The Amazing Potato

I'm all excited. I get excited easily over daily things. I didn't feel like dirtying a cooking  pan, mostly because I'm slightly lazy, so I decided to rotisserie my corned beef brisket. I'm two hours in and it smells amazing.  Then I kind of spaced on how long to bake a potato and googled it. In the process I discovered how to "bake" potatoes in slow cooker. I consider myself an above average home cook and never thought to cook these things this way, well the rotisserie is a new gadget for me so I never really thought about cooking much that way. However the baked potato in slow cooker is useful. I live thirty seconds from a convienient store and my kids always want to go down to buy chips and junk food. They all love baked potatoes but will never cook them. Not exactly a convienient food till now. I can put them wrapped in foil in slow cooker, by the time they get home from school there is a ready made snack that is way better and cheaper than potato chips and dip. It will be good all evening and the leftovers have tons of possibilities from mashed potatoes to soup to potato pancakes. Yummy in my tummy.

Unexpected excitement and trepidation

My kids like the windows open at night. Unfortunately this has left my house vulnerable to the random curious squirrel. We have a family that live in the couple trees and bushes in my yard.

I was sleeping on the couch trying to prepare for my third shifts I have to work this week. My 150lb mastiff / great Dane mix was curled up under my legs. I get awoken by a dog the size of a full grown man jumping off the couch from under my legs chasing a blur on the floor. This gray blur ran behind my living room chair and is now trapped by the threat of jaws larger than this tree rodents body.

This is the happiest I have seen my dog who lives a quiet and boring life. Her biggest excitement is when the kids are coming home from school. If she catches the tiny intruder she will kill it with one swoop. I believe, however that she has no intention of killing it, just to play. Looking at manslaughter at best. At worst, I have a pest stuck under my chair I have to figure out how to get rid of before I have an infestation or insuring all our rabies shots are up to date.

Either way I see me being very tired at work tonight cuz I ain't going back to sleep now.

Why books are great

In this age of technology, everything is in the palm of our hand. Every moment we feel the need for distraction, just pick up your cell phone. Get out your kindle, nook, or iPod. Pull out your netbook and ride the free wifi from your local coffee shop or fast food joint.

In an effort to simplify my life I had my internet and cable shut off. I took advantage of my little gadgets for daily distractions. I watch Netflix on my phone or read on my nook. I take my laptop to McDonald's to download stuff over a cup of coffee and Pandora. After having to replace my old phone, I find my meeting is not up to snuff with my new. My battery died while plugged in watching Heroes. That was the series I was into when I made the decision to downgrade. Having three kids I find many gadgets not charged as they should be.

With nothing electronically ready to properly distract or entertain I go back to the trusty paperback. I have a stack waiting patiently for a day like today.

Nothing beats a paperback. OK so I can't carry a library of 10,000 real books without breaking my back but I just need one good one to sit on my couch cuddled up with a cup of tea. I love the feel of the page as I hold it impatient that I can't read faster to turn the page to see...see what? I don't know...see who gets killed, who gets caught, who's in love with who, who gets betrayed, who's an alien and how it all happens. I get excited to felt the pages get thicker in my left hand and thinner in my right as I read further into the book. Tge bittersweet feeling when i see from the top of the book I don't have much more and these characters won't be with much longer but I so long to find out is on any page now.  Those are things you can't get from a digital device. I still love a good real book.

Why books are great

In this age of technology, everything is in the palm of our hand. Every moment we feel the need for distraction, just pick up your cell phone. Get out your kindle, nook, or iPod. Pull out your netbook and ride the free wifi from your local coffee shop or fast food joint.

In an effort to simplify my life I had my internet and cable shut off. I took advantage of my little gadgets for daily distractions. I watch Netflix on my phone or read on my nook. I take my laptop to McDonald's to download stuff over a cup of coffee and Pandora. After having to replace my old phone, I find my meeting is not up to snuff with my new. My battery died while plugged in watching Heroes. That was the series I was into when I made the decision to downgrade. Having three kids I find many gadgets not charged as they should be.

