My weekend adventure with technology (aka I built a thing)

So, on Saturday morning a calamity struck my little corner of existence: my laptop died. I don't mean the “oh it just needs to be plugged in longer” death. No, I mean that even though it was plugged in the battery wouldn't hold a charge. It went from 73% to 42% to 3% in a matter of twenty minutes. Nothing I did stopped this inexorable decline. And since my laptop no longer runs if the battery isn't in it (or dies), it was pretty much pointless to keep trying to make it work. Monstrosity is five years old, so she outlived her projected life by at least a year.

As you can imagine, this left me feeling a little panicky. My laptop was my life. It held all my writing, it was my only way to talk to friends and family, and it was my main source of entertainment. I was really stressing because, well, computers aren't cheap and I didn't have the money to get a new one.

I asked a few people for some help and was given $400 to get a new computer. That didn't sound too bad to me, since I already had the monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Keyboard and mouse were bought when the keyboard on my laptop started failing. The monitor came with us when we moved.

So, my husband and two of our roommates headed into a larger town than we live in now and went to the electronics store. It was huge. We were there for over an hour and we still hadn't seen everything by the time we all hurt enough that we needed to get out of there. We plan a return trip at some point in the near future.

Leaving our roommates to wander on their own, Himself and I wandered over to the computer section. We were greeted by the absolute worst salesman that I've had the displeasure of meeting. He asked us if we needed something specific. We said we were just looking. He proceeded to hover over us and when we did ask him a question he didn't know the answer. So we left him there and headed elsewhere in the building.

Himself and one of our other roommates suggested I try my hand at building a computer. I was terrified. I mean, I know how to turn it on, turn it off, and run various pieces of software. I never even gave a thought to learning the hardware side of it. But we priced out the parts and it proved that it would be within my budget to do it. So with their help I picked out a case, a motherboard, a power source, and a CPU. One of our roommates was upgrading his video card, so since it was still a good one I got his used one.

So, after we got home, the roommate upgrading his computer and I headed out to the shop where there was more space to work. As we got started, I realized I had no clue what to do. I managed to get the motherboard in but that was where I stalled out. I didn't know where to plug stuff in. So our other roommate came out to check on us. With his help, we got my computer built. He ended up putting the CPU in because of how fragile it is, and he got one of the little connections I couldn't quite get set in for me too.

Once it was done, I brought it inside and set it up on the table we're using as a shared desk. I plugged it in and turned it on. Or at least I tried to. It sat there, not doing anything. By that point I was frustrated and upset that it wasn't working. Since it was late Himself suggested I go to bed and work on it in the morning. Since it was late I agreed with him.

This morning it still didn't turn on so I was struggling with it. I looked to see if anything was unplugged inside and there weren't any signs of loose cables. So I put it back up on the desk. Himself came in and flipped the switch in the back. When I poked the button again my computer booted right up. I remembered hitting the switch last night, thinking it was in the off position. I guess it was in the on position.

Once I got the computer up and running, I grabbed our Windows 7 disk. I popped it in the DVD drive and…..nothing happened. It wouldn't run. So Himself got in and pulled the hard drive out, fixed the issue with the DVD drive and plugged the hard drive back in. Then it worked. I got Windows 7 installed. If you've ever done a fresh install of Windows 7 (or any of the Windows incarnations), you know how long that process is. I got Windows loaded up.

Then I needed to get it hooked up to the internet. Since I don't have a wi fi card, we plugged me in hard line into the router. Behemoth, as I've named my new toy, wasn't registering the ethernet port. So I tried putting in the drivers using a USB stick. Behemoth didn't register the USB ports either. The roommate who gave me his video card came in and asked me if there was a disk with my new motherboard. If there was, it would have everything I needed. I'd seen the disk but hadn't thought much about it. I went out to the area where I'd put the box I'd put all the manuals in and opened it up. Sure enough, there was the desk.

So that got put into the computer and lo and behold, I had a functional computer with an internet connection. But since I wanted Windows 10, I went ahead and upgraded to that. When that finally finished (and it was a long wait), I had to install all of the programs that I use. That was easier, though it was still time consuming.

Now I have a working computer. It's an interesting situation being on a regular desktop rather than a laptop. I've been on a laptop for the better part of five years. But it's nice too. I got a 1 TB hard drive this time, which means I can put a whole lot more than I already have on there. Who knows what I'll use the space for, but I'm sure I'll find something.

I still need to transfer the stuff from my old hard drive to the new one. I was loaned a little doohickey to do it with. I'm going to ask for help with it since I have no clue what it's supposed to do. I was upset when I thought I'd lost my work over the last few days since, like a moron, I didn't back it up to Box or Google Drive. Then I remembered what Himself has had me doing. I e-mail him status reports, including copies of what I've worked on. I was able to retrieve my most recent edits, which made me happy.

So, I have a new toy that I can upgrade as I need and not have to buy a complete new device unless I want to. I can just switch out parts. That is also a relief. Computers are expensive. But that's my adventure over the weekend. It was not something I want to repeat any time soon, but I learned a lot about computers so it's all good.

Weekend fun...YouTube learning style

So, first thing's first. I think, for as long as I've had my blog, I've referred to my husband as Himself. This isn't in any way a slight against him. This is to respect his privacy, as he once asked me to do. However, he has told me that I don't have to do that anymore. I've stopped doing it on Facebook. So I figure if I use it there, where I have a much greater reach, I can use it here. So, my husband's name is Tims.

Yes that's spelled right.

Yes, it's deliberate. It's a family name.

Anyway, now that that's out of the way..............

(Can you tell I'm in love with the period today? I promise, I'll quit now.)

(Maybe.)

Tims has been watching a lot of vidoes this weekend. Many of them are from the YouTube channel for Jamie & Adam Tested (channel found here.) If you watch Mythbusters, or have at least heard of the show, the Jamie and Adam from Tested are the same Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage. They do some neat stuff, talk about really cool things, and in general are just awesome.

I was minding my own business and listening to music when I looked up and saw something that caught my attention. My earbuds didn't go back in all weekend because not only was he watching the Tested videos. He was watching stuff about games, robotics, and engineering. It fascinates him and though I may not understand much of what's being said I find it interesting as well. He's also very good about explaining things for me.

Including what a CPU is and GPU is. That was a fun example. This video shows it Mythbusters style. (It took me three watchings and a little prompting from Tims to figure it out.)

I spent my weekend trying to write and managing a little bit. I also was doing a lot of research about random things like house buying and alarm systems for houses. Also what age are you allowed to purchase a handgun versus a rifle or a shotgun. And if stun guns are illegal in certain states or what regulations and laws there are around them.

It turns out there are a lot of different opinions on stun guns. Who knew?

Basically, most of my weekend was spent learning new things and coming up with more questions that needed to be answered. It was fun. I hope to be able to keep learning things as the week goes on. Writing will happen, but maybe in a new and different way.

Why I love Halloween

Everyone and their cousin is doing a post about Halloween. I thought about doing one too, but there's something more important than horror films, haunted houses, and trick or treating that happens on the 31^st for me.

It's my twelfth wedding anniversary.

Himself and I have been together for fifteen years, married for twelve. Twelve years ago, we got dressed up in nice clothes (I bought a beige lace dress that I wore for several years after) and went to the courthouse. We had a couple friends and my family there. We said our vows, kissed, and that was that. We were married.

I've been asked how we met. It's a funny story, at least to us. I think I've shared this before, but I don't remember. So I'm sharing it again.

