M.J. Fredrick's Blog, page 28

Goals for the End of April

Things are changing at school again. Less than half of the 5th graders passed the STAAR test on the first go-round, so for the next two weeks there will be intensive tutoring, until the next round of testing. They’re pulling teachers to work with small groups, and two other teachers and me will take the kids who passed and do fun stuff with them all day long. Well, fun for us We’re doing Civil War history and westward expansion, art and some music, I think. I think it will be fun. We’ll take them out to play kickball and all the fun things about teaching. I’m planning with the two other teachers, which is new for me.

I finished the post-apoc and sent it to Amazon serials. If I don’t hear from them in a reasonable amount of time, I’ll submit to Samhain.

And I have a May 6 deadline for a short story. ACK!

1) Adjust to new schedule.

2) Write like the wind. I only have about 6000 words on the short story and I need at least 15000.

3) Cook

4) Keep up house

5) Keep up exercise.

I’d really like to clean up my craft room but that can wait until next week when the short story is turned in.

Goals for the Week of my Birthday!!

Last week was crazy and FAST. I got a lot done but not everything. And yesterday was crazy busy getting ready for my party today, lots of last-minute errands, breakfast with Cindi, coloring my hair, updating my website (which included remembering the ridiculously complex password StartLogic forces you to have) and…working on the post-apoc which is kicking my butt entirely.

Anyway, this week:

Celebrate with my family! We’re going to the country because that makes the commute easier for Josh, and it’s where I always celebrated when I was a girl.

Work on short story.

Work on revisions of post-apoc. Really REALLY want to submit it this week.

Promote Cowboy.

STAAR testing–2 days of hall monitoring and running around like a crazy person. I got new trainers so my feet aren’t killing me at the end of the day. Also got a pedometer that I need to figure out.

Fiesta!

Exercise, because this weekend is very bad for my diet!

Maybe sew something. I have a dress cut out.

Happy Release Day to MEEEEEE!!!!

After many delays, and a new title, Sanctuary with the Cowboy is now available at Amazon, BN and Smashwords.

When an on-the-job incident sends her home to her family’s Hill Country ranch, Detective Aubrey Cavanaugh wants to hide away with a good bottle of vodka to ease her mind and her guilt.

She doesn’t want to deal with family, friends, and least of all her former lover, Erich Harlan, who is now the ranch foreman.

Erich Harlan has his hands full with overseeing the ranch while Aubrey’s parents are away. But he can see she is hurting. He might be the last person she’d turn to, but he won’t give up until he knows what’s causing her pain and how to make it go away.

After a dozen years apart, will she be willing to find Sanctuary with the Cowboy?

This Week is JINXED!

So I was all happy this week because we were going to have a special guest come talk to the kids on Wednesday and two grades were having field trips today (which meant I’d have 2 class periods free.)

The guest speaker cancelled at the last minute, and it rained today so the two grades couldn’t go on their field trips! Mind, we’re in the middle of a DROUGHT and it rains TODAY?

Argh!

Goals the Week Cowboy is Released

This will be a nuts but fun week, I think. Two grade levels are going on field trips, which means free periods for me. Also, one day there won’t be music class because of Jump Rope for Heart, and one day they’re having a pep rally in the afternoon.

Also, Sanctuary with the Cowboy will be out this coming weekend, finally! It’s a Christmas novella just in time for spring. What can I say?

If not for having to write a very big check to IRS, I’d like this week very much!

1) Teacher Retirement meeting Wednesday. I was hoping next year might be my last, but I need to learn what the rules are. I may not be able to do it until I’m 50, or even 53, and recoup my retirement :-/

2) Finish post-apoc story.

3) Work on a bundle that I’m putting out with two good friends.

4) Baby Brother’s play–he’s a HS teacher and worked on the play/costumes.

5) Plan birthday party.

6) Finish Fiesta dress.

So busy but fun!

Goals for the Week of….Nothing, Really. Really?

I should enjoy this week, because it will be the last easy week for awhile.

1) Work my butt off on the post-apoc.

2) sew something

3) Cook healthy

4) Start exercising–my bike is fixed.

5) Return a pair of cargo pants that aren’t even close to fitting. How can I wear the same size from every other store but that one??

Essentially this means I have to schedule myself much more strictly. Get up earlier to write, exercise as soon as I get home, cook right after that, sew…sometime. Saturday, maybe. On the plus side, I’ll get more reading done on the bike!

A VERY SPECIAL Guest Blogger–Kris Fletcher

Barnes and Noble

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Amazon

Hello, folks, and MJ, thanks so much for having me here! I want to take a minute to talk about friendship.

MJ and I have been friends for – dang. I can’t tell you how many years. More than eleven, because it’s been that many since I adopted my oldest daughter, and we were already dear friends at that point. MJ has seen me through some wonderful highs (two international adoptions, kid stuff, the long and wild road to publication) and some horrific lows (two international adoptions, kid stuff, the long and wild road to publication).