With nothing electronically ready to properly distract or entertain I go back to the trusty paperback. I have a stack waiting patiently for a day like today.

Nothing beats a paperback. OK so I can't carry a library of 10,000 real books without breaking my back but I just need one good one to sit on my couch cuddled up with a cup of tea. I love the feel of the page as I hold it impatient that I can't read faster to turn the page to see...see what? I don't know...see who gets killed, who gets caught, who's in love with who, who gets betrayed, who's an alien and how it all happens. I get excited to felt the pages get thicker in my left hand and thinner in my right as I read further into the book. Tge bittersweet feeling when i see from the top of the book I don't have much more and these characters won't be with much longer but I so long to find out is on any page now.  Those are things you can't get from a digital device. I still love a good real book.

Confessions of a Desperate Soul

I'm supposed to write here everyday for marketing purposes. Let people get to know me and my book will sell. Normally, I try to write something cute and optimistic, or vent about something that is not Earth-shattering.  Really that is who I am on a daily basis. I enjoy life on a whole. I don't let things bother me and I have had major things happen in my life. Hey, I was a teenage mom and twice divorced one was even abusive. I could write about my own life. Through it all I have enjoyed my children, my family and even became best friends with my first ex-husband and father of two of my kids. I have had major low points where I have cried into my pillow but  I have always had something to hold on to.

I can look in the mirror and see an extraordinarily strong individual that can love and care for others beyond, reasonableness at times. I can handle anything thrown my way with a smile and a laugh. I will go to any length to protect my kids and those that I love.

There is only one stress that I am unable to handle. Financial. Looking back at my life, when I have feasted is when I was married or counting on someone else to provide. When I am in famine, I am alone counting on myself. I'm not sure how I am such a failure in this area of my life. My biggest problem is that failure in this area spreads failure to other areas.  If I cannot bring in the right amount of income, I cannot pay for disasters like a broken down car. Mine has been on jacks in the driveway for a month now waiting for me and YouTube to get it right. Without the right income I cannot improve or even maintain my home properly. Like my 1930's garage that needs torn down waiting for me to be able to afford a dumpster as I stare at a letter from the city demanding it's removal or I get fined.  without the proper incoming funds I cannot properly pay my bills, which is why my gas got turned off yesterday and I sit wrapped in an electric blanket glad it's warm outside. That's what happens when you can only pay half your bill every month.  I hate that I get stressed when one of my kids ask for $5 for a school trip. Where will that come from? I give it to him with a smile and a kiss. But I am blessed that I have yet had a day that I m homeless or have gone hungry. My kids have never been forced to starve. They may have done it themselves refusing to eat chili because it has beans in it - God forbid - Beans.

I'm certainly not lazy. I currently work two jobs, three if you count my weak marketing attempts for this book. Unfortunately, they are both minimum wage jobs. I accepted the first job that would hire me in spite of knowing I was not suited for it. I do not manage others well, but it's a paycheck. No one else has called in regards to my application. I have certainly applied to enough jobs that I would thoroughly enjoy and pays enough to meet my needs. I didn't even get  call to interview.

I qualify for public assistance but I am not on it. It would help and I am not too prideful to accept it. I wouldn't advertise I'm on it but I wouldn't refuse if it means I can take better care of my kids. They will not accept me because I refuse child support from my oldest son's dad. After I had my son, three days before my nineteenth birthday, his dad decided cocaine dealing was a good vocation. I refuse to let someone like that have parental rights to my child. My son is 16 now and never met him. I refuse to change it now. Child support agencies don't understand or care. I am an enigma to them. Because I put the safety of my son before a check, I disqualify myself from that help.

 I am working hard to make the book sell, after all I believe in it. It's my dream job and has the potential to be my financial cure. I know in the right marketing hands, not mine, it can be a sensation and provide me with a job that doesn't make me ready to cry when I clock out. After all, they say that if you can make a living doing something you love, you will never work a day in your life. I think in time it will do well, I just can't afford patience right now. I am having a hard time finding that marketer /promoter that is willing to be my salvation.

