from A Round of Words in 80 Days (ROW80) partly because the writing stagnated but also a wee overwhelmed with everything I wanted to do clashing with everything I needed to do. Then I read How do you sum up the loss of a loved one? and perspective clicks into place.

So the rest of my July goal is to let go of the pressures I’ve put on myself to be everywhere, play some online games (MIL and I have been challenging each other all week, I’d forgotten how much fun we have doing this), read more, walk Beastie Girl, swim with the wee beasties, and do some of the crafts that often get pushed aside in the writing frenzy. Somewhere in there I hope to find that middle ground I lost along the way during Round 2 of ROW80.

Yesterday, That Man and I ran a gazillion errands and I picked up a new pair of walking shoes. Squee! Beastie Girl and I are out breaking them in as this goes live

And last but not least, a Happy Independence Day America.

Sunday Summary & #ROW80

1. The Writing: Blah. I think it’s time to try some of the tips from Jennifer M. Eaton’s ROW80 post — Just Say No to Writer’s Block.
2. A post by Elena Aitken lead me to Overcoming Writer Inertia Part One and Part Two by Trish Loye Elliot over on the Wordbitches blog. Wow, inertia is such a better word for what I’ve been battling. Well, that and four kids on summer break.
3. Jami Gold had another fabulous post on How to Make the Most of a Scene. She also linked to the Rule of Three, No the Other One from the amazing Janice Hardy.
4. The Reading: I’m beta reading Joely Sue Burkhart’s Her Grace’s Stable and ‘alpha’ reading Angela Brown’s Neverlove. Need to sit down and put my notes together for both these awesome ladies.
5. The Blogging: No additions to the queue, so I’m holding at about 2 weeks cushion thanks to last week’s post writing and scheduling. Commenting :sigh: I have no idea. I think I did pretty well with the sharing.
6. The Social Media: I didn’t track it this week so I’m not sure where I stand. I did have a conversation with @KristaDB1 (aka Krista D. Ball) yesterday.
7. The Health: Walking = zilch. Caffeine and sugar reduction = on track. Water = nailed it this week :tosses confetti:
8. Amy Shojai had a fabulous post on Hot Dogs and Summer Safety this week. Did you know dogs can sunburn? I didn’t until I got Beastie Girl who is so fair her skin becomes bright pink when she’s overheated.
9. I think I’ve come to the conclusion I need to take Round 3 off. Two of the wee beasties need some tutoring so they’ll be up to par for the new school year. That Man has scheduled some vacation time. I have a nephew arriving for a few weeks. Mice babies to find homes for. But mostly, I need to refocus on the basics.
10. To support the awesomeness that is ROW80 you can go HERE

Sunday Summary & #ROW80

1. The Writing: My Margie Lawson Writer’s Academy class ended this week. I still have a few assignments to do that I haven’t been able to get my head around or just ran out of time. I have all the lessons and got some great feedback on some WIP related assignments which will definitely help with revisions/edits of one story. I think I better bake up some brownies and crack open that bottle of chocolate wine for the muse… Hope she’ll share
2. Have your characters ever surprised you? Check out Joely Sue Burkhart’s guest post about some of the surprises her characters hit her with during the writing of Yours to Take. Psst…there’s a giveaway.
3. SynTAROTis posed an interesting question this week: Can a skeptic use Tarot cards for introspection? Of course, the site’s tagline is ‘the skeptic’s tarot’ so obviously she does. What I liked about the post was I could see applying the process to writing.
4. The Reading: I just finished The Last Good Man by Kathleen Eagle. Fabulous. Savannah was completely relatable in her struggle to heal from depression to hope and finding her HEA. This story touched a cord with me. I’ve lost a grandmother and an aunt to breast cancer but, thankfully, I also have three aunts and a cousin who’ve beaten the beast.
5. Roni Loren had a fascinating post about the hard truths readers are facing in today’s new world of books. As writers, there are more options for getting our work out there to readers. Kait Nolan mentioned last year, eBooks are the new pulp fiction (not the movie, LOL) in which authors are — or should be — learning on the job. Then Maria Zannini posted about the free book paradox. As readers, that means our job of selecting books is tougher. How do you select what you read?
6. The Blogging: Ha! Built the queue back up this week. Whew! What a relief. That counts as writing, right? I think I hit my comment goal but the three-day weekend and more mice babies born Friday threw my tracking for a loop. Can’t imagine why :snicker:
7. The Social Media: I ‘think’ I did pretty well here. I had a Twitter conversation with @neostateofmind (aka Angela Brown) and some fun with Jenny Hansen on Facebook. And I even updated Goodreads, LOL.
8. The Health: Dog walking pretty much sucked this week. I need to get new shoes that’s all there is to it. I can’t deal with the blisters on top of the blisters on top of the blisters. Sugar and caffeine reduction is on track and I’m feeling really good about my progress. The water intake went well 5 of the last 7 days though I failed to reach my 8 glasses per day goal. As we’re in the triple digits, and not likely to dip below that for the next 3 to 4 months, I really need to get a handle on this.
9. Once again the fabulous August McLaughlin covered healthy eating with her 5 Steps Toward Healthy Sweets Success post. She even shared a delicious flourless cake recipe!
10. Maria Zannini also had an excellent post on pet first aid. I have a pretty well stocked general first aid cabinet in my house due to the wee beasties, which carries over nicely to the fur babies, thanks to my mum being a nurse and teaching its importance at an early age. Are you ready for an emergency?
11. To support the awesomeness that is ROW80 you can go HERE

