Monday Check In

 Last week...

Writing Related:  I didn't meet my weekly page count goal last week. I had a couple of appointments and two of the expected great nieces/nephews were born. One is a girl named Gia Harper and the other is a boy named Rhys James. They were born 3 days apart. Needless to say I spent more time visiting the new babies and their parents and siblings than I did writing. I'll be back on track this week.

Motivational Quote: "Because you've made one, or a few, not-so-great decisions today, doesn't mean you need to throw the rest of the day in the garbage. Those decisions are in the past. This next minute, this next decision, is still in play." ~ Glenn Patrick Doyle

What I'm Reading: I'm about a third of the way through For the Love of Summer by Susan Mallery. I enjoy both her romance and women's fiction novels but I'm having a bit of a problem liking one of the main characters in this book. I'm hoping as I get further along in the book, I'll change my mind. 

Random Things:  It's going to be cold and rainy with highs in the 40's in my area the first part of the week so we've pushed our visit to the pumpkin farm from Wednesday to Friday when it's supposed to be sunny and about 60 degrees. I do want to purchase a pumpkin, but I'm not sure I'll carve it. I might just draw a face on it instead. I'm not that talented when it comes to pumpkin carving. 

Random Photo:

This is about as creative as I get when it comes to pumpkin carving other than the usual triangle eyes and nose and jigsaw type teeth.
 

 

Monday Check In

Last week...

Writing Related:  I actually managed to get some writing done after more days than I care to admit without getting anything done. I feel like I'm getting back on track. 

Motivational Quote: "Wake up determined. Go to bed satisfied. And somewhere in between eat a cookie." ~ Dwayne Johnson.

What I'm Reading: I started The Sister Effect by Susan Mallery this past weekend. I was looking for something that would be a light, quick read and this book seemed like a good choice. 

Random Thoughts: We had a very mild winter with very little snow and higher than normal temperatures. The first full day of spring brought three inches of snow and it's snowed every day since. We got eight inches last Friday night into Saturday. It was sunny yesterday and a tiny bit warmer so here's hoping that was winter's last hurrah and spring weather will be here to stay.

Random Photo:

The snow threatened our barely there daffodil buds so I cut them and brought them inside hoping they would still bloom. They all did. Please ignore Mrs. Green. She loves flowers and had to check them out.

Monday Check In

Last week...

Writing Related: I'm still having problems sitting comfortably even propped with pillows so sitting for any length of time trying to write has been difficult. I've started to use just heat on my ribs as it seems to help more than the ice does. I'm hoping to get more than a few pages written this week. As much as I didn't want to, I made the decision to push the release date for Caine's book to May. I'm not sure how long it will be before I'm able to get back to my normal writing schedule and think it's best to give myself an extra month to meet the revised publishing deadline. 

Motivational Quote:  "It's not about the accomplishment, it's about the very slow and grueling work of just getting better at something over time. It always takes time." ~ Mary H.K. Choi

What I'm Reading: I started reading The Summer Book Club by Susan Mallery yesterday afternoon. It's a stand alone women's fiction novel. I've read nearly all of the books Ms. Mallery has published and enjoy them whether they are romance or women's fiction.

Random Thoughts:  I'm looking forward to the solar eclipse on April 8th. I took the day off from the day job because the city where I live is in the direct path and my work day ends about 30 minutes before the total eclipse is supposed to happen. I wanted to ensure I would be home and not stuck on the highway during that time. Have you made any special plans around the eclipse? 

Random Photo:

    The cat's version of "I'm too hot and need to stick my foot outside the blanket."
 

Monday Check In

Last week...

Writing Related: Still working on revisions for Ivan's story. I feel like they're never ending but at the same time I feel like I'm making progress and more importantly, that I'm making the story stronger.

Motivational Quote: "I compare my situation to a person on board a ship. When there is a shipwreck and the passenger falls into the ocean and has no choice but to keep swimming...I had no choice. I could not get tired, I could not lose hope." ~ Shirin Ebadi

What I'm Reading: I started reading The Summer Getaway by Susan Mallery yesterday. I've read most of her books. They're quick, light reads.

Random Things: I've been baking quite a bit, but I need to start baking bread to freeze to have over the summer months since I refuse to put the oven on when it's 80 degrees or higher. I made a quick dozen muffins yesterday instead of baking the bread. Next weekend, depending on what's going on, I hope to make a couple of loaves of cinnamon swirl bread. 

Random Photo:

                              Here's one of the vanilla sour cream muffins I made.

 

Monday Check In

Last week...

Writing Related: I've started working again on the revisions for Ivan's story. I need to get this book finished. I've divided the manuscript into thirds and am trying to get 1/3 done each week. I moved some scenes around and deleted others so that the story's time line flows better.

Motivational Quote: "Every morning I wake up...I ask myself to give myself the best chance at having a good day. ~ Alexi Pappas

What I'm Reading: I started reading The Christmas Wedding Guest by Susan Mallery on Friday. It's the first book in the Wishing Tree series. 

Random Things:  Not so random really. While Ivan's story isn't ready for publication yet, I do have the cover. It was created by the talented Alison Henderson. The cover photo is below. I hope you like it as much as I do.

 

Monday Check In

Last week...

Writing Related: The first chapter of the third book in my Echo Company series is written. I was able write much more than I expected despite my mom and I having a couple of appointments during the week. 

Motivational Quote: "To succeed you have to believe in something with such a passion that it becomes a reality." ~ Dame Anita Roddick

What I'm Reading: I finished reading The Stepsisters by Susan Mallery last night. I haven't decided what I'll read next.