I have no desire to own the mansion on the hill. I don't want to go to the Caribbean every year. I want to have enough money to fix up my house to be a great home for my kids and be a place where I can bring my Mom to help her care for my Step-Dad with MS and in a wheel-chair.  I want pizza on Friday - guilt free. I want, when my kids ask for money, to give it stress free. When disaster strikes, I want to be prepared to complain about the cost of the mechanic or the plumber, then pay them without hesitation or fear.

Maybe someone will answer my ad today and my salvation will reveal themselves in their marketing genius and this particular misery will be resolved.

Oh well, tomorrow is another day and I will post something cheerful.

But if you know of a miraculously good marketer/pr guy  ...let me know

Smartphones are Astounding!

Smartphones are astounding! It's no wonder people are so addicted to it especially now, with mobile internet. I find myself on it ALL the time. I wake up and check for school closings and the weather - on my phone. I check my email with every bleep of a notification (ok mine sneezes and makes me giggle every time - it's cute - don't judge) If I can't remember a recipe, I look it up - on the internet - on my phone. I want to get hold of a friend? I message her on Facebook - on my phone (ok used to - but still...) I want to play a game - I download - to my phone. I can download books, movies and music, all to my phone. I don't even have to download them. I have an app for that! Netflix, Pandora (I use Jango) Gmail. There is an app for that.

I know I am not saying anything new here but I am surprised at myself. When I first got my smartphone (HTC Evo 3D) I hated it! So I thought. They are mini computers. Even though I used it it to it's full advantage, including why I got this one in the first place, as a hotspot for my laptop at home, I thought it was too much. It froze on me all the time. I could take out the battery to reset the phone faster than a cowboy could draw his six-shooter. I thought I wanted to downgrade to a flip phone. All I could think about was 'what if I got mugged on my way home from work?' Just to call 911 I have to unlock it, click on the phone app then dial 911 all while screaming and being bludgeoned for my $2.

When it was time to replace my phone, I started to reach for the flip I wanted and my hand wavered. No, no. I don't want the hassle of a smartphone, I reminded myself. But how will I check my blogger stats on a whim with a flip phone? What if I need to Google something, like 15 things to do with a banana peel? That's important, right?

My Chaser is not as advanced as my Evo was but it ain't dumb.

P.S. In case I got you curious.....http://gomestic.com/home/extraordinarily-different-things-to-do-with-a-banana/

One Last Facebook Failure

I have no intention to keep balking about this and I promise this will be my last Facebook bash. But seriously though, this is really ridiculous. I had succumbed to the idea that my account was closed after I got the text from a friend showing that my messages had been removed due to spam or abuse. I can only imagine how unprofessional this looks to the other authors and book clubs that have 'friended' or 'liked ' my page. Then I get an email from Facebook saying how much I have missed and look at what my 'friends' have posted since I have been away. It's not my fault I am away. I click on the link to come back. I have to confirm my identity. So I decide to try again. Maybe this time I will be luckier and get images of people that I do know.  This is what I get:

Image 1: Two girls with swirlified faces. I wouldn't know my own child like this.

Image 2: A scanned photo of magazine model. Even if I knew the name of the model, it's not her.

Image 3: Several people all together with the box around more than one face. Which one am I supposed to name?

Image 4: A pinup model on a truck. Again a model, not her page.

Image 5: A concert poster. Axle Rose is not my 'friend' but I would accept the request.

Image 6: (used 1 of 2 skips) Meme cartoon. It's a drawing of a meme on a stick figure...I dunno! Ally McBeal?

Image 7: (used 2 of 2 skips) Boobs. At least it was an actual image of the owner of the account. Nice rack but still have yet to ever identify a woman by her cleavage as I am a straight woman. I may notice great cleavage but I don't drool enough to be able to identify in a lineup.

So I have failed once again. I emailed them and complained. I told Facebook I was willing to confirm via cell phone or email. Something tells me I will not hear from them. Now I have to either be stubborn and boycott Facebook or swallow my pride and start again, maybe with a printout of my 'friends' as a cheat sheet.

