Elizabeth Schechter's Blog, page 2

What An Odd Thing to Say.

I need to remember to start saying “What an odd thing to say.” to people who come up to my table at events and proudly proclaim, “I don’t read!” I mean, you have to admit that this is a very odd thing to say to someone selling books. Do they do that in Barnes and Noble, too?

I’m not talking about the people who consume their media in other formats, who stop at my table and tell me, “I prefer audiobooks,” or the ones who prefer to do their reading on a tablet. I understand that. (I like non-fi...

Setting Sail!

No, we’re not going on another cruise. Not this year, anyway. The Sea Prince is setting sail on June 10th! I got the cover teaser for The Sea Prince on Friday morning. It’s down a little bit, and I am loving this cover (another winning cover from GetCovers!). Full cover reveal and the preorder link will both come at the end of the week, so keep an eye on my socials for that.

Your klutzy author managed to keep from stretching her length (and possibly hurting herself badly) in the parking lot a...

Brain Break!

For some reason, last week ended up being a brain break for me. There was very little writing done, and a lot of reading. I reread Heir to the Firstborn (yes, I reread my own books), and found a continuity error in one that I can’t believe I made, and that I also can’t believe NO ONE has caught! (If you do catch it, email me and identify it, and you can have your choice of any book in my catalog!) I also started The Nightmare Before Kissmas by Sara Raasch, which is all kinds of adorable!

I ha...

It’s So Quiet!

The new windows and doors are in place, and the inspection happened this morning. If we leave out some trim that had to wait for the inspection, then the job is 99% done. We’ve been in this house nearly 19 years, and the windows that we had were original to the house. They were old, single pane, and not well installed to begin with. If there was an owl in the tree outside my window, I knew about it (and once, so did the person in my Zoom call.) Now, the one thing I’ve heard said most in the hou...

Schedule? What’s That?

Window install starts today. Between 8:30 and 9:30, they said. So tell me why it’s 11:00 and we haven’t started yet? Schedule? What’s that? Next, I’m fully expecting them to tell me that they’re not starting on the second floor the way that the project manager said they would. Which… even if they come in and say they’re not starting on the second floor, they’re starting on the second floor. That’s the floor that’s prepped and ready for them.

This is the kind of thing we call the joy of home ...

Not Enough Caffeine

Some Mondays, there is just not enough caffeine in the world to get going. Today is one of those Mondays, and I am dragging. It doesn’t help that there isn’t anything on my schedule today other than my usual Monday things — I could totally blow today off. But that puts no words on the page, and I’ve hit scenes in both WIPs that I really want to write, so more coffee it is!

This is the last week before the new windows go in, which means that it’s the last week I have before I have to be distra...

Deadlines Equal Productivity

At the beginning of the year, I set up my planners (yes, planners — I have two paper and one electronic. I also have a kanban board and a bullet journal.) One of the things I take into account when I do this is something that is very true for me (and others) — the fact that deadlines equal productivity. The closer a due date is, the more likely I am to step up my efforts to get something DONE. So I set my kanban board up with quarterly goals, and I mark down on my planner the last Saturday befor...

Yawn….

I think it goes without saying that the Monday after a conference is the longest Monday to every Monday. Yawn….

ICFA was fantastic, and I’m sorry to any of my friends who I know were at the conference but that I did not get a chance to see and say hello to! I didn’t realize that having something scheduled every day (sometimes two things scheduled every day!) would mean that I barely saw anyone! Despite that, it was an amazingly productive conference.

This week is going to be catching up an...

PACK ALL THE THINGS!

I have basically a day of writing before I have to PACK ALL THE THINGS and head to ICFA — aka geeky-academic wonderland. I have an entire checklist of things that have to be done between now and midday Wednesday. Yes, writing is on that list. So is making scones, making hard-boiled eggs (in this economy?) and making overnight oats. I need to go to the store tomorrow and pick up a couple of things for breakfasts in my room, and packing will happen tomorrow and Wednesday morning.

My schedule f...

The Most Mondayest Monday That has Ever Mondayed.

Today has been the most Mondayest Monday that has ever Mondayed. The Monday of all times. I hope to never again have a Monday like this. Because this Monday started off with the entire family sitting in a closet because of a tornado warning, and when I pulled the news on my phone, I learned that A. there was a storm on the ground IN MY TOWN, and B. the storm track on the weather radar was MY STREET.

One of the local news stations has their studio on the other side of town, and they were a dir...