Memorial Day

I think we're the only military family that doesn't own a flag of the United States of America. It pains me to admit it. I've always wanted one, but never did anything about it. Why? Perhaps it was a budget issue. I don't know. When I've mentioned a flag to my husband, he brings up the maintenance aspect... who's going to bring it in at night? Or make sure it has a light shining on it?

Now that we're in the Army, I wish we had one even more. It's awkward to be the only house on your block that isn't flying Old Glory. So, I'll fly one here....

Remember all those who made the ultimate sacrifice for this country and our freedom.

Celebrate the lives they lived and the families they left behind.

Memorial Day 2012

Although...but...

The irony is, I just had a conversation about this very topic with my son and daughter last week. When to use But or And. You can't use But if there's no ...what's the word, contradiction?, you can't use it! You can't say, "I really want to go to the pool, but I love to swim." It doesn't make sense!

It's ridiculous.

So, you have to understand how flabbergasted I was when I visited an author's webpage and she used the word Although... INCORRECTLY.  Although her writing is science fiction, she does her best to encourage readers to use their imagination.  [that's not the sentence on this author's page. I've written another in order to protect the innocent...myself]

I mean, come on! That sentence makes no sense at all. It should say, Although her writing is science fiction, she often teaches people to remain levelheaded and not live in the clouds. OR, Although her writing is often considered straightforward and real, she does her best to encourage readers to use their imagination.

So, disappointing, to say the least. This writer claims to be a professional editor.
Sorry Dudette. Not gonna happen.
You gotta put your best foot forward!

Photo courtesy of http://www.lsned.com

Have a great weekend, Friends, and Learn something worth using in your next manuscript.

Is there stress here?

I have a tendency to NOT recognize stress. I'm a laidback person--I am! I don't care about germs. I don't care about messes. My parenting skills are often guilty of inconsistency...

So, when I'm getting ready to move. I have a book coming out in two[ish] weeks. My kids are about to get out of school for good. And I'm planning a trip to FL... I don't always recognize that this could all be a bit stressful until a friend says, Maybe it's stress?

And of course, that makes me laugh. Duh, I think to myself. No wonder your sugars are off and you can't seem to gain the same kind of control you normally do!!! *eyeroll* No worries, people. I've been overdosing like crazy and wondering why... now I know why. So the issue of good blood glucose isn't critical. It's the why that was causing me trouble. Now that I know, I feel easier overdosing in order to gain that control.

Basal: 130%, Get used to it. Something tells me, we're in for the long haul until I settle down again in Colorado.

Another Week Down

Tonight, while listening to Pandora, I named a tune during the instrumental intro... not that hard a feat, believe me. It was the song Remember When by Alan Jackson--which by the way--can only be viewed on youtube. :( Alas, my daughter was amazed!

But I responded, "a whole intro?! That's nothing. On Name that Tune people would do it in one note! One note!" So we had to get online and find an old episode of the game show. Found a few, too. It was fun. Do you remember that show?

So much fun.

Sometimes, you just have to jump the track and find something fun to do.
Do it this week.
Find something fun.

THREE WEEKS TO RELEASE DAY!!

Dulldrums and Toilets

I've hit the Dulldrums.
There doesn't seem to be much to blog about at this moment... So, in order not to bore the decent public, I won't go on too long. Kids will be home from school for good in a week. I'm looking forward to it. I remember feeling that way last year, too. Must be a new phase of life I'm going through.

Also, about the toilets. I was thinking of my daughter the other day. She has a very melodramatic and angry reaction to toilets not being flushed. She's 12. Maybe she'll mellow out in the far future. But for now, the trauma of continually finding the toilet NOT flushed has left her jaded. And it's a big deal. I don't believe she'll ever be able to marry someone who has toilet issues or is careless in their toilet habits. The words deal-breaker come to mind.

It occurs to me that I don't have any characters who truly grate on each other's nerves. My characters, even when they are in conflict, often display my laidback temperament. [don't laugh, honey...I am laidback!] I would like to write a book in a vein of that annoying bickering that can both drive you crazy and make you want the MCs to get together. I have just the scenario, too. :D Yippeee! I love when a story develops while I'm not sitting in front of the computer.

So, what's your deal-breaker pet peeve?

Sunday!

Happy Mother's Day!!
My mom's a mother. I'm a mother. My sisters are mothers. My grandma's a mother...
Seems like mothers are a dime a dozen sometimes.
But then you hear stories that make you cringe, and you know.
Thank God I have my mother.