I was twenty two with no job prospects, no college education, and no marketable skills outside working in a nursing home or fast food/retail. Not what you want when you're that age. One of my older sisters suggested I try Job Corps. I was under the cut off age by two years and I could learn more about office work by taking their clerical program. So I went to the office and signed up. My only request? To get me out of Idaho. I was also going through some problems in my personal life and I needed to get away from everyone.

There was some discussion, but they finally found me one in Sedro-Woolley, WA that had an open spot in the clerical program. So, a few days after I got the call, my parents and one of my friends saw me off at the Greyhound station. Job Corps paid for my bus ticket. I don't remember how long the bus ride was, but I know we got into the actual Job Corps center just after midnight. I was exhausted and only half paid attention to what was being said around me. Which was fine, because it all got repeated in Orientation anyhow.

Our first introduction to life in Job Corps was an Orientation class that was to last for two weeks. Now, there was a lot of free time on the center. It's all job training during regular business hours. But that left us with our evenings free. I went looking for something to do. I found a group playing D&D (2^nd edition) and they let me come in to play.

It had been ten years since I played D&D. I'd been playing Arduin for most of my teenage and adult life. So I needed someone to help me build my character. Enter Himself. He was eighteen years old and supremely confident in his knowledge. So he helped me build my character. He was an arrogant asshole who gave me crap because he thought I should know more than I did. I decided I didn't like him and since he wasn't a regular with the group, I didn't see much of him beyond him helping me with my character building.

Well, near the end of the two weeks of Orientation, the culinary arts students came in to talk about the banquet they were throwing for us. It was a test for them and a way for us to see one of the trades in action. Guess who was the coordinator for our banquet? Yup, you guessed it. It was Himself.

I was surprised by his professionalism and the fact that he seemed to genuinely care about getting things correct for all of us. There were two vegetarians, one who didn't drink soda, and me who couldn't have caffeine at the time because of the meds I was on. He made notes of that and said things would be ready for us.

We had our banquet and the culinary students did exactly what we hoped they would. At the end of the banquet, Himself and his team of culinary students came in to clean up. I did something I still don't know why I did it: I gave Himself a hug and thanked him for the banquet. He was shocked. I was shocked. And my friend started laughing.

We headed back to the Orientation classroom where we hung out until it was time for the rest of the center to go to lunch. We were allowed to wander around and hang out with people. Well, I found Himself in a gazebo smoking. I stopped and gave him another hug, much to the amusement of my friend since I'd told her I found him to be an asshole. Then he asked me if I was seeing anyone. I told him no. He asked me on a date. I said yes.

That yes was the beginning of a relationship that has had it's up and downs. We've had fights. We've gone through some pretty hard times. But we're still together. And that's what makes Halloween so special to me. My husband.

Ramblings on writing (with a little real life thrown in for good measure)

You may have noticed my lack of posts this week. That's because I've decided to drop down to three posts a week. It's going to be easier on me right now so I can focus more on writing Marked and getting it done by October 1^st, which as you may remember from an earlier post is my current writing goal. I'm having a hard time with it right now so I figured I'd do something to give myself more time to work on it.

I'm also not happy with the way Marked is going. I want to write darker fantasy, somewhat similar to what GRRM writes. Not as epic as his stuff is. I don't want to confuse my readers with that many POVs. Not to mention I'm not nearly good enough a write to pull that off at this time. (Who knows what can happen in the future?) But Marked is once again turning out to be too light and fluffy for what I want. I know what I want, I just can't seem to produce it yet. I'm starting it over, which means moving my goal out to November 1^st. Which is pushing it a little because I do want a little break before NaNo this year.

So my new goal is to get this new version finished by the third week of October. I know I can do it. I completed almost 100k in one month last year (November, for NaNo...I'd have hit it too except for health problems). So I'm putting my entire effort into getting this new idea for Marked off the ground and into a finished first draft form by October 25^th.

Himself and a co-worker are discussing a possible business venture. They'll both continue working where they are for the time being. But they're going to see about creating a line of niquid (the liquid used in the vaping e-cigarettes commonly referred to as 'vapes'...at least around here they are) to sell. They're also going to do some other things, but that's the first step. I don't know how well that's going to turn out but we'll have to wait and see.

Sorry for the more personal nature of this post. I'll be back to my normal rambly self next Monday. Maybe. I hope. ;)

Himself

My husband is a nice guy. We have our differences, as all married couples do, but he really is a nice guy. He's pretty laid back, unless you piss him off. And it takes a lot to piss him off usually. There are a few things that will set him off instantly though.

He's not afraid to tell you what he thinks. He's blunt, sometimes to the point of seeming rude. But he does it with a smile and people respond to that. He laughs easily and can make anyone feel that he's their friend. He enjoys being around people and can get into a conversation anywhere he is. Me being an introvert and shy, that gets awkward at times. But I'm learning to deal with it without flipping out or making him feel rushed.

My husband also has a lot of respect for people. It takes a while to earn his respect but once you have it he's fiercely loyal to you. Betray his trust, however, and it will take you a long time to earn it back. Sometimes he'll even decide you're not worth his time anymore because of this and will walk away.

Himself is also very generous. On Saturday, he went over to help a co-worker move. He's probably only known this person a little less than a month. But they needed help and Himself volunteered. He's done this for friends a lot too. Whenever someone needed him he was there.

I love him dearly. He's a good man at heart, even if he has his rough edges. He loves a good joke (and some bad ones too, but that's my opinion on them). He loves to laugh. He loves music and building things. He plays video games or practices his programming in his spare time. We go out on occasion too and it's always a good time no matter where we go.

We started dating at the end of June in 1999. We've been together ever since. Three years of dating/engagement before we were married, and we only had one major falling out that ended up in us not seeing each other for four months in there. For fifteen years I've been with this man, loving him and learning from him. For twelve of those years we've actually been married. I hope to have many more long and loving years with him.

Reading history for fun

I love history. I've loved it since I was a kid. My favorite time periods are Ancient Greece and Rome, Ancient Egypt, and the Dark Ages, Medieval, and Renaissance Europe. Get up past the Industrial Revolution and that's where I start to lose interest. It's not that it isn't interesting. And U.S. History is something I should take some time to study. I just prefer the older time periods.

I'm researching something now that I've never looked at before: the Persian Empire. The one that spanned a good chunk of the Middle East, Egypt, and into Europe. It was one of the largest Empires that ever existed, holding sway over around 50 million people at its height. It began to weaken and then fell when Alexander the Great came in but it was the first of its kind.

I'm doing this research as part of my world building for my books, but even if I weren't reading it for that I'd still be reading it. Himself suggested it and it got me hooked from the start. I'm wanting to go to the library as well as reading online and see if I can find historical books that talk about the Persian Empire. I want to know more than I'm finding online.

This is what I do. I find something that catches my attention and I research it, whether I plan on using it in a story or not. I checked out a book recently about Elizabeth of York, Elizabeth I's grandmother. I wasn't researching anything. It was to satisfy my own curiosity about the woman. I've deviated from my chosen period of history in the past as well, digging into the days of the pioneers and learning what life was like for them. Living around parts of the Oregon Trail, and even being able to take a day trip into Oregon to see the big Oregon Trail museum helps.

I pursue these things because I love history. Himself loves coding and hunts down what he can as information on that. I've seen him spend hours on projects where he's hunched over his keyboard doing things that are complete mysteries to me. He's told me what he's doing and I still don't understand it. But it is one of his favorite things and what he wants to learn about.

