Like, a real book.
It came on Wednesday, delivered by a very nice man with a floofy mustache and a white van. I was crying before I even opened the box, because that’s how I roll when I’ve been waiting years for something.
No, not waiting. Fighting.
This has never been easy. I’ve never taken shortcuts, though there have been detours and unexpected destinations.
I have never worked this hard for anything, and it is totally, completely, mind-blowingly worth it.
Six days to launch.
Wait… it’s almost party time.
Yessir (or yes ma’am, or yes creature-of-the-night or yes oak tree if that’s how we’re feeling today), we’re going to have a party. It’s a Facebook party, but dangit, it’s a REAL party.
And we’re celebrating a book release.
You’ve all been so patient and supportive, encouraging me through the tough parts of this project, celebrating the small victories, offering advice or a loving kick in the pants when I needed it. I think we all deserve to have some fun, don’t you?
The Bound release party is happening June 26, 2014 from 12:30 to 8:30 PM EDT (Eastern). It’s a long party, and obviously I’m going to have to step out for bathroom and coffee breaks and to do silly little things like feeding my family, but this seemed like a good way to make sure that everyone who wants to can stop by, sign in, and participate in a few activities for a chance to win prizes. You’re under no obligation to stay for the whole thing.
Prizes? Indeed. I’ll be giving out a few e-book copies of Bound over the course of the party (drawn for from participants in specific activities), and a grand prize of a signed paperback copy plus a bag of the magical tea I drink while I’m writing and an Amazon gift card. I might throw some more prizes in there if enough people show up.
Like so.
If you’re an author and would like to give away a copy of your e-book in an activity to get the word out, I’d be happy to help out. Just e-mail me (kate.sparkes @ live.ca). I’d like to make this about you guys, too. I couldn’t have done this without you.
So here’s what you do: follow this link to the party page. Click up top (under the banner) to indicate you’re coming. Then on the 26th, look for the sign-in post so I know I’ve got your name for the grand prize, which will be chosen randomly from everyone who shows up. Invite friends, if you’d like. Look around, have some fun, join in discussions or activities if you’d like. Ask a question, if you have one. This is my first Facebook party, but I think it’ll be small enough that I’ll be able to keep up with everything. Mingle. Make some mew friends. Or be the weird dude who sits in the corner and talks to the dragonlings. That’s cool, too.
ROW80 Update:
It feels like we just did this. Um… everything approved with formatting. Should have that proof paperback in my hands Tuesday (or Wednesday, what with the mail being slow here). I’m about half way through my read-through of book two, and I’m getting some fantastic ideas about how to improve it. I’ve also had a most delightful realization about Aren’s grandmother. Nothing I could ever write into a YA series, but no one ever said that everything set in a world had to be for the same age group… you never know. I keep finding these characters who want to have their stories told, so even when this trilogy is over, I don’t think I’ll be done my work there.
Frustrating, infuriating, difficult and just plain hard as this work is at times, I really wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Release date still set for June 26, though I’m hoping to have e-book links available sooner, just to cover for retailers who are slower about putting things up. I may be queen of the procrastinators, but I think I’m actually going to be ahead of schedule for this one.
I just jinxed it, didn’t I?
Friends. Darlings. Beloved peoples and kinda-creepy lurkers.
Today is the day.
You’ve all been so supportive and patient. I’m not going to make this all wordy. Here you go. Please feel free to share.
(Cover art by Ravven)
Welcome to Darmid, where magic is a sin, fairy tales are contraband, and the people live in fear of the Sorcerers on the other side of the mountains.
Rowan Greenwood has everything she’s supposed to want from life—a good family, a bright future, and a proposal from a handsome and wealthy magic hunter. She knows she should be content with what she has. If only she could banish the idea that there’s more to life than marriage and children, or let go of the fascination with magic she’s been forced to suppress since childhood.
When Rowan unknowingly saves the life of one of her people’s most feared enemies, that simple act of compassion rips her from her sheltered life and throws her into a world of magic that’s more beautiful, more seductive, and more dangerous than she ever could have imagined.