Sunday Summary & #ROW80

It’s a three-day weekend…which used to be so much more exciting when I was in school or worked outside the home, LOL.

Happy Memorial Day!

Sending out a huge Thank You to all military men and women, and their families!

1. The Writing: I continued to lurk in my class this week. Internet was out all day Thursday so I was able to catch up on some of my assignments though the intermittent outages on Friday and Saturday have kept me from loading them to the class forum thus far.
2. The Reading: Currently, I’m reading Nadja Notariani’s The Third Fate. Nadja is kicking off the summer by offering this gem for 99 cents! Come on, you know you want to.
3. Squee! I’m taking part in spreading some cover reveal goodness today. Weighted by Ciara Knight is a young adult post-apocalyptic (with paranormal elements) novelette. With this prequel novelette, releasing August 2012, Knight introduces us to The Neumarian Chronicles. Book I, Escapement, is due for release in 2013.

   Here’s the blurb:

   The Great War of 2185 is over, but my nightmare has just begun. I am being held captive in the Queen’s ship awaiting interrogation. My only possible ally is the princess, but I’m unsure if she is really my friend or a trap set by the Queen to fool me into sharing the secret of my gift. A gift I keep hidden even from myself. It swirls inside my body begging for release, but it is the one thing the Queen can never discover. Will I have the strength to keep the secret? I’ll know the answer soon. If the stories are true about the interrogators, I’ll either be dead or a traitor to my people by morning.

   Here’s the cover:
   
   Love it! You can even add this to your Goodreads list.

4. The Blogging: Again, nothing added to the queue and my cushion is getting smaller…yikes. For the most part, I think I hit my comment/share goals with the exception of Thursday.
5. Following a link in Amy Shojai’s Monday Mention post took me to 7 Keys to Blogging on a Consistent Basis by Kristin Nador. That post in turn led me to 4 Ways to Define Your Audience and The Hollywood Guide to a Better Blog Tagline. Holy smokes! So much fabulous info. Does your blog have a tagline? Does it describe your blog, or what you want your blog to say? I know mine doesn’t. I better get to work
6. The Social Media: I think this went fairly well but like last week I was really bad about tracking things. Lack of internet didn’t help at all…yes, I’m one of those who doesn’t have a phone to help me out in this area. Most of the time, I’m rather glad.
7. The Health: Back on track this week. Yay. The walking of the dog was still a bit hit and miss but we did get out three mornings. I actually met my water goal five of the last seven days. The more I do it the easier it becomes, or so I keep telling myself.
8. To support the awesomeness that is ROW80 you can go HERE

