M.J. Fredrick's Blog, page 7

Goals the Week of Fred’s Vacation

And I need one so bad!!!

Last week I didn’t get as much done as I hoped. I was just so tired, and everything took longer than it should have. This week Fred’s on vacation, so I know I won’t get much done. Getting a little anxious, not good for vacation!

Day trip and an overnight trip
Jurassic World–in an hour!
Set up preorder for Avalon 3
Board meeting Wednesday
Work on Avalon
clean craft room
wash windows
Figure out Facebook ads
Take out ads
Update front matter in books
walk the dog

Goals for the First Week of Summer Vacation

So, it’s not going to be a particularly fun week, with trips to the dentist and the vet, and I have a LOT I need to do to catch up, both writing-wise and business-wise. So…wish me luck with this long list!

Dentist
Day with Mom
Work on Avalon–12 pages a day, minimum!
wash windows
Learn about Facebook advertising
rework front matter in all my books
sew something
Polka’s spa day
Write a blog
Figure out expanded distribution to CreateSpace
Figure out Amazon’s Write On
Take out ads
Walk the dog
Graduation
bridal shower

Summer Memories

Today is my favorite day of the year. The last day of school with the whole summer stretched in front of me. There are so many things that make me think of summer. I was talking (okay, texting) with my mom about it and she said it is because we have so many good summer memories.

Oreos, for one. I remember we’d go swimming at the pool in Seguin, then shivering in our bathing suits, would go to the grocery store on the way home. Double Stuff Oreos had just come out. I will forever associate the smell of chlorine with the taste of Oreos.

Sweet sodas. Ordinarily I don’t like sweet drinks, but in the summer, I love cream sodas, root beer, and right now, watermelon soda. I think this goes back to summer evenings when my grandmother would walk us over to the convenience store (the ice house, we called it) and we’d buy cream soda (Blue Nehi) and pretty much all the candy we could eat!

Books. I read so much during summers. I read Trixie Belden books until they fell apart. My grandmother signed me up for a horse book club, and I read those books until they fell apart. The school would open the library one morning a week and I was there, in the cool, darkened, nearly-empty school library for my stack of books. We learned that the public library delivered books, so I got those, too. I read my grandfather’s westerns when I ran out of things to read, and my grandmother would take me to the five and dime and I’d get Harlequins (I liked the Janet Dailey ones). So yeah, books EVERYWHERE.

Gingham. I think it’s because Mom made me a pink and white gingham bedspread and curtains. Myroom was bright and pretty, and I spent a lot of time in it during the summer. You know, reading.

Halter tops. They were one of the first things I learned how to sew…two panels with drawstrings at the top, that tied at the shoulders. I probably made six of them and wore them until I couldn’t go without a bra anymore.

The smell of coffee in the drive-thru. This one I blame on Fred and our road trips, though we don’t limit them to summer. But we always stop at a drive-thru for breakfast on our way out of town.

Totino’s Pizzas. When Josh was little, we’d buy those for lunches on summer days. Actually, I kept buying them even when he was a teenager and could eat more than one by himself!

Goals for My Favorite Week of the Year

My summer goal!

 

Yes, it is the last week of school, the week when the whole summer stretches out before me, all the possibilities, no wasted days. Lots to do this week, and today has been busy. We celebrated my brother’s birthday, I got my edits back on my new novel, went through them, formatted the book for print, ordered a cover, formatted the book for epub, sent to reviewers.

This week I have:

1) The talent show tomorrow

2) Get my room ready (it’s almost there)

3) Work on the sequel to the book I just turned in

4) Take out ads

5) Put up the book for preorder

6) Change an old cover to a new one

7) Color hair PINK

Whew! Tired already!

 

Goals the Week of Memorial Day

This is going to be a busy week! Every day after school there is something. I finished my book and sent it to my editor, and now time to start the sequel!

1Field Day

2Go get shorts

3Work on Avalon Island 2

4Polka’s Spa Day

5Work on promo for boxed set

6Take out ads

7Polka to vet

8Get haircut

9Color hair

Goals of the Week Hot Shot Launches

Only two more weekends until summer vacation!

Relaunch Hot Shot on Tuesday
Work on Avalon Island
YaYa to vet (her poor skin. But I need a new cat carrier first.)
Take out ads (figure out Facebook ads!)

Goals for the Week of Mother’s Day

My poor mom always has her birthday and Mother’s Day lumped together. Her birthday is the 11th, my grandmother’s was the 12th. We’re celebrating today, and this year including my sister-in-law, whose birthday was the 3rd. Busy time of year for birthdays! Next is my brother, then Fred, then Josh, spaced out just enough so that we can have all the parties :)

Four more weeks of school, and I have a deadline in there, so….gulp!

Celebrate Mother’s Day and Mom’s birthday
Work on Avalon Island
update website
set up promos for the rerelease of Hot Shot
Take out ads
Cook more!

Goals for Teacher Appreciation Week

Well, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t put Dukey to sleep. She went on her own on Saturday morning. I’m very mad at my cowardice, but it was more than I could deal with. She’s at peace, now, and so am I, to be honest.

This week, I’m focusing on writing and packing up my classroom. We have to pack EVERYTHING but two drawers of the file cabinet. I don’t have a LOT, but it’s going to take a lot of boxes.

1) Work on Avalon Island.

2) Go see Avengers

3) Cook more to save money! I was so tired last week, we barely ate at home at all! Of course, we may not get to the grocery store this week, so….

Goals for Week of AVENGERS!!!

WOW, last week was a crazy week, with yesterday being the craziest, but I made it! Thank God for monitoring during testing, is all I have to say.

This week will be a sad one. We’ll be saying goodbye to Dukey, our oldest cat. She’s 15 and, well, we probably should have taken her a month ago, but we just couldn’t, after Stormy. I had no idea she’d hold on this long, but she’s miserable. On top of that, my youngest cat has been missing since the terrible storms that rolled through Thursday night. So I’m super-stressed about that.

Today will be one more party with my visitors, then back to work tomorrow!

1) Dinner at Salt Lick

2) Vet for Dukey

3) drum circle inservice

4) Go see Avengers

5) WORK ON AVALON ISLAND!!! I haven’t written since Thursday, y’all! This is BAD. It is due to my editor May 18!!

Happy Birthday–and Happy Release Day–To ME!!!

The Cowboy’s Promenade is out today at all retailers, only 99 cents through the weekend, as a thank-you to my loyal readers. It’s the story of single mom Juliana and single dad Trace trying to make a go of a relationship, when both have been hurt before. I’ve had this pairing planned since the first book, Waltz Back to Texas, but Trace was a lot harder than I thought to convince. His divorce hasn’t been final long, and he’s in the middle of a custody battle….so how about a marriage of convenience? Only Juliana wants more.

I listened to a lot of country music while writing this. My playlist is below.

And I used Scott Eastwood and a young Debra Messing. Can you see it?