Rowan might get everything she ever dreamed of—that is, if the one thing she’s always wanted doesn’t kill her first.
Available in e-book June 26, 2014 — like my Facebook author page to join the celebration!
(paperback availability TBA)
Links to fantastic bloggers who are participating in this reveal (thank you, all of you! More to come as posts go up):
So this goals post is a week late. I said last Sunday that I was putting it off because of my surgical thinger on Monday (UPDATE: everything is fine, general anaesthesia is creepy, painkillers are kind of fun but I’m off of them now). That was true, but it wasn’t all of it. I was waiting to get stuff back from my editor, and I wanted to make sure his evaluation wasn’t going to be KILL IT NOW WITH FIRE AND EXTREME PREJUDICE before I made goals public.
Wouldn’t want to have to retract my goals now, would I?
Anyway…
This has the potential to be a huge round for me. I’m not going to lie, I might need you all to talk me down from an 8th-floor window ledge at least once, assuming I can find a building anywhere around here with eight floors.
Why? Because this round covers April 7 to June 26, and depending on how things go… no promises just yet… I might just have a book out by the end of this round.
LIKE A BOOK AN ACTUAL BOOK I MIGHT BE HOLDING MY WORDS IN MY HANDS IN LESS THAN THREE MONTHS HOLY CARP.*
Pictured: Holy Carp.
I got the edits back, and they’re exactly what I had hoped for. My guy is a master of the “sh*t sandwich” technique. No punches pulled on things that need improvement, but some of what he said was so encouraging that I fell asleep smiling the night I got and read the (20 page) critique. When I read the line notes, I spent equal amounts of time slapping my forehead over silly little mistakes and grinning like an idiot because he totally got what I was going for so much of the time.
I’ll do a post on this experience later, because it was so interesting.
The important thing is that he had ideas on how to fix problems I already knew existed, and came up with suggestions that are really going to push this thing up to a whole ‘nother level.
I’m both excited and pants-crappingly terrified. It’s… different.
So what are we looking at over the next few months? A THRILLING roller-coaster of me working on that in a most professional manner and handling all of my other plans and responsibilities with the grace and aplomb of Martha Stewart organizing a dinner party, obviously.
*snerk*
But seriously. Professionalism is this round’s goal. Distance. This isn’t my baby anymore. It’s a product, and if I have anything to say about it, it’ll be a damned good one. I know I’m insecure about a lot of things, but I’m absolutely confident about that.
So, the goals. Please note that these could change and things could get pushed back. But:
APRIL:
MAY:
JUNE:
This timeline terrifies me. I’ve been 100% sure I wanted to publish independently for almost a year, but the traditional-minded part of me is still screaming “YOU CAN’T DO IT THAT QUICKLY! SO WRONG!” I’m still amazed when I see authors post things like, “Well, finished a draft, guess I’ll release next month.”
Um… *hides under table*
Time to stop wussing out, though. This is my job now. As entrepreneurial ventures go, it’s a risky one. I just have to learn to be OK with that.
Now, before things get too crazy, I think I should take a minute to thank all of you. My WIPpeteers, my blog friends, my real-life friends who care and have encouraged me and put up with my “should-I-or-shouldn’t-I” crap, and especially those who have read my stuff… you’re all the reason I’m going ahead with this. Your love and encouragement have meant the world to me, and have given me the confidence to follow this dream. You’ve convinced me that this is a gamble that’s going to pay off (in satisfaction and experience, even if not in cash). Your advice and assistance have brought me this far. So thank you.
Anything else y’all think I should be doing to get ready?
Oh, and if you need to reach me privately about anything, my contact info is in the “About Me” tab.
—
*Not written like this. You’re welcome.
**Down to read.
I had a moment of panic a few days ago.
EPIC MOMENT OF DESPAIR.
I went into Scrivener to find the work I did for NaNoWriMo in November, and guess what?
It’s gone. I have three versions I started, and none of them contain more than five chapters. My brain melted. I may have called Scrivener some unflattering things (and we’re usually SUCH good buddies).
In short, I was pissed.
