Jennifer Apodaca's Blog, page 166

Wednesday Worth; Late Edition

Sorry I’m late! Wizard’s work held a dinner for him last night. It was a blast, but we got home late and I obviously didn’t get a blog up. It was a lovely evening with a lot of nice tributes to Wizard. They also got him a great gift– the book FACEBOOK FOR DUMMIES! I cracked up. Tomorrow we have a luncheon at his work, then Saturday the family party and then Wizard can escape the dreaded spotlight, LOL! Next Tuesday will be his last official day at work.

Then he’s all mine, all day long

I’m working on revisions around all this, I’m making steady progress around the craziness, cleaning and obligations.  I’m also planning some promo next week for the audio books. Carla (my assistant) is helping me out with that. The good thing about being so busy is I don’t have time to second guess myself,  I just have to keep going.

Okay, so our Wednesday Worthy is a repeat:

So the question becomes; Is he worthy of a repeat appearance?

 

Weekend Roundup

Pretty good weekend. I wish I was getting more done on Linc’s book, but I need to set it aside to revise EXPOSING THE HEIRESS. That should be done in two weeks, then I’ll go back to Linc. I’m looking forward to revising Hunt and Alyssa’s book since it’s probably one of the easiest revisions I’ve ever had There’s just one plot point I need to think of then I can dig in.

The most exciting part my weekend is this picture of “Cork Screw” otherwise known as Corky, that Special K sent me. This is how he spent his weekend.

Wizard shook his head and said, “That dog doesn’t know how good he has it.”  Umm, it looks to me like he knows and takes full advantage!

I think Cork Screw is BLB’s (youngest son) name for him, but then again, it could be Special K (oldest son’s wife)–she’s a wonderful combination of sweet and snark, so she’s fully capable of coming up with a nickname like Cork Screw. She makes Wizard and I so proud, LOL!

Okay your turn–how was your weekend?

Happy Friday!

Just over a week now until Wizard retires! And then he’ll be home with me. ALL DAY LONG.  Yay???

So for my Happy Friday news, I got EXPOSING THE HEIRESS back from my editor.  You all know how much trouble that book gave me right? It was crazy-making. So when I got the email in my inbox, a voice in my head said, “Don’t open that! Ignore it!”

My fingers didn’t get the message, however and opened the email. It began like this:  “Hi Jennifer! What a great story. I really liked this, and it’s in pretty good shape. Not much of a first pass to do here at all.” 

I’m like, wait, did I send her the right book? So I opened the file she sent back to check. And yep, it’s the right book. Huh, what do you know, it doesn’t suck. She didn’t even send a revision letter, just put some notes in the manuscript, and those aren’t so much about the story as fitting the line (we’re talking about moving it to a hotter line, but more on that when the decision is final).

After I got over my surprise, I was relieved and then thrilled. So I sent Wizard the email. And got this back from him: “That’s fantastic. See I told you.  Your too hard on yourself.:-)”  I laughed. Nothing like the pot calling the kettle black. Wizard is a perfectionist and very hard on himself. While I’m just trying to write a good story. See the difference? 

Now if only I can pull this off with the complex Wing Slayer Hunter Books. These plot lines are like herding a bunch of wet, pissed off cats brimming with serious attitude. And yet, I really missed those guys in all their crazy-alpha-dysfunctional-ass-kicking glory.  Watching Linc fall for Risa (his soul mirror witch) is going to make all the agony worth it.

So this weened will be some cleaning and figuring out the menu for a small family party the next weekend to celebrate Wizard’s retirement. We’re keeping it small per Wizards request.

What are your weekend plans? And do you have Happy Friday news to share?

Wednesday Worthy!

I wore myself out doing a little (as in NOT ENOUGH) cleaning  so this is a quickie post.   Now these guys told me they are totally up to the task of being Wednesday Worthy Candidates. Actually–they insisted. They are kind of pushy So I thought…hmmm….I’ll just toss them out to the witches and let them decide…

So what do you think? Are these guys worthy? Or do we toss them back?

 

Weekend Roundup!

