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!

Wanna Know Wednesday #37

Morning, morning.  How's it going?  It's Hump Day!  Not that I need a day for humping, but anyway...

Well, I survived the busy-ness of yesterday.  The van was fixed, the oldest's daughter's orthodontist appointment went well (she got new, longer rubber bands), the open house for middle daughter went fairly smoothly, and lastly, we went out for dinner with the kids.  It was busy, but quite successful.

Today I have nothing special planned.  I may curl up with Tim and watch movies all day.  Then again, we may go outside and work around the house.  Who knows?  Basically, it's an unplanned day; the calm before the storm (the month of November).  Ooohh, I know, I'll do more Christmas shopping too.

Oh yes, I still need to make a decision that Tim & the girls are hounding me about.  Tim has been wanting an indoor dog.  The youngest wants "a little puppy that stays little."  I've sworn off anymore indoor pets because I end up being the only person who takes care of them.

However, we've been offered the opportunity to adopt a chihuahua puppy.  My mom has a chihuahua that the girls adore and love to bits and pieces every time they're over there. 

Soooooo....

They are leaving it up to me to decide yes or no to this cute, forever little, absolutely perfectly sized puppy.  Tim keeps asking, "So, have you decided yet?"  He asked me more than a dozen times yesterday.  LOL.  I think he wants it.  LOL.  If I decided that we need another child in the house, I'll let you know.  I'm just completely undecided.  I'm sure that the moment I see the pup I'll be bringing him right home though.  I'm a sucker for babies.  ;-)

Okay, it's time to get to this week's Wanna Know Wednesday.

Last 10 Movies I've Watched

1. The Proposal
2. Land of the Lost
3. 17 Again
4. Bug  -- Don't watch this one. It's a complete waste of time.  Ugh!
5. Impact
6. Love Actually
7. About a Boy
8. X-Men Origins: Wolverine
9. Gattaca
10. Chaos

I still have Drag Me To Hell, Pandemic, & Monsters vs Aliens sitting here waiting for us to watch.  I love Netflix!  Now if I could find the time to work through some of my instant play queue as well. 

Okay, that's it from me today.  I hope you have a fantastic Wednesday.  Stop back by tomorrow for the 3rd installment of Thursday Thoughts.  :-)

Another fabulous day in the works.

Morning all!  Welcome to Tuesday.  Today is going to be another fabulous day around here.  Why?  Because I said so!  Yes, that's the Mom in me showing through. LOL!

Yesterday I stated that this would be a great, productive week, and I was absolutely correct.  Yesterday was one of the most productive days I've had in a while.  I ended up writing 2 articles, editing 3 book chapters, doing numerous household chores, throwing dinner into the Crock-Pot, and even spending time with the kids and Tim.  The day ended with me feeling very accomplished and looking forward to today.

Today will be another good day, but we have a meeting to attend at 8:30am before I can get to my own work.  I'm hoping to be back home by 9:30 or 10 am, and then I can get started on today's article and book edits.  *Fingers Crossed*  Determination makes all the difference when it comes to getting work done and living by a positive attitude and outlook.  :-)

I realized yesterday that it's nearly time to start thinking about this year's NaNoWriMo contest.  Ack!  I can't believe it's nearly November.  I'm not sure that I want to even consider it this year.  But if I don't do it I'll wish I had.  I already have a 2 year winning streak and would hate to miss year 3. 

My biggest concern is getting Time For Death finished before beginning another big project.  I'm a one project at a time kind of woman.  I like to finish one before starting another.  However, if I get Time For Death done, then I'll be ready to start book two in this new series, and NaNo would be a great time to start it.  Eek!  So much to consider!

Ask me again in exactly 1 month and I promise to have a yes or no answer for ya.  LOL.  :-)

Well it's time for me to go get changed and take the kids to school.  Have a great day!



*Photo was taken by me one morning in 2007*

Wanna Know Wednesday #30.... A day late.