The good news is that I’d done a compile in PDF format, so I can read it over in Acrobat and make notes. The bad news is that I can’t copy and paste that into Scrivener, because the formatting just doesn’t work. But hey, I’ll take what I can get. And the read-over could be worse. I already have pages of notes, but I’m getting everything on to index cards and working out problems and trying to figure out exactly how much I have to know about mer anatomy for this one if Kel is going to… Well. Whatever. It’ll work out.
Today, five (rough, sorry) paragraphs that I’m just reading over now, plus one bonus line because I love Aren. This is from Torn, the sequel to Bound (which I usually share from). Aren has taken off on a cross-country journey to try to find his father, who disappeared more than three years ago. He’s already had a few shocks and some major difficulties, because why would I make things easy for him? But he has a promising lead…
–
There were no dragons in those first days, and no towns or
roadside inns.We travelled for two days and nights. I let the horse forage
where he could, and did my hunting as an eagle when there was
game nearby. I slept in that body, too, forced by the
frigid night winds to take whatever form would keep me from
freezing.The morning of the third day brought us to the shore of a
large lake of uneven shape, with bays and inlets hiding much of
the shore from view. Clouds reflected on the wind-ruffled
surface, but otherwise the space seemed peaceful. The grass-covered shores sloped toward the water, dotted with low shrubs. I removed my things from the saddle and let the horse loose.“It seems the dragon infestation claims are overblown,” I
said to the horse. He looked up, twitched an ear, and went back
to eating. It wouldn’t have surprised me if the stories about
dragons were exaggerated to keep us southerners away. Though
Tyrea was united as one country, the outer provinces often
seemed to resent us, perhaps forgetting what life had been like
before my father’s rule.A flash of movement caught my eye, and I spun around in
time to see my horse pulled into the water, his neck caught in
the jaws of a massive black water dragon. The dragon stayed near
the surface, watching me from eyes placed high atop its head as
the horse thrashed, then stilled. A moment later, both shapes
disappeared into the depths of the lake, leaving only
reflections to hide what hid below the surface.“Well, shit.”
–
For more WIPpety goodness, swing on by the very busy KL Schwengel’s blog, say hi, and click on the linkie in the upper right. SO MUCH WIPPET.
ROW80 Update
See above for EPIC MOMENT OF PANIC. Not much else to report, really. Had I finished that read-through of Bound when I last checked in? Well, I have now. I’ve done what I can. Still waiting to hear that Mister Editor is ready for me to catapult that on over. Reading through Torn now, obviously, and then I’ll get back to work on that or the vampires. Torn should probably take precedence (what with the need for getting sequels out quickly and all), but we’ll see what happens.
Well, I’m off to take the dog for a walk. It might not last long. It’s -16 C here, with the wind chill around -30 (-22 F to you American types). TOO DURN COLD. But I do feel a lot better when I get out for walks, even if I can’t feel my legs by the time I get back, and I might need to drop Jack back at home half-way through.
Boxers aren’t built for winter.
Pictured: Not winter
I’m trying some other health-related stuff that’s working out well, but we’ll save that for another post.
I hope you’re all having a good week, wherever you are and no matter how cold it is. Let me know what you’re up to…
So I’m working in Word now. Yaaay.
No, I don’t mind not being able to jump to whatever chapter and scene I want, like I can in Scrivener. Scrolling is fun. *eyelid twitch*
Many thanks to everyone who has helped me figure things out so far (like how to highlight the whole document so I could format– never picked that trick up on my own). I think I have it formatted correctly for editing. Now I just need to finish this read-through, and wait for my editor to say that it’s time.
For WIPpet Wedensday, here’s the last twelve lines (in my WordPress editor, anyway) that I read over. The math? 26th, minus 14 for the year. Because I’m reasonable like that.
Oh, context… mer man (hello!) was just visiting with Aren and Rowan, and he and Aren (POV character in this scene) are trying to figure out how to help Rowan. Kel (mer dude) is getting ready to change forms and go back to the water. Aren is refusing to acknowledge that he has feelings for Rowan, because… well, long story.
