Lacey Wolfe's Blog, page 14

Get Your Friday On!

Gah! It's Friday! This week flew by. Sorry I missed Crafty Wednesday. It's Friday though, the day many of us look forward to. No alarm clocks tomorrow and nothing expected from us. Woo hoo! Have a great weekend! -Lacey

Goodbye Word Goals - Hello Freedom!

I'm breaking up with word count and everything else involved with being obsessed with amount of words. No more goals on how long a story will be. No more goals on how many words to write a day. Nope, no more. I'm ending my relationship with word goals. 

I've always had cute little tickers on my site with the name of the book I am working on and the goal of the length of that book. It holds me back. Honestly. I see that I plan a book to be say 50,000 words and it comes in a t 47,000. And I wonder what I can do t hit that 50,000 word mark. Obsess about it.

Boo! 47,000 is great! No complaints there. I should be more worried about the content then how many words. I'm not about to add words just to hit a word goal. Does it matter if I write 2,000 words a day or 5,000? No. Just as long as I'm writing. I'm not going to force words just to hit 5,000 a day. I know I have deadlines and when the book is due. There is no marathon to finish it. The goal is just to finish it and make it the best it can be. 

I am actually trying to figure out if I can turn off the word count on my word document. That way I am just freely writing and not glancing down to see where I am. 

I just started my latest Brookfield Series story currently titled Keys To My Heart (Subject to change). I have no word goals for this one. I'm just writing it. I've got a basic outline done to keep myself on track. It feels more liberating. I'm free!!

Oh, another word thing I broke up with - my yearly word count goal. I have a spread sheet I've been using these past few years with my word count goal a month to reach the goal number of words I want to write in a year. 

Yeah, got rid of that thing too. I can't tell you how stressed I'd feel if I was a week away from the end of the month and my program let me know I was behind. LIFE HAPPENS! Kids gets sick or I just don't feel like writing. 

Woo, I feel better letting that go.

See ya later word goals, but our time is over. I kinda enjoyed you when I was meeting my goals, but when I missed them, you made me feel crappy. So this isn't working out. It's you, really. It's not me. :) -Lacey

Cleaning and snow

Snow by front door. So it's Monday. It's back to the grind. The kids are in school, the hubby is at work, and me, well, I've got a house to clean. You see, last week it snowed here in Georgia--again! This is a rare occurrence, especially the amount. But don't worry, this week we will be in the 70's and I'll get to wear my flip flops.  

The family and I were inside this house for a few days. Really, you'd think it would be clean. We'd pick up after ourselves. Sweep, vacuum, dust, fold the laundry. Yup, you'd think that's what we'd do, but come on over and have a look at this place. We didn't do any of it! It's Monday, they've returned to school and work. I should be getting to my book I'm writing (Cody's story from The Brookfield Series), but first, I must at least vacuum and sweep.

Enjoy these pictures of our snowed in days. The welcome dog by my front door. He was almost buried before the snow ended. He's about 7-8 inches tall. The cat venturing out into the snow. Snow Angels! -Lacey

Happy Valentine's Day - Score with Football Pick Up Lines.

Happy Valentine's! The day of love has arrived. I suppose you either hate today or love it. Either way, check out this funny video from YouTube of this guy using football lines to try and pick up a woman for his Valentine's date. 

Pinterest - Why Didn't I Think Of That?

Today's Crafty Wednesday, but I've not been too crafty. I've been doing lots and lots of writing. Which of course, is a different type of crafting. 

Today I thought I'd do something a little different. Pinterest is a fun place to hang out. What can you not find on Pinterest? I'm going to share with you the things I've learned from this site that I never would've thought about before. 

Up first: My husband has been complaining about the static in our clothes. Finally after his last complaint, I decided to turn to Pinterest to see what I might discover. I in fact found a solution we are now using. Put safety pins in a sock and toss it into the dryer. I guess the metals zaps away the static. 

Check out the pin HERE. Another thing I learned from Pinterest is to flatten my ground meat before freezing. I always put the square block in my freezer bag and tossed in the freezer. I ran across a pin where someone said flatten it. Duh! Less room and it will defrost quicker.

Check out the pin HERE. And finally, one last pin I came across to share that might be good for almost all of us in winter right now. Freeze a cup of water. Once frozen, place a penny on the top. In the event you loose power, keep the freezer shut. When power returns, check the cup. Supposedly, if the penny is still at the top, your food is still good. If your penny is at the bottom of the cup, you should toss your food out. So there's a penny for your thoughts. :)

Check out the pin HERE. Do you have things like this pinned on your boards? Please, share away! I love learning new tricks for things I wish I had thought of. -Lacey

The number one question I get about Arranged Love answered.

Arranged Love has been out a few weeks now. Thank you to everyone who has picked it up or added it to your to be read list. 

There is one question readers keep asking me and I wanted to address it today about why I didn't tie up a certain plot on the story with a nice bow. If you haven't read the story, don't worry, this isn't really a spoiler. Just might help when reading the story with the back story of Kayla's parents.

Right in the blurb to the story, it tells us that Kayla's parents announce they are getting a divorce. This plays a big part in the story, and this is where the question comes in from readers: Why didn't I tell them what happened with her parents? Kayla's parents nag her. They are in her life all the time, sticking their noses where they probably don't need to be sticking them.

In the story, they drop the bombshell on Kayla that after years of marriage they are divorcing. Kayla wants to know why and this is when they tell her: It's between them. It's about their marriage.

Yes, Kayla's hurt they won't share it with her, but she does understand that a marriage is between two people and the problems they have are between them. Due to her parents stressing this to her in the book, I felt like I needed to stay true to that until the end. This is the reason the parents small story line wasn't tied with a nice bow at the end.

