Lauralynn Elliott's Blog, page 34

Rain, Rain, Rain

It’s been raining for three days straight, and it’s supposed to continue into tomorrow. We are under a flood watch, and some schools in the area are closed today because of flooding. Here is a picture of the creek behind my office. I took this pic from the window at the back of my office. If there’s much more rain, I might have to evacuate. LOL

Creek behind my office

By the way, it’s my birthday.

Sunday Update 1/13/13

Well, as I mentioned Wednesday, I had a couple of good writing days. However, I woke up Wednesday with a sore throat and was kind of miserable traveling back from Baltimore, a ten hour drive. I’ve been sick since then, so I haven’t really felt like writing. I did go out for dinner last night for my birthday (a few days early) with family and a couple of friends, but I coughed so much last night I couldn’t sleep. I seem to feel better during the day and miserable at night. I’m not going to beat myself up over the lack of writing because I know what crap I would have written while I was feeling so bleh.

On the health front, my blood sugar is doing great on the 24 hour insulin. I SO hope I can get off of it or at least cut down the dosage. I’ve lost about 10 lbs. in the last month, so I’m happy with that. I didn’t walk on the treadmill on Friday because I felt so bad, and I really missed it. So exercise has become a habit that I miss when I don’t do it. That’s a good thing. I want to keep up with the treadmill through the month of January, then add back the weight work in February.

Okay, enough talk. I’m going to rest for awhile now….

Wednesday Update 1/10/13 & Eyeballs

I know I’m a day late, but I was traveling yesterday. My word counts were pretty good considering I’m trying to jump back into a project I haven’t worked on in a while. Monday, word count was 772. I’m not sure about Tuesday because my dropbox folder wouldn’t sync due to a connection at the hotel that wasn’t secure, and now my computer at home is turned off. But I know it was about 650. So I’m pleased.

I know this is supposed to be a post about ROW80, but I can’t resist posting something else. The picture below shows what happens when you leave your car at a friend’s house while you’re out of town. Beware of friends with strange intentions. This is just a small sample of all the eyeballs I found in my car.

My Snarky Voice

So here I am trying to write the story that started in my husband’s head. This started out as a really dark story. There wasn’t supposed to be any humor or light-heartedness. But I just can’t help myself. Although the story is a tragic one in many ways, I just can’t keep my remarks to myself. Well, my characters’ remarks. I’m already writing banter between the reaper demon and the guardian angel. They are at odds with each other, but it wasn’t supposed to be snarky. But it is. I guess that’s how it’s going to be. I really hope my husband isn’t disappointed at how the story is going. But I have to write in my own voice. and it’s sometimes a little snarky, even in the darker books. So that’s how it is.

Goals for ROW80 Round 1 2013

The last round ended up during a time that was very difficult for me in many ways. I won’t go into all of that since most of you know what all happened. But it’s time to move on and get my writing mojo back.

This round starts at kind of a hard time since I’m out of town on business for the next three days. But there’s absolutely no reason I can’t write at night after all the lectures and receptions and networking. I have nights to myself here in my room, so there’s no excuse not to write.

My main goal is to write one hour per day, five days a week. Some days that might be 250 words, some days it might be 1,000. I’ve worked better with time goals rather than word count goals, although I will be keeping up with word count on a spreadsheet. I would really like to finish my WIP during this round.

My secondary goal is to get Soul of a Vampire out in print. This should have been done already. I think I already have it formatted (it’s been so long, I forgot if it’s finished), and Anya already has my cover ready. So this goal should be easy to achieve. I don’t rush the print versions because they don’t sell nearly as well as the ebooks, but I do have one reader that always waits on the print version. I would put it out in print for that person alone.

My non-writing goal is to keep my blood sugar at the proper levels through diet and exercise. My MAJOR goal would be to no longer require insulin shots, but that might possibly be out of my control. My doctor says it doesn’t happen often, but it DOES happen. We shall see.

I wish all of you a GREAT Round One and hope you all meet your goals.

Whinefest

Okay, this post is going to be all about the whining. So read no further if you’re not in the mood for it.

Most of you know that I was diagnosed with diabetes. This means insulin shots, oral medication, AND cutting back on sugar and carbs. Sweets aren’t my big weakness, so that wasn’t much of a problem. And I realized I wasn’t eating as many carbs as the maximum for diabetics. I can deal with that, right? I was doing fine. However, I did notice I was eating more fats than I should, which I was really going to try to cut down on. So, yesterday, I got a phone call from a nurse at my doctor’s office. My cholesterol and triglycerides are too high. This means cholesterol medication (which means more money out of my pocket). But here’s the kicker. “You need to cut down on fats, red meat, and dairy.” What the CRAP can I eat now??? I think the biggest problem for me is that I don’t really like chicken. I like fish, but I’m really picky about how it’s prepared and how it tastes. And I really, really like cheese better than anything. You know, cheese that’s full of fat and happens to be a dairy product. So now, Miss Lauralynn, who never gets depressed, has to hop off her high horse and admit that depression is only a heartbeat away. Or maybe it’s just frustration and anger, because I want to hit something. Do I know how to eat properly? Of course I do. I worked for Weight Watchers for 15 years.