Facebook and I are at Odds

As many authors do, I started a Facebook page, twitter account, linked in account, a blog, among other things. Its all about self promotion. It didn't take long but I got hooked. (Hello, my name is Ericka and I'm a social media addict) I love to see my blog stats get higher and higher. Then I check the likes on my Facebook page. More than yesterday. Awesome. I go on and on like this through every account getting a high from a retweet or comment. Then something happened. I feel anxious and upset, partly for mild addiction reasons, mostly for promoting reasons.

Here's what happened. I got on Facebook. It tells me they believe I'm not real and I need to confirm my identity. Cool, no prob!  I grab my cell ready to put in special code. No such luck. They want me to identify my "friends " in random photos.
CRAP! I, like so many other Facebookers personal and professional, have both sent and accepted random requests. They gave me no alternative. No codes sent to my cell, no other way, no other choice. I take a deep breath and hope that out of the five people I have to identify, four are of the five are actual family members and one is a pic with the person's name included in it. No such luck there either. After failing, no other choice is given. One of the people I do actually know and had helped me get some of those random "friends" sends me a pic of his message screen to me that says my account has been deleted to spam or abuse. Not happy. Not happy at all. I want my account back. I am real, so real.

TR89X - Everyone Loves Free!!

My book Unforgotten is active on Smashwords and has a coupon for a free eBook good till Saturday April 27th. Just go to https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/300318 and enter coupon code TR89X. I am excited to see everyone take advantage of this. Hope you all read, love, post, tweet, share and tell everyone about it. Thanks to all who do:)

A Letter to my Teenager

My oldest son is sixteen and has reached a very frustrating time in both our lives. My continued responsibility to be his parent and his new found taste for independence, these two things often clash. In spite of our strong bond we are in constant struggle with each other from school decisions, to how to date, curfew times, calling home if he's going to be late, helping around the house, attending family outings and everything else. So I have decided to write a letter.

To My Teenagers;

I am your parent. From the moment you were conceived I took on the most important job of my life; to protect yours. I take this job very seriously. I protected you for nine months inside of me. I went to the doctor regularly and did everything he told me to. My feet swelled, my back ached and I was uncomfortable pretty much all the time. It was worth it the entire time to hold you in my arms as a little bundle of joy. On that beautiful birthday I made a contractual heart agreement with you:

From this day forward I will offer you the best of what I have to offer and I will do whatever I can to ensure that reach adulthood without permanent harm. This means that by the time you are twenty (yes twenty, not eighteen) you are addiction free, child free, disease free and with no criminal record; prepared to enter the workforce to support yourself and your future family; you know exactly who God is and why you worship him or can explain in detail why you don't. I will be hard when I need to be and set firm rules in place. This is to protect you. I will be soft when you are hurt. I will kiss your scratches and hold your hand in the ER. I will hold you when your heart gets broken and help it heal to be given away to someone more deserving than the last.

I know you think that I am unreasonable or too old fashioned. I know you think you can conquer the world with a thought. The truth is I knew everything once too. Then I grew up to realize I didn't know half of what I ought to know. But I take this job very seriously. I do it because I love you more than life. I also know that I am raising you to give you away to someone else. I want you to be prepared to be a good employee, a good husband and a good father. I want you to be able to give your children more than I can give you. Because while I do not want grandchildren right now, when they do come I will love them and want the best for them too. Then you will understand what I say today.

Mom

FRUSTRATION!!!

It's amazing how the little things in life are what potentially throws you over the edge. The little things that make the big things bigger and make you snap in frustrating outburst of whelps and unsavory words. Last week my "Smart" phone battery overheated. I really hate the thing. I know some people love them and I admit I am as addicted to mine as the next guy but it is such a headache to me.

