Longest day of the year

We all know it's not the summer solstice. It's the fall back regimen. We gained an hour which will feel like four on a sleepy Sunday.

Me=every time.

One would think that would mean one would have an extra hour to do necessary things.

Except, my body won't be right for months. I'm going to bed at 6?

WTF?

Murphy still woke me at the usual time this morning. Unfortunately, that's now 5:51 am. You cannot explain time change to a feline.

I tried.

Am I going to be irrationally hungry?

Most likely.

Am I going to feel like every clock in the house is wrong?

Most likely.

Should I take this time to simmer? Probably. But, I won't.

Still worried about trigger finger surgery and what I will be able/won't be able to do during that time.

Which means I'm going to wring out every hour of this day like it's a wash cloth that pissed me off.

Because of course I am.

I hope this time change finds you comfy and relaxing. Enjoying that extra hour. 

Is it midnight? It feels like midnight. 🤔

Back to the business of writing

My next author event will be the Relax and Read Author Event on March 6th and 7th. It is sponsored by Le Visage Spa and Wellness in Norman, Oklahoma.

Many readers have expressed they are interested in more than romance, so I shall be taking my Plot Twist series, Canary series, Dream Walker, and romance, both erotic and contemporary.

I've expanded my search for book cons into Texas and about a four-five hour drive from my house. There are quite a few I'm interested in. And they're spread out over the year, which is lovely. I can't do a back-to-back anymore.

Honestly?

I'll be ready to see the back end of October. And I'm not one to rush the year, believe me. But this month has been hectic and frenetic, and I'd like a slower pace all around. 

Worried about the trigger finger surgery, though. 

It's one thing to take a break and another to be forced to.

And I'm completely the opposite of low-key.

I believe you know my alternate ego: chaos cow. 🐮

Okay!

Books to write and words to fondle.

Triggered

I believe I mentioned my trigger finger in a previous blog. Right middle finger. Went to see the hand doc today.

I'm scheduled to have surgery on November 9th.

With ALL the respect to Daniel Kaluuya and the "Get Out" experience. Damn good flick.

Thank you, ADHD.

Antyway, I'm getting a nerve cut, three stitches, and pain for months.

Doc was not a bullshitter. I appreciate that. 

He flat out said it would hurt for a great deal of time.

I inform the good doc that I'm a writer, and I type a shit-ton on my works.

He said to give it a week, but I'll probably still be typing through pain.

<<<<<see meme again

In other, my body is a shitshow news, I went to my rheumatologist, and this sweet soul sent a fuck load of blood tests and x-rays.

And guess what, my good brethren and sistren?

I looked at the blood tests. And even though my follow-up isn't until November 23rd, yours truly looks like she has lupus.

So.

Do I have fibro AND lupus? 

Do I need to change my diet?

Have I had lupus all along, and no one caught it?

Are my organs being fucked up as I type this?

Inquiring minds want to know.

My short ass is completely unamused.

Stay tuned...

Brilliant idea

I was thinking, as I usually can't stop, that I need to put together a couple of book boxes for readers.

Mini problem? I have no idea what to put in or how to do so.

What do I do? I Google.

Y'all need to understand that I don't have a support system. I can't reach out to a fellow author and be like, "Hey! What's poppin'? I need to throw together a book box. Throw ya girl a bone."

No.

I don't have people like that. I DO have author friends, and I adore them. But I feel like I'm pestering them.

Not this chickie.

I go to VistaPrint first.

Don't do that unless you're willing to sell a kidney.

No, I'm not remotely kidding.

You must buy custom boxes in bulk, and those bitches are expensive.

I think I try two more sites.

One, the set-up is crazy expensive.

The other one? Minimum purchase was bullshit.

I decide, in what passes as wisdom, to put together my own stuff. I'll buy the boxes and things to go in them. So that is what yesterday looked like.

That...and living in this damn chair to finish my damn story.

Readers want bookmarks, stickers, and items tying into the book title.

Nothing gets me going like having another thing on my list that keeps me from doing what I really should be doing.

Purchased the boxes, tissue paper, and crinkly stuff. Ordered a few swag items. 

Always looking for that dopamine hit.

