Hello. Welcome to Marketing Monday. Since I am a little sore and a lot tired (or a lot sore and a little tired... it's hard to tell) from show shoveling, let's just get right to it, eh?
Who had Civil War II on their 2026 bingo card? It's not north vs south this time. It's law-abiding citizens vs law breakers. Anyway...
I didn't do any writing this week and I did very little editing. I think I got one page of notes which amounted to only 1% of the book. Then my hand started to cramp and I set it aside for a while, which ended up being a longer while than I had intended. (Sno-pacalypse prep didn't help there.)
Marketing was done. I moved 100 copies of EG and someone read the book in KU, so I have that going for me.
I'm about halfway through The Night Manager. Maybe setting my goal at 35 books read for the year was wishful thinking.
In baking news, I made a quick bread. I started out to make that raisin-pecan bread and was about halfway through when I realized that the milk in the fridge had gone bad. Since I wasn't inclined to hop in the car and drive to the DG at that time, I searched for a substitute. I ended up settling on vanilla yogurt and water. The loaf baked up nice and looked lovely. It also tastes pretty good. Cutting it was the problem. I tried cutting it hot and it fell apart. :shrug: It cut fine after spending the night in the fridge, yay, so I sliced the whole loaf. Now it only falls apart if we microwave it to warm it up. And that's okay. I may make it again with the yogurt and tweak it so it holds up better.
On the activity front, I did an hour in the woods, throwing logs before the snow flew. Yesterday, we shoveled snow. I also did a double-load of grocery shopping, which was definitely exercise. I haven't weighed myself - it's too cold to be naked in the bathroom right now. My last weigh-in wasn't good, though. Blerg.
Speaking of throwing logs, the newest pile I created ended up with a big empty spot at the bottom, next to a downed cedar. I got the idea to make it a critter hidey-hole, so the last time I was in the woods, I reinforced that idea. It has two openings and a windbreak, plus as many leaves as I could pack around it. I hope the critters use it. I'd use it if I was a critter. For his woods-work, Hubs moved the remainder of the wood he'd already cut, so it wouldn't be sitting there when the snow hit.
Speaking of snow, we shoveled about 2-3 inches off the driveway yesterday. It was light, dry snow, so not that big a deal itself. It was really COLD though, so that was a kicker to the proverbial nuts. We weren't out there too long, but we accomplished what we set out to accomplish. We'll see what daylight brings and how much more we'll have to do today. The plan is to clear our driveway and, if necessary, get the driveway across the road. Those folks are both in their 80s and he's not in the greatest of health, so we do what we have to. That goodness I bought that new snow shovel last month.
This week, we also spent a lot of time getting ready for the winter storm, but I already talked about that. I guess that means I'm done with the update. Have a great week, wherever you are. Stay warm. Stay safe. Peace out.
It's Friday and Sno-pacalypse is supposedly on its way. It's supposed to arrive after 6pm tonight, so I've still got today to do anything else that needs doing. Except I thought it was supposed to be here earlier, so we already did everything that needed doing.
I did the grocery shopping - two weeks worth in case we get snowed in. The state of MO does a good job of clearing the highways, but the county doesn't do so great on clearing the side roads, so we can be kinda screwed living back in here. It seems to me that the last time we got a snow event, it was a week before we could leave the neighborhood.
I gassed up the car. It's probably not going anywhere, but if we lose power, we can stay warm in the car for an extended period of time. It won't be comfortable - 2 humans and 2 cats in a Chevy Cavalier - but it will be better than freezing our asses off in the house.
I also picked up enough cigarettes to get us through.
Hubs put new insulation in our well-tap pit, so it won't freeze in there. This afternoon, he'll go over and turn the heater on in the wellhouse, so that won't freeze. (A neighbor who's on a different well has already had his freeze this season.)
I moved all my garage plants away from the windows and also brought a few inside for the duration. Cecil the Cedar is in the spare room with Seymour the Nephthytis and my green pepper plants.
Hubs covered all the windows in the garage to help retard heat loss there. He also drained the plumbing in the garage and made sure there's no water in the toilet out there. Just in case the heaters can't keep up or we lose power. (We've already had to replace one toilet because it cracked due to cold - from when the house was vacant before we bought it. That was fun. Not.) The heaters will be turned on tonight.
I already have a towel along the bottom edge of the front door to keep the cold out and the warm in. Today, I'll put a blanket along the bottom of the doors leading to the sun porch. Yesterday, I took the cushions off my patio furniture and used them to retard the air leakage from the sun porch to the deck. (That door is horribly gappy.) I'll also use some towels along the window sills to stop cold there. I have no proof it works, but I did it in Michigan and it seemed to help.
Which leads to the reason to our madness. We both grew up in Michigan and we know what cold weather can do. We also know that this is southern Missouri, and most people aren't ready for any kind of snow or cold for any length of time. These homes aren't built for polar weather. The people are woefully underprepared.
After our first winter here, which was so suckily cold our furnace couldn't keep up, Hubs re-insulated using R30, so we've got that going for us. I feel bad for almost everyone else around here who get by with the R5 we had before. Hubs also put insulation around a lot of the pipes under the house and in the garage. He's handy that way.