The wedding was awesome! It was sooo incredibly hot, we’re having an awful heat wave, but that didn’t dim any of our happiness for my niece. She was gorgeous, and yes, I am totally biased It was a ton of fun. And I’m so thrilled for my niece. She’s a lovely young woman and deserves the best. Romance really does rock

And in other news, I managed to dance and not injure my Achilles as I did last year at CPA boy’s wedding.  Wizard was half worried, and half teasing me all night. At one point I was out of the dance floor with the girls (my son’s girls, my sister-in-laws and nieces) dancing, and Wizard is sitting in a chair, doing “raise the roof” with his hands and smirking at me. That whole raise the roof thing was how I injure the Achilles last year.  CPA Boys and the others all laughed, just encouraging him.  Okay, I laughed too.

We got Wizard out on the dance floor a couple times too That was mostly Special K. She, as well as Middle Son and BLB’s girlfriends pretty much have Wizard wrapped around their fingers. He knows it and is proud of it. Those girls can talk him into almost anything except a French bulldog–YET. They are really working on him, though!

But enough about that. Oh wait, here’s a quick pic of me. Wizard was suppose to take a picture of my dress, but he just did a head and shoulders shot before we left house.  But you can see the color. It’s a simple dress–it was too hot for anything more.

Now moving on. Last Friday, Wizard came home and said, “I’m probably going to take a vacation day on Monday.”

I was making enchiladas in the kitchen, and paused to say, “Umm, but you’re retiring in just over two weeks.”

“I know.”

Okay… “So why are you taking a vacation day? I mean, it’s only two more weeks.”

He looked at me totally serious. “Because I can.”

Well I can’t argue with that logic. And this means I may as well get used to working when Wizard’s home because he seems really committed to retiring So today, Linc and I are going to hang out in the Wing Slayer World, while Wizard….hmm….I don’t know what he’s going to do. But he swears he’ll leave his “retirement plan” alone to work.

And lastly, as I mentioned before, we’re in a brutal heat wave. On Sunday, I got this text from CPA Boy, “Corky regrets his decision to go outside:

 

And about ten or fifteen minutes later, I got this text. “Cookie after playing outside for a few minutes”

 

It’s just too hot! (That’s CPA Boys hairy leg.)

No worries, we’re not forgetting Bailey Dog–Bailey is coming to Wizard’s retirement party in two weeks!

How was your weekend?

Happy Friday!

Wizard has discovered Facebook! I’ve created a monster Now that he’s going to retire soon and have more time, he’s really starting to get into it. So funny! I see the future and it includes me working on the laptop while Wizard checks his status updates on *MY* desktop.

Man it is miserable hot here. And tomorrow we have an outdoor wedding in the late afternoon, but I think it’ll work out since the sun is going down earlier now. I’m looking forward to my beautiful niece getting married.  Oh and yesterday while I was out shopping for new bedding, I found a dress to wear. I had a dress but this one is better Wizard likes the dress too. Unfortunately, neither one of us liked the  comforter set I bought for the new guest bed, so we had to return that last night. Wizard went with me to help. And by help I mean keep me from making another bad choice, LOLOL! Sometimes, I have decent taste, other times I completely miss the mark.

In writing news, we FINALLY have the audio version of Obsession finished and it should be up for sale very soon on Audible and iTunes. Getting those three books into audio turned into a test of patience, but the narrator, Ryan, did an amazing job. I’ve said this many times, but he treated the material with both talent and respect, and was an absolute professional to work with.  It was just scheduling conflicts that slowed us down.

I’m working on CAGED MAGIC too despite a ton of distractions. But I’m determined not to let Linc down again.

So what are your plans this weekend?

Wednesday Worthy

I had so much fun on Monday having lunch with my writer-friends. I need to do that more often!

And in other news, I’ve arranged for editing for CAGED MAGIC with Sasha Knight in January. Sasha edited THE PLUS ONE CHRONICLES and did an excellent job (any mistakes that got through were my fault, not hers). It’s not cheap, but the fans who’ve waited so long deserve my best work, and Sasha is really good at pushing me for my best work.  I really want to do this right.

Now let’s move on to Wednesday Worthy! Today I have two candidates for you:

First up is The Fighter:

 

And second is The Construction Worker:

Are either of them worthy? Cast your vote!!