Sunday Summary & #ROW80

1. The Writing: I’m still working on my Margie Lawson Writer’s Academy class though I’m feeling more like a lurker than a participant, LOL, but I’m learning a lot.
2. Marcia Richards hit the nail on the head with her teaser post comparing writing with sex.
3. The Reading: I’ve had quite a bit of stand around and wait periods this week which equals reading. I’ll be chatting about a couple of them on the next Tuesday Book Talk post.
4. The Blogging: I haven’t kept track this week. My gut says it was a fail in the comment department. It was definitely a fail in adding any posts to my queue. Thank goodness for a cushion!
5. The Social Media: Again, I haven’t kept track this week, and I have no idea how to call it.
6. Roni Loren had an interesting discussion on her Follow at Your Own Risk post. I can see both sides of the argument. I guess, for me, following on social media is like TV or movie ratings. If I know what I’m getting, it’s on me whether I follow or not. How about you?
7. On Friday I had a blast connecting up with Melanie Macek while she was traveling through the area. Squee! So awesome being able to meet and chat in person after months of getting to know each other online.
8. The Health: Oy. It has been one of those weeks. Fail. Fail. Fail. Fail.
9. To support the awesomeness that is ROW80 you can go HERE

Sunday Summary & #ROW80

Happy Mother’s Day

1. The Writing: The muse is back but she’s sulking in the corner. Apparently, she didn’t appreciate Gene Lempp’s muse coming after her with a flaming sword. I’m not sure I have much sympathy which is probably not helping her out of the corner. :ducks: Great, now she’s throwing things at me. Ideas, please! Words and sentences. :ducks: Not… What is this? A spit ball?! :sigh:
2. Earlier this week, Jami Gold posed an interesting question, Does every scene need a goal? It’s a fabulous post I’ve found myself returning to (and following the links) this week.
3. The Reading: Natalie Hartford pointed me to an amazing new blog serial Tell Me a Story by Amber West.
4. In honor of Mother’s Day, Elena Aitken and Steena Holmes are offering some e-Book specials.
5. The Blogging: Check with the initial goal. Check with the updated goal. Almost at four weeks scheduled not counting these posts. I’m cheating a bit with having two guest posts coming up this month but I’ll take it.
6. Speaking of guest posts, coming up on Tuesday the 22nd, IPPY award winner, Terry Persun will be here posing an interesting question about robots…and souls. Be sure to check back and weigh in on the conversation.
7. The Social Media: I do believe I can say “check” here. I had non-post related updates on both Twitter and Facebook. Sharing has gone well. And I even had a conversation…gasp.
8. I’ve been struggling with what to do about Facebook. Currently, I have an “author” profile and “fan” page, plus a personal profile. Earlier this week I followed a link on Facebook to Jane Friedman’s 5 Principles for Using Facebook post. Great info! I plan to sit down, read through her posts on the subject, and perhaps revamp my presence on Facebook.
9. The Health: Water…5 glasses per day average. Sugar reduction…down to less than a tablespoon on average per day (from all sources). I’m pretty comfortable with that when I look at where I was when I started this process. Caffeine reduction…I managed to cross off 2 drinks all but 2 days this week. Dog walking hit a bit of a road block. Well, damaged knee block. Last weekend, much emotional drama was endured, which I’ve been asked not to go into here. Needless to say, our menagerie grew with the addition of…
   

   Sonic

   and…

   

   Neptune and Poseidon

   I have no idea what the God of the Sea has to do with mice but #3 was adamant about the names. (I’m also not sure how he can tell them apart!) It was the digging out of the old gerbil cage from the bowels of the garage :cough: storage area that I banged, wrenched, or otherwise mucked up the ol’ knee.

   Plus side, oldest wee beastie has started taking the dog out for runs most evenings.

