I am so EXCITED I can barely contain myself! A little bit ago, I found an affordable cover artist whom I commissioned to do the covers of three of my books - The Mahogany King's Daughter (an ebook prequel to The Disposable Noble Wife. I have one chapter finished so far, but have been too busy to write much more), Navigating Marital Abandonment and The Disposable Noble Wife. All the finished covers are amazing and, let me tell you, it is quite a high to see your name on a professionally designed cover ...
As you, my readers know, I write. In fact, I write more than isnormal for a typical human being -- so much so that I have written a handful of short books that have collected a small number of fans from three continents... No, wait... Four continents.Of course, I have had the darnedest time trying to win my way into a traditional publishing house, but that is beside the point. The point is that I write -- and well. (Well enough that another author actually invited me to proofread his first book and then ...
My last two weeks were kind of interesting ones. First, there was my birthday. If you remember from my last entry, a friend of mine has her birthday two days before mine and we were supposed to meet up for a joint birthday celebration on the day in the middle (April 8th). What wound up happening isthat Shawn got home from a week's vacation on April 7th and we had not yet finalized our plans, so did nothing on the 8th. We touched base on the 9th and she bought me lunch at the Mexican restaurant where sh...
I have found a newform of storytelling that keeps mequite entertained: Tall Tales on Video! Of course, I have my botched attempt at the Toastmasters' Tall Tale competition to thank for that. You see how thingscan turn around for the ultimate good? Yesterday evening, I finished another tall tale video to promote a friend's fundraiser concert. I thought my readers might like to hear and watch me personally tell the story. (The Youtube link so you can give me a thumbs-up or thumbs-downis: http://youtu.b...
The last couple of weeks have been mildly busy for me. After three weeks of preparation, I finally delivered my Toastmasters "Tall Tale Competition" speech. It ran a few seconds too long and I did not move on to the next round. (Reminder to self: Make sure to include several extra seconds for people's laughter.) Unfortunately, my camera did not start recording when I pressed the button. So I did the speech again after the meeting for you to see my final product, if you are interested. It is here: Loo...
Whew! I did it. I RESISTED the warm, corned beef sandwich being sold by the grocery store at lunch today. Didn't go anywhere near it. . . went to my Mexican restaurant for a SALAD, instead. I skipped the chips, too. So, tomorrow morning, maybe I will have maintained my weight loss and my diet will not have been TOTALLY blown. Did I say, "weight loss?" Why, yes, I did. For the past week, I have been on a new diet. About a week and a half ago, my mom informed me that she has been diagnosed with celiac dis...
I have been diligently preparing my competition speech over the last couple of weeks and cut it to video today. Good thing I did! (Video really helps me to work out my bugs.) This is the second speech I have given in over 20 years and it still needs a bit of work to get it just right. The story I am telling is kind of fun, as this is a "Tall Tale" competition. But like most of my stories, it is rooted in events of my real life... events that I posted to this blog. Can you spot the bits of truth in my sp...
This just happened today and I already love the story. Yesterday afternoon, I got my car and drove to see an acquaintance at her work. She was working a split shift and said she would bring a couple of empty coffee cans to work for me in the afternoon. (I wanted them for countertop food waste receptacles.) Now, I had been out in the morning and my car was fine. But as soon as I pulled out of my driveway in the afternoon, my check engine light went on. So, on my way home from going for the coffee cans, I...
There is a little pizza restaurant in thetown where I live that offers a $4.00 lunch on weekdays. I don't have a lot of money, but I like to go there about once a week (sometimes twice). I am familiar with several of the waitresses and the general manager, and have taken the liberty to introduce them to two of my friends. Well, one is my friend. The other is my friend's friend, with whom I am familiar because he used to be a server at another restaurant where I sometimes like to go. This last Tuesday, I...
Well, I'm at It again. The last story I started, the legend of Lord Randall castle, lasted all the way until I saw the entire story in my mind's eye. When I got to the end of the story in my thoughts, I stopped writing. This story before that, The Soldier's Wife, lasted a little bit longer but also ended well before it was finished. Now I have begun a story which I am calling The Mahogany King's Daughter. This is a family story I know well, but I am also generating quite a few fictional details to make...
