Writing as Fast as I Can

I’ve had one deadline slamming against the other, and I’ve been slightly nuts with all of them. My stories have permeated my dreams and half the time I can’t remember which characters have done what! To make it worse, I’m a slow typist and a perfectionist. Quality means everything to me! My readers deserve it. I’m asking them to take hours from their lives and spend them with my characters. If I break that confidence, they might not be back for the next one! So I will not put out a book that is rushed or hasn’t been through strong edits.

I put out Loving Matilda through Kindle World’s Montana Sky Series, which is part of Amazon but not the same as the regular Kindle books, but goes right to your Kindle, and for most of the world looks like a normal Kindle book.  And I knew another KW opportunity was coming for this summer also for Debra Holland’s Montana Sky Series, so I started it.  But few things got in my way and I had another story to write. I put that Montana Sky western to one side and wrote the next historic Wyoming book, A Rancher’s Wish which is almost ready to release. And with luck, it is going to the newspaper before it will be released to the general public. There’s one more hurdle to jump through with the newspaper before the publication deal is finalized.

Unfinished cover for A Rancher’s Wish

Don’t worry, readers. You will have it! It’s just slightly delayed as the newspaper will have it exclusively while it is running through their presses. Then it will be available on Kindle and in print. To say I’m excited about this fabulous opportunity with the newspaper is an understatement. This is not a big city newspaper but rather one that covers a good chunk of farmland in this part of Virginia. These are the brunt of my readers, they love their men/farmers/cowboys. Those natural muscles of men who work for a living, the men who know dirt, wear roper boots on a daily basis and think getting dressed up is wearing a sports jacket and fancy boots with their good jeans. Yeah, those guys!

And for some strange reason, that’s scaring me to death. Maybe because it will make me a more public figure. I won’t say I’m shy, but I tend to be rather reserved and quiet. But I have have a friend at the one local paper, and he knows my writing, knows I’m good, and not putting out junk. So he came to me with this idea, but everyone has a boss including him.

Then since I loved the characters so much in that story, I did a modern day version of the ranch. What happens when people leave the ranch to find other work? What if when the dust bowl hit, this family left but never sold the land? And what would happen if a family member today goes back thinking they want to get that ranch going again, yet they have no experience? Okay, that left me wide open for some funny scenes and some heart-breaking ones. I only have to write the ending and that one will be released this fall. But for now it’s sitting to one side.

Oops, that other book for KW! How fast can I write when I’m in edits for the one going to the newspaper? I went back to find the one I had started. I could not find it! I have a tridillion-mega-byte hard disk! (I don’t remember what the disk size is – it’s just got a number in front of it and it starts with a T. And I was told the odds of me running out of room on that thing is next to nothing.) And no matter where I looked I couldn’t find that story. Almost 20K words lost on my big disk. I looked on my flash drive. I looked on my laptop. GONE! I must start from scratch. I told myself if I find it someday, I’ll use it. (I found it last week by sheer accident.)

So I started on the newest KW book, Loving Ellen, and I have two very emotionally hurt people in this story. The story opens with her standing by the grave of second husband in the middle of Montana. Having been widowed early when her two boys were little, she managed by taking in laundry and doing alterations and mending. She spotted an ad in the newspaper and became a mail-order bride with the hopes of some stability in her life and a father for her rambunctious boys. Hubby #2 didn’t exactly lie when he applied for a bride, he just painted a better picture of the house and ranch. Three weeks into this new marriage, she’s living in a tumble-down shack with virtually no food. And some stranger brings hubby #2’s body to her and offers to dig the grave. Oh, I don’t want to give away the whole story.

I read the start of that book to my writer’s group and a few of the gals flipped. We often don’t realize how far we have come and how many more options there are for women these days. Why would a woman opt to be a mail-order bride and marry a man she didn’t know? And why would that woman… I’m not telling you the story.  😉

But times have changes, attitudes have changed and, in general, we’ve changed as a society. For those who are not familiar with what happened back then, it does come as a bit of a shock. Yes there were women who managed to get a college education and there were women who ran their own ranches and farms or business. But take a city gal and plunk her in the wilds of Montana or Wyoming Territories with no clue as to how to manage a ranch, she might not even know how to ride a horse or handle a gun, and then expect her to survive… She might know how to make bread, knit, and do fancy stitches, but that doesn’t mean she knows how to shear sheep or card her own wool. She might not even know how to milk a cow and I doubt she knows how to castrate a baby bull.

So here I am in edits on two books and driving myself nuts! This newest one for KW needs a cover and I’ll handle that this week, because I obviously have nothing else to do! And to make matters worse, I swear originally this KW release was scheduled for August but apparently not. I believe it will release July 22. I’m running out of time! 😦

I’ve already promised myself that I will take a break before I finish my contemporary book. I’ve been on a marathon writing binge and I need to get back to the real world. Besides I’ve heard the newest Pixar movie, Finding Dory is even better than Finding Nemo. It’s supposed to be twice as funny with a better story line, and if I’m going to go to the movies, please let me laugh and enjoy it! Besides I love Pixar movies! (I’m such a little kid.)

