Sherry Morris's Blog, page 10

Free eBook DEVIL IN THE DEEP BLUE SEA

The first ebook I ever wrote, Devil in the Deep Blue Sea, is FREE at these retailers:

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 Devil in the Deep Blue SeaBy Sherry Silver

Story Summary:Sail off with Jeanie in this women's fiction story with a paranormal twist. She is a shy child of the 70's, aching for attention. Surviving a near-drowning incident while babysitting with a friend, Jeanie tells no one. She buries the incident deep within her. Fifteen years later, Jeanie is married with a little girl of her own. She makes sure to dote on her own daughter, giving her all the love and recognition that her inner child still craves. Flying on a lavish vacation with her elderly mother, there is mechanical trouble. Jeanie must finally come face to face with the Devil in the Deep Blue Sea. This is the first short story Sherry Silver wrote.


Excerpt:“Come on, Jeanie! The water is so warm! Jump in!”
The teenager rolled over and put her hands under her chin. She laughed at Delaine goofing around in the water, watching her handstands and bubble blowing. “I don't know how to swim. You have fun and I'll watch you.” Jeanie opened her Tiger Beat magazine and flipped past the Leif Garrett dream date contest, Noxzema ad, and Bay City Rollers news. She creased the magazine open at the Andy Gibb photo spread and dramatically sighed. His peach vest and pants looked softer than the sunset.
“Come on, Jeanie! You're missing out on all the fun!”
Jeanie removed her shoes and socks. She gingerly stuck her toes in and delightedly kicked her legs in the heavily chlorinated water. She knew they really shouldn’t be swimming with out any adults present. Not that Jeanie was going to swim, but still, she felt like they were taking a stupid chance.
Delaine swam over. “Jump in!”
“No, I'll watch you. I can't swim.”
Delaine grabbed her hand. "Yeah, right, Jeanie.” She yanked her into the water.
Disoriented, Jeanie found herself standing on the bottom of the pool. Desperately climbing, she somehow managed to propel herself up to the surface and grabbed onto De-laine's head. Delaine immediately pushed her off. 
Down, down, down Jeanie sank. Her thoughts muddled. She knew better than to go near water with no lifeguard. Maybe Mr. Charles would come home early. Maybe Andy Gibb would jump in and save her. He was a champion swimmer in Australia. She had read that about him last month. Flailing to the surface the second time, she grabbed wild-ly for Delaine. When she found her, Jeanie shoved Delaine underwater again, as she tried to climb onto her back. Delaine threw her off. Down, down, down Jeanie sank.

  
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Time-Lapse Video of Disneyland Park Construction

Isn't this magical?

My dad took his father to Disneyland on opening day. He said Fess Parker aka. Daniel Boone, rode a horse in the parade.

My Indie Book Sales Are Slipping Away

In 2013, I took my rights back from various small publishers to all but one book. I self-published them through Create Space, Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble Nook, Smashwords and All Romance eBooks. I had my best year ever. I was averaging one book sale every day some months. I made $800 in royalties.

In 2014, the market was deluged with plenty of authors like me, plus millions more who'd never done traditional publishing. Everyone and their daughter were flooding the e-shelves with prose. With all that competition, and only one new book released, my sales dwindled to one per week on average. I made $200 in royalties.

It's 2015. I'm averaging one sale per month. And that's with heavy promotion. Or no promotion whatsoever. It doesn't matter what I do, nobody wants my books.

Am I upset? Nope. I'll leave them available for now. But I'm no longer compulsively checking my stats twice an hour. On to the next chapter...

Recording My Efforts

I've begun an exercise log, which I hope will give me valuable insight, via hindsight, at what results my activities provide.

Right now, I'm running four days per week and doing the Brazil Butt Lift workouts six days per week. I'm endeavoring to listen to my body and slack off or ramp up as needed.

Now, I do have a history of giving up when I miss a workout or two. It doesn't take much for me to fall out of a habit.

Life will always 'get in the way' of any plan. And life is so much better than exercising by myself. So I will live life when given the opportunity/no other choice and get right back with the program when things settle down.

I was unable to do both DVD workouts today, I didn't feel well. Rather than have a retry later today hanging over my head to dread, I will postpone the second workout for tomorrow. And I will not double up and do tomorrow's scheduled workout with it!

Be nice to Sherry. Got it.

7 Year Writing Hiatus is Over

I just began writing my first new novel in 7 years! 
Working Title: MY SISTER THE LEPRECHAUN 
First Line: My sister died and went to Ireland.

I stopped writing seven years ago after publishing six books and as many short stories since the turn of the century. It wasn't fun anymore. The endless rejection by agents, editors, readers and critique partners. I'd had enough of it. My books would never be on store shelves, let alone on a table in the front of the store. Not that any of that matters today, since so many readers are devouring eBooks. But back in my writing day, eBook authors were scorned as hacks. Anyhow, that's all I want to say about that now. History.

I looked over my two completed first drafts lingering on my hard drive. Thank heaven I didn't delete them. They are good! They can be rewritten into entertaining books. And I will do that this year. One is a contemporary romance, the sequel to FULLY INVOLVED FIRE, working title UNCHAINED MELODY. The other is a medical thriller, written during my brief stint as an EMT. Working title RESUSCITATED.