Let's start at the beginning. I'm a big believer in living simply and keeping my bills as low as possible. I hate debt and contracts of all kinds. So I bought a pre-paid cell phone plan from Virgin Mobile. The service is great. Unlimited calls and texts, internet and for not much more, with purchase of the HTC Evo, a mobile hotspot. So I went ahead and splurged on the expensive phone and started the plan. The phone always shuts off at random moments and the sound will go silent at any given time for no reason at all. Nothing like your mother calling your son wondering why you never answer the phone. It's because you didn't hear it after turning the ringtone volume up. I'm still trying to figure out why overpaid cell phone tech guys thought these batteries with a long life for a 'dumber' phone is strong enough to run these 'smart' phones that are basically mini computers. While the 20 hour standby time is acceptable, heaven forbid I Google directions to how to change my tire on the side of the road. Study fast, you got five minutes! I learned to live with these so called quirks with the dream of one day upgrading (or downgrading) to something I like better.

My biggest qualm came last week. As I said, my phone battery overheated. I know I can drive down the street to my local Radio Shack, where I purchased the phone, pay $50-$60 for a battery that will also overheat in a few months time, but I got on Ebay. I am a fan of Ebay. Ebay, Amazon, Etsy, all kinds of  internet shopping. So I find not only one battery, not only two batteries...but two batteries and a wall battery charger...wait there's more...these batteries have a chip to keep them from overheating BINGO!! All for an amazing $5.95 plus shipping. For $9.95 I got what I needed but had to wait a week to get it through standard shipping because I am too cheap to spend $20 for overnight shipping on a $5 item.

After a week fighting to borrow my son's cell phone, because my borrowing his phone interferes with his texting his girlfriend, my package arrives today and excitement rules. I pull out my much missed, albeit hated phone, and pull the back off ready to reconnect to the world at large.

The battery is not the right size.

Both batteries are not the right size. Too long and too thin. Strange guttural noises arose from deep inside me and I grabbed my laptop and headed to my local wifi hotspot to see where I went wrong. It wouldn't be the frst time one of my blond moments caused me great frustration. I connected to my Ebay account to recent purchases. There it was in the heading "two batteries for Sprint HTC EVO 4G." I sent a discouraging message to the seller and hopefully gets resolved soon. I may break down and head to my local Radio Shack. Frustration and disappointment rule my day once again.

CURSE YOU FRUSTRATION AND DISAPPOINTMENT with fists in the air. I CURSE YOU I SAY!!

Misery loves company what aargh moments have you had? Comment below.

Reason to Always be Your Best

In spite of the fact that my day job is a swing shift (means it varies between first, second and third shift) I still have my routines. Many days that I am off work when my kids are at school I will go to local greasy spoon diner (inspiration for beginning of chapter 7) and drink seven gallons of coffee, read the paper and chat it up with Kristy. I always leave a good tip because 1) They live off tips and work hard for them 2) I like hanging out there and don't want to be a cheapskate filling a seat another paid patron is willing to fill 3) I love seeing them fight over me. The are part of my extended family. Today I was complaining about life as usual. I admitted that I need to find a better day job, a better paying job (one till my writing career takes off and makes me independently wealthy lol :):) As I paid my bill and tossed my coat over my shoulder the owner offered me a part time job. It was just what I needed when I needed it (Cuz I still don't have that rusty bolt off - hello paid mechanic - stupid bolt) All because I am nice and respectable to everyone I come across. I may be a little more tired over the next few weeks but my car, my house, my kids bellies, and my bank account will thank me later for it. Now if I could just hang out in the coffee room of the manufacturing plant that $20/hour and have the same thing happen. Of course thats not a public place so that might be a little more creepy than impressive.

Learning how to break the rules without breaking them...

I'm a person of many rules. They are rules I put forth to avoid issues. Social issues, legal issues, family issues, safety issues...and whatever other issue you can possibly think of. I enforce these rules for my kids AND for me. For example, my main, and simplest put, rule of thumb is to never post, tweet, text or share any picture, image or thought that you would not say to your parents, religious leader, family, boss, random criminal and child molester.