As for the real world, I have a treadmill calling my name! And a doctor screaming at me to gets some exercise before I’m in deep doggie poop! So I will drag myself away from my computer and come up for air! Maybe I’ll even try going to the park in uptown and walking on their track. (I have a friend walking 4-5 miles a day there. You would not believe the amount of weight he has lost. He looks amazing.)

Of course I could be doing housework, which is quite a workout, but if the doctor asks how many minutes of exercise I’m getting in a week, it sounds better if I say I’m walking a mile a day, than for me to say of I’m vacuuming and scrubbing floors, and I cleaned the bathtub and I… Nah, I’d much rather say I’m walking. He didn’t tell me to clean my house, he said for me to walk. Any excuse will do to get me out of housework. 🙂

As for the rest of my life… I’m now on a BiPAP (fancy CPAP) machine while sleep. I should have gone through a sleep study years ago! I can’t remember sleeping this well ever in my life! I actually look forward to sleeping at night. I still can’t say I’m leaping out of bed with tons of energy, but I’m aware of the difference, and I feel much more rested. Why didn’t I do it sooner? Because I didn’t want to be tied to a machine all night? I really don’t know why I didn’t do it. I know I had sleep apnea, but I ignored it. They told me I was averaging not breathing 49 seconds out of every minute and my blood pressure and my oxygen stats fell to lows that shocked me. Why I’ve not died in my sleep is beyond me!

I have another nasty medical test to go through the next month and that will determine if I will need any more surgery anytime soon. But my surgery in March has taken away so much pain that I’m thrilled with that outcome. And I’ve lost 15 pounds in about a month. Yippee. But I have quite a few pounds to shed. I’m keeping my eyes on the horizon because I’m feeling better than I have in ages.

My primary care doctor is a young female and I adore her. She said I’m going to get you healthy and oh does she mean it.  I’ve never had so many doctor appointments in my life. They have probably removed four gallons of blood from my body in the last six months and analyzed it for everything imaginable.  If you had asked me a year ago how was my health, I would have told you that I was healthy as a rock. Okay, I had a few problems, I’m not twenty-five, I’m… never mind, I no longer have birthdays.  But I was fine! Really, I was!

But bit by bit, I’m changing and I like these new changes. And they still don’t have the thyroid going. 😦 But my energy levels are increasing, and I’m feeling better. Getting rid of continuous pain and sleeping better is making a difference. I’m not diabetic, but I’ve been borderline for a long time so I take my blood sugar levels occasionally and lately I’ve noticed they are dropping. Yes!! Happy Camper!! So maybe this is my chrysalis year.

And since I’ve had several book signing at some local libraries, I’m feeling better about doing those. Wish me luck because one of my favorite Starbucks is what they call an evenings store. They sell craft beers and wines in the evenings. They are having a book signing and they are featuring me! There will be several of us there on the 14th of this month. And they will be be having a wine tasting at the same time, except I can’t drink on the med they gave me after my neurosurgery. 😦 (Shh-I might taste – just a few drops.) So if you live in Tidewater, Virginia, come visit! Leave a note below and I’ll tell you which Starbucks. I’d love to meet you! 🙂

That’s my news! What is new with you or at your house? Have you done anything that has been a real life altering change for you? A diet change or something? Tell me, I really want to know!

Highs and Lows

This past month has been filled with highs and lows. My primary doctor has decided to “fix” me. There’s a lot of stuff that hasn’t been exactly right for a long time. Blood sugar numbers that have continuously crept higher, blood pressure readings that are higher than ideal, cholesterol figures that are not what they should be (You mean there’s something called good cholesterol and I don’t have enough of it?), sodium levels that are too low and well, you get the picture. My doctor is being very thorough and sent me to several specialists. (And I thought it was all part of getting older. With each birthday, the numbers increase? Apparently not.)

First there was the sleep study. An appointment to chat with the doctor and then return for the actual study. They attached a gazillion wires to me, and then told me to get comfortable and go to sleep. Really? I’m in a strange room where nothing is the same. There’s no dog snuggled to me, just me in a big bed, all alone with wires leading to the oddest of places and things that went beep if I tugged on a wire. And just when I’d drift off to sleep, they’d wake me and tell me to roll over or something. Eight hours later, I was able to leave feeling as though I needed a good night’s rest. Then I went back to see the doctor, again, who tells me I have sleep apnea. Of course I do. I knew that. Return again to have a new sleep study with a CPAP machine blowing air into me. Several times I woke up feeling as though I was being suffocated in air and trying to remove the mask from my face so that I could breathe out. Return to the doctor a week later to be told I need a BiPAP machine. I’m to pick that up this month. Apparently the continuous air is too much for me and this BiPAP machine has a high and low pressure that will allow me to exhale. How nice.

I’m being told that proper sleep will do wonders for me. My blood pressure is apt to fall along with my blood sugar levels. How all that is tied together is beyond me, but I like the idea. No one needs those numbers elevated. (Of course this is all deflating my checkbook, which already has problems with increasingly low numbers!)