–
We reached the dock, and he stepped out of his clothes and handed them to me. I put everything in one of the wooden crates in case he needed it again.
Kel looked out over the dull gray water. “Try to be honest with yourself about what you’re feeling for her.”
“I don’t—”
He held up one hand to stop me. “I know, you don’t want to. It’s against your family’s religion or something.”
“No, I mean I can’t let anything like that happen. I told her I’d try to help her. You know as well as I do that she’s not safe as long as she’s with me.”
Kel looked back at me and raised an eyebrow. “You think safe is what she wants?” I didn’t answer. I had no idea what she wanted, and I doubted she knew, either. “I’ll see what I can do for her, if you’re sure that’s what’s best. It’ll be up to her, though.”
“Of course. Thank you.” I turned and walked back up the path, and heard Kel splash into the water behind me. I suddenly felt more alone than I had since I was a child, and hurried toward the light of the house.
–
Yes, there’s quite a bit of casual nudity in this book, what with people changing physical forms and all. I haven’t had any complaints so far. 😉
For more WIPpet Wednesday goodness, stop by and see our host KL Schwengel and click on the link near the top right corner to find everyone else.
ROW80 UPDATE
Like I said, I’m just trying to be ready to send this thing off. After that, I’ll be reading, and going back to that plan of trying to finish Resurrection. I’m feeling a little better about things than I was a few days ago. I just wish I enjoyed challenges more, you know? I’m happiest when things are easy and I can be lazy.
There, I said it. I wish I were different, but that’s me. I haaate challenges. Does that mean I get bonus points for going ahead with one?
I think I need to get back to working in my office. I’ve been upstairs too much lately. Need my own space.
Um… I think that’s it for my update, actually. Oh, but in other news, Krista Walsh’s Evensong is on sale for 99 cents this week for e-books. If you haven’t got it yet and think you might be interested in a fantastic fantasy adventure that involves an author being transported into the world he writes about (and facing the characters lives he’s been ruining), go get it now! Links here. It’s a great read, well worth a buck and a few hours of your time.
It’s been a little chilly. Most of our snow melted last week, which was simply grand, but then everything kind of iced over.
Everything.
Pretty, but slippery. I nearly killed myself getting these pictures, so I figured I might as well share them with all of you.
Okay, on to WIPpet Wednesday. Edits on Bound are still progressing, if slowly at times. Not to jinx anything, but we’re on schedule as far as that goes.
*waits for roof to crash in and exploditate the computer*
No?
Good. So here’s a snippet from Rowan’s POV in chapter 22, because I’m playing by the rules. But it’s a short one, because spoilers and good times abound, and I’d hate to ruin anything. We’re walking in on the middle of a fight, here.
–
I hesitated for a moment and felt some of my anger leave me, but my heart continued to pound. “You don’t think you can want something and still be afraid of it?”
His mouth twitched. “No, you can, and you should. What you’re saying no to is better than you can imagine. This decision should be so easy. You have until tomorrow to decide what you—”
I stepped closer again. “I don’t need until tomorrow. I know what I want.”
–
I know what she wants, too. Whether I let her have it is another question.
#DrunkOnPower #GodComplex #EvilGrin #IveHadTooMuchCoffeeToday
For anyone not in the know, WIPpet Wednesday is when we share a snippet of a work in progress relating in some way to the day’s date. The group is always growing. Take a look here, and then feel free to join in! And if you want updates on that there story (in which I never once use the phrase “that there,” FYI), feel free to add your name to the mailing list for updates and other fun stuff. Next edition (April-ish) will have news on ARCs, cover reveals, and publication dates.
On to ROW80, then!
Editing: As I said, not too bad. I stalled over the weekend, but things are moving again.
Reading: Haven’t had time. I know that’s sad, but there you have it. Well, I read a good chunk of a romance novel, but I’m giving up on it. I don’t believe that this woman (or anyone) would fall for the guy. He’s an alpha male with no redeeming qualities except for what she’s projected onto him (and massive junk, because they always have that, don’t they?). I just KNOW her love will redeem him in the end, but I don’t think I’ll be sticking around to see it.