The most amazing part of this is that we have met in person on maybe four occasions. There were some National conferences years ago, my family trip to San Antonio about seven years back – and that’s it. Our connection has been built overwhelmingly through email loops and Facebook and blogs and all those other electronic venues that make it easy to share each other’s lives. Some folks may think it’s kind of odd that I am closer to MJ, who lives umpty thousand miles from me, than to my next door neighbor. But that’s the way it is.

When it came time to start setting up blog visits to promote my releases this week, I turned first to MJ. I knew I could ask her how to go about this without her pointing and laughing. Not only did she immediately offer me a spot on this blog, she contacted folks far and wide and had four other places lined up within, oh, twenty minutes. I tell you, the girl knows everyone. Between her amazing connections and her heart – one of the most generous ones I have ever had the privilege of knowing – she has been a gem of a guide into the world of Published AuthorLand.

I know, I know, I should mention my books. Well, in A Better Father, my heroine, Libby, is very much a control freak who needs a sharp lesson in letting others be helpers and friends. She finally figures it out, of course, but it would have happened a lot faster if she had MJ to guide her  In The Call of the Wilder, my heroine Gemini is dealing with family issues more than friendship, but you know, she really could have used a shoulder at times. Too bad she didn’t know our MJ.

So folks, obviously I believe that friendships can be built without face to face contact, but what say you?

A Better Father blurb:

From superstar to superdad

Becoming a single dad was never hockey star Sam Catalano’s game plan. Now he’s turning his world upside down to give his two-year-old son, Casey, the best life he can. And buying his own childhood camp seems like the perfect way to do it. At least until he comes face-to-face with his new assistant director, and old camp flame, Libby Kovak.

Sam can’t afford to be distracted by Libby or the constant reminders of the passion they shared. His only priority is protecting Casey and making the transition as smooth as possible. But Sam’s starting to believe that the most valuable thing he can give his son, and himself, is a life with Libby in it.

Blurb for Call of the Wilder:

Fans finding it difficult to wait for the long-anticipated third volume of Bridget Jones’s Diaries will love the quick wit and heartwarming tales of Kris Fletcher.

Gemini Wilder always knew that marriage wasn’t for her. She’s a Wilder and Wilders don’t do marriage. They do adultery, pornography, and identical twins, but not “’til death do us part.” So when Randy, her sweet, loving, and perfect boyfriend, proposes, Gemini does what any good Wilder would do: she runs.

Straight to Vegas, home of family secrets and persistent ex-husbands. In the city where illusion is king and there’s a spotlight for everyone, Gemini faces a temptation buffet. But a seductive ex and the rebirth of her former wild-child self are nothing next to the siren song of the musical dreams she thought she had locked down forever.

When her internal soundtrack pushes her to put her peaceful life—and Randy—to the test, it’s time for the real Gemini to stand up. But is she strong enough to resist the call of the Wilder?

Tomorrow–a Very Special Guest Blogger

You know how you have people whose success you want as much as your own? Well, tomorrow I’m going to introduce you to one of those people, Kris Fletcher, whose first Harlequin Superromance is out NOW. Y’all, I met Kris when I lived in my old house, when I got my used Powerbook and first got on the Internet, a la AOL. They used to have message boards, and Kris and I were regular on the goals board and the writing series board. At the time, I had one little one and she had three boys. She’s added two beautiful little girls and I was honored to follow along on her adoption journeys.

She is a multi-Golden Heart finalist, and if you’ve ever been to RWA National, you’ve seen her volunteering in some capacity. I can hear her voice even as I type this.

Never never did she give up her dream of writing, though how she has time or energy to find time escapes me. I was in tears when she sent us the email that she had, after years and faith and hard work, sold to Harlequin. Heck, I’m in tears writing this just now. It was such a dream come true for her, one she worked her butt off for. Tomorrow, she’ll be here to talk about our friendship (which also made me cry) and her Superrromance, but I’ll also add her other book, Call of the Wilder, which she self-published with the help of her loyal agent. So please come back by tomorrow and meet a dear friend whose success I am over the moon for! (Bad sentence, but you get the idea!)

Goals for the First Week of the REAL Test

Yes, the first week. Then at the end of April we’ll have round 2. And in May…another couple of days for the kids who didn’t pass the first time.

1) Write short story

2) Work on post-apoc.

3) Sew something, which I’d really wanted to do this weekend, but since I had walking pneumonia, I spent most of my time on the couch with the computer, watching movies with the boy.

4) Enjoy Easter with the family

5) Start teaching music again. I was tutoring this past six weeks, but we only have 10 weeks of school left and there’s lots to do, especially with the big kids. I’m kinda excited.

Hope y’all have a good Easter.

My New Addiction

I never never never should have discovered online fabric stores. I’ve bought three pieces and I’m looking at three more. They’re more expensive than JoAnn’s or Fabric Warehouse, but the selections–oh, the selections.

I bought this for a dress for Fiesta:

I bought this for a pair of pajama pants:

I bought this for a blouse that I haven’t bought the pattern for yet:

Now I’m looking at these outdoor fabrics, but I’m not sure what to do with them:

And Nancy Drew fabric–how cool is this? Again, not sure what to do, but thinking pj pants again.

I should never have gotten accounts for these two stores, seriously.

What is your newest addiction?