[insert pic here]

~~~~~~

Good gracious, what happened to my week?!
I'm deep in digital formatting mode... sorta.
It's been mostly simple so far and each publishing arm has it's own guide so it's a basic step-by-step following of directions. If you can follow directions, you can probably manage most of the formatting work. OTOH, I'm just starting the bookmarking links...creating a table of contents. I've heard difficult things about that. :P I'll keep you posted.

Hopefully it's a less crazy...more productive week.

Sunday Summations -- Cover Reveal

Here's something ironic.
I decided at the beginning of this year I was going to independently publish a novella. A short novel. You know that story...and I've had fun doing it, too. [hey! wanna see my cover?! :D] Me too! I'll show you after I talk about what's going on in my writing world.

Irony: having an editor email me and show interest in one of my stories...as well as a series I have written and partially written. Whoohoo! So excited about that. :D The timing is perfect. I'll already have my name out there with my indie...and vice versa, my indie will attract attention that I'll be able to direct to any book I get published through a company. Win-win.

OTOH, showing interest is not exactly a contract, so my fingers are still crossed. :)

And now...for the good stuff.... COVER REVEAL!

Prettiest cover ever. And Elaina Lee from For the Muse Design is completely responsible. If you ever need cover art... or web design. She is amazing!

PS If I mentioned that I was still looking for a title, I'm not anymore!! :D

The Last 30 Days -- SELF PUBLISHING

So, here it comes...
I have to smile when I use the word 'so' in my blogging and/or stories because when I use that word in real life, it immediately puts my husband's guard up. EX. Sooo, are you going to leave that open like that?  :D  Can you hear it?!  I do, and it sounds exactly like what it is, criticism. LOL  It's me, NOT wanting to be critical, but looking for WHY anyway. So softens the blow. Or, at least, it should. But if you hit a dog and say I love you at the same time, they will most likely shy away from the phrase I love you, eh?

Sooo, here it comes. The last thirty days.

As a self-published author, how do you spend those days before your release in order to make the MOST of that release day?

Exposure. I'd say that is the key element. Blogging, guest blogging, interviews, advertisement space, networking..twitter, facebook. I look ahead of me into the month of May, and I see an experiment. The truth is, you could start two or three months ahead of time putting together a marketing strategy. Guest blogging? Not easy to grab a spot on an author friendly blog without waiting. With the market so full of new authors and new books, exposure will require planning. LOTS OF PLANNING.

That's been a lesson for me.

Lucky for me, books will sell, even after the release day.

Budget comes in to play as well, and though I've got money set aside, I'm trying to spend as little as possible on this first book. That forces me to dig a little deeper to find a place to create hype. Who will do reviews? Who will let me guest blog? How many blogs can I visit in hopes of directing traffic BACK to my own blog?

I'm seeing the benefits of a PR department, not to mention marketing!!
Give it to me straight, people.
What efforts have you gone to in order to spread the word about your release day [self-published or not]?

BTW, i'm estimating...my release day is NOT June 1st. It's June 8th!!!
OMG, I have a release day! :D

I can't wait to show you my cover.

Sick

Sick Computer.... it's hardware, not viral.

Sick Kid.... it's probably viral, stomach bug.

No time for blogging or much else of anything for a few days.

:P

Hoping it doesn't turn into Sick KIDS. hahaha

Back later this week!

With Grace

When I was in my early twenties, I said I would never fight aging. I'm not going to be the lady who dies her hair every month, no crazy surgeries or therapies or what-have-you... Nope.

I am going to age with grace.

I just didn't expect it to come so soooon!!!

Do you see it?! My God! It's taking over...

I had to add this one... grandma much? I'm even sitting in a rocker. :D

Romancing an Era

I read something a few weeks ago.

I hear this from the critics of romance. And it makes me a little nervous about writing in certain genres. One, my time travel to WW2 and two, my contemporary military romance. I've heard people say it's too soon after WW2 to romanticize the events. If that's true, I'm in big trouble! 

There's always two sides to the story. Even today. When so many men are leaving their homes and some of those men are not returning, can we write the happy stories without feeling bad for the people living the unhappy ones, feeling as if we're betraying their sacrifice? That's what I wonder. Wanting to appeal to a certain audience is very different than actually appealing to them. Something tells me that the people who read military romance are not the people living military romance. I'm my own example! You ever hear of that show, Army Wives? I can't watch it.

Way. Too. Much. Drama.

On the other hand, I know Army wives who watch it...

So, maybe it's a crap shoot after all.

Captain Woolridge was right. War. It is what it is. But war is part of a bigger picture. Sometimes, life can be put into a different perspective. One a tad more hopeful. The end of WW2 is more than 60 years ago. Keeping the memory alive isn't about battles and dates and strategy, at least, not to a romantic. It's about the people and telling stories--partials, truths, even lies. That way we remember WHY we fought.

