Exciting News and Updates April 2018

4/6/2018 - Newsletter Update: For those of you who signed up for my newsletter, first let me say thank you. Sadly, I'm still locked out of Mail Chimp since my phone is out of commission and I don't know how long that will last. I have my account security set up so that I can't get in without my phone. <sigh> It was a good idea at the time... Anyway, live and learn. I hope you'll bear with me until I can get that going again. I'll work on something really nice to share with you all when I have access again, as a thanks for being patient.

4/7/2018 - Quick Fixes with Duct Tape - I use a desktop computer for most of my work. It's kind of old and so is the rollerball mouse I use. The pads that keep it from slipping have long ago said their goodbyes. The textured surface on the top has long worn smooth. I kept fighting with it, trying to keep it in place, adjusting how I moved so the mouse would stay in place. And then it hit me. I live in Louisiana -- in the country -- am the daughter of a poor farmer. And if there's one thing I know, it's how to fix things so I can make do. Duct tape to the rescue! (And no they didn't pay me to say that. And no, Duct Tape People/Company, you cannot use my story for promoting your product since I'm doing that for you here without pay. :P). So here are my photos of a quick fix that keeps my mouse in place and keeps my wrist from slipping while I work. (Some of you are probably thinking, "Geez! Why doesn't she rest her wrist on the desk?" And the answer would be, "I have small hands. Thanks for reminding me of my size limitations which also make it difficult to find the perfect desk chair on a strict budget." LOL

4/9/2018 - Personality-About Me: I love taking personality quizzes so I decided to retake my Meyer's Briggs test and see if anything had changed. I can't really remember what it was 10 years ago, but I do know that I'm still a strong introvert. I thought I'd share my result. (This way, I won't lose it! LOL) I took my test at this link. I'm actually considering giving my characters this test. :D It would be interesting to see how I think they'd answer any of the questions on the quiz. I'll share the results along the way when I start doing that. I don't have the time during Nano, though. Another thing I was considering was creating a character quiz to post on Quotev. If you've never heard of that site, it's a place where people can share their fanfic writing and quizzes they create, among other things. My daughter wrote one based on the Supernatural series and she also created a quiz or two. If you get a chance, you might enjoy checking out some of the stories, there.

4/11/2018 - Camp Nano Update: I made it past the 17,000 mark and I'm excited about how Camp is going. I'm having fun and doing something I truly enjoy.

4/16/2018 - Did anyone else have nasty weather over the weekend? "Reluctant Spring Weekends" seems to be the theme this year as we continue to see strong cold fronts bring awful storms through our area. On Saturday, our power was out for the morning.
My Camp Nano writing is still going well but I'm having to work harder at it. I'm at a point now where I'm not sure how I want the story to proceed. So I've decided to write two plot lines and choose the one I'm most happy with to work more with and refine later on. Whichever one I drop, I may still hold on to it for a 'what if' type of short story add-on which I may include in the printed edition of the book.

4/18/2018 - Oh, the excitement! I have some great news to share with you. I can hardly wait. But before that, I feel I should apologize for the sporadic posting over the past weekend. I normally don't post on weekends anyway, but this time life just got in the way. I was playing a game of catch-up with my IG challenges, too.

If you're reading my posts regularly, you already know I was able to go premium and get my domain name. :) But I have another bit of good news, as well. I purchased my first set of ISBNs for Ripples yesterday. Yea!! I'm so happy to be taking steps forward, getting closer and closer to my goal of having my first book published. I just want so badly to do it the right way. My next hurdle is getting it edited but progress is progress. :)

On another note, I added a handy link in my sidebar that makes it easy to follow me on Wattpad. I keep my followers posted when I share new chapters and books so it's handy if you want to stay in the know. :)

4/19/2018 - Fun Extras: Most of you know, if you've been keeping up with my posts, that we have a new kitten in our family. She's an interesting writing buddy. Today she was more distracting than helpful. We removed the carpet from the room where I work and she had a blast chasing her toys across the wood floor. She's dozing in the window now but she has good reason. I can't even imagine having the idea of that much energy! LOL Yesterday, though, she sat on my shoulders long enough to catch this photo. It's a miracle we're both looking in the same direction. XD

And here's a photo of the work I'm doing on my Wattpad banner for OLUS. (I use GIMP. It's a free program if you're interested.) I had to modify my original design (which I'd planned for) to match what now exists as the Sekot Mundei. Since the moons now have definite colors associated with them, it needed to match. I also decided to carry over the flourishes I made for Ripples and continue using that ripple as a recurring theme for each story. What do you think? (PS It's off-set on purpose. Trying to compensate for the Wattpad menu bar and tab menu makes it a bit more difficult.)

4/23/2018 - Again, the weekend flew by filled with activity and short road trips for shopping. In order to find more variety for our chosen dietary changes, we've opted to shop in the nearest large town every week or two, as we are able. But that means I'm exhausted by the time we return and there's no time for me to write before we leave. I'm thinking weekends will continue to be 'soc-med/blog days off.' I'd rather have a definite idea of what I need to do and goodness knows downtime is just as important as writing every day. Social media can be a real drag when you don't get a break.

4/24/2018 - The story of my life includes many chapters and 'Schedule Shmedule' is one I can't seem to avoid. I hate making schedules because I can never keep to them. Something always happens to get in the way. Even with writing challenges, I haven't been able to make it through a single one without missing at least a day and having to catch up. I did think it would happen with the current ones, though, considering I'm also writing for Camp Nano.

4/25/2018 - I managed to get caught up on my writing challenges yesterday. I hope I won't get behind on them again. I'm also behind on my Nano word count. Thankfully, I'm not so far behind that I can't catch up. If I can manage to write two chapters a day, I'll still make it over my goal, which is always my ultimate goal. XD

In my opinion, the Windows store sucks for apps but I'm trying out a time tracker I found there. So far, it's working pretty well. Unless it shows me something truly amazing, I probably won't mention it again. I just want to know where all my time is going. I think I have a clue but it would be nice to see a visual. If it's interesting, I guess I could share that with you guys... Hmmm... Until next time!

4/30/2018 - This weekend was packed full of late nights and hustle. I'm still somewhat groggy from all we did over the weekend. In the midst of everything, I managed to reach my Camp Nano 2018 goal of 50,000 words. I'm still writing, though, since that only gets me halfway through one of my novels.

Now that Camp Nano is coming to a close, I have plenty of work to keep me busy for the rest of the year. I'm looking forward to next month's challenge and to getting down to editing and revising "Over Land & Under Stone". I'll hopefully be able to share pieces with you along the way until I have it ready to start sharing on Wattpad.
Something else I worked on today was my updated YouTube header. I haven't touched it in years. But I'm prepping it now to be able to share videos with you in the future. If you want to check it out, you can click on the icon at the top of this page, or click here. When I finally start uploading videos, I want to post at least once during the month with the option of posting a few random videos in between when something interesting happens. Why not subscribe now so you don't miss even one? I have a few storm spotting videos and a couple of fun ones posted there now. I'll probably keep them up. Every event is fodder for a writer.