I took these pictures, then combined them and shifted the flowers around and Photoshop oil painted them. The midget tomatoes and little bell peppers are from the garden. Still harvesting them!
Max rolled in something dead yesterday, phew! They love to dig up dead worms or lizards and roll in them. So I had to wash him. The good thing is the detangler shampoo really worked and I was able to comb out all his matting. Tanner? You’re next, but shipping books and having to do other important errands this morning. Hopefully, the electrician will be here tonight and I can use my electrical outlets in the kitchen again!
So I was waiting on a background check in the class–not secret clearances but whether my manual background in oil passed, and worked on one of the blue jays I’ve photographed in my yard in the meantime.
I’ve got a million things to do, but I want to write too. Things are getting jumbled up as commitments to do things are starting to stack up, ugh. My daughter is moving her daughter to a new day care because the old one won’t do anything about mask wearing and they’re not teaching the three-year olds anything. The new place is a little closer, but Grandma has to pick her up at 3 on the three days I don’t have her, so that’s going to cut into my days. I HAVE to get her by 3, or they get charged a lot more…that means leaving here about 2:30. And my days to have her are changing again, so I have to get my mind wrapped around that. AND I have to remember that I’m picking her up at 3 on the other days. Poor Grandma.
Once I do it a few times, it will be business as usual, but…
Okay, I’m off to walk, then go to the grocery store. Wanted to also go get bark mulch, but I think I’ll do that on Monday. The electrician—2nd one I contacted–is coming in the evening. The first one never showed up either Friday or Saturday or texted me about it at all. This guy was recommended by a neighbor friend and is super nice.
Have a great day!!! I have to redo my background in the class–just a little change and then it should be approved and I can move on. Yay! I have 5 more to do, but I’ve done all of them already, sooooo…..
I love this. Not sure if it’s an optical illusion, the real deal, or a composite, but it’s cool.
So I’m up to 41K on Cougar Christmas Calamity. When I start out, it always seems so daunting. Now I’m over halfway done.
I was back to cutting vegetation out of pathways, need to move another plant–this one a volunteer. I was going to give it to my daughter but she doesn’t want to plant things right now. It will get too big and too difficult to move later, so I’m going to find a spot for it in my garden. The cleaned up garden beds are looking so nice. With cooler temps, it helps to keep vegetation from going so crazy. lol
Okay, little one will be here shortly. I need to get to work. I’m playing around with painting a crepe myrtle. They have new background brushes and that’s what we’re working on now for the class. Just backgrounds.
It was a wild day yesterday, had a rat on the patio, during broad daylight!–while little one was with me blowing soap bubbles and the neighbor was calling to me over the fence about removing part of it so he could put in a swimming pool. We have small lots, so I guess it’s one of those cocktail party pools.
If I hadn’t had so much wild goings-ons, I would have released my little havanese rat killers. But by the time I could let them out, all they cared about was all the commotion going on the other side of the fence.
Rats usually don’t come out here until it’s dark and the last time they killed a rat, I didn’t have any more for 3 years. So do your duty, doggies!
I’m off to walk and then it’s back to the story for me!
I have little one here today, so no time to work on anything, but I am eager to get started on the new art lessons.
I had my sales report for Audible/ACX and have learned they’re giving our audiobooks away. So instead of getting any sales, I’m getting a negative amount of sales, I mean in they’re charging me for sales!!!
I moved 13 of my 30 audiobook titles to Findaway Voices already, and thank God, I’m selling books there and getting a small check. I’m trying to recoup my narrator fees from many of the 30 books still!!! I think 8 have finally made a small profit. But with all the others, it’s not like I’m making any money–I’m just trying to break even. So what ACX is doing is a real slap in authors’ faces. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to pull the other 17 titles from ACX until my 7-year contract is up in a couple of years. Some will come due next year and I’ll be switching them as fast as humanly possible. What a shoddy deal!!!
In other publishing news, Barnes and Noble still hasn’t produced Catch the Cougar, A Halloween Novella. In an email, they assured me it’s coming, I don’t have to try and republish it. So I check a few times a day and it’s still “publishing.” It’s coming. I’m sure of it!
In good news, I just signed a contract to write the next 3 wolf books. *Drum Roll, Please!*
White Wolf–David Davis’s story
Billionaire Wolf–the friend of Aiden and his brother’s story
Red Wolf Christmas–Josh’s brother’s story–he runs the reindeer ranch!
That means I need to write them and they will come out in 2022. I know you want them next year, BUT we have a line up for that year too!
Wolf Wears Plaid, Silence of the Wolf’s 10th anniversary release, Wolff Bros Christmas, and another red wolf title.
In the meantime, I’m still working on Cougar Christmas Calamity!
A big shout out to all the postal workers and election volunteers who have worked hard this year in a time of a pandemic.
Okay, little one should be here any moment and I need to get going on my day. Hope yours is great!!!
It’s cold out, yay! And it’s cold inside. And in the story it’s cold. Great! That makes it easier to write that the characters have to bundle up to go outside.
Yesterday, I ended up doing a bunch of weed pulling at my house and my daughter’s house. lol As if I didn’t have enough to do at my house, but I couldn’t stand to see the weeds at her place any longer. My SIL doesn’t do gardening, and my daughter’s pregnant, so Grandma needed the exercise.
I was doing an Alice and Wonderland picture of my granddaughter…just for fun. But I need to get to writing.
Fall colors haven’t really arrived here yet. I’ve been out pulling up expiring zinnia though and doing lots of other yard work. It’s getting cool enough that the fire ants are going lower in the soil and I can pull up all the grass and weeds without getting attacked, if I go early in the morning. I tried to take the bark mulch from my garage to put it out a week ago because I’ve cleaned up the flowerbeds so much, but they were full of fire ants. So with the garage getting colder, they left, yay, and I was able to put out the mulch. Need tons more though.
My daughter and I are going shopping this morning to get anything we need in case things turn really ugly. We’re trying to keep upbeat about the way people behave, but all we can do is try and stay safe.
It’s National Author Day!! When you just need to get away, read a book! We love you and hope you have countless hours, days, weeks, months, years of reading pleasure. Readers are our rock stars!
I sent in my portfolio for the next Photoshop art stage. In the meantime, I’m working on a problem portrait of a composite of a girl with a tree over her face and hair. I’m trying to “remove” the tree while I’m painting her, and maybe add a torso, she’s just a head. I’m trying to incorporate some of the things I’ve learned while I wait to see if I’ve passed or not.
And I need to get back to the story. I managed to write my 2,000 words yesterday. I had hoped to get a little more, but little one was dropped off early, so we had fun instead. They decorated doorways with her stuffed animals and lights and had her stick her hand in boxes to feel witches’ eyes, etc. lol That was my idea. The first one, she was game. The witches’ eyes were green olives, but we loved all the faces and the little squeals she made. But the second one, Grandma had to go first–green noodles. And then, yep, Grandma had to go first again on the last box–she was NOT sticking her hand in goblin boogers–blue cottage cheese. So much fun. lol
Then we watched the new Witches movie and that was fun.
It was cool out this morning, so I was out doing a bunch of yard work, never ending, but the fire ants were snug in their beds so not bothering me, put away all my Halloween decorations, and now it’s time to work on the story! I’ll probably go out and do some more yard work in a little bit.