I was also sent to the endocrinologist. Seems low sodium levels are not good, nor is the fact that my thyroid has quit working. Hmm. Aside from doing a ton of modern bloodletting  (fasting blood work which is sent to a lab), I’m not too certain what is going on there. But apparently that doctor has plans for me.

But what my primary doctor didn’t touch was my biggest problem, trigeminal neuralgia. That’s a fancy name for the malfunction of the nerves to my face which creates horrendous pain. I had surgery for it nine years ago and it relieved 90% of the pain. But there has been a lingering amount of pain which is controlled with some drugs, one of which tends to drop my sodium levels. After urging from my daughters, I called that doctor and decided to go through more surgery to completely kill the nerve as it leaves the brain stem. That was done March 31.

Sounds gross, right? It really wasn’t. Any surgery has its dangers as did this one, but this doctor is one of about three in the nation who specializes in trigeminal neuralgia and the hospital has a whole wing just for him. It was outpatient surgery done by “robots”. (My girls went with me.)

I’m a little out of balance, and I won’t drive until I feel better. But that neurosurgeon intends on taking me off the medication that I’ve taken probably since I was in my thirties and that should “cure” my low sodium levels. Who knows what else it will do, or what other changes I will notice. And I’m willing to bet that I’ll be back in the lab for more bloodletting.

So smack in the middle of all this medical hoopla, my dear friend called me one evening and asked if I wanted to go to the Outer

Banks of North Carolina with her. Her mom owned a timeshare there and wanted to utilize it. Except…well…the mother asked her daughter if she’d like to bring some friends.

Just how fast can I do laundry and pack? I grew up traveling. I’m fast. We left the following morning. We were only there a few days, but it was pure heaven. The odd thing was that I’ve never done such an unplanned crazy thing in my adult life. This was the ultimate pajama party! All of us write and I spent my time writing. No one whined about what I was doing or called me a party-pooper for not going to the indoor pool, they just left me to write because they all understand the need to write and how I felt about having the opportunity give my muse such complete freedom. Besides my glowing white legs, that haven’t seen the light of day in years, might have blinded the other swimmers.

One of the gals loves to cook and she did most all the cooking only asking me occasionally to make one of my sauces as though I was some sous chef for a restaurant. The other gal handled the dishes, and I washed the pots and pans. The food was delicious. No one counted calories, but we also didn’t tempt ourselves with cookies or other unneeded foods. I take that back – one of the gals put a half gallon of ice cream in the freezer and it was empty when we left. I have no clue who ate it, but I had probably a tablespoon’s worth that first evening. Actually I do know who ate it, but I’m not telling! What happened to all things in moderation? Never mind. How can anyone eat that much ice cream?

Seriously, when the thyroid is not functioning, the most dangerous thing I can do is shovel food into my mouth. So I’m very careful or I’d turn into a butterball. I don’t deny myself all the yummy things, but I do force myself to be content with a taste.  I try to keep my carbs low and my protein high. Yet I still gain weight. My endocrinologist told me when he gets me straightened out, I’ll be able to eat normally and I’ll lose some weight.  Yippee!

Anyway with the sounds of the surf pounding the sand and that

beautiful view from the balcony of the timeshare, I started my next book, Loving Zadie, and spent a little time thinking about what I will write for the Authors of Main Street’s next Christmas boxed set. At the rate I’m going that might be all I’ll manage to write this year. But sitting there on the balcony with my laptop was absolute heaven!

I’ll be teaching some classes starting the end of this month for the Portsmouth City library, and I’ll have a book signing at the Suffolk City library on April 23. Then in September, as usual, I’ll be busy with the local Isle of Wight County Fair, and another set of classes on writing for the Portsmouth City library. (These classes are FREE! The library does not charge.)  (I promise all these places are in Virginia.) And there are several more book signings planned for this year.

Wish me luck, because I’ve never before had a book signing. It’s exciting and almost terrify! We’ve all heard of those signings where no one comes. Where you sit and finally eat all those cute chocolates that you put in a dish to entice people to visit. Then you begin to make origami sailboats with the books marks that were printed for the event. And eventually you give up and begin to plot your next book, a murder mystery titled Assault with an Author’s Pen, Book One of Ignored Authors.

So March is behind me. It was filled with highs and lows, and the highest was that wonderful writer’s retreat with two poets and another author. (Which for the record, my friend’s mom said she had more fun with us than she’s had in years of going down there.) April has arrived. I’m looking forward to some some exciting events and the beginning of a new healthier me. Maybe I’ll even jump on my treadmill and work my way up to walking a few miles each day.

And as for that new novel, I’m having fun writing it. I’ll tell you all about it next month. But in the meantime, the hero and heroine are having a battle of wits and I’m trying to keep up with them!

My backyard is filled with yellow dandelions. I don’t care if they are a weed, they make me smile. No matter what happens, the sliver linings are there we only need to look for them. They can be as simple as a pretty yellow flower to brighten the day.