Yes, yes, I know. It's not Wednesday. Today is Thursday. However, yesterday was so busy that I forgot all about my Wanna Know list until it was late evening. So I'm just doing it today and it'll be a day late. LOL!

Yesterday we had Dish Network come out and install service for us. We're so sick of Charter's television service prices, and with Dish Network's curret specials we'll save over $800 in the next year over what we're paying Charter. Eek! Crazy isn't it? After looking at it like that, how could we not switch?

So we spent yesterday morning making sure everything was cleaned up in and around the house, and waiting on the dish guy to show up. He called at 11 am to say that he'd be here a little after 12. Well, it was 2pm when he finally got here. LOL. It was okay though since our appointment time was between 12 and 5. Hahaha!

The tech guy was nice and friendly. He and his partner dish guy had us all up and running in 2 hours. He showed me all the nice little details of the service and made sure I knew how to work the remote, and even showed me how to set the DVR. Most of the controls are the same as the Charter DVR.

This morning, we took our 3 cable boxes back to Charter and had the tv service cut off. The office lady asked, "Don't want to at least keep Basic?" Nope! LOL.

Ooohhh, today is Open House for the girls! School starts next Tuesday... only 5 days away! Woooooohooooooo!!!!! I can't wait. Tim can't wait. The girls can't wait. I'm so ready to get back on schedule. My days are much more productive when we're up and running by 6am every day.

Since school starts, and our oldest will be starting her first year of middle school, this week's (late) Wanna Know Wenesday is....

10 Things My Oldest Is Excited About

1. Going to middle school.
2. Seeing all her friends.
3. Having a locker.
4. Meeting new kids.
5. Being able to take new classes.
6. Being in a different school than Sara! (our middle daughter, lol)
7. Doing new sports. (she wants to play tennis)
8. Telling her friends about all the fun stuff we did over the summer.
9. Doing more stuff in art class.
10. She won't be surrounded by little kids all the time.

There it is. Now I'm off because the kids are rushing us to get ready for Open House. Gotta be there as soon as the doors open I suppose. LOL!

Have a great day!

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Good Tuesday morning, maybe?

*Yawn* I'm tired this morning. The weekend is finally catching up with me. Although that hasn't stopped me from being busy as soon as I got dressed this morning.

I've already taken the kids to school, fed the youngest, had some toast myself, washed one load of laundry, and even handwashed one of my lingerie outfits. And it's not even 8 am yet.

Yesterday was pretty productive as well. I ended up doing all the normal household chores, but also found the time to sew my youngest daughter a new skirt and myself a top. Then I made chicken and homemade buns for BBQ Chicken Sandwiches. It was yummy. I still need to work on skirts for the older girls, but they haven't decided on what colors they want yet, so they're on hold until then.

I haven't decided what all will happen today. Apparently Tim has an idea of what will happen tonight as he's already texting me naughty inuendos. LOL! It's never too early for that stuff, is it? LOL.

Today isn't as planned out as yesterday was. My "to-do" list has been knocked down several notches since I finished so much yesterday. Looks like today will be spent with my fingers glued to the keyboard of my laptop. I should be able to get a couple of articles done... as long as the youngest doesn't decide that it's a good day to pester mommy all day, and nothing out of the ordinary pops up.

Okay, I'm out for now. Off to get some work done and enjoy the constant texts from the man. He's apparently in a "mood" this morning. LOL!

Have a great day.

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Gosh, it's been a crazy week.

This has been one interesting week, if I do say so myself.

My blog stalker hasn't had the nerve to contact me, though I've had other people email me who thought they were the stalker I was referring to. LOL! Very interesting indeed! The hubby and I got a kick out of that one. I'm not worried about it though. When you have a prominent internet presence stalkers are to be expected. This isn't my first and I'm sure they won't be the last. They are however the first one from my past.