Weekend Roundup

Three weeks until Wizard retires… Actually three weeks and two days, but whose counting

We had a great weekend, especially Saturday. I did a little work in the morning, then we hung out at the pool and had half-strength (only half the amount of triple sec and tequila) margaritas. Well I had one, Wizard had one and a half because we’re totally wild like that. Then we came in and made a steak and lobster dinner. But we weren’t done! After that…well a couple hours after that, then we had ice cream. And then Sunday morning we went out to breakfast.

Which mean someone (named JENNIFER LYON APODACA) needs to go on a diet. Soon. But not today, because today I’m meeting old friends for lunch and I can’t wait for that! One of my friends, Marianne, is here from Pennsylvania and I’m so happy to get the chance to see her.

And also, dieting totally suck. Although I am getting back into an exercise routine

I’m slowly getting back into my writing routine, and really surprised how much I’ve been drawn back into the Wing Slayer world.  At the same time, this other sexy contemporary series is hovering at the edge of my mind begging me to hurry with Linc’s book. I’m trying!

Now I have a question for any of you who made it this far in the blog:  CAGED MAGIC is mostly about Linc and Risa, however Ram and Ginny have a point of view in there as they try to find a way to have a future even though Ginny is not Ram’s soul mirror. Ram is torn between the woman he loves–Ginny, and the witch he needs, Shayla. How do you all feel about more than one story line like that in a book?

So how was your weekend?

Happy Friday!

So if you’ve seen me on FB you know my friend’s son is dog sitting for a woman who breeds French Bulldogs. These are two of the puppies:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I want one! Or two! But both are sold, so I’m out of luck. Plus, Wizard is mean…like really mean. He keeps saying no, or trying to say no but when he looks at these pictures, he can’t help but smile. So I’m cooking dinner the other night, and I said:

“Wizard, what if I have a contest on FB to name our new puppy. Wouldn’t that be cool?”

He jerked his head up from reading the paper (he reads an actual newspaper-remember those?) “No way. We’re not letting other people name our dog.”

I started talking fast before he realized he’d fallen into my trap. “We could just have a contest for suggestions. I’ll pick a winner, but we don’t have to use it. Or it could be the dog’s middle name.”

He shook his head. “No. They’ll name the dog something weird.  We should name out own…wait.” He frowned all serious like. “We’re not getting a dog.”

“Too late, you just said–”

“Nope. that won’t hold up in court. You used your witch-tricks.”

Laughing now because he was so put out that he’d fallen for it, I said, “Go ahead, tell the judge that I used witch tricks on you. I dare you.”

“Doesn’t matter the puppies are already sold. This conversation is moot.”

Dang. But I’m not giving up. These puppies are now the screen savers on the computers in our house. Eventually there will be more puppies that will need a home Bwhahaha!!! Although in all seriousness, we probably do better with an older dog.  But it’s fun to torture Wizard!

Okay in other news, I wanted to let you know that Books-n-Kisses is featuring Writers Tips and Tricks all month. That link should take you there. Mine will be up on September 23rd I think. I put a reminder on my phone so I can tell you guys and give you the direct link.

I don’t have any big plans for the weekend. I’m working to get back into the Wing Slayer world (also I need to update my website about the Wing Slayers), plus I need to clean and do some planning for a small party in a few weeks. Oh and my niece’s wedding is coming up in two weeks.

What are your plans for the weekend?

 

Wednesday Worthy

Lately the news in the real world completely sucks. But here on this blog we can escape that reality for a while

So I’m more than 200 pages into the first draft of CAGE MAGIC, probably about mid book.  It’s a challenge, but one I’m going to try to tame into an emotional and compelling story.  I’m weaving in a bit of Ram and Ginny as their stories intersect with Linc and Eli before we get to their book. So…that’s what I’m doing. Oh and I’ve contacted my cover designer, we’re going to work on that in November.

I’m also really excited about the contemporary series! There will be a few characters from Sloane’s world there, but will be set around a rock band. Needless to say, it’s really hard to keep all the voices in my head under control.  Hope I can do this all as fast as I want to!

Now for our Wednesday Worthy Candidate:

 

Is he worthy?