I did, however...THIS MIGHT BE A SLIGHT SPOILER....hint they were together again in two scenes near the end. Maybe they can get their own story soon about rekindling their love. Ooo, I can delve into the empty nesters and how they deal with it when the kids are all moved out.

You've made me think about it a lot though.

I listen to my readers when they voice a concern. I know not every book you pick up of mine, you will love. I do still hope you enjoyed Arranged Love and that this blog post might help a little if you were left scratching your head when it ended.

Kayla and Ryan were a blast to write. I really enjoyed crafting this story. I felt comfortable in the writing tone of this story and hope to create more stories like this one soon. -Lacey

Listen up Moms!

Have you seen this kid yet? He's hilarious! And if you're a mom, you'll really should watch this. It's 5 minutes of your time you'll spend smiling!

Happy Friday!

-Lacey

Crafty Wednesday!

Welcome back! This week I want to share with you the progress I've been making on the blanket for my husband, I wish I was further along in this project, but I had a writing deadline that I missed by a few days. Oh well. 

I really like the pattern to this blanket. It's going to be quite pricey when it's done probably, but none the less, I'm excited to see it done.

For this blanket I am using a P size crochet hook with three pieces of yarn different colors and single crocheting it. It makes the blanket super thick and seems to get bigger quickly. I've already gone through a roll of each color (476 yard roles) and have started in on the second rolls of yarn. I will need to get back to the craft store soon. I found the idea from a baby blanket that I found on Pinterest. Here is a link to the site with the instructions in case this blanket is something you'd like to make too. Go HERE Here is my full progress so far. This is the width of the blaket (the long part) I still have awhile to go before this thing is complete. Hopefully by the end of February? 

Hopefully I don't get bored before, though I might. :)

What are you crafting this week? -Lacey

Hypnotized is complete!

Woo, I just completed Hypnotized, my first new adult. You might remember me mentioning it back in the fall when I started it. Usually when you pick up one of my stories, you get a book in 3rd person, but not this one. You'll get alternating point of views in first person from Gabe and Paisley. This was much different to write, but it was fun. I learned a lot about how to start sentence without names and using I all the time. The tone is very different too. I read a good bit of new adult before crafting this, so I am hoping I meet the genre with what readers are looking for. 

I hope to have this story out in spring. I was back and forth about what to do with the story. Try for a publisher or self-publish (of course, hire an editor! Always hire an editor!). I decided to go the self-pub route on this one. It's something so different from me, that I think I need to be in control of this one fully. I'm a little nervous about it to be honest as I cross into another genre.  Almost as nervous as when Finding Home released. It was my first non-erotic and I was so scared. It did well though, so fingers crossed, Hypnotized will too. Curious what this is all about? Well to sum it up, Paisley is going to college and moving out on her own and gets into her first adult relationship, all while her best friend since diapers Evan thinks he wants to be with her. But wait, there is also something weird going on with Evan.

This story ends with a happily for now. I did this on purpose. It's not a cliffhanger, but if the story is well received, it's open to a sequel with the same characters. Something I've never done before either!

Here's the rough blurb. (This blurb as not seen an editor yet)

Paisley 

I’m discovering who I am in this world. Venturing out on my own, away from my parents, and finding out what life is really all about. College isn’t as easy as I thought it would be, especially with my best friend Evan becoming someone I hardly recognize.

But then I met Gabe. He changed everything. Life might never be the same.



Gabe

I lived my life day to day, waiting on something great to happen. 

Then she walked into the coffee house, with her long legs and killer smile. I had to know her. Nothing was going to stop me. She hypnotized from that moment forward.

And after the first kiss, my fate was sealed to Paisley.


Content Warning: This book is recommended for ages 17 and up. Adult situations, including sex, underage drinking, and drugs will be found within these pages.

What did you think? -Lacey

Could you break-up with coffee?

Are you a coffee drinker? If so, for how long?

I started to drink coffee about 7 years ago. I was pregnant with my daughter and my son who was 2, wasn't sleeping at night. I was near the end of my pregnancy and he was worried if I went into labor I would just leave him home alone. So he would get up each night at 1 and not go back to bed until 4. I needed something to keep me going during the day as he ran around rampet like he'd slept 8 hours. I turned to half a cup of coffee since I was pregnant. And that's when I became a coffee drinker. After my daughter was born, I breast fed and still only did the half a cup of coffee. Once she was weaned, my coffee started to increase. I had two kids running around I had to keep up with. Coffee became my drink of choice. Just the smell of it made me feel so much better. I've never been a pot of coffee person. Usually 2 cups in the morning and 1 in the afternoon. 

A few weeks ago, I started to barely drink it. I'd get my cup in the morning, finish it, then go back for second and just take a few sips of it, leaving it to go cold. 

What's going on?

Before long, I was hardly drinking that one cup. And then I realized, I wasn't drinking it because I didn't like it anymore. The taste wasn't appealing. In order to drink it, I had to add flavored coffee creamer. More than I needed. Perhaps that's why I have a big butt?

So I started to wean myself and it wasn't hard since I'd been building a taste aversion to it. Now in the morning, I'm enjoying a cup of hot tea. Since kicking coffee a week ago, I wake up more alert. I assume it's because my body isn't needing that caffeine the second I wake up. I was one of those people who had my coffee maker set the night before so when I woke, my coffee had brewed and was ready. No had needed to ask my anything complicated before half that cup was gone.

I honestly didn't think I'd ever kick this habit. Will I drink coffee again? Sure. Who doesn't like a treat from Starbucks? Or a fancy flavored coffee from the Keurig? But as far as needing it every morning in order to survive, well, I hope not. 

So, do you think you could kick your coffee habit? Are you a tea drinker? -Lacey