When Life Gets in the Way

What happened to April?

I swear an hour ago it was April 1 and I was making a list of all the things I had to do before the end of the month:

     do the taxes

     get the Hub's trucking business invoices out and get the March books on the computer

     Schedule time for a major yard clean up

     turn the clocks ahead - all of them this time

     change the sheets

     recharge the Clarisonic and the toothbrushes

     refill the prescriptions
     car is due for inspection
     make a list of people needing greeting cards sent to them in April and try not to forget to mail them
     YIKES - Easter is in April - the family brouhaha approaches
     schedule a hair appointmen - gray is showing
     Lose weight - in other words, begin your 4th diet this year

And don;t forget the usual  - job (two night meetings a month normally, but this month I have 4 becasue we have to adopt a budget for 2014), laundry - wash the clothes, dry the clothes, fold the cloths. (note - there is no iron the clothes.  If it wrinkles, it does not live here), food shopping (Question - why is the food market with the best organic produce so far away?  Answer - Becasue it is.  Quit whining and drive), load the dishwasher, unload the dishwasher, clean, cook, reserve Sunday night for Game of Thrones

And the unexpected.  Sis said the Newsboys are in town for a concert.  Let's see now - hear Michael Tait and company sing and lift my spirits or clean the dead leaves out of the mulch?  No contest.  Michael, here I come.  And I do hope he does hit the Restart so I can get back on track..      

So what am I forgetting?  I know there's something - Oh yeah -  make time to write.

For me, that last entry is getting harder and harder ro do, the older I get.  When I was  a child, a year lasted forever.  Now it's over in a blink.  By the time I get home from work and do what needs to be done before I can relax, it's 9PM.  I rationalize away the writing by asking myself something like "Who can be creative when she is this tired?" But I know the answer.  We all know the answer.  The successful multi-published, award winning, NY Tiemes best selling authors can be creative anytime day or night.  It is the only answer that makes sense and brings success.

There is one of those authors inside each one of us.  I know that becasue it can feel her trying to claw her way through the guilt when I realize that a month has gone by and I haven't made a dent in my WIP.

I met Janet Evanoxich at a writers conference many years back and we talked about just this sort of thing.  Her advice was to write at least 3 pages a day.  3 pages a day is about 100 pages (give or take) a month.  In three months you have a book.  Brilliant!!!  If one would only listen, that is.

So it's now May (give or take).  I will write 3 pages a day and in 3 months I will have the book that the editor from Berkely wants to see thanks to the New Jersey Fiction Writers Conference in March.    That will be July.  One month to self edit - August.  Then a contract by the end of the year (give or take).

3 pags a day.  I can do that.

     

Oh and I did go to the Newsboys concert.  Here's proof.

In Praise of Indie Bookstores

by Victoria M. Johnson

When the Borders bookstore closed in my town I was devastated.  The sadness was felt throughout the town, and to make matters worse, our only library had temporarily closed to make the move to a new building.  For several months, residents had to travel to neighboring cities to walk amongst bookshelves.  I vowed to never take bookstores for granted again.

Saturday, May 3, 2014 is the first-ever California Bookstore Day.  Indie bookstores across the state will be celebrating in various ways: readings, signings, trivia games, literary costume contests, prizes, and lots of fun.  Indies from Northern California all the way to San Diego in the southern part of the state are in on the festivities.

But you don't have to live in California to honor your local indie bookstore.  I hope you are lucky enough to have one in the city where you live.  If so, don't take it for granted!  Today is the ideal day to step away from your computer and head over to support your bookstore.  Wander between the aisles, browse the shelves, talk to the staff, and buy a book.

I'll be hitting three stores today.  I'm one of the authors visiting the Village House of Books in Los Gatos.  We were all grateful when this indie bookstore opened in town.  It will be great to mingle with other authors, meet readers, and chat with the owners.  If that weren't reward enough, being in the company of rows and rows of new books to discover is so good for the soul.  Wouldn't you agree?  What's the name and city of your favorite bookstore?

Victoria M. Johnson knew by the time she was ten that she wanted to be a writer.  She loves telling stories and she's happiest when creating new characters and new plots.  She is also the writer and director of four short films and two micro documentaries.  Avalon Books and Montlake Romance published Victoria's fiction debut, The Doctor’s Dilemma.  Her other fiction book is a collection of romance short stories titled, The Substitute Bride.  Visit Victoria's website at http://VictoriaMJohnson.com for inspiration and tips and find her Amazon author page or connect with her on Facebook,  Pinterest and Twitter.

 

Moving: It's a *hiccup* Pain

by Sofie Couch

I’m moving. Everyone keeps telling me that moving across town is more difficult than moving out of state. Moving long-distance entails packing up everything at once in a truck, moving, then un-packing everything at once into your new digs. Moving across town lulls one into a false sense of ease.

