Monday Check In

Last week...

Writing Related:  I'm doing the best that I can with my ulnar nerve issue. I see the orthopedist this afternoon and I really hope he can recommend something to help.

Motivational Quote:  "The Queen's Gambit has been viewed by 62 million people. The producer, Allan Scott, spoke about how it took 30 years, with 9 rewrites, and every studio he showed it to said no one would be interested in chess. Please Perservere." ~ Amy Charlotte Kean.

What I'm Reading:  I'm currently reading Splintered Bones by Carolyn Haines and should finish it tonight. It's the third book in the Sarah Booth Delaney series. Once I'm done with it, I'll be starting The Summer of Second Chances by Miranda Liasson. It's the third book in the Seashell Harbor series.

Random Thing:  I'm going to visit one of my nieces and her daughter later this week. She lives about an hour away so I don't see her as much as I'd like especially since her daughter started school last year. We're going to do lunch and then some fun shopping at craft stores and the like.  

Random Photo:

 

                                     We have a new friend in the neighborhood.

Monday Check In

Last week...

Writing Related:  I didn't get any new words written last week. I actually got the screen on my old laptop to come up. I don't know how long it'll continue to work, so I used my writing time to get as much stuff as possible that wasn't saved to the cloud transferred over to the extra laptop. I still have a bunch of bookmarks I saved that are research and writing related that I want to bookmark on the extra laptop but I think for the most part everything that is important has been moved or is saved in the cloud. I'm hoping to get at least some writing done this week now that I'm done panicking about losing stuff.

Motivational Quote:  "Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races, one after another." ~ Walter Elliott.  I feel like this quote is so appropriate considering everything that's been happening lately.

What I'm Reading:  I started Story of My Life by Lucy Score on Saturday evening. It's the first book in her new series.  It's a hefty book - the paperback version that I'm reading has 512 pages. 

Random Thoughts:  Today is Somebody's tenth birthday. It doesn't seem like we've had him that long. I've posted pictures below of how tiny he was when we adopted him and a recent picture of how big he is now. 

Photos:

Somebody at 2 months old

  

 

Somebody at almost 10 years old

Monday Check In

Last week...

Writing Related:  Still working on Caine's story. I didn't meet my Camp NaNoWriMo goal, but I did write 20k in April so I'm okay with not meeting the goal. I wasn't too far off considering I had some unexpected things crop up. 

Motivational Quote:  I'm repeating the quote from a couple of weeks ago since I have a lot going on this week and am not sure how much writing I'm going to get done. The quote is a good reminder that some words written is better than no words written. "Always look for the thing you CAN do, with the energy and focus you DO have. Little wins pay the way for bigger wins. 1% beats 0%." ~ Glenn Patrick Doyle  

What I'm Reading:  I started Rock Bottom Girl by Lucy Score this past weekend. I'm liking it so far, but I'm only a few chapters into the book.

Random Thoughts: Ugh! Can I complain about the weather? I try not to, but we've had so much rain lately. We had more rain in the month of April than we've had in years. Unfortunately, May looks like it's going to be the same way. I'm hoping a change in the weather pattern will move all the rain out of my area for at least the next few days. 

Random Photo:

                         Mrs. Green intently watching the birds outside the window.

Monday Check In

Last week...

Writing Related: Mississippi's story, titled Finding Hope, will be released next week. I can't believe it's finally done and will be published in a few days. It took much longer than it should have to write his story. 

Motivational Quote: "Never, ever quit on yourself if it's something you believe in." ~ Uzo Aduba

What I'm Reading: I'm reading Talulah's Back In Town by Brenda Novak. This is the first book in the Coyote Canyon contemporary romance series. 

Random Things: Honor Bound, the first book in my Echo Company series, has a new cover. I've put a picture of the new cover below. I'm having the covers for Promises to Keep and Broken Trust,  books two and three in the series, redone as well. I'll post them here when I get them. 

Random Photo: 

                                            The new cover for Honor Bound.

Monday Check In

Last week...

Writing Related: As expected I didn't much writing done, but I'm still pretty much on track to get Mississippi's story out to my beta readers and editor by July 3rd.

Motivational Quote:"Give yourself grace. Grace to rest. Grace to be delayed. Grace to feel. Grace to breathe. It'll change your life." ~ George M. Johnson

What I'm Reading: I'm about halfway through Accidentally Famous by Marissa Clarke. It's the second book in the Hideaway Harbor series. 

Random Things: I came across the above motivational quote near the end of last week. It seemed serendipitous considering I was struggling to get words written in Mississippi's story around everything else that was going on. It seemed as though the Universe was trying to tell me that I was doing the best that I could and to stop stressing over what I wasn't getting to.

Random Photo:

I found a couple of random black eyed susan flowers in our front yard. I have no idea how they got there. (At least I think they're black eyed susans.)