Here is my reasoning on this. I post a pic of my kids in my living room. To my family, it is an adorable family snapshot so they hit 'share'. Grandma doesn't realize that her Facebook page is still on public view. Now this "private" sweet pic is now public. My religious leader doesn't approve of my son's t-shirt that has an image of the devil's face and says "God is busy...May I help you?" Now I am being talked about in my congregation. My boss see's that I posted this saved phone image during my workday, even though I was on break, and thinks I am  a big slacker. Some random criminal sees it and really likes my 92" flatscreen (I don't own one) that sits in my living room as seen behind my kids. By the reflection in the screen he sees exactly where it sits in my house and decides to browse Grandma's other pics and can tell what neighborhood I live in from the other "family pics" I privately posted to only family. Then some other random guy thinks my ten year old looks tempting. Before I know it I am an unemployed devil worshiping mother with a kidnapped child and no tv.

Paranoid maybe. Cautious absolutely. When you stop to consider that my children are not kidnapped yet or been molested and my house has not been robbed by some random stranger. I must be doing something right. What about my kids you ask? Yea! they think I am overly strict. They don't have Facebook or even unsupervised internet access. My sixteen year old only recently got the ability to send and receive pics from his cell phone because I didn't want some horny teenage girl sending a unclothed picture of herself and he get arrested for child porn, or me as the official owner of the phone. The only reason I allow him now is to send me random photos of himself when he is out with his girlfriend. Hey! I was a teenage parent, he won't be if I have anything to say about it.

So how does someone like me market herself to the general public? Someone paranoid of giving out private information to masses of people? In other words how do I break the rules without really breaking the rules? I guess you should just watch and see if I can figure that out :)

I Love Shocking Others

I love the look on others face when I do something unexpected to them. Silly thing is, I can't shock or surprise anyone on purpose. I usually don't realize I am doing it at the time. But it's funny when I do. Today I did it twice to the same girl in the same way. How often can that happen. My day job is a manager at a fast food restaurant so I work with a lot of teenagers. There is a girl, we will call her Sarah, she was working the counter. Her first shocked moment came when my youngest son came before the dinner rush and I was preparing for it. He buys a sandwich from Sarah and was waiting for it. She doesn't realize he is my kid. When I see him I turned from Manager to Mom. I pointed my finger and raised a brow and said "We are about to get busy, I don't want to see you up here again till after the dinner rush." He nodded in agreement. Sarah's eyes are big and the expression on her face was one of 'I can't believe you just yelled at a customer like that.' She looked afraid of me, quite frankly. The other girls laughed and explained that the child was actually MY child.

The second time, after dinner rush, was when my oldest son came in. He is 16 and started his summer job. My sixteen year old does not look sixteen at all. He looks more like nineteen or twenty with his very full beard and 6'3" well trim physique. He was hungry and ordered a meal from Sarah. I am putting his food together in a bag and told him "I will give you your food if you pull up your pants." with as stern a look as I could muster. He grinned and obliged pulling his pants up over his butt instead of under. I handed him his bag and smiled. My wonderful and amazing teenage son said "Come here" and got me to lean over the counter at which time he planted a grateful kiss on my cheek. I turned and caught the once again shocked and confused expression on Sarah's face. Wondering how I can talk to a customer about his dress and then get kissed by a seemingly random guy. I laughed once more and explained that was my oldest son. Sarah seemed quite relieved and was probably waiting to see if any more of my "special customers" would arrive.

It wasn't a heart attack shock or maybe even YouTube worthy, but it was funny and I couldn't have done that if I had tried .

Audiobook Acomin'

I got in touch with the woman recording my audiobook. It will be arriving soon. Maybe in next couple weeks. I am excited to see an entire collection of my book come together. I wanted to provide an audiobook because they are so much a part of my life. I listen to them when I drive, when I work around the house. I listen to them anytime my ears are free but my eyes are not. It's such a great way to get more 'reading' in. Although there is one bad side effect, I end up sitting in the car in my driveway for an hour riveted to the story. My children staring at me like I'm the crazy lady of the neighborhood.

Will Oprah Respond?