Think I'll put two boxes out for grabs around December. Then send them in the new year. 

Y'all crazy if you think I'm going to the post office in December.

No, homie. 

That is a recipe for disaster.

Speaking of disasters, I went to my rheumatologist for the first time the other day. He was lovely. Ordered a shit-ton of x-rays and blood tests. 

Isn't it the best when you get the results back sooner, but you don't have an appt with your guy until like nearly Thanksgiving? And your Google-happy self immediately starts diagnosing when you see a couple of your blood tests were "abnormal" or "high"?

It's like Christmas came early.

Courage feels me. 🙄

So that's in the wings. 
More later after the next appt.

But me?

No warm fuzzies.

Snacks

Some people need coffee to create. I need snacks.

I need something to feed myself while my brain produces the good stuff.

The longer I write in a day, the more depleted I feel.

Snacks are medicinal, at this point.

Yesterday, during my week long self-flagellation session, I ran out of energy. Like I literally couldn't think. I blame lack of snacks. Or...partly. 😇

I expected these little darlings to arrive yesterday.

I lay in wait.

Instead, I received the hideous "your item has been delayed" bullshit of the 'zonosphere.

Cranium collapse.

I don't want to dress and leave the house. All that extra is reserved for doc appts. 

What did Crystal do?

Ordered a delivery.

For this morning.

Before ten o'clock.

I was craving Fiddle Faddle, but Crunch 'n' Munch will have to do.

And now...we wait.

Chicken tonight

Once, a long long time ago, when Crystal was in high school, she had a project due that was basically taking a chicken bone, adding it to a poster board, and then drawing the rest of the chicken around it while giving information about the bone. You know...in the olden days.

I put it off, off, and off some more until it was the night before, and I somehow convinced my mom to cook chicken. I boiled that damn bone and stayed up until two in the morning finishing the fuckforsaken poster board with the drumstick.

I learned nothing.

Absolutely. Nothing.

Currently working on a deadline, and my short ass has decided to revisit old habits. I DO blame the ADHD in part. I also blame myself, because c'mon. 

To be fair, I haven't been feeling this particular story and being a mood writer, it simply hasn't spoken to me as much as my Plot Twist series.

But now?

I'm tying it to a chair and breaking out the bamboo shoots (old torture method--under the fingernails--for those who didn't read the scariest shit growing up).

We are at a must write stage. And I rarely, but rarely, get to this one.

Because I don't like it.

I don't get off on the thrill of writing at the last minute.

Oh ho!

Not at all.

I want shit done a month ahead of time and ready to go.

But tonight?

Guess I'm having chicken.

Reach out...but not too far

Looking for more possible book cons to attend. As previously stated, four hours is a stretch for me. But that's what I'm willing to drive. Hopefully find some cons in Texas that are approximately four hours or less.

I need you to know that I've purchased some gold stickers and will now be embossing (not embalming--that was the first word I thought of) my Inman Books. There will be a gold sticker in each with the "From the library of Inman Books" embossed on it and the logo in the middle. (Do NOT pinch, say, your middle finger, in said embosser.)

*squeal only canines can hear*

I love office toys.

Stickers were popular at SP26. My snarky ones were a big hit. You know you've found your people when they are picking through, grabbing several, and saying they relate. I wish I'd brought the other package.

Next time.

I'll come loaded for bear.

Speaking of...

What to take? How much to take? 

SmutPalooza was fairly simple. I took my Erotic Romance. Pretty straightforward. At least a dozen of each. Fit in my little wagon. All was well. Three books. One short story.

I took 14 titles to Book Me Romance in Ft. Smith this year. 

But producing several titles in a small period of time will leave you wondering where you want to go with your numbers and titles.

This is where I fail miserably.

Because I write so many different genres, it's hard to be certain of what to grab. 

I've narrowed it down to taking both first books in my Canary and Plot Twist series.

I'll offer those at a discount. 

Will probably bundle four or so Canary series together and sell as a set.

"Over Her Head" my contemporary romance.

One or two erotic romance.

One or two romantasy.

My psychological thriller.

I want to take at least eight titles, but that looks different depending on what time of year.

But I always look forward to the next.