What's one thing you like learning about? What do you spend your time reading about?

Escaping from stress

I love to cook. I'm especially good at baking. I've only recently begun to experiment with different recipes and methods of cooking. I made my first successful rue last month, for instance. That was something I'd never thought I could do.

Baking is a comfort for me, both the action and the baked goodies I get after I'm finished. Good day or bad, my mom loved to cook. She's the one who taught me to bake and for all the things she did to me, I can honestly say she never went so far as to deliberately burn me, cut me, or any of the other myriad things that could happen in a kitchen. When I was old enough to manage on my own, she let me start baking without supervision. Since this was a way to keep her off my back, I jumped on the chance.

As I've gotten older, I've found it to be a release from a stressful day. I don't have much room to work with for baking here, but I've managed a few times to get something in the oven. What I've baked has come out good and I've shared it with everyone in the house.

Himself derives comfort in his music. He listens to some rather twisted stuff, at a volume I prefer not to deal with. In my case, I put on my earbuds and can drown him out most of the time. He also finds comfort in his video games, especially Minecraft. He can lose himself for hours building and creating in that game. Most of the time he does both at the same time. He'll put his earphones in when I go to bed, or when he really wants to focus.

Himself has always found an escape in video games. He's played Everquest, World of Warcraft, Eve Online. He plays multi-player games with our nephew and his friends, mostly stealth shooter games. Himself plays Minecraft and spends time on an online verbal chat program talking to people playing in the same server he is. He loves it.

As he's gotten older, his taste in games has changed. At first it was running around using magic to kill everything (EQ and WoW). Then it was having a spaceship and doing the same thing. He even became a pirate and attacked other ships with a corporation (EO). Now, for the most part, it's building and creating things.

Everyone uses a different way to escape from stress. For some, it's listening to music. For others, it's going for a walk or jogging. Books, TV shows, movies, all of these are good ways to escape stress as well. It's a way to let our mind process what we're dealing with and come to an understanding of and a possible solution to deal with it.

What do you do to relax and take some of the stress off? Do you have a set ritual to help you focus on something else, to let your mind work its way through what's causing you problems?

Following dreams

I write fantasy. For those of you who've been around for a while that shouldn't shock you. I also write science fiction. I've got multiple story lines in both of those genres. I have no idea which ones will sell and which ones won't, but I'm going to keep writing because it makes me happy. Writing has been a passion of mine since I was a child and I have no intention of giving it up.

I've had a few people tell me to get a “real” job, that being an author never pays out. Being unpublished, I can accept that it isn't paying out now. It doesn't mean it won't pay out in the future. I'm on disability so I can do this full time, but I'm also looking for a job because aside from what you may have heard, disability doesn't go very far when it's your only income.

Himself, for three years, has been living his dream of having his own business with two partners. But things were getting rocky and now there's an even bigger divide: the guys are moving to Oregon while Himself is staying here. That makes working as partners even harder. Now Himself is faced with the choice of either getting a regular job or trying to carry one with one facet of the business on his own, one which has been profitable but not in a consistent manner. He also isn't sure now if he's going to maintain this partnership or go a different direction. We were also talking about moving up to Oregon to be with the guys. We agreed to give it six months before we made any decision. We may not even get up there. But Himself is still willing to pursue his dream of owning his own business.

We've both gotten flak about how we're living our lives. And I'll admit it's not a comfortable life. But we manage to get by. Sometimes that's the trade off for living your dreams. You have to take a chance, be willing to trade a little discomfort for the passion that drives you. You have to let go and accept risks that you normally wouldn't.

In our case, without my disability we wouldn't be able to do this. But now it's become more difficult for us. I'm looking for a part time job right now, which will eat up some of my time. But it'll be worth it if it gives us more opportunity to keep doing what we want to do.

How about you? Do you have a dream job? Do you have other dreams you're hoping to achieve someday?

Dissecting books and movies

I read a lot. When I read, I tend to pick apart things in the books. I find the plot holes, the poor characterization, the tiny editing errors that were missed. (I read a lot of ebooks that have been self published.) One of my favorite writers completely screwed up her own timeline. I still read her books because I love the stories, but now I have to read them with a more open mind because of that. If the characters are too flat, the story showing a poor build up within the first five chapters, I'll put the book down and not pick it up again. I'm very picky with my books. I have over 200 Kindle books. I don't necessarily have time to read all 200. (All but four of them were free, and I already knew I'd like the four I actually paid for.)

Himself does this with movies. It doesn't matter if it's his first time or his tenth. He will pick it apart. He's been known to walk out of movies that have plot holes and bad characterization because they were so terrible he didn't want to watch it anymore. He's as bad with movies as I am with books. Occasionally I can get him to sit through the whole thing because I like the story, but he grouses about it when we leave. If there's a sequel it gets worse because he's comparing it to the first movie. If there's a remake of a movie, he tends to compare it to the original. Character development is something he focuses on, as well as moving along a storyline. Just like I do in a book series.

I am an author, unpublished though I may be. I look at books that I read as research material. If I love the story, I want to figure out what it was that drew me into it. I want to find out why I'm so fascinated by the characters. What is it about the setting that appeals to me? What's the plot and how does the author have it progress? Everything gets analyzed and filed away in my mind to be used for my books.

Not every book I read to the end is a good book. Sometimes the plot is weak but the characters are so fascinating that I'll push through. If the plot and setting are good, I'll somewhat forgive weak characters. But there has to be something compelling about the story or I won't stick with it.

What do you look for in a book/movie? Is there something that will get you to put it down/walk out? What are some of your favorite authors?

Monday Maundering - How I met Himself

I don't know if I've ever put this story here or not, but I was thinking about how long we've been together (14 years, married for 11 as of this Halloween) and was amazed at it because the two of us have very different personalities. He's a very outgoing, outspoken person while I tend to be more reserved and withdrawn. It makes for some interesting situations, that's for sure. And some interesting arguments and discussions.

But back to the reason for this post: how I met Himself.

In 1999 I had hit what I thought was rock bottom. My two year relationship had ended badly at the end of '98 and I was still feeling a little depressed because of it. I'd failed out of college and then lost the job I'd held for two years due to a lot of issues. I was working temp jobs and living at home, not even able to support myself.

Then my older sister had an idea. Why not go to Job Corps and get some more training on being an office admin? For those that don't know, Job Corps is an organization that takes low income students from 16-24 and teaches them real life job skills. There are several different trades, among them dental assistant, clerical, culinary arts, carpentry, masonry, and painting. (These are the ones I can remember from my time in Job Corps. There may be others.) You live on their campus in dorms and your entire eight hour day is spent submerged in learning how to do the trade you've selected. You get paid a monthly stipend, and when I was enrolled you got a clothing allowance when you first arrived and then every six months after that to update your professional wardrobe.

There were also recreational activities that you could participate in and you were encouraged to socialize with the people around you. Trips to the mall or to the movie theater were common occurrences and arts and crafts and video games were also very prevalent.

I was 22 and in dire need of a better education. I'd flunked out of college due to health reasons and I couldn't get back in. I couldn't get more student loans because of my previous grades and the fact that I hadn't been able to make more than a few token payments on my student loans before that. I was a mess and I needed a change of scenery.

