Advice Paid Off

Well you're never to old to learn new things. Lately, I've been taking my little sister's advice and taking a copy of my latest book around with me. What's one more thing added to the purse after all? Today that paid off because I sold a copy to someone I was showing it too. I wasn't exactly expecting that, but it made my day. The lady was very much in awe that anyone could write a book.

In fact, looking back on this month, I have to say it was pretty good. I had lots of compliments out of the blue, which was surprising. I always try to be encouraging to people and I guess I really must have helped some of them. That really felt good because I do try to give everything I do my all. That's why I get consumed in all my projects, I guess. I don't mind sharing what I know with others and helping other writers realize their dream of seeing a book in print. I think a creative mind would understand that. Maybe.

I really feel things are starting to turn around for me, so we'll see what October brings besides cooler weather. I have high hopes, but then I am always the eternal optimist, even when things seem bleak. I don't know why I'm that way, but in my mind I live by the mantra "things can always be worse." And indeed they can be if you really think about situations.

My website needs re-doing again, my husband informed me today, but I was thinking about re-doing the whole thing anyway - as soon as I get the time. He had some good ideas that I'm mulling over.

Okay, I need to get off here and get some rest. I need a massage after all the long hours at the computer lately. I'm glad the weekend is coming and I won't have to get up so early. I'm sure some of you know the feeling. It's tough on a night owl. I have to set the alarm for sure when I'd rather throw all the clocks out the window, but that's a whole other subject I can't delve into just now.

Finally got my website updated

Good evening all,

Well it took me way longer to update my website than it should have. What else is new??? Honestly, I've been doing my freelance job all day and thought I would hop on real quick to do my email and update the website. It needed it since my new book is out. Of course I should have known nothing is quick if I'm doing it. As luck would have it, I ended up putting in a wrong link, so had to go back and fix that - not once - but twice. It just goes to show you, haste makes waste as they say.

Then I wanted to go and watch Castle just to relax. Heaven knows I need to do that. I recorded it earlier. But of course my husband is calling me to catch the cat, so we can doctor her tummy and legs. One of our cats is a real problem child and chews on herself until there's no fur left in places. Unfortunately, that's not her only problem either, but that can wait for another post.

Sometimes I feel like I'm living in a rat-race. And what does my husband do, kick back with his feet up in front of the TV or the computer. That's what retirement does for you I guess. It would drive me batty to do that all day - everyday.

Well I'm off to relax a bit before bed.

Gorgeous Harvest Moon Out Tonight

I don't know if any of you take notice of the moon or not, but it's gorgeous tonight. I always feel the urge to go out and dance under it. It's quite tempting and is an act of will to stay indoors. It lights up everything like daylight and the world seems magickal. I wish it stayed full longer.

They were shooting off fireworks tonight in the little town next to ours -a celebration for their Swiss Days. We can always watch them from the patio since there's basically nothing in the way except desert. They place wood cows all over town and decorate them. Pretty comical really.

The crickets are chirping and it's a balmy evening -in the 80's. You would think we had spring coming instead of cooler weather. The only indication that fall and winter is around the corner was the bat roosting under the eave tonight. We have very high ceilings and they like to get under there by the entry way and courtyard - quite fitting when Halloween rolls around. They nest in the cliffs behind us during the day.

On another note, I finally got the children's book printed and it's on Amazon now for sale, with a blurb on my website. I hope you'll check it out. Comments are welcome as always.

Blessings to all. I'm calling it an early night - haven't slept much all week. Have a great weekend! We're planning to take a drive to look at fall color tomorrow.

Absolutely never enough hours in a day!

Here we are at another weekend. Didn't Sept just start? It seems like it and the month is half over already. Went out to a lovely lunch with some friends today, Mexican food, one of my favorites, but of course it was about 3pm before I ever got to the computer today. Needless to say, not a lot got accomplished. I did work at my freelance job and that was about it.

I'm still waiting for the proof copy of my latest book and now think it must be lost in the mail because it's been over a week since the publisher supposedly mailed it out. That has me stumped.

I've made a few notes for my next book and have a lot of typing to do on that. The folder of notes is getting bigger, now just to make sense of it all because sometimes I can't read my own scribbles.

I feel a bit guilty about not spending more time with my elderly cat, so I really should do that if I can squeeze it in somewhere. He's 18 and a half and not well at all. The problem is I have all these deadlines staring me in the face that I have to deal with and I get interrupted more than you know when I'm working. One of the drawbacks of working from home. I think flying up and down the stairs twenty times a day helps to keep the weight off though, if you look on the positive side of things.

