Gretchen Rix's Blog, page 2

JULY IS HERE

Another month has passed, taking with it another month, or another half year if you see it that way. Plenty of time to start that book, to finish that book. To publish that book. I’m going to set my alarm clock for early morning and not ignore it this time.

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NOT FUN

I got shots in my eye this afternoon.

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COVERS

All my covers are collaborations between me and Streetlight Graphics. This short story is on Kindle Unlimited and in the collection Twisted Rixter.

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MY WEEK SO FAR

Work on my latest novel is progressing. I’m finding that I am enjoying writing again. Am up to 31,00 words by now but it needs to be 50,00 words before I’m done. It’s the third in my Boo Radley mystery series.

Boo Radley was our dog several years ago, a big, beautiful and stubborn American Mastiff we saved from heartworms after adopting her from a pet shelter in San Marcos. Much later she died of cancer. She was really a character.

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BLUE

I have a book of photographs of swimming pools “written” and published by actor, poet, and artist Viggo Mortensen that is my favorite of his because of the color blue through it.

Here is my poor contribution to the color blue. ( I don’t remember if this is Galveston or Corpus Christi Texas or Alabama or Florida).

Good evening. y’all.

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THANK YOU VERY MUCH

TITLE. I CAN’T THINK OF A TITLE FOR THIS POST OTHER THAN THANK YOU VERY MUCH

At the end of last month some reader bought a Kindle copy of one of my books! Thank you very much. You made my day. The Cowboy’s Baby has a sequel if you like this one. The Cowboy’s Baby Goes To Heaven. (Nobody dies. Heaven is a town ). And now someone else has bought the very same book! I hope you enjoy this sweet romance.

I have written and published 20 books by now and am back to working on the third in the Boo Radley mystery novels set in Lockhart Texas. Boo Radley (featured on the covers) was our dog. I’m leaning toward writing in genre I haven’t done yet and outside of the several series I have going.

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CHANGING COURSE

I’VE CHANGED MY MIND

       I did another successful all day writing stint while I was at the Tremont hotel in Galveston last week, and although the writing space in the room wasn’t the best, at least I had a private bathroom. And I could take a nap if necessary (and I did).

       What I changed my mind about was doing it every day once we returned home. It was murder on my hands is one excuse.

       Not giving up on my novel though.

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I’M GOING TO CHALLENGE MYSELF

I’M GOING TO CHALLENGE MYSELF

Today was Tuesday, April 1, 2025 and I made my writing goal of 1,000 words a day. Over three hours spread throughout the day I wrote 1,005 words on my novel.

The first stint was very hard and done right after breakfast. The second stint was easier (mid-day) but the third session was almost a breeze. I seem to do better late at night.

Yay! One day down.

But wait!

Today was Wednesday, April 2. Almost a complete fail. I got to my writing computer about 8 am, wrote approximately one or two paragraphs and then started to feel bad. Sort of dizzy. So I stopped, figured it was lack of sleep and took a long, long nap.

I’m a sort of a “in for a penny/in for a pound” person so I didn’t even try to get back to my novel, instead I watched The DaVinci Code (for about the tenth time)

Thursday April 3 was both a fail and a win.  Did write a little this morning. And what I did write gave me insight into the rest of the book,

Friday April 4 I didn’t want to write so I didn’t. But what I stumbled into the day before, boy, what a great plot for my book!

Don’t let anyone ever persuade you that procrastination and taking a SHORT break away from your writing is bad. A lot of the time it’s that break you need to find inspiration.

Have been watching the HBO miniseries The Leftovers. Because it was filmed in Lockhart where I live. I drove past their sets almost daily (because they were using the street I normally drive to town on.)

Saturday April 5. Did nothing at all! Today is April 9.

So if you bet on me failing, you were absolutely right. But I learned that I COULD write 1K words a day, and I HAVE worked on my novel.

That is success through failure.

I’ll try again next week.

By the way, I’ve lowered the price of all my Kindle books from $5.99 to $3.99, and if you put my name Gretchen Rix in the Kindle search on Amazon, they are very attractively arranged, for the moment.

Contains The Taking of Rhinoceros 456

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Something new for me

I’M GOING TO CHALLENGE MYSELF

To complete my novel in April. It’s about half-way finished already. This is 100 percent doable. Just takes commitment.

And giving up TV and reading for a little while.

Start date April 1, 2025.

Want to bet I get it done?

UPDATE—It is now two days until I get to stop living a lazy, non-writing existence (like you know who) and write a minimum of 1K words a day. Sounds like fun? I likely will have to give up long naps and most of my TV watching (Hope you are seeing the wildlife program The Americas narrated by Tom Hanks). But not my reading. Reading counts as research you know. I’m re-reading The Memory Trap by Anthony Price.

I plan to document my writing progress for you.

Stay tuned.

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BUTT IN CHAIR

I need to put my butt in the chair and write.

It would solve all my problems. And I don’t believe in writer’s block. I believe in laziness and loss of interest.

But instead I got excited this week about the opportunity to put one (or more) of my books on an Apple version of Audible. Wanted to offer my very best book, A Resurrection of Starlings.

But my dream faded by day’s end after I looked at it realistically. The narrators would have been AI’s. And I can’t imagine AI’s (at this point of time) knowing how to get the interludes (that’s what I’m calling the digressions and explanations of the story dotting my Jack the Ripper western) right. In print it’s formatted so the reader knows this is important to the story but not the story. itself. And I think I read it right, that after the Apple process is started, there is no way to proofread it, so to speak.

So. Maybe another of my books? And why not hire a narrator like the other eleven of my books that are on Audible?

Can’t afford it. And I don’t really have the time.

I need to be writing books. I’m stalled in the middle of my third Boo Radley mystery novels. I should never have stopped writing.

Word to the wise—don’t ever stop writing.

What am I reading this week? The second book in The Expanse series. What am I watching this week? The movies Twister, Dr. No, To Russia With Love, and the original TV series Star Trek.

Here is a link to A Resurrection of Starlings   https://books2read.com/u/311vPa

It’s good.

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