Random Things: We're caught up on the Virgin River series on Netflix so we've decided to start watching The Queen's Gambit as we both have heard good things about it.

Random Photo:

                                     Somebody hiding from the vacuum cleaner.

 

Monday Check In

Last week...

Writing Related: I only managed to get 15 pages written last week. My mom and I both had doctor appointments (on different days of course) that ate into my writing time.

Motivational Quote: "I truly believe that we can overcome any hurdle that lies before us and create the life we want to live." ~ Gillian Anderson

What I'm Reading: I started reading The Friendship List by Susan Mallery over the weekend. I'm a big fan of Ms. Mallery and have read most of her books.

Random Things: I'm so happy it's March, though February seemed to go by pretty quickly. The closer we get to spring, the happier I am. I'm done with snow and brutally cold weather.

Random Photo:

 You know your cat did something wrong when he tries to hide between the sofa cushions.

What's Up Wednesday

This week...

My Current WIP (Work in Progress): Revised 25 pages then ran into the missing chapters issue I wrote about on Monday. I need to focus on getting the missing section written so I can continue revising the remainder of the book.

Quote of the Week:  "When you see sailboats sailing, remember how hard it was to build them." ~ Swahili Proverb

What I'm Reading:  I started reading "California Girls" by Susan Mallery over the weekend. I'm liking it much better than the last book I read by this author.

Random Thoughts:  A long time client stopped by our office to announce he was retiring. He's about ten years younger than the average retirement age so we were all surprised, but happy for him. After he left, my co-workers and I all spoke about how jealous we were.  I'm a loooong way from retirement age, but I'd love to be able to leave my day job and write full time.

Random Photo of the Week:

                  Mrs. Green keeping me company as I baked cookies last weekend.
 

Borrow vs. Buy

I read quite a bit, usually whenever I have some free time though lately free time seems to be coming at a premium. I wanted to write that I read a lot, but I set a goal of reading 52 books last year and fell short. I only read 48 books so I can't say I read "a lot." My mom read 94 books so I guess she can say she reads a lot.

I happened to mention to a friend that I was going to the library this past weekend. She looked at me like I'd just said I was going to commit murder. She asked in an astounded tone, "You don't buy the books you read? You're a writer. I can't believe you don't support your fellow authors."

While I do borrow the majority of the books I read from the library or friends and family, I also buy about a third of them. It would be next to impossible for me to buy all the books I want to read. I do occasionally buy a new to me author especially if the author and/or book has been recommended to me by a friend or family member. For example a friend raved over the Brooklyn Bruisers Series by Sarina Bowen. I borrowed the first book from the friend, purchased both the first and second books, and when the third book came out, I purchased that as well. I do plan on looking into other books written by Ms. Bowen, but unless they grab me like the Brooklyn Bruisers series did, I most likely will borrow them from the library.

Most of the books I do purchase are automatic buys by certain authors. Whenever these authors release a new book, I don't even have to know what the book is about. I make a trip to Barnes & Noble or hop online to Amazon to buy that latest book.

Some of my auto buy authors are Susan Mallery, Kristan Higgins, Laura Trentham, Jill Shalvis, Sarah MacLean, Lisa Kleypas, Laura Lee Guhrke, Laura Griffin, the Charlie Davidson series by Darynda Jones, and the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich.

Do you utilize your local library or do you purchase the majority of the books you read? What are some of your automatic buy authors?

A Creative Outlet

There's a wonderful book called The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. (I believe it was first published in 2002) that talks about filling your creative well. I often find that if my writing is not going well, I need to step back and take a couple of hours to do something outside of writing.

Two of the things I like to do are crocheting and building puzzles. Both allow me a creative outlet that allows my brain to work on whatever plot problem I'm struggling with while I'm working with yarn or trying to find a piece of blue sky that fits in just the right spot.

I've come up with entire scenes while working on a puzzle. I've learned to keep a pad of paper and pen nearby so I can jot down ideas and notes so when I go back to the laptop all those wonderful things my brain came up with aren't lost into the ether.

Someone recently told me best selling author Susan Mallery also builds puzzles. I don't know if she uses them as a creative outlet while plotting out her writing, but it's nice to know I'm in good company.

What's Up Wednesday

This week...

My current WIP (work in progress):  I didn't do any writing or revising last week. I spent time with family. I'm spending time this week doing the same thing before the last of my relatives head back to their sunny homes. (Yes, I am jealous of my Southern relatives.)

Quote of the week: "...What you can do or think you can do, begin it." ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

What I'm reading: Thrill Me by Susan Mallery. This book is part of the Fool's Gold series. While I've enjoyed all of the other books in this series, I'm having a hard time with this one.

Random things:  I took the plunge and stepped on the scale this morning, the first time since the week of Thanksgiving. I ate a lot of Christmas cookies and enjoyed every bite so I was expecting to see a 5 pound weight gain. Imagine my surprise, when the scale showed only a 1 pound gain. I don't know how that happened, but I'll take it.  :o)




Random Photo of the Week:

Petey doesn't usually like to be covered up, but he was all cuddled in his blanket this past Monday when the high for the day was 10 degrees before the wind chill was factored in.

What's Up Wednesday

This week...

My current WIP (work in progress): Minor progress made this week. I'm hoping next week will be more productive.

Quote of the week: "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase." ~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

What I'm reading:  Hold Me by Susan Mallery. This is part of the Fool's Gold series.

Random things:  I bought a couple of different types of Post It Notes from Target last weekend. I use Post Its to help me keep track of things.

Random Photo of the Week:

                                   Here's a picture of the Post Its I mentioned above.