10. To support the awesomeness that is ROW80 you can go HERE

Sunday Summary & #ROW80

1. The Writing: Still muse-less. I’ve done some morning pages but nothing is being unlocked. I’ve done some work on blog posts. So not a completely writing free week. Since nothing is speaking to me, I decided a class was in order. I started The Art of Developing Great Conflict through Margie Lawson’s Academy on Friday. Unfortunately, my muse-less state is making the very first exercise a challenge!
2. Roni Loren had a fabulous post on her pre-writing steps which I loved as it feels a lot like what I do but more.
3. The Reading: I read Rise From Darkness (Battle for Souls) by Ciara Knight. I’d picked it up when it was first released but hadn’t got around to reading it. Then I recommended it to my niece and was grilled for details, LOL. So I read. Still haven’t decided on a craft book but I think the above mentioned class counts.
4. My friend and mentor, Joely Sue Burkhart has a new release coming out on Tuesday, book three in the Connaghers series. Yours to Take is Vicki’s story. And oh what a story. Additionally, Joely will be stopping by the blog later in the month. Squee!
5. The Blogging: Check with the initial goal (blog 3 times a week, comment on at least 3 blogs per day, and 2 new blogs each week). And Check with the new goal of writing and scheduling a post toward my month’s worth of posts.
6. Speaking of blogs, my friend and mentor, Maria Zannini has started a new blog about Getting Back to Basics. She’s going to have tips on budgets, saving on groceries, shopping garage sales, and many, many more subjects.
7. The Social Media: Not so good on the conversation or non-blog related updates end of this goal. I’m feeling rather uninteresting at the moment, LOL. I’m pretty sure I meet the sharing part though.
8. The Health: I think I averaged 5 glasses of water a day. As we’ve already jumped above 100 for a few days this year, I really need to focus on getting up to 8 glasses, minimum, and maintaining. Sugar reduction is going a lot easier than I expected. Perhaps because it’s a reduction not a deletion. So using the same mindset, I’m going to add reducing the caffeine as well. I probably drink 6 to 8 caffeinated beverages a day, not counting other caffeine sources. Dog walking went pretty well. We got in 3 quality walks (25 minutes each) plus 2 meet the kids at the bus stop/park kind of walks. Still aiming for the quality walks every morning, baby steps, then increasing the length of time of those morning walks.
9. The Life List Club blog is full of uplifting and supportive posts. This week’s offering is from Sherry Isaac, Weigh the Method, Relish the Outcome, and I was struck by the question “are you ‘disturbed’ enough to effect the change?”
10. To support the awesomeness that is ROW80 you can go HERE

Sunday Summary & #ROW80

1. Okay, this looks like fun, not to mention inspirational. Lynn Viehl posted about smashing which apparently is a new trend in scrapbooking. I’m not sure about the trend being new, certainly the name is. Hey, anything to make a buck. Paper scrapbooking is being beat out by digital a little more each year…hmm, sounds familiar. I will paper scrapbook until the supplies are no more. Anyhow, Lynn is encouraging us writer types to create “smash journals” for our stories. Brilliant. Go forth and smash
2. The Writing: Another muse-less week. I’m thinking I have too many pans in the fire elsewhere to focus. What worries me is the longer this goes on the harder it is to get the ol’ bubble butt in the chair. :sigh: Tomorrow is a new day of a new week.
3. Last check-in I followed a link from Robin McCormack’s blog over to Query Tracker. Awesome interview questions for the character you need to dig a little deeper to know.
4. The Reading: I’m halfway through a book Patti O’Shea mentioned on Facebook Friday, Crimson Rogue by Liz Maverick. I’m enjoying the story. However, the inconsistent formatting is distracting and, giving the author the benefit of the doubt here, the typos are frustrating, making me wonder if a second set of eyes saw this before publication.
5. The Blogging: Check with the original goal. Not so much with the new goal. Sigh, April is slipping by me. Maybe I’m ‘partying’ too much with my blogiversary
6. Speaking of blogiversaries, the amazingly talented Jenny Hansen is also celebrating a year of blogging this month. Check out her first ever More Cowbell vLog!
7. The Social Media: I think I’ve held steady on the sharing, thanks mostly to the ease of Triberr. I had a few conversations and am not feeling quite as spammy as last week
8. The Health: I sucked at tracking the water intake this week but think I did pretty good, especially with being in the triple digits last weekend. We’re in the high 80′s-low 90′s this weekend. Me thinks summer is here. What happened to spring? Dog walking, sadly only got out three times. Sugar reduction is going well and I’m toying with the next food change I want to incorporate.
9. Snacking is my big challenge in the food department. Either I don’t then pig out at the next meal or I do, but not necessarily a healthy one. August McLaughlin offered up some healthy snack choices earlier in the week. Yum.
10. To support the awesomeness that is ROW80 you can go HERE

Group 3: Congrats (says congratulations inside), Happy Birthday, Thank You, Birthday cards.

And here is your final look at the cards up for grabs in the blogiversary giveaway…

Just a reminder, I’ll be drawing the winners tomorrow night (April 30th), so hurry and post your comments. The more April posts you comment on the more chances you have to win. Good luck and THANK YOU so much for your support! You guys are awesomesauce