Life: I was supposed to see a chiropractor today, but he got the flu and had to reschedule for Thursday. I was disappointed, but what can you do? I went out and got groceries, anyway. And walked the dog. So that’s something.
Oh, and the snow came back.
And on that note…
Thanks for stopping by!
SO much Wednesday.
I didn’t link my WIPpet Wednesday offering back to the linkie-poo last week, because I knew I wouldn’t have time to visit everyone, and it seemed unfair to link and run. I’m going to make time this week, though, even if it kills me.
Okay, maybe not if it kills me. But even if it kills my productivity. 😉
ROW80
Hey, speaking of productivity… I worked out a tentative schedule for next year, involving the release of two books, participating in two writing events (NaNoWriMo and JuNoWriMo), and drafting a third novel. I even colour-coded this plan so I could see what I’d be working on each month, and I scheduled in “read over edits, cry, regroup” at the end of February, just to be safe. I AM SO ORGANIZED.
It’s doable. It’s insane, but it’s possible. It’s also subject to change. If my TMJ is caused by stress, the next year won’t help, but what the heck. I said I was going to do this. I’m going to do it.
*hyperventilates*
I got nothing done this past weekend. I think December is going to be a month of rest, once I finish this draft of Torn (one scene to go!). There’s just too much else going on. And that’s okay. January is going to be nuts, what with revising and pre-editorial edits for Bound HOLY CRAP WHAT AM I DOING.
*breathes into paper bag*
I may have gone into the wrong business.
WIPpet Wednesday
Moving on…
Remember the character I (sort of) introduced a few weeks back? This week’s snippet is from her again. Nox has just gone for a sunset walk in the woods with a man she hardly knows, against her better judgement. She got a little weirded out when he said he wanted to go swimming…
…and got quite a surprise when he resurfaced and revealed that he’s not human. In his defense, this is not an easy thing to tell a woman you’re growing fond of.
I know it needs work yet, but I kind of love this moment. Nox is usually such a hard-ass.
11 paragraphs for the 11th, and two bonus paragraphs because… um… I like them?
—
Suddenly I felt shy. “Can I see it?”
Kel grinned, then pulled himself out of the water and onto the rock. He rested his chin on his crossed arms and flicked his tail. “Go ahead.”
He was unlike anything I had ever imagined when people spoke of the mer-folk. There was no clear place where man ended and mer began. My gaze moved over the greyish skin that stretched over sleek shoulder muscles, then along the valley of his spine to that incredible tail. It was longer than his legs had been, ending in a thick, notched fluke that he moved slowly, rippling the surface of the water where it touched.
“Can I-”
“Mm-hmm,” he said, and closed his eyes. I reached out, hesitant, and placed my hand flat against his hip. His skin was as smooth as it looked, as flawless as his face and the rest of his body, except for a scar that curved diagonally around the side half-way down his tail. I traced the scar with my finger, and found it just barely raised over the rest of the skin.
“That was a net,” he said. “I was young and didn’t know any better. I got tangled, and the rope dug in. It only scarred because I was stuck for so long. We’re quite hardy, usually.”
“That must have been frightening,” I whispered, not wanting to disturb the near perfect silence of the forest. I shifted myself toward the end of Kel’s tail and he lifted it out of the water. I ran my hand over the fluke, then back up the centre of the tail toward his back. I could feel the bones there, just under the skin. He shivered, and I pulled my hand away.
“No, don’t stop,” he said. “It’s nice. Odd to have a human touching me when I’m like this, but good.”
I put my hand back where it had been and continued up. Strange how his body became more human as it got closer to the middle. I’d seen pictures of something called a dolfin, and its tail looked like his, but it didn’t have the narrowing at the waist, above what would have been his-
I jerked my hand away. I just touched his butt.
Kel rolled onto his side, propped himself up on one arm and gave me a lazy grin. “Time to get back? You must be getting cold.”
“Um, yes.” I was actually feeling fairly warm, but he didn’t need to know that. “I’ll wait for you to get dressed.”