Anyway, if you're reading this and aren't quite prepared, there's still a little time. (Maybe not to reinsulate your home, but for other things to get you by.) Go forth and get 'er done. We're gonna hunker down for the duration. Stay safe and warm out there, everyone. :hugs:
They keep dropping the predicted temperature for this weekend. Freakin' single digits and negatives. And a possible up to 9" of snow. Derp. We're making plans for the snow-pacalypse, and crossing our fingers the power doesn't go out. I did two-weeks worth of grocery shopping yesterday, got cigs, and filled the tank in my car. Today, I'll hit the Dollar General for a few other things, just in case, and then move all my plants away from the windows in the garage so Hubs can put up the window coverings to retard heat loss in there (old comforters mostly). He'll drain the hoses and bring them inside, and then we'll hunker down for the duration.
Speaking of the impending snow-pacalypse... Wallyworld was a zoo yesterday. And yes, they were running out of bread. (Which I didn't need, thank goodness.) I didn't check the milk or the toilet paper, but they were probably getting low, too. The poor cashier said the place had been a zoo since the first mentions of the storm, so like 2-3 days worth of zoo, and it's only going to get worse. Today will be zoo to the nth power down there.
To the woman shrieking that ICE should leave her alone because she has a head injury... People like you piss me off. I am really sick of people using traumatic brain injury as an excuse for bad behavior. And by the way, if your head injury was severe enough that you can't understand simple instructions, you have no business driving. They made me prove I could drive safely after my head injury before they'd let me get behind the wheel of a car. The same should've happened to you, if you have a head injury, which I suspect you don't. Anyway, this is as bad as pretending you have a limp to get handicapped parking. Knock it off.
Yes, my head injury is 32 years (and 11 days) old. They don't go away, you just learn workarounds to deal with your deficiencies. Or you don't. Whining about it doesn't help. Trust me. I tried that early on and it didn't help.
I sometimes think about writing a book about my TBI experiences, but I can't remember a lot of what happened in any great detail, so a book probably isn't the way to go.
I recently started following Josh & Jase (two Brits who love America) because they're touring Michigan right now. These guys are hilarious. And they've just reached the Upper Peninsula. This should be fun. I spent 4 years up there and I really do miss it sometimes. (Not now. Now it's cold and snowy and just NOPE.)
Okay, I probably should go. I had other things on my mind to talk about today, but they're gone, so...
Have a great day!
Good morning! It's time again for another Marketing Monday. Today, we're doing Early Grave - the third book in the Serial Crimes Investigation Unit series. It's a third book, but like all the SCIU books, it can be read without reading the others. (Although reading the others does enrich the experience, imo.)
Speaking of marketing and free books, I am actually ahead of the game and have set up freebies for the next three weeks. This week, it's EG, next week will be Blink of an I, and then Natural Causes. Enjoy.
Well, here we are again at Sunday morning. I wanted to sleep in today, but my bladder had other ideas. Derp.
No writing this week - it's editing time. Unfortunately, not a lot of that was done either. I think I'm at 13% on my edit notes, which works out to like 2.5 pages worth of notes. Better than nothing, but I need to get my act together if I want to reach the goal of being done with this by the end of the... oh crap, it's the 18th.?! Really? Well, crap. It would take a miracle to get this book finished in 12 days. So, let's say this book's deadline is February. Sometime in February. Before March?
I did marketing. UWC was free and it moved 38 copies. I also moved 2 copies of WIOH at regular price, so there's that. I also moved one copy each of DE and of FG, which I assume is from previous marketing. Yay. And someone's been reading PH in KU. woot. I'm up to like $9 for the month, which isn't gravy, but it's better than a sharp stick in the eye.
I'm still reading The Night Manager. It's slow going because I'm also trying to read my book for edit notes.
This week, I made beef stew, which turned out awesome, and biscuits to go with that (also awesome). Then I made a pineapple upside-down cake. Yummers.
On the activity front, I did a couple days out in the woods throwing logs. Those kicked my ass, which led to not doing anything for a day or two (or five) after each session. I'm not as young as I used to be and I keep forgetting that. So, doing nearly 2 hours in the woods hits me like a 200-pound boxer hits a weakling with a glass jaw. Derp. Let's not talk weight, eh? It was 177.8 last Sunday and I don't expect it's gone down any since. Did I mention the pineapple upside-down cake? Yeah.
Speaking of throwing logs, Hubs is most of the way through moving the piles of firewood he's already made with the chainsaw. And I'm making good progress creating other piles of not-firewood - better known as taking all the crap lying around and moving it to centralized locations. (Can also be known as creating wildlife habitats, but that's tertiary.) The hope for me is to create a glade down there in the woods, with wildflowers and pretty trees. Maybe a gazebo... you know, if I win the lottery or something.
We're trying a new high-protein food for Lumpy. I think she's looking better, but that could just be wishful thinking on my part. This cold snap could be the deciding factor on whether she lives through this winter. It's 10 degrees out there. :shudder:
Speaking of 10 degrees... Umm, yeah, I won't be going in the woods until the air can't hurt my face.
I went to the thrift store this week. No books, but I didn't find a really nifty posthole digger for $7. Woot. Yes, I am a redneck who gets excited about cheap tools. We'll be using the posthole digger to make holes... naturally... which will be used to plant trees. Or at least to get the ground here broken up enough to maybe plant trees. We have a plan.
And on that exciting farm implement news, I think that's it for me. What's been up with you?
Here's a little sea-shanty I cooked up this morning. Sing along with me...
What do you do with a slothful writer?
What do you do with a slothful writer?
What do you do with a slothful writer staring at a blank page?
Chain her to the keyboard until she writes words.
Chain her to the keyboard until she writes words.
Chain her to the keyboard until she writes words until she gets to THE END.
Yes, I am a slothful writer. Although, to be honest, I'm editing right now not writing. Still, the song amused me. I hope it amused you, too.