The Liebster Award

My thanks go to Brooklyn Hudson for getting me involved with this award..I encourage you to stop by Brooklyn's blog and check it out!

I copied this bit from Brooklyn, who copied it from Sherrie Lowe. 

The purpose of the Liebster Blog Award is to recognize blogs with fewer than 200 followers that deserve a look (and a follow). My job is to list 11 random facts about me, answer the 11 questions Sherrie Lowe chose for me, then to nominate 11 new bloggers, who should bask in the Liebster glow - which means doing the same as I am doing here. 

Rules: post a blog linking back to me, with 11 random facts about you, answer my 11 questions and nominate 11 new bloggers (and think of 11 questions to ask them - can be anything!). 

Here we go... 

Eleven random facts about me ~

1) I so wished I had gone to college to be a forensic pathologist. Watching how the research is done on TV fascinates me. I would have wanted to be a gun and bullet expert. But could not handle the blood and guts side of the research; I have a very weak stomach when it comes to that stuff. Can't even watch someone having surgery on TV.

2) My favorite alcoholic beverage is Chambord - a boysenberry flavored liquor. I figured it out being a bartender before, during and after I was in the miltiary.

3) I lived in Iceland for a year.

4) I have been to 38 of the 50 US states and lived in nine of them. I have also been to Canada, Iceland and England.

5) I want to visit Australia, New Zealand, Greece, Italy, France and Mexico, and all South America countries.

6) I want my next vehicle to be bright yellow like my 1995 Ford Mustang that was the last of the 5.0 Liter engines they made, and it was a soft-top convertible.

7) I love history, studying old maps, current maps and doing research.

8) I hate spiders, though as I have gotten older, I have gotten braver about killing them when I see them.

9)  I am both a cat and dog person, but if I could own an exotic animal it would be a black panther.

10) These blog hops are so hard to do....I equate them to having a tuperware party, lingerie party, or any other house party where you have to invite your friends and no one shows up.  Been there, done that many times.

11) My favorite color is purple and my favorite flower is purple rose, though I know they are hybrids, they are still the prettiest flower.

Now for the questions Brooklyn posted on her blog ~

1) What are you currently writing and when do you expect to release your next work(s)? 
I am working on a lot of different stories: a time travel historical romance; a series of romantic suspense/murder mysteries set in Alaska; a fictional mainstream my father and I started set in Alaska; and a non-fiction/fiction book about my great uncle and his short stories he wrote while a teacher in the village of Kotzebue, Alaska, and will also include life lessons my father learned, my comments to them and a sort of memoir about me. 

2) Do you believe the dead speak? If yes, how? 
I am not sure. I have never had one talk to me, but my grandmother claims she did.

3) What is the one thing that scares you most? 
Death and I am not going to expound on that...let's just say it scares me to death to even think about it. You will have to read about that part in my non-fiction/fiction book about my uncle, my father and me. :-)  And to top if off, my husband has a grim reaper tattoo on his left forearm I get to look at when he is home.

4) What is your totem (or spirit) animal? 
Is a hummingbird considered an animal?  I feel like a hummingbird because I like to travel and flit from place to place.

5) If your writing took off tomorrow and you suddenly found yourself very wealthy, what would be your most extravagant purchase? 
A home on the ocean on one of the Hawaiian islands with a float plane for my husband to fly and a yellow hummer for me to drive. I'd also buy the home still standing to this day in the Shenandoah Valley, VA that either my 5th great-grandfather built or one of his brother's built around the late 1750s.

6) What book or film influences your writing to this day? 
Probably anything by Stephen King, Patricia Cornwell, Tess Gerritsen and Kathleen E. Woodiwiss (RIP) and June Lund Shiplett (RIP). 

7) If you could have penned one previously published book written by a well known author, which would it have been?  
The Flame and the Flower or the Wolf and the Dove by Ms. Woodiwiss or Ms. Shiplett's two time travel historical romances. 

8) If you could only watch only one television program, what show would it be? Why?
NCIS because of the characters, the shows information and Abby...I want to be Abby!  I think I could write an episode for that show since I was in the military and can relate.

9) If you could go back in time to any age and start over what age would it be? Why? 
29 because I wouldn't have gotten out of the Navy if I had known then what I know now, and I would have been collecting a retirement check for the past 12 years, which would definitely have helped being an in-home caregiver for my mom right now.

10) What has been your proudest moment in life thus far? 
Seeing my son graduate from Army boot camp in 2007 and having spent a year in Iraq.

