Hi Y’all!
This is stuff that was formerly part of the Newsletter, but updated …
So, You GUYS! YOU got me to #11 on USAToday. Do you know how that makes me feel? AMAZING! You. ROCK!
In more publishing news – JUNKYARD BARGAIN ebook is OUT! Go to Amazon or B&N and get yours today! And no, it is not in print and it is not at other distributors.
In the last few weeks, I’ve finished 2 rewrites and turned in those 2 projects. The first is Jane Yellowrock #15. The second is the final version before the Copy Edit of OF CLAWS AND FANGS. I just started on the outline for JUNKYARD WAR. I hope it will be a fast write!
A video artist is creating what I’m currently calling “Still-shot Videos for YouTube the Yellowrock World.” What I’ve seen is fun and will give her version of the music of Louisiana, and some locations used in the books and stories, among other cool stuff.
My summer paddling is over. The National White Water Center closed Sunday Oct 17. (heaves huge sad sigh) Because we live so close, Hubs and I took paddling hours off several times in the last two weeks that it was open. I have to say – my paddling skills really skyrocketed. Since then I’ve paddled 2 times at Landsford Canal (in a skirted boat which felt all kinds of weird). I’m trying to keep the strange new growths on my limbs and in my core strong. (Muscles. Strange new things on my body.) LOL For the first time in 20 years, I’m in really good shape because whitewater paddling is a full body, no-impact, bilateral workout. It’s the only thing I’ve ever found that I can do, even when in pain.
On the personal front, I’m trying to think my way through having a winter garden in the basement, with the different height requirements of green stuff and the necessary lights. Mud sent me some heirloom seeds that I want to start for greens and veggies under a grow light. The last time I tried a basement garden was over 20 years ago and I had GREAT success with it. My thumb can surely become green again, right?
And as another form of exercise I’ve returned to my front garden bed. Exercise? Yup.
I hired my BFF to weed my front beds and meanwhile I’m tearing out my oregano which had taken over a 4×4 foot area and cross pollinated and lost some flavor, and I’m rooting my recumbent rosemary (I have 4!) because they are too big and I’m in the process of slowly removing all four and starting small again. Basically, I’m tearing out my front beds and transplanting the roses and the shrubs elsewhere, so there will be only Japanese maples and veggies and herbs and low flowers in the front beds. It’s a weird mixture of plants that will make me VERY happy! This is the 5th (I think? Maybe the 6th?) front garden iteration since we moved here in … 1992? I have restarted my compost pile, which I let go and rains washed it all away.
Things I’m reading…
I blasted through all 52 JD Robb books between May 30 and Sept 30. I used it as a tutorial for character development for a long-running series, watched how she ran the mystery part of her plot lines, when she succeeded and where she failed. Love that series!
I have also read David Sinclair’s LIFESPANS, WHY WE AGE AND WHY WE DON’T HAVE TO…(long title). It is fascinating. He has a VERY rosy view of the future, part of which I share – the part in regards to Harvard’s research into longevity. However, he left out climate change, mass migrations of millions of people, decreased rainfall, emptying of the glacial aquifers, increased desertification, and pandemics. You now – the stuff stories are made of!
I am currently reading REALITY IS NOT WHAT IT SEEMS, THE JOURNEY TO QUANTUM GRAVITY by Carlo Rovelli. It’s fascinating, especially in terms of time and space, and what we really are.
And then there are the FB pages. The discussion page is really growing and the members have named themselves Clan Yellowrock and they want swag. Merchandize. AKA Merch. I’m thinking my way through adding to my swag offerings.
Just call me chatty,
F~