Now yes, I'm aware that I'll never get an agent nor New York editor interested in my writing if I insist on genre hopping every other book and putting what might now be referred to as slipstream elements into my pages. I don't want to write to formula. I want to write the story inside Sherry. 

Yes, I'm aware by making my character a leprechaun, in an otherwise normal world, I have started writing a book that no audience and no publisher or agent will touch. Probably no reader either, except me. But that's okay. I intend on having fun. Writing a story I want to read. Enjoying accomplishing every new page. Typing The End. 

I am writer.

Playlist to Run By in March

After a 5 month absence from running, I'm starting over. Four days per week, I will run on the treadmill in my basement. Walk one minute, run one minute, walk one minute, run one minute etc. on the first day. Each successive day I will increase my run segment by one minute until I am able to run 30 minutes straight. At that point, I will begin running outdoors and possibly check out the local running club.

Here is my March Playlist. It's 45 minutes so I set it to shuffle and it's a bit different each day:

Who Threw The Overalls In Mrs. Murphy's Chowder?  2:31 Bing Crosby
Sundown  3:33 Gordon Lightfoot
These Boots Are Made For Walkin'  2:46 Nancy Sinatra
The Streak  3:16 Ray Stevens
Play That Funky Music   5:02 Wild Cherry
I Am Woman 3:24 Helen Reddy
Happy (From "Despicable Me 2") 3:53 Pharrell Williams
I Will Survive 4:25 Gloria Gaynor
December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night)  3:21 Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
Take It Easy  3:31 Eagles
Tight Fittin' Jeans  2:50 Conway Twitty
You Should Be Dancing  4:14 Bee Gees

Very Inspiring Blogger Award

My beautiful pal, Young Adult Paranormal Author Sandra Cox, has nominated me for this prestigious award! Thank you so much, Sandra.

Rules for this AWARD.
1. Thank the person who nominated you, and link to their blog. 2. Display the award logo. 3. Nominate at least 15 other blogs (more or less) and provide a link where they may be found.4. Then, go to their blog, leave a comment to let them know they have been nominated, and where to find the information they need to accept (rules).5. Mention three things that inspired you the most during the past few weeks.

Here are my pics....
1.  To Sandra Cox, for reminding me life is worth laughing about.
2. To Diane Scott Lewis, who should really narrate her own books into audio. What a voice!
3. To Eternal Press, for giving me the best book cover ever, Thousand Dollar Pharaoh.
4. To The Fitness Focus, for sharing a hybrid Brazil Butt Lift/T-25 schedule. Go Bethany!
5. To Pink Fuzzy Slippers Authors for their insightful content.
6. To Weight Off My Shoulders for showing us we can do it!
7. To The Lean Green Bean for helping us see the good in food.
8. To Disney Parks Blog for keeping me excited about visiting!
*To those of you who just don't have the time and inclination to deal with blogger awards feel free to consider it an honorable mention



  

My Fresh Fitness Start

Frank was watching me run on the treadmill. He wanted me running and playing ball and frisbee outside in the mud with him. He disappeared upstairs and I later found his dog bed had been completely unzipped and the egg crate foam destroyed.

I did really well in 2014. Diets no longer worked, even Atkins, so I ate what I wanted, but less than I wanted, and began running. I used the Run Disney Coach Jeff Galloway's Run/Walk/Run training program, because, hey, I'm all about no injuries. I was able to complete two 5Ks, one in Disney World, the other the Marine Corps Semper 5K. And I lost weight! Twenty pounds.

Then in November, I decided it was time to find out what was going on inside me. I'd never had a complete physical, and I'd put off my base line colonoscopy. Other than a stage zero malignant melanoma that was removed now ten years ago, I'd always been healthy. I didn't even have a family doctor anymore, because I didn't run there with the sniffles or sore throats. I did have a yearly GYN exam and mammogram. And saw my dermatologist as often as she wanted.

I scheduled so many appointments in November that I stopped running and going to the gym, other than an occasional yoga class. My results trickled in: Normal EKG, blood pressure, mammogram, bone density, pap test, no colon polyps, no suspicious moles, perfect thyroid, cholesterol, CBC, everything. My only ding was I was three points low in Vitamin D, but not enough to treat it. That didn't surprise me, since I have been avoiding the sun due to the melanoma.

I now know I probably won't drop dead if I push myself in spin class or running or any cardio exercise. So, that is comforting. I started taking the hard classes at the gym and surprised myself that I enjoyed them. But one of my favorite yoga instructors quit because she was about to have another baby. So, I ordered Denise Austin's Hot Body Yoga DVD to do at home.
I loved her workouts in the 90's. Some people make fun of her voice and eyes, but I find her very kind and soothing. I was so pleased with this workout. She uses small hand weights in the second set. I don't know why they don't do this at the gym, the weights are brilliant!