11) The Ultimate Dinner Party: Which five people would you invite? Why?
Stephen King because of the great stories he wrote; Sam Elliott because he is so damn good looking in my opinion; JK Rowling because I'd like to know how she came up with all the stuff in the Harry Potter books; Brooklyn Hudson because I find her a fascinating and interesting person :-);  and my greatgrandmother, Nova Ward of Choctaw descent.   


Now, for those I've tagged, it's your turn to answer my questions. Here goes...

The people I nominate for The Liebster Award are: 

Elizabeth Black ~ coming soon!

Here are your questions…

1) Where is your favorite vacation spot?

2) Where would you most like to visit and why?

3) What was your happiest age and why?

4) If you could go back in time to the man/woman in your life who 'got away' and missed kissing that person, would you go back to kiss them? 

5) If you could meet one famous person and spend one hour with that person, who would it be and why?

6) Did you try tradition publishing first and get a publishing contract?

7) What is your favorite animal?

8) If you could own an exotic animal, what would it be and why?

9) If you could live any where in the world, where would that be?

10) What is the most exotic prepared food you've tried and liked or didn't like?

11) Could you eat the food they prepared on the TV show Fear Factor? If you haven't seen the show, then tell me what is your least favorite food you have eaten?

Flash Fiction Challenge -- Write What You Know

This week's...no my first... flash fiction piece of the year is based on Chuck Wendig's Blog, Terribleminds, and his Flash Fiction Challenge -- Write What You Know.  Below is what I came up with.

     “You should be dead in about one hour, maybe less,” I said as I watched my dinner guest at the other end of my wooden table in my kitchen.

     Shannon stopped in mid-chew, eyes bulged as she stared at me.

     “What…what do you…mean? Why?” Food sprayed out of her mouth as she spoke, almost incoherently.

     “And our conversation had been going so well, hadn’t it?” I knew my response was sarcastic. I was annoyed and I wanted it over, but I also wanted her to know why she was going to die. I so wanted her to suffer for what she had done to me. People who felt rules didn’t apply to them made me sick.

     “Well, yeah…I thought so.” Shannon finished chewing and stared me.

     Swallowing her last bite looked painful. I don’t think she quite grasped the situation…yet. Because she didn’t eat anymore and tears streamed down her face, maybe she suspected I might be serious.

     “What’s going on? You can’t be serious?”

     “Serious as a heart attack. Pun intended.” Shannon continued to stare at me, fork in hand. It was obvious she didn’t get the joke and I was going to have to explain in detail what I had planned for her. Which was okay because I rather enjoyed this part of killing someone. The part I didn’t like—was having to figure out where to get rid of the body. So far I had been lucky. I knocked my knuckles on the wooden tabletop.

     “Why did you do that,” Shannon asked.

     “Just for luck. Nothing you need to worry your pretty little head about, Shannon. Why don’t you finish eating your dinner and we can talk after. You look like you could use a drink of your wine.”

     Tears still streaming down her face, she looked at me, looked at the wine glass, looked back at me and I nodded. Reluctantly, she picked up her glass and took a gulp. She wiped the tears off her face with the back of her hand.

     Hopefully, her drink would be enough because she hardly ate much of her dinner. Perhaps I spoke too soon and she didn’t eat enough. I realized I needed to tell her it was all a joke so she would eat more because I couldn’t have her not die on me.

     “Yes, Shannon, dry your eyes. I was kidding about the dying part.” I continued under my breath, ‘for now anyway.’ “Let’s finish our dinner and we can go watch a movie. This was supposed to be a fun girl’s night together and I’m ruining it by playing jokes. I’m sorry.” I picked up my fork and took a bite. I watched Shannon as she first smiled at me and begin to eat again.

     “You know, Shannon,” I began as I changed my mind about being nice to her, “you are putting up a pretty big front considering what you did. Why don’t you just admit that you think rules don’t apply to you and that you feel justified in taking back the car you sold me.”

     “Well, I don’t think rules don’t apply to me, but you didn’t pay the last $200 and I needed the car back—“ Shannon trailed off.

     “Because you wrecked your other one,” I calmly said between bites. Shannon looked surprised at my comment. How could I possibly know why she needed the car back?

“Oh, come on Shannon. You’ve lived in this town all your life. Have you forgotten how small it is? That everyone knows everyone’s business. You’re really not very smart, are you?”