An afternoon of site after site of reviewers. Submitting email after email for them to consider my book for review. All this browsing has made me come to the realization that I have made a common rookie error. I published first then asked for reviews. I'll remember that for the next book. I don't believe it's something that I can't recover from, just a little depressing to see the book only floating around in a sea of new authors with nothing to make it stand out. I have sent requests, some have replied willing to offer me a review. That will take time, of course. Not something that happens overnight. I have read it's common for some that have agreed to not come through. Discouraging a bit. Let's face, they need time to read it. How long does it take you to read a book. I'm faster than some, well not faster, more dedicated/obsessive reader. It takes me at least 3 days to read a book. That's if I have a couple days off work and ignore everything else in my life. Some books make that easier than others. Not to mention these reviewers are often over-inundated by other authors looking for the same as I. It's not like I'm asking my Mother or Sister to review it (By the way my Mom and Dad thinks it's a great book and my sister thinks it's sexist - if that means anything to anybody that's not me) On a way out highly optimistic note, I did request a review from Oprah's Book Club. You think she will respond? Hmmmmmm.......

An important message to my teenage self...

They say hindsight is 20/20. They,  whoever 'they' are, are completely right. If I could go back and slap my teenage self around and beat sense back into me, I would. My message would be one, think before you act. If you can't live with the consequences then don't do the act. That might have saved me from being a teenage mom. That changed my whole world and every decision I made after that. My next message would be to take up a practical trade while still in school. Not for career choices but just every day living. All too often I have found myself under my own car wishing I had chosen auto mechanics instead of a  graphic arts degree, at least along side it or fixing a leaky faucet wishing I had taken up carpentry. I whent through many a moment's where I could only afford the car part but not the labor. Thanks to YouTube I managed to do in a few days what a mechanic can do in about an hour. As I stare at my transmission today, all I can think is what did my mechanics teacher say about stripped bolts? Oh yeah, I didn't take it, a slap to my teenage ignorant self. That's what I wish I could say. Thanks for reading...now back to your regularly sheduled internet browsing.

What would you say to your past self?

New books arrived...So Cool!!!

There is something really cool in holding a real book in your hand that other people can take to the park or the beach, or even hide under the blankets with and be able to say "I wrote that." The first paperbacks of Unforgotten arrived at my house yesterday.
In between working full time, kids and house, I sat at a laptop and typed my story. Then I sat at my laptop and created my artwork for the cover. Then I sat at my laptop and uploaded my book for publishing. All of that was just files. Digital pieces of information that I poured my heart and soul into. Being able to hold a bound copy of MY book, to hold something tangible, is amazing. Simply amazing....I wanna do it again :)

Funny thing....

Funny thing is, up until now, I have been like a lot of other people with unfulfilled dreams. I have sat in my living room with friends and listened as people wanted to be writers, movie makers or painters but didn't follow the dream. Now they are homemakers, salesman or retail workers. I have been with them as this book rattled in my head since I was 17 and a friend of mine passed away from a brain tumor that had agent orange in it from her father, who had fought in Vietnam. I am now 35 with three children and divorced with my own boring dead end job that I can't wait to quit. (help me quit buy my book Unforgotten)

Oh, so anyway, Here I am, the same as others. This book took me 15 years to sit down and write. Then took me another year to complete start to finish (Not counting the times I only started). Of course it took me a year because I have a full time job and a single mother with a house to manage. I am finally following my dream of being a writer and getting my book out of my head for others to read and enjoy.

During this process, however, I have looked into this business of being an author and have been blown away at how many books some people can produce. There was one author who (can't remember who) writes around 15 books a year. That's insane. In considering this writing as a career option. I  am wondering if I can keep up. Let's face it . It has taken me 16 - 17 years to write my first book? That's only one. I feared I may not be able to keep up.

Unforgotten is complete and available. Now that my creative juices have been able to let go from Unforgotten, I have thought of other storylines. Yea!!! If I could only cut out the full time job, I could put out some books. Of course probably not 15 a year but a respectable amount that could satisfy both my creative juices and my meager financial needs. (For those active authors who write and still need full time jobs to make ends meet- SHUT UP! Don't kill the dream!) I was afraid I would be a one hit wonder. Well, I suppose I still could from a marketing standpoint but that's another blog for another day.

I wonder what unfulfilled dreams you guys have. Feel  free to comment. Who knows maybe someone is reading this that can inspire you :)