On Life in General

This has been a challenging summer. In June I turned 45, during a pandemic, where celebrating with extended family wasn't possible. My immediate family and I went to the beach and had a great day staying away from everyone. One kid officially became a High School Senior, while another kid officially became a college graduate with a Bachelor's degree. And finally, Hurricane Season officially began.

In July I lost one of my furbabies (pictured above). Cheetoh adopted us in 2015. She just showed up one day as a scrawny stray meowing in the hopes we'd feed her. I fed her and loved her and fed her some more. If you follow me on Instagram you're probably very familiar with her antics. I loved her so very much, but she developed Diabetes without us realizing it until it was too late to reverse the effects.

 Along the way I also returned to working in the office instead of at home. Unfortunately, I have no real choice in the matter even though I disagree with it since I can completely do my job from home (except checking the mail on Mondays). However, it keeps me active when working from home definitely didn't. I also republished an erotic short story originally released by Ellora's Cave called Educating Macey. It's always been one of my favorites because no matter how many times I read it, that opening scene always makes me laugh. I have it available indefinitely for free.

 At the beginning of August I went ahead and commissioned the artwork for the third book in my Gargoyle Masters series. The book is only about halfway done, but having the cover makes it more real to me and inspires me to write more. Writing has been a grueling process lately. I need all the inspiration I can get. 

This past week was spent preparing for Hurricane Laura. It was a sobering experience that I've been through too many times, and it never gets easier. Luckily, Houston was spared a direct hit and we've only seen a bit of rain so far. I hate to even count my blessings knowing our neighbors in Louisiana were put through the wringer. I just hope once the clean-up begins it goes quickly and there is minimal loss of life. 

September will be upon us very soon and with it comes a three day weekend right off the bat. I've also joined an accountability group that begins in September. My goal is to get back to daily writing. If all goes well, Born of the Forbidden will be out before Christmas. 

I hope all of you are doing well in these crazy, uncertain, and harrowing times. Please vote, wear a mask, and treat others as you would wish to be treated. Remember that Black Lives Matter now more than ever as we see so much hate being spewed across the country. And support all marginalized voices in the arts.

My son and husband were kind enough to hang my hummingbird feeder outside my (dirty) office window.

Thoughts on Hoarding and Other Things

Calico cat named Jessie

It's Thursday afternoon and I'm in my office trying to ignore the television in the living room, just on the other side of the wall. Kid #3 is home from college and is watching Hoarders with kid #4. I've told them my grandmother might have had hoarding tendencies, but there was a very distinct reason. 

I grew up visiting my Nana in El Paso every summer and Christmas break. I clearly remember her saving food scraps to feed the neighbor's livestock. I remember her making every meal from scratch. So many memories of pennies pinched and things that I didn't understand at the time are much clearer now. Nana grew up during the Great Depression. She became the single mother of four children when my mom was eleven, and worked as a nurse at a hospital near her home for as long as I can remember. 

There are so many things we take for granted when we're children. My kids want for nothing that my husband and I can provide and I've always told them so long as there is breath in my body they will never be homeless and never go hungry. In these uncertain times there are so many people without that family safety net that my kids have always known. It's something I was blessed with myself, and I don't know what I would've done without it. So, I'm sitting here thinking about that and how such things, lack of family and security and/or growing up as a child during a depression, might have effected the hoarders on the show.

I'm not a TV watcher myself. I leave that for my husband and drown myself in books instead. This year I've been more determined than ever to record every book I read in order to keep track. I use Goodreads and am always happy to add a friend to my roll if you're interested. Unfortunately, I haven't been adding to any bookstores myself. I'm almost halfway to my desired word-count for the third installment of my Gargoyle Masters series. Kid #2 (a great artist in my opinion) is working on a new cover for Day Shift. I want it to have more of a comicbook feel to it this time. The sequel is done but needs to be edited and covered as well. Hopefully, by the summer I'll have at least one new release. 

On June 15th I will turn 45. My goal is to release Born of the Forbidden: Gargoyle Masters Book III by that week. Technically it will be my twenty-third manuscript to be published since I started this journey in 2008. The first couple of years were very productive, but the knocks from a thieving publisher, the closing of my favorite publisher, and then be completely ignored by my final publisher, really took its toll on my muse. I'm trying to find it again one sentence at a time. So you may be seeing more blog posts as I work out my writing muscles over the next few weeks. I hope you'll join me on this leg of my journey.

No Religion Here, Politics? Umm...

One of the first things any author and/or blogger learns is there are certain hot topics that are best avoided if at all possible. Whether it's in your writing, or even when speaking to someone you meet at a convention, signing, etc. It's almost common sense not to bring up religion and politics. There are other hot topics that should probably be avoided as well, but those are the two most widely known.

Overall, I've heeded the advice and try not to wander down the lane of social media suicide by bringing up either topic. However, every now and again something happens where I can't keep quiet. Last night was one of those nights. I won't get into the whole issue of Texas Senate Bill #5, but look up #SB5 if you want to know the ins and outs. It was nuts. I was riveted and glued to my computer screen for about six hours as I watched the drama of a live filibuster unfold.

So, what is today's post about? It's an almost-but-not-quite apology I guess. I'm really hoping I didn't alienate any loyal readers last night. If I did, it wasn't my intention. I won't apologize for the passion I feel on certain subjects. But I will apologize if you felt overwhelmed by them. All I can say is it doesn't happen very often. Feel free to venture onto my Facebook page or Twitter feed again today. It's safe now. The regularly scheduled program of writing, reading, and kids is back in place.

Seriously? Don't be Stupid

Warning! The upcoming rant is a direct result of working with the public five days a week for over eight hours a day...
Someday I'll have enough disposable income to quit my day job and stay home to write. Until then, I work at a bank as a teller. It's not an overly difficult job. For the most part I enjoy what I do, but there are days when every idiot in creation walks through our double glass doors. Let me tell you, stupid people, we talk about you the second you're ass disappears from the building. We laugh, complain and generally degrade everything about you for a few minutes and then never think about you again. You know who you are. Come on, you have to know who you are. No? Here's a few clues in the form of my greatest customer pet peeves:

• No, I don't know everyone in the world or even everyone who has ever entered my bank. If I don't know your favorite color or you mama's name then I don't know you well enough.
• If you won't trust me enough to hand over your ID, why in the f@#* are you handing me your money?
• Yes, everyone has to abide by the policies set forth by the bank. You're really not as special as you think you are.
• The "Wait Here" sign isn't just witty decoration. It has meaning and the customer I'm currently helping doesn't want you breathing down his/her neck as I count out the thousands of dollars he/she asked for.
• You have a negative balance? Oh, sure. Let me just give you more money to go spend foolishly.
• Checking the ATM every hour on the hour isn't the same as actually balancing your checkbook. If items process in an order differently than you did them, that doesn't mean the bank is responsible for you being an idiot and spending more than you make.
• Math is your friend. If not, use cash.

Really, I think the average person has the potential to be very smart. Unfortunately some days all I get are less than average customers. I always try to be the best customer I can possibly be, because I know the person taking care of me is only human too. My time and schedule aren't more important than anyone else's.

All right, end of rant. You can all now go back to your regularly scheduled programs.