     “Hey,” Shannon’s voice got a bit louder, “you owed me that money and when I needed it, you didn’t have it, so you left me with no choice but to take my car back. I did, rather do, still have the title.”

     “That’s because you told me you couldn’t find it, and I didn’t pay you the last $200 because I told you I would pay it to you when you got me the title so I could register it in my name. You can’t take the law into your own hands and steal a car back from someone you sold it to. The law is on my side. In fact, I could have even gone down to the DMV and filed for a lost title. My big mistake for not doing so.” I set my fork on my plate and watched her as she continued to eat. Hopefully, she would eat it all and kick the bucket quickly.

     “No, I think the law is on my side,” Shannon said as she took a large drink of her wine. “When you didn’t pay me the last $200, I had the right to take it back. Cops even said I did.”

     “Uh, no they didn’t, Shannon. I know they told you it was a civil matter and that you would need to file a civil claim against me, and you know it.” I was getting madder at her the longer I tried talking sense into her. I was losing control of the situation and I couldn’t let that happen. She was looking a bit pale and swiped her hand across her forehead. She was sweating.

     “Is something wrong, Shannon?” I asked with some enthusiastic interest. I didn’t want her to think I was heartless because we had been friends, or so I thought until she stole the car back.

     “Uh, I’m not feeling so good. Can you take me back to my car, please?”

     Before she could get up out of her chair, she turned her head to the side and through up all over my wooden floor. She vomited so violently and it made such a mess; it reminded me of the movie “The Exorcist” where the character Reagan spewed out a straight line of green vomit clear to the end of her bed. But that was ok, I was used to it by now from all the others I’ve killed.

Would love to hear from you and your comments about this flash fiction piece.

Back to my routine...

Well it is the day after Valentine's Day and my husband ended up going back to work on Tuesday. We decided in order to pay our bills, he needed to go back to work. It is always hard waiting for him to come see me on his vacation days off, which are suppose to be two weeks after working four weeks, but because he is the only mechanic in the shop where he works, he only gets to come see me about every two to three months for seven days. But he got a raise when he got back so we are hopping the next time he comes to visit in May it will be for longer than his usual stay.

So now I am getting back into my daily routine which goes something like this:

5am to 6am - Mom or I wake up and push the button on the coffee pot. I make the pot the night before or she bugs me to make it and asks why I didn't. She likes to think she gets up before me all the time so she can just push the button, but 95% of the time, I am up before her so I could make the coffee in the morning. I never learned this about my mother before while growing up, but now that I live with her again and am older myself, I see that she is an OCD person. I now know where my brother got it from.

6am to 800am - We watch mom's game shows on the Game Show Network (GSN). First up is Match Game, then Card Sharks, then Press Your Luck, which mom doesn't mind telling you she "hates that stupid game" several times a day...it comes on later called Whammy, so she still 'hates that stupid game'. But if there is nothing else on TV she likes to watch, she will watch it. While mom is watching her game shows, I use my Kindle Fire to get online and check my email...this is where I can get in my reading time, catching up on the blogs I subscribe to like Chuck Wendig's Terribleminds, Indies Unlimited, The Writer's Forensic Blog, The Crime Fiction Collective blog, Forensics 4 Fiction blog, and lots of other blogs from writers who hang out on the Indies Unlimited blog. I also check to see what happened on Facebook during the night.

8am to 10am - I get on my treadmill desk and walk some, practicing typing while walking. That's something you should see, though I am getting better at keeping my balance because the only thing you have to hang on to is the keyboard's keys. I normally type about 70wpm, but it would be interesting to see how fast I can type while walking. My mother is watching more of her game shows: Super Password, Jeopardy, 10k, 25, and 100,000 Dollar Pyramid, which she asks about 9am if there is something else to watch because she gets tired on that show.

I try to walk for about 45 minutes each time I get on the treadmill (about 2-3 times a day). I also play a few games on facebook if I have ran out of things to read and I don't particularly want to try to type anything of a serious nature, like answer emails or write a blog post or answer someone on Facebook. Though I have been know to try, I usually end up stopping/pausing so I can be serious for a few minutes. 

10am to 12noon - I do several different things during this time while mom is usually taking a nap, falling asleep to her NCIS, CSI, CSI Miami, CSI New York, Criminal Minds, Law and Order Criminal Intent, Law and Order Special Victims Unit or Law and Order shows, depending on what day it is.

I am usually taking a shower to run errands for mom, cleaning the house, starting laundry, figuring out what I can work on of my many writing projects, or reading on my Kindle Fire.

