Incredible Support

My heartfelt thanks to my mother for her support on everything I do. In particular, her edits to the sequel book I'm working on right now. Like the first book, she is brutal with edits and completely honest. It's what I need from someone reading my book. She told me yesterday, "I can be honest with you because I'm not afraid of you." Ha!

I've laughed so much with her these past few weeks. She gives the best critique. Most of the time, I listen to her edits and comments. There are only a few of them I disregard. But, I tell her, so she won't be surprised with the final cut of the book.

My character is really into food and lattes. Just like me in real life. I dream about lattes and wake up thinking about a latte. In fact, I think this dreary weather calls for a latte run. I do deserve it because I'm going to work on my book this morning. All the food and lattes in the book drives Mother crazy!

The sequel will hopefully be published by the holidays. I received three great cover concepts from the graphic designer. Everything is rolling along.

Here's a throwback Thursday pic of Mother and I in Denali National Park.

Pumpkin Patch Adventures

I love pumpkin season! Especially baking with pumpkin. I've paced myself so far and only made one pumpkin recipe. There's plenty of time left to bake this season.

A group of friends and I went to my favorite pumpkin patch on Friday. Blue skies, hundreds of pumpkins, and the search for the favorite pumpkin was on!

Smith Rock in the background

This is the most picked over part of the patch. Imagine that!

Corn maze. Easy part was one mile, hard part was four miles. Kathleen and I did both!

View of the maze from a platform.

Time to try out some new pumpkin recipes! Trader Joe's has the best canned pumpkin. Stock up!

The Sequel

Wahooey! The draft sequel to Adventures in Dating is written. Soon, it will be in the hands of my trusted beta readers. They promise to be brutal and give any and all criticism.

My mother is the best beta reader ever. Chick Lit is not her preferred genre, but she's my biggest supporter. Not only does she give back excellent feedback, but she's always there to bounce ideas back and forth. For example, I sent her the sequel cover concepts. She had a totally different perspective on them and made me feel better. She also told me what I want in a cover even though I wasn't even sure what I wanted!

My goal is to publish the sequel by the holidays. Everything is rolling along so far, and I'm enjoying the process this time around so much more. Thanks to everyone for their support! Stay posted for book release info!

Getting Older

It seems like once I turned forty, my health started slowly declining. Or rather, it takes longer to heal. When I fell skiing in February, I tore my meniscus and sprained my ACL. I'm still recovering from it. Probably because once the PT signed off on my recovery, I started running again and overdid it. But still...

Now, I have an inflamed arm and hand, tennis elbow, and carpal tunnel. Wham! All at once, and it's not fun at all. Here are the two really pain-in-the-butt inconveniences:

1. No ukulele. For months, I've practiced a song for open mic, which occurs next month. I could probably play the song, but then spend the rest of the evening massaging my hurting hand and arm. Is it worth the pain? Maybe.

2. Interrupted sleep. The pain in my arm and hand wakes me up every night. Then, I spend an hour trying to fall asleep again. Argghh. I love sleeping. It's one of my favorite hobbies.

I'm also editing the sequel to my book. Typing doesn't help my hand heal. So, I guess I'll have to find something else to do while I heal.

Any suggestions? Harass Yam the cat? Watch TV?