NaNoWriMo Time (i.e. Why you won't see me in November!)

NaNoWriMo

Welcome to NaNoWriMo Eve! We are hours away from one of the biggest writing competitions/challenges in the world (at least in my opinion).

I started taking part in National Novel Writing Month back in 2011. Four of my novels were NaNo novels! However, this will be my first year attempting the competition while also working a public job. EEK! I'm a little concerned, to say the least.

For those of you who may not know about NaNoWriMo let me share a little info. In this competition writers are challenged to write 50,000 words in only 30 days. That's writing an entire novel between November 1st and November 30th. Now, if you break it down, you're looking at 1,667 words per day... EVERY DAY.  And they will NOT be good words. LOL! You can't edit, research, rewrite, or in any way improve your story. It's all about getting words on paper (i.e. computer screen). November will be a month of simply pulling your hair out while attempting to remember words... any words... all the words!

Sooooo, if you start to wonder where I'm off to in November just remember that I'm probably chugging coffee, Diet Mountain Dew, and anything sugar-filled in order to scratch out some sort of decent wordcount after my day job, on a daily basis.

Feel free to send me any and all of the Starbucks White Chocolate Mochas! Hot or cold, I don't care. :D

Wish me luck, and I hope you all have a wonderful month. See you in December!!

Vacation...Finally!

After all the weird, crazy, exciting stuff that has gone on this year in the Silvers' household, it's FINALLY time for a vacation!

This year it was an adults only vacation. The hubby and I joined forces with my sister and her hubby to have our first grown-ups vacation. No kids allowed! Talk about an unusual experience for this mom of 21 years, but it was well worth it and soooooo needed!

We went to Tybee Island, Georgia for a week of rest, relaxation, and fun. Even though we have been there almost yearly since 2005, there were still some things we hadn't done and places we hadn't been. One of my favorite places (besides the beach) was the Bonaventure Cemetery. It was beautiful!

This cemetery was featured in the book "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" and it is the most beautiful cemetery I've ever visited. This location has been a cemetery since 1846, and you can definitely tell it by the old, Gothic, and elaborate burial plots. There is so much history here. With 160 acres and dozens of roads throughout the cemetery, you can easily spend a day going from plot to plot. There's so much to see and learn here. The cemetery even has guided walking and riding tours, but we went at it on our own.

And look at what I found....

Marcus!

If you'd like to see more photos from my vacation, check out the folder on my Facebook titled "Tybee Vacation 2018."

Tybee Island, GA - The view from my condo balcony.

My hubby & me at the Forsyth Park fountain.

School Starts & Writing Begins, Again!

It has been two weeks of luxurious silence in my house during the day. Granted, I haven't been home most of those days since I have the day job, BUT my youngest is back to school now and Fridays (the only weekday I am home) has been extremely productive on the writing front. YAY!

I only have the youngest at home now. She's in grumpy teenager middle school mode, but I am able to get a few grins out of her from time to time. This picture was from the first day of school and I had told her I'd keep taking pictures until she actually smiled. This is only pic #2. LOL! She knows I'm persistent.

Nonetheless, writing is moving forward on the new Liz Baker book and I'm hoping to have a release date for you guys by the end of the year. The words are flowing and the gang is getting into more trouble (like always), with a new bad guy leading the charge.

If you aren't all caught up with the Liz Baker series now is certainly the time to do that. The new book will be Book 7, and there are two free short stories in there, as well. The newest short story actually introduces Liz Baker to Penny Montague from my other series. Check out Sorrow Meets Death and see how an immortal and a dhampiress interact.

In the meantime, I hope everyone is having a great week and check back often to see what's happening around here.

My Office Has Arrived!

After years of dreaming, planning, and saving ideas for my "future office," the time has finally arrived! My middle daughter graduated back in May, turned 18 in July, and has moved from my house into my rental house to "live on her own." That means......

I have an office!  Woohoo!

My youngest daughter moved into the bigger of the kids' bedrooms, and I staked my claim on the smaller of the rooms. I've spent the last few weeks working on my off days to paint both rooms, reorganize, clean out closets, and create my writing oasis. It is a room of my own to close myself off and focus on just writing. I've even hung a little chalkboard sign on the door that will inform others to NOT come in when I'm working (unless it's a matter of life or death, of course).

I used my grandmother's old sewing machine as my laptop desk.

My husband built me some new shelves and helped me move a bookshelf from the bedroom to the office. I had to order a valance for the window (because I like the sunshine, but still need a window treatment) and wait for it to arrive. I moved some of my aloe vera plants into the office because they were overflowing in the kitchen.

I have filing cabinets and the printer set up in the closet, along with storage for office supplies and reams of paper. I have room for more detailed storage in there when I have time to get a little more "fancy" with it... at a later date. Right now I just wanted to get into my office as quickly as I could.

I'm sure I'll be tweaking this room over the next several months to find my just the right way of doing things and storing items to make it the most beneficial to my productivity, but in the meantime, I'm really enjoying having my own space.

The animals seem to like the new office also. Especially in the morning when the sun is shining into the room, making nice, warm sleeping spots. LOL!

Be sure to stop by the Facebook page for a lot more pictures from beginning to end.  :)

Army BCT Graduation

Or for those who don't know, my oldest daughter has graduated Army Basic Combat Training!

