Surviving a Quarantine

My first attempt at Dandelion Jelly.

Happy Friday, everyone! Did you know it was Friday? LOL! I had to look on my phone to make sure before I typed that out.

As I type this, I'm sitting in my office listening to my husband outside cutting up a fallen tree, my youngest daughter (15yr old) is in her room watching Youtube on her television and some other video on her cell phone (most definitely NOT school-related), and my pregnant daughter is texting me about all her aches and pains (she has 4 wks left). I also see my Boston Terrier sitting in my office doorway because the dogs aren't allowed in here. The world around us feels chaotic, but my household looks and sounds pretty normal right now.

I've been off my day job since the middle of March, and in that time I've accomplished a lot of household things. I've been doing a lot of canning, baking, cleaning, and home projects. We planted a huge garden, and have been working around the property. Tim even installed a new water line so I'd have easier access for watering the garden. This is Tim's second week home with me and I think he's starting to get bored. LOL! Time to find more for him to do. :D

During my time at home, the Coronavirus caused the cancellation of my daughter's baby shower. I had a huge party planned for my first grandchild. I rented a local venue and was buying up decorations and planning the menu when all this started. We waited and waited, until I couldn't wait any longer, and then I cancelled it. Instead, we did a virtual Facebook Live shower where my daughter and her boyfriend opened gifts and we thanked everyone who generously sent those gifts in advance. It wasn't the shower we planned, but it was something at least.

On the author side of things, I managed to watch a webinar about audiobooks, as it appears a lot of people are enjoying them. Take a moment and let me know your thoughts on audiobooks. Do you listen to them?

I also added one of my freebie books to BookFunnel. If you've read the Liz Baker series and the first book in the Penny Montague series, you might enjoy the short story crossover Sorrow Meets Death. It's always free for the taking.

Well, since I've rambled long enough, if you've made it this far I'll send you off with a few pics of some of the projects around here. Have a great weekend and stay healthy!

Homemade Turkey Stock

Homemade Baked Beans

A little folding chair my girls used as children.

Repainted for our grandson

Lastly, my sweet daughter today, 1 day shy of 36wks pregnant.

Sorrow Meets Death is live!

The day has finally arrived! Sorrow Meets Death is live and ready for all of you to read. It's a short story that links Liz Baker and Penny Montague together for future series stories. This short is available for download for FREE on my website here.

This story is meant to be read after Devastating Sorrow, so make sure you're all caught up with the first book in the Penny Montague series before starting this one.

I hope you enjoy this little snippet into the lives of these two women. Next up will be the 7th installment of the Liz Baker series. Be on the lookout for it later in the year.

SORROW MEETS DEATH

Liz is a small town bar owner who doesn't know much about the supernatural creatures outside the ones who keep coming to her own town.

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Penny is an immortal witch who sensed something interesting the last time she was in this small Georgia town.

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What happens when these two meet each other for the first time? Trouble, of course.

DOWNLOAD FOR FREE

Back on Schedule

It has finally happened! I'm now on a regular schedule with the new part time job AND my writing. Woohoo! I knew it would get there eventually and now it has. I don't have as many hours in the day for writing now, but I do have a good 2 hours each day after work to plug away. That has made all the difference in the story I'm currently working on. Granted, I'm used to writing for 6 hours a day and getting anywhere from 3,000-6,000 words a day. Now I'm garnering for at least 500-1,000 a day. However, I'll still get to where I'm going, just a little slower. I'm still optimistic about my tentative release dates, also! We'll just have to get there when we get there. :)

As for my new job: I'm really enjoying the shop where I work. It's a health foods/herbal shop that also has a chiropractor, several massage therapist, a hypnotist, counselor, and several other services. It's a lot of fun and the people are just wonderful. I even got my very first EVER chiropractic adjustment today. It was quite the experience. The popping and sudden jerks are a bit disconcerting, and slightly uncomfortable, but the body was definitely feeling relief afterward.

Overall, I just wanted to keep everyone in the loop and assure you all that, yes, I most definitely am still working away on Sorrow Meets Death. The crossover short story with Liz and Penny is coming along nicely, though slower than planned. I still feel confident that it'll be ready for a June release. Just make sure you're all caught up with Liz (six books) and Penny (one book) before jumping into this upcoming freebie. ;)

Oh, and before I forget, I'm working on the May newsletter, so if you aren't already subscribed jump over to the website and do so. Everyone who opens each newsletter is eligible for the drawing in the next newsletter for an Amazon gift card.

Part time job

Well, it happened. I broke down and got a part time job. It's been 20 years since I held a public job, so this will be a new experience for me. I was 6 months pregnant with our first daughter when I left the public workforce, and she's 20 now! Eek! I've never worked a job with kids at home. I'm grateful that they're so old now, with my youngest being 12. It definitely makes the decision easier on me.

With my husband's job change back in November, and the loss of income because of his pay decrease, I figured it was time to pick up something more reliable than just book royalties (which all authors know are not reliable at all). And this job seemed like something right up my alley. I'll be cashier/shopkeeper of an herbal health shop. They offer all sorts of services like massage, plus the normal vitamins, essential oils, and food additives. I interviewed for it on the 23rd and was asked to come in and get the lay of the land for a couple of hours on the 31st. This week is my first full week of work.

As you're reading this, I'm at work (thank goodness for blog scheduling!) and probably enjoying my new job as I'm learning all about what's sold here. I've always enjoyed the herbal and natural remedies stuff, but there's soooooo much to learn I'm feeling a little overwhelmed... but in a good way. I'll get it and it'll be fun to learn new things. In the meantime, I'll be able to do some people watching and (hopefully) come up with new story lines in the process.

Though I'll be working outside the home, I'm still on schedule for the release of Sorrow Meets Death. It's planned for June and I intend to make the deadline. Unlike previously, when I only worked on week days and took the weekends off, now I'll be doing the majority of my writing on the weekends and weekday evenings. It'll be a massive adjustment. Well, all of this will be a massive adjustment. Every one's schedules will have to change and adjust just to accommodate Mom's new job.

Fingers crossed. Wish me luck. Think happy thoughts. And, finally, thanks for all your support! :)