Deborah J. Martin's Blog, page 17
June 28, 2013
Freaky Friday
What a day!
I had to go to a couple banks for clients & more importantly, drive 70 miles to the mall to do some shopping. I dislike shopping even more than I dislike cooking so you know it was something I really had to do. (And no, didn’t find everything I needed, either.)
I was only a little over a mile from home, bemoaning the fact that I’d gotten stuck behind one of the neighbors that drives no faster than 20 mph (even on the 65 mph 4-lane) and it would be 2 more miles before I could go arou...
June 20, 2013
Meditating …
I feel a bit adrift. Baneful! is finally out … the hard part remains: marketing. That will continue over the next rest-of-my-life, along with my other books. I can’t do that every waking hour, though, without turning into what I dislike the most: a spammer.
I don’t have another herb book immediately in mind and my brain just doesn’t want to wrap itself around writing fiction. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve started, restarted and restarted yet again Ogre’s Assistant Book Two. I know what...
June 17, 2013
Summer’s Here!
Yes, I know. Summer doesn’t officially start until Friday morning. So sue me. The herbs aren’t waiting a week.
I spent a long, lovely weekend in the garden. It’s true what they say: gardening is great therapy. Just in case you don’t follow me on Facebook or Twitter (why not?), I’ll tell you I had an up-and-down Friday. It started out great:Baneful! is finally out. (If you missed it, scroll back one post for all the links to purchase it.)
It ended on a really sucky note: I had to put our almost-...
June 14, 2013
Baneful! Release Day!
OMG. I am so excited … and relieved. Baneful! 95 of the World’s Worst Herbs is finally out!
It’s currently available in paperback through Amazon US and Amazon UK. In the next couple of weeks, it should be available to shop owners through Ingram distribution services.
Give it a day or so and it will also be available on Kindle, Nook and Kobo. (I’ll update the links when they’re live.)
If you want an autographed copy, my order should be here the last week of June. Check back to my Herb Books page...
May 17, 2013
Friday in the Garden
Isn’t the thyme pretty? The bees seem to think so, too. They’ve been feasting on the delicate blue/purple flowers all week. Except, of course, when I went to get my camera. I’d love to find their hive – I’ll bet the honey tastes yummy. (Yes, I know, I still have leaves to clean up.)
That huge, dark green thing behind the thyme is one of my rosemary plants. They’re almost ready for the first clipping of the year. I have six rosemary plants, two of which are that size. They gift me with about fi...
May 1, 2013
Wisteria
Driving around Atlanta (Georgia, USA) in the springtime is a feast for winter-weary eyes. Flowering Bradford Pear trees share the awakening landscape with Tulip Poplars. The real color riot happens when the Dogwoods and Azaleas bloom almost simultaneously. Interspersed in there (and generally blooming longer) is what at first appears to be another flowering tree but in reality are vines of Wisteria twining through the trees.
Wisteria nearly made the cut for my upcoming book, Baneful. It’s pret...
April 11, 2013
Celebration Giveaway
Have you read my urban fantasy book, Stressed!, yet? If not, you won’t know that the heroine is an administrative assistant.
Having been one of those m’self, I know that job well. Secretaries (or assistants) run around like gerbils on crack (love my husband’s phrase) to ensure their boss looks good to the outside world and generally take a lot of shit in the doing. Amy, my protagonist, takes more than most. Her boss is a real smelly, temper-tantrum-throwing ogre.
Wednesday, April 24th is what I...
March 27, 2013
Old Herbals
Goodness! It’s been a harrowing couple of weeks. My computer’s hard drive crashed and even using an online backup service, I had to recreate some data files – right in the middle of tax season! I’m mostly back to what passes for normal around here.
As you may have noticed from prior posts, I love reading old herbals. Sometimes I get a glimpse into life before allopathic medicine came into being; sometimes I scare the shit out of myself reading about what was used to “cure” what back in the day...
February 25, 2013
Cleaning Out!
On Saturday, I said I was going to play in the shop. What started out as a “take the top layer of dirt off so I can stand it” turned into a weekend-long, full-blown reorganization of my work bench and storage shelves. (On the plus side, I found a half jar of a cream I use for the psoriasis I get in the winter … I don’t have to make any!)
I may not have done anything herbal-wise but by late yesterday afternoon, everything was sparkling again and I felt a sense of accomplishment coming from not...
February 23, 2013
Saturday Musings-Retrograde Style
I’m only on my third cup of coffee … forgive me if I ramble a bit.
Today starts the first of three Mercury retrogrades this year. I’m a Virgo and Mercury is my ruling planet so the retrogrades affect me more than, perhaps, other people. I have to be doubly cautious about what comes out of my mouth (or off my fingers) so I don’t get into any more trouble than usual. As an accountant, this retrograde comes at a really sucky time – financial affairs are also affected by a Merc retrograde and it’...