The kids were home all week for "Mid-Winter Break". Luckily, they haven't been as rowdy as they usually are when they have a week at home together. They've been very good girls this week. Of course now that I've said that the weekend will go to hell in a handbasket. LOL!

This was the week for my book royalties to be paid. When my payment arrived, I happily discovered that even with the slow economy, my books sales are rising substantially. Thank you to all who have spent their hard-earned dollars on my works. My daughter's orthodontist also thanks you! LOL!

Today marked #5,000 in pageviews on my beloved blog here. That was very cool to see. Usually I miss things like that... especially when it comes to the odometer in my van rolling over. LOL!

I've spent the morning cleaning house, spending time with the kids, I watched a movie with my oldest, texted with the hubby, and then made a big pot of homemade chicken noodle soup that the kids will eat off of for days. It's been a productive day family-wise. Tim wants me to pick up some BBQ for dinner this evening, so I'll go out for that right before he gets home. Then, he's home for three days! Yay!

I'm pretty sure that my mom is taking the girls Friday night, so maybe Tim and I will go out for some fun. Then again, we may just stay home and enjoy the quiet. Who knows?

Okay, I'm out for today. Tomorrow is my busy errand day, so I doubt I'll be posting then. Have a fabulous weekend everyone!!

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Morning Ya'll!

Yes I used ya'll up there. Did you forget that I'm a Georgia gal? LOL!

I thought I'd stop in while the little ne is eating her bowl of oatmeal and before I have to start a hectic day of errands. I have to go drop Annie off at the FedEx office since it was too late in the day for her to go out yesterday after I picked the girls up at school. So there was really no point in me making a trip to the next town when it wouldn't go out until today anyway. And I'm always over there on Fridays anyway.

So Annie will be leaving on her journey to a new her! No, she's not my only internet access, Sabre! I'd be in utter hell if I didn't have any access at all. UGH! No, I have a 5 yr old HP desktop (which I'm on right now) that still holds up, albeit a little slowly. I'm just not online as much with it because I hate sitting at the desk all day. At least with Annie I could just pick her up and go to the bedroom, or plop her down on the kitchen counter while I cook, or just curl up in the corner of the couch and chat with friends. It's kind of hard to do that on the old desktop. LOL!

Aw well. I'm more resigned to the fact that this is just one of those things that I'll have to move past and hope for the best. I documented everything under creation to make sure that Annie comes back safely and repaired. Hopefully all of my stuff will still be in there. I even wrote on the instruction sheet for Dell, "Please, please, please do NOT format the harddrive." Hopefully that's understandable and clear enough for them to know NOT to do that. LOL!

Okay, today's errands are:

1. FedEx Office
2. Bank Deposit
3. Buy Groceries
4. Get Gas
5. Go to the Post Office
6. Buy a gift for my sister's boyfriend (I forgot about him last week. Oops!)

And I have to get all of that done before noon; preferrably before 11am. Then after I pick the girls up a school at 2:30 (after sitting in line for an hour), I need to get home in a hurry, have the oldest clean up and change clothes and have her over at the 4-H office by 4pm. She's going on a "field trip" to a big Christmas play/show in Chattanooga and won't be back until nearly midnight tonight. Hopefully I can convince Tim to go pick her up when it's time. LOL!

Of course I'd already be out on the road if little miss would hurry up with the blasted oatmeal. Now my stomach is growling, so maybe I should eat something too. I'll be fnished before her, I'm sure. LOL!!

I hope you all have a fabulous Friday and enjoy your weekend. :-)

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Let the weekend begin!

Woohoo! It's finally Friday. This has been one long, dragging week for me. You'd think that I'd enjoy it because as soon as Halloween hits, my life will move into uproaring, crazy busy mode. LOL!

As a little notice: The website will be down for about an hour on October 24th, sometime between the hours of 1am - 7am EST. Thought I'd throw that out there so no one wonders what's up. Since it'll be in the middle of the night, hopefully no one will notice. :-)

Okay, back to my schedule. Today has been cold, rainy, and dreary. I don't mind it for a day or two, but more than three days will start to get to me. So fingers crossed that it's only for a few days and Monday will bring the sun back into focus.