“Oh, I’ll just load one room at a time onto the truck and move a little bit every day,” I told myself, feeling good about the money I would save by not hiring movers.

The reality of it is, however, that you can’t do that. I mean, how many days can you live without a kitchen? So brilliantly organized mother of two teens that I am, I moved us in increments – half a kitchen and one of three bathrooms first – which seems logistically sound. Afterall, you can live with half a kitchen and who needs all three functioning bathrooms in a family of four? We will improvise!

“Mom, where is my special conditioner?” my daughter asks.

I hand her the bottle of olive oil.

“What do you mean, we have a coffee maker, but no toaster? Where’s the toaster? How will I make toast without the toaster? And who packed bread, but not butter? This is dumb.”

In my own defense… well… there is no defense. This is dumb. Just load one truck with everything. Hire big burly hunksters to do the loading, and get everything to the new place at one time.

As I pull a toaster out of a box, I wonder, what did we do before toasters? I’ll tell you what we did. We were cavemen, nomads, who carried our homes on our backs. (I'm feeling that.)We were cooking our wooly mammoth over an outdoor spit. Two strapping teens turned that spit and if they wanted toast, then dad-gum-it, they poked that bread on a stick and stuck it over the fire to catch the drippin’s of the wooly mammoth. That’s what they did.

“You may have to improvise, dear," I respond to a kid request for a dust pan.

I put on a positive face and I tell them, “Improvise. Pretend we’re pioneers.”

So, fifteen across town trips later, we finally have a coffee maker AND a toaster at the new digs. If only I had remembered to pack the half-and-half to go along with my coffee. Heck. Who needs creamer. I’ll improvise since someone had the forethought to pack the 20 proof Irish Cream in that last load.

And writing? I found my laptop before the deadline for my “First Fridays” Classic and Cozy blog. What more could a girl want? From where I’m sitting, atop a suitcase filled with last season’s clothes, in front of my laptop, with a flashlight for a desk lamp, post-cross-town move, I’m feeling pretty smug. (Maybe the Irish cream has something to do with that.)

New release a first for Elisabeth Rose

Today is the release of my first romantic suspense, Evidence Of Love. I've always found crime fascinating. Not as a perpetrator, of course, but as an observer and marveller at what drives people to do some of the horrendous things they do. Take an evil genius for example. Why not put all that brain power to a better use? Wouldn't you think all that time devising ways of committing the perfect crime would be better spent working out a legal way of making money?

I delve into the world of criminal gangs in this book--family affairs. It's heartbreaking knowing that a child born into one of those families is destined to follow the same miserable, downward spiral. My heroine Lara is given a glimmer of opportunity to break free from her situation as wife of a gang leader and she grabs it with both hands setting up a new life with a new name, keeping a low profile to avoid being found by someone from her past.

The focus of her love is her toddler, Petey until, in circumstances she is unable to avoid, she meets Detective Nick Lawson who draws her out of her self imposed seclusion. Danger is then upon her and she has to fight to save her son, and also learn to trust a policeman.

I really enjoyed writing this departure from my usual contemporary romances and have another suspense in the offing. With any luck my publisher will accept it. 

Evidence of Love is available as an ebook from Escape Publishing a Harlequin Australia imprint.

                          

 
You can read an extract on my  website

WHAT CATCHES YOUR FANCY IN SPRING?

My response is sewing.

For the thirty years I taught school, I scheduled the clothing unit for springtime. The new beginnings and new possibilities give me a thrill I tried to pass on to my students. It was such fun to see the wide-eyed looks on their faces when they encountered a pattern book for the first time. The sound of their ‘oohs’ and ‘ahas’ still echo in my memory.

Teaching how to read a guide sheet and thread a sewing machine was not easy, but the outcome was worth the effort. The first few years I taught, the unit concluded with a fashion show the entire school attended. The event opened to the music of “Penny Lane” and was greeted by both dread and anticipation by the students who constructed and modeled two garments.

You can see the similarities.

These days, the ‘idea’ file replaces my pattern books. I still get a charge out of going to the fabric store. Touching different types of fabric gives me ideas for different garments, just as looking at images gives me ideas for different characters. Deciding if a character’s personality fits the new story you want to tell compares to choosing the right fabric for the pattern you want to make. 

And the wide eyed thrill of seeing a pattern book for the first time? Imagine the expression on your face when you visit a book store and see a display of new editions. Finally, the dread and anticipation I associate with ‘the reveal’ and publication day. The garment/book is done, now to wait for what everyone thinks about your effort.