Monday Check In

Last week...

Writing Related: Mississippi's story is moving full steam ahead. I wrote thirty pages of new material and filled in a couple of areas that I'd earmarked as needing more research.

Motivational Quote:"Keep your minds and hearts open to life's endless and unforeseeable possibilities." ~ Octavia Spencer

What I'm Reading: I started Accidentally Perfect by Marissa Clarke last night so I'm not very far into the story yet but I think I may have read it before. Parts seem familiar, but other parts don't.

Random Things: I have so many things on my weekend To Do list that I think I'm going to accomplish and usually only end up getting half of them done. I either need to stop putting so many things on the list or maybe lower my expectations of how much I can do in two days. 

Random Photo:

                            Our rose bush is blooming for the first time in two years.

Monday Check In

Last week...

Writing Related: I'm doing Camp NaNo this month. It's a little more loose in structure than NaNoWriMo that's held in November. For the Camp version, you set your own goal that you want to meet instead of writing the 50,000 words required in the formal NaNoWriMo. My goal is to write 25,000 words this month. That will put be back on track to finish Missisippi's story by the end of May.

Motivational Quote: "There's no growth without a lot of hard work and a little risk." ~ Gloria Estefan

What I'm Reading: I started reading The Sweetheart Fix by Miranda Liasson last Wednesday. This is a contemporary romance and is the second book in the Blossom Glen series.

Random Things: Last week I posted that I was craving cookies and would probably bake some. I held off the craving and didn't do any cookie baking. I did make carrot cake with cream cheese frosting for dessert for Easter Sunday. I will admit the cream cheese frosting came out of a container (Pillsbury). I haven't managed to master homemade frosting yet. It's either too sweet or the consistency is weird so while my cakes are made from scratch, the frosting will be bought from the store for the foreseeable future.  

Random Photo

       Carrot cake - I use walnuts in place of raisins in the cake because, well, I hate raisins.
                                

Monday Check In

 My first Monday Check In for the new year:

Writing Related:  While I didn't get any new writing done, I did sit down and review the last few chapters and made notes as to what will happen next so I can get back in the flow of writing this week. 

Motivational Quote: "Is today the day? Am I ready? Am I doing all I need to do?" ~ Morrie Schwartz.  I thought this was a great quote to start off the new year.

What I'm Reading: I started Can't Hurry Love by Melinda Curtis. It's the first book in the Sunshine Valley series. 

Random Things: We've had a pretty decent winter so far, but I'm already counting the days until spring. Every year I seem to dread the winter season more and more especially having to drive when the road conditions are hazardous. 

Random Photo:

                                Somebody is also impatiently waiting for spring.

Monday Check In

Last week...

Writing Related -- I figured out the scene that was giving me so much trouble last week. This week I'm going to call and find out if our city hall is accepting in person appointments. If so, I will schedule an appointment to file my DBA. If it isn't, I can do it by mail, but it states on the website that it takes at least 90 days (or longer now due to Covid-19) for applications to be processed by mail which is why I'm hoping I can do it in person. The website even recommends you do it in person, of course this was before the pandemic.

Motivational Quote: "The secret of getting ahead is getting started." ~ Mark Twain

What I'm Reading: I started A Coldwater Warm Hearts Wedding by Lexi Eddings yesterday. It's the second book in the series. I read the first book last week. I borrowed the second book when I picked up a couple of books for my mom on Friday that she had requested from the library.

Random Things:  I'm going to try and work on making my holiday cards on Saturday afternoons so that I can get a few done at a time instead of trying to get them all made in a week in December. Not sure how many I'll get done before December, but I'm going to try and get at least half of them done. This week I have to make two birthday cards for birthdays that are coming up this weekend. 

Random Photo: 

                      Celebrated the beginning of fall with an apple cider doughnut.

This I know for sure...

I came across a new to me author about a year or so ago. I was in my local library and browsing the shelves in the romance section. The book was titled Till I Kissed You by Laura Trentham. It's a small town set contemporary romance. At the time I didn't realize it was the third book in the Cottonbloom series. Since reading that book, I've read all of the other books in the series and loved each one. As you know from my Wednesday post, I'm reading the latest book in the series, When The Stars Come Out.

Ms. Trentham has written another contemporary series - The Falcon Football series. I haven't read the three books in this series yet, but plan to. She also has two historical romance series. I'm a big fan of historical romance so I've added these books to my "To Be Read" list as well.

The point of this post is to share the wonderful work of Laura Trentham. (I don't know Ms. Trentham and have never met her nor have ever had any contact with her. I'm including this side note so you don't think I'm promoting a friend's books or that I'm being compensated in any way. I just really enjoy her books and want to spread the word about an author who writes wonderful books.)

If you'd like to read her books, the best place to find out more about the series she's written and the order of the books in each series is on her website - http://www.lauratrentham.com