Life Continues to Roll On

SXC.hu: ShadowRave

Hey there, blog Peeps! I want to warn you up front that this entry may be a bit long winded. You've been warned! :)

First, let me start off by saying that yes, I am fully aware that I've missed yet another release date for To Kill a Demon (Liz Baker, bk 6). I promise it's getting there, but there's no way in hell I'll put it out into the world in less than the condition I expect it to be in. My writing time has been nonexistent; my family will always come first. Plus, my editor is having her own family issues and has been MIA lately.

Usually I try mot to ever schedule a book release, or plans of writing a book when my kids are out of school for summer break. My writing time is when they're in school. That has always worked out, but somehow this year just didn't work the way I wanted it to, and I was stuck with an unfinished novel when school let out.

UGH!

So here I am, the end of July is here and the book still isn't complete. My kids only have one month of summer break left and then I'll move forward from there. I probably only need like two more weeks to get this sucker in tip-top shape, and then send it to the editor. Then back cover blurb, and it's ready to go. It's just getting to the point where I have two weeks of uninterrupted work time to get it finished.

I like where the story has gone, and I know exactly how it will end. It's just getting the time to sit and write it all without the phone ringing or a kid screaming.

Oh, and I've been dealing with tenants, and the selling of one of my rental properties. That's stressful enough as it is. Fingers crossed the rental property sells soon and the rest of my current tenants behave themselves. :) Tim and I are tired of being landlords and are hoping to slowly bring our count down to just one rental property (his parents' house).

I've also helped my mom get her new accounting business started. I'm planning a remodel on our fifth wheel RV, and putting new flooring down and painting the inside of our own house. And if you'll stop by my other blog you'll see all the canning I've been doing this summer http://crazyhomesteading.blogspot.com/  Not to mention, my oldest daughter will be a senior in high school when school starts back, BUT she's also a dual enrollment student at the college in the next town, which starts on August 11th. She still doesn't have her own car (since she wrecked the one I bought her), so I'll either have to drive her so I won't be car-less, or I'll have to be car-less and let her drive my van. We also have to do a few more college tours, start all the college application processes (UGA opens apps on Sept. 2nd), and finally pull my hair out from all of it.

"Busy" is too minuscule a word for what I've been this summer.

Will you forgive me for being behind on the new book? I certainly hope so. I hope you'll all stick around and be there when it finally does release. Book purchases have been waaaayyyyyy down the last several months, so if you don't mind sharing the other books with your friends, family, Facebook friends, Twitter followers, etc. I'd be forever grateful. <3

Smooches to you all!

Disappointment ensues.

Credit: ralaenin
sxc.hu

Month one of summer break is quickly coming to a close. My kids are having a blast, and I'm enjoying spending time with them. We've done a few projects (thanks, Pinterest!), enjoyed shopping days, worked outside and around the house, and even did some swimming (which my massive sunburn proves). My oldest is working her part time job, and my 13 yr old is working on her 9th grade summer reading. Plus, my 13 yr old will be turning the big 1-4 in a couple of weeks, so she's trying to convince me of all sorts of gift and party ideas. LOL! All that while my poor 9 yr old is pining for her best friend, who went to visit some family out of town.

It has been a crazy month, to say the least. In between all that, I've spent numerous late nights working on To Kill a Demon. I had planned to release it on June 30th, but it doesn't look like that will be feasible. There's still a lot of work to do in this book, and my regular editor is still M.I.A. Sooooo, I'm going to push the release to July 31st and see if that will do the trick.

As an indie author, it takes a lot of time and work to get these books written, designed, and published, especially when you have a family, animals, and rental properties to take care of at the same time. Eek! I want to thank all my amazing readers for their patience, and I hope you'll enjoy book 6 when it is ready for public consumption.  :)

Have a great day!

Summer is in full swing.

As most of you know, it's summer here in Georgia. My three daughters are out of school and spending an extreme amount of time at home with me. Not that I mind. Oh, no. I actually enjoy not having to wake up at 5:30am every day in order for three girls to be ready to walk out the door by 7am (even though I do enjoy the amount of work I can get done on any given day by getting up that early).

It's only been a few weeks, so we're having fun relaxing and just being without daily obligations. My 17yr old has taken the SATs (for a second time to get a higher score), and then this week I stood on the sidelines and watched her going through her senior pictures. I wanted to cry when they put her in a cap and gown for a few shots. *Sniff, Sniff*

We still have a year of school before she graduates and runs away to college. But that doesn't stop me from sobbing inconsolably at the mere suggestion of her being gone. J/K! I'm actually helping push her out of the nest by keeping her on schedule with college applications and suggesting things she should be researching. I'm sure I'll cry when she does graduate and leave, and probably for a few days (months) after, though.

Anyway, enough about my soon-to-be exiled daughter. She's planning to be a successful doctor and I plan on her taking care of me in my old age. :D

Now for a little book updating....