Writing, starting a new story, doesn’t just happen in the spring, but this time of year, I feel the strong pull of old routines. 

What about you? What catches your fancy this time of year?

Morning Person or Night Owl?

Do you start your day before the sun comes up or do you end your day close to the time the morning paper is delivered? Human beings are all so different. Many get into a routine because of the hours their jobs demand, but most of us tend to form daily routines that jibe with our body’s functions.



If you’re a morning person as I am, your energy level is highest in the wee hours of the day. You might find yourself already reading your paper and drinking your coffee before the sun comes up. Are you eager to get your routine started? Does your mind start churning before your feet hit the floor? Have you ever dressed to go shopping, then realized that the stores aren’t open yet? Well, then, I don’t have to tell you—you’re a morning person.


I have friends who are on my schedule, and I know if the phone rings before 7 am, it can only be a couple of my acquaintances. They understand me when I tell them that I woke up at 4:30 and couldn’t go back to sleep. They don’t laugh or think I’m ready for the loony-bin.


On the other hand, I have friends who sleep late, drag through the morning, and get their spurt of energy in the afternoon – when I’m on my downward spiral. My brain stops working in the early afternoon. My body longs for a short, 15-minute power nap. I’m ready to slow down and unwind. It amazes me that these “night owls” choose to do their important chores after the noon hour.

As my husband says, it would be a boring world if we were all alike. Luckily, he too is a morning person so we have managed to go through our 43 years together in the “same time zone.” I have to wonder how couples manage to live together in harmony when they are on different body routines.


What are you? Does the rising sun signal that you can hop up and start your day, or does the rising sun tell you that it’s time to go to bed?


Morning person or night owl? Whatever you are, enjoy your day!

Fran McNabb is a retired English and journalism teacher who now lives on a quiet bayou harbor with her husband. Her love of the English language prompted her to pen sweet, engaging romances, most of which are set along her native coastline. When not writing, she loves visiting with her two sons, their wives, and her two grandsons. www.FranMcNabb.com

Note to Self: Don't Double Space

When I decided that I couldn’t just let my final Wally Morris mystery, Vengeance Acts Up, wallow in dejected, rejected ignominy, I made the decision to self-publish it using CreateSpace.  I read closely all the comments on the former Avaloners loop, looking for info and helpful hints from other authors who had already made the leap.  Unfortunately, I seem to have missed a few essential pieces of advice, surely given in the instructions, but overlooked by my husband, the one who actually did all the computer entries, and me.

We really tried hard.  I copied as much as possible each page of one of my earlier Avalons, to make sure that my headers were done right, and the title pages and dedications were all good.  I forgot (unbelievably, I do work in a library, after all) the copyright page, which was a shame, because it would have been one more place to list our newly formed, unofficial, publishing company, TWELVE PUPPIES PUBLISHING.  We chose that in honor of the twelve Seeing Eye® puppies we’ve raised and put our current one at the time, Nana, in the logo spot on the back of the book.  She was seven-weeks-old in the picture and had just been delivered from The Seeing Eye® breeding center.

Trust me, it’s cute.  You can look at it yourself. http://www.amazon.com/Vengeance-Acts-Up-Mystery-Mysteries/dp/0615824099/ref=tmm_pap_title_0

After an amazingly short time, the brand-spanking-new proof arrived.  You can imagine our dismay when the book came in at a hefty 450 plus pages.  We’re talking doorstop.  It was huge.

It turned out that we should not have sent the book in double-spaced. There were a few other mistakes I didn’t pick up until I looked at the proof in person (rather than the convenient and free version on the computer screen.)  Also, there was the biggish mistake I won’t name that was in the Kindle version http://www.amazon.com/Vengeance-Wally-Morris-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00CW5DGS4/ref=tmm_kin_title_popover  (does anyone know what to do to get that fixed?) that my daughter caught.  Actually, that was another mistake we made—doing them in that order. And, because I didn’t quite understand the terms, I managed to make the book semi-unavailable, especially to the vendors who sell to libraries.

The next time I use CreateSpace to publish one of my books (I have a huge backlog so I hope it’s soon but we always seem to be too busy) we will try to follow the rules.  Right now we are raising our thirteenth Seeing Eye® puppy, Holliday (no, we don’t name them), but I don’t think it’s really wise or practical to change the name of the publisher. One never knows for sure, so we’ll all just have to wait and see.  We could be at the beginning of a publishing dynasty.

Two proofs after the doorstop, and still missing the verso page, (we are a little boneheaded at times) we had a copy we liked.  I had a book signing at home (really a cake fest with wine, beer, cheese, fruit, ten things my daughter and I baked, and oh, yeah, books for sale), tons of people came, and everyone had a good time.

But we didn’t let anyone see the doorstop.