She surprised me one day late last year by coming to me and informing me that, at the age of 21, she would be joining the US Army. As a shocked mom of said child who has never been interested, even remotely, in anything physically strenuous, all I could say was, "Excuse me?"

She had already spent four years in three different colleges (two years as a dual enrollment high school student), and changed her major no less than three times. I understood that she was lost and didn't really know what she wanted to do with her adult life. Not to mention, she was extremely overwhelmed by simply BEING an adult. And me, trying to be the supportive mom, asked all the "Are you sure," questions, and even threw out the, "I'll stand by you in whatever you choose to do, even if I don't like it."

Nonetheless, I cried on May 15th as I watched my eldest daughter walk out of the MEPs office and toward the bus that would take her to the plane that would eventually land her 14 hours away from home for no less than two months.

Over the course of those two months, my daughter and I wrote letters to each other, with the random quick phone call about once every three weeks. In those first few letters, she told me of her trials, pains, disruptions, and unhappiness. Then the mood of her words improved and she was telling me about her triumphs, the friends she was making, and the fun she was having (leave it to my kid to say she was having fun at basic training! LOL!) while learning new skills that would take her far in her newly chosen career.

After months of planning, waiting, tears, worry, tracking my mail deliveries daily to see if she had sent a new letter... graduation day finally arrived!

My husband and I left at 3am on Wednesday morning to drive 14 hours from Georgia to Oklahoma in order to spend a total of 19 hours over the course of two days with our daughter to celebrate her graduation.

She looks so spiffy in her uniform! :D

It was an amazing experience, and I'm so glad we were able to make the trip, but that didn't stop the tears again once I had to tell her good-bye again so the Army could ship her off to her next station for more training and education. She is truly happy, especially now that basic training is over and her body is starting to heal from all the pain it was put through, and I know she will be a great success in her new career choice.

She has been at her new station for over a week now and it has been so much easier on both of us. She's finally able to keep her phone at all times and texts me every single day now. It makes this mom's heart happy to hear from her babies, and especially when they are happy with their choices!

I hope all of my wonderful readers are having a great weekend, and make sure you hug those loved ones even closer.

I'm still alive... I promise!

Well, here I am again. Things are settling into a nice swing and I'm able to pick up a decent writing schedule. I'm still working on the 7th installment of my Liz Baker series and have hopes it'll be ready for release by the end of the year. Woohoo! I know a few readers have been chomping at the bit for the next book and I hope they'll love it just as much as they loved the previous ones. :)

The last few months have been insane. I thought things were calming down when the new year rolled in, but then my oldest daughter sprung the Army on us. She joined a few months ago and shipped out to basic training on May 15th. Nine days later, my middle daughter graduated high school, which was also the anniversary of my mother's passing. A week after that, the new graduate had orientation at the college she chose and we spent 8 hours there doing paperwork and going from building to building. In between all that, my middle daughter got her braces off (YAY!) and the youngest got hers put on (BOO!). I had to order senior pictures, print graduation announcements, throw a graduation party...all while panicking over the oldest being in basic training 14 hours away.

Sooooo.... yeah.... it's been crazy around here.

I'm still rockin' the day job and loving it. I adore my bosses and co-workers, and even most of the customers. LOL! It's fun and we laugh regularly. We all just have a good time together, and that makes for a wonderful work environment.

Aside from all that, I just hit my 1 year anniversary at the gym. I've lost a good bit of weight and just as many inches. I still have more to go, and it's moving slower these days, but I enjoy going to the gym and will keep at it. It's a great end to a busy day and helps me chill out with some mind numbing cardio or an hour of focusing on weight training.

Even with all that going on, it has finally settled again and I'm jumping back into my writing. Hopefully life will grant me a reprieve from the insanity for a while and I can get back on track. I miss my writing time and I'm excited about the upcoming books. And, I should mention, that personal office I've been pining over for years (regular blog readers will know) is finally happening next month! *Gasp* I'm actually picking paint colors and planning the layout now. *Faint*

Be on the lookout in the next few weeks for pictures of the office and updates on the writing.

Love to you all,

Happy 2018!

Well, we're almost two weeks into 2018 now, so how is everyone doing in the new year? Things are finally starting to settle down from the holidays here in the Silvers' household (thank goodness) and I'm seeing a light at the end of the insanity tunnel. I just have to claw my way past two birthdays next week (mine & my youngest daughter's) and then I *should* be able to get everything back to normal.

In the last few weeks I've come to discover that an empty nest is so much closer than I imagined. My oldest is 21 now and she's been out for a few years now, but coming up is my middle daughter's high school graduation. Once she moves on to her college life I will have an empty bedroom that will be confiscated and turned into my very own private office. Woohoo!

I can't tell you how long I've been dreaming, planning, and pining for my own writing space. And come July I will have it! *Gasp* I already know how I'm going to decorate it and how many book shelves it will have. I've also been doing a mock-up layout for the desk(s) and filing cabinets in my head. And then what color to paint it??? Oh my goodness, so many decisions to make.

On another exciting note, my husband finally got moved to day shift at his job. YAY!! That makes the household run so much better. No more tiptoeing around the house when he's trying to sleep. No more worrying that a ringing phone will wake him up. And...maybe the most important aspect...I'll have the house all to myself on my off days when he's at work. LOL!

Overall, 2018 looks like it will be an exciting year for me and I hope it will be for all of you.

Much love to all my wonderful readers & Happy New Year!