I sneaked one more look before I left. His front was more impressive than the back. Stomach muscles strong from swimming drew my gaze toward his tail, which was flat and a lighter grey on the underside.
I wonder how–
I cut that thought off before it could start, and walked back into the woods far enough to give him privacy to change and dress. I’d have to be careful with this one.
—
I know how. I don’t think that’s appropriate to discuss here and now, though. Jeez, think of the children, guys.
So, WIPpet Wednesday. Swing by to see our host, K.L. Schwengel here, and find the other WIPpeteers here, adding their lovely goodies as the day progresses. Check early, and check often. If you want to join in… well, most of you know the rules. I really need a post to link to every week. Post a snippet of your work in progress on your own blog, make sure it relates to today’s date (somehow… heh), and link back. Make sure you like and/or comment on other WIPpeteers’ posts, too! What goes around comes around and all of that. 🙂
In other news: Snow. Yay.
WIIIIIPpet Wednesday!
The group of WIPpeteers is growing these days, have you noticed? I highly recommend checking out the link at the end of the day, when everyone’s posted. Bring bananas or something when you visit our host, K.L. Schwengel… the flying monkeys seem to be rather unruly these days.
For anyone who’s new here (welcome!), WIPpet Wednesday is the day when we post a bit of a work in progress that corresponds to the day’s date. Any genre, any draft. It’s free to join, no obligation, no medical required, no salesperson will call. Just post your own excerpt on your blog and do the math: 4 paragraphs for the 4th, 12 lines for the 12th month… whatever. Link back, join the party. They’re a good group.
Just don’t drink the punch.
Today I offer a paragraph from the beginning of chapter 4 of Torn, aka this year’s NaNovel. This follows a previous WIPet snippet, conveniently linked here for anyone curious enough to venture back in time, but we’re switching from Aren’s POV to Rowan’s.
In the morning I found my roommate Celia seated on the edge of the bed. My exhausted muscles refused to obey orders to sit up, and I settled for rolling over onto my back. A heavy sadness to settled onto my chest like a contented cat, weighing me down.
If you have a cat, you know that feeling.
I also owe a…
ROW80 Update
Almost done the beta read that I’ve been horrifically slow about, so I should be able to cross that one off soon. I shouldn’t have offered to do that around NaNoWriMo time. I’m a bad person.
As for other reading, NaNoWriMo kind of took all of my time away from that, too, and until I finish the above… nothing else.
Writing’s going well, though. I’m going to try to get this draft of Torn finished up before Christmas. That should be easy– I just have one HUGE scene. Game changer. Massive character development, inner turmoil, action and death, and setting up the third book… easy.
Famous last words, right? At least my star stickers are keeping me motivated (I’m not even kidding).
COMING TOMORROW: The first few days of Amy Snow’s adventures for this year. It’s bad… December 4th and I’ve already forgotten to do it twice. At least the boys haven’t noticed.
Yep, I have the sniffly-snuffles. The common cold. My nose is running, better go catch it, ha ha, I KILL ME. It could be a lot worse– I don’t have a fever or a cough. But you know how it is:
(I’m not actually that bad. My older son is, though. “I’m SICK! I’m really SICK!” is a common refrain every winter.)
Anyway, tanker-truck loads of mucus aren’t going to stop WIPpet Wednesday, or even a less-than-stellar ROW80 Update. Because book kittens… or something.
And as Kristen Lamb reminded us today (go read it!), in every complaint there is something to be thankful for. I am thankful for these sniffly-snuffles, because they mean I am breathing, and I’m thankful that my health is good enough that I’m not worried about my illness being something much worse.
WIPpet Wednesday
Let’s see… math. The 27th, minus eleven for the month, and… minus sixteen for the chapter number.
That leaves us with one paragraph, the first one to come from a new character.
Because I did that. I can handle three POV characters, but I think that’s my limit for this trilogy. Or possibly ever.
