I Now Love Mondays

The rain is coming down, pitter-pattering on my office window.  Thunder is booming in the distance.  This morning, I was outside with the dogs and watched the storm come in from the northwest.  I didn't get to take my usual walk, so I'll have to either do it later or use the treadmill.  But I've got a cup of hot coffee and feel blessed.

I love my job.  For over twenty years I dreamed of being a full-time writer.  This month marks the second anniversary of when we sold our insurance agency and my second year as a full-time writer.   I'm happy, even if I'm a bit heavier weight-wise.  I don't shop as much and surprisingly, don't miss it as badly as I thought I would. 

The best part is that I'm able to write in huge chunks and take my time, rather than rushing to fit in the words around my day job.  Because this IS my day job now.

My husband says "Happy Monday" to me now.  He knows how much I used to dread Mondays and how much I now love them.

Happy Monday!

Random Wednesday

Well, it's true summer here in North Texas.  Supposed to be triple digits by tomorrow.  And more humid than normal - some days I feel like I'm in Houston instead of DFW! 

The dogs have been swimming - so has Lonnie.  Steph and I dipped ourselves in the pool, but no real swimming yet.  We haven't been to the lake place AT ALL - which has never happened since we've owned it (six years now!).  The  lake is super low - 7 feet below normal - and our cove is dry.  Plus we have Katniss, who doesn't get along with my Mac Macadoo, and we'd have to take two cars, bring a cage, and go through a lot just to sit around and camp on a dry cove.  So... we've elected to stay home and use our pool.

I've been working on a book I'm calling The Wolf Siren.  It will be out in February 2014.  It's been one of the most enjoyable books I've ever written, despite all the craziness going on around me. 

Oh, and after spending countless hours perusing different vacation options - Europe got ruled out due to cost and length of time in the air - Hawaii, same thing - I narrowed it down to three options.  We could fly into DC, rent a car, and tour DC and Pennsylvania.  Or we could do an all inclusive resort like thing at some tropical location.  Or finally, we could take another cruise.  We've cruised to Alaska (best. cruise. ever.) and to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel.  The other two options from Galveston were Belize and Cozumel, or Key West, and the Bahamas.  Since we thoroughly enjoyed cruising, I've booked another one!   And I have a house-sitter/dog-sitter lined up, plus I've requested a foster-sitter through the rescue for Katniss.  I'm ready to go. 

And I need time away more than I can say. 

Musing on Monday

Monday rolls around again.  I had a great weekend - Friday night we tried a new restaurant and I had crab legs and oysters on the half shell.  Plus happy hour margaritas.  It was fabulous.  I did a review on Yelp. 

We cooked out this weekend too - healthy stuff.  Chicken on Saturday and salmon on Sunday.  My daughter came over and swam with us.  All in all, I had a great weekend.

Today was my annual physical exam.  Yuck.  I skipped it last year because I hate it so much.  (Not my well-woman, I never miss that.  Just regular physical.).  I had to fast so they could do blood work, and my appointment was at 9:15.  I didn't get out of there until 11 and I'd been up since 5:30.  Talk about STARVING!!! 

I'm also mad at myself.  Mad because I wanted to join a new gym for a change of pace, and let my husband talk me out of it.  Mad because I wanted to try Cross Fit, but couldn't afford it.  Most of all, mad that I can't seem to motivate myself to work out more.  Not just exercise - I walk.  But work out with weights and machines.  Grrrr.

I haven't even written yet today and it's nearly 1pm.  Must finish checking email and then will get to it.  No caffeine from no coffee = headache and cranky.

The End of May

May flew by, at least for me.  Yesterday was Memorial Day, school is almost out here (my daughter teaches), and we just have a few days left before June.

I've been dealing with family issues here (terminally ill mother, lonely elderly father) and  on top of that, trying to plan a vacation.  We haven't had a real vacation for two years.  I have HUGE vacation ideas - Europe, Hawaii, and my husband wants smaller (and less-expensive).  He wants Washington, DC, even though I went there four years ago.  I guess I could go see it again.  Just can't get all that excited about that.  We'll see. 

Also, as you know from previous posts, I volunteer for Legacy Boxer Rescue.  There's this one dog that I'm so worried will be put to sleep.  He's been super urgent for 5 days now.  It's killing me.  He's not the prettiest dog - just a plan Boxer with no white - but he's only 6 and doesn't deserve to die.  If I didn't think my husband would kill me, I'd take him.  Just to save his life.  He's already neutered and if he's heartworm negative, he'll be ready to be adopted in 10 days.  If he's heartworm positive, it's treatable and he'll be in a crate for a month until he's cured.  I'm even considering giving up the vacation idea to save this dog's life.   Sigh.

I have a lot of writing to do today, as I'm visiting my mother tomorrow.  So I'd best get to it. 

Spring and Friday

It's Friday, right before a three day weekend.  Usually we'd be heading down to the lake lot - where we HAVEN'T been at all this spring, but with the foster dog and the drought, we are staying home.

This morning, while outside with my little foster girl, she fell in the pool.  I scraped the heck out of me knees rescuing her - she apparently can't swim at all.  She just kept flailing around and sinking.  My husband wants us to teach her to swim - we have a life vest etc - but I'm not sure. 

While out walking around our pool this morning, I took pictures of some of the spring blooms. 

Here are my roses

And the beautiful Oleanders

 

And some confused Mums

 

 

And then these (don't know what they're called)

 

 

All in all, it was a nice Spring morning.  In the mid-70's, before the Texas heat sets in.  Other than the scraped knees, that is.







Life Gets In The Way

I've been working, working on the book and I'm still loving this story.  I'm in love with the hero and like the heroine and I'm having a lot of fun writing it.  It's so weird, it worries me. 

The weather here has been strange - storms and tornados close by - and I have my foster dog and my personal dogs and my family - all of which keeps me busy. 

But I'm actually loving the writing instead of agonizing over it.  Scary, but I'll take it.

I Love Me Some Friday!

I love Fridays - a holdover from when I worked a job outside the home.  Today, I've got errands this afternoon, so I'm trying to work as much this morning as I can.  I'm working on a as yet untitled Nocturne, which has two people who first appeared in The Lost Wolf's Destiny (out in September).

Some books are more difficult to write than others.  There are books where I can't get the beginning right and I agonize over that first chapter, rewriting it over and over.  This book is not one of those.

I'm about 30 pages in.  As a caveat, I have to state that I fell in love with the hero of this story when he first appeared in The Lost Wolf's Destiny.  So much so, I had to rewrite the last third of that book because Kane took over for Lucas, who was the actual hero of that story. 

Now I'm writing his story!  And the heroine's (whose name I won't reveal as it would be a spoiler on TLWD.)  It's a story of healing and a man learning how to be gentle.  It is, of course, a story about love with a pinch of danger thrown in, but this story is close to my heart.  Very. 

I hope to soon have the cover for TLWD as other authors in Facebook are getting their September covers.  I'll post it here, as soon as I do.  Meanwhile, I'm truly enjoying writing this story.  And... (drum roll please) I'm using a bit of Scrivener, the writing software that's plagued me for a good eight or nine months.  I'm particularly enjoying the corkboard feature, where you can write a brief bit about each scene and "pin" it on a corkboard, then move it around as needed.  I'm finding it inspiring, for whatever reason.

If it works....  LOL!