I need a plan. I need to suck it up and take what life has given me. But I don’t want to, darn it. I will, though. If I want to avoid health issues, I have to. My plan right now is to stop eating out for lunch. I can control what I cook, and I can take leftovers for lunch. At least, when I eat red meat at home, it’s really lean. And if I eat fish, I can control how it’s cooked. I can do this. If I’m really good five days a week, I can allow a little splurge on the weekends. I don’t have to give up enjoying food. I just need to rethink things. Yeah, I just need to do the best I can. Okay, depression, out of my way! I have no room for you in my life!

Funny how talking things out changes one’s attitude….

Whew, What a 2012!

Looking back on last year, I can see so many changes, and not too many good ones. I lost my father, my brother-in-law had a heart attack, my mother-in-law found out some distressing health news, and I discovered I had diabetes, which had apparently been going on for some time. Other things have happened to friends and their families, not to mention the deaths of church members. But life happens the way it happens, and I trust God to sort things out, because I’m sure not qualified to do it. Through all the bad things, though, there are so many ways I’m blessed…way too many to list. As an optimist by nature, I believe 2013 will be a great year, full of blessings and happiness.

I hope that this year will be the year book sales will take off. There are so many strikes against us now since the market is glutted with SO many ebooks. It’s much different than it was in 2009, when e-publishing was still shiny and new, and there wasn’t as much competition. The key is to write good books, but you always have to find ways to help people find your books. This year, I need to focus a little more on marketing. I don’t believe in the kind of marketing that annoys people, but I need a plan. There’s a saying, “build it and they will come”. But you have to let people know you built it. I’m terrible at marketing. My cover artist, Anya Kelleye, has found a nice group of friends on Facebook, and she’s gotten some extra business because of it. I’ve been saying how much I DON’T like FB, but many people are finding it’s a good way to market without being pushy. Just getting yourself out there. I’m going to focus on it a little more and hope people will stop sending me requests to do this or that or play this game. LOL.

This post got a little long-winded, but it’s my first of the year. I wish so many good things to all of my online friends. And there’s a special place in my heart for my fellow ROWers. I feel so privileged to have met you all, even if it’s only a virtual meeting. Happy New Year to all of you, and best of luck for 2013.

A Couple of Things

I’ve been silent for almost a week on this blog. I’ve just been trying to process everything that’s happened to me as well as to family and friends. I keep saying, “What’s going to happen next???” Anyway, life is what it is, and we all have to cope.

Anyway, I just have a couple of quick things. First, I was wondering how many of you ever shop on etsy.com. Honestly, I almost went kind of nuts with it for awhile, until I realized I was spending too much money. But I love to support small businesses, especially the crafty kind, since I used to have an Etsy shop. Lately, I’ve been shopping for soap and other beauty products. But I did get some fudge that was wonderful (before I knew I was diabetic). Anyway, if you like to support people who are trying to make a living with their craft (you know, kind of like authors), then Etsy is a great place to shop.

Also, I was in the front office a few minutes ago and saw our company mascot lying in one of his favorite positions. It always tickles me to see him like this, so I thought I would share a picture.

End of Round 4 Post 12/21/12

Did the world end? Did I miss it? LOL

This has been a frustrating round because of so many factors. I’ve done no writing since my dad’s illness and death. Then I found out I have diabetes which turns out CAN’T be controlled with oral medication, so I’m taking insulin shots. I feel like my life is a mess right now. So I put my writing on hold until next round. I didn’t get too far on my latest WIP, which I was struggling with anyway. I didn’t get Soul of a Vampire published in print. But, hopefully, I’ll get everything worked out so next round will be a success for me.

Some random things just for fun:

1. We solved the cat and Christmas tree issue by buying some really cheap ornaments to put on the tree, and leaving the good ornaments packed away. I put little jingle bells on the bottom branches. The cats are having a ball. (I hope they are old enough next year to behave so we can have “real” ornaments again.)

2. Exercise can bring your blood sugar down a LOT.

3. My boss set us up an account with a vendor, and for my password, he used “writer”.

4. My cat, Oz, has a big nose. (Okay, I’m running out of fun facts.)

I hope everyone is having a great holiday season!

Sunday Update 12/16/12

I’ve put my writing on hold until the next round. I’m spending this time reading my literature about diabetes and trying to come to terms with the fact that this is going to be my life from now on. Testing my blood sugar twice a day is going to be a challenge for a writer, since I’m sticking my fingers. However, they aren’t really as sore as I thought they would be. Maybe it won’t be too much of an issue. I’ve had two doses of my medicine (it’s once a day), and my blood sugar is down some, but not as much as I would like. Maybe it takes a little while. I think my medicine is the kind that actually makes the pancreas produce more insulin. I need to read up on it. I’m also on blood pressure medicine.

I’m an optimist by nature, so I’m NOT going to let this get me down. I just need to take care of it. And I promise there won’t be numerous blog posts on diabetes and how it’s affecting me. No one wants to hear all that. Just maybe a mention every once in a while to let everyone know what’s going on.

So, how has YOUR writing been going? I’m still interested in hearing about you.