So I enrolled in Job Corps. While there is a campus in Idaho, I wanted out of the state for a while. So I asked to be sent out of state. I was sent to Cascades Job Corps in Sedro-Woolley, WA. I took the Greyhound to Mount Vernon, WA where me and several other hopefuls were picked up by the security officers for the center and taken to our new home away from home.

I was there for a few days when I fell into the gamer crowd. I was rolling up a D&D character, but I couldn't remember how as it had been almost ten years since I'd played the game. A young man with slicked back hair and a perpetual attitude came up and helped me. I thought his arrogance was off putting and after he'd helped me I thanked him but didn't want anything more to do with him. As you may have guessed, this was Himself.

Well, the first two weeks at Job Corps were spent in Orientation. At the end of those two weeks, the culinary arts students hosted a banquet for the new graduates before we all headed off either into our trade or into the high school program so those enrolled could get their G.E.D.s or an actual high school diploma, whichever they decided they wanted to do. Guess who was in charge of the banquet? That's right. It was Himself. Himself came into our class several times over the final week to make sure he knew our dietary restrictions (we had one girl who wouldn't eat pork, a vegetarian, and me on medication who couldn't have caffeine.) He was very courteous to us and the arrogance I'd seen when he was helping me with my D&D character wasn't apparent.

The banquet went off without a problem. We all talked and laughed and had a good time. Himself and the other two culinary arts students who were helping him serve were all very attentive and took good care of us. Now here's where it gets a little odd for me. After the banquet, myself and the vegetarian were the last two to leave. Himself and his helpers came in to clear up. For no apparent reason that I can fathom or understand, I walked up to him and gave him a hug. Remember, I'm painfully shy and awkward around people and I didn't really like him. But I gave him a hug and thanked him for the nice banquet. He was as shocked as I was and I quickly made my escape.

Later, we were wandering around the center grounds because it was the normal lunch hour. (OEP banquet was held before lunch because everyone else had to eat their lunch too.) I saw him in a gazebo smoking. I walked up to him and again, randomly and not normally for me, I gave him another hug. He looked me up and down and asked me if I was seeing anyone. I told him no. Then he asked me if I'd like to go out with him. I said a rather hyper sounding yes. And that was that. The two of us started dating.

Barring four months of painful separation due to a fight brought on by a rather touchy situation with his family, we've been together ever since. A random hug, something I still don't understand why I did to this very day, led me to 14 years with a man that I love and who I'm sure loves me back. Job Corps was an interesting experience, though not one I'd care to repeat. I learned a lot and gained a relationship that has lasted through some of the toughest times of my life.

Sunday 'fess up - Grrrrrrr

This week has not gone at all like I planned. Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed myself immensely this week. But I didn't get as much done on the story as I hoped to. I've been distracted by running errands and getting out of the house with Himself most of this week. It's been pleasant, if a little busy.

The main reason I'm frustrated though is my clinician's office still hasn't called me back to help me fill out the paperwork I need to have filled out before I'm allowed to go back to work. They keep telling me they'll pass on the message but nothing has happened. I'm going to keep calling every day until I get a firm answer. It's not that difficult. Read my file, copy down the info from my file onto the paperwork, and let me get my ass back to work. It's that simple.

Of course, they apparently don't think it's that simple. I could fill out the paperwork myself, except that's kind of illegal. Medical fraud and all that. Don't think the thought didn't cross my mind though. But knowing my luck they'd call my clinician's office to verify the information and I'd get caught. I'd not only lose my job but I'd probably get criminal charges laid on me. I don't want to go through that so I'll just be the exceptionally annoying squeaky wheel.

As I said, writing this week didn't happen. I maybe got 2000 words this whole week. So I'm going to try to improve that number this coming week. It all depends on how things go with Himself and with my clinician's office.

Himself signed a rather nice contract to build some kind of web page for a client that's netting him a fair bit of money. I don't know all the details but it's nice to have a steady income coming in now from him. That's why we've been running every place this week. We've been taking care of some things we've neglected because of a lack of funds.

Well that's enough rambling from me today. Hope everyone has a great week!

Thursday Thoughts - Gratitude

I realized, as I sat down to write this, that I'm a very selfish person. I think, in a way, we are all selfish. How many of us take things for granted that we shouldn't? I take a lot of things for granted. I just wanted to share some of the things that I am truly grateful for.

I'm grateful for a place to live. I've been homeless, so I know what it's like to not be sure where you're going to sleep. I have two places where I can sleep, eat, shower, and take care of all the other daily things you're supposed to do. I have friends in both places who are willing to share their living space with me. So I am very lucky.

I'm grateful that I have the ability to buy food. I've lived on food banks and little to no money for food. I know how hard that is. I'm on food stamps, but that just means I'm lucky enough that the state understands how poor we are and that we need the additional help to buy food. I'm grateful that I have this program to help me out.

I'm grateful for my husband. I don't know what I'd do without Himself. He's my anchor in this sea of chaos I call life. He encourages me to follow my dreams. He inspires me by following his dreams. He is my life.

I'm grateful for my friends. I don't have that many close friends. I'm not a social person. But I am grateful for the close friends I do have, and even those people I've connected with on Facebook and Twitter that may not be close friends but are friends nonetheless. I'm grateful for their friendship and the companionship of my close friends when I need them.

I'm grateful I have my laptop. My life is tied up online for the most part because I don't have the ability to get out and do a lot. My laptop is the key to that life. I'm grateful I have one that works well enough that I'm able to write and get online. It's not the top of the line but it works for me.

There are so many things in my life that I have to be grateful for. Think of some of the things that you're grateful for and share them with us.

Monday Maundering - My mini adventure

Yesterday I took a little mini adventure with Himself. The two of us were tired of being cooped up in the house all day so we decided to go for a drive. We wandered around downtown Boise for a little while, looking at the beautiful houses, but decided that we wanted to do something else. That was when Himself got the idea to follow Eagle Rd. to its end.

Eagle Rd. is one of the major thoroughfares in Boise/Meridian. It's always got a lot of traffic on it and is a pretty busy street. It has access to several shopping centers and is the primary access to one of our hospitals. It stretches a fair distance and we decided to go down Eagle past State St. since we've never been down that far.

Well, we followed Eagle down and saw some pretty green areas and some nice older houses. We passed through Eagle (the city) and beyond. We drove for probably half an hour total before we came to the end of the road. Only it didn't end there.

Eagle Rd. itself ended, but it took a rather sharp turn and became something else. We decided, being adventurous, that we would follow it down for a ways and see where it took us. It took us on a very twisty, turny drive with a few blind hills and a lot of open space. We saw a lot of quail and even a couple ground squirrels.

We followed the pavement until it ran out. Then we followed the dirt road it became down a ways until we found a turn off near a house. We used that and turned around and headed back the way we came. On our way back we saw a rattlesnake in the road. He was probably dead, but it was still cool seeing him. As long as he was on the outside and I was on the inside of the car at least.

We stopped by my dad's afterwards and Himself got his own personal mini adventure - he had to clean the malware off my stepmom's computer. That took almost an hour and a lot of muttered curse words for the idiot who got them on my stepmom's computer in the first place. She didn't do it. Someone who was helping her set up her computer to do something very specific managed to mess it up.

All in all, it was a pleasant day. We're hoping to take another adventure here soon. Maybe I'll talk him into taking the road all the way out to Horseshoe Bend. Just because.

Um...yes, I'm still alive

*cough, choke*

*removes spider webs*

Uh....hi?