So, I decided I only needed to go to the gym for the cardio classes. But wait... I splurged and orderd the Brazil Butt Lift DVDs.
I'd wanted to try these for years. I figured, it was time. My 22-year-old daughter and I have done the program every day for a week and we love it! We are so looking forward to reshaping our butts, hips, thighs, waists, abdominals and arms. Yes they are tough. But they are FUN! And the trainer, Leandro, sounds like a cross between Gru from Despicable Me and my son when he was little.

So I woke up one morning and decided I'm done with the gym. Yes, I enjoyed it very much for three years. But my favorite yoga teacher is gone. Not that I don't adore another one. But their gentle yoga isn't making me lose weight. I'd hoped to make friends at the gym. Yes, there are a few of the old timers that will make small talk with me. But no friendships outside of the gym.

My husband was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis last fall and he pretty much stopped going to the gym. He used to do weights and run in the theater, but he lost interest. He is a bicyclist at heart and rides on his layovers at work, so he gets his endorphins outside. He is almost ready to give up our gym membership, but not until after a trip at the end of next month, because he enjoys going to another gym in the chain to give him something to do on downtime. Hopefully after that we can cancel our membership and enjoy the extra cash.

I've completed the first week of the Brazil Butt Lift program. Today I added running back into my workout. I've decided to start fresh. I ran one minute on the treadmill, walked one minute, ran one minute, walked one minute etc. for 30 minutes. To a happy play list. I plan to run 30 minutes four days per week. Each successive day, I'll increase my run sequence by one minute, until I'm running 30 minutes straight.

At that point, I'll run outside in my neighborhood, and sometimes perhaps I'll go with my husband to run at a park or trail. And just maybe, I'll have enough confidence to show up at the local running club to see what they are like. I'm a little leery, since I'd joined the local writing club years ago on the day of a mutiny. The president left, and took the secretary and treasurer with her. The group was made up of mostly senior citizen poets, lots of loud blustery men. I'm hoping they aren't in the running club...

My Focus Group Experience

The largest mole on my back was malignant melanoma, stage zero.
I have become very jaded by the influx of customer satisfaction surveys I receive daily in my email, receipts and sometimes snail mail. So much so that I ignore them all these days. I mean, I don't care to spend my precious blessed hours clicking off boxes so that the dentist, car repair shop, Wal-Mart, Chili's, the vet, gym or the IRS can better serve me. Uncle!
I was very intriged however, to recive a written invitaion to join a focus group for the plastic surgery and dermatology center. Yes, I've had plastic surgery. Once. To remove suspicious moles from my face. Which thankfully, were benign. But not from this outfit. I am a dermatology patient there. 
Now, I'm thinking focus group. Right. Like on Mad Men when Peggy got ladies together to try out lipstick colors. Okay, that might be fun. Maybe they have some new skin care line or something to try out. With an offer of dinner and an unspecified $25 gift card, I signed up. I mean after all, I don't work. I only have one kid left at home and she's grown. My husband travels for work. All I do is go to the gym. 
I dressed up, with an aim to look professional and smart. Stop laughing.
There were a total of four patients in the group. Sandwiches, cookies, chips and beverages were available. I had the choice of a $25 gift card to McDonald's or Bed Bath and Beyond. My son is in a new apartment, so I briefly considered the latter. But I'd already outfitted his kitchen and bath, so didn't think it would be a useful value. I smiled and requested the last McDonald's card. That will buy a lot of sweet teas.
We first filled out a form describing our experience in the practice, whilst we ate. The meeting was led by a woman who works for the hospital (the dermatology group is owned by the hospital). I recognized her as the HR woman who did my on-boarding when I was hired as an EMT to staff a new satellite emergency room five years ago. She'd put on weight and wasn't as peppy as I remembered. Well, it was late in the evening. I suppose she was a morning person. Anyhow, I didn't mention any of this to her.
She asked us the questions on the paper and wrote our responses on white boards. We discussed everything from the waiting room, front desk to the care we received. I brought up the subject of the Patient Portal. I have received invitations to join three different ones: Dermatologist, Family Doctor and Gynecologist. They are all different sites and software. None are easy to join or navigate. And all of them are empty! They are supposed to have all of you information on them, lab results, medication lists, exam notes. You are supposed to "communicate" with your doctor, make appointments, request refills, pay balances due. But they are useless!
The other patients agreed, as did one of the staff. I suggested they have a contact person we could call with issues surrounding the portal. And someone to populate it! It's a big waste of money and time if  no one ever uploads anything to it.
Imagine my surprise that one month later I received an email invitation to join their "new" patient portal. Not only had they changed the software, my entire dermatologic history was there to read.
Somebody listened to me. Wow.

Disney Race Sold Out within Hours

My husband and I had been looking forward to the Disney Wine and Dine 5K this November. We both signed up for email reminders. We both received them the day before registration opened. I didn't remember to register until 1 PM that day. Too late. Both the Half-Marathon and the 5K were already sold out!

I have no idea how we ever made it into the Cindarella 5K last year. We saw the ad in a magazine (like the one above) and mulled it over a few days before signing up. Perhaps we signed up right at the release moment. It was our first 5K ever, and very magical.

Interested in running a Disney race? Go to RunDisney for more info and sign up to be notified. Just make sure you set your alarm to the exact opening.