IT'S COMING!

I spent the weekend formatting and uploading the ebook version of A Barrel of Vintner (Justice #11). The file has been uploaded to all retailers. All the preorder links on this website have been populated. And many thanks to those readers who had their preorders in before I even announced it!

For those wanting a paperback version, the trade paperback will be delayed a few weeks. My regular formatter recently had a bionic knee installed, so she's working out the kinks. So I'm patiently waiting since she does a much better job with paperbacks than I do!

And now, I'm back to writing! Which is really the best part of this whole career. Meeting new characters. Revisiting old favorites. It doesn't matter. Writing is an act of creation, and it fits with this time of year.

Outside my window, a bumblebee is collecting dinner from blooming daffodils and dandelions. Yes, I let dandelions bloom in my surburban yard. The bumblebee and her pollinating sisterhood need to replenish their stores after a particular rough winter. I'm not going to starve the poor critters. We need them to keep this planet going.

Hopefully, I'll have a little time here and there through the rest of the growing season to spruce up the flower beds and plant some new blooming beauties. That way, the bumblebee and her kindred will have a little more variety for their hives' palette.

When the Sh** Hits the Fan Like a Big Ole' Crazy Man

UGH! I got slammed with a bunch of non-writing, non-publishing stuff. It's been a juggling week to make sure everything gets done.

On the other hand, I've had some good laughs from the junk e-mails I'm receiving. Lots of alleged girls want to sent me naked pics. Ummm, sorry, scammers! I don't swing that way. *delete*

Or there's the scammer who claims he controls the camera on my laptop, and he's recorded me masturbating. *HAHAHAHA!* Oh, and he only wanted $600 to not release the videos. My guess is the AI-generated clip will not have an accurate representation of my current physical state. Like my surgical scars.

There's the credit offers allegedly from my former bank. Which no longer exists because a bank from another state bought it out in 2024.

To top things off, there's another scammer trying to collect on the virus protector I use (bill's already paid two years ahead, doofus), PayPal, and FedEx. Seriously? Three different companies will NOT be going through one individual to collect ny outstanding fees due. *shaking my head*

After some good and much needed chuckles, I've finishing up the final touches for the release of A Barrel of Vintner. I hope you all have a lovely spring weekend! 

What the Hell Is Going on with Suzan?

It's been a little insane at Casa Harden over the last few weeks. The chaos started with one of DH's remaining uncles passed away. It ended with me slipping on ice, tripping over a landscaping brick, and somehow falling on the frozen ground instead of the concrete driveway the day before the Alberta Clipper swept through our area.

I'm still unsure how I managed to injure my right thumb in that delightful show of clumsiness.

Hey, at least, I didn't fall on Princess Bella. The poor thing was merely trying to hurry to get her final constitutional done for the night because even she was cold wearing a t-shirt and her winter coat. (She's a toy breed, and you have to bundle them up because they cannot control their core temps the way a larger dog can.)

There's been a lot more happening in between the emotional and physical aches, but I won't bore you with those details. What it comes down to is I am behind.

So woefully behind.

And what happens? I get invitations from two different editors asking me to submit short stories for their holiday anthologies. For 2025! By the end of the month!

*sigh*

Folks, I literally just finished sending last year's Christmas presents to people!

So, what does it all mean?

It means I'm busting my ass trying to get the books y'all are expecting. I merely took the dates off the Release Schedule because looking at the page was triggering my anxiety.

Today, I skipped yoga, I made sure I had plenty of coffee and tea, and I will be back on the keyboard as soon as I get home from the COVID booster stab.

That's assuming I don't bash my brains on the asphalt in the pharmacy parking lot.

Writing More than Showing On the Stats

Over on the side ribbon (if you're looking at the fullscreen version of this blog, I keep a list of stats on current and future writing projects. Right now, it doesn't look like I'm doing much of anything. My NaNo project is an Alter Ego book, the first in three(?) years. 

Also, I'm double-checking for typos in Magick and Murder after finding a few I missed in Fae and Felonies while proofing the paperback. Also, there's the annual Christmas short to write. I need to have everything done before DH and I set out on our first real vacation since GK was born. (The treks to Ohio to visit family do not count as vacations because they definitely weren't relaxing. Neither were the staycations to fix house stuff.)

After we return from our trip, I've got two eye surgeries scheduled in December to fix the cataracts I have thanks to the tamoxifen. Like I told my oncologist, if there's a weird side effect to a drug, I'll have it. Merry Christmas to me.

But that also means, my writing may be limited until my body processes the new bionic lenses, as my buddy Jo would say, and we figure out if I need glasses or just reading glasses or *fingers crossed* I don't need anything at all. By January, I should be able to drive al night again.

Can I now? Technically yes, but I don't feel comfortable doing it.

This is just one of many things a person deals with on the way the big 6-0. Yet, I still want Barbies for my birthday, and I plan on hitting my favorite comic book shop when I'm in Houston. I feel very paradoxical at the moment.

However, I will be taking Baby Blue with me on vacation. DH no longer flies so the drive to our destination will allow me to only write. While technically a laptop, Baby Blue isn't much more than a glorified tablet with a keyboard. She only has WORD and EXCEL loaded, and the wi-fi remains turned off unless there's a dire emergency that my phone can't handle. And there isn't much a smart phone can't handle these days. However, I only have my personal e-mail on the phone.

If all goes to plan, I should have a few giant updates on stats at the beginning of December. Then, things will be quiet until the beginning of January.

P.S. The entire Justice series is currently on sale at all retailers (or it should be) until December 10th. Pestilence in Pumpkin Spice (Soccer Moms of the Apocalypse #1) is $0.99 until Deember 31st!

Not Again...

I got three books finished and pre-published before this year's personal life explosion.

My father passed away. It's not something I can talk about yet. So things will be quiet on the blog front except for some pre-planned posts about Hero De Novo for tomorrow.

I apologize for not getting one last chapter from the book posted. Thanks for your patience.

Oh, Four Fox Snakes!

Hey, you! The one who keeps checking if Ravaged has been released? It's not out. Believe me, it WILL be posted in giant letters when it goes live on the retail sites.

I couldn't even make it through the first book of the next eight I want to release before more cow defecation hit the spinning turbine. Shit is happening that I can't talk about at the moment for someone else's privacy reasons. It's getting taken care of, but taking care of it is time-consuming as all get out.

My formatter had sent me the Kindle e-book file for Ravaged on Tuesday, September 26. I haven't completed reviewing it yet. It should have been a two-day job max. I'm not even at the half-way point on A Modicum of Truth either, and I'd planned to have it finished by now.

Why can't I have normal adult first-world problems? I have a friend whose kid is trying to decide between Harvard and Yale. Another friend and her S.O. are debating on whether he should take a promotion across the country when their youngest is also in his senior year. A third friend is simply thankful that her teen driver is all right after a drunk adult hit her daughter's car head-on when she was on her way to school.

If I weren't high on cider, donuts, and pumpkin spice lattes right now, I'd probably be curled up in my bed with a bottle of tequila, bawling my eyes out. But then, nothing's stopping me from going to the store for a bottle or two.

On second thought, maybe I should head over to Kroger for a bigger chocolate cake...