I haven't had much to say lately so I haven't been saying it. Which is quite apparent since the last time I posted a blog post was in November. I feel rather bad about that and I appreciate all of you who have stuck it out during my blog absence. I can't guarantee how frequently I'll post but I will be posting more often.

A lot has gone on in the last four months. Himself has had a few more contracts come his way. I've been told I'm not allowed to go back to work, so I'm dealing with that. I've started writing full time since I have so much free time. I finished a first draft in less than three months. I've now burned myself out on writing but the first draft of Burning Dreams is done. That's the book I started in November, won NaNoWriMo with, and then scrapped at the end of December and started over fresh in January.

I attempted the Amazon Breakthrough Novel contest this year. I didn't make it past the pitch phase. Which is fine. After everything was all said and done, I realized Only A Name, which I thought was finished, really wasn't finished and needs a total overhaul. I'm going to try it again next year, probably with Only A Name again since that's the book that starts everything.

I've also moved. We were living in a small town pretty far out from where we needed to go for shopping and Himself needed to go for work. It was a pain getting to my doctor appointments. Now we live in town and everything is within a 20 minute drive of our new place. We'll have new roommates by the 15th, but for right now it's just us and the cat in the house.

Reidar didn't take too well to the move at first. I think he was rather offended by the fact that I wrapped him in our bath towel and held on for dear life as we drove him back from the old house to the new. We didn't have a cat carrier for him and I needed some way to prevent him from tearing holes in me while Himself drove. He hid himself on a shelf in the bathroom and wouldn't even acknowledge my presence for the better part of a week. He's resigned himself to the new place and has since gone back to flopping on me every chance he gets, but for a while I was beginning to think my cat was going to hate me forever. :D

Things are progressing forward at a slow pace, but good things are coming our way. We're slowly optimistic that things are going to continue getting better. We've embarked on a new chapter in our lives. We're going to see how this one will be written before we progress on.

And because the butterfly is so symbolic of how I feel right now, this picture was posted by user seiyastock on www.morguefile.com.

10 years strong - and stronger

Today is Halloween, but this isn't going to be the typical trick or treat post.

No, I want to tell you about something that I'm proud of.

On this day, ten years ago, at 8:30 in the morning, I went to the Ada County Courthouse and was married to a man that most people thought I'd never make it five years with. We'd already been together for three years, with about 4 months off for a major break up during our engagement, but that didn't matter. Our marriage wasn't going to make it to five years. We'd be divorced after a year, maybe two.

Yeah, we proved those naysayers wrong.

We were almost divorced at nine years. Some of you may remember my posts from around this time last year bemoaning the fact that Himself was contemplating asking me for a divorce. I'm happy to say we got past that and are now a much stronger couple for it.

That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about today...getting stronger. I am a much stronger woman than I was ten years ago. My husband is a much stronger man than he was ten years ago. I don't mean physically. I mean emotionally. We've literally been through hell in the last three years. Last year was almost hell number 3 (let's not talk about hell numbers 1 & 2...those happened within the same year, within a few months of each other, and almost killed us). But each time something has happened that made us come out stronger together rather than break apart.

Part of it is our personalities. I'd rather die than get a divorce. I don't believe in divorce, though I know it happens and it could have just as easily happened to me. At this point in my life, I can say I won't be the one to initiate a divorce ever. In the future, who knows. I can only say how I feel now. He gets angry and last year he was very angry and very hurt (not necessarily because of me...family issues). I got the brunt of it last year because I was a convenient target and the real person he wanted to hurt was out of reach. He realized this and we worked past the broken trust issue with the divorce threat and moved on.

We're stronger for that too.

Every event in our ten years has given us some new personal strengths, as well as strengthening us as a couple. Everyone told us again as we faced down our first hell three years ago that we should divorce. That it was all my fault (his side of the family) that it happened, that he was worthless (my side of the family), and that we'd lose everything if we stayed together. We were going to lose everything anyway regardless if we stayed together or not. We chose to stay together so we didn't have to face it alone.

I love my husband. We have our spats. We get on each other's nerves. We sometimes hurt each other badly enough to make someone (me) cry. But we get past it, we get through it, and we move on a little stronger and a little better. That's one of the secrets to why our marriage has lasted so long...our ability to turn our weaknesses into our strengths and to help each other push past the bad and grow stronger.

I had this great blog post idea

No really, I did!

Then I went to bed without writing it down.

So now I don't remember what I was planning on writing about.

So I'll just give you a general life update and a writing update like I usually do.

I know you're all excited, aren't you? *grins*

Life update is as follows: I spent 8 days in the hospital. Dehydration + extreme stress = one messed up system. So I stayed in until I stabilized and now I'm trying to extend my FMLA/short term disability while I deal with therapy to get me completely back on my feet. I'm also trying to apply for permanent disability because honestly I'm probably going to end up back in the hospital from the stress and anxiety this job causes me.

Yes, I know I could look for another one. I have been. I'm not having any luck. And really, any job short of something that requires NO interaction with people is going to trigger the anxiety and there aren't too many jobs where you don't interact with anyone. Actually, there are no jobs where you don't interact with people. Not even if I went to writing full time, though that has less interaction with people until you're published than other jobs. Not NO interaction, but less than a normal job requires. Then again, I'd get lonely if I didn't have someone to talk to occasionally so being completely isolated is a bad thing for me.

Boy, that rambled on a bit.

Writing update is as follows: I did a lot of world building and note taking while I was in the hospital and I've come to realize that things are going to need some tweaking. Yes, again. Aleran is a constant work in progress. I've redefined the world and the characters enough times in the last 20 years that one more time won't matter. What matters is that this is the last time for the world building tweaks and that I'm finally ready to take the plunge and write the main series that I've been playing around with for the last few years.

This means no more slacking. I'm writing out the "histories" to sketch out the characters, and then it'll be onto the main event - the 6 book series that revolves around the two guys. Poor Anila is relegated to secondary character status in Reidar's books, though I may elevate her to additional MC in one of them to explain something that's essential and has to happen. I haven't quite figured out what to do with her yet.

In regards to roommates: Himself (who is not by definition a roommate since we're, you know, married) bought me a Milky Way to celebrate me coming home. Hey, we're broke and it was a sweet (ha, ha) gesture. Twitchy bought me a chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich today from the ice cream truck lady to celebrate my coming home. It's not anything big but it's the little things that make me smile.

In regards to the cat: Reidar (yes, he's named for one of the characters in my main novel series) is still Reidar. He hasn't changed, other than being pissed off at me for the first day I was home. Now he's back to face planting in my arm pit and licking it. Got to love weird cat behaviors.

Pretty much that's it for this blog post. If I remember what the cool, awesome, probably-been-done-before-but-not-by-me blog post was I'll post it too.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Life update and a random bit from one of my WIPs for your amusement

Hi all!

As you all know, I should be at work and doing 14 hour days.  Instead I'm at home taking care of a sick Himself.  He's getting better but he's still not up to moving around much.  So I'm hanging out at home (hooray to my awesome boss who got me 4 days off through my remaining vacation days so I get the time off AND get paid), cooking and cleaning and generally just hanging out while he sleeps.  The medication is good for knocking his butt out so I don't have to listen to the whining that he doesn't feel good.

To be fair, Himself rarely ever gets sick.  When he does, oh damn does this man get sick.  It used to be we'd have about a week a year where he was sick but still functional.  As we both get older, it's getting worse.  This is the first time he's been seriously this sick during the summer AND to this degree.  Usually he saves his worst sickness for December, like I do for mine in January.  This past year has been one of multiple medical emergencies.