I'm still working on book 6 in the Liz Baker series, To Kill a Demon. I'm pushing for that June 30th release date, but the closer I get the less I think it'll be ready by then. Hell, my editor is even out of town for a while. Eek!

So, anyway. There it is. I usually try not to write a book during the summer, but I will get this one out, one way or another. Yay for Liz Baker!  :)

Plans for the week

Last week was a bust, what with Tim being off work and the kids home for summer break. Everyone was here and no one wanted to get along. There was more than one occasion where I threw my hands up in the air and declared an end to my day. Yep, it wasn't pleasant.

This week Tim goes back to work and the fighting between the children seems to have slowed down. Maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to get some actual work completed. At least I have a list showing me what all I want to complete this week.

That's not to say nothing was completed last week. Oh no, there was definitely a good bit marked off my list. However, most of that was household stuff and not book stuff. Yeah, I'm happy about the household stuff, but I'd rather have the peace, quiet and alone time to complete my book stuff. I get frustrated when my writing time is decreased.

So, here I am, typing up my plans for the week for all to see.

• Complete edits on a three book project


• Discuss the new cover of Alex & Fiona Forever with my beloved designer


• Work on Liz Baker, book 3--which is still untitled


• Remind everyone that TIME FOR DEATH (Liz Baker, book 1) is still on sale for only $0.99 on Kindle and Nook


• Continue working on the list of goodies I need to order for the Book 'Em NC event in February


• Take my children to the library on Friday


• Finish reading DEAD IF I DO by Tate Hallaway so I can take it back to the library


• And still be the perfect wife & mother with the clean house, clean laundry and three meals a day on the table.

Whew! That's a lot to do in only 7 days. Well, I guess it's technically 6 days since today's Tuesday. It's no damn wonder I never feel like there's enough hours in the day. And here I am distracted from all this proposed work with wondering what color to paint my nails next.

InkPop and Teen Writers

I don't normally advertise for other companies, but I was contacted by an employee of Harper Collins wanting me to check out the site called InkPop.com and possibly mention something about it here on the blog. Even that isn't usually a good enough reason for me to share stuff I don't use or like

However... this site is very cool for the teen writer! InkPop focuses mainly on YA and teen writers, and as I don't write YA and certainly not a teen writer any longer, I had my teenager check it out as well. She's 14 (almost 15, she says) and loves reading and writing. Her words were, "It's cool, Mom. I like it and will definitely use it."

From what she told me, the only thing she didn't like is how difficult they have the password section of registration. It has a specific requirement on how your password should be. Something like 6 letters, 1 has to be a number and 1 has to be capitalized... or some such nonsense. She made it through though and moved on into using the site.

Anyway, the site seems to appeal to teens with ways to earn "badges" during your time there by doing things like writing short stories, writing poetry, helping out with critiques, writing fiction and even just trying out everything once. There are 25 badges in total, so there's plenty for the aspiring teen writer to try their hand at.

If you have a teen that enjoys writing, send them this way. They'll find lots of other people who enjoy the same things they do and possibly lead the way to a lifelong enjoyment of the written word. As an author, I like to encourage others to give it a try. I know my teen is.

Week Two: Insanity Sets In

Summer Break: Week Two

This week isn't starting off the way I had hoped. Saturday went okay, but it all started down hill on Sunday morning. Yep, that's when the insanity started to grow. I knew things weren't going to go as easily this week as they did last week.

Sunday we had a family reunion to go to for Tim's mother's side of the family. We stopped down at FIL's house to see if he was ready; he was as far from it as he could be. FIL was having trouble breathing and I ended up calling 911 to take him to the hospital. That set it up with Tim going to the hospital with FIL and me taking the kids up the mountain to the reunion.

The day was beautiful for an outside family gathering, if only there had been family there. Yep, there were only 10 of us by the time I left, two hours after the scheduled time. Some were sick, the majority had a funeral to attend, and others just didn't show up. The kids were disappointed that their favorite cousins (and the only ones their ages) didn't arrive either.

At least we came back down off the mountain with full tummies and plates of food for later that evening. No cooking for Mommy--other than the more than two dozen homemade dinner rolls I made the night before and half were brought home due to no one being there to eat them.

There was a hospital visit with FIL (he has pneumonia, again) and then finally home for the evening.

That brings us to Monday. I won't even go into how screwed up that day was. Ugh! And it doesn't look like today will be any better.

I miss Liz. I miss my quiet days. I hate having to shush the kids all day so Tim can sleep. Now I remember why I'm always so relieved when school starts back. My fingers miss flying across the keyboard (which is probably why this entry is too damn long).

Whatever, I suppose. I'm now off to get dressed so I can run numerous errands, listen to whining children, and take more stuff to FIL in the hospital. Oh, and while we're there I get the enjoyment of making the children share the elevator button pushing responsibilities.