—
I’ve never liked surprises. I don’t remember much about my first home or my first family. But I remember leaving, being wakened from sweet dreams and taken from my warm bedroom out into the cold night. My mother held me in her lap as we rode in the back of a wagon. I remember the smell of hay, and horses, and the driver’s pipe. My mother cried every day of our journey, until I thought she’d never stop. That was the first surprise I remember, and I haven’t had many pleasant ones since.
—
Hmm. That last sentence should maybe be its own paragraph, for impact. Maybe the first sentence, too. Well, that’s how early drafts go, right? More for you this way, anyway.
So there you go. There was another scene I just finished that I REALLY wanted to share from, but it would make even less sense out of context than this did. Boo.
Want to see who else is WIPpin’ it good this week? Head on over to the linkie, and be sure to share some comment love! And thanks to K.L. Schwengel for hosting. Speaking of whom…
ROW80
I’m going to stick this down here. On Monday it was my turn in the hot seat for K.L. Schwengel’s WIPpeteer interview series. You can see that here. She was nice, didn’t release her flying monkeys on me, didn’t let them fling poop. I was nervous about that. I DID get turned into an evil, sock-stealing supervillain in the comments, but what can you do? I should have costume designs finalized by next week.
In other news, I’ve hit a post-win slowdown in my word count. Instead of riding the wave of NaNo glee, I’ve kind of not written anything since Thursday. Why? Because weekend, because children, because we had people coming Tuesday to do a walk-through of the house, see what needs repairing, and I assume to spy on us, make sure we’re not screwing the place up too badly. This meant I had to clean the place up AND (more importantly) get the kids to clean up the basement.
It was a DISASTER. There were threats, there were garbage bags, there were angry faces. I’m not proud of that, but there you go.
And after that was done, the kids wanted to do some Christmas decorating. The cats approve of the blanket I put out:
The big guy there, Charlie, is terrified of Lucy, the smallest cat in the house. He looks uncomfortable because he wants blanket, but he fears her wrath.
Her adorable, fuzzy wrath.
Then on Monday I was going to get back to my regular schedule, only to find that Ike didn’t have school that morning… a fact I discovered only after dropping him off at school.
Oops.
So we had a morning together, and I got nothing else done.
Tuesday was house inspection morning, and I had a short nap in the afternoon, and then kids all evening when AJ was at work, and then I had no mental energy left. And that was that.
Also, the dog ate my homework, and now I’m all out of excuses.
“Did not.”
I need to get round to more ROW80 blogs this week. I’ve been slacking off since I’ve had NaNoWriMo goals taking up my time, but that’s not an excuse any more. If anyone would like to join me in making the rounds, you’ll find the links here. 🙂
Dark, decadent, and deadly... Immortal Soulless books 1-7 (full series) available now! Visit www.katesparkes.com for details.
Paperback, Nook, Kobo (included with your Kobo+ subscription!) iTunes, Kindle, and more
Kindle, Kobo, iBooks, Nook, paperback. Click image for details.
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politics, engineering, parenting, relevant things over coffee.
Writer of historical fiction and teller of tales . . .
An Aspiring Author's Adventure
Life, writing, books, dragons- not necessarily in that order. Home of USA Today bestselling Fantasy author Kate Sparkes.
Author, Writer, & Inventor of Worlds
Author
"Either write something worth reading, or do something worth writing." - Benjamin Franklin
Finding Yessings and Blessings in Lifes Messings!
I thought having my own blog would help me....Squirrel!....stay more focused. I could be wrong.
Stunning new multitouch iBook by breakthrough author R.J Madigan
Read it! 📖 Spark it! ✨
Wild Magic. Wild Stories. Wild Souls.
Read. Recommend. Revel.
LGBT Book Reviews, Cover Reveals & More! We are a group designed to help promote and review LGBT et al books. We were created out of seeing a need and wanted to have that need filled. We pride ourseles of having opinionated reviews that are unique and helpful to the author. Welcome to a world of the best LGBT et al books out there!
I love sharing my stories, but I wish they wouldn't keep me awake at night.
Fantasy and Sci-Fi Reviews For Both Self-Published and Traditionally Published Books
Welcome to my mind... Blog for fantasty author Jen Wylie
disregard the prologue 