However, he's getting better and I'll be back to work on Saturday.  I'm grateful to my dad who has helped us out this week with the medications since I have no money until Friday.

So...I've been having a lot of writing time.  And one of my projects has really taken off.  It's not one that's listed on the blog post that lists my projects.  If I keep adding to it, that thing is going to be monstrous.  But I do have a fun new character I'm loving.

This is just a sample of what's going on in the story.  You want more details?  Ask!  I'll be glad to share a few more hints about this project.

________________________________________


Rachel smirked as Nick stared at her.  The tight pants, corset top, and high heeled boots made her look very different from anyone's idea of a psychiatrist.  "So, are you my new therapist?" Nick asked.

"Actually, I'm a bartender," Rachel said, grinning as she sat down.

Nick smirked.  "A bartender?"

Rachel waved one hand dismissively.  "Budget cuts.  Do you know how expensive an actual psychoanalyst is?  Since I get paid shit to listen to people's problems anyway, they decided to bring me in instead to see if I could get you to spill your guts."

Nick snorted.  "So do I get the attendant alcohol with this analysis?"

Rachel shrugged.  "Sorry, government facility.  No alcohol allowed."

"So what makes you think I'm going to talk to you?" Nick asked, leaning back as best he could in the chair he was shackled to.

Rachel leaned forward.  "Well, you can talk to me or you can go back to solitary confinement with only your shadow for a conversation companion.  Which would you prefer?"

Nick tilted his head to one side.  "So, do you want to hear about my horrible childhood?  Or how I have daddy issues?"

Rachel sat up.  "Let's start with the childhood.  I'm a sucker for hard luck cases."

I talk a lot today...especially about books!

Hey everyone!

It's Sunday, which would be a weird day for me to do my blog posts given that I usually work on Sundays.  Except I don't work Sunday anymore.  Thanks to my awesome manager, I now have Fridays and Sundays off and work on Saturdays.  I've been trying to get off Sundays since April - when we went outbound/inbound mix at the call center and I started getting the "Why the f*** are you calling me on the Lord's Day?" comments screamed at me - and we finally got them to move me.  This means I don't get two days off in a row, but I'll trade that for an end to the tirades about calling on a day normally reserved for religious observances by a large portion of the population.

One of the awesome things about not working on Sundays is I'm finally able to take part in Twitter chats that I've wanted to get involved in but due to my job haven't been able to.  The first chat is #StoryCraft.  It's usually hosted by @AuthorKimKoning (although this week's was quite ably managed by @SheviStories and @Fireflyfly), and it's at 4 pm MST.  This week's was on world building and as that's one of my favorite topics to talk about, it of course was an amazing start to my return to the #StoryCraft chat.

The other chat I only recently found out about that I checked out today is #fantasychat.  I don't know much about it, other than there was a great deal of discussion on magic today, but I'm going back next week to check it out even more.  It looks like one of the facilitators is @marilynmuniz.  The group who chats seems friendly, and I hope for some more interesting conversations.

Today Himself found out YouTube has not only denied him access to his account but someone flagged him for copyright violation on music he composed himself.  Back when we still had the iMac, we had GarageBand and a few other programs that Himself used to create a handful of techno songs.  He put two of them up on YouTube.  He got an email today saying that one of his songs had been flagged as a copyright violation by a company called Rumblefish and that Himself would now see ads popping up on his video because Rumblefish wasn't asking to have the video taken down.  Those videos have been up since January of last year.  When Himself tried to sign into his YouTube account to do something about it, it came up that the account was closed.  When I go onto YouTube I can find his account no problem.  But on "Timeless Trial", the video Rumblefish said violated their copyright, there is indeed an ad stuck on the video.  Both of us are rather angry at YouTube for this blatant violation of Himself's copyright, and the fact that this now prevents him from utilizing his own music to create an income for himself.

I went to the Rumblefish website.  Their FAQ says he can file a dispute, and he plans on doing that.  But he's still pissed that they decided to slap an ad on his music & claim that he was using their copyrighted material when he did no such thing.  It's just more of a hassle than we want to deal with right now.

Something a little lighter.  I started reading e-books with the intent of posting reviews of them up here.  This week I thought I'd introduce you to a few more of my favorites.  First on the list is Child of the Ghosts by Jonathan Moeller.  Here's the summary as taken from the Amazon page:


When her life is torn apart by sorcery and murder, young Caina Amalas joins the mysterious Ghosts, the legendary spies and assassins of the Emperor of Nighmar. She learns the secrets of disguise and stealth, of assassination and infiltration.


But even that might not be enough to save her.


For the evil that destroyed her family seeks to devour the entire world...


I loved Caina.  She's a smart, spirited girl who starts out as a sheltered bookworm and is thrust into a world of violence and magic that utterly destroys her life.  She is rescued by the mysterious Ghosts - the Emperor's hidden assassins and spies - and becomes one of them so she can avenge her father's murder.  She grows and changes during the book, making several decisions that alter her perceptions of the world.  There are a few editing mistakes, as I've come to expect, but they didn't draw me out of the story.  This is the first book in a trilogy and is still up on Amazon for free.  The other two books in the series Ghost in the Flames and Ghost in the Blood are both $2.99.  I hope to eventually get both of these as well because I want to continue with Caina's story.

The other books I'd like to discuss were written by my friend KD (@KDSarge on Twitter...follow her, she's awesome).  Those would be the three books in her 'Dreamverse - Knight Errant, His Faithful Squire, and  Queen's Man.


First, let's talk about Knight Errant.  Here's the blurb from Amazon:


From pickpocket and con artist to little brother and trusted comrade is a tough transition, but Taro is making it. His new sister, former Marine Eve Marcori, promised his dead mother she'd "look after" him. To her that means family, home--her interstellar freighter--and a solid future. In four years she has trained Taro extensively; the next step is college. Taro would rather be shot, but he never forgets his debt to Eve, so he means to honor her plans or die in the attempt. 


When Eve rescues former joy-boy and current layabout Rafe Ballard, death seems the likely outcome. Rafe is so apparently useless that Eve calls him 'the baggage' and appoints Taro his custodian. Irritated into disobedience by his carefree charge, Taro tries to get rid of Rafe. Instead he gets them both kidnapped by the jealous husband Rafe was fleeing. Though they are off-planet before Taro can act, his training may be enough to bring them safely through--but now he has bigger problems. Forced into partnership--and freedom--with Rafe, Taro begins to see him differently. Kind, funny, and caring, Rafe is everything Taro never knew he wanted. And all he can't have. Eve's plans leave no room for a playboy boyfriend who can never measure up, and Taro can't let her down. 


Caught between the sister he'd die for and the man he's beginning to live for, Taro decides it's time to start making his own plans. And if the new skills aren't enough, he'll give the old ones a try.


Originally I got the book from KD to read and eventually review for her when she first published it back in 2010.  When I got my Kindle I actually went out and purchased the book from Amazon (it's only .99), mainly because my computer ate my copy of KE and I wanted to read it again.  Let me tell you, this woman can WRITE.

Here's my original review:


I could not...absolutely COULD NOT...walk away from my screen until I finished this. I was expecting good. I've read some of K.D.'s stuff before. But this went beyond what I'd read and elevated to pure awesomeness. This came at a good time for me, since I'd already been having a rough time and needed something to make me smile. This did just that.