12noon - It's lunch time for mom and since she won't wear her top dentures, there isn't too many things I can fix her. It is usually a sandwich of peanut butter and jelly, or a meat sandwich, chicken noodle soup (which she says she is getting tired of but hasn't eaten in a while), scrambled eggs, left overs from the night before, which she isn't thrilled about eating either, but since she only eats a very small amount, there are usually leftovers and I am trying to lose weight here...the reason for the treadmill desk system.

1230pm to 5pm - more of her favorite shows -- see 10am to noon above. I have seen all of them over and over and over again, I could almost recite word for word or tell you what is going to happen in each episode. Mom of course, will say she has seen it before, but watches it anyway because she 'hates watching movies'. Yes, I do have a small TV in my bedroom and occasionally I will go watch something, but then mom asks why. I say it is because I am tired of watching her shows and I want to watch some mindless comedy like The Big Bang Theory. I also like to watch the QVC channel to see what I can't afford to buy but think I need anyway.

I may have taken a shower earlier in the day so I can go somewhere after lunch to get out of the house. Mom is ok to be left alone for about 3 hours or so, but I always have to be home by 5pm to fix her something to eat. If I am not hope, she can make herself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

I use this time to either take a nap myself (mom takes another nap from about 130pm to 3pm) or write or walk or read some more on my kindle. You'd be surprised how tiring it makes you to just sit around all the time, day after day. It literally makes you more tired.

5pm to 9pm - Mom is still watching her favorite shows, but at 7pm we change the channel to watch Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. At 8pm it is back to watching her shows. At 9pm we go to bed.

So that is my day now that I am an in-home care provider for my mother while my husband works to pay not only his bills, but all of mine debt too. 

So what is your daily writing routine like? More exciting than mine?

...And the Rest of the Story

I’m glad you are back. Now for the rest of the story as Paul Harvey used to say:

Anyway, here’s the sad part of my life—I am wondering if a mourning period for a loved one (how long should it last?) is also what is keeping me from writing. Those of you who know me personally, know I lost my brother just before the holidays (Dec 10, 2012) and I was in the middle of moving, with my mother, for the second time (had to shop for everything that goes into a house because I sold it or left it all in Alaska). It is very hard to get over this loss and some days are harder than others, but concentrating on writing and just getting through a day with my mother, who may be in early Alzheimer’s, does help.

So now I am taking one day at a time, and I do kick myself for not writing every day. But a few other reasons for not writing is the fact that now I’m wondering if I am good enough, can I pull off anything better than the last one in contemporary romance, although my book was a recommended read by USA Today’s Happy Ever After Blog in December 2011, which was truly a great honor and surprise. I like to read murder mysteries and historical romances, so I am trying my hand at what I like to read and worried I won’t be able to do it. Am I making excuses to not write? Maybe, but I do know I am in the not-good-enough mode and trying desperately to figure out how to get out of it.

I will keep with this blog and see how it goes for this year. I hope to be bringing more upbeat information about me and my writing, and hope to see you here.

Here is a little a taste of what I have been working on and maybe by giving you this little taste, it will help me keep focused on my writing path:

~ A series of romantic murder mysteries set in SE Alaska, where I have lived for the past ten years. I am going to write two short stories to introduce you to the two main characters and how they got through their life in the lower 48 up until they moved to SE Alaska. Then I hope to write three full length novels with these two main characters; book two has already been started.

~ A psychological serial killer (contemplating setting this one in Alaska too). This book, in my mind, is unique and therefore I don’t want to give too much away about it here. I am six chapters into this one. But I tell you, when you get in an angry, frustrating, pissed off mood, it is really easy to switch gears and write a chapter or two in this one—writing the next victim.

~ A fictional mainstream story my father and I started when he first moved back to Alaska in 1991 and though he passed away in Nov 2005, I am going to get this one finished even if it kills me. It will also be set in SE Alaska and set in modern times.

~ Either a contemporary romance or romantic suspense (I could write it as either) which is set in Hawaii I started over 20 years ago. I have about half of this one written and need to figure out which way I want to go with it.

~ A time travel historical romantic suspense I started over 20 years ago with about 11 chapters into it. Recently, I have been doing research and think I have figured out how I can write about a 3-5 novel series with the two main characters.

~ And lots of others. I don’t get writer’s block in the true sense of the words, I get stuck. So I just move on to another book until, for whatever reason, I get stuck.