Guess that means I'll just have to put my stories down after all, even if they make people roll their eyes.

Proud and Disappointed at the same time

This might get a tad long...... [why is it, when someone says that, you know there's a rant coming?!]

But first, I had a few proud moments this week.
1) my son got reader of the year award for the Pre-K thru 2 category...for the entire school district. Wow! Way to go kiddo. He's a kindergartner who reads at a second grade level. Nice job!
2) at my other son's Boy Scout meeting this week, the Troop leader came over to me, confirmed I was his mother then proceeded to rave about what a great job my son had done on the camp-out the previous weekend. "He was the first to pitch in and get things done...and he knew what he was doing, too. From putting up a tent to cooking." So proud of him for taking camping [and all his dad has taught him] seriously, and having fun, too.
3) A couple of weeks ago, my daughter came home with an assignment I needed to sign for...a volunteer project. She told me she had a friend and they were going to go to a nursing home and volunteer. I admit, I was wary...sounded like a lot of work for me! They're only kids(13yo). Are they really going to find somewhere to go? Make arrangements? Get it done? At the least, I knew I was going to be doing an added amount of running around, not to mention that I'd only be lucky if the other girl's parents were willing to give as much as I would have to... that wasn't a statement about the parents. I didn't know them...yet. As a matter of fact, that was my Cynical Nature coming out. Here comes the proud part... they did it. My daughter spoke to the counselor at school, made arrangements with a nursing home and reported that they needed to go to the facility for orientation the next day. They picked a day and decided they would go in on Saturday.

Awesome! Really proud of her. She's getting so grown up and responsible. And she knows what's right... and I can tell because she called me this evening.

And this is where the disappointment comes in...

Because when I asked her about when they were going over to the Nursing Home in the morning she informed me that her friend hadn't liked going there and thought it was "freaky." But her friend's friend [or was it sister? I was too irritated by then to recall now] had a Special Olympics event going on tomorrow too and they were going to do that instead.

Really. Uh, no. Okay, I flipped a little at first. Did she really think I was going to let her go who knows where with who knows who to do who knows what? Not to mention the fact that she'd already made a commitment to something else. I'd signed my name to the form! Seriously. This other girl's parents were okay with this? She could just back out because..."old people are freaky?" I reminded my daughter that these people were God's people and that it might be a little uncomfortable and that it took some getting used to...to work with the elderly, but that she was going. She'd made the commitment...I'd signed the project slip from school that this is what she was doing.

My daughter did not fight it...she knew it was coming. Maybe she hoped for a different outcome. I suppose I don't blame her.

But I do blame that girl's parents. I sent my daughter to their house because this is what they had planned to do in order to get their project done... on the other hand, I'm getting the idea that I'm the only one who thought she was going there so they could "DO THEIR PROJECT." I conceded to picking her up at NOON...Noon! They had another friend over as well. Not just Virginia and this girl. I think I'll just show up at about 11:30.

I feel like shaking those parents...don't they know they are going to be OLD? And then what? They're going to roll around in their wheelchairs and bitch at the wall in front of them that no one comes to see them and young people just don't respect their elders and young people have no sense of commitment...

Kids today are not help accountable.
Not to sound self-righteous or anything...but mine are and will be held accountable. When they say they are going to do something, they will do it. Even if it's harder than they expected it would be.

Picture Perfect

I have a few kids... ya know.
This one was picture perfect last week when we visited the National Infantry Museum.
Hope she feels the love tomorrow, because I'm going back!

and I am getting into that outside exhibit if I have to climb a frickin' fence. :P My time-travel needs inspiration! It's been waiting WEEKS for the opportunity to conspire with the MUSE.  :D

And for missing Wordless Wednesday, how can I not give you that face?!

Later this weekend, more on Self-Publishing. Promise.

Hot?

...um, I don't mean the weather.

I'm wondering, how hot is too hot for close-doored sex in a romance novel?

Sexual tension, brought to you by a sweet[ish] author.

Actually, I visited someone's blog recently who wrote [it was somewhere on there], and I'm paraphrasing... An author who writes [and deletes] the steamy scenes.  I might have to go find her and ask how MUCH she deletes. :D

Any thoughts on what's acceptable?
Not for the Faith/conversion-driven, religious fiction, either.
I do not write those... [sounds awful, doesn't it! LOL :D]