Taro is a young man torn between his duty to his sister and his desire for a future of his own choosing. When the obnoxious piece of "baggage" named Rafe enters his life, it gets a whole lot harder for Taro to think straight. Especially when "straight" isn't what he wants to be. Being kidnapped, assaulted, thrown out of just about every bar he's ever been to and finding out just how badly jealousy hurts, Taro evolves into a bloody awesome young man.

Taro has to learn to stand up for himself, to get past his emotions, and to finally confront the past and present to secure his future. This was an amazingly well written story.

I don't have much else to add here, other than each time I read it I find myself rooting for Taro all over again.  Seriously, go check it out.


Next book in the set was His Faithful Squire.  Here's the synopsis off the Amazon page:


Former joy-boy Rafe Ballard will miss living on the freighter Pendragon's Dream. Under the watchful eye of Captain Eve Marcori, Marine veteran, no one beat him. He ate well, his life was rarely in danger, and—most important by far—he spent much of his days and all the glorious nights with his beloved Taro. Unfortunately, energetic Taro wants to take on the galaxy without his sister the captain standing by, and Rafe won't be left behind.


He's learned enough to get a real job so he won't be a burden. Taro is beyond capable of keeping him safe. What could go wrong?


With a Marcori in the picture, lots. By the explosive end of his first job, Taro needs back-up. Rafe is all there is.


Hedonist, layabout, and mooch he may be, but Rafe is also deeply in love. For Taro he'll surprise everyone—especially himself.


I'd post my original review here too but it wasn't all that well written.  Let me just say this: wow.  Taro and Rafe leaped off the page as realistic characters.  You get to see a side of Rafe that you didn't get to see in Knight Errant, and you get to see him evolve and change from a layabout bit of fluff to someone who will make one hell of a partner for Taro.   Rafe is actually a fairly intelligent man who has been told all of his life that his only purpose was to make others happy.  Sometimes he can go overboard with this, sacrificing his own happiness in the process.  He learns that he has a right to be happy, that he can be happy with Taro, and that letting someone know what he wants isn't as hard as he thought.


Finally, Queen's Man.  This was another 'read and review' copy from KD.  Joss is very different from Taro and Rafe.  Here's the description from Amazon again:


Joss Ravid works security for a major tribe on Kari's Star, but he'll tell anyone that he doesn't actually care if the ruling families kill each other off. He’s not interested in politics; he just likes getting paid to hit jerks, and also the many opportunities for hitting on straight men. The Galactic-imposed Interdiction may keep Kari citizens stuck on their war-torn world, but Joss has connections. If the situation gets too messy, he can leave whenever he wants.


He’ll also tell anyone he doesn’t care about girls, but that doesn’t stop him from rescuing 12-year-old Paige Carlyle, newly arrived on the planet and newly orphaned by tribe violence.


If Joss were making a “don’t care” list, though, at the very top would be Zeke Cayden, Heir to powerful Tribe Cayden. Never mind that he and Joss were lovers; that’s long gone. Saving Zeke’s life when the shooting starts is just business. Some tribes don’t want peace, and killing a Galactic citizen like Paige—or controlling Cayden through the Heir—would serve them well.


So Joss is on the run, risking his life, his pretty face, and his precious liberty to keep Paige and Zeke alive and the peace plan that can lift the Interdiction on track. Why? Because…how often does a guy get to piss off half a planet while displaying his talents for woodcraft, cross-dressing, and scaring straight men?


When Paige is kidnapped, though, the lives of Paige and Zeke, the leadership of Cayden and the future of Kari’s Star all ride on the wrinkled shoulders of Joss' work suit and he has to decide—does he care, or not?


And here's the review I wrote for that one:


KD offered me the chance to read an ARC of this book and I took it. I've loved her other two books - KNIGHT ERRANT and HIS FAITHFUL SQUIRE - so I was interested in seeing how Joss' story would play out. I wasn't disappointed.

Joss is a chaotic bundle of energy with little respect for authority and a big ego. When he inadvertently witnesses a murder and an attempted abduction, Joss finds himself put in the position of defending a damsel in distress - something difficult for him since he doesn't really care for girls. Paige's continued existence is key in the struggle for the removal of the Interdiction on Kari's Star, so Joss puts his freedom and his life on the line to protect her and Zeke, the annoyingly good looking heir to the Tribe Cayden, when a situation arises that forces the three of them to go on the run.

Initially I wasn't sure if I would like Joss since he was completely different from any of the other characters KD Sarge has written about previously. But as the story unfolded I actually found that he grew on me and by the end of the story I adored him as much as I adore Taro and Rafe.

KD has written a classic theme in sci fi, a war torn world and a single hero being selected to defend the key to peace, but has given it her own twist. Her humor is very much in evidence in this book and the character development is dynamic. Joss' world is vibrant and fascinating, and the characters that populate it move the story along at a brisk pace.

Seriously, just go buy/read KD and Jonathan's stuff.  They're both awesome writers (I don't know Jonathan personally but his writing speaks for itself) and they have some very appealing characters for you to fall in love with.

Amazon link for Child of the Ghosts
Amazon link for Knight Errant
Amazon link for His Faithful Squire
Amazon link for Queen's Man

And as always, if you don't have a Kindle, Amazon has a lovely set of free downloads so you can read Kindle books on your Mac, PC, Android, and iPhone.

Saturday Stuff

I know, I know.  Bad title.  But in my defense, I just had to remember the last 10 years of my work history and honestly...my brain is a little fried.

As most of you may (or may not) know, I work for one of the largest banks in the world in one of their many credit card divisions doing collections.  I hate it.  I hate it with a passion.  Especially since they made us go mixed inbound/outbound in April.  I was perfectly content to do the collections inbound only.  So now I'm job hunting so I can get out of that increasingly hostile work environment.  It's not going well - the job hunting, I mean - because our job market sucks unless I want to take a $3-$5 pay cut (i.e. go back to minimum wage).  I can barely afford my bills on what I make now.  That would be disastrous for us, so I'm stuck where I am until something better comes along.

Himself has discovered a love of all things digital, especially when it comes to 3D rendering and game design.  He's become quite adept at creating 3D figures through the various programs he uses.  So he's teaching himself all sorts of new programming languages, mathematics, and computer programs.  I'm ashamed to say when he starts getting really excited and in depth about his work, I glaze over because what he's saying goes right over my head.  A lot of what I have to say about being an author and the publishing market as it stands now does the same thing to him, so I guess we're equal on that.

The cat is...the cat.  He's annoying, furry, and demanding.  He's taken to climbing into my lap while I'm working and laying his head against my left arm.  He sits there purring until my typing gets on his nerves - which actually takes a while.  But once that happens, he starts sticking his claws in my arm to get me to quit typing.  He bats at my face and meows loudly.  He even nips at my nose or ear to get my attention.  About that point he gets dumped out of my lap.  But he's back again within a short time, doing the same thing.  Either that or he's sprawled on Himself's back or legs while Himself is lying on the bed.

I'm a little bummed right now, though.  Most of my family (my oldest sister and her husband, all three of their kids, their oldest daughter's three boys - she just had a baby last month - and most of the rest of my nieces and nephews) is in town to celebrate my niece giving birth to her youngest son.  But they're meeting for lunch tomorrow at 1 pm and I work from 7:30 am to 4:00 pm.  I've put in to get out of there as early as possible, but it all depends on the business need tomorrow.  If we're busy (which, with outbound is almost a given), I won't get out of there until 4.  So I'll miss seeing them since my niece and her family are leaving right after the lunch.  I've seen pictures of the baby on Facebook (he is so cute), but I'd like a chance to hold and cuddle him the way I got to his older brothers.  I tried to take Sunday off (4 day weekend FTW...only not), but with a waiting list upwards of 15 people ahead of me I knew the chances of me getting off were slim to none.  I'll just have to wait and see how tomorrow goes.