I suppose it's time to call it a night again, ready or not, since its almost the bewitching hour of midnight. I usually want to go out and dance under that moon, but that's another story and it isn't full tonight anyway although it's still beautiful. Can you imagine how magnificent it would be to live on Jupiter and have all those moons in the sky all the time, probably at different levels of fullness. Wow! What a sight!

Feel free to become a follower of my blog

I welcome you to follow my blog. I write fantasy books mostly, but read about any genre. My favorites are fantasy, time-travel, paranormal, mysteries, thrillers and the classics. I welcome all fantasy writers or writers in general, as well as readers, to talk about the writing process. Maybe you don't write, but would like to tell me about a wonderful book you've read, or are reading. That's welcome too.

I have cats and love them. I'd like to hear all your cat stories, if you want to share.

I also collect faeries and have always been a night owl. I try to keep a positive outlook about everything. If I undertake something I think is worthwhile, I will persevere until the job is completed, to my satisfaction, no matter how many times I get knocked down in the process. If you fall into this category, I'd like to hear your stories too.

Blessings,
Sunni

My thoughts on e-readers

I was in the shower this morning thinking about the commercial I saw yesterday. I'm sure a lot of you have seen the one with the two gals in the beach chairs, on the beach, reading on their kindles. The kindle e-reader has really come down in price. I think it was being advertised for $139, or some such price, and if I remember right when they first came out a year or so ago, they were $359. Now that's quite a difference, which led me to wonder if they were indeed selling very many of the devices. I also wondered how the people felt who paid top dollar for the new devices when they first came on the market. Of course the people who have to have the newest things probably bought the kindles knowing they would go down in price the longer they were available for sale. That seems to be the way it is with just about everything electronic.

I also wondered if anything could ever go wrong with them and cause you to lose all the books you have stored on them. I imagine it could fail, just like any computer, after awhile. Would the books be able to be recovered somehow, or perhaps backed up in the way we back up our computers to an external hard drive or Cd's?

My thought is that I will never own one of the devices and there are several reasons for that. The least of which would be product failure, although that would need to be considered by anyone giving this some thought. If the books were not able to be recovered, would you have to purchase them again, once you replaced your e-reader? A very good, legitimate question.

Now that being said, my main reason for not going out and splurging on one would be because I like the old fashioned book. I love the smell and feel of a book, and turning the pages the old fashioned way. The e-readers seem so clinical to me, although I know they are able to hold lots of books one tiny device. What will happen to the libraries, and things of that nature, if everything starts being produced in e-book format only? I keep an extensive library in my house and it's such a cozy room to be in. I love sitting in my chair in there and reading, surrounded by books and a couple of my cats. I would really hate for all of that to go away.

I think I'm probably living in the right time now because I'm sure a couple generations from now perhaps the old fashioned book will have totally disappeared, or be such a rarity it will be hard to get your hands on one. That would be one big shame!

A holiday is like any other day in my world

Hello there,

Well it hardly seems like a holiday at all. In fact, I can't believe labor day has come and gone already. I worked as usual. I spent most of the time editing on my book when I wasn't cooking or cleaning. I'm re-editing my proof, so my children's book will be delayed a couple of weeks. I honestly think I could edit until doomsday and still find the need to edit. However, I can't let it get published when I've left quotation marks out in two places. That's what happens when you get rushed, but then it seems I'm always running a rat race at my house. Long story short, I'm rewording other areas too as I go through it again. Good news is, I'm a little over halfway through, so hoping to finish it up in the next day or two, if the creek doesn't rise - as they say. Around my house things can change quickly, so I never really know if I'll have a flood and get called away or not.

I'm a rather tenacious person and if I didn't have a househld to care for I would have the book finished by now. It was my intention to upload new files by today or tomorrow. Really I should know better. Instead I find myself running up and down the stairs twenty times a day. My ofice is upstairs, for any of you who haven't guessed. To look on the bright side, at least I'm getting excercise everyday.

Today I cooked more than I usually do, so it took me an hour to cleanup the kitchen, which was an hour I didn't really have for such things, but what can you do? We are taking care of the old man next door, who has bone cancer and lives alone, so I wanted him to have a nice meal.

I hope everyone had a nice holiday. Tomorrow is back to the trenches as I try to work on my book edit and on the edit of a book I'm doing freelance. More next time.