I don't have any plans for the weekend. The oldest thinks that it's boring to stay home all weekend, but we'll see what she says when she's in her 30's and a weekend home is appealing. LOL.

Today marks 2 weeks until Halloween, and the day that A Twilight Abduction officially releases. I'm very excited! The pre-orders have been wonderful and I hope that the orders after the release will be just as great, and more so!

Then on November 1st, the big book sale will start on my website. Buyers will be able to purchase all three of the Alex & Fiona books for one low price.

November 1st also marks the start of NaNoWriMo... National Novel Writing Month. I'll be participating in the NaNo contest again this year (50K words in 30days). Hopefully I'll win again like last year. :-)

November 19th is the day I'll be guest blogging on CoffeeTimeRomance.com's blog, Coffee Thoughts.

Then throw in Thanksgiving Day! I'll be cooking and hosting the family Thanksgiving meal again this year, so that'll be a busy day with absolutely no writing time on the agenda. LOL

And all of that is just for November. December is almost as busy, and it leads right into January!

Now that I've rambled your eyes off with my insanity, I'll let you escape gracefully. Have a great weekend!!

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It's been a busy day.

Today was a busy day around here. My older two girls only have three days of school this week, so I'm trying to cram all of my week's worth of work into just three days. Plus the hubby and I will be out of town over the weekend, so that's two less days for me to work.

Nevertheless, I was extremely busy this morning with advertising, blogging, more advertising, setting up event invitations for my "guest appearance" on Coffee Thoughts next month, and all that jazz. Before I knew it, it was time to go pick up the big girls at school. *Shock*

The day just flew by with a WHOOSH.

After I got the kids home from school, I spent half and hour on my hair. It needed a refreshing of red coloring before I go away in a few days. This red doesn't come naturally I'm afraid. LOL! I've been a redhead for a year now, after being a blonde for more than a decade, and I still love this color. Since my hair is naturally dark, and the red is dark, it takes much longer for me to start seeing my roots through the color. Meaning that I don't have to color as often as I did with the blonde. Either way, I love this color.

I did manage to make more notes for my next book. I try not to be too "planning" when I start a new book. I like to let the characters evolve on their own (as if I have a choice, lol). But when something strikes my fancy, I have to make a note about it for later inclusion somewhere in the story.

Okay, enough rambling for today. I have to get dinner started. Well, I have BBQ chicken in the crock-pot, but I need to start the side dishes.

Have a great evening!

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My numerous points of interest

As many of you already know, I'm alllllllll over the internet. I have pages on more sites than I even have time to visit on a daily basis. Not only that, but I have hundreds of emails coming through my inbox each and every day. Plus I have my actual writing that needs to get done. Needless to say, that makes me a busy lady without even adding my family requirements into the mix

Nevertheless, I'm always here, around, and fully accesible at almost any given time throughout the day, by some means or another. Emails always come first on my list, so if you need me immediately that's your best bet for a timely response. My blogs and MySpace are next. And then you have sites like Plurk and CoffeeTimeRomance. Numerous others have their own spots on my list of importance.

One of my newest favorites is a site called Good Reads. It's a book cataloguing site, but with a more personal networking feel to it. There are message boards and groups, as well as being a place to keep lists of the books you've read, want to read, or are currently reading. You can rate and review the books you've read, as well. I've found it quite enjoyable and there are so many fun and interesting people to chat with.

If you're a member of Good Reads, come on by and be my friend. :-)


Christie on Good Reads


Okay, that's it for today. I need to head out to pick the big girls up at school soon. I hope that you're having a fantastic day and hope to see you back here next time! :-) Remember that my newsletter goes out tomorrow. It's not too late for you to receive it if you sign up today!



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