Worked on a couple different projects this week in regards to writing.  The first one is about my winged race of demi-humans and the war that surrounds a prophecy of theirs.  Established the prophecy and the alliance between one of the human factions and the winged people to eradicate the other human faction.  The geography of this particular continent is very strange, so it makes for some interesting logistical problems when declaring war on your neighbors.

The other is about a smart aleck (did I spell that right?) fae calling herself Meg and the trouble she gets into rescuing a fallen god/demi-god/divine being of some sort.  I have NO clue what this guy is yet, other than he's something powerful that got sent to Earth as a punishment and now he doesn't remember who he is/where he comes from/his true power, and she's geas-bound to help him because of an ancient oath she swore centuries ago.  Absolutely no idea where this one is going, but I'm having fun getting it there.  Meg's very refreshing after the months of work on my Aleran stuff.  She's definitely UF, maybe Para Rom.

I still have a lot of world building tweaks to do with Aleran, especially now that I've added the new continent for the winged people story (stories, maybe...depends on how far I go with them).  I figure I'll probably do something in regards to the world building this week.  Maybe.  If I don't get sucked further into Meg's world.  Because honestly?  I want to know which hunky deity she's hosting in her house.

A blog post? Really?

*cough, cough*

*sweeps aside cobwebs*

Wow.  Is this thing still here?

Hello everyone.  Thank you for staying with me during my rather long hiatus from blogging.  Between life, work, and the fact that I have no clue where I want to go with this blog I've sort of neglected it.  I still don't know where I want to go with it but I thought I'd at least dust it off and try to get a few posts in.

In the Real World, Himself is working on game design.  He's extremely happy with his decision, and I'm happy to support him with it.  Me?  I'm still working at the evil call center.  Looking for a new job but the job market sucks so that's going slowly too.  Not to mention I don't want to take a large pay cut just to switch jobs.  We can't afford that right now.

In the Imaginary World, aka my writing, things have been stalling there too.  I haven't been putting too much effort into it over the past couple months.  I've instead been reading a lot more.  I've picked up several of the free downloads off of Amazon for my Kindle and I've been reading a lot of self-pubbed and Indie pubbed books.  I have found a few gems, which I will happily share with you.  For the most part, they've just reinforced my desire to make sure the product I eventually put out there is as perfect as I can get it.

If I go traditional, this will be taken care of for me by the editors in the employ of the major publishing houses.  If I go the self-published or with a smaller press, I'll be hiring an editor to go over my work for me.  So many good stories have been ruined by too much prose, grammar and spelling errors, or just basically poor execution.  I intend to not be one of those authors.

This week, to kickstart the writing again, I decided to build the time line of events that goes from the creation of the world to "present day" in Aleran.  Holy crap was that a pain in the ass.  It doesn't help that at two points on my time line I have a LOT going on.  Now I didn't just do a basic time line of events.  I also added plot points and story notes at certain points on my time line.  Let me tell you, when you have three stories running concurrently at the same place on the time line it gets a little difficult to sort out what happens when.  But I managed it and the time line/plot point thingy is done.

I am once again revamping certain aspects of the world because they just weren't working, so I've got some world building to do.  I swear I'm never going to be done building Aleran, no matter how many books I write about it.  I've also got a new story that jumped up and bit me on the butt while I was doing the time line (which I sketched out brief character descriptions and a vague list of some of the plot points for that instead of working on my time line at one point) that I also want to get some work done on.  So it looks like the writing freeze is finally over.

Now, to share some of the gems I've pulled off of Amazon.

The first one is Alice in Deadland, by Mainak Dhar.  It's Alice in Wonderland meets zombies and a world domination seeking military.  This is not my normal read.  I wasn't even sure I really wanted to read it even after downloading it.  But I went ahead and got it and I was pleasantly surprised.  This was also one of the few books I paid for, since I got this with the gift card I got for Christmas when I got my Kindle.  The product description will do this book more justice than I could so here it is.

Civilization as we know it ended more than fifteen years ago, leaving as it's legacy barren wastelands called the Deadland and a new terror for the humans who survived- hordes of undead Biters. 

Fifteen year-old Alice has spent her entire life in the Deadland, her education consisting of how best to use guns and knives in the ongoing war for survival against the Biters. One day, Alice spots a Biter disappearing into a hole in the ground and follows it, in search of fabled underground Biter bases. 

What Alice discovers there propels her into an action-packed adventure that changes her life and that of all humans in the Deadland forever. An adventure where she learns the terrible conspiracy behind the ruin of humanity, the truth behind the origin of the Biters, and the prophecy the mysterious Biter Queen believes Alice is destined to fulfill. 

A prophecy based on the charred remains of the last book in the Deadland- a book called Alice in Wonderland.


Alice is not your ordinary teenager.  She goes through quite a metamorphosis as the book goes on.  She starts out a tough fighter but still generally naive about the larger picture in the world.  Through her experiences with the Biters and the military force known as Zeus, she learns that there is so much more at stake here than the lives of those in her settlement.  How she changes and what her choices ultimately lead her to make this a compelling read, if you like sci fi/horror.


I'll share one more of my new favorite books with you.  This one I did get for free and it's called Blood of the Righteous (The Ki Kalendeen Chronicles, Book 1), by J.E. Sandoval.  This one focuses on the fates of the three remaining children of the Ki Kalendeen family, whose entire family are killed by forces they don't yet understand for the purpose of allowing an evil king to conquer the lands outside of his kingdom's boundaries.  Here's the product description from Amazon.


Murder most foul! 
A noble lord is slaughtered in his manor. His three surviving children suddenly find themselves commoners. The oldest, Gabriel Ki Kalendeen, is a knight in service to the church who must balance his commitment to God with his responsibilities of his family. Eleenia, an independent minded healer, tries to make her way in a in a male dominated society in a profession that permits few females to enter. The roguish David, having survived the attack on his family, takes on a new identity, convinced that he is still a target. Together they struggle against society, their own deep character flaws, and the evil that secretly manipulates the world through intrigue, deception, lies, and murder. But the Sons of Perdition knew not what they did when they spilled the Blood of the Righteous!


One of the only nitpicks I have with this book is in the beginning they say David is fourteen but as I read the first part of the book, he seemed to be much younger - closer to ten rather than fourteen, especially in the medieval setting the author chose for the book.  But that aside, I loved how overprotective Gabriel is of Eleenia, which leads to conflict between the two of them on more than one occasion.  I love the colorful characters that are introduced, especially through David's POV.  This book is no longer free (it's $3.99 now).  Honestly, I'd still recommend it even at that price.


Link to buy Alice in Deadlands
Link to buy Blood of the Righteous

I'll share another couple of my favorites on my next blog post.  Which may be next weekend, or it may be later this week.  I don't know.  It'll be whenever I decide to do my next blog post.  :)

And remember...even if you don't have a Kindle, you can still read the e-books.
Kindle for PC
Kindle for Mac
Kindle for Android
Kindle for iPhone

(No, I'm not employed by Amazon.  I just like my Kindle and want to share.)