So please bear with me as I continue on this writing journey and I hope to give you wonderful stories to read.

My next blog post I hope will be sooner and will be about healthy writing and writing healthy. Please come back.

New Year, Bad Start!

So writing wise, this new year is off to a bad start. Not much writing, but a lot of thinking and reflecting back on the time since I self-published Wilderness Heart (WH) in March 2011, and even further back to when I first decided to write fiction books. WH is in ebook format and paperback, and after almost two years on the market, sales of both are about the same, but very dismal.

Looking back over this blog, and seeing no rhyme or reason to my posts or steady entries, it’s time to ask myself if I should keep up with it. Everyone who is a writer says you need a blog, but I find myself overwhelmed with what to post on it. It’s like facing a thesis homework assignment, and writing shouldn’t be like this, should it? Not if you are doing something you love to do. But I did change the layout and color scheme and I think this look is more professional.

So now I ask myself if I am truly writer. Am I a writer if:

~ I don’t write every day?

~ I don’t write a blog entry at least once a week?

~ I switch genres and don’t just stick to the one I started with?

~ I have anxiety as to whether I can write at all?

~ I let life get in the way again?

Yes, I am still a writer, even those things keep me from writing.  Or perhaps, I let them keep me from my writing path. Time for some brutal honesty—with myself, with my writing, with who I am.

A lot of my stories I started over 20 years ago, when I wrote a lot, was a member of RWA and started the Aloha Chapter of RWA in Hawaii in the late 1980s. I attended regular meetings in our writer’s group, enjoyed the critiques, and attended a conference or two. When I first started writing, I was in the Navy then got out, got married, had two kids and moved with my husband who was still in the Navy at the time. Sometimes I look back and wonder how I managed to write anything with two small kids, but I did; unfortunately, I had only finished one book.

Then, as the children got older, and I got back into working fulltime, eventually got a divorce (totally sucked), 9/11 hit (scary shit), jobs were scarce (ended up spending the money from my divorce to live on and on the verge of bankruptcy), I moved a lot (three times), life happened and my writing didn’t. So from about 2000 to about 2009, I didn’t write, but picked it back up again in 2010 while editing my niece’s book. That’s when I also found the world of Facebook, self-publishing and all the other multi-media platforms, and now I am overwhelmed again with just promoting myself and my writing.

All of these promoting platforms are a huge time suck, but a necessary evil if I want to market myself. But honestly, I seem to be only keeping up with them and my writing is suffering again. Everyone who is a writer says I need a backlist of at least three books—that it’s the magic ticket to getting readers and selling more books, and some say it is five books (just starting ten books plus doesn’t help, they have to be completed and published). But with these multi-media platforms to keep track of, my mind off bad reviews (I admit two stars certainly do hurt and I wrote back to the reviewers but they never received what I wrote to them—bad manners and all that), the Amazon review problems, the writing world in the news media (a gazillion links I’m not going to post here—you’ve all read them), self-publishing versus traditional publishing (a gazillion more links and a gazillion books from self-published writers on self-publishing), the indie world of bad books being published (the links are endless on this topic), the flukes like Amanda Hocking and E.L. James (what we all wish would happen to us), and bloggers being cute and snarky trying to sell you their online classes on writing and self-publishing (can you tell by now I read a lot) and life getting in the way, I’m not sure where to go from here.

This year, 2012, I went from working as a technical editor, writer, bookkeeper and research analyst, making the best money I ever have in my life (more than my husband per hour), to having no income at all because I am now an in-home care provider for my 76-year old mother. I also moved from Alaska back to Idaho, and seven months later another move within Idaho (a total of seven moves since 2001). I now have to deal with my husband working in North Dakota and the fact I only get to see him about every 2-3 months for 7-10 days because he works 12 hours days, 6+ days a week. Now that I am not working, I have to rely on him to pay not only his debt, but all of mine, and fund my fulltime writing career—some would call it an ideal writing setup—I get to stay home 24/7 and write. But I don't write when he is here. ;-)

But for some reason I can’t get into writing to finish my 20 year old stories and work on some new ones; I have created more in my mind and have even started some of them, but can’t seem to finish any. I even came up with a sci-fi novel while visiting my husband in ND and I don’t write sci-fi, and I came up with a paranormal novel I don’t read or write in. Anyone want to ghost write for me or partner with me to get all these books written? I might be serious here! Call me.

Stopping this here for now, but please do come back and see what else is going on in my writing.  Interesting stuff and hints at what I am working on.